A week in the rainforest; What worked and what didn’t
Posted on 24. Sep, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
…I’d like to impart a few thoughts about the term “Water Resistant.” I’d like to meet the marketing schmuck who came up with this term? Every piece of gear that someone had that was labelled water resistant leaked like a sieve when exposed to anything more than a gentle mist for more than 30 seconds. Pants, jackets, gloves and yes, even camera covers labelled as “water resistant” all failed miserably in terms of keeping things dry. If I were running the world, I’d ban that term. Gear would either be rated as water proof or not. None of this namby pamby stuff…
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September Update – Wolves, Lynx and Leopards!
Posted on 08. Sep, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
September has returned all the daytime wanderers (school folks, their parents, folks on holidays, etc.) to their regular routines and my errands today took half the time they did during the summer. It was the beginning of August when I noticed the first leaves starting to turn colour here in Edmonton, and while the full fall colour season is still probably a few weeks away, the trees seem well aware that winter is on its way.
I’m very excited about my upcoming…
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Hey you! Where’d you leave your integrity?
Posted on 08. Sep, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
I have a problem with photographers who pretend that the image they made of a captive animal was actually an image of a wild animal. In my opinion it is dishonest and does a disservice to the wildlife photography community. I also have an issue with what I consider a lie by omission. Some photographers don’t say whether the images they present are of wild or captive animals and I think they do this as they’d prefer the public to assume they are images of wild animals. I think this is dangerous to both…
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Massive Highlight Recovery with the Photoshop/Lightroom Adjustment Brush
Posted on 27. Aug, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
When I first upgraded to Lightroom 2.0, I spent a considerable amount of time playing with the new features. One of the new RAW processing features that really intrigued me was the adjustment brush. The adjustment brush allows the user to adjust…
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Beware the Headless Hawk Phenomenon!
Posted on 19. Aug, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
…I soon noticed a disturbing trend. Although the birds at first appeared healthy and full of life, I soon started to notice a number of birds that appeared, and there is no easy way of saying this, well, they appeared headless. There I said it. Headless hawks. In Edmonton. Headless Hawks in Edmonton!!!…
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The Ethics of Digital Photo Manipulation
Posted on 12. Aug, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
Many individuals are immediately sceptical when viewing images in the digital age. The ethics of digital photo manipulation is increasingly important to the digital photographer. It turns out that this concern is fully warranted but I personally draw a distinction…
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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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Secrets of the photo workshop business
Posted on 30. Jun, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
I’m writing this article because frankly, I’m upset. It seems that everytime I meet with photographers who have attended a workshop, at least one of them has a horror story about a previous workshop they’ve attended. Often, I’m surprised they were able to put the bad experience behind and have the fortitude to try again with another workshop leader. What’s really upsetting about a lot of things I hear about the nature photography workshop business is that it…
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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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Learning wildlife photography – How low should you go?
Posted on 04. Jun, 2009 by Paul Burwell.
Whenever I teach wildlife photography, I go on at some length, about the necessity of getting your camera gear on the same level as your subject’s eyes. This concept doesn’t only apply to wildlife photography, it applies equally well to photography of children, pets or hobbits. When I teach this concept to a group of students, their eyes tend to glaze over until…
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