After a long, long wait, I finally found a tripod that matched my spec for light-weight backpacking. I shoot while backpacking with a full-frame, Canon 5D Mark III, with lenses that range from a 14mm f/2.8 to a 70-200mm f/4 zoom. Body and lens, this is demanding stuff for a light-weight tripod. My criteria list […]
Bird Photography Audio ___ 2014/06
Note: I stopped using audio to attract birds in the spring of 2021. It’s bothered me for some time that using song to imitate a rival bird, forcing the target bird to expend energy singing (defending), is not in the bird’s best interest. Currently, I often make use of Cornell’s Merlin app to help identify […]
Chickadee Flight Shot Challenge _____ 2014/05
It’s prime bird photography time, and my backyard chestnut-backed chickadees had eggs that hatched in a homemade nesthole May 9th. It’s a good photo-op, sunlit in the late afternoon, and with birds that tolerate my nearby presence. I shot a few “portrait-type” shots of the birds landing at the hole with bugs or grubs in […]
Photographer Kayak: Necky Elias ____ 2014/04
I’ve been paddling a fiberglass Necky Elias for a year now and I’m constantly reminded of its suitability for photographers. Our needs are a bit different from other paddlers; those needs include ample stowage, ample hatch and cockpit openings, and maneuverability. Speed is rarely an issue. Open ocean suitability is a plus. The Necky Elias […]
Ultralight Camera Bag—Reconsidered ____ 2014/03
Updated 7/28/2020 In recent years while backpacking, I stowed my Canon 5D in a Tamrac 3330 Aero Zoom30 (7½W x 5D x 8H external). The 7 oz. bag is the lightest I’ve found that meets the need of housing a full-frame camera with zoom lens attached. It’s cheap at $20 (Amazon). In the field, I […]
A Most Important Thing ____ 2014/02
Early on, nature photographers are taught the necessity of using a tripod. The great teacher John Shaw calls the tripod a crucial, best single accessory. Pros use tripods. With a tripod you slow down, take control and become a better photographer. You can better fine tune compositions, pick and choose elements like line and shape, […]
2013 Favorite Images Critique ____ 2014/01
I wasn’t thinking I had many favorites when I created a 2013_best_images Collection in Lightroom from the filtered three-star-or-better images of 2013. But I found many I was quite fond of, and in a couple short sessions whittled those to ten. Often it’s the field experience as much as the composition that yields a favorite, […]
Lightroom 5 HSL Panel: More Pop and Mystery ____ 2013/12
Last year (2012/09 Photo Tip), I wrote about using Lightroom Development tools to create Pop and Mystery in a photo. The gist: darken skies, selectively increase color saturation and increase contrast. Ansel Adams famously said the negative is the score, the print the performance. The RAW file you create in camera is a digital negative; […]
Background in Wildlife Photography ____ 2013/11
Photographing elk is much like other wildlife photography, in that background is often key. Early in October I was in Jasper National Park, Alberta, waiting for the weather to break for a planned kayak paddle of Maligne Lake. While I waited I met a friend, Norm Dougan, by coincidence, and for two days he graciously […]
GoPro Hero3 Video/Stills Modes Illustrated ____ 2013/10
I’ve been a GoPro fan since they introduced their fish-eye lens—and particularly since the Hero2 intro—when I thought the quality was good enough to actually buy one. The wide-angle, distorted view of the GoPro perfectly captures the essence of the POV (point-of-view) video action cam. The Hero3 Black Edition—in many ways 2x better than the […]