Using the Nikon Slim Polarizer

Jun 24, 2009 | Tech Tips

With Digital
There is a tremendous amount of reflections when we’re out in the wilds shooting. You might have never have noticed it, but it’s there. The vast majority of the time, the reflection has a blue case to it which literally reflects on the subject’s color. This blue cast affects the color of all the elements in your image and if at the right angle to the film plane, giving them all a blue tinge. This reflection is coming from the sky, the blue sky!
Many attribute great color in a nature photo to the use of vivid white balance when in actuality, the great color was a result of proper use of a polarizer. Proper use of a polarizer removes the blue reflection so the color we see with our eyes is seen and recorded by the film. It is essential you understand that the proper use of a polarizer is to remove reflections and not make the sky dark blue. There are times when a polarizer is used correctly it will also make the sky darker, but to see proper polarization you don’t look at the sky, but at the ground.

Using a polarizer correctly takes talent just like using any other tool in photography! All you have to do is rotate the filter, right? That is correct, but when you’re rotating the polarizer you need to look through the viewfinder and look for the blue to disappear (this means you don’t use the polarizer unless you have a bright blue sky overhead). You don’t look at the sky, but you look at the ground. You rotate the polarizer looking at dirt if possible until the ground appears a nice, warm, rich chocolate moose brown (get it, chocolate moose, Moose’s technique?). Normally, the ground will have a cold, bluish, dead brown color when not viewing through a polarizer properly rotated. You want that ground warmed up to that rich chocolate moose brown because then you know you’ve removed the blue from the scene.

What if the ground is not your subject, does this technique work? Polarizing light is another one of those physic things photography is so wrapped around. Technically, only objects approximately 90 degrees to the film plane are affected by a polarizer, that’s the full effect of the polarizer (and if the sky is in the photo, it turns dark blue at 90 degrees from the sun). In practice, you can see the effect of a polarizer even though the object might not be a true 90 degrees. That’s why you rotate the polarizer and look. I recommend first looking at the ground because dirt is pretty much dirt and a lot easier for folks to understand the polarizing effect than looking at a critter or tree bark. That’s because polarizers are not a cure all, but just another tool.

They don’t always help! If you’re shooting in overcast light for example, a polarizer will do nothing for you. If you’re shooting a backlit subject, the polarizer will do nothing for you. Shooting a backlit subject means you’re shooting with the lens pointed towards the sun and at that angle, the physics are all against you.

Do I use the Polarizer with Digital? YES! Can you do the same thing in Photoshop? NO! Do I use a polarizer all the time? NO! Do I use the Moose Polarizer? NO, since I’m not using the 81a filter anymore.

With Film
There is a tremendous amount of reflections when we’re out in the wilds shooting. You might have never have noticed it, but it’s there. The vast majority of the time, the reflection has a blue case to it which literally reflects on the subject’s color. This blue cast affects the color of all the elements in your image and if at the right angle to the film plane, giving them all a blue tinge. This reflection is coming from the sky, the blue sky!
Many attribute great color in a nature photo to the use of Velvia film when in actuality, the great color was a result of proper use of a polarizer. Proper use of a polarizer removes the blue reflection so the color we see with our eyes is seen and recorded by the film. It is essential you understand that the proper use of a polarizer is to remove reflections and not make the sky dark blue. There are times when a polarizer is used correctly it will also make the sky darker, but to see proper polarization you don’t look at the sky, but at the ground.

Using a polarizer correctly takes talent just like using any other tool in photography! All you have to do is rotate the filter, right? That is correct, but when you’re rotating the polarizer you need to look through the viewfinder and look for the blue to disappear (this means you don’t use the polarizer unless you have a bright blue sky overhead). You don’t look at the sky, but you look at the ground. You rotate the polarizer looking at dirt if possible until the ground appears a nice, warm, rich chocolate moose brown (get it, chocolate moose, Moose’s technique?). Normally, the ground will have a cold, bluish, dead brown color when not viewing through a polarizer properly rotated. You want that ground warmed up to that rich chocolate moose brown because then you know you’ve removed the blue from the scene.

What if the ground is not your subject, does this technique work? Polarizing light is another one of those physic things photography is so wrapped around. Technically, only objects approximately 90 degrees to the film plane are affected by a polarizer, that’s the full effect of the polarizer (and if the sky is in the photo, it turns dark blue at 90 degrees from the sun). In practice, you can see the effect of a polarizer even though the object might not be a true 90 degrees. That’s why you rotate the polarizer and look. I recommend first looking at the ground because dirt is pretty much dirt and a lot easier for folks to understand the polarizing effect than looking at a critter or tree bark. That’s because polarizers are not a cure all, but just another tool.

They don’t always help! If you’re shooting in overcast light for example, a polarizer will do nothing for you. If you’re shooting a backlit subject, the polarizer will do nothing for you. Shooting a backlit subject means you’re shooting with the lens pointed towards the sun and at that angle, the physics are all against you.

In the same vain, polarizers are not just for photographing scenics! I use a polarizer quite often when photographing critters, especially big game. The incredible impact a properly used polarizer can make on an animals pelt is mind boggling! But this is a time when you have to think through the pros and cons of using that polarizer.

Polarizers have one major drawback! Polarizers suck up two stops of light. Their very nature excludes two stops of light from reaching the film. When shooting in low light situations or when you need lots of DoF so you’re at a slow shutter speed, you might not be able to afford the loss of two stops. As a very general rule of thumb (which I’m the first to break), I try to never photograph any action with a shutter speed less than 1/30. A good example of this is Grizzly Bears eating grass (a common thing). When grizzly bears or any other critter is chewing their jaw mussels effect the eye and at slower shutter speeds, the eye might be out of focus when a critter is chewing. This is a time I don’t want to be below 1/30 and won’t attach a polarizer. I don’t want to sacrifice sharpness for better color.

So what’s with this Moose Filter? As one emailer asked, the Moose Filter does not put antlers on a cow moose. The Moose filter is the combination of an 81a filter and a circular polarizer in one mount. The reason is simple for this combination. You’ve read how I always use an 81a filter. You’ve read how useful a polarizer can be. The combination of the two filters is lethal!

When shooting with ultra wides though, you cannot stack a polarizer on a 81a because the two stacked filters are seen by the film causing vignetting. Vignetting is the darkening of the corners of a photo. This is not desired. By having an 81a filter combined into one filter mount with a polarizer, you don’t have vignetting. So you can have the benefits of the two filters when using your ultra wides. When I attach the Moose filter, I do remove the 81a filter already attached to the lens. This is because the combining of two 81a filters produces an effect that’s not really desired. The result is an over warming of the image.

top of page

Lens Clens™

Jun 24, 2009 | Tech Tips

An Important Tool for Your Camera Bag

There’s nothing worse than to be shooting out in the sun, having just smeared yourself with sunblock, and then to accidentally touch the front element of your lens. Uck!!! This greasy smear can ruin a perfectly good shooting day! One method I’ve always recommended for cleaning front elements, fogging it with ones breath, doesn’t cut the gooey factor of sunblock or even basic skin oils. Well unless you want to shoot through a fog effect filter all day, you’ve got to clean that junk off and not damage the glass.

I ran into this problem all too often a decade ago. An outstanding repairman and technical advisor to my book, Nikon System Handbook, introduced me to a magical pink fluid when I first brought him my mess. It worked so well I asked for some of what he called, his “secret sauce”. That liquid gold has cleaned my worst mess in seconds for two decades and as a wildlife photographer, I couldn’t imagine using anything else to get the great outdoors off my equipment (it’s cleaned everything from sap off the front element to sticky adhesive from a lens barrel). The precious fluid that cleans up my act is called Lens Clens.

What makes this lens cleaning solution so good, heck if I know! The chemical components making up the magical pink fluid is a mystery (actually a trade secret), but the results are not. The high evaporation rate and zero residue of Lens Clens makes it the perfect lens cleaning fluid. More importantly, it’s perfectly safe for the multi coatings of our precious lenses. The other lens cleaning fluids I’ve tried tend to either just move the mess around the glass or worse, leave their own film to be wiped off by some other means. I’ve tried many different lens cleaning fluids in a pinch, but for the past ten years Lens Clens has been the one I depend on.

The cleaning of lens elements seems to be a constant process when you’re out in the field. Usually left out of the cleaning process, but just as important, is the camera body and all other equipment surfaces subjected to the natural oils of our hands (especially when we’ve cornered that great photograph and the adrenaline starts running) smear across their metallic surfaces. More important than ever with modern electronic cameras, these surfaces need to be kept clean. An important and effective method to keeping all these surfaces clean and operational can be maintained with Lens Clens.

At the end of each shooting day, I believe cameras and lenses that were used should be cleaned. The oils from our hands (with or without sunblock) leave an oily film on our equipment. If not wiped off, this oil will attract and adhere dust to our equipment. This in turn will work its way into our camera gear in the form of oily dirt that can potentially cause shorts in our electronics or large dust spots on the internal surfaces of elements in lenses. Either case means repair bills and lost shooting time which could be prevented.

The process starts with the dirty equipment. No matter what’s used, you want to avoid having to clean the front element, as often as possible. It’s going to need cleaning enough without you doing it every time you shoot. If a simple burst of air doesn’t clean off the element and there’s a finger print (now how did that get on there?) or other stain on the surface, a drop of Lens Clens will do the trick. A drop of Lens Clens on lens tissue wiped in a circular motion, working from the center of the element out, will clean off the worst stain.

On a small surface, 52-62mm in size, a single application will do the job nicely. With larger elements such as 122mm in size, a couple of applications of Lens Clens will be required as the liquid has a high evaporation rate (the reason why it’s so good). And if the smear on the element is some awful substance such as sunblock, or you’re cleaning a number of elements, use a clean lens tissue each time you use a drop of Lens Clens. If you don’t, you could smear the dirt you just cleaned off one spot onto another.

The last thing you want to do is place the liquid lens cleaner directly on the lens element. Not that the liquid will hurt the surface, but you want to avoid the possibility that liquid will run down into the internal workings of the lens or camera. Lens Clens comes in a 1-3/4 ounce spray bottle that puts a controlled amount of solution on a surface. But as long as Murphy is always around, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

When it comes to lens care, cleaning the front element is only the start, not the finish. All the surfaces of the lens barrel are subject to being smeared with the oils from our hands. To see if I’m telling the truth, put a small amount of Lens Clens on a clean, white, cotton cloth and rub the focusing ring of your lens. I did this recently at a workshop and the mouths of the participants as they dropped tells of the results.

Receiving an unproportionate amount of skin oils is the camera body itself. The grip, shutter release and camera back receive the brunt of this oil slick. These areas are critical areas to get clean as dust attracted to them soon migrates into the workings of the camera itself. Once again, a couple drops of Lens Clens on a clean, white, cotton cloth rubbed around the entire body will reveal the worth of your efforts. The camera back itself is a major area to keep clean as dirt from it often migrates onto the film back and opened camera, then transferring to the film causing scratches.

Lens Clens was developed thirty years ago for cleaning of optics in their own manufacturing process. It’s nothing new to thousands of professionals in the optical business, just new to the user of those optics. They manufacture four different formulas of Lens Clens, I use No.1 though not recommended for use on plastic. A 1-3/4 ounce bottle sells for just $4.35 (The government charges a HAZMAT tax on shipping, minimum of $7.00, might want to order with friends to help lower cost.) and will last a long time (years!). They also produce cleaning kits called Clens Kit™. For more information on this lifesaving (and equipment saving) product, http://www.lensclens.com is your source!

If you take good care of your equipment, it will take good care of you!

Mobile Charging Power

Jun 24, 2009 | Tech Tips

You probably have heard that us folks in California have an electricity problem. While the press has not accurately reported the facts (big surprise) the fact does remain that energy is getting expensive. If you do any shooting with the D1 and have no electricity either because of a rolling black out or you’ re simply nowhere near an electrical outlet, you’ ve got to find another option for power. My dependency on 120v has bothered me and I swear when I plug in all my batteries for charging, my office electric meter nearly spins off the wall. All of these facts combined has caused me to turn to the sun for help.

Our trailer is already equipped with a solar panel that charges a 12v battery that in turn runs the inverter to power standard 120v chargers. This system is killer, but I needed something smaller than my trailer that I could put in a backpack for a couple of high Sierra and Alaska projects I’ m starting this summer. Heading to the web and talking with other friends and biologists who are also into alternative power steered me to some solar panels, which have enough watts to charge some devices, but not everything. After a number of attempts I finally found the right solar panel that does it all!

The SunWize Portable Energy System (PES) is a great little panel! It’ s only 10.5″x 15.5″x 0.56″ and weighs a mere 2.5lbs! It comes with a case and all the cords you need except one.

I have opted to charge all of my electrical devices with their 12v charger so I made a 12v accessory plug socket to plug into the PES. With this, I can charge the D1 EN-4 batteries with the MH-17, my Dell Inspiron 5000 with a Targus Universal Auto/Air Power Adapter as well as my Powerex 1600mAH rechargeable AA batteries (see pg.20).

The SunWize PES has a meter on the front, which helps you align the PES for optimum power output. I was amazed when I first started to use the panel how sensitive it was to the direction of the sun!

I have found that with the SunWize, the meter needs to say 65 or higher for it to charge and power my notebook computer. This also holds true for the Quantum Car Charger or MAHA battery charger. To charge the MH-17/EN-4 the meter needs to read 80 or higher (the meter goes to 120).

As photographers we’ re always chasing the light. Well, here’ s just one more way we can take advantage of it when we do catch it. And we’ re helping the environment at the same time!

CCD Cleaning

Jun 24, 2009 | Tech Tips

“Dust” on the CCD is a real common problem and MAJOR concern for some digital shooters. The dust on your CCD is not the dust you find on your bookshelf or that floating in the air as many propose. The silly notion that never changing your lens prevents a dust problem is ludicrous! (This means you don’t have to hide in a sterile tent to change lenses in the field.) The “dust” (which isn’t air born particles in this case) that causes the problem is actually created by the mechanism you use to attach and remove a lens. (This problem is at its worse when a camera body is brand new.) The cause of your dust problem is the lens mounting ring which gets “shaved” when you attach a lens.

Minute brass particles are created each and every time you attach a lens that lie on the bottom of the mirror box. If you don’t clean those minute brass particles out prior to cleaning your CCD, you will end up blowing them right onto the CCD when you attempt to clean it. This just makes your problem that much worse. Using a small flashlight, shine the light on the bottom of the mirror box (mirror is not raised, CCD is not exposed to do this) You will see what appear small flecs of gold. You’ve not struck it rich, those are brass shavings you need to clean out. To do that, use a dry Q-Tip and simply wipe out the bottom of your mirror box by twisting the Q-Tip, right by the curved shelves. Even if you can’t see the shinny little brass shaving, DO IT! This is the cause for 99% of the dust problems digital shooters report!

The Nikon instruction book is pretty firm on how the CCD should be cleaned when it comes to stuck on particles. Send it in to Nikon. Well, a long time ago, a little snow flake hit my CCD (long story) and there was no FedEx drop off in the corner of the Yukon where I was shooting. I had to take care of it then and there. This is what I did.

First, I clean out any small particles on the bottom of the mirror box. I then set the camera to M exposure mode (refer to your IB for your body). I then set the shutter speed to Bulb. Once this is done, I depress the shutter release, which pops the mirror up out of the way. I look at the CCD with my very small but powerful flashlight. Finally, I use the Sensor Brush to clean the CCD. I charge the Sensor Brush (I prefer the full size Sensor Brush over their Arctic Butterfly though it works pretty down good in a pinch) with a blower bulb before use. With two wipes, the CCD is clean and I’m back in business.

What if the particle is “stuck” on the CCD and it won’t come clean? I use Visibile Dust’s Sensor Clean which is a killer product. The best thing about it, unlike other brands, you can safely travel by air with Sensor Clean, it’s non-flammable. Mr TSA won’t confiscate it and leave you a nasty note.

CCD dust is not a big issue, don’t make it one! You’ve got better things to do with your mental powers then worry about something that can be taken care of in seconds!

Sensor Brush

Sensor Cleaning is a big time part of being a digital photographer. It causes a lot of photographers great heart ache and digital darkroom time. The specialized sensor brushes from Visible Dust are a great solution!

It’s real simple, the charge on the brushes is opposite the charge on the sensor so the brush “suck” up the particles. Normally, you charge your brush with canned air. If you travel, you know you can’t take canned air with you on planes. Not a problem. You can charge the Sensor Brushes with a normal blower bulb. Just blow the brush multiple times prior to use and you’re good to go.
All you need to learn about the Sensor Brush is on the Visible Dust Website. I got the Ecno Kit which works great for my needs. I HIGHLY recommend you get yourself a kit!

Panning

Jun 24, 2009 | Tech Tips

Rough-legged Hawk © Moose Peterson Photo captured by D1H, 300f2.8 handheld on Lexar digital film

Success in photographing flying birds comes in large part from properly using the technique of panning. This is a technique many have heard of, but few use effectively. While I’ve touched on this in a recent Shutterbug article, I wanted to go into greater depth for JOURNAL readers. There are really a couple aspects of panning which are essential for success: the combination of mechanical technique and aesthetic desires.

The goal of panning is to obtain sharp images of moving subjects. In this process, the movement of the subject is communicated by the blurring of the background. This combination makes panning an essential technique for wildlife photographers. The ability to obtain sharp images that communicate should be the goal for all of us!

The Mechanics

I’m sure you can all quote this as you read along. Panning is accomplished by moving the camera/lens to track the subject, firing the camera while continuing to track the subject until after the shutter is finished firing. Well at best, that’s the beginning basics because the technique of panning needs to go farther than that to be successful.

You must first stabilize the camera correctly whether you’re hand holding or using a tripod. Whether hand holding or shooting with a lens on a gunstock, the principle is the same. First, hold the camera with your left hand, palm up so the lens rests in your palm. This uses gravity in our favor as it forces the lens into our hand. Next, brace your elbows against your sides, tucking them in. You want to avoid imitating birds by having your arms flapping at your sides. Next, press the camera against your forehead (best if done with an eyecup that acts like a shock absorber). Now think about your tripod for a moment. Doesn’t it have three legs coming to a point where the camera is attached? Are you creating three points of contact with your elbows tucked in and camera against your forehead? Now this is the methodology I’ve used for a decade and it works for me. Give it a try.

Next, you want to establish a “Kill Zone.” The kill zone is a predetermined zone where we actually fire the shutter and take the picture. This is only a small portion of the actual area we physically travel through during panning when focusing on the subject. Lost yet? Let me explain this in another way.

You want to photograph the bird when the bird is heading towards or beside you, not going away from you (avoiding the butt shot). When setting up your pan (taking into account background and lighting), try to set up knowing the direction from where the bird is coming from and heading to.

Let’s say in this example that’s going to be from left to right. The Kill Zone would be the area from where your left arm is held out nearly straight from your side to the area covered as you swing your arm until it’s basically straight in front of you. This is nearly a 90 degree arc. This would be the Kill Zone for birds flying left to right; the same analogy would apply to the right arm for birds flying right to left. Whether shooting hand held or with the lens on a tripod, this is the zone where you pan and fire. Once the subject is basically in front of you, you stop shooting (this is a generalization and not a rule carved in stone).

The Aesthetics

Setting and knowing your kill zone must take into account the background and direction of the sun. True, some great bird flight shots happen off the cuff, what we like to call a “surprise attack.” But the great ones are planned for, where the background and lighting not only isolate the subject, but also bring drama to the final image.

You must look at the background differently than if you were taking a typical “static” image. You must remember when panning that the background will be a blur and you’ll capture more background in the image than if you were taking a static scene. When setting up your kill zone, if at all possible, look at the entire background in your kill zone for out of the ordinary colors or shapes. Look for elements that when blurred and combined with the other elements of the background would stick out like a sore thumb. You have no idea as you pan when exactly you’re going to press the shutter. So you want as much useable background you can muster.

Now many shooters prefer a blue sky background. That’s cool and something we can all relate to. All you have to worry about with a blue sky background is exposure. But if you look at the really incredible flight shots, you’ll more often than not find these photographs to have a blurred background from panning. There is always something special about them as if they are almost the colors of a watercolor painting that have melded together. This mood setting element is what brings drama to your flight photography.

The sun or lighting is really the easy part of the equation. The best situation is when the light is on your back and the subject is flying either towards you or parallel to you so it’s frontlit. Any drama the light might have from a sunrise, sunset or storm is even better.

Go out and practice, have fun with it and make panning a technique you can rely on. If you’re not comfortable with selecting backgrounds for panning, just go out and shoot some backgrounds as if something were flying in front of them. Take a static shot and one panning, get back to the light table and compare them. You can easily teach yourself what to look and watch out for. In the process, you’ll become better at panning with the camera either hand held or on a tripod.

The great masters of panning are masters because they understand and use all these techniques and elements to communicate motion. The fact that their subject is sharp is the icing on the cake.