Getting started with nature

I probably should have posted this message first

Hello to RPTN,

I am an amateur who as always concentrated mainly on people, street scenes
and action. After a long talk with the wife we've decided to begin saving
for a trip to Africa, the good news is my wife is now much more interested
in photography. The bad news is Nature (High Mag) and Landscapes are my weak
points. It will take us a good 24 months to get the money put away so I want
to start experimenting with techniques and concepts now. I will take any
advice on books and ideas you can offer. Also I could really use some ideas
on shots to explore (I am in Lancaster PA) to get a feel for the different
composition.

While I know my kit is not adequate for a Safari (No ultra long Tele) below
is what I have. I have been happy with the 22-55 just having trouble on
where to begin.

Canon Élan 7e
22-55mm f4-5.6
Tokina ATK 28-70 f2.8
Canon 75-300 MkII f4-5.6
Canon 50mm f1.8
Set of Kenko extension tubes
Insanely heavey Billora Video Tripod That I use with a Manfrotta ball head
and Manfrotta Focusing Rail For Macro
Canon 420 EX Flash
Canon ML-3 Ringlight

Thanks in advance,
--
Ray Creveling
http://www.blackcatblog.com


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Ray Creveling wrote:
I am an amateur who as always concentrated mainly on people, street
scenes and action. After a long talk with the wife we've decided to
begin saving for a trip to Africa, the good news is my wife is now
much more interested in photography. The bad news is Nature (High
Mag) and Landscapes are my weak points. It will take us a good 24
months to get the money put away so I want to start experimenting
with techniques and concepts now. I will take any advice on books and
ideas you can offer. Also I could really use some ideas on shots to
explore (I am in Lancaster PA) to get a feel for the different
composition.


[... Equiptment ...]

Thanks in advance,


Heyho, Ray!

Let's start with a book I'd recommend:
"The Art of Landscape Photography" by Chris Coe

It's on the cheap side (20$ish, I suppose (european here))
for a photography book, and I really and thoroughly
enjoyed reading it, and it gave me some good ideas what
to keep an eye out when shooting landscapes and nature in
general. Not sure if you'll like it, but it helped me a great deal
to get started =).

To get a feeling for shooting animals, I'd recommend an open-
air-zoo (not sure if there are any available in your vincinity), since
it allows you to get a feeling for animals movements and everything
around them, and allows you to develop some basic techniques
and concepts of what's important, while you're still having time
to adjust and readjust (repeat 1000 times over ;-)) since the animals
aren't exactly leaving the area...


Well, that's about all I can come up with now, since - as is usually
the case in photography: the more you shoot, the better you get.
It's all about practice, isn't it? =)

cheerio, Mathias

Ray Creveling wrote:
I am an amateur who as always concentrated mainly on people, street
scenes and action. After a long talk with the wife we've decided to
begin saving for a trip to Africa, the good news is my wife is now
much more interested in photography. The bad news is Nature (High
Mag) and Landscapes are my weak points. It will take us a good 24
months to get the money put away so I want to start experimenting
with techniques and concepts now. I will take any advice on books and
ideas you can offer. Also I could really use some ideas on shots to
explore (I am in Lancaster PA) to get a feel for the different
composition.


[... Equiptment ...]

Thanks in advance,


Heyho, Ray!

Let's start with a book I'd recommend:
"The Art of Landscape Photography" by Chris Coe

It's on the cheap side (20$ish, I suppose (european here))
for a photography book, and I really and thoroughly
enjoyed reading it, and it gave me some good ideas what
to keep an eye out when shooting landscapes and nature in
general. Not sure if you'll like it, but it helped me a great deal
to get started =).

To get a feeling for shooting animals, I'd recommend an open-
air-zoo (not sure if there are any available in your vincinity), since
it allows you to get a feeling for animals movements and everything
around them, and allows you to develop some basic techniques
and concepts of what's important, while you're still having time
to adjust and readjust (repeat 1000 times over ;-)) since the animals
aren't exactly leaving the area...


Well, that's about all I can come up with now, since - as is usually
the case in photography: the more you shoot, the better you get.
It's all about practice, isn't it? =)

cheerio, Mathias

Ray..I'd get a 400 or the new Tamron 200-500mm that just came out and take a
roadtrip to the zoo in Philadelphia and practice my animal shots. You might
also want to look into a 2x teleconverter
Harris Austin




"Ray Creveling" wrote in message
...
I probably should have posted this message first

Hello to RPTN,

I am an amateur who as always concentrated mainly on people, street scenes
and action. After a long talk with the wife we've decided to begin saving
for a trip to Africa, the good news is my wife is now much more interested
in photography. The bad news is Nature (High Mag) and Landscapes are my
weak
points. It will take us a good 24 months to get the money put away so I
want
to start experimenting with techniques and concepts now. I will take any
advice on books and ideas you can offer. Also I could really use some
ideas
on shots to explore (I am in Lancaster PA) to get a feel for the different
composition.

While I know my kit is not adequate for a Safari (No ultra long Tele)
below
is what I have. I have been happy with the 22-55 just having trouble on
where to begin.

Canon Élan 7e
22-55mm f4-5.6
Tokina ATK 28-70 f2.8
Canon 75-300 MkII f4-5.6
Canon 50mm f1.8
Set of Kenko extension tubes
Insanely heavey Billora Video Tripod That I use with a Manfrotta ball head
and Manfrotta Focusing Rail For Macro
Canon 420 EX Flash
Canon ML-3 Ringlight

Thanks in advance,
--
Ray Creveling
http://www.blackcatblog.com


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In article , Dark wrote:
You might also want to look into a 2x teleconverter

Or, better still, put it between a lens and the camera body. 8-)

Roger

In article , Dark wrote:
You might also want to look into a 2x teleconverter

Or, better still, put it between a lens and the camera body. 8-)

Roger

In message ,
"Dark" wrote:

You might
also want to look into a 2x teleconverter

His telephoto lens, the 75-300 Canon zoom, is too soft to benefit from a
teleconverter.
--


John P Sheehy

Ray Creveling wrote:
I probably should have posted this message first

Hello to RPTN,

I am an amateur who as always concentrated mainly on people, street scenes
and action. After a long talk with the wife we've decided to begin saving
for a trip to Africa, the good news is my wife is now much more interested
in photography. The bad news is Nature (High Mag) and Landscapes are my weak
points. It will take us a good 24 months to get the money put away so I want
to start experimenting with techniques and concepts now. I will take any
advice on books and ideas you can offer. Also I could really use some ideas
on shots to explore (I am in Lancaster PA) to get a feel for the different
composition.

While I know my kit is not adequate for a Safari (No ultra long Tele) below
is what I have. I have been happy with the 22-55 just having trouble on
where to begin.

Canon Élan 7e
22-55mm f4-5.6
Tokina ATK 28-70 f2.8
Canon 75-300 MkII f4-5.6
Canon 50mm f1.8
Set of Kenko extension tubes
Insanely heavey Billora Video Tripod That I use with a Manfrotta ball head
and Manfrotta Focusing Rail For Macro
Canon 420 EX Flash
Canon ML-3 Ringlight

Not all nature shots need ultra-long teles my nature shots are all done
with a 200mm and 2x teleconverter at the long end (400mm max), a few
times I wanted something longer, a 500 with a 1.5x teleconverter would
be perfect.

The thing you need the most though, is practise, so take a few days
visiting nature areas near where you live, see what you want to shoot,
and then decide what you need to do that, better, if it's flowers then
you want to go short, if it's relatively harmless animals then your
probably okay, with what you have, if it's dangerous animals, or birds,
then you need to go long.

Ray Creveling wrote:

I probably should have posted this message first

Hello to RPTN,

I am an amateur who as always concentrated mainly on people, street scenes
and action. After a long talk with the wife we've decided to begin saving
for a trip to Africa, the good news is my wife is now much more interested
in photography. The bad news is Nature (High Mag) and Landscapes are my weak
points. It will take us a good 24 months to get the money put away so I want
to start experimenting with techniques and concepts now. I will take any
advice on books and ideas you can offer. Also I could really use some ideas
on shots to explore (I am in Lancaster PA) to get a feel for the different
composition.

While I know my kit is not adequate for a Safari (No ultra long Tele) below
is what I have. I have been happy with the 22-55 just having trouble on
where to begin.

Canon Élan 7e
22-55mm f4-5.6
Tokina ATK 28-70 f2.8
Canon 75-300 MkII f4-5.6
Canon 50mm f1.8
Set of Kenko extension tubes
Insanely heavey Billora Video Tripod That I use with a Manfrotta ball head
and Manfrotta Focusing Rail For Macro
Canon 420 EX Flash
Canon ML-3 Ringlight

Thanks in advance,
--
Ray Creveling
http://www.blackcatblog.com


Ray,
You have a good starter set. I've used Canon Elans for a long time too.
I would recommend the books by John Shaw (all of them).
Actually, look at several books and choose ones that fit your
style. I personally like John Shaw's photography and his books
are quite instructive.

You need to give some more information.
Landscapes: general style and how big of prints do you want to make?
Wildlife: what type of animals, and portraits or action?
These influence what to get in equipment.

For landscapes: get a better tripod and use it with the finest grain
slow speed film (black and white or color). Learn depth of field
and shoot f/8 to f/11 unless you need more depth of field
(or purposely trying to make something out of focus). If you
want really big prints, larger than 20x30, try medium or
large format. Prices on used medium format must be very good
as many pros are switching to digital. But large format,
used, is still cheaper than medium format.

Wildlife: what you want to do dictates a lot, and if you
want birds or animals in action, you need fast prime telephotos
and costs go up rapidly. Your 75-300 is actually pretty decent
for a consumer lens. If you want to step up, start looking at
fixed focal length telephotos, like the 300 f/4 IS L.
Really consider strongly the IS (image stabilized) lenses, as
they will be a virtual requirement for imaging from vehicles
on safari. The 300 f/4 can use a 1.4x teleconverter for
420 mm f/5.6. Costs go up dramatically beyond 300 mm if
keeping fast lenses. For example, the 500 mm f/4 is about $5700
compared to the 300 f.4 at about $1100. But with the 500 f/4
you need a carbon fiber tripod ($600) and a top end head, like
a wimberly ($675), then mounting plates ($200), etc etc.

If you decide on a teleconverter, only get the top end models.
I use Kenko Pro 300s, or go with the Canon since you have Canon.

For wildlife action, you want fast, and you burn a lot of film.
A digital SLR will pay for itself in film costs in not too long
if you do much action. Pro film, like provia 100F at $10/role
plus $8 for developing works out to about $0.50 per frame,
so only 4000 frames buys a camera like a 10D plus some compact flash
cards. You'll probably shoot a lot more than that on a safari.

I did mostly landscapes until a few years ago. I would do maybe
60 rolls per year (2160 frames) (plus a couple hundred sheets
of 4x5). I couldn't imagine shooting that much in a week.
In Florida with digital, I'll now do 5000 images
in a week of birds. And for high speed action, digital shines
over 35mm film.

Roger Clark
http://www.clarkvision.com

Roger wrote:
...Pro film, like provia 100F at $10/role
plus $8 for developing works out to about $0.50 per frame, ...

I doubt if anybody pays that much for film and processing. It's about $5/roll
plus $4-9 for processing.

---Bob Gross---