Sunday, January 23, 2011

Scouting

A few wisps of blue sky showed themselves occasionally this weekend, and I spent some time scouting locations for raptors. Aside from getting to watch a great blue heron spearing voles with amazing accuracy one evening after the light had faded, nothing noteworthy really took place.

Utah's Wasatch Front experiences a widespread temperature inversion during the winter. This phenomenon causes an enormous pollution cloud, even larger than the one emitted by Al Gore's personal residence, to hover over the valley.

Spending any time outdoors under these conditions is akin to huffing oxides of nitrogen directly from the exhaust pipe of a 1970 AMC Gremlin.

Occasionally a storm of sufficient strength blows through and sweeps the toxic atmosphere up into the jet stream, where it is often mistaken for Icelandic volcano ash and grounds all flights in France.

We experienced one such storm system late last week and had glorious, clean air for the weekend. It was nice just to be outside. I didn't get any images that I'd consider "keepers" but a few birds were in the air and I dusted off the shutter to get in the groove.

I'm hoping the next month or so brings some additional opportunities.

Bald Eagle Sight Fishing

Great Blue Heron in Flight

Bald Eagle with Carp Dinner

Immature Bald Eagle

Eagle Blue Sky

Saturday, January 22, 2011

MIDCURRENT #4

WWW.MIDCURRENT.COM is one of the best sites around in terms of keeping things fresh. Each week there are various additions to the content - whether it's news, tutorials, gear reviews, conservation information, or useful articles.

They also have one of the most comprehensive collections of fishing art and imagery anywhere on the web. It's an honor to have been selected again as a featured photographer, especially among the kind of talent in Midcurrent's gallery.

Click on the image to view the full-page spotlight, and make sure you've got Midcurrent bookmarked - there's always new content coming down the pike.

MidCurrent Spotlight #4 - December 2010

Blue River Fly Company

If you haven't had your ear to the ground lately, you might have missed the launch of a new online source for first rate flies, and boxes by both Wheatley and UPG.

BLUE RIVER FLY COMPANY is now up and running, and in addition to providing some great deals they are looking for suggestions about what additional flies and products to carry. Expect videos by Burl Productions, and products from Loon Outdoors and Scientific Anglers to appear shortly.

BlueRiverFlyCo.com

Blue River is great to work with, and I appreciate them using some of my photography commercially on the site.

Fly to Water readers can get a 20% discount through the end of February using the code F2W.

There's good mojo to be had buying from Blue River too, since they are part of 1% for the Planet. Drop in and check things out!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

First Click - 2011

By way of follow up to my last blog post, I've received a lot of e-mail asking for specific tips about photographing game birds, such as the chukar partridge.

I wish I could say it was as easy as picking up a 600mm f/4 lens with a nice window mount, whereupon it becomes immediately possible to capture 5-star images from your climate-controlled SUV.

If it's been a while since you've...
  • Gone out in temperatures cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
  • Done a "1-legger" down a 3-foot-deep rock fissure drifted over by snow, nearly breaking an ankle in the process
  • Torn your trapezius
  • Sat motionless until cramps were galloping up your legs like Charlton Heston's chariot in the movie Ben-Hur
...then I recommend taking up wild game bird photography for a real treat. Each of the items on that list happened to me yesterday. Luckily, I did manage to obtain exactly 1 photograph for my troubles - which is above average for a typical day.

Checking His Six

The basic recipe for success:

Scouting: The process begins with a scouting trip (or trips) into likely habitat. It's important to locate game birds without disturbing them initially, at least if photography is on the agenda. A decent pair of binoculars and a spotting scope are great tools that help cover a lot of country.

Patterning: Once you have located a population of birds, you want to watch them for a while. It's quite common for these animals to have a routine. You may find a watering hole, food source, spot where the sun hits first thing in the morning, or travel route that game birds use regularly. During this period of observation, you want to take note of lighting conditions and possible hiding spots. Typically you will want to be in a position where your subject is being lit from the front or side, which needs to be taken into account.

Concealment: While non-avian predators and most big game animals see primarily in black and white, birds see in color. Camouflage becomes an important accessory, and it's a good idea to have a few options available to match various types of terrain. My favorite for chukar habitat is the Open Country lineup from Sitka Gear. This pattern has been specifically designed and researched based on how animals see, as opposed to most products that are based on human vision.

I also use a LensCoat to hide the hardware. These are made of neoprene and also provide some protection from dings and scratches in addition to breaking up the outline of the equipment. LensCoat products are available for a wide variety of common camera lenses.

Caught on Film

Waiting: Get into position prior to the time you have observed birds using the location in your scouting. In my experience, wind is less of a factor with birds than it is with mammals. Make sure to dress warmly in cold temperatures, because sitting around doesn't create a lot of body heat. Stay alert and be opportunistic - things will usually not unfold exactly as planned. Knee pads are a good accessory in rocky terrain in case you have to move around while keeping a low profile.

Reeds

That's the basic formula. Lather, rinse, and repeat.

Thanks to JayMorr, who took the portraits of me used in this post. His blog has additional images and comments about getting TO the shot, which is the main ingredient in getting the shot when it comes to critters.

In Plain Sight

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Better Wildlife Photography

People often accuse me of using excessively large words to express myself. I am mildly offended by these outrageous accusations, because my stated policy is to eschew obfuscation.

By way of rebuttal, I offer up my word of the day: ANTHROPOMORPHISM.

As everyone has known since 1753 (the first recorded use of this term according to Merriam Webster), anthropomorphism is the attribution human characteristics to inanimate objects.

What does this word have to do with better wildlife imagery? Simple - no other art form has such a high level of anthropomorphizing as photography. Our society loves a quick fix, and many feel that an eye-popping result is the natural, native output of expensive technology.

Upon seeing a compelling image, the first question usually posed to the photographer is, "What camera/lens do you use?" This can be a legitimate question for a number of technical reasons, but is more often symptomatic of the belief that "professional" gear was the main reason for the engaging outcome. This phenomenon has camera companies dancing the Light Fantastic, but for everyone else it's a simple delusion.

Great Horned Owl - Female

The first step towards better wildlife photography is to stop attributing the hard work, creativity, patience, practice, and skills that are critical for success to inanimate tools. These are all human traits - merits of photographers, not cameras. Step 1 is to quit anthropomorphizing, and start creating using whatever is in your bag.

The most important elements of a compelling wildlife image are light, composition, opportunity, and exposure (in no particular order). Cameras and lenses have no part in the first 3, and only a supporting role in the 4th.

LIGHT: Learning to "see" light, and recognize the characteristics that translate into various artistic outcomes is a skill that takes years to develop. Volumes have been written on this topic, and doing a Google search for "golden hour" will probably provide all you ever want to know about ideal illumination. To achieve the result you want as a photographer, your boots need to be on the ground (with you in them) when the light is right.

COMPOSITION: The way in which objects are arranged (intentionally and creatively) within the frame. There is nothing about composition that should be left to chance. Inclusion, exclusion, angle of view, position relative to the subject(s), portrait vs. landscape orientation, foreground, background, and many other considerations play an enormous part in how the viewer will interpret a 2-dimensional image. A great starting point on this topic is a book called "Photographic Composition" by Grill and Scanlon ($15 on Amazon). In this shot of a wild chukar partridge, I included both cheat grass in the foreground and sage brush in the background as compositional elements, but used shallow depth of field to isolate the subject. The bird is also positioned according to the Rule of Thirds.

Chukar Partridge Lookout

OPPORTUNITY: Think of 3 separate lines converging at different angles. One of these lines represents the right lighting conditions. The second is your wildlife subject, which will be somewhat unpredictable and dynamic. Line #3 represents surroundings that create a pleasing foreground, background, and overall composition. When each of these elements converge and intersect, the result is a window of opportunity . All 3 elements must be present to win. While some opportunities happen by chance, most are created through careful planning, understanding of subject behavior, a high degree of familiarity with your camera controls, awareness of your limitations, and a constant readiness to act.

The single most challenging part of wildlife photography is getting close enough to the wildlife. Many point & shoot cameras offer 8x, 10x, or even 20x optical zooms in tiny little packages. The uninitiated often see huge telephoto lenses and assume they are camera-mounted galactic telescopes with the ability to capture amazing images of sparrows at 300 meters.

The truth is that big lenses are designed to let in more light, allowing for faster shutter speeds while maintaining high optical quality. The Nikon 400mm f/2.8 VR lens costs $9000 and weighs 13 pounds, but only provides the equivalent of 8x optical magnification. As a photographer, you need to be every bit as close to your subject with a super telephoto prime lens as you would with a cheap 8x point and shoot. Most quality wildlife imagery is captured inside of 60 yards, and often much closer (especially with smaller subjects). The coyote pictured below was 35 yards away, and was only in this position looking back at me for about 1 second.

Coyote Lookback

Working hard to pattern wildlife subjects and understand their behaviors will allow you to anticipate their location during ideal lighting conditions. In turn, this will improve your ability to be in the right place at the right time. Wildlife photographers spend most of their day scouting, observing, getting into position, and waiting. There is no magic bullet lens, teleconverter, or 25 megapixel sensor that will buy sweet monkey love over long distances. If the subject is too far away for a solid image to be captured, it's not a shortcoming of the equipment - but of the photographer's ability to close the distance.

EXPOSURE: Today's cameras all offer the pixie dust of Auto Mode - the enemy of creativity. Auto Mode is designed for one thing: Boring-Ass Snap Shots, or B.A.S.S. While the camera's electronics can interpret a scene and correctly expose the photograph for you, they cannot detect your vision of the final image.

Decisions to freeze action, blur motion, isolate a subject with shallow depth of field, or include both foreground and background elements in the composition are all consequences of different exposure choices. These strictly artistic decisions are directly related to how the viewer will connect to your image, and can't be left to a generic, pre-programmed function.

The good news here is that there are only about 5 key camera controls that do most of the legwork. Check out "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson ($15 on Amazon) if terms like aperture, f-stop, shutter speed, white balance, exposure compensation, and ISO are unfamiliar.

In these final 2 shots I used exposure for different effects. The mallard drake was stationary, and I wanted the colors and plumage of the bird to be the primary focus. Using a longer shutter speed I achieved motion blur in the faster moving background water, while maintaining sharpness on the bird itself. In the case of the coyote, I chose to freeze motion with a shutter speed of 1/3200 to capture his predatory intensity.

River Drake

Coyote Pounce

The moral to the story - use what you've got and don't put off chasing the imagery you desire until you have a better camera body or longer lens. Procrastination should not lilt off the tongue any easier than anthropomorphism - which is only 1 letter longer.

I'm wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year in 2011. Thanks for dropping in.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

FlyFisher Magazine

The Federation of Fly Fishers is one of the premier organizations dedicated to conservation, preservation, and education in the world of fly fishing. Whether you're just getting started in the sport, or have the veteran status marked by a vehicle festooned with decals - anytime is a good time to join.

http://www.fedflyfishers.org/

One of the perks of membership is a subscription to FlyFisher Magazine.

FFF can also be found on Facebook.

I appreciated working with Al Beatty on the cover of the Autumn 2010/Winter 2011 cover of FlyFisher this past month. "Mr. December" is Worldcast guide Casey Birkholz. This image was taken 10/15/2010 using a Nikon D300, Tokina 12-24mm lens, and a Tiffen HT 0.6 ND Grad Filter.

Cover - FlyFisher Magazine - Autumn 2010/Winter 2011

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

In Memory of Rich Schaaff

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower,
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Robert Frost

In many ways getting to know Rich Schaaff was like striking gold. He was as genuinely kind a man as I've come across in any facet of life.

May every run hold a fish, and every swing bring a strike where your journey has taken you my friend. Rest in peace.

Photobucket

www.eastforkfly.com