New Canon Gear Announced

Well, Canon has announced some new photo gear of interest to nature photographers (and others too, of course!). The big DSLR announcement is the Canon EOS 60D, the replacement to the Canon EOS 50D. It now has HD video, an articulating LCD screen (could be interesting for Live View when doing low or awkward angle [...]

Canon 7D Setup and Menu Videos, courtesy of B & H Photo Video

The Canon 7D, judging from the high number of visits to the great 7D setup guide for birds in flight that my friend Doug Brown wrote for this blog a while back, has been hugely successful in terms of sales. I personally do not own the camera but I have had the chance to use [...]

Sensor Cleaning — How To Video Link

Sensor cleaning is looked upon with dread by many photographers. Check out this video from lensrentals.com to see that it’s not all that hard…

Hummingbird Portfolio Sneak Peek

I’ve been working a lot over the last year on my hummingbird portfolio. My goal was to experiment with different setups in order to produce a diverse portfolio with a variety of lighting styles, similar to what we find in the ever-changing conditions of Costa Rica’s cloud forest. I also wanted to be able to [...]

Exposure Series — The Basics

Our cameras see light differently than our eyes. Where we simultaneously see detail in the deepest shadows and the brightest highlights, our camera can only see one or the other. That is, in a high contrast scene, the camera is not capable of capturing the full range of tones that our eyes can see. Sometimes [...]

Flash Article Series — An Introduction

Being a rainforest photographer, I have learned the use of flash out of necessity. With typical forest conditions of low and flat light here in Costa Rica and the fact that many of the more interesting creatures are more active at night, being able to manufacture pleasing yet dramatic light is a highly useful skill. [...]

Telephoto Landscapes

When we think of landscape photography, most of us think of the grand vistas of the American West. Often taken with wide angle lenses, these images draw us into the scene by including a strong foreground element (e.g., a rock or a cactus), a middleground with some leading lines (perhaps a winding stream or a [...]