Aug 15, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
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So I was getting pretty serious about the V3 being a tool that solves problems for my photography. To prove it even more so to myself, thought I would take it on a stress test. While in Homer, we were able to venture out for a few hours to a favorite location of mine, Gull Island. On a gorgeous rainy day, we went for a cruise and all I took was the V3, 10-30 and 30-110 loaded with a Lexar 68GB MicroSDM (which I’ve not lost yet, a record for me). The V3 can shoot up to 60fps which is why I have the big card. I have it set to just 10fps though.
First, the V3 did just fine in the rain, not even an issue. Having the small, light camera and lens (smaller than your palm) on the open seas was really a treat as it was very simple to hold and shoot. And as you can see, the image quality is truly sweet. The V3 has a “viewfinder” that permits you to see through the lens so shooting is basically like shooting with a DSLR. All the settings are basically the same as on my other DSLR but the zooming from 30 to 110 takes only a second as the throw is so short. At this point in the Black-legged Kittiwake colony, eggs have hatched and some kids have already flown the coop. I prefer to look for patterns in the nest platforms and the rock and for small snipits of family life. The V3 worked very well in capturing those aspects just like the DSLR would have. No, the V3 is not the perfect wildlife rig! I wanted to see if it could take the stress of the environment and produce the same great quality. I’m very impressed!
Jul 30, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
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Around noon, the family woke and made their way down the tree. Mom came down first and when we got eye to eye (she’s perhaps five feet away from me), I recognized her as the cub I’d seen in the same tree in years past. She’s not a cub no mo, she’s now a mom teaching her kids living with man. Now I lucked out when they came down because the thunderstorm had started to form really mellowing out the light. I also shot in the Flat Picture Control which I’m liking more and more in contrasty light (all images taken with D810 / 85f1.8 @1.8). Once mom was down, she “huffed” bringing the kids down. Now kids being kids (spring kids, born during the last winter), didn’t take the direct route but played as they went. Part of that play was to come over and see the funny human with the black box attached to his forehead. The whole thing didn’t last more than eight minutes, but it was fun to see the new family and know we knew that mom back when. Oh, and Newton it turns out does know wildlife :-)
Jul 29, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
“Did they come down,” “Can you see them,” “What are they doing” are just some of the questions I’ve received. Black bears in general have nocturnal habits and that’s true for moms with spring cubs. No doubt they were heading up the hill to their day den when our beagle decided to change their path. So once up the tree being a big, sturdy tree (we call it Tree3), they did what comes naturally during the day. They fell a sleep. Now the world is going by, the bears don’t care about the world and the world doesn’t know the bears are in our yard. Even the beagle when I took her out, could care less now about them. Shooting with the D810 / 80-400 in Flat to open up the shadows, you can’t really see them. Following the red arrows, the upper arrow is the two, spring cubs sleeping on one branch and the mom, the lower arrow kinda drooped over two limbs. And there they are, four hours later.
Jul 29, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
The Eastern Sierra experienced a very much welcomed down pour yesterday that lasted for nearly 10hrs. The summer thunderstorms though caused a shut down of computers as the lightning bounced around the office delaying blog posting. At 06:24 this morning our beagle put out the bear alert and sure enough, the mom (seen here) and two spring cubs had been treed by her diligence. By the time I got to the tree with a camera (D810 / 85f1.8 was handy) only mom was visible (I’m on our deck looking at her). So now we’re sitting here, beagle now inside, waiting to see if Newton is right, what goes up must come down! On a photographic side note, this was shot in the new “Flat” Picture Control setting which when it comes to shadows, is magical!
Jul 25, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
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With our critter photography, grabbing the heart strings when it comes to mammals in my instances comes down to the ears. Moose, bears, coyotes, rabbits, nearly any mammal with largish ears use them in multiple ways. The first and most important is simply to listen in to the world around them. They often hear things long before they see them. If you spend time watching them, their ears pivot like a radar dish listening for sounds. They are very defined tools that serve them well. As this Desert Cottontail is demonstrating, listening to her young in the grasses kept her attention and ears moving.
These same mammals use their ears to converse with others of the same species what they are thinking. Deer are a great example of seeing this in action when a herd reacts to the alpha female’s alert. Her ears will go to attention and almost point in the direction of the alarm. And while we don’t know what they are thinking, we subconsciously pick up on the orientation of the ear and apply our own human emotions to them. What the ears imply can be used by us in the storytelling that lead to grabbing the viewer’s heart strings. Not that we can control the position of the ears, but we can control when we go click or the final image we put out from our shoot. This very subtle aspect of mammal photography is a very important one that cannot be ignored. So next time you’re photographing that mammal, remember the ears have it.
Jul 21, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
We first saw and started to work with and photographed the Riparian Brush Rabbit (RBR) in Feb, 1993. It was listed as Federally Endangered in Feb, 2000. I was very fortunate that one of the mammals my mentor Dr. Dan Williams worked with was the RBR. One of the most common questions is, “how many RBRs are there in the world?” The official answer is, “We are not sure. In 1993 an estimated 200-300 riparian brush rabbits inhabited Caswell State Park. After severe flooding in the winter of 1997 only one rabbit was trapped during field surveys. While we know population numbers have their ups and downs in their population numbers, we found these poor trapping results alarming.” With the loss of over 90% of their habitat, part of the water issues of CA which we’ve always been involved with, while their numbers are still alarmingly low, they are doin a little bit better than these official numbers. This is due in large part to the efforts of ESRP and their very dedicated biologists.
Sharon and I have been involved with ESRP before its inception and I’ve been honored as a Research Associate with ESRP for more than 20yrs. That sounds like a lofty post but what it means is, I’m the best at sitting on a rock and staring at a hole in the ground for 18hrs. Last week when Patrick emailed telling me and sharing a couple of clicks of the activity of the RBR on the San Joaquin River NWR (a marvelous place for wildlife photography) and said I needed to get over, off I went. Upon Patrick’s suggestion, I came with my blind for the two mornings of work. The reasoning was simple, short time to shoot (activity level and light) and needed them to become accustomed to my presence fast. I could have shot from the truck but that high angle for shooting was less than desirable. I wanted to be on ground level with them, so the background would disappear unless I wanted it.
Literally just after being settled in the blind shortly after sun up (standard wildlife rig: D4s / 800mm w/TC-.25 on the Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head) the bunnies were out. I had Desert Cottontails as well as RBRs on the dike with my focusing in on the RBR. I was able to capture all sorts of biology from eating, dust bathing, grooming, nose touching and more all confirming the blind was the right call. The story of the bottom photo probably sums it all up best. Last morning, quiet compared to the previous when this RBR came our of the hedge to the middle of the dike. It stopped, looked right down the dike at the blind and made a 90 degree turn and headed straight for me. It would stop, look, hop, stop, look and hop until what you see above. At this point, it went over to the side of the dike, groomed itself and then slowly walked over to the front of the blind and then to the right. I could see its shadow under the front edge of the blind and then out the right side port. Then it went out of site. I watched the corner of the blind. Because of its design, there are little “entrances” which to a small mammal would look like a tunnel in vegetation. Sure enough, a few seconds later a small head pops through the hole, looks around for about 10-15sec and then slides back out. It was the second time a RBR had done that and is the greatest feeling because it means, we did everything right. And the photos? Well they were all sent off to the biologists to use. You see, as Patrick said to me, “You have the most observational time with the RBR of anyone in the world.” My speciality at work, sitting on a rock, in this case a chair, and staring at a hole in the ground paid off.
