With the days in New Jersey growing gradually colder and shorter, I am always a bit remorseful to see the dwindling of the vibrant insects that I like to photograph.  Other wildlife like Reptiles and Amphibians also become less active.  However, the cooler airs bring visiting songbirds that seldom or never breed in our Mid-Atlantic region.  The Savannah Sparrow is a grassland bird with very fragmented breeding habitat in NJ, but the birds that bred further North now visit in search of food.

A migrant Sparrow pauses very briefly in New Jersey atop the fence of a local ball field. Photo taken handheld with the Tamron SP 150-600mm VC Lens and the Canon EOS 7D.

Above photo of a Savannah Sparrow was taken handheld with the Tamron SP 150-600mm VC Lens and the Canon EOS 7D.  A manual exposure of 1/500th F/8 ISO 400 was set, and I believe this is the only frame where I captured a good head angle before the small bird flew off.

This another “right place, right time” photo, one of my favorite kinds of photography.  There was a light rain when I went out to shoot so I had the mindset to do long exposures of running water (which I did).  I did a brief walk around a pond before heading home and barely noticed this Shadow Darner dragonfly at rest against brilliant fall foliage.

A dragonfly at rest against red and green October foliage. Taken with a Tamron all-in-one lens and an Olympus Micro Four Thirds Camera.

Taken with the Tamron 14-150mm Di III Lens, a circular polarizing filter, the Olympus PEN E-PL3 Micro Four Thirds Camera, and a carbon fiber tripod.  Camera settings 1/20th F/8 ISO 200, Auto White Balance, RAW Image Format.

My 13 page ebook, Nature Photography in 20 Frames, is now available in its entirety.  20 photographs covering my approach to Wildlife, Macro, and Landscape shooting with DSLR cameras and interchangeable lenses.  I have 3 download mirrors sites available, and please let me know if you have any trouble obtaining the book.  I will email you the PDF directly if the links don’t work.

My free short but detailed PDF ebook on Wildlife, Macro, and Landscape Photography. Get your $5 PayPal donation ready… but only if you feel like paying for it 🙂 This link will re-direct you to my main website.

Question, feedback, and typo corrections are appreciated too!

Thanks,

Dave

Sea Isle Reflections Some tips on night photography camera settings and composition

My first test of the Olympus EMA-1 External Mic Adapter + Olympus ME51S Electret Condenser Microphone.  No audio post-processing performed.  Filmed in manual video mode on an Olympus E-PL2 micro four thirds camera through the Tamron SP Di 90mm Macro lens adapted with a Fotasy Canon EOS to m4/3 coupler.

Here’s a view of the Olympus microphone along with the lens and camera I used to for the video and audio recording.

Olympus EMA-1 External Mic Adapter + Olympus ME51S Electret Condenser Microphone. Tamron SP Di 90mm F/2.8 Macro Lens + Olympus PEN E-PL2 micro four thirds camera.

“Get it right in the camera”!  This is a common and sagacious phrase in the photography realm, and one which I abide by.  Typically my nature photos are ready for print or the web within 2 minutes after I’ve imported them from my memory card.  With on-the-scene portraiture there are a lot more variables, so spending a little more time in the “digital darkroom” to polish up the photo is commonplace.  You will note, however, that the exposure on the artist (Rostafa) is identical aside from a contrast tweak.  The foundation for a quality capture here is in quality flashwork and a backdrop of the proper color.

Straight out of camera (RAW file) and finalized output JPEG

My first (and longest) step in post-production was taking the Pen Tool and manually selecting the artist himself.  Carefully creating a path around the subject while viewing the image at 100% magnification for precision.  This is not fun, but absolutely necessary.  Once the path is created by the Pen Tool, I then choose the option “Convert Path to Selection” which makes the subject highlighted.  I then go to the selection menu in PhotoShop and choose “Invert Selection”, which means that my background is completely selected while Rostafa is not.  Now I hit the “bucket tool” and fill in the background with solid black so we have gone from a slightly grayed out backdrop and have the desired black.  This is going to make our subject “pop” more and right away we’ve gone from an amateur-appearing capture to a professional grade image.  We are not done yet though.  I resume looking at the contours of the subject at 100% and will paint or “burn” any edges that look too jagged so that he looks like does indeed belong on this backdrop.

The rest of the workflow is very straightforward.  But if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I will answer.

Photography Equipment:

Tamron SP 24-70mm VC F/2.8 lens

Canon EOS 6D

Canon Speedlite 430exII in softbox on camera right for main light.

Canon Speedlite 580ex behind subject for backlight.

Yongnuo YN622 wireless transceivers x 3

Portable backdrop stand.

Artist Contact