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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Prescott National Forest near Prescott, AZ, periodically does control burns to reduce fire danger in nearby communities. Our home borders the National forest, which had not been cleared in over 20 years. Some of the fires were set about 60 feet from the house on slash piles that had been cleared. These were a couple of the Hotshot crew managing the burn just on the other side of our fence.Time
This image was taken in the early afternoon. I spent much of the day closely watching the firefighters as they ignited one slash pile after another, getting as many images as I could when lighting and visibility were optimal.Lighting
Smoke and sun create perfect backdrops for B&W images, especially silhouetted genre.Equipment
Image was taken with a Nikon D800, 70-200mm lens. Some were taken with a tripod since it became increasingly difficult to handhold the equipment after about an hour so I ran in the house and grabbed the tripod.Inspiration
The inspiration came from the Hotshot crew and the smoke and heat they have to work in. It's hard manual work using picks, shovels, saws, especially during heat of the Arizona day. Watching them criss-cross the hills and managing the burning slash piles allowed plenty of opportunity to get some on-scene shots and insights of the difficulty and danger faced by the men.Editing
Original image was taken in camera raw. From there, Nik Silver Effex Pro was where I did the B&W conversion. Before the image was taken into NIK, in Photoshop, highlighted the brighter areas, dodged and burned some of the areas for additional contrast.In my camera bag
I carry two cameras in two packs...A Nikon D800E (recently replaced with a Nikon D850) that I keep a Nikon wide angle 16-35mm or 24-70mm lens and Canon 1DX with a 70-200mm lens. The reason for the two cameras is (1) so I don't have to keep changing lens in order to keep the sensor clean (2) one camera works extremely well if I'm photographing landscape. The other is best for low light and high action situations. Fortunately, my husband carries some of my gear for me. I also carry: neutral density filters for long exposures, a Gitzo tripod, flash, flashlight, water, lens cleaners. Some of it depends on the type of shooting I am anticipating and if I am traveling by air or car.Feedback
When you're shooting "street scenes" and action, you need a higher shutter speed. This image was taken at 750th of a second to compensate for the motion of the firefighters. Also, try to tell a story. I tried to capture the moment and how demanding, dangerous, and the discomfort experienced doing that kind of work....the heat, smoke, heavy clothing, and gear. Also, try to get a composition that emphasizes/highlights the subject. I had the opportunity to send a great deal of time observing them and had the chance to get many different images. That's not always possible when recording "history in the making". Anticipating where the action is (or will be) taking place and what is the in the background/foreground of the scene for composition purposes is helpful.