The blog of adventure photographer Michael Clark

The Annular Eclipse as seen in Albuquerque, NM

05.21.12

Last night, on May 20th, 2012, the annular eclipse lined up perfectly for those of us in New Mexico. I drove down to Albuquerque and shot images of the annular eclipse in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, just above the city of Albuquerque. All of the images in this blog post, save for one, are composites of actual photographs that were put together in Photoshop. The actual eclipse lasted for about four minutes, but the moon was blocking some part of the sun for a total of about 80 minutes.

To create these images I shot with a Nikon D800 and a Nikkor 70-200mm F/2.8G VRII lens. I had a Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter attached to the front of the 70-200. The Vari-ND is a variable neutral density filter that allows me to stop the light down anywhere from 2 to 8 stops of light. For these images I had the Vari-ND set to block the maximum amount of light, i.e. 8-stops. Hence, that is why the surrounding sky is pure black. They make for a very graphic image, though I suppose if I wanted to I could have created these in photoshop.

As the sun descended, it neared the horizon and turned orange, since the eclipse happened near sunset. In the last few shots of these composites, if I zoom into the images I can see sunspots on the sun. At no point during the eclipse could you look at the sun with the naked eye, or even wearing dark sunglasses, and not injure your retina. Hence, it was only by looking through a filter that was basically pitch black that I could get these images.

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Spring 2012 Newsletter

05.18.12

The Spring 2012 issue of the Michael Clark Photography Newsletter is now available for download. If you’d like to sign up for the Newsletter just drop me an email and I’ll add you to the mailing list.

This issue includes an editorial about why this first newsletter of the year is so late in coming, an in-depth, “non-technical” review of the Nikon D4 and D800, an article about an assignment I shot for Lifstil last September, an excerpt from my latest book Exposed: Inside the Life and Images of a Pro Photographer, a perspective article entitled “A Torturous Process” and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over 6,000 thousand photo editors, photographers and photo enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Spring 2012 issue on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/spring_2012.pdf

If you’d like to check out back issues of the newsletter they are available here.

Please note that the newsletter is best viewed in the latest Adobe Acrobat reader which is available for free at www.adobe.com.

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Get a 35% discount on my New Book Exposed

05.16.12

I just got word from PeachPit that they are offering a 35% discount and free shipping on my latest book Exposed: Inside the Life and Images of a Pro Photographer. This discount is good until June 1, 2012.

Buy it now and save 35% off plus free shipping in the U.S.! Just go to the link below, choose the eBook or book, and enter the discount code EXPOSED512 during the checkout process. Here is the link:

http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321811232

Code: EXPOSED512
Expiration Date: 6/1/12

My thanks to PeachPit and New Riders for offering this discount on the book. Feel free to let me know what you think of the new book here on the blog, on Amazon or send me an email directly.

This book is the most interesting of the three that I have written because it includes detailed accounts of many of my most adventurous assignments. For more information on the book, check out the full description on my website here.

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Live “Twitterview” with Michael Clark – May 17, 2012 @ 11 AM PST

05.11.12

Join photographer and author Michael Clark for a lively Twitterview about his adventures as a professional photographer and his advice for others looking to go pro.

Michael Clark, author of Exposed: Inside the Life and Images of a Pro Photographer, will answer your most pressing questions in easy-to-manage 140-character bites via Twitter on Thursday, May 17, at 11 am PST.

To tune in, just follow @Peachpit and @michaeljayclark. You can even set up a Tweetdeck group with just those 2 tweeps and follow along or search for this hashtag: #MichaelClark. You can also follow along with the interview at http://twebevent.com/MichaelClark .

In the Twitterview, @michaeljayclark will offer an inside look at his most demanding assignments and tips for how photographers can improve their skills and find inspiration.

Send your questions for Michael to @Peachpit or post them as comments to this blog with your Twitter name. We’ll pick a few random questions to ask, and if yours is chosen, you win a free copy of Exposed: Inside the Life and Images of a Pro Photographer!

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The New Book “Exposed” is finally out!

04.29.12

I am happy to report that my new book, Exposed: Inside the Life and Images of a Pro Photographer is finally out and is shipping right now to those that have pre-ordered the book. I am also very happy to report that the book looks very nice. If you have been holding off on this book you can order it through PeachPit directly, Amazon and Barnes and Nobles. Click on the link above to go to my website and read more about the book.

This book is, once again, chocked full of info, and also includes a fair number of adventure stories as well. Even if you are not an aspiring pro, if you are just looking for a book with some good adventure stories or need some inspiration, this book might be of interest to you. Below are a few screenshots of some of the spreads. As you can see there are stories about the images and how they were created, post-processing tips and techniques that I use regularly, and finally there are quite a few lighting diagrams that show exactly how I had my gear set up to create certain images.

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My new Book “Exposed” due out April 27, 2012

04.17.12

I have just gotten word that my latest book, Exposed: Inside the Life and Images of a Pro Photographer, will be available earlier than expected. It will start shipping from PeachPit on April 29th and from Amazon and Barnes and Nobles on May 11th. So if you have already pre-ordered the book you will be getting it soon. If you have not pre-ordered the book you can order it through PeachPit, Amazon or Barnes and Nobles.

For a full description of the book visit my website. The idea behind this book is to strip some of the glamour off this profession and share a wide range of stories and experiences to give the reader a very clear view of what it is like to be a working professional photographer. I also discuss twelve images in detail and tell how they were created, the story behind the images, how they were shot and also how they were worked up so that everyone can see the entire process and what it took to get the shot.

This book has been a long time in coming and explains why there have been a lack of blog posts the last three months and no winter issue of the Newsletter. Right now I am also updating my digital workflow e-book, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: A Professional Photographers Workflow for Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS6. That updated e-book should be available in late May. Lots of new publications in the works these days!

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The Nikon D4 has Landed

03.29.12

I don’t usually create blog posts talking about a specific piece of equipment, but in this case I am so stoked on Nikon’s new cameras I just thought I would put a blurb up on the blog here about the Nikon D4 sitting on my desk. The image quality is superb and the video capture features are pretty impressive (for a DSLR). I have the D800 on order as well so it will be very interesting to see how these new cameras perform. Of course, I will have full reviews of both the D4 and the D800 in my upcoming Newsletters. Look for a review of the D4 in my Spring 2012 Newsletter coming out here in the next few months. You can check out all the specs on these cameras on Nikons website.

In the last ten days or more that I have had the camera I have been very impressed with this new pro offering. As you might expect, the image quality is superb—as confirmed by DxO Labs, which rated the new D4’s image quality as third only to the Nikon D800, which got first place in their tests, and the Phase One IQ180 Digital Back. It beat out a host of medium format cameras in terms of image quality though it only has a 16 MP sensor, which is saying a lot. Nikon now has four cameras in the top ten on DxO Labs top-rated cameras.

There are some on the internet talking about how the D4 image quality isn’t much better than the Nikon D3s, but from what I have seen it is better in almost every respect. Sure the high ISO noise is not that much improved from the D3s, but considering the image file size is 4 MP larger (16 Mp vs. 12 MP), I find it amazing that they were able to keep the amount of noise in the images at high ISOs on par with the D3s. The Nikon D4 will be the low light camera to beat in terms of low noise at high ISOs. So far, the image quality I have seen from this camera at all ISOs up to 12,800 is brilliant. At ISO 12,800 the lack of noise is astounding. While I was wishing for a 24 MP pro body, with the same high ISO noise characteristics of the D3s and the ability to shoot at 10 fps, the resolution of the D4 and the image quality is a nice update.

The video capabilities are also far superior to anything Nikon has ever done on that front. The video capabilities, which were highly anticipated, have lived up to the hype. I have been duly impressed with the video quality straight out of the camera. It beats anything I have seem from any other DSLR, including the Canon 5d Mark II. In my testing so far the video footage is tack sharp and has very little noise at high ISOs. And the crop factors (1X, 1.2X, 1.5X and 2.7X) along with the clean, uncompressed 1080p footage make this an extremely capable HD video camera. I am definitely looking forward to shooting more motion projects with this camera, and with the forthcoming Nikon D800.

You can bet that I will continue to run a lot of tests on this camera before my next assignments. I will say this though, with the camera firing at 11 frames per second it sounds like a machine gun going off. I can’t wait to shoot some serious action with this puppy! Stay tuned…more to come soon.

Pictured above: Nikon D4 with the AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G lens

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