Feb

28

Whistle Pig Romance

Shot of the Month  Posted by / 1 comments

Shot of the Month – February 2015

Groundhog-5164

Here you go, a shot that best captures the essence of February.  Blank stare from reader…

Come on, what is February famous for?  For one thing, it has Valentine’s Day, which at least in modern times is all about the celebration of love and companionship (and the commercialization of love and massive consumption of chocolate, greeting cards, roses, etc., but let’s not go there).  Look at this adorable set of lovestruck whistle pigs as they nuzzle side by side and gaze out across the tracks during a late afternoon stroll – that’s as Hallmark moment as it gets.

What else is this month famous for (in a US-centric kind of way)?  Yes, each February 2nd we pull some poor groundhog out of its den to determine if we will get six more weeks of winter.  The aforementioned whistle pigs are groundhogs.  Other aliases include woodchucks, ground beaver, and mouse bear.  What’s with all the crazy names?

Groundhog -5205

Chucked wood? Ironically, these two lived in this wood pile. Disclaimer: No wood was chucked in the making of this image.

Woodchuck:  Has nothing to do with wood, or chucking.  The Algonquian name for the creature is wuchak.  Which leads to one of my favorite tongue twisters.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Whistle pig:  Groundhogs thrive in open areas and will often sit on their back legs or stand to watch out for danger.  If they see a threat, usually in the form of a wolf, cougar, coyote, fox, bobcat, bear, eagle, or dog, they let out a whistle to warn the neighbors.

Mouse bear:  They look like miniature bears when sitting upright.

Groundhogs are one of the few animals that truly hibernate in the winter and can go 150 days without eating.  They only lose about 1/4 of their body weight during this period as they are so adept at slowing down their metabolism as they sleep.  Groundhogs come out of hibernation in March and mating season begins in early spring.  Male groundhogs will rouse themselves from their sleep in early February however to wander about their 2-3 acre territory in search of a den with a female.   The male will enter a female’s den and spend the night.  No mating, just a visit to get to know each other better and smooth the way for a successful March.  If you get my drift. (source)

Romance, whistle pigs, and February — a match made in Heaven.

Until next month….m

 

Nikon D4s, Nikon 600mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 800, -0.5 EV

Jan

31

A Spoonful of Pink

Shot of the Month  Posted by / 1 comments

Shot of the Month – January 2015

Roseate Spoonbill-8898This month an image of one of Florida’s marquee birds.  Now if you are not paying close attention you might think this is a shot of Florida’s renowned pink flamingo.  Wading bird – Check.  Pink plumage – Check.  Florida – Check.  But the giveaway that this is not a flamingo is in the bill.  Check out the big spatula on Brad (pop culture reference).  What we got here is a Roseate Spoonbill — Florida’s other pink bird.

Myth Buster Alert:  I, like most Americans I imagine, associate flamingos with Florida.  Turns out that the American Flamingo does not breed in Florida and the occasional sighting is most likely that of a bird that escaped from captivity.  In lower Florida, in the southern reaches of the Everglades, you may see a flamingo that is a vagrant from the Yucatan Peninsula.  When Europeans first discovered Florida there was a small breeding population but that population either died off or migrated to other locations further south.  So, despite all the flamingos in the souvenir shops, flamingos are not really part of Florida’s natural landscape.  Wow, mind officially blown. (source)

But we are here to talk about a true Floridian — the Roseate Spoonbill.  There are six species of spoonbill around the world and the Roseate is the only one that is pink.  And it is the only one found in the Western Hemisphere.  Roseate Spoonbills are typically found in Central and South America as far south as Argentina and Chile.  They can also be found in the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and Cuba.  In the US the breeding range is limited to coastal Texas, southwestern Louisiana, and Southern Florida.  A popular place to see the Roseate Spoonbill is in Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge where I photographed this fellow.

The Roseate Spoonbill uses that signature bill to good use — it is a very effective tool for catching dinner.  In the early morning and late afternoon the spoonbill can typically be seen wading through shallow water, head down, as it sweeps its bill from side to side near the bottom of the water with its mandibles slightly open.  The bill has very sensitive nerves and will snap shut rapidly if prey is felt.  Notice the two narrow slits near the top of the bill?  They allow the bird to continue breathing even while the bill is submerged looking for prey.  Pretty smart.  Minnows comprise 85% of the spoonbill’s diet though they also eat shrimp, mollusks, frogs, newts, and some types of aquatic plants.  Like flamingos, the spoonbill gets its pink color from the algae that is found in the crustaceans that the bird consumes.

Florida was almost left completely pink-free in the 1800s as the population was decimated by professional plume hunters to make hats and fans for stylish ladies of that era.  By 1930 only 30-40 breeding pairs remained.  Fortunately, action was taken and hunting of the bird was banned and special conservation areas were created to protect the bird.  Since then the population has rebounded and about a thousand breeding pairs live in Florida.  Today the main threat to the spoonbill is the loss of habitat as Florida continues to expand human settlements into coastal areas where spoonbills typically live.

Well, at least for the moment it is great news that the Roseate Spoonbill is literally, and figuratively,  “in the pink.”  (collective groan)

Until next month….m

 

Shot Information:

Nikon D4S, Nikon 600 mm w/ 1.4 x TC (effective 850 mm), f/5.6, 1/750s, ISO 200,

 

 

Dec

31

Capturing Speed

Shot of the Month  Posted by / 1 comments

Shot of the Month – December 2014

Pronghorn, Yellowstone NP - USA (7581)

The Pronghorn is a one-of-a-kind, American original.  Though we sometimes call it the “Pronghorn Antelope” or “American Antelope,” and despite his looks, the Pronghorn is not an antelope.  Pronghorns are the only surviving member of its family (Antilocapridae) and has no close relatives on this continent or any other.  In case you were wondering, there are no antelopes in the New World.

The defining characteristic of the Pronghorn is its speed — it is the fastest land mammal in North America.  We all know that the fastest animal in the world is the cheetah (see my write-up here).   While difficult to measure the cheetah may be able to reach speeds up to 75 mph. The top speed for the Pronghorn is believed to top out around 53 mph.  However, one could make an argument that the Pronghorn is the fastest animal alive.  How so?  Well, the cheetah can only maintain his top speed for a few hundred yards while the Pronghorn can reach 53 mph for a few hundred yards but then cruise at 30 mph for miles and miles.  And miles.  No other land mammal can keep up with the Pronghorn over a long distance.

The speedy nature of the Pronghorn is a bit of a mystery as none of its current predators, cougars, wolves, coyotes, or bobcats can run that fast.  Some scientists posit that Pronghorns developed their speed in response to now-extinct predators like the American cheetah.

In the fall of 2014, I visited Yellowstone NP and spent some time among a herd of Pronghorn during the rut.  I was able to see up close the explosive speed of the Pronghorn male as he would chase off rivals or corral errant females.  I wanted to try and make an image that would convey the speed of the Pronghorn.  Ironically, to demonstrate speed, the trick is to slow the camera down.  I normally obsess about ensuring that I use proper technique and camera settings to allow for the sharpest images possible.  For this image, I had to fight all my instincts and lower my shutter speeds to allow blur into the photo.  I normally shoot with a shutter speed near 1/1000 of a second to stop the action and ensure razor sharpness; for this image, the shutter speed was 1/30 of a second.  The key is to pan the camera at the same speed as the subject to try and keep it at least partially in focus while the background blurs with the motion.  I experimented with shutter speeds of 1/15s, 1/30s, 1/45s, 1/60s, 1/90s, and 1/125s.  The slower the shutter speed the more dramatic the effect.  And all the harder to get something pleasing.

A few examples of how shutter speed can change the look of the image:

Pronghorn (7280)

1/500 second shutter speed

Here the shutter speed was 1/500s.  Fast enough to completely stop the running Pronghorn.  It is a decent photo but the image is oddly static given that it is a picture of a running animal.

Pronghorn (7744)

1/125 second shutter speed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here the shutter speed was 1/125s.  A bit of background blur is introduced while the Pronghorn is still quite sharp.  Starting to get a sense of motion.

Pronghorn (7499)

1/45s shutter speed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A shutter speed of 1/45s was used for this shot.  More blur with the background and now the legs are starting to blur.

 

 

 

 

Pronghorn (7800)

1/15s shutter speed

 

 

 

Here a shutter speed of 1/15s.  The image is becoming more abstract.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a blast experimenting with the new approach and exploring new ways to communicate the story I was trying to tell.  So, which image do you like best?

Until next month….m

 

Nikon D4S, Nikon 600 mm w/ 1.4x TC (850mm), 1/30s, f/11, ISO 200, +0.5 EV

Dec

19

Happy Holidays 2014!

Today's Shot  Posted by / 0 comments

Happy Holidays 2014

Nov

30

Center of Attention

Shot of the Month  Posted by / 1 comments

Shot of the Month – November 2014

Blue Heron, Vermont -USA (4048)

Course Title:   Photography 101

Lecture #1:     Composition

Rule #1:          Never put your subject in the center of the image. (Yes, this will be on the final)

Ooops.

In the above photo I have broken a cardinal rule of photography composition — don’t put the subject of your photo in the center of the frame.  Generally, photos with a dead-center subject tend to look too static, boring, dull — in a word, dead.  I once read an article where the author recommended sticking a piece of masking tape in the center of the LCD screen on the back of your camera to make it hard to make that common error.  It would look something like this:

Avoid the Middle-Rule of Thirds

It is generally recommended that you follow “The Rule of Thirds” (cue harp music).  How does that work?  Well, imagine two horizontal lines that divide your image into three equal parts.  Next, add two vertical lines that break the image up into three equal parts.  In the case of my photo, it would look like this:

Rule of Thirds GridTo follow the rule of thirds you would align your subject along one of those four lines or at the intersection of those lines (shown by the yellow circles).  If you are not sure how to compose the scene before you, start with the rule of thirds.  Most cameras have a grid built into their display (check your manual folks) that you can turn on to help with composition.

I photographed the Blue Heron above from a kayak in Vermont over the summer.  I took a variety of images, some closer, some further, some with the heron centered, others with him off to the left, then to the right.  I oriented some in landscape and others in portrait.  I really liked the color and texture of that narrow band of rocks and this centered composition allows the rocks to be the dominant element.  For this scene, I think the symmetry works.

I have a similar image where I more closely followed the rule of thirds.  But with that compositional change, I find that the heron becomes the dominant subject.  A pleasing image, I think, but it tells a different story.

Blue Heron, Vermont-USA (4048-v2)

If we always followed the rules, life would be kinda boring, wouldn’t it?  And all of our photos would look the same.  Of course, there are no rules.  A professional photographer told me once, “The only rule is that if it looks good, shoot it.”

Now that’s a rule I can live by.

 

Here is a fun video explaining the rule of thirds.

Until next month….michael

 

Nikon D4S, Nikon 200-400mm f/4 (@400mm), f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 400