Photography

As part of my “Expanding Your Creativity – Mono Lake” workshop, I take clients for a night photography session at Conway Ranch. The ranch was owned by early settlers of the region and is now protected by a conservation easement and management plan from Mono County, Eastern Sierra Land Trust, Caltrans, California Department of Parks and Recreation, and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.

The first time I came to this location to photograph was in the fall a few years ago during the day. I thought it would really cool at night with the stars behind.  When I checked the app, Photo Pills, I saw that I could stand on the west side and look east, or stand on the east side of the house and look west...

When I go out and photograph, I usually don’t have an agenda.  I tend to take advantage of whatever it is that is presented to me in nature. But sometimes I do have preconceived ideas in mind...

Over 5 months ago I booked a trip to east to photograph autumn color... This year I decided to try another location in the same general area and settled on Blackwater Falls State Park, in West Virginia.

...One of the techniques I teach during this workshop is taking long exposures in the middle of the day using very strong neutral density filters, 15 stops. With a 15-stop neutral density filter a typical 1/125 of a second shutter speed becomes a 4 -minute exposure...

Two weeks ago we finally had some nice clouds and I got to use the Nikon for what I bought it for, long exposures...

I lied.  In the last blog, I mentioned I would talk about my wide-angle lens and the built in focus stacking option, but I have not finished testing this yet.  So I will tell you about the amazing dynamic range of the sensor instead!

Last weekend I went out kayaking and came across a great back lit, edge of light situation, one of the most dramatic lighting situations you can find.  If you follow my work, you will know I seek out these "edge of light" situations...

So here is what I have been up to and my observations. My first order of business was to micro adjust, or in Nikon terms, AF-fine tune, my two long lenses; the Tamron 150-600mm and the Tamron 100-400mm...

I have had my Nikon 850’s a little more than a week now and people are asking how it’s going.  I feel like a student flunking Photo 101.  The learning curve is huge and I am reading articles or watching video every day...

As many of you know I have been a long time Canon user and enthusiast. Few of you know my history with camera systems. I have switched brands three times due to advances in technology...I recently had the opportunity to test the Nikon D850 vs. the Canon 5D Mark IV on a hot day here in Sacramento. With the temperature close to 100 degrees, I shot both cameras side by side and used no long exposure noise reduction on either camera...After seeing the results of this test, I ordered 2 Nikon D850 bodies, batteries, XQD cards, etc. from Hunt’s Photo.  My second “Nikon period” will begin and my second “Canon Period” will end. Read the full account in this blog.

I have been back from Alaska for about a week and I still have not looked at all the pictures I took there!

And for the first time I can remember I had 10 days in Alaska with no rain!! My group had a great time, and from what I have seen, they all took wonderful pictures...