Photography Tips | Nature Notes

September 15, 2012

Photographing Swallows in flight

Filed under: Birds,Photography Tips — Tags: Swallow, technique, Tips — Harold Stiver @ 6:00 am

A Tree Swallow in Flight

Swallows are such swift and unpredictable fliers, it can be very difficult to capture an image of them in flight. On a lovely May morning, I went to a Tree Swallow nesting box to try a set up. Tree Swallows are very confiding, and especially to someone who is in a car nearby. I set up my camera a few feet from the nesting box and manually focused just in front of the entrance. I then hooked up a remote shutter release which I was able to operate from inside the car.

As the birds entered and left, I tried to time the shutter release to get them in flight. Of course, just a very small percentage worked out, but these few were an exciting result. The image below shows the full image before the nesting boxwas cropped out.

Photographing Swallows in flight

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August 12, 2012

Mute Swan in a high key

Filed under: Photography Tips,Species Account — Tags: ducks, Processing, Tips, waterfowl — Harold Stiver @ 6:00 am

Mute Swan, Cygnus olor

I have been wanting to photograph some local Mute Swan, Cygnus olor, in a high key, that is highly exposed to emphasize the whiteness of their plumage. What I had in mind was something that was basically black and white except for the deep red of the beak. I waited for a day that was misty and overcast because I didn’t want any bright sunlight.

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July 19, 2012

Caribbean Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber

Filed under: Photography Tips,Species Account — Tags: Flamingo — Harold Stiver @ 6:00 am

Caribbean Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber

Often called the American Flamingo, the Caribbean Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber is found in the Caribbean as well as the Galapagos Islands. It was considered a subspecies of the Greater Flamingo of the Old World but was raised to full species.

This image was taken of a captive bird in Pittsburgh’s National Aviary. The background comes out dark by using some fill flash.

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November 13, 2011

Pine Grosbeak-Bad weather is good

Filed under: Birds,Photography Tips,Species Account — Tags: finch, snow, technique, weather, winter — Harold Stiver @ 6:00 am

Pine Grosbeak

Landscape photographers know it. Bad weather can be a good thing, it gives unusual color and light. Bird photographers should know it as well. Snow for example can do some amazing things to reflect the light like a soft natural fill flash. It can also add texture and depth to an image. Of course you have to protect yourself and your gear. Use a lens hood to keep moisture off the lens. Keep spare batteries in a warm pocket against your skin. Fingerless gloves can keep you going. The next time the weather looks bad, plan on getting out there.

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May 9, 2011

Purple Martins in flight

Filed under: Photography Tips,Species Account — Tags: Swallow — Harold Stiver @ 6:00 am

Purple Martin in flight

I find Purple Martins (Progne subis) a difficult challenge to photograph, especially against a bright sky. There seems to be a razor thin line between too dark and blown out. I shot the above at Plus 1-2/3 exposure to bring out detail of the bird.

I’ve never noticed that at least some Purple Martins have white plumage in the pit of their wings. I saw this in images of different birds, so it wasn’t just a single aberration. I see it is not show in Sibley’s Guide but perhaps it is well known to others. See the image below.

Purple Martin with white pits

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January 7, 2011

Photographing Diving Ducks

Filed under: Photography Tips — Tags: ducks, technique, waterfowl — Harold Stiver @ 6:00 am

Red-breasted Merganser Diving

I was photographing Red-breasted Mergansers recently and decided I would try to get an image of one diving. I cannot give you a good reason for wanting to do such an odd thing but it gave me two quick results

I was able to take a lot of picture of splashing water and no duck
I realized my reactions sucked

However, after watching them for a few hours, I realized that they often had a “tell”, something that would let me know they were going to dive. Not always, but occasionally they would tense or hunch a bit, before they dived. Most of my attempts were still unsuccessful, but I was able to get a few images. And here they are.

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September 9, 2010

Night on the Midway

Filed under: Ontario,Photography Tips — Tags: Fair, Long Exposure, Night, Ontario, Paris — Harold Stiver @ 6:00 am

Paris Fair, Ontario

Photography is a good excuse to do things we don’t usually do. I haven’t been to a fair since my children were young, and I wanted to take some long exposure shots of the midway rides at night.I went to the local fair here in Paris, Ontario, and it turned out to be a lot of fun.There was not a lot of technique involved, I set the ISO at 50 to minimize the noise and this translated into shutter speeds of 6-10 seconds. Of course, at those slow speeds, a tripod is a necessity.

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August 9, 2010

Cormorants in flight

Filed under: Ontario,Photography Tips,Species Account — Tags: Cormorants, Ontario — Harold Stiver @ 6:00 am

Double-crested Cormorants,Phalacrocorax auritus

I have had getting some flight shots of Double-crested Cormorants,Phalacrocorax auritus on my To do list for a while. Since there is a large supply of targets in Hamilton harbor here in Ontario, Canada, it seems like it should be easy to accomplish. The problem is that a very dark bird against a light sky is easier to photograph under the right conditions and our recent weeks of bright cloud free sky are not ideal. This morning, an overcast day held more promise.

I had previously scouted a shoreline location not far from one of their favorite roosting trees, and this allowed for a lot of targets, and more importantly, they tended to fly by the spot at lower levels. I didn’t want to be shooting upwards toward them.

Double-crested Cormorants,Phalacrocorax auritus	Double-crested Cormorants,Phalacrocorax auritus
Double-crested Cormorants,Phalacrocorax auritus	Double-crested Cormorants,Phalacrocorax auritus

I set my camera exposure at +1-2/3 and made sure my shutter speed was at 1/1000 second or faster.

Even with that exposure, I needed to do some Photoshop work to bring out the details of the dark plumage, usually a bit of Curves Adjustment did the trick.

All Images are Available for Licensing at Singular Video&Pix

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