September, Bowron Lakes, BC. I got caught in a rookie mistake last week, on the Bowron Lake Canoe Circuit in British Columbia. I punched a hole in the bottom of my fiberglass Necky Eliza kayak during a portage when the padding on the aluminum rails of my cart slipped off. As I hauled the loaded […]
Photo Tip: Tripod Tricks ___ 2010/09
Last month I arrived in evening light at the Mirror Lakes reflection pond at Mt. Rainer National Park. True to its name, the quiet little tarn was a mirror, but instead of the Mountain it reflected clouds that surrounded Rainier’s massive girth. I looked about for an alternate photo to salvage the shoot. August is […]
Dark Sky Drama with Lightroom 3 Adjustment Brush ___ 2010/08
One of my favorite and frequently-used post-shoot techniques is darkening the sky, adding drama to an outdoor image. A natural dramatic sky—vivid sunsets, ominous cumulonimbus or wispy cirrus clouds—are a lusted-for backdrop, but oh so fleeting. Much more common are plain gray skies—or a blue sky devoid of interesting clouds. In a typical photo, the […]
Photo Tip: Weather, Whether ___ 2010/07
June, Olympic Peninsula, WA. With cool, wet weather dampening photography more than usual in our cool, wet NW climate, playing the weather plays a bigger than normal role in photographic outcomes. I’ve struck out often this spring trying to get saleable photos—clouds block the sun, backgrounds vanish in fog, rain ends a photo session. The […]
Tilt and Telephoto: Tools for Summer Wildflowers ___ 2010/06
Mt. Rainier National Park. A conventional 24mm could capture this shot (maybe), but seeing it is far easier with the TS-E. With the conventional 24mm, the depth-of-field preview button darkens the viewfinder too much; an alternative, an in-camera (digital) test shot evaluation, is time consuming. Near-to-far focus that’s not attainable with a conventional short telephoto […]
Can’t find your images? Step up to the Lightroom Filter Bar ___ 05/2010
I had a brief moment of alarm a few weeks ago while using the Lightroom 2 (3 looks to be the same) filter bar search tool, which is located above the thumbnail images in grid mode in the Lightroom Library (if you don’t see it, toggle the \ key and it will appear). I did […]
Got Histogram? Field Tool Extraordinaire ____ 04/2010
A camera’s histogram is a great field tool, among the best of tools in a digital photographer’s kit. It’s in the review mode built into almost every camera; some cameras even have it “live”. So take advantage of it. Learn how to use the histogram. As photographers, we’re always pushing the review button to see […]
Canon 7D: AI Servo Set-up for BIF (Bird in Flight) _ 03/2010
I bought a Canon 7D in December, and have used it for some tough bird in flight (BIF) shooting, as well as for perched but flighty songbirds. My hope for the 7D was that I finally had a camera that could nail a high percentage of BIF shots, images that my primary camera, the Canon […]
Lightroom 2 Spot Removal (on steroids) ___ 02/2010
The Spot Removal tool introduced in Lightroom 2 was a nice feature, part of set of tools that allowed manipulation of individual pixels on RAW files. Almost coincidently, though, manufacturers introduced dSLR cameras with self-cleaning sensors that worked so well Spot Removal was rarely needed for dust touch-up. I nonetheless use the tool frequently—for wildlife […]
Photo Tip: Frame It! ___ 01/2010
Camera and tripod instinctively pop out when we view a mountain sunset or ocean seascape. The tripod legs spread; we mount the camera, plug in the cable release and fire away. Later we inspect the photo and discover that it doesn’t match our memory. An elementary problem in photography is translating a dynamic 3D world […]