A duck perched on a log is silhouetted against a reflected sunset
Another year is complete, and what a year it has been. This year has seen both the start of this blog, and a complete overhaul of my main photography web site. In addition, we have seen many exciting technological advances including a sudden ubiquity of HD video capabilities in quite a few DSLRs. With even more camera advances on the horizon, updated workflow software, and faster computers, 2010 is set to be a fantastic year for digital photography.
I’ll continue to share my photographic adventures and any interesting techniques I come across. Thanks for reading and all your support in 2009 – here’s to a fun, safe, and inspirational new year!
A long-billed curlew snaps at a gull, chasing it away
Most of the time, many different avian species coexist in relative harmony, going about their business while generally ignoring one another. However, as this week’s photo can attest, there is occasionally some friction. I’m not sure what caused this curlew to snap at the gull, but there was quite a flurry of activity before the gull was chased off. It wasn’t until I reviewed the photos later that I saw the curlew defending his territory.
A Steller's Jay perches in a fir tree, Lassen National Park
This photo was taken in late summer in the early morning. Sometimes getting a “nature” shot can be as easy as wandering around a busy campground. Campgrounds can be a great place to find common birds, especially the loud, bold, and sometimes irritating Steller’s Jay. While they can be a nuisance when you’re trying to eat, they are a quite striking bird, especially in the right lighting conditions. Try to shoot them either in early morning or late evening, or with a polarizer – they’re feathers tend to reflect a lot of light in harsher lighting situations. To go for a more natural look, I made sure to shoot away from tables, benches, and fire pits. Zooming in tight allowed me to isolate this jay in a more natural environment.
I wish everyone a safe, happy, and relaxing holiday season. Here’s to a new year full of excitement, exploration, and of course, many more photographs!
Before the digital storm swept through the world of photography, shooting film was an error-prone process for the uninitiated. It took patience and overcoming a steep learning curve to succeed as a professional photographer. If you didn’t learn lessons from past mistakes and quickly correct them, you were soon out of a job. As a result, only those who could consistently produce salable images succeeded, and the number of top-tier professionals was small.
Thanks to the digital photography revolution, the number of photographers that can produce fantastic images has exploded. There are two reasons for this. First, the ability to adjust camera settings on the fly while reviewing the results on the camera’s LCD, coupled with the fact that so many more images are salvageable in post processing has created a more forgiving environment in which to achieve great images. The photographer no longer has to pre-visualize in the same way, and pre-calculate the perfect exposure. Simply reviewing the LCD in the field can help correct and shape the next photograph. Second, the instant feedback of digital makes the learning curve of photography easier to overcome. The learning process becomes more interactive and immediate than when the photographer had to take notes in the field about his camera settings, and then wait until the film was developed before conducting a comprehensive review of his work. This instant feedback has helped to catapult more part time and hobbyists into the professional photography scene.
When I first started dabbling in digital photography, the community was small. Digital photographers were either gadget or photography fanatics (most of us were both). However, as digital photo technology developed quickly, picture quality started to improve, and the results began to be taken more seriously. More photographers converted from film to digital, and even more new photographers entered the fray. So what does mean for professional photographers trying to eke a living in this brave new world?
With advances in hardware and software within cameras themselves, the overall quality of photographs is improving. Cameras are “smarter”, and even snapshots have never looked so good. For photographers, it means that in order to differentiate ourselves, we have to push our creativity to the limit, and execute with technical perfection. No more “almost got it” shots will be acceptable – current camera technology is just too good. Also, the ability to make a living solely on selling stock is now in the past. With the advent of micro-stock (royalty free), and the ease at which digital files can be sent around the world, stock photography consumers are more likely to settle for a lesser photo at MUCH cheaper prices than a well-pollished rights-managed image.
However, it is not all bad news for professionals trying to make a living from photography – there is a silver lining. Photography has never been more popular. With prices coming down and product quality going up, people are snatching up the latest cameras in record numbers. The good news is that because of increased demand, camera manufacturers will continue to invest in research and development of even better technology. That means being able to achieve shots we only dreamed of a decade ago. This provides us more time for creativity, and less emphasis on the technical precision required to operate the camera. Don’t get me wrong – we still need to know our camera gear backwards and forwards. But since many camera operations are now automated, we can spend more time on the creative and artistic aspects of photography to produce the shots that separate us from the pack.
A man raises his arms to the setting sun, Mission Peak, SF Bay Area, CA.
I took the photo above in 1999 with one of my first digital cameras – the Olympus 500L. With a resolution of 1024×768 pixels (ALMOST a 1 megapixel camera), and the fact it could take external media cards (maximum card size was 8 MB), it was revolutionary at the time.
