Jun 22, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Many all black bird species have a gorgeous iridescence to them, when, and this is the important part, when they have a direct light source on blaring on them. The iridescence works on the very basic light principle, angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. This means in simple terms, the sun must be higher in the sky than we would normally like to see those colors in the black. It also means that if we use flash, in a hot shoe or in a flash bracket, this does not get the flash far enough away from the camera to get a big blaze of that color. You can simply think of it as requiring bad light to get those colors.
How do you make than a decent looking photograph if you have hot, constrastly light in order to get that iridescence in the black? There are a couple of things you can do and I share these photos of a Brewer’s Blackbird to illustrate them. I’m shooting across a creek with the D4s / 800mm w/TC-1.25x (1000mm) and that’s part of it, the narrow angle of view. That narrow angle of view permits you to move only an inch one way or another to get that angle of reflection. At the same time, select the best possible background for the nasty light. The creek is reflecting light which helps with the shadows. And I’m underexposing -1/3 more than normal to take the edge off the light. Combined, this makes the most of a bad scenario. Is this the only way to capture that iridescences? By no means, no! But it is the most common. When you’re looking for a subject when the light isn’t playing nice, just think bad light for color.
Jun 18, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
There is nothin more common in the Northern Latitudes then the Columbian Ground Squirrel! And when it comes to the basic challenge of making the uncommon of the common, you can easily find hours of fun in chasing the Columbian with your lens. In early spring as the snow is still melting away, they are coming our of hibernation and they have two things on their mind, food and sex. That means photographers who are patient meld into the background. This gives you the opportunity to shoot them at their level making the uncommon out of the common.
With food and sex on their minds, getting close physically is rather simple. All it really takes is a little time and observation. They will telegraph where they like to sit and spy on each other and that’s where you need to get. Shooting with the D4s & 80-400VR3, the top image was taken while I was down on one knee. Shooting at 400mm, the CGS went about lookin about, groomin and defending its little piece of turf. Shooting at its level puts the viewer of the photograph staring in its eye making a physical contact. That’s important. The bottom photo taken with the same rig, the CGS went up on a rock so I could shoot standing up and still be eyelevel. Both are basic biology that get the viewer involved and that’s where you want to take your wildlife photography.
Jun 12, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Put simply, it kicked my ass and I enjoyed every moment of it! The Long-tailed Weasel is not a critter you see everyday. While very common, they are very illusive, secretive and simply put, greased lightning! They do nothing slowly but what always seems like panic in motion. The photo above in all honesty really visually describes the life and times of a Long-tailed Weasel. And it’s cool!
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Finding one is only part of the HUGE challenge of photographing them. We were at our very special location when looking at a Mountain Cottontail, I saw this weasel pop out of nowhere behind it. We were just scouting for the moment so had no cameras, having just literally gotten out of our vehicles. Sharon and I both saw it at the same time and in jaw dropping stance, watched as the weasel went ballistic running over this fallen log. We watched for a few minutes and then it occurred to me that it wasn’t going anywhere. So we sent back to our vehicles to set up our gear. I few minutes later I came back with D4s / 800f5.6 on the Zenelli a top the Gitzo 5561SGT and shooting at eleven frames per second, captured the images above. The series of four demonstrates just how damn fast these suckers can be! It smoked my ass!!!!
This little devil ran, jumped, hoped, skipped, and flew around this log (the size of a huge couch) with such speed, keeping up with it to get glass on it was near impossible! It wouldn’t stop and to be totally honest with you, watching it was really more rewarding than any photograph I might have taken. Then it got to a point where being beaten by this little critter became personal and getting the photo to tell its story became important. My best guess was, there was some prey in the log and it was hauling ass around it trying to flush it out and capture it. It was simply just an amazing show!
We were really lucky. It stuck around for quite a while and it had some what of a typical path around the log. Only by prefocusing at a location it had come to before and keeping an eye in the viewfinder (and Sharon telling me where it was, she’s so good at that) was I able to get a few in focus clicks of this amazing predator. Oh, and its cute factor is off the chart which makes the panic to get the photo even greater. The encounter didn’t last that long but we treasure it so! Having anytime with a critter of this type and in performing such unique biology is a real treat and why we get out everyday. But after this show, I know exactly where the song came from, pop goes the weasel!
Jun 11, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Photographing ground birds can be a challenge at times. The reason being, they are on the ground. The natural debris can hide them to make the photo incredibly busy. And in the case of this California Quail, foraging around in a freshly mowed lawn just isn’t the best of worlds for the subject. This is when understanding basic biology can keep you waiting around to capture the better photograph.
What you can’t see in these frames is the female. The pair came walking down the lawn and we moved into place so if everything worked out, they would walk into the lens. This is because “stalking” ground birds tends to push them back into the cover where they find safety. In this case, the pair kept walking right down to us and but doing it on their terms, all was good and we didn’t matter. Now with the female in tow, the male was looking for other males that might challenge him for his mate. That sex thing which SO makes us photographer meld right into the background.
The other piece of basic biology you need with California Quail is the males constant need to get higher to look around. Normally, he’s looking for predators but in the spring, he’s looking for other males that might make a move for his mate. Shooting with the D4s / 800f5.6 on the Zenelli a top the Gitzo 5561SGT, we had stopped where there were a number of possible perches the male could hope up to. Now the boys with me heard me chant for the rock but it was only after the great light was on the rock did the male hope up there.
A quite often once on a perch where he can easily watch the female for a time, the male preens. It’s during this moment when on that perch all nice and T’d up that the common becomes uncommon and that’s what we’re after. We were standing on the bank of a creek so we were physically low which permitted using a background WAY in the distance providing the clean background. So combining camera gear, time, basic biology and a passion for the story and the photo is captured. Our entire encounter lasted perhaps fifteen minutes but man, did it produce. It is simply how Mother Nature when given the opportunity can entertain while sharing her glories!
Jun 10, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
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This past weekend during our Sierra Bird weekend, we took a little field trip to a very special location of ours. It has always produced, but you just never know what. We’ve been heading here for over 30yrs and like usual, we had a new and difference subject occupying a bunch of our time this trip. Sharon discovered a nesting pair of House Wrens that were just finishing their nest and seemed to have laid their first egg. The post your see in the photos is where the male would come over and over again to sing, broadcasting his territory and keep his better half interested. We spent over an hour with the male and it was just killer. You will notice a change in nearly every photograph and that’s from both the behavior and the light. There were thunder clouds forming and as they came and went, I would move around the perch to get the better light on both the subject and the background. How close were we able to get? I was shooting with the D4s / 800f5.6 on the Zenelli a top the Gitzo 5561SGT and we were at the minimum focusing distance of our lenses. The male could care less, he had just one thing on his mind and it’s the wildlife photographers best friend, sex! It was just great fun keeping up with him and looking to make the uncommon out of the common.
May 6, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
We spent the morning at the awesome American Museum of Natural History. I went through the halls enjoying the exhibits until I came to the African mammal halls. You walk in to a very dark room and in dim lights, a herd of elephants seem to be move silently through. But in real life, elephants are anything but silent. As we went by the various exhibits with Bushbucks, Leopard, Cheetah it occurred to me, something was very wrong. The main important element of these critters was horribly missing. Life!
Then we came to the Black Rhino exhibit and it occurred to me, I might never see them other than as live mounts in an exhibit. Even though I’m going to where they should be in two months, the odds off seeing them are slim to none at best. And not that I’m trying to depress you, but I was rather depressed with that thought. Sadly, we’ve all experienced the passing of someone dear in our lives and know the emptiness that brings. Loosing a species to extinction and for such a stupid reason as poaching, well, leaves an even greater emptiness. Leaving that hall and those live mounts, it was simply a very sobering moment.
