WOW! Eye Opening Numbers For Wildlife Photography!

Good Morning Everybody,

Last evening we had a fun Zoom meeting with our first Safari group.  Don Dickson, who runs the "Internationally" famous Texas School [link] put the whole thing together for us.  It was a "hoot" reminiscing about the great times we all had on that trip.

Yep, we do get kind of close to the animals, lion included.  That's probably the biggest surprise for first-time safari adventurers. Thanks to Kevin Dooley of Idube Photo Safaris [link] for sending this photo over to me this morning. That's me next to the driver with LaDawn behind him. We are really only a few feet away from the lions - safaris are definitely an adventure!

We joined the Dicksons on their Safari and then were to follow up with two more of our own when the bottom dropped out of our travels. No problem though, we already have them rescheduled for about the same time next year.  I put the links at the end of this post.

Anyway, I hope you all got a chance to view the YouTube video I put up just a few days ago.  It really shows what an exciting trip it was. If you missed it, here is the [link] to the video one more time - Enjoy!  Now on with the show....
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WOW!  Eye Opening Numbers For Wildlife Photography!

Last Thursday I did a post entitled "Camera Settings for Wildlife Photography - Mostly Manual Mode and Why" [link] which really got down to the "nitty-gritty" of my wildlife shooting strategy.  Today I want to ramp up that post with some surprising statistics about the Shutter Speeds, Apertures, and ISOs I used most often.  These numbers are based on the EXIF data of 20,179 wildlife images I made two years ago during our safaris back then.

Shutter Speed

Take a look at the table to the right.  I think you will be surprised by the numbers here. As you can see, my exposures ranged from 1/50 second and lower up to 1/8000 second.  OK, how did I come up with this data?  It was easy once I really got the "hang" of some of Lightroom's EXIF data reporting features. I asked Lightroom to just report all exposure data from my Canon 5D Mk3 and my Canon 7D Mk2 and presto, the Shutter Speed info appeared!

OK, back to the numbers. Take a closer look at the chart to the right. Notice that 67% - that's 67% - of my shutter speeds were 1/1600, 1/2000, or 1/2500 second! A quick point of clarification... NOT all those exposures were made on Manual mode. A large number of them were made on Shutter Priority mode as well.  I'll cover that shooting strategy in an upcoming post next week. Needless to say, two-thirds of my photos were made at very high speeds for all the reasons stated in my post referenced above.

Keep in mind that safari shooting conditions vary widely.  Birds are flying, animals are moving, and the safari vehicle is bouncing, sometimes like crazy.  All these factors require faster shutter speeds to freeze the action.

Aperture

Now let's move on to Apertures. I used the same Lightroom reporting technique to determine my most used range of shooting apertures. Once again, check the table to the right.

In most cases, I was shooting wide open with my telephoto lenses. When shooting the Canon 5D Mk3 I mounted my Sigma 150-600mm lens with its maximum aperture of F6.3.

When shooting my Canon 7D Mk2 fitted with its 100-400mm lens (my all-time favorite wildlife shooting combo), again maximum aperture F6.3. You can see from the data that nearly 1/2 of all my exposers were at the maximum apertures of both the lenses.

If the light was bright, like at mid-day, I would stop down 1/2 to one full stop just to pick up a little more depth of field.  I found that mostly helped with my bird photography.

Still, you may be questioning my use of both lenses maximum apertures for so many of my photos.  The answer is quite simple - both of these lenses are super sharp lenses.  I never felt I was compromising the image in any way when shooting wide open.

ISO

Now on to ISOs ...  As I mentioned in my early post (referenced above), I do like to "float the ISO in these kinds of shooting conditions. I don't want the ISO to go to high, but I do want it fast enough to allow me to use the necessary shutter speeds I need for my wildlife photography. Now take a look at the ISO chart to the right. OK, OK, I did let the ISO float a little on some occasions - I'll get to that in a minute. But DO notice that 56% on my images were in the ISO 1600 - 6400 range.

The reason for the higher ISOs is accounted for by our early morning and our late afternoon/early evening shooting.  But, let's re-analyze the data differently. If you total the ISOs from ISO 400 to ISO 2000, the total number of exposures accounts for over 44% of my images.  That means that most of my images were made at very manageable ISOs.

With the use of software like Lightroom, I can easily manage the slightly higher ISOs.  Heck, back in my "wedding days"  I would routinely shoot all my reception images at ISO 3200.

Still, I think the analysis of this data is really fascinating to see.  It really shows what the Apertures, ISOs, and Shutter Speeds need to be to get the optimum photograph with the gear I was using. Had I been using a 300mm/F2.8 lens, my data would have been different, obviously.  But I was using gear that worked great for these wildlife shooting situations.  The gear is reasonably priced and gave me a great result for our Safari experiences.

Take a look at the photo having "lunch" to the right. Notice the camera specs: Canon 7D Mk2 fitted with 100-400mm Sigma lens: 1/2000 second @ F5.6 zoomed to 123mm at ISO 2500. Anything less than the higher shutter speed and high ISO and I would have missed the photo.

I hope everyone enjoyed the discussion today and I certainly hope it will at least give you some starting points in any upcoming African adventures you may have in your future.

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Hey Gang,

That's it for me today.  I can't believe it's Friday already. Have a great weekend and I'll hope to see you next week for a few more ideas and discussions.

Cheers for now, David


Oh, BTW, Here are the links to our rescheduled Safaris for next year.

South Africa at Thakadu: March 30 - April 9, 2021 [link]

Botswana, Africa at Mashatu: April 9 - 19, 2021 [link]

We are sorry we couldn't continue on Safari this year but both LaDawn and I are really looking forward to next year - hope to see you there!  David and LaDawn

Our African Safari in 1000 photos or Less

Good Afternoon Everybody,

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.  It was quite a bit different than in years past but connecting with family and friends still made it a special day.  I hope yours was special too.

I thought one of the most creative ideas to "church services" in these days of "sheltering at home" was the approach taken by the paster at Bellarmine Chapel at Xavier University here in Cincinnati, Ohio. He gathered photos of all the parishioners which he then proceeded to print out and tape to all the church pews.  It was quite an uplifting Easter story - here is the link to the short video [link]. Enjoy!

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Our African Safari in 1000 photos or Less

Now back to what we do here at DigitalProTalk.com, I want to share our 2020 African Safari with you this morning. As many of you know, LaDawn and I have been traveling with our good friends, Kevin and Tricia Dooley of Idube Photo Safaris [link] these past few years. 

Kevin has been leading safaris around the world, but mostly to Africa, for nearly 20 years.  About 4 years ago he asked if I would be interested in joining him - I leaped at the opportunity!  And now we have been on four photo safaris with the Dooley's - all pretty cool!

Our other two sold-out safaris for this year had to be postponed till next year because of all the current travel restrictions.  If you are interested in more info, please let me (david@ziser.com) or Kevin (idubephotosafaris@yahoo.com) know.  We will be happy to get you more info.

Anyway, after a big trip like this, LaDawn and I (mostly LaDawn, really just LaDawn), will edit the thousands of images, tweak the favs, and design a Blurb book telling the entire story from start to finish of our adventures.

LaDawn just wrapped the album design and exported the double-page spreads for upload to Blurb. But I had another idea for the 350 or so spreads.  I thought I would load them in ProShow Producer [link], a great video/slideshow program that I've been using for years with my wedding photography. Unfortunately, they just shut their doors, but the program still works very well for these types of projects.

Anyway, I loaded up all the high-resolution double-page spread, added my royalty-free music,  tweaked the show a bit, and let it rip.  About an hour later I had a very cool video of the entire album of images.  I have to tell you, it looks GREAT on our 82-inch Samsung 4K TV ;~)

I then uploaded the video to my YouTube channel for all to enjoy.  Just click the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.  Most of us have a smart TV so I would recommend loading it up from your YouTube app on your TV for the best viewing experience.

These videos have been a great way for us to re-live our travel experiences. LaDawn and I both agree that after spending hours, days, and even possibly weeks designing these albums and then"arm-wrestling" with Blurb to get them uploaded and published to the tune of about $250/book, the best way to enjoy the whole travel experience is much better accommodated with the videos. BTW...LaDawn LOVES the elephants so be prepared to see LOTS of elephants in the video.

I'm currently in the process of updating our other travel books to videos as well. LaDawn is currently working on a new travel book of our experiences in Iceland and Ireland, one of our favorite trips from 2018.  I'll plan on sharing those images with you as well.

But, in the meantime enjoy this video, including several images of LaDawn and I (lol) and if you have any questions, just leave them in the comments section below and I'll do me best to answer them for you in a timely fashion.

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Hey Gang,

That's if for me today.  I really hope you enjoy the post and the photographs.  I'll plan on putting up a few more Tips and Tricks in the coming days.  Remember, leave your comments below.

Adios for now, David

Camera Settings for Wildlife Photography - Mostly Manual Mode and Why

Good Morning Everybody,

I hope today finds everyone well and "Sheltered in Place" along with 90% of the US. It's certainly a different feeling than usual but the sun is shining in our "neck of the woods" and the weather is just beautiful.  So, I'm going to make the best of it and that means sharing another blog post with all of you.

This post really came about as a result of our safari experiences over these last few years.  I have to say, as a wedding/event photographer, I was ill-prepared with how the shooting circumstances change when out in the field photographing animals.  In this post, I'll share a few of the insights I gained and new shooting technique changes I made to my shooting style for shooting Big game.

Here we go...
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Camera Settings for Wildlife Photography - Mostly Manual Mode and Why

In my wedding photography world, I generally used two modes when shooting.  First and foremost was M-Manual mode. I did a blog post right here about 10 years ago which fully explains why I make that choice - you can find it right here [link].

Most of my exposures were made with flash and I always wanted to be in charge of my exposures as I balanced flash with various lighting situations. Whether "dragging-the-shutter" indoors to pick up a lot of the ambient  - see image to the right, or shooting outdoors and shooting in "High-Speed Sync" to accentuate skies and other details outdoor, I wanted to be in charge of the lighting on the scene.

When shooting wedding images with no flash attached, I'll shoot many times on P for Professional  - haha, I mean Program Mode and that served me just fine.

But what about Wildlife photography? Thankfully I learned early on in my wildlife safari experience that P - Program mode was many times an "Image Killer" - many photos would just come out "motion blurred".  Think about it,  if you are bouncing along in a safari vehicle, trying to stop the action of moving animals or birds in flight, Program mode just doesn't work many times - you will get blurry images.

Remember, the camera is trying to set the optimum exposure for a nicely lit scene.  It generally sets a fairly low ISO, a reasonably decent aperture, and what looks to be a sufficiently fast shutter speed.  This is all well and good for most day-to-day shooting situations but not out in the middle of a Big 5 wild game reserve.

Time shooting on a game drive takes place between the hours of 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. A lot of that shooting time is mid-day. It's from about 10:00 a.m. till about 3:00 p.m. that I definitely set my camera to Manual mode.  I want to call both my Shutter Speed and My Aperture letting the ISO just float.

I have discovered that my preferred shutter speed is 1/2500 second and my preferred aperture is usually about F7.1- F8.0 - just off full aperture in order to use a "sweeter" part of the lens and to enhance my "depth of field" ever so slightly.

Now in the image above, I really don't need a shutter speed of 1/2500 second but who knows what might happen in the next half a second - heck, the lion may charge the jeep and I'd miss the shot - not to mention being totally uncomfortable in my underwear - if that ever really happened...haha.  The fact is, I didn't want to take the time to change my settings even for this image. You, many times, lose or miss your best photos because of changing settings and/or lenses. So, just shoot away even at the much faster shutter speed.

In the above image, I'm still using that fast shutter speed.  Did I need it to be that fast - of course not.  But if I was relying on P-Program mode, the camera may have given me a shutter speed that was maybe too slow for the swaying of the elephant's trunks - why take a chance.

Why You Have To Be Ready - All the Time
Here is a perfect example of why you want to be ready for the shot.  Check out the image below.  Just an easy photo of the Zebras enjoying a refreshing drink at the watering hole. Right?

But, just 10 seconds later - I know, I checked the EXIF data - something spooked everyone and all the animals took off in all directions.  Check out this next image of the Zebras.  They are high-tailing it out of there and not wasting any time clearing out from the watering hole.

What spooked them, we weren't quite sure. It might have been the rhino that wandered by and just wanted a drink too.  Anyway, all the animals headed for the hills. But once the danger subsided, they all returned just as though nothing had happened. Just check out the image below.  It was taken 70 seconds after the previous image but this time everybody is happy as can be enjoying a sip of water in the hot sunny afternoon savannah sun.  Pretty cool to see - and why you need to be ready and prepared to capture the shot at the proper shutter speed to capture the action.

Let's talk about one more time when a fast shutter speed is of the utmost necessity. It's bird photos.  You can sit there for 5 minutes with the bird is sitting up on its branch just enjoying the view. But then, it too eventually gets spooked or just tired and will take off.

In either case, I have found that you need at least 1/2500 second to stop the motion of the bird's wings flapping.  You must also use a fairly fast frame rate - I prefer 9-10 frames per second to ensure my action sequence does get a decent wing position of the flying bird.

All the above images were made with my Canon 7D Mk 2 firing at 9.5 FPS fitted with my super-fast focusing 100-400 Sigma IS lens - a great camera/lens combo for safari photography

So there you have it - my favorite shooting mode when photographing animals mid-day along with my preferred apertures and shutter speed. I hope this little insight helps you in your wildlife photography.  I've got lots more tips and tricks - so please stay tuned.
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Hey Gang,

Thanks, that's it for me today. I have to tell you, that just looking over this post gives me so much JOY - I just loved the fact I have a wedding image in the same post with my wildlife photos - who would have guessed. Hey, I'll take my simple little pleasures wherever I can find them amidst our quarantined  times;~)

Audios for now everybody,

David

Just Back From Africa

Good Afternoon Everybody,

We just returned from South Africa a little over a week ago - we were on Delta's third last flight leaving the country - whew!  We had spent about 9 days on a wonderful safari and another 9 days enjoying the wonderful surrounds and fabulous wines of Capetown.

Today, in the short post, I just want to touch a bit on the excitement of our Safari experience.  Turns out this was our fourth safari with our friends Kevin and Tricia Dooley. As LaDawn and I know, every safari experience is a trip of a lifetime and this trip was no exception.

For those of you who never have experienced a safari, your first thought as you are sitting in the safari vehicle is... "Uh, aren't we really a little too close to those lions?!!!!"

In fact, that is the edge of the safari vehicle you see on the left in the above photo - nothing between you and the animals - "Hey, you lookin' at me?"  But the excitement is worth it!

All the animal sightings are really exciting.  LaDawn loves photographing the baby elephants - they are a kick to watch as they travel by. Here is an image LaDawn made just a few weeks ago - kind of fun.

I'm a photographer who really enjoys watching the large herds of elephants gathered around the watering holes.  It's almost like clockwork when the show up - usually at the start of the heat of the day just before noon. This image below is actually one of my favs - and it was taken on my cell phone. OK, I did use the Picturesque app to "artsify" the image, but I still like it.

In closing this short post, I still want to mention one last thing.  At the end of the day, all the safari vehicles pull over to a safe area, break out the snacks and beverages (all varieties) and we all kick back reminising about our wonderful day's experiences and enjoying an always beautiful sunset.

Hey Gang, I going to let that be it for today. I sure hope you enjoyed the few photos I posted today and I hope you will check back for more of our adventures in Africa.

Cheers for now, David

Happy Days Are Here Again!!! Sigma’s 150-600mm Contemporary Lens; Safari Update; and Eclipse Photography

 

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Actually the Happy Days have never really left – Life is good! I sure hope you are having a great summer.  I have a great post for you today featuring some lens testing I’m excited to share with you, my 2018 African Safari Update,  and some recent wedding work. On a personal note, LaDawn and I have been busy as usual with some studio work, travels, cruises, and a seminar now and then.  All in all, life is great! On top of that LaDawn has become a grandmother for the second time and she is over the moon! Here is a quick photo of BIG Malcolm 90 minutes after he was born – yes, 90 minutes – look at those eyes!

Even though we have slowed things down a bit we’re still pretty busy with client work, album designs, family portraits, and extensive travel planning which will result in over 40,000 images later this year. That said, let’s get right into today’s post.

Check Out My New Eclipse/Safari Lens – Sigma 150-600mm, Fantastic!

Earlier this Spring, in preparation for our upcoming 2018 African Photo Safari I contacted my friends up at Sigma and asked if I could test-drive one of their longer telephoto zoom lens. I had been hearing a lot about the lighter weight Sigma 150-600 Contemporary lens – it’s getting some great reviews over at B&H as well as Amazon -  and asked if I could give it a try. A few days later it arrived on my doorstep and I was fired up to run the lens through it’s paces.

Although I packed it along for our travels through Florida in April and even took it with me on a 2 week Caribbean cruise all the way to South America, I never really encountered any “wild” animals to speak of out on the Caribbean Sea or any of the exotic stops along the way. But…

After we arrived home we decided the best place to find wild animals was the world famous Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens so off we went. I wanted to discover three main things about the lens:

1. Was it sharp?

2. How Close could I go?

3. How is the image stabilization? Here we go.

1. Was it sharp?

The quick answer is VERY SHARP! Because I was hand-holding for all of these images most of my images were taken at the higher shutter speeds but mostly wide open at F6.3. Check out these photos below.

This image of the famous Cincinnati Zoo white tiger was shot  maxed out at 600mm F6.3 @ 1/800 sec at 1250 ISO. It sure looked good to me.

This image of this rhino was also shot nearly maxed out at 468mm F6.3 @ 1/640 sec at 800 ISO.  We printed up six of the images to 24x36 prints and they looked fabulous even upon close inspection.

2. How Close Could I Go?

Pretty darn close. I have to tell you, my inclination was to zoom in as much as I could but I found myself racking out slightly because the 600mm range really was too close for many of the animals I was photographing. The main reason -  was the fact that I was shooting with my Canon 7D Mk2 which added the 1.6x magnification factor to the actual zoom length. Hence the 600mm length stated above was really 960mm – that’s a pretty darn good zoom.  Check out the two images below.

This image of the orangutan is one of my favorites. It too was taken with the lens racked out to 600mm or effectively 960mm on my Canon 7D Mk2. Photo specs were 1/640 sec @ F7.1, ISO 4000. This is actually a slightly cropped image but you still see it is really sharp.

The image of the cute little meerkat again verified the sharpness of the lens. It too was taken with a shorter 310mm or effectively 578mm on my Canon 7D Mk2. Photo specs were 1/640 sec @ F6.3, ISO 250.

So how close could I go – I’d say about as close as I wanted to. Consider this, the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary ships with a 1.4 tele-extender included…. at least mind did. That means that with the lens racked out to 600mm with the 1.4 tele-extender would give me an effective 840mm focal length. Now add that combo to my Canon 7D Mk2 with it’s 1.6x magnification factor and you get a whopping 1344mm effective focal length!

3. How is the image stabilization?

Those of you who have followed my blog over the years know I am very keen on image stabilization for my photography - seldom to never using a tripod. I was really curious about the IS properties of this lone telephoto lens. Check out the following photo.

This image was taken at 1/60 second hand-held @ F5.6 at 8000 ISO with focal length set to 293mm or effectively 469mm on my Canon 7D Mk2.  Folks, that’s nearly a 500mm optic hand-held at a super slow 1/60 second and still coming out pleasantly sharp for this experience!

A Few More Thoughts…

All in all I found this lens to be a fun lens to shoot.  It’s not the lightest optic weighing in at 4.3 pounds but still lighter than other options available. With  the shoulder strap that is included, it would be fine for carrying around a few hours.

One thing I really loved about the lens was it’s very fast auto-focusing.  The lens just snapped into focus easily even at the longer focal lengths.

This is not a lens for wedding photography – it’s just too long a focal length for that kind of shooting but it is a perfect lens for wildlife and bird-watching. Yes, this is the lens I’ll be traveling with on our upcoming 2018 Photo Safari – hope to see you there.

2018 10 Day African Photo Safari Update

Hey gang we still have a number of seats for our February 22 – March 4, 2018 Ten Day African Photo Safari [link].  Our first Safari sold out in 48 hours so we added a second set of dates to accommodate all who want to join us on this once in a lifetime adventure.

This adventure is absolutely First Class all the way and at a cost that will not break the bank - like so many other safaris. The cost for this safari is about 50% less than many safaris you see advertised and is ALL-INCLUSIVE!  That means accommodations, all meals, beverages – wine, beer, soft drinks, and water are all included. Air travel is still on your own but exploring departure cities and booking flights early will definitely save you money.

 A few comments from recent adventurers:

…Your safari was the most amazing trip ever! I have been to a safari lodge in Kenya and one in Uganda and they don’t compare .?

…The best safari and Lodge experience ….(LOVED !) the wonderful staff . And the wildlife was definitely the most prolific I have seen! Ps.. Got amazing shots that are canvases hanging in my home. The food was fabulous the people in our group were wonderful .. Making lifelong friendships.

Please drop me a line to me personally at  David@Ziser.com with your contact info and I’ll fill you in on all the details. I would love to hear from you. Or you can contact Kevin Dooley, whom I’m working with directly on this trip, directly at his cell: 505-401-2988. Kevin is an award wining photographer and certified African guide and has been conducting these Safaris for over 18 years – he can give you the complete details.

So… How About That Famous Eclipse Coming to America on August 21, 2017

What would be the optimum focal length for that once in a life-time event? Funny you should ask. LaDawn and I are heading to Nashville, TN – one of the optimum viewing cities for the eclipse. Weather permitting, I plan to take a few “Eclipse” pics of the event.

I’ve been doing a little research on the event so we can come back with some great images.  Regarding the best focal length lens for this very rare event – B&H Photo and Video has a great article on how to photograph the upcoming eclipse right here [link].

In their very informed discussion the subject of best focal length to use comes up.  In fact they posted a chart showing the varying focal lengths cropping effects on the eclipse.  Here is is below.

You know what that tells me don’t you? My brand new Sigma 150-600mm at 600mm with 1.4x tele-extender on my Canon 7D Mk2 should put me right in the ball park with  my resulting 1344mm optics.  I can’t wait.  I promise I’ll do a posting after so you can check out my results.

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Hey gang,

That’s going to be it for me today.  Hope you enjoyed the post today and I hope to see you down the road - hopefully in Africa ;~)

Cheers for now,

David

Just Checking In–Only 7 Days To Go!

Hi Gang,

LaDawn and I just returned from a wonderful 9-day trip to New Orleans celebrating St. Patrick's Day/Weekend with fun parades, colorful characters, good friends, and great food!

We then headed down to the French Quarter for a photography conference with some of the top pros in the industry - talk about an inspiring experience - WOW!

We're in town this week and then it's off to Orlando next Tuesday (March 28th) where I'll be presenting a new and exciting program for the Legends of Photography Tour which after a short break is traveling the country as we speak.  I'm excited and looking forward to seeing everybody again so I really hope you'll stop in to see me. Hey, for $20 bucks with code below - it's a steal of a deal! See all the details below.

Also, don't forget my Geek Tip Of The Week at the end of this quick newsletter.

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See You In Orlando Next Week! 

Hey Gang, you can catch me in Orlando on March 28, 2017 for the brand new Legends of Photography Tour [link].  I've got a few new program surprises in store for you and as always, we will have Door Prize Time!

You can reach the hotel, aLoft Orlando in downtown Orlando, at 407.380.3500. Doors open at 4:00 p.m. and the program wraps up at 10:30 p.m. Plan to stick around and let's have an adult beverage together after the program.

Need more details about all the speakers - just hit any of the links or the image above. Registration has been reduced to only $20 with my secret code - Secret Code: DZ20 Like I said, you'll find me in Orlando on Tuesday March 28, 2017. I hope to see you there!

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Maybe Just Four Seats Left! February 22 - March 4, 2018

We still have just a few seats available for our African Safari [link] for February 22 - March 4, 2018. This is a 10 Day/9 Night All Inclusive Safari - yes, beautiful lodge accommodations, meals, and safari excursions are ALL included for only $7999 for two people! (airfare not included)

If you have priced Safaris, you know this is a steal of a deal! Please give Kevin a call at 505-345-6322 or his cell at 505-401-2988 for all the exciting details so you don't miss out - it's going to be a great trip!

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After All These Years In Wedding Photography, I'm On Cloud 9! Well, Amazon Cloud Drive - Which Is Close

I have so much "stuff" stashed on computers, hard drives, tablets, and phones for the studio and my personal images it's getting crazy to back everything up. I decided to do something about it. I signed up for Amazon's Cloud Drive.

Sure, I've been a big fan of Dropbox for years but it's just too expensive for large backups. That's where Amazon Cloud Drive comes in - unlimited all-you-can-eat backup for only $59/yr.! You can even try it FREE for 30 days.

Amazon just added the "Sync Folder" feature which now puts it on par with Dropbox too - pretty cool. OK, I will admit, uploads can take a while with a slow internet connect but even with our moderate speeds at the studio it's still a great solution for our client's finished images. I'm still "playing" with it but things are really looking promising. Once we hit the higher speeds, I'm sending everything up to the "cloud".

DAZ NOTE; No, I don't receive commissions from the referral but I do own a few shares of Amazon stock so if you do decide to check it out my stock may rise a few pennies and help my retirement package ;~)

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Hey Everybody,

That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of the week and I look forward to seeing you next week in Orlando.

Adios for now, David

Safari #2 Almost Sold Out! Catch Me In Orlando, VIP Seating, and Geek Tip Of The Week

Hi Gang,

This is going to be my last email for a while. LaDawn and I will be hitting the road shortly so time will be limited, but before we go I wanted to bring you up-to-date on a few things still happening around here and offer another Geek Tip of the Week.

Second African Safari Almost Sold Out!

February 22 - March 4, 2018

They tell me that my first Safari was the fastest booked Safari in the history of the company - I was not only floored but also very excited. So they talked me into doing a second safari.  Now I'm super-stoked!!!

LaDawn and I immediately cleared calendars and set our additional dates for our new African Safari [link]. for February 22 - March 4, 2018.  Feb 22, 2018 is your travel day from the states to arrive in Johannesburg on Feb. 23.

This is a 10 Day/9 Night All Inclusive Safari - yes, beautiful lodge accommodations, meals, and safari excursions are ALL included for only $7999 for two people! (airfare not included) If you have priced Safaris, you know this is a steal of a deal!

Your accommodations at the Thakadu Suites in Madikwe offers twelve suites, reflecting a strong Afro-Asian safari ambiance, each boasting a viewing deck overlooking the Marico River. These spacious suites offer every comfort and luxury and are wonderfully decorated and appointed.

Right now we 5 cabins available and have 3 couples looking at them as we speak! The Lodge cabins are just beautiful - check them out for yourself below.

I'm thinking this Safari will book up in a very short while!

You are also definitely guaranteed to see lots of African wildlife up-close and personal. AMAZING, LIFE CHANGING, I WAS BLOWN AWAY! - these are the typical remarks from folks who have attended Kevin's Safaris in the past. Here are a few images mostly from my friend, Rick English, made on last year's Safari. Rick are you reading this.... I remembered to give you the image credit ;~)

Even if you're just thinking about it, please give Kevin a call at 505-345-6322 or his cell at 505-401-2988 for all the exciting details so you don't miss out - it's going to be a great trip!

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The Biggest Photography Tour of 2017!

Hey Gang, you can catch me in Orlando on March 28, 2017 for Sandy Puc's brand new Legends of Photography Tour [link]. The line up is fantastic! Just look at all those good looking folks below and you'll get an idea that this will be the biggest tour series this year!  It's a big deal!

For all the details about the tour just hit any of the links or images above. Now for the really good news. Registration is now listed at $40 but since you are reading this newsletter, I can get you in for

Only $20 with Secret Code DZ20.

Check it out to see which "Legend" is visiting a city near you. Like I said, you'll find me in Orlando on Tuesday March 28, 2017 - I hope to see you there.

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Only A Few VIP Seats Remain For PhotoPro Expo 2018!

Early every year I've told you about the Best VIP Seats in the house and at the best prices for next year's PhotoPro Expo 2018 [link]. Details of next year's show have not been posted - but the first 50 VIPs who register get the lowest price possible and Priority Reserved Seating - only $109.00 with Promo Code PPEVIP18.  So don't wait...mark your calendars NOW and register for PhotoPro Expo February 8-11, 2018!

Hit the

REGISTER NOW with Promo Code PPEVIP18

to reserve your space. 

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GEEK TIP OF THE WEEK - My Favorite Travel Companion - After LaDawn of Course ;~)

Yes, we do a lot of traveling these days and that's GREAT!!  One of my favorite travel items I travel with all the time is my handy-dandy SanDisk Connect Stick [link].

Check it out...

-200GB Capacity802.11n Wireless Connectivity

-USB 2.0 Connector

-Stream Content to Three Devices

-Free SanDisk Connect App

-iOS, Android, Windows & Mac Compatible

I can load it up with over 50 movies, tons of music, and some of my favorite photos. When I'm on a long flight I just fire it up - it becomes it's own Hot-Spot - and I just stream away to my iPad and enjoy the show. I've found it for as low as $79.95 on Amazon [link] but it's typically about $89.  You can also find it over at B&H [link] too.

Works like a charm and makes the time fly-by - no pun intended.

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Hey Everybody,

That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of the month and I hope to see you next month in Orlando.

Adios for now, David