March 12th, 2010
Click here to read Flash Photography—Part I, The Basics
For candid photos where indoor light levels are low, flash can save the day. Most interior lighting is quite dim and exhibits a strong color cast. Simply set your camera to the required sync speed. Flash quickly eliminates color casts and the quick pulse of light eliminates the need for a tripod, permitting freedom of movement for candid shots. Indoors or out, flash is capable of freezing most camera and subject motion. By definition, full flash means the flash unit provides all the light on a subject. Basically, the ambient light has no effect on your exposure. When using flash I quickly decide between full flash or fill flash and make simple adjustments to achieve either form of flash illumination. If I’m in a low light situation, or in a location where tripods are not permitted, full flash is often the only answer. When wanting to open up dark areas on an otherwise properly exposed subject, I go with fill flash. Let’s begin with full flash. Start by selecting the maximum synch speed for your camera and appropriate lens aperture. The flash automatically supplies the correct amount of light within a given distance range. For the sake of discussion, all the modes described below assume we are operating in TTL mode. View Entire Post…
Posted in Latest News |
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March 10th, 2010
Click here to read Flash Photography—Part II, Full Flash
Millions of amateur phtographers own cameras with some kind of flash capability, yet flash is one of the least understood tools of the trade. Understanding a few basic principals of how flash works, will remove any hesitation in using flash for incredible results.
Flash photography requires that you know and work with the quirky characteristics of flash illumination. Light from any single camera-mounted flash has two fundamental characteristics. First, light from a small portable flash is too harsh for most subjects larger than a football. Flattering portraits are usually made with a much larger light source, so don’t expect a small flash to bathe your subjects in flattering light. Basic Theory: From ten feet away a single flash unit is a tiny light source when the subject is the size of a person. The same flash unit ten inches from a small insect is a much larger light source. A flash mounted in the camera hot shoe compounds the harshness. All built-in flashes, and even accessory flashes mounted in the camera hot shoe, are too close to the axis of the lens. The lighting is flat, often producing red eye where subject’s eyes glow like some alien life form. Moving the flash off camera a few inches can make a noticeable improvement in lighting quality, and reduces the chance of redeye. When using only one flash, I prefer to have it elevated and directly above the lens. View Entire Post…
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February 24th, 2010
It has been two years since our last photo shoot with China’s giant pandas in February 2008. We also had a group scheduled to be at the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve in May 2008 on our Snow Monkeys & Giant Pandas trip. Incredibly, our group was spared the havoc and tragedy of the May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake, as that cataclysmic seismic event took place a week before our group’s scheduled arrival—and dramatically altered our travel plans!
The Giant Panda Breeding Center at Wolong was totally devastated during the earthquake. The hotel where we usually stayed was virtually flattened. Five of the panda keepers we worked with died in the quake—as did one panda. Several hotel workers were killed.
A new Wolong breeding center will commence construction, in a different location, in the spring of 2010 with a planned completion date of late 2011. In the meantime, the majority of Wolong’s pandas have been transferred to the recently built (prior to the earthquake) Bifengxia Giant Panda Breeding Center. In January of this year—almost two years since the 2008 quake—our group of 14 was probably the first to photograph pandas in China on an extended photo shoot. View Entire Post…
Tags: asia, china, pandas, siberian tigers, wolong
Posted in Leader Contributions, Trip Reports |
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February 23rd, 2010
Dr. Steve Garren is well known to many Photo Safaris travelers as our Ship’s Doctor on a number of our cruises to Antarctica and Spitsbergen—as well as participating as a client on numerous other photography trips with us.
Steve spends quite a bit of time each year traveling the world doing volunteer work as a plastic surgeon with a number of surgical teams offering free services throughout the Third World.
He is an accomplished photographer who, during breaks in his surgical program, has recently turned his camera on the plight of Haiti.
Before opening the slide show accompanying this post, please be aware that the enclosed images are graphic and disturbing.
Traveling and taking photographs of the natural world are some of my favorite pastimes. Volunteering overseas as a surgeon is a similar passion. One month ago I was eagerly awaiting my return trip to Midway Atoll with Joe Van Os in March—a unique island steeped in both history and natural history. Such a wonderful location. On my Midway trip with Joe last year I wasn’t ready to leave—there is so much to photograph there! Little did I know that a series of unforeseen events would intercede and I would first find myself traveling on two and a half weeks of unplanned surgical tours to another, very different, island world—Haiti. View Entire Post…
Tags: dr. steve garren, earthquake, haiti
Posted in Client Contributions |
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February 11th, 2010
How important to you are your digital image files? If you’re serious about your work, here’s a website I think you should read: www.dpbestflow.org. The header for the site announces exactly what is covered —“Digital photography best practices and workflow. An ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) initiative funded by the Library of Congress.”
The site is the work of Richard Anderson and Peter Krogh, the author of The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers.
Click on Quick Reference, Best Practices, and Workflow. Highly recommended.
Tags: asmp, digital workflow, john shaw
Posted in Latest News |
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February 8th, 2010
I returned to the US the first week of February on an international flight from Beijing to Seattle with a layover and plane change in Tokyo, Narita.
Though security was “beefed up,” after the Christmas Day terrorism incident near Detroit, additional screening consisted of several folding tables set up at the jet way to do a final hand search of carry-on bags (mostly looking for liquids) and a body pat down just before boarding. There was basically no major inconvenience or any extraordinary restrictions on the carry-on bags that was different from the rules of one bag and one “personal item” that have been in place for some time.
Other travelers have reported similar scenarios on recent international flights to the US. Similarly, trip participants from Britain and Spain also reported little change.
Full body scanners are now in place at London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schipol airports and soon they will be the new reality for all international travel and, later, domestic flights.
Tags: airport security
Posted in Leader Contributions, News & Announcements, Tips & Techniques |
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February 3rd, 2010
The following article is Photo Safaris client Isobel Wayrick’s account of her 2007 Ultimate Puffins photo tour.
On this return trip to Iceland, I signed up for a tour which was described in the brochure as a photography trip for “ultimate puffins”. Since I like photographing puffins almost as much as penguins, and since my good friend Ann also expressed interest in going, I made the arrangements—I was excited about going back to a country where I had immensely enjoyed two previous trips.
Atlantic Puffin In Daisies
And was it an “ultimate puffin” experience??? Well, eventually it did indeed exceed my expectations, though it started out as a “where have all the puffins gone?” experience.
After a couple of fun days enjoying the capital of Reykjavik, our group of sixteen photographers and two leaders headed east. We had a comfortable bus, big enough for forty passengers so there was plenty of room for photographic gear, and we had an excellent local bus driver. One of our first stops was at the Dyrholaey Cliffs where I had photographed puffins before—but this year we only saw one or two distant puffins. Not to worry, we had planned the next three days at Skaftafell National Park where we would spend time at the nearby puffin reserve at Ingolfshofdi. View Entire Post…
Tags: iceland, ultimate puffins
Posted in Client Contributions, Trip Reports |
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January 19th, 2010
Photo Safaris client Timi Gustafson traveled with us on our 2009 Ultimate Antarctica cruise and produced the wonderful video below. Her footage gives an excellent idea of what you will see and experience during shore landings and from the ship’s decks. According to Timi, this footage is only a preview “trailer” for a longer documentary she has in the works. We hope to provide more information on the documentary when it’s complete.
We plan to offer another Ultimate Antarctica photo cruise in 2011. If you are interested in joining the 2011 journey and would like to receive more details as they become available, please contact Anne Blair at ablair@photosafaris.com.
Posted in Client Contributions |
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January 12th, 2010
The National Parks of the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone may be my favorite places on Earth. Like many, I’ve been there in the summer, but I’ve also had the wonderful opportunity to visit in the winter (with Van Os in 2006) and, most recently, in the fall. This past September, I spent a week with Len Rue, Jr. (our trip leader) and some wonderful new friends on the Van Os Yellowstone and Grand Tetons in Autumn tour.
Sunset over the Tetons, Grand Teton National Park
Tags: grand tetons, national parks, yellowstone
Posted in Client Contributions, Trip Reports |
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January 9th, 2010
For the past five years, I have been building a house on the shores of Puget Sound. But, because I travel so much, progress had been slow and dragged out—the contractors working at “a leisurely pace,” to put it mildly. But now I’m finally moved in and slowly adapting to my new environment—ah, life is good!
Throughout this 5-year process a pair of bald eagles has steadfastly perched in a dead tree snag standing 100 feet from the house. Virtually every day, from the beginning of the building activity, they have been there. All during the house construction—amidst the hammering, noise of power saws, shouting and general chaos—they have stood, oblivious. Today, as I drink my morning coffee, they are sitting there. I could walk out on the deck just below them and they would barely take notice. Although I’m not into giving animals names, the eagles have become known in my neighborhood as “Gertrude and Heathcliff”—from the classic comedy sketch on the old Red Skelton Show. View Entire Post…
Tags: birds of prey, eagles, puget sound
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