Stone Field Reverie

  Light, form, texture and natural history are the creative elements of the landscape photographer; and few places provide all four, and in rare and multitudinous combinations, as Zion National Park. Located in southwestern Utah, Zion’s palette is uniquely enhanced by encompassing portions of the Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert. Here, high plateaus; a maze of narrow, deep sandstone canyons; and striking rock towers and mesas form ready-made compositions for the landscape photographer with an eye to capture the fleeting moments when light and the atmosphere play among these natural features.

The magical ingredients of Zion are its range of elevation, from 3,666 to 8,726 feet, and the eons of geological activity that has shaped the landscape into spectacular and subtle forms at every turn of the trail. Zion was a relatively flat basin near sea level 240 million years ago. As sands, gravels, and muds eroded from surrounding mountains, streams carried these materials into the basin and deposited them in layers. The rock layers have been uplifted, tilted and eroded into a feature called the Grand Staircase, a series of colorful cliffs stretching between Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. Today, the Virgin River is still excavating the landscape. Upstream from the Temple of Sinawava, the river cuts through Navajo Sandstone, creating a slot canyon. At the Temple, the river has reached the softer Kayenta Formation below. Water erodes the shale, undermining the overlaying sandstone and causing it to collapse, widening the canyon.

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Your Engagement is a very special day, which you will always want to keep in your close memory and in your mind. Engagement pictures present a romantic moment of everybody’s life. The pictures depict the natural pictures of both bride and groom with fun and excitement in their lives. There is not any rigidity & stiffness. These photographs are completely different from the wedding pictures as the pose is more relaxed and flexible here. Each shot of the couple is taken in a comfortable way with full attention. The engagement photography is a well-known photography, which has attracted many engaged couples, who go through this phase.

Engagement photos are taken to capture the romantic of couples enjoying the company of each other. The happy couples help each other to take their photos successfully. The engagement photography copies the natural positions in their pictures. The professional engagement photographer gives a special photo showing an intimate moment of the couple.
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You may have read or heard that the D800 isn’t suitable for…  It’s “a studio and landscape only” camera, people say.  People assume that because of the 36MP it’s too slow or too noisy for sports? Is this true?

What is needed for a good “sports camera”?

1. Good Lenses

2. Fast AF System

3. High FPS

4. Large buffer and fast buffer clearing (relates to part 3)

5. Good high iso (keeps shutter-speed fast)

6. “Crop-ability”

I won’t cover point one. That’s got too many variables for this article. I will cover the other points below.

Focusing system
The D800 uses the same AF system as the new Nikon D4:  Advanced Multi-CAM 3500FX with 51-points (up to 15 cross-type points) with up to f/8 (up to 9 cross-type sensors).

It’s very good and isn’t a concern for sports at all. So check one for the D800’s sporting credentials.

Frames Per Second
The D800 has 4fps. Mainly this is because 36MP is a lot of data to be pushing around. This can be a major problem for sports.  The main problem I have come across is when people are running.  When people are running one of the best shots you can get is like this one (as far as body shape is concerned):

This is my preferred “pose” for running. Of course you may prefer something different. The above shot happens to be from the D800.  This was a pretty hard shot to get because:

People tend to run at about 4 paces per second. If I wanted to get exactly the pose I wanted (above) more fps would give me a lot more to choose from and the chances of one of the shots being the “magic” pose would be greatly increased. 4 fps gives me a similar pose each time.  You can see it below (4 fps burst from D800).  You’ll see the runner has her left knee up, then right, left, right and so on.  There’s nothing in between.

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Photographic filter is an attachment that will allow certain kinds of light to be able to pass through, and able to reduce or block out other unwanted light sources.In short, the term filter really means anything that modifies the incoming light in some way and includes: polarizing screens, multi-image prisms,close-up attachments, soft focus filters, neutral density (ND) filters, graduated ND filters, and color filters for black and white photography. Filters come in two main shapes: round and square.

Filters add color and a certain touch to a photo that complements the individuals style of photo taking. When you are using a black and white film with filters, you can darken or lighten the tone of the subjects color. The color filters that are used can darken the tone of an opposite color and brighten the tone of the color filter that is being used. For an example, a red filter will make the red leafs on an autumn tree look very rich and bright, while on the other hand the sky behind it that was blue, is now almost black. Read more »

Are you new to nature photography? Feeling a little unsure of how to get started in your quest to make great images? If you want to consistently make good photos, there is a lot to learn. Fortunately, there are a tremendous number of resources out there to help you, but these can also be overwhelming to sort through. Here is an overview of the topics you will need to learn about from a nature perspective, and some guidance on the different resources available.

Let me start with a very basic statement. There is a difference between making a photo and taking a snapshot. Maybe it’s because most of us have had access to a camera for taking family snapshots since we were young, that it can take a while before that realization and transformation occurs (and sometimes it never does!). Making good photos is a “whole brain” experience. A technically perfect image can still be unappealing if the artistic part is overlooked. But to achieve your vision you need to know how to make the tools work. And it takes time to thoughtfully put all of it together to make the photo. Simply pointing and clicking will rarely get you there.

That is me in the jungles of Belize, Canon MK 1V and a Canon 500mm lens, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley Head, external flash with a better beamer Read more »

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PhotographytalkcomPhotographyArticles/~3/-u-piAxSt8E/2216-photography-101

Trick Photography and Special Effects by Evan Sharboneau is a very popular instructional eBook that explains how to do most of the trick photos that often capture attention and amazement from viewers. With 190 pages of information, it is very detailed and includes extensive explanations of many complicated techniques that are very fun to learn. I found this eBook to be very useful and refreshingly original.

Trick Photography and Special Effects is currently available at a recently reduced price here: Trick Photography eBook

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Travel, adventure and action are some of the words that come to mind when considering a career in photojournalism; however, hard work, persistence and the willingness to be away from home much of the time are more likely to describe the real life of a photojournalist.

Photojournalism is the visual representation of a news story, so the ability to tell a story without words is the most important attribute of a successful photojournalist.

Excellent camera skills are one group of tools a photojournalist must have, not just to tell stories, but to capture the story when it happens, which could be only a moment in time. Photojournalists must often shoot in chaotic crowds, dangerous environments or less-than-ideal photographic conditions, which require that they are able to operate their equipment almost unconsciously.

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Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PhotographytalkcomPhotographyArticles/~3/ZtsG4xQRvDk/2211-12-signposts-on-the-road-to-becoming-a-photojournalist

After buying a digital camera many amateurs ask themselves if photography courses really help and if they’re worth the money and the effort. The truth is that photography courses appeared as a demand of the increasing number of digital photographers. Photography has been transformed from a real job to a popular hobby by most people who buy a digital camera.

At present when such cameras are cheaper than ever, more and more people start making photos just for fun, even a cell phone has a small digital camera incorporated just in case you wish to immortalize a moment.
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