Chasing Light - Plan, Update, Fail...

From: http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

The below image is a good example of how the sun can peek through a narrow opening. Sometimes clouds have a well defined edge. The below is from a Sunrise at Bombay Hook Refuge in Delaware. At the time I took it I realized that the amazing light was only going to last for the brief period of time while the light painted the underside of the clouds and the land.



Another time this setup played out was at Portland Head Light in Maine. The good light and photo oppertunities all took place pre-sunrise. The light was sneaking over the horizon and hitting the underside of the morning clouds. This day by the time the sun had actually risen, it was over. Once the clouds got in the way there was nothing special to see or photograph.



With those two days as the setup...

The last two night here in Maryland we had cloudy and rainy forecasts. I went to Great Falls Monday evening, and nothing special materialized. I was hoping for some breaks in the clouds, some magical light. My visit lasted an hour or so, and I took maybe a hundred or two images. It was a decent trip, but no photo gold that night.

Then Tuesday morning as I left for work I already knew the evening weather forecast was for 60% chance of rain. In the morning the skies looked pretty mixed, and rethought if I wanted to visit Great Falls, and still decided not to. By late afternoon however I saw that the cloud cover had a pretty well defined edge on the west side. The potential for the sun lighting the clouds from underneath during the sunset existed. So I left work, got my camera, and went to Great Falls. During this visit it rained a little and was just pure gray. There was absolutely nothing special to see. And I couldn't see any cloud-edge from the river's edge.

I left.

Then from the DC beltway, about 10 minutes later - at sunset, it HAPPENED! The sun peeked through, and there was about 2 or 3 minutes of MAGIC LIGHT!

I'm not sure what the lesson is, because it was my flexible nature that made me change my plans not to go in to plans to go. And then based on observations of the current conditions I gave up. Exactly what I hoped would happen did, but I out thought it and I left. Fail. Lol. I guess the lesson I will hope to learn is that when planning sunset shooting, I will be sure to stay until the actual time of sunset, because it can be hard to judge that final few minutes.

What bugs me is that the two examples above, the photos, are the precise same thing except during sunrise. They were both awesome, and lasted just a few minutes. Had I driven a hundred miles to shoot sunset (or sunrise) I would not have given up so easily. For me Great Falls is about a half hour drive.


Here's a nice sunset from the VA side that was taken a couple years ago.

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Planning, Setup, and Seeing it come together

From: http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

I've been contemplating this blog a little, my photography and why I post here at all. I think it is not to try to brag or show off but to share and in the process learn some things myself.

Last week I was listening to some new found podcast material (at lensflare35.com) and someone noted Arty Morris and his put the wind and light at your back to get flight shots of incoming birds. That rang true for me and the luck I had with the Snow Geese at Blackwater. The wind was just like they described, at my back, however for me the light was to the side and somewhat behind the birds, but they did come in to land in to the wind. I had setup in that area and saw it work, and then spent a couple hours as they came and went a few times.

Sometimes I ask myself what makes a better photographer than me better than me? In my heart of hearts I know it is a million things, many of which are un-measureable, or repeatable. Setting up for wildlife is a guessing game, a game of chance, but being able to see and predict things makes for better odds.

On this particular day at Assateague Island I had the wind in my face and the sun at my back. Not quite Arty's perfect setup, but it worked. Here's a diagram of it:



I spotted quite a few harriers this day using this setup to glide without much effort...



At the time I was shooting I picked up on the wind and shrubs and what the birds were doing. They will follow a path of least effort for hunting if possible. The shrubs created an updraft and a free ride/lift.



Looking back now I could have easily worked the area more. I shot from my car, drove up and down this section a few times and then moved on. I play the odds and try lots of different approaches.

Had I not had luck later shooting somewhere else (Blackwater Refuge) I might have kicked myself for driving away from this good setup. But as it turned out I got my best ever Harrier shots a few hours later. The snow cover on the ground and clear skies made for a magic up and down light, and it was where I was setup for the Snow Geese. The Harrier just circled overhead a few times. Here's one of the resulting images:



Because of how much luck plays a part in Wildlife Photography I like to take risks, try things, and often get very mixed results. And that's to be expected, and that's the beautiful part of it. When things come together, when nature shares its magic it fills the tanks and makes me want to risk it again another day, and try something that's never worked, or been tried.

This day was a perfect example of that gamble. I drove on a day trip to Assateague Island (never done that before) and I ALSO went to Blackwater, and I had some great luck at both spots.

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One of the things I will try to do with my blog is describe more of the circumstances and process involved in making the successful images. On a podcast I was listening to recently someone said they hit a wall in writing text to accompany their images, until the editor/publisher said 'speak to the images'. I'm going to try to do that more than in the past.

-50-

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Bald Eagle with a Fish

From: http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Here's an eagle photo from last December taken along the Susquehanna River in Maryland. Hundreds of bald eagles migrate to the river each Fall, it's such a sight to see.




These are also from Susquehanna River, which is located north of Baltimore.

Check out that crop/croup!




I recently ran in to someone who said they planned to travel to Alaska to photograph eagles. While I too have that plan I suspected they'd not been aware of the massive return of eagle numbers that are present in Maryland - so I suggest they visit Blackwater Refuge, and also the Susquehanna River both of which are in Maryland...





-Jon

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Light, Color and Gesture

From: http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Spring is HERE! Winter be gone. That was a ton of snow we got here in the Mid-Atlantic and I'm ready for the grass to grow, flowers to bloom and birds to migrate back and start their breeding.

And I'm ready to make some new images. Not the images I've made before, and not the images that many around me are making either.



To reach that goal I need to some how look past my old ways, and trying to repeat my past images or just improve on them incrementally. I think I've written something close to that before, here and here.



This past weekend I went shooting and used my camo blind. It worked fairly well, but the spot I went to once again had other people in the area. So, me being hidden while others are within earshot and not trying to hide didn't work. I got images, and some were fine, but besides some details about some individual birds at a nest, there's nothing all that new which I captured. Using the blind put me on the right path to success, but I just needed some more luck, or different plans.

What I took away from the day there was hiding is good, but I need to hide from the people too (again). To accomplish my goals of hiding I need to pick better times and better spots. And I also just ordered a bit more camo from llbean.com to use to better concele my spot. And I need to also make something to dampen the sound of my camera's shutter.

I have a bunch of foam packing material, the stuff hard drives are cushioned with, that I am going to cut up and make a camera wrap type things out of. When I get that done I will post something.



For the purpose of this post, Light Color & Gesture means to not just grab shots, flight shots on blue sky where the only goal is exposure and freezing the action. It's a fine goal but shooting good subjects and capturing sharp images is not enough any more...

Happy Shootin'

-50-

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

lensflare35.com and Greg Downing

From: http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

I just found this site lensflare35.com and it has an associated podcast. The first thing I watched was a video of Tony Sweet's images and his commentary. He's a fine photographer, but his style doesn't hit me in the gut if you know what I mean. His HDR and texture stuff isn't the kind of work I strive to achieve. I do like how he uses color and his foliage photos, reflected in water often, are very nice.

Then I clicked around and found an interview/video of Greg Downing's work. Greg's photos are more to my liking and style... He's in to nature, birds, etc.

Interview with nature bird photographer Greg Downing

Greg's site is here:


Greg is also the publisher of naturescapes.net
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-Jon

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Red Foxes at Bombay Hook NWR, DE

Winter at Bombay Hook is usually a pretty solid bet when it comes to trying to see Red Foxes. I made it there a few times this Winter, and all but one visit I saw Red Foxes.






I'd guess within a month some of the female foxes will give birth to Fox Kits! And then within another handful of weeks kits should start to show themselves, coming out of the dens for the first times.

By early May there were kits a couple years ago, and these looks sort of big, so maybe they're 5 weeks old.



These kits were smaller, and maybe 3 or so weeks old (from Blackwater Refuge):


For some more info on Bombay Hook Refuge see this blogger site I setup... http://bombay-hook-national-wildlife-refuge.blogspot.com/.

--50--

And here is the rest of it.
-Jon

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Joe Rossbach's Photography and Videos

Joe is a local professional photographer that I'd say focuses on nature and landscape photography. He's been at it for 5 years full time, and has been a commercial and sports photographer for another 10 before that, if I recall correctly.

I've now seen him speak a couple times and he's good. I'd say all his success is well deserved and I am a fan of his work. He's got a great eye for composition, light and color.

Here's a video of some of his highlights from 2009 - check it out, some great work.



If you travel over to his web site you should check out his tips page which has a bunch of videos and guides, etc. It is always interesting to be able to watch some else use Lightroom or Photoshop. I picked up a few MAJOR things that I will try to add to my tool belt just by watching some basic stuff. You only know what you know, and these kinds of tutorial videos while they might seem a bit boring, can yield an entirely new method for photo editing.

The thing I picked up was from the image blending video and was the channel masking technique. A coworker has shown something like that to me probably 8 or 9 or more years ago, and it was ***zoom*** right over my head. I'd forgotten it the moment he did it and the 8 other steps he was showing me in PS 5.5 I think.



I will readily concede that I didn't invent my camera, my car or my computer. So, learning from how others have used these items can help me do the same, grow, and make the best of it all in my pursuit of photography...

I enjoy supporting local working professional photographers. When he spoke yesterday, I made sure to pick up a book he had for sale.

(Originally posted by Jon @ http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/)
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-Jon

The Adventure of it all

I put in a 14 and 1/2 hour day today, roughly, for my door to door travels.

The days are longer than the shortest, but it is still a long way from Summer and the longest days. By 4:15 am or so I was on the road, and I made it about 140 miles to Assateague Island within just a few minutes of sunrise.

The past 6 months has been a bit interesting for me related to travel and photography. Some of my favorite photos have been the result of hard work but with a very random component. All the Black Skimmer stuff was the result of some risk taking and random chance.

Today I found (what I think was a group of 300+ Dunlin) on Maryland's Eastern Shore.



I don't normally even try for compositions like that! A little reading and exposure to different thinking can go a long way I suppose. Traveling around, I didn't even spot them, I got to where they were and it all just sort of happened.

What's weird in a way is that I went to like 5 places today, all different, each with some resulting images, but I just liked this - it seemed to touch a chord in me. It's different.



--50--

-Jon

Planning for March, Spring and Beyond

It is almost that time again, time for seasonal change and time for planning to see new thing, approach things with a fresh eye, and take new images.

There are going to still be some Snow Geese at blackwater and sunrise is getting earlier, so it is getting slightly 'harder' to make a sunrise... But then DST is going to kick in too soon.




March will bring the return, long overdue if you ask me, of some warmer weather and people and new chances for unique or different images... Walking around downtown along the mall and monuments was new to me once. I'd only really made it down there for snow or the cherry blossoms.



The above are from March, and the below are from April... Birds will be returning from their long Fall/Winter trips. Time to build nests, or maybe just freshen them up...



And with the Osprey back at Blackwater Refuge, the Bald Eagles will be ready to wait, and steal the fish of said Osprey...



What I plan to do in pursuit of new:
-- Go to new places, or places in months/seasons not done by me before. I've started by visiting Assateague Island a couple weekends ago.
-- Use a blind to hide from wildlife, disturb it less, and get even closer/natural photos
-- Think different, be open to new approaches or spots, take risk and not *just* do what's worked in the past.
-- Improve my long-lens-technique so I get sharper photos. Try with a converter on my 200-400mm some, but not *too* much.
-- Find more new *local* spots. Many of my local or closer spots, well there aren't that many. I have a few, and most of my so called spots are refuges that are 80-100 miles away. I plan to continue to poke around and look for good close spots. This is often fruitless work, effort with little or no reward. But it is still worth it. Last year I found a spot, after 10's of visits that proved to be a gold mine for Heron photos....






I may end up with a big new toy, but I keep going back and worth on that one. Until then I have more than enough gear to get good photos. I'm still kicking myself for that D300s I got - I now have a fully functioning Fuji S5, Nikon D200, D300 and D300s... The D300s has opened up new video opportunities, and I've gotten a few things I like... but I swore I'd wait for a next generation to upgrade again, a full next gen not just mod adding video...

This blog is to help me work through ideas, share that effort, and maybe help someone else in the process. One thing I've learned in the last few years - there is no easy answer to any of this. It is just too complicated. Seeing one photographer, reading one book, signing up for one newsletter, going on one photo trip, buying one new piece of camera gear - they may and should all HELP, but they will never provide 'the answer' or be a magic bullet. For what I like to do and shoot, it is all about being thoughtful, experimenting, putting in boat loads of effort, and seeing what works and course correcting along the way.

The fuel to all that is seeing new things, capturing new images, and sharing it in some form with some one - I mostly use flickr for the sharing part but have other means as well (photo clubs, in person, friends, at work, etc).



--50--

-Jon