And sometimes I think mine runs away! For example, in this top photo I see the screaming head of a Condor. Might be a real stretch but I kept at it thinking it might lead me to my goal, the shot of the racetrack.
And feeling that wasn’t working, I decided to go close. Still shooting with the Nikon 1 V3, it’s real easy to not have to bend over to capture these kinds of photos. While I felt I was getting closer, I was still miles away for the image I seeked. mtc
With the mystery of the moving rocks now solved, photographing them it no easier for me. Ya, it’s pretty cool the rocks and their paths but to me, they are rocks and dry mud. Where’s the photo, where’ the story? I’ve been out to the Racetrack many times and each time I go in search of the image and tend to come back, not satisfied. And on the trip at first, I came up against the same wall. I thought by taking Brent and Jake and sharing it with them for the first time, I might see something different. Then to stack the odds, I shot with the Nikon 1 V3 / 10-30 which permits me to shoot from the ground without being on the ground. That combo helped me break the log jam. By the time I left, I had gotten my best shots which is not to say they are great shots, just the best I’ve taken at the racetrack. mtc
Hi everyone! We’re now in Vegas for Photoshop World after spending a little family time in Death Valley. While it was 115 degrees during the day, the nights which is why we were there were a pleasant 80 degrees. Along with Sharon, Brent and Jake, we were spending time with my best friend Russell Brown again chasing stars. As you can see, we found them. This is a simple click, Df, 16Fish, IS03200, 8sec f2.8. Why the Df? I still think it’s the best high ISO machine out there. If you see me this week at Photoshop World, please come up and say hi!
I’ve been up in Alaska for the last week and one of the fun things has been shooting with the new Nikon 1 V3. I’ll be up front with you, I thought the camera would show up, I’d shoot some and then send it back. Such is not the case! I’ve shot and shot and shot with this camera and it is great! What you see here was shot with the 30-110 which I borrowed from Sharon. It was one of many times I borrowed that lens and just look at the results! I mean, look below at the enlarged section. Very stunning results as far as I’m concerned. This basically all metal camera that easily fits in your hand just produces what I feel and gorgeous images and at the same time, delivering fun!
I actually have some much more stunning and surprising images to post but we’re running to catch a plane, off to North Dakota. I wanted though to post this handheld image just to elaborate a little more on this amazing little camera. I’ve had a number of emails since my first V3 post and the answer is, I would pick this over the Coolpix A or P7800 for a pocket camera. Simply amazing!
With the release of the D810 comes a brand new Picture Control (PC) simply called Flat. Now this is not the magic bullet fixing all your problems. This is not what you should set your camera to all the time. While the D810 is the ~only~ body to have this PC at this time, it is not the reason to buy the D810. This is simply a new tool to put in your arsenal like any tool that can solve specific photographic problems. Since first shooting with the D810 in Flat, I’ve struggled with how to explain this Picture Control to you on the limited space of the 256 sRGB world of the web. Let’s start by stating how Nikon defines this PC. “Flat – Details are preserved over a wide tone range, from highlights to shadows. Choose for photographs that will later be extensively processed or retouched.” And if you look at the comparison chart Nikon published on the web, there they add to this “ideal for video capture.”
So what you see above is a shot done with the D810 / 18-35AFS at 18mm at sunset. Everything in the frame is backlit! The image was finished how I always do, image brought in ACR and tweeked and then in Photoshop applied my Nikon recipe and done. Simple except, note ALL the information in the shadow area in this BACKLIT scene! What is important to understand though is how I got to this finished photo.
And this is here because the first reaction to the two photos is, the one is simply underexposed which is why it looks the way it does, it’s not from the Picture Control (which were shot with the camera defaults). But as you can see, the exposure is the same value. The Landscape has the higher shutter speed because I dialed in -1/3 so I would have no blinkies as I had no blinkies in the Flat photo. This is a good time to remind you Nikon’s definition of when to use this Picture Control – “Flat – Details are preserved over a wide tone range, from highlights to shadows. Choose for photographs that will later be extensively processed or retouched.”
I’ve shot a WHOLE bunch of images in Flat testing this new tool and how it might fit into my photography (oh boy, one more thing to remember now). Using it in real world shooting, you can see exactly how I use this in my critter work right here. In that example, the images are right out of the camera, the bears are el natural! Look at all the information in the shadows in the bears, in fact in the Mom shot, too much information! And right here in these landscapes, you see an example of using this as Nikon intended, with post processing. And I’m bringing this to your attention because I think this is a wonderful new tool you might like. For example, you into HDR? Just look at the extended range in just this one click, think about the possibilities? And when it comes to photographing critters in the contrasty light of a forest like the bears? I’m only a week into heavy testing of just this one new tool in the D810 and wanted you to see something I think is really cool!
