The Importance of Being Prepared As a Professional

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A few weeks ago I was photographing the Slush Cup event in Whistler for a client and the weather forecast was all over the map in the preceding few days. When working in the mountains, if it’s anything but a high pressure system and bluebird weather then I’ll always be prepared for pretty much anything. You can’t book a job and not deliver the goods because the weather was too severe for your equipment, there’s always a photo to be had and a way to get it! The question is often asked, “what makes a professional photographer?” or “what makes a …

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Gear Check: Really Right Stuff Micro Clamp (B2-FABN-Micro)

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This week I stuck my hand in my little support accessory case and pulled out the Really Right Stuff B2-FABN-Micro clamp to show you guys. This tiny little Arca Swiss compatible clamp is another item I carry around for all sort of different uses. As you can see, it has two 1/4″ 20 threaded sockets on the bottom so you can screw it onto things like light stands, pocket tripods and ball heads. It also has two strap lugs on it for attaching a camera strap, and a QD socket in the middle. The QD socket is a kind of …

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Behind the Shot: Snowy Skiing Fisheye

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This is a bit of an older photo, but I posted it on Instagram recently and it got a great response so I thought I’d talk about it in the BTS series because it uses a fisheye lens which is definitely one of the more unique types of lens. Equipment Used For This Shot Canon 8-15 f/4 L Fisheye Canon 1D Mark IV Fisheye Lenses A fisheye is typically a lens that has a field of view in the region of 180 degrees. In full frame 35mm terms this would be a 15mm lens, but note that this is not …

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A Note For 7D Mark II Users and Why I Returned My SmallHD 701 LCD Monitor

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My Canon 7D Mark II is still my favourite second camera to carry around alongside my 5D Mark IV, the pair of them just compliment each other so well. For video recording duties (mostly for Youtube stuff) I use the 7D Mark II, and I recently picked up a SmallHD 701 Lite 7″ LCD monitor in one of B&H’s crazy Deal Zone one day sales. After receiving it though, I stumbled upon an unexpected issue that I thought I should point out, because for me it forced me to return the monitor. When Canon first started enabling video recording in …

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13 Best Accessories for the Fuji X100F

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Continuing my coverage of the Fujifilm X100F, I wanted to detail the accessories that I deemed best to go with this awesome little camera. Vello LH-X100 Lens Hood (+Filter Adapter) The X100F doesn’t come with a lens hood and you have the option of buying the official Fuji one, or the Vello one for one third of the price. I decided to check out the Vello one, and I’m really pleased that I did! It’s essentially identical to the Fuji one, apart from the Vello name stamped on it. I do wish they hadn’t branded it with such large lettering, …

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Behind the Shot: Rookery Rock Removal

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This photo was taken from a zodiak on a recent outing in Nanaimo, BC. I really liked the clouds in the background, the great textures on the rocks and the sea lions barking away on the rocks. As you’ll see from the original image though, there was a distraction that had to be removed in Photoshop, so I thought it would be a good candidate for a BTS post! Equipment Used for This Shot Canon 5D Mark IV Canon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS II Lexar Professional 128GB CF Cards Adobe Lightroom CC Adobe Photoshop CC A boat! Photographing from a …

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My Favourite Wordpress Photo Gallery Plugin Just Added an Awesome New Feature

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If you’re a photographer with a Wordpress website then you need to have a great gallery plugin to give you ultimate control on how you display your images. I use and recommend Envira Gallery because it allows me to make cool sections like this automatically updating Instagram gallery, or even to sync photos to my website from within Lightroom. Recently Envira added another cool feature called Lazy Loading. When a page on your website is opened in someone’s browser, normally the browser loads all the content from the page, even if you haven’t scrolled down to all of it just yet. Lazy …

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Gear Check: My Fujifilm X100F Is Here!

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Fujifilm got so much right with the original X100, launched way back in 2010, that all subsequent versions of the camera still look almost identical at first glance. The X100S and X100T models both sported a 16MP X-Trans sensor, and seemed like relatively small updates over the first version, but Fuji caught my eye when they launched the X100F. The “F” jumps up to a 24MP APS-C sensor, the same one in the much loved X-T2 and X-Pro2. It also features a 91-point AF system and processing speeds that allow it to shoot in RAW at up to 8fps. On top of …

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Elinchrom Finally Updates the Ranger RX Series. Meet the New ELB 1200!!

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Well this has been a very long time coming! Elinchrom’s popular Ranger RX series of battery powered strobes has finally been superseded by an all new product called the ELB 1200. I used to use the Ranger RX packs myself, but eventually I got tired of the weight of that system which was powered by heavy lead-acid batteries. I shifted to the smaller Li-ion ELB 400 packs, but I’ve been patiently waiting to see what Elinchrom came out with as a higher power solution. I believe I’m right in saying that the 1100 w/s Ranger packs have been essentially unchanged …

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Gear Check: FA-HSA Hot Shoe Adapter From Really Right Stuff

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Last month I came across this awesome little accessory that I think many people might find different uses for. It’s called the FA-HSA Hot Shoe Adapter and it’s made by Really Right Stuff, makers of the best camera support gear on the planet in my opinion (just check my gear list!). Note that at the moment, the FA-HSA is not listed amongst all the other RRS gear on the B&H Photo website for some reason. I suspect this is because it’s a relatively new addition to their lineup. You can buy it direct from RRS though, and I’ll make sure to …

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Think Tank Vs. Aquatech Eyepieces

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I recently began using the new Aquatech Sport Shield Rain Covers for some of my camera setups and I’ve been incredibly impressed by them. Just like the Think Tank rain covers, the Aquatech ones require the use of a camera-specific eye piece. When I first wrote this blog post Think Tank were selling their eyepieces for $35 and the Aquatech ones were only $20. Much of the purpose of the post was to inform people that the Aquatech one work with the Think Tank covers, and therefore you can save yourself a bit of money. Well, fast-forward a little bit …

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Behind the Shot: Incredible Elk Antlers in Banff

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Find out how I created this image of these impressive elk antlers in Banff. I’ll reveal the compositional choices that were made before I pressed the shutter, as well as showing you the major edits that were made to the image in post processing.