Terra Galleria Photography

Posts Tagged ‘reviews’

My Quest for the Ultimate Tripod

My tripod survey mentioned that the quest for the ultimate tripod was still ongoing. I convinced myself that my next general-purpose tripod could be, finally, the last one I bought. With that in mind, I removed the budget as a consideration and set up to look for the perfect tripod. Read on to see which […]

Wynn Bullock Books

Wynn Bullock (1902-1975) worked almost exclusively near his home in the Monterey Peninsula, yet in his pursuit of what exists in the world beyond ordinary perception, he created mysterious photographs that reached a universal, almost metaphysical quality. Their metaphorical meaning reveals the extraordinary behind the surface of things. In the mid-1990s, Moe’s bookstore shelves prominently […]

Twelve Classic Black and White Landscape Photography Books

When I came to America in 1993, my knowledge of past photographers was mostly limited to photojournalists working in the tradition of Cartier-Bresson whose humanist approach dominated the French photography scene. Discovering the landscape work of f/64 West Coast photographers such as Ansel Adams or the Westons in Bay Area museums and galleries was a […]

Sony A7R5 vs A7R4: technical review from a landscape photographer’s perspective

When Sony announced the fifth iteration of its high-resolution camera, the A7R5 (or A7R V) its AI-based autofocus got the most attention. Action photographers also benefit from faster data handling and a much larger buffer. Video saw several improvements, including UHD 8K with 10-bit capture. However, the sensor and stills resolution are unchanged from its […]

Tripod Tales – (almost) all the tripods I have used and what I’ve learned about them

When I photographed in the Alps in the early 1990s, I didn’t even own a tripod. My camera support of choice was a clamp that could attach to the adze of an ice-ax. Upon arriving in America in 1993, one of my first purchases was a tripod. Many photographers have wasted money by starting with […]

Fifteen More Classic Color Nature Photography Books

A follow up to 15 Classic Color Nature Photography Books, this list explores photography books that may be less part of the classic nature photography canon or somewhat push the boundaries of the medium. Many are also defined by a completist, encyclopedic scope. As before, each of the titles is part of my personal collection […]

Polarizing Filters and Vignetting on a Sony FE 24-105 f/4: Filter Comparison

The polarizing filter is such an essential tool because it allows you to control reflections, darken skies, cutting haze, and increase color saturation. Although using 24mm had become second nature for me to use, with a polarizer on the Sony FE 24-105 f/4, I found myself zooming in a bit until the dark corners (as […]

New LED Lights for Stationary Light Night Photography

In the past few years, progress in LED lighting has resulted in devices that offer significant advances for night photography. Find out why you should photograph at night with stationary lights rather than light painting, and read my review of my new preferred lights for that purpose. Cannonball concretions, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, 2013. Canon […]

Fifteen Classic Color Nature Photography Books

One of the best ways to improve your photography is to study a multitude of photographs. The photography book remains my preferred way to look at photographs. Since books are meant to be lasting legacies, the editing standards are higher than those applied in online publication. Sequencing and design elevate the work, reproduction quality can […]

Book Review: William Neill Photographer – A Retrospective

In the 1990s, as I was discovering Yosemite, one local landscape photographer served as an inspiration. It wasn’t Ansel Adams, but a younger large format photographer, for he was working in color and had created a body of work that felt original and personal, no small feat given the shadow cast by the elephant in […]