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By Dan Bailey, July 23, 2010 9:00 am

I’m introducing a brand new feature on the site today, The Outdoor Photography Forum.

It’s a place for outdoor photographers, pro and amateur alike, to talk shop and discuss technique, ask questions, review and recommend gear and share knowledge about the creativity, craft and business of outdoor photography.

It’s a place where you can find out what camera, tripods, bags, software and computer gear other photographers are using, share tips and creative ideas and hear about ways that others shooters are making imagery or how they’re navigating the photo industry and making money with their photography.

You can also share your own images on the site. Whether you shoot nature, travel, sports and action, landscapes, people, events or portraits, the forum is a place where you can show off your outdoor imagery, ask for comments and critiques, get feedback or just display your photos for others to see.

The Outdoor Photography Forum is a place where you can learn and be part of a community of other photographers. Of course, we have to build it first. Being a brand new forum, the walls are a little bit bare right now. I need your help to get this thing going, so head on over to the message board, join the forum and post a topic. Ask a question, share a tip, post a quick review of a piece of gear that you use or share a recent image. Write anything that’s related to outdoor photography. Be brave. Be one of the first ones to post.

Also, let other photographers know about the site. Share, Tweet and Digg it. Post a link on your Facebook Page. With some effort and social networking, we can turn this forum into a great resource for us as outdoor image makers. I look forward to seeing it grow.

Enter the Outdoor Photography Forum

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By Dan Bailey, July 19, 2010 9:37 am

Travel photographers, remember the old days, back when we used film? We shot roll after roll and dropped each canister into ziploc bag when it was full. Then we stuffed the bag of shot film into our backpack or duffle bag and waited until we got all the way home before we could even see the photos that we took.

No more. Now with digital cameras, we can obviously review our shot images within seconds of pressing the shutter. Photography has changed. It’s instant gratification at it’s finest. And with flash memory cards holding hundreds, or even thousands of images, the encumbrance factor of the travel photographer has been streamlined.

However, there still remains a dilemma. Suppose you’re taking an extended trip and don’t want to take a laptop with you. What’s the best way to store and backup your images? Multiple memory cards? Yes, you should always carry more than you think you’ll need. If you’re like me and you shoot RAW, this means carrying quite a few of them. Thankfully, they’ve gotten much cheaper over the years. (My first 4BG card costs nearly $200. Now you can buy a two pack at Costco for $29.) However, what if you fill up your cards halfway through the trip?

These days, an increasing number of travel photographers use portable photo and media storage drives. In fact, they’ve become a standard piece of gear in many camera bags. Essentially hard drives with LCD screens, they’re small lightweight, take up much less room than a laptop, hold thousands of images, which frees up your card space, and best of all, they allow you to view all the images that you’ve loaded onto them.

The Epson P-Series portable drives and multimedia photo viewers are the most popular models, they have the highest number consumer and industry reviews, and Epson has a great track record of digital imaging with their printers and scanners. They’re rugged, lightweight, (1 lb.) storage devices. They have 4″ wide, great looking 640×480 LCD screens with high pixel densities that feature 16.7 million colors. They can store both RAW and JPEG files, feature both Compact Flash and SD card slots for quick image loading, allow USB transfer of files to another device, and let you view your images with great accuracy in the Adobe RGB color space. You can even print your images directly from the device.

They’re quite user friendly, and have simple controls that include a jog wheel that lets you quickly scroll through your images. They come with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that are said to last three to five hours of viewing time, (you can also buy spares) and car charger adaptors. The line features three models, the Epson P-7000 160GB, the Epson P-6000 80GB drive and the P-3000 40GB drive.

The potential downsides to a device like this is that if you reformat your memory cards after loading, this drive becomes your only backup. If you damage or lose the device, say goodbye to your images. Epson’s web site says that there is no way to recover lost images from a damaged or defective drive. Maybe there is a way with other recovery software. If anyone has experience with this, or any other issue with these drives, post a comment below.

The Epson drives are proven devices that have found their way into many travel photographer’s camera bags. If you’re looking for a portable photo backup solution, they’re definitely worth considering.

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By Dan Bailey, July 11, 2010 12:24 pm

As a service to my fellow outdoor photographers, I’ve spent time researching some of the highest rated digital SLR and point and shoot cameras, camera bags, tripods and portable media drives on the market, which I’ve compiled onto a list and posted on a brand new page called Top Rated Photo Gear.

The list is by no means exhaustive, but it may be a good place to start if you’re thinking about upgrading your photography equipment, or if you just want to know what other photographers out there are using to create their images.

Click here for the list. I hope you find it useful. I’ll do my best to keep it updated as new products come out.

Also, for those who are curious about what equipment I use, here’s a list of some of the gear that I personally use in my outdoor and adventure photography business.

Happy shooting!

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By Dan Bailey, March 31, 2010 11:22 am

Along with the complete redesign that I just did on my website: www.danbaileyphoto.com, I’ve also been refining the look of this blog and adding some new features. The latest is the heading on the sidebar called “Essential Gear for Outdoor Photographers,” where I’ve added links to some of the gear and software that I use.

Just as with the B&H Photo link, I receive a small commission on products that you buy from Adobe and Amazon when you click through this site. In reality, though, the commission is quite small and it would take a huge amount of purchases for me to make anything resembling a sizable income.

The bottom line is that I’m not looking to get rich from readers who click through my blog. Instead, my goal is to offer personal and professional recommendations on some of the essential equipment that I use every day in my photography business, that I find useful, or that I simply know are worthwhile products.

As outdoor photographers, we all need gear that performs well and gets the job done efficiently. In my years as a working pro, I’ve dragged alot of equipment through the dirt (sometimes literally!) and spent countless hours working at my computer editing and processing images. Through much trial and error, I’ve found the gear that holds up to the test and meets my own personal demands.

I’ve listed a few of those items over on the sidebar, take a minute to look them over. They work for me, maybe you’ll decide that they’ll work for you in your photography as well.

Edit: July 1010. I just compiled a list of some of the top rated photography gear, which includes digital slr cameras, point and shoots, camera bags, tripods and portable media storage drives. As a service to other outdoor photographers, I’ve posted the list here. It’s by no means a complete list, but it may be a good place to start of you’re ready to upgrade and buy some new photo equipment.

Happy shooting.