It’s that time of the year….the skies up north in Alaska are starting to get dark at night. And that means the Aurora photography season is soon upon us! I don’t know what it is, but aurora photography is addictive and a ton of fun…I can’t wait. I’m off to Iceland soon, and checking the Read More
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Vello extension tubes for Nikon Z
I was photographing in the Galapagos last week. Every time I visit I just can’t believe how close the wildlife comes to the camera. The Galapagos enforces a six foot rule….meaning you can’t get closer than six feet to wildlife…a little different than the typical national park 75 yards! This trip I wanted to do Read More
High Key or exposing for the subject?
One popular trend in wildlife photography is high key. This look bleaches out the background and even part of the subject by overexposing much of the image. Take a look at this cute bear cub in Alaska. The background is blown out and the cub jumps off the page. This image was basically straight out Read More
How low to go for wildlife images?
I have been on the road for the last few weeks, first in Glacier NP and then in Lake Clark NP photographing bears. Both trips were incredible with fantastic photography. Lake Clark had lots of spring cubs this year, which always present some nice images. Our visit timed with very low tides, which meant we Read More
Outex Underwater Housing
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