The Irrational Pursuit Of Reason

www.tirpor.com

Introduction

I'm going to split this page up into a bunch of different ones dedicated to equipment, techniques, links, electronics, books, etc. It'll take some time so be patient ...

Equipment

I basically use Nikon equipment, not because it's any better or worse than Canon, just because I happened to be on an extended business trip once, my camera was in storage in another country and I was going to Yosemite the next day. A local shop had a good deal on N90s bodies and so I was committed. Today I use digital bodies (D100IR, D200, D2H and D700) and have lenses ranging from 10.5mm to 600mm.

Camera support is essential for good photography and I use Arca Swiss mounts from Really Right Stuff and Wimberley and use Sachtler and Gitzo tripods. For macro work at home I use automated stacking stages designed and built by myself. Look at the "macro" page for more info about these.

Software

Like many I use Adobe Photoshop CS for editing my images, also like many I probably only use about 5% of it's capabilities. Unlike many, I'm fairly averse to extreme image manipulation with Photoshop and believe that "cloning out distracting elements" or "adding an out of focus wingtip" belongs in digital art. Nothing wrong with it, I just prefer not to do it habitually. If I do feel a need to alter an image beyond what I feel was really there I make an effort to declare my manipulations. On the other hand "dust bunnies" (the digital equivalent of film scratches) are fair game and are destroyed with abandon.

For landcape work and still lifes I uaually store images as NEF files on my cameras and convert these using Nikon Capture or RawShooter Essentials from Pixmantec. Since Pixmantec got swallowed by Adobe and I now need to use ACR or Nikon Capture to convert images from my D700.

I make use of a bunch of automated Photoshop plugins from people like Fred Miranda and Pixel Genius.

For HDR conversions I use Photomatix from HDRsoft

For Panoramas I tend to use AutoPano from kolor

For focus stacking I prefer Zerene Stacker

This site was created using Dreamweaver.

Books

I've a pretty long list of photography books including:

Light Science & Magic by Fil Hunter and Paul Fuqua

Optics in Photography by Rudolf Kingslake

Color and Light in Nature by David K. Lynch and William Livingstone

Still Life and Special Effects Photography by Hicks and Schultz

Basic Techniques of Photography by Ansel Adams, and yes he didn't do digital but was a darkroom master and did remove unwanted details like telegraph poles in natural scenes

High Dynamic Range Digital Photography by Ferrel McCollough

Creative Nature & Outdoor Photography by Brenda Tharp

Photographing the Patterns of Nature by Gary Brasch

The Art of Photography An approach to Personal Expression by Barnbaum

Galen Rowell's Inner Game of Outdoor Photography

Mountain Light by Galen Rowell

Borne On The Wind by Stephen Dalton

The miracle of FLIGHT by Stephen Dalton

Insects In Flight by John Brackenbury

Macrophotography by Ronan Loaec

The Manual of Close-Up Photography by Lefkowitz

Art and Science of Butterfly Photography by William Folsom

Photographing Plants and flowers by Paul Harcourt Davies

Close-up and macro photography by Paul Harcourt Davies

the art of nature photography by Niall Benvie

Closeups in Nature by John Shaw

Nature Photography by John Shaw

Focus on Nature by John Shaw

The Art of Bird Photography by Arthur Morris, although if you follow his newsletters you might start to wonder how many of his wonderful images are "helped" and by how much.