Forget camera brands - what are you doing that is new this year?

[Stephen Berger]

Showing my work. I have a show up in NYC right now and will have one in SF in the Fall and hope to (have a tentative agreement to) have one in LA in the winter or spring. The NY and SF shows are/will be in production/post production company spaces that have a gallery space within their facilities and the LA one would be in a gallery, gallery. And the Los Angeles Daily News just did a small piece about me and my pics. I can be pretty shy/introverted so for me it's a reasonably big step to put the images and myself forward like that.

 

[bleirer]

Showing my work. I have a show up in NYC right now and will have one in SF in the Fall and hope to (have a tentative agreement to) have one in LA in the winter or spring. The NY and SF shows are/will be in production/post production company spaces that have a gallery space within their facilities and the LA one would be in a gallery, gallery. And the Los Angeles Daily News just did a small piece about me and my pics. I can be pretty shy/introverted so for me it's a reasonably big step to put the images and myself forward like that.

Congrats! I've enjoyed your Instagram posts and can see how well deserved the shows are.

 

[DsD]

Yes, pre-release was instrumental in getting the shot. Amusingly, I was co-leading a backyard bird photography workshop at the time, but the chipmunks were irresistible.

Yep, that cheeky flying ‘monk really appeals to me!

 

[Rookie Roy]

This is a very interesting post, Eric! I like the way you and others are experimenting with different techniques and subjects. Definitely gives me some food for thought.

My own focus continues to be on finding more unique perspectives capturing common wildlife, instead of the same old same, same old that has been done a million times. I figure that the world doesn’t need more images of _________ (fill in the blank). I’m not often successful, but the interest and desire are there. The downside is that I don’t trip the shutter as often, so have fewer images.

In a month, I’m headed to Alaska to shoot brown bears - a new experience for me, and I’m hoping to capture some images other than the usual bear shots we’ve all seen so often.

Recently, I did try something totally new: aerial photography from a plane, not a drone. My friend offered to take me up one evening for a tour of the area, and I enjoyed seeing local landmarks and my neighborhood from the air. It gave me a whole new perspective on on area where I’ve lived for the past 35 years! Here are a couple of those images - nothing really special but interesting to me.

View attachment 64773Niagara Falls from the air. Nikon D850, 24-70mm, f11, 1/500 sec. Note the 72’ boat at the base of the lower falls.


View attachment 64774Point Abino Lighthouse, Ontario. Nikon D850, 24-70mm, f11, 1/500 sec.

Love the lighthouse image!

 

[Rookie Roy]

I like this technique that you're using. I've dabbled with it on landscapes but have never been thrilled with my results.

For me I'm not trying anything new really. Learning how to use more features in LRC. Trying to shoot more landscapes and specifically to capture the essence of the rain forest around Prince William Sound. This year has provided plenty of rainy weather.

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Nice shots Dan! Number 1 is my favorite.

 

[Rookie Roy]

Forget all the new features with brands, what types of new photographs or new styles are you developing this year. Is there subject matter you are photographing that was previously uncommon? Are you using existing gear in a different manner or developing a new technique? Do you have a new way of processing images?

I'm expanding the use of a style of photography that was relatively uncommon - wide angle close ups. This is a way to use a wide or normal prime or zoom lens at near minimum focus to capture a small subject as a close up, but with the added context of the scene. It works very well with a 14-30 or 24-70 lens. Here are a fewexamples.

This is an decumbent trillium - something relatively uncommon - using the 14-30 f/4 lens at the Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail in northwest Georgia. It's probably the best wildflower location in the state.
View attachment 64622

This was a photo of columbine flowers at the same location with the same 14-30 f/4 lens.
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This was a more recent photo of a male box turtle found on a rocky trail in the Pond Mountain Wilderness. I was using the Z8 and the 24-70 f/4. Since it was a living subject and could withdraw into it's shell, I was very careful to make a series of safety images before getting close. I was testing Eye-AF on a turtle and it worked very well.
View attachment 64624

This is a tight crop from the image above showing the red eye color. This turtle is around 20-25 years old based on the "rings" on the shell. I was surprised to find it in the middle of a hard, rocky trail on a ridge.
View attachment 64625

Nice shots Eric! Very interesting thread! I’m enjoying the ideas and responsive photographs.

 

[Rookie Roy]

For me, new techniques and styles are gradual and just sort of happen. Lately, I've found myself leaning towards backlight more and I've also found myself more interested in "peeking" animals or showing animals as they are hiding or hunkered down. I'm also trying harder to get more unique shots and trying to avoid too much of the "typical" looking wildlife shot. For me though, this is never a yearly thing but a continuing evolution with different techniques and style choices sort of coming to the forefront and then receding. It's always been like that for me; I think it's like collecting a set of mental tools you can use in the field to cover an ever-widening range of subjects and situations.

Below are a few from this year, but sadly I've been so busy working on guides and videos I haven't really had a chance to process much.

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Awesome shots Steve! The hare is my favorite!

 

[Rookie Roy]

Excellent work, Eric. I especially like the trillium and columbine shots.

I've had a Z9 for 18 months, but just started experimenting with the pre-release feature this Spring. Olympus has had the feature a long time. Fuji has also had it, and Canon added it to a body this year. I find it takes a certain mindset to use it. For small perched birds, while I normally shoot in the 1/400-1/1600 range depending on the light, I've found that shooting at 1/3200 is needed to stop action in pre-release. And I’ve found shooting at 30 or 60 frames per second can work well. A problem I struggle with in pre-release mode is that when watching a bird and waiting for it to take flight, there's a temptation to want to capture interesting poses prior to its flying. Depending on the fps rate and pre-release time duration, simply pressing the shutter to catch a pose could result in a minimum of up to 60 frames (one second pre-release @ 60 fps)! Shortening the pre-release time to 1/2 second (which is what I do now) would reduce this to 30 frames @ 60 fps or 15 frames @ 30fps. Sixty fps has the advantage of providing more wing movements within a series to choose from, but it's only in the DX crop and files are very small. Thirty fps allows for full size frames, albeit in JPEG, but one study I read reported AF not being quite as accurate with the camera trying to process so many full size frames in such short order. There's also a fair amount of trial, error and luck involved. So far, I've been using it for catching birds at, or shortly after takeoff, and I got a fun chipmunk shot as well.

Here's a few examples. I believe they were all shot at 60 fps. I've found it really helps to use a shorter focal length than normal to provide ample room for movement within a frame and then crop in later. Despite the small original file size and heavy cropping, they were all able to yield pretty nice final images. I must say that Topaz Sharpen and Denoise have been very helpful in getting the most out of the images.

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Love the flying chipmunk!

 

[ARClark]

Yep, that cheeky flying ‘monk really appeals to me!

“…cheeky flying ‘monk…”

 

[Stephen Berger]

Congrats! I've enjoyed your Instagram posts and can see how well deserved the shows are.

That is very kind of you to say! Who are you on IG?

 

[bleirer]

That is very kind of you to say! Who are you on IG?

natural_wonders_photo_art

 

[marklangner]

For me, I'm copying a gal named Claudia I met in Botswana....she would not just jump around at different subjects, but would pick one and intensely camp out on that subject. I'm finding myself camping out on my selected subject while all the others move on (when shooting with others...typically it's me myself and I) and working it for as long as I can. I saw this Egret...pretty common subject, at at first liked that it was against a dark mud background down in a water channel...but then it started moving and I stayed with it. Others moved on but I watched to see what was up. Clearly it saw tasty food in the water...so I kept on the subject....maybe like 10 minutes....and got a shot. I got lots of fish flip munching action, but I liked this one the best.

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

 

[Maljo]

Retiring, buying a camper van, traveling the continent.

 

[jhallettbc]

Excellent work, Eric. I especially like the trillium and columbine shots.

I've had a Z9 for 18 months, but just started experimenting with the pre-release feature this Spring. Olympus has had the feature a long time. Fuji has also had it, and Canon added it to a body this year. I find it takes a certain mindset to use it. For small perched birds, while I normally shoot in the 1/400-1/1600 range depending on the light, I've found that shooting at 1/3200 is needed to stop action in pre-release. And I’ve found shooting at 30 or 60 frames per second can work well. A problem I struggle with in pre-release mode is that when watching a bird and waiting for it to take flight, there's a temptation to want to capture interesting poses prior to its flying. Depending on the fps rate and pre-release time duration, simply pressing the shutter to catch a pose could result in a minimum of up to 60 frames (one second pre-release @ 60 fps)! Shortening the pre-release time to 1/2 second (which is what I do now) would reduce this to 30 frames @ 60 fps or 15 frames @ 30fps. Sixty fps has the advantage of providing more wing movements within a series to choose from, but it's only in the DX crop and files are very small. Thirty fps allows for full size frames, albeit in JPEG, but one study I read reported AF not being quite as accurate with the camera trying to process so many full size frames in such short order. There's also a fair amount of trial, error and luck involved. So far, I've been using it for catching birds at, or shortly after takeoff, and I got a fun chipmunk shot as well.

Here's a few examples. I believe they were all shot at 60 fps. I've found it really helps to use a shorter focal length than normal to provide ample room for movement within a frame and then crop in later. Despite the small original file size and heavy cropping, they were all able to yield pretty nice final images. I must say that Topaz Sharpen and Denoise have been very helpful in getting the most out of the images.

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Love your photo of the squirrel. Makes me wonder what treasure it has it in its cheeks.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Still life, in studio, with lights.

Textures to use in still-life posts, but not wanting to use store-bought, I've been in the field looking to capture my own.

Street photography using longer focal lengths than normally thought of for that genre (~350-400mm).

Using the brenizer method for inner-forest landscape.

 

[ARClark]

Love your photo of the squirrel. Makes me wonder what treasure it has it in its cheeks.

Thanks! It has a handful of unshelled peanuts in there. Quite a mouth-full!

 

[Alex]

I am spending a month in Japan this year. I plan to take several photo workshops with EYExplore, a photo tour company based in Tokyo. Their focus is on breaking out of the conventional tourist view of Japan. I will be taking workshops on Tokyo at night, architecture, old town, and so on.

 

[John Barclay]

Excellent work, Eric. I especially like the trillium and columbine shots.

I've had a Z9 for 18 months, but just started experimenting with the pre-release feature this Spring. Olympus has had the feature a long time. Fuji has also had it, and Canon added it to a body this year. I find it takes a certain mindset to use it. For small perched birds, while I normally shoot in the 1/400-1/1600 range depending on the light, I've found that shooting at 1/3200 is needed to stop action in pre-release. And I’ve found shooting at 30 or 60 frames per second can work well. A problem I struggle with in pre-release mode is that when watching a bird and waiting for it to take flight, there's a temptation to want to capture interesting poses prior to its flying. Depending on the fps rate and pre-release time duration, simply pressing the shutter to catch a pose could result in a minimum of up to 60 frames (one second pre-release @ 60 fps)! Shortening the pre-release time to 1/2 second (which is what I do now) would reduce this to 30 frames @ 60 fps or 15 frames @ 30fps. Sixty fps has the advantage of providing more wing movements within a series to choose from, but it's only in the DX crop and files are very small. Thirty fps allows for full size frames, albeit in JPEG, but one study I read reported AF not being quite as accurate with the camera trying to process so many full size frames in such short order. There's also a fair amount of trial, error and luck involved. So far, I've been using it for catching birds at, or shortly after takeoff, and I got a fun chipmunk shot as well.

Here's a few examples. I believe they were all shot at 60 fps. I've found it really helps to use a shorter focal length than normal to provide ample room for movement within a frame and then crop in later. Despite the small original file size and heavy cropping, they were all able to yield pretty nice final images. I must say that Topaz Sharpen and Denoise have been very helpful in getting the most out of the images.

View attachment 64656View attachment 64658View attachment 64659

Those are all great shots. I especially like the first one which reminds me of Asian art. Nice work.

 

[ARClark]

Those are all great shots. I especially like the first one which reminds me of Asian art. Nice work.

Thanks a lot, John.

 

[markymark]

Forget all the new features with brands, what types of new photographs or new styles are you developing this year. Is there subject matter you are photographing that was previously uncommon? Are you using existing gear in a different manner or developing a new technique? Do you have a new way of processing images?

I'm expanding the use of a style of photography that was relatively uncommon - wide angle close ups. This is a way to use a wide or normal prime or zoom lens at near minimum focus to capture a small subject as a close up, but with the added context of the scene. It works very well with a 14-30 or 24-70 lens. Here are a fewexamples.

This is an decumbent trillium - something relatively uncommon - using the 14-30 f/4 lens at the Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail in northwest Georgia. It's probably the best wildflower location in the state.
View attachment 64622

This was a photo of columbine flowers at the same location with the same 14-30 f/4 lens.
View attachment 64623

This was a more recent photo of a male box turtle found on a rocky trail in the Pond Mountain Wilderness. I was using the Z8 and the 24-70 f/4. Since it was a living subject and could withdraw into it's shell, I was very careful to make a series of safety images before getting close. I was testing Eye-AF on a turtle and it worked very well.
View attachment 64624

This is a tight crop from the image above showing the red eye color. This turtle is around 20-25 years old based on the "rings" on the shell. I was surprised to find it in the middle of a hard, rocky trail on a ridge.
View attachment 64625

We’ve found our house & currently in the process of moving to the Elan Valley in Wales. Apart from the house overlooking the Hafod Estate which has become a main area for the reintroduction of Pine Martins to the area it’s also a ‘dark sky’ area so am going to give Astrophotography a go.
Will be back on here getting all sorts of advice because I don’t have a clue where to start.
Great thread by the way, thanks Eric

 

[Whiskeyman]

Showing my work. I have a show up in NYC right now and will have one in SF in the Fall and hope to (have a tentative agreement to) have one in LA in the winter or spring. The NY and SF shows are/will be in production/post production company spaces that have a gallery space within their facilities and the LA one would be in a gallery, gallery. And the Los Angeles Daily News just did a small piece about me and my pics. I can be pretty shy/introverted so for me it's a reasonably big step to put the images and myself forward like that.

Since it has been a while, and you are a self-described shy person, I'll post the link to the article: LA Daily News Article on Stephen Berger (One of our own!)

 

[Photographer_Bill]

Since it has been a while, and you are a self-described shy person, I'll post the link to the article: LA Daily News Article on Stephen Berger (One of our own!)

I had to learn early in life to overcome my social anxiety, it wasn't easy but my difficulties helped create a desire to teach which I use in all avenues of my career, every year I speak in front of hundreds (sometimes thousands) of people and that is something I never thought I could do. My daughter (who also struggles greatly with social anxiety) says that "every extrovert should adopt and introvert" and she says that because social interaction is much easier for her if she has someone who's outgoing who's with her to help break the ice. So kudo's to you Stephen for going out on a limb, taking the risk and succeeding - your images are inspiring.