Techniques Archives - Tin Man Photography

Category Archives for "Techniques"

June 29, 2016

in BIF , owl , Techniques by Tin Man Lee
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3 comments

Canon 1DX Mark II and the Burrowing Owl, Part 2: Bird-in-flight

After spending three weekends photographing the burrowing owls, I flew to Colorado hoping to photograph some mountain goats. Things got a bit out of hand when I woke up at 5am at home on a Friday to pack, then went to work from 8 to 4, took 3 hours to drive through traffic to LAX […]

June 21, 2016

in owl , Techniques by Tin Man Lee
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5 comments

Canon 1DX Mark II and Burrowing Owl, Part 1

I would have never believed I would say this. If you are on the fence of deciding whether to upgrade to the new Canon 1DX Mark II or not, my advice to you, after two weeks of intense use, can be summarized into three words. Buy. It. Now. Hate to sound like a Canon spokesperson, which I’m not. But the […]

April 25, 2016

in Photography , Style , Techniques by Tin Man Lee
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2 comments

6 Must-Read Books for Wildlife Photography

Why do we read books? “I read a lot, but from time to time, there are books that changed my life. Well, it’s not that the book itself changed my life; it’s that I was already ready to change, and needed to not feel alone.” – Paulo Coelho I always believe that we somehow already knew what […]

April 20, 2016

in Photography , Style , Techniques by Tin Man Lee
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1 comments

10 Things You Can Learn From Stephen Curry On Wildlife Photography

Every once in a while, a player would come to a sport and change the game forever. Talent is one thing. But may be. Just may be. If they have some special mindset and training techniques, then mere mortals like me without any talent can borrow some onto my wildlife photography. When Mohammad Ali was asked how many sit-ups he could do, he […]

March 16, 2016

in Photography , Style , Techniques by Tin Man Lee
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3 comments

5 Critical Elements of Wildlife Photography You Should Never Miss, Part 4

4: Truthfulness A few years ago, I met a girl. She’s so beautiful it’s suffocating. And she had nice personality too. What more could I ask for. It’s your lucky break, I said to myself. After a few dates we started a relationship, and I poured my heart in. But things took a quick turn. I found […]

March 15, 2016

in Photography , Style , Techniques by Tin Man Lee

5 Critical Elements of Wildlife Photography You Should Never Miss, Part 3

“Why nature photography?”Many would answer, “to capture the beauty of nature.”3. BeautyFive years ago (when I was not as obsessed in wildlife photography as now), I took a one-day portrait photography class by a rather successful Hollywood photographer in downtown Los Angeles. He said he once had an assignment to photograph Janet Jackson. Starting from […]

March 13, 2016

in Photography , Style , Techniques by Tin Man Lee

5 Critical Elements of Wildlife Photography You Should Never Miss, Part 2

What is the most famous painting in the world?Hint: Every year, millions of people line up at the Louvre Museum in Paris hoping to have a glimpse of it.It’s “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci. One of the key reasons why the painting is so famous, according to David Ward’s “Landscape Beyond”, is because of […]

March 11, 2016

in Photography , Style , Techniques by Tin Man Lee

5 Critical Elements of Wildlife Photography You Should Never Miss, Part 1

“The world doesn’t need another pretty picture. People only want to see what moves them.” – David DuChemin “Within the Frame”When I first started wildlife photography, I would check out the online galleries at nature photography sites such as naturescapes.net, bird photographers.net, naturephotographers.net, Fred Miranda forum, and Flickr. “Dang. Those pics are so perfect,” I said […]

March 5, 2016

in bear , Photography , Quest , Techniques by Tin Man Lee

How Cold Is -50?

I have seen “cold” before. I have been to Yellowstone in deep winter several times (Yellowstone 1, Yellowstone 2). The windchill reached -26F one early morning when I was waiting for a wolf. I felt that my nose was almost falling off. But it’s still manageable. Bison in snow, Yellowstone National Park. There was also […]

March 13, 2015

What I Learned From Steve Jobs And Jiro Ono About Photography

I was chatting to a guy sitting next to me at a dinner party one day. He said he recently went to a Dungeness crab dinner with a friend. After the first bite, his friend exclaimed, “Wow, the crab is so fresh and tasty!” “So I tried it myself, and I was shocked,” he said. […]

January 7, 2015

10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Do Wildlife Photography

I have had many hobbies in my life, but nothing comes close to my love for wildlife photography. Over the years, I have made many wildlife photographer friends. Interestingly, many of them were competitive in one or more hobbies, or were doing well in their professions before taking up wildlife photography. Some were successful commercial […]

December 24, 2014

The Number Two Secret To Wildlife Photography

#1. “Hey bear, good bear.” Our group kept calling while we were trekking in the tall grass, in pitch dark, at 5am. Well, summer in Alaska never got completely dark, but it’s still so dark that I could barely make my way. Being clumsy I was always the one being left far behind the group. We […]

December 20, 2014

How to develop your style in wildlife photography

In this post I will point out two photography “styles” that I don’t like. Maybe I just don’t understand it. Anyways, different strokes for different folks. It’s just my observation. Style is such a sexy term. If your art has its own style, people could immediately tell it from afar. Oh, that’s a Van Gogh. Wow, that’s a […]

December 18, 2014

in owl , Photography , Techniques , Travel Photography by Tin Man Lee
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14 comments

My Quest for Barn Owl: 7 Unforgettable Experience

“Haunting, beautiful, startling, innocent, ghostly, adorable” — all these words came to mind as I was clicking the shutter nonstop like a machine gun, before the loud voice in my brain said “DODGE!!!” … Barn owls are nocturnal. Photographing them flying with natural light is not supposed to be possible. If you have seen pictures of […]

December 17, 2014

in Design , Photography , Poems , Techniques , Travel Photography by Tin Man Lee
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8 comments

How wildlife photography taught me about life

What’s it like then, the road of life? Just like geese taking off from the muddy snow. (excerpt from a poem by Su Dongpo) Who would have thought I had the opportunity to experience what the grandmaster Su Dongpo wrote 900 years ago, here in one of the biggest snow geese takeoffs in the world. It was […]

December 16, 2014

in fox , Photography , Style , Techniques , Travel Photography by Tin Man Lee
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30 comments

Surprising power of Less in Wildlife Photography

Ever watched a movie when in the first few minutes you had no idea what was going on? It felt like the movie started from the middle of nowhere. Then as the story unfolded, as the protagonist overcame one danger after another, you gathered more and more information. In the last 20 minutes of the movie, […]

December 15, 2014

in BIF , Photography , Techniques , Travel Photography by Tin Man Lee
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25 comments

The Number One Secret to Wildlife Photography

Recently I have been enjoying a little book called “Anything you want” by Derek Sivers. He started with a question to the readers: “What’s your compass?” Excerpt: Most people don’t know why they’re doing what they’re doing. They imitate others, go with the flow, and follow paths without making their own. They spend decades in […]

December 14, 2014

in mountain goat , People , Photography , Techniques , Travel , Travel Photography by Tin Man Lee
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13 comments

6 Things you don’t know about Mountain Goats

I said to myself “Tin Man Lee you are a freaking genius” when the idea suddenly bestowed unto my head. “If I go to Mount Evans in June instead of July like last time, I could get photos of newly-born mountain goat kids in the SNOW before it was melted. Woohoo.” Pre-visualizing your shot. Check. And […]

December 13, 2014

in Bosque Del Apache , Photography , Poems , snow geese , Techniques , Travel Photography by Tin Man Lee
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26 comments

How goose changed the world of literature and photography

“Please tell me that geese do mate for life.” I chased down my good friend Melissa Groo, who is an expert in birds as well as an excellent photographer, and texted her in a big hurry. She immediately said, “Yes, but why did you ask?” I slowly sat down, my eyes fixed on this one particular paragraph of a […]

December 12, 2014

in Style , Techniques , Travel , Travel Photography by Tin Man Lee
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34 comments

How I do Wildlife Photography

I did those too. Circa 1999… Things weren’t good. Sometimes I wondered if I could just find one thing in life I didn’t suck at. Every evening, I would stroll to the Photography section at my local Barnes and Nobles to pick out the same two books. (i) The Art of Bird Photography by Arthur Morris […]

December 6, 2012

in English , owl , Photography , snowy owl , Techniques , Travel Photography by Tin Man Lee
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296 comments

My Quest for the Snowy Owls: Four Unforgettable Experience

I regretted not listening to my friend Conrad who had been here before. “The snowy owls are on the beach. It’s cold. It’s a long walk. Bring more water,” He said. Living in Los Angeles, I imagined any beach would be like Santa Monica Beach, where I would park my car next to the ferris wheel and […]

November 13, 2012

in BIF , English , People , Photography , Techniques , Travel Photography , yellowstone by Tin Man Lee
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33 comments

Yellowstone National Park in the Winter: My 6 Unusual Encounters

My hope was slowly fading away. Five days have passed. For each of those days, we left at six in the morning and drove for twelve hours straight, back and forth, on a figure “8” shaped road inside Yellowstone National Park. We were desperately trying to track “her” down through the snow covered mountains […]

November 13, 2012

in English , People , Photography , Techniques , Travel , Travel Photography , yellowstone by Tin Man Lee
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115 comments

Yellowstone: One Small Step

I still remember an incident that happened in the Spring time at Yellowstone several years ago. We were driving on a mountain road when we came to a big traffic jam. Over ten cars were parked on the side of the road. Big traffic jam usually meant wildlife sightings. I quickly took my cameras and […]

November 13, 2012

in English , People , Photography , Style , Techniques , Travel , Travel Photography , yellowstone by Tin Man Lee
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56 comments

Last Moments of a Bison Calf

Our photographer group of seven saw them around eight in the morning. We were in Lamar Valley, at the north of the Yellowstone National Park. There are frequent wildlife sightings, including the gray wolf, bighorn sheep, bison, coyote, and elk. A three mile long two-lane road going from east to west penetrated the Valley, […]