Lewis Kemper's blog

Fun at home!

 

I am as guilty as the next photographer; I too like to travel to various locations to take images, whether they are landscapes or wildlife. But sometimes you don’t have to stray very far.
 
The day after I received my Canon 5DM3 camera a once a year ritual took place in my backyard. I have a very large pyracantha bush just outside my office door and every year a flock of Cedar Waxwings comes and strips the bush of all its berries. Unfortunately they never announce when they are coming so it is hit or miss whether I get to witness the feeding frenzy! But fortunately I was here and more than willing to test out the new camera. I needed to shoot a fast shutter speed (1/640 sec) and I wanted to maintain some depth of field (f/11) so I needed to shoot at ISO 4000. It was a great test for the new camera! As you can see the camera preformed quite well!
 

 
 
Canon 5DM3, Canon 500mm f/4 L lens, Feisol CT-3372 tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head, Wimberley Sidekick, Lexar CF cards
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sunday I awoke at 3 AM to drive with some friends to photograph the “super moon”. We picked an area near Birds Landing, CA to get the wind turbines in the background.
 
 
Well that wasn’t the most successful photo shoot I ever went on, but when I stumbled home at 9 AM I pulled in my driveway to see one of the newborn bluebirds poking it’s head out of my bluebird box and the parents were busy feeding. I parked at the end of the driveway and lined up my angle. I quickly ran in the house to get my Vacu-pod (www.Vacu-pod.com) and mounted the Canon 500mm f/4 L lens on my Canon 1DM4, on the Vacu-pod stuck to the driver’s side window, with the Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head. I needed even faster shutter speeds (1/1000 – 1/2000) so I was shooting at ISO 400 (it was very sunny) at f/8- f/11. I took the best pictures of the day 30 feet from my front door. I could have slept in! And I even got to listen to the radio as I photographed!
 
 
To see more of both bird shoots click here to view my bird images on my website - the Cedar Waxwings are on the first page and the Western Bluebirds the second page
 
 
 
 

It just goes to show you, you don’t always have to travel far to make great pictures!


 

Have a great day,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bird Adventure in Florida

 I had a great time photographing in Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach, FL last week. It is a small wetlands that has a great concentration of birds, turtles, and alligators! I also took a run down to Brian Piccalo Park in Pembroke Pines to photograph Burrowing Owls. There is so much to see in this region of Florida! I took most of my pictures with my Canon 1DM4 but I sure wished it had the focusing system of my new 5DM3. Too bad they didn’t make the new 1Dx so it would auto-focus at f/8 like all the other 1 series cameras. If they had I sure would like that camera, but for now I’ll stick to my 1DM4 for my wildlife camera so I can use my teleconverters on my 100-400mm and my 500mm. I used the 1.4x and the 2x TCs on a lot of my bird images.

 
To see some of my bird images click here.
 
Next week I am speaking in Dunn Loring, VA (near Fairfax). For info click here.
 
I just had 2 cancellations for my bear trip to Alaska in July so there is now room for 3 more! If you want to experience a great trip click here.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
My first set of Photoshop DVDs “The Photographer’s Toolbox for Photoshop: Exposure and Color” have been updated to CS6 and will be available for shipping on May 4th. Place your order here and use the coupon code of DVD2012 and save 12.5%. (even though it says CS5 on the page!)

Take care,

 

First Impressions of my new Canon 5D Mark 3

I have only had my new Canon 5D Mark 3 for a few days, but so far I am impressed! I haven’t really taken it out in the field for any extensive shooting yet, but I have done several backyard tests. So here are some examples of images that I have taken with and without noise reduction applied in ACR/Lightroom. I will label all the images so you can tell what happened and let you decide what you think. I think I’m going to be quite happy with this camera!

 
The horizontal images have been resized to fit the website. The vertical images are all full frame. As you can see shooting at 1600 ISO is no problem with this camera! And at 5000 it looks great too.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1:1 crop of image shot at ISO 1600 with a little noise reduction in Lightroom

 

To see all the tests click here.

 

Lightroom 4 DVD complete!!!!!

 

 
The marathon is over!! I have been working 15 hour days since the release of Lightroom 4 to complete my training DVD and I am now finished!
 
The new “Photographer’s Toolbox for Lightroom” is now complete with over seven hours of video training on all aspects of the program including the new features found in the Develop, Map and Book modules. Learn how to set up your preferences, create a Develop Preset, Import, Export, keyword, search, map, build a book, create a slideshow, build a custom print layout, and create a custom web gallery and much more!
 
I am having an introductory sale from now through March 31st. Get 20% off with the coupon code LR4INTRO (Case sensitive) on my website. Click here to order.
 
Enjoy,
 


 

Lightroom 4 and recent news!

As you may be aware Lightroom 4 was released this week. And the biggest and most exciting changes come to the Develop module. I am busy working on updating my Lightroom training DVD and hope to have it out in April. I will keep you posted as to the release.

 
I have heard it said many times before, that being in the right place at the right time, is the most important factor in nature photography. I would have to add that it’s being in the right place at the right time, with the right equipment and knowledge of how to use it that is most important. I was lucky enough to meet all those requirements this past week when photographing at Green Cay in Boynton Beach, Florida. Just as I was getting ready to leave I saw this great blue heron catch a snake. Fortunately I already had my 500 mm lens with the 2X tele-converter mounted on my Canon 1D Mark 4. And the camera was mounted on my Feisol 3372 tripod with a Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head, and a Wimberley Sidekick, so I just had to open the legs, aim the camera and shoot! Here is a sequence of images from that moment.
 
Click on any image below to see the larger versions.
 
 
                           
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The images were taken at 1000 ISO 1/250 sec at f/10
 
 
You too can have some wonderful wildlife moments, if you care to join me in Alaska this July photographing the coastal brown bears in Lake Clark National Park. I still have a few spaces left so click here to get more information.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Take care,


 

Wildlife Experience

It has been a wild since I last wrote, and a lot has happened since then! I had a very nice time presenting ath Fotofusion, in Florida this year. It was great to see a lot of old friends, and to meet some new ones. I can’t wait till next year! If you’ve never been to Fotofusion, you don’t know what you’re missing. I don’t know too many other events where you can see so many world-class presenters speaking on such a variety of photographic subjects. You can check it out at: www.fotofusion.org

I just recently got back from Kalispell, Montana where I led my first Canon Live Learning program. It was a real blast, and the group was really wonderful. We photographed the wildlife at Triple D Game Farm, capturing images of wolves, red fox, mountain lions, lynx, and coyotes. Click on the image below to see samples from the workshop. After the workshop I went to Polson, Montana to photograph the unusual amount of snowy owls that are there this winter. Click on the image of the owl to see some examples. To see other upcoming Canon Live Learning programs click here.       
 
 
                  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Closer to home, I have a pair of mallards that are hanging out in my swimming pool! It does make for some good photographic opportunities.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
There are still two spaces left in my trip to photograph the brown bears in Alaska this summer. Click on the image of the bear to find out more information about this trip. Deposits are due March 15.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I hope everybody’s winter is going well, it won’t be long until spring is here!
 
Take care,

 

Inexpensive Film Scanner and more


I am frequently asked for scanner recommendations. Up until recently, I haven’t been keeping up with the latest film scanners. But I had a project, come up where I  needed to scan a large quantity of my old 35mm slides. I own a very expensive Imacon film scanner, but to scan 35mm slides you need to remove each slide from its mount, which is very time-consuming. My project was to create a slideshow so I looked into inexpensive film scanners that would be faster and easier to use. I came across Canon’s Canoscan 9000F scanner. It retails for just under $200. It is a flatbed scanner capable of scanning 35 and 120 film. So I decided to give it a try. I’ve been very happy with my results. I can place 4 slides in the film guides and using the software, determine individually how each one gets scanned. In creating the low resolution 4 MB files I need for the slideshow, I am able to scan four images in about 2 min. The software also includes dust removal, fade correction, and backlight optimizing. These options mean that I have very little or no corrections to do after the scanning. The scanner also can scan to a resolution of 9600 PPI which gives me over 300 MB file from a 35mm slide, which is more than twice the size from my expensive Imacon scanner! If you’re in the market for an inexpensive, but very nice film scanner then I recommend the Canon Canoscan 9000F. To see some of the scans click here.
 
BTW I am scanning for my slideshow at my Canon Live Learning event, photographing wildlife in Montana at Triple D Game Farm. There are still 3 slots open. For more info click here.
 
I just had an opening for my show “Split Personalities” at the Viewpoint Gallery in Sacramento, CA. It was a great opening, over 1000 people viewed the show. My big panorama images got a lot of attention! The show is until Feb 4th if you are in the area.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here are some upcoming speaking engagements:
 
Seattle, WA on Feb 6th
Dallas, TX on Feb 21
Ft. Lauderdale, FL on March 1
Harrison, OH on March 21
North Oaks, MN on March 24
Nevada City, CA on March 26
 
I’ll be teaching two classes at Palm Beach Photographic Centre, West Palm Beach, Fl
 
There are still a few spaces left on the trip to Alaska to photography coastal grizzly bears!
 
Take care,
 
 
 
 

 

Creating a watermark with an Action


I had a request from someone to create a video on how I make my transparent watermarks, so I created the video and also show how to make the process an Action so you can just hit a button and make it happen!
 
Here is the video. I recommend you click on the words YouTube in the lower right to view this on YouTube



and when on YouTube click on the middle icon to make it larger





and when on YouTube also click on the Change Quality setting go to 720p.











 
 
 
 
 
I hope you enjoy the video and remember to go to: http://www.lewiskemper.com/content/training and check out all my training options!
 
Happy Holidays,



 

Random Challenge 12/15/11

 

I have put a new twist on my Random Challenges! I have made them a video tutorial so you can watch and learn from how I process my images.
 
In today’s challenge I take this image of a Tibetan dancer
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And turn it into this image
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Enjoy the tutorial and let me know what you think of the new format.


When watching the video click on the YouTube icon in lower right and on YouTube click the Large Player option  (the middle of the 3 screen sizes in bottom right)

 

 

 Take care,

 

 

 

Holiday Lights!

 

As the year comes to an end picture taking usually gets put on the back burner while we prepare for the holidays. But this time of year offers unique experience of photographing the beautiful holiday lights on display. You should take a few moments out of your hectic schedule and go out with tripod in hand and make some holiday images! Here are a few tips that I think will improve your holiday display photography.
 
Find a location where they turn the lights on a little early and go out about a half hour before sunset so you can balance the blue sky with the colorful lights. Click on image to see larger view.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Try zooming your lens during an exposure. What I like to do is find an aperture that will give me an exposure of at least 3 seconds, and then zoom the lens part way into the exposure. So for example on a 3 second exposure, I would count to two before zooming the lens. On a 5 second exposure I would count to three or four before zooming the lens. This way your subject gets "fixed" and the zoom adds an accent. The example below is a 3 second exposure where I counted the two before zooming.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Another thing you might want to try is taking a time lapse of the lights. Here is a time lapse I did where I took a picture every 5 seconds for an hour!
 
 
 
Enjoy the season, I hope you make what many wonderful photographs!

 

I still have space on my trip to Alaska to photograph the bears. For more info click here.
 
Give the gift of knowledge this holiday season by giving you or your loved one a Digital House℞ Call
 
Take care,
 

 

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