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February 7, 2016February 15, 2017

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary

I’ve posted previously about some of the birds I had a chance to photograph on a trip to India last year. No spot was more prolific than the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary just outside Mysore. Although I was there off-season for migratory birds, I was able to get up close to a variety of the resident species, through the cunning use of a wooden rowboat.

A little egret stands alone on a rock, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

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Some of the birds were close cousins of common birds that I regularly photograph. This little egret very closely resembles the snowy egret that is common in wetlands near my home in California.

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On the other hand, most of the sightings were brand new for me, and very different from home. We were able to get quite close to this mugger crocodile in the boat. Luckily, he seemed busy sunning himself and didn’t pay us much attention!

A male river tern sits on a rock, ready to go find food to feed his mate as part of a courtship ceremony, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

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One of the less common birds for that area was the river tern. We lucked upon a pair engaged in courtship ritual. A male and female were sitting on separate rocks when the male flew off to find food to give to the female. Although we didn’t get a chance to witness it before we floated on, the pair engages in a food exchange as part of their courtship.

A juvenile black-crowned night heron stands on a large rock in a shallow lake, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

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There were an abundance of black-crowned night herons, which I see often at home. Here a juvenile was stalking about on a large flat rock.

An eastern great egret stands tall on a rock, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

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The eastern great egret is closely related to the great egret seen throughout North America. To my eyes, it was identical in appearance.

A black kite perches high in a tree over the water, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

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Even from low in the water, we got some decent views of black kites circling high overhead. One landed in a tree growing out of the top of a nearby cliff. My 800mm lens came through and allowed me to get reasonable shots even from far away.

Several flying fox fruit bats hang upside down from a tree, resting through the hot day, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

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And yes, it was much more than just birds. In addition to the crocodile, I was able to see a cluster of fruit bats trying to sleep away the morning. I found and photographed a couple that weren’t completely sealed up in their wings.

A white-spotted fantail spreads its tail feathers and dances around on the open ground in the shadow of a tree, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

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Finally, after departing the boat, we lucked upon a white-spotted fantail. He was quick and difficult to photograph, staying under bushes most of the time and rarely coming out into the open. But when he finally did, I was low to the ground and ready for him.

In all, I loved the variety and experience of shooting in a different part of the world.

April 13, 2015

American White Pelican

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

February 19, 2015February 15, 2017

Use Lightroom’s Match Total Exposures Feature For Quick And Dirty Panoramas

A great blue heron stands along the shore of a canal in early morning light

When I shoot landscape panoramas, in addition to tripod use and careful alignment, I always follow one basic technique – set my camera in manual exposure mode. To determine the optimum exposure for a panorama, I set my aperture (typically between 11 and 16 for landscapes), and meter different parts of the scene. I select the brightest portion of the scene and over-expose the meter to a point that no highlights are blown out. Then I set the camera to manual exposure, dial in the appropriate shutter speed, and I’m ready to capture all the frames of the panorama, knowing that they will blend together nicely in post production.

However, when I am photographing birds or wildlife panoramas, I am often forced to use quick and dirty techniques. These panorama situations usually arise when I am close enough to an animal that their face can fill an entire frame, but I still want to capture their entire body. Instead of backing away, I usually resort to taking multiple overlapping images, knowing I can stitch them together later. This often happens with large water birds such as this great blue heron, that are docile enough to allow me to get close.

Because I know that the animal can move at any time, I need to be quick with my overlapping photos, taking them in rapid succession. This means I don’t have time to carefully meter the scene and dial in the optimum exposure. Usually I will leave my camera in aperture priority (for overlapping photos to stitch together, aperture MUST be the same throughout all images) and let the camera decide the exposure. Usually no photo is more than 1 stop from any other photo.

Now that I’ve taken my photos and have imported them into Lightroom, I need a quick way to align the same exposure across all photos. Enter the “hidden” Match Total Exposures feature.

Use the Match Total Exposures feature to synchronize the exposures between frames that will make up a panorama.

I pick one of the photos with which to optimize the exposure. Once I’ve adjusted the exposure slider to my liking, I select all the photos in the series and click the menu Photo->Develop Settings->Match Total Exposures. All of the other photos in the series will move their exposure sliders up or down so that the adjusted exposure is matched to the original. For example, let’s say we have three photos all shot at f/5.6, with the following shutter speeds: 1/500, 1/250, and 1/1000 (the exposures will typically be much closer, but I’m using easy math for illustrative purposes). If the first photo (1/500 seconds) is selected as the original to match, then the exposure slider for the second photo will move up one stop and the exposure slider for the third will move down by one stop. This is a quick and easy way to make sure the exposures for all photos in the series are similar so that they blend properly.

Once I’ve adjusted all the exposures, I keep them all selected and click Photo->Edit In->Merge to Panorama in Photoshop. This will result in a perfectly blended panorama.

January 9, 2015June 15, 2015

2014 Round-up – Top 40 Photos Of The Year

After a bit of thought, I have compiled my top 40 picks from the last 12 months. I selected from a variety of outings and types of photography, ranging from landscape, to wildlife, to pet photography. Unfortunately, 2014 was not the year I caught up on my backlog of photos waiting to be processed, so this list was not selected from all of my 2014 photographs (you’ll have to wait till next year’s round-up for those!)

This year included a fantastic fall color photo trip to the San Juan mountains in Colorado, as well as visits to the Sierra Nevada and of course many bird photographs, 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:

Or, just enjoy the gallery here on the page. To view larger photos in the embedded gallery below, click here to enter full screen mode.

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