|
|
Finally, the rain ceased today and I had an opportunity to spend a few hours photographing at Cocoa Beach, FL this morning. The weather was cold and windy, but I was still able to capture some fun shots. Now, its time for bed to get some rest before a 4-day series of workshops this weekend in Orlando!
 Palm frond abstract. The sky was overcast and cloudy, so shooting big sweeping landscapes didn't make sense. Nikon D300s, 70-200mm f2.8, TC-14E, Gitzo CF tripod.  Palm tree trunk. Black and white. Nikon D300s, 70-200 f2.8, handheld at ISO 1000.  The Ron Jon surf shop in Cocoa Beach. Nikon D700, 14-24mm f2.8, handheld.
 Rain in Orlando. Nikon D700, 14-24mm f2.8. Taken from my hotel window. I’ve been down in the Orlando area for a few days getting ready to run some workshops for the Nikonians Academy. Unfortunately, the weather has been pretty bad. Actually, let me rephrase that. The weather has been wonderful for capturing images from a hotel room. Torrential downpours, rain, mist, and more rain.
So, rather than not take images at all, I decided to see what I could do from my hotel room while I worked away on a book I’m tech editing for Wiley & Son’s Publishing. One of my photographic mantras is that if you go somewhere to take photos of flowers, and the flowers aren’t happening, then photograph what is happening. In this case, lots and lots of rain.
I set up my Nikon D700 with my 14-24mm f2.8 and started shooting away. I focused the camera on the drops of rain on the window and purposely blurred the trees in the background. A perfect photo to represent a perfect rain storm.
Just finished up running four Nikonians Academy workshops in Atlanta, GA and had a total blast. The workshops were all sold out and the people were awesome. I met a bunch of new friends and I learned a few new things as well. People flew and drove into the area from places all around the Southeast USA. I can’t wait to come back here!
This morning, I’m headed down to Orlando for another week’s worth of workshops. I’ll be at a hotel right outside the gates of Disney World, running workshops, taking photos and having a great time. We have one more seat available for the Nikon D3/D700 workshop, so head over to Nikonians Academy if you want to sign up!
More soon…
Nikon just finished up their Nikon Festival contest where they asked people to submit videos that captured the essence of their day in 140 seconds or less. It was a great contest with some really creative entries. Here are the winners!
http://www.nikonfestival.com/winners/
Hey Nikon D3X an D3S shooters. I’ve posted menu setup guides for your cameras here:
http://www.outthereimages.com/publishing.html
You can also find setup guides for most of the other popular Nikon dSLR cameras on this page.
I’ve posted the setup guide for the Nikon D300s menus. This setup guide shows you how I set up my custom menus for banks A, B, C and D. I’ve also posted the corresponding *.BIN file for downloading here:
http://www.outthereimages.com/publishing.html
Scroll down the page to about the 3/4 mark to find the new guide.
I also have menu setups for many of the other Nikon dSLR camera bodies posted on the same page.
I just found this free software for Mac users that allows tethered shooting for Nikon cameras such as the D3x, D3, D700 and the consumer D90, D80 and D5000. Support for other Nikon cameras will come shortly.
 Sofortbild tethered shooting software for Mac. I downloaded the software this morning at 9:52am and began shooting tethered photographs with my D700 at 9:53am. It is that easy to use and setup. Awesome. I’ll put it through its paces and give a more detailed review later.
Here’s the download link: http://www.sofortbildapp.com/
Here’s the FAQ page: http://stefan.hafeneger.name/2009/04/29/nikon-control-beta-3/
Enjoy!
That’s right, our January 2010 newsletter is up at the main website. Here’s the link: www.outthereimages.com/newsletter.html
This month’s topics include an article on event photography and another article on using the sun as a strong backlight. I’ve included some fun photos of skim boarders that I took on a recent trip to Maui. I also have a new GOAL assignment posted for the month of January.
Finally, I’ve updated all the information for our new 2010 workshops.
Hop to it!
Nikon just posted new firmware for the D300s, D3, D3x, D700 cameras. The fixes include support for 64GB cards, improved white balance, changes to auto focus tracking lock on (menu a4), some GPS improvements, and some other bug fixes.
Here are the links:
D300s A/B 1.0.1
D3 A/B 2.02
D3X B 1.0.1
D700 A/B 1.0.2
I ran a private workshop yesterday for a lady who is producing her own cookbook. She loves photography, loves cooking and wants to write individual stories about the people who’s recipes she uses in the book. Her goals during the private workshop were to learn all about her camera while also learning how to do professional food photography in her kitchen.
I was so impressed with her enthusiasm for learning that I couldn’t help to be affected by it. We spent a full day going 100 miles per hour, putting together photos, setting up lights, diffusers, backdrops, food, etc. I kept asking if she wanted to take a break and her answer was “no way, let’s keep learning.” Before we knew it, the day was over and it was time for me to go. By the time I got back to my office, she had already sent emails talking about her passion and asking more questions. It was a wonderful reminder of what its like to pursue a passion.
I can guarantee you that she’ll produce a wonderful book. The photos will be fantastic and the writing will be superb. Her enthusiasm for learning was infectious and it brought a huge smile to my face.
How’s your enthusiasm for learning more about photography? Do you have the passion and commitment it takes to become great?
|
|