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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this picture on the South Rim of the Grand CanyonTime
I took this just before sunsetLighting
I saw this bird on a branch just before sunset. The sunset lighting seemed magical. I said to myself, "too bad the sun had already gone on it's way down to set as it would be really cool to have the sun right behind the bird instead of below him". The next day, I went back and took just the sunset as the sun would be where the bird was the day before.Equipment
It was shot with a Nikon FM2 with a 400mm lens. The bird and the sun were taken with a tripod. This was taken with 35mm slide film.Inspiration
When I saw the bird on this branch with the sunset lighting, I was truly inspired to capture him in all his glory & wish I could have had him land before the sun went beneath him. So I went back the next day to capture the sun in the correct place I wanted it.Editing
I knew when I took the next day sunset picture where the bird had been that I wanted to merge the 2 pictures together . So I took the two slides, developed them, then put them together in my Nikon Bellows & rephotographed them as one picture. I had to make sure everything ( the tree, etc.) was totally lined up exactly in order to make the two pictures one. A few years later when I got my film scanner, I scanned the merged, single photograph picture into my computer as a digital file.In my camera bag
I always have my Nikon FM2 & my Nikon 3100 SLR as that gives me many options. I also carry 400mm lens, 35-18mm (3.5-4.5 D) zoom, 55-200 (4-5.6) zoom, 24-12mm zoom lenses. I also carry a Polarizer & various other filters.Feedback
My best advice to a photographer is to always be patient when photographing landscapes as lighting changes constantly & the best shots often require a great amount of patience to get the best shot with the best lighting. Of coarse sunrise and sunset often create great possibilities. However, during the day one can sometimes find great shots because of clouds, shadows or weather. I seem to rarely find my best shots around noon so I normally use that time to scope out additional locations.