bob_bill

Sign of spring? Spring break?

Karsh's Churchill after he grabbed the cigar to get the belligerent expression from a man who had just won the Battle of Britain. This sort of technique has served me well over the years to get a genuine expression of displeasure or threat. Used it with some guys with guns and lesson learned, don't tell them what you did, especially if the guns are loaded.

Gup, let's see some PCH coastal shots as well, It is a sports car/ motorcycle dream. Bixby Bridge is iconic from any angle. Hearst Castle is amazing. Try to hit Pt Reyes National sea shore if you can. Real waves unlike our Gulf beaches. Yosemite is a must do. See Ansel Adams store there. Check into their photo walks, really informative on Ansel and the park. See his piano in Ahwahnee Hotel. He was a musician before a photographer. The falls should be incredible with all the snow fall this year, 50 feet in the sierras.

Happy 100th anniversary, now please release a replacement for the d810! Or the 135 2.0 dc. I'll commemorate that with a purchase.

Wonderful soft light appropriate for subject with great expression

This was taken at Hemingway's home in Key West of his portrait hanging over the fireplace. It is a photo by Karsh, one of my favorite photographers, of Hemingway, one of my favorite writers. My profile photo is an homage to both. Shot in a similar lighting style. The kickers on my cheeks were intentionally a bit hot to emulate Hem's white beard. Hem wearing his trademark fisherman's knit sweater, me in my favorite sweater for shooting, a black silk crew neck.

Posted this last week in Nikon forum, but I don't recognize many of these folks as in that forum so posting it again here. Originally posted it there because it took a second photo to clarify this one. I like to include a surprise in my photos if possible and the background in this one surprised me as I was target fixated on the wood duck even during editing . Those are 2 heads in the water in the background, not rocks. One of which had appeared in my garage as I was waxing my Jeep, but with Maguiar's wax,not Turtle wax.

I am also one of those having difficulty posting, commenting on the photos of others and uploading. I have had the site blinking and find if I log out and back on it corrects the problem.

Duck was photoed with d200, 70-200 with 1.7 TC (510 mm equiv) @ f/4.8, ie wide open.

Ilkka, you have posted a number of shots taken with subjects on snow or ice. You really nail the exposure in difficult lighting conditions.

I hope posting a 4th image won't upset anyone, but I always like to have a surprise in an image, but this time I was the one surprised. I wonder if anyone else saw it. Matt, I believe you know about target fixation when hunting, well, I was sure fixated on the duck editing this shot, I just now looked in the background and recognized a critter that appeared in my garage this weekend when I was waxing the car with Maguiar's car wax... not turtle wax. Coincidence?

Blind

I looked for wood ducks for years in CA, never saw one. Now they are in the pond behind my house. The males are really skittish so set up a blind using a rolling camera stand as a mono pod, camo parka over the stand and hat to break up my silhouette , but haven't tried the duck call yet, a comfortable stool makes for the most comfortable air conditioned blind I have ever used. I just shoot out the picture window. Sure beats that 5 gallon bucket stool in my last hunting blind that doubled to bail water out of the buried tank if it had rained. Can even shoot tethered if I want.

Head/hat shot. In the movie Tombstone, Doc Holliday is going to save his friend Wyatt Earp by going to the shoot out with Johnny Ringo in stead of Wyatt. He is both a savior and a devil, an angel of death. Just before he says, why Johnny Ringo, you look like someone just walked over your grave, he emerges from total silhouette, and his circular hat brim is rimmed with light- a halo for the angel of death. Shot this under a covered boardwalk roof with a snooted flash above and behind held by Wyatt to rim light the hat, the halo, and a reflector front to fill the face under the hat and add a catch light in the eyes. Main is directional ambient light coming from left under the roof. D700, 70-200 @ 2.8

The groupies. Busting up hotels and trashing gear while working. What, that's rock stars. Never mind. But no groupies? Darn.

Dieter, that lens the 24-120 holds the dubious honor of being ranked by Ken Rockwell as one of the 10 worst all time Nikon lenses. One of my shots with one has received perfect scores and a speakers award and best in class in a professional competition. On a less than state of the art d200.

When I shoot, what I want in the frame helps determine the format when I crop. When I crop in post, it is often determined by compositional reasonsas well as exclusion and inclusion of elements.

Tom, have admired your work for years. I don't know the answer to your question, but use PCB gear and if you don't get an answer here, I suggest phoning PCB. No long wait on hold and you get a human who has expertise in their products. When I had an unusual question on a modifier, one of them said give them a few minutes and they would test it and call back. She did.

Per my post on battery door on d700, I use a vertical grip and that covers the battery cover. If 810 cover is in same place, perhaps would help.

My problem with that body isn't the doors, it's the single/continuous/manual focus switch that when I have the camera on a tripod or camera stand I STILL can't change it without contorting to look at it. Plus I find it can get bumped in the bag. Now when is the d810 replacement coming out???? Joe, i understand, I like to shoot in a nearly dark studio illuminated by modeling lights only so at my computer, it's pretty dark, especially if the soft boxes have egg crates which they usually do. But I keep a vertical grip on the camera so the door is covered unless I am removing a battery. Never thought about it, but I guess that could be a way of protecting the door. You really made me look at the body. I have been using it so long, it is like my 3 weight fly rod that is so light you just think the fly out and after all these years, using the controls on the body are so automatic, I don't look much at the camera. After my move and not using the Buff cyber commander had to think about how to do things. After using them a lot again, I was trying to think how I navigate and couldn't because it just happens autimatically while I am concentrating on the shot at hand. Not good if I have to explain it to someone.

I am really careful when I open the battery door and cf card door and load an unload a card. They aren't made for abuse. I have never had them open in the bag and I often carry a camera bag 2 -3 hrs a day. Same for my d200. Both working fine after tens of thousands of activations.

In my younger days, when there was enough snow pack but it was before the ski resorts opened, we used to us an internal frame back pack with side compression straps to lash our skis to it, put our ski boots inside the pack. We would then enter hike up the mountain for a couple of hours, get in a run, then do it again. It really demonstrated the value of a lift ticket. You could probably do the same with aluminum light stands or mono pods.

Ernst Haas had his students in Yosemite do a particular drill. He gave them a viewing card that is nothing more than a card with a 2x3" or 24x36 mm rectangle cut out of it. He had them stand in one place and look around through the card moving it closer and further from their eye and they were required to find 10 photos that way. Do it sitting at your desk, in your chair, in your yard. It's free, make one. Are there any events in your area? Are there any trade mark or cliched locations near by? Take the card and look for as Haas liked to say I am not interested in shooting new things, I am interested to see things new. Living in an area gives you the luxury of being around for various stunning weather/lighting conditions when they happen. Do you have any photo clubs or photo meetup groups. Google meetup and photography for your area. Shooting with a group and seeing what they saw that you didn't helps expand your vision. Can you practice extrapolating what you are seeing to line, shape and form, ignoring the identity of the objects in front of you? That helps finding the geometry of what is around you and may lead you to some b&w images.

Interesting you mention "magic" as Fuqua's book Lighting, Science and Magic addresses this question. On a polished surface, the reflection will come off at the same angle it came in, ie angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. Your camera sees the leading edge of the object from one angle with a corresponding equal angle of reflection. The far edge is seen at a different camera angle and different angle of reflection. If you place the light within the 2 angles of reflection, you will see the specular highlight from the light. To eliminate the specular reflection off a smooth, reflective surface like glass or water, you need to position the light outside those two angles, ie outside the family of angles. Do that and magic happens.