Shooting Tips

I just returned from eight marvelous days photographing in France teaching a photo workshop for Strabo Tours.  Cree lived in France and speaks fluent French, so this trip was very special for her.  For me it was visiting a city and region rich with art and photography history.  Who doesn’t want to roam the streets Read More

Just in from ten days in Alaska working on an assignment and just enjoying being up north.  You never know what kind of weather you are going to get there, some summers are sunny all the time, and other summers it just rains and rains.  During our trip we got rain, so much so that Read More

As photographers have been setting up their Nikon Z8 and Z9s some questions have come up about a few specific settings.  One of those is Active D lighting, found in the shooting menu.  The big distinction with in-camera settings is those that affect RAW files and those that only affect JPEGS.  We always encourage photographers Read More

A topic that is picking up a lot of traffic right now is ISO invariance.  I’ve had a lot of questions come up on it, and photographers are wondering what my recommendation is about it.  Should I change my shooting habits?  Does it really affect my images?  Can’t new cameras just get it right without Read More

Just back from another great workshop.  We spent a week in the Ecuadorian cloud forest photographing hummingbirds, tanagers, toucans…over 30 species of hummingbirds alone!  Anytime you photograph in the jungle the light can be low, especially with cloudy skies and sometimes rain.  Our group focused on photographing from established blinds and feeding stations, so it Read More

Just spent a week photographing hummingbirds in Madera Canyon in Arizona. I’ve been birding and photographing in this canyon for 40 years, the first place that really got me interested in birds…hard to believe it has been that long.  We had a great group, and lots of hummingbirds.  We spent almost 8 hours a day Read More

Yesterday morning I was on Bandon beach in Oregon teaching a workshop.  We had cloudy, moody skies, perfect for creating stunning ocean photographs.  The million dollar question came up…how do you photograph the water in the ocean landscape?  And the answer is….it depends on the mood you want to create. The first big question is Read More

We’re just in from a busy two weeks in Alaska, first week photographing bears and puffins (amazing trip, check out the trip report) and second week shooting for Alaska tourism.  A fun part of our tourism assignment is the diversity of the photography…still life food shots, wildlife, aerials, interiors…and even traditional sports.  This year we Read More

In Africa just a few weeks ago we had some warm, sunny weather. Not scorching hot, but just hot enough that midday was pretty hot.  On some wildlife drives we were still out in the middle of the day, especially in the great migration.  Thousands of animals just kept coming over the horizon, how could Read More

I have been on the road for the last two weeks in Tanzania teaching a workshop.  I’ve been to Africa many times, but never have I seen the great migration as well as this trip.  Thousands and thousands of migrating animals, and our vehicles were in the middle of it.  These days it is harder Read More