Going Out of Town . . . Combining Thursday & Friday Posts

Hi All

I am going out of town, so I thought I'd post Thursday's Tip and Friday's Fun Photo in one post.

Tip: Keep it simple! Don't take a ton of cameras and lenses with you when you are out shooting. The more gear you have, the fewer the great shots you'll get. That is scientifically proven.

Friday's Fun Photo: Write a caption for this photo and post it here! Be kind :-)

Have a good weekend!

Rick

A Good Reason to Always Carry a Camera

Sounds like simple advice - but it's a good idea to always carry a camera . . . and to make sure:
1) your battery is charged;
2) a memory card is inserted (something that I actually forgot once or twice).

These grab shots (taken with my every-ready Canon G10) from this morning illustrate this point.

Another idea: Try to tell a story with your pictures. Here I am telling the story of how well the momma hid the baby in the foliage. Story telling with pictures is fun.

By the way, the ISO for these shots was set at 800. Sure, I have a bit of noise in the pictures, but a bit 'o noise is better than a shaky picture.

Where in the World? Wednesday

Welcome back to Where in the World? Wednesday.

As always, the first person (US only) with the closest guess as to where I am wins something cool.

This week it's Snap Art from Alien Skin – a cool plug-in that turns your snapshots into art shots with a few clicks of your mouse – or taps of your stylus.

Please be as precise/exact/right-on as possible. Again, closeness counts. In other words, if you see what you think might be a correct answer, fine-tune the location.

You need to post your answers here – not on twitter.

Hey, if you don't win, you can get a 10% discount on Snap Art (and all Alien Skin plug-ins) when you use this code upon checkout: RSA0901.

Good luck to everyone. But no pros, please.

Best,
Rick
P.S. For more plug-in fun, see PluginExperience. Are you experienced?

Need a Little Creative Stimulation? Try IR Photography

Hey All

If you feel as though you need a bit 'o creative stimulation, why not have one of your old digital cameras converted to an IR-only camera.

On the left:
Top - Zzzzzzzzzz
Middle - IR picture (straight out of the camera)
Bottom - with a few Channel swaps.

Get a discount on your IR conversion at Lifepixel by using this code upon checkout: Rick Sammon.

For more of my IR work, see my article in Layers magazine.


IR Rocks!
CU,
IR Rick :-)

Tuesday's Tip

Focus on Focusing
Greg Downing

When making close-up photographs (with super telephoto zooms and macro lenses) of wildlife, some photographers make the common mistake of always focusing on the eyes.

Generally speaking, the eyes are the preferred point of focus but the photographer also needs to consider the other elements in the scene – and how to make the most of the available depth-of-field. For example, when looking at my image of a bald eagle, the eyes are in focus – but as important in this shot, so is the tip of the eagle's bill.

With any lens, more than half of the depth-of-field falls beyond the initial point of focus. So, in this case, had I chosen the eyes as the focus point, getting the tip of the bill sharp might not have been possible.

Here the depth-of-field just barely makes it to the eyes before falling off rapidly. To get the desired depth-of-field, I very carefully composed the shot and then manually tweaked my focus well in front of the eyes, near the base of the bill. I used my depth-of-field preview feature to ensure that the eyes were also in focus. The magnification was so great (I was shooting with a 600mm lens on my Canon 1D Mark II) that I needed to use f/22 to get the bill and the eyes in sharp focus.

I also used a bit of fill-flash to help maintain sharpness – a technique that I often use to do close-ups shots of distant animals.

To learn more about how I create close ups in nature, see my article on Creating Intimate Portraits in Nature on NatureScapes.net.

And . . . mark your calendar: Rick and I are giving a full-day seminar on wildlife, outdoor and nature photography on November 7th in Fairfax, VA. Be there or be square.

Until then, focus on focusing.