Jul 24, 2019 | Wildlife Photography
I’m down in SE Arizona once again in Hummer Heaven, and it’s marvelous! While I love birding, just sitting and watching the comings and goings of the hummers, getting their story told visually is really my goal. If you listened to this weeks podcast, you know I came down prepper and two main goals for my photography. The first, the lightening of my images was pretty simple, the second though, that photo still eludes me after four sessions.
These flying jewels are just that, so bringing that to life is paramount. Meeting my first goal of brighter images was easy with the gear I’ve gone with for the week. The Z6 / 180-400VR / SB-5000 permits me to meld the ambient light and two flashes (used to take these photos) seamlessly so you don’t see the flash. The second part of my goal though, now that’s been much more of a challenge. So far, I have only one click and both the birds are a blur. Yeah, these photos are OK but I want so much more than a bird hanging in the air or sipping at a flower. Will I get it? Only time will tell. Stay tuned.
Jun 27, 2019 | Wildlife Photography
Mountain Goat
captured by D3x / 600mm
While we mammals tend to love the warm days of summer, those who grow long, thick, winter coats to not! Most big game falls into this category and you can tell this time of year who they are. That’s because they are molting. Really, they look like they’ve run into a hungry flight of moths! While I don’t say it out loud in their presence, they’re ugly. What do you do when you have a shot like this of an Mtn Goat nanny & kid and moth is molting?
Mountain Goat
captured by D3x / 600mm
You take the picture of course! But you try to minimize the “molt” however you can. In this case, the kid’s gesture of “You want me to go where?” as he looks down the cliff was the best that could be done at this moment. Are there other options? It really depends on the situation but shadows, body positioning, size in frame, action, and gesture are all tools you can use when they fit. But until all the hair molts and the new grows in for winter (usually late fall), they are simply looking the worse for wear. And remember that as long as they have that long fur, water is even more important. Find the water and often you will find them.
Jun 13, 2019 | Wildlife Photography
Blackpoll Warbler
captured by Z6 / 800mm
There is one overwhelming temptation in wildlife photography that almost no photographer can pass up. And that’s the minute detail that you see and miraculously captured and so you want to share that photo with the world saying, “Look what I captured.” The problem is, the detail is so small, only you see it cause it’s your photo. I learned this a long time ago at the merciless hands of a photo editor who asked if I was going to supply all their readers with a magnifying glass so they could see what I saw. Yeah, that comment left a mark but it was an important lesson I’ve never forgotten. Case in point …
Blackpoll Warbler
captured by Z6 / 800mm
I was at the marvelous Magee Marsh a couple of weeks ago. Such a brilliant locale for great bird photography. I was shooting with the Z6 / 800mm cause my subjects are already really small, about the size of your thumb. This Blackpoll Warbler like many of the warblers were fueling up for the trip across the Great Lakes. They were eating nats the size of a pinhead. If you look at the photo with the arrow, you can see the nat. You can only see it because I inserted an arrow. In the photo without the arrow, the warbler just caught the nat. Truly a fun capture. Now without this lengthy caption or the photo with the arrow, you would have no clue of that minute detail. The point to this is, when you have to point out the small detail to someone else to explain your photograph, yeah, that’s too small!
May 30, 2019 | Wildlife Photography
We’ve been seeing their tracks a lot but not them, then today, two decided to say hello at the ‘ol homestead. Our Black Bears (brown phase) can be pistols, raising havoc with our bird feeders. So when they show up, I had two things in hand, Sadie and my camera! I have both at hand almost all the time, in this case I had the Z6 / Z24-70f2.8. With both in hand, I walked out onto the deck to say hello.
This bear knew me, it was instantly not happy to see me emerge from the door (it could be Sadie too). I instantly recognized the bear from a few years back. Then, mom was below and had sent the kid up to try to raid my bird feeders. It didn’t go well then for the cub and it did not go any better today. After I got my photos (cause a photographer does have to have priorities), I politely told the bear to get the $#*(@# off my tree. Well, I’m pretty sure that’s what Sadie said cause the bear rapidly departed, the tree and the property. It was great to see the cub had survived but after these years, wasn’t any smarter.
May 28, 2019 | Wildlife Photography
Bronzed Cowbird
captured by D5 / 800mm
The noise was totally foreign to my ears! I bird as much by sound as sight and when you’re sitting in a blind, the sound is everything so this really had me intrigued. It kept coming from behind some bushes, at the base of which were some Bronzed Cowbirds. Not being a cowbird fan, I ignored them as I looked for the source of the noise. Then I saw a cowbird launch in the sky 4-5 feet and do an aerial display that left me totally dumbfounded. Critters, they are simply bloody amazing and teach me something new all the time. And like usual, brought on a new challenge in visual storytelling!
Bronzed Cowbird
captured by D5 / 800mm
The actual aerial display lasts perhaps 10 seconds and it seemed, always a bit secluded. I saw it happen a few more times before I started to figure out the pattern. It was only then once I figured that out did I have a prayer of capturing it because it was so brief and hidden. It’s that old, combining biology with technology equation. What you see above is the indication the male is about to launch. He has an unattentive female he wants to impress. He starts by “puffing” up and strutting a tad. Then he launches straight up, flapping his wings as fast as he can. The was the source of the mysterious sound!
Bronzed Cowbird
captured by D5 / 800mm
Bronzed Cowbird
captured by D5 / 800mm
He hovers in the same spot, not really turning, for a brief time watching the female below him the whole “flight”. He makes no calls, just has the sound of his wings to grab her attention. I was able to photograph the flight numerous times (The D5 / 800mm shutter slamming on CH!). One time the male was sideways to me and you can see the incredibly iridescence in their wing when they do that. And it was not until that night when I looked at my photos did I notice just how alien they looked doing the display! With their head down, their bill looks foreign and those red eyes! Oh my, darn spooky and also so cool. I was hooked and for the rest of the week, constantly looking for the behavior thinking the entire time, it was from horror or sci-fi movie!
Bronzed Cowbird
captured by D5 / 800mm
And once he lands, did it make an impression? You tell me.
You can see and photograph this and a whole lot more on our Texas Bird Extravaganza Workshop in 2020. Come and join us!
May 17, 2019 | Wildlife Photography
Yellow Warbler
captured by D5 / 800mm
When you have nothing but green in the viewfinder, anything, no matter how big or small that’s a different color, can’t help but be incredibly visible and smack the viewer. This male Yellow Warbler this morning had to catch its breath which is why I was able to make the shot. Its nest had just been attacked by Blackbirds trying to rob it of its nesting material. It and its mate drove off the intruder successfully but it took quite some effort. It just happened to take rest in the perfect alleyway of leaves that provided the out of focus shapes and color so it’s bright yellow just sings. The saturated light from the overcast skies was perfect last element to finish it all off. Standing on a platform so shooting through the canopy with the D5 / 800mm and putting in the time was all that was required to capture small, with a dash of color.
