All the photographs on this site were taken using the fine equipment shown below, unless otherwise specified.
DSLR Camera Bodies
Canon EOS 7D - excellent crop-sensor body with fast/accurate auto-focus for wildlife phototgraphy
Canon EOS 100D SL1 - super lightweight, crop-sensor body that's easy to carry around
DSLR Lenses
Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM (pancake)
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 IS USM
Canon EFS 15-85mm IS USM
Canon EFS 18-55mm IS STM
Canon EFS 10-18mm IS STM
Canon 1.4x EF Extender II
Vello Auto Extension Tube Set
Accessories
Canon Remote Shutter Release RS-80N3
Canon Angle Finder (right-angle view finder)
Hoodman Hoodloupe 3.0
Manfrotto 055XB Tripod Legs
Manfrotto 128RC Video Head
Manfrotto 496RC2 Compact Ball Head
Various ND & polarizing Lens Filters
Adorama Macro Focusing Rail Set
Digiscoping (Using a digital camera to take photographs through a spotting scope.)
Swarovski ATS80 HD Spotting Scope
Swarovski 25 - 50x Wide-angle Eyepiece
Swarovski Universal Camera Adapter
Nikon P6000 Camera (also for some landscapes)
Aerial Photography
DJI Mavic 2 Pro
FStop Labs ND Filter set
Updated: March 2020
Here are the photography skills and tips sites/blogs I read regularly. Note, these are not photo gallery sites, but rather places to learn more about photography - from novice to professional.
Digital Photography School: http://www.digital-photography-school.com
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DigitalPhotographySchool
Light Stalking: http://www.lightstalking.com/
RSS: http://www.lightstalking.com/feed
PetaPixel: http://www.petapixel.com
Photofocus: http://photofocus.com
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/PhotofocusBlog
PictureCorrect Photography Tips: http://www.picturecorrect.com
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/picturecorrect
Points in Focus: http://www.pointsinfocus.com/
RSS: http://www.pointsinfocus.com/feed/atom/
Probably not of general interest, but I have been asked a few times how I file and track my photo files.
Tags have been suggested to help later find photos of a specific object. That would probably be a good idea, but sounded like too much work for an amateur and I would surely forget to add the proper tags. Also, search using the Mac Finder is so efficient that I can find a file name, see below, almost instantly. Note: I do use tags for my blog posts where they act like an index for visitors to find specific locations or events.
Original files (RAW and DNG) are kept in a folder system based upon the date:
year › month › year_month_day n location (or event)
where n is a sequence number if neededExample: 2023 › 12 › 2023_12_27 1 Bosque del Apache
*The Canon EOS Utility is configured to automatically structure the folders by date and copy the files accordingly. Also once I got a second Canon body, I configured the software to prepend the name of the body to the filename. Example: EOS 7D_27014.CR2
Processed photos, and their sidecar files, are kept with the originals. They are named by subject:
subject-detail_size-body_sequence. psd
Example: HoodedMerganser-pair_1200w-7D_27014.psd
Exported photos (JPGs mostly sized for web display) are kept in their own folder structure based on subject or event:
Folder examples: Balloon Fiesta, birds 2024, butterflies, landscapes, etc.
I keep all exported photos for my backroads travel blog in a separate top folder with sub-folders named by year, month, and state. Example: 2023_10 UT CO. Below that, files are named as in my original day of the month system, above.
Also, each exported photo has a caption as text (usually along the bottom.) This will be the subject, location, and date, at a minimum. For an example, look at any photo of mine on this website.
Video and drone photos are kept on a separate rugged, solid-state disk. This is so I can take it into the field to download files as needed for review, to make sure I got the shot, and as protection against loss of the drone. The file system is basically the same as above. I do store the exported files with the travel blog exports as above. I also back up the drive after every trip, see below.
Backups
Current and recent files are kept on my main hard drive with the exception of video and drone files as noted above.
I have two external backups of all files with one drive kept off premises in case of fire. I try to keep these relatively up to date, but am sometimes lax. However I run TimeMachine on my Mac so current and recent files are constantly being backed up through that mechanism; and hope my house doesn't burn down or burglars steal my computer.
Any questions?
Updated: 2-21-2024If you have questions or comments, please use the e-mail link in the header.