There’s no denying – professional level lenses from any of the major manufacturers are extremely expensive.  If you make your living as a photographer, then it’s simply overhead and in the grand scheme of things a fairly low investment.  For the part-timers, weekenders, hobbyists, etc. it is difficult to justify $8,000 for a lens to shoot junior’s football game or any non-paying (just for fun) project.  I’d guess that most folks will buy what I will call a “compromise lens” like a 80-400 VR or a 70-300 VR, etc. and try to make that work.  The problem is that they just aren’t fast enough to freeze action.  No matter what voodoo technology goes into modern lenses, you simply need a fairly fast shutter speed to freeze action.  Even relatively slow action needs a fairly fast shutter speed like 1/640th or so.  In order to pull that off, you need lots of light.

Outside football game at noon in Florida – no problem.  The compromise lenses will work.  Indoor basketball or swimming – just leave the camera at home unless you have the fast lenses (f2.8).  A tripod or monopod won’t help; VR/IS won’t help.  You either need a fast lens or lots of light.

Wildlife photography requires really long lenses.  A 600mm on a crop sensor is about 900mm which sounds like a lot until you are trying to fill the frame with a bird.  You still have to get incredibly close to your subject with 900mm of focal length.  Take a compromise lens like a 70-300 into the field for birds or wildlife and you will likely get frustrated.  Your subject will be tiny in the frame so you have to crop the image to make the subject fill the frame.  Detail is lost and pixels are tossed in the garbage.

One thing to keep in mind when you rent lenses is that pro gear will test every element of your system.  If you mount a 600mm leans on a cheap tripod, you are likely headed for disaster.  Most backpacks and other travel bags are not designed for massive lenses.  Even though you save a bundle on renting the pro lenses, you may need to invest in proper accessories.

Renting very expensive gear can be extremely stressful.  If it get’s stolen or broken, you just bought the rental company a new lens that you couldn’t afford in the first place.  You might want to call you insurance company, tell them what you are planning, and see what they can do for you.

The way I see it, you have 3 options.  (1) be frustrated, (2) get out the Visa card and go in debt, (3) rent.  Here is a quick look at the cost to rent compared to buying some of Nikon’s high-end lenses.  Purchase prices are from B&H and the rental prices are from my local camera shop, Robert’s Camera.

The current gear coming out of the Nikon stable is nothing short of phenomenal.  The Nikon D3s has incredible sensitivity to low light and the 28-300 VR covers an incredible zoom range.  I put both to the test by trying to photograph the Indy Grand Prix swim meet.  The lighting inside the IUPUI Natatorium is a photographer’s worst nightmare.  I really felt bad for the pros that were there covering the event.  Naturally, they were all using fast glass so they had a 2-stop of light advantage.

Here is a shot of Carly Munchel from the 200 Fly finals at the Indy Grand Prix.  Straight out of the camera. ISO:6400, 300mm, f5.6, 1/350th

The first thing to note is the 6400 ISO – seriously!!  Can we get some more light please  The best I could do with the 28-300 at 5.6 was 1/350.  Not enough to freeze the action, but that’s not really the point of this post.  Notice the dark corners…that’s some pretty severe fall-off. Distortion is not too bad, but lane lines are generally straight.  Now with a single check box in LR3, like magic, it’s fixed!

So, does the lens correction feature in LR3 mean you can get away with less expensive glass?  In some situations, I think the answer is yes, but no way for any type of action.  What’s really sad is that there is about $6000 worth of camera gear taking the above crappy photos.  Even though my photography skills have a long way to go, the hardware that I had would not cut it in this environment.  Current price for a 300mm f2.8 is just around $5800 and you’d still need to shoot around 1600-3200 ISO on a D3.

What did I learn?

1. Sports requires fast glass.
2. Noise at 6400 ISO on a D3 is still pretty nice.
3. Motor drive makes for lots of extra editing work, but it’s totally worth it.
4. Fast swimmers are incredible lean.

One of the most useful features of LightRoom 3′s Library module is the Published Services.     Managing my images that are destined for various MicroStock agencies used to be a chore until I started using Published Services.  I tried using Collections and then just export them to a folder structure on my hard drive which worked ok, but the major flaw was managing rejects, corrections and re-uploads.  I’m always looking for ways to make the workflow easier and more efficient.  Published Services can be used in several different ways; here’s how I set it up for my workflow.  Give it a try.  The directions look long and intimidating, but never fear.  You’ll be done in a snap.

You can find the Published Services section on the lower left side of the Library Module.  LightRoom 3 already comes with several default published services to get you started.  adding a new Published Service is easy.  Click the plus sign to the right on the Published Services title and then click Go to Publishing Manager.  Click Add in the lower left corner of the Publishing Manager box. Make sure you choose Hard Drive and give it a name so you remember what it’s for.  I used iStock to help keep everything organized.

Now you are ready to set the export parameters for your needs.  Most stock agencies have particular rules so make sure you follow them.  I need to export full res images with no watermark, etc. to a common folder.  I decided on using folder structure that started with a folder called Published and then contained sub folders for whatever I publish like stock, blog, lab printing, etc.  Fill out the export screen just like you would if you were going to export the files.The magic happens in the next section.  We need some automation to saves us a few steps.  Published Smart Folders to the rescue!!  Published Smart Folders allows you to choose, from nearly unlimited parameters, a set of search criteria that you want to be published.  Again, personal needs come into play here big time.  I simply decided on using the keyword iStock so if I have an image that has the keyword iStock applied it will automatically show up in my stock Published Services folder waiting on  me to publish it.

Right click on the Published Service that you created in the above and select Create Published Smart Folder from the dialogue box.  Give it a name.  This name will become the folder under the folder that you used in the export settings in the above.  My path looks like …\Published\iStock After you enter the name, define the search criteria that LightRoom will use to dig out your photos.  I’m simply using the keyword iStock.  You can use whatever works for you.  Take a few minutes to look at the list of possibilities.  You could use Flagged, colors, keywords, etc. singularly or in combination.  Once you have it the way you want, click save.  NOTE: If you need to change the name of the folder, delete it and start over.

If you have images in your library that meet the criteria in the above, they will automatically show up under Published Services.  See the first image above.  Select the Published Smart Folder and click Publish and they will process according to your export settings and land in the folder that you specified.

If you don’t have any images showing up in the Published Smart Folder, check your criteria and make sure your images meet that criteria.  In my case, I just need to assign the keyword iStock to the images and they show up under the published smart folder.

If the stock agency declines your image, simply remove the iStock keyword and it will be removed from the Published Smart Folder and the exported file will be deleted when you click Publish.  Neat and tidy just the way I like it.  If the stock agency says we like your file but you need to make a minor adjustment before we accept it.  No problem.  Edit the original file in LightRoom. Click on the Published Smart Folder and the newly edited file is sitting there waiting on you to re-publish it.

The only way that this could get any easier is if LightRoom could talk directly to each stock agency like it does with Flickr, SmugMug, and Facebook.  A few minutes setting this up will save tons of time down the line.

After reading Captured by Moose Peterson and following his blog for a year or so, I finally decided to rent some pro glass and spend some time putting his advice to practice.  I picked up a 600mm f4 from Robert’s rental department, slid it into my reconfigured Kata 222-UL backpack, and headed to southwest Florida.  Moose made a point to know the biology of the critters so you can get a close as possible.  This came fairly natural since I grew up stalking Trout and Salmon in tiny streams of upstate New York.  Everything else was far from natural.

A thousand thoughts are flooding my brain as I approach a White Ibis feeding in a very shallow pool of water.  I’m trying to recall f-stops, shutter speed, light direction, fill the frame, get close, ISO, plant the tripod, don’t drop $10,000 worth of gear, oh yeah – make a picture and don’t chop off the reflection thru the head.  My D300 with grip rips off pics like an AK47.  Blam..10…11..12..shots rip off.  One has to be good.  right.  Well I’m pretty happy with this shot.  Could be a tad sharper, but I’m happy.

I learned so much trying to put Moose’s teachings into practice.  I now fully understand the importance of minimum focusing distance.  I was using the older 600mm with a MFD of just under 20 ft so once a critter got closer than 20 ft I had to pick another subject.  Good thing there were plenty to choose from.

I found it incredibly difficult to get the background just the way I wanted it.  The 600mm compresses the background and blurs everything to creamy nothingless provided the stars are aligned just right. If branches and whatnot are too close, they become a distracting blob.  Condos in the background don’t really make the shot sing and a drain culvert doesn’t exactly scream artsy fartsy.  Once I found some good separation between my subject and the background I started getting the types of shots that I came for.

At nearly 12.5 Lbs, the 600 mm lens puts the rest of your gear to the test.  I admit, I’m a cheapskate when it comes to tripods.  They are the biggest pain – awkward, heavy, etc.  My mid-entry level sticks were buckling under the strain.  I really struggled getting sharp shots in low, early morning, light.  If I found a stationary bird, I used my timer (poor man’s cable release) to eliminate the shakes.  I worked on my long lens technique, but it just wasn’t enough to get a sharp shot.  Thankfully, 8fps came to the rescue.  I’d rip off 6-8-10 shots and hope one was sharp.  Not ideal.  So I’m convinced that I need to upgrade a few things, but most importantly, I need to keep shooting.

This is from Corkscrew Swamp in Florida.

I have to admit.  I have no clue what kind of frog this little guy is.  I’m learning the photography side and it looks like I need to learn about the critters I shoot as well.  Hopefully some frog expert will contact me and let me know.  Ha – that’s the easy way out for sure.  Once I find out what it is, I’ll update my post.

I shot this with my 70-300 VR in very dim light from within the shady swamp.  Shot at iso 200, 1/10th @ f5.6.  I really didn’t want to bump the iso, but I think I needed a bit more shutter speed for handheld.  I’m still getting used to this lens, but I think we’ll get along just fine.

I’m ready to go back to Tuscany.  The views even on a rainy day were phenomenal.  Tuscany is on the short list of ‘places I could live’.  Maybe next time, we’ll get to do some cycling and touring the other small towns in the area.  Great photo opportunities are literally everywhere.

Here’s a collection of interesting walls that I shot while on vacation in Italy.  I love the use of various colors against the rustic stone.  That screams Tuscany to me.  The featured image at the top is from a residence in Venice.  It looks like the different color paint demarcates the different people living in the building.

The Gay Head area on Martha’s Vineyard was one of the highlights on me and my wife’s day-trip to Martha’s Vineyard.  We rented a scooter and ‘raced’ to the other end of the island at a top speed of 28 mph.  When we got there, we found a cliff and a lighthouse.  I’m not sure what we expected, but we were both a little deflated when we got there.  After a couple obligatory pics from the ‘tourist stand here for a pic’ spot, we moved on.  After several minutes of wringing the poor scooter’s neck, we pulled off at another ‘tourist stand here for a pic’ spot. To my surprise and frustration, the seat compartment containing my camera was jammed shut.  I called the number for the scooter company and they never answered so we mounted our fearless scooter and headed back to the rental company.  The mechanic had to disassemble the scooter to get our stuff out which took about an hour.  New scooter, stuff, wife – GO!!!! Yeah well in the end, I’m not really sure why anyone goes to Martha’s Vineyard.  We don’t get what attracted so many people to a fairly small place.  Maybe if we had more time, we’d discover its charm or beauty or whatever it is that attracts so many people to the island.

Here is a sampling of some of the most amazingly fresh produce around different cities in Italy.  It didn’t seem to matter which city we were in; there was always a fresh produce stand.  Everything looked perfectly ripe, brightly colored, and unblemished.  I could not resist buying a nectarine to see if it tasted as good as it looked.  I don’t speak Italian so I pointed to the nectarines and made a one sign with my index finger to the man behind all the produce.  He started filling a bag and I said no just one.  Afterwards, I realized that he thought I wanted 1 kilogram.  The taste of my solitary nectarine certainly did not disappoint in the slightest.  Crisp outer skin, firm flesh, and a sweetness that cannot be compared to anything that I’ve ever had.  No question that I will make my way back to Italy if just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.