Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2014 i Outdoor Photographer

SONY a7S Fresh on the heels of releasing the a7 and a7R, Sony has now announced an exciting addition to the family for the photo and video shooter with the a7S full-frame, interchangeable-lens camera. With a 12.2-megapixel 35mm Exmor CMOS sensor and BIONZ X image processor, it employs the same Fast Intelligent AF system as the a7R, with improved low-light sensitivity boasting a 100-102,400 (50-409,600 extended) ISO range. But the real excitement is for video shooters. The camera features a 35mm large pixel image sensor rated at 15.3 stops of dynamic range. Plus, 4K video capabilities utilize the full sensor width—no cropping or line skipping—which reduces aliasing, moiré and false color artifacts. A 120 fps shooting mode is supported in HD resolution. A multi-terminal interface shoe is compatible with the…

In the spring of 2014, the OP Assignments ranged from self-explanatory topics like Spring Showers to more interpretive themes like Contrasting Landscapes. In choosing the winning images, we looked for photos that made us pause and think for a moment, photos that showed originality. Congratulations to Mark VanDyke, Jim Shoemaker, Angela Service and Rebecca Wilks for their winning photos. Go to outdoorphotographer.com to enter your own images. New Assignments are posted every week. 1) Motivation Assignment Winner PHOTOGRAPHER: Mark VanDyke EQUIPMENT: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 16-35mm ƒ/2.8L, Tiffen 2-stop GND filter, Really Right Stuff tripod and ballhead This photograph was taken on June 13, 2012, on Grassy Ridge in the Roan Highlands of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The composition of this image was certainly previsualized,…

It was the bolt atop the ridge directly in front of me that finally got my attention. For over an hour, I had been photographing the eastward progress of a dazzling thunderstorm just north of what had been a safe vantage point. Mesmerized by the frequency and intensity of its activity, I had failed to register the storm’s approach until that warning shot landed less than a mile away. Reluctantly, I began packing my gear, still dry, but knowing I was in danger, vaguely resentful of the oft-repeated lightning warning: “If you see it, flee it; if you hear it, clear it.” Stooping for my camera bag, I rationalized that I pass that warning’s threshold every time I photograph a thunderstorm, so surely... Flash-Bang! The simultaneous bolt and boom sent…

Surrounded by the roiling Southern Ocean, Antarctica is isolated by a combination of geography and climate. The inhospitable continent is home to fewer than 5,000 people, mostly researchers, but a variety of unusual wildlife exists in this most remote of terrestrial land masses. “Remote” has become a relative term, however. Today, intrepid adventurers can make their way to Antarctica to see and photograph in Terra Australis, and expert guides lead extensive photo tours. Over the next several issues of OP , we’ll spotlight tour operator Joshua Holko as he prepares for his November tour. Below is a brief outline of the structure and day-by-day plan. In November 2014, I’ll be leading an epic South Georgia and Antarctica photographic expedition. This dedicated photographic expedition will depart on the 3rd of November…

When I started working on Outdoor Photographer in 1996, OP was just a magazine. We published it 10 times a year, and my biggest hassle was getting duplicate slides from contributors to be scanned for putting the layouts together. Fast-forward to 2014, where things are a little different. Outdoor Photographer is now much more than a printed magazine—it’s a magazine and a website, and it’s eNewsletters, weekly Assignments and galleries, a Facebook community, and most recently, a Newsstand App available in the Apple App Store. Even with all of this frenetic forging ahead into the frontiers of new media, the core mission of Outdoor Photographer remains the same. We strive to produce content that helps you—our readers, website viewers and mobile app users—to connect with and learn from the very…

Technology changes photography as much as photography changes technology. Early landscape photographers were stymied by orthochromatic films, which rendered skies stark white. Advancements in film technology led to more evenly toned emulsions and that led to photos with dramatic billowing clouds and skies being darkened via filters. Today, we can see how advancements in low-light capability (high ISOs in DSLRs) are allowing photographers to shoot deeper into the edges of the day while capturing color and subtle textures in the scene. Many of the winning images in this year’s American Landscape contest reflect these advancements. Technology continues to evolve, and so does the vision of the best photographers. We’d like to thank everyone who entered the 2014 American Landscape contest, and special thanks to our sponsors, Tamron, BookBaby and Roberts…

Megapixel count is the most talked about digital camera spec by manufacturers and users alike. Megapixels are to cameras what horsepower is to cars: a simple specification that one can compare across all models and that’s easy to wrap one’s mind around. It’s the spec that’s impossible to get away from. While there’s much more to a car’s performance than horsepower, there’s also an old saying that there’s no substitute for horsepower. There’s much more to a camera’s performance than megapixels, but just like horsepower, there’s no substitute for megapixels. No matter where a camera falls in a manufacturer’s lineup, megapixels come into play. Get two photographers in a room talking about their gear and you’re going to get the question, how many megapixels does it have? Even entry-level DSLRs…

Often referred to as our “best idea,” America introduced the world to the concept of national parks with the formal designation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872. Perhaps inspired by our utilitarian quest to conquer and subdue every last square inch of the “howling wilderness” that greeted the first European settlers and the realization by the end of the 19th century that we were doing an exemplary job of it, a small group of visionaries began to realize that if future generations were going to have any chance to witness for themselves what Lewis and Clark saw, it would be through the formal protection of some of the most magnificent landscapes in the American West. Shortly after Yellowstone was established, the rest of the world climbed onboard, with Australia declaring…

You probably have most of the equipment necessary for lightning photography, but it’s always better to figure out what you need before you leave rather than waiting until the lightning starts firing. 1 FAST DSLR. Photographing lightning requires a camera that’s literally lightning-fast. We’ve all experienced the frustration of point-and-shoot shutter lag—that delay between the time your finger says “Click” and your camera says “Okay.” A DSLR’s shutter lag is a nonissue in most uses, but it’s a huge concern when trying to capture something with a life span measured in milliseconds. Ideally, your shutter will respond to a “Fire” command in 60 milliseconds or faster, though up to 100 milliseconds is usually sufficient. Most recent professional and prosumer DSLRs are fast enough; some of the latest entry-level DSLRs are…

Tonto National Monument Larry Lindahl’s photo taken from the Upper Cliff Dwelling in the Tonto National Monument requires a three-mile round-trip hike with a slippery creek crossing and a 600-foot ascent on a cactus-studded hillside. Visitation is by guided tour only and reservations are required. One day a year, seven lucky photographers are allowed inside the 700-year-old dwelling for sunrise. Park volunteers Peg and Rex Lavoie lead the hike, starting with headlamps. Lindahl writes, “When photographing ancient sites of the Southwest, I try to bring them alive by showing what the original inhabitants may have experienced while living there. I drove three hours in the dark to be there, but capturing this stunning sunrise was more than worth the effort. It was a true privilege to witness.” See more of…

Location If you could draw a relatively straight line that followed the Maine coast from Kittery to Lubec, you’d end up with a length of about 230 miles. But if you include all of Maine’s islands and tidal areas, this number jumps to over 3,400 miles of coastline, which ranks Maine as having the fourth-longest coastline in the United States! Throw in 57 active lighthouses, 30-plus miles of white sand beaches, and thousands of miles of rocky shoreline and tidal inlets, and you have one of the best places in the world for shooting beautiful seascapes. Most of the beaches lie to the south of Portland, a small city of 66,000 people, which started as a working waterfront in the 1600s and continues to be one of the largest seaports…

We were stopped at the pass on Highway 70 for a missile test. The missile, scheduled to come down over White Sands a few miles down the highway, was already 20 minutes late. Government vehicles and trailers lined the middle of the highway. Every vehicle coming from the west, as we had, waited in the parking area at the top of the pass. Below the pass, the highway was empty. We didn’t turn into the parking area. “We’re just going to Aguirre Springs,” David told the police officer stopping us. The road to our trailhead was visible a short way ahead, not far enough to interfere with any U.S. weapons systems. The officer directed us onward. Ours was the only vehicle allowed to pass. The Pine Tree Trail from the…

Digital photography became popular at the same time that Internet access and usage exploded in growth. The technology behind digital photography was new, and a thirst for knowledge gave rise to rampant misunderstandings and half-truths that circulated like wildfire in the fertile ground of the Internet. In time, many of these myths were debunked, but some persist, and they can distract you from doing your best as a photographer and having fun at something you enjoy. Following is the top-10 list of digital photography myths that need to be busted. 1 More megapixels are automatically better. While there can be plenty of benefits associated with higher mega-pixel counts, more megapixels don’t necessarily equate to better-looking photos. This myth has been perpetuated because it’s a lot easier to take a quick…

One of the major challenges for wildlife and sports photographers is getting close enough to the subject. We need reach. The big challenge with big reach is cost—500mm and 600mm superteles cost $10,000 and up. The solution is the extreme telephoto zoom. Sigma and Tamron offer zooms that go out to at least 500mm for around $1,000. These zooms may not perform like a $10K prime, but they’re capable of delivering sharp images of distant action. The extreme telezooms also offer a big advantage over the prime supertelephoto lenses: They zoom. It’s hard to “find” a flying bird looking through a 500mm or 600mm lens, especially on an APS-C DSLR, with its 1.5x crop factor, which gives a 500mm lens the even narrower angle of view of a 750mm on…