Shooting Tips

A little while ago Digital Photo asked me to do a story on flash, and one topic that comes up all the time is manual versus TTL flash.  There are two schools of thought, and very passionate opinions on which is best.  Honestly, I’m less worried about what is best versus what works.  If you Read More

Expanding on my last post, I’ve had some folks point out that not many photographers are using super telephotos with Memory Recall buttons.  Point taken.  Their question is how to speed up focus with just a normal lens.  Perfect, here is a list!  Focus limit switch. Many lenses have a focus limit switch.  This switch Read More

Any technology that increases focus speed is a good thing for photographers.  Whether you are photographing a street performer in Florence, or a bird returning to its nest, if you don’t get sharp focus, your image gets deleted.  One function that many telephoto lenses have is Memory recall.  If you are wondering why you pay Read More

Photographers like tack sharp images, so we do everything we can to stabilize our cameras.  Tripods do the trick…except when you don’t have one.  I photograph a lot of travel, and most times I am roaming the streets shooting hand held.  Being spontaneous is important with street photography.  I can increase my ISO and open Read More

One of the reasons I love to teach workshops is to share some things I’ve learned about developing creativity.  First, we need to develop our technical skills.  You have to know how your camera operates, and maybe some advanced techniques, to help you bring your creative ideas to life in photographs.  There are some who Read More

I have been working on images from my recent trip to the redwoods, and have used some filters and plugins that might interest others in their post processing techniques.  Take a look at the image above. My goal: enhance the fog, and do anything to add to the ‘mythical forest’ concept.  To enhance fog, my Read More

I’m en route right now to the California Redwoods and the Oregon coast.  Last year I spent a week here exploring, hiking, scouting and photographing this amazing area.  I was struck by the beauty, both big and small, in this environment.  I spent some days shooting along the coast, and Bandon beach was impressive.  I Read More

I’m getting ready to head out to the Redwoods to teach a workshop, and I am super excited.  I spent a week out there last summer and created some of my favorite images from 2017.  While the workshop is focused on landscapes, I’m bringing multiple speed lights.  Why?  Because I have some ideas I want Read More

Each year I find myself going up in small planes and helicopters to photograph.  Some of my most memorable shoots have been in the air.  Many years ago I photographed an air service in Alaska.  To get the shot, we took the doors off my plane for unobstructed shooting, and flew around Denali shadowing the Read More

I just returned from teaching a photo workshop in the Badlands, and we experienced some of the wildest weather I have ever seen.  We knew June would be good for newborn bison and bighorn sheep, green prairies and wildflowers.  We hoped we might get some good thunderstorms, but we didn’t expect supercells moving through day Read More