Still in New Mexico at Bosque del Apache and this morning was one for the books! Lots to say, lots to post and now time. This was just a happy second in a morning of splendor. Oh, and the lighting … the shadows are created by all the photographers lined up shooting and the crack between them, the shaft of light lighting the Snow Goose.
It’s been twenty-five years since my first visit to Bosque del Apache and it’s just as magical now as it was then. It’s not the same but it is as magical! For those who have never been here, it’s the winter resort for Sandhill Cranes (mostly Greaters) and Snow Geese (with some Ross’). The count is 60k Snow Geese and 12K Cranes on the refuge right now. This morning was like every morning on the refuge, gorgeous as the sun slowly rose and kissed the birds sleeping on the ponds. This is a sample from the morning shot with D4s / 800mm as the crane shook off the night and ready itself for the day. Seen some good old friends, both two legged and feathered so I’m looking forward to a grand weekend in the sanctuary of Mother Nature!
The Bald Eagle is an amazing flier, I could watch them for hours in the air. They are a gorgeous bird, their beauty is so distinctive. And they are the laziest forager when not nesting. I had a great time just watching them on the Chilkat River a week past as they hung and waited until another eagle grabbed a “floater” and pulled it a shore. A floater is a spent salmon, one that has spawned and died. When one of these floaters hits just right and beaches itself right on the shore and it hits a eagle in the foot, they might partake in the carcass (yes, eagles at times do grab a floater before it hits the shore). But once one eagle has that piece of food, all hell breaks loose!
While speaking in generalities because nothing in Mother Nature is 100% predictable, Bald Eagles love to steal from another eagle even if a fresh salmon were hitting it on the foot. We’re not talking about some gentle, uh hmmm asking for a tidbit here, oh no. They come in full force baring talons and drawing blood in many instances. Feathers fly! There are times I wish I had a scorecard to know who is who. Are the eagles for example related in any way? You can see here in this exchange the ferocity they go about stealing that scrap. And as you can see, they defend their scrap with the same ferocity. It really is an amazing site and sound as this plays out.
Knowing all of this is very important in getting the shot. Knowing this biology, you can be ready for it as it unfolds. In my case, I was shooting with the D4s / 800mm for two reasons. The D4s because of its fast FPS and high ISO capabilities. Unlike normal, I was shooting at ISO800 to have the faster shutter speed to freeze the action. And the 800mm to eliminate some of the visual distractions while not being tight. Many shoot with 1200mm or more but I don’t want to be that tight on a critter that flies so magnificently as the Bald Eagle. The D4s with its greater range permitted me to shoot as well with + exp comp not only “brightening” the otherwise dark light but opening up the shadows. Lastly, with the dark, overcast light I cranked up the AWB to bring up the warmth in the photo that otherwise would have a very blue cast. Ben Franklin preferred the turkey over the Bald Eagle for our national symbol because he too had seen the Bald Eagle’s character traits. But it’s that biology that when we know it and combine it with our gear and desire to tell the story we can prove Mr Franklin right in our photos.
As a youngster, I spent many an hour at the zoo watching the Giraffe. I always wondered how such a crazy lookin critter lived in its world. There is nothing else that wanders our planet like a Giraffe, a critter which looks so calm yet can have some amazingly violent fights. They roam alone and in small groups and occasionally, even fall prey to the large predators. Photographing them is to some extent a challenge. In the region of South Africa where we were at, the open woodland scrub, doesn’t make watching Giraffes easy. They not only blend in but believe it or not, can actually hide really well. And while not shy, they didn’t walk right up to us like the Leopards. These shots were taken with the D4s / 800mm in order to get intimidate with them as well as isolate them from their surroundings. I went over thinking these would be short lens subjects. Another lesson learned. Nothing will replace though my first seeing them on the way in from the airport and I don’t think I’ll ever get enough field time watching them go about their day. Giraffes are just cool!
And while we didn’t see a lot of Giraffes, we did see them in small groups many times during our safari. I really didn’t think anything of it, not seeing them everywhere, I had gone to Africa with the impression they were “common.” But I went to Africa with many impressions which mostly turned out to be wrong so didn’t think anything of it until a couple of days ago. That’s when I read this piece Giraffes are silently disappearing, and it really had me wondering based on what I saw first hand. They call it a “silent extinction” in the piece but when compared to elephant numbers, it’s a rather alarming extinction. It messes with the mind and heart to have so easily seen these magnificent and puzzling critters in the wild only to learn they are disappearing. I guess the truly sad thing is how silent we’re letting things slip away. If you’ve ever seen a Giraffe in a zoo, you’ve never really seen a Giraffe. At least, that’s what I learned.
With the new snows of the season, I thought I’d answer a common question that floods in this time of year. “How do you (as in Moose) expose for snow?” Of course living in snow, I have a number of off the cuff answers, but I’ll move past those and get to the heart of the question as I look at it. What color is snow? Unless a Moose or dog has passed by, it’s white, right? The common belief that if there is snow in the scene, automatically dial in +1. A recommendation that comes from the meters of the 1970s. We’re not in the ’70s. I honestly don’t think there are viewers of your snow photograph who wouldn’t recognize the white stuff on the ground as snow. With that being true, then seeing detail in every crystal of the snow (what +1 might do for you) is not mission critical to tell the viewer the white stuff they are looking at is indeed, snow. With that storytelling in place then, how do I expose for snow? Exposure is YOUR greatest tool to express the feeling, mood and life in your photograph. Just because you see something white, don’t automatically do anything.
We have two photos here, both of snow. The feel of both is totally different. The top photo has a bluish-gray cast, the bottom photo the snow is your basic snow white. The top image makes me feel cold, that’s why I underexposed it in camera and did not remove the color cast in post. The bottom image, I exposed normally (no comp) and did remove the color cast in post (using ACR). The key to exposure for both images is the RANGE of light in the entire scene and not the fact there is snow in the scene. I exposed for the subject and not the white stuff. Like with most of my photography, I try to keep the light range within 3 stops. When that’s the case, then I just have to click, the D4s / Df / D810 / D750‘s meter will do the rest. When it’s outside the 5 stop range, to deal with the greater range of light I shoot with the D4s / Df and overexpose. This is totally ass backwards from what I did for thirty years but is brings into play the 6 stop range of those camears. Look at the light between the photos in that post and this. Can YOU see the difference in the light falling on the scene? It is exacerbated by the snow, but not determined in whole by the presence of snow.
SO how does Moose expose for snow? Just like any other scene, it depends on the subject, the light on the subject, the light on the rest of the stage and then the story I want to tell within the confines of my viewfinder. Exposure is way too powerful a tool to just dial in some value of exposure compensation automatically. The world doesn’t need another technically perfect photograph. The world needs another photograph with passion to move the viewer!
The impact of our Africa safari still has its influence on me, it’s hard not to blog non-stop about it! One critter I wanted to really see in the wild was a big maned African Lion. Why? Seen them in zoos, seen them at the start of movies, wanted to actually see one that had nothing to do with man. If you’ve ever watched The Ghost and the Darkness, you just gotta wonder if you see these magnificent critters in the wild, if you’ll survive the encounter. Since I’m here talking about it and I have photos, it would appear I did survive my encounter with male African Lions. And my desire to spend time with them is even more intense after doing so!
The biology of Lions is really, well, just darn cool! The first thing that still amazes me is they sleep on average 20hrs a day! This is why in part seeing them actually making a kill, not just eating on a carcass, but actually witnessing the take down and kill is so prized. It’s a rare siting! Next was the pride, the group of lions that hang and operate together. A pride might be just two females, it might be 12 females but often it does not include full mane males. The males hang in their own little groups and often range far and wide from the pride of females they associate with. These two younger males had just started that behavior and had returned just prior to our arrival to Africa. We spent an hour watching the interactions of these males and it was fascinating. Using the D4s / 800mm w/1.25x not only to capture the moments but as a scope to get in close helped a lot. In some ways, they are just giant house cats pawing at a passing leaf or staring at a twitching tail tip until they pounced on it. The next moment they are showing their male dominance in very graphic, male ways. And being at times so close that one could reach out and grab their mane as they passed the Landie was, well, simply mind blowing and life altering. They are one of the reasons we’re heading back to Africa in 2015, I didn’t see the giant maned male or get enough time with these fascinating and magnificent members of our wild heritage!