On The Road
"Traveling with the New Nikon D3"

 Image #1      Irena ... I love to make Lightpaintings. I have been making them for about 8 years and always look for an opportunity to make something new even if it is not an assignment or commissioned job. A good friend and talented photographer Allison Earnest (see examples of her career images at www.allisonearnestphotography.com) was wanting to learn more about Lightpainting for a project she was working on. Fashion and Portraits are Allison's specialty and are a far throw from my field of sports. We decided to get together and team up for this image of Irena. I would teach Allison how to Lightpaint and she would schedule a model and location, select the fashion style and compose the scene. I guess I got the easy part. Allison was a quick study and in a short time made some beautiful lightpainted images of Irena and the pick up truck. I also made a few pictures of Irena during our class session and liked this one. Normally I would use a low ISO of 100 or 200 for most Lightpaintings but thought that ISO500 might allow me to use a smaller light source for this slightly larger than life size scene. I used a small Inova XO3 LED flashlight to illuminate Irena and the truck. I also used one Brinkmann 2 million candle handheld rechargeable spot light to backlight the truck and tree. I already knew the exceptionally low noise capability of the D3 at high ISO settings like 1600, 3200 and even 6400 but was anxious to see what a long exposure of 30 seconds at ISO500 might look like. Perfectly clean. No Noise at all and a wonderful increase of Dynamic Range that revealed great detail in the shadow areas with beautiful, clean edges. This was a significant improvement over the D2Xs and D200. Nikon D3, ISO500, 30 second exposure at f8, Nikon 24-70mm Lens, WB 7000K, Gitzo Tripod and Gitzo Ball Head, Inova XO3 LCD Flashlight and One Brinkmann Q Beam, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #4A.      Aspen Leaf with Rain Droplets ... I enjoy teaching small off camera flash lighting techniques at many of workshops I work with. The Photography at the Summit is no exception and so I conducted some classes using an off camera SB800 Speedlight with the D3. The ISO of 640 was perfectly clean with no noise at all. Normally the photographer would set up a tripod and use a low ISO of 100 or 200 but the advantage of using a noise free ISO640 made this picture quick and easy with less to carry and set up. Sometimes I want to shoot and move on location and do so without backpacks and tripods. It's nice to be able to take a perfectly clean quality image with out carrying a lot of luggage. This idea echoes my thoughts from this months Workshop at the Ranch article stating that with the Nikon D3 camera ISO400 and ISO800 will now be considered LOW ISO settings. Nikon D3, ISO640, 1/250 at f5.6, WB 8000K, One Nikon SB800 Speedlight as a remote off camera flash with a power setting of -0.3 with LumiQuest Snoot "pinched" with a paper clip (see past editions of Workshop at the Ranch and On The Road articles), Nikon SU800 Commander on the D3 Hotshoe to trigger the remote SB800, Lexar 8G Flash Card. I used the Picture Control setting of Vivid and increased the sharpness, contrast, brightness and saturation in the Picture Control Vivid menu.

Image #4B.      Aspen Leaf with Rain Droplets (close up cropped detail) ... I have cropped the image for a closer study. The clean file at ISO640 is remarkable and the details that the new Nikon 12.1 megapixel FX Format CMOS Imaging Sensor are able to produce are wonderful.

Image #5.      Gold and White ... The weather was broken overcast with snow showers all the way home from Jackson Hole to Colorado Springs. Usually a 10 hour drive via I-80 and I-25 I decided to take the long way home down through the NE corner of Utah and then east across the Rocky Mountains for more picture opportunities. The snow and scenery was so lovely that I had to stop several times adding 5 hours to my journey, but it was worth it. This Aspen grove had a fresh dusting of snow as the clouds parted for a brief minute, so I took a picture. Nikon D3, ISO320, 1/200 at f10, Nikon 200-400mm G VR Zoom Lens with TC14E 1.4 Teleconverter, WB 7140K, Picture Control Vivid with increase of contrast, brightness and saturation, rolled down Car Window to help steady the lens, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #7A.      Gotham ... My efforts photographing with Nikon's new D3 camera over the past 3 months culminated at the Photo East EXPO trade show in New York City. I was asked to give several presentations over three days featuring my commentary and images taken with the D3. I decided to walk back to my hotel from the EXPO one foggy evening so I could take pictures. Lots of interesting scenes and buildings including this one somewhere near 47th and 7th. I really like this picture. I think Batman leaves in this building. It has such a Marvel Comic feeling. Again the moment would usually call for a tripod but I did not have one handy so I opted for an ISO of 1000 with full confidence of a clean image with the D3. Nikon D3, ISO1000, 1/60 at 3.5, Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 Lens, WB 3330K, Picture Control Vivid with sharpness and contrast dialed down slightly, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #7B      Gotham (close up cropped detail) ... I have cropped the image for a closer study. Even at ISO1000 the file remains extremely clean. The edge detail looks fantastic as even the curtains and potted plants are defined in the windows.

WORKSHOPS and PRESENTATION Schedule

April 14-22, 2009 ... Photo Quest Adventures, The Netherlands. www.photoquestadventures.com