Adirondacks

We traveled to Speculator NY last weekend to look for moose in the Adirondacks.  It has been years since we stayed in the Adirondacks and it was a pleasure to return.  We traveled many log roads and accessed some remote areas and saw lots of pretty scenery.  We saw a black bear, lots of black bear tracks, a few deer and lots of coyote tracks.  Mornings were calm and afternoons were extremely windy.  We experimented with HDR and panoramas.  The shot below is of Mason Lake just above Speculator New York and it is a HDR panorama.  It is made up of three shots are metered exposure, 3 at -1 stop and three at plus 1 stop.  The 9 shots were combined in photoshop to attempt to produce what we saw in person.

Cano 1D MK IV Canon 24-105 f4 @ 24mm f16 ISO200

Joan took the deer shot in the dark woods with her D3s set at 1600 ISO.  Notice the fine detail of the deer and no noticeable noise!!!

Nikon D3s; Nikon 80-400 @400mm f8 1/160 ISO 1600

The following is another HDR shot taken with the Canon 1D MK IV.  It is a set of three images so that the image actually shows what the human eye saw for light range.  I find that many folks push their HDR composites to unrealistic looks.  I prefer to use the technology to replicate what I actually observed. 

Joan loves clouds and silhouetted trees!  She captured the following first thing in the morning. 

There were Black eyed Susans decorating the roadsides, the medians and even in log truck landing areas in the forest.  The following shot was taken with a Canon 24-105 f4 lens with the Canon Macro filter screwed onto the lens to convert it into a macro lens.

Until next time

Jim Borden

Herons, egrets and other Wildlife at Walkill NWR

Nikon D3s; 80-400 Nikon at 400mm f8 1/500 ISO250 (Joan Borden)

We traveled to Liberty Loop Trail at the North end of the Walkill NWR. The trail is part of the Appalachian Trail and a portion of the loop is in New York State and a portion is in New Jersey.  It is in the "Black Dirt" region of New York State.  We enjoy going there in the winter for Hawks and Bald Eagles and in the spring for the duck migration.  We decided to visit it during the summer to see what we could see.  We got there later than we wanted to and the lighting was very harsh for photography.  We saw about a dozen Great Blue Herons, two Great Egrets, 1 Green Heron, various warblers and various insects.  It was an enjoyable day.  The Green heron was very skittish and avoided being photographed three times.  Joan does not like the weight of big prime lenses and she has found the 80-400 Nikon lens is working well with the D3s body.  We spent time calibrating the focus system during the week and it paid off.

Great Blue Heron with Great Egret in background

 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f9 1/640 ISO 400 (Jim Borden)

We enjoyed watching the Blue Herons and Egrets argue over "turf". The blue herons would share spots and fish-but became agitated when one of the egrets would get near.  Lots of wing flapping and cackling would result until either the egret moved or the Great Blue Heron gave up the space.

Great Blue Heron Strutting

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f9 1/640 ISO 400 (Jim Borden)

The wet areas of the trail had lots of dragonfly and skimmer activity.  Another set of subjects to photograph and then research to learn about them.  That is one thing we are immensely enjoying about the immersion into photography is that it is a way to stop and "smell the roses".

Dragonfly

Nikon D3s; 80-400 Nikon at 400mm f8 1/125 ISO320 (Joan Borden)

Common Whitetail

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f9 1/640 ISO 400 (Jim Borden)

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Until Next Time

Jim and Joan Borden

Nicholson Bridge

Mid-day July 3, 2011, Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 24-105 f4 @24mm f16, 1/100 ISO 200

The Nicholson Bridge (aka Tunkhannock viaduct) is a concrete railroad bridge that crosses Tunkhannock Creek in the little village of Nicholson Pa.  When it was finished in November of 1915, it was the largest concrete bridge in the world. It retained that distinction for 50 years. The bridge is 2375 feet long and 240 feet tall.  It is a grand thing to see. I have tried to photograph it in early morning light with mist rising around it as well as mid day with puffy clouds in the background.  I am anxiously waiting to be able to catch it with clouds and a pink/red sunset on it.

Sunrise September 6, 2010; Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 24-105 f4 @24mm f14, 1/160 ISO 200 EC-1

Hopefully next week, I will return to a posting about Wildlife!

Jim Borden

Digital Noise

Nikon D3s; Nikon 18-200 DX Lens at 95mm; f5.6 1/80 ISO 6400 (handheld)

I have been very pleased with my Canon 1D MKIV for getting photographs in low light.  It has far less digital noise that what I had experienced up to when I got that camera body.  My switch from Nikon to Canon took some getting used to though as the digital noise is different in Canon versus Nikon.  The color noise is more readily seen and one has to be real careful about exposure to keep it at a minimum.  Joan got her Nikon D3s last week and I am absolutely amazed at the low noise in that camera.  The above photograph taken at ISO 6400 has very little noticeable digital noise.  The Canon 1D MKIV shows more noise than this at 1250 ISO.  This feature makes this camera body one that is great for wildlife photography as we are constantly "fighting" available light as fellow photographers Willard Hill and Paul Staniszewski discussed in one of Willard's excellent posts at Pa Wildlife Photographer.  The ability to handle high ISO with low noise when couples with a fast lens makes for ability to get early morning and late evening animal activity.

Many folks are all excited about high megapixel cameras.  My experience is that megapixel counts are not the important thing.  How those megapixels are used to get an image is far more important.  The D3s has 12.1 megapixels, the Canon 1D MK IV has 16.2 megapixels-yet the lower megapixel camera body far outperforms the higher megapixel body in color rendition, apparent clarity and noise.  

The following pictures are only about 6 megapixel pictures as they were taken on full frame body with a DX lens. Consider the richness of color and amount of detail in them!

Here are some more images from the D3s:

Nikon D3s18-200 @200MM f16, 1/4 ISO200

Nikon D3s; 18-200 @200MM f16 1/10 ISO200

Nikon D3s, 18-200 @200MM F16 1/10 ISO200

Nikon D3s, 18-200 @20MM F16 1/40 ISO200

The last image sure could have used a little help from a circular polarizer.  

This weekend we will be looking for some SandHill Cranes that are local and we are hoping to get some good shots of them.

Until next time

Jim and Joan Borden

Watkins Glen-A walk through the Gorge

This week, the blog entry is going to depart from my favorite subjects-wildlife and is going to focus on some scenics of a gorge and waterfalls. Joan and I had to make a trip to Elmira, New York to pick up parts from heat treating on Friday.  It was a beautiful summer day with light rain and peek a boo sunshine. Watkins Glen is only about 1/2 hour from Elmira, so we decided to take a detour home through Watkins Glen and visit the State Park there and walk through the Glen.  It had been years since we had been there.

I took the Canon 1D MK IV with 24-105 f4 lens and Joan took the Nikon D300 with 18-200 lens.  We packed along the Gitzo tripod with Really Right Stuff ball head mounted.  I learned from a very good mentor (Mark Picard) long ago-do not waste your time and efforts shooting hand held.  I was amazed at how many "photographers" I saw in the Glen with very expensive DSLR cameras and NO tripod.  Even when the sun is completely out, the Glen is shaded  so shutter speeds are slow.  There is a mist in the Glen from the waterfalls which makes for a great way to get very naturally saturated images.  I set the ISO to 200 and most of the shots had an f stop of f13.

The path winds along through gorge and has nicely laid stonework for the path as well as walls.

There are a couple of tunnels that are had hewn from the rock cliffs and one has a spiral staircase cut into the rocks and you emerge and pass behind one of the larger waterfalls.

The scenery is beautiful and it is a wonder to see how the water has cut its pathway through the rocks.

Until Next Time!

Jim Borden

Close Encounters of the Bear Kind

This past weekend Joan and I spent in Blackwell Pa which is in the center of Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon. Jim Jr and Joyce and Joan's mother and my mother joined us for the weekend.  The mountainous area between Blackwell and English Center Pa is rich in scenery and wildlife.  It is a very good area to find Black Bears in the wild.  On Thursday evening Jim Jr, Joyce and I saw a number of deer and we had the fortune of having two black bears fairly close to us.   The sow and cub did not seem frightened by our presence and we were able to take a number of photographs before they ambled off through the Laurel (which was in full bloom and was beautiful-a good subject for a future post).

Friday night was still good for bears as we saw 7 different bears but all of them were skittish and did not present photo opportunities.  Saturday evening started the same way.  We saw a sow and cub about 60 yards into a swampy, open area, but they were busy tearing apart a log and it was a dark area so we did not get pictures of them, but still enjoyed them.  We then saw a lone yearling cub that was rather "frisky" and was frolicking in the woods.  About an hour later we saw a mother bear and three cubs in the lawn of a camp and it appeared they had been fed by the camp owner and we decided not to photograph them. 

We were about ready to head back to the cabin in Blackwell when I spotted a sow with two yearling cubs in the laurel.   I "woofed" lightly at the cubs to get them to stand and "momma" decided she needed to check us out.  The PA DCNR fences in large areas of Pa State Forest Land after it has been clear cut to keep the animals out so that the forest can fully develop.  Well, this sow and cubs were on the "wrong side" of the fence and I was wondering how they got there.  Momma came directly to a tree that the fence was nailed to and promptly climbed the tree and came over the fence and down on our side.  She them proceeded right directly toward Joan and I.  We decided to stay calm and still.  She came within two to three feet of both us and them ambled along our vehicle looking in the windows and checking out our mothers and then she went up the fence line and found another tree and climbed back into the clear cut forest and continued eating with her cubs.

The following picture is full frame (no cropping) taken with the 600 Canon lens on a 1D Mark IV at about 40 feet.  The picture after it is with a Canon 7D and a 300 f2.8-once again full frame at about 15 feet.  

Canon 1D MKIV; Canon 600 f4 @ F8 1/60 ISO500

Canon 7D; Canon 300 f2.8 @ F10 1/50 ISO640

Joan was shooting her D300 with 80-400 Nikon on it and she was able to get some shots as well.

Nikon D300; Nikon 80-400 @400mm  f8 1/200 ISO500

Nikon D300; Nikon 80-400 @170mm  f8 1/100 ISO500

It was an exciting time!!  Our mothers talked about it all the way back to the cabin and then over breakfast the next morning. Certainly a memorable weekend. Just so I do not get any lectures-I have been around LOTS of bears my entire life and I highly respect them and have learned what to watch for with their behavior.  This one was simply looking for hand-outs.  We had just had some peanuts and pepperoni and I am sure she smelled. My concern is that folks have been hand feeding (or close to that) these wild bear sin that area and it makes them bold and approachable--a dangerous combination!

A parting shot of one of the cubs:

Canon 1D MKIV; Canon 600 f4@f9 1/500 ISO800

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Until next time!

Jim Borden

Fawns and Coyotes

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 @f7.1 1/125 ISO500

We have fawns in our back yard, yet those farther away are better to photograph-right?  In my case, being a workaholic, I find it difficult to photograph the fawns in my backyard (literally) because I feel guilty being that close to our business and not being in there working.  So on Friday, Joan and I traveled to Shenandoah National Park and visited the Big Meadow area along the Skyline Drive.  The deer there are "wild" in that they are free roaming-but they are more acclimated to humans than the deer around our area. The weekend was bittersweet.  I have found that many of the photographers visiting that area have a different cultural base and set of values than I do when it comes to observing and photographing wildlife. I was appalled at some of the behaviors I witnessed there by "photographers".   We saw a number of individuals that had no clue on how to act around deer.  They treated them as though they were zoo animals and directly approached them.  We even witnessed individuals chasing does and fawns trying to get good pictures.  But alas, I digress on the soap box. 

We observed about a dozen different fawns in the Big Meadow area and we were able to get some very good images of the does and fawns on Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening and again Sunday Morning.

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC @f9 1/500 ISO500

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 @f5 1/160 ISO500 EC+.67

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 @f5 1/500 ISO800

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 @f5 1/200 ISO500

Canon 7D; Canon 70-200 f4 @70mm F9 1/250 ISO400

Sunday morning was windy and cool and the deer were very skittish.  The does were keeping close track of the fawns.  After a couple of photographers chased a couple of does and fawns around, the does deposited the fawns in the bushes and left the Meadow.  Then suddenly all the does hid their fawns and began running from the Meadow.  Soon Joan spotted what the problem was-a very healthy looking Coyote was crossing the Meadow and coming directly at us. It was hunting and it came to within 20 feet of us and stopped, sniffed around and went past a fawn about 30 yards in front of us and proceeded to a hiding spot for another fawn and killed it and ate it.  When it had finished that one, it found another one and killed it. It left that one lay.

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Until Next Time

Jim Borden