john michael white
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Yeah, honestly, I will probably have the time to wait if they are coming out with a new full frame soon (cause I don’t see myself coming up with the spare $1000 anytime soon).
For what it’s worth, I just went through this trying to get a pack set up for fishing/photography, although it sounds pretty similar to the Rover setup David already mentioned. I ended up going with the Naneu Pro Alpha Military Ops Pack. http://www.naneupro.com/products/mo-a/
It is comfortable, lightweight, and carry on size for the airlines. It has a rain cover, and a tripod holder. It has a concealed camera gear compartment, which is easy to access. I am very pleased with it. I too was thinking of adding a thin waterproof bag around the camera compartment. The entire camera gear foam box comes out as one piece, so it would be easy to put a waterproof liner around this. The camera gear padding is very nice, so I feel like the lenses and camra are secure. The little compass on the back is kind of cheesy, because it doesn’t work, but the rest of the pack is well built, sturdy, and functional.
Yeah, I was hoping for a better back cast! They were just random guys on the river. I’m going to look for guys that can cast well and fish, and take it from there. I have a few guys in mind to ask if I could tag along as a photographer if they wouldn’t mind me taking some pics. I think that will be the best way to do it. Unfortunately, I don’t have a regular group of fishing buddies and usualy fish alone…..which is kind of counterproductive to fly fishing photography ;D
I’ll keep trying and post some more images in the future, …images that I think are really good.
The images were taken at Happy Hollow on the Caney Fork River in Middle Tennessee. I cropped in the second image some more and sharpened a little bit more. For what its worth, I also rotated the first image with the canoe to see if it helps the horizon issue……not that it helps the dull composition :-[ Below are the new images. Does this crop of the raft and fishermen look better?
Quote: “Re the “Horizon”. Thats more along the lines of what I meant, not neccessarily the actual horizon. Theres a very noticable right to left slant throughout. Dont quite know how to put it in words but I almost want to fall off the left.”
Yeah, I see what you mean, John. It’s more of a ‘feeling’ as you look at the picture. I was kneeling to take this picture, so the main river on the right is hidden behind the islands and grass. I may have been holding the camera a little off as well 😛
Good input guys.
First of all, John, your work always looks amazing! I enjoy viewing it.
Interesting on the horizon… Actually, the horizon is level, if you look at the bottoms of the clouds and the top of the photo. But, I see what you mean. I think it may be an optical ilusion with the tilting of the canoe, and the way the water is in a back channel (but looks slanted), and the right ridgeline of trees is taller than on the left. If I had tilted the camera slightly to balance those features, then the clouds would have been crooked. If I had taken a better image compositionaly, all of this would have probably taken care of itself.
Chad,
Thanks for the comments. I need to work more on using a graduated ND filter. I have one and never use it. That is something I am hoping to remember to start using more. Sometimes, I have a hard time “seeing” that I need to use a gaduated ND filter. Most times the circular polarizer works great, but not always.
I agree that maybe if the canoe was on a shore of a scenic alpine lake with mountains and a gorgeous background to carry it, that might have worked.
I think in planning an outing, I am really going to have to concentrate and either go out on a shoot with other anglers and shoot photography first and foremost, or just fish and have the camera just in case for opportunites that may present themselves.
You are right, they are more mementos of the trip, which is fine. One thing I was trying to work on with the third shot was using the fill flash, in harsh light. These are definitely not photos I would consider submitting to anyone, but was just curious what everyone’s thoughts were.
Thanks for the input.
David,
Thanks for your comments. I agree as far as the subject matter being dull compositionaly. The third picture was of my wife, and it was like “here, hold my fly rod, and look over there”. I think I will be much better served, if I can treat this like wildlife and landscapes, and just step back and shoot pictures of people doing what they love, and just staying out of the way. One of my challenges is going to be getting on the water with seasoned anglers who “have the look, skill, and passion” and then capturing that. Good point about her head and the horizon, I hadn’t really noticed that.
The middle shot was actually cropped a little bit from the origional. It was a rushed shot, the guide boat was leaving and I didn’t have time to grab my zoom and do it right…..that pretty much says it right there. I thought about cropping it tighter in post process, but figured if I did so the image quality would be useless. How much tighter would you crop it?
In the canoe shot, I wish it had shown more of the river in the background as well. What would you do to make the canoe shot better? Are you thinking of something like maybe getting closer to the front of the canoe to make it fill most of the image, sweeping across the image diagonaly….maybe using a shallow DOF from front to back?
Honestly, I felt very scattered that day and trying to shoot fly fishing is new for me. It seems that you mentioned, or put into words, many of the things that were nagging at me….(and some I didn’t see). I am glad you thought the color and lighting were o.k.
Back to the drawing board….
Dusty,
Take a look at GIMP and see if it might work for you….
I don’t blame you if you want CS3, I just can’t allocate $700 for it.
Great advice Eric…
As far as post-processing goes, I see a little glow around you in the revised image.
That’s how I would like to be some day…
I’m like you, I need to find what works and just roll with it.
