Nature Light Photo

Wildflower Updates

I got a great site recommendation from Sandy Steinman at the Natural History Wanderings website that lists a LOT of wildflower reports. You can see his post here: Wildflower Reports at Natural History Wanderings

What Kind of Camera Should I Buy?

I get this question all of the time. People know I know photography and they think I know everything. I don’t. But I do not shy away from this question. I have an answer for every person who asks, but only for SLR cameras. I don’t know anything about point and shoot cameras.

I ask five basic questions:
1) What is your budget?
2) What do you plan on taking pictures of?
3) What do you plan on doing with the pictures?
4) What kinds of cameras do your friends own?
5) Is photography going to become a hobby/passion?

The most important question is #4. What kinds of cameras do your friends own?

Both Nikon and Canon make great DSLR cameras that are all capable of capturing images that 95% of the population would be more than satisfied with on a daily basis. So, brand comes down to what system do your friends have so you can share lenses with each other.

Asking the question about budget and the hobby/passion helps me determine what price point the person should be looking at. If they are thinking about making this a hobby, then I tell them to maybe be a bit more flexible on the price in order to buy a camera that they can grow into.

The other two questions, about their subject matter and what they plan to do with the images helps me determine the resolution that they need. If they need to print big, they are going to need more mega pixels. I ask the subject matter because I am just curious.

There is no wrong answer to what kind of camera should I buy. We as photographers should help our friends make the right decision.

Please feel free to share your opinion.

Death Valley Redux – Pt. 3 – What is That Orange Bush?

As I was driving on the paved roads of Death Valley looking for wildflowers and other photographic subjects, I noticed areas that had a large number of “orange bushes”. The sight of so many in many places made me think about a possible photo opportunity.  I finally stopped to take a closer look and try to capture an interesting image.

I had never seen a plant of this type and was curious as to the details of the organism. Looking closer at the plant, I had two thoughts. One, it was a very unique flower of the bush (sage) that it was growing out of or, two, it was some kind of parasite.

After some research it turns out that my second thought was correct. It was Cuscuta californica, California dodder or chaparral dodder. It is a parasitic vine that grows throughout the south western United States and lives on small shrubs and other plants.

That information is all good and well, but the bottom line is that they are a small, bright spot of orange in the middle of the desert and have tremendous photographic potential.

Below are two examples of the plant. I would really like to take this picture when the sky is more interesting.

Cuscuta californica

Cuscuta californica

Please feel free to leave comments or let me know if you have any questions.

Podcasts – The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

I listen to a lot of podcasts. I have 23 of them on my iPhone that I listen to regularly and another 10-15 on my computer at home. I listen to them when I am in the car traveling to work, vacation, the store, where ever. I am a podcast junkie. I haven’t listened to the radio in ages. I include video podcasts in this catagory. I don’t watch them in the car, but while waiting for appointments or whatever.

I have learned a few things about podcasts. Some are good. Some are bad. And some are both.

Bad & Ugly

I am not going to list the podcasts here, but if you read between the lines you’ll figure it out.

It is NOT a podcast when you film yourself shooting a waterfall, birds, mountain landscapes or whatever and all the viewer sees is a waterfall, birds, or a mountain landscape with a camera firing off at 6-8 frames per second as the sound in the background. If you don’t have narrative about what you are shooting, why you are shooting it, or what you are trying to do with the camera, it is NOT a podcast. It is just a bad video.

You wouldn’t post or make public the images that you are not proud of, why do that with a podcast? Just because you can post something doesn’t mean that you should.

It is NOT a podcast when most of the material you talk about is a plug for your latest and greatest workshop or light modifier or whatever. It is an ad. There is nothing wrong with advertising, but not at the expense of most of your material.

You have thousands of listeners around the world and you’re plugging a workshop that has room for 15 people. Make your sales pitch and then move on to the reason we downloaded the podcast. If you tell everyone that you will be answering questions about photography, answer some. Or a lot. If your podcast is supposed to be an interview, then get to the interview. 15 minutes of interview and 45 of the workshop plug is not why we downloaded you.

It is NOT a podcast if you produce one every 6-8 weeks. It is a reminder that you are not doing what something on a regular basis. This is the reason I don’t produce a podcast. I don’t have the time to do it right on a regular basis.

It is NOT a podcast when you rebroadcast something you did for someone else. If you want to include it in your feed, fine, but don’t add it to your count and say it is a podcast.

Good

There are some really good podcasts out there. They are done well, educational, and entertaining.

The Image Doctors
This is produced by the Nikonians.org website. Jason Odell and Rick Walker talk about Nikon equipment (obviously) and some of their shoots that they go on. But they include tips, ideas, and other information that can make you a better shooter. Their equipment reviews are honest; giving you both the things they liked as well as the things they didn’t.

Photofocus
Scott Bourne puts together some great guests and all they do is answer questions submitted by listeners. They always answer the questions in depth and from two points of view. It is a VERY educational podcast about photography. And the website that goes with it is one of the best photography oriented sites on the internet.

TWIP
This Week In Photography is a well produced podcast about everything photography. Host Fredrick van Johnson along with co-hosts Alex Lindsay, Steve Simon, Ron Brinkmann, and Aaron Mahler talk about the past, present, and future of photography. They all have an immense amount of experience in photography and are very entertaining as they give tips, opinions, and insights on photography.

The Candid Frame
Host Ibarionex R. Perello interviews individuals in the photography world. Most of them I have never heard of, but they have some great insights and thoughts on ideas that make you think.

Thoughts On Photography
Paul Giguere has a great podcast on living a photographic life. He has interviews and thoughts on being a photographer and producing images that are interesting and tell a story.

Lightsource
Bill  Crawford and Ed Hidden talk about and interview people about mostly studio lighting. Lots of interesting ideas and insights on thinking about how to use studio lighting.

LensWork
The magazine is good. Brooks Jensen produces a short (4-5 minutes) podcast about his thoughts on photography. Everyone of them are thought provoking and relevent.

LenFlare35
Dave Warner interviews a lot of the iconic photographers using Canon gear. Yes, it is Canon, but we all know it is not about the gear, but the eye behind the viewfinder and you can hear what those great eyes have to say on this podcast.

Final Thoughts

Podcasts are a great way to learn about photography and lots of other subjects. If you are producing a podcast, take the time and effort to do it right.

Full Frame vs. Crop Sensor

I don’t get it.

The argument for or against one or the other. Full frame or crop sensor. It’s like Canon vs. Nikon. Or Apple vs. PC. Or even digital vs. film. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Ok, I get the digital vs. film. It’s digital.

Each has it’s merits and each has it’s problems. Personally, I like the crop sensor. Why? Because I like the extra “reach” that the 1.5 crop factor on the Nikon D300 gives me. I like the way a 70-200mm lens acts like a 105-300. I like the way that a 1:1 macro 105mm lens becomes more than 1:1. (At least I think it does.) And I think that the ability to use a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens that is designed for a crop factor sensor is nice. And when a lens made for a full frame sensor is used on a crop factor sensor, the image quality goes up because the smaller sensor is in the “sweet spot” of the lens.

Ok, there are probably some problems. A crop factor sensor can’t go as wide as a full frame sensor and it probably is more susceptible to digital noise because of the smaller pixel size. Obviously, a wide angle lens isn’t as wide as wide as it is on a full frame camera. I don’t mind that. I don’t use wide angle very much and would rather get the advantage of the long reach at the other end. And of course the crop sensor lacks the “cool” factor that owning a new full frame camera has.

While I like and want a crop frame senor in my camera, I understand the advantages of the full frame; less noise, wide angle lenses are wide angle, and the newest equipment factor kicks in. But I LOVE and WANT my crop factor sensor.

There is a reason, need, and place for both. I am tired of hearing about one being better than the other. If the system you have works for you, USE IT!!

Josh Whisman at Nature Light Photography

I just posted Josh’s senior portrait shoot at Nature Light Photography. Take a moment and take a look.