zack_lau

You are about an hour away from Milford Point/McKinney NWR. The CT Audubon society has a building with an observation tower. If you are lucky birds of prey will be roaming over the salt marshes. There are a few rare seabirds that can easily be seen here from the beach.

There are endangered Nene at Kilauea. Don't forget to look for rainbows--they are quite common in the islands.

Cascade Falls (84' drop).

I-91 exit 8. Rt 131 west, not to the main park entrance. Right onto ?Cascade Falls Road? to a little parking lot/trailhead. Tricky 1.2 mile hike--lots of side trails. Watch the blue blazes/blue white signs. When you get to a wooden sign pointing off to either the summit or the falls,it appears you are on you own, as I didn't see any marked trail to the bottom of the falls. But I was able to work my way down a rather steep trail. I took this route in the spring, before the road to the summit was open.

I've used the Nikon with extension tubes to take butterfly shots with great results. But, adding a TC-14B gives up AF, and the lens doesn't provide distance info to the camera (no D or P version as of April 1999).

While a laptop and a cheap dial caliper may be impractical, perhaps you can develop a sense a "photographic vision," the ability to study a subject carefully with both eyes (you lose distance info looking through a viewfinder) and translating what you see to how it appears as a finished product. 1 hour or same day film processing is great for closing the feedback loop.

Work on improving your ability to see DOF previews.

I find I see them better in a dark room after I

wait for my eyes to adjust. Brighter lights,even if

only temporary, may also help. It may help to remove

any filters temporarily to make the image brighter.

Great writing can be done at home--making your photos part of

complete packages for magazines can give you that edge. Editors

love stuff that doesn't require much work. I'm sure they hate good material with incurable flaws--its easier to reject something than to get into a political or ideological fight.

I always transport my tripod with the legs locked--that way

they won't whip out and hit something. I think this prevents

the handles from falling off.

If you can't stand crowds the 1.2 mile hike to Bluff Point in Groton, CT thins them out. If you don't mind being watched by birders with spotting scopes on the boardwalk--try Milford Point CT; yesterday I explained to one of the locals why photographers take so many shots.

Not the place for landscapes with the 20mm--use a longer lense to edit out civilization.

I went in October of 1996--when the weather was a bit unsettled. I thought the dark thunderclouds improved my shots, by reducing the contrast and bringing out the colors. Too bad I didn't have the skills/equipment to take pictures of the lightning. There were also a partial rainbow one morning, but where I went to grad school these were an everyday occurance.

The sunny f16/f22 rules are good starting points, but aren't really accurate if you look hard enough. Suppose the sun reflects just

right off the water to illuminate the bird. Isn't the total light coming off the bird doubled--so the exposure changes by a full stop?

 

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Similarly, the exposure changes in the other direction when you try to properly expose the shaded part of the bird. No wonder your meter jumps around.

I wondered that about Hartford--so I walked around Riverside Park which is near the junction of Interstates 84 and 91 while having my car serviced. I spotted a rabbit, a groundhog, and a hawk. Next time

I'll remember to bring the binoculars.

The Lowepro Sideline Shooter is big enough to hold an Nikon FG and a 300/f4--just in case I see a coyote in the woods of Vermont. The smaller Lowepro Photorunner will carry the FE2, four small lenses, film, and tiny accessories. It can be used as either a shoulder bag or a waist pack, unlike the sideline shooter, which is just a waist pack. I can easily carry the 3001 tripod with my left hand while sort-of-balanced on the shoulder bag. I find the waist straps way too big, but its not a problem for most people.

Adorama lists the MC-21 10ft/3m extension cord at $57.

I used two different work-arounds with the FE2 to eliminate mirror vibration this weekend (very nice shots between 1/30 and 1/15 sec, 300mm f/4). One was setting the timer to just 2 seconds--though this doesn't work with my FG. The second was letting the timer run down and then holding it till the "magic moment." Thus, it is possible, but the F3 sounds like a much better choice.

Is mirror pre-fire or MLU possible with the N90S if you control the camera with a computer? If so, then one could substitute a cheap PIC or microprocessor circuit and IR remote for use in the field.

I can still focus manually in really dim light--with aperture priority I'll glance over at the shutter speed and find its down to 1/2 sec with the lens wide open. Time to go home unless I feel like making artistic shots of fuzz balls. Really depends on the contrast of the subject--a white goose against black rocks is easy.

 

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Don is right--the way to get published is to make things easy for the editors. The people who choose what gets published are usually the ones who have to whip it into shape for publication. Thus, unless

your material is fabulous enough to attract serious attention, you can't expect the editors to do extra work just for you. Marginal stuff that gets published is often prepared extremely well by the author.

An accurate dovetail isn't needed for contact area--the bottom of the plate provides plenty. My Sherline can make long plates if you use a dovetail cutter instead of moving the headstock--but the MSC catalog only lists 45 and 60 degree versions.

I tried 45 degrees at first and that was way off. Before you round off the corners the base ought to be at least 1.58 inches wide or it may be too narrow for the clamp I measured. Don't forget to make the plate thick enough for your gear to clear the release knob.

A Sherline miniature milling machine is just big enough to cut those 50 degree angles, as you lose a lot of working area when you tilt the headstock. I made 6061-T6 plates for my FE2/FG/300mm and a Lexan plate for my 28mm P&S. The mill isn't any more expensive than my camera gear.

I grew up on Kauai and Oahu. Kauai definitely has a better selection of subjects--assuming you rent a car to get around. Even if

there is a bus service right now I wouldn't count on it being around in 6 months. Logistics are much better on Oahu--public transportation is excellent and you can get MF/LF film processed.

 

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The latest innovation in communications are ridegetop solar powered repeaters flown in by helicopter--using that ultrawide for sweeping landscapes can be a challenge on Oahu.

 

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On Oahu I'd recommend Foster Botanical Gardens for imported trees and

flowers and Kaeena Pt for Layasan Albatross (its a struggle to keep

the politicians from completing the around the island freeway through the nesting grounds). There are lots of hiking trails, though you won't necessarily be walking through native forest...

I should have worded it a bit more carefully.

 

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Because the eccentricity of the Earth around the sun is so small,

the difference in light received at any given time of the year by

the Earth is essentially negligible to photographers. After all,

how many people can adjust their cameras to the nearest 0.1 stop?

Based on a current eccentricity of 0.015, and assuming a negligible

difference in atmospheric attenuation, I calculated a difference of

0.087 stops between summer and winter. The fact that 1/3 stops correspond to 1 dB steps sure simplifies quick calculations in the field.

When trying to take pictures of flying birds, do people try to keep the bird centered in the frame? As opposed to the 1/3 rule and

having the bird fly into the frame, which I think looks better. I'm now practicing on common birds around town, though my first sharp shot was an albatross at Kaena Point (a really big bird).

 

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I found out that the Afga machine printer for 4 x 6 prints can do 50% enlargements if the subject is centered--probably to accomodate formats developed by marketing people.

 

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I reworked the shutter speed equation in the Kodak pro photoguide--the focal length seems to drop out if you keep the image size and velocity fixed. I assume it comes into play when you factor in camera handling.

Try Fairfield County, Connecticut. I don't think they do

much hunting in the well-to-do suburbs of New York City,

so the deer are much easier to approach.