Archive for 'Techniques'
2009 – My photo year in review plus a new contest
Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by Paul Burwell.
I was sitting back the other day contemplating what a great year 2009 had been. 2010 is going to have to be pretty spectacular to upseat it, but I’m optimistic. My year, like my life, largely revolves around photography and I thought it might be useful to run through the time line and hit on a few of the highlights…
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Canon 5D Mark II Autofocus Sucks? NOT!!!
Posted on 21. Oct, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
I’ve recently had the opportunity to start going through some of my pictures that I made during my recent Spirit Bear Tour. While I normally prefer to photograph with my Canon 1Ds Mark II, I decided to take a chance and exclusively use my new Canon 5D Mark II for the majority of the trip. My original intention in purchasing the camera was the use it primarily for its high-definition video abailities, but I’ve been extremely…
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What’s riding shotgun while you’re driving?
Posted on 08. Jul, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
It’s summer here in the northern hemisphere and it is a time when a lot of people decide to take a road trip. Summer’s a time when I too spend a lot of time on the road and I recently got home from about a 3,300 kilometre (~2,000 mile) road trip. Usually when I’m on a trip my timelines are fairly tight and I don’t have a lot of time to take a meandering path or wander too much. But, regardless of where I’m travelling, there is one constant about the trip, and that’s…
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Photog goes crazy, starts shooting video!
Posted on 22. Jun, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
I’ve been facinated by the new hybrid DSLRs that can shoot both still and video images. And the video I saw from the 5D Mark II was really, really impressive. It’s ability to produce high definition video at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (1080p) is really stunning. I’m a bit of a movie fanatic and I think part of me harbours a fantasy of…
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May Update – Summer seems so long ago
Posted on 19. May, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
The winter that would never end; that’s how I’ll remember this spring. While we have occasional days of “normal” temperatures, we have had a very cold spring. For instance, as I write this, the temperature is hovering around freezing and the forecast is calling for up to 5cm (2 inches) of snow by tomorrow. But, I long ago learned that my whining has no influence on the weather and I’m hopeful that the weather for my upcoming…
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3 occasions when it’s acceptable to use digital zoom
Posted on 15. May, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
…I encourage my photography and workshops students to never, EVER, under penalty of death, use the digital zoom on their cameras. At a glance, I can usually guess when an image was taken with digital zoom and it really creates inferior images. But of course, like all “rules” there are exceptions. I’ve thought of three occasions when using the digital zoom on a camera would be acceptable…
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BWG-Pro Gimbal Head Video Review
Posted on 14. May, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
If you are using a large telephoto lens like a 200-400mm F4, a 300mm F2.8, a 500mm F4, a 600mm F4, a 300-800mm F5.6 or a 800mm F5.6, you need a really good tripod head. And in my opinion, you are foolish to consider anything other than…
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Learning wildlife photography – The power of simplicity
Posted on 01. Apr, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
I’m extremely fortunate in that my passion for wildlife and photography has evolved into my full-time occupation. As part of my work, I get to review and critique quite a number of wildlife photographs. When I think back over the images that stand out from the others I am reminded of…
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Guest blogger on the Telegraph
Posted on 27. Mar, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
I’ve been a little under the weather the last while and haven’t been blogging as regular as I should. But, if you get a chance, check out my guest article on Kate Day’s blog on the UK’s Telegraph. I discuss what it takes to get prepared…
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Learning wildlife photography – When to use manual focus
Posted on 11. Mar, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog you know that I’m a big advocate of using your camera’s autofocus system whenever possible. While there are better and worse autofocus systems and the debate as to whether Canon/Nikon/Sony/Olympus/Pentax have the best autofocus performance will go on forever, in reality they all have very useful autofocus systems that will usually achieve very acceptable results. There are however, a few circustances where trying to use autofocus will cause more problems then it solves. Read on to learn how to solve this issue…
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