Chincoteague NWR, Fall 2010

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

A couple weeks ago I had my most productive visit to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia.

The thing that set the visit apart was the morning encounters I had with some herons and egrets.





Color and good light makes normal things special, and great things extra special.

I've taken lots of heron and egret photos but really just about none when there was such magical light. Two things combined - the sun was rising behind me a bit, and there was a touch of fall foliage in front of me. The two combined to bathe these birds in light and color.





Shooting at Chincoteague can be a little tough, mostly because lots of people go there, and they are often tourist types that see someone or some thing and stop and all get out at once. On the day I got these shots that happened a couple times and I left and came back hoping the birds that all flew away would come back - and it sort of worked.

While there I also saw the roughly 1000 snow geese, and a few skimmers, hawks, falcons and some shovelers and other ducks...

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

Nikographer.com / Jon

Chincoteague NWR, VA pt2

From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

What's neat about shooting at Chincoteague is getting to see some new behavior.

On a previous trip I was watching the herons and egrets and noticed how the gulls group up with them. The gulls don't seem to bother the herons and egrets much but they do key off of them - some times stealing their catch. What was interesting to watch though was how the gulls imitate the snowy egrets. The egrets will use their feet to stir up the bottom and get critters to reveal themselves. I saw a gull using its feet in the same way, it had to have learned it from the herons and egrets.

Shooting across from the visitors center out near the beach is surprisingly good. I would have thought the traffic or other visitors might detract, but it worked well.



I have this low LL Bean chair, it sits about 4 inches off the ground and makes for a nice seat to use and stay low, and off the sometimes wet/muddy ground.



One thing that I try to avoid is shooting from head high, tripod high, for no reason. Often I will collapse the legs on my tripod to the shortest height and then sit down, or I will extend the legs just slightly and kneel or crouch. I've only gone in to a full horizontal shooting stance a few times, but getting that low makes a difference. The two main things are the angle is more intimate, being closer to the subject, and the other thing it does is makes me less imposing - so I am not towering over a 1 feet subject standing 6 feet tall. Staying low can make a big difference like this. A couple of trips about at Chincoteague I slid closer to a group of herons and got within 20 or 25 feet of them. THey knew I was there but over time I slowly got closer and didn't trigger their fear and they stayed put, hunting, unbothered. When I was done shooting and stood up - every bird flew away. Many came back as I walked away, but that just shows the contrast of standing vs. sitting and the way birds might respond.

This Redish Egret had just caught and ate a crab - and then proceeded to stick its head underwater so it could slowly look for the other bits (legs and claws). It was neat to see and the undisturbed water made for some nice reflections...

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

Nikographer.com / Jon

Going Vertical #19 #20 #21

From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/going-vertical-19-20-21.html

This one was cropped from a horizontal shot. I liked the V and how the osprey filled the frame once cropped. This is the female osprey and I'm guessing there should be chicks in a couple weeks. I was watching an episode of "Life" I think and they mentioned that Osprey chicks need as much as 8 fish a day! That's a lot of fish to catch, especially if there's 2 or 3 or 4 chicks to feed EVERY DAY!
-click for more-








This sunrise photo is not cropped and the sun and reflection worked well with the vertical format. There was a lot of luck involved in getting this photo. I woke up a little late, just 30 minutes before sunrise. I showered, got dressed, had breakfast and loaded my camera gear in the car, AND drove in to the refuge all in that 30 minutes. Then within a few more minutes I was driving along that first straightaway and saw the sun and the elk... Their even spacing and slow pace gave me 2 or 3 minutes to shoot.


In years past I've only been to Chincoteague during the Fall, and I've only been there on 2 trips (which both included nearby overnight stays and repeat visits). Going in Spring was exciting to me. I was hoping that I'd see new stuff, new species, and it worked out well.







I've never seen an oystercatcher before. Other new species I saw included: Cattle Egret, Piping Plover, Clapper Rail, and some other yet identified sandpiper (I think).

The weather along the coast was a bit uncooperative after the elk sunrise. The cloud cover moved in and it got gray and seemed like it was going to rain soon. That last a few hours. I thought about giving up and moving on, but luckily I hung around and the weather improved.

I took almost 3,000 shots in 2 days. This vertical project kept me thinking about framing and shooting vertically. Again I shot more vertical than ever before. It's got me being more purposeful in my shooting, taking less for granted, and taking more control.

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

Nikographer.com / Jon

Shooting from a Blind

I started to shoot from a blind a month or two ago. It's been an interesting and sometimes funny addition to my shooting style.

The blind I got is the Kwik Blind from naturescapes.net's store. It was not much money, especially when you consider the time and effort and camera gear involved... I've spent twice as much on a single memory card!

The good thing about a blind like the one I got is that it is small and light and comes with pouch on a belt so it is easy to carry around.

read on for more.






The down side to using a blind and setting up while there's light out is that (at least when I did it) the birds saw me and flew off a bit. And then it becomes a waiting game. I waited a bunch and was nearly ready to move on (40 minutes in to waiting one time) but I stuck it out. It turns in to a bet on the odds and I kept doubling down.

I had my ipod and was passing the time, and was beginning to learn the ins and outs of using a blind.

Along with the blind I got a Walkstool, the XXL one, but it turned out to be way too high to be comfortable on non-level ground. I used my LLBean low-chair instead, it has legs that are about 4 inches high and was great for getting low and sitting above the muck.




Eventually the Snowy Egret I was hoping to shoot from close up came back. It took a while, during which time he would look towards me and shake his head like he wasn't believing his eyes because part of him knew I was still there. Lol. Anyway he did come back, and then all that grass was in the way. I learned from that setup that I needed to plan the spot just a little better. Get closer to the grass to shoot through it, not from behind it so much or something like that.

For the shots in this post I was at Chincoteague along the Wildlife Drive. I'd only shot here, well, almost never. It was new to me mostly. I focused on the area where there are pipes that allow water to flow from one pond to another, where the egrets and herons spent a lot of time fishing in that concentrated flow of water.

The funny incident was when an older fella went by on a bike and circled back around to ask me what I saw with my MICROSCOPE, and kept shouting at me to get a response. I pretended, and ignored him, I was HIDING! But I learned I need to hide not just from the birds, but the people too.

And for that matter, people in cars didn't help much either. Often they'd see me or my blind and pull up right behind me or next to me and want to see what I was seeing. Some time people would get out of their car too. That was a learning experience for me no doubt. I later positioned my own car so that it was between me and the road, so there was not a spot for someone to stop DIRECTLY behind me. And with the car angled just a little it would make it harder to see my spot when they approached but easier once they were past me...

At least one time someone said from their car 'oh sorry, didn't see you there' which I believed. They were either paying little attention to my spot or the camo was working or who knows.

I've only posted a few photos to my flickr where I used the blind, since results have not been amazing yet, but I've been encouraged none the less... Here are some shots taken from the new blind:


The above was taken from the setup as seen in the first photo above. It worked pretty well, but that was also the spot where people saw me too easily.



(A person got out of their car to shoot the bird after seeing me I guess, and the bird immediately flew off, before they had the camera and tripod out.......)


(they weren't all that close but I was in the blind)


This fall I've tried a few new things, gone to a few new places, and indeed gotten some new results.

This winter and spring I will be using the blind more, shooting some video with my new D300s (and 1.7x TC), and continuing to try to push myself past my comfort zone. Photography is 'just' my hobby, but I like to take it pretty seriously and work hard to get improving results.

Happy Shooting.
-Jon