Rain Birds

I always thought that most birds would go hunker down in a rainstorm, but I am clearly wrong about that. Last month I set up a bird feeder with perches built around it for them to land on.  These perches were precisely positioned for the best light on my subjects and for me to have my 600mm lens positioned to capture their comings and goings. It a lot of fun to watch, but even more fun to photograph.

Last week when we had our rainstorms, I thought  I would check to see if there was any activity at my backyard studio set up.  WOW!  These birds were still feeding!  Since they were working so hard, I thought I would get my equipment out and do some work as well.  Here is some of what I captured.

Prime Lenses vs Zoom Lenses

Over the years as a professional photographer, I have switched out most of my zoom lenses for prime lenses.  Prime, meaning fixed focal length lenses.  Where once I was attracted to the concept of staying in one place and zooming to get the focal length I wanted, now I just move around a bit more.

When you think about it, zoom lenses can keep you from moving forward or back.  But with a prime lens, if you want a different composition, you HAVE to move. Moving around on a set or outside in nature, you will see more angles, you will see other things that need photographing. Moving around is not a bad thing.

Faster

I have always thought prime lenses were a bit sharper than zoom lenses, but mostly I knew they were faster.

They are faster to focus.  With all of my lenses being of the auto-focus variety, I like the speed in which the prime lenses find and lock on a focus point. I don't have any high tech gizmos to check to see  just how fast a lens focuses, but when you are shooting a professional job, you don't want to wait for anything. The prime lens give you speed.

Brighter 

Prime lenses are also brighter, in that they let more light in and I can shoot in lower light conditions.

That is always the trade off, the lower the light, the more noise that get introduced or the lower the shutter speed. Some prime lenses are two stops brighter than their zoom counterparts. This means I can take the shot, hand held at a 50th of a second - where with the same zoom I would be looking for the tripod.  This increases my speed in shooting and my productivity.  Also, since they are brighter I can see better in lower light.  Most of my prime lenses are f/2.0 or faster. This gives me the freedom being able to see and compose in low light conditions.

This really pays off when I am trying to get absolute sharp focus on a subject and because its so dark, I can't rely on the auto focus anymore, I have to focus manually.

Better control of Depth of Field

With prime lenses that have a wide f/stop such as the Nikon 24mm 1.4 lens that I use, I can focus on the eye, but let the background go softly out of focus.  This kind of depth of field control is unheard of in a zoom lens.

Prime lenses can give you a new perspective on photography.  Take the challenge: dig through your camera case and find a prime lens, or borrow one. Try using it for a day of shooting and see what your work looks like, you may be surprised.

Photographer's Holiday Gift Buying Guide

Some of you are scrambling this time of year to get that photographer on your list something that is perfect for them but you don't want to spend too much, since it's their hobby, not yours. Here is a short list of suggestions that might fill that need or fill the stocking. These are not in any order but I tried to keep things down to a "gift" price point, most are under $25.

A Polarizing Filter

A Polarizing filter is just about the only filter every photographer should have in their bag.  They are fantastic for cutting glare on lakes and windows, enhancing the greens of leaves, cutting though haze and lowering the the density of an image to get more motion in a shot when there is too MUCH light.  You'll need to get the filter size of the lens they primarily use. That is stamped on the front edge of the lens.  If they have several lenses, get the largest filter size, they can rest on the edge of the lenses that it doesn't fit. As with anything optical, you can spend about $20 on up to $420 - this has to do with quality of glass and size.  Get them started with an inexpensive polarizer and let them see how it can improve their photography.

Bag for Digital Cards

I like the Pixel Pocket Rocket available at Think Tank  This company make fantastic products with tons of accessories. The Pixel Pocket Rocket is under $20 and holds up to 10 Compact Flash cards or you get a simular holder for SD cards.

Magazine Subscription

Get them a subscription to Outdoor Photographer magazine. Each month the magazine is loaded with tips and inspiration for nature and landscape shooters.

iphone App for the Sun Position

If they are a photographer and have an iPhone you have to get them the The Photographer's Ephemeris app.  This is a clever app that tells you where the sun is going to come up or where it's going to set.  The app uses Google Maps to pinpoint your location so they'll know which building the sun it going to come up over or which mountain top the sun will set behind.  I've used it, I love it!

Bushnell Backtrack

The Backtrack by Bushnell is a handy device that a photographer can use quite often.  Once they get to the perfect spot, a lot of times it not the best time of day and they want to come back at sunrise. With this device, you simply mark where are and head back.  The next morning, use the Backtrack to get right back where you were - even in the dark!  They can also use it to simply find their car in parking lot of a crowded mall, that day after Christmas.

Camera Wrap

Lets say you are one of those photographers that toss their camera in their purse for a quick trip.  The camera wrap can help protect that second lens or a camera body.  Tenba makes a good one that is simple to use but offers some good protection.  Works kind of like a diaper for your camera, wrap it up and you are ready to go!

Autumn in New Hampshire

Here are a few select images from New Hampshire last month.

Steller's Jay

 

While the Blue Jay is very commonly found  in North America, the Steller's Jay is the only crested Jay west of the Rocky Mountains.  So, most of the time when you are in the California mountains and see this bird, it's a Steller's Jay.  This one is unusual in that part of its upper beak has broken off. This kind of injury would be a death sentence to a less versatile, tiny seed eating bird but this Steller's Jay gets along pretty well

This image was captured with a Nikon D4 and 600 mm f/4 lens.  The shallow depth of field works well to isolate the bird from a possibly distracting background.