Shooting Tips

I just walked in the door from photographing bears for two solid weeks. 16,000 images of bears doing about everything you can imagine.  Honestly, we had some of the best weather I have ever seen in Alaska in this area (I was there in June and it rained multiple days).  And we also got lucky Read More

If you use Nikon cameras, you may have noticed a few years back the introduction of the ‘I’ menu.  If you are like me, you probably acknowledged its presence, but didn’t really use this menu button.  But with each new camera, Nikon kept adding more selectable options to use in this menu.  With mirrorless, this Read More

If you use flash in your photography, you might have heard of the term ghosting.  What is it, and is it bad?  I just got back from two weeks of photographing hummingbirds using flash, and ghosting showed up a few times.  Let’s look at what it is, and is it bad? When you photograph in Read More

Here is a simple tip.  Every time you are photographing a scene, make sure to photograph it completely opposite of how you are shooting it. If you are shooting from a high angle, then shoot from a low angle.  If you are shooting horizontal, how about creating a vertical version.  If you are shooting at Read More

Sometimes I think technology makes us forget mood and emotion in photography.  Every new camera that comes out boasts about the amazing dynamic range capabilities of the sensor.  At the rate we’re going, HDR photography won’t be necessary, the sensor will be able to capture it all!  But is that a good thing?  Yes, I Read More

How is that for a title?  Every year Cree and I photograph for tourism bureaus and travels stories, and one thing remains consistent on these shoots; diversity of subject matter.  Take last week in Alaska for example.  The morning started with photographing moose at first light..wildlife check.  Next was a stunning landscape image of glaciers Read More

One aspect I really enjoy about photography is problem solving.  Many times on assignments things don’t go as planned, and you need to come up with plan B, C and D.  On a recent shoot to photograph hummingbirds in Arizona, I encountered a different kind of problem. We were photographing hummingbirds on white backgrounds using Read More

Finally catching up after a fantastic month on the road, all in Alaska.  We taught two bear photo workshops in Lake Clark and Katmai NP, and then did a week long assignment for Alaska tourism.  Every trip to Alaska involves flying in small planes and often in helicopters, and this trip was no exception.  In Read More

One of the great things about teaching photo workshops is the collective vision of the group.  What is this you say?  I am constantly amazed when you have 10 people standing side by side photographing the same scene, and yet you get 10 different photographs.  Everyone’s vision is different.  And a huge value in the Read More

I’ve been photographing a lot of landscapes lately, and I keep coming back to one helpful technique: compositional subtraction.  What is this?  Put another way, this concept means ‘Should that be in my picture?’ Often with landscape photography you have more time to figure out your composition.  Now if the light is changing fast, you Read More