Photographing along the trails through Big Bend Country is a unique visual adventure

Where do I go next? That's a question all photographers ask themselves repeatedly. It's also the question that keeps a veteran photographer like Steve Kossack scouting out new places to lead future workshops.

"This time I decided to go back to Big Bend National Park," says Steve. "I was last there in 1898... or maybe it was 1998... What I do remember from those earlier visits is how different it is from any other National Park and how much there is to see all along the trails. Even so, when I returned this spring, I found the raw beauty of this country to be even more impressive than I expected. It's truly one of the last remaining wild corners of the United States.

"As I explored the park in preparation for my workshop this fall, I could feel the anticipation of images just waiting to be found, or is it images waiting to find me? Anyway, the photo opportunities proved to be exciting and enticing. Located on the Mexican border along the Rio Grande in southwest Texas, this place is not close to anything -- which adds immensely to the atmosphere and adventurous experience. Big Bend is 200 miles from the interstate!

"Big Bend gets its name, of course, because the Rio Grande makes a big bend (90° turn) as it flows through the area. The river also marks the border between the U.S. and Mexico. But before you reach the river on your way south, there is a mountain range floating in the vast desert. These are the Chisos Mountains and one of the major landmarks of the park. In the image (above), the vast distances between the mountain tops are compressed by the 300mm lens. The morning light was soft enough to render the shadows in some detail and the use of stacked Graduated ND filters (3-stop soft-step for the sky and 2-stop hard-step for the mid mountains) complemented the drop-in LB ColorCombo. The warm tones of the left shoulder that brought the image to life are the result of the ColorCombo's polarizer.

"Storms or fog banks are sometimes present in the Chisos. This makes for dramatic images. But as soon as they are gone the scene is entirely different. To capture the moment when the cloud bank is just beginning to fade into the distance was exhilarating! Here the use of a 4-stop hard-step ND Grad provided the contrast and definition I needed to 'set the table' for the rest of the composition. The light rock in the foreground was what I wanted for the 'tablecloth' and I had to hustle into position before the distant cloud lifted in the fading light. Several exposures were made with a 2-stop soft-step and a 3-stop hard-step ND Grad along with the ColorCombo on all frames. The frame shown here gave me the best rendering of the fading clouds.

"This image of the distant mountain range seeming to float upon a vast desert was the story I wanted to tell. The morning light on the Chisos range was not dominant but it directed attention on the hoodoos in the foreground. The angle of light created deep shadows and glare which the ColorCombo helped reduce. Hiding the gradient line of the 3-stop soft-step ND Grad was difficult and made the exposure of many frames important. The movement of the clouds gave motion heading out of the frame to the right and the longer the exposure the better I liked the result. In the low early morning light there was no need for the Vari-ND, but it was a thought!

"These are badlands! This image of Santa Elena Canyon was captured at dawn. This far south, the Rio Grande has no water coming in from the U.S. side -- and only a little bit from Mexico -- which makes this dry and arid place seem even more so. I wanted this composition to help tell that story.

"I separated the main focal point, which is the scarceness of the river appearing or disappearing in the huge canyon. The use of a tilt/shift lens accentuates this and anytime I see green as the dominate color I reach for my LB Color Intensifier or ColorCombo. A slight breeze was causing the ocotillo cactus in the foreground to sway. This made it important to keep the exposure as short as possible. Since the LB Intensifier has almost no filter factor, it allowed me to use a much quicker shutter speed! Although there was nothing of interest in the sky, it was needed as part of the composition. I used a 3-stop soft-step ND Grad to help balance the exposure and set off the glow of the morning light on the face of the Canyon.

This is the huge entrance to one of the huge canyons of Big Bend National Park. By the subtle use of my Gold-N-Blue Polarizer in the pre-dawn light, I was able to accentuate the reflecting glow off the water. Of course one wall of this canyon is in another country and the remote location of this awesome scene only added to the unique experience. We have now closed the border crossings that used to be so much a part of that experience along the Big Bend. The town of Boquillas is now off limits from the U.S. side. Many of the town's residents, eager to offer their goods and a glimpse into their culture and customs, are prohibited from doing so. Since the river is shallow and easily crossed they still come across under threat of arrest and leave their offerings on the U.S. side for donations. Talking (sometimes shouting) with them is all we can do at the moment. The park service is hoping this situation will change again in the near future.

"This trip to Big Bend has refreshed my appreciation for taking new trails from time to time. I can fully recommend a visit to Big Bend Country for any photographer who's wondering where to go next."

You can get details about Steve's future schedule of workshops by visiting his website. Don't forget to visit his new gallery while you're there.

Viewed through the photographic eye of a fervent admirer, Death Valley comes to life

"No one in the famous William Lewis Manley expedition of 1849 actually died after being dangerously stranded and then rescued," Steve Kossack tells his photo workshop participants 160 years later; "but as one of the women looked back from her departing wagon she exclaimed, 'Goodbye Death Valley.' The thought that their near-death experience would bring an official name to our youngest U.S. National Park was, I'm sure, the furthest thing from their minds at the time.

"Every time I visit this magnificent valley, I'm as happy to be there as those first visitors were to leave it! This is the place that first inspired me to pursue the art of photography many years ago. However, when I finally decided I wanted to photograph Death Valley, I discovered very quickly I lacked the skill. As my study of photography advanced, this is the place I kept coming back to -- trying over and over to make lasting images. This is also the place where my first workshop took place. In recent years, I've done as many as three in a month! Every season in Death Valley is a different experience of sorts. It's a truly wondrous and mystical place to explore and photograph. It continuously challenges my mind and my filter pack! Spring is the time I like best, and our recent March workshop was especially enjoyable!

"Photographing in the Mesquite Dunes (above) is a highlight of every workshop. Actually being 'out there' in the dunes is a much different feeling than photographing from a safe roadside vantage point. 'Showtime' is how I describe those moments when first or last light of the day turns the dunes into a magical fantasy land of shapes, textures and colors. As our group set up on this clear spring pre-dawn, we began talking about what was to come at first light and we experimented with a combination of lenses and compositions. As the light became defused by a small cloud on the horizon, I commented on the purple mountains behind the dunes and quickly replaced my Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer with the Gold-N-Blue Polarizer. Then I shot this exposure and quickly bracketed two more exposures at 1/3 and 2/3 f-stop under that exposure. Then I exposed three more bracketed exposures after adding a 3-stop soft-step ND Grad to reduce the tone of the mountains. I then forgot all about this image until I saw it again in the raw converter. A nice surprise, indeed!

"I've found that most of my workshop participants usually spend the evening following our first dunes shoot hoping for winds strong enough to cover the previous days footprints. They are also dismayed at the sight of approaching hikers and photographers the next morning who might intrude on their composition. I have, however, concluded that I may want to include them in my composition. People show size, scale and scope. It's difficult to show these dunes in a way that conveys the landscape proportionally. There are three elements that can help -- if and when I can find them. One is shrubery. This helps because they are usually closer. Next are the mountains behind the dunes. If you compress them with a longer lens you'll have more detail. This can help to tell the story of the dune's actual size. But by far the best element for me is people. They can immediately set the stage!

"The bright sky in this image was almost a washout in the early morning sidelight. An LB Warming Polarizer helped reduce the glare from both the sky and sand. It also cut the haze of the distant mountain range. A 4-stop hard-step ND Grad helped keep the sky and mountain range exposure manageable and created enough contrast to accentuate our dune walker. In retrospect, I feel this shot is the perfect counterpart to the image at the top of our story."

"This view from Aguereberry Point (above) and the following view from Dante's Peak face each other from opposite sides of Death Valley at an elevation of over one mile above the valley floor. In addition to the breathtaking panoramic views from these two sides, visitors experience a noticeable drop in temperature from the valley floor. At most times of the year, a 30-degree difference is the norm and since both vista points are on high cliff areas unprotected for hundreds of miles in some directions, wind is a constant feature. Aguereberry Point offers photographers some terrific foreground shrub and rock formations and the mountains run parallel to the valley, providing a dramatic setting especially with the last direct light of the day. Earlier this evening we had hoped to get a look at the rising full moon at sunset, but the cloud cover on the eastern horizon did not cooperate. For a while it did not look good photographically. We waited, however, and were well rewarded for our patience.

"Although this view from Dante's Peak features the same area of the valley from the opposite direction, this wide, spread-out expanse is much more difficult to shoot than the Aguereberry image. This view presents a vast panorama that some might consider as little more than sightseeing! However, the color that appeared just after sunrise quickly made it much more exciting. I was concerned, however, that the constant 40-mph wind would make it impossible to get a sharp image. I also felt something was needed to provide scope and scale in the foreground but I could not find any rock formations to feature. As the color in the clouds just kept getting better and better, I decided to try timing my shots to take advantage of any lull in the sometimes gale force wind. With the morning light steadily increasing, I moved in behind a large shrub that seemed to be withstanding the wind somewhat better than smaller ones. I raised the ISO on my Canon 1Ds MKlll to 1000! I figured that with the blowing dust in the valley, infinity was going to look like sensor noise anyway. Trying to time the wind gusts -- which never slowed much during our 45-minute effort -- I just kept shooting continually. The frame shown here was one of the few usable ones. I used my Singh-Ray LB Color Intensifier for this image. I always keep this filter at my side to shoot scenes of this sort, where I can't afford to lose much shutter speed. In fact, the LB Color Intensifer the only filter I have that requires less than one additional f-stop. I also alternated between my 3 and 4-stop hard-step ND grads during the shoot.

"Visitors to the famous dry lake bed, or playa, known as the Racetrack regard the mysterious sliding rocks as a great visual attraction, but the main attraction for me is the vast beauty of the playa and the valley it sits in. Nevertheless, I always go out and shoot the sliding rocks like everyone else! There seem to be at least three distinctly different images that can be made there. The first is in direct, low sidelight that is present upon arrival -- usually in the afternoon. This sidelight casts great shadows on the ridges left by the sliding rocks and accentuates the deep rut. It also gives good light to the surrounding mountains and gives evenly strong light to the playa as well. This first shot allows time to get use to the phenomena of the moving rocks and concentrate on composition. It also allows time to walk this broad deceptively huge area looking for the best 'sliders.'

"The second and third photo opportunities -- which occur usually about 45 minutes before actual sunset -- are more subtle and harder to accomplish. After the direct light has been blocked by the mountains, the playa goes into shadow as do all the west facing ridges and eventually a bright sky is left with a huge contrast everywhere else. This is the time that I shoot only the sliding rocks and tracks for detail. If conditions are right the last light of the day will put on a show over the playa. This is the time I like the best! The difficulty is the huge difference between the sky and rocks. The playa will eventually reflect the color in the sky and the trick is to hold an exposure that will render the surrounding shaded mountains in some detail. Here's how I made this image. A Canon 24mm tilt/shift lens was set to give just enough height above the rock (the tripod was at ground level) to create that 'screeching to a halt' effect. The mountain range was then brought back into perspective with a slight forward tilt of the lens. My Canon angle finder C was used to see through the viewfinder. I also used the LB ColorCombo, making sure I did not over-polarize the sky. I then experimented with various ND grads, as each mountain range has a different exposure reading, and I knew that the key would lie in a getting a correct exposure for them. In the end, I had quite a few good exposures to choose from."

Steve has just opened his newly designed website, which feature images by a number of his workshop participants. You can also learn more about joining Steve's upcoming workshops in Glacier National Park this July or the Yosemite High Country in August.

Winter in Yosemite workshoppers find some new challenges and many beautiful surprises

The 400-plus miles of interstate highway between Steve Kossack's home in Cottonwood, Arizona, and California's Yosemite National Park is always paved with high expectations and lasting memories. "Yosemite is for me a walk among the giants, figuratively and literally, and the Yosemite Valley is especially magical. I'm never short on inspiration when I'm there in what some of us call 'the best seven square miles on the planet.' Any season is the right season to be photographing in Yosemite, but it always presents some special challenges. We encountered several interesting ones during our workshop in February.

"This sunset view of the Yosemite Valley was a challenging exposure to say the least! I took a guess at seven to nine stops of light difference between the bright overhead sky and the shaded trees in the foreground. I was primarily concerned about properly exposing the lovely light on the 3,000-foot granite face of El Capitan seen on the left.

"Although I worked this scene continuously for over 45 minutes, in the end I only had 3 images that had the light evenly balanced across the entire frame as needed. Most of the the exposure challenges were addressed by combining four Singh-Ray filters. First a 4-stop hard-step Graduated ND helped subdue the very bright sky exposure, but I still needed to further subdue the light on the valley areas beyond the ridges. Next was the addition of a 3-stop Reverse ND Grad to further reduce the exposure of the highlighted El Capitian on the left of the frame. This unique filter is designed with its heaviest gradient density close to the filter's center, which was just what was needed here. Because I wanted to reveal even more detail in the foreground shadows, I added a 2-stop soft-step ND Grad which increased the exposure by 2 more f-stops, giving me enough exposure to record the deep foreground of the forest floor. Finally, the overall color was helped along by the use of the LB Color Intensifier. Yes, it was a long way to go, but I think the result was well worth the additional time and effort.

"This image also deserved a lot of help -- in terms of both its composition and exposure technique. The sky was nearly as white as the snow cover on the mountain. The reflected image in the foreground was the main feature in this image and I chose to adjust my LB Warming Polarizer to cut through the reflection just enough to reveal the pine needles under the water's surface. Without any detail to speak of in the sky, the foreground had to carry the composition. Working with the subdued skylight that I refer to as 'nature's soft box,' the challenge as I saw it was to keep the reflected image of the mountains dominant and compensate for the lost detail in the sky by finding an exposure that would convey the feeling of the approaching storm. That was achieved by metering directly off the sky. In short, I needed to create a feeling that I could sense but not see. The sky and snow cover were held back with a 4-stop soft-step Graduated ND filter which gave a much brighter view of the row of trees in the middle ground. I experimented with both the Gold-N-Blue Polarizer as well as the ColorCombo with some success as well, and I have good frames taken with each. It was clear, however, that the LB Warming Polarizer produced the best results by saturating the earth tones while providing the desired effect in the reflection.

"White snow... blue sky. It was an age-old challenge made even tougher by the direct light of the rising sun reflecting off the granite cliffs above. A heart-stopping scene to be sure, but a perplexing one as well. I thought a composition without the highlighted granite would be too confining and would not give the eye a place to land. To maximize the effect of this dramatic composition, I realized the exposure would be the real challenge. The solution began with applying the old rule of overexposing snow two-plus stops for a nice white tone. (If you don't over-ride the meter, the camera will see white as 18% gray and that's exactly what it will be in the image... gray!) Next was the choice of a 4-stop hard-step ND Grad and then -- after looking at my histogram -- adding a 2-stop, soft-step ND Grad. I like the effect I get by stacking hard-step and soft-step filters which slightly softens the gradient line. To compensate for the filters, I then opened up 2 more stops. In the image shown here, I added the LB ColorCombo to enrich the glow of the granite. Although the Warming Polarizer was also used in different frames, I liked the heightened earth tones and thought the reflected blue of the sky gave presence to the chill of this cold winter day.

"As the face of upper Yosemite Falls in the background became bathed in the golden glow of morning light, the shadowed areas -- which in this composition are dominant -- took on a huge, blue color cast due to the reflective light of the Sierra blue sky. A warming filter was an obvious choice, but with the Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer, I could also control the amount of reflection and still reveal the texture of the river bed in the foreground. The use of a 3-stop, soft-step ND Grad helped raise the exposure in the shadows to more accurately render the snow covered trees as well. The real key here was the sky -- although they are a seemingly small part of the image, the wispy cloud streaks were there like arrows pointing directly to the trees. If it were just about the falls this would have been a completely different composition. With the light changing very fast I went through the ND Grad possibilities to pick the best balanced image to work with in post processing. In the image shown here, I decided that an almost balanced exposure between the falls and its reflection gave the best rendering of the shadowed trees. In most cases, this would have provided an unnatural effect -- something not possible in nature. Here it worked!

"Here's a favorite trick of mine. Coming across a scene I've photographed many times before -- such as this one -- only to discover that the river now was moving so fast that I could not see the mirror-like reflection I was expecting. What there was of the reflection was muted and dull. The Vari-N-Duo to the rescue! I've learned that, by slowing the exposure time considerably, I can smooth out the movement of the current and create a much calmer mood, or at least different look. This image is a 30-second exposure using the Vari-N-Duo which produced a pronounced muted glow. The polarizer built into this filter is a great help in eliminating the stacking of filters. The reflecting glare has been cut back and the shadows warmed. A 3-stop hard-step ND Grad allowed the river's reflection to be increased by 2 stops."

If you'd like to learn more about joining the fun at one of Steve's upcoming workshops in Glacier National Park this July, or the Yosemite High Country in August, be sure to stop by his website for complete details.

Since every photograph tells a story, we might want to consider how well we tell it

Since early July, when Master Photo Workshops released the 100-minute DVD featuring veteran landscape photographer and Singh-Ray blog contributor Steve Kossack, we've heard lots of positive feedback -- especially on his discussion about why certain images have become his favorites. So we asked Steve to review a few of the images made in the course of his demonstrations for the DVD. Here's what he had to say about the four images below.

"Well, I'll start by saying it was a fun trip for me -- doing an in-the-field workshop exclusively for the video team directed by Gregory McKean. We followed as our theme the DVD's title, Every Picture Tells a Story. So let's talk about the stories I tried to tell by these images produced in the process.

"If we believe in putting the horse before the cart, then we need to begin each photograph by asking -- and answering -- the question 'what is the story?' before deciding how we will say it. These are the two basic steps that prescribe every photograph I make. When I take my workshops into the field, I feel I am revealing a part of myself. It’s almost like asking 'how do you like my place?' Even if they like the location, the challenging part has just begun. I try to explain why I brought them to this place and how we can all go about setting the story of this place into pictures. Let's revisit four of the places featured in the video.

The Wave of Sandstone and Light
"Everyone should see and experience this amazing place in southern Utah called The Wave -- not just this spot but the entire area. With or without photo gear in hand, this is one of the great places anywhere on Earth. No matter how many times I’ve been here, it always holds the power to surprise and delight! The story here on this day was the light and the weather that created that light. This is a good place to be a couple hours after sunrise and to have patience if bad weather is passing through. By waiting for the shadows to deepen and the cloud pattern to open just above Top Rock pictured here in the middle distance, I set up my composition low and wide to show how I think the formation got its name and then opened the view even more to show the lines moving away. The Singh-Ray ColorCombo helped both the color saturation and contrast in the clouds. It also helped control the reflected glare in the highlights. A 3-stop soft-step ND Grad was used to balance the exposure in the shadows with the highlights on the right side and in the sky. I intentionally burned the left corner to aid the eye in finding Top Rock and the cloud opening quickly.

Coyote Buttes
"Telling the story of this place in the spectacular wilderness spanning the Utah-Arizona border is to follow the continuous surface erosion and its constant shifting through flash floods into the canyons and washes. A favorite topic of mine has always been the struggle for life that goes on here. In this case, it's been an unsuccessful struggle for the tree in the foreground. The story contains all the elements except the floods themselves, which I think adds both mystery and anticipation. In order to straighten the buttes overhead at this low angle, a Canon tilt/shift lens was used along with the ColorCombo to heighten contrast in the clouds. A 2-stop soft-step ND Grad was then placed in front of the ColorCombo to further balance the exposure. Of the various images taken during our DVD shoot, this one is perhaps the strongest of the storytellers.

Cactus amid the Color
"In the DVD we demonstrated how this image of a small subject in a small place was visualized and made. A simple scene to be sure, however achieving this image took some deep thought as well as trial and error. Looking at all the elements dictated a slow study of what those elements were and how to accentuate them. As we went through the filter kit trying to bring forward different parts of the 'life on the rocks' story, we discovered several possibilities. In this image, we finally came up with an added touch of contrasting color in the overhead rocks by polarizing the reflected light with the Gold-N-Blue Polarizer.

Horseshoe Bend in Another Light
"The DVD also includes a visit to this bend of the Colorado River that's long been an icon of the American Southwest. Having seen so many images of this spectacular scene for many years, visiting photographers can find our preconceptions of Horseshoe Bend to be both an advantage and disadvantage in terms of telling our own story of what we are suddenly seeing with our own eyes. In most pictures, the story involves not only the rhythmic bend of the river or how deep the canyon is, but also the continuous variations in weather, time of day and the ever-changing light that's not at all controllable.

"For me the weather and position of the sun on this day made the reflected blue light the key aspect of this story. The composition was adjusted to show more sky than I would usually include. This eliminated some of the foreground but I was careful not to exclude the rock faces that give the visual perspective needed for scale and scope. The clouds set up perfectly for counter balance. They appear to be moving left to right, which is usually the way we see, and the river appears to moving with them -- although, in reality, the river flows in the opposite direction and the clouds had very little movement and I realized the low light would end long before another composition was possible. Exposing for the water reflection was the main challenge. I balanced everything from there. An LB Color Intensifier was used in this frame to avoid losing the reflected blue from the water. I wanted to balance the cold blue with the warmth of the sunlit cliffs. A 4-stop, hard-step ND Grad was used to hold back both the sky and light of the cliffs in the distance."

You can see more of Steve's story-telling landscapes of the American West and check out his schedule of future workshops by visiting his website.

Conveying the emotion within an image calls for conscious control of the colors and light

As Arizona landscape photographer Steve Kossack prepares to lead his annual Yosemite high-camp backpack and workshop across 60 miles of rugged high-altitude trail, he's again feeling the inner excitement. "Once again," says Steve, "I'm feeling that compelling urge to photograph the wonders of nature. I'm always trying for images that convey my emotional response to the scenes before me. I find that it's never easy to put emotions into words -- let alone a photograph! However it's the emotional moments and places that are so special for me.

"The Sierra Nevada mountain range is famous for what is often called alpenglow -- a time when a layer of blue and magenta bands forms in the twilight sky at high altitudes. On most days you can see alpenglow even on cloudless evenings. I have learned not to walk away from a Sierra sunset until well after the light has faded to almost complete darkness.

"In capturing the dramatic alpenglow above Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park, a couple of problems were solved by the use of my Singh-Ray filters. The most obvious challenge was the deep and dark shadow that the bottom of the composition presented. The trees added to this because they were an element that I thought would be most important. I’m shooting from a position above tree line! I needed enough shadow detail to tell this story. If I exposed for the highlights and let the shadow go where it might, I knew I’d have the deep rich color of the panorama but lose the detail in the shadow. The solution for the shadows was to use a 4-stop hard-step Graduated ND Filter. By taking a meter reading of the shadow area, I shot a series of manually bracketed frames, starting with the shadow exposure and then opening up one stop for each of four consecutive frames.

"I also realized that by doing this I would lose more of the rich color saturation with each step of increased exposure. Here the solution was to use the LB ColorCombo with the polarization set for a bit less than maximum effect to avoid over-polarizing and thus increasing the contrast. After all, my purpose here was to balance the exposure, cut the glare off the granite and enhance the green of the shaded trees. This capacity to enrich the greens makes both the LB ColorCombo and the LB Color Intensifier filters two of my favorite filters. Now with a fairly long exposure induced by the filters, I came away with the benefit of a slight blur in the clouds, lending a tranquil touch to the image.

"On the banks of the Tuolumne River in early morning light the emotional attraction for me was seeing the steam rising off the river. The challenge was to find the angles that would offset, yet not overpower the subtleness of the setting. Once I found the lines that led into and out of the composition, the proposition became how to capture the colors. I set my exposure for the highlights and then opened up 3 stops using a 3-stop hard-step ND Grad. This gave me an exposure in the foreground that still rendered the right side of the bank almost in silhouette. I needed this contrast to set it all off. Next was adding the LB ColorCombo, carefully avoiding too much of the reflection in the water.

"These final two images were both captured along Merced Lake in Yosemite National Park, which is the second lake from the headwaters of the Merced River. The quiet seclusion of this high alpine setting, with deep granite walls falling sharply into the lake, create a setting as tranquil as any I’ve experienced.

"When I set up the image on the left it looked somewhat sterile through the viewfinder, however it was anything but when I surveyed the scene. What I was missing was the slight movement of the water in the foreground. I knew that a long shutter exposure was needed. The Vari-ND enabled me to extend my exposure just enough, and I also used my trusty LB Color Intensifier to step up the color saturation. As I increased the exposure I came closer to the glow of highlights that I liked but I was losing the one color that was most important to me. Green! The LB Color Intensifier is my usual choice to solve this problem.

"As I was shooting this image, the lake's surface was almost white-capped as the result of a strong wind. A 30-second exposure -- made possible by using my Singh-Ray Vari-ND -- changed the water's surface into a lovely gloss. Stacking the ColorCombo and then a 3-stop soft-step Graduated ND brought the exposure range into better balance and enhanced the green of the trees while holding back the glow of the granite. These steps resulted in a perfect rendering of the fallen tree in the foreground. By applying conscious thought to the choice of my filters and the way I use them, I have acquired a much better 'feel' for the way they will work in the field."

Steve and his unique approach to landscape photography are now featured in a new 100-minute DVD being released this week by Master Photo Workshops (Directed by Gregory McKean.) The new DVD, entitled "Every Picture Tells A Story," provides an in-the-field workshop experience packed with helpful information and clearly demonstrated techniques. You'll find more info on Steve's website or just order your copy today.

The more challenges we can solve with our filters, the more fun we seem to have

Arizona landscape photographer Steve Kossack applies years of experience and constant enthusiasm to the challenge of leading photo workshops throughout the American west. "Whenever filters are discussed in our workshops," says Steve, "the topic always brings out various opinions and views. Some seem to believe filters are magic, but others think they have no need for them now that the digital SLR camera is standard field issue. Some are just mystified or ambivalent about using filters -- which is reason enough to be attending a workshop. Earlier this month as we worked through a most rewarding workshop in Monument Valley, many of our Singh-Ray filters got a real workout. Here’s a look.

"One highlight of our workshop was this sunrise shot from the dunes of the Totem Poles. This classic image was helped immensely by the reflected light from the sand but we also had to control that same bright light striking the face of the rocks. Since I wanted to avoid the slight image distortion that would be caused by tilting the camera body upward, I simply raised the front of my 45mm Canon T/S (tilt/shift) lens fitted with the Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo filter. This image was the final shot of the morning. Before the sun rose and offered us this lovely image, I had begun the day using the LB Color Intensifier. It was the natural choice since there was no need for a polarizer and the 'lighter, brighter' Intensifier would not seriously slow the already long shutter speed. As the light became brighter the glare from the Totem Pole rocks became an even greater problem but the sand was still in deep shadow and reflected the blue of the sky. The LB Warming Polarizer was next out of my vest and it was about then that I also began using a 2-stop, soft-step Graduated ND filter, then switching later to a 3-stop, soft-step ND Grad and finally ending with a 4-stop hard-step that held the detail of soft glow in the sand.

"This iconic southwestern image was set up to be an action shot! I shot it that way to start. The sheep were herded down from under the arch in the shadow and then turned, on the run, away from us. My Canon 85mm 1.2L prime lens framed the scene perfectly and the light allowed both a very high shutter speed to stop the action and an acceptable aperture to hold focus in both the foreground and the arch. The LB ColorCombo was used here even though the objective was to freeze motion. I simply set the orientation of the filter's polarizer to cut the glare of both the sand and rock and then spot metered the sand. The intense color of the clothing and the richness of the arch detail was the great reward here!

"Perhaps a controlled burn around the Grand Canyon area or something like it in the atmosphere made our visit up on Hunts Mesa a hazy one. Still this unearthly place is not to be missed under any circumstance. A bad sunset or sunrise here is much better than an average one most anywhere else! I ran up against two major problems while there. I’ve already mentioned the haze and the second problem was a sustained wind that developed in late afternoon. Trying to narrow the composition and eliminate the sky as much as possible was my thought as I hiked to a point some distance from where I had started. I lined up the monuments and then went about stabilizing my 300 2.8L. An ISO of 800 was used to obtain as short a shutter speed as possible. I then started shooting with an f/8 aperture to hold as much depth of field as possible while still keeping the shutter time short. The haze problem was somewhat solved by using a drop-in 52mm Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo filter. This gave a needed contrast boost that carried the composition. As I left I was fairly certain that a good image was not possible, but I had a lot of fun trying! This one was a surprise.

"These final two images have much in common. Both were taken with Canon T/S lenses (45mm on the left and 24mm on the right) fitted with my thin-ring Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo. The thin filter ring has no threads on the front which reduces the chances of vignetting. Both frames were shot with the lenses shifted off-axis to their limits. The 45-mm lens was shifted up to capture as much of the side framing rock as possible and to eliminate the unnecessary foreground. The 24-mm lens was shifted to its full drop to capture the cactus in bloom while still framing the arch. With the ColorCombo mounted in a standard filter ring, these views would not have been possible because of vignetting. The combined benefits of the filter's polarizer and color intensifier are obvious here. An entirely different composition would have to be taken in both cases without the slim LB ColorCombo!

"Doing fine art landscape photography in the field becomes a passion for some of us. It’s the thrill of the hunt and the excitement of the chase. One more thing is very clear to me, filters are a mainstay in my photography because, when all is said and done, they add so much to the fun!"

You can see just how much fun Steve is having these days by visiting the extensive galleries on his website.

Landscape and wildlife images taken with your long lenses need Singh-Ray filters, too

Western landscape photographer Steve Kossack remembers it well. "When Singh-Ray introduced the LB (lighter, brighter) filter series, it meant that I could begin using these new filters in shooting situations where I would not have before. Because the new LB Warming Polarizer transmitted 66% more light than Singh-Ray's previous polarizer -- requiring only 1-1/3 more f-stops of additional exposure in most cases -- I began using it much more frequently, even in low light. More recently, we've been blessed with digital cameras capable of capturing top-quality images at much higher ISO settings -- which makes it even easier these days to achieve proper exposures with a polarizer on my long lenses.

"Although more and more outdoor photographers now realize they can improve their landscape images by using polarizers, not so many consider the importance of polarizing their long-lens images. One lesson I learned years ago is to always polarize any lens that's 300mm or longer. Even with the high quality of today’s lenses, I find there's frequently a loss of contrast unless I use a polarizer. I may not always see the benefit of using the polarizer while I'm in the field, but I do see it in the final print. Since I have always considered my Canon 300mm 2.8L IS to be my finest lens -- I also have the 500mm f/4 IS and borrow a 600mm for wildlife use -- I like to shoot with it just as often as possible. But it wasn't until I realized I could up-grade my standard Canon drop-in polarizer with Singh-Ray's three polarizers that I found the right answer. I now have the LB ColorCombo, LB Warming Polarizer and Gold-N-Blue Polarizer mounted in Canon Polarizer drop-in filter holders that have the little wheel on top that lets me quickly rotate the polarizer with finger tip control. Since I began using these three drop-in filters, I can’t imagine a time when I didn’t!

"The not-so-typical landscape above of the Navajo power plant at dawn was captured during one of our Landmarks of the Southwest workshops. It is at once magical, mystical and sinister! Shooting with a 600mm lens -- even from a more than a mile away -- would have brought the plant too close and revealed the plant for what it is, cold steel and all business. Choosing the shorter Canon 300mm 2.8L IS, however, gave me more of a panorama of the scene and hid the nasty details. The Gold-N-Blue drop-in not only captured more of the warm glow to the lights but the filter factor was also a bonus making for a longer exposure which produced the desired effect.

"As we watched the elk herd cross Yosemite's Madison River in the pre-dawn light, I took off with Canon 600mm f/4L IS attached to the Canon 1Ds MKIII with and Black Widow gimble mount on a Gitzo 1348 tripod over my shoulder. I also had with me a Canon 1.4 extender and my drop-in filters in my vest pockets. Wow, makes me tired just to think about it now! As the herd moved, I’d stop, set up, shoot and then move along with them. Using an ISO between 400 and 800 I was able to stop most of the motion in the low light by shooting with the lens wide open. As the light increased and the elk moved into and around the river a huge problem ensued. The reflected light from the river was like a spot light! The glare was almost blinding as I searched for an angle that would decrease its intensity. While doing this I realized that I was also helping myself by finding a 90-degree-to-the-sun shooting angle where I could block more of the glare from the reflecting sunlight. After finding the right location, I inserted the 52mm ColorCombo drop-in, focused on the river, turned the orientation of the filter to decrease the reflected light as much as possible and then dialed it in the highest ISO I thought appropriate. With only a filter factor of 1-3/4 stops there was not much downside and plenty of up for its use. Now I simply waited for the elk.


"This duck pond was set up prior to the ducks' arrival on the scene. Schwabacker Landing in the Grand Tetons is a natural just after sunrise. The stillness of the setting was serene in the morning glow, and I was struck by the out-of-focus backdrop that the wide open aperture was providing. The fact that reflection of the sky was not as pronounced as it might have like led me to choose the Gold-N-Blue drop-in and reposition the camera for a stronger polarized effect. I shot several frames before the ducks suddenly appeared. The downside is that there is no direct light on them but the upside is that the beautiful reflection, which was my focal point after all, was broken up by them. 'Oh...' I exclaimed to no one in particular as they approached, 'Cue the ducks!'


"This otter image was also improved by using my drop-in ColorCombo. These guys are faster than lightning and their most attractive behavior is usually in groups. To make matters worse, they were playing on the distant bank of the Snake River across from our shooting position. This required the use of my 1.4 extender on the 600 f/4 lens which meant giving up a full stop of light that in turn slows the auto focus considerably. My solution was to manually focus on one otter and wait for it to stop in some sort of pose. I knew from previous experience that otters, for some reason, all come to a stop for a split second at intervals. I just needed to anticipate one of those split seconds! I also figured at this juncture in my shoot that if I were to capture what I was looking for, maybe a slower shutter speed would be OK. As you might expect, I shot a lot of single frames but not as many as I might have just firing the shutter as one does in fast action sequence. The result was a pleasing soft background with a nice patch of saturated green grass, and yes, the otters are cute as they can be.

"From previous experience, I can assure you the color saturation and contrast in each of these images were improved by using one of my drop-in polarizers. Considering the heavy cost of my long lenses -- as well as the heavy lifting they require in the field -- I realize that investing in Singh-Ray drop-ins was a relatively easy way to get even better images."

To see hundreds more of Steve's distinctive outdoor photographs, or to learn about his workshops and instructional videos, visit his website.

To upgrade your drop-in polarizer, you'll need to ship the drop-in polarizer that fits your lens to Singh-Ray along with payment for the LB Warming Polarizer glass plus $50 custom mounting fee ($260 + shipping). This service is also available for our Gold-N-Blue Polarizer ($240 + shipping), or LB ColorCombo ($420 + shipping). For more information, call Singh-Ray at 863-993-4100.