Always Carry Your Camera

I'm a big fan of having a camera with you all the time. You know how it is, all those times you're driving along and see a gorgeous sunset happening, or a funny scene on a street, or bank robbery and you say to yourself, "I wish I had a camera!" Fortunately, now most of us do have a camera with us all the time. My cellphone, a mere iPhone 3Gs, does a fair job. See that picture down below under "Raining, Frosting, Fogging?" I made that picture with my phone, and most newer phones are even more capable of making a decent picture. The fact is, just being able to make a picture is the important thing.

Having said that about phones, I made this picture with my D7000 while walking home from work on Friday evening. There were seven or eight turkey vultures circling high around the neighborhoods at the mouth of Logan Canyon. I supposed they had just returned from their wintering in the southern states, and were making their routes looking for places to take up residence for the season. I kept walking; they were too far away to photograph well. A moment later I noticed the moon in the sky with wispy clouds hanging about...then I looked for the vultures. I willed them to come closer and circle nearby the moon, and they did! I tried my hardest to use my brain to move a few more into the frame at the same time, but they withstood my ESP efforts. Oh, well; I'm happy with what I was given here. I used my 28-300mm lens racked out to 300mm to bring the moon and the vulture together. Unfortunately, an iPhone can't quite make this image. Good thing I had something more substantial with me!

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 300mm, f/10, 1/400s, ISO 400.

One More Heron

Lightning doesn't strike twice, but I'm pretty sure I could wait it out. I think I might like to try my hand at bird photography a little more. At least, the big birds. I'm not too interested in the little guys--they're too flighty.

Nikon D7000, 300mm f/4 lens,  f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO 500.

Like I mentioned the other day, this is one of many that were roosting in the top of a small copse of spruce trees. We were driving down the road on the edge of Nehalem Bay in Oregon when I noticed that one had landed in a tree. My car handles better than expected on soft gravelly shoulders, and in no time I was faced with my first dilemma in making images: which lens should I use? 

Naturally, I wanted a long lens, lots of magnification, big number followed by mm. I had two choices: a 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens or a 300mm f/4 lens. The f/4 is an older generation lens, but is pretty incredible in many situations--as most prime lenses are--but it's long and kinda heavy which means it gets wobbly sticking off the end of the camera. The 28-300mm if just about the same length, and only slightly lighter, but it's hot off the production line, and the new iteration of vibration reduction Nikon has created is pretty darn good at stopping that wiggle by countering the operators' movements with micro motors gyro-ing around inside it. That means that even though I'm giddy as a school girl at the chance to shoot some huge birds in an interesting location, the pictures are much more likely to come out sharp.

So, you're thinking, "Duh, take the new lens!" But, there's one more consideration: sharpness. I'm not talking about focus, but rather how much detail there is in the stuff that's in focus. The rule of thumb is that most lenses produce their sharpest images when the aperture is closed down from wide open about two full stops (this is called stopping the lens down). That means that the 28-300mm, which has a maximum aperture of f/5.6 at 300mm, is sharpest at f/11, whereas the 300mm f/4 is sharpest at f/8; and what that means is that there is twice as much light available at f/8 than there is at f/11 (it's an area of a circle equation with an exponent...) and on a cloudy day that leads to the next consideration.

Big birds make fast movements when lifting off and landing and in order to freeze those movements, a fast shutter speed is required, and that depends on the amount of light coming into the lens. The fast shutter speed not only freezes the bird's movement, but it also freezes your movement as you balance this howitzer off the front of your face. The VR can compensate for your movement and help get a sharp picture of something holding still, which mean I can hand hold a slower shutter speed than I could with the antique 300mm. However, when the subject is moving, VR just doesn't cut it: you gotta have raw shutter speed. From the specs above you can see that I shot this one at 1/640 of a second at f/6.3. See, I know that the 300mm is sharper at all apertures than the fancy new zoom, so I wasn't scared to open up the aperture a little. But let's say I used the zoom at f/11 for a sharp picture: my shutter speed would only have been 1/125 of a second! When I'm dancing that slow, my wife is the only bird in my sights. There's no way to freeze action at that speed.

So, all this ran through my mind as I changed lenses and jumped out of the car, dodged a logging truck, and hopped the guard rail to make a few frames. I should have taken my thoughts a step further, however, and considered more carefully my camera choice. I grabbed the D7000 with a smaller sensor because it captures an apparently larger image of the subject at a given distance than my D700. However, the D7000 is a little grainy, and the herons were far enough away that I had to crop considerably to make this picture fill the frame so the detail isn't what it could be if I could have gotten closer with the better body. Haste makes waste, as they say.

Of course, if I actually took my wife slow dancing I may be able to convince her of the need for a 600mm f/4 VR lens, thus combing all the best features of both lenses and the best body! 

Anybody know any dance halls?

The picture above was shot as a color jpeg, allowing me a faster rate of firing on the camera. I then processed the picture as a black and white image. While I was considering my next move to finish this image off, I recalled my high school photography classes when I spent one rainy week hand tinting a mediocre black and white print of a mountain stream with some colored pencils. The result was far better than the original image had been. So, I thought I'd give it a shot here, and I rather like the effect.

Great Blue Herons Hanging High in a Tree

Did you know that Great Blue Herons land in trees? Yeah, me neither. And not, like, big dead trees with big branches: these guys were all landing in the very top of some wobbly spruces! I counted fifteen of them together, and there were probably more in the branches, continuously coming and going. Very enlightening.

Nikon D7000, 300mm f/4 lens, f/8, 1/640s, ISO 800.

Eagle Saturday

Not today, of course. Saturday is Utah's Eagle Day. At Farmington Bay on the Great Salt Lake you can go and see lots of these magnificent birds face to face. I went Tuesday, froze my fingers off, and came home with this as one of my favorite images from the day.

Nikon D7000, 300mm f/4 lens, f/4, 1/6400s, ISO 400.

A Trip South

Nephew is starting first grade. My first grade teacher was Mrs. McCabe, and our team name for field day was McCabe's Monkey's. It was a real field day, with genuine gunny sacks to race in, three legged races, hundred yard dashes, and jump roping contests. And you only got a ribbon if you won, not just for participating. It was a good thing, I think. It was a whole different world at Mary Esther Elementary. That was in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Famous (sort of) for white sandy beaches. I mean, white, like snow, literally.

Not like the beaches in Ft. Lauderdale, where I was last week. The beach there was made all of diatoms and shell fragments, and the grains were very soft and comfortable to walk in. Kind of nice. Not a bad view to wake up to in the morning, either.

I stayed at the Sheraton on the beach, and they have a restaurant in the hotel, called The Wreck (kind of a sunken ship theme) that has windows that look into the pool from below. Pretty creepy. Billy Crystal did some movie with a scene in there. Fish and Chips were okay.

My work was in Miami, however, and i did get a little time there in the afternoon one day to walk the beach front and see the beach. Very colorful place, Miami; very caribbean. 

Unfortunately, that visit was cut short when these storm clouds rolled in. It can really come down down there! So, I was left to my usual routine of shooting at night.

Tried this one on the beach. That couple was gracious enough to hold still for me, and the sea was calm under that oil tanker, too. It was a fifteen second exposure, and then some additional work in LightRoom to finish it off.

Similarly, shooting was restricted to nighttime earlier last week in Atlanta. It's a pretty nice city for night work, though, and this one turned out okay. Hot nights in the south. It was a good visit, with some good results and good people to work with. Still, I wasn't dry for nearly a week, and it's good to be home.

Shot all of these with my Canon 7D, and a 35mm f/1.4 USM L series lens. I like this lens for it's sharp renditions and super fast aperture. However, the camera is a little disappointing. I'm still working with it, but my first impression is that the Nikon D90 makes better quality images, especially at higher ISO's and/or longer exposures. I'm not giving up on it, yet, but I'm also not selling my Nikon gear (nor do I foresee that happening!). I don't mind if you love your Canon, but I've worked with both. I'm still giving it a chance, though, so don't hate me, yet.

I love flying. I always wanted to be a pilot--a helicopter pilot was the latest desire, and in high school I even got to fly the simulators at the Army  base in Colorado. I was doing well at it--better than my classmates and even some of the cadets; so the instructor shot missiles at me, and that was the end. There's just something about being flying.

So last week when one of my students invited me to go up, I jumped at the chance. Coincidentally, I had just finished reading a chapter on aerial photography in John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide, which ended with, "Seize any chance you have to do aerial photography." So I did, and my dad came , too. And it was a blast. I was hanging out the door of a Piper Super Cub, swooping low and shooting away. Wow.

Nikon D90, 70-200mm lens & 300mm f/4.0 lens, various fast shutter speeds, ISO 400-800. fast enough shutters to freeze the shake of the plane, the slipstream of air out the window, and my excited hands.

Canoeing

This was the best of my images from our club canoe trip last Monday (Memorial Day). Kinda fun. Thye were circling directly overhead, and I nearly tipped the boat by leaning back to keep shooting as he flew by. Would it have been worth it?

Nikon D90, 300mm lens, f/4.0, 1/3200s, ISO 200.

On the Front Seat

That's where you should keep your camera.

Nikon D90, 70-300mm VR lens @ 300mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200.

Foggy Snow Geese

Nikon D90, 70-300mm VR lens @ 300mm, f/11, 1/400s, ISO 200, Richmond, British Columbia.

Great Blue Heron

Nikon D90, 70-300mm lens @ 300mm, f/11, 1/500s, ISO 200.

Cardinal Memories

I was walking down the street to catch the bus when I heard a clear and simple call from a bird. Unlike many other bird calls that are comprised of two sounds at once, this one seemed simple enough for a person to accurately imitate it. So I did. I looked up and on the street lamp there was a bright red cardinal singing his heart out. He and I played tag with the call for a few moments--then the bus driver was honking, and I was running. He probably made some kind of completely inappropriate remark, and then let me sit on the engine cover and open the door for other kids. I was eight, and I lived in Northern Florida: seat belts were still not law, and politically correct was not only unheard of, but it probably still hasn't been in that neighborhood. So, I worked the door mechanism, and whistled my Cardinal Call. I still know it.

When I saw these guys at Pinnacle Mountain I remembered that day. We don't have Cardinals here in Utah, with the bright red on the males and muted colors of the females. We also don't have whatever this other guy is. Anyone care to venture and identify him?




I promise, it was the wind ruffling his feathers, not the photographer.

-SD-

Turn Around

Since you always carry your camera, you've just made a lucky image, and you're super excited about it. Now turn around and look for something else to shoot.


Nikon D90, 70-300mm VR lens @ 95mm, f/8.0, 1/400s, ISO 100.

Always Take your Camera

Everywhere you go, just carry your camera with you. This does two things:
1) It makes it part of you--you just always have a camera.
2) It makes you ready to pull over and turn around when you see a huge bald eagle sitting in beautiful tree on the side of the highway.


Fly inside for more evidence...



Nikon D90, 70-300mm VR lens, f/8.0, 1/500s, ISO 100.

Last of the Aquarium, New Feature

Fish aren't the only aquarium dwellers: Birds, otters, and seals also make a home there. Note the link below (Read More!). If there is text before this link on any post, you may click and see more related images. And, as always, click on an image to view a larger version.


Flock here to see more wildlife...

The Kelp forests support all these animals at varying depths. Here an egret lands to stand over water that is 30 feet deep.





Sea otters playfully enjoy their life in the forests. This one lives in the Aquarium; she often takes in orphaned otters found in the bay outside and teaches them to be otters before they are returned to the wild.


Harbor seals are the shyest of the wildlife we saw. This one didn't care for the camera, and quickly took off.

No Parking...Please!

Nikon D90, 85mm lens, f/1.8, 1/4000s, ISO 400. This image is not cropped--the pigeon was really that close, and getting closer.

Bear Lake

Bear Lake Bandit

You know how it is: no food is safe. Nevertheless, these commonplace, garbage eating gulls can really be quite beautiful. The guy who designed the Spitfire (an airplane that helped turn the tide of WWII) said he was inspired by watching the flight of gulls. They'll still steal your sandwich.


Nikon D90, 85mm lens, f/4.0, 1/2500s, ISO 100.

Alaska By Rail

They say you should see Alaska by Rail, and I agree. Driving is dangerous up there: everyone's looking at scenery and not the road! The drive down Turnagain Arm from Anchorage is an exceptionally beautiful stretch of road/rail . It was raining in town, but fifteen minutes down the road striking light was pouring down. Back in Anchorage, the clearing storms made for a beautiful evening.