Tech Tips

Just returned from Photoshop World in Las Vegas, this is the 3rd year in a row I have gone.  I get a lot of questions on workshops asking ways to learn new technique and creativity.  How about spending 3-4 days with some of the best photographers and photoshop gurus in the business?  Every year I Read More

Many of you have been asking is it possible to use high speed sync with the Elinchrom Quadra using Pocket Wizard’s Flex transmitters and Hypersync. The short answer is yes, very much so.  The image above was shot using a Quadra with ‘S’ head at 1/2500, F5 at ISO 100.  Camera was a D300s, 14-24mm Read More

We are lucky to live right near a scenic river and big reservoir in Colorado. Our front yard in the summer looks like a yard sale of boating gear.  One day whitewater kayaks, the next day sea kayaks, and the next day canoes. Since my wife likes to sea kayak as much as she can Read More

Some folks have emailed wondering how I got some earlier images that seem taken underwater yet still triggering flash above water. I have been using some fantastic gear by AquaTech to get these unique perspectives. Here is a recent shot from floating in a snowmelt river using an AquaTech D300s housing and an SB900 housing. Read More

So far I have only looked at using the fast flash sync speeds using the Pocket Wizard Flex System for freezing the action.  What else can you do with that lightning fast shutter speed?  How about using wide open apertures to create selective focus in an image?  I was shooting fly fishing the other day Read More

I have continued to work with the Pocket Wizard Flex Mini TT1 and ST4 with my Elinchrom Ranger (see last post).  Here’s the good news.  After more experimentation, I can sync my D3 at 1/1000 at full power.  And even at 1/1250 I get minimal flash fall off and clipping.  1/1250 will freeze most subjects Read More

If you are an action shooter like me, then you need to shoot at fast shutter speeds..1/1000 or faster to capture the action. But using flash at this speed required high speed sync, which in turn meant using multiple speedlights to get enough power to illuminate the subject. Speedlights work well, and have some advantages Read More

April is a great month to shoot skiing in Colorado. Warm temps, blue sky days, and midweek very few skiers on the slopes….no lift lines. I wanted to shoot a classic sunstar jump image, which meant two things. First, I needed a skier that can fly high out of pipes and off jumps. Enter Dave, Read More

I recently finished another photography training video for Kelby Training, this one on winter sports. We had a blast with Scott, Matt and Adam before the video shoot, shooting straight through a huge blizzard and wallowing through snow drifts.  Check out Scott’s blog for more details.  One of the athletes we got to photograph was Read More

Just back from Patagonia, had a good trip with everyone, and some great laughs!  We photographed a wide range of subjects, from landscapes, ice climbers, wildlife to tango shows.  Some of my favorite images from the trip are portraits. Backgrounds are an important part of a portrait, they either add some context to the image, Read More