Talking with Mike Tabback on KAZM Radio on the Tech Talk Show. We chat about some techniques in photography and some of the new tech that Panasonic is putting into the cameras. 4K Photo Mode is making some new image captures possible that would have been more difficult to photograph than even a few years ago.
“Off to harass the birds again are you?”
My wife Holly calls it harrassing cause I used to have to get very close to the birds to fill the frame and they often would leave in a snit at being disturbed… I call it photography while I study and capture behavior images. I really enjoy photographing birds. At her parents place which looks over the marsh in Delaware I’ve plenty of subjects.
I was curious as to how the Lumix FZ1000 would perform and I gotta tell ya it ain’t bad at all. Having a 400mm f4.0 lens is quite good. I’m even more impressed with the ability of the digital zoom going to 1600mm. At that zoom range some detail it starts to soften but being able to fill the frame from a long distance is more than worth the trade-off. Here is a sequence to show the range of the camera…
Images made from the same position. To get to the digital zoom of 1600mm you must be in jpeg capture mode.
Still, with proper exposure I’ll take the reach over being able to shoot in RAW.
Osprey doing a flyby of her nest.
If I’m going to have one camera for vacation, or just to have at hand daily – that does almost everything I need – the Lumix FZ1000 is the one.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Walking from my favorite restaurant and I spy an absolutely beautiful flower bloom on a cactus. So I stop to shoot a couple frames and move on in the glow of the after dinner bliss… Or, was it the wine?
No matter.
‘Squirrel Moment!’
I know you’ve had this happen.
You think you see something beautiful. On the move you grab a frame thinking you have something to work on later. Turns out you were distracted by the ‘squirrel!’ in the image and failed to look at the whole scene carefully in the frame. Here’s a recent ‘squirrel’ shot from my wanderings.
Man, I almost don’t even want to show you this… In my mind I saw the flowering blooms
and new buds coming on (cue beautiful music)…
The reality of the ‘past prime’ dead flower buds escaped my notice until
I opened the image and viewed it on the computer. “Bummer!”
I think it’s good to share the not so good stuff as well as our treasures so we all know we are in the same boat… Chugging away, trying to create beautiful images, and not always hitting a home run. The usual camera was in play and it did a good job helping me get a nice exposure on the run. It’s not the fault of the Lumix FZ1000 that I can be distracted by a ‘Squirrel Moment”… They can’t all be perfect can they???
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Up early as dawn was breaking I had my tripod set up in the bed of Oak Creek in Sedona, AZ. In the distance was water’s opposite – the stoic red rock formation of Cathedral Rock. I wanted to have the water slow flowing and that required a longer shutter speed than I was able to obtain with just the camera settings… Neutral density filters to the rescue.
Cathedral Rock on Oak Creek in Sedona, AZ. One of the top ten most photographed places in the country.
In the image above I used a 4 stop ND filter in the holder and added a 2 stop graduated ND filter at an angle across the top right hand corner where the sun was streaking across the trees.
Chris Kalmbach, one of the members in my Cohort in the new educational platform called the Arcanum, has been creating beautiful imagery using some long exposures using neutral density filters. Seeing and critiquing his images made me want to play with ND filters again.
Long exposure with ND filter notice water smoothed out by exposure. © Chris Kalmbach All Rights Reserved
I personally didn’t want to invest a boatload of money into filters I might only use a few times so I did some poking around and found these very inexpensive plastic filters with a full range of step rings, holders, lens shades and more from Neewer. See the ND Filter kit Here.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Enjoyed this water quote… “My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.” Mitch Hedberg
Ocotillo.
That’s not a word you hear everyday… Even if you live in the Southwest where these very interesting cactus reside. Ocotillo are long stalks that most of the year look like they are a bit worse for wear and have moved on past the living stage.
BUT, when nature’s green paint brush, AKA rain, moves through the area at the right time of year these seemingly greyish brown sticks with thorns turn green and put on a show with bright crimson blooms.
Kinda gives you hope when you see this process. And that’s where a phrase you hear even less, the name of this post, Dance of the Ocotillo. Which I think is easier to say than Dance of the Fouquieria splendens which is it’s binomial name.
My model friend Pash Galbavy said she really enjoys these plants and wanted to be photographed with them when in bloom. “Was I game to get up and hike into the wild before the sun chose to make an appearance?” “Sure,” I said. “Always up for a challenge and creating some art.”
Pash made individual dance moves around the cactus. Camera was mounted on a tripod and multiple exposures were blended together using Layers and Masks in Adobe’s Photoshop.
This is an alternate version I enjoy even more created using multiple NIK filters. Included in the mix were Pro Contrast, Glamour Glow, Sepia Toning, Edge Efx and Film Noise.
I used the Lumix GH4 with the Vario 12-35mm f2.8 lens mounted on a tripod. I wanted to capture motion on each movement but I couldn’t get the shutter speed slow enough without some extra help. Camera settings 19mm, 2 sec, f22 ISO 200 manual mode.
Getting the shutter speed this slow required the help of a 2 stop neutral density filter. I had just received a set of very inexpensive filters from Neewer because I wanted to experiment with them for water effects. The kit is less than 25 bucks and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality. I just happened to throw them in my kit before this shoot… Who knew??
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – If you want to talk about someone dedicated to her art here is a photo of Pash dressed in clothing more appropriate to the per-dawn temperature!
Pash dressed for the 47 degree pre-dawn temps we were working in.
PPS – Making purchases on Amazon and through other links helps support the education on the Successful-Photographer web site… TIA.
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
Fotopro tripods are well worth checking out. You can learn about the ones I use and recommend by clicking on the Fotopro Tripods link at the top of this page. If you want to see what other tripods might fit your needs check out the Fotopro.com website. Check back with me before you buy as a Fotopro Ambassador I’m able to get you discounted pricing including complementary continental USA shipping for my followers that you won’t find through retail outlets.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
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Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
