Mobile Mondays: Using a Platypod kit for effective mobile photography
The Platypod Ultra is a thing of beauty. It is engineered to give you options, and options are the best friends of any photographer or
The Platypod Ultra is a thing of beauty. It is engineered to give you options, and options are the best friends of any photographer or
I recently got the chance to try out the new Platyball (which is an inverted ball head). While it looks a little bit different from
Let’s get a few things out of the way before I get to the review. I’ve bought five Platypod Pros and three Platypod Max units for
Nature is extraordinarily complex and beautiful, it is easy to forget in our modern world just how powerful its forces are. But, being a nature photographer presents constant, humbling reminders of this fact! A large part of what drives me is wanting to experience every facet of nature, then create and share images of these forces at work. In doing so I am often going into potentially dangerous situations for me and my gear.
In my part of the world, wildfires are a necessity to the health of our ecosystems. But, they are, to put it bluntly, scary as @#$%! Dangerous, fast, and unpredictable, shooting them requires gear and techniques that let you react quickly to the situation to keep yourself out of harm’s way, and out-of-the-way of the responder’s managing the scene. Here is how I capture images and video of one of nature’s most beautifully dangerous forces, wildfire.
There are places that can be too difficult to stay with a camera and shoot, there are events that are too dangerous to be around when they occur, and there are animals that are too shy of humans to ever get near to photograph. This is when photographers turn to using Photo or Camera Traps, a way to capture these types of images or video from a distance by remote control.
In part 1 of this series, I covered the fundamentals of creating a simple remote camera trap. Now that you have that skill in your proverbial photography toolbox, let’s talk about more advanced setups and how to use the Platypod to support multi-light nighttime photo traps and remote video capture.
Go out into the great outdoors. Find a place that animals like to hang out when people aren’t around. Set up your camera to automatically a photo of them when they do show up. Leave it there. Come back tomorrow and see if you got any shots. Repeat it all over again until you get the shots you need. Welcome to Remote Camera Traps!
In previous articles I’ve shared the different ways I’ve used Platypods in my photography. Possibly one of the best uses I have found is in helping set up a successful remote camera trap. The Platypod adds flexibility to the placement of your camera and lighting equipment that can make your trapping endeavors much more likely to pay off with great images.
Are you shopping for the photographer on your gift list? The Photofocus holiday shopping guide has gifts ideas starting at under $25. I like to
The Fourth of July is this coming Tuesday. It’s America’s biggest party and we love to celebrate with fireworks. Making a good fireworks picture is
Editor’s Note: Vanelli has used a pre-production model of the Platypod Ultra that we were sent for test shooting. The units are on Kickstarter now,
Spring is a busy time for wildlife photographers, chock full of photo opportunities. I’m lucky to live in an area that is on a major
Wondering what to get the photographer on your list who has “everything?” Take a look at the Photofocus holiday gift guide for shopping ideas and