Photography Life

“Dad, there’s some kind of snake in front of the tent.” Those were the words my son used to wake me one July morning. I was expecting, at best, maybe a grass snake, which isn’t too hard to spot here in the damp grass near the creek. Still half-asleep, I asked, “Does it have those yellow crescent-shaped patches behind its head?” The answer I got next woke me up instantly. “No, it doesn’t. It has a zigzag line on its back.”

I’m writing this week’s Photography News from what may be the most exotic place imaginable. At this very moment, I’m roughly a thousand kilometers from the South American mainland, aboard a speeding boat whose deck shudders as it leaps across the waves. The keel slicing through the dark gray surface of the Pacific throws towering sprays of water high into the air. Off the starboard side, equatorial sunlight breaks through distant rain showers, painting a magnificent rainbow across the horizon. Far behind us, Isabela Island and the small Cuatro Hermanos archipelago have already disappeared. But off the port side, some 15 kilometers away, the outlines of another volcanic island—Santa Cruz—are beginning to emerge from the bluish haze. Yes, you guessed correctly: I’m writing from the middle of a living textbook of evolutionary biology—the Galápagos Islands.

I haven’t seen 800 species of birds yet. But I’m close, just eight away. Bird 792? I saw him just a few days ago! A Yellow-headed Blackbird. Cool bird, cool call, cool photo.

Lens flare is one of the more annoying problems in landscape photography, and it can seem like there’s no good way to avoid it (short of compositing two photos together ). But while this can be true, many causes of lens flare are preventable. I’ll take you through some of those today.

Searching for news for our weekly photo roundup is a bit like detective work. Scouring every corner of the internet to find information about new lenses, cameras, and interesting deals takes some searching. So I decided to involve you in the search a little bit too. Don’t worry, you can leave your search engines alone for this one. Instead, you may want to put on your glasses, if you’re like me and need them, and take a close look at the photograph of the high-altitude Andean grassland known as the páramo. Can you spot the animal hidden among the tangle of plants? And if you can, are you able to identify the species from the small photo? If so, let me know in the comments below the article.

Due to the popularity of online video, many people are looking for a dedicated video camera. Today, I’ll be reviewing an all-in-one, pocketable solution one that was released last month: the DJI OSMO Pocket 4. I put it through the test, recording hundreds of clips and a few vlogs. What do I think? Today’s review will answer that question and tell you everything you need to know about the OSMO Pocket 4.

OM System cameras, with their Micro Four Thirds sensors, divide photographers into two camps with starkly different views. To some, they are mere toys with absurdly small sensors that produce noise already at relatively low ISO and have limited ability to isolate subjects, even when paired with very fast lenses. Others, however, praise their light weight and compact size, their almost supernatural image stabilization, unique features, and the benefits of the 2x crop factor.

Most wildlife photographers instinctively head out into the wilderness. The farther from the noise and bustle of the civilized world, the better. Perhaps it’s a reflection of that ancient human desire for adventure and discovery. Yet we often forget that fantastic subjects can be found just minutes from our front door, in locations that only vaguely resemble true wilderness.

A rectangular patch of lawn between two rows of houses. The grass is trimmed to perfection by a robotic mower. Not a single blade stands out, not a single unplanned flower disrupts the uniform green carpet. Everything is sterile, immaculate, and perfectly controlled. The scene might almost resemble a Wimbledon tennis court—if it weren’t for the lounge chair occupied by a sunbathing woman, the picnic table, the clothesline fluttering with freshly washed laundry, and, most importantly, a century-old hollow cherry tree. Half of it died long ago, and according to its owners, the cherries produced by its few remaining branches have been disappointing for years.

I’ve been working on Photography Life’s printer a lot this week, mainly because I’ve had to hide myself away from the rest of society as I try to kick a stubborn fever. I’ve now run our initial tests on about 85 different paper types, and I wanted to share some of those results for you today, starting with Epson papers.