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 […]
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 […]
Light-Weight Backpacking and Photography __ 10/2009
I was tempted to call this tip “Small is Beautiful”.I started pruning backpacking poundage after a 1995 trip to Washington State’s Enchantments, when my pack for five days in mid-September tallied 55 lbs. There’s no reason to re-hash the old gear, but the same trip today would weigh in at about 35 lbs, with better […]
Photo Tip: Backpacker Panorama Hardware __ 09/2009
A year ago I built a light-weight panorama tool out of wood. My hope was to make back-country panoramas. My dream was to rival the pixel count of high-end, medium-format digital backs, or scanned 4×5 film cameras without the weight, bulk or cost. Here in Washington State, I imagined Prusik Peak in the Enchantments, or […]
Photo Tip: Image Maturity ___ 08/2009
The late, great Galen Rowell crafted the term “image maturity” to describe a quality of an image. In his 1993 book, The Art of Adventure Photography, Rowell explained that “immature” subjects require straight-forward depiction; with “mature” subjects, subtlety or originality prevail. He used a Snow Leopard and a deer as an example. A Snow Leopard […]
Photo Tip: 10-day Power Trip ___ 06/2009
Gearing up to photograph for a ten-day trip without power—in this instance a sea kayak trip—has two obvious concerns: flash memory and batteries. You need enough capacity in both to shoot through to the finish. Still, ten days isn’t so long that you can’t keep it simple. On a recent trip around Isla Carmen in […]