He Almost Fell To Death | Stoke-Ness
Film photo of @alexstrohl on top of Mount Siyeh in a 70mph wind gust.
"Lack of confidence kills more dreams than lack of ability
Talent matters—especially at elite levels—but people talk themselves out of giving their best effort long before talent becomes the limiting factor. You're capable of more than you know. Don't be your own bottleneck. - James Clear
Boy if this doesn’t sum up the reasons why I have and have not been successful in my life. I hope you take this fall season to believe in yourself and not give up before you hit your limits.
In this month’s issue, I share the splitboard I’ve been using, a video that will have you on the edge of your seat and how to make better photos in mid day light.
Be stoked,
Isaac
Photo/Video Technique
photo by @m.a.e.bee
How to take better photos in mid day light
When I first started taking photos I didn’t shoot in “bad” light ever. As a primarily outdoor/landscape photographer back then, I noticed that shooting anytime after sunrise or before sunset made my photos impossible to edit, harsh and flat. I avoided shooting daylight photos at all costs.
But that means most hours of shootable light are just wasted. As my skill increased, I spent more time experimenting with the best techniques to shoot and edit in mid day. Here are a few things I’ve learned:
It’s hard. This is not something you get the hang of right away. If you jump into this knowing that it takes time, you will have more patience to keep at it until you find your own way of getting good results.
Shoot to expose the highlights. The range from the brightest part of your image to the darkest is going to be much farther than when you shoot morning or evening light. Often when you balance the image exposure on a daylight photo your highlights will still be overexposed. With modern digital cameras you can bring so much detail back into the shadows when you edit, but if you over expose the highlights, that information is gone. I expose for the highlights and then edit to bring back the dark part of my image in post.
Shoot Film. There are certain films that do a really great job handling mid day light. Color Plus 200 and Porta 400 are two really good films for mid day. They have a way of creating a soft roll off of the highlights that looks natural that digital cant match for mid day shooting. The image above was shot with Color Plus and is nearly a perfect “edit” without needing to edit anything.
Try some presets from folks who make them that have mid day shots you love. I’d recommend @forrestmankins presets. Dont just use the presets, deconstruct them to see what sliders have been moved and how it affects the images.
Good luck and share your favorite mid day photos. I might just share my favorite reader photos here.
Gear
Weston Hachet Splitboard
Last year, some of you might remember, I was splitboarding in Glacier National Park when I broke my board. I had a heck of a time going up with one ski broken and an even harder time coming back down in what might have been the worst snow conditions of the season (ice and crust).
Well I chatted with my friends at Weston Snowboards and they sent me a brand new Hachet splitboard.
Though I wasn’t able to share my experiences on the board last season, I was able to get some safe inbounds runs after my local ski closed early. I was blown away with how fun and responsive it is. Because they designed the board to ride shorter but still float and handle like a longer board, it turns better in the trees than any board I’ve ridden. Unless I’m riding on icy hardback, I cant even tell I’m on a splitboard. It’s insanely stable and has almost no torsion flex.
My only complaint is that on drops into deep powder I found I had to get use to the nose of the board diving more than a longer board.
We all know getting a splitboard is a good idea because we don’t know if the resorts will close again this year. If you are thinking about getting one, then I’d recommend a Weston.
This is not a sponsored post, but Weston did send me the board to try out.
You can see more about the board Here
Music I'm Diggin'
Last by Tourist and The Range
A slow build song that goes out with a bang. Kinda like October?
Listen to it on Spotify here
Videos, Movies, and TV
Hanging by my ice axe over a cliff by Nikolai Schirmer
Nikolai is back with his latest series of videos and they get even rowdier than last years series. If you aren’t into skiing you will still be into these videos. Nikolai is a master filmmaker and skier but somehow steers away from making everything epic. Instead, he does epic trips while downplaying everything. It makes his films approachable and grounded.
10/10 would watch again.
Reads
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
My friend Alex Strohl recommended this book and let me borrow his copy. He said it’s one of the best adventure books he’s read. He also pointed our that on the cover there is a quote from Ernest Hemingway saying something like “it’s so well written it makes me ashamed of myself as a writer”.
I’m excited to dig into this one.
Get the book Here
Be stoked and have a great month,
Isaac
This newsletter, my photography and my videos are all free, but not cheap. If you want to help me continue to make things you can buy me virtual coffee.
