Happy New Year! Similar to last year, I have looked back through this past year’s photographs and selected 40 photos that represent my favorite photographic exploits.

Please enjoy the gallery below. To view larger photos, be sure to click the icon in the lower right corner to enter full screen mode. If you are using a device that doesn’t support Flash (iPod, iPad, etc), you can view the photos here.

As always, I appreciate you checking out the blog, and love hearing your like/dislikes, or just random thoughts. This coming year, I’ll continue to explore the ever-amazing natural world in which we live. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Berry Creek Falls can be seen through the lush redwood forest, Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Check out next month’s newsstands for the latest issue of Backpacker Magazine. They are running one of my photos as part of an article about the Skyline To The Sea trail, which runs from the crest of the Santa Cruz mountains to the ocean.

I took this photo while out shooting on spec for a different article a few years ago. That one never made it to publication, but with photography, you never know when you’ll get a second (or third or fourth, etc) chance!

A yellow garden spider waits patiently on its web for prey to get caught

Throughout the year, we see these yellow garden spiders spinning their webs around our front garden. I came across this nice specimen and wanted to capture him on my camera. However, lacking any real macro gear, I had to figure out how to make do with what I did have on hand. If I had my choice of any equipment I wanted for this shot, I would have used:

1. A small tripod with a swing arm (to get close to the web which was inconveniently placed between some hard-to-reach plants)
2. A Canon 180mm macro lens (so I could keep my distance from the creepy spider)
3. A focusing rail (to achieve that manual pin point focus on the beast)

However, I had none of that. What I did have was a 100-400mm zoom lens (non-macro). None of my tripods work work well in this area because of the spacing of the plants, so I was stuck hand-holding. In order to increase the magnification, I was able to reduce the lens’ minimum focusing distance using 3 stacked extension tubes. This allowed me to move the lens closer to the subject, filling the frame with only the spider.

Because I was not using a tripod, I had to keep the shutter speed relatively fast. That meant a larger aperture, and a smaller depth of field than I would have otherwise used (f/8 in this case). In order to compensate, I decided to try the digital technique of focus stacking to achieve the look of a larger depth of field. This image is actually a composite of two shots – one focusing on the spider’s abdomen, and the other focusing on the legs. The sharpest part of each image was blended together.

So, after all applying all these work-arounds, what is the moral of the story? Get some decent macro equipment!

The sun sets over the Columbia River, just east of Portland, OR

This photo was taken in Corbett, Oregon, from the backyard of some good friends. They live high on a cliff overlooking the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge. This panorama was taken at sunset looking west toward Portland.

I grew up in Corbett, and I always enjoy going back to visit. The town is a kind of jewel, sitting close to Portland, close to Mt. Hood, and surrounded by forest and farmland.

Every time I visit, I try to take some time to explore the area with my camera. I don’t have to wander too far to see first hand why Oregon is hailed for its natural beauty.

Please be sure to click on the image above to see a larger version.

An american avocet spreads its wings to come in for a landing

Most of the bird images I take tend to be portrait-type images. The reason for this is situational – like it or not, birds do a lot of standing around. While these static shots are great for exploring the finer details of a bird’s plumage, they show little of a bird’s behavior. That’s why whenever possible, I try to capture birds in action. Whether it be flying, foraging or fishing, photographs of birds in action can tell a more complete story about that species, as well as show off details that may otherwise be hidden.

Feet extended, a brown pelican skies across the surface of the water as it lands

One of my favorite action shots is the landing. When a bird comes in for a landing, the body tends to be more upright, which allows the underside of the wings to be angled toward the lens. The bird needs to stop both its downward and forward momentum, causing the wings to fan out at their maximum surface area, as shown in the first photo above.

Because the bird’s body is more upright, the landing is almost an action version of a portrait shot. Anthropomorphizing the body position, the bird is almost saying, “Okay, I’m here and ready for my photo op.”

A brown pelican flaps its wings as it lifts off the surface of the water

Conversely, the take-off shot is not usually as photogenic. The body is more parallel to the ground, and on the downstroke, the wings tend to flatten out and their detail is hidden from the camera. Also, the bird is definitely headed somewhere else, which lacks the same connection a viewer might feel with a bird portrait.

A white pelican spreads its wings as it takes off from the water

Sometimes, however, I get lucky with a take-off photo and capture the wings in the full upstroke position, showing wing detail and freezing a pose that happens very quickly. Although I am happy with outcomes like this, I still prefer the landing poses in photographs.

At the end of the day, there are so many bird behaviors to capture, finding those perfect moments is an endless quest. Multiply that by almost 9,700 bird species, and rest assured that the life of a bird photographer never gets dull.