Sunday, May 29, 2011

Filling Shadows in Wildlife Picture

One of the challenges taking wildlife photographs is uneven lighting.  Many times we are in woods or out in partial open area with high sun and lots of streaming sunlight and/or contrasty shadows.  many folks are aware of use of fill flash for portrait photography.  Camera built in flashes work ok for that with wide angle lenses and attached flashes certainly have enough power for bigger lenses, but they do not have the reach.  One unit that is available for use with telephoto lenses is known as the "Better Beamer".  The unit has a bracket that attached to the snout of the flash unit and a fresnel lens attaches to that bracket.  The fresnel lens concentrates the flash beam and extends its useful distance.  The unit is not something that you just put on and start taking pictures with.  One must develop a technique for using it to get photos that do not look like flash photos.  You want the unit to put out just enough fill light to fill shadows and give some catch light in the eyes.

Here are some example pictures taken with a "Better Beamer" on a Canon Mk IV 1D with a Canon 600 f4 mounted on it with a 1.4 teleconverter also mounted giving a focal length of 840mm.

This mother bear was photographed in the woods just before dark.  The better beamer was used with a -2 f stop of fill light on the flash.

Canon MK IV 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC

The following picture of the two cubs was taken a little after dark.  The "Better beamer" allowed a shutter speed of 1/300 and f stop of f9. Flash was adjusted to be almost at full evaluative value.

Canon MK IV 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC

The following bird pictures were taken with a high sun with almost no clouds in the sky.  the birds were on branches back in the trees had had "streaming sunlight" hitting them making harsh shadows.  Notice how well the "Better beamer" filled in the shadows.

Canon MK IV 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC 

Canon MK IV 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC

The following butterflies were photographed in the woods in an opening that had a canopy of tree branches overhead.  The lighting was very harsh and without the flash with Better beamer mounted, the pictures would have been unusable.

 Canon MK IV 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC
Canon MK IV 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC


Until next time

Jim Borden


Sunday, May 22, 2011

Fawn and Birds

The windy, rainy, cloudy weather has presented some challenges for wildlife photography this spring.  Doing wildlife requires having high enough shutter speeds to capture the subjects without blur.  Overcast and rainy conditions reduce light.  So most of the work is done at elevated ISO speeds which impacts on image crispness.  It has been fun watching ducks in two of my friends ponds.  One pond has Mallards with young, Hooded Mergansers with young and wood ducks with young.  I have captured shots of all of them-but only a few of the shots are satisfactory for publication.

Here is best shot of the Hooded Merganser female with a part of her brood:
Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4TC @f10 1/320 ISO 1000

While I was sitting in blind waiting for the ducks a male and female Red Wing Black Bird kept scolding me.
Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4TC @f10 1/160 ISO 640
Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4TC @f10 1/160 ISO 640

On my way to one of the duck ponds I cam upon this fairly new born fawn.
Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4TC @f8 1/160 ISO 1000 EC+.33

Yesterday while out and about I saw a dark spot in the grass and found this little guy hiding!
Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4TC @f9 1/250 ISO 640




Until Next Time

Jim Borden

Sunday, May 15, 2011

More Spring Birds

I have not had time to be out and about taking photos as much as I would like in past three weeks. I have escaped for a few moments to capture some of the spring migration.

Baltimore Oriole snuck up on me as I was watching an Eagle nest.
Canon MK IV 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC; @f9 1/400 ISO 800

Northern Tufted Titmouse
Canon MK IV 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC; @f9 1/400 ISO 800

One of my favorite waterfowl: Wood Duck Drake
Canon 7D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC; @f10 1/200 ISO 500 EC+.67


Until next time

Jim Borden