Tag: forest

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Burney Falls

Burney Falls drops across a wide cliff into a pool below, creating a tree-lined grotto.
Burney Falls drops across a wide cliff into a pool below, creating a tree-lined grotto.
Burney Falls drops across a wide cliff into a pool below, creating a tree-lined grotto.

Burney Falls is located in Northern California in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park. It is a beautifully wide waterfall, dropping 129 feet into a tree-lined grotto below. Even in the summer months, when most other creeks in the area have withered or dried up to nothing, this falls keeps up its steady flow rate. This is because the water originates from an underground spring not far upstream from the falls itself.

Burney Falls drops across a wide cliff into a pool below, creating a tree-lined grotto.
Burney Falls drops across a wide cliff into a pool below, creating a tree-lined grotto.

There are many ways to photograph the falls, from the grand view taken above the falls, to more intimate closeups of rivulets running over bright green moss. It is important to shoot waterfalls with a tripod – that way you can use longer exposures and blur the water into a glossy silk texture. Down in the grotto, it was dark enough to let the exposure run over a second, giving me the desired look.

Burney Falls drops across a wide cliff into a pool below, creating a tree-lined grotto.
Burney Falls drops across a wide cliff into a pool below, creating a tree-lined grotto.

One challenge was to balance bright hot spots of light reflecting off the water with the dark shadows within the rocks. Luckily a quick check of the histogram on the back of my camera told me that I was able to capture the entire dynamic range of the scene in a single shot, and so I exposed to the right, getting as bright an exposure as possible without blowing out the highlights. This was corrected in post processing, giving me an amazing amount of detail in the shadows.

I’d love to go back and shoot this scene in early, pre-dawn light, which would give me soft even lighting across the entire scene. The quick visit left me thinking of many other compositions I could use to better cover the variety seen in this beautiful falls.

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2015 Round-up – Top 40 Photos Of The Year

The sun sets behind the western horizon, casting the offshore sea stacks into shadow, Bandon, Oregon

I recently finished compiling my top 40 picks from the last 12 months. The gallery is an assortment of my various trips and outings, including trips to India, Mexico and Canada. As always, there is a mixture of bird, wildlife and landscape, including some previously unpublished.

Please enjoy the gallery below. For best viewing (especially if viewing on a mobile device), please click on the following photo:

The sun sets behind the western horizon, casting the offshore sea stacks into shadow, Bandon, Oregon
The sun sets behind the western horizon, casting the offshore sea stacks into shadow, Bandon, Oregon

To view the gallery, click here to see individual photos.


If you are interested in compilations from previous years, please see the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 lists.

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Red-whiskered Bulbul

A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India

One of my favorite birds I photographed on a recent trip to India was the Red-whiskered Bulbul. In particular, I liked its head feathers and distinct red cheek pattern. I saw a few glimpses on my first day of photography at a wetland bird sanctuary, but got my best views the second day at the top of Nandi Hills in more of a jungle environment.

A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India

The photography here was much harder than the more open wetland location. Most of the birds stayed high in the forest canopy, only offering quick glimpses in the dark, filtered light close to the ground. Here, shooting at a high ISO (ISO 2000) helped, which my 7D Mk2 was able to handle capably.

The photo above was a rarity in this thick jungle. In this shot, I had the benefit of shooting into a clearing instead of from a clearing. In this way, I was lucky to have the background foliage far away from the subject, creating a solid green background instead of distracting leaves and branches. Most of the time however, I was standing in a clearing (giving me the ability to move around) shooting at a wall of jungle.

A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India

My main takeaway from this type of photography is that the biggest secret weapon you can have is time. Without luring the animal with something like food, you need to have time and patience to photograph the amazing diversity of these jungle habitats. Unfortunately I only had a single morning, just long enough to give me a small taste of what a longer expedition could achieve.

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Oriental White-eye

An oriental white-eye pauses briefly on a narrow branch, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
An oriental white-eye pauses briefly on a narrow branch, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
An oriental white-eye pauses briefly on a narrow branch, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India

I captured this photo of an oriental white-eye after a difficult (and sometimes frustrating) morning of bird photography in the Nandi Hills, north of Bangalore, India. I was situated in a clearing in the middle of a small area of jungle. While beautiful and diverse, jungles can be incredibly difficult to shoot in, especially if the target is small birds. Due to the density of the foliage, you have to practically be right in front of the birds in order to get a clear shot – there always seems to be something blocking you. In addition, so many small birds spend a great deal of their time high in the canopy, making them all but invisible. The cacophony of their calls only increases the frustration, knowing they are there but out of sight.

However, as usual in wildlife photography, time and patience pays off. Toward the end of the morning, I was photographing on one edge of the clearing, a wall of green in front of me. This little white-eye flew in and started preening, occasionally hopping from one perch to another. I tracked him as best I could through the leaves, until finally he flew onto this open perch. While he was only there for a few seconds, I was ready and was able to capture a couple of frames.

It is always a good idea when traveling far from home to pick only a few spots to do photography, allowing yourself the adequate time to spend in each. I would rather come back from a trip with a few stellar shots than visit more locations but settle for shots that are just okay.

Copyright 2017 Hank Christensen