Photo Tip: Ligthroom 3 Black and White ____ 2011/11

If Ansel Adams had had the darkroom power of Lightroom 3 to manipulate black and white imaging, he’d do a leaping victory dance like Jack Black in The Big Year. Ansel artfully dodged and burned his negatives, and controlled light in the field with filters, one filter per shot. Today, digital age tools boost control […]

Photo Tip: Look Thrice; Shoot Once ____ 2011/10

Photographing Wildflowers I reviewed some wildflower scenics from my August, 2011, Olympic National Park shoots and was once again reminded of the old carpenter maxim “measure twice, cut once”.  The low cost of shooting digital removes the cost barrier to shooting, shooting, shooting. Why not make dozens of shots? Surely some will succeed. I get […]

Photo Tip: Composition for Panoramas ____ 2011/09

I had some fun shooting panoramas in August. Some worked out well and some didn’t; there were a few pleasing surprises. A successful pano requires not so much mastery of the technical aspects, easily done, but thought and imagination with composition that is especially demanding with rapidly changing light or with people on the move. […]

Photo Tip: Reverse Stacked Lens Macro ____ 2011/08

With the prolonged gray-sky (Seattle) weather stretching into July, I started looking for subjects and techniques to get some sort of advantage: subjects I could pursue regardless of the gloom; techniques that eliminate a gray sky. Shooting under a gray sky is like photography in a studio moved outdoors—you just don’t want to point your […]

Clipped Bird Wing Repair in Photoshop Elememts 8 ____ 2011/07

A throw-away image rises to four-stars. I was in Eastern Washington last week at a Williamson’s Sapsucker nest site. They’re interesting birds, and unlike other woodpeckers, the male and female look completely different. The male is a black and white typical of woodpeckers, but the female is brown with spectacular white barring on the wings. […]

Photo Tip: Focus Stacking ____ 2011/06

Focus stacking is a relatively new digital imaging technique, especially useful for macro and scientific photography, and an occasional aid for landscapes and small portraits as well. It’s a clever digital answer to lens optic limits that conspire to demolish resolution and depth-of-field (DOF). Image resolution falls precipitously at high f-stops (f/22 and smaller). Depth-of-field […]

Expedition Critique

“Old wisdom says, ‘Find out what you did wrong and never do it again.‘  New wisdom says, ‘Find out what you did right, so you can be sure to do it again.‘  The old way suggests moving ahead while looking back over your shoulder. The new way suggests moving forward by finding safe footholds and […]

Expedition Trip Photography Plan, Part II—the Photo Plan ___ 2011/04

Some photographers travel to shoots without researching the site. The idea is to have “no preconceptions”, I suppose, or to look at scenes as they unfold with “fresh eyes”. I like the idea of “no preconceptions”, but I think the more you know about a place the better prepared you are, and the better you […]

Expedition Trip Photography Plan, Part I—the Gear ___ 2011/03

Two years ago, I wrote about photography on a longish kayak trip (Ten-day Power Trip, 06/2009) in Baja, a trip without the ability to charge batteries. My solution then was extra batteries and plenty of flash memory, coupled with judicious use of those resources. A solar charger didn’t make sense—the trip wasn’t long enough—and a […]

2010 Favorite Images Critique ___ 2011/01

I thought it would be instructive to look at some of my favorite 2010 images, with a story and critique about the shot. I worked the birds by kayak pretty well early in the year, and then got in some hikes and backpacks to scenic places in the summer and fall. Although I also did […]