When you step out the door to photograph critters, do you have a handle on exposure, DoF, lens to grab, or a clean sensor? These are just a couple of the multitude of items on the checklist I cover in this class. Join me!

When I first watched the Time Lapse video you see at the top of the Landing Page, I was very happy with the results of the lightning (even though it was cut very short because of the downpour soaking the ZR). When I looked at the Time Lapse video on the computer, though, I was so mad at myself! Yes, you can see the sun go down, the stars come out, and then the clouds come in with the storm, but you shouldn’t be seeing stars in those clouds! That’s because those “stars” in the clouds are dead pixels. Sometimes they might be red or blue, in this case, they are white. I thought a number of times about running Pixel Mapping on the ZR, but never did it. It’s no big deal, have done it on all my other cameras, totally forgot, and now I have to visually pay the price. Odds are, no one would notice what they really are but me. But I know, those aren’t stars!

I’ve received a number of queries if and when I use a cage on the ZR. What you see here is the very simple cage I use, it’s the SmallRig ZR Cage w/Grip. You can see the Atmos Ninja attached bt might notice it’s “backwards.” Behind it is the Sennheiser G2. This is because the only time I use the cage is when I’m filming a class or something for my YouTube channel and need to keep track of where I am in the frame. Being a one-man band, it’s how I do it. All the other times I’m using the ZR, there is no cage on it at all. SO, I use a very simplistic ZR Cage.

Our kits need to be packed with not only the gear right for our visual storytelling, but with the vision to tell all the stories we can with light. This goes for all subjects, the beautiful and the ugly! Yes, there is no question my taste in critters is at times questioned. There are very few who would get excited about a T’d up Australian Brushturkey. This scenario, though, was very exciting. Important “farmers” of the forest floor, they are an essential critter to the health of the forest. It’s why they look the way they do, they’re always digging in the dirt!

First, the turkey felt very safe being high in the tree, there is security in distance. This provided time to dial in the light. The light coming through the canopy required underexposure of -1 2/3 to control the highlights so they didn’t pull the eye away from the subject. That underexposure at the same time made some of the tree more a design element supporting the subject rather than distracting from it. With a kiss of flash, the very cool and detailed breast feather comes to life, taking away from the face that, well, leaves a little to be desired. When you have the tools in your kit, camera gear, vision and knowledge, you’re able to easily make a nice click from the good, bad, and ugly.

When we started to haunt airports and airshows a couple of decades back, we needed a way to have our camera gear always with us and at the same time, be hands-free to do things like push aircraft. Leaving a bag of gear on the ramp and walking away from it is not only bad form, but it’s also out of reach when you need it. I then happened upon the Mountainsmith at REI, the perfect solution, so I outfitted all three of us with one. We’ve used them ever since until this year, when, well, I simply wore it out, and it needed replacing. I was so pleased to see they still make the Mountainsmith Day EVO Lumbar Pack – 13L, and with a ton of upgrades. The biggest being the material, which is darn bulletproof. They’ve improved the interior design (which is padded just enough) and pockets. They have redesigned the back, rear pocket, and made the “waterbottle” pockets larger. I’ve added the lens cube to the interior that permits the Mountainsmith to carry Z14-24f2.8, Z24-70f2.8II, Z70-200f2.8II, and a body. That’s what I always have with me. I added the new Mountainsmith Strapette EVO rather than use the old one, as it was vastly improved as well. Now the patches (velcroed on), multi wrench, etc doesn’t come with the Mountainsmith. It’s not your conventional camera bag but then again, it’s an unconventional requirement and the Mountainsmith fits it perfectly!