MooseNewsBlog

Once the glass is cleaned, ya gotta do the camera body and CCD. Here’s my approach. Follow these instructions at your own risk. One other thing that I forgot to mention in the video, after you get done cleaning the exterior of your camera body, be sure to check all your settings. For example, I typically hit the metering lever on the prism and change it out of Matrix so I always check it after cleaning. (this is a 105MB Flv video)

You can find VisibleDust products here and LensClens here. You can also get VisibleDust products at Adorama, just drop Jeff Snyder an email. Tellem Moose sent ya, they will take really good care of you.

So we’re back from Yellowstone, FedEx has delivered the rest of our gear, it’s time to get it all cleaned and readied for its next outing. As I started the task, it occurred to me to produce a video of the process with the thought that something I do might help you in your gear care. This first video, Pt1, covers cleaning lenses. What you’ll see is how I deal with cleaning my lenses.  While I’ve never had any issues with these techniques that I’ve been taught, you use them at your own risk. Be forwarned, it’s a 110Mb FLV video.

Just what WRP workshops have openings? A common question, one that personally I can’t keep up on. Since getting back in the office, we’ve been flooded with this question so I thought I would post the current score card.

• 05 Feb You Can Do It Too – 1 opening
• 16 Feb FL Base Camp – 1 opening
• 08 March HI DLWS – FULL
• 16 April You Can Do It Too – 2 openings
• 23 April Adorama presentation – no clue
• 03 May Outer Banks DLWS – FULL
• 18 May SD Base Camp – 2 openings
• 20 Sept ME DLWS – 2 openings
• 18 Oct MI DLWS – 4 openings
• 15 Nov NY DLWS – FULL
• Jan 2010 Yellowstone Adv – FULL

We will be announcing two fall Base Camps shortly and will have our dates for our 2010 Jan DLWS San Francisco dates posted soon as well. This will be a special DLWS where we’ll spend a day doing a “landscape” model shoot on the bay. If you’re interested in any of these, give the office a call 760.924.8632 (9-5PST). We do have waiting lists for full events and with life being what it is, folks do cancel. And somehow, Sharon squeezes in Private Tutoring so our eductional offereings just keep on giving. This is all linked just to the right here  under Moose Appearances if you need more info.

A year ago to create my first videos, I taught myself Adobe Premiere over xmas. Why Premiere, I’m on the Windows side and that’s the only program that would import my videos at that time. For 7 months I created none of my own videos (but was involved in the Kelby Training videos like my new one on Yellowstone Big Game). Then came this past fall and the Moose Cam, video production came back into the forefront at WRP. I needed to learn a whole lot more than just dropping a video clip into a timeline (and still need to learn more). It’s a whole new workflow that as I’ve mentioned, kicks my butt. I now have the Dell 6400 which makes that end of production so much easier (and bloody fast). I also have this incredible resource that’s available to all of you, Layers Magazine. RC & Corey are great teachers with a huge wealth of information! Everything from After Effects to Dreamweaver to Photoshop (yeah, you do video in Photoshop Extended).

I’ve had many an email asking for video lessons on the blog. I appreciate the compliment but I am NOwhere qualied or knowledgeable enough to take that on. I call RC nearly every evening from all over the planet seeking his help. I recommend you do the samething by heading to Layers, Layers TV, Layers Magazine or RC’s & Corey’s Kelby Training online classes (where I am right now actually) to learn from the experts.

You’re standing in Tampa Bay, the warm spring air makes it wading very enjoyable. The light is just getting right, the birds are starting to comeback to their night roost….life is good!

You have your tripod set up in the water, though you slowly sink in the mud and have to change your footing every so often, the 600mm is on a stable platform.

Then the Roseatte Spoonbills start to fly in. In these conditions, in any conditions, how do you get a tack sharp image of a moving subject. There is only one answer, Panning!

The three images above are from a single sequence taken in Tampa Bay last spring. The scenario is just as I described above. They are a prime example of what is demoed in the video, perfected panning technique. You can do it too!

Photos captured by D3, 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

I real good question I receive quite often is, “Where do you find this stuff?” Forestry Suppliers is often my reply. They have everything from solar panels to Rite in the Rain pads. If you have a flashlight feddish like I do, you might haunt the New Products to see what’s been recently released. This is a supply outfit for biologists / researches / foresters so some of the items might not be perfect for your camera bag. But some of the tools thet use might be interesting to learn about. Check ‘em out, you might just find that perfect tool you couldn’t find anywhere else.

For three weeks I looked for them, under every shrub, tree and rock and all I found were their tracks.  Their tracks were everywhere you looked,  you couldn’t miss them. This doesn’t include all the time I’ve spent literally in my own backyard all these years, all those hours to find that darn white rabbit. In my backyard it’s the White-tailed Hare, in Yellowstone it’s the Snowshoe Hare, either way, they turn white in the winter and have eluded my lens. They are gorgeous all dressed for winter. I got desperate so at the end of our trip, resorted to checking out our secret spot.

Sure enough, Jake’s sharp eyes found me not one, but two of these elusive bastards! But if you notice, the suckers aren’t white! What is it with me and these darn, cute, sweet, shy turkeys! Heck, this one was barely sitting in snow so you know it’s winter. I’m tellin ya, they have it out for me.

This one was out in the open, if you don’t include the conduit pipe to its left and cable in the foreground. In -8 temps (and a nasty bitter wind), I worked up closer and closer to the hare to use the isolating power of the 600mm to eliminate those manmade items. I got to 16′, MFD, and was finally able to get a couple of clicks off before it moved five more inches so the pipe was now coming out its ass, visually that is. Even though I was skunked, again, I’ll be out again in a day looking for tracks in the fresh snow, with snowshoes under foot, for this sucker.

Photos captured by D3, 14-24AFS / 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Our last day in Yellowstone was not a disappointment! I don’t know what it is about them, but I just can never get enough of sheep. I watched them more than I shoot (though I ended up with 929 images), there is just something special about them. Well, here, see for yourself.

Photo captured by D3, 200VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

This photo of Trumpeter Swans on the Madison River would only have worked using this technique. When technique is in question, this technique will help you get a sharp image.

Photo captured by D3, 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

We had a killer day! We had seen 23 wolves, never got any glass on them but to see 23 wolves on the hills of Yellowstone was simply breathtaking! We weren’t shorted subjects to focus on thank goodness.

Good thing we had Jake and his eyes along, he found these three rams in a unique place just outside Cooke City.

It was snowing pretty good, big flakes coming down which made it a fun photo stop. The three rams had chosen a slope with pretty good snow cover in which to forage. They worked pretty hard to dig down to the brown grasses to forage. When one found a good patch, the other two ran to that spot and helped themselves. It was great fun to watch, even better to photograph.

Photos captured by D3, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

Nikon quietly put out the D3 Pro Technical Guide pdf. It’s kinda of a IB made easy or as some have called it, D3 for Dummies. It does help clarify the AF system and provides ideas on its use as well as exposure. It’s free and might help you make the most of this great machine.

On another note, I’ve been shooting the new D3 firmware since it was posted and I did see better AF performance photographing dark subjects and in lower light levels. I didn’t see any increase in overall AF speed, but being able to use the 1.7e in over cast light with all AF sensors was a treat. I wasn’t able to do that before the firmware update.

Coming in the North Entrance, you only have on option of exploration, that’s the road to Cooke City. So, off we went.

We’d gotten all the way down to the Tower Jct and only seen cow elk, not a real rubber stopper so we made the turn. We’d gone just a heartbeat down the road and came up to these four bison bulls.

What can I say, I’m a real sucker for bison in snow covered with snow. The shooting was real simple with the overcast, snowy conditions. F/8, /125 with no exp comp. Just frame and fire.

The one trick to shooting is the parking. The Lamar Valley Road is a two lane affair with snow on both sides. Hidden by the snow are severe shoulders that if you pull over on them, you are instantly and drastically stuck. This leaves really no option but either stop on an active hwy or don’t stop. It can be quite a conundrum!

Photos captured by D3, 200VR on Lexar UDMA digital film