This week we’re taking a detailed look at how, and why I created this image of a grizzly bear in British Columbia. What technical and compositional choices do you think I made to maximize the result from this quick encounter? Find out…
I’m calling this “Part 1” because I’m sure I will revisit this with some more thoughts on it after extensive use. I was just so impressed by the interesting packaging of it that I thought I’d unbox (unwrap??) it on camera. This is a bag that raised just shy of 5 million dollars on Kickstarter so I’m very interested to see how it works in a variety of shooting and travel situations.
Canon 5D Mark III with Canon 200-400 f/4 A Blood Moon is the name given to a specific type of lunar eclipse where The Moon turns a dramatic orange colour at the point of total eclipse. A so-called Super Moon is a full moon that occurs at the point in The Moon’s orbit where it is closest to The Earth. In 2015, these two events coincided with each other to produce a “Blood Super Moon”, something which won’t happen again until 2033! I’ve previously shared a tutorial I created on how to shoot a lunar eclipse, and I set out again this
I was in Cambodia for a couple weeks on an exploratory photo mission, several days of which were spent touring around with some local guides in a 4×4 so that we could get off the beaten path. It’s one of my most memorable photographic experiences and I’ll never forget how friendly the people are in that country. On our way back from a 4-day excursion up to the Northern border with Thailand, we passed through an incredible thunderstorm and as they so often do in monsoon season, it cleared just in time for the sun to set. As we drove
This image was shot using the very special Canon MP-E 65mm Macro lens which can magnify objects up to 5X size relative to the cameras sensor. It was mounted to a Canon 5D Mark III which in turn was mounted onto a Really Right Stuff B150-B Macro rail , the whole setup was atop a Really Right Stuff BH-40 on my trusty carbon fibre Really Right Stuff TVC-24L tripod legs. Now, I also own the Canon 100mm IS macro but that only goes to 1x magnification which would have shown the whole crystal. I wanted to get in even closer, and
Stranded in Manhattan during the storm of the century, I knew I had to make something unique, no matter how wet I was going to get!
From time to time, geomagnetic storms occur with such strength that fabled northern lights, or aurora, can be seen at much lower latitudes than you might expect. Whilst I live in Canada, I’m not that far north so this is a relatively rare occurrence. Not only do you need to get a solid storm, but it also needs to coincide with a near cloudless night, and also a night with a new moon, or one that has set very early. As with all nighttime photography, your star gazing success will be hampered if you are fighting with the light from
There’s an interesting compositional trick used in this shot, and it’s NOT the “rule of thirds”. Can you tell what it is? Read on to find out why my angle to the bridge really mattered.
The Le Mans 24 Hours is without a doubt, one of the most incredible sporting events in the world. Every summer over a quarter of a million people descend on Circuit De La Sarthe in Le Mans, France, for the greatest motor race on the planet. National Geographic even called it the #1 event on the planet! The cars and drivers battle for a continuous 24 hour period around a race track that is partly made up of local roads, and partly a modernized F1-style facility. From a photographic standpoint the race delivers many challenges because of its length, and
A surprise photo opportunity in Vancouver forced me to think on my feet to try and get an interesting photo with a limited selection of gear.
Motorsports at the Le Mans 24 Hours has come up before in the Behind the Shot series because it presents a great man challenges to any photographer. This time we’re looking at a typical panning shot, where a very slow shutter speed is used, combined with a panning motion of the camera. When you pan with the car and keep it in exactly the same place in the frame, the car stays sharp whilst everything else around it becomes blurred. This is done to create a sense of speed, and the 1/30 of a second shutter speed for this shot
This is a world famous travel destination, but it presents some interesting technical challenges due to low light and the “tripod police”.