I shoot a lot of portrait assignments for magazines and advertising. On some tourism shoots we might photograph 40 or 50 different people over a one week shoot. Often the client wants light, airy inviting people images….and light/airy often means adding sun flare. Flare adds a positive uplifting feeling to most portraits, which is what Read More
Blog
D850 on sale!
The ever popular Nikon D850 is now on sale. The price has dropped from$3200 to $3000. The sale is being offered at major online camera dealers and possibly your local dealer (call to find out). I’m not sure how long this sale will last. I have been using the D850 since it came out about Read More
Radial Filter
We just finished a portrait shoot the other day of a terrific model in a gritty local alley. Well, as gritty as Fort Collins can get, which isn’t much. But the image came out nice using a 35mm 1.4, one of my favorite environmental portrait lenses. In post I wanted to work on the surrounding Read More
Fill Flash for birds
As part of my earlier post on flash extenders, I wanted to follow up with a simple post on flash exposure using a Better Beamer or similar product. You have two main choices for flash mode, Manual or a TTL mode. Manual flash is just that; the flash pops at whatever power setting you are Read More
Lens diffraction
Last night I did a webinar for Singh-Ray Filters, and the audience had some terrific questions. One question brought up a point you don’t hear mentioned a lot when talking about when to use filters; lens diffraction. What is lens diffraction? Light waves enter the camera through the aperture opening reaching the sensor, resulting in Read More
Dressing for the cold
I’m headed to Fairbanks this winter to teach a northern lights photography workshop. I can’t wait; last year we had incredible aurora displays multiple nights in a row. The snowy winter landscape is magical…and yes, cold. But rather suffer through hours of subfreezing temperatures, I have learned to dress warm enough to stay toasty all Read More
Unexpected results
I had a photo shoot planned this morning with a model I’ve worked with for many years. I had no firm idea of where the shoot was headed, I just knew I wanted to get out and shoot a portrait. Looking out my office window this morning, the thermometer said 36 degrees and there was Read More
Singh-Ray Webinar
I’ve been using Singh-Ray filters my entire career, and I always carry them on shoots. These filters open up new creative possibilities in the field, and change the way I photograph a scene. My current selection includes graduated NDs, 5, 10 and 15 stop NDs and color-combo polarizing filters. Next Monday (Jan. 14th) I will Read More
Flash Extenders
I just returned from an assignment photographing birds in Texas for an upcoming magazine story. Contrary to what I expected, we didn’t get endless sunny days. Instead, cool wet weather was the norm. This diffused light is great for photographing birds; less contrast, saturated colors and you can shoot all day. But you loose the Read More
Nikon 105mm F1.4
This fall I was in Portugal on a fantastic workshop, and one of the participants asked if I would like to borrow his 105mm F1.4. I had shot the 105mm before, and knew it was really nice. But I had the legendary 85mm F1.4, and have used it as my main portrait lens for years. Read More
3-2-1 Backup
One question I get a lot on workshops is how to backup your images. A simple question, but it gets confusing when there are so many suggestions on what is the right method. I’ll tell you how we back up over a half million digital images and all our office files…and I promise to keep Read More
Sandisk Extreme Team Advertorial
Always nice to be featured in magazine ads…check out the current issue of Digital Photo Pro. Sandisk ran an advertorial featuring my work and the backstory of my career. It’s been an honor to work with Sandisk through the years. The Sandisk Extreme Team recognizes photographers who push the limits in their genre, and I Read More