My Garden Poppy

I have written before that I love our garden. Its beauty is amplified every year as plants mature and its natural canvas becomes more complex and vibrant. We have been very lucky this year to have had an early start to the growing season. We live at 7300ft above sea level where the conditions are more harsh than they are in town a mere 1000 feet lower. We need all the help we can get.

It’s almost Mother’s Day and these photographs remind me of a gift I gave Donna a few years ago on her special day. It was a book on gardening written by authors that live near Colorado’s front range. I bought it not only for its beautiful photography but also because it had a wealth of information about growing lavish gardens in Colorado’s harsh soils and arid climate. Fortunately, Donna is a fast learner and she created the garden you see in the photograph below. Interestingly enough, my gift to her has now become a gift for me and my camera’s lens!

Orange poppies screaming for attention

The long evenings of summer present a ripe opportunity for me to relax in the garden with my camera. The scene is ever changing and the potential compositions are endless. Especially with a macro lens. While admiring the garden last night, I saw our orange poppies calling out for attention and grabbed my camera. Since the skies were overcast and the daylight was waning, I decided to use my Canon Speedlite flash to create the light I needed for the photograph. With my Canon 5D Mark III equipped with a Canon 100m f/2.8L macro lens on a tripod, I composed my shot and used wireless radiopoppers to fire my Canon 430EX flash remotely off camera. I just set the flash to manual, dialed it down to 1/64th power, and held it with my hand at various distances and angles until I got the lighting effect I wanted. I paid particular attention the the direction of the cast shadow and how it added a three dimensional look to the poppy.

As for the camera settings, the wind was blowing gently so I used a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second to freeze the detail of the poppy as the flash fired. The depth of focus is very shallow with a macro lens so I used an aperture setting of f/7.1. This allowed most of the center of the poppy to be in focus, which was my intended center of interest for the photograph.

Watch your step!

As I mentioned in my bluebird post, I have become more aware of the beauty around me since taking up photography. While walking on our property this evening, I noticed these little white wildflowers nestled in the prairie grass. Yes, those are blades of grass projecting between the petals of the flowers. In much the same way as I did with the photograph of the poppies, I grabbed my camera and used my flash to kick light onto the flower. I was careful not to use too much light, which would blow the detail out of the soft white petals. My goal was to capture the intimacy of the flower’s relationship to the grass and call to attention something that may easily go unnoticed.

Bluebird in flight. Same bird two moments in time.

(Photo details: Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 300m f/2.8 telephoto, 1/2000 sec, f/9.0, ISO 400)

Photography has opened my eyes. Not just to a new art form but but also to the importance of preserving what is naturally beautiful. From fleeting scenes inspired by the coming and going of ever changing light to the seemingly impossible colors on the back of a bluebird, I am a committed observer to the beauty that surrounds me. It is everywhere. Once tuned, our eyes consume so much more than appears on the the surface of our everyday lives. So many of us rush through the day with our eyes on the finish line – a pillow at the end of the day upon which we rest our head only to start it all over again the next morning. I too have been guilty of this.

Nesting bluebirds

I freely admit that I initially built and installed a bluebird box for selfish reasons. I simply wanted to make photographs of them. After installing the box within an eye shot of our study window, I was disappointed that it remained empty for months. What appeared to be a safe haven from the harsh winter elements turned out to be a place birds of any sort found undesirable. Until now.

Our male bluebird

While working in our garden last weekend, I noticed that the roof of the bluebird box had warped. I dropped the rake I was using, pulled the box off of its post, and took it to the garage for repair. Then I thought, “Why bother, the birds don’t appear to like it anyway.” So I put the box on a shelf in the garage and went back outside to tend to the garden. As I was turning mulch, I noticed shadows rapidly swirling on the sidewalk below me and a frantic chirping sound in my ears.

Female bluebird building her nest

As I looked up, there they were. A male bluebird up on the gutter and a female perched on a spruce tree just beyond the pole without a bluebird box. They seemed to be saying, “Where the heck is the house? It was here yesterday!” I thought, “Holy smokes, they’re moving in!” I quickly dropped the rake, grabbed the box from the garage, reattached it to the pole, and secured the warped roof with a bungee cord. Within minutes, the female bluebird was busy gathering mulch from the garden and building a nest. It is hard to express the excitement that I felt at that moment. Not only was I going to get my photographs, I was now personally attached to these little creatures of nature.

Bluebird nest

After roughly a week of gathering, her nest is almost complete. I made a new roof and improved the latch to make sure predators would not be able to get to the eggs. While observing behaviors, which ultimately leads to better photographs, I noticed a pesky tree swallow lurking about. So far, the male has been able to keep him a bay. I fear that he will continue to be an issue and I plan to take all precautionary measures possible to protect the nest.

A competing tree sparrow

What was initially a selfish act is now a calling for preservation. My temporary inhabitants piqued my interest. I have learned that the growing use of pesticides and the clearing of dead trees in developed areas has left the bluebird without many options for propagation. The bluebird population has plummeted and they desperately need our help. They cannot create their own shelters and their natural alternatives are dwindling. Bluebird boxes are available for as little as $20 and they serve an important role in helping to increase their numbers. Consider contributing to their preservation by picking one up if you live in an area that attracts bluebirds. It will help them out and it may the first step you take in slowing down to take in the beauty around you!

5/4/2012 – Update! Just found two eggs in the nest!

Finally, a couple of eggs have been laid

Our first flowers of 2012 shot with a Zeiss Distagon 21mm lens

I admit that taking a close up of our first spring flowers is not quite the broad sweeping landscapes I usually like to shoot with my wide angle lens but it proves an important point. It proves that the extra $1,000 I spent on my new Carl Zeiss Distagon 21mm f/2.8 wide angle lens was worth the money. Why? Because it allows me capture higher quality original images that can be output at larger sizes without having to jump through flaming post-processing hoops. Although the issues I cover in today’s post are not likely to bother anyone that publishes web resolution images, they will rear their ugly heads when images are displayed at higher resolutions.

My stock wide angle lens is the Canon 17-40mm f/2.8L. At $779, it is a very capable lens that I have used to capture some very nice images. What’s more, it is relatively light and is built to last. So what is my beef with the lens? Well, I have become increasingly frustrated lately with  image quality when creating large format prints. In addition to minor vignetting and distortion issues, the chromatic aberration introduced by the lens is irritatingly problematic. What is chromatic aberration? In a nutshell, it is a type of distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colors to the same convergence point. Chromatic aberration makes itself evident in photographs as “fringes” of color along boundaries of dark and bright parts of an image. What does it look like and how do you control it? Read on.

The Zeiss Distagon 21mm f/2.8 and the Canon-17-40mm f/4.0L

To illustrate what I am trying to overcome in image quality, I took two photographs of the lovely crocuses in our garden. One photo was taken with the Carl Zeiss 21mm and the other with the Canon 17-40mm. The images were recorded with the white balance set to daylight and the f-stop at 8.0. Since the Canon is a zoom, I set it to 21mm to mimic the focal length of the Zeiss prime, which is fixed at 21mm.

Starting at the left, look at the first two image slices below. The slices represent the original images that were captured by my Canon 5D Mark II. As the labels indicate, the Zeiss image is on the left and the Canon image is in the center. Even without clicking on the image to see more detail, you can plainly see the problem. The Canon-based image has a garish purple fringe around the crocus petal that I can assure you does not exist in life. As shown in the image inset, at lower resolution you cannot see the fringe. But at a 400% magnification as shown below, or even 100%, the fringing is quite evident and would need to be addressed if the image is to be printed in a large format.

Chromatic aberration screaming on the Canon 17-40mm f/4.0L

The Zeiss-based image contained no chromatic aberration whatsoever. I also noticed that the overall image is “warmer” than the Canon image and contained a much richer spectrum of color and contrast. Frankly, this result should not be all that astonishing. The Zeiss lens is a prime lens. Primes are known to exhibit higher image quality than zooms. And, at over $1,000 more than the Canon, the Zeiss should be better!

So what if you don’t want to pop another grand for the Zeiss? Well there are options. If you shoot your images in RAW format, which I highly recommend, you can use Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) plugin to remove the Lion’s share of the chromatic aberration in images. ACR works in tandem with Adobe Photoshop and other image software programs like Adobe Lightroom to help you “develop” Camera RAW images.

ACR contains lens profiles that can be selected to correct for optical and chromatic distortion. As you can see in the image below, I was able to remove the chromatic aberration in the Canon-based image by simply selecting “Enable Lens Profile Correction” in the Lens Correction tab in ACR. ACR automatically picked the right lens and applied the profile correction!

Correcting chromatic aberration with Adobe Camera RAW

Despite the miracle of ACR, I still prefer shooting with the Zeiss lens to control chromatic aberration. Simply put, I would rather start my post-processing workflow with the cleanest image possible. Although ACR does a great job of correcting for chromatic aberration, the base image still suffers a loss in quality. If you look closely, the remnants of the purple fringing are still present in a desaturated form. There is a light grey outline around the petal. Now look at the petal in the Zeiss-based image. There is a much nicer and color-rich transition between the background and the petal. Plus, the overall color representation is much more pleasant in my opinion.

Ok, I know I am splitting hairs here but that is part of the fun for me. I am interested in the entire process of photography. Sure, making great photographs starts with the eye of the photographer, but it cannot be denied that the quality of the equipment and post processing techniques carry a fair amount of weight in the the final quality of the photograph being made.

Hallett Peak (left) and Flattop Mountian (right) as seen from the frozen Dream Lake

Photo details:
Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L, ISO100, f/8.0, 1/640th, handheld)

I could not wait to share some details about our awesome President’s Day weekend adventure snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park. As fate would have it, a long time friend owns a house in Estes Park, which is right on the doorstep of Colorado’s own Rocky Mountain National Park. With accommodations and good company in tow, Donna and I threw the camera gear and snowshoes in the car and headed out for a weekend surrounded by 360 degrees of natural beauty.

Beautiful it was and the weather was fantastic, making the whole trip that much more fun. Average temperatures during our hikes was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The balmy temps, combined with the exertion of hiking uphill to just over 10,000 feet, motivated us to shed our down coats and stuff them in our packs!

All of pictures you see here except the one directly below are from our second day of snowshoeing in the park. The first day, we hiked to Mills Lake, which was a six-mile round trip with a 700 foot vertical gain. Unfortunately, the orientation of the sun and the time of day prevented me from making satisfactory pictures. The sun was very harsh, causing a good dose of flare through my lenses. Despite the less than ideal shooting conditions, we still had a great time. In fact, it left us wanting more.

Mills Lake - Less than ideal shooting condiitons

Compare the shot of Mills Lake immediately above with the one of Dream Lake at the very top of the post. The sun at Dream Lake was off to the left at about 45 degrees and the sky was nice and blue with a few clouds thrown in for good measure. This, in my view, creates a much more pleasant balance of light and shadow, allowing colors to and detail to come through. In the less than ideal photo conditions of Mills Lake directly above, the sun is high and behind the mountain, creating very harsh contrasts between the light and shadow. When you are out shooting, constantly look at the quality of light and determine how you can capitalize on it to make nice photographs.

Snowshoeing to Emerald Lake via Dream Lake

The hike highlighted in today’s post is a relatively easy one. In the summer, the hike from the Bear Lake parking area to Emerald Lake can be very busy. It is only 1.8 miles one way and you only have to climb a modest 600 feet over that distance to get there. Fortunately, most folks are fair weather hikers, which made our winter snowshoeing adventure a less crowded. Everyone we saw though was very polite and quite happy to be out among nature, letting folks by when traffic increased.

Donna (middle) and friends making their way up to Dream Lake

The trail all the way to the lakes was fairly well packed so we could have gotten away with shorter snowshoes, or even crampons for that matter. My shoes, which are 30 inches long, work best in deeper snow but also perform well on a packed trail. We did venture off into the powder from time to time for fun where the longer snowshoes came in handy. I would not recommend doing a winter hike like this without something on your feet to gain purchase into the snow. The cleats on the bottom of the snowshoes are great for maintaining a steady footing in almost any condition we encountered.

Snowshoeing across Dream Lake toward Emerald Lake

After meandering the trail among the trees for a while, we finally met the big reveal of Dream Lake. What an awesome view! This time of year, the lake is frozen over, making it easy to walk across to reach our final destination at Emerald Lake. If you have a concern about whether the lakes are safe to walk across, just ask a ranger at the trail head and they will be glad to give you sound advice.

Cresting the last hill to Emerald Lake

A short distance after crossing Dream Lake, we climbed a little more and finally reached Emerald Lake. Here, there were even fewer folks around, making it a great spot to drop our packs and indulge in a small lunch. Below are me and my better half posing for a photo. The lake, which sits at 10,800 feet above sea level, is down behind us just beyond the trees.

Me and Donna at our destination on Emerald Lake

As we sat an had our lunch on the frozen banks of Emerald Lake, the Clark’s Nutcracker below flew over with a couple of Grey Jays and politely asked for peanuts. I have seen Scrub Jays at our house in Monument at 7300ft but no Grey Jays or Clark’s Nutcrackers. According to my Peterson’s Field Guide, the Clark’s Nutcracker is typically found in the high mountains around conifers at tree line. Sounds like he is exactly where he should be!

A Clark's Nutcracker looking for peanuts at Emerald Lake

I plan to go back up to the lakes when the they thaw but before the snow completely melts. To make nice photographs I often have to visit a place more than once. Besides the effect of ever changing seasons, it is nice to document how the light behaves for subsequent attempts to make the best photograph possible.

Sunset at Cape Arago, Oregon

After making photographs of eagles in Klamath Falls, we made a four and a half hour trek by car to the beautiful Oregon coast. We had originally planned to drive to Crater Lake but found out that the area was already inundated with snow, which made access to the lake impractical without proper planning. So, as an alternative, we set our sights on Coos Bay, which is a town of about 16,000 people on the Oregon coast.

Driving from Klamath Falls to Coos Bay, Oregon

We chose Coos Bay for its beautiful tide pools and the photographic bliss that they provide. Since we were only staying one night in Coos Bay, we needed to arrive in time to catch the setting sun. As planned, we arrived at 3pm, checked into the hotel, and asked the helpful lady at the hotel where the tide pools were. She gave us a map and circled an area 20 minutes away called Cape Arago. Equipped with our location, we threw our bags in the room and headed out to the Cape in hopes of finding a good location for late day photographs.

Photo location - Be careful!!!

Once we arrived at the Cape with about an hour to shoot, I frantically looked around for the best location and discovered it was down toward the tide pools. Reaching the pools required me to climb down a relatively steep natural embankment. I went down the embankment because I don’t like shooting down on my subjects. Shooting on a relatively level viewing plane allows me to put the viewer in the middle of the action and make a more interesting photograph.

Well, with 25 pounds of gear on my back and slightly wet soil, you guessed it, I slipped on the way down. I did not end up in a tide pool thank goodness but my wrist is still a little sore from catching myself. Not knowing how the tide behaves in this location, I stayed high enough to keep clear from the waves as they came came rolling in. Be very careful when scouting locations like this. It is easy to get hurt so don’t take chances!

Tide pool entrance at Cape Arago, Oregon

The photos above are what I ended up with for my efforts. I processed the images to my liking to emphasize the colors of the rocks and water. To get the effect of the waves moving, I used a multi-stop neutral density filter, which allowed me to extend the exposure time and create the smooth-ish water texture. I just experimented with several exposure lenghts to get the effect I wanted. Once home, I used Photoshop plugins Nik Color EFX Pro 4 and Viveza 2 to work the contrast and color to create the final photographs.

Sleepy morning in Coos Bay, Oregon

The next morning we drove around Coos Bay looking for interesting subjects and found this boat getting ready to go out for the catch of the day. It would have been nice to hang out for a few more days and work some more on the tide pools. Rain was on its way though and we had a date with Mount Hood, which was five hours north.

So, up next will be my shot of Mount Hood. It is not an award winner due to weather but I was able to check it off of the list and see some of Portland!

Have a great week!
Lee

A male House Finch on my back deck having lunch

I am honing my birding skills by making pictures of birds feeding on our back deck. Eventually I will introduce some natural surroundings to capture these little guys on tree branches. In the mean time, I thought some of the painters out there would like to take a crack at painting this beautiful little House Finch. If you do paint or draw him, send me a picture and I will display them in this post! I hope you all are having a great Sunday.

Lee

Here are the paintings I have received of our little bird!

Bald Eagle in flight at the Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge

For the third installment on my trip to Oregon, I will discuss my attempt to capture eagles in flight. The shot above, which was the best action shot of the trip, took some practice including visiting a local high school basketball game to hone some skills.

It becomes a little mind numbing when you consider all of the variables that are in play when trying to make photographs of wildlife in action. Here are just a few that crossed my mind:

• What is the quality of the light?
• Which direction will he fly?
• Is the camera set up to focus properly?
• What position will his wings be in when I snap the picture?
• Is the shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action?
• Is the aperture setting high enough to get the entire bird in focus?
• Is the aperture low enough to blur the background?
• Will the background be interesting?

Maturing Bald Eagle on telephone pole

The action photo at the top started out as the photo directly above. OK, an eagle sitting on a power line pole is not the most beautiful of all settings. You have to admit though that it is still pretty cool! As an aside, this eagle does not look fully matured. If you look closely you can still see little brown specks in his crown. For comparison, look at the eagles in the nest below. Their “bald” heads are well structured and pristine looking.

Eagle flight sequence - 420mm, ISO100, f/9.0, 1/640 sec

As soon as we saw this bird on the pole, we parked the car and got out to take a few photos. It is always good to get something on the card because you never know when they are going to fly away. We then approached very slowly by foot, continuing to take pictures along the way. This eagle was pretty tolerant so we were able to get reasonably close before he started to show signs that he was ready to fly off.

My shooting modes for eagle in flight

When he started to look a bit restless, I switched my Canon 5D Mark II to shoot in AI Servo Auto Focus mode and Continuous Shooting Drive mode. AI Servo Auto Focus mode continuously keeps the subject within center focus point in focus…even if it is moving. Sweet! Further, Continuous Shooting mode keeps taking pictures as fast as the camera can until the shutter button is let go. These modes apply to Canon DSLRs. Just look at your camera’s manual to see if these or similar features are offered on your camera.

Now, take a look at the sequence of flying eagle shots above. These are the shots I was able to make using the method I described. As I got too close for his comfort, the eagle launched off of the pole, descended toward the ground, and swooped back up. As you can see, the first shot I got was when he made a turn and began climbing. I have to admit that it is pretty exciting to be a photographer at this point!

Tracking the eagle's eye with the center focus point in viewfinder

As soon as he launched, I steadied my lens and put all my attention on tracking his eye with the center focus point as smoothly as possible. The whole time, I had my finger pressed on the shutter, which snapped pictures as fast as the camera would record them. You cans see that the continuous shooting capability is important for getting the wings in the right place. It would be near impossible to snap a single picture at just the right moment!

The Canon 5D Mark II is not an overly fast focusing or high frame rate camera. It can shoot about 4 frames per second compared to an astonishing 12 for the newly announced Canon 1DX. For a few thousand bucks more I can solve that. I have to say though that I am very happy with the results considering that I got a very clear, well focused shot of this eagle. It’s quite gratifying actually.

Nesting Bald Eagles at the Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge

To wrap up, here are a couple of shots of nesting eagles that we found at the refuge. This was quite a sight. As you can see, the nest is huge and yes there are eaglets in there! This was one of the few shots where I got mom and dad looking up. Most of the time the lower eagle’s head was buried in the nest tending to the eaglets.

Nesting eagles up close - Just had lunch?

I would have loved to have had a longer lens for this shot. It is hard for you to realize how far away these birds actually were. Considering the distance, it is quite amazing that the camera and lens could resolve this much detail! I had a blast making photographs of these birds as they are truly captivating. It is not hard to comprehend how their beauty and majestic stature inspired my country to name them as its national symbol.

Next up is Coos Bay and Cape Arago on the Oregon coast! Thanks as always for visiting and have a fabulous weekend!

Immature Blad Eagle on a fabricated perch on the refuge

Canon 5D Mark II with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens
ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/800 sec, 420mm (with 1.4x II teleconverter)

For parts two and three of my series on Oregon, I will highlight my time in Klamath Falls and what I learned about making pictures of eagles in the wild. To prepare for the trip and the task, I spent a fair amount of time researching wildlife photography on the Internet and practiced shooting moving subjects at a local high school basketball game. I can’t tell you how valuable the time at the ballgame was in achieving satisfactory results on my trip. Using that experience, I ended up capturing a very nice eagle in flight, which I will share in my next post.

A map of where we were chasing eagles

Lesson #1: Look for the best light

What? Looking for eagles was not the first and most important thing to do? Well yes…it was..but making nice photographs for me has everything to do with having good light. Sure, you can capture eagles in any light for documentation and research purposes, but a shot will always be made better in good light. For example, look at the shot just below. It was the first eagle shot of the day. We immediately noticed two problems with our approach. First, there was a car ahead of us that kept pushing the eagle to the next perch down the way. As you can see, this made the distances too far for the focal length of our lenses. I will cover that in lesson #2.

The other problem was the orientation of the sun to the subject. The sun was mostly behind him. You can tell by looking at the shadows on the perch. Since eagles seem to sit with their backs to the sun, all we were going to get from our first approach were darkened silhouettes. What did we do? Well, we turned the car around and drove around the lake and came in from the other side. It allowed us to get much closer and provided much better light to illuminate the bird. As evidence, the shot at the top of the post is what we ended up with. You can see from the shadows that the sun was now behind me, which put our eagle in full and beautiful sunlight. Much better!

An eagle too far and in not so good light

Lesson #2: Your lens will probably never be long enough

Although I deem my results acceptable, I wanted a longer lens almost the whole time I was in Klamath Falls. That said, the lens I took with me is very nice. It is the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II. The optical quality if this lens is unrivaled in the professional Canon EF lineup and it performs exceptionally well when paired with Canon’s 1.4x III teleconverter. Since I was shooting with a full-frame Canon 5D Mark II, the lens with the teleconverter gave me 420mm of reach. That may sound like a lot until you try making pictures of birds high on a perch or a tree. Restless birds no less. The closer you get, the more likely they will fly farther away. Bummer!

As you can see from the photograph at the top, when the conditions were right the results are amazing. Even with the teleconverter, the Canon 300m f/2.8 is an incredible piece of glass. Literally no chromatic aberration and incredible resolving power. I bought the 300mm primarily for photographing larger wildlife like elk, lions and giraffes. In fact, my primary purpose for owning it is to take it to Africa next year. For that use, I think it will be perfect. For birding, however, the rule of thumb is to buy the highest quality and longest lens you can afford. I am not sure if and when I will go longer. My penchant for the best gear available will set me back five figures for a longer lens. I am not sure I am willing to make that commitment right now. In the mean time, I will use and love the 300mm for its intended purposes.

I overcame the focal length deficiency with patience. We parked the car and then very slowly moved toward the bird in stages…taking pictures as we went. Some birds were more temperamental than others. We just had to proceed with caution and hope for the closest shot possible.

Snow-capped volacnic peak from the Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge

Lesson #3: Keep an eye on your lens and exposure settings

When first starting out in photography, I can’t tell you how many times I shot pictures at the wrong settings. I remember once shooting a bunch of landscapes in broad daylight at an ISO of 1600. They were the settings from the night before while shooting a concert! For that reason, I have made it a ritual to check all settings before embarking on a new outing. Here are a few things to consider when setting your camera up for photographing eagles:

• Are your lens buttons in the right places? - Super telephoto and zoom lenses have buttons that enable faster focusing at various distances. The Canon 300mm f/2.8 has three lens focus ranges. If you are shooting subjects in the distance, make sure the 6m to infinity setting is enabled. It will allow for the lens to focus faster, which will come in very handy if the bird launches and you want to catch him in flight! Also make sure image stabilization is enabled if you have it. The Canon 300mm f/2.8 II has four stops of stabilization. That allows for much clearer handheld images at longer focal lengths. This feature is worth paying for and proved to be invaluable on this trip.

The array of buttons to consider on the Canon 300mm f/2.8 II (Source: Canon Manual)

•  What ISO setting are you going to use? – In broad daylight, it was pretty easy to use an ISO of 100 and get the shutter speed and aperture settings I wanted. An ISO setting of 100 will give the cleanest image from a noise perspective, especially when you have a clear blue sky as a background. If skies had been overcast, I may have picked an ISO of 400 or higher to make sure the shutter speed stayed high enough to not only capture perched birds but also birds in flight.

Immature bald eagle getting ready to launch

• What about shutter speed and aperture? – As a general rule, your shutter speed should be at least equal to your focal length to minimize unwanted camera shakes. This means that if you use a 300mm telephoto lens the shutter speed should be at least 1/320th of a second. Of course, lens- or camera-based image stabilization gives you leeway here but it is always a good idea to your shutter speed in mind when trying to reduce camera shake. The shot above was at 1/1000th of a second. This was plenty considering I also had image stabilization going for me as well. As far as aperture is concerned, make sure you pick an aperture setting that keeps the subject in focus while allowing the background to blur if that is the look you are going for. Keep in mind that longer focal lengths further reduce the field that will be in sharp focus. Settings of f/5.0 and f/7.1 seemed to work well for me. To be sure, I always preview my shots on the camera’s LCD at maximum magnification to make sure what I am shooting is in sharp focus. I always focused on the eagle’s eye. The eye is where most people look first and will make the greatest initial impression. Much like photographing humans!

A convenient perch for a Bald Eagle

Lesson #4: Have fun and take in the moment

As soon as I knew I had a few winners under my belt, I reminded myself to stop obsessing about the quality of my pictures and just enjoy the moment. Chasing eagles is not something I do everyday. I love the image above of a lone eagle perched atop a dormant tree. The serenity and solitude of that moment is something I will remember for a long time. This picture will remid me of it. Taking and committing to memory the beauty of the surrounding landscape and incredible wildlife amplifies the meaning of my photos when I bring them home. It allows me to transport myself back to the time and place they were taken and relive the moment all over again. What’s better that that?

The wetlands of the Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge

My next post will feature a Bald Eagle in flight and nesting eagle in a natural setting. I am quite happy with them and I hope you will return for the next leg of this adventure!

Take care,
Lee

My friend Eric boarding the turboprop to Klamath Falls, Oregon

This post is part one of a multi-part series on my most recent trip to Oregon.
Trust me, a few eagle pictures are coming soon!

When I think about it, I have mostly been a fair weather photographer. Honestly, who doesn’t want to make pictures in the south of France in September? There is, however, something appealing about venturing out when most of the population is snuggled up to their fireplaces in the comfort of their homes. A few years’ back I can’t say that I would have sought out a photography trip in the middle of January. Until now. For me, winter photography holds the promise of unique photo opportunities in uncrowded places.

Since eagles do things on their own schedule, we had to plan a trip that would maximize our opportunity to see them. I have not engaged in a lot of wildlife photography but I have a friend that really enjoys it. Recently, he mentioned that he wanted to fly up to Oregon to make pictures of Bald Eagles at the Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge. Not having been to Oregon before, I piped up and said let’s go! It seemed like a prime opportunity to see an unfamiliar part of the country and to try something new while doing something I love. Taking in the splendor of nature while capturing beauty through the iris of my camera’s lens. The final itinerary we settled on called for two days in Klamath Falls at the refuge, and three days making our way back to Portland by car along the Oregon coast with a stop at the base of Mount Hood for good measure.

Having not packed for cold weather photography before, I had to break my fair weather routine. My goal was to travel as light as possible while carrying enough equipment to make the pictures I wanted. The photo below shows everything I took for the five-day trip. This included all my camera gear, a tripod and monopod, plus all my clothes and necessities. All of this went on the plane as my two allowed carry on items.

Photo gear and necessities for five-day Oregon trip

To carry my camera gear, I decided on the F-Stop Tilopa Back Country backpack (shown above right). It is a pretty amazing bag that can be adapted to a variety of carrying needs. What’s nifty is that you can buy what F-Stop calls ICUs, or Internal Camera Units. They have different sizes to accommodate the needs of different adventures. The ICUs, which are available in small to monster sizes, hold your camera gear nice and secure and slide conveniently into the backpack for easy access while in the field. You just pick the size of ICU you need for gear and the balance of the storage in the bag can be used for other things. Brilliant!

For my trip, I used the large ICU (shown loaded below), which still left a bit of room in my pack for the other short-hike items that I needed. Within the large ICU, I was able to fit the following items:

• Canon 5Dmark II
• Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II Telephoto Lens
• Canon 24-105mm Zoom Lens
• Canon 17-40mm Wide Angle Zoom Lens
• Canon 1.4x III Teleconverter
• Two Batteries and Charger
• Three 16GB Compact Flash Cards
• Really Right Stuff Pano Elements Panning Base and Nodal Slide
• Three Singh Ray 77mm Filters
• Three Singh Ray Neutral Density Grad Filters plus the Filter Holder
• Canon Remote Release
• USB Camera Connection Cable

20.5 lbs. of gear in a large F-Stop Gear Internal Camera Unit (ICU)

Fully loaded, the large ICU with this gear weighed in at 20.5 pounds. Pretty awesome, huh? The dilemma was, however, with $13,000 worth of gear in my ICU, I could not risk having to gate-check the large Tilopa backpack loaded with camera gear and send it down into the cargo hold of the turboprop. To avoid this on the trip out to Klamath Falls, I decided to put the gear-loaded large ICU in the sturdy carry on canvas bag shown above along with my MacBook Air laptop. My Tilopa backpack was then loaded with my trip clothes and necessities as well as my tripod and monopod. This way, I could keep the expensive and fragile camera gear with me on the plane even if I needed to gate-check the backpack.

Once I got to Klamath Falls, I simply transferred my clothes to my canvas bag and slid the ICU back into into the Tilopa backpack. Now I was all ready to go hiking and picture making!

Next up will be a post on my experiences at the wildlife refuge and a few photo of the eagles that I was able to make. Stick around, I think you will like them!

Lee

Last light at the Great Sand Dunes National Park

Please click here to see the full size panorama

Sometimes you need to bring home a panorama to fully express what you saw in life. Today’s photo is one of those occasions. A vast expanse of pristine valley gives rise to towering 13,000 plus foot peaks while unbefitting sand dunes lay bathed in the day’s last light.

It is hard to imagine anything more perfect. After meandering the pathways of Alamosa’s National Wildlife Refuge, my son and I returned to the Great Sand Dunes just in time to capture the long shadows and vibrant colors that the sun graciously provides in the last few moments of daylight.

We stood there in complete silence as as the sun set, patiently waiting for the day’s best light. It was so quiet, we could have heard a pin drop. Then it happened. The valley floor came alive with color as the falling sun articulated the the peaks and valleys of the dunes and the majestic landscape of the Sangre de Cristo Mountians.

Standing in the presence of such beauty with my son at my side reminded my of how blessed I am. I am very lucky that my son and I share similar interests. He has the same passion for life as I do and we often talk about how hard it is to fit it all in. For this reason, it is good to get away from our daily routines from time to time and pursue what we truly love. On occasion, it is exhilarating to live in the moment and free ourselves of the average day’s unrelenting distractions.

Pano detail of Mt. Herard

This panorama, taken with  my Canon 5D Mark II and a 100mm prime lens, was stitched from six six portrait-oriented images using Photoshop’s Photomerge feature. The camera settings were ISO100, f/8.0 at 1/50th of a second. To minimize alignment issues and ensure the images were captured perfectly level, I used a panning base and nodal slide from Really Right Stuff (shown below). The panning base, which mounts to my tripod’s ball head, allows for easy leveling and silky smooth panning of the camera.

The Really Right Stuff panning base and nodal slide (Photo source: Really Right Stuff)

The nodal slide (long bar on the panning base) allows me to easily mount the camera in either landscape or portrait orientation and slide the camera back so that the optical center of the lens is positioned directly over the axis of rotation. The axis of rotation is therefore at the midpoint of the panning clamp, which is mounted on the center of the tripod’s ball head. See the photo from Really Right Stuff below.

Really Right Stuff Pano Elements Package (Photo source: Really Right Stuff)

Why all the fuss? Well, the setup allows for easy leveling and also eliminates image parallax by positioning the optical center of the lens over the point of rotation. In a nutshell, image parallax occurs when near and far objects don’t align in overlapping images. Although it is not as big an issue with distant landscapes like today’s image, if you happen to have prominent subject matter in the foreground of your panorama, it’s essential to eliminate image parallax to make sure everything aligns properly during the stitch operation. If you would like to know more about parallax, just jump on over to the explanation on the Really Right Stuff site here.

Panning zone (shown in landscape orientation)

Oh, while shooting the panorama, I just make a mental note of where the center focus point is relative to the landscape in the viewfinder…take the picture…and then pan the left of my next frame to that point. This gives me a 50% overlap for the successive images for flawless stitching in Photoshop. The figure directly above shows the panning zone as if looking through the viewfinder in landscape orientation. I usually shoot panoramas in tall portrait orientation to maximize the pixel height of the image. Just look for that center reference and pan accordingly in either orientation.

To give you an idea of the actual resolution of this image, right-click the image below and open in a new, full resolution window. The final pano shown at the top of this post is a crop of the original set of shots that I captured. All totaled, the full resolution original panorama is just over 200,000,000 pixels!

Full resolution panorama section