Jul 1, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
I’ve been receiving a whole bunch of questions about working in sand. Just to be clear, we’re talking taking pictures and not making sand castles since I love doing both. Having just spent time with photographers relatively new to shooting in sand, while it seems obvious it truly isn’t. This is how I do it to give you some ideas but by no means your only option for making it happen. The whole concept is based on getting down and into the sand to shoot. The shot above of the Marbled Godwit was taken with the gear laying literally in the sand and the angle of view being the same as the godwit. From this angle the background which is physically one hundreds or more yards away is a soft wash of color, the foreground a clean blur so all you see is the subject. While the godwit standing in shallow water, I’m shooting from the dry sand. That’s what this technique is all about.
by John Herrick
It all starts and really is all about the gear. Protecting he gear is pretty darn important because camera gear and sand just don’t play nicely together. What you see me shooting with here is the D4s / 800mm on the Panning Plate. The panning plate is resting in a Petco freebe, the same one I’ve used for over a decade. You can see how low to the ground it all is so the first thing you do is figure out the balance point of the rig so the lens hood and camera body don’t take a dip in the sand. Next, you become real annal to keep you hands out of the sand so it doesn’t get transferred onto the gear. Then finally when you get up, you are really, really, really careful you don’t do it standing over your gear as the sand will fall off you and onto your gear. Lastly, if you get any sand on your gear, don’t panic! Let the gear sit in the sand letting the sand completely dry out. If there is any moisture in the sand, it sticks like glue. Once it’s dry, “wipe” it off the gear with a dry, clean towel and if you have canned air, carefully blow it off. Whatever you do, don’t wipe the sand off. These are the basics of working in sand and as long as you remember sand goes with gravity, you’ll be just fine.
Jun 30, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Sunday morning was simply, amazing! I was back in FL for the weekend and it found me at the Black Skimmer colony. New life is everywhere and watching it, hearing it and witnessing it is one of the great joys of wildlife photography. And the joys of wildlife photography continued when it was shared with so many other shooters. My dear friend Kathy and gang (Mike, Tony, Leslie and the rest of you) make me smile. Not just the kind words and open arms, but all the smiles you have as you too chase the critters with your lenses. There were 70-200, 80-400, 200-400, 600 and of course the 800 all trained on the adorable chicks peaking out at the big bad world for the first time. The whole experience for me simply brings to wildlife photography, new life!
Jun 19, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Jun 17, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
“What’s the subject?” This is a question I’ve been asking photographers when helping them for the past three decades. Normally, this question has to do with the visual story we’re trying to tell, the technical issues we’re trying to concur and the finishing being done in post. The subject controls everything we do as photographers, from where we stand to lens we select to it’s success in grabbing the viewers imagination. Knowing what the subject is when it comes to bird photography takes on an additional meaning that I think is just as important. I offer up this example of what I’m talking about right here.
Now I’ve slightly manipulated my point here because you’re seeing the birds in the final photo. But to get to this point in the photograph, the majority of the time we see the off in the distance (they are smaller than a tennis ball). It’s from a distance we make the call whether we’re going to work a particular subject and with that decided, how we’re go about getting close physically to make the shot. What’s the subject or in this case the bird species, takes on a whole new meaning and importance when put in this context even though we’re still talking photography.
On the beaches of Florida you can find a number of Plover species, two from a distance are pretty similar, the Semi Palmated Plover and Wilson’s Plover. When they are holding still and have their head cocked as you see in the top two photos, they are incredibly similar. But once they go profile to you as you see in the lower two photos, the differences in the two species is quite clear at a distance. The bill lengths and shape of the two species is very distinctive at a distance. This is especially true when not looking through bins or you long lens (as normal, I was lying flat on the sand shooting with the D4s / 800mm on the Panning Plate.)
Why does any of this matter? It might not depending where you are in your photography. Both are great birds! The Semi Palmated Plover though is very common, being found throughout North America. The Wilson’s Plover on the other hand is anything but common. The Wilson’s being “rare” in some sense when I have the option of two species makes it the one I will focus in on because in theory, the Semi Palmated is easier to photograph elsewhere later on. Now in answering the question “What’s the Subject” knowing the species can make the difference of getting that rare shot. When it comes to just these two species, besides the bill there is one other thing that tells them apart, their biology! The Semi Palmated spends its time chasing sand flies, so it’s always on the move. The Wilson’s Plover eats small sand crabs. It freezes in one place watching them and then darts to catch its prey. One is always on the move the other is not. While “What’s the subject” is important to the photograph’s success, asking that question when it comes to birds, might just help you know which species is going to be the subject.
Jun 13, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
I’m often asked when photographing wildlife, when do you know you have the shot? This is a question I’ve asked myself for many, many years and the answer is still forming. I do know that the portrait is just the starting point. What does that mean? When you start out in wildlife photography and start out I mean, the first few years or more, the goal is just to get the great portrait. That in itself requires the gear, technical and biological skill to fill the frame with the critter not moving. The critter not moving (which is a portrait) is important because the one thing that has to be sharp is the eye. A moving head makes that very difficult. So the great portrait is where the challenge begins.
And it’s a challenge that presents itself with each new critter you come across. There are over seven hundred bird species in North American so you could reason out, that’s a minimum of 700 portraits to challenge you. That’s a heck of a challenge, that’s something to be celebrated! But once you have that portrait, then what? Capturing that great portrait is doable by all with any gear. It just takes that one critter who is cooperative and you’ve got it! That means you’ve got to find the photographic challenge in another aspect of wildlife photography. I want to give you your next challenge, biology.
Now photographing biology can be done while doing the portrait, so it is a natural morph in challenges. I have three examples here of what I’m talking about. Again shooting from the sand as in, lying on the sand like a beached whale I have the D4s / 800mm on the Panning Plate which is my preferred method of shooting shorebirds. This Marbled Godwit, a bird once very common when I was a kid is getting harder and harder to find. Because of that, I went after the portraits first this morning and then moved onto the biology. So the top shot is the portrait, the slight cock of the head takes the portrait and gives it gesture. The biology then comes into play by taking the portrait and adding behavior to it. The middle shot is the “fluff out” after preening. All it takes is being ready for the fluff out after preening (so you know it comes after preening) and then holdin down the shutter release and listening to the sweet sound of the shutter rippin. Then there is the bottom photo which is gyration birds go through while preening. In spreading the oils on their back, they curl their head around on their backs and rub. When they do this, the bill sky points. It’s real brief so you have to know that biology is coming and be prepared for it to capture it. None of this is ease, not being in the right place or owning the right gear and especially is knowing the biology. And that’s why so few go after it. You though can do it, just remember the portrait is only the starting point!
Jun 11, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
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Birds in flight is simply a great photographic pastime! It takes gear (D4s / 800mm on the Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head used here) and it can be any body, any lens but you’ve gotta have solid panning. You’ve gotta have the camera set to CH (Continuous High) and willing to hit the button and continue to hit it. And do it over and over again. And then in that sequence recognize this one image that captures that moment for you that you want to share. And that’s it, all it takes to capture that one shot.
