Workshop Preparation – Camera Support Systems

Jeff,
What ballhead is in that photo? (or is that for tomorrow's post?)
Thanks.
Andy

If you've read my previous post, then you understand that high quality tripods are sold "bare", without anyhting to attach them to your camera. This is where the ballhead and clamp come in. Good quality ballheads are designed to support heavy loads, move smoothly but lock solidly. Ballheads are easier to use and much more stable than the old fashioned "pan & tilt" tripod heads. Aiming and leveling can be accomplished as one motion, and solid lockup is accomplished with a tightening of only one control. The best designed ballheads also offer variable tension that makes them easy to control. Tripods with ballheads are much easier to pack and carry than pan & tilt heads since they have no long handles to get in the way.

But the ballhead is only half the story. The other half is the clamp system which is used to attach your camera to the ballhead. Mounting your camera using the standard " 20 screw is far too slow and insecure. Instead, many manufacturers adopted the "Arca-Swiss" standard which uses an open-ended dovetail channel with compressing side jaws that grip the mounting plate or bracket attached to the camera. This unique setup provides a quick and easy clamping system that is very solid and secure.

When used in conjunction with an L-Plate designed for your specific camera the quick-release clamp system allows the landscape photographer to quickly switch between shooting horizontally and vertically as shown in the images below.

Really Right Stuff
In my opinion the best design and highest quality ballheads, clamps and camera plates are made by Really Right Stuff, a great little company in California owned and operated by Joe Johnson. The folks at RRS are incredible to work with and their attention to detail in the design and manufacturing of camera support systems is second to none. That's why you'll see nine out of ten professionals using RRS gear including guys like Joe McNally, Moose Peterson and Scott Kelby.

The advice I give to any serious amateur is to buy the best tripod and ballhead you can possibly afford and buy them only once. Really Right Stuff (gotta love that name) gear is expensive folks but worth every single penny. The workmanship is something I've only seen in medical devices before and the various parts fit together perfectly, time after time.

I've put an RRS L-Plate on every camera I currently shoot with from my 5D mark II to my G10 and can lock them into my BH-40 LR / Gitzo Traveller in just seconds to capture that perfect light at the end of the day. I honestly can't imagine using any other brand than Really Right Stuff.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Camera Support Systems, Landscape Photography, Photography, Really Right Stuff

Landscape Photography – Green and Gold

Pedernales Falls State Park near Johnson City, Texas is one of the most picturesque spots in the Hill Country. The elevation of the Pedernales river drops about 50 feet over a distance of less than 1/2 mile, and the cascading falls are formed by the flow of water over the uplifted limestone layers. The falls are extremely dynamic and never look exactly the same two days in a row, especially during the rainy season. This is one location every Texas landscape photographer should visit again and again.

Wildlife in the park is typical of the Hill Country and includes deer, coyotes, rabbits, armadillos, opossums, and raccoons. According to the folks at Texas Parks & Wildlife, "over 150 species of birds have been seen in the park" including ravens, vultures, herons, quail, doves, owls, roadrunners, wild turkeys as well as sparrows and western scrub jays.

I'll be perfectly honest here folks, every time I venture out to explore the falls, a flock of turkey vultures are usually circling overhead just waiting for me to drop. The only other wildlife I've seen were a pair of Texas A&M coeds on the prowl. Pretty scary at that!

Green & Gold at Pedernales Falls, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 28mm, f/13 for 1/6th of a second using a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Adobe Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Landscape Photography, Photography, Texas Landscapes

There are Always Two Shots to Take!

One thing many folks forget in the excitement of capturing a nice image is that there are always two shots to take; the horizontal and the vertical. It's amazing how few amateurs remember this simple rule in landscape photography and return home with only half the really great shots they could have.

Have a great weekend!

Frio River Crossing in Concan, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/16 for 1/10th of a second using a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer and a 4-stop, graduated neutral density filter at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 using Nik Software's Viveza filter. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Frio River Crossing in Concan, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/16 for 1/15th of a second using a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer and a 4-stop, graduated neutral density filter at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 using Nik Software's Viveza filter. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Landscape Photography, Photography, Texas Landscapes

Workshop Preparation – The Little Things That Count

In landscape photography its the little things that count. One of the most important aspects of creating a well composed landscape image is knowing where "level" is. This is especially true when your background is hilly or mountainous. We use our sense of "level" so much every day that a person will look at an image on the web or in print and instinctively know if it's not perfectly level.

Finding the perfect "level" has become fairly easy for Nikon shooters since inclusion of a Virtual Horizon in the D3, D300 and D700 firmware.

This wonderful little feature was made famous last year in a hilarious post by Joe McNally. I'm not quite sure this was exactly the publicity Nikon was looking for but it certainly demonstrated the feature well.

Luckily, the folks at Adorama sell a great little Hot Shoe Bubble Level 337 made by Manfrotto that takes all the guesswork out of finding a perfect "level" in our landscape images. For about $33.00 (USD) it's a great little Holiday gift too.

Hot Shoe Bubble Level
Copyright 2008 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shots taken with a Canon Powershot G9 hand-held at 30mm, f/4.0 for 1/320th of a second at ISO 200 on SanDisk digital film. All post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Hot Shoe Bubble Level, Landscape Photography, Texas Landscape Safari

Insect Interactions in Nordin Seruyan’s Photography

Indonesian amateur photographer Nordin Seruyan is already known for his ability to take successful photos at the right moment. He isn't fond exclusively of macro photography, but today we will concentrate on macro.

See more on weezbo.com

Leawo Total Media Converter - Enjoy Spring Offer up to 50% Off!

VERY VERY COOL

Very Very Cool is an internally driven project, which tries to explore the connotations that the word 'cool' has in society.

For this documentary, we have worked in collaboration with highly regarded professionals such as, Ana Patricia Echegoyen (Erretres), Gaby Castellanos (SocialPhilia), Sergio del Puerto (Serial Cut) and Anabel Vazquez.

Leawo Total Media Converter - Enjoy Spring Offer up to 50% Off!