The Snowy Egret is a great bird, gorgeous and thankfully for new wildlife photographers, the perfect patient subject. It is also a dirt common bird across North America. These factors all add up to making this gorgeous bird very common seen in photographs by the thousands. Does this mean you stop shooting it? Quite the contrary, you shoot it more! Why? It’s a challenge, an exercise a reward to get the shot of the common in an uncommon way. Do you always win this challenge? Hell no! Does it take much to win this challenge? Hell no! A couple of ripples reflecting the morning sun, a drip of water off the bill hitting the reflection of the bill in the water and you’re on your way. No, not a winner in the overall sense of the word, it is in the challenge of taking the common and making it uncommon. It’s essential training in the wildlife photography pursuit.
No, neither of these are a great photo. The bottom one is better than the top but that’s because I just gave the earth a little time to spin. Wildlife photography is this funny thing, many look for that great shot. This is understandable. Perhaps because I’m getting old, I’m looking for that great moment that if I’m lucky I can turn into a good photograph. Those great moments more important then the photograph. The only way I know of doing this is with time. This Great Horned Owl nest at Fort DeSoto is an example of this. The top photo, light is hard taking the eye totally away from the incubating owl. Two hours later, the light is just kissing the owl, the light on the trees framing it. Neither image by itself means much. But when you take this information and add to it what will happen with time, the hatching of the eggs, then the branchling stage, and this knowledge of the light on the trees, it is essential if seeking that great moment. So that great moment might not happen the moment you’re there. The great photo neither. But you put in your time and the odds start to add up in your favor and with that, you can create that great moment and if really lucky, that photo to express that pursuit!
I really have a thing for shorebirds and one of my favorite places to go to fulfill this love affair are the beaches of SW FL. Lying on the sands this morning shooting, it reminded me of just how sweet this pursuit really is. It really is easy to do. You grab yourself a panning plate, attach a D4 with 600VR2 and let the birds comes to you! I might be making it sound over simplistic, but that’s really all I do. If for no other reason, once I’m laying down flat on the sand, I simply don’t wanna move. It feels soooo good!/p>
Why go down flat? This Red Knot is a good example, it’s all about the background. I want this smaller, plain (winter plumage) lookin bird kinda just blends in when you shoot down on it from eyelevel. One of the goals of our photography is to make the uncommon out of the common. A simple way to accomplish this is simply getting down on their level and making them pop by removing the background. Then you add to this with a great color, in this case being careful to get only the blue in the background. Then you finish it off with gesture. Is this planned? In every way. Does the plan fall through? In every way. That’s the very nature of wildlife photography and why I love it so!
I love being able to set up the camera, turn it on and let ‘er rip! This is one of my favorite locations to do it. Monument Valley is where time seems timeless to me so to tell that story, I love to do time lapse. Now the D4, D800 and others have a time lapse features which, once you push the button, when it finishes you have a done .mov. The problem is the resolution is not as high as doing it the old fashion way. What is old fashion? The camera clicks of one Jpeg every 30sec (I use the MC-36) for however you want to let it rip. It is then assembled in Photoshop by simple putting all the images in one folder, open that folder in Photoshop, click on the first file and then click on Sequence and click open. Then all you have to do is File > Export > Video and you’re good to go. Just need to make sure the file numbers go from 0001 – 9999. If your camera creates a new folder during the Time Lapse, you’ll have to renumber. Enjoy!
I love being able to set up the camera, turn it on and let ‘er rip! This is one of my favorite locations to do it. Monument Valley is where time seems timeless to me so to tell that story, I love to do time lapse. Now the D4, D800 and others have a time lapse features which, once you push the button, when it finishes you have a done .mov. The problem is the resolution is not as high as doing it the old fashion way. What is old fashion? The camera clicks of one Jpeg every 30sec (I use the MC-36) for however you want to let it rip. It is then assembled in Photoshop by simple putting all the images in one folder, open that folder in Photoshop, click on the first file and then click on Sequence and click open. Then all you have to do is File > Export > Video and you’re good to go. Just need to make sure the file numbers go from 0001 – 9999. If your camera creates a new folder during the Time Lapse, you’ll have to renumber. Enjoy!
I’m out on a project and my hosts tell me the internet is sporadic at best, cell coverage nonexistent. So apologize if is takes a day or two to answer emails the next couple of weeks.
