Aug 24, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
The very first morning I caught just a couple of frames and that was it. They were those kind of frames which give you a taste but leave you wanting more. And in this case, the frames were in mixed light of an unique individual so I couldn’t instantly key out the bird. And it wasn’t one we’d seen on our previous trip to O’Reilly’s. A day went by before we saw another individual and this time, had a long look and photographed a typical individual and I knew in the viewfinder was a Grey Shrike-thrush. It’s actually a common species, not that hard to see nor photograph if you know where it hangs out. But I was already hooked so I went into my normal mode, making the common, uncommon.
The quest for the uncommon photo that told its story started with knowing the stage I wanted to set for my star. I wanted to speak to its living in a dark rainforest. With this idea, I started off by selecting the gear, D5 / 800mm / SB-5000 for this reason, the background. The odds were I would be shooting up into the canopy. I wanted just a squeak of light coming through the canopy and that meant a long lens with a very narrow angle of view (didn’t need long lens for subject size, its a big bird that gets real close). Since I was in a dark rainforest and shooting up into the light, flash was a must. Here the D5 / SB-5000 do a beautiful job, just brilliant if, if you dial in the right numbers to meld the light. In this case, those numbers were -0.7 exp comp in the body and -3.0 exp comp in the flash (dialed in via the body). With the stage set and technical out of the way, I just needed the star to perform. What you see is very natural biology as the Grey Shrike-thrush turn their head to listen to the noises of the forest. I just happened to luck out to have all the stars align to make the click while it was doing just that. I had to come home with the shot and I did since it hooked me the first day!
Aug 22, 2016 | Landscape Photography
Lamington Nat’l Park
captured by D5 / 24-70VR
click to see larger
I’ve been shooting panoramas or “panos” since I first picked up a camera. Back in the old days, to share the panoramic views I was so fortunate to witness, I had three Kodak slide projectors aligned so when projecting, the three images of the pano would come together on the screen into one photo. Sharing the wonders our vision brings to us with others is the heart and soul of photography! But carrying around three projectors to share the pano was never practical. Then came digital and the internet making sharing the pano much, much easier. But the taking and assembly of panos up until a year ago was still a challenge. Now, it’s literally a snap but many don’t seem to realize this, at least that’s what the emails I’ve received in the last week indicate.
In more than one email came the question, “What gear did you leave at home to take all the gear to shoot your panos?” Actually, I own no pano gear any longer, got rid of it years and years ago because the assembly of panos is so simple. You can see above the three individual images used to create the pano at the top. I literally grabbed my D5 / 24-70VR and walked out to the balcony of our room at O’Reilly’s and clicked them off. I then opened them up in Photoshop and since they are Nefs, they opened first in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw). I then selected the three files, then selected Merge Pano and I was done. You’re probably wondering what about a tripod and pano head? Used none, shot handheld. What about the overlap? Ya, there is some but that was dedicated by the pano not the assembly. What about unwanted items? We’re in Photoshop, answer that question? The bottom line is, our vision takes in much more than our cameras in one click. The times when this translates to a pano that we can plan on in advance are far and few, so we take them on the fly. That’s what makes today’s technology so cool, we can have fun and take advantage of the spontaneity of the moment to make the pano. And that’s really important because we need to use the pano to tell stories.
Aug 19, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
Ghosting is an old term when it comes to wildlife photography. It refers to when there are two “images” of the subject in one frame. It is caused when shooting with flash using an shutter speed too slow so it captures the ambient light exposure of the subject along with the frozen image captured by the flash. The rule of thumb is, a subject has to appear in the frame for 1/4 of the exposure time to register (100% to be captured completely). Now I’ve used ghosting creatively for wildlife for a long time. Prime example is to illustrate the drilling action of a woodpecker. Here’ in the rainforest at O’Reilly’s, I’ve been trying it to communicate the activity of some of the birds, like this Eastern Yellow Robin. They are such a delightful little bird, but all so busy. In this case, shooting with the D5 / 300PF / SB-5000, I used ghosting to show its constant activity as it flits about the forest. Is it perfect? Na, I’m still working on it as it’s not an exact science as the light levels are constantly changing in the forest. But I keep working on it because otherwise, I’ll never get it perfect, or close to. But I do like using ghosting as an effect.
Aug 18, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
O’Reilly’s in the the Australian Rainforest, flash has been an essential tool to bring color alive! The Regent Bowerbird is a prime example (above). The male takes 3-4yrs to have that satin black nd yellow plumage, a color combo you can’t help but see. But in the overwhelming dark and green light of the rainforest, without flash kissing it, the colors would be lost to the camera and out photographs.
Here’s a before and after of an Australian King Parrot to help illustrate my point. I’m not using flash because the ratio of light is harsh (I’m not fillin shadows). I’m using flash to bring to life the amazing color and in some part control the background. Shooting with the D5 / 800AFS / SB-5000, I have dialed the exp comp in the body down to -.7 and in the flash, -3 stops! I don’t want you too see the flash, I want the background to be a elegant stage for my subject. We need to meld the light, ambient and flash, to make our subject pop and tell it’s story. The flash in this case is right in the hot shoe of the camera. Not the most ideal spot but putting it on any kind of bracket sticks it up in the air further catching it on limbs and vines. But since the flash is just kissing the subject, it’s not creating any shadow so placement works fine using the shot shoe. The one thing I can’t rave about enough though is just how simply and beautifully the D5 / SB-5000 work together producing such a beautiful light. It’s so gorgeous, you can’t see it as it brings out deep forest color.
Australian King Parrot
captured by D5 / 800AFS
Aug 16, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
Superb Fairy-Wren
captured by D5 / 800f5.6 AFS
Our first twenty-four hours at O’Reilly’s has been simply brilliant! Now part of the giggle is the top photo is of a male Superb Fairy-Wren which is one of my all time favorite birds! And the first day we had a whole bunch of opportunities with them. Why do I like them? Just look at that head! Seriously and that’s not even using a flash, that’s just how they look. Brilliant, simply brilliant!
Grey Wagtail
captured by D5 / 800f5.6 AFS
The cool thing about the Superb Fairy-Wren is you can be out chasing some other bird and if you are getting skunked, the Wren appears to save the day. I came to Australia with a list of birds I wanted that, well, I didn’t do so well with on my last visit. The Grey Wagtail is one of those. The one thing that has become so overwhelming obvious to me is the amazing improvement of the gear since my last visit. This is a prime example of how the D5 / 800f5.6 AFS grab focus so bloody fast in the lost light situations. That’s not important just for the obvious reason, sharpness, but permitting you to find the subject in the viewfinder and follow it until you want to go click. Both of these birds are about the size of your thumb, incredibly small. Both are real fast little dudes and that along with size makes them a real &%*#)@ to find and follow through the viewfinder. But that’s the fun and makes the reward just that sweeter when you make the click. There are so many stories already, dying to get them all out. The challenge is finding the time and internet to get them out. mtc.
Aug 14, 2016 | Landscape Photography
After 23hrs of travel, we arrived without a hitch in gorgeous Australia to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat high up in Lamington Nat’l Park. This was the view off our porch this AM as we headed out to shoot. Eighteen species of birds photographed already, so much mtc!
