Laurie's Blog

Tech Tuesday…Behavior Bonus

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:29:00 +0000

Last week I discussed the beauty of photographing a bird while it is preening. It would seem that the images are reward enough but, if you are patient and keep that lens trained on your preening bird, more often than not, you will be rewarded with a bonus…the “wing flap”…

The wing flap is the added bonus for those who don’t give up on a preening bird too soon…

Before I understood this simple behavior I would be hit and miss, just happening on a bird as it did a wing flap but, I didn’t know what led up to that action…

Now that I understand that at the end of a preening session the bird will do a wing flap to get all the loose feathers out and to settle its wings in to place I anticipate the behavior and keep my lens trained on it AS LONG AS IT TAKES for it to finish preening (shoot that’s just more beautiful preening shots for the files, right!) and capture that final wing flap…

Here are a couple of tips…in anticipation of the grand finale DON’T fill up your buffer or you will be left sitting on your shutter while nothing happens (*special note to self on this one!) and miss the peak of action…

Tip number two…now that you’ve held back some on the preening shots to have room on your buffer, don’t hold back when the wing flap begins…it’s usually quite brief and you want to capture the full sequence and in the process, the peak of action…

Tip number three…this one’s a biggie…leave some room around the bird for the wing flap to avoid cutting off wings, heads, other bird parts, etc. They get both wider and taller when they are doing their wing flap! (Sorry no examples…don’t get me wrong, I get them now and then, I just deleted them all when I should have saved them as examples) You know the images I’m talking about where you have the bottom half of the bird in the top half of the frame while the rest of it has already left the picture before you could react or you have a frame filling, virtually wingless bird flopping around in the image and miss…yeap, peak of action!

Images created (in order) Nikon D3, AF-S 200-400mm VR – D3S, AF-S 600mm VR II – Nikon D2XS, AF-S 600mm with TC-17E II – Nikon D3S, AF-S 600mm VR – D3, AF-S 600mm with TC17E II – D3S, AF-S 600mm VR with TC-14E II on Lexar Professional Digital Media

Fun With City Hall

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:01:02 +0000

A day of shooting with Sandy, who came in for a few days of private tutoring found us in front of city hall in the afternoon. Even with the sunlight behind the buildings, the range of light was greater than our cameras would handle in one click which gave us a perfect opportunity to work with HDR…

…and to add the creative finishing touches in the digital darkroom…

I’ll be teaching this technique and more at Photoshop World next week. Hope to see you there!

Image created with Nikon D3X, AF-S 24-70mm on Lexar Digital Media.

Tech Tuesday…You Are So Beautiful!

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:38:41 +0000

While I love a bird portrait as much as anyone, behavior adds so much more impact to an image and preening behavior is one of my favorites! I love the beauty and grace, the simplicity of the gentle curve of a White Ibis’ neck as it reaches for the feathers on it’s back…

I try to catch them as they stretch and pull at their wings…

At the very tip of their wing, a wisp of feather curls around their beak…

And the dexterity in which they get to those hard to reach places…

When they are in or near water, zoom (or step back) a bit and include the reflection…

Try to isolate your preening bird to keep your viewers attention focused right where you want it…

So, the next time you find yourself photographing birds, watch their behavior and train your lens on a preening bird…not only will you make some simply beautiful images there will likely be an added bonus at the end so, stay focused (on your bird) and…stay tuned next week when I share the bonus!

Images created with (in order) Nikon D3 – AF-S 600mm f4, D3S, AF-S 600mm VR – D1H, AF-S 600mm – D2X, AF-S 200-400mm VR with TC-14E II – D3, AF-S 600mm f4 VR with TC-14E II – Nikon D3, AF-S 200-400mm with TC14E II on Lexar Digital Media

Tech Tuesday…Photoshop World In 14 Days

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:16:19 +0000

It’s not to late to sign up for Photoshop World, Las Vegas. I’ll be there teaching several classes both in classrooms and on the Expo floor and mingling with everyone in between. It’s the single most inspiring event in the Photography/Photoshop World…hey, that’s a catchy name! Seriously, you will learn more in a few days at Photoshop World than from a month of Tech Tuesdays!

For those who can’t spare a few days, you can buy a day pass to Photoshop World here.

So, what are you waiting for? If you don’t already have tickets, sign up now and be sure to say hi when you see me!

An Evening Beneath The Stars

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 03:29:52 +0000

Last night was to be the peak of the Perseid meteor showers. We left our room at 11:00PM and began the half mile trek up the hill behind the hotel in the dark. We crested the hill can dropped down below the top on the other side effectively eliminating the lights behind us and set up in a flat grassy area. I had a two camera bracket mounted to my tripod with two D3S bodies mounted…one with the AF-S 14-24mm @ 14mm and the other with the AF-S 24-70mm @24mm. I wanted to try to capture star trails with meteors flying every which way through them. And while that is exactly what happened as we sat back and enjoyed the show, it was not what translated to the pixels. Not a single meteor showed up on the images. Even though we were away from the city lights the sky was still not the rich black of complete darkness for one thing and I was goofing around trying to outsmart the meteor showers and capture and image I had in my minds eye. While I didn’t get the image I had visualized I did manage to score a couple of great star trails…

I kept watching the Milky Way throughout the night, marveling at it’s expanse across the sky so, just before we packed it in and made our way down the trail I tried a few frames and am quite pleased with my first attempt…

Back in the room, I looked out from the balcony at the night sky and just couldn’t help myself. I set up the tripod with both cameras, changed out the batteries and set the camera to shooting star trails while I got a few winks. My camera kept shooting into the lightening sky as dawn approached and darned if I didn’t finally get one, lone meteor way…off…in…the…distance I added a few of the lighter images to the stack to get the blue sky and the lighter horizon…

So, while I didn’t get the shot of the meteors I had set out for, I did add some new astro images to my files, my husband and I spent several relaxing hours sitting under the stars enjoying the show together and I learned what doesn’t work. I’ll be better prepared next time. This night sky photography is pretty cool…I could get hooked…as if I need more to shoot beyond the sunrise to sunset hours!

Images created with Nikon D3S, AF-S 14-24mm, AF 16mm Fisheye on Lexar Digital Media