D4 Thoughts

Like many of you, I anxiously await the arrival of the D4 in my office. I have not been fortunate to hold or see one of the IP models that is in the states. I have received no less then just shy of 2000 emails asking me various questions about the D4. I truly wish I had all the answers right now, I really, really, really do but I don’t. I can answer some of the more general ones though like, “Did you sell your D3s (2 of them) in anticipation of the D4?” That’s a duh, having 5 camera bodies is a bit overkill. So that’s a yes, D3s out (all but 1) and D4s in. “What feature in the D4 makes you want to buy one?” It’s new! Sorry, cheap shot. I have a critter project where high ISO video would make the difference between getting the data the researchers need. So that’s a done deal for me. And a personal note, having the metering switch removed from the prism to me is worth the $6k, it drives me nuts on the D3 series! “Will the investment in the D4 make you money?” I don’t know but if it get’s the answers the researchers need for the critter then it’s worth its price 100 fold! “Are you going to get rid of your D3x?” Probably not, it’s what we use for all our cockpit panos. “Do you recommend the D4 to other photographers?” While I understand where this question is coming from, how can I recommend something not in my hands yet. “Do you know when it will be released?” I do not have that information but B&H is saying sometime mid to late February. You can preorder your D4 now and if you want it sooner rather then later, preorder now! Another common question is if I will create a D4 website like I did for the D3? Right now, I doubt it and the main reason is because there are so many other great resources now for that so I can put my time into other educational, informational resources for you in regards to the photographic problems the D4 can solve. After today’s Google+ live broadcast from Scott Kelby and the NPS guys, it is obvious there is a TON of features in the D4 that were left out of the brochure and spec sheet. I can honestly say that now, two weeks after the announcement of the D4, I am excited and anxious to get one. Come on Mr Ups…drop one off soon!

Sketching Light – Speaking of Light

It’s no secret I think McNally walks on water. He don’t, I know he’s all wet but that doesn’t stop me from being his biggest fan. For many years, past, present and I hope the future, I’ve seen him work his magic over and over and over again. What’s magic is he let me watch because what he does is an art, skill and passion with light that as far as I’m concerned, no book will ever contain. Joe though is a very passionate teacher and so wants other to enjoy the fun, frustration and experience of bringing light to your photography passion. You’ll want a copy of Sketching Light on your night stand, desk, camera bag and car seat. You won’t be able to put it down!

View from 2nd Seat

Jake is shooting video now too, here’s the view from his seat of this historic flight.

Start the Year Right!

There is this really nice lady, damn fine photographer and attorney out there trying to help us all. Her name is Carolyn Wright. She has a marvelous website / blog with information that photographers should have access to, understand and use. Her blog post today Start the Year Right! is excellent and is simply sound advice. Check ‘er out, you won’t be sorry you did!

Wishing You The Very Best!

The Peterson Herd wishes one and all a Very Merry Christmas!

One of Those Great Pay Days!

Today was our B&H day, complete 4hrs of presentations and meetings. Other the a quick, delicious lunch at Stage Door deli, we were at the store the whole time. I was here to attempt to entertain and inspire folks, give back to an industry that has given Sharon & I so much. Well after the landscape presentation, this very nice couple who had been waiting behind everyone else who was asking questions walked up to me. I had to look up into the eyes on the gentleman, he was tall, and he had broad shoulders yet his eyes were incredibly kind. He was a little shy when he approached and fiddle with a white shopping bag. As he was pulling the something out of the bag, he said that they, his wife and he had gotten so much from my blog and the like that they wanted to say thank you in return. He seemed a little chocked up and so was I when I saw what the little something was. I asked if the shirt was from his house, the wife like all good wives chimed in then to say he was the Capt there. There are many rewards that come from this biz, just the emails you send to say thanks means alot. But when someone like a fireman who really does something to give back to society presents you a company shirt, especially a NYFD, wow! It’s one of those great pay days you just never see coming. Thank you!

Thanks for the Blessings!

Being able to stress over what to blog five days a week is just one of the blessing this profession provides, but the wonders we’re so fortunate to see and chase with our cameras has to be one of the best. May you and yours have a marvelous day and all the good will of the day chase you all year long!

And now for a serious moment.

Google Just Simply Rocks!

Just finished my talk at Google and had a helluva an audience! I think when I asked my dear friend Mike Wiacek what he thought summed it up best. “The parts I listened to were great!” Friends! I totally changed up my presentation and did aviation, wildlife and landscape, all in an hour. We had a great day and thank all the folks especially those for standing in the back since there were no chairs, for sticking with me. Remember, photography is all about sharing!

Great Blog on Printing

Pocket Wizard Firmware Update

I’ve been using the Pocket Wizards a lot since I’ve been doing a bunch of shooting where the flash units were not in line of site of the camera. The Pocketwizard MiniTT1 along with FlexTT5 really extends the capabilities of Nikon’s CLS system. Other then pilot error forgetting to turn off the units when done killing batteries (I carry a stack of spares now), I’ve found the Pocket Wizards to be working perfectly for my needs. When you buy them (contact Jeff at Adorama) they come witha computer UI which permits you to not only program them, but update their firmware. If you have a set, firmware 3.03 was posted yesterday taking care of one big bug. And if you don’t own them, you might give them a gander. They can be a great tool for complex flash work.

Whata Gift!

Naomi, whata gift! And to think you made it with a chainsaw (simply amazing) just for me, I’m speechless….Thanks! It’s just another reason why we love it here.

NAPP Photo Safari – Bonnie Springs

PSW is going which means it was time for the NAPP Safari. I’m honored to be able to teach this along with one my heroes Joe McNally. We were at Bonnie Springs, a great western ghost town outside Las Vegas. I was able to get Valerie away from Joe for just a second, literally to do a quick interior fill flash demo inside the saloon. Now you might was saying, fill flash indoors? The major part of the exposure is from two windows out of frame as a little from the light over her head. There is a SB-900 out of the frame on the left. The shutter speed is 1/4 at f/4 handheld. We spent 4min on the click. Just a quick simple click making use of some natural moody light.

Jake’s Magic Hour

Jake (our son for those who don’t know) is simply knocking the pixels out of the park! Here’s his latest spread(pg45). Congrats kid, now I know what we never saw you at Osh!

What am I Teaching at PSW?

“What am I teaching?” Next week is Photoshop World and I’ve been receiving more and more emails with this question. There is so much to see, hear and learn at PSW, one simply can’t make every class so prioritizing is a must. If you’ve not grabbed the new, outstanding, free Photoshop World app for your iPhone/iPad, grab it because it permits you to create your own special schedule of classes you must attend. I will be of course teaching with my good friend, the amazing Joe McNally, the Napp Safari. We have a brand new locale for our shoot that I know will be a haunting good time. I’ll be on the show floor in the Peach Pit Theater talking wildlife photography and I have two classes I would like you to attend. Aviation Photography on the 8^th at 8:15 and ACR Landscape on the 9^th at 8:15 (ouch!). So why would you wanna get up early and come to my classes, just what might your learn?

You point your lens at a bird, rock, boat, car, baseball player or perhaps a plane every now and then? Then you’ll leave this class learning tons. What, it’s not just for aviation photographers? Aviation photographers will dig the subjects in all the photographs the most because all the photos are of planes. But the techniques from metering, panning, background, depth of field, static or moving targets are the same for birds or sports or planes. Once we cover these basics we move on to much more important topics like composition, communicating motion and the most important, romance! Yeah, you can bring romance even to a photo of a plane if you understand the basics and connect it to exposure and run that through your heart. I’m sure you’ve heard that saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” You could say that same thing about my classes. So if you’re into photography and getting the most out of every click, you might just like this class. Wanna take your photography to the next level? I know I’ll give you at least one tip to accomplish that. And if we go for the home run and you have an interest in aviation photography, I might just take you down the path I’ve gone with this exhilarating and exciting photographic pursuit! And if not, you might just find out it’s a pretty cool photographic pursuit. Oh yeah, there will be some finishing tricks as well!

Now what’s this ACR Landscape class all about? Most know how to use ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) since it’s native in Lightroom, Bridge and Photoshop. But how many of you compose your landscape photos using ACR in your mind? I have found many photographers pass by amazing photos because they have not spent enough time playing with our finishing tools to know instinctively how they can make a great photograph from what appears to be zero. Even more important I feel is knowing these tools so they can help you at the point of capture to arrange the elements in the frame so you not only entertain the viewer of your photograph, but grab their heart strings. How am I going to teach this so in an hour, so bloody early in the morning it will not only make sense but you can use it? Well, I’m going to teach it in a totally new way that I think will almost guarantee you’ll learn the concepts, techniques and be able to apply them the next time you go shooting.

I’m teaching and presenting during the entire conference but these are the only two classes where I’ve taken all the step by step notes for you which you’ll find in the massive Photoshop World Workbook. These are also the only two classes that are so bloody early! And if that’s not enough, I have bribery, give aways to get you to my classes! If you see me, say hi, introduce yourself and hopefully I’ll see you in class and have the opportunity to share with you what I’ve been so fortunate to learn behind the camera!

There’s a Seat Waiting for You!

What one of our attendees had to say about Photoshop for Shooters

WOW! What a great weekend I had. Learning, shooting and learning some more and making new friends. I think you have a hit with your new series of classes and will be talking it up to friends. You took me to new depths of Photoshop which will open up an entirely new area of editing for me. Oh, the hotel was a really nice place too!

Thanks again for the great teaching and hospitality.
Warmest Regards,
Tom Walker

Here it is plain and simple, I want to help folks with their photography and the vehicle we’re going to use in this class is Photoshop to help improve your captures! And we’re going to do that by using Photoshop to learn how to be better at the camera and the computer. We’ll talk camera settings and lenses, curves and exposure, Silver Efex Pro and lenses, HDR and composition. They go hand in hand and knowledge of both is so important I feel to get what you see and feel reaching the heartstrings you’re sharing your photography with. And that’s the end game to all of this, grabbing heartstrings.

One of the unique things we provide you is a 14pg Location Shot list. We want you to shoot while you’re here but shooting is not part of the class. So to encourage this, we provide ideas of places to shoot, when to shoot there and how to find it for shoots around the Mammoth area. One of the locations we provide info to for you to shoot at is Bodie. This class offers this and so much more!

Wanna learn more….click here…or simply call WRP @760.924.8632 or 661.204.1506. Next workshop is 8-9 Oct, 2011 (couple of seats open).

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