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How-To
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Live View, Hype Or Benefit?
D-SLRs now can see what the lens sees directly at the sensor rather than only through the viewfinder
By Rob Sheppard
When digital cameras entered the market, Sony had one of the first cameras with a rotating lens assembly, so you could see the LCD at different angles compared to the way the lens could see the world. I shot with it up high, down low, and I loved not being restricted to shooting right at my eye level. I could actually see what the lens was seeing when the camera was on the ground without lying on the ground myself.
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Spring Trail Tips
Don't forget the basics!
By Mike Stensvold
As spring arrives, so do fresh photo ops, and some of the best are in places you can’t reach by vehicle. Hiking in wild places can lead you to lots of terrific wildlife and landscapes, but also to some hazards. As outdoor people, we know that, but it’s easy to forget after months or years of roaming out there. Since even a minor lapse can prove costly to body and gear, here’s a reminder of some things to keep in mind when you go hiking with your camera this spring.
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Warm Light, Cold Light
For David Stoecklein, any light will do. He takes what the scene gives him and makes the mood match the subject for inspiring photographs.
By William Sawalich
Photographer David Stoecklein is well known as a master photographer of the American West, but if you ask him, he’ll tell you he’s just a hunter of light. And for this cowboy photographer, even though so many photographers speak in these terms, the metaphor makes sense. His mission is seeking out drama for his photographs—and that usually means working with both warm and cool light.
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Your Ultimate B&W Print
Ansel Adams didn't have a digital darkroom at his disposal, but you do. Learn how you can make the most of it.
By Dave Willis
The big three of printing, Canon, Epson and HP, now offer technologies that have made black-and-white printing more exciting than ever. With inks, papers and printers providing black-and-white prints that can last well over a century, it’s time to learn a little more about how to get quality black-and-white prints from your images.
Gear
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Choosing Your Tele-Zoom
Some of the best nature photographers share thoughts and tips on their favorite medium telephoto zoom lenses
By Staff
The versatility of medium tele-zooms is just incredible. With ranges that vary from around 50mm to between 200mm and 400mm at the high end, these lenses provide a tremendous variety of framing options for landscape, wildlife, sports action and macro work. Between one of these lenses and a good wide-angle, you can travel most anywhere and be confident that your bases will be covered for nearly any situation. And you can travel light—an absolute necessity if you fly anywhere these days, given the weight restrictions on baggage, not to mention how much easier it can be on your back.
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Gadget Bag: Path Finders
All-in-one watches that do more than tell time for photographers
By Adam Crawford
As we go farther into the wilderness for our photography, some tools have become an integral part of our sense of direction and help us to survive and calculate any sort of conditions or odds that may rear their ugly heads. As technology consolidates these tools, such as GPS units, altimeters, thermometers and compasses, into one highly functional device, the easier it’s becoming to get off the beaten path to find a one-of-a-kind shot.
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In Focus: March 2008
Sony expands its α (Alpha) digital SLR system with the DSLR-A200. The 10.2-megapixel camera features continuous shooting of 3 fps, an integrated anti-dust cleaning system and an eye-level penta-mirror optical viewfinder with 0.83x magnification. The Super SteadyShot image-stabilization system helps prevent blurring caused by camera shake. It comes with an 18-70mm ƒ/3.5-4.5 zoom with a 35mm equivalent of 27-105mm.
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Stability Tech: Tripods
A tripod is one of the most important tools for getting your best images, and there‚’s a lot more to them than just three sturdy legs
A good tripod is essential gear for the outdoor photographer. It will hold the camera rock-steady, so you can stop down for depth of field or use a high-magnification lens without suffering blur due to camera shake. Plus, it will lock in your composition so you can study it carefully and you won’t accidentally change it as you squeeze off the shot.
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Tamron AF28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 VC Zoom
There's a new player in the stabilization game: Welcome to Tamron‚’s Vibration Control zoom
It becomes a challenge to lug a lot of gear into the field. On the other hand, it’s nice to have wide-angle, telephoto and close-up capability, as well as a tripod for support. So the dilemma is always to either travel comfortably or be prepared for anything.
Locations
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A Matter Of Perspective
Frans Lanting takes to the skies to give a different look to Canyonlands
By William Sawalich
Frans Lanting is best known for his work documenting the world’s environmental issues, but the photographer recognized for his wildlife photography showcases his skill with landscapes in two recent assignments photographing Canyonlands from the ground and from the air.
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A View From The Swamp
Clyde Butcher wades into the Florida wetlands to do more than just capture the view
By Kim Castleberry
Out in the Florida woods, standing waist-deep in swamp water, is where Clyde Butcher takes pictures. Alongside crocodiles, gators and poisonous snakes, he waits patiently with his 8x10 Deardorff view camera ready for the moment when an image comes together. The celebrated landscape photographer has spent more than 35 years capturing untouched places while exploring his own relationship with nature.
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Mountain Trek
Take a road trip through the Rockies and the Smokies with two pros who map the most dramatic spots in these American icons
By Adam Crawford
The Rocky Mountains and the Smoky Mountains are two of the most dramatic ranges in North America, where one can capture a fusion of geologic and scenic images. The Rockies run for 3,000 miles from British Columbia, Canada, to the lower portion of New Mexico. Straddling Tennessee and North Carolina, the Smokies are a smaller chain of mountains named for the haze that engulfs them most of the year.
Columns
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It's A Small(er) World, After All
The voyage of discovery requires seeing with new eyes
By Bob Krist
I’ve just returned from six weeks of travel on three different continents, and one thing I’ve noticed for sure: The world is getting smaller. I don’t mean that global warming is actually shrinking the planet (although it may be, for all I know), but that more people are traveling, and once-exotic locations are now becoming as tourist-frequented as Disneyland during President’s Week. Part of this is due to the phenomenon described in Thomas Friedman’s book, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. As the tiger economies of India, China and other once-developing nations are swelling their ranks with educated middle-class consumers, those consumers want to get out and travel, just like us.
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Notes From The Field
A recent excursion yielded some keen insights from OP's tech guru
By George D. Lepp
For the past two-and-a-half weeks, my wife Kathy and I have been on an intense and fast-paced digital photography safari in Botswana with Wilderness Safaris (www.wilderness-safaris.com). No matter how carefully you plan for such a rigorous photographic endeavor, you’ll need to find creative solutions for unexpected problems. Here are a few tips and observations from the field that can be applied to your everyday shooting—even if you aren’t tracking wildlife in 100-degree heat on the floodplains of Southern Africa’s rich and unsettled Okavango Delta.
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The Arrowhead Region Of Minnesota
By Ellen Empson
The Minnesota "Arrowhead" starts at Duluth and stretches north to the Canadian border. The southern edge of the region follows the north shore of Lake Superior, much of it part of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). The remainder of the region is part of the Superior National Forest, established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1909. The Arrowhead offers spectacular views of the cliffs of the north shore, beautiful vistas across broad valleys and many rivers and waterfalls that tumble toward Superior.
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The Digital Deluge
Make technological advancements work for you
By William Neill
A few days ago, I started using the new Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, a 21-megapixel camera. From the first few images I’ve made, the quality is excellent, but in accessing its digital impact on my operations here, I have a headache! Do I need faster and larger memory cards, additional hard drive storage or should I upgrade my older lenses to adequately maximize the camera’s digital potential? Yes, yes and yes! I know, such a tough problem to have.
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