Introduction

There is a technical side to photography which goes hand in hand with the artist side. Vision without the "know-how" to make it happen results in a photo that may not fulfill its' potential. So I've included a bit of information on my equipment and technique. Lenses, tripods and camera are tools that can do great things if used with skill.

Camera Body

I shoot with the Canon 1Ds Mark III. This is a professional camera body built for use and abuse. I choose this camera for several key reasons: 1) enough pixels to allow enlargement beyond 24 x 36 inches; 2) full frame for greater wide-angle shots; 3) strong build for use in all conditions; 4) an RGB histogram allows for accurate exposure in all color channels.

The build is phenomenal but not indestructible. I’ve taken this expensive tool, sealed it in a waterproof backpack and thrown it in the ocean to swim ashore. It’s my traveling companion in the dry desert too. I've had to send it in for a cracked body once after my backpack zipper failed and it fell out onto the concrete. It still worked great, but was not sealed against moisture and dust.

I’ve shot with Canon SLR cameras since I got one for a High School graduation present from my father. My first digital camera was a Canon 20d, which I still use as a backup.

Lenses

---Zoom---

17-40mm/4 L
24-105mm/4 L IS
70-200mm/4 L

---Prime---

20mm/1.8
24mm/3.5 L tilt-shift
35mm/1.4 L *
50mm/1.4 *
90mm/2.8 tilt-shift
100mm/2.8 macro
135mm/2.0 L *
300mm/2.8 L IS *

* Denotes my favorite lenses. It's all too easy to fall prey to the disease of "lens-envy" and want every lens available. There's a trade-off between what I need a lens to do and how big of kit I want to haul around. This is my current lineup of lenses and has served me well for the past 3 years.

Lens Choices

Different lenses have different strengths.

For landscape photography, I primarily shoot with the 17-40mm/4 L and 24mm/3.5 tilt-shift lenses but also find telephoto shots to be strong with the 300mm/2.8 L IS and 70-200mm/4 L.

For people shots, the 135mm/2 L wins hands down. It’s awesome. The 35mm/1.4 L and 300mm/2.8 L IS also get stunning results.

Macro shots are best with the 100mm/2.8 macro or the 90mm/2.8 tilt-shift.

Casual shots at home are best done with the 35mm/1.4 L or 50mm/1.4.

Wildlife shots are fabulous with the 300mm/2.8 L IS. I often add the 1.4x teleconverter. The 2x teleconverter is also helpful, but I lose some sharpness with it so I only use it when shooting very small and distant objects.

Landscape Composition

When shooting landscapes, I use a few incredible tools that make my job much easier: tripod, angle C-finder, timer remote, my legs.

There is no doubt that moving around a landscape and checking different angles can make a world of difference in what you bring home. I try to compose photos to include only a few major subjects and move my camera in a way to allow exclusion of objects that don’t add to my composition. It’s a decision making process. I find that composition is the most personal part of making a photograph. Consequently, I spend considerable time picking my composition elements.

Landscape Focus

Also very helpful is knowing the hyperfocal distance of your lens-camera combination. The hyperfocal distance is a way to determine how much of your landscape will be in focus based on your lens length and aperture. I typically shoot at f/16 to get near-foreground and distant subjects in focus. If I don’t have a foreground subject extremely close to the camera, I may shoot f/8 or f/11 instead.

Landscape Exposure

Proper exposure allows one to see detail in all parts of the picture. This means that there are no extremely white “blown out” or black “without detail” areas in the picture. I frequently and checking my RBG histogram to make sure that I have not lost any detail by overexposing a picture. At the same time, I am checking to see that I am getting enough detail in the shadows.
Lee neutral gradient filters are a useful tool that allows one to slide in filters that will darken a certain part of the picture in order to balance the exposure. I carried these with me whenever I am going out for landscape pictures.

Post Processing

Processing a photo these days requires computers and software rather than darkroom chemicals. This is especially true when shooting in RAW format. RAW allows the most information to be saved in camera and then processed later.

I use Apple's Aperture 2 program for RAW processing which typically involves exposure and white balance correction, contrast and saturation adjustments, and sharpening. There are many tools in Aperture 2 that help me do this. Most of my photos are processed this far and then they are "done".

However, there are special cases where more involved work is needed to recreate the image that I saw when taking a shot. For this, I use Photoshop CS3. It allows more complex adjustments to photos involving curves and LAB color. I do not digitally add or take away things from a landscape. I don't feel good about that and I'm not good enough with Photoshop to make it look realistic anyway.

Miscellaneous Equipment

Manfrotto Neotech 458B Tripod
Markins Q20 ballhead

Lee filter system (including neutral gradient filters)
Timer Remote Controller TC-80N3

Alien Bee 800 W strobe flash with medium octabox

Canon Angle Finder C (allows me to take pictures from ground level without laying on my stomach to see through the viewfinder)

Toyota 4x4 and a full tank of gas