Jan 4, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
[envira-gallery id=”40897″]
The background in a photograph is so important! It can do so many things positive, and negative, and seeing and working the backgorund is important because of this. It sets the stage for our subject, gives it a place to stand out and tell its story. The relationship between the subject and the background is directly linked so we as storytellers must see and use this in our storytelling. In this case, a yearling Moose was simply browsing along in the fall willows. I was shooting with a D4s / 200-400VR2 / TC-14eIII, shooting wide open at f/5.6, using the lens and teleconverter combo to narrow my DoF to control the background. In one photo, the willows are just behind the calf and even at f/5.6, they are busy and distracting. In the other shot, the willows are now a substantial distance behind the calf and are softer, not so busy so the calf pops out more. But the man made structure even further away in the background while out of focus, isn’t even disappearing. It’s still not far enough away. In the dance of aperture and DoF, while focal length, f/stop and distance to subject are important variables, don’t forget the background. It’s distance from the subject makes all the difference.
Dec 29, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
I was a tad to slow! The White-headed Woodpecker had been frozen on the perch for nearly twenty minutes. All the feeders were empty and the Mountain Chickadees could be heard but not seen. There’s a predator on the prowl and all the critters were telling me that. Two days before, I’d seen a small flash chase a bird into tree three, but I didn’t see who it was. It was small and rusty colored so thought our No. Pygmy Owl was back. So with all the critters communicating a predator was around, I was looking for the owl. Smaller than a dollar bill, they can be very hard to find in the trees. So yesterday with all the signs, I was just turning away from looking at tree three for the owl when it dashed in and landed. It wasn’t a owl though but rather a small, male Sharpie! It was looking around so I grabbed my D4s / 300PF (left out just for this reason) and walked over to the door. But by the time I got there, the Sharpie had flown down the alley on the prowl. Missed it by a hair. The birds were still frozen so I knew it was around so I kept doing a 360 around the house looking for it but alas, never could. This is why I have my gear always at the ready, it’s how I got the shot of this big Sharpie female earlier this year. You gotta keep at it cause even those times you get the photo, it’s often by a hair!
I was just about to click Publish on this post when I saw the Sharpie shoot down the alley … the chase is on … again!
Dec 14, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
For a long time I’ve wanted my own, cool shot of a White-breasted Nuthatch and no matter how I’ve tried, no luck. I keep coming up short. This is in part because they just don’t hold still! You can’t bribe them to come to the same spot over and over again. You gotta watch them land at the top of a tree, work their way down the trunk to the food source, never taking the same path twice, and hope you get in a click. Only if there is an avian predator might they hold still for a moment. So, I’ve been on my deck since the first snow fall again trying to get the shot. I’m standing out there with my 300PF and using the snow as a reflector. And this this weekend, I finally got one photo good enough to post. It’s a start, but I’ll be back out there working on better.
Dec 11, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Been personally witnessing this for three decades, it’s not new. I don’t believe the warming of our planet is man caused but damn sure believe we’ve greatly intensified and sped it up bigtime, faster than Mother Nature can ever evolve for sure! Living “up high” and working on the edge a lot, we’ve seen with our own eyes so much of the change. There is a simple yet eloquent piece out in High Country News you might want to read. No matter the ills that befall us, the more we know, the more we can effect a positive change. Give it a gander and remember, you can change the world with your photographs!
Quino Checkerspot photographed March, ’97
Dec 4, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
It’s International Cheetah Day, might be a celebration not on your calendar. It’s sad that the world’s fastest land mammal is also Africa’s most endangered cat. When we were in Africa, we were afforded a short time with this amazing critter but never got to see it first hand run and reach its legendary 65mph speed to bring down prey.
And like so much of Africa’s, the world’s wildlife, the Cheetah is in trouble. You might want to find out a little more about this amazing adaptation to life on the plains. Here’s a good, simple page of neat trivia that might just reach out and grab you. If you have a basic “house cat” and you have the opportunity to watch a Cheetah in the wild, you will see a lot of similarities. In the photo above, this cub seemed quite mesmerized by its own tail for a short time. I was hard to shoot laughing to myself as it nearly went cross-eyed wondering where the tip of its tail would be next. Such critters and experiences we were so fortunate to inherent to enjoy, we have the responsibility to pass that on to those coming after us so they can experience the same relationship!
Dec 3, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Nature truly amazes me! Many times I ask, “What was the first individual who thought it would be a good idea too …” like in this instance, molt all my brown summer fur and turn all white for winter? It would be nice, really nice if I could say, molt all my grey hair and go back to brown hair but such is not the case. The Arctic Fox is just one of many small mammals that literally sheds one color coat for another twice a year. Some birds like Ptmarigan do this too and for them it’s a simple strategy to keep from being eaten but there is nothing that is out to eat an Arctic Fox. Why then do they switch?
Living in an environment that is 24/7 dark for forty days and with temps well below zero, keeping a dark coat to absorb heat from the sun doesn’t work. You only get a hint of why they turn white and develop that thick coat when you watch them move about. They often shadow the Polar Bears like this white individual here was doing. And while they are a shadow, they are very hard to see as they blend in with their world so bloody well. When they are on the prowl to catch prey, if they still wore their summer grey coat against the white snow, their prey would easily see them. Turn white and they blend in, blend in so incredibly well they can more easily sneak up on their prey. So after watching this behavior for days and day, you just gotta scratch your head and wonder, who was the first individual who decided turning white would be beneficial and then indeed, turned white and made the switch to winter.
