Textures: Heaven and Earth
Resembling a mini Badlands National Park, the recent torrential rains in Southern Colorado produced deep erosional cuts in a land development near my home. Intrigued by the textures in the late afternoon sunlight, I photographed this scene with my trusty Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2.0 aspherical lens cranked down to f/22 for optimal depth of field […]
Studio tips: tropical bird photography
Meet Walter, a ten-month old Senegal Parrot. This gregarious tropical bird is very much at home in front of the camera. Here are some tips for setting up and photographing pet birds in your studio. Turf – birds tend to be territorial and may not be so cooperative on their own turf when they are […]
Lens review: Voigtländer 40mm f2.0
If you’re searching for an ultra-high performance “pancake” prime with superior optics and build quality — look no further. The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f2.0 SL-II is a must-have fixed lens. Admittedly, I’m a gear-head and love finely crafted equipment. The lens body on the Ultron exudes excellence: all anodized aluminum barrel and threads with a […]
Tropical butterflies
I participated in a unique experience recently in the tropical conservatory at the Butterfly Pavilion, Westminster, CO. With tripods and cameras in hand, we photographers were allowed access to the tropical rainforest one hour before the doors opened to the public. The 7,200 square-foot tropical rainforest conservatory was filled with over a thousand free-flying tropical […]
Aquarium photography: hook great fish photos with five simple tips
To quote one of my favorite early 20th century photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson, “To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.” I’m sure Monsieur Bresson didn’t have aquarium photography in mind when expressed […]
Look, ma’…no hands! Tack-sharp self-portraits without an assistant
This self-portrait tutorial offers an alternative, do-it-yourself method when you don’t have an assistant to help you capture the shot. I’ve provided a list of the camera gear, plus step-by-step studio and camera setups. The gear DSLR camera sturdy tripod speedlight flash (1 or more) light stands – for flash and focus target wireless flash […]
Fossilized trilobite
Measuring only 15mm across, this fossilized trilobite is over 400 million years old. The trilobite was a highly successful invertebrate, dominant in both numbers and variety of species. These ancient saltwater creatures swam and burrowed in the shallows and deep sea water for over 270 million years. This particular genius of trilobite, known as Calymene, […]
Tabletop Tutorial #2: macro photography using focus stacking
This week I’m resurrecting my Tabletop Tutorial series by featuring a macro photography technique known as focus stacking. Focus stacking is a digital image processing technique that combines multiple images taken at different focus distances. The composite image offers a tack-sharp subject from stem to stern. If you’re looking to achieve greater depth of field […]
Paris Las Vegas at Twilight
This September marks the twelfth anniversary of the opening of the Paris Las Vegas. My son and I visited this 2915-room hotel and casino this past June. Paris dominates the Las Vegas Strip with its half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower and partial Arc de Triomphe. The front of the hotel borrows inspiration from the […]
Frosty February
“Our snow was not only shaken from white wash buckets down the sky, it came shawling out of the ground and swam and drifted out of the arms and hands and bodies of the trees…” —Dylan Thomas, A Child’s Christmas in Wales Saturday night’s heavy fog and snow, combined with low temperatures resulted in a […]
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