I wrote Captured for just one person…YOU! This 400pg, 3lbs book is chuck full of technique, trivia, biology and technology not to mention a bad joke or two. With nesting season upon us, with summer safari season around the corner and time to start thinking about fall rut (yikes!), this might just be the resource you need. Give Sharon a call 661.204.1506, she’d be happy to send you a copy.
You might remember I posted a number of images that I called the “miniature” effect. It required a vivid imagination and the gorgeous 24PC-E lens. I loved that lens and used it for my ultra panos and for creating miniatures. Now just what is a “minature” you’re asking?
If you look at the top image and compare it to the image below it, you’ll see bands of out of focus. This along with the perspective give you the feel of looking at little models rather then real life, full scale items. In this case, there are the B-25s lined up at the Doolittle’s Raiders reunion a couple of weeks back (a little Nik’s CEP4 Split Grad action is going on in the top image). This though wasn’t taken with a 24PC-E but rather a 24-70AFS lens.
One of the new filters in Photoshop CS-6 is Tilt Shift. Bottomline, you don’t need to own a tilt shift lens anymore to create this effect. In fact, you can create it on the fly on any image you like taken with any lens you like with any effect and any point, YOU like! No, it’s not a big deal. It’s just fun and anything photographic that is just fun works for me!
I’ve been hooking up DSLR ever since they first came out and for the most part, I’d rather dance with a porcupine. The connections were just that painful. Well, not is such the case with the new WT-5A for the D4! I so remember making the tech calls in the past trying to getting the camera to talk to the network, no calls required with the WT-5A. You screw it into the side, follow the instructions step by step and 3min later, I can’t believe that, 3min later and I could see the images appear on my iPad!
You might be wondering and you should be asking why a wildlife photographer would want a WT-5A? If you look back, you’ll see I have a huge track record of trying to shoot remotely while having control. It started by with the F3AF and the special prism that permitted wired remote operation. It hasn’t stopped and now that the WT-5A, the possibilities are amazing. The WT-5A just arrived in the office between trips so I’ve only been able to confirm set up is a snap. But the fact that WT-5A makes the D4 it’s own “hot point” gives the meaning of remote firing all new possibilities. I can’t wait to get back and field test this unit!
Many have said and rightly so, it’s expensive. I’ve yet to see a worthy camera accessory that wasn’t expensive. Many of emailed me about some of the inexpensive units that seem to work with the D4. I’ve not seen them and probably won’t. While they might work, I will stick with the WT-5A if for no other reason, it works perfectly the first time I plugged it in. Seriously, Live View viewing and operation right on the iPad…sick! I can’t say that about any other unit in the past that I tried. You can learn more about the WT-5A here and watch the blog, more’s to come I’m sure!
While the two events are sold out, I just wanted to say thanks and look forward to meeting, talking and seeing your images Thursday!
There are many barriers to our taking photographs and I think the biggest one is ourselves! The one excuse that drives me nuts why we “can’t” that I hear a lot and I mean, a lot is, “It’s expensive, I don’t have any money!” My question is, “Who does?”
If you’re reading this, it means more than likely you’re into photography. That means you have a camera of some shape, form or manufacture. To me, that means that at some point you had money to buy a camera and lens. SO be thankful for your blessings right from the start!! So then instantly the “It’s expensive” excuse just went out the window in my book. I love the folks who bought a D4, $6k camera, and then slammed me when I suggested getting a card for it that coats $200 because it’s “expensive.” Really, you just spent $6k?!
But here’s what really drives me nuts, the “It’s expensive to go take pictures” excuse to not pushing your photography! So what, you bought that camera to be a book end? You live in a card board box and can’t shoot? Why do photographers put up road blocks when there is none? You own a camera, there is no excuse to not shoot. OK, you can’t go to Africa this week to photograph that Lion or head to Alaska to photograph the Polar Bears coming off the ice or Spain for the running of the bulls. You can surely step out the front door and just point the camera up and photograph a cloud and who in the world will know where that cloud is and more to the point, if it’s a cool cloud, who would care?
There are a ton of perceptions and realities in photography, one of the perceptions is us photographers who have “made it” are floating in dough, manufactures give us our gear and we travel the world shooting whatever it is we feel like shooting. Nothing could be further from the truth no matter what photographer you want to throw up as an example. Photographers only survive because they are very good at counting pennies because quite often, that is all we have. Then some say, “Ya, but all the great photograph come from exotic places and I can’t afford to go there so I will never have a great photograph.” Bla, bla, bla!
I’m sure you’ve heard of Jay Maisel and if you’ve watched his shooting in NY class on Kelby Training (and if you haven’t why not?) then you know much of his shooting is done right outside of his front door. Some would say that because he lives in NY, he has a great “outside.” We all do but for many photographers, they look past that to some grand thing that they then say, “It’s too expensive.” A simple potted plant on your front porch could be a whole photographic essay lasting months. It’s just right in front of you!
The photograph I posted here I did so for a reason. This is a $10mil aircraft, P-38 Lighting “Glacier Girl.” I didn’t then and don’t now have the budget to do a shoot with this aircraft. It’s not a shoot I conceived of or thought I could possibly be a part of. It was only my second air to air shoot. It all came about because I stepped out of my house to take photographs. If I hadn’t taken that very simple step, it would never have happened. Ya, I am incredibly fortunate and at the same time, work very hard to make luck happen. And if I hadn’t stepped out of the house many times before so I was proficient with that camera, I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage and this and other opportunities that are so graciously offered me!
So can we agree on one thing then, photography is expensive, we all know that’s a fact. With that agreed upon then, let’s stop making it a barrier to our shooting and simply go shoot. As Cheryl Crow says, “It’s not having what we want, it’s wanting what we have!”
I would give anything to be at the Google+ Photographers Conference! If I could, I would clone myself just to be there (I’ll be in SD shooting that week). Why? It’s all about photography, friends and moving that bar forward. I know the instructors, all good friends and full of inspiration! I’ve heard from many of you who will be there making me want to be there even more. So here’s the deal, since I can’t be there, I need you to go and then tell me, in a nice way, all that I missed! If you’re not signed up, do it today, your photography and inspiration will thank you later!