Ready, Fire, AIM! – The New Speedy World of Digital Photography

I often see the same thing happen over and over again when I am out shooting; a car drives up, someone hops out with a camera, snaps a quick overview shot and hops back in (if they get out at all!) and speeds off, the scene adequately recorded.  Maybe it is because I am getting older but I tend to slow down and look at things differently when out in the field than 25 years ago.  Exploring with the camera to me means looking at the same common subject in many ways.  If I find a subject that intrigues me I might spend an hour or two on it with several lenses, angles and lighting conditions.  I might even shoot the scene and come back to it several times during the day looking for changes in how the light strikes the subject.

A few weeks ago I was at the family farm in Oklahoma and luckily the mimosa tree in the yard was in various stages of blooming.  I grabbed my Canon XTi Rebel and Canon 100mm/2.8 Macro lens and headed out to the tree.  I shot for several minutes trying to depict the blossoms the way my eye saw them.  With the aid of the nice large screen I started exploring different ways to “see” the same blossoms.  Throughout the day I kept coming back to the tree with the same lens and camera combination to see how the light changed the appearance.  Only a few years ago I would probably not have been so prolific with the shutter but with digital I wasn’t listening to film & development dollars fly off with every click.  The morning light was excellent.  Mid-day wasn’t too bad either.  The afternoon offered some clouds and eventually thunderstorms and dark backgrounds.  All day long Oklahoma delivered what Rogers and Hammerstein promised, “Winds come whistling off the plains”.  Getting good sharp macro shots is tough enough with no wind; add a light breeze and you might quit shooting.  With the wind a factor I switched to AI Servo Focus and let the tracking software built into the Canon Rebel XTi do its job.  The results are not always predictable but reviewable on the camera back screen.  Most people think of AI Servo Focus as used to photograph birds in flight or other moving subjects such as bicyclists or race cars but flowers moving in the wind are fair game for this built in control.  I usually get fairly good shots using this technique but if there is a strong wind then maybe it is best to put the macro away and go find another subject!

Early this year I made a two week trip to Tanzania simply for photography.  This being my second trip what I failed to depict in the first trip stood out in my mind.  It seems that all the wildlife kept me and my cameras busy on the first trip. When I returned I had loads of wildlife shots and even shots of the animals in their environment.  What was missing?  The surroundings, the landscape that IS Serengeti was no where or at best seldom seen in my images.  This trip would be different.  Older?  Wiser?  Who knows why other than I am spending more time looking and planning my shots.  Early one morning I was headed to the Rovers with the other photographers in our group.  Walking along the platforms at the Serena Lodge at Ngorongoro Crater I saw the most spectacular fog and trees combination 2500 feet below me in the crater and could not pass it up.  I grabbed the Canon 20D and Canon 100-400L IS lens, threw them together and braced on the handrail for some amazing images.  Several people from the group walked up, asked what I saw and, not seeing any wildlife, walked on.  This was probably one of my favorite images from the trip although there were plenty to choose from.  I now have a 24 x 36 print hanging on my wall, a nice reminder of the beautiful morning at the lodge.  Later while reviewing images, nearly every other photographer on the trip asked how I could “see” that image from way up on the crater rim?  It is a matter of slowing down and looking is all I can say.  The correct order is Ready, Aim then Fire!

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