This was a failed first attempt at attracting the authorities with flying sparks (some reaching heights taller than the freeway above us). More seriously, the sparks were made combing very fine grade steel wool, metal cabling and a 9V battery. All exposures were made using a Nikon D3 and a 17-35mm 2.8 lens. Exposure lengths vary, but most were around 8 seconds.

Things to work on:

• Better location
• Cleaner looking Orbs
• Nicer cabling job (my hand was seriously bloody by the end of the night)
• Wear all black next time

This is a “cave” near Pyramid Lake, NV during the recent meteor showers. 2.5 hours of exposing, freezing and conversing with some photo buddies. The red glow comes from a red-gelled headlamp facing into the rocks behind the camera.

And speaking of star trails, I’ll leave you with this new video I hacked together from my recent star trails’ still images.

Comments welcome…

I will never be able to afford most of these items, but I can always dream. Here they are in no particular order……

10.  Shen-Hao 4×5 Field Camera

One of my biggest regrets is selling my beautiful Shen-Hao 4×5 field camera. Beautifully crafted from teak wood and utilizing a full set of movements, this is one of the best values in a 4×5 field camera out there. The camera folds up to the size of a thick book. I used to shoot a ton of 4×5 and once I switched to digital, I sold off all my gear. One of these days, I’ll convert my basement into a darkroom and get another one of these babies. Street $600

9. X-Rite Eye-One Xtreme w/ iO Automated Scanning Table

This is a completely automated print profiling solution. The robotic arm moves the accurate spectrophotometer over the print swatch to create custom RGB and CMYK profiles. Just what the doctor ordered for specialty papers.  Street:  $1,495.00 (iXtreme) + $1895 Table

8. Prism Science Works SPOT strobe

My dream setup for my high-speed and ballistics photography. This baby weighs 10lbs and will fire at a duration of 1/2,000,00 sec. (yep, that’s one-two millionth of a second)! According to the specs,  “A typical camera setting is f/5.6 to f/8 at 200 ASA for objects illuminated from 3 feet..” Impressive!
Price: unknown (guessing in the thousands)

7. Underwater Housing for Nikon D3: Subal ND3 

One of the best, most modular underwater housing available for the Nikon D3. This housing supports a variety of flash and lens options and gives you complete control underwater.  Apparently Thomas P. Peschak uses one for his stunning underwater photography.  Street:  $6100

6.  Nikon 200mm f/2 AF-S VR lens

My absolute dream lens. I’ve seen the images and shot a few frames through one. This massive sized 200mm has beautiful bokeh properties and is one of National Geographic photographer, Joe McNally’s favorite lenses.  Street: $4999.95

5. 17”x22” photo paper! (Preferably Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl)

I recently got a great deal on an Epson 3800 and I’ve yet to do a print bigger than 13×19. Photo Rag pearl is a beautiful surface and considering this is probably the only thing on the list I can afford without taking out a mortgage, I will probably pick some up soon!  Street: $129 for a 20 pack (ouch!) 

4. Lucis 6 pro

Very cool and super expensive software that creates a unique local contrast enhancement look. The output is similar to the works of Dave hill (although one can use the software without going to that extreme). The software is commonly used in medical, scientific and forensics fields for enhancing minute details in photos. Lucis website.  
Street: $595

3. Really Right Stuff BH-40 or BH-55 ballhead

Arguably the best ballheads out there! They are very well built, hold more than enough weight for most applications and support the arca-swiss style plates. The heads also come in multiple configurations. Combine one of these heads with a RRS or Kirk L-bracket and you’ve got the ultimate head solution.
Street: $375-$450

2. Nikon 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye AF lens

I used my old Nikon 10.5mm fisheye all the time when I shot a D300 and now that I’m shooting full-frame, I need a new fisheye. Back in the film days, I owned a cheap MC Zenitar 16mm 2.8 lens made in Ukraine and it worked well. That is a much cheaper option ($150 on eBay), but the Zenitar doesn’t come close to the quality of the Nikon. Plus the Nikon has autofocus.
Street: $929.00

1. Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S ED lens

This is my most practical “next lens” choice. It will replace my trusty 35-70mm 2.8 AF and is one of the sharpest zoom lenses that Nikon makes plus it is a ton smaller and lighter than the older 28-70mm 2.8 AF-S lens.
Street: $1779.00

Class schedule after the break….

Editing with Photoshop Elements 8 (Windows)

Location: Gordon’s Reno

January 6 & 7 2010, 6:30 to 9:00 PM
February 2 & 3 2010, 6:30 to 9:00 PM

This two session class provides the necessary basics for beginner to intermediate photographers who want to take their images to the next level with basic editing skills. if you always thought that "post production" was for advertising firms, let us show you how to make your images "pop" off the screen or paper! The class covers everything from organization to heavy retouching, color management, printing & more:

Topics Include:

• Images storage & organization
• Raw format manipulation
• Monitor calibration
• Color balance
• Correcting contrast
• Cropping
• Removing unwanted portions of your image
• Layers & layer masks
• Image sizing for the web & print
• …and more

Nikon DSLR: Basics (D300, D300s and D700 cameras)

Location: Gordon’s Reno

Janurary 12 2010, 6:30 to 9:00 PM

Take full advantage of your Nikon D300, D300s or D700 DSLR! Explore the various controls and menu settings while learning helpful techniques to improve your photography in various shooting situations. The class caters to beginner to intermediate photographers and covers basic to advanced camera settings and techniques.

Topics Include:

• Basic camera settings and techniques
• The exposure modes
• Introduction to manual exposure, shutter speed and aperture
• ISO and noise
• Understanding white balance
• Mastering autofocus
• Tips, settings and ideas for specific shooting siutations (sports, portraits, indoors, etc)
• Custom Functions – customizing the camera for you
• Camera RAW
• Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) – using wireless lighting
• and more…

Intro to High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography

Location: Gordon’s Reno

February 5 2010, 6:30 to 9:00 PM

Learn how to create stunning High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography using any DSLR. The class covers camera settings, scene selection, tonemapping and styling HDR images using Photomatix & Photoshop CS4 software. Class requires a good understanding your camera’s manual exposure controls (digital 101 and 102 recommended).

Topics Include:

• Understanding tonal and dynamic range
• Scene selection, ’seeing in HDR’ and other aesthetic ideas
• The tools you’ll need
• Camera settings, exposure bracketing
• Exploring HDR software choices
• Adobe Photoshop CS4 for HDRs
• Tonemapping with Photomatix Software
• Photo realistic vs. illustrative HDRs
• Pseudo single file HDRs
• Building HDR panoramas

Adobe Lightroom: From Import to Output

Location: Gordon’s Reno

February 23 & 24 2010, 6:30 to 9:00 PM

From import to output, Lightroom is Adobe’s complete software solution for photographers. Learn how to organize and manage your photo library and optimize your workflow while taking advantage of the lightrooms powerful raw editing capabilities. Impress friends, family and clients by creating beautiful slideshows, web galleries and prints. Once you go lightroom, you never go back!

Topics Include:

• Introduction to menus and modules
• Photo Library Organization and Management
• Enhanced Workflow tips
• Batch processing, tagging, rating and other time saving techniques
• Nondestructive RAW editing techniques
• Create powerful slideshows and galleries
• Printing simplified
• Plug-ins and add ons
• Integration with Photoshop software
• Intro to printing in lightroom
• and more…

While I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the huge amount of great photos I took from just a few hours of shooting, I figured I’d post a few!

All photos taken with a Nikon D3 and a 17-35mm 2.8 lens.

I plan on returning to shoot some star trails at the geyser soon so stay tuned…

And a special bonus photo:

Kevin doing what it takes to get his shot. Ironically, trying to get this photo of him I dunked my camera’s vertical grip! Meanwhile his camera remained unharmed. Figures….

I’ve never shot the Reno Air Races which is pretty much ridiculous for a Reno based photographer who loves aviation. So when a buddy said he could get me pit access at night, I jumped on the idea. By the time I got out of work and reached the airport, the sun had already gone down. In the evening, the aircraft are bathed in ugly glow of the bright sodium vapor lights, making it very difficult to get any decent photos. As a result, I improvised with my own lighting.

Just as I unpacked my gear, the Military Police showed up and told me I wasn’t supposed to be near the military aircraft, but they decided to give me a few minutes to grab a shot. I scrambled to set up my lights, stands, gels and tripod. Considering I literally had 5 minutes to set this one up, I think it turned out pretty well. There is just a hint of blue in the sky that really stands out when the photo is viewed on black (click on the photo to view on black).

Thanks to my buddy Cliff for the pit access (and keeping conversation with the MPs) while I ran around like a photographer on speed adjusting and position lights.

Lighting Specs: 5x bare Nikon Speedlights (4 with CTOs and one under with a heavy red gel).  Basically, the CTO speedlights are positioned in an X pattern shooting at 1/2 power at 24mm. All triggered by Skyports.

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm, F15 Eagle

Here are some high-speed shots from my analog month. All photos were created using an audio trigger and multiple speedlights set to 1/128th power. I am working on a guide detailing how to make photos similar to these, stay tuned…

It was there, on the dusty floor lined with torn Jehovah’s witness brochures and the occasional playing card, that we slept.

Above: Clocking in at 7 hours (stacked), this shot of an old single room school building is the longest star trails shot I’ve done thus far. Specs: Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm, 70 x 6min = 7 hours,  f/4, ISO 500.

A Coleman lantern illuminated the inside and a red gelled flash light painted the exterior. Thanks to Jon for the superb light painting.

Above: This was the scene at sunrise near the main house on the Ranch. Due to a slight oversight on my part (stupidity), I didn’t have any spare batteries and since my seven hour exposure had just finished my battery, I had to frantically “get creative” with ways to warm up my battery to squeeze out a few extra photos of the quickly approaching sunrise. Meanwhile, Jon happily took his time composing, focusing and exposing with his completely battery free 4×5 camera setup.

Specs: Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55mm 2.8, 1/100th, F11, ISO 400, battery life = 1% !

Above: At 5:00am my alarm went off to remind me to turn off my camera and prepare to shoot the sunrise. I bundled up, stepped outside into the brisk ranch air and as I turned my camera off, I looked up. This is what I saw. In the larger version of the photo, you’ll notice the galaxy Andromeda a few degrees above and to the left of the point on the roof of the house.

Specs: Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm, 30 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 800. I ran around like an idiot trying to paint the house with a flashlight during the 30 second exposure.