Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!
Wildlife photography is a real challenge. Right place, right time, right light - all are important aspects of getting a shot of a wild, live animal. But what may be the most important item is showing the life in the animal. And the best way to do that is to catch the light reflecting in their eyes. Be it a bird or a mammal - even human beings - the "catch light" in the eye is the real key to showing that the animal is alive.
Above are two pictures of an Arctic Tern from the Farne Islands in England. Which one do you think looks more alive?
Often one needs patience to get the "catch light", but the best way to get it is to watch the bird through your lens and wait for the light to show. I often take a quick "record" shot of a bird when I first encounter one, but give me a minute or more and I will wait for the right moment - the "catch light"!
To Buy or to Rent? Which is right for you?
As many of you know, photography is NOT a cheap hobby or profession! By the time you get a few lenses in your bag, a backup body, tripod, ball head plus all the goodies to go with it, you are either well off and/or have an understanding spouse! There is an option to buying all this gear...rent it! You can rent just about anything you want. Do you want to try the new D3x...no problem; doing some serious bird photography and need a 600mm F4...no problem; want to play with the new Hasselblad 39mp digital back...no problem. RENT IT!!
Now that I have your attention, let me tell you what I do, where I do it and why.
What - I will usually rent the big ticket items (600mm lens, D3x, etc. to play with it first). If I have a contract for some high end product shots, I will rent the digital back to go on the 4x5 and produce some amazing shots.
Where - The two main places that I rent from are:
Keeble & Shuchat Photography in Palo Alto (www.kspphoto.com) OR
BorrowLenses in San Mateo (www.borrowlenses.com).
Keeble & Shuchat rents just about everything: from lighting to large format and on to back drops. Borrowlenses rent primarily Nikon and Canon stuff (although they are getting into some lighting and such now). As for cost, there is little difference between the two and the quality level for both is top notch!
Why - There have been many occasions where I have rented some equipment only to realize that it was not what I wanted, or was not exactly what I expected it to be. Two prime examples are the Canon 1Ds mark II and an 80-400mm Nikon lens. Before I purschased my first digital camera, I shot with a Hasselblad for years, I rented both a Canon and a Nikon.
One more thing to consider, I am constantly asked "I want to take my photography to the next level. Which is better Nikon or Canon?" My answer is both. Nikon and Canon both make excellent cameras and lenses. The real questions are "Which one feels better in your hand? and Which menu system makes more sense to you?" The best way to find out is to rent them and play with them.Which Battery is good for you
Some third party batteries do not have the blue panel, so I stick a strip of blue tape on one side of the back of the battery so I can treat them the same.
Nikon owners? I think you might be able to use the tape method and drill a little hole in your cover to do the same thing.
Picking the right camera bag.
Lets just start this off with one simple statement...you will never have too many camera bags! A good bag needs to do two things that are sometimes contradictory; it needs to protect your gear from the elements while giving you easy access to grab a camera or lens in seconds. OK enough of the obvious, what do I do? I start by asking myself a few questions:
1- How much gear will be in the pack (Am I taking everything or is this
just for light traveling? Is this my only bag or a supplemental bag?) Most of the time on long trips I will take two bags; one that carries everything and one for light day hikes.
2-How waterproof does it need to be (Am I going to be in the middle of a
rain forest, on the ocean, or working out of the back of a car?)
3-Style of bag- there are about 20 different styles of bags. Some are
traditional, over the shoulder bags, some are belt systems, and some are
full on backpacks that can weigh upwards of 70 lbs+ fully loaded. The
questions are, "Which style fits your shooting needs?" and "What style fits your body type?". For example the shoulder bag is a great concept but after about 3 hours of it being on my shoulders my neck is killing me...so the shoulder bags are not for me.
4-Cost...some of the bags and belt systems can cost the same as a lens! As with everything else, price does not necessarily mean a better bag.
5-Method of travel. Are you going to be traveling internationally, on a small planes, working off the back of an elephant, or staying within a few 100 yards of a car? Think of how you are going to get there...Most of the time the means of travel will be a major influence to which camera bag you choose.
These are the questions that go through my mind when I am picking up a new bag. Next month I will explain the decisions that I made for our recent trip.
Last month I went over the 5 questions that I ask myself when I am purchasing a new bag. For our recent trip to the EU, I decided on a belt system by Think Tank Photo, specifically the pro speed belt and the modules that strap on to it. Now for my reasoning:
1- How much gear was I bringing? I would be traveling without the BIG glass so just 4 lenses: 17-35mm, 28-70mm, 70-200, and 105 macro.
2-Elements? Well we would be in France, England and Brugge in winter so the likelihood that we were going to get rained on was high...must be a water proof bag.
3-Style. The current backpack that I have works well but after being on my back for 4-8 hours my back starts to complain and if I am in a poor mood, my photography suffers! So I grabbed all my gear and went down to Bear Images and started to put the belt system together. After playing with bags for about an hour or so I came up with a series of bags that holds everything that my backpack does.
4- Cost. My budget was to keep it below $300 or so...I ended up spending a little more than planned, but I am extremely happy with my selections.
5-Method of Travel. This was a big one for me. Three Airports, trains and car...we would be moving a bit. My solution was slick (if I do say so myself). I had a 1510 Case by Pelican which I pulled out all the padding, then I just put in the modules with the lenses right into the Pelican case...and it fit perfectly! So what I had was a Pelican case with all my glass and bodies to carry around the airports and such and as soon as we arrived I would pick the modules out of the Pelican case, attach them to the belt and off I went.
So the last question is how well did this work?...It worked well! After walking all day my back did not bother me and I could easily switch out lenses without having to bend over to get into the bag. There are still places where a backpack is appropriate but for traveling the belt system is king in my eyes.
