Jan 7, 2020 | WRP Ed Zone
Nikkor 120-300f2.8 ED
The 300f2.8 has been an iconic Nikon lens since it was first introduced. No version though is as spectacular at the new 120-300f2.8 ED! I’ve owned a 300f2.8 a number of times during my career and (hope Sharon and accountant aren’t reading this), I’m really thinking seriously of adding this lens to the locker! The size, weight, and flexibility would be killer for everything from critters, landscape, and aviation for me. And for sports … oh my … dream lens.
Z70-200f2.8 ED
The Z line of lenses is growing with the introduction of the Z70-200f2.8 ED lens. I’m the first to be taken back by its specs, the size, weight and still 77mm filter size, wow …compact (comparatively speaking). I’ve not shot with the Z70-200 yet nor talked with anyone who has but with the results I’ve seen with the Z24-70f2.8, I can’t wait to do so!
D780
Yeah … this one totally took me by surprise! Being a huge D750 fan (still in the locker and used), I can’t wait to drive a D780.
You can find out all the specs on these and other new gear, head to the Nikon website.
Dec 10, 2019 | WRP Ed Zone
The Ambiguous White Towel
While our gear can get wet any time of the year, now is when it happens most often. That’s why no matter where I’m going, what I’m shooting, I always have a clean, white, hand towel with me. If I’m not staying at a lodge, I take one with me. Otherwise, I “borrow” a clean one each day from the lodge to use (returning at the end of the day and grabbing another clean, dry one for the next day). This is NOT to cover up my gear when it’s raining or snowing. This is to take care of the gear AFTER I’m done shooting and before the gear goes back in the bag.
The weather never worries when it comes to my gear. My simple rule of thumb is if I can handle the rain, so can my gear. The key is this simple, ambiguous white towel. If I’m going out shooting in the elements, then the towel is inside my jacket staying dry. If my gear gets wet, the front filter has drops on it, I use the towel to dry it off. Here’s the key to this, NEVER wipe your gear dry. You must BLOT it dry! Wiping will force the moisture into places it must not go. Blotting permits the towel to soak up the moisture. I use a clean, white, dry hand towel because it absorbs so quickly and easily. And being white, it there is dirt on my gear, I will quickly know so I can deal with it later when inside. Many like the microfiber clothes, I do not for this purpose because they don’t absorb as quickly and speed is everything. Things like lens hoods can be wiped dry as they have no crevices nor electronics. Zoom lenses that are zoomed out can be wiped off and must be prior to being zoomed back in. All other surfaces, blot them dry. I’ve done this for four decades and have never had a piece of gear go down on me. It’s why a white towel is an essential tool in my bag!
Nov 5, 2019 | WRP Ed Zone
It’s a common question, how hard to push when you have to wet clean your sensor? BEFORE you take the sensor swab out of its wrapper, practice how hard you should push. As you see in the photo above, you want to push only as hard as it takes to barely curve the wrapper. Yeah, you push that lightly! Practice as it will make your sensor cleaner, easier!
Oct 25, 2019 | WRP Ed Zone
Fall Color – Great Smokies
captured by Z7 / 105f1.4
As photographers, exposure, that tool we use to tame light in our photos, is of major concern. Exposure can be based on many things, the main one being the story the photographer wants to tell. In the process of making that call are the technical side of exposure, the shadow, and highlight detail. Highlights especially when above a range of light of five stops often mean a loss of information or paperwhite. That loss of information, or “blinkies” as I call the Highlight Warning can send a photographer off to worry land. Are “Blinkies” always a bad thing you need to deal with? Will they hurt your storytelling and take the eye away from your subject?
Shooting in the Smokies last week, I was searching for fall color everywhere as much of it was green or gone right to brown. This one patch of color I found overhead intrigued me. I attached the 105f1.4 on the Z7 and focused on the bottom limb of the red shooting at f1.4. I turned the camera to arrange the elements to minimize the scattered clouds went into the photo, but I didn’t get rid of them all. You can see with the exposure I wanted (+1/3 exp comp), I lost information, got “Blinkies,” went to paperwhite in some portions of the photo (the black area of the bottom photo). Is that a problem? I don’t think so cause the subject, the pattern of the red is what grabs the eye first. We can easily get all involved in what we’re told we should worry about overlooking the story. Remember to take a deep breath and let the photo breath along with you!
Oct 7, 2019 | WRP Ed Zone
Long ago on another planet, photographers shot action with a 4×5 Speed Graphic. I used to hang out with a really cool dude, Roger Tory Peterson, one of those old Speed Graphic photographers who photographed birds in flight (most know of Roger for his paintings in his bird guides). We were photographing Clapper Rails and he asked my secret for getting such sharp focus so quickly (this was in the 80s). I told him, “Practice.” He said it was the same thing he did with the Speed Graphic (don’t know what a Speed Graphic is, Google it!). I said I couldn’t even imagine hand-holding such a camera let alone getting a shot of movement shooting with it. His reply is a classic which still holds true today. “What option did I have if I wanted the photograph. I did what it took.”
Today, a lot of photographers sink or swim by their AF mode. The thought of manually focusing seems as foreign to them as focusing a Speed Graphic still does to me. You’d be surprised though how much of my “autofocus” relies on tricks, tips, and habits I perfected shooting manually. For example, I still manually focus on where I think a subject will be when I start to pan with them. Or, to get an eye sharp on a bird, I focus on the breast. Or, using a plane of focus to get my subject sharp even though I’m not actually focusing physically on the subject. These and so many more are techniques I perfected shooting manually that translate to autofocus beautifully. This Northern Gannet I shot with the D5 / 180-400VR used another technique from manual focus days. By watching their flight pattern, I prefocused where I wanted the bird in the frame sharp and the background blurred to tell the story of One of Many. Then I followed the Gannet and when it became sharp, I shot.
Sharpness is the second strongest element in a photograph the mind’s eye goes to. It’s so important, ask yourself how many out of focus photographs you have kept in your files? And the opposite holds true for many, just getting a subject sharp is the mark of a great photograph when in reality, it’s a given that doesn’t even could towards greatness. You’d be surprised though when you take over focusing how much your photography will improve. It’s pretty simple really, improve your manual focus to improve your autofocus.
Sep 24, 2019 | WRP Ed Zone
A few weeks past, we spent the day at the brilliant Monterey Bay Aquarium. While we were geeking out shooting B&W of this boat display in killer light, Sharon took a moment to rest her feet and look at what’s coming up. You all know how I love to photograph her so I turned to take advantage of her looking down to read to arrange the elements in the viewfinder and then when she looked up … got ‘er! I was shooting in B&W with the Z6 / Z24-70f2.8 and when I looked at the photo, I instantly thought, “shark bait” (but I would never throw her to the sharks). At the same time when I looked at the scene with just my eyes, I knew that a color image would not have had the same impact nor say, “shark bait.” Here’s why.
Shooting B&W with the Z is so simple cause the photo comes out of the camera, done! But I wanted “shark bait” to really come out as the story of Sharon sitting there so I knew I would do a tad of post-processing. The Nef came out of the Z6 (Z24-70f2.8 lens) and went into ACR, there I went to Black & White Mix and grabbed the blue slider and pulled it left. That darken the wall painting behind Sharon and the shark so they visually popped. If you look at the color image vs. the B&W, you can see quickly how just going to B&W really makes the story come to life. And that’s what it’s all about, the story, even if it’s your wife becoming shark bait.
