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?
Mar 31, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
Many, many, many years ago I got a photo of the magnificent blue eye of the breeding Double-crested Cormorant. It was back in the days of film and I needed an extension tube on my 800mm to get physically close enough to make the shot. I’ve always liked that photo because with that magnificent blue eye they get during spring, the Double-crested Cormorant is really cool. The rest of the year, not so much. So whenever I’m around them in spring now, I’m always going after that blue eye trying to make a better photo then I already have in my files. Above you can see that blue eye that is just crazy cool. Both of these photos are of the same cormorant taken just a week ago, D5 / 800mm w/TC-1.25x.
I had a very preconceived idea what I wanted to see in the viewfinder in my “better” eye photo. First, I needed to see the eye and I wanted to see just the eye. Next, I wanted to see the crazy pattern in the black plumage that comes only when it’s in full, nasty sun. But I didn’t want the eye in nasty light, it needs soft light. I want to see the whole eye and want it looking back at me. Lastly, I wanted just a touch of the yellow of the mandible to bring the mind’s eye to the blue eye. I didn’t get close to seeing in the viewfinder what I was envisioning, you see here what I did get. What you don’t see is my standing there, and standing there and standing there waiting for “the” moment to appear in my viewfinder. The cormorant kept adjusting itself over and over and over. Sometimes preening, other times just adjusting its head. And every time I would rip off frames trying to get the one shot. The thing is, it’s really not an amazing shot. The criteria I had set for myself to make the better shot, bettering what I already had wasn’t meet from the get go. The light really sucked but I was wrapped up in getting that shot so I ignored that criteria. That’s until something came over me to ask, “What are you doing?” That’s when I came to my senses and moved on. Ever get so tied up with a photo that you forgot, the photo? I do that all too often to this day. So when it comes to adding definitions to what is a professional, one has to be, know when to bail!
Mar 28, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
One of the hardest things for photographers to grasp is where can they crop a critter in the viewfinder. There is no guide or book on where you can crop a neck or leg or body. The best I can ever do to help is describe it as the awkward crop. There is one area though that I have a little more substantial aid and that comes to birds feet. Above is an example of not only an awkward crop but and general rule of thumb.
When it comes to feet, if you crop them, you need to leave enough room that mentally the viewer can put the feet with the critter. The photo above, there is great action going on but the feet are gone. In the bottom photo, the one foot is cut off by the water but there is enough room in the photo to mentally see them. It’s such a small thing but it can make or break a great photo. We need to have that finally connection with earth. Folks keep asking for cropping assist, hope this little one helps.
Mar 24, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
Barred Owl Branchlings
captured by D5 / 800mm
It’s real simple, there was no “shot” when we found the Barred Owl branchlings. They were high up against a horrible bright background when they themselves were in shade with all sort of distracting branches between them and the lens. It was a no win situation from the get go. Worst of all, stuck on a narrow boardwalk with everyone stopping to ask what we’re looking at. That’s because the branchlings were so far away in such horrible light, folks couldn’t see them. The D5 / 800mm wasn’t a secret weapon making the magic happen. No shot … simply none!
Yet we stood there for nearly three hours. Why?! For starters, how often do you have Barred Owl branchlings to photograph? If you live on the west coast like I do where there are no Barred Owls, the answer is rarely. And if you’ve spent anytime with branchlings, you know that they will move. The question is will they move while you’re still watching and more importantly, will they move where you can make a photo? Now if you leave, you just answered the question because you will never know and take no photos away with you. Staying, you might have the answer if they move but there is still no guarantee you’ll have the photo. And that’s kind of the point. When we go out shooting, be it owls or mammals or even a stamp collection, you don’t know if you’ll comeback with the photo or not. You have to put in the time, where it’s five, ten minutes, 2, 4, 24 hours or days or months. The essential ingredient in every photograph is time and for me, it adds up to forty years and counting. Because after all that time I still know that something will come even when at first it appears, no shot … simply none!
Mar 23, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
Pileated Woodpecker
captured by D5 / 800mm
I have an amazing partner who is also my wife. Too often though, we are separated as I go off on this project and that event. We’ve been together a long time so I know the majority of her favorites and one of them is the Pileated Woodpecker. Goes way back in time when we watched them in Yosemite Valley in the ’80s. Well on my last adventure in FL last week, I was in a couple of locales where there were Pileateds. I wanted a photo to sent to Sharon just so you knew I was thinking of her. I saw one fly by here and another there, but never saw any opportunity to make a click. Then the last day in the last hour I received a text from Jake. He had two Pileateds in his viewfinder. So I grabbed the D5 / 800mm and booked it back down the boardwalk. Jake is really good at learning and applying all the lessons over the years shooting wildlife. The most important, go slow and look 360 for the great light and then the subject in that light. Doing that he found two which was just one when I reached him. Another important lesson we practice everyday is knowing our camera gear intimately for just such as an occasion as this. I saw the small avenue through the trees I could shoot as I walked up. By the time the tripod was on the boardwalk, the camera exposure compensation had already been set, aperture selected and focus approximately set for the distance. So once on the boardwalk all I had to do was get the glass on the Pileated and shoot. No, it’s not a great shot but that’s not what I was after. The point of this shot was to share a memory and moment with my best friend. But isn’t that what photography is really, truly all about>
