Camera Features-Liveview

When live view first came out as a feature on a Dslr it was poo pooed by many thinking that it was just there for the point and shoot brigade, It isn't and there is more to it than just being able to see what in front of the lens
Firstly its a great benefit to macro shooters as you can frame the shot then zoom in up to 10 times to focus on the important part of the scene-like a bee's eye then you can finely tune the focusing and take the shot knowing its going to be sharp, Here you can see the focus point and compensation dial


If you want yo use the maximum amount of pixels that your camera has then you don't want to have to start cropping to get straight horizons etc so the Nikon D3 has 2 ways of doing this,Firstly you can show a grid and secondly you can see a virtual horizon like on an airoplane -simple and effective


The main benefit i find with the liveview system is to be able to see a live histogram,Its actually easier to use on the Canon and i have only just found out how to set the D3 up to use it, On the canon once its activated in the menu system just click the 'set' button and live view come on but with the Nikon you have to push a button and turn a dial and then press the 'OK' button and then the 'info' button to scroll through,Sounds time consuming but not too bad once you know how,With the histogram showing you can compensate and see the image either darken or lighten and the histogram will move either left or right in real time and you can then adjust the exposure without actually having to take test shots-great if you have easily spooked animals and birds in front of you, Its a function that i used every time with the Canon 1D3 and something that will be very handy to have on the Nikon, In this image you can see a perfect histogram without clipping at either end and that to get it i have dialled in +1 compensation
Another very handy feature of liveview is for Landscape photographers, If you set the liveview and place a ND Graduated filter in front of the lens you can instantly see the effect that the filter has on the image,If you have the histogram set as well you will see what the effect is on the exposure as well,If you still get blinkies in the sky use a stronger filter-simple,Not all landscape photographers use a filter holder and if you just need to use a ND Grad on its own then this is a good way of seeing the image before you take the shot


As you can see the live view system has evolved into a very effective tool for all kinds of photographers-Dont dismiss it

Dave

Reviews - Looking back at your own work

Later on this evening I will be giving an illustrated photo talk on the Wildlife of Mull for the second time.

While putting the talk together and considering and processing the images, it prompted many thoughts.

But lets quickly step back in time as to why I am doing the talk to set it in context.

Last year while on Mull, I was asked if I would do a talk for Wild Isles Week which is
held every year in May. Naturally I was pleased to be asked and of course accepted. In order to give it a dry run, I asked if I could speak to Stratford Photo Group just to check out the content and flow - nothing like a home audience to see what works and what doesn't. Meanwhile, I have also been asked to give it to the Smethwick Photo Society Nature Group and later in the year to the RPS Nature Group

Well I was asked for the Smethwick talk at quite short notice and hadn't prepared a thing with a couple of weeks to go- so panic set in and I got to work quickly.

Tracing through four sets of images comprising of a total of about 2500, I was never convinced that I would have enough material and expected to have to supplement the talk with images of wildlife that is seen on Mull but not actually taken there, so I slight cheat if you like.

But once I got into the selection process, based around the story I wanted to tell, I found that I had more than enough and had to filter out hard.

So what?

Well what came out of this for me was that I had many more images that I revisited with a specific purpose in mind and found them both useful and actually pleased with a lot of them in a way that I had previously glossed over in the past.

It also got me thinking about the photography I do on these trips as I quickly realised that there were many holes in the story I wanted to tell with missing images. For example, I don't have any decent Red Deer shots from Mull. Red Deer are one of the major animals that many visitors want to see - I just took it for granted. Also it is worth taking some of the picture post card type shots to set the scene, show the landscape and show the topology, all important stuff for contextualising the wildlife environment.

So given that I need to do this talk later in the year, and I have another trip in May, I can fill those gaps in.

However, for me, the great benefit of doing this is that it really got me closely looking at some archive work, processing many images that were 'just there', occupying disc space and for no seeming purpose.

So with that in mind, I now need to go through the rest of my files with the same 'eye'

How many of us have got many 'photographic gems' on our hard drives that we overlook?

Tell us your views

Martin

Purple Days

Some days are memorable for many reasons, Purple day photographic sessions don't come around very often but today was one of those days, The weather man said that Monday would be the best day of the week weather wise so i was up and out before the sun was up and down at a large lake about 10 miles from home to have another go at the ospreys, With the weather being nice i knew it would be a short session as the light would get harsh and contrasty once the sun was up high, The ospreys were flying around the nest when i arrived so i quickly set up and took some meter reading and some test shots, The next thing i know is a beaver swimming right towards me, A first for me since i have been here,He came pretty close as if to check me out then did a few large circles and headed off only to be joined by another beaver who did the same, Every now and again one would smash his tail against the water and bolt off under the water,They did this for a few minutes before heading off around to the next bay,The beaver dam cant be that far away and i will go back and see if i can find it,What a great start, Things went quiet for about an hour with just one osprey on the nest and then 3 more arrived, One had a fish in the talons and briefly dropped down onto the nest a minute later it was off which i thought was strange, It went over the trees and suddenly returned being chased by a juvenille Bald Eagle who swooped around trying to relieve the osprey of its catch,After a minute or 2 it gave up and order was restored, I had this time used the 600 and 1.4x combo with the D300 as the weather was brighter than the last time and the D300 would give me some more reach, The ospreys started to mate on the post above the nest so i swapped the 1.4x for the 1.7x and waded abit further out into the lake, i was still further away from the nest than i would like and next time the chest waders are making an apperance as i ended up with 2 boots full of water, Cant complain though as the beaver and eagle shots were unexpected as were the mating shots,Back tomorrow i hope



Dave

Review - British Butterflies DVD ROM Guide

For our 101st post, I wanted to tell you about a great DVD interactive guide I have just acquired. Published by Birdguides, it features over 60 regular British Species, with over 500 illustrations and 200 professionally filmed video clips. It shows all stages of the cycle of a butterfly with all the relevant information. They great thing with this guide is that it now resides on the Netbook, so I have full field availablility of the information.

With the warmer weather, and the first appearrance in the last couple of weeks of butterflies in my garden, the timing for this is just right.

Update: Some more detailed info here

Martin

Gear Reviews-Camera Insurance for the USA

Following on from Martins blog yesterday covering camera insurance in the UK i will just add abit for us guys living in the USA, When i moved over here i bought all new camera gear and within a few days the appartment that we first rented was full of new shiny Nikon gear, In total $30 000+ so there was a great need to get this insured as if it went missing i wouldnt be able to afford to get it replaced, I made some enquiries on more USA nature forums and the general consensus was to join NANPA (North American Nature Photographers Association) and get covered by CHUBB who do great deals for NANPA members, It costs around $100 to join NANPA but then you get lots of benefits like the quarterly mag and discounts on other mags and gear, I joined and within a few days the cameras were covered, £30 000 of gear cost me just under $700 a year which i thought was very reasonable, They give a calcualtion of $0,0230 so times that by the value of your gear and you have the total cost,you also get 30 days to pay but are covered from day 1,There is a minimum of $350, All in all everybody gives them a thumbs up and NANPA is based on my kind of work,Its a very informative site and worth spending some time on

Dave

Reviews - Gear Insurance

This will be a short post tonight, specifically covering an item which somebody has requested.

Before I moved to my current house, I was in rented accommodation for a few years I had all my gear covered by House Contents insurance, with a maximum allowance for loss at any one time. I didn't really properly check out the T's & C's with hindsight, but fortunately was never in a position to need to make a claim.

That all changed when I moved into my current house and switched to a connected Buildings and Contents Policy. The new insurers could not entertain that my kit levels were purely of an amateur status. They did offer me some additional cover but the quote was quite frankly ridiculous. So time for a rethink.


I has heard of good things of Glover & Howe from some of the pro's who used to frequent EOS Forums when that was alive so checked them out.

The long and short was that they offered 10% discount for EOS Magazine subscribers as I was then, they offered various levels of cover from Amateur, Semi Professional and Full Professional. It turned out that Semi Pro insurance was actually cheaper than Amateur for me. This gave me the option of actually being able to sell some of my work, if I desired to so do.

The cover and replacement options were much better, particlualrly in terms of theft from vehicles a,d it has been extremely easy when adding or subtracting bits of kit as I have bought and sold stuff.

No claims discount is accrued each year if you do not make a claim as well, and it is just the most simple business dealing with them on the phone.

So if you have gear that you cannot afford to lose, think carefully about how it is insured. Check out all the Terms very carefully and if there are loopholes, then think about going to a specialist.

There is a very good Tips document that Glover & Howe have published if you are not sure.

Do yourself a favour and read it.

And if you buy from them, please mention my name

Martin

PS - it will be our 100th post tomorrow

Local Patch-Raleigh

Things are hotting up in my local area as spring kicks in-out and in again, The spring migration is in full flow and every visit to lakes show more and more ospreys, Yesterday i revisited the nest and there were 4 ospreys circling over, One would drop onto the nest and the other 3 would swoop down,The one on the nest would literally back flip as if you grab the swooping bird,then all fly off and have some fun in the air calling each other before doing it all again, I did get some shots,nothing spectacular but the account is now well and truly open,The weather yesterday was very grey which made metering difficult so i used manual mode and after a couple of test shots i realised that to get a bird in flight properly exposed i would need to completely blow the sky which was fine as it was a horrible grey anyway, I used the Nikon D3 along with the 600+1.4x but the conditions meant that i needed to go up to ISO 800 and sometimes ISO 1600, The D3 is famous for its high ISO capabilities but in order to get grain free ISO 1600 shots you need to have the exposure bang on,Any adjustments in processing will bring the grain out,
The garden is going very well with more and more birds turning up everyday as well as different mammals,The usual suspects are still coming like cardinals,junco,sparrows (2 types now) woodpecker,tufted titmouse,pine siskin and a sparrowhawk but we now have new guests that are regulars like American goldfinch that are just coming into breeding colours,Nuthatches (2 types) warblers,bluebirds and yesterday whilst in the hide a brown headed cowbird-what a crazy name-no udders and doesn't moo,still nice to see and a great addition to the portfolio,
Mammal wise i have deer coming every night along with 2 possums,2 grey fox and the other night a raccoon and lots of squirrels-not too bad for a small town garden,
All this means that i can grab the camera and spend a pleasant hour or 2 in the hide when the conditions allow,I haven't tried for the mammals yet as most come out when its dark so will need a couple of extra flashguns for that but will continue to feed them to get them into a routine,

Dave

Local Patch - Warwickshire

Well about as local as it gets, more precisely my back garden.

Many of the readers of the blog know that I spent a lot of time last year making over about 2/3 of my back garden to a wildlife garden.

This involved hand digging out years worth of weeds and brambles and reshaping the earth into raised banks and planting out with wild flower seeds. I put three areas of water in the garden and this has attracted quite a bit of wildlife in that I didn't previously see.

Well I spent a fair bit of time out there this weekend building the waterfall into the main pond and saw my first three butterfly species of the year in the warm spring sunshine. These were Brimstone, Comma and Small Tortoiseshell. I tried to sneak up on the Comma while it was sunning itself for an image, but it wasn't having any of it. I really could do with the Canon 180 macro lens which would allow me much more stand off distance - anybody got one going spare?

Anyway, to the main point of this thread which is to share some images of some of the flowers that are coming up now. Nothing particularly special, but important in setting the overall ecology of what I'm trying to set up.

From the top down, the species are as follows;

Red Dead Nettle

Common Speedwell

Sun Spurge

Shepherds Purse

Common Fumitory

And if I have got any of those wrong, please do let me know.

Update: - The tadpoles are free and swimming today - well the first few anyway


Martin