May 8, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Angry?
Can just ONE word change the entire meaning of a sentence? We all know it can. What do you think ONE word can do to change the meaning of your photograph?
Bad?
When are often distracted from the visual communication, storytelling in our photography with little things and miss that ONE word that makes or breaks the story we’re trying to tell.
Love?
However you want to think of it, gesture, lens, f/stop, background, DoF, whatever that ONE thing is, you have to THINK of it, see it, feel it, incorporate it into your photograph. Because we all know the power of just, one word.
Note: DO NOT attempt this with a wild griz. This is a scientific griz used to understand more about griz biology and has limited, very limited association with humans. Jake still lives, his website is here.
Apr 23, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Once again, my time with the “Chickens & Grouse” of Nebraska was not only good for the soul but good for the pixel. Click on the photo to enjoy my memories!
Apr 16, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Gtr Prairie Chickens
captured by D5 / 800mm
There are many celebrations in nature announcing the coming of spring. One of my favorites is that of the Greater Prairie Chickens. Looking at the image above, it would appear they are jumping for joy with the passing of snow and the coming of green grass and warmer days. And while they are celebrating spring, their jumping has nothing to do with joy!
Gtr Prairie Chickens
captured by D5 / 800mm
The Chickens come together for a short period, about a month, on a lek, to get lucky. Arriving on the Lek in the dark, they establish small territories then perform their hearts out to attract a female to the territory. And if another male should come close to that territory, the fights begin. It’s true chicken fights with biting, scratching, kicking and tackles all part of the fight trying to make the opponent look unworthy of a mate. Now I call it getting lucky because to our eyes, it never seems to ever work as copulation is never seen on the lek. But a celebration it is for 90 minutes each morning during that month as they are jumping for spring!
Note: Shooting, the only challenge is keeping up with the birds (and working in the blind)! Shooting with the D5 / 800mm, the Auto Area AF takes care of focus and with it being dark, raising the ISO takes care of the rest.
Apr 13, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
We took a short break from chicken and grouse and made the drive down to the Platt River for the evening flyin. It’s a spectacle that’s really hard to put into words and the still click doesn’t express it well enough. That’s because when there are 20k cranes filling the sky from behind to on the horizon to the water in front of you, the “360” visual and audio is something that has to be experienced in person!
Lesser Sandhill Cranes
captured by D5 / 300PF / TC-14eIII
The Cranes are on the Platt near Kearney, NE for just about 6 weeks typically. They are coming from the south on their way north. This evening, I went with the bridge on Elm Island to watch the flyin to the river night roost. Some nights there are a few birds that pick this location, last night it was thousands! So standing on the edge of the road with the D5 / 300PF / TC-14eIII, all you had to do was look for the great background, match it up with the symmetry of the flight and go click. I love see the crane on the Platt each year, as they’re headin north!
Apr 11, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Greater Prairie Chicken
captured by D5 / 800mm
I’m up in Nebraska with one of my favorite birds, the Greater Prairie Chicken (at my favorite place, Calamus Outfitters). So I’m up literally with the birds. And then we’re in the blinds well before the sun even thinks of peaking its head out, so I’m still up, literally with the birds. And I enjoy every minute of it!
Today the fun was watching the males getting up on the fence gate and try to “strut their stuff” while doing a high wire act. It really never worked out well so they ended up back on the ground to dance to the ladies. But the best part was about 30 minutes after this, the females got up on the fence. Now they don’t strut their stuff. They just flew up there where the guys could see them, got them all spooled up and then, did nothing! After about twenty minutes, they just flew off leaving the guys literally, eating dirt. It was great fun, at least from my point of view. And tomorrow again, I’ll be up with the chickens!
Mar 26, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Sharp-shinned Hawk
captured by D5 / 800mm
From the office in the softest voice possible, Sharon said, “Get in here slowly with your longest lens!” I slowly walked into the office to see Sharon pointing cautiously out the window. There on Tree 2 about eight feet in front of Sharon was perched our winter, Sharp-shinned Hawk. We’d seen it many times, mostly perched right out in the open like it was right now. A gorgeous bird, I grabbed the D5 / 800mm which is always set up when I’m home and walked out to the the shot. That’s what you see below, the first shots. I always take a couple of shots in this kind of situation so we have at the very least a visual record of birds that come on the property. But looking through the viewfinder I saw I had two major problems. The obvious one is the background, the not so obvious but bigger problem, snow flare!
The solution to both issues was moving to the left, which I did and shot the Sharpie until he continued on with his hunting. Now how did I see that snow flare? If you look at the two photos, see how in the bottom one there are no “blacks” in the bird? Look then at the background and compare the two, the loss of black is even more evident. Finally, look at the color between the two. The issue with snow flare is it is bounced light, light coming from above and then bouncing off the snow from below. Where you normally expect flare is shooting towards the sun, with snow it can come from any direction. As that bounced light strikes the front element, it causes the least noticed flare which is loss of contrast and color. Now in getting rid of the snow flare, I ended up with a background which might be a tad better but it was the best I could so with the snow flare. The best part is we have a visual record of a cool bird that munches on other of our cool birds!
