My typical workflow is to ingest all the files, stills and video, at one time at the end of the shoot / day. I prefer to view all my files in chronological order, from the first shot of the shoot / day in the beginning and the last shot of the shoot / day, at the end. Then in Photo Mechanic, the light table is set to Capture Time so I see all the files just as I shot them. This is true if I’m shooting with just one camera or three, they all appear in chronological order. That’s because I use Synchronize date and time to sync up all my cameras. Found in the Network Menu, this very simple process syncs all cameras that are synced down to the second (time zone, date, hours, minutes as well). It takes seconds to do, first requiring you setting up Snychornized Release and then Synchronizing Camera Clocks in all the bodies you want to sync. Once set up, takes only moments every so often (I do it the night before I go out to shoot) to make sure all bodies are synced. This simple feature makes going through all the files a bit faster and simpler and in photography, that’s a good thing.

Maintaince of our gear is really important, before, during, and AFTER our adventures! Most do the first two but it’s that last one, after, that seems to get pushed aside in the excitement of being home with our new images. My normal process is to clean all my gear before I board the plane to come home. Then once home all the gear is pulled out of the bags (inside to the bag gets vacuumed out) and laid out to come to room temp for 24hrs. Once that is done, I go through a deep and thorough cleaning which includes pulling off filters and getting all glass surfaces. Qtips in all the nooks and crevices around the camera prism and lens switches. I even go through the battery compartment. I’m talking thoroughly here right down to charging all batteries and cleaning lens/body caps. I even make sure the clock in the camera is set back to my time zone. This ensures my gear is ready to go on the next adventure, any booboos and repairs are dealt with, and nothing is missed. Knock on wood but doing this, I have never had an issue in the field where my gear left me unable to shoot. It’s a simple thing but important, that after adventure clean.

There are two aspects of wildlife photography we constantly strive to accomplish, image size and controlling the background. Shorebirds are small little dudes and when we walk up to them, we must seem like monsters. One reason they tend to head in the other direction. At the same time, these little brown jobs blend in pretty darn well with the background. Go figure. There is a simple yet for some, scary way to get past these two barriers and that’s just getting down on their level. It’s not that we are hidden when we lay on the sand, I honestly feel the birds just think we can’t be dangerous if we’re willing to lay on the sand. Often, they get so close you can’t focus on them. At the same time getting down at their level makes the sand detail disappear so the birds pop! The Panning Plate keeps the Z 9 / Z600f4 TC perfectly stable on the sand. The Frisbee makes it simpler to slide the rig around on the sand. With shorebirds putting on their spring plumage, nows is the time to give this great technique a workout. Spring time is hitting the sand time!

Hummingbirds like the Green-breasted Mango you see on the LCD are flying jewels! I ventured down to Costa Rica in a quest to see, experience and photograph more species than we have in North America. That quest was very much satisfied in large part to two factors. Rancho Naturalista, our host and the Nikon / Profoto technology. It takes all I’ve got to keep them buzzing puffs of feathers in the viewfinder. If I had to deal with focus, exposure and flash on top of that, I’d have not a single photo to share. The one addition that worked amazingly well was the update to the Z 9 AF system, specifically the Auto Area AF – Bird Eye. The Profoto A10 with the dome is a great light source bringing the color to life, running two of them and ratioed so you can see their roundness while bringing out the jewel. If you’re wondering about the whole process, I posted two videos last summer which covers it all accept the addition in the Z 9 AF advances. I love hummingbirds and admire them so, simply as fast as technology!

This came completely out of left field! When I was contacted I at first had a hard time believing what I was reading as I had no clue. I was totally humbled by what I read, the request and desire to publish an eight page spread about my passion and message. The folks at AOPA are a delight and it was darn fun to work with them. I feel incredibly fortunate they asked, and truly grateful for the huge out pouring from the flying community who have seen the piece with their kind words. It just goes to show it truly works, just show up, just share!