reflection – Page 8

March 15, 2011January 14, 2013

Pied-billed Grebe (Photo of the week)

A pied-billed grebe swims through still water. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6

My photo pick this week is of a pied-billed grebe that I found swimming alone in a narrow channel in a neighborhood near my house. The afternoon light reflected off of the rocks in front of me, which acted as a diffuser, giving me night even light across the scene. Houses along the opposite shore cast the water in a reddish hue.

As always, I tried to get as close to eye level with the bird as possible. However, it was difficult to do so in this spot, requiring me to pick my way over sharp rocks to get close to the water. True eye level was impossible here, as the channel was only about fifteen feet wide, and the immediate shore was too steep to set up my tripod. I made the best of the given situation, unfolding two of the legs so that they were close to flat, with the third tripod leg longer and pointing downhill, almost touching the water. Then I sat down underneath and behind the camera – giving me a comfortable position from which to shoot, while still allowing good hand support for my lens. It also lowered my profile and allowed me to be absolutely still, which will usually allow the target bird to approach closer instead of swimming away (which they often do!)

A pied-billed grebe swims through still water calling out with its beak open. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 640. Evaluative metering +2/3: 1/250 sec. at f/8

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By remaining perfectly still, I was able to photograph this grebe for a while as it swam back and forth in front of me. The narrow channel kept the wind off the water, creating great reflections.

When I’m out specifically photographing birds, I look for two things – either an uncommon species that I haven’t photographed before, or a great shooting situation with good light and the right aesthetics to create a good photograph. I’ve photographed pied-billed grebes before, but this was a situation I couldn’t pass up because of the nice light, great reflections, and close proximity to the bird.

March 7, 2011January 14, 2013

Barrow’s Goldeneye (Photo of the week)

A male Barrow's goldeneye swims through golden water. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3: 1/1250 sec. at f/7.1

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This week’s photo features a Barrow’s goldeneye. The Barrow’s is similar to the common goldeneye, but, as its counterpart’s name suggests, is less “common”. In fact, only a few are seen in the San Francisco Bay Area each winter, whereas the common goldeneye can number in the thousands (with dozens visible at one time).

While both male species look similar, the Barrow’s goldeneye has several distinguishing features. The two most prominent are an elongated teardrop shaped white area in front of the eye (the common has a smaller circular white patch) and a row of white squares across the base of the wings (which can be seen across the top of the back in the photo above).

When I found this male, I was lucky enough to find a female with him (which I assume made up a breeding pair).

A female Barrow's Goldeneye swims through a narrow water channel in the low light of a late winter afternoon. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3: 1/800 sec. at f/7.1

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Female Barrow’s goldeneye look more similar to the female common goldeneye. The biggest difference is a completely yellow bill (as above), compared with a yellow-tipped black bill on the common. Other than that, they look identical (to my eye).

I saw this pair on several occasions, as they frequented the same spot for a couple of weeks at least. On one occasion, I began to worry for the female, because I saw the male swimming with a would-be harem of twelve female common goldeneyes. There were no male commons in sight. These two species have been known to crossbreed, but I’m not sure exactly what was going on in this situation. Perhaps it was because he was the only male of either species around, or perhaps it was just because he is much cooler looking with his bold white square pattern. The next time I saw them however, his lady was back at her top spot, and the other females has moved on to more common mates.

January 27, 2011March 29, 2017

Breaking the rules

Several long-billed curlews stand together in a shallow wetland pool

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Every once in a while a photo comes along that I love, but seems to break many of my own guidelines that I usually follow. Many times when I’m out shooting wildlife or birds, I’ll take a few photos of the surrounding area, or try to include some habitat, to help me remember where I was and what the conditions were like. This is especially important when I’m making bird portraits. If my goal is a simple, clean background, it can be easy to forget what the surrounding area was like when I only see a bird’s head and shoulders in the photo. The photo of the long-billed curlew above was one such “habitat” shot that I took recently.

As I was reviewing my photos, I found that I really liked this one, even though it wasn’t intended as a keeper. I also realized that it breaks some of the rules that I like to follow in my bird photography. I put myself in the role of photo critic, and came up with the following negative aspects of this image.

1. Cluttered background – In most wildlife photography, one goal in creating a successful photo is to simplify the shot as much as possible. Eliminate distracting elements and leave only those that help support the subject. In this photo, the background is busy and the water surface messy.

2. Depth of field issues – The curlews in the background are out of focus. Are they part of the subject of the image? It is not clear from the focus alone. They are too blurry to be successful subjects, but not abstract enough shapes to blend well into the background.

So then, given the above criticisms, why do I like the photo so much?

1. Color – I absolutely love the color in this photograph. I like the pastel blues and tans, and the black in the first curlew’s feather pattern really pops.

2. Wildness – Sometimes the simple portrait with a pure single color background can get old. Even though they can be elegant, sometimes they lack the wild and wooliness of the real natural world. This photo serves up enough chaos to do justice to all the birds eating and preening in a bunch that morning.

3. Leading lines – The photo leads the viewers eye well through the frame and into the distance. Starting naturally at the bird on the left in sharp focus, the eye is attracted to the sleeping bird to the far right of the frame, because of the repeated shape of the first bird. Then the eye draws up and left along the line of birds, finally resting on the bird in the upper left of the photo, which is the farthest distinguishable object from the camera.

It is important to choose your best images in order to edit your collection of photos. Beyond that however, it is important to understand why you chose those photos. Doing so will help you to make better informed decisions about future photos, instead of just going with your gut. Next time you say to yourself, “I really like this one,” or “this one doesn’t work for me,” dig a little deeper and list out what you like or don’t like about a photo. What you come up with when your really think about it might surprise you.

So what do you think? A nice break from the norm, or not your cup of tea? Love it or hate it, I’d love to hear your opinion in the comments below.

January 19, 2011January 14, 2013

Thinking digitally

A juvenile black-crowned night heron perches among reeds along the edge of a pond. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 800. Evaluative metering 0 EV: 1/320 sec. at f/8

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I little while ago I found myself in a situation in which I could not have gotten the shot I wanted had I been using film. After being tipped off by a friend, I found this nice looking juvenile black-crowned night heron in some reeds next to a pond. The shoreline was such that in order to get the proper frontal lighting on the heron, with a small angle of inclination between the lens view and the ground, I had to be right up close to him. Luckily, he seemed in no hurry to move, nor did he seem to care about my presence. While this distance was great for making tight head shots like the photo above, there was no way I could “back up” and capture any habitat around the bird.

Then I started thinking digitally. I knew that if I was careful in my photographing, I could take multiple photos and stitch them together later, creating the illusion of a wider angle. An added benefit would be a huge image file, which I could later print at very large sizes if I wanted to.

The process of taking the photos was very similar to the process I use for creating stitched panoramas – set the camera to manual exposure, fix the focus so that it is constant for all images, and fire away. The difference was that instead of moving left to right in a single line, my goal was for an aspect ratio close to a normal 35 mm photograph (2:3). In this case, I created two columns of three photos. I didn’t worry about lining up the overlap perfectly – I just eyeballed it.

Note that this only worked because my subject was completely stationary. If the heron was moving at all, the photos would not have lined up well and the stitched image wouldn’t have been successful. It probably took between five to ten seconds to capture all six shots, which I then stitched in Photoshop, creating the 50 megapixel image below.

Composed of six separate images (two columns of three shots), this stitched photo is 50 megapixels. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-7D. ISO 800. Evaluative metering 0 EV: 1/250 sec. at f/8

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Even though I found myself in a position where I was “too close” (don’t worry, I’m not complaining – its a GREAT problem to have!), I was able to think digitally to solve my problem. By combining multiple shots, I was able to virtually “back up” and capture a wider shot of the heron.