Imbue Media

There is a trend these days for people to be against editing saying things like #nofilter or “This is direct from camera” while there is nothing wrong with that, there is a tension with doing that and shooting raw. If you shoot jpg and share that photo with out editing doesn’t mean your photo hasn't been extremely edited, it has. Every camera has to interpret the data that the sensor collects. That means that any time you see that photo and not just bundles of data, it has been edited. This is why I find it so important to shoot raw. For the same reasons I always shoot in manual I always shoot in raw. I want to control every element of the photo that I can. If you shoot in jpg you will lose some of that data and will have less leeway in editing to create the composition that you want. There are only a few things to control in photography aperture, shutter speed, iso, focal length, editing, and of course what you choose to take a photo of. That isn’t a lot of options, so I like to make...

Photographing wildlife is a fun challenge, but there are a few things that can make your life a lot easier.

When you have a great wildlife sighting it is easier to get very excited and take tons of photos. There is nothing wrong with this, but make sure that during your sighting once you have an in focus photo of the animal to reassess. Leaving an amazing wildlife sighting and having 500 nearly identical photos can be a bit of a bummer. I like to try and get those shots out of my system, and then take a step back an analyze the scene. Most of the best wildlife shots have more elements than just the animal. This could be because of a great behavior from the animal, or because you have put that animal into context. A major advantage of putting an animal into context is that you don't always need a massive lens to get the shot. Finding what makes the scene special what tells the story about the place that this animal lives? Answering these kinds of questions makes sure that your shots wont...

Capturing Greenland is hard, the scale is huge the colors are stark, and there is little to give a sense of scale. Before getting to Greenland I made sure to make use of Google. It is seriously of the best tools for travel photographers on tight timelines.

After doing my research about where we would be I tried to think of the kinds of shots that I wanted to have on my check list. This is a useful exercise for me just so I have a starting point when I get to a location, even if often times as soon as I get there I need to edit that shot list in my head. 

Flying into Greenland lots of new ideas started coming to mind. I wanted to be able to show the distinct differences, the colors and the starkness, the life and the ruggedness. 

 Expanses of ice, clouds, ocean, and mountains makeup eastern Greenland.

 Finding shots around every corner the first evening in Greenland

When I saw Kuluk approaching on his sled I knew it contained a lot of the elements of what it actually felt like to be in this...

Getting this shot left me exhausted and sunburned.

As we were driving along the road towards the east entrance to Yellowstone there were a couple cars pulled over with a ranger. As anyone who has been to Yellowstone knows one of the easiest ways to spot wildlife is to spot pulled over cars. After pulling over and walking up the road a bit we were greeted by this site.

 Amazing to watch, but not the most photographically amazing view.

Waiting was made easier and more frustrating by them getting up and moving into denser shrubs for their nap. After a two hour wait they finally really started moving. The crowd quickly swelled as they came into sight. After a few minutes the bears unperturbed by the crowd started moving towards the road. 

One of the first shots from this sighting that I was excited about as soon as I pressed the shutter.  

As the young bear started to cross the road it became curious about the camera gear that had been left as people made way for the bears.

Tripods make fo...

Shooting in Iceland is a challenge especially when you only have a couple of days there. Both times I have been to Iceland the weather has been extremely unpredictable. Glacial lagoons were at the top of the list of things to see on this trip.
Getting out of the car at the Svinafellsjokull Glacier I was immediately excited about the light. Within minutes it started pouring. Still trying to find the shot I started looking for some of the amazing green mosses to offset the blues and browns of the glacier. After scrambling on slick cliffy rocks I found my spot and waited for the light. I got lucky and diffused sunlight broke through the clouds and rain making the scene glow.
As soon as I saw the scene I knew I wanted to a shot with the rocks, the ice, and the moss that make Iceland, Iceland.

If you asked most photographers what standard lenses were most would say standard lenses are anything from 24mm-200mm with apertures no smaller than f22 and no larger than 2.8 with the exceptions of 50mm lenses. These lenses will cover the vast majority of use cover the vast majority of photos you wish to take. Many photographers argue that most people could really get away with a 50mm. So why am I arguing you should be trying to get your hands on and shoot with faster, slower, longer, and wider lenses. As I argued in my post about 50mm most subjects have been shot thousands or even millions of times, most of these shots are taken with point and shoots or cellphone cameras but there are still many people who have taken the time to get creative with standard lenses with most subjects.

A landscape shot at 125mm This compressed the scene making the mountains more dramatic

Using non-standard lenses opens up non-standard compositions. Shooting landscapes with telephotos and wildlife with wide...

There are two common quotes in photography:

1. The best lens you have is your feet

2. The best camera you have is the one with you

These are both great arguments for buying and using 50mm lenses.

50mm lenses will encourage you to move around and get creative because you don’t have the option of a zoom lens. Without simply being able to zoom in or out on your subject you will start to move. Moving will have a few benefits to your photography. One of the major ones is you will start to explore your subject. It is very easy to get in the habit with cellphones and zoom lenses to only shoot subjects straight on at eyelevel. Most subjects have been photographed straight on at eye level thousands of times you will not get a good photograph this way, at best you will take a “technically good” photograph that no one will ever bother to look at twice.

So to repeat 50mm lenses will get you moving this will make you explore your subject and take shots from more interesting angles.

How will a 50mm...