This is the first in a series of articles that address the fascinating topic of High Dynamic Range or HDR.  HDR not only refers to situations you face when photographing in the field but also the digital darkroom techniques for processing HDR images.  This first article will lay the groundwork necessary for understanding HDR.
How often [...]

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In our family, Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate our blessings, the greatest of which is each other.  This year we gave thanks in our most cherished place on the earth - Zion National Park in southwest Utah.  Over the years it has truly been our refuge and a place we go to rekindle our spirits.
We [...]

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We’ve had some good rains so far this winter with 8 inches total as measured in my back yard.  Already that’s 4 times the total rain fall compared to last year.  But then, last year was the driest year on record.  Two inches - that’s desert weather.
We had a storm come through Wednesday night and [...]

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Well, the 2008 Joshua Tree Gathering was this past weekend (Jan 18-20).  The Saturday morning sunrise shoot was down toward the Pinto Basin on the road to Cottonwood Springs and the park’s south entrance.  It was nice because it was much warmer down there, above freezing by several degrees.
The plan was to shoot a sunrise [...]

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It’s time to do some controlled testing with the III.  The sensor’s dynamic range is always something of interest and very important.  So I set up a test and came up with some results.
The test consisted of shooting an inside door this evening.  The door has a bit of a pattern so it’s not flat.  [...]

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Well, no shooting with the new toy yesterday or today.  As I haven’t given up my day job yet it’s necessary to get some consulting hours in to bring home the bacon.  Besides, the client is happer when I pay some attention to them.  However, the RRS L bracket came today.  So I’ll be able to [...]

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Last night I did some shooting with my 70-200 on a tripod.  I wasn’t pleased with the sharpness with that lens when shooting hand held.  Duh!  So I set everything up and snapped a few shots.  A quick review last night and I still wasn’t satisfied with the sharpness when shooting at 200mm.  Now, I [...]

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Got a chance to work on some images last night.  Had to pull myself away at midnight.  Here are a couple of thoughts.
RAW file size is about 20 MB as expected.  The TIFF file with just the Background layer is 120 MB.  That’s about four times larger than I’m used to.  I worked on one [...]

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I have a question for anyone that reads this post.
One of the exciting features of the new generation of Digital SLRs is a function called sensor clean.  Every time you power up or power down the camera, it vibrates the sensor at an ultra-sound frequency to shake off any dust that may have accumulated when [...]

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Here are details about the Joshua Tree Gathering.

 When: Friday, Jan 18 to Sunday Jan 20, 2008
Where: Jumbo Rock Campground will be the base of operations
Who: Anyone with a camera - digital, film, glass plate, it doesn’t matter
Why: to photograph the wonders of Joshua Tree National Park and share experiences with other photographers
Cost: There is no [...]

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