tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10191617958048876302024-03-12T16:54:32.116-07:00Photography Field GuideTips from the field for nature photographersUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-89966866426312288642011-04-07T07:00:00.000-07:002011-04-07T07:00:02.054-07:00Why Weather Sealing on your Camera is worth it!This Nikon D3 still works!
And this is exactly why photographers buy cameras with weather sealing. I dropped my Canon 1D Mark II into the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. The only thing that broke was the battery because that's what landed on a rock. Dried it off, replaced the battery and it worked like new ever since. I wouldn't do that on purpose, but accidents happen and sometimes you have Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-59111718249332342062011-02-04T07:00:00.000-08:002011-02-04T07:00:01.311-08:00Getting too Close
If you are close enough to a moose to smell it you are too close. I was way too close when taking this photo. Way too close. After this I went out and got a 500mm lens.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-47660062860169078622011-01-31T07:00:00.000-08:002011-01-31T07:00:00.268-08:00Aperture
When Aperture was released I picked up a copy and instantly loved it. I had been wanting something like it for years. After installing Aperture I didn't use Photoshop nearly as much. Everything goes through Aperture first. Now that Aperture is $80 bucks, every purchaser of a new camera should pick up a copy. Head on over to the Mac App Store and pick up your own copy, I highly recommend it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-16592317216041791102011-01-26T07:00:00.000-08:002011-01-26T07:00:12.634-08:00Backups and Archiving
In the last few days left of 2010 we reviewed the business expenses and what we needed and decided to enhance our back up strategy. The picture above is a photo of four 2TB g-drives we purchased to accomplish part of this. It is always good to review one's backup and archiving strategy and continue to improve upon it.
There are two rules to live by when it comes to backup:
1. The best backup Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-75259420210632297512010-05-17T07:00:00.000-07:002010-05-17T08:35:10.433-07:00Extreme Unicycle Photography
I have dabbled in sports photography a few times over the years and have found it can be a lot of fun, if the sport is extreme enough. My latest bit of dabbling has certainly been extreme. Unicycling, extreme unicycling that is. This is my friend Corbin Dunn, World Marathon Unicycle Champion. He rode 26 miles on his unicycle to win that title. He does some amazing things on a unicycle.
The Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-65772231677799772142010-02-19T10:00:00.000-08:002010-02-19T15:13:42.444-08:00Aperture 3 ReviewI've been using Aperture 3 since it came out. Apple sent me a copy to work with and give them feedback. I will have a review up in the next few weeks along with some tips on using it and getting started.If you want to buy it or upgrade then Amazon has the best price in town so click the link below.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-73253519311363417822010-02-17T14:00:00.000-08:002010-02-17T14:03:27.160-08:00Simple CameraThis photo is currently featured on the Nature Photographer Magazine website. It was taken in Yellowstone on a very beautiful morning with a very simple camera: an old digital 3 mega pixel Canon Elph.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-74175614107662192472010-02-09T09:00:00.000-08:002010-02-19T15:10:35.280-08:00Aperture 3Apple Releases Aperture 3New Features Include Faces, Places & BrushesCUPERTINO, Calif., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 3, the next major release of its powerful photo editing and management software, with over 200 new features including Faces, Places and Brushes. Building on the innovative Faces and Places features introduced in iPhoto® '09, Aperture 3 makes it Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-80232971887308367242010-01-25T08:00:00.000-08:002010-01-26T20:47:59.306-08:00Firewire Card Readers under Snow LoepardI just completed my migration to Snow Loepard and ran into a big problem; Snow Leopard doesn't always recognize firewire 400 card readers. In my case I'm using older microtech firewire 400 card readers but I have verified the same thing occurs with other firewire 400 card readers as well. You can find other occurrences of this at the Apple online forums here:http://discussions.apple.com/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-7453796873526972142010-01-01T22:00:00.000-08:002010-01-04T11:53:05.101-08:00Happy New YearHappy New Year everyone and welcome to 2010! It'll be one heck of a year.Here is a video of the full moon that I shot a video of last night using the new Canon 5D Mark II's 1080p video capabilities.Update: I suggest clicking here to play it big and not playing the one belowUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-60854734694798342872009-06-04T21:00:00.000-07:002009-06-04T21:41:47.538-07:00DSLR Sensor CleaningI just updated my two year old post on sensor cleaning with my latest process changes. The biggest change is how I scrub the sensor with swabs and links to the equipment that I use to do it.Arctic Butterfly Sl 700Sensor BrushesType 1 Sensor SwabType 2 Sensor SwabType 3 Sensor SwabEclipse Cleaning SolutionLoupeThe photo above is from my backpacking trip last October in Sequoia National Park. This Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-22010761866805738522009-05-18T18:00:00.000-07:002009-05-18T20:32:43.458-07:00Field Guide 101: LandscapesMono Lake, CaliforniaCopyright © 2009 Chris Bensen. All rights reserved.One of the most common questions I get and see around the internet is, "what's the most desirable focal length for landscape photography?" If I'm at a show I point out some of my photographs and the focal length that I used showing them that I use all focal lengths and that I tend to use the extremes. I want to get a new Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-33080541281149607782009-05-12T20:00:00.000-07:002009-05-12T20:22:25.345-07:00Bird ButtOne of the first things as a beginning wildlife photographer you have to learn is how to avoid getting what I call "Bird Butt". Every animal has it and it is difficult to not get it. Animals move away from the photographer, that is their natural instinct. I'd do the same if I were in their position. There are a few things you can do to reduce the amount of "Bird Butt" moments you Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-12263374224892055892009-05-07T20:00:00.000-07:002009-05-07T20:24:45.279-07:00Shooting RAW + JPEGI have always shot RAW for the many advantages RAW offers in image quality over JPEG. With the latest release of Aperture 2.0 I have found it very easy to work with large RAW files, but recently I started shooting RAW + JPEG for one simple reason, backup. Now this isn't a great backup mechanism, but any storage device (CD, DVD, Hard Disk or Compact Flash card can fail). This simple stupid backup Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-67735025940472512972008-03-17T22:30:00.000-07:002008-11-13T01:08:40.254-08:00Nature Photography MagazineCopyright © 2007 Chris Bensen. All rights reserved.This photo was just published in the current issue of Nature Photography Magazine. The photo was taken at Wilder State Park in Santa Cruz. In the background you can see across the Monterey Bay. It was a very clear day. No Photoshop here, that bee is real! It took a lot of patience and rolling around in the grass to get that photo but it was well Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-72187884063205807772008-03-17T06:00:00.000-07:002008-11-13T01:08:40.483-08:00Aperture 2.0I've been using Aperture 2.0 for two weeks now running a few thousand files through it. I'll be writing up my review of it soon, but in general I would recommend existing users of Aperture 1.x to upgrade. The performance is way better and the RAW 2.0 engine has been greatly improved.You can purchase Aperture 2.0 from Amazon link below to help support this blog. It won't cost you anything and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-86675542461027423922008-02-15T08:00:00.000-08:002008-02-15T11:20:12.684-08:00Epson Printer Driver for LeopardI just noticed today that Epson has released beta Leopard printer drivers for the following printers:Epson Stylus Pro 3800 SeriesEpson Stylus Pro 4800 SeriesEpson Stylus Pro 4880 SeriesEpson Stylus Pro 7800 SeriesEpson Stylus Pro 7880 SeriesEpson Stylus Pro 9800 SeriesEpson Stylus Pro 9880 SeriesEpson Stylus Pro 11880 SeriesClick here to download them. Once they are officially released there willUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-32814413274964718492008-02-14T22:00:00.000-08:002008-02-15T11:43:21.702-08:00Aperture and Time MachineWith the update to Leopard 10.5.2 now Time Machine works properly with both Aperture 1 and 2 libraries. Apple updated the support article on the issue. Now all I need is the Leopard Epson 4800 printer driver and I'll be all set to upgrade to Leopard.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-48204555104607814912008-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:002008-11-13T01:08:40.536-08:00Aperture 2.0Apple released Aperture 2.0 today. It requires the latest Tiger or Leopard. The price has come down a bit from Aperture 1.0 to $199 and there is a $99 upgrade. There is also a free trial.The Aperture page has lots of details and videos to watch. They claim 100 new features. This release they were focused on speed which is a welcome feature.I've been using Aperture since it came out and even Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-68206398968960216102007-12-18T10:00:00.000-08:002008-11-13T01:08:40.739-08:00Review: Klean Kanteen and SIGG Water BottlesKleen Kanteen and SIGG water bottles are my first choice water bottles. I used plastic bottles for years but the taste of plastic and reading made me change out my water bottles. Both brands have sizes that fit in most drink holders.The SIGG bottles are a bit lighter than the Kleen Kanteen bottles since they are enamel coated aluminum but shouldn't be frozen or put into a dish washer. The Kleen Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-44910382562264199432007-12-11T22:00:00.000-08:002008-11-13T01:08:40.837-08:00Review: Kinesys Performance SunscreenKinesys Performance Sunscreen is my preferred sunscreen when outdoors, and I'm outdoors a lot when photographing. It spreads evenly on your skin and doesn't feel heavy like other sunscreens. Since it's not oil based I can put it on my face and use my camera and not get the back of the camera greasy. I prefer the fragrance-free version above, but if you like fragrance in your sunscreen there are Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-61241955880388311812007-11-30T22:00:00.000-08:002008-11-13T01:08:41.013-08:00Review: Solomon ShoesI ran across the Solomon shoes on one of my many trips to REI and tried them on just for kicks because of the cool looking laces. From that moment I was hooked. I've always known Solomon as a winter ski equipment company. Who knew they could make a darn good shoe. The best part about them is the laces. The best part about any of the Solomon shoes with these snazzy laces is they just work and workUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-29013475787599926372007-11-30T07:00:00.000-08:002008-11-13T01:08:41.117-08:00Review: Patagonia Down JacketWe have a Patagonia outlet here in Santa Cruz and every year they have some amazing sales. A few years back I picked up the Patagonia down jacket in yellow and I absolutely love it. I shopped around for the best down jacket and by far I liked the Patagonia the best. Not only is the color totally swanky (they don't make the yellow anymore which is a bummer), but the feel of the fabric is awesome. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-79182846824928311742007-11-29T19:30:00.000-08:002007-11-29T20:34:54.042-08:00Epson Printer Compatibility with LeopardA while back I talked about why I'm not upgrading to Leopard just yet and one of the big road blocks for me is the lack of printer support. Epson announced today via a FAQ that can be read here that they will be releasing a driver for most of the Epson professional printers including my Epson 4800. You can download a beta of the driver here. That's great news but I have a few friends that have Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1019161795804887630.post-74017620132293321212007-11-26T17:00:00.000-08:002008-11-13T01:08:41.330-08:00Review: Petzl Zipka LED HeadlampI purchased the Petzl Zipka LED Headlamp earlier in the year and wish I had bought it sooner. My old headlamp is one of the first generation LED headlamps. It was great then, but it doesn't even compare to what is out there now.Powered by three AAA batteries the Zipka is tiny. It fits in any pocket or pouch and it is really bright. I've been hesitant to replace my old headlamp because it takes Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0