Feb 24, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
Spring always brings one question to my mind. “Who thought way back when, this was the way to attract a mate?” When you watch the Great Egret perform their ritual, one surely must ask. Part of their ritual is what is called sky pointing. This is when the male Great Egret at the nest starts crouched down, bill down in the nest platform and then they rises quickly, completely stretches their bodies with their bills pointing into the sky. Briefly, they are as straight as a post. If you’re a female Great Egret or a wildlife photographer, this is pretty darn exciting! And catching the sky pointing in action takes skill for both the female and the photographer.
There are a couple of factors to take into consideration. The first and most important to me is the background. I feel the longer the lens, the better you can select and control the background you like best. I was shooting with the 800mm and in both of these images, I moved so I have a nearly all dark background in one or one with some light. Both have drama and both have a totally different feel. Next is catching the action within the frame with some elegance. I shot with the D4s because of its fast FPS cause I wanted personally to capture the sensual curve of the neck/body with the tip of the bill in the frame. Now this pose is not the “sky pointing” because it’s not quite the entire pose. But the sensual curve of the neck it gone in sky pointing when completed. So getting this shot requires gear, biology, light and patience. Or, the basic ingredients to every successful wildlife photograph.
Feb 17, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
I knew that after posting on my Instagram account one of my favorite bird photos of 2015, I’d be asked if I have a favorite mammal, landscape and aircraft. Most equate favorite with best or perfect. Understand, I don’t. Favorite means just that, it’s my favorite, no more and no less. In this case, this photo of Cous’ has a lot of back story that I know and feel when looking at the photo. It’s no secret that photographing Moose, a favorite subject of mine, can be a challenge and that certainly plays into the favorite filing. And the photo has “issues” that will really drive some photogs nuts. But none of that really comes into play why I love the photo. Favorite for me encompasses all that went into making the photo, but more importantly the relationship between the subject and myself. That’s a very personal thing that there is no way for the viewer to know and most of the time, feel. So, this is one of my favorite mammal photos from 2015. Will I post more? Probably not, my favorites tend to be a private and personal thing.
Jan 26, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
Most think of heat shimmer as a summer issue when in reality, it can happen anytime. The last place folks think heat shimmer might occur is in winter and with snow on the ground. What you have here are two images, soft images because of heat shimmer. The top image is the most common example of heat shimmer issues, a photo that you know should be tack sharp but simply isn’t. The bottom photo if you look at the elements behind the Coyote, you will see a “shimmer” in them, elements not sharp but lines are just not straight. Both were taken with the 800mm / TC-14eIII with the subject across an expanse of snow. There is only one way I know of dealing with heat shimmer when it occurs, wind. When there is a breeze heat shimmer disappears. So in this case I watched the grasses around the Coyote and when I saw them moving in the breeze, I would shoot. And when I saw the grasses still, I didn’t shoot. Hope that makes sense because seeing heat shimmer through the lens is a bitch!
Jan 22, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
We’d past it some time back on the road, a bunch of vehicles had gone by the coyote, it just kept on trotting down the road. Along the Firehole River in Yellowstone, the groomed road the NPS maintains is a highway for critters as much as folks because it’s easy walking for them. This individual seemed very much on a mission so we went passed it and up towards Fountain Pots and began photographing the steam on the landscape. We shot with the wide lenses (24-70VR) and pulled out the really long lenses (800mm) and even drank some coffee. We spent some time just taking in the gorgeous view! Then we saw the coyotes make the bend in the road still walking on the road and coming our direction. Then the wait began.
Where we were parked in a pullout that was alongside a massive meadow so figured the Coyote would leave the road and start across it to go hunting. It did for a short moment and then came back on to the road and continued walking towards us. It was kinda mousing, stopping and listening for little critters under the snow it can make a meal out of but still seemed to be on a mission. But it kept coming down the road. I switched to the 300PF with the TC-14eIII on the D4s and laid down on the road next to the giant tires of our vehicle. And there I waited. Just when it about filled the frame (still a ways away) it stopped, listened and a moment later went off into the meadow and started to hunt. Shooting from the snow, shooting long (420mm) wide open (f/5.6) is what creates the intimate view of this distant critter. But the real key was to let the Coyote do what it was going to do and as it turned out, its hunting path was on the road we were shooting from (where I shot this pano). All of this combined along with time is what made the final click. It was just an half an hour later.
Jan 19, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
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The Bison of Yellowstone have always held a special fascination with me. Any critter that can stand in water that can boil an egg with an air temp of minus -32 (the coldest I’ve seen them), and go on chewin their cud as if it were just another day (which it is for them) I find fascinating. In the past, shooting one click and having it filled with Bison wasn’t a challenge. This latest trip with the warm temps and not historically high snow levels, tons of Bison just weren’t to be seen. At the same time, they are a range animal with the main herd kinda always on the move as they graze … and they call one of the most gorgeous and special places on the planet, Yellowstone, home. How do you say that in a photograph?
I first went long, shooting with the 800mm trying to compact those that were available. That didn’t work so I then added the TC-14eIII giving me 1200mm and that didn’t cut it. So I went to Plan B, not trying to tell the story with one click but with three creating a pano. I put the 300PF on the D4s and went clickin. That took care of showing the story of the Bison, but what about Yellowstone? Shooting in the world’s largest caldera, had to say that so shooting with the camera plum to the earth was important. That shows the slope of the side of the growing caldera. Then including the stormy skies as a backdrop for the steam was required. After that, it was a three click assembly in ACR and done. Would I have loved the perfect herd in perfect light? Heck ya but that’s not what I had so I told the story with the elements at hand, they dot the landscape.
Jan 13, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
This might seem like an odd title when you realize this photo of a Bobcat was taken with a 800mm / TC-1.25E. Filling the frame seems like a common quest of wildlife photographers often leading them to crop in post just so you see just the critter. While there is nothing wrong with this if you still tell the critter’s story. Often though, the story goes with the crop. And that robs that critter of telling its story, that’s sad.
It was the end of the day, temps hovering around 10 degrees. There perched in a down tree reaching out into the Madison River, a Bobcat does what a cat does so well, waiting for its prey to come within reach. This Bobcat has become very efficient at catching waterfowl. If you look in the foreground in the right corner you’ll see the ripples of the Goldeneye that just saved its own life by diving for food. If I had moved in closer, used a different teleconverter, I could have more than tripled the size of the Bobcat in the frame. But I would have cropped out the water, its cover and the most important thing, the story. Next time you frame up that critter, even if you’re shooting with long glass, go wide and tell the story.
