wildlife photography

wildlife photography

Colors in Nature

Kevin

Every year, I see some images shared online that viewers believe to be real but are digital creations that are not real. In many cases, the digital artist wasn’t trying to fool anyone but the image is shared without stating that it is digital art.

A friend showed me a “photo” that impressed him … reported to be a blue whale passing under a cable-stay bridge. As the length of the whale was similar to the length of the bridge, I did not believe it and suggested this was not a real photo. My friend seemed offended and asked “why would you question this photo?” Even the largest whale on earth simply isn’t that big. Later looking up details online, an adult blue whale may grow to a length of 100 feet. The bridge in the photo is the Samuel De Champlain Bridge and the section of the bridge in the image amounts to a length of approximately 1800 feet.

On several occasions, friends have share photos online of a bright red owl, sometimes identified as a Madagascar Red Owl. Commonly people believe they are sharing a real “photo” and are stunned by the beauty of the bird. The immediate problem is that owls are birds of prey and will not be highly visible to their prey; an owl should blend into its environment. To this point, at least seven years ago, I modified one of my own images and declared it to be an Aquitane Owl with blatant caption explaining that the coloring isn’t real and should never be misrepresented as real.

Some tropical birds are brightly colored; as a general rule, owls are not.

I have seen a few images that raised doubts, but a little research told me that the colors are not untrue, but perhaps digitally amplified. For example a black leopard with distinctive spots (not entirely black). And then there is a brown zorse (zebra horse) – apparently completely real.

Forest Service fee for any photography in national parks ?

Forest Service fee for any photography in national parks ?

Kevin

Bicyclist making a photograph at Glacier National Park
Bicyclist making a photograph at Glacier National Park

 

The National Forest Service wants to charge you a large fee to make photographs on national lands (national forests or national parks).    The proposal covers “still photography and commercial filming” … without any further clarification, that seems to include you making a photo with your camera phone.

The proposal, an iterative evolution of past interim proposals because past efforts have been unclear.

>>   Federal proposal regarding still photography and commercial filming

Do check it out ASAP.  The Forest Service is accepting public comments until November 3rd.  You can easily provide your input on-line at the link above.  I did.

 

 

New DSLR designed for Wildlife Photography

Kevin

TheDigitalPicture.com breaks news of a top-of-the-line DSLR for wildlife photographers.
Reading some of the features, I arrived at … Birds in-flight focusing mode!?  Wow!  Animal Eye Tracking!?  Amazing.  A built-in sound generator to produce animal calls.  Incredible … maybe literally, not credible.

But of course, today is April Fools day.  Well played, Sean and Bryan.

 

Announcement: New Canon DSLR for wildlife photography

 

Wildlife Photography Workshop

Kevin

When I heard about this photography opportunity, I could not ignore it.  Everyone loves baby animals!  A 3-day workshop with leader Jeff Wendorff, to photograph baby animals at a game ranch in Montana.

Red Fox cubsWolf cubs, Red Fox cubs, Bobcat kits, a 4-month-old Tiger, and more.  The cuteness factor is very high.

I discovered limitations of my camera equipment that I had known before; particularly, my ability to quickly select a focus point.  In this regard, I have never considered the Canon 5D2 to be cumbersome, but I found here that the controls are not quite agile enough.   The common technique of focus, then recompose, takes 2 seconds and that’s not fast enough.  The wolf cubs were particularly difficult; they are very energetic and very fast.

All totaled, I shot somewhere around 3400 photos.  By comparison to some other folks, that’s not a lot.

After editing, I had fewer than 1000 images.  (I should probably do another round of editing and cut that number in half.)  Images were rejected for a variety of reasons.  Maybe my composition cut off the tip of a tail.  Maybe the animal’s ears were pointing in an odd way.  Sometimes there is nothing particularly wrong with the image, but I have a similar image that is slightly better.  Delete the weaker image because there is no point in keeping both images.

[ Click on either image to see a larger view. ]

tiger reflectionThe workshop included a 4th day, just in case foul weather might interfere with the workshop, though this wasn’t necessary the week we were there.  So we had the option to photograph some other animals, including adult animals and a 1.5-year-old Grizzly Bear.

Of the 3.5 days, two days are jam-packed busy.  The other 1.5 days are still busy but not as exhausting.

Not only is Jeff Wendorff (jeffwendorff.com) an expert at photographing wildlife, but he also has an excellent relationship with the staff at the game ranch.

Backyard Bird Photography

Kevin

In 2011,  wildlife photographer Jeff Wendoff told me that I must add wildlife to my photography portfolio.  Got some tips on basic backyard bird photography from Jeff and photographer David Middleton.  The wheels of my progress may move slowly, but they do move.

( Click on any image to see a larger view )

By end of 2011, I had prepared a place to hang bird feeders within clear view of my home windows and I hung my first bird feeder. Within two weeks, the birds began to find the new feeders.  However, having created natural perches for the birds in precise locations where I wanted them to land,  they were not perching here.


A few days ago, I saw the birds begin to perch in the places I had prepared.  When I awoke this morning, there were many birds and they were perching in the right locations.  So I photographed backyard birds for the first time.  It just so happened that snow was falling, which added an extra special touch of beauty.

Sitting next to a window and photographing from the comfort of my home, these birds are perhaps 35-ft away. I found that my telephoto lens did not have quite enough reach.  The birds appear quite small in the original images; so the photos attached here are cropped about 50% from original size.

I used a class of camera known as Micro Four-Thirds (MFT) with a 45-200mm lens at maximum telephoto (200mm).  If I had used my Full-Frame DSLR, I would have needed a 400mm lens to capture the same field of view.  That’s because the image sensor on any MFT camera is 1/2 the size of Full-Frame  (for you Nikonians out there, that means “FX” format).  To get a tighter shot, I will need big glass.

 

Equine photography

Kevin

A fun and eye-opening day today photographing horses with Lisa Cueman and David Middleton. 

With a forecast for rain, we headed out to visit the horses early in the day.  (David’s wife, Claire, responded that sometimes in rare momemnts,  David does something smart.)

First, we had the opportunity to photograph the younger horse, Reva, running.  Being cooped up in the barn all morning, Reva welcomed the oppotunity to run around.  Then, after a expending some energy, was more accepting of standing around for some portraiture.

The technique of photographing a moving horse is theoretically similar to photographing a person running or riding a bicyle.  A perfectly sharp image requires a high shutter speed, but this is perhaps not the best idea because the photo fails to communicate motion.  Instead, we were shooting around 1/100 second and then following the horse’s movement by panning the camera.  With a bit of practice and a bit of luck, you can get a sharp image of the horse, but the feet show motion blur.

Simple right?  Well, maybe not.  In reality, an animal’s movements are unpredictable, making unexpected turns, stops, & starts.  So there is a bit of “spray and pray”.   Set the camera to take multiple photos in quick succession, press the shutter button for a few seconds, capturing numerous images, … and pray a few of them look good.   This is necessary particularly because the feet are constantly changing position and the most aesthetic position cannot be predicted.  Don’t think that it is simply dumb luck; it’s not.  As a photographer, you have to pay close attention to everything … but the position of the feet … that is mostly luck.

Then we practiced some of Lisa Cueman’s equine portrait techniques.  My image included here below is clearly inspired by one of Lisa’s images.  This angle of view is a bit counterintuitive, but the aesthetic forms of the horse from different angles like this is really eye-opening.

For a larger view, click on an image.

Lisa’s website is currently undergoing an update, so you may want to check it anew in July.
http://lisacuemanphotography.com/

Special thanks to David Middleton (and Claire Middleton) for providin this opportunity.
http://www.davidmiddletonphoto.com/