I get this question a lot…short answer is yes! Digital darkroom editing has come a long ways, and it is incredible what is possible. Now with the click of a button I can select my subject or sky, make all sorts of changes, and be done in minutes instead of hours. One area photographers often Read More
Blog
What RAW compression format to use?
We were meeting with a group of photographers on zoom last night discussing an upcoming bear photography workshop, and a good question came up. First, how many flash cards to bring, and second, what RAW format to use to maximize flash card space. First, in terms of wildlife trips, expect to shoot more than you Read More
Photographing warblers at Magee Marsh
Ever since I started birding, I wanted to go to Magee Marsh. These wetlands bordering Lake Erie were almost mythical. Loads of migrating birds stack up on the south side of the lake, resting and eating before making the long flight north over Lake Erie. Reports of birds ‘dripping’ off bushes sounded too good to Read More
Bokeh is more than backgrounds
I had a great question recently from a workshop participant. Their question was this…they are taking a bear photography workshop this summer, and wondered what lens to bring….a 400mm F5.6 or a 400mm F2.8? They also wondered how far backgrounds were relative to the bears, and if they needed to bring a F2.8 lens to Read More
How to sight a lens and find your subject.
Cree and I just finished up a month of bird photography workshops…Texas bird blinds, bayous in Louisiana, and 33 different warblers in Ohio…fantastic trips! Bird photography has come a long ways since I first started…imagine tracking a flying bird with a manual focus 500mm lens and ISO100 film! Mirrorless cameras and incredible subject detection/focus modes Read More
Do I need flash for bird photography?
I have been getting some great questions about bird photography, and the latest one was about using flash with bird photography. Does flash make a better picture? Will available light be okay on a cloudy day with no flash? What birds look good with flash? All excellent questions! And with most things in photography, there Read More
Lens Minimum Focus Distance
It’s spring migration right now, and bird photography is at the top of the list for many wildlife photographers. Who can resist those colorful warblers? Cree and I are in the middle of a month of bird photography… just shot in the Texas bird blinds for two weeks and rattled off 40,000 images. I’m sure Read More
Nikon 14-24mm 2.8 Z for $1625
Just a quick note. This week Nikon is putting its refurbished gear on sale…some items for 35% off. Nikon Z9s were selling for $4100, the 85mm 1.2 Z lens is $1820…and the incredible Z 14-24mm F2.8 is selling for $1625. These prices are literally more than a thousand dollars off. Items going quick, get them Read More
Photography is a conversation, not a lecture…
Had a few questions from folks on my creativity posts and what is the ‘right way’ to do things. The questions stemmed from hearing other photographers say there is only one ‘right way’ to do something. Or I guess it was implied that if you weren’t using a specific technique then plain and simple you Read More
Direct the viewer’s eye
One valuable part of our workshops is image review. Feedback is part of the creative process, and helps us become better photographers. There is a lot of criteria for feedback, some aspects focus on technical merits and other feedback focuses on graphic elements. And there is always the more subjective, bigger picture of creativity and Read More
Auto ISO versus Manual Mode for bird/wildlife photography
Last week I was in Costa Rica photographing the amazing wildlife with a workshop group. The bird photography was incredible, so many species flying through the jungle. During our shooting a question came up about what is the best shooting mode for birds (and wildlife), Manual mode using auto ISO….or full manual mode and setting Read More
Speed up your workflow
We get this question a lot…how do you download images so quickly? On wildlife trips we might shoot 8000 images in one day….after a week in Africa we might have 60,000 images. Workflow involves a lot of elements from downloading, culling, labeling, and finally backup to storage systems. The first part is downloading your images, Read More