Passing the Time

Two bucks, their crowns of antlers cast aside, pass the time grooming in the waning rays of the evening sun.

With the rut & the hunting seasons past the deer are able to relax and tend to the more important chores of life. Resting, feeding, renewing friendships, and trying to stay warm will keep the deer occupied until the warmer days of spring.

Tufted Titmouse

With a home range that covers the eastern half of the United States the Tufted Titmouse is a common guest at winter bird feeders. Although not as confiding as some other species the titmice that visit our feeders are more trusting than the woodpeckers and nuthatches. This titmouse posed just a few feet away this evening as it awaited its turn at the feeder.

A sharp gust of cold wind caught this Tufted Titmouse from behind fluffing it feathers and tilting it forward toward the camera. Capturing the moment with a 1/1600 shutter speed the bird appears absolutely ferocious and ready to attack!

Photographing wildlife is always challenging and working with these small birds may be even more difficult in some respects than photographing larger creatures. Seldom do they sit still for more than a moment making it difficult to get the camera settings correct and focused before they zoom off. I am finding that I am most successful with these small birds when shooting the camera in manual exposure mode and adjusting my exposure for an evenly lighted tree trunk by the feeders. This allows me to shoot birds on the snow, against the sky, or with wood/brush background and not have to worry with adjusting the exposure compensation. By presetting the exposure focusing is the only concern when a bird poses momentarily.

The down side to shooting on manual is that one must adjust the camera settings as the light changes. Today, with the skies a clear blue, this was not a problem but on a partly cloudy day with fast moving clouds it can be enough to drive one nearly insane :)

Waterfall

105mm, ISO 100, F32, 5sec

While driving a snow covered back road a tiny stream rimmed in ice caught my attention. Thinking that perhaps I could do something creative with it I attached a Tiffen 0.9 neutral density filter to the lens, grabbed the tripod and waded through the snow to the little brook.
105mm, ISO 100, F32, 5sec.

I am one who is always ready for spring, just as soon as the holidays are past, but this year I have resolved to enjoy winter and to celebrate its unique beauty.

Northern Cardinals

Spending some time at the birdfeeders today I pushed the envelope and set up even closer to the feeders than at any time in the past. Most of the birds soon accepted my presence with the exception of the red-bellied woodpeckers; they fled immediately after landing and would not return until after I had retreated to a more comfortable distance



Natural appearing bird photography requires good perches and this dried broken poke weed stem provides a photogenic perch for birds awaiting their turn at the feeder. A pretty female Northern Cardinal obliges by posing ever so nicely in the soft evening light. This may be my best ever female Cardinal image.

A male Northern Cardinal perches on a natural hollow branch feeder. A sunflower seed is visible clasp in his beak.

Making use of the naturalized feeders has improved my winter bird photography considerable. My goal now is to continue to press even closer in my attempt to capture more detailed images.

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Cold!

I captured this shot of Willard during our winter elk photography trip just before Christmas. I was trying to capture an image that would illustrate just how cold it was that morning.

With Willard all bundled standing up beside his video rig and the falling snow flakes backlit by the morning sun I believe I achieved my goal.

Natural Bird Feeders

I prefer natural backgrounds for my wildlife images whether I am shooting big game animals or small birds. With the small birds preparation for natural backgrounds begins with the design your birdfeeders.

This photo captured a White-throated Sparrow and a Northern Cardinal perched on the feeder with another White-throated Sparrow attempting to land. This feeder is made from a section of split and splintered hollow log with a plastic bowl attached to the back side. The bowl of seed remains completely hidden from the camera while the birds pose beautifully.

A Downy Woodpecker male finds an easy meal in another naturalized feeder. Willard constructed this one from a hollow branch with a number of holes in it. By packing some plastic sheeting firmly inside the hollow trunk to keep the bird seed from running through and attaching it to a tree in an upright position it provides an excellent place to capture images of our feathered friends.

Winter Feeder Birds: Woodpecker & Nuthatch

A Red-bellied Woodpecker female pauses at the hollow-log feeder

A White-breasted Nuthatch checks the safety of its surroundings

Photographing winter feeder birds is a close-distance activity. Even with the 400mm lens it is necessary to get very close to obtain good image detail. These shots were taken around 15 feet, so far that is as close as these two species will allow me to set up the camera. Hopefully as the winter progresses they will become more tolerant.

Winter Bluebirds

A few days ago during a light rain I noticed some Eastern Bluebirds sitting on a line of fence post that runs between a pasture and a hay field. Wondering what drew them there I decided to observe them for a spell.

Soon a bird left its perch and flew into an area of the hay field searching among the stubble where the snow had recently melted. Moments later it flew back to a post with something in its beak. Dropping its morsel on the top of the post he pecked at it for a few moments before swallowing it.
As I watched the birds repeatedly flew to into the field and returned. I could not get as close a look at what they were catching as I would have liked but my best guess was that they were catching slugs.

This female decided to check me out while perched on a branch nearly overhead.

The next day our weather turned cold and blustery and I haven’t seen the bluebirds since.

Wildlife Composition

When shooting wildlife I find that I am always mindful of the backgrounds, trying to avoid things like a branch or weed that pops out of the subjects head etc, items that distract the viewer from the subject. Many times I will use a wide aperture to reduce the depth of field and allow the background to blur to illuminate distracting elements.

Snow gives one the opportunity to photograph wildlife on a white background with no distracting elements, perhaps even making the image less attractive because there are no elements in the photograph other than the main subject. I composed this White-throated Sparrow image to include the dried weed stems to add depth.

Here a single broken dried grass stem is the only element other than the sparrow.

Do you think these photographs are improved by the inclusion of these elements or would they be better without? Tell me what you think.

Trusting Animals: Photographing Wildlife

Photographing wildlife is no easy task, the beauty of the creatures, their environment and photographing their interaction is what keeps drawing me back time and time again to photograph God’s untamed creatures in their free roaming habitat.

Snapping a picture of a wild creature sometimes is easy and other times not so easy but making a Photograph is an entirely different situation. A studio photographer typically is in control of his subject, the lighting and the background environment but in wildlife photography all of that control is out the window.

For lighting we are strictly at the mercy of the weather and the animal’s whims. Even if we do find our subject during the very best light of the day, if the animal or our observation post is not properly positioned to take advantage of the beautiful light, our efforts are in vain. Sure a picture can be snapped to show what we saw but a real photograph, one such as you might find on a magazine cover will be impossible if we cannot change position to take full advantage of the situation.

Backgrounds are another issue. With wildlife the animal chooses where it will be and when it will be there. Sometimes the encounter is perfect with a great natural background and other times; oh well just another snapshot to be deleted later or kept as a reference to show what was encountered, unless the photographer can move to a more advantageous shooting position.

The value of trusting wildlife for photographic purposes cannot be overstated. With wildlife that does not become overly alarmed by human presence the success of the photographer as well as of the casual viewer is greatly enhanced.

It is no secret among wildlife photographers that many if not most wildlife photographs found in publication are photographs of trusting animals. These animals normally live in areas protected from hunting pressure. Areas such as National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and other protected areas as well as pen raised animals are utilized extensively by wildlife photographers.

Whether the subject is a songbird conditioned to human presence by feeding or a mature whitetail in a National Park there is no shame in photographing trusting animals, this is what we need to be successful. The challenge is not in the hunt but rather in using all of the tools, our knowledge, and our creativity to produce a beautiful memorable photograph that celebrates the beauty of nature.

Wildlife images featured on my blog, Country Captures, for the most part are of wildlife that has a certain amount of trust or tolerance for humans. With some subjects tolerance can be built with only a few quiet non-threatening visits while others require a considerable effort be expended acclimating the animals to human presence, sometimes years!

One of the great values of the Pennsylvania elk herd is the almost total lack of fear of humans. The elk found around the traditional viewing areas are accustomed to human presence. Seventy years of protection and the influx of tens of thousands of visitors each year has conditioned these animals to such a degree that they simply go about their daily business regardless of human presence.

With the current tiny no kill zone the quality of available animals has been eroded over the years of the hunt and perhaps their trust will be the next to go. Some do not see the value in preserving this unique experience that thousands enjoy and consider the changes brought on by the hunt to be positive.

In my opinion reducing these majestic trusting free ranging animals to a trophy hanging on the wall, a set of number in a record book, and a hunting story does nothing positive for the image of hunting or of hunters and nothing positive for this unique Pennsylvania Treasure.