Archive for the ‘Wildlife’ Category
Friday, November 18th, 2011
It’s fall here in the US, and photographers are out and about, capturing lots of color in mountains and forests. But the early morning chill in the air and the honk of migrating geese remind me of my favorite fall place: Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico.
Bosque del Apache was the site of my first photo workshop, and where I was bitten hard by the Bird Photography bug. Not only is Bosque a great place to learn bird photography, it’s become an annual “meet and greet” for the outdoor photographer community. Photographers of all levels, either on a workshop or on their own, invade the little town of Socorro and comingle, exchange ideas and socialize both in the field and the various hangouts around town. I’m trilled to be going back this year with Rick Sammon and Juan Pons for a great workshop.
If you’re heading there for the first time, you can take advantage of those of us who make it an annual pilgrimage, and plan ahead for your gear and supplies. You won’t be heading to a remote place like Africa, so if you forget something, you can always pick it up at a local store. However, Bosque is so enchanting you won’t want to miss a single minute of shooting time by shopping!
Let’s start with non-photographic gear. You’ll be in desert air, with wild temperature fluctuations throughout the day. In the before-dawn when we set up, it can get cold. For most of us, I mean really cold. I’ve spent many mornings in below zero temps at Bosque. By afternoon, it can reach 70! So, dress in layers. Invest some good outdoor clothing and supplies. Check the weather ahead of time! Here’s a good non-photographic gear list:
- Good windproof outer shell parka.
- Long underwear. My favorite is made by SmartWool. Expensive but worth every penny.
- Warm socks and sock liner. Again, SmartWool.
- Warm shoes. We won’t be hiking, but warmth is the key here.
- Gloves that allow you to work your camera. AquaTech Sensory Gloves are our best sellers, and for good reason. You may also want to get a pair of thin gloves or liners you can wear under the AquaTechs, like FoxGloves.
- Hand warmer packets. Get these ahead of time. You’ll need them, and the local Walmart will be sold out as lots of folks get them on their second day after frozen hands on their first!
- Hiker’s Headlamp. These are really handy for early morning setups. Try and get one with a red lamp to save your low light vision. Yes, you’ll look funny, but you’ll be very glad you have it!
- NEOS Overshoes. If you have room in your bags, these could come in handy. Some shots, like the iconic Bosque shot with mist and cranes, might require you to stand in some shallow water, depending on the reserve’s water levels. Not a requirement, but they might be nice to have.
- Hats. One stocking cap (SmartWool!) to cover your ears in the morning, and a billed cap for the day.
- Sunglasses, sunscreen and lip balm for the desert day.
- Water. Pick up some water when you get to town to keep in your room. The dry air really takes it out of you.
As to photographic gear, Bosque del Apache is a place where you can find a use for nearly every piece of photo gear you own, from a point & shoot camera to your longest lens. If you could pack every camera and lens you own, you’d be able to use it. Certainly, you’ll want to bring your longest lens, along with your sturdiest tripod and head. Bosque is a great place to practice flight shots, as the Sandhill Cranes that fly around are big and slow. If you are looking for an excuse to purchase that 500mm lens, or a new tripod or gimbal head, now’s the time. You’ll never find a better place to learn how to use them.
In addition to your longest lens, bring your shortest, widest lens you have. Bosque provides some wonderful landscapes and “birdscapes” during spectacular sunrises and sunsets. In addition to the refuge, the area has some cool buildings and old cars, as well as the Very Large Array of radio telescope dishes made famous by several movies. There are lots of uses for your wide angle lenses. Since there are not a lot of mammals at Bosque, other than the occasional coyote, middle range lenses such as a 70-200 are used only occasionally. If you have to pare down lenses in your travel bag, go for the extremes.
Speaking of camera bags, a roller bag such as the Think Tank Airport Security works best at Bosque. Bring as much gear as you can! We won’t be shooting far from our vehicles — you can’t leave the road in the refuge. As such, you can bring a bag or two that hold your gear, and you can “pack heavy” instead of paring down your stuff to fit in a backpack.
You’ll be able to shoot quite a bit from your car at Bosque if you like. A gravel road circles the refuge and folks drive it looking for shots. When you see a bunch of cars parked, chances are something good is going on. To shoot from our car, you can bring a beanbag. The Apex Beanbags are nice in that they have a tripod mount on top of them for your gimbal head or ballhead. Bring your beanbag empty and fill it with birdseed from Walmart. When you’re ready to go home you can just dump it out and give the local birds a treat.
That gravel road is dusty, so it’s best to limit your lens changes. Bring a Lenspen, microfiber cloth and air blower and a sensor cleaner such as SensorKlear, Sensor Swabs or Dust Aid.
As Bosque offers all kinds of shooting situations, and you can pack heavy, bring all your odds and ends you might use on a shoot: items like a bubble level and polarizer for landscapes, flash, cord and Better Beamer for fill flash, extra memory cards, hard drives and so on.
Here’s a list of suggested photographic gear to recap and to add a few things:
As I wrote earlier, you’ll find a little bit of everything at Bosque del Apache and the surrounding areas. You’ll also find a host of friendly photographers and friends that you may have only met online. You’ll find that you will want to visit every year.
I’m happy to be going this year! Rick, Juan and I will see you at the Owl Bar in San Antonio, right outside the refuge, for a world famous green chile cheeseburger. (Did I mention bring some Tums?)
Tags: Bosque del Apache, gear, travel
Posted in Articles, Equipment Review, Featured Products, Tips and Tricks, Wildlife | No Comments »
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
The rut is on, at least in the northern half of the US. Now is an excellent time to get outside and photograph whitetail deer. At this time of year the males look their very best, with beautiful new coats, nice polished antlers, and necks swollen with the rut. They also have other things on their mind so they are not quite so secretive. Another thing I really like about this time of year is you have a lot more opportunities to photograph unique deer behavior. The deer in this photo is checking a scent post as he walks along a deer trail. Some of the other possibilities include fighting, scent marking, and various mating behaviors.
I like to work deer in local parks and sanctuaries where they are not hunted. One reason is that with all the hunters in the woods at this time of year, it is a lot safer for me. The main reason however is deer that are not hunted are quite a bit easier to approach and photograph. Even though I am photographing deer that are more acclimated to the presence of people, I still make sure to take my time when approaching. Because I would much rather earn the animals trust and be able to spend some quality time with it than do a sloppy approach and get one shot of the terrified beast before he bounds off never to be seen again. So take some time and do a good stalk. Never walk straight at your subject. Pause often, and avoid direct eye contact. Tail flicking, head bobbing, foot stomping, are all signs of nervousness. If you see any of these things take a break and let things settle down, before you move any closer. If you take some time here and don’t push your subject I guarantee it will pay off with more photographic opportunities on the other end.
Browse Steve's images, read his blog, and learn about his workshops at his site www.stevegettle.com
Tags: deer, fall, Wildlife
Posted in Articles, Wildlife | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
I have to admit that every once in a while I just get lucky. This photograph of a pair of dancing western grebes is one of those situations. I was photographing waterfowl on a small lake in northern Idaho from my floating blind, when I noticed a single grebe off in the distance. Since I did not have many good images of this species I started to slowly work my way towards this bird. As I began to get closer, the bird started to call, worried that perhaps I was causing it stress I stopped, and continued to watch the bird through the peephole in my blind. Then I noticed a second grebe swimming into view from behind some reeds. The two birds slowly swam toward each other and then suddenly, without any preamble, the pair rose up and began rushing across the water in their courtship dance. Purely as a reflex I dove behind my camera and swung the floating blind and camera toward the pair, as I swung around I simultaneously opened the lens aperture up to f4 (knowing that I would need as much shutter speed as I could get to stop the action). As soon as the birds appeared in my viewfinder I held down the shutter button letting the motor-drive fire 8 frames per second while the birds rushed across the water. The whole thing lasted maybe five seconds from beginning to end. I couldn’t believe my luck; I had always wanted to see this courtship display, and to witness it from my floating blind, right at the bird’s eye-level, what an incredible treat. My hands were shaking with adrenaline as I nervously checked the back of the camera to see if I had gotten anything usable. To say that I was overjoyed to see that I had a few good frames would be an understatement!
Browse Steve’s images, read his blog, and learn about his workshops at his site www.stevegettle.com
Tags: Floating blind, grebes, Steve Gettle
Posted in Articles, Wildlife | No Comments »
Monday, October 17th, 2011
When people look at my work, one of the questions I get asked more often than any other is how I get such nice backgrounds. The answer is I work very hard to control the backgrounds in my images. I like to get nice monochromatic, out of focus backgrounds because this type of background makes my subject stand out. These monochromatic backgrounds are also free of distractions that would pull the viewer's eye away from the subject of my photograph.
The way I achieve these backgrounds is by making sure that there is separation between my subject and the background. This separation renders my subject sharp, and makes the background a nice out of focus blur. It also gives the image a sense of depth.
For the image of the Cedar Waxwing accompanying this post, the background is a line of trees 50 yards behind the bird. I shot this at f8 which is enough depth of field to cover the bird and its beautiful perch. But at f8 the trees are rendered as a completely out of focus blur of color.
Browse Steve's images, read his blog, and learn about his workshops at his site www.stevegettle.com
Tags: background, Steve Gettle, Wildlife
Posted in Quick Tip, Tips and Tricks, Wildlife | No Comments »
Monday, August 15th, 2011
Whenever I am teaching nature photography one of the things I really emphasize is that, in order to be a better photographer, it really helps to be a better naturalist. The more you know about your subject the more likely you are to be able to predict its whereabouts and actions.
The images you see here prove that statement as true. Earlier this spring I was out photographing when I heard a bird calling that was not immediately familiar to me. Stopping to listen more, I decided that it might be a Prairie Warbler. Prairie Warblers are only occasionally seen in Michigan, usually during migration. I decided to spend some time searching for the bird, and ended up getting to spend the entire morning with this bird, a species that I had never had the opportunity to photograph before. All because I knew its song!
I was told by a couple of birders (who driven four hours just to see this bird) that this was the only Prairie Warbler that had been seen in Michigan this year!
Browse Steve's images, read his blog, and learn about his workshops at his site www.stevegettle.com
Tags: Nature, warbler, Wildlife
Posted in Articles, Tips and Tricks, Wildlife | No Comments »
Friday, August 5th, 2011
Break out the short lenses, it’s time for bird photography!
Wait, did I really write that?
I’m a bird photographer (when I grow up and get really good I’ll be an avian photographer) and I’m usually lugging around a 600mm with a big old tripod and gimbal head. Of course, I’ll get comments such as, “What magazine do you work for?” Or, “That sure is a big camera!”
The comment I get most from photographers is,“I’d love to be a bird photographer, but I just don’t have a long lens to use!” Don’t sell yourself short.
Not all bird photographs are close up portraits of our feathered friends on a perch. You can make stunning avian images with your short lenses, even your wide angle. I like to call them “birdscapes”.
The key to making great birdscape images is to get yourself to a place where you can find both pleasing vistas and a large amount of birds. We’re talking beaches, fields, large bodies of water and such. Chances are your back yard just won’t do. National wildlife preserves will be your best bet.
One of the nice things about shooting birdscapes, in addition to not having to haul around heavy lenses, is that you don’t have to hunker down in camouflage or in a blind, hoping you don’t spook your subject. You do however, still need to get up early in the morning or stay late in the evening, for best light. If you want birds in full view, keep the sun at your back. For silhouettes, just the opposite.
Keep in mind that your best birdscapes will be filled with flying birds, so in addition to light, you need to pay attention to the wind. Birds take off and land into the wind, so if you don’t want images of a bunch of bird butts, keep the wind behind you!
Most importantly, still bring your tripod. You can get wonderful shots with long shutter speeds. Mentally, think of the birds as an element of your landscape. Still pay attention to landscape features—foregrounds, skies, mountains. Add the birds to these features.
Blurs of birds in flight can give you a beautiful abstract feel. Start with shutter speeds around 1/15th of a second and experiment. Watch for birds on the ground while other birds are flying about. Long shutter speeds here can give you a cool combination of static and blurred subject.
If your birds are all hanging out on the ground, you can still get some cool shots. Try a “zoom blur”. Clamp your camera and lens down on a tripod, and select a long shutter speed like 1/10th of a second. Focus manually, then trip the shutter while you are twisting your zoom ring. Fun stuff!
Want to get some images like these? Most of the photographs in this post were taken at Bosque del Apache, just south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. I’m honored to join Rick and Juan Pons (an accomplished avian photographer) as an instructor in their Bosque Workshop. The first workshop is sold out, so they are getting ready to add another. You can get on the wait list here.
Tags: avian photography, bird photograhy, Bosque del Apache, lenses
Posted in Articles, Tips and Tricks, Wildlife, Workshops | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
My best selling image at the art shows is a frog. Never in a million years would I thought a frog would sell so well. Frog are fun to shoot and easy shoot. They are like people with their own individual tolerances, so some frogs will let you get in real close and some will take off as soon as the see you coming.
Like shooting most small macro critters, you have to move in slowly, and the frogs will usually blend in well with their surroundings, so you have to really study the ground so you can spot them as far in advance as you can. Here is a Wood Frog on the side of a mossy tree trunk.
A long focal length macro lens in the 150, 180, 200, will help out, but you can still shoot with a mid range 100mm focal length, but it takes a little more patience. This Wood Frog saw me coming and jumped up on this Skunk Cabbage leaf, and posed for me as I set up my tripod and camera.
I mentioned that my number one selling image at the art shows was a frog, and here it is.
You can visit Mike's blog and learn about his workshops here: Tiny Landscapes
Mike's eBooks are available in the OPG store here: Mike Moats
Tags: frogs, Macro, Mike Moats
Posted in Articles, Macro, Wildlife | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
I’m always on the lookout for photographs of different animals using camouflage to hide themselves in their environment. Because most living creatures on earth are food for other creatures, the use of camouflage has developed as a successful way of not being noticed, and therefore not becoming dinner. On the other side of that coin, many predators also employ camouflage as a means of avoiding detection by their prey. Probably the greatest example of the use of camouflage is the chameleon that can change not only its color but its patterns as well, to better blend into its environment. We have a creature here in Michigan that also has this amazing ability. The grey tree-frog can appear a mottled grey to match the bark of a tree like the one pictured below. It can also become a uniform medium green and blend in with the foliage as well.
Here are some examples of different creatures using camouflage to blend in with their environment:
Browse Steve’s wonderful images, read his blog, and learn about his incredible variety of workshops at his site www.stevegettle.com
Tags: camoflauge, Wildlife
Posted in Macro, Wildlife | No Comments »
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
Purple Finch on the branch of a Spruce Tree - Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 500mm F4L IS, Canon 1.4x & 2.0x Extender II, @1400mm - Gitzo 3541XLS with Jobu Design BWG-Pro Gimbal Head
Sitting in my living room, I suddenly heard an extremely enjoyable and melodious tone from outside. Hearing it repeated a few times over about 15 minutes was finally enough to lift my sorry carcass off of the couch and out onto the back patio. I discovered a male Purple Finch (he of the melodious tunes) along with a female partner going about the process of building a nest in the Spruce Tree just outside of the back door of my home.
I ran to get my tripod (a Gitzo 3541XLS with a Jobu Design BWG-Pro Gimbal head attached) and set it up with my Canon 500mm F4L IS lens attached along with the 1.4x Extender II that is pretty much welded to the lens. I say welded because if you do much wildlife photography at all you know that there is rarely such a thing as too big of a lens.
I took some shots of the joyful little singer but discovered that (and as is often the case with the little song birds) that he just wasn’t filling the view finder the way I wanted. And with that 1.4x teleconverter attached to the 500mm lens I was already shooting at the maximum minimum aperture for my 5D Mark II, F5.6; assuming I wanted to use autofocus. I have a 2.0x teleconverter too and thought briefly about just throwing that on and making the best of things with manual focus.
However, I recalled an experiment I did a couple of years ago with my 500mm lens paired with BOTH the 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters (also known as stacking teleconverters) which yielded a 1400mm focal length at F11 as the largest aperture. I was able to achieve really good results shooting with enough light and stopping down about 2/3 of a stop from F11.
I set up the combination on the tripod. The main trick when you use a setup like this is focusing. And, if you’re going to need to focus on some sort of moving object, forget about it, it’s just too touch. But with a subject like this, who upon returning to the tree that his female partner is building a nest in (she does all the work; he just accompanies her on her travels lest her attentions wander to a rival) would happily choose a branch and perch on it whilst singing his little heart out. This would allow me the time required to manually focus on him.
Purple Finch singing from the branch of a Spruce Tree - Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 500mm F4L IS, Canon 1.4x & 2.0x Extender II, @1400mm - Gitzo 3541XLS with Jobu Design BWG-Pro Gimbal Head
But still, another problem. I don’t know about you, but my 45 year old eyes have a lot of trouble looking through the viewfinder and finding critical sharpness. It can look sharp in the viewfinder but that often leads to disappointment in the cruel light from my monitor while developing the images. So I used a trick I’ve used for my snowflake photography. I temporarily switched to “Live View” and then zoomed in a couple of times on the Finch’s head. That way I could dial in critical sharpness, switch back to regular shooting mode and then make my shots until the little feller decided to move.
You’ll notice that I switched back to regular shooting mode instead of staying in Live View mode. Why? It’s all about the long-lens shooting technique that I use. This technique requires that in addition to draping my free hand over the lens to dampen down vibrations, I also jam my eye up against the viewfinder to help use even more of my body mass to help stabilize the lens. If you’re interested in the technique, you can read about it in a couple of previous blog entries in part 1 and part 2 of Making Sharper Images.
So, if you’ve got one of the good primes in your arsenal of lenses (and I’d say most of the prime lenses from any of the major camera manufacturers qualify) and you’ve got yourself a pair of teleconverters, don’t hesitate to give the combination a try and see what you can achieve. I’m willing to bet you’ll be a bit surprised by the sort of quality pictures that can be achieved with the right subject, proper gear to support the equipment along with the technique I talked about previously. And yes, you’ll probably have to employ the three “p”‘s of photography; practice, practice, practice!
Purple Finch singing from the branch of a Spruce Tree - Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 500mm F4L IS, Canon 1.4x & 2.0x Extender II, @1400mm - Gitzo 3541XLS with Jobu Design BWG-Pro Gimbal Head
You can find out more about Paul at his website and blog: Paul Burwell Photography
Follow Paul on Twitter here: link
Check out Paul's Wildlife Photography Academy Workshops here: link
Tags: finch, Instructional, Paul Burwell, photography, techniques, Teleconverter, Wildlife photography
Posted in Articles, Tips and Tricks, Wildlife | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
The eggs in the flower box
I’ve lived in Chicago for nearly 11 years now and I’ve come to appreciate the little surprises the city has to offer this small town boy. But, last week things took me by surprise.
I wasn’t thrown off by the $4.75 a gallon gas at the local gas station last week. Nor was I surprised when I was in downtown Chicago visiting with my sister and her Girl Scout troop when 3,000+ NUDE cyclists rode down Michigan Avenue protesting the use of fossil fuels. Sure, that one took me wee bit longer to explain to my daughter than the $4.75 gas. But nude people and high gas seem like a normal day here in Chicago.
Instead, what took me by surprise was when I went to water our flower boxes on the back deck and found our poppies had been torn out and replaced with four jumbo sized eggs!
We left the nest alone over the weekend the culprit finally made herself known…a female Mallard duck. I’ve seen a lot in the city but I have yet to deal with this — especially on my watch!
The culprit — a female Mallard duck
The duck has successfully laid eight eggs to complete her clutch and now will sit for 28 days until they all hatch at once. How they get down three stories to safety is yet to be seen, but we’ve placed several calls into the DNR who reminded us that the bird is federally protected (sort of figured) and must be allowed to finish the process naturally. Yikes!
She looks pretty happy in the flower box 
Of course, my daughter immediately named the duck “Fuzzy.” I’m not sure how bright Fuzzy is, but I know the next few weeks I’ll be brushing up on my bird photography!
Tags: bird photography, Chicago, ducks, John Batdorff
Posted in Articles, Wildlife | 1 Comment »
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