A Note from Mentor

Hey gang! Having visited the Columbia River Gorge and Crater Lake as part of a family vacation, I’m thrilled to be going back for a photo workshop. The area is rich in stunning views and beautiful vistas, truly a photographer’s delight. With the kind of scenes we’ll encounter, I have two main gear suggestions – a good tripod and filters. For a tripod, the whole point is stability, so forget the very lightweight small ones. Strength equals stability, so a solid tripod is usually heavier than you’d prefer. The one exception to that are the carbon-fiber models, which are lightweight thanks to the material they’re made of. However, they’re going to be more expensive. A good tripod will last a lot of years, so think of it as an investment, find one that’s solid (no wobble), then get a good ballhead and quick-release system (plate for the bottom of the camera). If you buy a cheap tripod you’ll just find out you need to replace it with something better, so spend the money the first time. And a good tripod is a pleasure to use, so you’ll use it more often. For filters, the one that everyone should have in their bag is a good circular polarizing filter. Circular is the design, not shape, and different from a linear polarizer (which you don’t want as it can affect autofocus and metering). If you like shooting with very wide-angle lenses, make sure and get a “thin” one that’s designed to prevent vingnetting at the edges of those wide-angles. And again, buy a good one. Spend more money than you’d like (probably around $100 or more). A poor filter will result in image degradation. And here’s one more tip – buy a polarizer for the largest diameter lens you’ve got, then get an inexpensive step-down ring for any small lenses. For instance, I often shoot with lenses that have a 77mm filter ring. However, I have some smaller lenses (68mm), and so bought a $10 step-down ring to allow me to use the 77mm filter on the 68mm lens. Not only is it cheap, it’s small and light. Since we’ll be shooting lots of landscapes, the other essential filter (or filters) are graduated neutral density. These are rectangular (don’t get a circular screw-in design) and allow you to gradually darken the scene from one edge inward. They’re great for dealing with those photos where the sky is much brighter above the horizon than below it. You want the rectangular because you can then adjust how high or low that darkening goes. They’re made in “hard” and “soft,” meaning how gradually the darkening occurs, and in various densities (how much they darken). A good starter kit is the “Cokin Graduated Neutral Density Filter Kit for "P" Series (3 Filters and Filter Holder),” for about $60. And then get the ring that will allow you to mount the holder to the front of your lens. For more on filters, you can check out the short blog post I did about them a while ago: http://bluepixel.net/blog/articles/filter_fun/. What about cameras and lenses? On any trip, I prefer bringing two bodies, for two reasons. First, if one fails, I can still shoot pictures. And second, I like having a wide lens on one body and a telephoto on the other. That way I have less chance of missing a picture while changing lenses. This could be the perfect opportunity to upgrade your camera, or add a second, less expensive body as a backup. Lenses? For a trip of this sort I plan on bringing very wide to moderate telephoto. That means from about 16mm to 200mm. I don’t see a need for much longer of a telephoto. And I’ll certainly want to be able to shoot close-ups. Some of today’s zoom telephotos can focus extremely close, or you may want to bring a macro lens if you really like doing those sorts of shots. Finally, you’ll want to be comfortable. Being the northwest, I’ll be ready for rain with a portable umbrella and rain top and pants. That top and bottom can be handy on cool evenings and mornings too. Plus a couple of good plastic bags for my cameras, to protect them. I’ll have along a fleece vest or light jacket, and gloves and warm hat (plus sun hat), so I can layer for cool or warm weather. Don’t forget your feet – comfortable walking shoes are a must. And finally, I’ll probably bring both a camera backpack for traveling, and a waist-belt system for shooting. As I get older I like shoulder bags less and less, so try to carry my camera(s) on my neck or shoulder and everything else on my hips. Questions? Feel free to write me at reed@reedhoffmann.com, or check out my Facebook page at www/Facebook.com/KCphotographer