Photo Art

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Gear Friday: Sanyo Eneloop Batteries

I’ve been using small strobes (Speedlites) for my product photography work for some time now and one problem that continues to dog me is inconsistent battery life. I love the flexibility my Canon 580EX II’s provide me but these little buggers will drain a set of NiMH rechargeable batteries fairly quickly so I’m recharging sixteen to twenty batteries almost every night.

The other problem with typical NiMH batteries is predictability. I never seem to get the same number of shots from any two sets of freshly charged batteries. Since I shoot with three strobes this means one or two always seem to give out just as I get things rolling. I also hate the fact that NiMH batteries seem to self-discharge rapidly when NOT being used. This means that I always have to recharge the batteries right before a shoot.

A few weeks ago a friend suggested I look at Sanyo’s eneloop batteries, which he said “solved the self-discharge and consistency” issues I’d been facing. So I bought a set of four, along with a charger and set out to see if he was right. Man, was I in for a few pleasant surprises!

Sanyo eneloop batteries come pre-charged just like alkaline batteries and can be used right out of the box.

Sanyo eneloop batteries seem to last MUCH longer than NiMH batteries AND alkaline batteries in my Canon 580Ex II’s.

Sanyo eneloop batteries actually cost slightly less than conventional NiMH batteries.

Today I use Sanyo eneloop batteries in all my Canon 580EX II’s and my CP-4E battery packs. I can shoot hundreds of product shots in a day without having one or more strobes give out in the middle of a shoot. I’m not constantly changing out batteries and using every outlet in sight to recharge batteries right before a shoot.

I know this may seem trivial on the surface, but it’s one of these little things that has always annoyed the hell out of me. Now I can concentrate on getting the shot rather than fiddling with batteries all day long.

For more information on how the Sanyo eneloop batteries work please visit Sanyo’s eneloop web site. Most of what I read went right over my head but you might have better luck. BTW, Sanyo does not sponsor Serious Amateur Photography or myself and all opinions discussed in this editorial review are my personal views based upon my personal experiences. As always, your mileage may vary.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon 580EX II Speedlite, Photography, Sanyo eneloop batteries, Strobist

Simple Landscape Composition Rules

I hesitate to write this post since there are about as many rules of composition as there are photographers and the best landscape images I’ve ever seen break these rules with impunity. It’s hard to describe what makes the composition of a certain image “work” for me and I rarely follow the “rule of thirds”. For me it’s more a feeling of “rightness” than anything else, although I do tend to follow Moose Peterson’s advice; "Regardless of where the horizon is, a good landscape image needs an interesting foreground, middle-ground and background to pull the viewer into the image".

Take this image for example. I walked around this small lake at Buescher State Park in Smithville, Texas looking for different shots to capture. The late afternoon light was almost perfect and the still lake reflected the autumn colors beautifully. The reflections in the water made a wonderful foreground with the trees providing the key subject of the middle-ground and the high, thin clouds providing a striking background. I used the tree branches on the left to add some framing to the image.

Picture Perfect – Buescher State Park, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on manual (M) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens hand-held. The exposure was taken at 47mm, f/16 for 1/10th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray warming polarizer. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Buescher State Park, Canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Landscape Photography, Photography, Texas Landscapes

Friday, August 23, 2013

Water

Here’s another shot taken during the Texas Landscape Safari at our first shoot in the Colorado Bend State Park near Lampasas, Texas. The geology of the area is fascinating and looks as if it belongs in Hawaii, rather than some remote corner of Texas. Each time I visit, Gorman Falls looks different (depending upon the flow from the springs) and offers unique photographic opportunities. This is one spot that I never tire of visiting.

Water – Colorado Bend State Park, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 35mm, f/14 for 1 second using a Singh-Ray Vari-ND-Duo neutral density filter at ISO 100. Post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Nature Photography, Photography, Texas Landscape Safari

Photo-Hiking in the Hill Country

Hill Country Hiking – Bandera, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on manual (M) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens hand-held. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/11 for 1/30th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray warming polarizer. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Photo-Hiking around the Texas Hill Country on a cool autumn day is a treat for the senses and a workout for your legs. The hiking trails in this part of the state go on for miles and miles with switchbacks around every corner.

Garmin Dakota 20 GPS

It’s easy to become disoriented and the park trail maps are fairly worthless for the most part. That’s why there are three things that a photographer should bring on any photo-hike.

Plenty of Water
A Good Compass
A Mapping GPS

The Garmin Dakota 20 is a new model based upon Garmin’s proven Oregon design. This rugged little GPS combines touchscreen navigation, high-sensitivity satellite prediction, barometric altimeter, 3-axis electronic compass and microSD slot in an affordable ($349 USD) package. It also boasts 20 hours of battery life (2 AA cells) which beats the Oregon models by four hours.

Detailed topo maps are available from Garmin or on the Internet for almost every part of the globe. Some folks have even mapped out all the best photographic spots in a certain National or State Park and offer these tracks for free or for sale at very little cost. Now I’m no GPS expert but after using the Dakota 20 for navigation and geotagging my images a few times I can’t imagine going on a photo-hike without it.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Hill Country State Natural Area, Landscape Photography, Photography, Texas Landscapes

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Strange Rocks at McKinney Falls

Here's another shot taken a few weeks ago at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin. This shot of the upper falls shows just how powerful the flow of water can be over thousands or even millions of years. The crevices cut into the rock are large enough to fall through and I had a tough time just setting up my tripod without slipping on the strange wet rocks.

Strange Rocks

Strange Rocks – McKinney Falls State Park, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on manual (M) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 40mm, f/16 for 5 seconds at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray Vari-ND-Duo neutral density and warming polarizer filter. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Landscape Photography, McKinney Falls State Park, Photography, Texas Landscapes

Gear Friday – Powering your Speedlites

I’m a strong believer in David Hobby’s “Strobist” techniques and Kirk Tuck’s “minimalist” lighting philosophy as detailed in his best-selling book Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography. Back in the late 70′s I dabbled in this with very little success using Vivitar Thyristor 285 strobes, which strangely enough, some folks still use today.

As a Canon shooter I use Canon’s 580EX II Speedlites for all my product (and now) commercial photography work. Although not as sophisticated as Nikon’s SB900 and CLS (creative lighting system), Canon’s Speedlites work very well in the field with one exception; they suck batteries dry at a furious pace.

I solved this issue by switching to Sanyo’s Eneloop rechargeable batteries as I described in my post earlier this week and by using Canon’s CP-E4 battery pack as shown below. The CP-E4 holds eight AA size batteries and when plugged into the 580EX II Speedlite, it more than doubles the flash capacity and reduces the recycle time considerably.

When using the CP-E4, the four batteries already in the Speedlite are used to control the strobe and the eight external batteries are used to power the strobe. This separation of power seems to work very well and I’ve taken several hundred shots without draining the battery pack. My only complaint about this setup is the cost. Canon charges around $135 (USD) for their CP-E4 battery pack although you can find after-market packs for around half this price.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon Speedlites