A flock of ducks takes flight into backlit fog, Bosque del Apache, NWR, San Antonio, New Mexico
I returned to Bosque del Apache NWR for the fifth time in December. Conditions this year were the coldest I have ever experienced in central New Mexico. It was around -7°F on the first morning, with heavy snow on the ground. But there was a huge silver, or rather golden lining in the cold temperatures. I was treated to four straight days of spectacular backlit ground fog. Overnight, the relatively warm open water sent billowing clouds of mist into the air. I carefully positioned myself so that the fog would be backlit by the rising sun. As you can see, the results are spectacular. Photographers call this “fire on the mist” for good reason.
I have an (almost) embarrassingly large number of these photos, but I’m fairly sure that this is my favorite. Stay tuned for some more “fire on the mist” photos.
Update: somehow, I lost the text of this blog post. I’ve restored it now. Sorry for any confusion.
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) in breeding plumage, Lakewood, Colorado.
I photographed these American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana) at a small wildlife preserve in the middle of urban Lakewood, Colorado. I’ve photographed these birds many times, but I always take pleasure in finding such beautiful animals thriving in the middle of an otherwise desolate urban environment. The managers of the preserve have done a nice job maintaining quality habitat for wading birds like avocets.
An American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) feeding in shallow water, Lakewood, Colorado.
Like many successful wildlife images, the background, as much as the subject, is the crucial factor in the success of these images. The strongly colored backgrounds compliment the colors of the bird and its reflection. There are two keys to the clean backgrounds in these images: a low angle of view, and luck. The low angle of view causes the camera to “see” background that is further away from the subject. The further away the background, the less in focus it is. Luck, of course, needs little explanation. Let’s just say that avocets like marshy, weedy areas, not the type of environment that lends itself to a clean background.
Nesting great blue herons perform a courtship ritual, Broomfield, Colorado.
I have been editing some heron images from last summer, and decided to create a new collection of great blue heron photos. Please click through to check it out — it includes some images that I have no posted before.
Happy New Year.
An American Bison (Bison bison) grazes in a field in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
I captured this American Bison (Bison bison) a few minutes after images the images in yesterday’s post. A funny and slightly scary thing happened as I was photographing this animal. When I started photographing, it was the closest animal in the herd. It was a fair ways off, I was standing on the other side of a reasonably sturdy barb wire fence, and the bison was more or less oblivious to me. All in all, I felt that I was in a reasonably safe position. After I photographing for a few minutes, a fellow photographer warned me that the bison were getting too close. I was just about to tell him that he was worrying needlessly. But as the words were on my lips, I looked up from the viewfinder. Another very large bison had quietly moved within fifteen or twenty feet of me while I had my eye to the camera. Yikes. For such large animals, it is amazing how quietly they can move. With bison attack videos running through my mind, I quickly moved back.
American Bison (Bison bison) graze in front of an historic Mormon Row barn, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
After capturing my Aplenglow on Grand Teton image, I made a quick visit to the famous Mormon Row in Grand Teton National Park. It was getting a bit late in the morning, so I didn’t expect to find great conditions. However, I planned to scout the area for a return visit in the spring. Much to my delight, some of the Jackson Hole bison herd were grazing in front of one of the historic barns. Making things even better, smoke from a controlled burn softened and warmed the late-morning light. A great surprise, and a great way to end the trip.
Panoramic image of Mormon barn, bison, and Grand Teton, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.
These images have lots of great detail. Be sure to click on the images for a larger view.
American Wideon in Flight, Socorro, New Mexico.
This American Wigeon (Anas americana) is an early favorite from my recent photograph expedition to Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico. A flock of wigeons gathered in a small pond in a town near the refuge. Though the birds were wild, they were obviously well fed. Whenever I walked up to the pond, a number of the birds would fly right at me, hoping for a treat. After carefully selecting a spot with a good light angle, it was relatively easy to pick up a duck as it flew toward me. Good photographs are usually not about the gear. However, this image would not be possible without the speedy autofocus on my 7D and 500mm lens. Hungry wigeons are fast.
Conditions this year were fantastic, and I came home with several thousand images. Stay tuned for additional images as I make my selects. I am determined to process the images more quickly than last year.
American Bison in morning light, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.
This is a fairly simple portrait of a large American Bison (Bison bison) bull. But there is something almost magical about the warm, soft morning light. More soon.
Grand Teton at dawn reflecting in the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.
Photographing the Grand Teton is hard, because it’s difficult to capture just how big, steep, and utterly impressive it is. I’m not quite sure whether this picture overcomes that difficulty. But it does demonstrate the beauty of the peak reflecting in the Snake River at dawn. Watching the sun break through a bank of clouds to paint the mountains was sublime.
On a photo tech note, I’ve become a big fan of Tony Kuyper’s luminosity masks for making tonal adjustments in images like this one. When used judiciously, they are a great tool to balance the tones in the image to make it appear more as they did to the naked eye. They’re old-school Photoshop, but if you’re familiar with that program, you may find them useful.
Man-made waterfall, Stapleton neighborhood, Denver, Colorado.
I photographed this urban waterfall while waiting (in vain) for a local kingfisher to make an appearance. I like the “grungy” look of this image, which I emphasized with a bit of post processing.
As a bit of an aside, images like this represent one of my favorite parts of photography: picking out a beautiful detail it the world that most people overlook. This man-made waterfall, on Sand Creek in Denver. I treasure having a riparian area so close to my home — the creek flows through the former Stapleton airport, and now Stapleton neighborhood. However, the “urban” nature of the creek is obvious. There are some tires and trash in the streambed, the water is not altogether wholesome looking, and the creek is interrupted by numerous concrete check dams. But, as this image shows there is abundant beauty here, if you just look carefully.
Lots of additional potential at this location; I’m headed back as soon as it warms a bit.
Mule Deer at sunset, Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR, Commerce City, Colorado.
I live about a half-mile from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Given my proximity to the place, I spend more time there than is strictly warranted by my level of success. But the Arsenal was very good tonight. I found this mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) just as the sun was setting. In fact, though the deer was a fair ways away, I had to carefully position my car so I didn’t cast an shadow on the deer. More deer soon.
An American Bison (Bison bison) stands in the shallows of the Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.
This is one of my two favorite animate landscape images from Yellowstone. The placement of the bison, river, and background trees, combined with the hazy air, give this image a nice sense of depth. Perhaps more importantly, the image captures a bit of the way that I felt watching the herd of bison slowly cross the Yellowstone river early on a foggy morning. Be sure to click on the image for a larger version.
More bison landscapes soon, thought I promise to interrupt the bison fest with some other subjects.
Semi-abstract portrait of an American Bison (Bison bison), Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
As promised in my previous post, here are two more bison portraits. As you’ll note, both of these are much tighter than the previous one. What style do you prefer? I have a soft spot for extreme closeups, and really like the first image in this post.
Close-up portrait of an American Bison (Bison bison), Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
That’s it for Bison eyeball shots for a bit. Up next: some animal-in-the-landscape images.
Monochrome portrait of an American Bison (Bison bison), Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Speaking of animal portraits, here is an American Bison (Bison bison) portrait that I really like. The key to this image is the light. I shot this a few minutes after sundown. The bison illuminated by the ever-so-soft evening glow, with just a hint of backlight on the horns. (Full disclosure: can’t say that I really planned this shot. A heard of bison was blocking the road, so I decided to photograph while I waited for them to move.) I converted this image to monochrome to emphasize the wonderful range of tones in the animal’s fur. I also think that the the high-ISO noise works a bit better in monochrome, at least for this image. Instead of being distracting, the noise resembles film grain. This image is about detail; be sure to click on the photo for a larger image.
I have a couple of additional bison images in the que, which I’ll post tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the contrast between those images and this one. Stay tuned.
An American Bison (Bison bison) grazes on the bank of Yellowstone River at dusk, Yellowstone National Park
This image of an American bison (Bison bison) is one of my two or three favorite images from my recent visit to Yellowstone National Park. In particular, I like the strongly graphical nature of the image, the mirror-image shape of the dark foreground and the brightly lit background. And, of course, the warm yellow light on the (appropriately-named) Yellowstone River. On a macro level, I like that this is a departure from the conventions of “straight” wildlife photography. I certainly like that style of work as well, but my favorite images tend to be a bit more stylized, and with a heavy element of authorship.
I’m curious to get your reaction to this image. Please leave a comment!
Common Raven, (Corvus corax), Yellowstone National Park
I’m fond, perhaps a bit too fond, of making animal portraits. There is something pleasing about making a simple portrait of an animal that captures a bit of its personality. (Or at least a bit of the personality that we project onto the thing in the process of anthropomorphizing it.)
Enter this common raven (Corvus corax), from Yellowstone National Park. These are common birds, but wary. This is the first time I’ve found a fairly tame raven that I could work in good light. Since the bird was unconcerned with my presence, I had lots of time to capture just the right head angle. (Note: this is harder than you would think.) I used my 500mm lens to isolate the bird against a creamy out-of-focus background. I shot tight, both because, as noted, I like to make animal portraits, and because the bird was perched on an sign, effectively ruling out a whole-body image. In hindsight, I wish that I had framed the yellow “horizon” slightly lower in the image, but I like it nonetheless.
Apologies for the recent hiatus in posting new images. More soon.
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