Archives For wildlife

St. Anne

Mine is bigger than yours!

Jay Patel —  November 28, 2012


Here’s a face that only a mother could love. :) A friend of ours pointed out these crabs a couple of years ago at Anne’s Beach in Florida. At the time, I did not have a lens long enough to capture these tiny critters.

This simple shot was all about catching the crabs in action. To do this, I had to lay down flat on my stomach in cold wet sand and position the camera on the ground. I remained as still as possible, and after a minute or two, the crabs started to come out of the sand all around me. Some were just two or three inches from my face! I moved very slowly to avoid scaring them away. By the time I was done, I was covered in sand and damp all over.

I used a Canon 70-200 F4 L lens with a 1.4x multiplier on a crop body to catch him. How sharp is this image? If you look at at the image at full size, you can see the hairs on his eyes. How cool is that!?

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The Fawn

Shooting Wildlife. With a camera. Jeez.

Varina Patel —  September 20, 2012

Effortless - Varina Patel

When it comes down to it – wildlife photography is about being willing to wait. You aren’t likely to just walk up a get that fantastic shot you were hoping for. Start by doing your research – find our where the animals hang out, what time of year they are most likely to be there, and what time of day they are most active.

Fly Over - Varina Patel

And once you’re there – be prepared to hang out for a while. Find a place to watch and wait – and take lots of photographs. If I’m photographing birds or other fast-moving creatures, I like to use a fast shutter speed and set my camera to take the maximum six shots per second in case one of these beauties decides to take off for me. But don’t just point the camera and fire off five-hundred photos. You’ll have to wade through all those shots later. Be ready to shoot – but don’t overdo it.

Glacier National Park - Montana, USA

Pay attention to the light while you are shooting. Bright light means you can use a faster shutter speed – but if the light is harsh, you’ll end up with blown highlights are very dark shadows. I love shooting wildlife in the shade or on slightly overcast days. Clouds make great diffusers - and the the soft, even lighting is easy to work with. Soft, directional lighting – think early morning or late evening – is also really beautiful. My goal is to show the textures in the fur, the catch-light in the eyes, and an interesting pose.

I also like to use predictive auto focusing (that’s “AI Servo” for Canon users). In AI Servo mode, the camera automatically adjusts the focus to follow any object that is moving in a predictable pattern. It’s a great help for birds in flight, animals on the move… or children playing soccer. As far as I’m concerned, photographing my kids is no different from shooting wildlife. ;)

Eyes of Blue - Varina Patel

For animal portraits, I like to use a narrow depth of field to help blur out the background – but make sure you keep that eye nice a sharp, no matter what! Watch for interesting poses, pleasing angles, and action shots. And just have fun with it! Animals are so much fun to shoot… you never know what they’re going to do!

Glacier National Park - Montana, USA

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Featured Download: The Fawn

Varina Patel —  August 24, 2012

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This beautiful baby spent much of the summer eating flowers and plants in our wooded back yard. She was born late this year, so she’s still small – but she’s full of life and so much fun to watch. She wanders the neighborhood with three pretty little cousins and her mother. They’ve eaten half my flowers. But who’s complaining! The kids love having her around, and I have plenty of flowers to share.

I waited to take this shot until the fawn was mostly in shade for even lighting. A fast shutter speed kept her nice as sharp as she moved. I also wanted to be sure the capture the catch-light in her eye, and to get her in a pleasant pose. I got a few shots of her looking right at me with her mouth open as she chews… but that’s not quite what I was going for! ;)

As always, these images are provided for personal use as computer wallpaper or backgrounds ONLY. Copyright belongs to the photographer,and photographs cannot be used, redistributed, or recreated in print, on the web, or in any other medium without written permission from the photographer.

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Featured Download: Swimming in the Sky

Varina Patel —  July 27, 2012

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I took this shot in Florida’s beautiful Everglades. I wanted to capture the pattern of clouds on the water so that my lovely alligator friend could take a swim in the sky. ;)

As always, these images are provided for personal use as computer wallpaper or backgrounds ONLY. Copyright belongs to the photographer, and photographs cannot be used, redistributed, or recreated in print or on the web or on any other medium without written permission from the photographer.

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What the…?

Varina Patel —  February 10, 2012

The day before a workshop in Glacier National Park, Jay and I took a short hike out near Logan Pass. It’s an incredibly beautiful place… and at that time of year, the meadows were in full bloom. Trickling streams, waterfalls, and mountain peaks all around you. Breathtaking.

While we were there, a couple of mountain goats were snacking in the fields. We took lots of photos, but this one really had me laughing, so I thought I’d share it with all of you. What do you think it going through his mind right now? Make me laugh! :)

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you have a great weekend!

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Strike A Pose

Jay Patel —  February 8, 2012


This multicolored heron was in perfect position holding very still to catch his food, when an wandering alligator disturbed its concentration and scared the fish away. I never did get to see him catch a fish.

The usual blue colors you see in this image are all natural… they are not caused by a polarizer or enhanced in photoshop. So why does the water look so blue? All the light reflecting on the water was bouncing away from me. Why? Because I took this shot early in the morning when the angle of the sun was low. So, the only thing I could see on the water was the reflection of the clear blue sky. Additionally, in order to expose the subject properly, the parts of the image that were in shade (along with the reflections on the water) were under exposed. This gave the water an even deeper hue.

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Florida

Quick Tips: Reflections

Jay Patel —  February 6, 2012

Lost in Thought - Varina Patel

Have you ever tried to make the reflections an entire image? This is exactly what Varina did in the image above.

This image of stork was taken in Everglades National Park during our 2011 workshop….Varina was looking for something creative that would set her shot apart from other animal shots.

Often times with reflecting images you get imperfections in the rippling water… like the bending beak in this shot. But these imperfections give the image a bit of character.

Compare this with Jay’s image of another stork (below). In Varina’s shot, the subject is isolated against the reflected blue sky in the water… and the upside-down bird with all its imperfections adds interest and grabs your attention. My shot below is just another bird portrait – full of distractions. And the head of the bird gets lost in all those grasses behind him.

So next time you go out in the field… look for reflections. Maybe you’ll capture something unique!

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Having Fun with Wildlife

Varina Patel —  January 16, 2012

I’m not really a wildlife photographer – but every now and then, I’ll pull out a long lens and see what I can do with it. The problem is, I tend to be uninspired by typical images of animals… the old “bird on a stick” shot fails to excite me. So, I try to capture images that are a little bit different. Not just your standard portrait of the creature… but something that gives the viewer a little bit more. Let me see if I can show you what I mean.

This stork was sitting on the edge of a narrow waterway – and although he was beautifully posed, he seemed a little lost in the tall grasses behind him. But I noticed that his reflection was just right. The brilliant blue sky was reflected in the smooth surface of the water, and it made a perfect background. Doesn’t he seem to be lost in thought?

Reflections came in handy when I took this shot of an alligator, too. The clouds and sky were reflected in the water, and the alligator seems to be skimming across a watery sky.

Adult storks seem to be 100 years old – because of their bald heads and wrinkly faces, I suppose. I think of them as knobby-kneed old men dressed in dusty, old-fashioned overcoats. So, I went with that. I converted this image to high-key black and white, and let the background blow out just a bit… as in an old photograph. This is a portrait of the very distinguished Grandpa Stork, who seems to have misplaced his top hat and cane. Ain’t he an old sweetie?

Well. This one speaks for itself I guess. Captain Jinkies here, decided to get all goofy in front of the camera. I have a whole series of images of these beautiful mountain goats… but this is the one that stands out. Go figure.
 And how about this little dude? I love these tiny little birds – and this one caught this big old fish and was trying to find a way to get it down. It wasn’t going to work – but it sure was fun to watch!

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300f4

Review: Canon Telephoto EF 300mm f/4.0L IS Lens

Varina Patel —  September 22, 2011

Jay and I wanted to be able to photograph the wildlife in Glacier National Park – but our lens collection is geared towards wide-angle landscapes and macro photography. For shooting wildlife – especially when you can’t (or don’t want to) get too close to your subject – you want to have a long lens. But lenses are expensive – so rather than purchasing one we won’t use regularly, we rented a Canon 300mm f/4.0 from LensRentals.com. Of course, we didn’t think about renting a lens until the last minute (go figure), so we weren’t sure they could get it to us on time. We emailed to find out if they could do it, and they assured us they could. We put in the order Monday afternoon, requested overnight shipping, and the lens arrived Tuesday afternoon… so it was packed and ready in plenty of time for our 4am departure Wednesday morning.

I have to say, we were really impressed with LensRental.com – the service was excellent, the website was clean and easy to navigate, and the ordering process was simple. The lens was clean and in perfect condition when it arrived. And perhaps most importantly, their prices are more than reasonable. You can expect to pay extra for overnight shipping, of course – but they ship two-day standard… so plan a little better than we did, and you won’t have to take on that extra expense.

So, I know what you’re thinking (because I’m a little bit psychic)… you’re wondering why we didn’t choose a longer lens… or a wider one… or a zoom. Actually, the 300mm f/4.0 is perfect for us. It’s small enough to fit neatly in our camera bag – 22.1 cm long (8.7 in) without the lens hood extended, and weighing in at 1.19 kg (2.62 lb). That’s important since we do a lot of hiking and we don’t want to be lugging around a huge lens everywhere we go. It’s also smaller and lighter than the f2.8 version. As for zoom capability – we just don’t need it. We can use the lens on a full frame body for a 300mm focal length, or put it on our 1.6 crop factor body for 480mm. If we need more length, we can add our 1.4x extension tube – for a total focal length equivalent to 672mm… and that’s more than enough for our needs. When we are on location, we don’t want to bring more than we need. The 300mm f/4.0 was just right.

 

All right – let’s get down to the good stuff. This is one gorgeous lens. It’s an L-series (L is for Luxury) lens with first generation Image Stabilization capability. It’s beautifully sharp and quick to focus… which is great when your subject isn’t likely to hold still for long. It also has an integrated lens hood – easy to store and no fumbling with the dang thing when you need it. It just slides right into position. Image stabilization has two modes – one for dual-axis camera-shake correction, and one that handles a single axis for use when panning. In the latter case, the lens will automatically determine your panning direction – pretty cool. Minimum focusing distance is 1.50 m (4.92 ft).

Take a look at this shot of a ground squirrel. (No – not that photo… that’s Jay. The one below!) It’s incredibly sharp, and the soft background is a testament to the beauty of shooting with a wide aperture. You can see that f/4.0 is wide enough to get that soft background, but we’re still getting enough depth of field to get the animal in sharp focus. I took this shot from about ten yards away – and cropped a bit to get the squirrel out of the center.

Glacier National Park - Montana, USA

And here’s a 100% crop to show you how much detail we are getting out of this lens… click to see it full size. Keep in mind that this is completely un-sharpened. (Image Specs: f/4.0, 1/400, ISO 200) The finished image above has been prepared for web viewing and sharpened accordingly.

Take a look at some of the other photos we took with this lens during the trip…
The Bighorn Sheep were gathered near the Logan Pass visitor center on our first evening in the park. (Image Specs: f/4.0, 1/80, ISO 400) Jay took this shot with a tripod – be sure to turn off the Image Stabilization if you are using an IS lens on a tripod.

A few minutes later, a family of Elk wandered into the area. Jay took a few photographs in the fading light. (Image Specs: f/4.0, 1/160, ISO 1600) Even at a high ISO, the photos look excellent!

You can get creative with this lens, too – it’s not just for wildlife portraits. While waiting for construction vehicles to move aside, we took a few photos of the wildflowers blooming on the mountainsides. (Image Specs: f/6.3, 1/800, ISO 200)

And last – but not least – here’s a shot that just makes me smile. (Image Specs: f/4.0, 1/400, ISO 100) Sometimes the wildlife ham it up for the camera.

Glacier National Park - Montana, USA

To sum it all up – this is a beauty of a lens. Relatively lightweight, great for wildlife and other creative shots, and so so sharp. What’s not to love? And once we were home, we packed the lens back up in the box it arrived in, slapped on the shipping label LensRental.com provided, and dropped it off at UPS for shipping. Now, I’m ready to rent a couple of tilt-shift lenses for Iceland! We’ll write up reviews for those when we return!

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New Images: Florida Jan 2011

Jay Patel —  January 26, 2011

Our workshop in Florida was a great success – we spent a lot of time shooting wildlife during this trip. In the winter, the birds in the Everglades gather where there is standing water. They gather by the thousands, and photographers line up to photograph them in their natural habitat within the park. Our goal is to capture dynamic images… something beyond the standard “bird on branch” shot. Here are a few of our photos…

The stork in the image below was sitting on the bank – a shot of the bird itself would have been pretty dull. The reeds and grasses behind the bird made an unappealing and busy background, and the bird’s pose was nothing special. The reflection was more interesting. In the still water, the blue sky seemed to surround the bird. The upside-down composition grabs the viewer’s attention, and the portrait becomes much more interesting.

This pretty Great Egret stood on a railing and posed for quite a while. Varina took several ordinary shots before the bird twisted its head into this more interesting position. From the three high-speed frames she captured before the Egret abandoned this pose, Varina chose the image where the birds eye reflected the light of the sun.

Jay’s shot of a Cormorant preparing for take-off is incredibly dynamic. Once again, the glow of the sun brings out the details in all those feathers – and in the brilliant turquoise eye. This shot was taken with a Canon 500mm F4 lens (thanks to Shawn for bringing it along, and for letting us all try it out!). The lens was perfect for capturing wildlife, but the camera – a Canon 5D MkII wasn’t ideal… it’s slow frame rate and focus acquisition made it seem clumsy, especially with such a heavy lens attached.

And finally, a simple shot from Nine Mile Pond. Jay took the shot at sunrise. He chose to shoot at f16 to create a small flare – once again, adding a dynamic touch to a subtle composition.

We want to thank all our students for joining us in Florida. We had a great time, and we hope you all learned a lot! We can’t wait to see some more images from all of you! And for those who might be interested in seeing some of the photos our students captured – please head on over to our forums and take a look!

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