I call them the “No it Alls”.

Never mind that most of the pictures they’ve ever taken have been blurry or have their fingers in the frame. Never mind that they don’t even own a camera. They’ve read magazines, they’ve surfed the ‘net (ad nauseum), they’ve SEEN pictures, goldarnit, and they KNOW photography.

Why, they know that the Zicor-Hexatakumar is the finest lens ever. They know it’s as sharp as they’ll ever get optics and it has a fine Bokay (Bokay? Why would you want a lens that is like a bunch of flowers?)!

Why…your puny little SIGMA-TOKINA-TAMRON whatever will never take a good picture, they have it on good authority (I AM the Au-tho-ri-ty!!) by the grumpiest reviewers on the internet that no lens that doesn’t force you to sell your house is any good!

If the reviewer is grumpy, he has to be good, because grumpy self-righteousness is the sign of a good reviewer…nothing pleases him or her. (especially if they live in San Diego…but I’ll save that for another time).

DON’T listen to them, they’re just scared little gnomes trying to protect their ever shrinking domains. The dawn of a new era is here and it’s called digital-photography.

They’ll tell you you have to have THIS lens, and THIS body and of course THIS tripod and THIS camera bag or you’ll never take a good picture.

All you hear from them is “NO, no, no” No that lens won’t work. No that tripod won’t work. No.

These same people will proclaim “the resolution race is over…you don’t need any more than (4,5,6, 8, or 10)-megapixels!” “I have that on good authority!” Of course, these are the same people who proclaimed, a short while ago, you don’t need a hard-drive bigger than 20-megabytes, or you absolutely don’t need a computer faster than 133 mHz.

Just because that’s where their vision ends, doesn’t mean it’s true.

Assuming a positive , good progression of image-quality (not noisier images and stuff like that), like the improvements in film from the “old days” (remember the graininess of Tri-X, Ektachrome, or any of the original high-speed films?), improvements in resolution and noise-reduction will be a great thing.

Do you NEED more tha X-Megapixels? Well, maybe you don’t, but when someone can take a picture of a forest with an APS-sized sensor, and make out the birds in the bird’s nest of a single-tree in that picture, they’ll be happy with the increase in detail that increase in resolution brings.

In reality what you have to have (besides a camera) is the DESIRE to take a good picture. Digital photography can fuel that desire like never before in history! Read as much as you can, share as much as you can, but, most importantly SHOOT as much as you can.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a Ziess DistagonSummimicron, get out there and shoot (John). You’ll learn more from your bad shots (why did this happen, why is it over/under exposed….why is it blurry?) than you will from your good shots (O.K.,… came out good….on to the next shot). The more bad-shots you take, the more introspection and learning will happen, and pretty soon, the introspection will shrink to a minimum, and you’re flying.

You don’t even have to show your bad stuff to anybody (not even Kodak) because you can do all of this in the privacy of your own home…but you’ll learn faster if you share (both good and, more importantly, bad) with people who share your passion for photography (as opposed to equipment).

Have you seen a lot of the photo-contests lately? Notice anything about the equipment they’re using? Lots and lots of top place finishers are using consumer level cameras, even point-and-shoots, to win these contests.

This alone should tell you something. Unlike the No-it-alls theory that only a good camera can produce a good photo, the reality is, only a good PHOTOGRAPHER can produce a good photo.

Get out there a shoot.

By-the-by, today’s bee pictures were taken with my Nikon D200, 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor lens because that’s what I happen to own. Rest assured, however, that I’d still be in my backyard shooting the birds and the bees with my old Pentax H3 and Vivitar lens if that was what I had.

The phrase “light-painting” or “painting-with-light” is much bantered about as the basis for the term “Photography”.

But, what about the dark?…
Sometimes, when I’m taking photos in my studio, I want to have total control of the light.

This means, NO extraneous light coming in from the North-facing window in the studio.

Well, looking online for room-darkening blinds and shades reveals a lot of options. What with the popularity of home-theaters right now, you have a big selection of shades, including motorized gizmos that you can control right at your fingertips!

Obviously, the more complex the shade, the more it’ll cost you to buy and install. Prices start (for the most basic “pull-shade” types) at about $75 for my 45″ x 45″ window and go up (considerably) from there.

So, what’s a person to do?

Many of these solutions seemed like overkill with wiring, channels and tracks to install and align (the better to seal every last bit of stray light), overkill, at least, for what I needed.

I simply needed a way to quickly block the incoming light from my window so I can control all the light in the room (including intensity, direction and color-temp).

My only other option was to only shoot after the sun set, limiting my shooting time.

Well, Elmer the Cow to the rescue!

I went to Joann’s fabrics and found the Elmers Display Board (remember the ones from your Science-projects?).

Singly, at 36 high x 48″ wide it wasn’t an exact fit for my window, so I bought 2 and taped the second one to the bottom of the first, making sure to align the scores where the cardbord is meant to fold.

Then it was merely a matter of trimming it to fit (a slight interference fit) on the inside of my window pane and “Voila!” as the Russians say, no more light!

I bought the corrugated version (they also make a foam-core one) and at about $3.50 each, it was a cost effective (if not “sexy”) solution.

It’s thin (which is why I passed on the foam-core version), lightweight (interference is enough to block the light and keep it in place) and folds nicely for storage when I’m done.

I also bought it in dark-blue (they didn’t have the balck ones in stock) to keep reflected light down, which could be an issue with a lighter color or white.

Now I can shoot all day like it’s night and no one (except you) will be the wiser.

Unfortunately, we can’t all be like Bob Krist, the famous National Geographic photographer who’s done some great travel-videos for Nikon.

You should check them out (click here). He also writes a column for Outdoor Photographer which I greatly enjoy.

The reality is, if it’s a “normal” vacation (not a “photographic-expedition”), you don’t have the time or the money to camp out a day or two for each picture, waiting for your ship to come in, or the sun to be just right, or that cute little kid to move just a few more centimeters over so you can get the perfect composition.

Making sure you have the right equipment to capture the scenes you want to can be a challenge. You want to be able to capture everything, from dawn to dusk, and at focal-lengths from 8mm to 1000mmm, and also be able to carry it on the plane and at your destination.

Another challenge is the fact that you can’t always optimize the exact time you visit someplace or you’re not traveling alone, and they’re not photographers, burdening their trip by slowing them down each time you take a picture.

This is where digital excels and the more innovation there is, the easier it is to get some good shots to bring back home.

I usually shoot with the intention of making a quick-moving slideshow using Apple Final Cut Express, so I shoot a lot of pictures.

On our last 2 vacations, to Canada and Japan, I shot around 7500 pictures at each location.

This may sound like a lot, but many of these were brackets and framing changes to try and get as good a shot in as little time as possible, plus I shoot a lot of little “detail shots” to give a better feel of the locale.

These can be very quick-edits in the slideshow, and help make the viewer feel more like they’re there with you.

My last “film” vacation to France, I took 82-rolls of Kodak MAX with me (and, yes, the customs people were nice enough to hand-check it all for me).

On our last 2 “flying” vacations (as opposed to our last “road-trip”), I took my Nikon D70, my Sigma 18-125 zoom lens, my Velbon tripod, and my Nikon 70-200 VR zoom lens, many SanDisk and Lexar Compact-flash cards, my SmartDisk portable hard-drive, some Kenko extension-rings (for Macro) and a Kenko tele-extender. All stuffed into a Tamrac Expedition 5 backpack.

The majority of my shots were with the Sigma 18-125 lens.

This is a nice little lens, with some distortion (mainly barrel, but also some sine-distortion which can be a little harder to fix in Photoshop).

It also has some vignetting (BadDog says his doesn’t vignette, I have a suspicion it’s because of the Canon’s 1.6x crop-factor Vs. Nikon’s 1.5x), and, on my Nikon, tends to go a little “green”, color-temperature wise. These are both easily fixed in Photoshop.

My new travel set-up (and also my wife’s), will be my Nikon D200 with a Nikon 18-200mm VR lens, some Hoya 72mm Close-up filters (for macro) and some Grad ND filters, and, maybe, my Velbon tripod, along with some SanDisk and Lexar 4gb compact-flash cards.

Now all stuffed in a Tamrac Expedition 3 backpack (including all the ac adapters needed).

This is great, one lens that will do almost everything I need, and allow me to do more because it has the Vibration Reduction (VR) to enable me more shooting latitude. Now, my 70-200VR Nikon lens is a lot sharper at 200mm than the 18-200 VR, but the 18-200 is so good, that for the majority of my vacation-shooting (rushed and handheld), it is perfect.

Now, lest you think this is an “ad” for Nikon (it’s not, I pay for everything I own, usually from B&H, SAMYs, Calumet, Silvio’s, Adorama, Abe’s of Maine, ProPhoto Connection, KEH, or Tuttle’s Cameras), I’ll give you some tips on how I shoot.

Now, like I said earlier, I’m usually traveling with at least my wife, and, quite often, other people. I try and do my best to not slow us down as we try and get in as much of the culture and scenery our vacation time allows.

This doesn’t mean that “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium” type of rushing, seeing a city a day, but we also probably won’t spend a full day at one museum or Cathedral.

I’ll make sure, the night before, that all my files are downloaded onto my SmartDisk and all my batteries are charged (I usually carry 3, which will take me a long day’s journey into night), and my lenses are clean, as well as my filters. If I have to (such as our Japan trip), I’ll bring an American-standard power strip, fitted with a plug adaptor, to make sure I have plenty of outlets for all the chargers.

I pack my waist-bag (or sling-bag) and make sure it has all my memory-cards, spare batteries, filters, and lens cloth. I only use my backpack for getting the equipment to the location, and then I try and lighten the burden during our stay.

I also pack a spare memory-card holder to put my cards in once they’re filled with pictures.

I feel the best way to explore a location (and meet the locals)
is to travel as much as possible by foot.

Having said that, usually the first day of an extended stay, we’ll take a tour-bus so we can see what’s out there and where it’s at, then we pick what we’d like to explore more fully and walk (or take the Metro) on subsequent days.

I have a neck-strap for my cameras (made by Tamrac), but I usually snap it off and use a handstrap (also by Tamrac, but I just got a new one by Matin from Epicsoftware.com, so I’m anxious to try it out (go to the right Bestsellers column and click on Leather handgrip).

The handstrap allows me to keep my “trigger finger” ready, and allows me to get my camera into position much faster when a photo-op arrives. (Ask me about the time when I was holding my D70 by the handstrap out the window of a moving double-decker bus…).

I usually have my camera pre-set to either Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, or Program, depending on the lighting and circumstances of the environment where we’re at. I usually use a fairly high ISO (200-300) so I can have a faster shutter-speed to capture those fleeting moments.

Since the majority of my photos are taken “on the run” or “at speed” (30-80 mph), I also use the center-weighted, or spot-metering functions of the camera.

This helps to ensure the subject of interest in my picture is at least properly exposed. Many times, when you’re on vacation, you’re out in the bright sun of high-noon, and since you might not get a chance to grab this shot again, this helps to keep from under- or over-exposing your subject.

Another good thing to do in harsh noonday sun is to close-in on your subjects, so the lighting is much less contrasty.

Leave out the sky or the sand (if you can), and the saturation should be improved. Shade and shadows can also help to tame the light.

I don’t use flash much when I travel, preferring to keep more of a candid approach to my pictures and trying to travel light. Flash can also help to balance out the light and shadows, but it also calls attention to you, which can make people react differently.

A high shutter-speed will help as you whip up your camera and quickly compose your shot. It will help make the shot sharper and help you capture the little kid on his skateboard as he zooms on by.

Some of the photographs I like best are taken at night. Now with a selectable ISO, good noise-reduction, and Vibration-reduction (VR or IS) lenses, there’s no reason to stop shooting after dark.

If you can brace your camera on a tripod or a wall, and use a remote-control (or the camera’s self-timer), you can get some great shots at night.

I try and keep my ISO at around 800 or less, but I’ve had some great results at ISOs up to 1600 from my D70. I think the D70 is a little less noisier than my D200 (I’d guess from the lower pixel count), but they’ve both given me great results at night, handheld, with high ISOs.

Probably the best piece of equipment you can take with you on your vacation, and something not everybody has, are a set of “Observant Eyes”.

I’ve been on vacation with people, that, when we return and they look at my shots, they say “Where’d you see that?” even though they were standing right next to me when I took it!

Look all around, at the people, the buildings, the signs…everything, because you never know where a good shot might be hiding.

Head on a swivel. Anticipate moments, take it all in, have your camera ready, and snap away.
So, get out there, take a great vacation, and get some great shots.

Then you can enjoy the best part of going abroad…coming back home.

I decided it was time to sell-off some of my lesser used photo equipment. After the arrival of my D70 (and later D70s), I’d hardly used my Sony F828 or my beloved (but heavy) D1x. Throw in a few accessory lenses and a flash or two, and voila! enough to buy that coveted Nikon D200 camera.

This was the first time I’d ever sold anything over the internet, so I had some research to do.

I checked out E-Bay and forums from people discussing Ebay. It all seemed pretty complex with the fees and rules regarding sales. They seem to do a fairly good job to protect buyers and sellers (millions of which perform transactions every day), but I was still hesitant to jump in with both feet.

Then my buddy John , who’s an Ebay affictionado, graciously offered to help me out. I decided to test the waters with some of my less-expensive itemes (a flash for one) and see how I liked the results.

I popped open my Photek Lighthouse which is a great way to get evenly lit, small product photos. I popped in my Nikon SB-28dx flash and lit it from 2-sides with my NikonSB-800s (I could have just as easily lit it with 2 decent desk-lamps for that matter, the Photek does a great job of diffusing the light).

I wanted to have decent photographs of my selling-items, showing as many sides of the product as possible to show prospective buyers what the item really looked like and to help me (the Seller) in case there was a later dispute on the item’s condition from the buyer. This also helps in case there’s a dispute with the shipping company.

I also take pictures of any Serial Numbers on the item and just save those for my records and don’t give them to anybody else.

John posted the pictures on Ebay and we described the product and set reserve-prices (an optional price that allows the seller to know in advance what the item will bring at a minimum provided someone’s willing to buy it at that price), and away we went.

After a few e-mail exchanges answering questions from interested buyers,the items sold fairly quickly and I was off to the UPS store to get the items to the sellers as quickly as possible.

Before I pack the items, I’ll usually display on my computer screen the confirmation e-mail you get on the sale of the item. Then I’ll take a few last pictures of the item in front of the displayed e-mail (showing buyer’s info and the date). This might help later to prove that the items were as-stated on the date of sale (you don’t get the e-mail prior to that so it’d be difficult to stage a fraudulent set-up) or if you have a dispute with the buyer or the shipper (with the shipping date on, or very-near the “sold” date.

After shipment and a waiting-period (to protect the buyers), you get your money and you’re good to go!

After that experience (and a lot of help from John), I decided to try things out for myself. Having gone through the Ebay experience, I started asking around for other, non-Ebay, sales outlets.

<>I sent Item descriptions to a few camera-store web-sites that would give me online quotes for my used photo-gear. I checked out their asking prices for similar gear and decided to give it a go. Usually in situations like this (or for “collectables” as well), you get about 50% of their re-sale prices. This seems low, but sometimes it’s not too bad considering what you can sell the item for privately, minus the hassle of getting it sold.

Well to say I was shocked when the e-mails came back with the offered-prices would be an understatement. They offered (at best) 25% of the items current used-market value, which, even considering their risk (little to none it would seem to be), was far too low for me to even think about it. I’d rather consign my D1x to paperweight duties than sell it for the amount offered. Luckily for me, I wasn’t desperate for funds.

I also went to a few local camera chains that sold used equipment (for outrageously high prices…wonder if anybody buys any of their used stuff?….) and, even though their selling-prices were high, they too offered little or nothing for my used stuff (in better shape than a lot of the used stuff they were peddling).

So, with advice from my Son, I checked out Amazon’s Marketplace. My son had sold some of his stuff here (books and electronics) and had been very happy with the outcome.

I signed up for the Marketplace and started listing my items for sale. They were very good about showing you competitive pricing and explaining fully how much money you (the Seller) would end up with after the transaction. It wasn’t like eBay’s nickle-and-dime you to death routine, but they spelled it out. Like, if you sell this for $1,200, Amazon get’s $60 and you get $1,140 dollars. Amazon even kicks in a “shipping allowance” which I found covers about half of a 3-day UPS shipping bill.

One caveat is that they have to sell (or have sold) the item on their site, as they list the item by it’s product number and only have numbers for stuff they’ve sold (so no Barbies from the ’50s for example).

They also illustrate your item (like my D1x) with the manufacturer’s standard product-shot, so you have to be pretty specific when you describe the item for sale. Like the Disclosure-law for housing, you want to do everybody a favor (including yourself) by describing the product (and any features or flaws) accurately.

Again, the buyers can (through Amazon) contact the seller for actual descriptions or photos of the actual item for sale, or with any other questions they might have.

I liked this. A very consise, direct way of selling my stuff and knowing what the net profit would be right up-front. Amazon does a great job protecting both buyer and seller and provides a great storefront (and huge audience) for your product.

After your first (or first couple) of sales, they hold your funds for about 30-days. This is to protect the buyer and give them some track-time with you as a seller, After you’ve sold with them (and gotten a decent approval-rating) they no longer hold your funds.

All in all, I was very happy with the results of the Amazon Marketplace experience, and as a Buyer and a Seller, have been satisfied with the way Amazon protects both sides of the transaction.

In our next installment, evil-people and a few things to watch out for when selling…

Many people wonder why their camera isn’t delivering the tack-sharp focusing they’re expecting to see. This extensive article by Leon Goodman (he uses a Nikon D70 and hails from Idaho) explains why that might be and has tools and techniques to help you determine and possibly fix any issues you might have.

Check out his article here and check out Leon’s homepage and gallery as well.

Thanks, Leon, you’re awesome!

Nikon Masters Series Videos-Good videos put on by some of the best in the business. The likes of Bob Krist and others show you how to take better pictures with your gear. Good for both Nikon and Non-Nikon owners.
the Photographers-National Geographic- A great dvd showing what it is like to work for the National Geographic

Ansel Adams – PBS – A great portrait of a great photographer. Directed by Ric Burns.

The Sand Pebbles-”Hello engine…I’m Jake Holman.”…Not a photography video (except for the awesome cinematography), but perhaps one of the greatest movies ever made. Steve McQueen’s performance as Jake Holman is awesome, and a stellar cast make this movie outstanding. If you get the chance, watch it, if for no other reason than to see Steve mcQueen go beyond Bullett. A great movie. “Main Stem stop wow.”….
Shooting War – Dreamworks- The story of the Combat Photographers in WWII, narrated by Tom Hanks. Directed by Richard Schickel and Produced by Steven Spielburg-Awesome.

War Photographer – First Run- A film about James Nachtway and what it takes him to be a Combat Photographer -A Film by Christian Frei- Incredible.

W.Eugene Smith-Photography Made Difficult-American Masters- An uncommon film about an uncommon man & an extraordinary photographer, a very engaging story.

Through the Lens-National Geographic-Not as seamless as “The Photographers” but still a good dvd about extreme-photographers , some of whom didn’t live to the end of production.

The Adventure of Photography-Kultur-A good 4-hour DVD taking you through the history of photography, from the first daguerrotypes through contemporary photography (made in 1998). An enjoyable trip through history.
The Speed of Light-Nikon-If you have any interest in the Nikon i-TTL system, Joe McNally does a great job explaining the system and showing how good it is.
Rear Window-Alfred Hitchcock-A classic movie about photography, voyeurism, and trouble. A great movie starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly.