Jun 26, 2013 | Landscape Photography
Well life has finally landed be back in home, for more than a day. So the first order of business was to get the shooting gallery all up to snuf. This meant doing two things, get out my big stick and break off all the little sticks (Kelby Training style) so I have my clean foregrounds/backgrounds. That took a little while and with the addition of the 800mm to the shooting gallery, a little deeper pruning. Once that was done, time to get back behind the camera.
Since I hadn’t done any serious gallery shooting at the office with the 800mm, I set it up first on my woodpecker post. I didn’t take time to set up lights, I just wanted to get back into the swing of the critters. Spring has sprung and there are kids about so parents are real busy. First up to bat is the Red-shafted Flicker which came in to say hello. Next was on of the new Hairy Woodpecker chicks that just fledged from the nest in the front yard last weekend. I took a couple of shots of it and than slowly walked up to it. I was about three feet away when I stopped. It just watched me, begged when dad landed, got fed by dad and than flew off with dad. Dad came in to the food with me there because I did the same thing with him when he was young. It was a good morning to be back in the shooting gallery. I got an idea for a new feeder so I started to gather the materials for that idea. Fun in the backyard, life is good.
Jun 18, 2013 | Landscape Photography
Ya, we gotta know that f/stop and shutter speed stuff (this might help with that!) and you have all the right gear (until the next batch of new stuff comes out) but are you ready for the sneak attacks? One of the greatest parts about photography no matter what kind you want to think about are the surprises. Those surprises are the serendipitous moments that often make your ordinary photograph very special. When these moments happen, we have to not only have the right gear and techniques, but be smart enough to recognize the surprise as being special to take advantage of it. Our knowledge base has to be so large to recognize that what we’re seeing is not only very special, but be able to bring that back in our images!
Case in point. We were shooting in the march in Churchill, Canada late one evening (21:00 late) working a great group of shorebirds. I was shooting with my bird rig: Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head(w/ RRS Quick Release mount attached) is the Nikon 800f5.6 AFS (w/TC800-25e) and D4 working the Solitary Sandpiper when I saw an unique walk emerge from the bank. Knowing biology can pay big dividends with one being able to recognize the unique. I swung the lens around to see the unique walk belonging to this Common Snipe foraging. Wow!
While it’s name contains Common, it’s anything but common! You can hear and see them in flight overhead but just seeing them foraging out in the open is anything but common. Knowing it was there, I instantly approached it to photograph it. As you can see, the light and habitat was picture perfect for this cryptic critter. I never was able to be a bigger image size than you see here, it kept its distance, but these were the first photos I have EVER taken of a Snipe foraging (I had a couple of “post” shots and that all) in my three decades. The bottom photo told me its a female. Why? There was a male flying overhead wanting to court and when she heard it, she took this posture. Your photography has to incorporate all basics but to get those special moments, your mind has to have much more info you can draw on for those special moments. You gotta ask yourself, are you ready for sneak attacks?
Jun 11, 2013 | Landscape Photography
When I’m down at the river working with the Cliff Swallows, this Eared Grebe keeps me company. I know it has a nest somewhere nearby but its mate must be on it since it I’ve never seen it go to it. How do I know it’s the same grebe? Look at it, see that worm looking thinking coming from its bill, that’s its tongue. If you look, the bottom mandible is broken and part of it is hanging down. If you look at the overall condition of the grebe, it looks like it’s been beaten up. What caused the damage has me asking what happened?
At the same time I wondered is the damage was enough to cause its eventual death. Grebes are divers, going underwater and chasing little fish that they have to catch to feed themselves. As you can see, this guy had no problem in that department! That’s a trout fry its got there, what I fish for in the very same river! Shooting with the D4, (including Di-GPS) Nikon 800f5.6 AFS on Auto Area AF, I track it as if fishes basically at my feet and this little dude is bloody successful! So while I wonder what caused the damage, I have no doubt it will survive. Now just to find its nest and photograph its young when they’re riding on its back. That’s the next challenge!
Jun 10, 2013 | Wildlife Photography
One of those lessons I learned long ago comes into play in most of my photography. The rufous of the Cliff Swallow head is a great color contrast to the blue of the river so visually the mind’s eye can’t help but see it. Even if it’s really small in the frame. With that comes the story telling, where the mud nests, minimized in size, are set apart by the same color as the swallow, the blue water. And it’s the blue water, the majority of the frame that finishes the storytelling and sets the stage for the subject, the swallow. All that is left is the gesture in the swallow head. There is only one frame of these three where the gesture works for me. You decide what works for you :-)
Jun 10, 2013 | Landscape Photography
For decades the Cliff Swallows have been nesting on this 1920’s bridge structure. The roadway is long gone but the supports remain making great structures for the mud nests of the swallows. I work the colony every spring, arriving at sunrise and shooting for a short period until the light gets hard (which is about 25min). I’ve tried a whole bunch of techniques over the years but have yet to get the photos I have in my mind.
Using my basic bird photography rig: D4, (including Di-GPS) Nikon 800f5.6 AFS (w/TC800-25e), on the Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head (w/ RRS Quick Release mount attached). All this rig was perched on the edge of the river about 20-30′ away from the three structures holding the colony. The “trick” is to photograph the biology while minimizing the tremendous glare from the mud nests. If only our afternoon thunderstorms would form at sunrise, I’d have it easy but such is not the case.
There is a couple of aspects of the colony that are really attractive. First if you’re shooting at eyelevel with the nests which is special. Normally you have to shoot up on them. Second is the blue background, the water of the river that is just three feet below the nests. And as you can see, there is plenty of biology going on. From just hanging out at the colony to bringing in nesting material and the bottom photo, competition amongst each other. While you’re reading this, I’m at the river again trying to improve on what I’ve taken before and photograph what I’ve missed.
Jun 7, 2013 | Wildlife Photography
Left the house at 05:15 to spend some time down at the river. Being near the base of 10,000 foot peaks, it takes a little while for the sun to actually kiss the river. I went early because you just never know what might be around. This morning, I was greeted by a very small group of White Pelicans. Now they are a shy bunch this time of year, nesting seems to just put them on edge. I knew that on the flats where you can see a Lady Bug approach, there would be no “sneaking” up on them. So as the motto goes, “Go out without your longest lens, you’ll comeback short!” I headed out with my stand bird rig: Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head(w/ RRS Quick Release mount attached) is the Nikon 800f5.6 AFS (w/TC800-25e) and D4 with Di-GPS.
I had just gotten everything set up and closed the door of the truck when I made the first shot. Their expression made me feel like I’d caught them in the act…the act of what I’ll leave to your imagination. With the “cool” predawn color I shot in AWB because I wanted that blueish cast to their white plumes and knew the color contrast of their bills (male has the “bump”) against the green of the river bank, you couldn’t help but see them in the frame. I then walked perhaps 10-15′ and put the rig down because I could see they were uncomfortable with my approach. I made than made a serious of second shots and than they lowered into the river and let its flow take them down around the bend and away from me. I didn’t push them, I let them float down and away before finishing my approach and actual target species for the morning. But it was cool to be rewarded again for getting up early and on site. Nature, she’s cool! mtc
