American Bald Eagle Underside Dive , Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Pygargue à tête blanche) Homer, AK ©Christopher Dodds www.chrisdoddsphoto.com Canon EOS 1D MKII, 100-400mm @260mm ISO 400, F5.6 1/1250s Manual mode. Always a good thing to shoot some frames with your camera turned to vertical.
Here's a couple of images that I've come across while making submissions this week-end. Proof positive that the 100-400mm Canon zoom does produce tack sharp images (well, at least the copy I have does). The 100-400mm has it's place in any nature photographers camera bag. It's an ideal lens to carry while hiking or canoeing looking for larger mammals like Moose or Deer. It is also great to have on your passenger seat while doing wildlife viewing from your car.
It's always a good idea to stand back and think a little while photographing anything. Try to cover all of the angles and diversify your portfolio; there's more to your subject than just the frontal view.
American Bald Eagle Topside Dive , Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Pygargue à tête blanche) Homer, AK ©Christopher Dodds www.chrisdoddsphoto.com Canon EOS 1D MKII, 100-400mm @260mm ISO 250, F5.6 1/2000s Manual mode.
Calendar Template
I had the pleasure of meeting fellow nature photographer Michael Milicia in Maine last fall. Mike attended my spring Songbirds of Pelee workshop, joined me to photograph Snowy Owls last winter & came to Bonaventure Island for my August Gannets Galore workshop. He showed me a couple of fine art style calendars that he had just produced featuring his bird photographs and I was immediately impressed not only by the beautiful images but also by the unique presentation and the overall graphic design and layout of the calendar. The format is a bit hard to describe but you can see an example of Mike's 11" x 14" calendar for 2010 HERE
One of my first thoughts was "I'd love to make a calendar like this with my own images", so I suggested to Mike that he should consider putting together a set of Photoshop templates that he could sell to other photographers and artists wishing to make this style of calendar. Well, almost a year has passed but that is exactly what he has just done!
Mike was kind enough to give me an advance copy of the template package which is now available on his web site and is distributed via DOWNLOAD
I have to say that he has taken my suggestion and ran with it! The template package supports two sizes of calendars (5" x 7" and 11" x 14") in 5 different well-chosen fonts, includes a template for a "back page" index, and the entire thing is easily customizable to make a calendar for any year to come!
Given the amount of time and aggravation saved by not having to deal with the text layout and design of the calendar pages, the one-time cost of $20.00 has to be one of the biggest bargains around. I am about halfway through putting together my own calendar and the templates have performed flawlessly. The included instructions are clear and concise and also provide many useful production tips.
So, for those of you with a hard drive full of images just waiting to be seen and appreciated by friends, family, and potential customers, I highly recommend that you check out the template package. The "make a calendar" item on your "to do" list can finally become a reality!