Alaska Widlife

Day 4: Alaska Photo Workshop Week

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In preparation for my Alaska Adventure digital photo workshop, listed on my 2014 Workshops page, I'm designation this week on my blog as Alaska Photo Workshop Week. Each day I will post a few images, taken on my previous Alaska adventures, along with some tips.

Hal Schmitt, my friend and lead instructor at Light Photographic Workshops, and I are co-leading this adventure. We will help you make and process wonderful images in Lightroom and Photoshop - and have a ton of fun.  

Day 4: Set Goals 

I am big on setting goals, which is something I talk about in my recent interview on Kelby Training. When you set a goal, you'll have a greater chance of making meaningful images.

For example, my goal one morning on a past Alaskan Adventure with Hal was to get a full-frame shot of a bald eagle complete with its reflection in the water. Setting that goal, I only framed my shots in a relatively small, very calm section of the bay in which the boat was anchored. Shooting in one section of the bay reduced the number of variables, mainly differences in light, exposure, rippled/calm water and the background. Once the correct exposure was set, all I had to do was point, focus and shoot . . . in that small area.

While the bald eagles that I were photographing were landing in that section of the bay, many other bald eagles were flying around the boat. There were flying against different backgrounds, in different light and at different distances. Sure, I missed a few shots, but I did achieve my goal.

Of course, you can have image processing goals, such as creating dramatic black-and-white images. All the plug-ins I use to create black-and-white images are listed on my Save on Plug-ins page.

Set goals my friends. It's kinda fun. 

I hope to see you here on my blog tomorrow - and Hal and I hope to see you in Alaska.

Explore the light,
Rick

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Day 3: Alaska Photo Workshop Week

Click image to enlarge.

In preparation for my Alaska Adventure digital photo workshop, listed on my 2014 Workshops page, I'm designation this week on my blog as Alaska Photo Workshop Week. Each day I will post a few images, taken on my previous adventures, along with some tips.

Hal Schmitt, my friend and lead instructor at Light Photographic Workshops, and I are co-leading this adventure. We will help you make and process wonderful images in Lightroom and Photoshop - and have a ton of fun. We will also teach you the magic of plug-ins, which are listed on my Plugs-ins page.

Day 3: Get the Eye in Focus

Check out the eyes of these birds in flight. They are sharp, as are the eyes of the bald eagles in my previous posts in this series.

In wildlife photography, if they eyes are not sharp and well lit, I feel as though I've missed the shot.  Of course, there are exceptions to that philosophy, but that is my general feeling.

Here's what I do to get the eyes in focus: 
• Set my Canon 5D Mark III camera on the AI servo mode, which tracks the subject right up to the moment of exposure.
• As a general rule, set a shutter speed of at least 1/1000th of second. I sometimes shoot at a slightly slower shutter speed to get a bit of motion/blur on the bird's wingtips.
• Stop down two stops from the minimum aperture, which gives me more depth of field than if I were shooting wide open.
• Choose the fastest frame rate.
• Set my focus point on the subject, so that the subject, and not the background is in focus.
• Take lots of shots :-)

I hope to see you here on my blog tomorrow - and Hal and I hope to see you in Alaska.

Explore the light,
Rick

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