August 19th, 2008 , No Comments »
One of the best things you can do to improve your photography (beside practice, practice and practice!) is to participate in forum where you can show your pictures and have a look at the work of others.
In a good forum, you will get feedback on what is good about your shot and what you can improve. And by looking at the work of others and carefully analyzing their shots, you will learn a lot about how good images are made.
Beside image critique, many forums also feature discussions about cameras, lenses, field techniques, Photoshop and more.
Here is a list of some great forums where you can show your shots and see how others do it. The websites mentioned provide more than just a forum. Often you will also find great articles and other useful resources there, sometimes including stores where you can buy a lot of useful items for nature photography like blinds or tripod heads.
Naturescapes.Net
My favorite forum. The quality of the images shown there is very high and many of the top nature photographers can be found there. I’ve learned a lot at Naturescapes.Net.
BirdPhotographers.Net
Another great forum with many famous bird and nature photographers. Despite the name, it’s not only focused on birds but all aspects of nature photography.
Nature Photographers Online Magazine
A great website with many interesting articles and a very good forum.
Juza Nature Photography
A great website with many useful articles about nature photography and a very helpful forum. Currently there are less people at the Juza forum than at Naturescapes.Net or Birdphotographers.Net but the number of members is constantly growing.
Rules for participating in a forum
Be sure to read the rules that apply to all members before posting something at the forum. Often the size of the image is restricted (it doesn’t make sense to post a full resolution 21 megapixel file).
The most important rule is to always be friendly. When you criticize another picture, always do it in a friendly way but still telling the other photographer what he or she could improve the next time.
If you show your pictures and someone tells you how you can improve it, be thankful and not upset. After all, you want to learn something.
Keep in mind that some shots don’t work for all people. You may show a picture that you really like and all your friends like but the other nature photographers don’t consider very good. Accept that. Photography is also a form of art. And art is always perceived differently by different people.
If you changed something in the image with Photoshop (beside sharpening) be sure to tell the other members of the forum.
Also show the basic information about how you took it: Location, camera, lens, f-stop, shutter-speed, ISO, exposure compensation, if you used a hide (blind), etc.
Those information is often very interesting to other photographers and will also help them give you advice.
If you aren’t already a member of one of the forums above, I strongly recommend to join one or more of them. You won’t regret it.
August 19th, 2008 , No Comments »
Photography expert Bob Atkins has just published a very interesting article about exposure, called All About Exposure.
If you are still wondering what f-stops, shutter speed or the “Sunny f16 Rule” are all about, then read Bob’s article. It’s very interesting and easy to read.
August 18th, 2008 , No Comments »
A DSLR has many advantages over a Point & Shoot camera and if you are serious about photography as a hobby (or even as a profession) than you need a DSLR. Here are some of the main advantages:
1. Interchangeable lenses
For most people this is the main advantage of a DSLR. With a Point & Shoot camera, you are stuck with the lens that is built into the camera. But with a DSLR you can change the lens and use the best for your current situation (of course only if you own such a lens, have rented one or a friend let you use his).
All DSLR manufactures offer a wide variety of lenses including wide-angle, macro or telephoto lenses. Canon and Nikon are the largest companies and offer the widest range of lenses. For example, Canon offers more than 60 lenses which range from ultra-wide angle zooms like the EF-S 10-22 to large super telephoto lenses like the EF 5.6/800L IS.
Beside the lenses from Canon itself, you can also use third party lenses from Sigma, Tamron or Tokina which are all available for Canon DSLRs (and of course also for Nikon and often also for the DSLRs of other manufactures).
Beside the flexibility to change lenses, the lenses for DSLRs are also of better quality than the lenses in most Point & Shoot cameras. Hight quality lenses like the Nikon 2.8/14-24 or the Canon 2.8/300 are way ahead of the lenses you will find in non DSLR cameras.
2. Better sensors
DSLRs have larger sensors than almost all Point & Shoot cameras. That is also true for sensors with a crop factor. The sensors in those cameras are still much larger than in non DSLR cameras.
Larger sensors mean better image quality and less noise. That’s why full frame cameras like the Nikon D3 or the Canon EOS 5D deliver amazing results at high ISO settings like ISO 1.600 or even higher. Those values are either not available on Point & Shoot cameras or if they are, they are not usable.
3. Full control
Although some Point & Shoot allow you to set many parameters including exposure compensation, they normally don’t offer all the features of a DSLRs, definitely not the possibilities of a pro DSLR like the Canon EOS 1D Mark III.
All DSLRs allow you to set the exposure in manual mode which is often necessary despite all the claims of the camera manufactures about how good their metering systems are. Beside manual exposure, DSLRs also let you configure other things like White-Balance or which AF mode you want to use.
Only with a DSLR do you have full creative control!
4. You keep the control over depth-of-field
Due to the very small sensors (and therefore large crop factors) of most Point & Shoot, they use lenses with a very small focal length, often below 10mm. This results in a very large depth-of-field which is often not what you want.
When shooting portraits, for example, you often want a calm background. Where you would use something like 15mm with a Point & Shoot camera, you would use something between 50mm and 150mm with a DSLR. The longer focal length makes it much easier to get a calm out-of-focus background because of the smaller depth-of-field and angle of view.
Portrait photography with Point & Shoot cameras is not fun at all as you just can’t get small depth-of-field.
The small depth-of-field is why many portrait photographers prefer full frame DSLRs over those with a crop factor.
5. DSLRs are faster
With a Point & Shoot camera, you often wait quite some times (sometimes several seconds) until the camera finally makes the image after you have pressed the shutter button. A DSLR works much faster and has only a very short shutter lag. That means, when you press the shutter button, the camera takes the image (almost) immediately.
Beside this, DSLRs normally allow you to shoot much more frames per seconds than a Point & Shoot camera. This is due to the more powerful processors and software in DSLRs. Professional DSLRs allow you to take up to 8 and more frames per second.
Even midrange cameras like the EOS 40D can shoot more than 5 frames per second.
To be honest, a DSLR also has some disadvantages like the normally higher price, dust on the sensor (although this has gotten much better with the recent cameras with self-cleaning sensors) or just being larger and heavier. A small Point & Shoot camera will easily fit into the pocket of your jacket.
But for me, the advantages of DSLRs are much more important than the disadvantages just mentioned.
If you are serious about photography and want full creative control, you need a DSLR!
August 18th, 2008 , No Comments »
The guys over at dpreview have just published their long awaited and very detailed review of the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III.
If you want to spend around 8.000 dollars for a new camera or if you just want 21 MP, then read the review of the 1Ds Mark III to see if it is worth spending so much money.
For myself, I would love to have one but the price is just too high and for most of my work, the 10 MP of the EOS 40D are more than enough.
August 18th, 2008 , No Comments »
Moose Peterson, one of the world’s most famous wildlife photographers, has been using the D700 for a week and shot over 10,000 images with it.
He has written about his experiecne in a new blog post called A week of D700 shooting.
It’s a very interesting read, especially if you think of adding a D700 as a backup to your D3 or if you are currently trying to choose between a D3 and D700.
August 17th, 2008 , No Comments »
Photoshop Guru Scott Kelby has published his review of the Nikon D700. Scott seems to really like the camera (which is no surprise as I think the D700 is a fantastic camera).
Scott mentions that in order to get the best out of the D700, you may need to get some new (and expensive) glass like Nikon’s new 2.8/14-24 and 2.8/24-70 which are both superb but definitely not cheap. But hey, if you spend many Euros or Dollars for a great camera, it wouldn’t make much sens to put a mediocre lens on it. I would prefer the new Nikon 2.8/24-70 over Nikon’s 24-120 that can be bought together with the D700 as a bundle.
Read Scott’s Review here.
It will be really interesting to see what Canon’s answer to the D700 will be at the upcoming Photokina.
August 16th, 2008 , No Comments »
Layers are one of the most important features of Photoshop. In fact, without layers Photoshop would be pretty useless for many image editing tasks.
The problem for Photoshop beginners is, that layers can be pretty intimidating at first. There are many different ways to work with layers and the possibilites of what you can do with them are practically endless.
In many Photoshop books, layers are either explained without enough detail or in a too complicated way that leaves the reader wondering what this stuff is all about.
Recently I finished reading Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature by Photoshop Guru Matt Kloskowski (author of great websites like Lightroom Killer Tips or Photoshop Killer Tips).
The book has about 250 pages and is writtin in a tutorial style. Matt describes many useful aspects of layers in a stey by step style with many examples. To get the most out of this, you should try the examples for yourself (the sample files are available for download) in front of your computer and Photoshop.
The book does not cover absolutely everything there is about layers (that would require much more than 250 pages) but it probably covers more than 95% you as a photographer are ever going to need.
The writing style of Matt is very readable and often also very funny. The book never gets boring (and this is something I rarely say about a technical book). The examples are easy to follow and after working through them, you should have a solid understanding of the power of layers. I certainly learned a lot by reading this book and found it the best explanation of layers I’ve come across so far.
Highly recommened!
Buy from amazon
August 15th, 2008 , No Comments »
If you own a long lens like a 2.8/400, 4/500 or 4/600, it’s very important to get a very good tripod with a sturdy and flexible tripod head. Today I want to focus on the tripod head and specifically on the Wimberley Head II and why I think this is the best tripod head if you own such a large lens.
The Wimberley Head is perfect for a long lens and when I bought my Canon EF 4/500L IS last year, I also ordered a Wimberley Head II to support that huge lens (as a tripod I use a Gitzo 3540LS).
Here is a picture of the Wimberley Head II with my 4/500.
Wimberley Head II with my the Canon EF 4/500L IS
The great thing about the Wimberley Head is that you can balance the lens perfectly on it and once this is done, you can move the lens in any position and it will stay in that position without the need to lock the head with the two knobs on it. This enables you to quickly follow birds and other moving subjects like cars or football players. This makes it perfect for action shots.
With a ballhead, you always have to lock the head. Otherwise, the lens will tilt over to one side and in the worst case something can get damaged.
With the Wimberley Head moving the lens is almost as flexible as hand holding it. This makes it very popular among bird photographers who use it to photograph birds in flight with long lenses.
The Wimberley Head is very sturdy and built especially for large telephoto lenses.
I recommend it for the lenses like 2.8/400, 4/500, 4/600 or Canon’s new 5.6/800.
If you spent thousands of Dollars or Euros on a large telephoto lens, you should invest in the best tripod head. In my opinion, this is the Wimberley Head II.
For more information, see the official website of the manufacturer.
You can also buy the Wimberley Head at the Birds as Arts Store or at the Naturescapes.Net store
I am not associated with any of the companies mentioned here. I recommend the Wimberley Head II because I really think it is the best head for a large telephoto lens.
One last note: The Wimberley is only for large telephoto lenses. It’s not made for mounting the camera with a small lens on it. Or for macro photography (unless you try to photograph shy insects with your large lens).
In one of the upcoming posts I will explain which head I think is best for macro and landscape photography. Stay tuned!
August 13th, 2008 , No Comments »
After reading this post’s headline, you may think that reading the camera’s manual is the most natural thing to do when you get a new camera. Many people probably do that. But many don’t.
About two month ago, I met a photographer who was trying to shoot birds in flight with his Canon EOS 40D and a 100-400mm lens from Canon. After talking with him for a while, I found out that the guy was shooting only in “One-Shot” AF mode which means the EOS 40D will focus and then keep the focus. It will not track the bird and keep adjusting the sharpness. This is what “Al Servo” is for with Canon cameras. The guy didn’t know that such a feature even existed. No wonder he was frustrated that most of his bird shots were not sharp.
He admitted that he only skimmed some pages of the manual when he got his camera several month ago.
This is just one example of people missing features of their equipment. I’ve seen this over and over again. Sure, many cameras have features you will never use. But at least you should know they exist.
So read your camera’s manual. You can also read it again after several month in case you want to see if you are still up to date. Also read all the manuals that come with your lenses, flashes and other equipment.
For some cameras, there are even books that often explain the features of the camera in more detail than the manual. Check your bookstore or the internet if there are books suitable for your camera model. Be careful to get a book that provides real value over the manual and not a book that just copies the manual.
Happy shooting!
August 12th, 2008 , No Comments »
There has been a lot of rumor lately about the upcoming Nikon D90. It is supposed to offer video capability, 12 MP, 4.5 frames per second and many more interesting features.
For a detailed list about the D90, check out the following website by digital photography expert and author David Busch, who has written many popular books about Nikon and Canon cameras and digital SLR photography:
Why the Nikon D90 is great by David Busch
I think Nikon will have another winner here. All that’s missing now is a confirmed report of another full frame camera with a larger resolution than the D700 and D3. Many expect a 24 MP camera to be announced at Photokina in September or some weeks before.
Exciting times!
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