Protecting your lens and all its sharpness

In Equipment & Technique by Sean Widker

When travelling around the globe, National Geographic photographer Nevada Wier is always prepared for whatever comes. To capture these two images, for example, she had to adjust quickly.

“It was high noon in tropical Myanmar,” Nevada explains, “as I went inside the deep, cool shade of a monastery nestled in the hills of Maurk-U. There were a number of monks chanting on wooden benches. Another monk was meditating under a mosquito net. Although it was blazing sun outside, inside it was dim verging on dark, with the only light coming from a side window covered with yellow and red fabric.

“I did not have a tripod with me but that was not a big concern. I find that when I photograph without a tripod I am more willing to try creative angles. However, in low light it is a challenge to get a tack sharp image. I upped the ISO to 800 (as far as I will go on my Canon 1Ds Mark II) and shot at 1/15 sec at f/5.6. I can easily hand hold at 1/15 sec, but I still took consecutive frames to maximize the possibility of having a sharp image. I photographed the meditating monk from as many angles as I could because I knew this was a special scene. When I was back home editing the images, I realized that combining these two images would make a powerful diptych. And they both displayed the sharpness required.” (see an extra-large version of the diptych)

As Nevada explains, “I travel in difficult climates through rugged terrain. There is every possibility of knocking my lenses into something. So I count on Singh-Ray Hi-Lux UV filters to protect each of my lenses and provide the greatest optical quality and image sharpness possible.”

About the only time Nevada removes the Hi-Lux from her lens is when using her Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer or Vari-ND filters. You’ll find her “sea gypsies” photo featured in Singh-Ray’s LB Warming Polarizer ad in the September 2007 issue of Outdoor Photographer.