Years ago, I wrote about how long lenses give the photographer the ability to completely change the background of the image they’re working on while still behind the camera. With a slight move left, right, up or down, you can change the angle of your shot, and sometimes change the background elements that appear behind your subject. Because long lenses help blur the background into solid colors, this can change the look and mood of your photo without changing the main subject.
I’m always looking for these opportunities while photographing wildlife. Photo editors constantly seek variety, so when I’m on a bird, I try to get as many poses, expressions, and backgrounds as possible. I think of it like an outdoor “studio” session, giving me the ability to come up with scene changes for my subject. (I still haven’t figured out how to do wardrobe changes, but that is a topic for another post!)
In the photos below, I first photographed the greater yellowlegs with the shoreline of a lake as the background. The background blurred to a nice tan-brown. I then changed my angle by swinging around to the left, and now the lake was behind the bird, coloring the background in a blue wash.
A greater yellowlegs stands on the railing of a dock. The background color comes from a distant shoreline behind the dock.
You can achieve similar color changes using reflection (and patience) as well. In the photos below, I didn’t change my position, but just waited for the bird to move instead. When I first photographed this pied-billed grebe, it was fishing and diving close to shore. The colors of the shoreline were reflected in the surface of the water, contributing dominant oranges to the photograph. I knew that this bird was likely to move away from the shore eventually, so I sat a waiting, hoping to capture that color variety. I didn’t have to wait long before this happened, with an added bonus of the grebe moving closer to me, filling my frame. The blue sky reflected off the water, giving the photo an entirely different look.
A pied-billed grebe is reflected in the still water near the shore of a lake. The color reflected in the water comes from the nearby shore.
The next time you’re out photographing with a longer lens (depending on your subject, anything over 100mm can work well), think about trying different backgrounds with your subject. This works great on people pictures as well!
For my New Year’s post this year, I added an image of a black-necked stilt chick and its mother. I have finally processed additional photos from that day of the same chick and its siblings (there were three altogether).
A black-necked stilt chick wades through shallow water looking for food
I found this family at a popular birding spot near my home. While I had heard reports that nesting activity had occurred here in the past, I had never seen stilt chicks here myself. It was a joy to watch these little guys stumble around on shaky legs until they got tired, and had to take a break by sitting down on the shoreline.
A black-necked stilt chick takes a rest on the shoreline next to a still pond
Soon enough, they would recover and bounce back into action. One of the three was more adventurous than then others, venturing away from the shelter of the brush in search of food.
A black-necked stilt chick is reflected in still water as it looks for food along a narrow island
It was fun to watch them interact with each other. I could imagine talking to each other in their own little language, telling each other where the best food could be found.
Two black-necked stilt siblings stand close together in shallow water
When one chick would wander off too far, the mother would swoop in and corral it back to the others. Hopefully this family had good luck and all of these chicks made it through the nesting season. I look forward to scoping out this spot in the future for more nesting activity and a close up view of parents bringing these little ones into the world.
A couple of years ago we planted a cherry tree in our front yard and set up a multi-tube feeding station for the local wild birds. Each year the spot becomes more established and the number and variety of wild birds increases. Here are a few recent portraits I took in the yard of two of our most common varieties – house finches and lesser goldfinches.
A lesser goldfinch perches on a narrow branch at the top of a cherry tree
Sometimes I find myself running around trying to photograph only rare species, so it is fun and relaxing to spend a little time trying to create portraits of birds I see every day.
A few weeks ago, I attended a landscape workshop with Jack Dykinga, co-lead by my friend Jerry Dodrill. I was able to arrive early, and spent several days before the landscape work began to check out the local wildlife.
It was a good time to shoot wildlife, because there was quite a bit of smoke in the valley from nearby forest fires, and the famous views of the mountains were more or less obscured. I was happy to quickly find many of my target species, including bison, moose, elk, and even antelope toward the end of my trip. I’m still processing many landscapes from the trip, so they’ll be coming soon. For now, enjoy some of the local fauna that I encountered during my six days in the park.
Bison
Bison graze in the grasslands of Grand Teton National Park
Several herds of bison could be found fairly easily. I had two extended photo sessions with two different herds, and by the end of my trip, I was driving past bison along the road without a second glance. However commonplace these animals can become over just a few days, up close and personal they are amazing beasts.
A bison shows his appreciation for the nutritious grass available for grazing in Grand Teton National Park
Their antics were framed by the beautiful fall colors that adorned their world. As I was watching one herd, one by one bison would drop to the ground and start to roll in the dirt, kicking up huge clouds of dust.
Bison kick up dust as they roll in the dirt, while others graze in the open grassland of Grand Teton National Park
The sun finally peaked through the smoke and haze, and lit up the field in which they were grazing. I had to make sure to keep one eye on the viewfinder and one on the herd. I knew how fast they could charge if they so desired, so I stayed close to the truck at all times!
The setting sun illuminates a bison grazing in a Grand Teton grassland
Elk were seen only in the early morning hours, when it was still very dark out for wildlife photography. In most cases, I just left my camera beside me and enjoyed the company of these graceful animals. One morning I found a buck out late, and was able to get a photo. He was swimming across a small river, and by the time I got out of the truck, we was out of the water and sauntering across a field.
A male elk struts through a field in early morning, with a fall color backdrop, Grand Teton National Park
There were quite a few birds around that I don’t typically get to photograph, but to be honest, I was keeping myself very busy with landscapes and the larger mammals, so I didn’t spend any time focusing on avian photography.
While photographing oxbow bend late in the morning (sunrise saw that area completely shrouded in fog), I saw several Canada geese swimming along the shore under a beautiful grove of aspen, all in their autumn finery. I knew if I could get at the right angle close enough to one of the birds, I might get a shot of it swimming through a sea of abstracted fall color reflection.
I dropped off my landscape gear and went for my big lens. After about 20 minutes of waiting, one of them finally swam through the best color on the river, and I was ready.
A canada goose swims through glassy water, reflecting it and the fall colors of Grand Teton National Park
One of my most anticipated target species was moose. I had only ever seen one from a distance, and had never photographed one before. I was not disappointed by this trip! I was able to photograph moose on three occasions, some at very close range.
A young bull moose stands at attention as me makes his way through an open field
On one such occasion, I saw a bull walking across a field parallel to a small side road. I pulled over and set up my tripod. Then the moose turned in my direction, and walked directly toward me, ultimately crossing the road I was on about twenty yards away. As he was crossing the road, he stopped and posed for me, giving me the photo below:
A young bull moose walks through tall grass, pausing to check his surroundings
I was ready to pay him a modeling fee, but he continued on before I could get my checkbook.
Another time I spent some time with a cow and her calf, this time with about 30 other photographers. The calf quickly disappeared behind some trees, but the mother stayed out in the open.
A moose cow eat greens from the bottom of a shallow pond, while surrounded by the fall colors of Grand Teton National Park
It was also rutting season, and I saw a young bull performing an interesting display. He stopped eating the branches in front of him, extended his neck and bared his teeth. I’m not sure if this display was meant for courtship (there was a female nearby), but I snapped away all the same.
A young bull moose lifts his head to make his presence known to females
A pronghorn mother watches over her fawn. Fawns are very vulnerable when they are young, and spend most of their time bedding down and staying out of sight.
Lastly, I finally found a herd of pronghorn on my last morning in the park. Amongst the small herd was a doe with a fawn, sticking very close to each other. At one point, the fawn bedded down next to its mother, hiding itself in the grass. A few minutes later however, it popped up when some inconsiderate tourists started traipsing across the field, ignoring the many signs posted throughout the park that told them not to approach any wildlife.
A pronghorn mother stands with her fawn, Grand Tetons National Park
Further down the road was a solitary buck foraging along a small rise. He was kind enough to pose just long enough at the ridge line to allow the photograph below.
A pronghorn buck stands at attention on a small rise. The pronghorn horn sheath is shed annually and made of compressed hair around a bone core.
