May 9, 2019 | Wildlife Photography
Painted Bunting
captured by D5 / 800mm
Oh, I’ve seen them many, many times. I’ve even photographed the Painted Buntin on many occasions. But those photos were all, “I saw this” when the photo needs to say “You need to see this!” so I have kept the pursuit going. A bird not much bigger than your thumb is on the secretive side of life so you often see them coming into a seed feeder or bird bath. This time of year, you look for the female because typically there is a male close behind. That was the case this week in Texas. We had seen and photographed lots of females. When I saw this male in the viewfinder of the D5 / 800mm, I hit the back button focus and shutter release and finally got the photo I desired. Now, it’s on to improve on this one!
May 8, 2019 | Landscape Photography
It’s that time of year when summer thunderstorms float by overhead like some giant ocean flotilla of naval ships. I love this time of year because with little or no effort very romantic landscape shots can be created by just pointing up. There are only two things you need to think about, the light and the foreground. The light needs to be moody which tends to naturally occur in the late afternoon when the thunderheads form. The foreground, just a sliver is all you have to have to give the clouds a greater feeling of height. After that, just need the weather to work its magic!
Apr 24, 2019 | Wildlife Photography
Western Brown Pelican
captured by Z6 / 500PF
There are lots of rules in life, photography, and following them is totally up to you! I had the opportunity to shoot with the 500PF for our 1st afternoon at La Jolla Cove. Since I’ve not used the 500PF in this kind of opportunity, I went for it. I was sucked into that “shooting with a cool new lens” rather than thinking through what lens I should have shot with. As such, while the Z6 / 500PF is a killer combo, it was way too much lens (all you need is 200mm). That brings up this post’s topic. The photo of the gorgeous male Brown Pelican is really tight, so tight I cut off the wing tips. Most of the time, that’s a bad thing. In this case, you gotta ask, do you have light, color, gesture and if you do, are the wing tips needed? It’s really your call!
Apr 23, 2019 | Landscape Photography
The East Face & Mt Tom were simply gorgeous this morning! It was truly hard to keep my eyes on the road as the sun rose over the Whites lighting up the face. In fact, the pressure got to me so I stopped to shoot. With the drama in the light and the romance of the scene, going B&W was a given so that meant shooting with the Z6 as it does B&W so amazingly and then added to that, the razor sharp. Z24-70f2.8. But that wasn’t the real dilemma, including that one element was. Or was it?
If look really, really closely in the lower photograph in the upper right corner, you’ll see the moon. While standing there it was obvious but as soon as the eye goes to the viewfinder, it appears like what we called in film days, a processing mark. It was really simple for me, the upper photo shows off the drama in the early light so going wide to include the moon wasn’t an option. But many include that moon because, well, I don’t know why. If I didn’t point it out, you probably wouldn’t see it. So including it diminishes the drama that being together brings. It’s just something to think about when the moon is out but real tiny in the frame, appearing like a processing mark.
Apr 11, 2019 | Landscape Photography
Nebraska Sandhills
captured by Z7 / Z24-70
I’m shown a lot of sunrise/sunset photos and when asked what I think, well, I think to myself, “it would have been better-left unshot.” Here’s an example of what I’m talking about, one of my own photos. Saw this real purdy sunset when I was not prepared, so I went inside, grabbed the Z7 / Z24-70 (killer landscape rig), and walked back out to shoot the gorgeous sunset. The problem is, it was no longer gorgeous, just purdy. Those elements which made it gorgeous had faded yet, I went click anyways. And the photo just doesn’t make it. But because I had that memory and I had that photo, heck, it’s gotta be good, right? Actually, the memory is much better and it’s a great example of a photo that was better left unshot.
Apr 11, 2019 | Wildlife Photography
Greater Prairie Chicken
captured by D5 / 800mm
There are lots of shots I would love, love to add to my files. The only reason, they are ones that have eluded me forever. They are ones I have hints of from other photos. Those hints led my imagination to wonder what would the real, final photo be like? Would the reality be as good as I imagine? This is just one example.
Greater Prairie Chicken
captured by D5 / 800mm
Here you have your average male, Sharp-tailed Grouse on the lek displaying. I’m watching him through the D5 / 800mm using back-button focus to lock on and then not hitting it when I take the photo. I do this because I know that when he jumps up, the plane of focus for the eye almost never changes when he jumps. What I don’t know is just how high he will jump. It changes every time. I have him at the very bottom of the frame, sometimes cutting his feet off so when he jumps, he’s all in the frame. What you see is the closest I’ve come to that shot taken yesterday morning. Been trying for years for that shot, looks like I’m still trying!
