Pierre Steenberg

Action in low light

May 12, 2024 • Leave a Comment

Shooting action in low light is particularly challenging. Firstly, to freeze the action requires a fast shutter speed. But how can you jack up your shutter speed when you don't have the light to do so? Image stabilization technology does not help with moving subject, it only helps with moving cameras and lenses. Secondly, in very dim light it can b...

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Photographing birds and the sun

May 05, 2024 • Leave a Comment

If you read my blogs you will know that I am working on a "dream shot." To that end, I visited the Prairie Chickens, again. The blind was set up to enable me to shoot directly into the sun. This makes getting both the sun AND the birds exposed right, tricky. It also means that the window of time available for getting the shot will be short, right f...

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Luminar update

April 21, 2024 • Leave a Comment

On April 25, 2024 Skylum will release a major update to their photo editing software called Luminar Neo. This software has really matured over the last few years. They have added a lot of features, many of which are AI driven. I use this software for just about every image I edit. If you are looking for an easy to use, yet power photo editor, Lumin...

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Creating a dream shot

April 14, 2024 • Leave a Comment

Before you get excited, I don't have that dream shot as of yet. This blog is not about discussing that image but about attempting to create it. So, for now, I only have the dream of the image. With persistence, planning, and multiple attempts my hope is to some day have that image. I have been photographing Prairie Chickens now for two years. It is...

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Light direction for bird photography

April 07, 2024 • Leave a Comment

Yay, it is Prairie Chicken time in Nebraska! I have been out to photograph them twice so far this season. Since I have written about photographing them before, I am not going to go into that topic today. Rather, we are going to talk about the direction of light for bird photography. For context, the Prairie Chickens battle for mating rights on a Le...

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I have officially become a Nikonian

March 31, 2024 • Leave a Comment

So I got the Nikon 180-600mm lens before finding a well prices Sony A1. The decision is make. All my Sony gear have now been sold. All my Nikon gear have been acquired. I guess I have officially become a Nikonian. However, I must admit, it was a really hard transition. I did not realize how attached I was to my Sony system. For reference, I am not...

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Final decision on my camera brand

March 24, 2024 • Leave a Comment

Both Nikon and Sony make great photographic gear that suit my needs. There are things about each company's offerings that I wish were different. At the end of the day, decisions typically involve compromises and tradeoffs. Here are the negatives about each brand, for me and my specific shooting requirements. Nikon I really do not like the size of...

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Contemplating a camera brand switch - Part 5 of 5

March 17, 2024 • Leave a Comment

If you would have asked me about Nikon a few years ago I would have laughed at you. They were in or near financial trouble. They were late to the digital mirrorless game and their earlier offerings, in my opinion, were not competitive. Nikon, years before this, was the number two photography brand behind Canon (at least in terms of sales). When Son...

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Contemplating a camera brand switch - Part 4 of 5

March 10, 2024 • Leave a Comment

Let's talk about Canon. Given my positive history with Canon, I am inclined to favor this brand. Their gear worked well and never gave me any trouble before. My favorite Canon gear was the 400mm 5.6. The Canon R5 is a bargain right now, with the promotion Canon is running. Its autofocus is great. It's frame rate is good. It has a 45MP sensor which...

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Contemplating a camera brand switch - Part 3 of 5

March 03, 2024 • Leave a Comment

The Olympus OM-1, now OM Systems, is a great camera specifically for the outdoors and wildlife (and macro). They just released an update of that camera. If the reviewers are correct, this is a really good camera. The autofocus system reviews very well. The frame rate is insanely fast. They also have a feature that I would loooooove to have, pre-cap...

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