Monday Morning Stretch

After a family filled weekend it is time to get back to normal. What better way than a stretch, although walking might be a little slippery. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Skunks and Rabbits

Most of the skunks I have seen have been odoriferous road-kills or scavenging skunks around farm buildings. This camera trap gives us a glimpse of their behavior in the wild. Before seeing this I have thought of skunks as omnivorous scavengers but never as predators, especially rabbits. 

Technical: Scenes recorded over about 3 weeks. 

Yellowstone Speed Bump

I'm currently in Yellowstone looking for wildlife. On my first morning into the Park there were a couple speed bumps to help remind me where I was. Out here they are called  Montana squirrels, at least that's what I was told.

Two Raccoons Meet

One of the joys of photography is recording events that others may not see. Another joy is recording something that is a mystery, a least to me. I'm sure there are biologists that are familiar with this behavior but it is a mystery to me. If only I could read their minds...

Technical: The gap in recording is a function of "dynamic" video feature on the camera. When this feature is selected  a pause in action stops the recording saving battery power and memory, however, it can make for uneven video. I have since disabled this feature.

Hunger or Curiosity?

 

Is it hunger or just curiosity that caused these deer to investigate the camera? I think it is interesting to see the difference in behavior between these does and the buck shown on a previous blog post. Which is it? . . . I can only guess.

Raccoon and Mouse

I have had a camera trap set up at the end of a upturned tree for the last week and am getting hundreds of mouse shots. Occasionally  a raccoon or feral cat that comes to check the mice. During the day squirrels search for acorns deep in the recess of the stump. Not the most photogenic set up but very active. To see some incredible camera trap images check: BBC Wildlife Camera Trap Photo of the Year-2014

Waiting at Soda Butte

With 3 million visitors to the Yellowstone National Park each year, most taking pictures, a photographer has a challenge producing something no one else has recorded. A quote by Arthur Schopnhauer in this month's Outdoor Photographer magazine sums up the challenge.

“Thus, the task is not so much to see what no one yet has

 seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought about that

 which everybody sees.”

Moose in the Dark

Getting dueling moose bulls in Yellowstone was on my shot list last week. When I talked to the ranger I was told there were very few moose in the Park and my best chance was in the Tetons. I had seen moose several times but never during the late fall and made the assumption I would see them in the same locations. Lesson learned: Do your homework.   On the last evening this cow, with her calf, was eating along the road.

Technical: 500 mm lens, uncropped. ISO 2500, 1/60 sec @f 7.1. Several "rules" were broken getting this image with a very high ISO and high aperture. It is sharp because of the rock solid 12 pound tripod I lug around for video work.

Learning Lighting

Lincoln School, Pine County, Minnesota

I learned about lighting this weekend. Flash ratios, shutter speed sync, and flash placement are not typical topics in my vocabulary . As an available light photographer the direction of light and the time of day have been my primary lighting tools. My daughter was here for the weekend and she has different approach to lighting.  She uses flash extensively and her idea of natural light is to photograph in the dark.  Therefore we were out shooting this abandoned country school last night. Check out this website to see her subjects and approach to photography. Forty Five Degrees North

Technical: lighting from passing auto, natural light?

Sunset is not the end.

Sometimes sunset is the beginning. In this case I used my headlamp to brighten the interior of the cave. Light painting can be garish, and frequently is, but I like a more subtle approach without overpowering the natural light, using it as a fill light. Another example of making choices to reflect what you "see". 

Looking for Night

I went out last night looking for the fabled meteor shower and we saw lots of meteors but none went through the frame.  I was in southern MN and ground light is everywhere with each farm having a security light and the closely spaced towns.  This was shot earlier at the cabin and shows the city lights of the north Metro, 60 miles away.  I'm still experimenting with white balance in these mixed lighting situations.  On some I like 2500K, this was about 3800K.

Dusk

Dusk, the transition to night, is a magic time.  Natural sounds of frogs calling, birds singing, and the wind flowing become more acute, man made sounds diminish as everyone goes indoors. Landscapes darken and the sky takes over as the focus of attention.

After the Storm

I went out after the storm last night to photograph lightning with Magic Lantern  firmware.  The firmware worked fine but predicting the direction of the strike was a problem.  Several times there were ground strikes outside the field of view which triggered the shutter but did not result in a dramatic image.  What did I learn in my first attempt?  Exposure for the ambient light gives the horizon some clarity.  I think the back side of the storm is safe with the lightning receding, this may be a false assumption.  The firmware works.

This was the western sky as the storm was clearing. Technical: Auto white balance was used to reproduce what I saw, the other choices did not seem real.

Astro landscape Photography

This is a popular form of photography in Oregon and Washington where there is much less light pollution.  Here we have to make the most of what we have or get way north.  The best I could do with this light pollution was adjust the white balance to make it work with the rest of the image. Technical: 30 seconds at ISO 3200, f 3.5. For information on the location of the Milky Way anywhere in the world check stellarium.org for a free download. It's a little complicated to use and contains more info than most photographers will ever use. 

Milky Way

I did some night photography to celebrate July 4th. I am an early bird but 2 AM is a little too early so this photography might not happen very often.  The conditions need to be right with a moonless, clear night to get the stars to "pop". Technical: ISO 4000, 30 second exposure.  For a detailed but understandable tutorial see Beginner's Guide to Astrophotography by Ben Canales.  Ben is a young photographer with an unbelievable future ahead of him. The next post will tell you how to find the Milk Way.