ydobon
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Posts posted by ydobon
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<p>If the 6x12 camera helps you attain your artistic vision, then use it. Whether or not a survey of 800+ individuals deems it popular makes no difference whatsoever. Employ whatever tools you desire to obtain your final result, whether it be a pinhole camera, Fujichrome Velvia, an Arca-Swiss B1, or a Canham DLC.
<p>That said, a 6x12 sounds okay for landscape photography.
<p>Discussing this poll is pointless. It's just a popularity survey and has nothing to do with specific photographic objectives.
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<p>Kaua'i is an excellent choice and has been covered in depth several times in this Q&A forum, so feel free to use the search engine. I personally like the very laid-back North Shore where the only mega-posh hotel is the Princeville Resort (I've never stayed there but had drinks and dinner once or twice). If you prefer to surround yourself in marble, gigantic fluffy towels, $10 room service hamburgers and other wealthy tourists, you should stay at one of the South Shore resorts (e.g. Kiahuna Plantation) or go to Maui (e.g. Ritz-Carlton Kapalua) instead. Book early since Christmas/New Years in Hawaii is high season - naturally, this includes any special Christmas luau banquet plans.
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<p>Depending on how the weather behaves, early-mid April might be too late for wildflowers around the coast. This has been one of the mildest winters for years; the cherry trees blossomed in January this year. A big fat high pressure zone is sitting offshore and temperatures today (and Saturday) are forecasted 15 degrees above normal in the SF Bay Area.
<p>I suggest you research possibilities a week before your arrival. While the aforementioned suggestions are applicable for years with normal weather, this year's weather is <u>far</u> from normal (probably La Nina related).
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Craig is correct. The leg lock placement is the limiting factor for the 320's minimum working height, not the length of the center column. I have the normal center column on mine and there's five inches of clearance from the bottom of the center column to the ground; a shorter center column wouldn't do anything. The working distance (height from floor to platform bed of the tripod) is about 15 inches. I saw the 1320 in the pro shop the other day, but the leg lock configuration didn't look much different.
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<p>If you go to the top level of the NOAA web site <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/">www.noaa.gov</a>, there's a search engine (Excite for Web Servers). Typing in "precipitation" into the search engine will result in the following URL (which consists of four NOAA web sites):
<ul>
</ul>
<p>Hope this helps.
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The camera blue book is McBroom's. My local pro shop sells them; amazon.com lists the book, too. The book has been around for years (it's in its sixth edition now).
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<p>You had better place a numerical value on your budget. Having followed this Q&A forum since its inception, it is very clear that people have wildly different opinions about "affordability". Everyone has limited monetary resources; not even <a href="http://www.webho.com/WealthClock">Bill</a> can say that he has unlimited funds.
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<ul>
<li>As Bob mentions, a shot of Dish Hill is <u>not</u> nature. There are some shots that would qualify under the PSA rules around I-280, but none of them can be taken from Hoover Tower.</li>
<li>Castle Rock is a state park.</li>
<li>The "duckpond" that Bob refers to actually has a name: San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
<li>Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve is the area behind SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) - you might get some nature shots up there.
<li>Other suggestions: Wunderlich County Park, Huddart County Park and the Phleger Estate (part of the GGNRA).
<li>Skyline Boulevard is literally one open space preserve after another including: the San Francisco Fish and Game Refuge, Purisma Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve, La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve and Windy Hill Open Space Preserve.
</ul>
<p>A $3 road map of San Mateo County should help localize nature photography opportunities. I've gotten some nice shots with Kodak HIE B&W infrared film of the region as well as the normal emulsions (Velvia, Sensia II, Kodachrome, TMax, etc.).
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<p>On taking good foliage photographs:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/travel/foliage.html">http://www.photo.net/photo/travel/foliage.html</a></li>
</ul>
<p>On good writing:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html"><i>The Elements of Style</i></a> (William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White)</li>
</ul>
<p>Unfortunately, the online version of Strunk's masterpiece is missing Section V, "An Approach to Style (With a List of Reminders)." My dog-eared Dead Trees copy of the Third Edition (1979) has this very helpful section although it lacks the index present in later editions.
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If you're gonna take out an SLR, you might want to double check that your kayak paddle has drip guards (or whatever they're called). They are plastic discs on the paddle shaft that stop water from running down your hand/sleeve/etc., usually placed right outside where one's hands would grip the paddle shaft.
I got some very nice shots with the T4 (loaded with Velvia) on Monterey Bay from a sea kayak, and yes, the 35mm lens limits the type of shots you might want to take. I'd probably stick with Reala or some ISO 400 print film, although Sensia II 100 might not be a bad choice.
In any case, I really can't imagine the T4 taking better shots than the Rebel + 50mm lens.
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No. That's why when you go to a photography gallery or art museum, you see photographs taken in all sorts of natural light at different times.
However, often the hour before and after sunrise and sunset are considered aesthetically pleasing; so is indirect, diffuse lighting (particularly for portraiture). There is nothing new about that. Painters and draftsmen have recognized this centuries before photography came into existence.
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<p>Oh, I guess I'm bit tardy, but here goes... Before there was a separate nature photography Q&A forum, this question was posed in the original photo.net Q&A forum with some superb responses in <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00019S">this thread</a> which can be found with the search engine with a little patience (as rp now knows).
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<p>This topic has been <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000JPY">previously covered</a> in this Q&A forum. Short answer: for most people it's purely an aesthetic decision. And by the way, aluminum doesn't rust.
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Sadly, this sort of sloppiness is pretty common in the publishing world. It's easy to point the finger at the art director or editor who makes a bunch of changes two minutes before deadline.
Note that a periodical like the Smithsonian Magazine has as a certain level of journalistic integrity to maintain. If a magazine is supposed to be communicating facts, deliberate misrepresentation is an insult to the intelligence of the readership.
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<p>Bean Hollow State Beach is just north of Aqo Nuevo State Reserve, one of the elephant seal colonies (I think you need to buy tickets at MISTIX in order to get close enough to photograph them). The nearby Big Basin Redwoods State Park is pretty (although you probably need to access it from Highway 9).
<p>Essentially on the coast between Point Reyes (Marin) and Point Lobos (Monterey/Big Sur) nothing sucks; it is all very photogenic. This area is part of the <a href="http://bonita.mbnms.nos.noaa.gov">Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary</a>, one of the most spectacular regions on the entire planet (beauty and also ecological diversity).
<p>There are a ton of parks with big trees. Even the local county park (Huddart County Park on the San Francisco Peninsula) is full of them. The adjoining Phleger Estate is a nice day hike (horses are also allowed on the trails).
<p>If you get tired of taking pictures of the region that <a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/">John Muir</a>, Ansel Adams, and Edward Weston made famous, you might want to visit the <a href="http://www.mbayaq.org/">Monterey Bay Aquarium</a>. Enjoy!
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<p>As mentioned previously in another thread, many successful nature photographers have a large amount of knowledge about their particular subject matter or specialization. Here's how National Geographic responds to the question, "What backgrounds do your photographers have?" in the photography Q&A section of their web site:</p>
<blockquote>All have college degrees but in a variety of disciplines. Most did not major in photography, although all took photography courses. The most common majors were journalism, anthropology, sociology or psychology, fine arts, and natural or life sciences. Several have master's degrees, and one of our contract photographers has a Ph.D. Normally our freelance photographers have at least five to ten years' experience with other publications before coming to us, some as photojournalists from newspapers or magazines. Others arrive from specializations such as wildlife, underwater, or aerial photography.</blockquote>
<p>If you wish to become an underwater photographer of the stature of David Doubilet, you are probably better off getting a Masters in Marine Biology rather than taking photography classes. Tom Mangelsen was a wildlife biologist whose interest in nature led him to photography.</p>
<p>In addition to photographic skills, a successful professional photographer must have a certain amount of business acumen (or work with a partner that takes care of the business side of things). Well-known nature photographer Galen Rowell owned a small automobile business before becoming a full-time professional photographer.</p>
<p>So while you're working on your Bachelors or Masters degree in biology/zoology/botany/whatever, you can take some photography, business, expository writing and foreign language classes to fill those General Education requirements - all of which will be useful tools in becoming a successful nature photographer. Good luck.</p>
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This topic was covered in depth in the original photo.net Q&A forum a couple of years ago, before the nature photography Q&A forum was around. The answer is in the thread "how to stop hummingbird wings". Use the search engine to find it.
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I don't know what a Nature Trekker is (although I'm assuming it's some sort of camera bag), nor how big it is, nor how big a Pelican 1550 is.
However, Thermodyne makes watertight hard cases (thermo-extruded polyethylene) in a variety of sizes. They do custom work as well: http://www.shokstop.com.
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30MM HASSY
in Nature
<p>I'm sorry, but a super-wide on a medium-format camera sounds like a really great thing to take along to the desert (I own a 28mm for my 35mm SLR and I'd love to have a super-wide)...
<p><i>or spend the money on a few bottles of wine ...</i>
<p>What the hell are you buying?!? Silver Oak Cabernet? Robert Sinskey Chardonnay? Opus One? Caymus Conundrum? C'mon, bite the bullet, rent the 30mm lens, and find some affordable bottles. Oh yes, if you're bringing along cases of any of the aforementioned wines, drop me a line. Maybe I'll play 'Blad desert sherpa...
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Why not try using the search engine (parameter: "canoe")? This question has been asked at least twice before.
http://www.photo.net//bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000F7t
http://www.photo.net//bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00048K
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Most county, state, and national parks have a wealth of resources available, but they are mostly available by the old-fashioned means. Write a letter.
Even in February 1999, all serious research should really begin in the library. The Internet is too poorly organized and surfing around for hours is a waste of time when driving to the local municipal and/or university library will get you 95% of what you need to know.
The nice thing about the web is that you can find out the postal address of the information center to, oh, let's say, the James V. Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and write a letter for more information.
Note that you can still get a lot more information about Nikon products by phoning Nikon's toll-free number and asking them to send you Dead Trees marketing collateral rather than plowing through their corporate web site.
Brian, if you think "it would be great if we got something bigger going here," you might consider writing some articles yourself on lens, places, film, workshops, etc. you've used and post them to the Neighbor to Neighbor section of photo.net. The overall quality of static content articles in the photo.net domain is ten times higher than that of the various Q&A forum discussions.
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<P><I>....any French scholars care to comment?</I></P>
<P>Yes, I'll comment on this. This older term has been superseded by
the modern French colloquial word "nichon".
<P>Returning to what might be of more use to nature
photographers, twelve Teton peaks rise above 12,000 ft. The park
(established in 1929) gets most of its visitor traffic between
Memorial Day and late September. There are a bunch of mountain
glaciers and like any other rather tall peak, snow and frost are
possible in any month of the year.
<P>You can find a <A
HREF="http://www.nps.gov/grte/sitepub/freepubs.htm">bunch of free
publications on Grand Teton NP</A> (in Adobe Acrobat format) on the <A
HREF="http://www.nps.gov/">NPS web site</A>. As alluded to in another
recent thread, there is a nice digital map in both Acrobat and
Illustrator 6 formats (as well as JPEG) that you might consider
pumping out on a large format printer.
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<P>There are free digital maps to select parks on the National Park
Service's web site, http://www.nps.gov. There's also a link to e-mail
someone for paper versions of the maps. I guess if you have a big
enough printer, you can pump out your own 2x3' maps.
How long will film stay fresh in the fridge?
in Nature
Posted
<p>[i don't see how this question is specific to nature photography, but here goes.]
<p>Short answer: nobody knows.
<p>Longer, personal anecdote: I continue to shooting frozen or refridgerated Velvia that expired in June 1999. I have seen no problems with the film. I have a couple of rolls left of Kodak HIE B&W infrared that is over two years past expiration date. I saw no problems with that emulsion the last time I shot it. I've occasionally used rolls of other pro and consumer films past expiration date with no problems.
<p>Standard disclaimer: your mileage may vary.