Author: Hank

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Big sensors, big fun

A red-tailed hawk constantly scans the surrounding area for prey

Okay, so I like to cheat every once in a while. There are “purists” out there who would shake their head with shame at the image above, and I have to admit, I used to side with them more often then not. But I couldn’t help myself the other day playing around with some of my photos to see how I could create other successful photos just by cropping heavily.

The photo above is a head and shoulder crop of the photo below. My distance to this red-tailed hawk was limited by the height of the pole on which he was perched. I was already in pretty close, with an 800mm lens on a 1.6x crop sensor, giving me a 35mm equivalent focal length of 1280mm. If I’d walked any closer to pole, the angle of inclination would have been too severe, which was not the kind of shot I was going after. The photo was okay, but that pole really bothered me. I much prefer natural scenes without visible “hand-of-man” elements.

A red-tailed hawk perches on a tall pole, looking for prey
A red-tailed hawk perches on a tall pole, looking for prey

So, once I got the photo onto my computer, I decided to start playing with the crop, if only to see what my photo might have looked like if I’d had more lens reach. I was fully expecting a pixelated mess, but to my astonishment, the cropped image wasn’t that bad. I won’t be making a 30×40 inch print of it any time soon, but for small prints and web use, it works. Here, the win definitely goes to the massive 18 megapixel sensor and the amazing amount of detail it can capture. Of course, some credit should go to me for the technique required for the razor sharpness of the image!

There are many new opportunities for photographers to express their creativity as a direct result of improvements in technology. Five years ago, I could not have done what I did above. The image quality of the cropped photo would have been too poor to stand up on its own. It is truly amazing how far the world of digital photography has advanced in recent years. Who knows what the next ten years will bring?

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Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow (Photo of the week)

An immature white-crowned sparrow clings to a stalk
An immature white-crowned sparrow clings to a stalk

This week’s photo was taken recently at a local wetland area at the edge of the bay. White-crowned sparrows are among the more common sparrows in the area, along with song sparrows and house sparrows (though the latter are more likely to frequent the backyard bird feeder than flit around the bay trails). Juveniles are sometimes harder to spot because the crown of the head has yet to turn white, as seen in the photo above. Once this sparrow matures however, they are impossible to mistake.

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Seeing eye to eye

A western fence lizard bakes in the hot sun
A western fence lizard bakes in the hot sun

It’s long been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. That has never been more true than with wildlife photography. Capturing the subject’s eye helps the viewer connect with the animal, and brings a kind of depth to the photograph. Books such as Frans Lanting’s fantastic Eye To Eye are dedicated to this connection between the viewer and the subject. Achieving this kind of connection with your subject is something to keep in mind when out in the field photographing.

The photo above features a western fence lizard – very common in local open space preserves and urban green space. Recently I was out walking with my wife, and I was carrying (as I often do) my 100 – 400mm zoom lens. We came across this lizard, and given that the birds were not very active this time of day, I wanted to capture at least something fun with my camera. The lizard was only about 5 inches long, tip to tail. I’ve seen about a million straight shots of lizards from above, and knew I could easily fire off a few of my own – boring! That angle shows me nothing about the lizard – it might as well be a rubber toy. I wanted to get a sense for what the lizard might be thinking as he sat out in the hot sun. In order to do that, I had to get down to eye level.

Although the ground was covered in thick dust, I proceeded to get down on my belly, feet behind me (sometimes one has to sacrifice for one’s art!). I put my camera right onto the ground, to get as low as possible. Starting out at a distance with which the lizard seemed comfortable, I slowly crawled forward, taking pictures along the way. Once I got closer than the lens’s minimum focusing distance, I knew that was as large as I could make the lizard in the frame. I usually carry a set of Kenko extension tubes with me, but this time I didn’t have them, so that was as close as I was getting. The lizard kept me in his view the entire time, turning his head back and forth. After shooting for a while, I realized this lizard wasn’t planning on going anywhere soon. So I slowly backed away so as not to disturb him, and went on my way.

By getting eye level to a creature we don’t normally see that way, I was able to create a photo that does more than just document. There is a subtle connection made between the subject and the audience, which when achieved, can go a long way toward the success of a photograph.

Copyright 2017 Hank Christensen