outdoor photography

Pine Warbler with Pine Needles 1/26/2014 One of my favorite places to photograph Pine Warblers is the Econ River Wilderness Area. About a year and a half ago, I took my favorite photos of the species here.  They are the kind of photos I'd like to have for most species--I call them bird-on-a-stick photos.  These are the kinds of photos you see in field guides, etc. You see most of the bird, often in profile, and the background is completely blurred with no detail whatsoever.  I love these images, partly for their beauty, and partly for how difficult they are to achieve, especially with birds that like to perch in messy branches.  With today's software, you can often remove these branches, but I don't do much of this.  I'd rather spend my time taking pictures than messing with them. Here's one of my favorite images from my visit to this park in 2012. Pine Warbler On-a-Stick 6/9/2012 Over the last couple weeks, Pine Warblers have begun singing all over th...

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail This morning I was at Central Winds Park, my favorite birding local birding location in the fall, and a Tiger Swallowtail landed right in front of me.  In fact, I had to back up in order to get these shots.  In the background were cypress trees and bare sky, and these three shots were taken with me standing in slightly different places.  I think you can see the difference it makes where you stand.  The first image below was the shot I took right when the butterfly landed.  I wanted to get the shot before I re-positioned myself, but I don't really care for this shot at all.  The sky in the background is making me alter my exposure, and I still have bright spots that compete with the subject for attention.  So I started moving around to see if I could find an angle on the butterfly that would be only distant trees.  The second image below was the result I was able to achieve if I moved to the left--a little better, but ...

Mt. Diablo SP, circa 1976 When I was a kid (perhaps between the ages of 7 and 8), we used to live in Concord CA, and my father would often take us out to Mt. Diablo.  I used to borrow his camera, I believe a Nikkormat manual SLR, and take pictures in the park.  I decided to look over the photos I kept, and I had fun looking at them and wondering why it is that I kept some of them.  But in a few shots, it looks like I was beginning to think about composition. In fact, I make similar compositions today.  The prints are about 35 years old and somewhat degraded, but I thought it might be fun to share a few of my earliest attempts at nature photography coupled with photographs I've taken much more recently.  It seems to me that I continue to like some similar styles of composition today that I (whether intentionally or unintentionally) used then. In the photo above, circa 1976, I photographed hills with sky and two contrasting diagonal lines.  In 2005 I did ...

Golden Silk Orbweaver A few days ago I was reminded of how important it is to be mindful of your angle of view.  I apologize in advance to any of you that don't like photos of spiders, but I found a couple Golden Silk Orbweavers and had some fun photographing them.  When I found the first one, I shot the spider head on, since that's the angle I had available to me with a clean background.  But the lighting made the webbing all but disappear, so I had to leave some of the spider's "leftovers" in the frame to give the photo some context. Golden Silk Orbweaver Later that day I found another one, and initially, I began photographing it from a similar angle, happy to have the web somewhat more visible.  But then I noticed that the spider was in the process of eating breakfast, and a different angle might allow the spider's prey to be more visible.  And from a different angle, the spider's web also became wonderful.   Golden Silk Orbweaver G...

Brown Thasher ISO 400, 400mm lens, 1/30sec shutter speed There are three factors that can cause blurry images: 1) improper focus, 2) subject movement, and 3) camera movement.  I'm concerned here with the third factor.  In low light situations, it's important to take extra precautions to get sharp images, especially if you aren't using an image stabilized lens or can't use a tripod,.  As a general rule of thumb, without using image stabilization, you can get a high percentage of sharp images if you can achieve a shutter speed equal to the inverse of the focal length of the lens--so if you're using a 400mm lens, you want a shutter speed of 1/400sec or faster. Image stabilization can let you achieve equally sharp images 2 or 3 stops slower--that is, 1/100sec or 1/50sec.  If you can raise the ISO to give you a shutter speed that fast, you're probably in good shape. Barred Owl ISO 800, 400mm lens, 1/60sec shutter speed With my camera I do not like ...

Green Heron There's something about the serene reflections on water that I find captivating.  Especially when they make the water green.  Wildlife with backgrounds like this are perhaps my favorite of all.  Sometimes you have to work a little to get this to happen.  That is, in order to make it work, you may have to adjust your position by moving around your subject or moving your camera up or down.  But to me the results are worth it.  I have no problem with blue water, but green reflections to me are always worth the effort.  All three photos below were taken at one of my favorite little spots at Mead Gardens.  There are some branches that come out of the water, and turtles and wading birds take turns on the branches.  If you stand at the right place, the green reflections are wonderful, at least to my colorblind eyes. Red-eared Sliders Tricolored Heron Anhinga

Lizard At Red Bug Lake Park, I came across a very interesting looking lizard on a tree trunk.  I took a couple shots and then tried to re-position myself to get a better angle.  But as I did so, the lizard took off.  This normally disappoints me; I had seen a shot but then was unable to get it.  It's why I normally shoot first and re-position myself later. But this time the lizard grabbed some ugly bug and came back to the tree to eat it.  So this time, I got to move to a better spot, and the lizard got its bug--we're all winners.  Well, except for the bug, but if you ask me, it had it coming.  I mean, it's one ugly bug. Lizard when I first saw it Lizard after re-positioning myself Lizard Lizard

Limpkin I set my f/stop to f/5.6 to put the bird and some of the flowers in focus, but I wanted to blur the background to obscure the trail and separate it from the bird One of the constant challenges faced by wildlife photographers is getting a pleasing background.  Photographers often covet finding a scene in which they can make the background completely blurred.  This is achieved by a combination of factors: Distance between the subject and background.  The more distance you can put between your subject and the background behind it, the more you can blur the background. Small f/stop.  By using a smaller f/stop (=wider aperture ) you can decrease the depth of field in your photograph, making it easier to blur the background. Focal Length of Lens .  The longer the focal length of the lens, the easier it is to make the background appear less cluttered, more uniform, and more blurry.  In other words, with a longer focal length lens, you can isol...

Patapsco State Park (camera phone) It happens to me more often than I care to admit.  I find myself struck by a beautiful scene, and I have no camera but my cell phone.  My cell phone camera stinks--well, all cell phone cameras stink.  They're phones, for crying out loud.  But at least iPhone users can use a camera made by a company that hopes you'll actually use the camera for photographs.  I have a cheap, Pantech android phone with a 5.0 megapixel camera.  If you use the digital zoom at all, the photo becomes unusable, so you have one focal length to use, and you have to make it work. Cranes Roost, Altamonte Springs (camera phone) Now I don't say this to complain; I don't have iPhone envy.  I'm happy with my phone.  But I used to walk away from beautiful scenes without even using my phone's camera.  I've realized recently that this is a mistake.  You may not be able to get incredible pictures with your cell phone, but you c...

White Morph Reddish Egret #1 For wildlife photography, I've had to become accustomed to taking many photographs of the same subject.  If I see a scene I like, I  shoot it at 6.5 frames per second.  I'm often struck by how often very subtle differences between photographs can have very significant effects on the overall feel of the photograph.  Even photographs taken a fraction of a second apart can have a very different feel. White Morph Reddish Egret #2 Yesterday I was at Fort De Soto, and a white morph Reddish Egret decided to walk right by me.  I had just under two minutes with this magnificent bird, and I took 77 photographs.  That of course is the fun part.  The challenge is going through all 77 of them to select a few that I think are the best.  All the photographs were exposed properly, and they were all sharp.  The sun was casting pretty light on the egret, and the egret is one of my favorite birds. But slight variatio...

Double-crested Cormorant This morning at Ft. De Soto I found a couple Cormorants that didn't mind me being close to them.  One was on the beach and one was on a post in the water.  I thought these photos might illustrate the benefit of shooting at eye level.  In the beach photographs below I got as close as I thought would not disturb the bird and then crouched down low to the ground.  If I had stood upright while taking this picture, I would have been looking down on him and the background would be more defined; but by getting down low the sand in the background is more uniformly blurred.  The Cormorant on the post above was shot from a pier.  I tried to position myself to shoot the bird with the sun behind me, but the pier was significantly higher than the bird.  But then I noticed stairs that went down a lower level.  From there, I could stand upright and photograph the bird at eye level. Double-crested Cormorant Double-crested Cormo...

Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-rumped Warblers are so common here in the winter time, and I thought it would be a fun project to keep an eye out for them and photograph their various looks throughout the winter months. These warblers have a bright yellow rump, but the yellow is not always visible; for me it's easier to notice patches of yellow on the sides of the bird's chest. On the above photo, the yellow rump is barely visible, but the yellow on the sides confirms the identification. Yellow-rumped Warbler Photographically, I love this scene, not only because the warbler was out far enough on the branch to give me a nice clean background, but also because yellowish-greenish patches of color in the frame. I thought that might help the background complement the warbler. Thankfully, the bird was nearly at eye level, so I didn't have to crouch down too much. In hind sight, I might have lowered the camera a little more here, if that wouldn't clutter up the backgrou...

Grass Reflections When we hear the word "landscape," we often think first of expansive scenery shot with a wide angle lens.   I often carry a wide angle lens with me to shoot landscapes when I'm out looking for wildlife.  But there's no rule that says a landscape can't cover a very small area, shot with a telephoto lens.  So here's a few landscapes shot with a 400mm telephoto lens. In the first two, the subject was close, so the landscape covers a very small area.  But on the third, the subject was very far away, so a telephoto lens was required to get the shot. Floral Reflecgtions Trees of Marl Bed Flats