The End of 2008 and New Years Resolutions for 2009Posted by admin on December 31st, 2008

Chilly DeSoto Sunrise

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/14, 2 sec., 3-stop Singh-Ray Hard-Step ND Grad

As 2008 draws to a close, I have made several changes to my website. First and foremost, I have added a search function that should make looking up specific subjects easier. This can be accessed from http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/search.asp. Another side benefit of this function is that I can keyword tag some photos in various collections and then create an easy access page. For example: http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/keywordsort.asp?Keywordselected=Omaha,Holiday will display all the images I have taken of the Holiday Lights Display in downtown Omaha. Hopefully, this will prove useful for those looking to narrow down choices for print or stock image options.

I have also refined the images on my website. I have removed several photographs from all the collections. They are still accessible through the search page using the “Extended Photo Set” option. Additionally, I have also added several new images and will continue to expand the collections with new images.

As for 2009 I hope to update my blog more frequently. Some times of the year are busier than others, but I try to photograph through every season. I also hope to explore some new terroritory and find some images in some new places. Keep checking back to my website and blog for new images!

Real-World Impressions of the Canon 5d Mark IIPosted by admin on December 29th, 2008

To the Sky

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l+1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400

Today’s post contains several images captured over the weekend at Schramm State Recreation Area in eastern Nebraska. I had recently received my new Canon 5d Mark II camera and wanted to test out some of its new features and performance on some real-world moving subjects. Schramm is the perfect location for some performance testing as there are always some ducks swimming and you can usually get fairly close to your subjects. Here are some of my thoughts on the Canon 5d Mark II as they pertain to my experience with the camera in regards to wildlife photography on three major subjects: autofocus, megapixels, and ISO speeds.

Coming in for a Landing

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

First up I am addressing the autofocus system. There has been a lot of discussion on the web about the fact that the autofocus system is the same from the 3 year old Canon 5d (Mark I) and that an upgrade should have been necessary. Over the years, I have found the autofocus in the Canon 5d acceptable, but not exemplary. For the majority of my landscape, this is a non-issue since I focus manually most of the time. For large critters such as bears and deer, this becomes more of an issue, but I have found the autofocus hits more than it doesn’t. Birds, however, are a different story. I found that the autofocus was lacking slightly more of the time. Most birding and wildilfe photographers would use AI Servo, however, on the Canon 5d I found AI Servo slower than one-shot, although I am sure that this is more a photographer technique issue than a technical issue. As such, I have stuck with one-shot mode, of which was used to capture all of these photographs. The Canon 5d Mark II, like its predecessor sports 6 helper autofocus points for AI Servo which may have helped my cause. I do plan on getting more experience with AI Servo on the Canon 5d Mark II in the future, however.

The second subject I have really noticed the average autofocus speed is on my 18 month old daughter. I have found that the autofocus is just not fast enough to capture her most of the time, although I think even the 1d Mark III (no AI Servo here!) or Nikons 3-d autofocus system would have trouble with that moving subject. Regardless, my experience is that the speed of autofocus with the accuracy is about the same as the Canon 5d, no real improvement there. It would have been nice, but for me, not a deal killer.

The last note I would like to make regarding the autofocus system is the addition of microadjustment of autofocus on a per lens basis. For years photographers have complained about lenses front focusing or back focusing on each new model of camera. Essentially, since both the lens and the camera are machined parts there is an allowance for a variance of some specifications while still considered being “calibrated”. For the most part, this variance is not detected, but for photographers who require precise focus (and shouldn’t we all?) this could cause photos with some lens+camera combinations to be slightly out of focus. The Canon 5d Mark II now addresses this by allowing each lens to be calibrated by the user to the camera. This now allows all those lens+camera combinations that front focus or back focus to focus precisely. I welcome this addition as I have found that my Canon 20d front-focused slightly with my 300 f/4l lens. At first, I thought the lens was fuzzy, or it was a lack of megapixels, but after it focused perfectly on my Canon 5d (and other lens focused find on my 20d) I realized I too was subccumbing to the “front/backfocusing” hell that others had complained/blogged/reviewed/previewed/etc. about.

A Flight with Friends

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/320 sec., ISO 400

The next feature (and the most important one in the marketing department) is the increase in megapixels. The Canon 5d Mark II packs 21 megapixels into a full-frame sensor. This allows for better detail and tighter cropping of the composition. I know when I used to use my Canon 20d with 8 megapixels, I would be hesitant to crop some of my compositions, but now even a liberal crop retains great detail, granted that you are using a high-quality lens. I am quite pleased with the new number of megapixels. The resolution and detail is definitely there and I feel like it is a great upgrade from 12.8 megapixels from the previous generation. A lot of people comment that the megapixel race should end as there are all sorts of adverse effects that start manifesting themselves (such as noise) at higher pixel densities. If 21 was the upper limit on a full-frame sensor, I think I could definitely live with that.

A Quick Stop

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/6.3, 1/320 sec., ISO 640

The third item I am going to address is ISO performance. There has been quite a bit of discussion on the net surrounding the noise levels at higher settings. Since this is more of a real-world look than a technical review (there are lots of sites dedicated to that), I am going to simply discuss what I have seen. The ISO levels seem better than the Canon 5d by somewhere from about 1 to a little less than 2 stops. This means that greater detail and less noise is available at higher ISOs. On my Canon 5d I never had any problem dialing the ISO up to about 800 for some shots. 1600 was about my absolute maximum for retaining detail. Beyond that I found that I had to use noise programs fairly liberally. All the wildlife photographs on this blog post were shot using a minimum of ISO 400 up to 640. This allowed me to achieve shutter speeds that would stop the action, but allow a little blur to show the movement of the birds. At these speeds there is virtually no noise.

Quiet Day

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM, f/5.6, 1/50 sec., ISO 6400

To follow up with a little more testing in a (little) more controlled environment, I decided to purposely photograph my stationary cats at ISO 6400. I found the noise was well-controlled and definitely an welcome improvement. Another nice feature is that the ISOs are set at third (or half depending on your preferences) stops up to 6400. That means that I have good selection of ISO speeds between 1600 and 6400 to use without changing a full stop. On the Canon 5d, after 1600 the only choice was a full stop up to 3200. Beyond 6400 on the Canon 5d Mark II, the noise makes the image degrade to a point where I would find it unusable for a print, unless I was applying liberal use of filters and noise control. Even then I question it’s real-world application for my primary work. In a pinch, though it is useful to capture the shot in conditions that I would have been unable to get it before, although it may just frustrate me in post-processing.

Reflection on Libby

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM, f/2.5, 1/60 sec., ISO 6400

Overall, I find the Canon 5d Mark II to be a worthy successor to the Canon 5d. It doesn’t have everything I wanted (I would like DEP mode back, but that’s just me I think), but it has enough to warrant an upgrade. There are always function and features to be added and on future posts I may comment on a few of those. Check back to see what new feature I might dig up.

One last note, I processed all these photographs from RAW using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and the free DNG converter found here. Adobe conveniently ended RAW support for CS3 right before the Canon 5d Mark II was released (and well after it was announced). Some couldn’t even get a copy of CS4 prior to receiving their camera! While I agree with drawing a line in the sand for support, most companies, including ones like Microsoft offer support for the current version and one previous. I find that ending support as a way of forcing upgrade when the product (CS4) isn’t even released a bit much. For those who cannot afford the upgrade there are several support sites dedicated to the DNG converter (such as scripting and processing) and I recommend that you look into those.

Downtown Omaha – Holiday Lights 2008Posted by admin on December 22nd, 2008

Every year I go downtown to photograph Omaha’s holiday lights. I attempt to take a unique image each year so that I am not duplicating previous years efforts. This year I tried to focus more on the trees and the lights and made the buildings secondary in scope to the rest. In past years compositions I had the buildings as the primary subjects with the lights there to accompany them in the scene. By the way, this was the coldest night in several years. Before going out, I bundled up in gear I bought for a Canada trip and in many layers. Fleece pants, underarmor, gortex, 2 sets of socks, 2 sets of gloves and a heavy winter coat. My feet and hands were still numb when I was done.

Unordinary WorldPosted by admin on July 29th, 2008

This summer Nebraska has had some spectacular boomers. This was an image I actually captured in early June as one rolled through. I drove up to Herman, Nebraska in order to capture what I though was the most intense part of the storm (from a distance) only to find out that it had been pretty intense in Omaha. This image was taken after the “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” photograph previously. I will post one more photo from this evening.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 19mm, f/13, 4 sec., 2-stop hard ND Grad
Near Herman, Nebraska

To view other photographs, order this photograph as a print, or purchase licensing rights, please visit my website at http://www.journeyoflight.com/.

Tye and BrendaPosted by admin on April 14th, 2008

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to photograph Tye and Brenda for their engagement photographs. We went to the arboretum and used several of the areas for backdrops, and I kept a shallow depth of field to focus on Tye and Brenda. In the above photograph these bushes were just starting to bloom and the yellow created a nice bright background, but not too bright to eclipse the cute couple. In the photograph below, I tilted the camera a bit to add something to the photograph, converted it to black and white and did a little platinum tinting for the final touch.

Technical Details:
Above: Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/4.5, 1/160 sec.
Below: Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l @ 98mm, f/4, 1/400 sec.

Double TroublePosted by admin on March 31st, 2008

During the 50th anniversary celebration at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, I had the opportunity to dine with the manager of Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Northwestern Missouri. It is a place I have passed perhaps 40 times and never stopped on trips to Kansas City from Omaha. I knew that I would be making the trip again in just a couple of weeks and I decided that I should stop this time, and ended up stopping on both directions of the journey.

During my time on the refuge I saw multiple types of ducks, a bald eagle, a small army of muskrats, Sandhill Cranes, and these Double-Crested Cormoran. Now, I do not normally go out of my way to photograph birds. Yes, I like birds, as I like all things nature, and yes, I like to photograph them, but my general photography setup is currently not such that allows for good bird photography.

What I mean by this, is that besides the general deep-seated desire to photograph, and the will to execute, you need some pretty powerful equipment. Now, I have a 300 f/4l lens, which has been excellent, excellent, excellent for me for larger animals such as bears, elk, deer, etc., but when it comes down to birds, not so great. With that 300 f/4l lens, I can add (and usually do) a 1.4x canon teleconverter (or extender) which makes it a pretty darn good 420 f/5.6 lens. This still, is not enough. In order to get the shot above, I coupled a tamron 2x extender to the 300 + 1.4 combination to get 840 f/11. Add that to my Canon 20d to get the extra 1.6 crop factor and you now have 1344mm of reach. Not to stop there, I also had to crop the image to a little less than a 7 megapixel photo from an 8 megapixel sensor.

Ultimately, why wouldn’t I do that everyday? At f/11. I’ve lost quite a bit of light and consequently I must use a significantly slower shutter speed. Since the Canon 20d does not autofocus with anything less than f/5.6, I must now rely on manually focusing. In my pentax k-1000 days, this was common for me, but as I reviewed the shots from the refuge, I realize that I am not that great at it anymore, and I definitely think that my diopter setting is off. Additionally, and most importantly all this glass ends up degrading the sharpness and contrast of the image.

So why bother at all? Simple, for me it’s better to attempt the shot and perhaps get a single good one, than to try at all. I think that my shot above is acceptable, not award-winning, but I believe it to still be a fairly decent shot.

As for the refuge, I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 stops at Squaw Creek and I hope to return again soon. The wildlife, though at the tail end of the spring migration, was outstanding and fun to photograph. I can only imagine how it would be during the height of one of the migrations.

Technical Details:
Canon 20d, 300 f/4l +1.4tc + 2.0tc, 1/640 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge

To view other photographs, order this photograph as a print, or purchase licensing rights, please visit my website at http://www.journeyoflight.com/.