Tag Archives: neutral density filter

What is Your Favourite Photographic Accessory?

Posted by enmanscamera on

Accesories

Thursday mornings at my shop, I always have coffee with several friends. The conversation is always good, lively and is, of course, usually about photography.

Last week we ended our morning conversation discussing how off-camera flash technology was advancing, and I had mentioned how amazing it was to be able to synchronize a camera’s flash at 1/8000th of a second, and how I liked the versatility of positioning a speedlight with the off-camera flash bracket that I use.

Later that day as I thought about what my friends had talked about that morning, I got to thinking about how some accessories make our experience as photographers easier. There is always lots of discussion about cameras and lenses, but photographers only seem to mention occasionally the accessories that they use.

I decided to post the question, “What is your favourite photographic accessory?” on a couple on-line photography forums, but I received very few replies. I suspect “What is your favourite camera or lens” would have gained more attention. Nevertheless, here are some responses that I selected.

This first from someone called Hawaiiboy says, “I would have to say my tripod combined with my wired timer/remote.”

Then Merlin from British Columbia wrote, “My iphone.  I use maps to find my way around and play birdcalls when needed.  It acts as a flashlight at night.  Oh yeah I can even make phone calls with it.”

The third I’ll include is from a Toronto, Ontario photographer, “My 10 stop Neutral Density filter is right up there.”

Another photographer called Cicopo in Ontario posted, “My cable release and tripod because that allows me to shoot from a higher perspective and steadies my camera.”

Dave from Alberta included, “I would have to go with the obvious ones like an air bulb blower, and micro-fibre cleaning cloth. I photograph mainly out side so I use them a lot.

A photographer named Matt that shoots in Manitoba wrote, “My monopod, the next best way to stabilize my camera after a tripod. I also use it like a walking stick during my weekend hikes.”

My wife Linda leaned back over her chair, after I interrupted her reading with the question, and said, “My polarizing and graduated ND filters. I shoot mostly scenics and those filters help me control the sky.”

From Saskatchewan, Gary wrote, I’d include my 5 in One reflector as my favourite accessory. I shoot portraits and always use a reflector.

I think my favourite commentator was Hendrik, from Alberta who wrote, “My bean bag. It gives me the best stability I can ask for; it enables me to shoot from the safety of my car and lets me use my car as a blind. When I am out a whole day and stop for lunch, I can use it as a super comfy pillow to lay down in the grass and look at the clouds flying by.”

I’ll add one of my personal favourite accessories. I have written many times in the past that I almost never photograph people, indoors or out, without adding light from a flash. My favourite accessory that makes that all so easy is a flash bracket that I use to lift my flash way up off my camera.

I am sure readers will have their own, even if they never think about it, that is there in the camera bag, always waiting and ready to be used. These favourites that I listed from my responses aren’t that special, they are just those accessories that, as I wrote earlier, make our experience as photographers easier.

I like comments. Let me know what you think.

My website is at www.enmanscamera.com

Photographing a Waterfall

Posted by enmanscamera on

The week had been a busy one for me. Unfortunately none of what occupied me had anything to do with photography.  It is said that life gets in the way of having fun.  So when I finally was able to chisel out some time for myself this last weekend I decided to travel the short distance up the road from my home to a stream with waterfall.  The falls are just off the Trans Canada Highway as it winds past Chase, BC.

I brought along my tripod, selected my versatile 18-200mm lens, a polarizing filter, and a neutral density filter just in case there was lots of bright light, and headed out. When I arrived at the creek and walked along the well-worn path beside the rock-strewn creek up to the waterfall I found there was open shade everywhere. It was just before noon, and the sun’s direction against the large flat rocks that lined the narrow canyon was providing lots of soft, reflective light on the cliffs, the water, and the pile of logs that surrounded the falls left over from the flooding of waterways that occurred in British Columbia this spring. I don’t think I could have asked for better light. There was very little of the harsh sunlight I had anticipated so I didn’t have to use the neutral density filter, and because of all the soft reflected light I didn’t have deep shadows to contend with either.

I climbed down the large rocks to the stream just below the falls, set up my tripod and started shooting. I like the soft look of water that a long shutterspeed creates so I began by putting the polarizer on the lens, which reduced the light by about two stops. Then I set the ISO to 100 and stopped the lens down to F/11. That gave me a shutterspeed of three seconds.

Photographing water is fun. I enjoy waterfalls, but rushing streams or rivers, plant covered ponds, and mountain lakes are just as enticing. I think it’s how the water sculpts everything that surrounds it.

Waterfalls usually demand a wide-angle lens and a tripod. A wide angle allows photographers to capture the landscape that contains a waterfall and the tripod means there won’t be camera shake. The lens doesn’t need to have a wide aperture because in landscape photography, and that include a landscape with a water feature like a waterfall, one should be stopping the aperture down to create as much depth of field as possible. The important thing, if one wants that glowing, soft looking water is a slow shutterspeed.  And when the shutter is slowed the aperture must be closed, and with a smaller aperture comes more depth of field. I will also mention that a cable release is a good idea to reduce camera shake, but I seem to always forget mine, and so I use the camera’s self-timer instead.

For those who live in the British Columbia there is no shortage of waterfalls that are easy to photograph, and for many like me the waterfalls are only minutes away. Small falls like the one I go to certainly don’t match some of the spectacular waterfalls from around the world, but even tiny falls make good pictures if the photographer gets creative enough. I even have a picture hanging on a wall in my home that shows a waterfall of only four feet high. I put my camera on one of those little pocket tripods and got a very wet knee, shoulder, and hair taking that picture, and remember laughing at the contortions I was assuming to keep from getting too wet in that cold water. Now that would have been a good picture. But, as I wrote, water is fun to photograph and getting wet on occasion is worth the final picture I suppose. Someday I might get the chance to travel around British Columbia, or North America to photograph some of the magnificent waterfalls, but until then I’ll just make the ten-minute drive up the road.

And I always appreciate your comments.

My website is at www.enmanscamera.com