Alexander Woodruff Photography

October 19 - 26 2010

2010-10-30T00:44:00.000-07:00

With family visiting who are also interested in wildlife and photography I have been able to get out quite a bit in the last few weeks. Normally I would update my blog after each trip, but I have been unable to this week - so here is a selection of the more memorable shots for me from the last 3 outings:

Desert Spiny Lizard (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/250 sec, f5.6, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual Mode, Pattern Metered.

White-faced Ibis - 1st Fall Plumage (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/800 sec, f5.6, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual Mode, Center Weighted Metering.

Snowy Egret (Click to Enlarge)

Exif: 1/2500 sec, f8, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual Mode, Center Weighted Metering.

Cactus Wren (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/250 sec, f8, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual Mode, Pattern Metered

Costa's Hummingbird (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/1000 sec, f5.6, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual Mode, Center Weighted Metering.

Monarch Butterfly (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/320 sec, f11, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual Mode, Pattern Metered

This last image is not the best example of wildlife photography. We happened to see this fellow in the distance - I managed to get 4 handheld shots in burst mode - this was the only one where he was facing us, the others showed him running for cover. This image is included only as a record of sighting. This was taken in Buckeye, about 3 miles from my house.

Bobcat (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/640 sec, f6.3, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual Mode, Pattern Metered

Trying out some new workflow ideas.

2010-10-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

I am comparing workflow ideas at the moment and thought I would put some comparison shots on the site. My aim is to make these a photoshop action, so that the bulk of the edit is done in 30 seconds rather that 15 minutes. Here is the first image (after and before).

Edit: It's interesting that the thumbnails are low-res images. I uploaded them from my hard drive, rather than linking them from my hosting service. If you click on the images a larger, higher definition image will appear.

September 29th 2010 - Glendale Recharge Facility and Tres Rios.

2010-09-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

I thought I would scope out a new place today and headed to the Glendale Recharge Facility. This is a group of ponds that have a dual purpose - the reclamation of water and the provision of habitat for wildlife. I got there at about 5.30 am but could already see that the ponds were very exposed. With a 300mm lens the birds were well out of range... and at no time were they likely to come closer to this mad Englishman who was trying to swat at the multitude of mosquitos that were exploring me. As a result I decided to look at a photo opportunity where the bird worked to accentuate the image, rather than play the main subject. At first I thought that the distant lights would make for an interesting background, but as the sun came up the red earth that surrounds the ponds came alive and the scene was set.

Western Grebes at Sunrise (Click to enlarge).

EXIF: Manual mode, 1/250", f5.6, ISO 320, 420mm, Pattern Metered

With this shot safely in the memory card I left the Recharge Ponds to the mosquitos and decided to take a drive past Tres Rios. I was not expecting too much, I usually find the birds here to be a little nervous. As a result I have learned to accept that my visits here are not always fruitful!
As I drove up to the area I spotted a tree full of Turkey Vultures - although I was not able to get too close I did get a couple of shots. Walking past the ponds I was really startled by the sounds of Bullfrogs as I disturbed their siesta and they made their high-pitched croak and leapt into the water - a case of both the frogs and I jumping out of our skin! All except one 'hopped off', but I was pleased as I have always wanted to get a photo of a semi-submerged frog and this was a good first attempt.

Bullfrog (Click to enlarge)

EXIF: Manual Mode, 1/640, f4, ISO 200, 300mm, Pattern metered.

As I turned away from the pond I almost stepped on this little fellow (about 3 feet long). He didn't seem bothered in the slightest and was quite happy to let me circle him until I was in front of him - then I laid on my stomach to get down to his level to get this shot. I wish I had used a slightly deeper depth of field, but c'est la vie!

King Snake (Click to enlarge)

EXIF: Manual Mode, 1/3200", f4, ISO 200, 300mm, Pattern metered.

Riparian Preserve 8.24.10

2010-08-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

There has to be something fundamentally wrong with a place that is so hot you sweat at 5:30am - so began my day, standing in the shade of a tree trying to photograph the Goldfinches with sweat running into my eyes and down my back! It is surprising how personal comfort affects concentration and technique - it was something I was aware of as I was shooting and it was re-inforced when I uploaded my images at home. No matter, practice is practice I reckon - and so, here are today's selection:

Goldfinch (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/100", f8, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual mode.

Eurasian Collared Dove (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/500", f8, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual mode.

Snowy Egret (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/500", f10, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual mode.

White Chinese Goose (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/500", f16, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual mode.

Dragonfly (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/500", f16, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual mode.

I may be a living legend, but that don't help when I've got a flat tire

2010-08-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

...so said Roy Orbison! I'm not a living legend, but I have had to change plenty of flat tires! But it has never taken as long to change a flat as this week. Somehow I managed to cross-thread the scissor jack in my car which made it extremely difficult to lift the car off the ground (40 minutes to be exact). In the effort I bent my jack handle too - which meant it took another 20 minutes to lower the car back to the ground! Not much fun in temperatures of 100F! So this weeks outing cost me the price of a new tire and a new jack, and an enormous amount of sweat... and cursing!
Anyway, the trip was not a total failure... I got some shots of my usual suspects and also some new ones, plus I had an 'up close and personal' experience with a goose who was very friendly and not at all timid. He waddled up the bank towards me, stopped just in front of me to stretch his wings then carried on past me - he almost had to hop over my legs to get past!
My new sightings today were a King Bird and a Black Phoebe. The King Bird was a very distant sighting, so no images... but here is the Black Phoebe and a few others.

Black Phoebe (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/500", f8, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual mode

Canada Goose (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/500", f9, ISO 200, 600mm, Aperture Priority mode.

Great Egret with a snack (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/500", f10, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual mode

Great Blue Heron silhouetted in the early morning light (Click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/160", f8, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual mode

Feedback!

2010-08-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

I had some great feedback this week from two bird photographers that I consider to be experts.

"Really nice Alex. Your photos just keep getting better." Ron Woolridge. (www.ronwooldridgephotography.com).
Ron is a member of photocamel.com and last year he advised me to upgrade my lens. I cannot describe the difference that his advice made... both in the quality of my images and also in the increased enjoyment I get from my photography now that I am not having to struggle with every image. He has made a real impact on the improvement in my photography. Check out his website to see some first class images.

"I think that you did pretty well here. And your exposure looks perfect. The image is sharp, and I like your angle to the subject." Arthur Morris. (www.birdsasart.com).
Artie is a member of birdphotographers.net and is an accomplished author and teacher. Many people consider him to be the pinnacle of bird photographers, myself included. It is an honour for me to even know that he has looked at my work, let alone give me such positive feedback.

Both comments were made about the 'Snowy Egret with Fish' posted on the 10th August on this blog.

New addition to the kit bag.

2010-08-12T07:46:00.001-07:00

For a while I have been looking for a longer reach with my equipment. With a maximum focal length of 420mm a lot of shots can be missed. A prime lens in the 400 to 600mm range is quite an investment, with used pieces selling from $1500 - $9000. A new 600mm lens will set you back close to $11,000!
For a long time I have supplemented my 300mm f4 with a Nikkor 1.4 x teleconverter, which gives me 420mm f5.6. I looked at a 1.7 or 2 x teleconverter to add to the set, but had always been dissuaded by the thought that the automatic focus would be affected (as warned in all the literature). At $400, that would be an expensive mistake... and I don't really want to become such a purist that I only use manual focus!
So this week I was perusing eBay, as you do, and found a seller with a 2 x teleconverter that had been bought in error. Although it is not a Nikkor item, it is aimed to fit Nikon AF lenses. The seller wanted $50, I offered $35 and won the item! Not such an error in purchase if it fails to work!
Today I tried it with my 300mm f4. The teleconverter stops me down significantly, so I get 600mm f8, but at least I have the reach that I wanted... and in the bright Arizona sun f8 is not a horrific aperture to work with.

I tried my new kit this morning from 6:30am to 7:30am, taking pictures of the house finches at the back yard feeder. All were taken using the teleconverter (all at 600mm), and the aperture ranged from f8 to f11. The backgrounds all came out on the dark side, but the subjects were exposed satisfactorily. Here is a selection:

House Finches (click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/500", f8, ISO 400, 600mm, Manual mode

This one has some eye damage - Mycoplasmosis (click to enlarge)

Exif: 1/500", f8, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual mode

Exif: 1/500", f10, ISO 200, 600mm, Manual mode

Exif: 1/500", f8, ISO 400, 600mm, Manual mode

Characters...

2010-08-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

All the characters were out this morning at the Riparian Preserve; a mallard that sounded like he was laughing maniacally, the Elvis Egret - who had the Elvis knee wiggle down to a fine art, the nervous Snowy - who would try and grab a fish and then run away from it, and the angry Great Blue Heron - who would not let any other bird near him without chasing them off. It was very entertaining watching them all. The weather was not too hot, but the lighting was very tricky - ripples reflected onto the bird made them look like they were wearing striped pullovers and the water seemed to lose a lot of colour today, as you will be able to see in the following selection of shots:

Snowy Egret (Click to enlarge)

Exif Data: 1/500", f7.1, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual mode, Spot metered, Exposure compensation +1EV

Snowy Egret with fish (Click to enlarge)

Exif Data: 1/250", f5.6, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual mode, Spot metered, Exposure compensation +1EV

Great Egret watching fish (Click to enlarge)

Exif Data: 1/50", f5.6, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual mode, Spot metered, Exposure compensation +1EV

Great Egret portrait (Click to enlarge)

Exif Data: 1/500", f7.1, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual mode, Spot metered, Exposure compensation +1EV

American Goldfinch - Female (Click to enlarge)

Exif Data: 1/500", f5.6, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual mode, Spot metered, Exposure compensation +1EV

Not so hot today...

2010-08-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

...so I headed out to Gilbert. This time I wanted to try my luck with Hummingbirds and Goldfinches (of course the usual Egrets and Herons were there too). Here is my pick of today's shots.

Anna's Hummingbird - Juvenile (Click to enlarge)

Anna's Hummingbird - Juvenile (Click to enlarge)

American Goldfinch (Click to enlarge)

Snowy Egret (Click to enlarge)

Great Blue Heron (Click to enlarge)

Mad Dogs and Englishmen...

2010-07-31T02:24:00.000-07:00

... said Noel Coward, and with that thought in mind and the torture of Thursdays heat and humidity still a fresh memory I have decided to avoid the searing temperatures and get some practice photographing pets. I thought it a good idea to post some images I have already taken so I can measure my improvement. Here is a selection of pictures of my two gorgeous boys, Alfie and Oscar, who both fill my life with happiness (2nd to my wife of course), but also drive me crazy with their barking, misbehaving, chewing, growling, fighting, shedding etc (not at all like my wife!).

Alfie and Oscar (Click to enlarge)

Alfie's Wet Nose (Click to enlarge)

Alfie at Window (Click to enlarge)

Oscar "I See You" (Click to enlarge)

Alfie the Bone Eater (Click to enlarge)

Riparian Preserve 7.29.10

2010-07-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

I woke this morning at 4.30am to the sound of the dogs barking at the thunder and torrential rain. I decided to take advantage of the canine alarm and headed out to the Rio Salado Salt River Restoration Project. This is an area I had not visited before and is south of downtown Phoenix. The rain had stopped, but the humidity was unbearable and by the time I had walked from 7th St to 7th Ave along the river bed I was soaked to the skin and feeling like I was suffocating. I stopped at 7th Ave and watched some Grackles for a while, but really didn't get close to anything else. I walked back to the car with the blazing sun in my eyes and sweat blinding me - I was a very, very unhappy and uncomfortable bunny! I stopped at the car and finished a bottle of water and decided that I would head out to Gilbert (I was already half way there) so that it would not be a complete waste of a morning. It was just as uncomfortable in Gilbert. Walking with a 20lb tripod set up in a loaded photography vest really feels like you are wading through treacle in those weather conditions.

The ponds were pretty empty and I feel like this may be the end of my shooting there until the weather starts to cool. However here is a selection from today:

Female American Goldfinch (click to enlarge)

Snowy Egret (click to enlarge)

Snowy Egret in Flight (click to enlarge)

It's all gone to the dogs!

2010-07-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

This morning I headed out to Tres Rios with the intention of photographing some Turkey vultures. I was armed with some raw meat and liver to bait the vultures to a photographic spot. This is a very controversial aspect of wildlife photography. One argument is that luring birds with food can a) put the birds in danger, b)decrease their ability to find their own food and make them reliant on alternate food sources c) spread disease by encouraging birds to congregate. However, in this situation I established my lure far away from any danger, baited in an area already rich in food sources and baited for birds that already congregate for feeding.

About 30 minutes after I got set up the rain started, so I decided to use my car as a hide ('blind' for my US friends). After another 15 minutes 2 cars from the Phoenix Police Department converged on me after receiving reports of a suspicious car parked in the desert! An hour later I was approached by an officer from the Gila River Indian Reservation Police, Although I was not trespassing, he wanted me to be aware that I was very close to the reservation boundary. All of the officers were very polite, but I think they probably scared all the vultures out of the area by driving out to where I was parked.

The upshot of this is that I saw no vultures until I was driving home! However, there was a surprise event for me when I watched 2 wild dogs leave their pack and trot over to my meat feast! They were very calm and did not seem at all bothered by me.

Wild Dogs (click to enlarge)

Breakfast (click to enlarge)

This one chose the bloodiest piece he could! (click to enlarge)

The only other visitor I had was a lonely Mourning Dove... not quite the carcass eating vulture I was looking for!

Mourning Dove (click to enlarge)

One other shot from today... a couple of Cormorants flying to the south of where I was located I thought it would make a nice landscape shot. When I downloaded it to my computer I practiced a little post-processing - turning a fairly drab, grey landscape into a faux-sunset shot. The process involved changing almost everything in the shot, but I think that the result was successful. Here is the before and after for comparison:

Before (click to enlarge)

After (click to enlarge)

I think that next weeks trip might be to a new place - The Salt River Restoration Project... watch this space for updates.

Riparian Preserve and Tres Rios 7.19.10

2010-07-21T19:48:00.001-07:00

I got cancelled from work last night, so I was able to get up nice and early for a drive down to Gilbert. I tried to catch some different subjects so that this blog does not fill up with Egrets and Stilts!

Here are this mornings efforts:

Gila Woodpecker (Click to enlarge)

Anna's Hummingbird (Click to enlarge)

Afterwards I took a run past Tres Rios on the way home. It looks like the Turkey Vultures are out in force at the moment and the ponds are a danger area as I found out when a Dragonfly squadron started diving at me from the skies!

Turkey Vulture (Click to enlarge)

Dragonfly (Click to enlarge)

Gulf of Mexico Oil Crisis

2010-07-04T03:13:00.001-07:00

I am sure that everybody with ears has heard about the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. However, what some people do not know is that this may be the biggest ecological disaster the USA has ever seen. Along the Gulf Coast are several important wildlife areas that are going to be hit very hard by the continuing spill. In the last month a US government panel increased the estimated rate of flow of oil - the revised estimates double the previous figures, suggesting that 25,000-30,000 barrels are being spewed into the Gulf each day - that is 1 barrel every 3 seconds! The impact of this will continue for months as more and more of the coastline becomes toxic to wildlife.

This info is from the National Wildlife Federation:

Impacts on Mammals
Marine mammals, including West Indian manatees, bottlenose dolphins, sperm whales, and blue whales can come into contact with the oil and inhale harmful fumes when surfacing for air.
Terrestrial and semi-aquatic mammals including river otters, mink and swamp rabbits will lose habitat and food sources as oil washes into coastal wetlands.

Impact on birds.
Egrets, herons, ibises, roseate spoonbills, brown pelicans and Wilson's plovers (to name just a few) lose buoyancy and their ability to keep warm; suffer skin and eye lesions; and ulcers, pneumonia, liver damage, and other life-threatening conditions from ingesting oil when they try to feed or clean oil from their feathers.
Many ground-nesting shorebirds, including plovers and terns, are at risk of losing their eggs and young.
Millions of migratory birds use the Gulf Coast as a critical stopover point after the exhausting flight across the Gulf of Mexico and will face habitat and food shortages as oil washes ashore.

Impact on Fish.
Yellowfin tuna, blue tuna, blue crabs, sharks, oysters, shrimp and other species lose their ability to fight disease and experience a build-up of contaminants in their bodies over time.
Oil exposure is lethal to fish eggs and larvae that are not yet mobile and cannot escape the oil slick.

Impact on Reptiles.
Reptiles depend on the coast for breeding ground, habitat and food sources. Sea turtles, including the loggerhead and the green turtle, are getting ready to begin their nesting season.

Impacts on Habitat
Ninety percent of all the marine species in the Gulf depend on coastal estuaries at some point in their lives, and most of these estuaries are in Louisiana. Louisiana's estuarine habitat includes salt marshes and barrier islands that sit on the edge of Louisiana's coast, and those will be hit first--and hardest--by the oil spill.
Oil is harder to remove from the highly organic soils that occur in coastal wetlands and marshes.
Oil can kill or reduce growth of marsh grasses, which are a key source of food and cover for wildlife. This vegetation loss will also lead to erosion and contribute to the coast’s already rapid rate of land loss.

The latest figures suggest that over 400 species of wildlife that rely on the Gulf Coast are being threatened - with recovery for some species not expected for decades. There is also some concern that the initial body count is wildly inaccurate. The Exxon Valdez disaster enquiry found that only a small portion of carcases were found, researchers believed that only 10% of the dead wildlife was recovered - in the case of the Louisiana Spill that could mean that 13,000 birds have already been lost, 500 mammals and thousands of turtles. There is no way to tell how much of the fish poulation has been affected. One particularly sad fact is that the Brown Pelican, which was only removed from the endangered species list last year, is nesting now in the Gulf area. Chicks, nests and eggs are being disturbed not only by the oil, but also from the rescue effort - cleaning machinery and volunteers are unavoidably decreasing the chance of these birds surviving by interfering (unintentionally) with nesting sites.

The National Wildlife Federation has been involved in the rescue mission since day 1. Their work is invaluable and could mean the difference between recovery or extinction for some species. There is a donation area here, or visit the NWF homepage and click on the link there.

Some of the affected bird habitats being threatened by the spill include:

1) Gulf Coast Least Tern Colony. One of the world’s largest colonies of the threatened least tern.
2) Lower Pascagoula River – including the Pascagoula River Coastal Preserve. The coastal marshes at the mouth of the river support yellow and black rails, snowy plovers and endangered wintering piping plovers.
3) Gulf Islands National Seashore. Hosts thousands of wintering shorebirds, including endangered piping plover, Wilson’s plover and American oystercatcher as well as brown pelican, black-crowned night-heron, white ibis and black skimmer.
4) Breton National Wildlife Refuge – including the Chandeleur Islands. Largest tern colony in North America, predominantly of sandwich, royal, and caspian terns. Also American oystercatcher, brown pelican, reddish egret and endangered piping plover. Also an important wintering area for magnificent frigatebird, and stopover site for redhead and lesser scaup.
5) Dauphin Island. An important stopover site for migrant birds including shorebirds, gulls, terns, herons and rails.
6) Fort Morgan Historical Park. An important stopover site for migratory birds including shorebirds, gulls, terns, herons and rails.
7) Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. An important stopover site for thousands of trans-Gulf migrants.
8) Eglin Air Force Base. Best known for its inland population of red-cockaded woodpeckers, Elgin also has significant coastal habitat for shorebirds and wading birds.
9) Delta National Wildlife Refuge. Large numbers of wading birds nest here, including white ibis, snowy egrets and herons; thousands of shorebirds use the mudflats in winter and during migration, including dunlin, long-billed dowitcher and western sandpiper as well as endangered piping plover.
10) Baptiste Collette Bird Islands. This artificial barrier island, created from dredge spoil, is one of the many Louisiana coastal islands that could be affected. Birds found here include caspian tern, brown pelican, gull-billed tern and black skimmer.

I got the prime spot today!

2010-07-01T12:04:00.001-07:00

After missing the best spot earlier this week I got up at 3.30 am to get to the Riparian Preserve nice and early and managed to get an excellent place to catch the bird-life. The highlight for me was seeing some Snowy Egrets challenging eachother and a Great Blue Heron trying, unsuccessfully, to eat a baby turtle! One of the challenges I faced (with mixed success) was the changing light. As the sun broke above the tree line some very harsh shadows were cast across the pond, meaning that I had to constantly watch my exposure - changing ISO, shutter speed and aperture with almost every shot. I think that I will experiment with one of the automatic settings and see if there is any benefit to letting the camera make some of the decisions! Even though there were plenty of shots lost, I was very happy with the shots I did get, I had to rescue some of them using Adobe Camera Raw (my workflow can be seen in the 'Tutorials and Lessons Learned' page). Here is a small selection:

Snowy Egret (click to enlarge)

Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge)

Great Blue Heron and Baby Pond Slider Turtle (click to enlarge)

Riparian Preserve 6.28.10

2010-06-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

I had a sleepless night on my 'turnaround day' - the first day off when I try to convert from nights to days. This meant that I was awake at 4am with no plans for the day. I took a trip out to Gilbert hoping to have some of the success of last week. When I got there I noticed that one of he ponds was being drained - forcing all of the birds into a small area of remaining water. There was already a photographer in place about 9 feet from the closest birds. I set up further down the bank so I would not disturb him or the birds.

Here are a selection of shots from today:

Great Blue Heron (click to enlarge)

Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge)

Killdeer (click to enlarge)

American Avocet (click to enlarge)

Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge)

Broad-tailed Grackle (click to enlarge)

Great Blue Heron (click to enlarge)

Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge)

Riparian Preserve 6.24.10

2010-06-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

I decided to take a chance with the heat this morning and travelled out to Gilbert. Surprisingly, there was quite a lot of birdlife and not many photographers. I was able to spend a leisurely 2 hours strolling between the ponds without fear of disturbing anyone.
By about 8.30 am it had become too warm to stay out, even being in the shade was very uncomfortable.
Here is a selection from the trip:

Great Blue Heron (click to enlarge)

Snowy Egret (click to enlarge)

Neotropic Cormorant (click to enlarge)

Costa's Hummingbird (click to enlarge)

Mallard (click to enlarge)

Great Egrets (click to enlarge)

Dragonfly (click to enlarge)

Pond Slider Turtle (click to enlarge)

Equipment Reviews.

2010-06-10T01:47:00.000-07:00

I have recently started using a Gimbal type tripod head. I was previoulsy using a trigger head which I liked, but occasionally would pinch my fingers or the springs would 'click' making my subjects suddenly become alert - which would either startle them or lead them to snap out of normal behaviour, which is what I want to capture. The gimbal head is a specialized tripod head for telephoto lenses. Its design allows you to rotate your lens around its center of gravity and thus easily manipulate very large lenses. It is really useful when shooting birds or animals on the move as the connections can be kept fairly loose allowing the photographer to move the kit quite freely. I have found that a good long lens technique is needed to prevent camera shake or movement at the point of capture, but the ease of use is phenomenal.

The Gimbal head utilises the arca-swiss quick release plate system, which is a very sturdy securing mechanism for attaching an expensive lens to the tripod head. When I bought my first arca - swiss plate I chose the model that was suggested for my camera/lens combo. However, I failed to take into account the weight of the battery grip and found that I could only achieve a balance with half of the plate secured. This worked well for me for a while, but after a few outings I realised that I use other equipment, namely a hot-shoe flash, on my rig that would also throw the whole thing off balance. I replaced my original plate with an 8" plate - this allowed me lots of extra room for the other equipment.

While experimenting with my new tripod head I also re-read Arthur Morris' excellent book 'The Art of Bird Photography', which suggests that using a hot-shoe flash to provide some degree of 'fill lighting' would enhance the detail captured by the bird photographer. I soon realised that if I orientated my camera from landscape to portrait the flash was catching on the tripod. One way around this was to attach a Jobu sidemounted flash arm - this allows me to orientate the camera in either position whilst maintaining the flash position above the rig.

I also added a 'Better Beamer' fresnel lens to the flash unit. This essentially throws the flash further than normal and is used by many nature photographers to capture those small details with more clarity.

I don't have any photography stores close to me, so I have had to find reputable online stores for this eqiuipment. I have found several that I have been happy with:

Amazon
Outdoor Photo Gear
Adorama
Hunts

I have also used Arthur Morris' store and have been very satisfied.

Blogs and Boards

2010-06-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

I try to follow several blogs and I am a member of a couple of online forums. This allows me to post my own pictures for critique by other photographers and also shows me the excellent images and techniques I hope to achieve from expert nature photographers. I usually spend an hour or two per day perusing these sites picking up information where I can. It also allows me to critically analyse other photographers work, which in turn enables me to critique my own methods and approaches. Sometimes this means that I will look at composition, subject matter or post-processing workflows. The forums also keep me up to date with technology, equipment reviews and photography related news.
The following web sites are my favourite forums and/or blogs.

Blogs:
Glenn Bartley
Alan Murphy
Birds As Art

Online forums:
Photo Camel
Bird Photographers
New York Institute of Photography

It's getting too hot......

2010-05-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

...for this Englishman and for the birds too! I figure the birds are leaving for cooler climates... or they don't like the smell of my burning skin! I was out this morning at the Riparian Preserve and Mother Nature was stoking the furnace in the Valley of the Sun! I still saw plenty of birds, but definitely fewer than on my first visit. Talking to some of the other photographers it appears that the Phoenix summers are pretty quiet for birds, so I think that for the next few months the bird photography will take a back seat and I will concentrate on expanding my experiences with some studio/indoor work.
Here are a selection of shots from today:

Little Egret (click to enlarge).

Great Blue Heron (click to enlarge).

American Avocet (click to enlarge).

Tres Rios 5.25.10

2010-05-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

I tried a new place this morning, a place that is a lot closer than the Riparian Preserve. Unfortunately, it is a lot smaller and the photographic opportunities were a lot less. There was plenty of bird life, but the ponds were either overgrown or totally exposed. The other problem was that in order to have the sun behind me for the photography I had to walk past the ponds first - which meant that the more skittish birds were already on the wing when I was positioned properly. I did intend to wait for them to return, but the mosquitos were out in force - and although I was covered in anti-mozzie spray the little blighters do have a tendency to explore my ears and nose, which is very uncomfortable!!
Anyway, these were from today:

Black Crowned Night Heron (click to enlarge).

Dragonfly (click to enlarge).

Tomorrow, if I wake up early enough, I will head out to the Riparian Reserve again.

New Gear Review

2010-05-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of weeks I have been using a photographers vest instead of carrying a bag. I had heard mixed reviews of vests - it would seem that you either love them or hate them... and I love them!

Now I have an organised way to carry:
Spare camera batteries, spare flash batteries, flash, flash extender, memory cards, loupe viewer, spare end caps, snacks, field guide x 2, small pair of binoculars, notepad and pen. When I used the bag it would always become disorganised, the contents end up rolling around the inside and I can never find what I need. With the vest it is not a problem - everything has it's place and there is a place for everything.

The vest I use is actually a fly-fishing vest, but it is absolutely perfect for what I need - it can be bought here: Blackfoot River Vest

Another Early Start!

2010-05-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

Oh my God... I don't think I can get up at 4am again this week. It is getting harder and harder! Today I was back at the Riparian Preserve for a short visit. Got a few pictures, but was yawning constantly and could not keep my concentration - that is what 3 hours sleep does for you!
Here are today's images:

Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge).

Little Egret (click to enlarge).

American Avocet (click to enlarge).

Tomorrow I am going to have a long-overdue sleep in!

Gilbert Riparian Preserve 5.17.10

2010-05-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

I took another early morning jaunt out to Gilbert this morning. This time I set off at 4am and arrived at 5.30 before most people got there. It was a good opportunity to take my gimbal head for a spin... I like it a lot, but I am going to have to practice with it as some of my distance shots came out a little on the soft side. I still managed plenty of satisfactory shots and I think that the preserve is fast becoming my favourite place. I am looking forward to seeing how the bird species vary month by month.

These are my personal faves from today:

Dragonfly (click to enlarge).

Great Blue Heron (click to enlarge).

Green Heron (click to enlarge).

White Chinese Goose (click to enlarge).

Riparian Institute 5.13.10

2010-05-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

It seems like ages since I went out on a shoot! Today I decided to go somewhere new and a little farther away. About 60 miles from Buckeye is the Gilbert Riparian Preserve - maintained by the Riparian Institute (see their web page here), so at 5am this morning I was on the road for the 1 hour drive to this designated Arizona Important Bird Area. What a great experience!! The site comprises of an angling lake and 7 recharge ponds (which are specifically for wildlife) with some good walking paths linking them. I got to the ponds at 6.15 am (after taking a couple of wrong turns - bloody SatNav!!!) and was surprised to see quite a number of cars already in the parking lot. Walking into the preserve I could see the tell-tale signs of photographers already in place - lots of big lenses dotted around the banks of the water. Immediately on arrival I practically stepped on a Canada Goose... and the rest of the morning was just as fruitful. I was very careful not to disturb the other photographers who had set up before me, so I was happy to walk the trails and explore - noting the positions I will set up at on my next visit. I am sure that my next trip will yield some amazing results, but here is a selection from today:

Canada Goose (click to enlarge).

Mallard Ducks (click to enlarge).

Black-necked Stilt (click to enlarge).

Great Egret (click to enlarge).

Great Blue Heron (click to enlarge).

Wildlife Photograhers Dream!

2010-05-10T02:11:00.000-07:00

I was sent this video today and thought it was absolutely hilarious! All those long lenses pointed in the wrong direction and all that was needed was a wide angle lens and some awareness of what is around you!! I actually laughed out loud at the end when the deer poses for the photographer - very, very funny!

File Download Speeds

2010-04-19T01:36:00.000-07:00

In my research to improve the look of my blog and speed up the time it takes to view full size images I have come across a really great resource that will make it easy for me to resize my images:

http://www.onlineconversion.com/downloadspeed.htm

Book List

2010-04-17T01:11:00.001-07:00

I have recently had a couple of requests for book recommendations, so I decided I would make a post that I could update whenever I come across a book that I particularly enjoy. Then I thought: Why not do the same thing for pieces of equipment, photography clothing etc? So here is the first installment - my favourite books. I have linked each book to amazon.com.

This entry has now been incorporated into Alex's Store - please stop by to browse. The link is at the top of the page on the right hand side.
birds bird birds bird birds bird birds bird birds bird birds bird birds bird

Arlington and Buckeye 4.14.10

2010-04-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

Had a very odd day today - I could not seem to get anywhere near a bird, but somehow managed to end up with 10 photographs that I was happy with. Of course because of the lack of proximity the birds come out a little small in some of the pics, but it was not the fruitless endeavour that I had first expected. Today's birds included the usual Egrets and Tree Swallows - my Buckeye locals! The Yellow Headed Blackbirds were out again, as was a lone Osprey. The new additions to my collection were a Common Yellowthroat and a Cinnamon Teal.

Yellow-headed Blackbird (click to enlarge).

Tree Swallow (click to enlarge).

Common Yellowthroat (click to enlarge).

Cinnamon Teal (click to enlarge).

Great Egret (click to enlarge).

Osprey (click to enlarge).

More resizing...

2010-04-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

I could not get used to clicking on my thumbnails and looking at small images, so I have (hopefully) resized the images so that they are large and open quickly. If anyone notices that the images load slowly please let me know.

Arlington 4.7.10

2010-04-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

I managed to get out to Arlington this morning. It was very windy and I had trouble keeping the camo netting around myself and the tripod. Lots of birds of prey were up in the air, but none were close enough to be photographed... I did see (and hear) lots of Yellow Headed Blackbirds hiding amongst the reeds. Occasionally one would pop out allowing me to take a couple of frames. This one was a from a group of 5 shots taken as the wind blew the front reeds out of the way. 2 seconds later the reeds were obscuring my view of the bird again.

Buckeye 6.4.10

2010-04-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

Had a lovely day in Buckeye today. Spent about 3 hours walking the irrigation streams and saw a lot of birdlife. I used some of Arthur Morris' field techniques for getting close and was very pleased with the results.
This first picture was taken not long after first light - the ducks hadn't noticed me as they came in to land and I was able to frame this shot:

I spent about 30 minutes with this Great Egret - Arthur Morris' techniques allowed me to creep from about 400ft up to about 30ft away from him without him showing any signs of alarm or concern. It is a shame that the background is as cluttered, but c'est la vie and as I discussed in my previous post today - satisfaction doesn't always come from the perfect picture.

What was interesting about these shots was that the 30 minute time span caused some very noticeable changes in the blue of the sky. For this second shot I also used a little fill flash to try and bring out some of the detail. I am not sure whether I like the results yet, but will definately adjust the flash output next time.

So-called Professional

2010-04-06T05:34:00.000-07:00

Up at 4am this morning - I love this first day when I am not working. I sleep all day Monday and then try and sleep as much as I can Monday night, which last night was from 10.30 pm till 4 am. So now at 5.30 am I have showered, fed the dogs, started the laundry, made breakfast and have started my second cup of coffee. This is the time I love because I can sit and catch up on my favorite photography blogs and forums before I leave the house at 7am(ish) to catch some of the waterbirds that arrive in Buckeye and settle in the streams.
Today, I have read a very interesting blog entry by David DuChemin - which made me smile (Confessions of a So-Called Pro) - because it made me realise that it is ok to occasionally ignore the "tech stuff" - to forget to clean your sensor is not a life or death issue, to mismanage your exposure can sometimes be a positive experience and only using 1% of photoshop is ok... because sometimes a shiny piece of equipment distracts you, or because you become engrossed in your subject or because you would rather be on the porcelain throne reading about tripod heads than actually learning about histogram curves (as important as they are). So, let's raise a glass for those of us that do not count ourselves as professionals and never really expect to be classified as such, for those of us that get up at 4.30am full of enthusiasm because "I just want to make images, man". For the others, the people that get paid to do this, you can sleep easy knowing that I am thoroughly enjoying my hobby without stressing that my bokeh is not as attractive at f5.6 as it is at f4.

Flight Shots

2010-03-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

I completed my budget version R Strap yesterday and I took it out for a trial run. The original version can be seen here. My version is definitley not as versatile as the Black Rapid R Strap, it does not have the ability to attach pockets, accessory straps etc, etc... but I built it for a fraction of the cost. For those people who are unaware of the R Strap - imagine a quick draw system for a camera. In my case my primary lens and camera are tripod mounted, but for those times when you need to hand-hold a camera very quickly the tripod set-up is not ideal. This strap allows me to keep a second camera with a 70-300mm at my side.
I found it very useful yesterday... when I was focusing my primary camera at a nesting Osprey I was suddenly aware of motion to my side. Using my 'Alex-strap' ;) I was able to capture these images without having to try and manipulate a heavy tripod.

American Avocets

Western Reef Heron

Backyard Feeder

2010-03-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I relocated my backyard feeding pole and employed some tips from other bird photographers - in essence I moved the feeder to a more photographic location and I added some 'fake' branches so that photographs have a more natural/wild feel to them. I added the branches by drilling out part of the feeding pole and inserting some small, dead branches that I found. The aim is that pictures will now have birds on branches, rather than on the plastic feeder. The location of the pole was changed so that I have a better bokeh in the morning and evening sun, previously the background was a breezeblock wall, now the morning background is a lime tree and the afternoon background is a fan palm. This morning (and yesterday eveing) I set up the hide and waited to see what would happen. The first thing I noticed was that most birds continued to visit the area that the pole was originally in, probably to feed on the seed that was on the ground. When the house finches did catch on to the new location they made use of the branches - allowing me to get the pictures below.
One lesson I did learn - I do not need the 1.4x teleconverter when working at this distance, in fact it may be better to add an extension tube to the 300mm f4 in order to reduce the minimum focus point.

Renovation

2010-03-28T05:05:00.000-07:00

I had some great feedback regarding my blog from some fellow photographers this week. I received mostly good comments, but one perturbing piece of news to me was the length of time that images were taking to load for others to view. Of course, the images are stored in a cache on any computer I use, so they load almost instantaneously - but for Joe Public the images were taking up to 20 seconds to load, which as one critique mentioned "will be enough to bore your viewers after the first image". So this week I spent some time resizing all the clickable images to a 1:1.5 ratio and also reducing the images to a more manageable size. I hope the uniform size is more appealing to the eye and that the photographs load a little quicker for you now. I am still a little unsure about the size that they are displayed at - maybe I need a little time to get used to the smaller format.
If anybody has any comments regarding the images, the blog etc, whether good or bad, feel free to drop me an email at photographybyalex@gmail.com - all constructive criticism is welcome!

I am hoping to get out and about again after the weekend and have a couple of DIY photography projects in mind to keep me out of mischief - including a 'ground pod', my own low budget version of the r-strap and a customised feeding pole for some back garden bird pictures.

I also need to redesign my header this week... imagine my surprise when I googled myself and found another Woodruff Photography! When I looked at their website I can see that they have been around a lot longer than me, so I will rename my blog and put a new header on top.

Tranquility

2010-03-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Just a quick shot while I was waiting for some birds to show up at Arlington a couple of weeks ago. I took this to check my camera settings, but liked it so much I thought I would add it to the blog.

Unit 3 - Progress, but not completion!

2010-03-17T23:42:00.000-07:00

With renewed vigour I have been tackling unit 3 (see previous NYIP post). One of the hardest parts of this unit is the broad nature of the assignment. These are some of the attempts I have made for the subject 'backlighting'. I still have to decide which I will submit:

Butterflies at the Desert Botanical Garden

2010-03-17T23:20:00.000-07:00

I have been looking forward to going back to the Botanical Gardens to see the butterfly exhibit. Unfortunately I had not realised how busy it would be during Spring Break! Coaches and coaches of kids descended on the gardens and havoc ensued! I still managed to get some reasonable shots, but nearly lost my kit twice thanks to pesky kids knocking into my tripod! So I left the pavillion and walked the gardens to get some tranquility (some hope!). I did manage to see a couple of bull snakes (4 feet and 5 feet long), a bunch of lizards and 5 or 6 hummingbirds.

I think I will have to go back once Spring Break is over and I can shoot in a more relaxed state of mind!

Buckeye March 16th 2010

2010-03-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like messing about with Google Earth and discovering interesting geographical features around the globe. Imagine my surprise when I was googling the Buckeye area and found a small pond - very close to where I go birding, then panning out slightly I saw a huge lake about a mile further east that is owned by a local mining company. Knowing that I would be in trouble if I was found trespassing in the quarry I decided that I could safely explore the smaller pond. So I left the house shortly after sunrise and headed off. The pond was not quite the bird extravaganza I was expecting - small and smelly, and almost impossible to reach because of a wall of 8 foot tall reeds. I had made so much noise in my effort to get to the bank of the pond that anything that was not totally deaf had long departed. It was a little like forging a path through virgin rainforest and I was expecting to meet up with Sid James (Carry On up the Jungle) or Harrison Ford running away from a tribe of pigmy head hunters! Anyway, I gave it up as a bad job and left the area. Not wanting to head back home I took a stroll down towards the quarry and kept to the bushes so that I would not be seen. The bird life was incredible! Egrets, cranes, herons and ducks were all there! Unfortunately I was approaching the lake from the west - which meant I was facing the sun, which is no good for the type of photography I wanted. So, I turned around and made my way back to the car... however, to my benefit I took the wrong fork in a path and stumbled across a stream. I was fairly certain that I knew where the stream led - because I had parked my care at the other end of it! I thought it was a small irrigation canal, so had never thought of investigating it before - now I could follow it straight back to the car. It was one of the best birding experiences I have had - and definately one I will repeat again, although next time I will take a tripod instead of a monopod, and I will utilise some of the tracking techniques that Arthur Morris describes in "The Art of Bird Photography" - a book that has not been more than a few feet from me whatever I have been doing in the last few weeks.

Anyway, enough of the waffle... here are the shots:

House Sparrow.

Great Egret.

Black-Crowned Night Heron (Juvenile).

Tree Swallow.

Osprey.

Garden Insects

2010-03-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

I recently bought a couple of books covering the subject of close-up photography. One that I have been really enjoying is "Close-Up Photography in Nature" by Tim Fitzharris which describes the use of dedicated macro lenses at close range and telephoto lenses at much further distances. So last week I set about using both methods to capture some images and improve my insect techniques. These shots were either taken with a 60mm Nikkor Micro lens with extension tubes or a 300mm Nikkor telephoto lens.

The pink flower that is in the image with the fly is a new addition to my back garden. In the last few weeks I have been cultivating a corner of the garden that will hopefully attract butterflies and hummingbirds - I have had quite a few visitors from the fly and wasp families so far. Although fairly new the plants look like they have established themselves and are starting to flourish - the fact that the pink bloom in this photo is looking healthy is testament to that, plants that are not properly tended have a rapid life span in this desert heat.

I was pleased with all of these, but especially pleased with the spider - because I didn't have to get too close!

Ho-hum!

2010-02-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

It feels like ages since I was able to post anything on this blog. I have been working on Unit 3 of the NYIP Professional course... and it has been killing me! Total lack of inspiration has led to a real sense of doom about this project. Luckily I have a very supportive family who have been able to make some great suggestions for the photo assignment. So this week I have been getting the necessary props ready for the completion of my assignment by next week - Hoorah! It looks like I am not the only one who struggles with this assignment, the NYIP forum is full of students who are at a loss, not from confusion or an inability to understand, but because the remit of the assignment is so broad. Anyway, there is light at the end of the tunnel and then I will move on to Unit 4 which I am really looking forward to!

The sense of frustration with this Unit has also deterred me from other photography jaunts. I would either go birding and feel guilty that I was not spending my time finalising my submission, or I would go birding and spend my energy looking for ideas for the submission rather than focusing on the birdlife. So this week I took a bold step... all thoughts of the dreaded Unit 3 were banished and I picked up my entension tubes and macro lens and started an education with insect photography! What a pleasant experience!! The technical difficulties of hunting insects and dealing with a very limited depth of field is both frustrating and hugely challenging, but so far I am really enjoying the steep learning curve.

The examples below are from my first and second shoot - both about 1/2 hour long in my back garden. It is a really nice way to unwind after a night at work before going to bed.

This first shot is a picture wing fly and is about 3mm in length:

The next 2 shots were about 6mm long:

Obviously there are a lot of improvements to be made, but I am quite happy with this quality as a starting point.

I will keep birding and 'insecting' for fun and hopefully (no, definitely), I will finish Unit 3 this week. That will give me plenty of time to practice before the butterfly exhibit comes to the Desert Botanical Garden - I am hoping to get some really nice macro shots there.

Buckeye, November 11th

2009-11-11T08:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I set up 10 feeders in the desert south of the town, right next to the irrigation canal. This morning I set up to see what had been attracted to the area. Not very much was happening, so I will continue to bait the area with food and return next week for more observation.

I did manage to see this fellow. He was keeping a very close eye on me and took off as soon as I fired off a couple of shots, but I was quite pleased with this one.

Lake Pleasant

2009-11-05T16:37:00.000-08:00

During October I decided to take Alfie and Oscar on an overnight camping trip to Lake Pleasant. It was an eventful trip with plenty of birdlife to capture. However, the real excitement came when the tent fell down after sunset and we had to relocate to sleep in the car! That is the first time a tent has ever fallen down on me! Alfie really didn't settle and was disturbed by the nocturnal wildlife that was in abundance. It ended up being an adventure that I will probably only do on my own next time!

Arlington Butte November 4th

2009-11-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

This week I finally managed to get to Arlington to see what bird-life was around. I set my hide up at 04.30 am and sat in the peaceful darkness waiting for the sun. As the sky started to lighten (but still way too dark to get a good shot) I noticed an Egret stood in the water about 15ft from me. Unfortunately a couple of duck hunters scared him off when they started shooting at the other end of the lake! My frustration was short lived as I realized that if the Egret had not seen me there was little chance that the hunters had. I did not want to be at the working end of a shotgun cartridge so I whistled a couple of bars of 'The Adams Family' to let the hunters know where I was. Usually I carry an orange vest, which I can hang from a nearby tree or bush to make my presence known, but of course today I left it behind! The birds didn't return for the next 2 hours, largely because the hunters kept talking between themselves.

As I was driving home I spotted these guys sat in a tree. They were close enough for me to get these shots, but the image required some pretty heavy cropping. As I crept closer to the tree one of these took flight, but the other sat for the next 2-3 minutes allowing me took continue shooting.

I headed back to Buckeye after a this and made my way to the quarry to the south of the town. I didn't see a great deal of activity in the trees, but was able to fire off a couple of shots of this Osprey as it circled above me.

All in all a reasonably successful morning - even if I missed that first Egret!

NYIP Assignment 2

2009-10-02T14:17:00.001-07:00

It feels like a really, really long time since I spent any time focusing on my photography (no pun intended!). In the last 2 weeks I have completed my second assignment for my course. I should have submitted 3 photographs for assessment. However, I could not decide on the 3 to send so I chanced my luck and sent 5! I enclosed a lovely letter to my assessor asking her very nicely to take a look at all 5 and make the final decision. Let's see what happens!

Photograph #1: Emphasizing the subject by its size and off-center placement.
Subject: Cat at window
ISO: 400
Lighting Conditions: Indoors, about an hour before dusk, overcast skies.
Lens focal length: 48mm
F-stop: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/60”

Photograph #2: Use framing to emphasize your subject.
Subject: Bird on branch
ISO: 200
Lighting conditions: About 2 hours after sunrise, strong sun.
Lens focal length: 420mm
F-stop: f8
Shutter speed: 1/1000”

Photograph #3: Using leading lines to draw attention to your subject.
ISO: 200
Lighting conditions: Overcast skies
Lens focal length: 27mm
F-stop: f8
Shutter speed: 1/250”

Photograph #4: Using leading lines to draw attention to your subject.
Subject: Maestro at the Controls.
ISO: 200
Lighting conditions: Indoors
Lens focal length: 55mm
F-stop: f6.3
Shutter speed: 1/125”

Photograph #5: Use framing to emphasize your subject
Subject: Sheep through Gate.
ISO: 400
Lighting conditions: Overcast skies.
Lens focal length: 55mm
F-stop: f5.6
Shutter speed: 1/640”

Update

2009-07-11T00:43:00.001-07:00

I received my feedback from my assessor for unit 1 of the NYIP course - I have edited my post with the pictures to show the comments for each one.
Also I decided that as I was going to look at resizing my images I would also look at using another border and signature. I am still playing with this but hope that I can roll something out in the coming week.
The unit 2 lessons dropped through the letterbox yesterday and I will start reading this weekend in preparation for the photo assignment. As well as the assignments and lessons, I also received my "press pass", so hopefully I will be able to access a few photo opportunities a little easier.
I didnt do much in terms of photography this week, but I am keen to get back to it in the coming week and I am brainstorming a few personal assignments to add to the NYIP work I will have to do.

The Butterfly Series

2009-06-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post the other photographs from my trip to the Butterfly Pavillion at the Desert Botanical Gardens. Next time this exhibition is in Phoenix I will spend more time making a more comprehensive collection of images using a greater range of approaches. Also I will not forget to pack a macro lens next time!
This collection of images is a good example of what I was describing in the post below about sizing.

Sizing??

2009-06-27T03:47:00.000-07:00

I have just been taking a look through some of my entries on this blog and noticed that I very rarely use standard sizing for my photographs. Instead, I crop to the point where the picture works for me. This will need to be addressed in the future as I will have trouble finding frames that display the picture correctly if I continue to use custom canvas sizes.
From today I will crop so that I use an 8x10 inch ratio for the purpose of this website and make an alternate size using the ratio 4x6 to keep on file. I hope that this will remedy any printing issues that may arise.

Arlington Butte

2009-06-27T01:19:00.000-07:00

I spend the occasional morning at Arlington Butte, which is a bird refuge about 30 miles from my house. Although I have mixed success at photographing the birds - I always seem to be facing the wrong way, or I move at the worst possible moment and scare them away! But, I always enjoy my time there. I usually arrive at 4.30am (ish!) while it is still dark and set up my area. By 6am - 7am the sun comes up and turns the reeds into this great golden colour! By 10am the sun is so bright that the lighting becomes very difficult to work with. However, before the sun comes up completely there is a pre-dawn time that I love - the light is not good enough to be able to catch the detail of the birds, but it gives a different feeling to the surrounding area.

Anyway, Arlington Butte pictures.

People Photography

2009-06-27T00:50:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of years I have tried to find my own method/style to photographing people. Sometimes I try to pose the subject, other times I shoot for the more reportage/candid approach. Anyway, I still have a long way to go and a lot of lessons to learn - but I thought I would share some of my favourite shots in this category.

This first shot is of a little boy who fished in the ocean outside our villa when we were on honeymoon. He was very proud of his catches and would come to our veranda to display the fish he was taking home for his supper. I really like this shot because it has the silhouette that I wanted, but also retains some of the colour of the situation.

This next picture was also from our honeymoon. It was taken at the end of our wedding day as we were enjoying some wine on our veranda. I posed Áine for this shot and I was quite happy with my first attempt at 'photographer direction'. I added a little soft blur to the edges to emphasise Áine.

The next picture was a lucky shot. This is our friend Sara, who at the time of the photograph was dancing at a wedding. I was really pleased with this shot, especially as my flash had been firing randomly all night. For this picture the flash worked and the lighting was just right, Sara's smile and eyes are visible and the picture has (in my opinion) a warm feel to it.

Lastly, this is a candid shot of our friend Cherry. She was concentrating so hard to get the roof to stay on her gingerbread house that she was completely oblivious to me getting the camera out and framing the shot.

New York Institute of Photography - Assignment 1

2009-06-20T00:05:00.000-07:00

This week I submitted the first 3 images for my photography course. I had some real problems with the first image - I found this very hard, but knew what I wanted and eventually everything seemed to fall into place. The second image was much easier - the subject was obedient and posed long enough for me to get the right shot. Image 3 was very tough... I was completely uninspired and although I had 6 different ideas in mind I really was not enthused by any of them.

1) Use the shutter speed to depict a sense of motion.

ISO 200, f3.5, 1/15 sec, focal length 18mm.

Assessor Comments: "It amazes me that you got such a crisp shot at 1/15 of a second. That is absolutley amazing... A really interesting shot and I applaud your effort... If you look at the composition you've got the 'action' part of it and I am really impressed that it is so crisp, seeing as you are travelling at the same speed as the other cars. You wonder if everybody is heading for the light at the end of the tunnel. Where is everybody going? It is very mystical.There is a mystery to it. I really like it and I think you were very successful. Good for you, it worked out really great".

2) Use a shallow depth of field to highlight the focus on a subject.

ISO 200, f5.6, 1/80 sec, focal length 120mm.

Assessor Comment: "A lot of branches that could be potentially distracting are included in this picture, but because of your soft focus they aren't and the image has a more 'impressionist' feel to it. You have good light which is not too severe. A nice composition, but you could make the butterfly a little larger if you wanted too".

3) Use a large depth of field to give the impression of distance.

ISO 200, f14, 1/500 sec, focal length 35mm

Assessor Comments: "You have leading, converging lines and a sense of desolation with this. I would avoid having the railway lines in the center of the picture, I would prefer to have them come from the side. But, you have broken the image up nicely by having the tower on the left. Your work is really beautiful.

Experiments with Water

2009-06-19T23:37:00.000-07:00

This week I set up a tabletop studio and had some fun with some water droplets. Initially I had some issues with colour, but I found a way around this. The setup involves bouncing a flash off a coloured background, I had some construction paper in blue, red and yellow. However the colours did not come through in the pictures. Then I tried a 3 ring binder with a gloss finish. I propped this behind the water drops, aimed the flash onto the binder... and hey presto!
These images have had no extra colour added in the post processing.

Robert Mondavi Vineyards - Summer 2008

2009-02-13T22:43:00.000-08:00

This was a really tough experience for me. Blazing sunshine outside and dark wine cellars inside. I was very reluctant to use a flash in the cellars so that the natural colours would not be washed out. This is something I could have avoided if I had a dedicated iTTL Nikon flash, but instead all I had was the onboard pop-up flash. As a result there were some very important lessons learned, and many, many shots that were unusable.

This first shot was of some banners in the vineyard. I loved the contrast between the primary colours. I composed the image so that only the flags and the sky remained.

This second picture was an attempt to play with some depth of field. It was very difficult using a low f-stop to blur the background vines while maintaining a reasonable light level so that the details of the closest vines did not become super-saturated with light.

And finally we stepped into the cool, dark cellars to see the continuing wine-making process. There was a very warm feeling to the place despite the lack of light - something to do with the rich wood colours from the barrels. Using a low f-stop and cranking up the ISO allowed me to capture these rich colours, but the clarity of the pictures suffered and the resulting images were grainy.

Flowers - Macro and Mini Studio. 2007

2009-02-01T22:02:00.000-08:00

When I first started looking at photography as a serious hobby I started reading some online forums regarding lighting set ups and composition etc - the bare bones of moving from snap shot towards something more creative. One of the tools I used was a mini studio which comprised of a box with opaque windows. This allowed me to place the subject in the box and have external lights diffused through the opaque sheets.

This was my first attempt and I was absolutely amazed at the improvement I could see from previous still life attempts I had made. Now I look at this and think the image is a little lacking in 'pop' (probably due to the muted colours and/or brightness levels) and also.... my lens was dirty!!

Following this attempt I ran out to Walmart and picked up as many varieties of coloured construction paper as they had. This next image contains the 'pop' that the first one lacked... but more interesting for me was the use of 'empty space' to make the composition more interesting. When I finished the processing on this shot (resizing and brightness/contrast) it reminded me of a poster for a tropical island getaway. Another positive move for my creativity and a real bolster for my confidence!

The next experiment for me to try was to play with the positioning of my lighting. At this point I had resisted the urge to buy a flash-trigger system and I opted for the cheaper option of halogen work lights. This allowed me to alter the angle of light entering the mini-studio and as a result I learned something about shadows. In the first example of this I really liked the lighting on the rose head, but was a little disappointed by the shadowing in front of the bloom. Quite an easy fix in photoshop, but I decided to leave the image as it was so that I could use it for reference later.

In the case of the yellow roses, I was reasonably happy with the shot - but for the shadow on the right under the leaves. However, if I were taking this picture now I would have probably removed some of those leaves rather than adjusting the lighting. This would have placed more focus on the blooms.

I had seen some macro shots of leaves and stamen and decided that I would like to try it myself. I picked a red tulip and a white lily and played around with the lighting to achieve the look I wanted. Initially I thought I would want the light directed into the flower itself, but I found that this blew out the detail by providing too much brightness. So for the next two shots I lit the flowers from behind and got rid of the shadows by using a smaller light directed into the flower.

These two shots received some very positive feedback from the online forum and I really began to feel that I had started to move in the right direction with my photography.

Buckeye, Arizona. January 2008

2009-02-01T00:29:00.000-08:00

This shot could have been missed very easily. I was taking my camera to the local school to shoot a basketball game. Unfortunately when I got there I discovered that it was an away game and I did not know who the other school was!! Feeling very discappointed I decided I would go home via the recycling centre and drop of some boxes that were in the back of my car. This was the sight that greeted me.

I would have easily missed this shot if I had gone straight home! Now I recycle much more often than I used to!!

The Cook Islands - December 2007

2009-01-31T23:28:00.000-08:00

This was the first time I have been on a vacation with what I would consider to be a full photography kit. Although I was in the Cooks for my wedding and honeymoon, I really wanted to try some macro wildlife shots and some underwater photography. The following are my favourites in these categories.

This shot (and the one below) were both taken using a 55mm manual focus macro lens. I was positioned about 6 inches away from the subject in both cases, which meant I had to remain perfectly still for a long time so that the hermits would feel comfortable emerging from their shell. In the shot above, I had seen the shell move on the sand from about 20 feet away, but as soon as I got near the hermit had shrunk away. After 20 minutes of waiting with my camera positioned he popped out and I was absolutely stunned by the colours he wore.

In contrast, this much bigger hermit could not fit in his shell. You can see from the above photograph that he is covering his eyes with his front claws in an attempt to protect himself. When he emerged from hiding he already knew I was there and started beating a hasty retreat away from me!

I was expecting this 'Hermit Session' to be a real test of my patience, but in reality I managed to catch 20 great shots within an hour. I was very pleased with the results.

The next task for me was to capture some underwater pictures. This brought it's own hurdles as I do not own an underwater housing for my SLR. So instead I bought a point-and-shoot with an underwater housing. Due to the limited flash I knew that I would be restricted to snorkelling in order to take advantage of the sun. I had not realised how much light fall-off there would be just within a few metres of the surface. This can be seen in the first 2 shots where photoshop was needed to restore the colours - also causing some pixelation (or oversharpening) of the image.

Eventually I managed to find a very tame puffer, that measured about a foot long, who was very happy to swim up to my outstretched hand and take pieces of banana from me. This enabled me to stay at the surface and have the subject come to me. The difference in the picture quality (both colour and sharpening) was quite surprising to me.

Of course, I also wanted to get some photographs that captured the stunning scenery and landscape. I was a little dissapointed that we didn't get some of the stunning sunsets that I had seen others capture, but I did manage to get a great shot from the plane and the obligatory "Lilt- style" shot.

The final 'fave shot' is one I took of a young palm. It caught my eye because it made a heart-shape with its branches. Well, I was there to get married! It seemed too perfect a shot to pass up. When I got home and started to edit the shot I was really struck by the colours - they were not tweaked in the post-processing. I did add the circumference blur to make a dreamy feel to the shot. I am still not sure whether I accomplished this or not.

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