Finally! After 15 years, I saw the incredible WAVE in person. For those of you not familiar with this surreal landscape, the WAVE is the famous geological feature of Coyote Buttes in northern Arizona.

In this wilderness near Page, AZ there is no designated trail or even signage along the 6 mile (round trip) hiking trail. Permits must be secured in advance, and are quite difficult to obtain! During the busy season over 300 people compete for the 10 permits granted daily. But by luck, we drew permits this past July and hiked with our friends from Tucson.

Hikers follow written instructions about landmarks (such as the dark notch in the rock above) and pictures that are provided with the permits in the mail. The trail is difficult in some areas as it traverses over ridged, slanted sandstone and sandy hillsides. Stacked rocks steer you the right direction in the especially tricky areas.

Multi-colored sandstone ribbons range from maroon, orange, pink, red, and white to yellow. The ribbons of color called Liesegang bands contain oxidizing minerals. Once upon a time, back in the Jurassic period, these were sand dunes. And dinosaurs roamed the region. (We searched but never found any of the three-footed prints that are reported to be here.) The bizarre formations were created over time due to major wind erosion. Then the  minerals became compacted, and the dunes were uplifted by the Colorado Plateau.

Great place for a picnic…

David hiking through the WAVE…

Is this place cool, or WHAT?!

We spent about 6 hours total hiking and exploring…it was 103 degrees, yet we never broke a sweat due to the dry heat in AZ. But sure guzzled the water we brought (2 liters minimum per person) before we finished the hike. Got caught in one short-lived rainstorm with lightning, but hid under an overhang. One thing about sandstone…in 20 minutes it dries out, so the slippery slopes are no longer impossible to walk on. All in all, it was my favorite day of the 9 days we spent in the beautiful American Southwest (mainly Utah’s Zion National Park). If you get a chance, GO!!

A woman, in her distinctive native attire, watches a local fisherman pole his cayuco through the shallow waters in this tropical paradise of 365 palm-fringed islands. Where in the world is it? Be the first to correctly guess the name of this specific place and location of this photo to be entered into a drawing for a $500 credit toward one of our future photo tours. Entrants must be 18 years of age. Prize is transferable, but has no cash value and cannot be substituted or redeemed for cash. Drawing will be held on November 15, 2010 from the pool of correct winning entries.

Morocco Kasbah

I really love flash.  For me, it’s what transforms a photograph from something one takes into something one makes.  In otherwords, you command a bit of control over the situation. 

In the image above, the Moroccan sun was well past mid-day as evidenced by the eastwardly marching shadows on the kasbah. 

But though the sun was well past noon, it was still powerful and bright.  There was plenty of light to make an exposure, but the contrast would’ve been very high on Hassan’s face and I would’ve been at the mercy of Mother Nature with regard to my Subject and Background exposure. 

Enter… the flash.  When we add a flash into the equation, we suddenly have a verrrry interesting power.  We can now control the foreground and background exposures independently of Mother Nature’s limitations. 

In a nutshell, here’s how to master indepent control of your foreground and background exposures. 

1. Determine your camera’s maximum sync. speed.  This varies by model, but is usually somewhere between 1/200th to 1/250th of a second. 

The sync. speed is the maximum shutter speed you can shoot at and still make a flash photograph.  

Sync. speed is also the bugaboo that confounds flash use in the brightest time of day.  More on that later. 

2. Put your flash on Manual Control Mode.  This means that YOU will control the power setting on the flash.  When your flash is in Manual mode, you will see power settings of   1/1(full power),   1/2(half power),   1/4,   1/8,   1/16,   1/32,   1/64,   1/128. 

Not all flashes go all the way down to 1/128th power, and some have settings in-between these settings. 

If your flash says it’s in E-TTL or TTL or S-TTL mode, you are not in Manual Mode.  Consult your flash handbook. 

3.  With your flash turned OFF, set your Shutter Speed to the sync. speed (or SLOWER), and adjust the aperture so that the background is exposed the way you want it.  In the photograph above, I have the background exposed about 2/3 of a stop darker than normal. 

It may happen, if the ambient light is too bright, that you are not able to get the background exposure dark enough and still keep your shutter speed at or below the maximum sync. speed.   (This is the bugaboo I mentioned earlier.) 

If this happens, you have three options:
  A. Wait until it becomes a bit darker outside.
  B. Put a neutral density filter on the front of your lens to artificially darken the ambient light.
  C. Lower the ISO setting on your camera.  If you’re at ISO 200, try ISO 100 or possibly even ISO 50. 

4.  Once you have a proper background exposure, turn on your Flash.  Begin with a power setting of 1/4th.  

Take an exposure and see if the flash properly exposed your subject. 

If your subject is still too dark, increase the flash power. 

If your subject is too light, reduce your flash power. 

You have just made a competent flash photograph! 

———————————————————————————————————————————— 

The Flash operates so much faster than the Shutter Speed that changes in the Shutter Speed have little or no effect on the exposure of our foreground subject which is being lit primarily by the flash. 

What does this mean? –  

Once we have our background exposure set and our flash power properly dialed-in… 

we can alter the background exposure simply by changing the Shutter Speed. 

Changes in the Shutter Speed will have very little effect on the exposure of our Subject, since it is being lit primarily by the Flash which doesn’t really care what the Shutter Speed is (as long as it’s at or below the sync. speed). 

In the words of Charles Schultz (through the persona of Linus), “The theological implications alone are staggering.” 

SHUTTER  SPEED  allows us to separate the background exposure from the foreground exposure.  WOW!  That’s exciting.  Bye-Bye Mother Nature, hello Master of Light. 

And, we can alter the Subject exposure simply by changing the power output of our flash unit. 

Okay, let’s put this to use. 

I love to take environmental shots of people with wide angle lenses.  It shows them. . . well, in the environment.  

However, that means we have to expose both the subject and the environment.  

When we depend on Mother Nature, we might have to wait for the right time of day.  But now we know how to use our flash and separate the exposure for the background and foreground.  We can shoot whenever we like. 

In this photo of my friend Scott, I wanted to show some of the rock formations around us during our hike to the Arizona land form popularly know as “The Wave”. 

Here are the steps I took to make the photograph. 

1. I dialed in an exposure for the background that was about 1 stop darker than normal.  I like a darker background to help separate my subject from the background and to make it a bit more dramatic. 

2. I turned on my flash and put it in Manual Mode, starting with a flash output power setting of 1/4.  

     As you can tell, it’s bright out there – noon in Arizona is not a low-light time of day.  In order to
    achieve 1/250th second shutter speed (my Nikon D3′s sync speed), I had to use a tiny aperture of   f/16. 

    Well, a tiny aperture means you’re going to need a lot of flash power to illuminate your subject.  I tried full power
   (1/1).  And still it was not enough.   So I did the only thing I could do. . .  I added another flash. 

    With two flashes, I was able to supply enough power at f/16 to illuminate Scott successfully, and you can tell
    from the image that he was loving every minute of standing there being blasted with flashes of light. 

 In a nut shell, set your camera in manual exposure mode and dial in an exposure for the background so that your shutter speed is at or below the sync. speed. 

Then turn on your flash — start at 1/4th power — and take a test exposure.  Adjust your flash power up or down as needed. 

Adjust Background Exposure with Shutter Speed. 

Adjust Subject Exposure with the Flash Power setting. 

That’s the process.  Down and dirty, but very effective . . . and fun!   

Give it a try.  Soon you’ll be making images you never thought possible.

August 6 is the deadline to register for our upcoming photo tour to Iceland from Aug 27-Sept 6, 2010. What separates this tour from other Iceland photo tours?  For starters, our  Icelandic guide/driver is one of the country’s top nature photographers, so we’ll benefit from his insider knowledge, such as the best places to see the destruction caused by the recent volcano.  Plus, we’ve arranged 2 overnights (in a mountain hut & farmhouse) in remote areas without hotels for early morning and late night access to photograph icebergs in a glacial lagoon and an eerie mineral pool in a moonscape.

We’ll also have an opportunity to photograph local people in their environment: a long-haired Viking man in volcanic terrain & a Nordic girl with an Icelandic pony. (Have you noticed? People always seem to linger over pictures that have people in them! People like to see who lives in a given place. They add interest to landscapes and provide a sense of scale.) And finally, all meals in this expensive country are included in the all-inclusive tour cost. So there are no surprises!

Join us if you love shooting dramatic landscapes! Iceland is a special place…  Curious? See the itinerary here: Iceland tour

Bone Chapel, Evora, Portugal

Amid cobblestone streets and old European buildings that let you know you’re not in the New World, Toto, stands a church that Ripley’s Believe It or Not would’ve loved to have found.

The Bone Chapel ( Capela dos Ossos ) in the Royal Church of St. Francis in Evora, Portugal is unlike any chapel I’ve ever seen.

Here the bones of perhaps 5,000 people decorate the walls.  It’s an unusual display, but ropes and interior lighting make it difficult to find a unique photo in the chapel.

We had been talking in our workshop about light metering – specifically using your spot meter to dial in an exposure and then checking it with your histogram to make sure highlights are preserved.

The focused artificial lighting in the chapel presented an opportunity to illustrate this way of thinking about the light in a composition.  Instead of being disappointed that the highlights were being blown in an otherwise normal exposure, I decided to expose for the highlights and let the darks fall where they may.

In this case, target the bright brow of the brightly lit skull and spot meter on it.  Adjust your exposure so it’s showing about 1.5 to 1.67 stops above middle tone gray ( the zero line on your meter ) and check the histogram to make certain you haven’t blown any highlights.

By doing this, you’re essentially saying that the bright part of the brow is around 1.5 stops brighter than middle tone gray.  And that’s true, it is.  That’s the beauty of spot metering, it forces you to start thinking about how bright your subject is compared to middle tone gray.  Is it brighter?  Darker?

My wife Kim uses the these five as a way of guessing the right tone.  Black  Brown  Gray/Green  Cream  White.

If your subject is Black (and you’re spot metering on it), set the exposure to about  1.67 stops UNDER middle tone gray.

If it’s Brown, set it to about 1 stop UNDER middle tone gray.

If it’s Gray or Green, leave it on the Zero line (neither plus nor minus compensation).

If it’s Cream, ADD about 1 stop.

If it’s White, ADD about 1.67 stops.

Now, substitute the words Brown and Cream with the relative brightness of things we normally think of in those colors.

This method allowed me to focus attention on the brightest area which was my subject, the skull.

I happen to like photos with a dark side to them, and this technique used in the bone chapel seemed to be a perfect application for my tastes.

During our recent workshop with The Oaxaca Wonders ( a group of amateur photographers who collectively hired us to lead a tour and workshop for them in Portugal – a great group btw!) – we saw some really nice takes on a handful of horses in the morning light.

My first instinct is to put the sun off of my left or right shoulder and show some texture on the beast.

Another alternative is to put the horse so it’s backlit by the sun.  One lady, let’s call her, Cindy – (because that’s what we called her, and besides it’s her name ), made a beautiful shot using both techniques combined.

She oriented herself so that the horse’s body was backlit with the misty light of morning while the horse’s face was side lit.

It’s a beautiful image.  Well done Cindy.

Every time I see a horse I think about the joke where a horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Hey fella.  Why the long face.”

I decided to revisit perspective and the old idea of getting close to your subject, then getting closer still.  I’m a fan of cutting off parts of things we can easily imagine.  I like this because… well, I don’t know why I like it, but I do.   Go with a super shallow depth-of-field, add a bit of distortion to the horse’s face with a wide-angle lens at an unusual POV and you have something like this…

We recently traveled through central Morocco, and spent a couple days in the Sahara Desert. Temps in July reached 107 degrees, so plans to overnight in a Berber tent quickly changed to air-conditioned accommodations in a renovated kasbah-turned-hotel. Camels, palm trees and kasbahs in this landscape set this desert apart from others we’d visited elsewhere in Africa. But blowing sand & dunes that turn colors in the changing light seemed very familiar.

Above shot and the one of the kids below: I used an Interfit grid on my off-camera flash to contain the beam and highlight just a small area.

This man approached me in the dunes as I was photographing a sandstorm. No one else was around. And I don’t know how he spotted me in a valley of high dunes. But he planted himself at my feet and began asking me all sorts of questions…oblivious to my camera even when aimed at him.  Note the sand that accumulated on his clothing in a matter of minutes.

Camel rides are an option at all lodges or camps both at sunrise and sunset. I was very glad I chose to go at sunset, as blowing sand really kicks up early in the mornings–making photography nearly impossible! Looking for a unique adventure? Befriend a local Berber family and join their camel caravan to Timbuktu. It’s a 12 day journey…

These Berber kids live in a concrete home on the edge of the Sahara. They were eager to see their picture on the back of my digital camera. The girl aggressively insisted that I photograph her lying and posing in the dunes like a little fashion model, for a fee of course! But I preferred this relaxed shot with her brother. Mom, meanwhile, was busy cleaning up camel poo.

Blowing sand at mid-morning.

Our local guide brought us to visit a Berber father and daughter who live in a goat-haired tent on the edge of the Sahara. The teenage daughter is pouring the typical drink served all over Morocco: mint tea.  (Natural light)

A long, arduous climb…thankfully I went most of the way on the back of the camel (which you can see in the upper left of the photo). The sand felt silky soft on my bare feet in the late afternoon.

A Berber man crosses the Sahara dunes amid blowing sand.

Upper Antelope Canyon, Page, Arizona

Light beams illuminate the narrow slot canyon of Upper Antelope Canyon at midday during summer months. Our Navajo guide stands near the beam he helped illuminate by throwing sand into the light ray. Although it looks serene and etheral, there were hundreds of tourists herded through this space creating a rather chaotic environment. In addition to vying for space, low light conditions make it a challenging spot for photography. A tripod is a must!

Tours are required to enter Upper Antelope Canyon, ranging from 1.5 to 2 hours which doesn’t allow for much lingering. An alternative is to visit Lower Antelope Canyon which is far less crowded, but lacks the magical light beams. A week later we had a chance to visit the Lower Canyon. Here people are free to roam on their own for up to 4 hours with the price of admission. I will post an image soon!

Above image captured July 6th at noon. ISO 200, 35mm, f/11, 4 second exposure.

A couple smooches in front of well known monument that once served as a fortress and launching point for many ships that left to discover new worlds. Where in the world is it? Be the first to correctly guess the name of this specific place and location of this photo to be entered into a drawing for a $500 credit toward one of our future photo tours. Entrants must be 18 years of age. Prize is transferable, but has no cash value and cannot be substituted or redeemed for cash. Drawing will be held on November 15, 2010 from the pool of correct winning entries.

Hauling photography gear anywhere is a pain, but especially to countries that limit you to just one carry-on bag. And they do mean one–no separate computer bag allowed, or even a purse, where you could potentially stash extra flashes or cords. Short of stuffing pockets in a camera vest with whatever lenses fit, what is a person to do? What is the one perfect camera bag that fits the size dimensions, the featherweight restrictions and has the capability to carry your camera gear, lighting equipment and laptop?

Two days ago we returned from a trip where flights into and out of Morocco faced us with this dilemma. We scampered through closets at home where we’ve amassed quite an assortment of camera bags…looking for that perfect travel bag. David ended up carrying his laptop in the outside stretch pocket of a small roller ThinkTank bag. I ended up purchasing another new bag that would accommodate my monster 17″ laptop, ThinkTank’s Airport Acceleration V2.

Measuring 11 x 19 x 15 when fully loaded, it falls within the acceptable 45″ limit for international travel. However, some airlines restrict the width of carry on bags to 9 or 10 inches. The beauty of this bag is that the width reduces from 11″ to 8″ when you take out your computer, which stores in a separate carry-on case inside an exterior pocket of the bag. Empty, the Airport Acceleration weighs 6.5 lbs. Fully loaded, well… it’s heavy. And way over the acceptable limit, especially on domestic European flights that restrict you to 11 lbs!! (But so far, fingers crossed, it’s pretty rare for airlines to weigh passenger carry-on bags. So you just pretend that you’re not shrinking into the floor from the weight, right?)

I really liked the design of this bag, and the roomy interior. I managed to pack 2 camera bodies, 5 lenses (14mm, 17-35mm, 28-70mm, 85mm, 70-200mm), 3 flashes, 3 pocket wizards, a bulky Interfit adapter and 2 light modifiers, assorted cords, memory card cases & a battery charger. Two large clear pockets held card readers, filters, model releases, reflectors and batteries. The exterior pocket easily fit my 17″ laptop inside a separate carrying case plus magazines and travel documents. I’ve never carried so much gear internationally! The downsize was the weight. The backpack felt heavy on my 5’3″ frame. Luckily, David wore it for me through the airports while I wheeled his oh-so-easy to maneuver bag . On the plane it fit into the overhead compartments even without removing the computer (except on small jets), but was too big to squeeze under the seat. For this trip it was the perfect solution.

It’s amazing how many different camera bags are out there. But do beware. Some companies produce great innovative designs but the exterior dimensions of their bags, empty, already exceed the 45″ dimensions making them impossible to take on a plane (despite advertiser claims that their products meet airline carry-on restrictions). Always analyze the dimensions of the bag yourself and know the restrictions of the particular airline you intend to use!! (I flew on Easy Jet for the first time last week and was pleasantly surprised—roomy legroom, great service, spacious overhead compartments and NO weight restriction on your carry-on bag!!)

On extended trips where I’m restricted again to one bag, the Airport Acceleration will certainly come in handy. If I could only figure out a way to add wheels…

What about you, fellow traveler? Encountered any problems flying with camera gear?  I’d love to hear your feedback. What is your perfect bag?