Jan 5, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Birds in flight are a tricky subject. Most are just really, really happy to get them dang things sharp. The idea of then placing in the frame a single bird at the right spot, with the right light and the right gesture and I’ve seen it make some photographers comatose! Admittedly, that’s a lot to deal with in a viewfinder because if nothing else, it’s all moving. The key is to eliminate all the variables in the photographic process so all you are doing it concentrating on the formation.
You start with making sure your long lens and panning technique are solid, second nature. A big part of this if shooting with a big rig (these were shot D4s / 800mm) and on a head like the Wimberley giving you background control. Be sure that the controls on the head aren’t tight nor loose. The best I can describe it is you should have to push against the head and feel some resistance but not so much that the head “chatters.” You must work between your tripod legs and not with one leg between yours (which means you could be constantly moving the tripod and repositioning it). And that you look for your “kill zone” which is where you have the best light and background.
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For flight photography, there is a basic rule for easy flight photography which really helps in this process. You want the sun and the wind on your back and the bird flying into your face. When you have this combination you have the best lighting and the slowest flying birds. Then you want to find the best background with this scenario (this isn’t a must, it just makes the best photography possible, easier). These photos of Greater Sandhill Cranes were taken at Bosque del Apache at the Farmfield, a great place in the afternoon when you have a wind blowing to the north (so wind is out of the south). On this afternoon, we had the perfect conditions other than it was too windy. The sun and wind was at our back and we had a good background. Then you have to start watching the birds and the way in which they tackle flying into the wind.
It’s smart to start with just getting the single bird in the viewfinder to get use to their rhythm and pattern of flying. Get a feel for their path, speed and wing beat which doesn’t take to long. Personally, I’ll look at a group of birds and make the decision which individual is going to cut out and make a good single shot and committing to it. Sometimes you get the shot, some times you don’t. Once I feel more confident at that prediction, I go for the groups. The one thing you might notice is that for the groups, the lighting is sidelight and not frontlight. That’s because I want that shadow to separate the individuals as well as to trick the eye to seeing more sharpness in the photo than there really is. Inevitably someone will ask how many shots did I take to get these. My shooting percentage was 82% for this afternoon, I deleted 18% of what I shot. You can do it too, just takes putting that time in and then acting on it. The resulting images are worth all the time you put in!
Dec 30, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Which way to turn the camera, vertical or horizontal (yes, I know, these days folks say landscape and portrait but to this old fart, those are terms for rock and people photography)? I’ve written about this many times before but it’s a question that keeps coming up, from emails and my own photography. Here’s the latest example where in my own mind which way to turn was not obvious. What do I mean by obvious? Well, the common thought is to put a vertical subject in a vertical format and a horizontal subject in a horizontal format. But since we want to make the uncommon out of the common, the question comes up. You add in elements like in these photos of the fine, autumn colored grasses and the question remains, which way to turn our camera?
Shooting the Snow Geese at Bosque del Apache last week, especially in the early morning, the light plays on their white plumage like a song as the sun rises. The light, if for only briefly, hits the top of the head and falls off down the body towards the feet. This play of light also works on the landscape around the geese along with the geese themselves. All of this is what raises the question, vertical or horizontal? Now looking through the D4s / 800mm, a very important detail came to life in this visual process, the white at the feet of the goose. Now that white appears to be a spot of light but when in actually, it’s whitewash (eeeeew). Nonetheless the source, that bit of white at its feet is what made me wonder should I go vertical or horizontal. As you can see, I shot both. The question is, did I take both photos because I wanted examples to post or, did I not have the answer myself and shot both. You may never know.
Dec 23, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
My post about Blue Ripples brought in all sorts of emails asking if its only works with blue? Actually, it can work with many possibilities. The key is you see the light, recognize the reflection and find a complimentary color to the main reflection. Here’s two variations on the same theme. The above photograph is a sunrise shot and the bottom is a sunset shot. What’s the difference because they both have lots of red (which means I’m shooting in Cloudy WB).
First is to isolate the main reflection which in this case is the color red. Shooting with the D4s / 800mm, I move laterally so the few clouds that are red and reflecting in the water and filling the viewfinder. The next important factor is you have to select cranes that are moving. If they aren’t moving, they aren’t creating ripples and with no ripples, you don’t see the “yellow” rings in the water around them. Ya, you’re shooting at a slower shutter speed because it’s dark. That’s why you take more than one click at a time to increase the odds of getting that one shot you love that has sharp elements. So in a very long winded answer to the question if it only works with blue, no :-)
Dec 22, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
This trip to Bosque brought a new idea to my photography, critter reflections. Ya, I’ve played with them before but this time I find a couple of more pieces to the puzzle so the photos are good enough to finally post. Ya, that means I’ve had a whole bunch of failure playing with this but I keep working it. Now shooting long and in this case shooting D4s / 800mm, moving quickly to get the reflection of the critter and the reflection of the background all at once is key. Then there is the percentage of reality left in with the illusion. Like I’ve said, there has been lots of failure but I do enjoy this one success. (BTW) You can see the background I had that I left to capture the ripples in this photo.
Dec 22, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Reflections bounce their magic in our photographs in many different ways. A way I like to play with them when working water birds are ripples of blue water. The ripples are created by the critter in the water but they only show up by using reflections to bring them out. It starts by picking the right background. Dark is best so in this case, I moved laterally with the D4s / 800mm to the right so the Black Mountains were the reflection in the water. Where I was standing I only saw blue water and some scattering of white clouds reflected in the water. You need the dark reflection because the ripples are going to be lighter tones. You need apposing tones to make it work.
While this will work with overcast skies, who wants to see gray water. Na, we want our water to be blue so we need blue skies. That’s because the ripples are reflecting the blue skies, it’s an old principle in photography … angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. The flat surface of the water is reflecting the mountains but the ripples which are valleys and peaks radiating out from the critter reflect the blue sky. Using a telephoto to isolate the subject against the background, you can use reflections is a whole new way to bring a little romance to your photos.
Dec 19, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
It was one of those magical mornings at Bosque when the night time temps went down for the count so at sunrise, it was a brisk 19 degrees. While the cranes and geese stay warm, the water does not and ice forms. Not thick enough to form around the birds but enough of a freeze to create a thin layer on the pond. So thin that bigger birds punch through and lighter birds walk on top. Thin over the deeper portions of the pond and thicker nearer the shallow portions. The cranes which slowly move from the main flock to wake up, socialize and then take off have to negotiate this ice field and while they have big feet for walking in muck and mud, they are not made for ice. You can hear the laughter amongst the photographers as they watch all the slipping and sliding as the cranes try to maintain their elegance while falling on their butt is quite loud. And once the cranes are in the air, all you hear from the photographers besides the camera clicks is the admiration for the beauty of cranes as they fly off. They are gorgeous!
As I stood there watching this, laughing and in admiration, I thought what we were watching is so applicable to photography. While we look good standing their with our camera gear glistening in the morning sun, more long glass than a dozen football game sidelines combined, there is a whole hell of a lot of slipping going on. Missed shots from everything like chimping to simple inexperience. It’s part of the photographic process and once the humiliation is over, we have to laugh it off. And there is that one or two photo that we see later on our monitor that sums up our experience perfectly and all that slipping slides away and we’re just in awe of our subject and how we’ve told its story. Photography is such an amazing pursuit no matter what genre you practice your art. Just understand that a lot of the time just like in nature, that often we will find elegance while slipping.
