Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2015 i Outdoor Photographer

CANON EOS 5DS/5DS R Canon has developed the EOS 5DS and 5DS R models, which offer the highest resolution of any 35mm DSLR, to date. Both the 5DS and 5DS R use a 50.6-megapixel, full-frame CMOS sensor and Dual DIGIC 6 processor, allowing quick 5 fps continuous shooting that captures full, sharp, detailed 50-megapixel resolution, and the 5DS R further maximizes sharpness with a cancelled low-pass filter. The cameras use 61-Point High-Density Reticular AF with 41 cross-type sensors and have a sensitivity of ISO 100-6400 (12,800 extended). The 5DS and 5DS R both have a built-in intervalometer, shoot 1080p full HD video and offer a creative Time Lapse Movie function, which automatically builds a time-lapse video from still images. While the cameras maintain the familiar 5D body, the chassis, baseplate…

This month, we feature Assignments that look not just at the beauty of a location, but that rely on the skills of the photographers to tell a story through shape, form and defining moments for themselves and their subjects. Congratulations to Wendy Gedack, Nico DeBarmore, Erika Skogg and Vincent Bonafede for their winning submissions. To get your photos in the running, all you need to do is submit them to the weekly Assignment on outdoorphotographer.com. 1) Winter Shapes Assignment Winner PHOTOGRAPHER: Wendy Gedack EQUIPMENT: Canon EOS 6D, Canon EF 24-105mm ƒ/4L IS USM, tripod When preparing for this journey, I diligently monitored the weather, trying to predict the ideal morning to experience Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. Originally, I had planned to visit the arch a day earlier,…

Sandy Sisti says the grizzlies are so thick near her home that she prefers to avoid known bear hangouts. But because she may encounter bears anywhere she goes, she does a couple of things to stay safe. “You always carry your bear spray out here,” Sisti says. “Not that that’s going to be the end-all, be-all, but carry bear spray all the time. We’re in grizzly country. This area where I live, it’s so thick with grizzly bears, I don’t hike here. Not that I don’t love grizzly bears; I’ve seen them on a trail from a distance, but I don’t want to trip over a grizzly bear. They’re my favorites, and I love them, but the feeling isn’t mutual. They don’t want to see me. “You can wander upon…

As a nature photographer, too often you’re at the mercy of existing natural light. Wouldn’t it be great if you could carry a small sun with you to direct light where and when you wish? Well, to some extent, you can, with an LED or a flash—a vital, although often ignored, nature photography accessory, particularly for wildlife photography. Flash has multiple uses: It can be used at low power to add an attractive catch-light to a wildlife subject’s eyes; it can provide fill light for a subject in shadow; and it can be used creatively in low light to produce surreal images. It can add punch to subjects in flat light, revealing colors. It can be used to photograph subjects in low light, and to freeze the action of fast-moving…

International Photo Tours | Year-Round | Explore and photograph magical Machu Picchu in Peru, the Day of The Dead celebrations in Oaxaca, the Gray Whale Migration to Baja California, the Mayan World in Guatemala, or Chiapas. Join humanitarian photojournalist Karl Grobl on a journey to experience and photograph Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, or the unspoiled beauty and tranquility of Myanmar. Explore and photograph Vietnam, the beauty of the Philippines, or the amazing spectacle of the Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan, India. Or opt for a trip with Ralph Velasco to the great cities of Central Europe: Prague, Budapest, Krakow and Berlin, as well as Turkey or Romania. For more information, contact: Jim Cline Tours, (877) 350-1314, info@jimcline.com, www.jimcline.com. Silverman’s Photo Workshops | Year-Round | Why attend a Silverman’s Photo Workshop? Recognizing…

If some is good and more is better, then too much should be just right. That certainly has been the trend when it comes to camera resolution. Shortly before this issue went to press, Canon announced a pair of new EOS 5D DSLRs with 50-megapixel sensors. Since the Canon announcement, various rumor sites have been predicting new 50-megapixel cameras on the horizon from several manufacturers. How much is enough? I don’t intend that to come across as curmudgeonly, but as a serious question. About 18 years ago, I met with executives from a camera company who were showing their latest digital camera. It was early in the days of digital, and the camera had a 2-megapixel sensor. At the time, there were some higher pixel counts coming out, and sitting…

When Sandy Sisti first set foot in Yellowstone National Park, it was nothing short of a revelation. The lifelong animal lover and hobbyist photographer felt as if she was finally home. But, in fact, her home was 2,000 miles away. The career pharmaceutical executive surely wasn’t going to leave New York to move to Wyoming, so she did the next best thing: She moved to Montana. “The first time I went to Yellowstone was 1994,” Sisti says, “and, like, all these hearts started popping out of my head. I thought, ‘My God, this is the greatest place in the world.’ I started trying to find a pharmaceutical job near Yellowstone—as if there are a lot of pharmaceutical companies near Yellowstone.” Sisti and her husband found jobs in Montana. It looked…

Part of what makes wildlife photography so alluring is the challenge of learning the behavior and movement of a particular species, exploring the region and climate it calls home, while expanding your photographic skills to capture each animal’s story. Professional wildlife photographers share their tips about the regions and animals in which they specialize. Additional full-length interviews and images are up on www.outdoorphotographer.com. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico Located on 57,331 acres along the Rio Grande in New Mexico, the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is the winter home to as many as 14,000 sandhill cranes, 32,000 snow geese and Ross’s geese, dozens of bald eagles, and many other species of birds. The spectacle of the sunset fly-in and dawn fly-out, in addition to the extensive…

Having taught workshops for many years, I’ve come to find that the biggest problem students have, both novice and experienced alike, is how to meter and set exposure for ambient light. You may rightly ask, does it really matter since my DSLR generally comes up with a good exposure on its own, and I can always fix problems later in Photoshop or Lightroom? While this may be true most of the time, a lack of understanding of metering and exposure control can be a severe handicap to the photographer. By relying totally on the camera’s auto or program modes, not only is creative control hampered, but the chances of getting consistently good images will be pure luck. Getting as close as possible to optimal exposure initially will provide much more…

Wildlife photographers need long lenses because it’s usually difficult to get close enough to wild animals to get good shots (and sometimes dangerous to try to do so). If they want to photograph wildlife in motion, especially birds in flight, they also need excellent AF performance. Today, we have a range of long lenses to suit many budgets. The newer consumer supertelephoto zooms are surprisingly good, allowing one to get a quality lens that goes out to 400mm, 500mm and even 600mm. But the ultimate wildlife lenses are the pro big guns: the 300mm ƒ/2.8, 400mm ƒ/2.8, 500mm ƒ/4, 600mm ƒ/4 and 800mm ƒ/5.6, the 200-400mm ƒ/4 zooms from Canon and Nikon, and Sigma’s 300-800mm ƒ/5.6 zoom. These bulky, costly beasts feature the best optical designs and glass, the best…

Location Grassy Ridge Bald is situated within the Roan-Unaka Mountain Range along the state borders of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. While cabins and organized campground accommodations can be found at Roan Mountain State Park at the base of the mountain along TN-143, backcountry camping is allowed on the balds themselves, making sunrise and sunset more manageable experiences. Weather Due to the high elevations found in the Roan Highlands and the generally treeless slopes of its peaks, extreme weather is frequent and should be respected. Winter snow, ice and extreme wind chills create conditions more characteristic of Northern climates. The cooler temperatures characteristic of the Roan Highlands are a major draw during the Southern summer months; however, fast-moving thunderstorms can sweep the balds and change weather conditions quickly. Extra…

I had been in the northern mountain range of Trinidad for four days already, and I kept hearing about Caroni Swamp and the roosting of the scarlet ibises. I had seen illustrations of the birds on flags, the Trinidad and Tobago coat of arms and promotional materials, but I had never seen a scarlet ibis in person before. Also, I must admit, it wasn’t on my target species list for that assignment. I had flown to Trinidad to see the lekking (the competitive mating display) of the white-bearded manakin and to search for the tropical screech owl, but I just kept hearing about this roosting site so, finally, on day five, I decided to go there. I wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen! First, a few great egrets…

While you can photograph wildlife with any camera and lens, some gear makes doing so easier and more productive. Here, we look at the best wildlife photography gear available for a low budget, a mid-range budget and a high-end budget. The best wildlife cameras are DSLRs because they have the best bang for the buck—the best AF systems for animal action and the widest selection of long wildlife lenses, along with excellent image quality and ease of use. Mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras have far fewer native wildlife focal lengths available, and their AF systems don’t handle quick and erratic subjects like flying birds nearly as well as DSLRs. If your wildlife ambitions lean more toward animal portraits than action, then action AF performance isn’t so important, and mirrorless cameras offer the…