Time Lapse from Petit Jean

Here is a time lapse from Petit Jean that I took last Saturday...if you look quick, you'll see me in the scene...

AR Post favorites

I spent yesterday afternoon photographing wildlife with two fellow photographers (Paul Caster & Ernie Decker) near AR Post. Posted below are a few of my favorites.

Cossatot Falls

Here is another favorite from yesterday's shoot at Cossatot Falls.

Little Missouri Falls

I had a chance to do some waterfall photography yesterday at Little Missouri Falls and Cossatot Falls with a fellow photographer. We've had several days of rain this week, which has helped fill the streams with some much needed water. I hope to continue shooting a few other falls over the next couple of days.

Pinnacle Mountain Time Lapse Video

Here is a time lapse video taken today near Pinnacle Mountain. I'm having a lot of fun doing this with the new 5dII.

Mt. Nebo Sunset via Time Lapse Photography

I've seen some very interesting time lapse projects online recently, so I thought I'd try my hand at one today. I drove up to Mt. Nebo State Park in order to photograph the sunset. When I got there, the wind was blowing hard and the clouds were moving in, which are perfect conditions for a time lapse photo. The movie below was created from 740 individual pictures taken over a 50 minute period just before dusk. I took about one picture every two seconds and composed this movie with Quicktime Pro. The trick to doing these right is putting your camera on manual and adjusting the exposure and shutter speed to get the effect you want. Dragging the shutter works best if you can do this. I set my initial exposure too fast and was stuck with this for almost an hour. You need to think about what that first exposure should be in order to get the best end results. Next time, I'll set my exposure a little slower than what I did for this (1/20 sec @ f22).

Petit Jean Time Lapse Video

I played around with my new Canon 5dII today at Petit Jean & Mt. Nebo State Parks. Below you can watch a time lapse video of the clouds/vultures flying above the mountains. This 20-second video was actually taken over a 12-minute time period

Nutria vs. Alligator vs. Turtle...

Today, I traveled to AR Post in order to continue to put my new camera (5dII) through its paces. It was fairly warm today (mid 70s), so I knew I'd probably find some alligators down there and I did. Something crazy unfolded right in front of me today that's hard to believe. I stopped my truck when I saw an alligator sunning on top of a nutria nest near the road. These guys usually don't move much but I thought I'd hang out for awhile to see if he'd become active. I hadn't been waiting long (about 30 minutes) when a nutria cruised nearby and decided to sit on a nest about 18 inches away from where the 4-foot alligator lay. I thought this nutria was pretty brave for doing this but it's next move made me realize that the nutria wasn't brave but stupid. He decided the nest he was in wasn't comfortable enough so he attempted to take the nest the alligator was on. Needless to say, this didn't work and you can see in the photo that the alligator didn't budge a bit.

After waiting for about a second or two the nutria finally realized that he wasn't going to win this battle and swam back to his nest. Upon his return though, a red-eared slider had claimed the nutria's nest but this was a battle he could win.

It didn't take him long or much effort to push this turtle off his nest.

The alligator though, thought this was funny and ended up getting the last laugh....

Canon 5D MARK II

Yesterday, I received the Canon 5D MARK II that I ordered from B&H Photo, Thursday. This is Canon's new 21 megapixel camera than can shoot both stills and video. Today, I went out and put it through a test run. I plan to shoot it exclusively this week, so check back here often to read my comments about this new camera and to see some of the pictures and videos that I create.

My initial reaction is that this camera is very good at high ISOs. I did a test and it appears to be quite usable up to ISO 2000. The camera will go to ISO 6400 but that appeared too grainy for my uses. This camera is almost as good as my 1dIII at high ISOs. I think the 1dIII may be a bit cleaner at ISO 1600, but not by much. I'll report back with more information as I shoot this camera this week.

I'm going to post a rough video from today's shoot. This video is of Eden Falls. It's unedited and I'm testing it to see how it works on this blog. I plan to post more video this week as I learn how to use this new tool!!!

The end...

I had a chance to travel some this afternoon and I found this pair of donkeys along the road near Dardnelle. Sometimes when you shoot, you try to get a certain shot and it just never happens. What made me stop was the baby donkey on the left. I wanted to get a nice portrait of him, but I didn't. I think I scared the couple off with my big lens. This was about the only picture I got today. That's OK though. I can go back and try to get him again soon. This field will be a better morning shoot anyway...

Another favorite from Saturday's shoot

Here is another one of my favorite images from last Saturday's autofocus test shoot.

Autfocus test @ Riverview Park

After getting my 1dIII back from Canon Friday, I decided to put it through its paces at Riverview Park in Dardnelle last Saturday. I had an overcast day but a perfect situation to test the new autofocus fix that Canon performed on my camera. I must say I'm completely satisified with what they've done. The autofocus responds better and tracks subjects much better. I had a very high percentage of in-focus images. If you have a 1dIII, send it in and get the fix!!!

7GB Eight Foot Wide Print

Check out The Luminous Landscape to see what Michael Reichman created with his Phase One P65+ back. A wonderful scene and one heck of a file...

Canon 1dIII autofocus manual

For those of you who shoot with a Canon 1dIII, you may be interested in this flash driven AI-Servo Autofocus manual. It contains a lot of useful information.

Camera is back from Canon

I just got my 1dIII back from Canon. According to their repair sheet they found that the adjustment of the AF assembly was incorrect causing inaccurate auto focus from time to time. The AF assembly was reworked. They replaced the mirror box assembly and washer. They adjusted focus, exposure meter and cleaned the C-mos sensor. We'll see how these new adjustments work in the field. I'll post my thoughts on this after shooting this weekend. If the camera is not much better, I may look at changing systems...

Photographing Aboard Air Force One

Check out Larry Downing's post today on the Reuters blog as he shares insites into what photographers traveling with the president experience.

Amtrack police arrest man for taking photos of trains for Amtrack photography contest

I heard about this while listening to an old photo podcast a couple of days ago. I just found the video parody of this on Stephen Colbert's website. Quite funny. Check this video out.

Sandisk 8GB SD Extreme III Cards $39.95

If anyone needs any new SanDisk 8GB SD Extreme III cards, Best Buy has these for $39.95 this week. This is an excellent price on a very fast and good card.

Podcast #1

I've added a new section to my website in which I plan to post a regular podcast. I'll be sharing information that I've learned in the last 15+ years of doing photography and I plan to keep you up-to-date about what's happening in photography today. Check out podcast #1.

Jim Richardson Seminar in St. Louis

I've just returned from a quick trip to St. Louis to hear Jim Richardson speak to the St. Louis Camera Club. His talk was about travel photography. To learn more about this photographer please visit his website.

Site update...New Gallery Images

Just a quick note to state that I updated my wildlife and people galleries. I have eight new images up for viewing. Enjoy!

Cameraless....

I just sent in my 1dIII to Canon to get the new autofocus fix. I haven't had a lot of problems with this camera. In fact, it's the best camera I've ever owned for shooting the way I do (fast and furious) but I thought I'd let the service guys update everything at this time while it's free. If you own a 1dIII or 1dsIII you may want to send it in to Canon to get this free fix. Check their website out here for more info. Canon has also posted a great autofocus tutorial for the 1dIII. If you own this camera, I'll think you'll enjoy this tutorial.

Updated Website up and running!!!

I just completely updated my website. It's been up and running since about noon. I'm using new software and a new host company. The site is flash driven as well, so if you don't have the latest flash player, you'll need to download it in order to see the site. Let me know what you think.

Paul's favorite bird...

Today, I went to Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge with two fellow photographers (Ernie Decker & Paul Caster). We had plans to travel to Mount Magazine but those changed when we left the lights on in Paul's two-day-old Toyota Tundra while at Holla Bend. We had to wait about 2 1/2 hours for another fellow photographer (Mike Cooper) to bring some jumper cables to get us going again. After being stranded on the road for that long, we decided to eat lunch in Dardnelle, check out Riverview Park (nothing to shoot) and head back home. We did stop by Overcup Lake but found nothing to shoot. In honor of the mockingbird that caused us to stop, I'm posting this image for Paul....