The air has got that something special, a nip, excitement, anticipation, nervousness about it. The critters are on the move, predators on the hunt as they work towards building their fat reserves. Their pelts are already filled out as they explore the landscape looking for that next meal. Some like the Bison, Elk, and Pronghorn are in full rut challenging each other. Bighorn Sheep are coming down from their summer range and moving towards the lower, winter range where there will be less snow. The trees are in their fall splendor and the thermals show their might in the chilled air as their steam heads for the heavens. Yellowstone in fall is a magical place and I want to share it with you for your camera to capture. Come, join me!

I’ll be taking just FOUR shooters with me as we explore the entire park (one road might be closed already) 17-21 Oct, 2022. The price is $2250 which includes transportation once you land in Bozeman, MT the entire week and back to Bozeman. It also includes guide, instruction and entertainment. It does not include food or lodging. If you’d like to join us for a fantastic time in a gorgeous locale, give Sharon a call 406. 240. 3503!

Note: We’re also going back in November for Yellowstone Wolves which is a totally different and grand experience!

Got a blinker in your family? A blinker is someone who blinks when you take their photograph, most often in response to hearing the shutter going off. I sure do, my wife, she blinks in the majority of the frames. I thought the Z 6II would solve the issue but even its slight shutter noise caused the blink reaction. Well, Sharon met her match with the Z 9. So far, not a single blink in any pics! The no mirror noise is obvious but what’s not is that the Z 9 has no mechanical shutter, it’s truly all-electric. It only makes noise if you want it to and when I’m photographing any of my camera-shy family (no clue how they got that way!) the Z 9 is silent. I love it. A cool feature Nikon built into the Z 9 is a Sensor Shield. By default, it is OFF but I have it ON and in My Menu. When changing lenses, for example, powering down the Z 9 closes this shield keeping things like dust off moisture from hitting the sensor (it’s back to OFF when cleaning the sensor). For me, this means the issue I had decades ago of a snow flake hitting my sensor and melting during a shoot can’t happen! This is just an example of the ton of forward-thinking, problem-solving features the Z 9 incorporates. Now I’m not sure Sharon appreciates this as much as I do, but I love no more blinkies!

While you have the lights on the tree, it’s a great time to play with bokeh. That’s what I told Maggie as we tried, for a second or two, to get her to wear the antlers and smile. She was five to six feet in front of the tree. The Z70-200f2.8 was at f2.8 and the Z 9 was set to 20FPS and I needed every bit of it trying to get the photo. The bokeh in the background was a slam dunk, Maggie keeping them antlers on, not so much. The bokeh created by the xmas lights were an easy way to say the season and finish the story. So while the tree is up, you might play with the lights and teach yourself how to use a light source and DoF to create your own story with bokeh.

Z 9 Instruction Book PDF

My Initial Z9 Settings