As many of you know, I am a high school teacher at The Winston School San Antonio, a private school that specializes in student with learning differences. This past weekend, The Winston School hosted its annual Learning Disabilities Symposium. The keynote speaker was David Boulton. His presentation covered the importance of learning and I was particularly intrigued by the points he made about our roll as educators. The reality is that we are working to prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist which will utilize technology that has not yet been invented. Not a little task if you ask me. The world is changing in ways we can hardly imaging and it is both exhilarating and nerve-racking to think about the possibilities. The video “Shift Happens” was played during the presentation and it did a great job of making me realize the scope of the changes that are coming, not just in photography, but everywhere. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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27 days into the new year and I am finally getting around to making resolutions. Actually, this is my clever plan in action. It is well known that few people are able to keep their resolutions past the first week. By starting four week into the new year, I have already demonstrated an impressive level of commitment. I do get credit for the last 27 days right?
As those of you who have been following this blog know, last year I decided to challenge myself to complete a sprint triathlon. Not only did I complete one, but I ended up competing in three, including an olympic distance race which covered 33 miles! OK, competing might be a strong word, but I crossed the finish line each time.
The sense of accomplishment was great and I look forward to another triathlon season starting up in March. My first race will be the Galveston sprint triathlon in April. More importantly (and unbelievably to myself and others), I will be entering my first 1/2 ironman race in either September or October (still deciding on the race date). For those of you who know nothing about triathlons (me a year ago), a 1/2 ironman race is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run.
Yes, I have officially passed the point of sanity. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some training to do.
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Stand at the top of a cliff near a Northern gannett colony and you are guaranteed flight shots. With thousands of birds coming and going, the opportunities are endless. Sometimes you even get lucky enough that one of the Gannetts flies by at eye level.
This image was created using a Canon 1D mark 2, 500mm IS lens with a 1.4 teleconverter, at 640 ISO. The camera was mounted on a Gitzo tripod and a Wimberly tripod head.
Photoshop Classes
Sign up for Photoshop Level 1 and Photoshop Level 2 and get $30 off!
Beginning in February, I will be offering a series of one day workshops and classes at The Winston School San Antonio in San Antonio, TX. These classes are open to the public and are a great opportunity to master your photographic and digital media skills.
The first two course offerings are:
- Saturday, February 12, 2011 (9 am – 5 pm)
- Join me in this exciting introduction to Adobe Photoshop. Designed for beginning students who are just getting started in Photoshop or have some background with the program but seek to expand their knowledge and understanding. This one day course will provide you with the tools you need to take your digital images to the next level. Topics covered include the tools of Photoshop, layers and layer masks, tonal adjustments, and color correction. We will also spend time discussing the key steps to making your images look their best. Cost of the course is $125. To enroll in the class, or for additional information, contact me at info@chrisgamel.com or (210) 723-5999.
- Enrollment is limited to 11 participants.
- Each participant will be provided their own iMAC digital workstation with Adobe Photoshop CS4 to use during the course.
- Saturday, March 19, 2011 (9 am – 5 pm)
- Building on the material covered in Photoshop – Level 1, this class will focus on selections and some of the more advanced features of Photoshop. Topics covered include making and refining selections, digital compositing, advanced imaging techniques, and an introduction to portrait retouching. Cost of the course is $125. To enroll in the class, or for additional information, contact me at info@chrisgamel.com or (210) 723-5999.
- Enrollment is limited to 11 participants.
- Each participant will be provided their own iMAC digital workstation with Adobe Photoshop CS4 to use during the course.
Upcoming Conference - North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA)
In March (March 9-12, 2011), the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) will hold their annual summit in McAllen, TX. The NANPA summit is a great educational experience with a focus on wildlife and nature photography. I am also happy to announce the I will be presenting one of the breakout sessions this year: Wildlife Filmmaking for Still Photographers. So join me in McAllen for a few days and don’t forget your camera, the Rio Grande Valley (south Texas for non Texans) is one of the best bird hotspots in the world.
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Previously we discussed the idea of getting down on the subject’s level when taking photographs. We spend our lives watching the world from the same perspective. We look up at trees, down at flowers, and straight across at people. Studies have shown that one of the reasons few people like seeing themselves in pictures is because the only time we see ourselves is in the mirror and the image is backwards. Breaking preconceived ideas about how things should appear tends to make us uncomfortable and can add psychological impact to our images. One way to do this is to photograph a subject at a unique angle. Rather then capturing the traditional flower closeup or field in bloom, use a wide angle and shoot the flowers from above. Climb into the tree and photograph it looking down. The perspective will be fresh and help your images to stand out from the crowd.
The above image was created during the annual wildflower bloom in the Texas Hill Country. The Texas bluebonnet is our state flower and I wanted to capture an image that showed its beauty in a different way. I set my wide angle zoom to its widest setting, held the camera over the flowers at arms length, and pressed the shutter. The image was captured using a Canon 1Ds mark 3, 17-35mm lens (set to 17mm), at 400 ISO. The camera was hand held.
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Always shoot, even if conditions seem less then ideal. During a visit to Cape St. Mary’s Northern Gannett colony in Newfoundland, Canada the entire colony was covered in a deep fog. Visibility was extremely limited and we were tempted to pack up and head back to the hotel. Fortunately, we stayed and produced some great images of the Gannetts in the fog. This is one of my favorites from that morning.
The image was created using a Canon 1D mark 2, 500 mm IS lens, at 400 ISO. The lens was supported on a Gitzo tripod with a Wimberly tripod head. The image underwent a variety of tonal adjustments and contrast enhancements to bring out the details in the bird.
Hi Chris,
I’ve been interested in wildlife photography, and for a few years have been using a Nikon crop body with 200mm lenses (originally the 55-200mm f4-5.6, and later the 80-200mm f2.8). Recently, I acquired a 300mm 2.8 vr, and the new 2x tc. This has given me a lot more reach, but consistently getting good images out of this combo at 600mm requires long lens, vr, and tc techniques that I haven’t yet developed through experience. Would you be able to offer some tips on how to transition to 900mm equivalent?
- Chong
Congratulations on getting a 300 2.8 vr lens. It is an amazing lens and you are going to have a lot of fun with it in the field.
One of the great things about digital cameras is that the smaller sensor size on many cameras has the effect of making the lenses act longer then they really are. While a 300 mm lens combined with a 2x teleconverter would normally give you 600mm, the smaller sensor on many Nikon cameras (Canon cameras do this too) give an effective focal length of 900 mm! This is an amazing advantage for wildlife photographers who never feel they have enough reach. The problem is that increased magnification not only magnifies the image, it also magnifies every error in your photographic technique. Long telephoto lenses require extreme care if you want to produce sharp images.
1. Before pressing the shutter, it is important to realize that most lenses are not sharpest when shooting at their maximum aperture (wide open). Instead, most lenses are are sharpest when stopped down about two stops from wide open. While high end supertelephoto lenses are incredibly sharp and can often be used wide open with minimal loss of quality, the addition of a teleconverter makes it a good idea to stop the lens down a stop or two to increase the sharpness.
2. While it might seem obvious, long lenses require the use of a tripod or other camera support. Over the years I have run into photographers who claim that they can hand hold supertelephotos without any loss of image quality. Good for them. I can’t and my guess is that most of them can’t either. These heavy lenses need a study tripod that will bear the weight and provide the stable base from which to shoot. Also make sure to have the tripod head locked down when you shoot or the extra stability is worthless.
3. Utilizing faster shutter speeds also improves image quality by providing less time in which movement can occur. If the light permits, go with the fastest shutters peed possible, however, it is possible to successfully shoot at slow shutter speeds as long as your subject remains still and the camera is locked down on a good tripod.
4. One of the keys for successfully working with long lenses is dampening the vibrations. Your hand position can have a big impact on how vibrations move through the camera. When shooting, your right hand holds the camera and presses the shutter button. Your left hand should be resting on top of the lens directly above where it mounts on the tripod. Lightly press down on the lens, helping to push the entire assembly towards the ground. While it seems counterintuitive, placing your hand on top of the lens will help to reduce the vibrations as they travel down the lens barrel. In addition to your hands, press your face against the back of the camera. I usually have the side of my face and my eyebrow pushing forward against the camera. Much like the hand, pressing the face against the camera has a dampening effect on the vibrations and helps to produce sharper images.
5. Finally, a note about using VR (vibration reduction) or IS (image stabilizing) lenses. The technology is amazing and does a great job of reducing camera shake. That being said, it is important to make sure the VR/IS controls are activated before you start shooting. Once the shutter button is pressed half way, the VR/IS system becomes active, but there is often a delay before it starts up. When waiting to photograph a subject, I often keep the shutter button partly pressed so the VR/IS is active and ready to go when I need it.
Become part of the conversation. The TTL with Chris Gamel blog wants to help you. If you have a question about digital photography, video, animal behavior, or anything in between send me an e-mail and I will do my best to answer it in an upcoming blog post.
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The past few days have been extremely busy with Imaging USA going on just down the street from where I live. More then 10,000 people attended this year, making it the largest Imaging USA ever. This shot shows a portion of the expo and tradeshow. Needless to say, there was a lot of stuff to see. As life returns to normal, so will my blog posts. In the meantime, enjoy the image.
The image is a digital composite of 7 separate image files, combined together using Photoshop’s photomerge feature.
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We came across this pride of lions at the end of my daughter’s first day in Africa. Needless to say, it was a good day. The image was created using a Canon 1Ds mark 3, 24-70mm lens, at 800 ISO. The camera was hand held and I was shooting from a vehicle.
I would like your help. When I teach classes or give presentations, I spend time answering questions about my personal experiences and photography in general. Along those lines, I would like to answer some of your questions each week on this blog. To do that, I need your questions.
If you have questions about photography, animal behavior, or anything in between, please post it in the comments or send me an e-mail and join the conversation.