Last week I was in Alaska for a tourism assignment. We had some of the best weather I have ever seen in Alaska, 70 degrees and sunny skies day after day. This worked great for our shoot, including a spectacular day on the Knik Glacier photographing paddle boarding. Yes, you heard right. Tourism is getting Read More
New Lightroom Adaptive Presets
Adobe has been busy adding some nice new features to Lightroom. We still think adding the mask feature was one of the best things they have ever done, we use it constantly in our editing. A lot of AI computing went into the auto masks, and that is what Adobe decided to add when they Read More
Nikon 400mm F2.8 Z with 2x converter
I’ve never been a fan of 2x converters. While 1.4x works great with many lenses, 2x just seems to loose a lot of acuity. But we photograph in a new world now; the sharpness of new mirrorless lenses way surpasses older versions. I have been very happy using the new Z 1.4x on my 100-400mm Read More
Nikon Article on Z9 Pre-Release
When Nikon added firmware 2.0 for the Z9, an incredible camera just got even better. One feature they added is called Pre-Release Capture. What is this? With this feature you are able to buffer images with the back button (or shutter) pressed halfway down. Basically the camera is recording images on the buffer, but it Read More
Nikon 400mm F2.8 Z 1.4x
I’ve been holding off writing a review of this lens until I really had a chance to use it…a lot. I’ve shot over 40,000 images with it over the last month, extensive shooting in Texas at bird blinds and just home from a bird photography workshop in Nome Alaska. Yes, this is one of the Read More
Do I need a Polarizer?
I did an online presentation last night for Singh-Ray on filter use in my photography. I have used their filters my entire career, and they open up creative possibilities I wouldn’t have otherwise. After the show I had a question from a viewer who asked ‘do you really need to use a polarizer in the Read More
Nikon Z9 Swallows in Flight
After leading multiple bird photography workshops as well as jungle wildlife trips shooting over 80,000 images in the Z9, I’m starting to get a feel for the incredible performance of this camera. I practically wept when I sold my D6…could the Z9 be that good? Yes, and then some. I just spent hours on my Read More
What is editorial photography?
Just back from leading a workshop in Spain…beautiful country with friendly people and great food! During our trip we did image reviews and talked a lot about what makes a good travel image…and portfolio. A lot of my assignments involve travel imagery, and creating work that conveys the experience to the viewer. During our time Read More
Nikon 800mm F6.3
I just returned from 10 days of photographing in the south Texas bird blinds, and the shooting was so good I took over 30,000 images. Crazy, right? Migrants and colorful nesting birds kept the action going all day long. While I was there I got a note my new Z 800mm F6.3 lens was ready Read More
How to improve creativity. Try primes.
Probably the question I get the most teaching workshops is how to improve creativity. Sure, there are a lot of questions on new camera features and techniques. But these things are tangible to most photographers, and are easier to quantify and learn. But creativity…is there a step by step pathway to better creativity? One thing Read More