Finding the right place from which to photograph wildlife takes experience and patience. When arriving at a new location with the intention of photographing wildlife, I first scout the area very similar to how I’d scout for a landscape shot. In this case I’m looking for one place to hunker down that is likely to yeild a good variety of animals with great light.
In this instance, I found a low area of sand jutting out into the water, just inches above the high tide. As it was morning, the sun was at my back, and I could shoot birds wading in the water in three directions, all without moving. I kept still and tried to make very slow movements so as not to spook any subjects.
As I was shooting some smaller birds now coming quite close to me, a large brown pelican arrived on the scene, very close to me. I took the opportunity to get some portrait shots of this beautiful specimen while it was preening, and generally not paying me any attention. I don’t believe I would have been able to approach this bird this closely if I had been stalking it. But by remaining in one spot and being still, I created a space that seemed safe for a variety of birds to approach me.
A brown pelican flies low over the water, looking for a place to rest, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated location, and soon other beach goers wandered by without any thought to disturbing wildlife. My only reaction was to prepare for the pelican’s inevitable takeoff, and make sure I captured it in camera.
I’ve featured the American White Pelican in my blog before, and given their beauty and grace, I’ll likely feature them again. Of the two pelican species in the Bay Area (the other is the California Brown Pelican), this is by far my favorite. Both regal and elegant, these pelicans create an air of significance with every sighting.
An american white pelican stretches its neck forward, elongating its beak and pouch.
I found one recently on a small island in shallow water, close to my location. These were perfect conditions for portrait shots – the full body standing on ground, the background very distant (so as to create a smooth out of focus area) and devoid of other birds. This allowed for a clean, simple portrait – something I’m often striving for with my bird photography.
A white pelican perches on an underwater stump in the middle of a slough, Byxbee Park, Palo Alto, CA
Portraits can be captured on water as well, but when the pelicans are on land, I am usually rewarded with more interesting grooming shots. However, after a pelican dives, you are sometimes lucky enough to see a wild head throw, usually to whip water off of its head feathers.
Perched on an underwater stump, an american white pelican throws its head into the air, twisting it back and forth
When I think one of these throws in imminent, I make sure I re-frame to include plenty of sky. This way I can capture the entire action at its peak – I’ve been burned too often with a great head throw, but half the top of the head getting clipped out of frame.
Whenever I’m out doing bird photography, I look for clean portrait opportunities. But when I get one with an American White Pelican, I feel extra lucky.
Believe it or not, I have been working on the photo above for the last five years. During that time, I have been heavily into bird photography, particularly around the San Francisco Bay Area. Along with many other water birds, the double-crested cormorant is a frequent visitor. Cormorants are a diving bird, and can swim long distances underwater looking for fish. When they are done eating, they will exit the water and sun themselves on a rock or pier with their wings spread wide. They will stand there frozen for minutes, feathers fanned out to the sun to dry themselves properly.
A double-crested cormorant fans its wings after an underwater dive in order to dry them in the sun
When I first observed this, I told myself that this would be a easy species to get close to in order to get a frame-filling head shot. However, try after try, I failed to get close enough to one of these sun bathing birds to get a tight shot. Finally after many attempts, I managed to get my shot.
I found this cormorant in Redwood Shores, CA, close to my home. It was early morning and he had obviously been for a morning swim (and probably breakfast as well). I spent a very long time creeping up on him, inching my tripod legs forward and shuffling closer behind my rig. After many safety shots, I finally managed to get close enough to fill the frame with a beautiful head shot. My patience was doubly rewarded when he opened his beak (possibly to yawn?)
A double-crested cormorant opens its beak wide and cranes its neck
After getting my shots, I quietly backed away so as not to disturb him any further. I was finally satisfied as I had my elusive shot. I’m sure I appreciate this shot much more because of the time and work that went into it, than if I had managed it on my first try.
This week Canon finally released their long awaited successor to the very popular (5 year old) 7D. The 7D is one of my main workhorse camera bodies, used primarily for bird and wildlife photography.
Here is a rundown of why I have already pre-ordered the Mk II. These are the features that are most important to me based on the type of photography I will do with this camera.
Most Important Features
APS-C sized (cropped) sensor.
The smaller size of the sensor on this camera is what sets Canon apart from many competitors, who seem to be pushing the high-end pro-sumer market to full frame cameras. Canon still sees a space in the lineup for APS-C sensors, and so do I. I will primarily use this camera for action (wildlife and bird photography), so having the extra "reach" will be a big benefit to me.
This factor prevented me from considering the 1DX for wildlife work when it came out. Although that is a fantastic camera, I couldn’t justify losing the 1.6X “zoom” factor that a cropped sensor gives me. The 7D Mk II has a much higher pixel density than the 1DX (20 MP on 7D MkII vs 18 MP on the 1DX), which will allow me to capture more detail. In fact, if you compare the pixel density of the same area of sensor between both cameras, the 1DX only has just over 11 MP compared to 7D Mk II's 20 MP.
f/8 auto focus capability.
This has been under-reported on, but is a huge feature for my use. Allowing auto-focus to work down to f/8 means I can pair my 800mm f/5.6 lens with a 1.4X tele-extender, which gives be an effective maximum aperture of f/8. This combo also gives me the 35mm equivalent of a whopping 1792mm, a distance I’ve never been able to use auto-focus with before.
Having this kind of distance flexibility to work with can get me closer to the action without spooking or antagonizing my target species.
A burrowing owl stands on a small berm overlooking its burrow
Species like the endangered burrowing owl will become stressed if you get too close. If it is only watching you, then you are too close – it should be constantly swiveling its head looking skyward for predators.
Improved AF tracking (including low light) [65 all cross-type auto-focus]
There is nothing worse for a bird photographer than to patiently wait for your subject to take flight, only to watch the bird fly away as your camera is hunting for focus. Having the best of class auto-focus will ensure my equipment will not be the one at fault. In the future, I'll only have myself to blame!
Having so many auto-focus points for the camera to choose from means that the auto-focus algorithms can track a subject throughout much of the frame. Cross points allow auto-focus on horizontal and vertical lines throughout the frame. This means faster, more accurate focus seeking and tracking.
A barn owl flies low over a field, hunting for rodents just after sunset, Bodega Head, California.
The 7D Mk II’s improved low light auto-focus tracking should make keeping focus locked on birds such as owls who take to the sky at dusk more manageable.
"Intelligent Tracking and Recognition (iTR)"
iTR is a new feature introduced with the Canon 1DX and has now filtered to the pro-sumor line. This employs a new RGB metering sensor which can detect and track moving subjects based on color, size and shape. Theoretically, this should help keep focus on erratic motion, such as flying birds. I’m looking forward to putting this to real world tests.
Improved high ISO performance
The majority of wildlife come out during the ends of the days, either in early morning or late evening. Having a camera that can focus and capture images in this kind of light with relatively low noise will be a huge advantage. While this camera probably does not match the low noise of cameras with a lower pixel density, it will be a big improvement over my 5 year old 7D.
Auto ISO parameters
Canon finally got this feature right, with many manual controls around how the metering will select the proper ISO for a given shooting condition. I can now set a maximum ISO to use (which I'll set to the highest ISO I deem to have acceptable noise), as well as the minimum ISO. With this feature, I can also set the minimum shutter speed the camera will use before increasing the ISO in low light scenarios. Currently I manually set my ISO up or down as the situation calls for it, but I will certainly be using a limited auto-ISO range so that I don’t miss any critical moments.
Nice to have features
10 fps shutter speed
I already have 8fps with the 7D, but hey, 10 is more than 8, right. All the better to help capture critical action like this:
A male white-tail kite flies past a female, which reacts to his close proximity
Nikon cameras have had this for years, so its nice to see Canon catch up.
Buffer depth (31 RAW vs 25 RAW in 7D)
This is a huge buffer! Having the ability to take 31 consecutive photos at 10 fps is pretty incredible. I’m not a big fan of spray and pray photography, but when you need to blast off a few, knowing that your camera won’t suddenly go quiet on you brings great peace of mind.
