Her first question was, “can I get the captions to show under each thumbnail?” Her reason for asking this is based on the system she uses in Lightroom where she can see the caption that is attached to each image running across the top of the thumbnail. The benefit of this is she can easily see which images have been captioned and those that have not been captioned. I was not sure about her request and so I reached out to an Apple acquaintance who works on the Aperture software team. Thankfully after a few back and forth emails, he got me setup and I wanted to share the procedure with you. It can really reduce the confusion level of adding captions to your images if you can see at a glance what been done and what hasn’t.

View of Lightroom with captions on the thumbnails in Grid View

The following are the images and emails correspondence from my Apple source:

Yes, it’s very easy… you can have whatever you want in there…

Metadata View option in the lower right corner of the Aperture screen

Browser & Viewer Metadata option screen

Add whatever data you need…

Select the options you want to show on the Grid Mode

Although this all seemed really straight forward I could not get the caption to appear with all the options checked properly etc. Finally after a lot of trial and error I moved the caption field from its original position in the list to the top position on the list and viola, the captions appeared on the thumbnails.

I moved the Caption field from fifth to number ONE

Not sure why, but if there are fields ahead of the field you want to show on the thumbnail, the one you want doesn’t show. I’ve requested an update to have Aperture show all the fields in line form below the thumbnails. Maybe we’ll see it in Aperture 4. You would definitely have to manage that but why not have the option.

Thanks to Martin for the help.

The See Buy Fly Electronics store in the Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Many of the folks working here seem to have pretty good knowledge of what they’re selling. The gentleman below, Tim Khan, was eyeing my GX1 with the 7-14mm lens and of course we had to chat. I handed it over to him and he took a look at the magnificent wide view the 7-14 provided and commented, “nicely corrected”.  He also had a great sense of humor which I experienced when I handed him the camera and lens and he playfully pretended to run down the aisle with it. We laughed and I told him I didn’t blame him for wanting to run off with it.

Tim Khan, photography specialist at one of my favorite camera stores in the world, the See, Fly, Buy Duty Free store in Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam.

The prices won’t beat anything you can get at B&H, but it’s nice to know they are options incase of a photo emergency on your way to Kenya or India. They generally don’t have the high-end Nikons or Canons, but you can get a D300, D7000 and others. This time through I purchased a european plug adapter for the KLM Lounge. You can find all the adapters you need and then some.

"Just checking Honey. Really! This is for the Blog."

Don’t hesitate to check them out while on your way to the wilds of Africa or other places you may go that requite you to pass through Amsterdam. If you see Tim Kahn, tell him hello.

More Photos of the See Guy Fly Shop in Amsterdam.

As Steve Jobs used to say, One More Thing – Big, beautiful, original paintings by European Masters on display at Schiphol Airport

A small gallery of artwork from a few of Europe’s Masters is on display in this cozy and serene, glass enclosed room at the Schiphol Airport. It’s a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of one of the world’s busiest transportation hubs. I’m not as knowledgeable about the world’s master artists as I probably should be, but I did study a little art history in college with my mother. We actually had a few courses together and she graduated with a BA in Art History from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. I went on to be a photographer. Not many kids get to go to college with their mom. This group of images is for you Mom and any others that may appreciate the talented artists from days gone by. Stop by and see this wonderful exhibit if you happen to be fortunate enough to be passing through the Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam.

You can see a few more images by following this link.

January Evening in the Wood at the Hague, 1875 by Louis Apol (1850-1936) was my favorite in this current selection of work.

Our adventure in travel patience all began last November when KLM, Delta’s international partner airline, cancelled our flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam. Thankfully they had the courtesy to rebook us on Kenya Air which disrupted our schedule but, hey, we rolled with the punches and left for the airport for the new 5:30am flight. Our plans to kick back at the beautiful Norfolk hotel and leave that afternoon at 3:30pm had to be changed. So much for a little R&R between Kenya and Costa Rica. Little did we know, the first change was only the beginning.

We arrived at Nairobi International Airport nearly three hours ahead of our scheduled departure and it was a good thing we did. First, since Kenya Air has no interest in our yearly miles of flights logged with Delta, the larger than normal duffels we carry had to be paired down. We typically travel heavier than most due to tripods, extra checked camera gear, goodies and giveaways for our traveling guests and admittedly a few too many shirts. Even with the extra gear we still only travel to Kenya with two duffel bags and never exceed the U.S. weight restrictions of 70 pounds. Delta always gives us a break due to our annual milage, but when we get off the Delta main line, it all changes.

When we began the ticketing process, at the Kenya Air counter, we were informed that the changed reservation, from KLM over to Kenya Air, could not be located. Tanya brought out her 13 inch MacBook Pro and immediately brought up an email, from Kenya Air, with confirmation numbers etc. The Kenya Air representative scratched her head and began searching ever more diligently for something within the computer to help her figure out the answer to the frustrating discrepancy. After about five minutes she finds the records and proceeds to inform us that, ” I can see your seat assignments but Delta has them locked and we cannot unlock them. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do. You’ll have to see a senior advisor.” My response was, ” What? Are you serious? You can see our assigned seats but you can’t print boarding passes because Delta has them locked?” Ok, now Tanya is starting to pinch me. I back off and she takes over.

We do as we’re told and make our way to a senior advisor. She has the same story. We ask if she can please contact Delta. She says it’s possible but not likely to help since they had this exact same fowl-up two days earlier and no amount of ringing the local Delta phone line inspired an answer. Even so, we try the Nairobi Delta office, after forty rings we hit the end button on our iPhone. Tanya pulls off  her Platinum Delta luggage tag from her brief case and hands it to the senior advisor, suggesting she might help us by dialing Delta’s International Help Line advertised on the tag. No use. We can’t convince the Kenya Air supervisor to give the number a try. We decide it’s getting too late to try it ourselves and in response Tanya suggests we just buy two new tickets. “Wow, great idea honey. Expensive, but effective,” I reply. I hand over our American Express and request two tickets to Amsterdam. The agent retorts, ” That’s $1150.00″. I say, “OK” and he comes back with, “$1150.00 per person.” “Yeah, I know,” I reply, “please just book them so we can get moving.”

Back to the agent printing boarding passes. This time we make headway and shortly have our printed tickets in hand. We make our way through customs and eventually into the gate security line. In the haste to remove weight from our luggage and get each bag down to the 50 pound limit,  I grabbed my toiletry kit where I carry my beloved Swiss Army multitool that I’ve had for decades. That knife has been all over the American West, many trips to Alaska, down under in Australia, over to Antarctica, off to Kenya, Botswanna, South Africa, Zaire, Rwanda, Madagascar, the Orient and just about every place in between.  Yep, you guessed it, the boys from the Kenya Airport Security now own my longtime friend and companion made of stainless steel and sharp edges. Good grief what a morning.

We board the Boeing 777 and wait patiently as times ticks by. The temperature rises in the aircraft to a point where people get out the in-flight safety brochure and start fanning themselves. After about an hour the purser finally announces there is an issue with something in the food preparation galley. It eventually gets fixed and off down the runway we rumble.

We get comfortable in our coach seating. I plug in my Bose noise-canceling headphones and search the onboard entertainment offered on the screen of the seatback in front of me. Nothing seems to be working. I flag down a steward and he informs me that there’s an issue with the entertainment system, “unfortunately it’s not working,” is his reply. I chuckle, just as my dear wife receives a cup of coffee thats placed on her pullout tray. She has her MacBook Pro sitting on her lap, the coffee makes contact with the wobbly, slick plastic  surface that has a slight angle pointing downwards. The coffee begins to slide and off it goes, spilling hot liquid all over her right thigh. Thankfully, she wasn’t burned and she had the presence of mind to grab the computer before the spill. The steward brings a 4×4 inch napkin and hands it to her for cleanup just as the lead flight attendant makes announcement on the aircraft PA system in a dull, listless voice,

“Welcome everybody to Kenya Airways. Please make your New Year’s resolution to make Kenya Airlines your airline of choice. You will be glad you did due to our superior service.” I looked at Tanya, chuckled again and said to her, ” man, that is good humor.” As the steward stood by, watching my wife dry herself of wet, hot coffee, I politefully requested,  ”excuse me miss, may we get another 4 inch napkin?”

PS – We’ll have a report on the fun part of Kenya once I get my photos edited. I had planned on editing on the flight to Amsterdam but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. Though I plugged my Macbook Pro in for the the whole previous night, the switch to the plug was inadvertently turned off for sleep. Thus my battery is dead and I’m writing this on my iPad. Good thing the places we travel can be so enjoyable when getting there or back can be so painful.

This blog entry is a miniature snipit of what our small group of African travelers experienced while in this wonderful land of wildlife, landscapes and interesting culture.

As many of you know, much of my work revolves around wildlife. However, I’m very fond of documenting people and their cultures as well. My early college years introduced me to the world of journalism as I worked my way through school shooting for a small newspaper and a very successful commercial studio in Duluth, Mn. My two dear friends, Tim Slattery and Dan Grandmaison taught me a lot about the world of capturing pictures. Those formative years gave me my first introduction to the world of small strobes and the power they have for making creative images.

On our last evening in the Masai Mara Game Reserve our group was treated to our annual Bush Dinner on the last evening before we all headed back to Nairobi. The lodge we stay at goes all out with grilled meats, vegetarian pastas, and sumptuous deserts.

Masai Dancers. Photo taken with Nikon D700 with Flash to stop action

An added highlight to this nights festivities was the ever present group of young Masai dancers that are on perpetual call for birthdays, anniversaries or other special events at the lodge. Tonight they followed us to the outskirts of camp to add an ambience of traditional song and dance much to the delight of everyone present and an opportunity for interesting images.

More Photos of Masai Dancers

To capture the joyous mood, colorful costumes and fireside atmosphere, I started by bringing my favorite camera for low light photography. The undisputed king of the dark is still the Nikon D3s or D700. I have the latter and though it’s not quite as good as the D3s, it is unbelievable in its own right. The lens I chose was the superbly sharp and relatively fast 24-70mm f/2.8.  The combination of the fast lens and stunningly low noise, of the D700 at high ISO settings, gave me the photographs I’ll be sharing with you shortly.

We’ve been traveling to Kenya and staying at the same lodge for many years. That being the case I knew how dark the bush dinners could be. There would be a fire and some gas lanterns surrounding the eating area and possibly candles on the table. That’s it.  When I first arrived I set my camera to  1200 ISO. I soon realized that wasn’t enough. I changed the ISO to 2500 and shot the rest of the night on that setting.

Soon the Masai Dancers arrived. There were maybe a dozen in all, each of them dressed in traditional Masai tribal clothing which is very colorful, full of life and flowing. The dance is always accompanied by a rhythmic hum combined with chant. Above the chorus is a high pitched voice, the Masai director of sorts shouting what seems like directions. Sometimes the dance is in line formation,  moving through the dinner area and around the fire. Other times it’s a contest of vertical leaping. Whichever form of creativity they choose, it’s always filled with consistent rhythmic motion that offers lots of opportunity for photos with strobe stopped action.

Let me start explaining this technique by either reminding those who know, or informing those who don’t, that using a strobe/flash, in a dark or nearly dark setting, can stop action cold!  The principal is quite simple, when a flash goes off in a dark room or in the dark of the night in this case, the light produced by the flash is for an extremely short duration. Often times as short as 1/10,000 of a second.  Think of it as a bolt of lightning and you get the concept of FAST. The duration of the flash or bolt of lightning can vary depending on the make of the flash, but in virtually all flashes, that I’m aware of, the flash duration is extremely brief. A good analogy is the fastest shutter speeds of your camera. We know that to stop action in broad daylight we need a fast shutter speed such as 1/1000th of a second. If action can be stopped with 1/1000th. of a second, just imagine  what 1/10,000th of a second can do. Think of it as greased lightning. Ok, you get the picture, no pun intended.

Now the next step is to capture the ambient light (the light that is given off by the camp fire, the lanterns and the candles). To do this we set our camera to a very slow shutter speed. This will keep the shutter open for enough time to record the dim, ambient light. At the same time, the strobe/flash fires and stops the action of the dancing Masai. Combine the two and you get beautiful images!

The final setting you need to consider is Rear Curtain Sync. Rear Curtain Sync is a flash setting you want to set to make sure when motion is registered on the chip, the motion is trailing your subject. You’ll find this in the strobe setting on  the camera, not on the strobe. To see how this works for yourself, recruit a subject that is willing to ride a bike past you in the dark. The bike will need to have a light for safely maneuvering. Have that person ride  by,  parallel to the camera. As they pass, shoot one sequence on Normal Sync and one on Rear Curtain Sync.  You’ll need them to ride by at least twice. Doing this test will show you how Rear Curtain Sync allows the headlight of the bike to TRAIL the subject. In Normal Sync, the headlight extends out in FRONT of the subject. As you will see, the Rear Sync is much more natural looking.

Finally, in theses images I shot of the Masai, I used one additional technique that consisted of zooming the lens at the same time I fired the camera. Zooming at the time of a relatively long exposure, 1-2 seconds to capture the ambient light, allows  for an interesting effect to be created from the lens moving in and out which is recording the ambient light such as the lanterns. This gives even more of a feeling of motion and adds excitement and movement to your still photographs.

I’m hopeful the above technique will add motion and interest to your still pictures. Be creative and think of your own ideas such as a birthday party, an office gathering, a high school football game or soccer game at night. The opportunities are endless. Mine just happen to be with some of my most active friends, the Masai people of the Masai Mara Game Reserve in the magnificent land of Kenya. Gather your friends and take their picture.

An amazing image of a golden eagle being attacked by a gull. © Who Knows/Nature Picture Library

 A little history is in order to understand why this is so blatantly wrong. Since the beginning of photography, photographers have always been given a credit line in editorial publications. It was like a tradition and typically that credit is placed next to the image. That tradition was inspired by another age old tradition – publishers constantly whining they don’t have enough money to pay the photographer what it truly costs to make these types of pictures. So, long ago, the two sides decided to come up with a win/win situation that was mutually beneficial. Since the publishers were always squawking they were broke, photographers decided to subsidize them by giving them quality images at a price that was typically less than what it would cost to produce those images. In exchange, the photographer was given a credit line to help build his/her reputation and drive more business. The credit line was a reasonable tradeoff that allowed photographers to make a name for themselves and eventually have enough business to make a reasonable living. The downside is the building of a reputation that followed took forever and many phenomenal photos were sold for substantially less than they were worth. But at least the photographer got a credit line.

Unfortunately, like the Dodo bird, the photographers part of the credit line seems to be going extinct as well. In the last five years, the markets that used to pay so poorly are now paying virtually nothing AND not giving proper credit. Take for example IStock Photo, the biggest of what is known as the Microstock agents, where you can license the use of an image for as little as $3.00 USD for usage rights that used to command 100 times that amount. Yes, I said One Hundred Times! Microstock agents have been the main offenders for not requiring credit lines. That has in turn set precedent and is now being accepted by even the traditional Rights Managed stock agents such as the Nature Picture Library as we see from the image above. You would think with such a tremendous drop in photo prices, the credit line would be even more valuable to the photographer. So I ask you, are you a photographer that’s not demanding your agent share the credit? If so, is it worth it?

In the end it’s all about pride in yourself and your work. As I tell our workshop guests, anyone can give a photo away. Take pride in your photography and yourself, stand up for what is right and fair. At the very least you should be worth a credit line.

Nikon's V1, their first entry into the Mirrorless Revolution.

The only difference I have with his take on how the Mirrorlesss Revolution will evolve is his predictions on where Canon and Nikon stand in this exciting new world of cameras. Although I wasn’t excited about Nikon’s decision to go with a smaller sensor size in their new Mirrorless cameras, the J1 and V1,  these two new models offer industry leading, world class technology advantages. If they bring even half the technology in the V1, into updated more professional models, they’ll be industry leaders in the coming new world of photography like they have for so many years in the traditional DSLR industry. Hope you find Trey’s Blog as interesting as I did.

As I sat in the comfortable couch sipping my first Tuskar of the trip, the warm lights and the beautiful old world furniture stirred my creative visions.  I just so happened to have my trusty little Lumix GX1 sitting on the table beside me that gave me the option to capture what I was seeing. In this post I’m going to present the images I saw as they first began to develop. There will only be three or four pictures but I want to show you how first saw a potential image and how I eventually added or subtracted visual elements, camera settings etc. to make an picture that I really liked in the end.

This first image was what I initially saw, it was the inspiration to grab the GX1, turn the camera on and take a look at the back LCD. What I sometimes first react to isn’t always as interesting when I review it through the lens of a camera, so I sometimes check myself before working to make it right. After taking a look I new it was a go, it just needed a little something to make it come alive.

Image #1-This was the initial scene. I loved the lamp in the left, the warm inviting light, the framing of the drapes along the window and the reflections on the table. It just needed something to give it life ISO 200, Program Mode Metering on Pattern Shutter Speed 1.3 sec at f/3.5

It needed a subject and I just happened to have a very lovely candidate sitting next to me sipping her wine. My request often starts of with something to the effect of, “Hey Honey, would you mind helping me a minute. It will just take a second.” As usual, she’s always a great sport when it comes to photography and so I directed her to go on the other side of the glass and position herself so she was looking up at the interesting images on the wall.

When she first got into place I began taking pictures. It was dark and I was shooting as a relatively slow ISO of 200. At ISO 200 I had to support the camera by placing it on the table, the lens propped at an angle with the bar menu. The camera was selecting a Shuter Speed of 1.3 seconds even though the lens was wide open at f/3.5.

The next image I had her move closer to the window so she becomes more prominent and easier to see. In each of these images you will notice I’m trying my best to put her in a location where she was placed into one of the square windows. In the third image, where she has moved closer yet, it was difficult to fit her nicely into the window frame due to the low angle of the camera being supported on the table. At this perspective one of the wooden window deciders was placed just below her neck which created an unpleasing connection in the image.

This image had the wooden deviders from the window passing through her face which obviously not very pleasing. This angle was necessary due to having to support the camera on the table to steady it for the 1.3 second exposure. ISO 200, Program Mode, Metering on Pattern, Shutter Speed 1.3 sec at f/3.5

I finally liked the position Tanya was in and all the elements had come together with one exception. Since I had to keep the camera at such a low angle, to make sure it was supported for the long exposure, the low view created a perspective where the wood slat from the widow was creating a problem cutting her off at the neck. Frustrated I thought, “Ok how am I go gin to fix this?” I picked the camera up and changed the ISO to 1200. With 1200 ISO I was able to get a shutter speed that was fast enough to hand hold the camera. Luckily the 14-42mm lens has Image Stabilization built in to it. With image stabilization and an ISO of 1200 I was able to get a shutter speed of 1/5 of a second, just barely fast enough to hand hold the camera. With the faster shutter speed I held the camera about a foot above the table which allowed me to move Tanya’s face, above the wood slat, into a better position which allowed me to capture this final picture below.

I finally am able to get Tanya in an acceptable position by increasing the ISO to 1200 which allowed me to pick the camera up off the table and hand hold it at 1/5 of a second shutter speed. ISO 1200, Program Mode, Metering on Pattern, Shutter Speed 1.5 sec at f/3.5

I hope this encourages you to take your camera with you and look for pictures in places you might not always think they will appear. Additionally, with this example I’m hopeful you realize that photos don’t always just happen, they sometimes have to be massaged in to presenting themselves. This photo is what I consider an illustration rather than a true journalistic moment. For my editorial stories I wouldn’t have had Tanya move in to the location. I would have just had to  accept the fact that the image I was hoping for wasn’t going to happen. Let me know if you have any questions.

See a small collection of images of Dan’s studio.

Dan is a minimalist and I say that with the utmost admiration and deepest respect. He made a decision long ago that success was not about how much money you make but rather how much time you’ve spent in the outdoors, how many cattle you’ve wrangled from the high country, how many dall sheep you’ve watched graze on highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains. With that knowledge, it didn’t surprise me when I walked into his humble abode. Dan greeted us with his typical wide brimmed grin that only a true midwestern cowboy can pull off. I gave him a hug and introduced my parents. Greetings finished, we began walking. Dried brown leaves crunched beneath our feet as we slowly strolled the short distance to the far end of a weathered, battered barn, it’s wood pairing perfectly the dark tones of the sky on this unusually  warm, amazingly snowless, last day of December.

We entered through a powerfully sprung screen door, it slammed precisely as we began to climb the shadowy stairwell with no railing. The walls were unfinished, two by four studs provided a handhold for support as I helped my mother manage the flight of twenty or so stairs to the studio. Mom had both her hips replaced and navigating such places is typically off limits but Marlene Stanford Cox is an artist too and she was excited to connect with such a successful, skilled comrade. We made it to the top and Dan put a log into his already smoldering, wood burning stove. His studio was small and I was happy I had brought my widest lens.

Natural Light and One On Camera Strobe
For this shoot I brought only a basic kit of photographic equipment. My body of choice was my new Panasonic/Lumix GX1. The two lenses I carried were the 14-45mm and the recently acquired 7-14mm zooms. Just in case I would need additional light I brought along a Nikon SB800 flash as well.

Dan began pulling paintings from down the hall and bringing them out to the main part of the studio. Here he set them on an artists easel, the same one he obviously paints from. On one end of the room was a window about 3×3 feet in size. The typical winter, overcast skies of Minnesota offered beautiful soft light as it projected through the rooms only undraped window. My first series of images were shot of Dan as he sat on his artist stool. I wanted him to be only a part of the image. To me, his paints, his brushes, doodles on paper pinned to the wall, an overflowing bookcase, bronze statues were all elements of who this master of oil and canvas is.

Image #2-Dan Metz sits among his art supplies at his studio in Delano, Mn.

Had there been more time I would have loved to have brought my Nikon’s with their remote flash capabilities. On the image above I would have placed a small strobe in the middle, right side of the picture, out of frame and pointed it directly at Dan as he sat on his stool. The natural light streaming in from the window just wasn’t quite sufficient to light him as I would have liked. There was also the issue of the rooms, warm toned, incandescent  bulbs mixing with the natural light from the window and creating issues with white balance. These were a couple of issues I could have spent more time perfecting but in this situation it was more about recording a friends passion and who he was than crafting a perfect photograph. I think image #2  accomplished my goals suffeciently. However, as a picky photographer I do see things I wanted to share with my readers.

Image #3-This image was lit by bouncing a Nikon SB800 off the ceiling. As you can see compared to the image above it changes the feeling of the picture completely. Too much light for my taste.

Image #3, directly above, was shot with an SB800 attached to my Lumix GX1. Not an ideal situation since it doesn’t allow me to use the flash in Auto TTL but it does work in a pinch for adding bounce light onto a subject.

When using the Nikon strobes with the GX1 I have to set the strobe to the prehistoric A-Automatic setting. This was all there was back twenty years ago, before today’s advanced TTL Auto options. In A mode, the Nikon strobe measures light that is reflected off the subject and bounced back to the front of the flash. There is a tiny little sensor on the front of the strobe that measures that incoming light and shuts the strobe down when it thinks it is sufficient. All quality flashes/strobes have this option. The downside is it’s not as good as TTL which also records the reflected light bouncing back to the camera. However, when using the TTL option, the reflected light is measured off the camera’s digital chip which gives a much more accurate reading. When shooting with the less accurate A-Auto setting I just make sure I check my histogram regularly which gives me the information I may want to adjust the camera settings if needed. Panasonic does make a compatible strobe but it’s very pricey and quite large. I’m hoping for something smaller in both price and size for the future. There is one option that I’m currently looking at made by Metz. Metz has been around for decades and before Nikon perfected wireless TTL I used Metz strobes exclusively. Metz is a German based company and like most German products, they are bullet proof for sure but typically not so small or streamlined. In the case of the Metz AF1-MZ it follows the rule of not being small, but to be fare nobody is making a reduced sized flash for their micro cameras with the exception of Nikon’s SB-N5 for the new Nikon V1 camera system.

Controlling The Perspective of a  Super Wide Angle Lens
Another issue I was dealing with was perspective problems which can arise when shooting a really wide angle lens such as the 7-14mm zoom. On the GX1 the 7-14 is actually identical to Nikon’s FX, Full Frame, 14-24mm F/2.8 as far as zoom range is concerned. The difference is the Nikkor is made for a, so called, full frame sensor. For those wondering what a Full Frame Sensor is, it’s the digital equivalent, size wise, to a 35mm piece of film. Many digital sensors are smaller than the old 35mm film we used to shoot before digital. Since the GX1 is part of the Micro 4/3′s camera group, the sensor is smaller and requires that all lenses you attach be multiplied by a factor of 2x. Therefore, the 7-14 is actually a 14-24mm lens. At it’s widest, 7mm’s, you get a fair amount of vertical lines shooting off to the sides of Image #4 below.

Image #4-Notice the red arrows showing the vertical lines of Dan's paintings looking as if it isn't square. This image was shot at the 7mm setting on the lens. As you can see the super wide angle can distort vertical lines substantially. Lighting for this image was small on camera flash with no bounce.

Image #4 above and the image #5 below, are shown for comparison. Image #4 was shot at 7mm. Image #5 was shot at 11mm. You can see a considerable difference in the vertical lines, most notable at the edges of the painting.

Image #5-This image shows much less distortion due to being shot at 11mm. Lighting was bounced off the ceiling for this image.

I hope these samples from a real life situation helps you understand some of the issues you can run into  when you decide to make photos. Recording life treasures is always a great reason to get out and use your equipment. This past holiday season I shot over 1000 pictures of just family and friends. I love the outdoors, I love my wildlife but I also treasure the people who’ve helped make me who I am as an artist and journalist. Recording their lives not only gives you opportunities to practice your craft, but makes your mother smile too. I can promise you she will be grateful.

Jack and Marlene Cox, Mom and Dad, with Dan Metz at his studio in Delano, Mn.

With that said I want to end with a note my good buddy Dan sent via email after we left his studio. Good friends are the ones the can make you laugh!

Subject Line: DAMN

Shoot – if I’d a knowed yer MOTHER wuz comin’ why I’d a hid the spitoon & vacuumed the drapes.Great to see you, thanks for bringing the folks & springin’ fer lunch. – Keep Yer Paddle Dipped – Dan

If you’re interested in seeing the official Arctic Documentary Project booklet that describes it all in words and pictures you can click on the image below and be taken to an online version of the official publication.

Bounce Lighting For More Attractive People Pictures
I’m pretty confident that most everyone who has used on camera flash, pointed directly at their subjects, would agree that direct flash is not very pleasant to look at. It typically produces harsh shadows, contrasty images and lack of depth. The reason for this is due mainly to the fact the flash is coming directly off the camera, blazing straight into the subject. In our Invitational Photo Tour Workshops, when we talk about light, I always remind my students to look for directional light that is low, coming either directly from the side, either right or left, or directly behind the subject.

Light from either of these three places helps to produce the feeling of three dimensions or 3D in what is actually a 2D medium. What I mean by 2D is that a digital chip or a piece of film are two demensional in nature. There’s no way around that, it is what it is. To try and overcome the 2D effect a good photographer works to create the feeling of 3D by using light in the manner I’ve described. Finding this kind of lighting in nature typically requires being out early in the morning or late in the evening and the positioning yourself to either side of your subject or behind. The same effect can be accomplished with people and a flash by setting the flash to either side or behind the subjects as well.

Image #2-My father, mother and sister with her little dog Pebbles taken with a flash pointed at a low white ceiling..

The other most common option is soft or bounced light. This type of lighting is very pleasing to look at and resembles the type of light we would have if we were outdoors on a cloudy day. It’s neither harsh or direct. It’s pleasant to look at due to lack of contrast and harsh shadows. In a perfect world, low, directional light is always more dramatic but soft difused light can be very effective as well, especially for portraits of animals and people.

To accomplish the type of lighting I have in the image labeled as Image #2, I pointed my on camera flash directly at the ceiling. That’s what is called Bounce Lighting, in other words I bounced it off the ceiling. It was very helpful that my parents home has a very low ceiling that is white in tone. Whenever you are bouncing light it always helps for the ceiling to be light colored and the lower the better. When you bounce your flash keep in mind that pointing it at the ceiling dramtically diminishes the power of the light that is hitting your subject. Therefore, your flash will not seem as powerful as it is when you point it directly at your subject. The higher the ceiling the further the flash has to go before it bounces. When it does bounce it then has to travel the same long distance to come back down to your subjects. With this in mind it is always best to use the most powerful flash possible such as an off camera variety like the Nikon SB 900 that I used for this shot.

The other little trick that makes a huge difference is adding a piece of paper to the head of the flash. Above is an image of my setup. It’s difficult to explain but by looking at the image you should be able to get it. The idea of the paper, I used just a plain old sheet of 8×11 office variety, is to take some of the light that is headed towards the ceiling and have the paper reflect it, or bounce it, 90 degrees straight out toward the subject. This fills in some of the shadows that might occur from all light coming off the ceiling and provides a highlight or sparkle in the eyes.

Unfortunately, the little on camera flash that is part of many cameras today, is not able to be turned up for bouncing nor would it be powerful enough if it could. However, there is a new device I’ve heard really good things about that helps to diffuse the light. It’s known as the Gary Fong Light Diffuser. You can follow this link to Amazon to take a look. I haven’t used one but it looks promising and one photographer, shooting Santa Claus for Costco, said it worked wonders for the small, on camera flash of his Nikon D7000.

So that’s my second tip for improving photos where you need to add flash this Holiday Season. Give it a try and let me know what you think and how these suggestions either did or did not work for you. Drop me a note here at the Blog if you have questions or other things you want to share. Good shooting, have fun and make lots of pictures. You’re family will love you for it.

First and foremost is you need to make an effort to pull your camera out and start shooting. So many people will attend an event or family gathering and forget to bring their camera. Taking pictures is actually time consuming, can be difficult and may sometimes make others feel like you’re a pest. But don’t let any of that bother you and  forge ahead. The historical value for family and friends will be appreciated. As you practice and get better at your craft, you will eventually be able to mostly slip into the background and hardly be noticed.

Night Portrait Mode Setting
The little trick I want to explain is the Night Portrait or Rear Curtain Sync. We’ll start with Night Portrait first.

Scene Mode on a Lumix GX1 camera. Notice the yellow border around the image of the man with a star above left. That's what is called the Night Portrait setting.

Night Portrait is a setting found on many cameras, typically under the Scene mode. If you have higher end, professional camera bodies you may not have this option. For more professional cameras I’ll explain how to accomplish manually what Night Portrait does automatically after we discuss the automatic version of Night Portrait. It can also be a Flash Setting mode that is as simple as changing your flash from the normal lightning bolt to the image that shows a lightning bolt with a person and a star. The options I’m describing are on most cameras, including the smallest point and shoots, that have been sold in the last couple of years. I say this with as much conviction as possible knowing full well that there will always be a model or two that doesn’t’ fit my descriptions. Sorry about that if you have one of those unusual models.

The reason Night Portrait can look so  pleasing is due to the camera shutter staying open longer and allowing surrounding ambient light to be recorded. It’s the ambient light, such as Christmas tree lights, warm ceiling lights, candles etc. that can add so much warmth and feeling to an image. The longer exposure, necessary to get that ambient light can make for blurry photos, but the Night Portrait mode minimizes this by also firing the flash. This is the key to the Night Portrait mode. When the flash is fired it will illuminate subjects that are closest to the camera. Whatever the flash easily illuminates, the closer the better, will be recorded very sharp due to the flash’s ability to stop action. The combination between the closely illuminated subject in the foreground and the beautiful ambient light in the background gives a much more  pleasant looking image. So if you have the Night Portrait mode, set your camera there for the next shoot you have with the family and give it a try.

Slow Sync or Rear Curtain Sync
On the  more sophisticated cameras you have a couple of flash settings known as Slow Sync or Rear Sync that will allow you to accomplish a similar feel and look as the Night Portrait setting on the smaller cameras. Slow Sync is actually closer to the Night Portrait setting talked about earlier. Slow Sync is typically set in the Flash settings menu. On my Nikon D7000 I can access the options for changing the Flash Sync by pushing the little flash button that is located on the front of the camera,  just below and to the left of the D7000′s built in flash. It’s the little button with the lightning bolt on it. By pushing this button and turning the Main Command Dial you can cycle through several different options for firing the flash. You can see your changes in the Flash Setting window on the camera’s top LCD.

Nikon's D7000 has the ability to set the flash to either Rear Sync or Slow Sync to allow you to record darker ambient light with flash added to illuminate closer subjects.

Two of those options include Slow or Rear Sync. By choosing either one of these settings you are accomplishing a similar technique as Night Portrait. Along with setting the flash you have to also set the camera to either Program or better yet, Manual. When I use Slow Sync I like to set the camera to Manual Mode and make sure the exposure is set one to two stops daker than the camera suggests. This will still allow the ambient light to be exposed and register in the image but give you a  higher shutter speed to stop any movement that might take place. It’s always a bit tricky to get a shutter speed that is fast enough to stop the action with the help of the flash and yet still be slow enough to register the ambient light. Each situation is different and it always depends on the amount of ambient light in the room or outdoor situation you’re shooting. When shooting in this manner I’m never shooting long lenses and most often I’m using something fairly wide like a 24mm-35mm lens. For lenses in this range you would want to use a shutter speed of maybe 1/15th of a second give or take a shutter speed or two.  There are no absolutes in photography so just give it a try and see how it works. If it doesn’t come out as planned  try something different but either way you’ll begin to get a feel for what works in these holiday lighting situations. If the background is still coming out too dark, up your ISO to whatever setting starts to record the ambient light. Just make sure you don’t go to crazy on ISO since high ISO settings can create poor quality images due to added noise.

My sister Suzy and her friend Lysa sit for a portrait. The shutter speed was too slow and the camera's flash not powerful enough to stop movement.

The image above is one I actually threw out but retrieved to show you what can happen if the shutter speed is too slow. Here I was shooting at 1/3rd of a second and I had zoomed my lens out to 80mm. As you can see it was just too much lens to stop movement at that shutter speed, even though the flash did stop some. The motion in the image was due to my sister and her girlfriend swaying as they laughed, along with my lack of stability laughing with them. All that motion lead to a fuzzy, difficult to look at photograph.

Getting great images of your family and friends can be a lot of fun and many times you become the family hero since most people just don’t take the time to make pictures. Do yourself and your family a huge favor this Holiday Season and practice your craft. They’ll thank you at some point. If not the night of the event, most assuredly when you send them the images. Later on down the road be it one year or twenty, everyone will be happy you made the effort to capture your family history. Happy shooting and if you have any questions just drop me a note here on the blog. Im happy to help if I can.

Colter working on the Contour GPS video camera, getting it hooked up to the IPad via Bluetooth.

The Contour GPS is just one of several options out there that give you a small, HD quality, video capture devise that is super simple, can be placed almost anywhere, and produces stunning video images. The two most popular options include the Contour series of cameras and the GoPro series. Another option has shown up recently made by Delkin called the WingMan but it doesn’t get quite as good of reviews as the Contour or the GoPro.

I’m not going to get into the details of each camera since everybody has their own opinion as to what is important to them. The links I’ve provided will help you make a decision on what features YOU may want. I chose the Contour due to it’s small compact size and shape. I wasn’t to excited about the square GoPro. I also like the idea that the Contour would allow me to use my Apple devices as viewable LCD screens via the Bluetooth connections. The downside to the Contour is that if you don’t have an Apple or Android device you have to basically guess at what the camera is seeing since there is no built in viewfinder. The Delkin does have a a built in screen and the GoPro you can order one as an option, but neither of these other devices has the quality or form factor I wanted so I settled on the ContourGPS. So there you go, those are just a couple of things to chew on that delineates the three different models I’ve looked into.

The question that came up on Facebook was, “what is a Contour GPS camera, and how does it work with an iPad?” The iPad part I explained above but the “What” part is more of a question of, “why”? So here’s how I plan to use this camera in the future.

If you take a look at the ContourGPS web site you notice that they highlight video from vantage points we don’t typically see. Many of the videos where shot from what is known in the video world as POV or (Point of View) of the person shooting the video. Below is a very nice introduction to the ContourGPS by NETWORKWOLRD that gives you an idea of POV shooting.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Along with the HD camera you get software that allows you to work with the movies you produce. They call it SorryTeller and it gives you a fairly nice video editing setup that has easy options for uploading your video to Youtube, Facebook etc. However, I personally use Apple’s IMovie. IMovie is very easy to use, has tons of options for special effects and is also user friendly when it comes to uploading movies to several different places on the web.

How do I plan to use this camera you ask? Well I’m not completely sure yet. I do know that it will be a great option for hard to access locations that I’m sure to run into while shooting for the Arctic Documentary Project. I can see attaching this to the hull of a ship, maybe the tallest mast of a sailboat, on a remote controlled vehicle, on a helicopter, airplane to name just a few. Time will tell but the options are limitless.

The Contour GPS had numerous accessories and the one I picked up when I ordered the camera was the underwater housing. This housing is hard to believe due to the incredibly low price of $39.00. Compare that to the underwater housing I bought for my D2X several years ago that cost well over $6000.00. I realize the Contour and D2X housings are two different animals but for doing underwater video work the Contour GPS housing is a fantastic option. Other add ons for the Contour include the Rotating Flat Surface Mount, XL Bike Mount, Headband Mount, Vented Helmet Mount, Rollbar Mount, Suction Cup Mount, Goggle Strap Mount, Surf-Wake Mount, and the list goes on and on. You get the idea. You can stick this thing just about anywhere. Hope this explains the why that my friend Joel brought up on Facebook. If you have any further questions just let me know.

Nikon’s Flexible Program Mode

I use what Nikon refers to as Flexible Program Mode or the P setting 98% of the time. As most of the comments above show, using anything but Manual or Aperture priority is not very popular. However, I believe if more photographers would investigate the benefits of the Flexible Program option, in the Nikon system, they would come to understand the tremendous benefits. I specifically state Nikon since Canon’s version of the Flexible Program is a bit different and can be frustrating to rely on.

Nikon’s Flexible Program is actually a combination of Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority all rolled into one. When you first turn the camera on in the P Mode, the camera will choose what it thinks is the appropriate shutter speed and aperture. This is where most serious shooters think the downside to P mode comes in. What many don’t know is you have the option to adjust shutter speed and aperture while in the P mode. That’s where the word Flexible comes in. Let’s say the camera selects a shutter speed of
250th @ F/8. but you want a faster shutter speed to stop something with quick moving action. Presuming you have a lens that has a maximum aperture larger than f/8, let’s say f/4, you can adjust the cameras shutter speed and aperture combination to something more appropriate.

Here’s how it is done. When in Flexible Program, you turn the camera on and the camera makes a selection of say 250th @ f/8, however, you decide you want 1000th @ f/4. To change the camera to 1000th @ f/4, all you do is turn Nikon’s main Command Dial, (the big horizontal wheel on the top right, back side of the camera next to your thumb) to the right until you get the 1000th of a second. While adjusting the Command Dial and moving it to the higher shutter speed, the aperture follows right along with it, bringing the aperture up to the f/4 setting. Let’s say the action subsides and you now want better depth of field. All you do is turn the Command Dial to the left. In doing so the shutter speed is reduced and the Aperture once again follows it down to a smaller aperture setting, which in turn gives you better depth of field.

So in summary if you want to stop action, quickly dial to the right. If you want better depth of field, dial to the left. It’s that simple and very, very quick to use. As I mentioned above it is very similar to having the benefits of Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority all rolled into one easy Program Mode.

Now for my soap box on photographers who refuse anything but manual metering. Why would anyone buy a multi-thousand dollar camera or even several hundred dollar camera and refuse to use the sophisticated technology that costs a substantial part of the cameras price? I’m always amazed at the pride many photographers exude when talking about using the same technique that came onto the market with the Super Kodak Six-20 in1938. Auto metering is meant to help all photographers concentrate on the composition, the peak action, capturing the elusive moment. Those are things that only the human eye, at this point, can make a judgement on to convince the photographer to push the shutter button. I agree that there are still a few, very few, situations where moving your camera over to Manual Metering Mode is beneficial. That’s where my other 2% points come in. But I’m also confident that you are equally qualified, some may say “professional” even if you do choose to use some of the worlds leading technology to expose your pictures and help you concentrate on the other issues I mentioned above. With Auto Metering, the advent of the histogram and use of the +/- Exposure Compensation button, a photographer can easily eliminate most times it is necessary to switch back and forth from Auto to Manual metering. Knowing when to use the modern metering technology or relying on your skills to meter manually is the key.

One last note regarding the differences between Nikon and Canon on this issue of Program Mode. Canon also has a similar feature to Nikon’s Flexible Program with one big exception. When Canon cameras are in Canon’s Program Mode and the camera turns the meter off during a slow period in the action, if you reactivate the meter by touching the shutter button, the Canon camera resets the shutter speed and aperture back to what THE CAMERA wants, not what you originally chose. With Nikon, even though the camera meter will shut down, when you reactivate the system by touching the shutter button, the shutter and aperture settings are where you set them before the meter turned itself off. This difference between the Nikon and Canon systems is why I suggest Canon shooters use the Aperture or Shutter Priority setting when using an auto mode.

I’m certain all of you will agree that the suggestions above are just one mans opinion and there will be many who will have their own ideas. However, keeping an open mind on how we create images is all just part of growing in this exciting world of creating images. If you are interested I other subjects on photography, conservation and quality story telling I would be grateful if you visited our blog at http://www.naturalexposures.com/corkboard/

Cover of the November 17, 2011 Edition of Winnipeg Free Press

Read the entire story in the Winnipeg Free Press

View photos of last nights Book Signing Event with Dr. Ian Stirling

Getting inspired at the Nikon booth.

When I decided to try and keep up with this idea of blogging about the show I made the decision to not try and cover everything but rather just the things I was actually interested in. One of the downsides to attending a show of this size is what I call sensory overload. There are so many products, so much noise, so much fanfare. It’s really difficult to tune all that junk out and concentrate on finding the new and different. So that’s what I’ve tried to do. The following items are some of the things I found most interesting.

Aerial Photography or Videography

By far the coolest new gadget on the floor was Rotor Concept, Inc. This was a company that makes miniature helicopters that you can attach a camera to for either still or video shooting. Unfortunately you can’t hang a large DSLR like the D7000 onto this machine but I was able to see if my point and shoot sized Panasonic GF2 would work and the gentleman at the booth assured me it would. I shot a very short little video, may go back today and shoot something longer. But it was impressive. Here is the video of the guy flying the helicopter at the booth.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pretty neat! He also had samples of still images and video shot in real life situations. I could see this for situations where you want to get low aerials. Something like the GF2 or Nikon’s new V1 Series cameras would give superb images, both still and video. It would really add some interesting angles to assignments without breaking the bank for a real helicopter. Additionally, it could fly in places you can’t maneuver a real (full size)  chopper. I’m not planning to buy one just yet but I’m definitely tucking this away in my memory bank for future projects. Aside from all the great possibilities I mentioned, the other really obvious one is, it looks like a lot of fun if nothing else.

Rotor Concepts Website

Another great little tool that would work nicely with the helicopter but also be great for many other activities is the new MiniHD Video camera called the Wingman made by Delkin. It’s a mini HD video and still camera with an 8 megapixel sensor, weighs 3 ounces and has a 3X zoom. The body is coated with a rubberized material, is waterproof and the lens takes in a 150 degree view at it’s widest setting.

The back side of the new Delkin Wingman

I bought the CoutruHD, a competitor to the WingMan, this past summer. One of the advantages the WingMan has compared to others on the market is its built in LCD. The camera I bought this past summer has no such option. The other competitor that Delkin will be up against is the GoProHD which does have an LCD option on but it’s an additional cost.

I liked the look and feel of the WingMan camera although I’ve read some other reviews on the web from some who feel it won’t compete with the GoPro on image quality. Guess we’ll just have to wait an see.

Delkin WingManHD Camera website

Nikon’s New J1 and V1 Series Cameras

A show participant peers in to Nikon's colorful future.

About the only big announcement that actually revolved around cameras other than Canon’s new EOS 1Dx was Nikon’s introduction of the new Nikon 1, J1 and V1 series cameras. Nikon pulled out all the stops to showcase these small, light weight, technology packed, picture producing, mini machines. Aston Kutcher was all over the HD-TV screens pronouncing his love of the new cameras and there were models on hand to highlight the attractive colors you can purchase the new J1 and V1 cameras in. Unless I get a new outfit I’m probably going to go with standard black for my V1 camera color.

Some of the specs include:

• Interchangeable lenses
• 10.1 Megapixle sensor
• Smart Photo Selector
• HD 1080P video recording
• Built in Electronic Viewfinder
• Optional GPS
• RAW file capture capabilities
• Viewfinder coverage 100%
• 5 FPS high speed shooting
• Fastest AF in any camera currently being produced.

The big shots from Tokyo were even here for the Nikon J1 and V1 Series release.

These are just a few of the high tech features this miniature power house has incorporated in a small, portable body. The camera seems to be doing quite well based on sales figures coming through Amazon. I haven’t had a chance to shoot one yet but hope to in the near future. When this camera was first released there was a fair amount of discussion around the web about why Nikon would choose to use a much smaller sensor than many other companies currently producing electronic viewfinder cameras. Many of you who have traveled with me know that I don’t judge a camera by the size of its sensor. My biggest concern is the quality of the image  it can produce.

Who cares about the size of the sensor. If it can crate superior images why should we have any concerns about the sensor size. So I’m excited to see what it can do. Time will tell. At the very least I’m hopeful all the technology in this miniature package makes its way into the larger DSLR’s. Then we really will have some amazing new technical devices to help capture even more interesting imagery. Stay tuned.

Lowepro Pro Introduces The New Pro Messenger Series

One of the most welcomed new products I found at the show was Lowepro’s new Pro Messenger Series shoulder bags. I’ve been working with Lowepro since I started in photography clear back in 1981. They have always had a tremendous quality to cost ratio that still can’t be beat. What I love about the new Pro Messenger series is the retro look of the material. It’s not actually canvas. it’s better. The materiel is the typical bombproof Cordura type of cloth that is virtually indestructible, near waterproof and stays looking amazingly new for years and years. Best of all I love the color. Call me old fashioned, because I am, I love the retro, kacki looking camera bags and I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these new products..

Suzanne Caballero Knowlton of Lowepro shows off the new Pro Messenger Series of shoulder bags.

Inside the bag they have retained the solid quality and generous padding that has been a signature selling point to all their products since the 1980′s. There are numerous pockets, padded dividers and attention to details like the ability to extend the main flap, beyond it’s normal size, when more protection is required. The front pocket is generous pouch for holding the ever popular iPad with several additional interior pockets that can retain the many incidental items a digital photographer needs at a moments notice.

You can find out more about the new line of Pro Messenger Series photo bags by visiting the Lowepro Web site.

Lowepro Web site

On Demand Book Publishing

One of the great rewards of working in the world of visuals is the opportunity it affords me to have an excuse to investigate gorgeous products. Hey it’s my job. I love quality and whenever possible I’m happy to pay the premium price something of value demands. One such item that caught my eye as I passed their small, beautifully lit, tastefully decorated booth, was a print on demand book publisher know as Photo Book Press. Their tag line is “Fine Custom Books” and it fits them to a tee. Margaret Telfer, one of the partners was on hand to help explain the uniqueness of their particular product. Actually she didn’t have to say a lot for me to see the difference in their books compared to others.

Things such as hand stitched bindings known as sewn signatures, something I’ve never seen in a print on demand book.  This allows their product to open flat and withstand years of continual review without tearing or coming apart. Several published samples included their super high quality, archival paper, that reproduced the images in exquisite detail.  They really do build beautiful books. Many of their samples were of the wedding variety but they did have one very nice portfolio that included exquisite wildlife. Wished I had taken note of the photographer but I was looking at the product. See for yourself by visiting  their web site for details.

Photo Book Press Website

Custom Cut Mats and Archival Clear Bags for Fine Art Prints

Many photographers are on the lookout for quality clear bags and custom cut matting for protecting and displaying their fine art photography. I found a very likable young man named Danny Dinh that had a great handle on how his products are different and what they offer discriminating photographers. Here’s a little video snip-it of what he had to say.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Clear Bags Web Site

More Precise Control for Manual and Zoom Operations With DSLR Video Production

One of the difficulties with shooting professional quality video with the new DSLR still/video cameras is getting precise focus and zoom operations. There are a number of great tools being made by several specialized manufacturers. Some of the better ones that come to mind include Zacuto and Red Rock Micro.

Both of these companies make similar devices to the IDC Rig I saw at PhotoPlus Expo. The main difference with the IDC is the lack of lots of addon parts. Both Zacuto and Red Rock Micro require that you attach a substantial amount of extra gear to your lens to get the focus and zoom control options. Attaching these extraneous items on the lens  can be bothersome when you no longer want to shoot video. That’s the one down side to video that still shooters have to get used to. There’s lots more equipment involved and typically it’s about 10X the price of what we’re all accustomed to paying for something relegated to just still photography. By the time a DSLR is rigged for serious image capture you can have all sorts of danglies and attachments protruding from your camera. Unfortunately that’s life in the moving picture world.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What IDC offers that is different is that they don’t require you add all the plastic gear attachments to your lenses. The IDC focus and zoom controller takes advantage of the knurled knobs already on the lenses which are very similar to gears. IDC’s highly polished, quality zoom knurled knob attaches to the lens via an aluminum arm. It’s then easily adjusted to bring the  drive wheel up against either the zoom or focus ring. One knurled knob for each ring. It’s ingenious and seems to work very well. No more hanging lots of plastic, gear drive, bands off your lenses.

IDC Web Site

Mentor Series World Wide Photo Treks

When I’m not traveling for my conservation, pro bono work for Polar Bears International or leading photographic workshops with my wife Tanya on our Natural Exposures Invitational Photo Tours, you can find me working with these two lovely ladies and the other great photo tour company, Nikon sponsored, Mentor Series World Wide Photo Tours.

The last trek I did with Michelle and Erica was last month in the beautiful state of Maine. We had lots of great photo opportunities poking around Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park and lots of other nooks and crannies searching for just the right places that produce great images. Tanya and I are grateful to work with such professional people such as Erica and Michelle. Our next scheduled trek is with my old college buddy Layne Kennedy in the beautiful Canadian Rockies in February 2012.  That should be an amazing trip. Banff is my favorite mountain setting in the entire west and to see it in the winter should be magical. We still have a few spots left. Take a look at the Mentor Series web site and reserve a spot for yourself before they all fill up.

Phoozl Photography Games and More

Bill Frazier, Phoozl Alphabetography judge and Phoozl developer Harald Johnson

Harald Johnson, a good friend I became acquainted with via my work with Hewlett Packard’s Fine Art Print division was at the HOP booth. Harald was a terrific liaison between the big corporate machine and  photographers. He’s moving on with his own projects, namely a new online photography game and contests known as Phoozl. I’m actually judging one of the Phoozl photo contests next week known as Phoozl’s Alphabetography Fall Photo Challenge.

Take a look at the Phoozl web site and see if it’s something you might want to give a shot. It’s fun, inspirational chating with other Phoozl shooters and who knows you may just win a great prize.

Web Based Learning

Another interesting booth I happened to pass was one staffed by the folks from Creative Edge. They specialize in online access to thousands of videos, books, and tutorials by the worlds leading experts. They have over 10,000 books and other learning materials available online for a relatively modest, monthly fee.

If you visit their web site you’ll find online titles that will guide you through specialties such as Photo and Graphic Manipulation, Photoshop, Video Production, Web Design and Development, Illustration and Graphics as well as Animation and 3D to name just a very few. Their well designed web site is what pulled me in to see their quality products.

Creative Edge Web Site

Sunpack LED Lighting Kit

Sunpack was showing some great options on the strobe and accessory lighting front. One product I’ve seen advertised and wondered about is the what is called the Sunpack LED Macro Lighting device. I’ve always thought theses devices may not throw off enough power to make the truly useful for macro photography.

What I found was a bit of little positive and a little negative. For some situations these lights would be fine. Anything that doesn’t move would be a potential subject they could light. The LED’s are really quite bright but not enough to give you the shutter speeds you need for really sharp macro photography if the subject isn’t stationary. I wouldn’t trade in my strobes for this device but it is a cheaper, interesting alternative.

Sunpack Web Site

Storage of Digital Assets

Drobo offers a tremendous number of options for storing and protecting your digital photography or anything else you want to make sure you save from the hazard of loosing hard drives. I’ve been using a Drobo device of one kind or another for several years and though I’ve had a couple challenging situations that involved my Drobo devices, I have to be honest and say I have no idea if my issues arose from Drobo or my Apple computers.

Rob Bernstein of Drobo in front of the Drobo Dashboard, a well thought out software interface for your Drobo storage device

I had a very serious hard drive meltdown about three months ago that took four,  2Terabyte drives and nearly destroyed them. They were all a part of my eight bay Drobo FS. However, the catastrophe took place just at the same time Apple was issuing incremental upgrades of their Snow Leopard software to prepare people for the forthcoming Lion release. I talked to Apple, I spoke to Drobo and nobody really knows where the issue came from.

Drobo Web Site

Manfrotto Pulling Out All the Stops with Many New Well Designed Products.

For just short of thirty years I’ve been shooting with the Gitzo tripods. A few years ago, not sure of the date, Gitzo and Manfrotto were all brought under one roof known as the Vitek Group. At one time Manfrotto was a much less quality tripod than Gitzo but that has all changed with the coming together of these two companies. I can’t think of many if any other companies who have worked so hard in the last few years reinventing the way we support all types of cameras and sport optics not to mention lots of other photographic and cinematography products. I recently switched my entire tripod head system over to a newly designed Manfrotto fluid video head for both my still and video work. The current model of choice for the last year or so has been the 504HD Fluid Head. It’s relatively light, extremely durable and is as smooth as silk. I was able to see the next step up from the 504HD which is the new 509HD. I’m most likely going to be trying that soon since the 504HD is just at the edge of being able to hold a 600mm F/4 for video production.

Manfrotto employee preparing to do an on camera interview about many of their new tripod products.

The Manfrotto/Gitzo booth was full of people every time I went buy. So much so it was hard finding someone to talk to. I persisted and was able to get a few questions asked. I was mainly interested in knowing more about the video side of their tripods

The Vitek Group Web Site

That’s all for this year. I had a great time reconnecting with many friends I’ve made over the many years in the photography industry. I would like to give special thanks to David Lee at Nikon, Suzanne Caballero Knowlton at Lowepro, Harald Johnson formerly with HP, Michelle Cast and Erica Johnson of the Mentor Series and Jen at F/11. Please let me know if you find an typos, misinformation, etc. Writing this all in a day was quite a project. Much more than I expected. This was my first stab at sharing at least some of the things I was fortunate to see first hand with the our blog audience. I’m very grateful that my job affords me the chance to go take part in these exciting events revolving around the world of imaging. I’m happy to share this information with all of those who weren’t able to make the trip to New York. For any questions please just pop them into the comment section and I’ll be happy to answer if I can.

Best wishes, Daniel J. Cox

I’ll be snooping and pocking and asking lots of questions about this, that and lots of other things. I’m crossing my fingers that we may see the newest pro or semi-pro Nikon body. However, I’m not holding my breath. Lots of rumors out in cyberspace regarding the devastation Nikon has endured in Thailand due to colossal flooding. Imagine the turmoil they must be going through created by the flood in Thailand the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation event in Japan and the downturn in the world economy. It can’t be easy but amazingly they are more savvy than I have ever seen in the nearly 30 years I’ve worked with them. Nikon has actually become amainzgly astute at marking. That was not always the case. Back in the 1980′s you would have never seen anyone remotely similar to Ashton Kutcher helping sell Nikon cameras. Ashton is a great asset for all of us wanting better and more sophisticated photographic tools. If Nikon can sell to the masses, the technology and research eventually makes it over to the more serious professional side. It’s good for everyone wanting to capture great memories.

My first stop will be the Nikon booth where I hope to see the new enthusiast cameras they recently announced, the Nikon J1 and V1. both these cameras are apparently doing very well. I’m hoping to get my hands on one or both to give them a good once over. Might even be able to talk my friends in to letting me give them a try. Stay tuned and stop by to see what I come up with. I’ll be blogging from the show each day.

Click here to view the embedded video.