May 26, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
“Just how much background should I include?” This is a very common question that I receive all the time. It just came in as a possible podcast topic. Being a visual answer in my mind I was waiting until I had the same subject with three different backgrounds to answer it. My recent time at Magee Marsh with its waves of busy warblers provided the images I needed to explain how I look at the background and its role in telling the visual story.
Northern Parula Warbler
captured by D500 / 800mm
In answering this question for myself, I first start with the gear I’m going to use. With birds in order to control the background, I use either the D5 or in this case, the D500 on the 800mm. That combination provides an incredibly narrow angle of view permitting easy tweaking of the background with slight movements to right or left, up or down with the gear. With that it comes down to your own style of photography and that’s really to the heart of the question of background.
Northern Parula Warbler
captured by D500 / 800mm
There are three classic examples here of backgrounds for birds. No background, just a touch and fully occupied. As you can see, I like to use all three because each one tells a little different story based on the subject and that’s what photography is all about to me. At the same time, it’s the subject and the light on it that truly determines which background will work best. There are a number of things that takes the mind’s eye to the subject and then through the whole image. Knowing these and applying them really determines the background to me. With critters, their gesture, their attitude, their character really impacts the background and visa versa and which photo I’ll put out. In these three images, it’s the bottom image I love the most and it’s all because of the gesture in the Northern Parula Warbler. While it might have the “busiest” background but because of the light on the background and the subject, you can’t help but see that gesture. So rather than have a fixed background in my mind I have to have for a photograph, I work with what’s presented by the subject at the time of the click. I don’t know if that answers folk’s question but that’s how I visually think about how much background.
May 10, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
It’s a real simple formula for capturing birds in flight. You want the sun and the wind on your back. Here’s a real simple illustration of the point. This pair of Forster’s Tern on day one had the wind coming in from the right. Because of that when the mate came in for a landing, it was going sidewise to the camera. While OK, it’s not the most desirable.
The next day the light and the wind were hitting our backs and the terns, were landing while flying right into the lens barrel. It’s really just the simple. The rest was having the reach (shooting with the 800mm w/TC-1.25e) and the FPS (shooting with the D5) to capture the slow decent to the stump. So with that the photo was made as the wind has it!
May 5, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
Dunlins
captured by D5 / 800mm w/TC-1.25x
For thirty-six years, I have traveled in search of the natural wonders of this planet. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to witness some of Mother Nature’s finest, sights that have inspired me for a lifetime. Reaching a lifetime location to witness the annual shorebird gathering on Delaware Bay tops the list of her miracles! Seeing tens of thousands of birds packed into a hundred yard stretch of beach simply takes your breath away. And while they are packed on the beach, there is a celebration of life in the skies as the Dunlin fly their aerial ballet moving from a piece of beach to another. It can’t help but effect and inspire you, the sites and sound in this explosion of life. Go out this weekend and find your lifetime wonder and celebrate it in your photography. Then be sure to share that wonder with everyone else. Because it belongs to all of us and everyday we need to celebrate Mother Nature and all her splendors and wonders!
May 3, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
I’m in Cape May having the time of my life photographing birds! We found on our first day this pair of Forster’s Terns that hang on the same sunken stump every afternoon. I’ve captured some absolutely delightful images there I need to share. During the “down” time between their “spring activities” I wanted to get some panning practice in with me new favorite rig, D500 / 300PF and to make it exciting I added the TC-14eIII. The extra mm’s narrows the angle of view so handholding has to be spot on. There were Forster’s Terns feeding right in front of us so that was my target. When the light got good and they hovered in front of us, I would shoot. I wanted the slower shutter speed to blur the wings to show they are hovering but knowing their head stays in the same spot when they hover, knew I would get the eye sharp. It was great practice and fun and produced some cool images. That’s why I took a tern at handholding :-)
May 2, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
It’s spring so love is in the air. This male Osprey is sitting on an artificial nesting platform after bringing in fish and nesting material. Reading human emotions into the situation and his gesture, you might quickly think he’s tired of it already and it’s just begun. Then within seconds the humor is replaced as an interloping male attempts to come into the nest and get in between the mated pair. The aggression you see in the frame below was very real and for a moment, the resident male was battling for either his mate, his life or both, who knows. In the end the resident drove off the interloper and things went back to the boredom experienced just moments before.
Osprey
captured by D5 / 800mm AFS
Making the shot required a couple of basics so concentrating on the action was all that was required to make the shot. First, the background needed to be clean which required our simply moving to the right. Next, was using enough glass to eliminate some items while not too much so there was room in the frame for wing tips (I went with D5/ 800mm). Lastly, went with Group Area AF because Auto Area would have grabbed the from of the nesting platform focus as it was closer. With all the basics nailed down, just had to shoot. A simple combination of biology and technology recorded a cool moment in life.
Apr 25, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
The Greater Prairie Chicken is a fascinating bird with the most unique biology in attracting a mate. When our forefathers crossed the country in the 1800s heading west, they would be waken by the strange booming and dull thud of rapid footbeats as the Chicken displayed on their lek. For decades covering the vast landscape, they were shot by the million to feed eastern markets. Today, extinct in much of their historic range, the Gtr Prairie Chicken can still be found in spring on their leks displaying and fighting in their drive for survival.
Once again in my drive to witness our vanishing wild heritage, I headed to the Calamus Outfitters Ranch to be amongst this celebration of spring. You get in the blind long before daylight, before the male Gtr Prairie Chickens reach the lek and take up their position on their very temporary territory. Their territory which is no bigger than a dinner table is very flexible, changing size and location depending on the females. The males fight very vicious fights, dance their hearts out, all in the vein attempt to attract a female. When the females actually arrive on the lek, they seem to ignore all the males even though the males get right in their face to dance and boom. And as quickly as it all starts in the predawn light, it’s over once the sun is in the sky. And for a month this evolution of life unfolds and somehow it all works and where they still have a home, the Gtr Prairie Chicken continues to survive.
Photographing this explosion of biology is a challenge on many fronts. With the incredibly low light levels at the start in conjunction with all the activity, you gotta crank up the ISO starting in the 1600-3200 range and slowly backing that off as the light levels raise. Personally I’m looking for a shutter speed range in the 1/125 neighborhood. Then there is White Balance staring perhaps at a fixed 10k then moving to Cloudy and finally to Auto. And exposure compensation starting at -2 and by the end of the shoot at +1/3. The only easy technical part is the Autofocus which is set to Auto Area AF the entire time. Reach can always be a challenge depending on where you are in the blind. My primary set up this time, and this was a first for me was the D500 / 800f5.6 AFS giving me the reach I wanted. When I wanted to back off, I would switch bodies going to the D5. Making sure settings were in concert in both bodies became a challenge as I would switch bodies back and forth. Why this method? Why set the D5 to High Speed Crop when the D500 was right there? And when shooting video, the D500 with its folding monitor made it much easier for me as I need reading glasses. The D5 / D500 when it comes to firing rate, Buffer and Image Quality all in common, other then having to rebalance the rig on the Zenelli, switching bodies was a snap. I went this time looking to make the singular clean shot telling the Chicken’s story more than the fight shot or some other of their unique biology. As a photographer I came back with much more satisfying body of images but with that came the bigger challenge. Now that I’m back, how do I share these stories to help the Chicken and their drive for love?
