Batteries are charged, tests made, gear prepacked, permit in hand, it’s time to head into Yellowstone’s backcountry in winter. My last three times I’ve been soooo fortunate to photograph either Red Fox or Coyote multiple times “pouncing” on prey under the snow. I truly love them walking up, head cocking as they listen, the coil spring winding up and then …. strike! Last winter I relied on the 14fps D6 to make the image but this year, I’m so excited to have the 20fps Z 9 in the kit. Even better is its amazing 3D Animal eye detection in my back pocket. To have the magic happen again, we first need to have snow, which Yellowstone has this year. Next, the cold temps so the critters walk the plowed roads so we can see them. Got that this year too. Then the luck has to kick in. Need the critter, need the light, need that poor prey giving its life and finally , being in the right place at the right time. The gear is the only thing in this equation one can count on. I’ve stacked the deck, I’m going for four leaps in a row!

It’s a photograph I so want so bad that has eluded me, the Bison shaking off winter, the dust off. For the photograph I want, I seek particular elements. First is that warm light that brings warmth to the coldness of the situation. I want a darkish background for the snow being shaken off to pop out against. It has to be cold enough that snow is sticking to the fur and for the new snow to not stick to and will fly off. And I want to be shooting up on the Bison and not down on it. In other words, basically everything this photograph is not. But here’s the rub, until I have taken a whole bunch of photos like that did I know what I want and more importantly, what I want to look for to get it. That happens a lot in my photography, I have to fail, figure out how I failed to then figure out how to succeed. It’s a process I love, especially when I see it completed in the viewfinder.

With temperatures hitting single digits for much of Northern US, our resident critters could use a hand weathering the weather. It’s pretty simple, putting out a buffet of water, food and shelter make their lives just a little easier. You’ll need to place a birdbath heater in any water you put out so it doesn’t freeze. In our water feature, we have a horse trough heater keeping it ice-free and it is by far the busiest place on The Ranch! We have seed feeders all around The Ranch going through 20-40lbs of seed a week. We have just one peanut feeder out this winter. And we have four suet feeders out and quite active. We’ve had as many as seventeen flickers at the feeders at one time. There is an ulterior motive here and while I want to help the critters, I wanna help my photography as well. While I’m illustrating this piece with a flicker at the feeder, I don’t want to take photos of critters at the feeders.

The feeders and baths are placed so the critters go to a shelter (shrubs or woodpiles) or perch before and after they get their fill. That’s where the photos are made. If you’re putting out the buffet for the first time, you might have to be a little patient at first. You might have critters instantly or it might take a little time. Whatever the case, spend time watching them, watch their pattern coming and going, and then set up your camera for that spot they land with the best background. Or place your perch (attached to a light stand) for them to land with the best background. It’s a lot of fun and your guests will love you.

If you combine photographing a creek as “milky” along with a kayaker shooting its rapids, well that’s kinda what photographing a woodpecker in falling snow is like. We were experiencing bands of snow moving through The Ranch when I was out shooting. One moment, it would be coming down in beautiful curtains and then the next, a flake or two. I positioned the Z 9 / 800f5.6 so I had a darkish background behind the Downy Woodpecker so the falling snow would show up. The challenge is the right shutter speed to show it falling while keeping the movement of the woodpecker frozen. It’s not like there is one magical shutter speed for capturing this action. The snow falls at different rates so we need to either slow it down or speed it up the shutter speed so we see the snow. But you go too slow, below 1/125 or so and the woodpecker blurs. Go to fast and the snow doesn’t look like it’s falling. I got a sharp “Woody” but no real snow. Here’s to hoping for a white Christmas and more opportunities to nail the shot!