What’s Your Equipment?

I’m in love with Canon. I went digital while doing my adventure column when my photographer didn’t show. After that I bought a Canon D60, put it in a friend’s hand and said, ‘Once I jump off that cliff in the hang glider, don’t stop taking photos until I hit the ground.’

I put the D60 through the tortures of monsoons at Grand Cayman, sand blasts while learning to hang glide on the beach, fungus attacks while living seaside – and it still acted as a stand-in for my then new Canon 1 Ds Mark II that had a severe case of hiccups while on assignment in Yala National Park for a 12-page feature about the Yala leopards.

My favorite lens is the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS. I used to work solo with the D60, the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, and the 70-200mm, but I’ve added equipment over time, and since I’ve been in Sri Lanka, I got an assistant because the weight and volume of equipment has got too much for one person to handle. (Note: that assistant was Lipton Jayawickrama, who over time learned photography and now is just as good as I am - almost! But he still carries all the heavy stuff!)

I am a Mac Girl all the way. I used to use laptops because they were easy for travel. My two went through the wringer and stood the test of time and abuse amazingly well – until they both crapped out! But my hat’s still off to Apple!

I use Adobe products and YES, I PhotoShop my photographs. Some more than others and some hardly at all. Some I blast to high heaven for a weird effect. Ansel Adams said, ‘You don’t take a photograph, you make it.’ I make mine in the camera, and in the computer. It’s all art.

I darkened the right side to keep the focus on the

couple. The sky wasn't photoshop - it was actually

that colour!

This wasn't photoshop'd at all.

Just a lucky shot!

Got up before dawn to get this

one, in Hatton. No photoshop.

Stopped the car to get this. Had to do it in B&W

because the colours were too distracting.

Photoshop'd to get the sky emphasised.

Just a tiny bit of saturation for this one.

A fan, a gorgeous girl, soft box and a bit of minus clarity.

Check out my Sri Lankan wedding photography, travel photography, portrait photography, female photographers, commercial photography at my website at: http://www.shadetreeSL.com

© ShadeTree Productions