Kristian Bogner Photography Blog

The D800. “One Camera. Two Perspectives” Video Launch

Kristian Bogner — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:24:48 +0000

“Nikon D800 – One Camera: Two Perspectives” is a video shot entirely with the Nikon D800 HD-SLR by world-class professional photographer, Kristian Bogner, and award-winning cinematographer, Kirk Neff. While in Canmore, Alberta, Kristian and Kirk worked with Canadian athletes to capture breathtaking stills and videos with the D800. The result of their creative genius — combined with the spectacular quality the D800 provides — is this one-of-a-kind video. We hope you enjoy it. View More Images Here

Click Here to see More Photographic Images from Project Epic: “Nikon D800 – One Camera: Two Perspectives”

On Global TV’s Morning Show Talking about “The D800: One Camera. Two perspectives.”

Kristian Bogner — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:15:50 +0000

Kristian Bogner and Kirk Neff stopped by Global TV’s The Morning Show on Wednesday May 16, 2012 to discuss their work with the Nikon D800 and their video, “One Camera: Two Perspectives.”

Bogner and Neff at Global TV’s The Morning Show

Bogner and Neff speak at the Contact Festival at Nikon Day – One Camera. Two Perspectives.

Kristian Bogner — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:37:57 +0000

On Wednesday, May 16, Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival and Nikon are proud to present Nikon Day, featuring world-class authorities in photographic arts!

World-class professional photographer Kristian Bogner and award-winning videographer Kirk Neff will host “One Camera – Two Perspectives,” a discussion of how to use multimedia HD-SLRs like the Nikon D800 to produce spectacular stills, portraits, videos and documentaries.
Imaging expert Jon Blacker will present “Infrared Portraiture,” in which he will discuss this approach to capturing images with uniquely interesting effects,
moods and qualities.
Nikon’s Professional Services team will be on-hand for an informative technical Q&A, and will provide a complimentary sensor cleaning for anyone who brings a Nikon digital SLR product.

Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event! Please RSVP to info@scotiabankcontactphoto.com

Find Out More about Nikon Day

Come out and see this great free event sponsored by Nikon Canada.

Date & Time:
Wednesday, May 16,
6-9 p.m.

Venue:
Ryerson University
Library Building (LIB 72)
350 Victoria Street
Toronto M5B 2K3

Kristian and Kirk with all be on the Global TV Toronto Morning Show tomorrow May 16th at 7:20am talking about the event. Check it out!!

Bogner Becomes the Canadian Commercial Photographer of the Year for the 3rd time in History

Kristian Bogner — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Multi-award winning photographer Kristian Bogner wins top Canadian Photographic Award – “Commercial Photographer of the Year for Canada” for the 3rd time. The awards took place at the Professional Photographers of Canada Association’s image competition and conference in Halifax. Kristian was presented the award by PPOC Chair, Ken Frazer, Nikon Canada’s Amanda Mohammed and PPOC Image Salon Chair, Brian Lee.

Kristian also won two awards of Merit and one of his images was selected for the PPOC loan collection to travel across Canada. Earlier this year Kristian also received the Alberta Commercial Photographer of the Year Award for the 4th time.

It was an incredible honour to receive this award for the 3rd time. I believe it is a reflection of the incredible passion I have for my work and creating images that inspire others. People sometimes tell me I’m half photographer and half human. ;) Well, Photography really is a huge part of me and to be recognized for that feels wonderful. When I went up to receive the award I said a few words and spoke of allowing my photography to flow from the child within me that has no creative boundaries. I received a standing ovation from my photographic peers and friends in attendance. It really was a magical night that I will never forget.

This year’s award was extra special for me because it was sponsored and presented by Nikon Canada and it felt like a real team win for me. I am a Nikon shooter, tester and ambassador and the timing of this award couldn’t be more perfect. Nikon has just released two amazing new cameras .. the D800 and D4. I have been fortunate enough to shoot with both and the capabilities are simply groundbreaking. I have been working with Nikon on some exciting projects and am thrilled to share the award with them. I am also speaking for Nikon at the Contact festival in Toronto on May 16th. The Contact festival is one of the largest photography festivals in the world.

A Huge thank you to all of my friends, family and peers… your support and encouragement has been so incredible!!! You all inspire me take it to the limit whenever I have a camera in my hands!

Bogner’s Award Winning Professional Photographers of Canada Association Image Entry:

Mountain Nomad

I am very fortunate to have a great friend and mentor which is an Indian Major General. He has an incredible eye for photography himself and had taken me on several life changing expeditions. This image was captured last fall along the silk route near Pangong Tso, Ladakh, way up over 16,000ft where these nomads live. I watched this old woman milking the goats and go into her tent. I had my girlfriend (aka ‘light holder of the year’) hold my SB-900 Nikon flash with a small soft box near her and see if she could get the woman’s attention while I shot this image from afar with a 70-200mm lens triggering the flash with a Pocket Wizard to capture the true unposed essence of this incredible study. Notice prayer beads in her weathered hands amongst all of the other textures in the frame.

Mountain Nomad – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Coca-Cola Proud

We had just had the amazing experience to privately watch and shoot the sun rise on the Taj Mahal. Afterwards we stopped outside of the gates for a cup of Chai Tea. I looked over and saw this boy who was manning the store for what seemed to be his family. He was also watching me with all of my Nikon gear and stood as a proud young entrepreneur in front of “his” store. I was moved by the colours and illustrative nature of this frame and took several images to get the best expression I could. Finally he stared right at me and I got this amazing image. Persistence usually pays off and here is an instance where it did!

Coca-Cola Proud – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Peace Stupa by Starlight

I find there is always a reward to following your heart no matter what the opposition. It was my last night in Leh, Ladakh and it happened to be a full moon. We all had an early morning but I envisioned this shot and wanted to go up to the Peace Stupa and shoot it. I was strongly discouraged because of safety, but I went anyway. I had the most incredible experience up there by myself, took some time to absorb the beauty and spirituality of the place and then set forth to capture it’s energy to share with others. I decided to use my new super sharp and fast Nikon 24mm 1.4 lens and pulled out my very bright headlamp torch to do some painting with light. I exposed for the starlight for 30 seconds and the full moon light nicely filled in and softened the artificial light sources abound while I ran around in the 30 seconds and illuminated with my headlamp.

Peace Stupa by Starlight – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Racing the Giant

We were in Maui on a very windy day and were told by some surfers that it was possible that the legendary JAWS may be big enough to surf and some world class surfers were on the alert. Finding Jaws was a feat in itself and took some off road driving and a steep walk down a slippery slope but it was an incredible sight. While it wasn’t quite big enough to surf, because it needs to be big enough to carry the surfers over the reef, I was able to capture some incredible images of over 40 foot waves. Down the shore from the site of Jaws I captured this extreme surfer racing this gigantic wave. A great sports image captures the peak of the action and and I was able to capture just that before the wave overtook this surfer.

Racing the Giant – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Download Press Release

Shooting the D800 to the limits with Nikon Canada

Kristian Bogner — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:46:44 +0000

I finished shooting for Nikon Canada last week, somewhere remote in the Rocky Mountains, with Nikon’s Amanda, Mark, Chris, and Greg, along with Kirk Neff, award winning cinematographer from Global TV.

Kirk and I were both shooting with the new and absolutely incredible 36 megapixel, 1080p 30fps, Nikon D800 cameras. We were both super stoked and fed off each other’s creative energy while pushing these cameras to the limit in very harsh conditions!! Honestly, this camera is everything they say it is and more and performs like a pro Nikon body in every way. The resolution, dynamic range, iso capabilities and features in this relatively affordable camera are mindblowing!

Our Nikon team was rock solid, and our subjects and conditions were beyond EPIC!!! It was grueling … we fit a week of shooting into about 3 hard-core days and nights, but it was also one of the most incredible, high energy and amazing shoots I have had the pleasure of co-creating!

Well that’s all I can say for now…..Stay Tuned…. You’re going to want to see this! More to come soon!!!

Day 3 – Capturing The Beauty of Nature from Morning until Night Sky with the Nikon D4 – UPDATED!

Kristian Bogner — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:22:38 +0000

Stunning Sunrise from atop of Haleakala Volcano

Haleakala is an amazing place. You can drive from the ocean up almost 10,000 feet and then then it’s a short hike to the top where you can view one of the most magical sunrises on the planet. I was up there in my shorts and three jackets. It was so cold and windy up there that I had to keep watch that my very sturdy tripod and D4 didn’t blow over.

Great Balls of Fire! The Nikon D4 and 300mm lens combo do a great job handling shooting directly into the sun without any flare, glare or trouble.

Sunrise from 10,000 feet at 100ISO on the Nikon D4 – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Rainbow over Ho’okipa – “Truly a Surfer’s Paradise”

I saw this rainbow as we were driving to shoot a beach location, pulled over, jumped out of the car, hopped a fence and quickly shot with the D4 and my Nikon 14-24mm lens. I used the very useful grid viewfinder to get a nice even horizon line and shot until the rainbow dissipated. This was one of the images I captured of this incredible full rainbow over the famous surf / windsurfing beach, Ho’okipa, Maui.

Notice the red surfer in lower left third of the image amongst the bright turquoise water. I couldn’t have planned the shot better if I tried! This image is an example of being at the right place at the right time with the right skills and a Nikon D4!

Beautiful Colour at 125 ISO on the Nikon D4 – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Volcanic Glow of Haleakala by Starlight and 12800 ISO

I slept in my rented Jeep up at the 10,000 foot high peak of Haleakala to get this shot. My iPhone woke me up super early, I put on 4 jackets this time and headed out with my headlamp, tripod and gear bag. I found this spot where the stars seemed insanely bright and started testing out the D4′s high ISO capabilities. I wanted to shoot very high ISO so that the exposure time would be less and there would be little movement of the stars. After seeing how good the results were at 12800 ISO I went for it. A funny thing happened, I was painting with light with my headlamp, illuminating the volcano when a car came by in the middle of the night near where I was shooting. The break lights of the car illuminated the volcano with this vibrant red colour. At 12800 ISO any light source becomes magically magnified. In this photograph the light from the stars was also magnified and this image captured their luminous beauty.

I have discovered that whenever you get out of bed, take a risk and do something most people wouldn’t do, the Universe rewards you with something wonderful, like this capture of energy. – Kristian Bogner

Volcanic Glow by Starlight at 12800 ISO on the Nikon D4 – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

More Images of Nature from Day 3 – Epic Rainbows, Water, Clouds, Trees and more.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe how many unique and different images you can get in a day when your awareness is open and your on a mission.

Nature on the Nikon D4 – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Day 2 – Controlling Motion and Freezing the Moment with the Nikon D4

Kristian Bogner — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:54:28 +0000

I’m back in Canada after 4 days of shooting with my New Nikon D4 in Maui. I put it through a gruelling few days of shooting anything and everything in sight. It performed beautifully on all accounts, most notably I was impressed with the new autofocus system, image detail, speed and feel. I only had one battery to use and I was shooting stills and video all day and the battery performed exceptionally as well. The video capabilities with AF-F, full-time autofocus and time-lapse features also performed better than I could have imagined. Below are some images from Day 2. Click each image to enlarge and see the camera settings and information. Enjoy!

Slowing Down the Action with Amazing Detail on the D4 at 100 ISO with a 30 second exposure

I saw the subtle colours of the algae on the detailed almost monochromatic rocks and thought I would test the Nikon D4′s low ISO detail with a long exposure time shot from a tripod. By slowing down the action with this technique, the contrast between the detail of a rocks at the softness of the water over a 30 second duration provided a wonderful, almost surreal image.

Amazing Detail at 100 ISO on the Nikon D4 – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Download Full Resolution JPG

Freezing the Moment with Flash and the Nikon D4

I set up a small light stand to the left of the model with one SB-900 flash and a small softbox on the shore and put a few large rocks on the stand to keep it from falling in the wind. I used a pocket wizard radio slave to trigger my flash which was set to 1/2 power to minimize my recycle time. I used 1250 ISO on the D4 to give the SB-900 plenty of power and enable me to keep the light stand far enough away from the subject that it wouldn’t get knocked over by a rogue wave. (It has happened to me before) I shot with my super sharp Nikon 85mm at f/4.5 to give me enough depth of field to keep the model and frozen water in focus but have some softer areas as contrast to make the details pop. I shot at 1/40sec to record some of the ambient light and get a slight bit of movement in the waves while the flash froze most of the important action.

This is the most effective autofocus system I have used on any camera…ever. The new MultiCAM 3500FX autofocus on the D4 was able to autofocus in almost no light at all. Even with the waves crashing I was able to get amazing sharp images.

Freezing the Action with Flash at 1250 ISO on the Nikon D4 – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Download Full Resolution JPG

Nikon D4 Samples by Bogner – Day 1 in Maui shooting with the Nikon D4

Kristian Bogner — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:58:21 +0000

Yesterday afternoon when my new Nikon D4 arrived in Maui it felt like Christmas morning!!! I am here shooting for four days with the camera and below are some comments, samples and results from Day 1. The D4 is a race car!!! Truly a precision machine of awesome capabilities and performance.

Extreme Windsurfing – 1st clicks

I decided to take my very first shots at a world famous windsurfing spot called Ho’okipa in Maui. I set the camera up with my Nikkor 300mm 2.8GII Lens and Nikon TC-20EIII teleconverter, and a monopod, and found a perfect spot along the beach. I did a quick adjustment of my picture controls to increase sharpness and saturation a bit and set my iso to 500, aperture to f 7.1 and shutter speed to 1/3200 of a second and the camera to continuous high setting so that I could shoot at 10 fps. After that came a huge perma-smile as I effortlessly captured about 1000 shots and some incredible video in about an hour!! The Nikon D4 felt amazing in the field, it was easy to get used to all of the ergonomic and button placement improvements and wow, the focusing was wicked fast and accurate!! I have to say even the sound of the shutter is my favourite on any Nikon I have owned…the Nikon D4 purrs like a Ferrari.

Windsurfing Image shot at 500 ISO on the Nikon D4 – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Nikon D4 | f/7.1at 1/3200sec | ISO: 500 | Focal Length: 600mm | Lens: AF-S Nikkor 300mm 2.8GII with Nikon TC-20EIII Teleconverter
– by Kristian Bogner © 2012

Download Full Resolution JPG

Low Light 12800 ISO TEST

Next I wanted to test out the camera in low light so we went to a concert at a local bar here and saw Willie K, a famous musician on the island here. I just shot with the existing ambient lighting which was really poor and dim. I was really impressed with how clean the images were at 12800 ISO. Being able to shoot at this speed is really amazing and opens up so many photographic possibilities. The Nikon D4 was able to focus better than any autofocus I have used in such low light.

Low Light Test shot at 12800 ISO on the Nikon D4 – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Download Full Resolution JPG

Difficult Night Shoot Pushing the Limits – the D4 set at 4000 ISO with a 30 second exposure

Finally we ended the day with a night shoot on the beach. I had noticed this really interesting driftwood a few days earlier and I thought that this would be a great location. I used radio slaves to trigger a Nikon SB-900 flash on a stand with a soft box about 30 feet away from the model. It was a clear night and the stars were amazing! I wanted them really to appear bright in the sky without too much movement so pushed the limits and shot at 4000 ISO, exposing for 30 seconds from a tripod, and shot at f 6.3 with my Nikon 14-24mm lens, which was plenty of depth-of-field. During the exposure I quickly moved to the right of my camera and used a headlamp flashlight to illuminate (paint with light) the rocks, tree and waves in the background and give a little bit of rim lighting to the model and driftwood. I shot this in Black and White using the Monochrome Picture Control setting with Yellow Filter to enhance the surreal look of the scene. The detail in the image at 4000 iso at a 30 second exposure is really impressive and keep in mind the model was trying to hold still for the entire exposure while I was painting with light and likely moved a little bit!

Starry Night Image shot at 4000 ISO on the Nikon D4 – Click to Enlarge and View Camera Info

Download Full Resolution JPG

The Nikon TC-20EIII and AF-S Nikkor 300mm 2.8GII Lens – A Killer Extreme Sports Combination

Kristian Bogner — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:41:34 +0000

I just spent the last few days shooting humpback whales, windsurfers and surfers in Maui, Hawaii. I would consider these all challenging sports/subjects to photograph because of the rapidly changing light, high winds, salt water ocean spray and very fast moving action that is relatively far away. I was excited to shoot with my Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm 2.8ED Lens … one of my absolute favourite lenses. It is deadly sharp, super quick to focus, and did I mention ridiculously sharp!!! The amazing Nikon representatives at NPS Canada (Nikon Professional Services) rush shipped me the TC-20EIII 2x Teleconverter to help me get a little closer to the action and the results were incredible!!!

I shot on both my Nikon D3X and D3s and was surprised how quickly the lens focused on both cameras with the Teleconverter and how razor sharp the images were. To be able to get in really close (2x as close) to the subjects and be able to shoot at 600mm, freeze the action, water droplets and every nuance of the moment with ease and have the convenience of only carrying a 300mm and teleconverter was a real treat.

I will let the results do the rest of the talking. Below are some of the shots I got with this Killer Extreme Sports Combination.

–Kristian

Images at Full Size and Cropped to 100%

Below is a sampling of images I captured with the same 300mm + TC-20EIII setup and the D3X / D3s.

[click images to enlarge to the full crop + see image information]

Please Comment, Tweet or Facebook and let me know what you think!

Shooting the NEW Nikon D4 and D800!!

Kristian Bogner — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:48:15 +0000

A few days ago I had the honour and the privilege of shooting with Nikon’s new latest and greatest – the Nikon D4 and Nikon D800. I met with Nikon representatives in Calgary Tuesday night, where they privately and proudly unveiled both cameras for me to test out. Well… the D4 and D800 simply ROCK and below are my comments on my first opportunity to shoot with each of them!!! Way to go Nikon for raising the bar with these amazing new releases and thank you for the personal attention and service you give to your pros, and for creating opportunities like this for us.

Shooting with the Nikon D4

I have been a Nikon shooter for over 30 years and these days I never leave home without my Nikon D3s and Nikon D3X in my camera bag. That being said, Nikon has continued to pay great attention to ergonomics, and in my hands the Nikon D4 feels like the best pro Nikon yet. I immediately noticed the deeper, easier to hold grip and new trigger button placement, portrait orientation thumb selector/joystick and new thumb grip, backlight buttons, and the same solid pro feel that I would expect from Nikon’s Flagship Pro Body.

The D3s is a true workhorse, I shot 80,000 images with it at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics alone. But the Nikon D4 boasts many improvements over the D3s like 1080p 30fps video, a 10% larger screen, in-camera HDR, and video autofocus with contrast detection. Nikon has also boosted the D4’s HI ISO to an incredible 204,800 ISO, with a higher 16.2 megapixel resolution, and faster shooting up to 11 fps with the exposure/focus locked, 10fps with autofocus. The camera also has a new 91,000-pixel sensor for metering and MultiCAM 3500FX autofocus that works amazingly in low light and with smaller apertures. This really works well, even in a dark room I was able to very quickly focus on anything I had my focus selection pointed at! The Advanced Scene Recognition System now has face detection, which sharply focuses on human faces even faster than I can choose a focus point.

With the new html interface you can remotely control the D4 with your iPhone, iPad or computer via the new WT-5 Compact Wireless Controller or built-in Ethernet connection. This means that technically you could control your Nikon D4 from anywhere on the planet! When shooting sports or multiple camera setups this is going to be a wicked tool.

Another feature I love is the new optical viewfinder with a visual grid line option. It’s a simple option but one that I find very useful for shooting landscapes and architecture.

Most of all I am really excited to be able to shoot 1080p 30fps video along with all of the other new audio and video controls built into the D4. I have found that shooting video is very complimentary to stills and many of my clients have been asking for this. The pro video features of the D4 with a good assortment of Nikon Lenses make this an remarkable tool for creating some exciting, cinematic looking video.

Nikon has clearly listened to its pros and has developed a camera that rivals all others in its class with the D4. I can’t wait to get mine!!!

More D4 Details from Nikon

Shooting with the Nikon D800

I love my Nikon D3X. There is nothing like shooting at 24.5 megapixels with huge detail and colour depth and printing your images BIG and seeing the magnificent nuances of your masterpiece on your living room wall…. Except maybe shooting at 36.3 megapixels with the even more detail offered on the new Nikon D800.

Wow am I excited about this camera! It seems that so is everyone else, and I have never heard so much excitement and talk coming from camera stores about a single camera. I am very happy for Nikon, as they seem to have hit a real home run on this one and have made a huge leap in megapixels and capabilities, yet have been able to maintain an affordable price offering of just over $3,000.

The D800 has truly leveled the photographic playing field for professionals and amateurs alike. You get an incredible medium format level of detail with the new 36.3 megapixel sensor, 1080p 30fps video, and the pro features of the new 91,000 pixel sensor for metering and MultiCAM 3500FX autofocus, face-detection, 3D Colour Matrix Metering III for more accurate exposures, in-camera HDR, 14-bit colour, 4fps in FX (full frame) and 6fps in DX format with the MB-D12 multi-power battery.

As much as I was hoping for a D4X announcement, I was pleasantly surprised by the solid pro feel and weight of the D800, Nikon ergonomics and a plethora of pro features. I will probably keep my D3X because I love it so much, but from what I have seen so far the D800 will easily replace it in my camera bag forevermore.

One of the most extraordinary new features of the D800 is that it has high ISO capabilities of ISO 100 to ISO 6400, expandable ISO range to ISO 50 to ISO 25600. When I was shooting with the camera, it blew me away to see how impressive the images were at such high ISO/low light. This is a huge advantage over the D3X. Nikon has truly achieved a superb image quality and an unparalleled combination of ISO and image detail. For this reason alone I have my D800E and MB-D12 vertical grip/multi-power battery pack on order!

More D800 Details from Nikon

My Recommendation: Get your Nikon D4 and D800 on order if you haven’t already!

The Nikon D4 is, in my opinion, the best fast action sports camera in the world today. If you are interested in capturing the energy of the moment or need High ISO capabilities to burn, cinematic quality video and a pro camera that will do it all, take a beating, handle anything you throw at it and not miss a frame, this is it!

If you’re looking for a do-it-all supercamera with medium format image resolution and detail, full portability, excellent ISO range, cinematic quality video, and pro features at an affordable price, the Nikon D800 will rock your photography to a whole new level.

If you’re a pro like me you’ve probably got both on order and can’t wait to start shooting with them!

– KRISTIAN BOGNER