The Sands of Namibia
Nikon D300, 17-55 @ 17mm, ISO 200, f10 at 1/160 sec
Deep in the sand dunes of Namibia, I was presented with a rolling light show of highlights and shadows as the sun rose from my left. With the camera having significantly less dynamic range than the human eye, it is always a challenge to record an image that depicts, as close as possible, the scene as it was seen by the eye. As many of you know, I am a technical shooter. Shooting in the deserts of Namibia was truly a personal and technical challenge for me which resulting in pushing my photography skills to a new level. Amidst a sea of sand, I worked hard to incorporate an artistic approach in many of my images. I found myself paying a great deal of attention to lines, shapes, highlights and shadows to tell the image story. Thanks to JP Caponigro and Andy Biggs for pushing me into this artistic journey!
This image is a good example of the use of hyperfocal distance knowledge to achieve the desired zone of focus. Using hyperfocal tables, I was able to determine that focusing on the sand, 10 ft in front of me, the hyperfocal distance would be 5.37 feet (using f10 and the D300 at 17mm), resulting in a near focus limit of 3.48 feet and a far focus limit of infinity. After determining these values, I simply reset the focus to 5 feet and shot. To make all of this easier, I now use an iPod for my hyperfocal distance calculations rather than lugging around 10 pages of tables. Thank you Mr. Apple.
Cheers and happy photo’ing
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Posted in Africa, Safari, Travel on Oct 17th, 2009
Sunrise over Namibian Mountain Range
Nikon D300, 17-55 @55mm; ISO 320, f 7.1 @ 1/640 sec
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I am frequently ask, ‘how do you manage your images while on safari’? Although we have power at our camps in the bush, I always make incremental backups of my cards while actually out on the game drives during the day. Unlike most safaris which offer only morning and
Colorspace UDMA Storage Solution
afternoon game drives, we are out for the entire day. Being out for the entire day results in the need to make frequent backups as a safety measure. I have been relying on Hyperdrive products for the past four years, and have yet to report a failure. If you don’t generate jpg thumbs, you can download an 8 GB UDMA CF card in four minutes with FULL data verification. Turning off all data verification (not sure why you would want to do this) one can achieve download rates as fast as 40MBs per second. Dude, that makes Hyperdrive one of the fastest download and storage devices on the market.
Sync Adapter
With the release of the latest software for the UDMA series, you can backup to or from the Hyperdrive, or mirror / synchronize to a second USB drive with the optional USB OTG (on the go) Adapter.
This latest development, now calls a big into question into play for me. With USB OTG, do I really need to take a laptop on safari? I’ll let you know what I do for the next safari. Meanwhile, you can check out all of the Hyperdrive options by visiting the HYPERSHOP. I should note that a variety of resellers now offer the Hyperdrive.
Hyperdrive Sync Connection Diagram
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Mountain Goat, Mt. Evans, Colorado @ 14,130 feet
September 2006, Nikon D2x, 200-400VR, @240mm, ISO 100, f8.5
Shooting above 14,000 feet, I thought I was going to die. Knowing that I was not in shape for this final climb to get to the goats and already feeling the thin air, I took only one camera and lens with no tripod, plus my GPS. I took my clothes down to hiking shorts, knee pads, and a tee shirt and windbreaker on top (plus my hiking boots of course). I was able to snap only a few shots before I really started getting light headed. Rocks were used as the shooting platform for my 200-400, because I had no energy to hand hold the beast. What amazed me was the how approachable the goats were and the intensity of the clear blue sky. Ok, the thin air really did kick my butt – I’m seriously working on getting into better shape so I can do this again!
Happy photo’ing
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Posted in Africa, Safari, Travel on Oct 4th, 2009
Windy Ridge - Skeleton Coast
May 2009 – Nikon D300, 17-55 @17mm, ISO 200, f 10 at 1/250 sec
Windy Ridge Sunset, Skeleton Coast, Namibia, looking toward the ocean.
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