The humidity here in NYC has been nothing short of disgusting and uncomfortable. Not even being out at dawn helped me any. One of the reasons I often don’t go out in the summer to take photographs is not just the weather, but the people. No matter how early I get up (light existing yet or not) I find walkers, joggers, and all walks of life already there to greet me. It’s a big deterrent for me. However today I decided to do otherwise. Plus with me and Dina going away on a family trip real soon I needed to get back in the groove!
The morning light was real hazy, humid and cloudy; you know, not what the forecast said 
Either way I have found you make the best with what you are given. Often you will surprise yourself and just learn a new way to approach light. These mallards in silhouette were a major pain in the butt. They were so skiddish and scared off anything when I was a mile away. Of course if I had food they would be surrounding me. Either way i really liked the patterns they were making as they swam away. The color reflecting from the sunrise was also beautiful. There is no boosted saturation here. I dragged in the shadow slider and the highlights slider. Then I made sure my white balance was at least as warm as shade and ran with it.
Another really tough situation. The day I decide to go out things are pretty quiet of course, but I keep walking as you never know what will come. The duckweed covering the pond gave this awesome green color to the photograph. This is a case example of where you can make a photograph with less. You don’t have to be right on top of your subject. I took a few frames as I waited for the night heron to turn his head and that was all she wrote.
This cotton-tailed bunny showed up as I was leaving Mount Loreto. When I first walked the trail there was another cotton-tail, but an early morning (6:30am) walker saw to that. As I was just about to exit the trail to the wetlands I stopped dead in my tracks. He was just staring at me. I made sure all my movements were incredibly slow and careful. After a while of shooting from the tripod I decided to lay on the ground and get some level shots. Yes I took a 500mm lens at ~320mm, no stabilization and decided to take photos in overcast weather at f/8 or so. I shot in high speed bursts and sure enough I walked out with some awesome keepers. If your curious as to that silver spec on him that is a bloated tick. Not pretty, but not deadly to my knowledge (for them anyway.) Happens as they run through the thickets.
I started the day by making the rounds. Nothing wanted to hang out at the shores. The tide was so high I guess the birds decided to hangout else where. I decided to walk some of the trails and see what I could find. American robins as seen above are a favorite of mine. The have incredibly rich and vibrant plumage during spring and they are very crafty. This guy was a ginormous good sport trusting me as he got closer and closer. Despite part of the scene being asphalt I really love the way the image comes together.
Being able to capture his shining moment was a real treat. It’s amazing how good they are at this. Although I imagine its not very shocking considering how much practice they get. The American robin will pop in the brush and a few seconds later out he comes with a hearty worm.
I can’t refuse photographing a grackle. Male or female they are loaded with personality. This one was just making sure I knew my place as he looked down at me from above.
This white-tailed deer had just crossed a pond in one of the blue belt sections on Staten Island. He stuck around long enough for me to capture his new antlers beginning to grow in. If you follow the ear line you can see them covered in velvet. I’m excited to see what some of these males will look like come fall.
Great Kills Harbor, NY
I can’t count the times I have heard “you just missed it” from a fellow sunset observer. You want those warm vibrant sunset colors you see with your eyes and none of the flare? It’s not as hard as you think. There are no tricks here. As the sun goes down the colors come out. Stop down a half a stop or so, shade white balance, compose and fire away. That simple.
I wasn’t feeling like getting up early and decided to take a walk in the woods. The woods at Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve to be exact. When the sun is higher in the day it isn’t ideal to shoot so I went looking for a more filtered photo session. Their are these fantastic Red-Backed newts that live in and around the area. Being a fan of amphibians I wanted to really capture things from his perspective. *Warning* This isn’t for those who are afraid to get their clothes dirty *Warning* I photographed him and others from above, but it was boring and plain. So I decided to put my camera in the mud to get the perspective I wanted. I was getting frustrated even with my tripods low angle above the floor. Using a few objects around to hold it in place, I got low to brace myself and fired away (Live view can help here. One of the few if only things I use it for.)
Walking the same path as our last Nature Photography Lecture I saw these great ferns. Well not me personally, but a student had pointed them out and I knew I wanted to get a shot of them. The trick was how. If you could see the place it was a huge field of ferns. I really wanted to isolate one or a few. The combination of techniques? I used a shallow depth of field by stopping down (smaller aperture #), getting low and lining up my camera plane with the fern structure, adding a few drops of water (yes I cheated; I didn’t want to wake up early remember?) and making a crucial focus point on my subject.
This is my final image. You might be asking yourself, “..but wait, That isn’t the same background you had; what gives?” I’ll tell you. I didn’t use some magical photoshop technique. I did something really simple. I used my body as a shadow. You see that really nasty backdrop in the last photo? It’s distracting and completely makes the viewer lose sight of the subject. It’s as simple as that. The shadow I created behind the fern created an exposure difference so great the camera can’t see it Magic I know. You can do it too! When you crawl in the dirt to your next subject or slither through the sand photographing a shorebird make sure to watch that background and ask yourself how can I fix this?
Today was all about difficult lighting. I was told by mister weather man/woman that as of last night it was going to be mostly cloudy all day. Well I woke up to blue skies! Me and the weather people don’t get along very well, . The reason I mentioned this is that I got up much later because it would take a while for the sun to be shootable in thick cloudy skies. In spite of it all I still got my butt out there and checked to see what I could find. This mocking bird popped in by flying in over my head as I was watching a group of grackles. He hung out on the fence post wondering what the click of my shutter was. Although he could have just been giving me the evil eye.
This was the female grackle I was waiting on. She was flying back and forth between her nest location. As you can see here she is gathering up materials to build her new nest. Is it me or is she striking a pose?
This was her male counter part. He would fly in and watch over her task at hand and then fly back with her. I didn’t notice him doing any of the heavy lifting. Some woman might find that typical of the opposite sex :-p
Killdeer are a favorite of mine. This guy decided to hang out along the gravel and green grass rather then the shore. Many might think of them only as shore birds, but they can be found nesting inland often. I am convinced he/she is near something special, but I haven’t found it yet.
The reason I was wearing the pond. Egrets are larger and can be easier to photograph if you don’t get one that feels like being temperamental. I decided to walk the edge of Wolfe’s Pond and I paid for it. My wellington boots could only go so deep. I ended up filling my boots to the top with ice cold pond water. Makes your day but you can’t help but laugh. It was the signal for the end of the day for photography, but all and all it was a productive one.
A key to note here about a bright bird like this is exposure. I love photographing bright birds as the exposure range is so large between them and their background that the background fades to dark. Our sensors only have a 5-stop range so the rest is just a mystery to the cameras eye. Something I am beginning to harness more and more. I highly suggest you give these high contrast scenarios a try.
