One of the first species to be listed when the Endangered Species Act was signed by President Nixon, the San Joaquin Kit Fox still fights for a place on this earth. It has been a dear, long-term project of ours and we were thrilled to be a small part in telling its story in the new Saving Species Together program!
The CDFG Saving Species Together program is all about education through images and words and in keeping with how folks received their information today, it’s all video. Many don’t realize that video has been a big part of your visual storytelling with our footage here starting back in 2010.
Cripple Creek, CO captured by D4s / 200-400 w/drop-in polarizer
It’s time, fall color is starting to peak in some regions which means it’s time to get out and celebrate the light! The emails are coming in asking for help and I’m happy to help as best as I can. I have some basic advice to pass along to get you started. At the top of the list is watching the light and use a polarizer whenever you can. The polarizer is to remove the blue color cast of the sky off the leaves. In other words, remove the blue of the sky that is reflecting off the leaves. This is important when photographing fall color that is front lit. It brings out the brilliant color of the leaves.
Next, try shooting the fall color backlit! It is a fast and easy way to punch up the color and drama of the fall color. Walk into a grove, look up, and backlit those colorful gems. Perhaps include the sun and close down the aperture to get a nice starburst.
One of my favorites techniques though for fall color is to go long. The photo above is a small slice of the hillside you see below. Shooting at 400mm, the small patch of orange is now front and center and with the inclusion of green, looks more vibrant with simply its addition.
There are many good resources out there to help you zero in on the good fall color and to help you celebrate it in your photography. I have a number of classes on KelbyOne and one just on fall color HERE. Get out with your camera and let the color in!
Cripple Creek, CO captured by D4s / 24-70 w/polarizer
Yep, as of 07:31 MDT today, it’s officially fall. Fall for many means spectacular color draping our forests. And while I relish that aspect of fall, it’s not all this day brings. There is the light as the sun rides the equator bringing a low angle and mellowness to its rays. And I love that but fall for me signals the change in our critters, especially birds. Now is when heading south hits the panic button and the skies become filled with our summer friends!
What science and technology bring to this seasonal magic blows my mind! Head to Live Bird Migration Maps and you will see how the wave of birds move south across North America. At times, you can tell what species of birds other, it’s simply sheer numbers which even with the disasters that have hit our wild heritage is still staggering. For us, this fall is especially exciting as it’s all new.
New, because we’ve moved up the globe and down slope. We knew pretty much to the day when we lived in the Sierra what birds would be in our feeders but here in the Bitterroots, it’s all new and very exciting (now up to 52 species). What has remained the same is we are still providing food, water, and shelter, the three things migrants depend on. The Snow Geese you see in the photo above is a prime example of this system. They nested in Canada and regions north then they head south with this population wintering in New Mexico where they have food, water, and shelter.
This is a great time to get into backyard bird photography. All you need is a camera, lens, food, water and shelter and you’ll quickly have friends. If you need more help, lots of resources here on the website and you can always email specific questions. Put out the welcome mat, you’ll soon have new friends because it’s the first day of fall!
When we first arrived at The Ranch, its trees were rather quiet. It concerned us as we are so used to and love hearing and seeing our birds. Then miraculously a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches took up residency in one of our newly hung nesting boxes and raised a brood. Ever since then, the funny, squeaky call of the family of Nuthatches can be heard all around The Ranch much to our delight.
They are a very busy species busily moving about the property feeding, socializing, and luckily for me, constantly visiting the water feature we installed on the property. Nuthatches’ unique place in the bird world is flying to the top of a tree and then working its way down looking in the bark for a tidbit. They like to hang under branches doing the same thing. And when they head for water, yep, they keep up the same habit. The perch you see it hanging from is itself in a light stand placed to be used by the birds. And the nuthatch is waiting its turn at the water. The two adults are around every so often. Three of the kids are here all the time. And it’s so much fun to enjoy them all grown up!
Tucked up in the gorgeous mountains north of Missoula is Montana’s best-preserved ghost town, Garnet. This marvelous well-preserved example of a mining town was founded in the late 1890s and by the 1920s was basically a ghost town. Garnet was not your typical mining town. Its residents built schools and churches and kept out the ton of saloons and brothels you’d typically find at a mining camp. Because of this, the example of the buildings still left is a marvelous photographic subject. Much of their original furnishings and utilities still remain.
You can do a bit of walking exploring Garnet with your camera so you might wanna travel light. I shot the entire day with just the Nikon Z6 & Z24-200 and had a great time. In normal times, all the buildings are open for exploration. Today, just a hand full are open to promote social distancing. Go into every building you can and look at the light that finds its way in. You might recheck buildings just an hour later as the light will change bringing to life photos not there before. I came back with a few hundred images, all unique and the vast majority favorites. I shot in color, B&W, and a lot in Mode #17 Charcoal. If you don’t know what that can do for your photographs, you can see below.
Be sure to check the weather before you head up, it’s at 8000k feet and has snow in the winter. It’s about forty-five minutes outside of Missoula, the last 8 miles being a dirt road. Take food, water and a sense of adventure and being ready to take a step back in time. Garnet ghost town is a photographic gem you want to mine with your camera!
“I know you like to greet the sun, but how do you capture those great sunrises?” This question hits my inbox a lot. This person went on to say, “I looked at my iPhone and arrived minutes before it said it was time for sunrise, but I missed it!” I get that a lot from photographers, especially when they are going to a locale for the first time. Here’s my formula in calculating the time to avoid missing that glorious sunrise.
If you look at your weather-friendly app and it says that sunrise is at 06:00, understand that is when the sun breaks the horizon in that general area, not the exact location you want to photograph. Take that 06:00 sunrise time and start subtracting from it for your arrival time. First, subtract 30 minutes because it is at least 30 minutes prior to the posted sunrise time that the light comes up and if there are any clouds, they start to get color. This is when you want to be shooting. Then subtract the amount of time it takes you to set up your gear. Then subtract the time it takes you to get from your car to the place you want to shoot. In the photo above, it was a 20-minute walk down into Bryce to get to this spot so an additional 20 minutes was subtracted. Then subtract how long it takes to drive from where you’re staying to the place you need to park. Then subtract how long it takes you to get up, have coffee until you start your car engine to leave. This means being up at 03:45 to make this shot. This is my basic formula to greet the sun with my camera.
