Ask The Pros!

Q. How do you get inspired to create unique images when there are so many locations that have been photographed so many times in so many conditions?
—Dave

A. Dave,
One answer is to look harder. During a fall trip one year in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, I stopped at a pullout along Red Mountain Pass, a paved road popular with leaf-peepers. The view down the valley was stunning, but the foreground leaves were poor. I was about to leave without shooting when I looked up the slope to my left, and saw a beautiful grove of reddish aspen just 300 yards away that would make a great foreground for the classic view down the valley. I returned the next morning to shoot in better light and watched with amusement as car after car of photographers stopped at the pullout, glanced down the valley and left without making a single capture.

Another answer is simply to go where other photographers don’t. Often that means flexing more boot leather. Put more than two miles between you and the nearest parking lot, and the number of serious photographers drops off by 95 percent. Roads weren’t built for the convenience of photographers, and there are many great locations that require a little sweat. Or go when it’s frosty outside. Gear up for the cold, then learn to deal with it. Or do both. I recently did my second multiday winter shoot at the famed Maroon Bells. In summer and fall, when you can drive the access road, there can be 100 photographers lined up on the shore of Maroon Lake. In winter, the road is closed by snow six miles below the lake, so I threw my winter camping and camera gear in a mountaineering sled and hauled it like Scott of the Antarctic up to the lake. My reward? I had one of the most magnificent locations in North America entirely to myself.
—Glenn Randall

A. Dave,
You answered your own question. I try to create unique images, and for me a given location provides a set of graphic elements, not a scenic opportunity. I often draw what I hope to shoot on the trip while still in my living room, but once I arrive, I always discover unimagined opportunities. The key is to look for compositions, not to merely document scenery. A good photographer could shoot a book in Yosemite Valley without ever capturing an image of a cliff or a waterfall.
—Art Wolfe

Startled by the sudden appearance of a gray wolf, a caribou herd instinctively reacts. By using a polarizer to slow shutter speed, Wolfe was able to capture a kinetic response in a still frame.

Q. I’m an old-school film guy, and I’ve just switched to digital. I can’t seem to get a good longtime blur shot with my digital camera. Do I need to use a filter? If so, what types of filters do you recommend?
—Charlie Smith

A. Charlie,
There really isn’t any difference between digital and film so far as I know when it comes to slower shutter speeds, until you get past a minute or so. Try these steps to get a good blur.

First, use the slowest ISO and the smallest aperture, e.g., ISO 50 and ƒ/16. Shoot on a cloudy day or when the water is in shadow. A polarizer cuts between one and two stops while tamping down glare. This should allow you to get the effect you want.
—Art Wolfe

Q. I have a Nikon D40. The lenses that came with it are kit lenses and are very serviceable, but I would like to get a little closer to my subjects (birds, wildlife). Should I be looking at a 70 to 300 mm? Or is the new Tamron 18-270mm lens a better choice?
—Linda Gibas

A. Linda,
Most modern lenses are of excellent quality. Still, as a general rule of thumb (with some exceptions), the larger the zoom range, the more compromises need to be made in the optical design. These compromises can manifest themselves in reduced resolution, increased distortion, flare, chromatic aberrations and other factors that may decrease image quality. Your decision should balance the comfort and flexibility of the larger zoom range against the higher image quality generally associated with the shorter range.

Since you mention a desire to photograph birds and wildlife, you also may want to consider other elements that will contribute to your success. Features such as large maximum aperture, focus speed or image stabilization (vibration reduction) should be factored, as well as a sturdy tripod and a good flash unit. At 300mm, you’ll still need to get fairly close to smaller animals and birds to fill your frame. If wildlife is a primary goal and exotic telephoto lenses are not in your budget, you may want to consider options like the Sigma 50-500 EX DG HSM or 150-500 DG OS HSM, or the Tamron SP AF 200-500, all of which will give you significantly more reach and can be found at around $1,000 or less.
—Guy Tal

I was able to exaggerate the blue cast in this dusk photograph of a Bamboo forest by selecting the tungsten mode (3200K), in the white balance control on my camera. Before digital this would have been done by putting an 80A blue filter in front of the lens.

Q. I will soon be upgrading in the D-SLR market again but still have a Nikon F3 from my early student years with plenty of filters. I know that many of the D-SLRs have "built-in" filters, but I would think good quality filters are more desirable. Are there any real differences in the new digital filters vs. my SLR filters? And if so, do they all need to be replaced or only specific types like a polarizer?
—Kathleen LaFollett

A. Kathleen,
I used to carry about 40 different filters with me when I shot film (most of those were graduated filters of various densities, transition rates and colors). I now carry only three filters: 1) regular circular polarizing filter, 2) Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue color polarizing filter, and 3) Singh-Ray variable neutral-density filter. The effects of these three filters are difficult, if not impossible, to replicate digitally. Traditional filters, no matter how good their quality, are crude tools. They must be put in front of the lens and usually apply their effect indiscriminately to the entire scene. Digital filters offer much more control without the extra expense or weight. I now use bracketed exposures instead of graduated filters to balance bright areas of a scene with darker ones in Photoshop. Instead of using traditional warming or cooling color filters, I now use either the white-balance settings on my camera or the color-temperature control in the software I open the digital files with (Adobe Camera Raw) to selectively apply color to a scene.
—Daryl Benson

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18 Comments

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bucky mccamy makes this comment

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

without using a ladder how could i stand on the ground and take a picture 15 or so feet above ground.Like taking pictures of statues.Accessories like a stand to hold the camera and a way to snap the lens.
Melissa makes this comment

Friday, 04 September 2009

I am getting ready to buy a Canon 50d and a lense. I have a tight budget and can really only afford one lense for now. I am considering the 18-200mm although I have learned that the wider range reduces quality. Would I be better off to wait and save up the money to by multiple lenses? or would the 18-200 be fine for now? Is the quality with this lense good enough to produce marketable photos for magazines, calenders, ect?
picky makes this comment

Friday, 14 August 2009

So, the explanation of the cover photo of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park neglects to say that it was a double exposure. It mentions that it was shot with a 17-35mm lens, on film. However, with a wide-angle lens the moon would not even be remotely close to the size that it appears in the photo. A longer lens, at least a 300mm, was obviously used to shoot the moon. Also, the time of day is all wrong for the moon to appear in that position. It's the old full moon, double exposure on film technique. To achieve this, an entire roll of film is used up to shoot the full moon against the black night sky. Then, the film is re-loaded in the camera and the other photo is made. I'm rather disappointed that this publication has passed that photo off as a single exposure.
sean gleeson makes this comment

Monday, 27 July 2009

can you adjust the apeture for depth of field on a casio exilums880 camera thanks
Terry Bloom makes this comment

Wednesday, 22 July 2009

I went on vacation and shot everything in raw format. When I got home I am having trouble getting my pictures to download. Some of them seems to have been converted to jpeg and others are raw or thm files. Do I have to have special software to download the raw and thm files?
Michael Leitao makes this comment

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Hi, I am beginner and would like to study photography, i would like to purchase a profesional camera but need help in buying one. for the moment i dont have a big budget so would like to buy a camera which i could use for atleast 3-4 years to go. but at the same time would like to have the option in adding lens in order to upgrade my camera. I need help, please guide me through. Michael Leitao.
R. Nuport makes this comment

Wednesday, 08 July 2009

Greetings: Seeking expert opnion. 1. Technically, which is better... a. Lens IS ...Canon, Nikon ... or b. Sensor shift IS... Sony, Pentax ... 2. Is there a way to estimate approximate correlation of distance between full wide angle shot, and full zoom shot, to achieve at least one half full size shot with fully zoomed lens. Good example is the Ad Shot on inside cover of OP, of Tamron Lens at 18mm and 270mm. The zoomed shot pretty much what may be obtained at 10 feet or so. Thank you for your time and help in every particular. R. Nuport.
Christian Egeland makes this comment

Monday, 29 June 2009

I have made numerous trips to Alaska and cannot believe how blue the icebergs are. I understand they absorb all the colors except blue. Anyway, I have used everything from my old Pentax K1000, camcorders and most recently my Sony DSC-H2 digital camera with the same results. The pictures always lack the beautiful blue in the icebergs that the naked eye sees. What do the pros do to capture the blue and not just get almost all white?
Wayne makes this comment

Saturday, 27 June 2009

Hi, I have a EOS 40D with a variety of lenses. I no longer have a standard zoom as I gave it away with my rebel xt. I wanted advice on choices for replacement. I gravitate towards landscapes, city scapes and street portraiture and i wanted to upgrade to a fast lens. My choices as i see them are the EF-S 17-55, 17-40L, and the sigma and tamron equivalents. My challenge is I'm concerned As to whether the cost of the canon 17-55 is worth it considering it's apc format or should I get the 17-40L or even the sigma or tamron equivalents. Which do you recommend?
Brian makes this comment

Thursday, 25 June 2009

I am new to digital cameras. I have one question. How does one know when to use the right aperture settings in certain condition in daylight, hazy in the background, moving objects at night. I generally use f4 when there is low light & set the iso to 1000 depending on the conditions. In a setting my f stop f5.6, f11 & beyond in what situations would I use these higher f stop??. Would this be for getting more depth of field when shooting wildlife?. Thanks in adv.
blaze831 makes this comment

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

How do I downsize a 30MB image file to something less than 1MB for online submissions to photo contests without the image becoming totally pixelated? Thanks! Mark
captian roger makes this comment

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

what would be the best online photography class to take to become a pro ???
Stephen Ross makes this comment

Saturday, 20 June 2009

I use a Nikon D-200 with a Sigma 150mm macro, Nikkor 80-400 zoom and 24-80mm zoom. All three lenses have their smallest aperture at f-22. However, I have noticed numerous times that the camera display will often register f-stops from f-29 through even f-45 when I am scrolling the f-stop dial in Aperture mode. Am I actually getting those smaller f-stops registered by the camera when the shutter is activated or is the camera only registering f-22 set by the lens?
Maureen makes this comment

Thursday, 18 June 2009

Really good article. I enjoyed reading what the pros had to say.
Melissa makes this comment

Monday, 15 June 2009

I have Lightroom and ACDsee on my computer, I would like to know what applications to use to create a black/white photo with color accents. I cannot figure out how to layer and erase on this program. Is there a different program that would be better for this? Could someone give me step by step instructions on how to do this technique? Thanks in advance for the help.
Luther makes this comment

Sunday, 14 June 2009

Hi. I've been an Outdoor Photogpraher subscriber since 1987. I'm astonished by the problems I am having trying to locate a USGS topographical map of the Joshua Tree National Park. I get tons of commercial trail maps, "attraction" maps, etc, but cannot locate what I need: a USGS topographical map of the Joshua Tree National Monument, recently promoted to Joshua Tree National Park. Has greed really completely displaced service on the Web...? Any reasonable tips would be appreciated. I will be in the Joshua Tree park area July 3 for a couple of days, and would really like to nail a dynamite sunrise or sunset shot. Thanks for your help. By the way, I live about 1.5 miles from Art Wolfe. Thanks, Luther Martin
SilverWolf4445 makes this comment

Sunday, 14 June 2009

I want to start photographing the outdoors,but I need a camera that's low cost,good pictures,and great relability for landscapes.So what camera would best fit me?
gompfer makes this comment

Friday, 12 June 2009

Is post processing a necessity or an option. Can you shoot digital and get the shot you want without any post processing? I never hear anyone saying they don't post process. The challenge in slide film was to get the shot because you couldn't manipulate it. How much of that has gone to the way side because of the ability to post process? John

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