Wildlife Photography across the Water: Waxwings

Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Local Patch-Waxwings part 2

The snow that arrived a couple of days ago has stayed as the temperatures at night plummeted well below freezing and daytime wasn't much warmer-Great, So i did the same as usual i dropped my wife off at work early and raced back to get the camera gear, I spotted a good group of waxwings around the clubhouse/pool area and the light was good for me being low in the sky and behind me, I managed to get fairly close without disturbing them and waited,After a few minutes one dropped onto a low hedge covered in snow but with a small hole where it could pick some berries from and it wasnt long before about 20 dropped down to join him,The action is thick and fast and all of a sudden they fly off and land back in the trees,At one point they landed directly above me and i waited a good 10 minutes with no action so i grabbed the 200-400 and slowly got out of the car and took some shots standing up hoping that at some point they would fly,They didnt so i grabbed some shots and got back in the warm, I always make sure that the engine is turned off when shooting as you will get vibration from the engine-always ask the driver to do the same if you are on safari, Metering is easy when there is a lot of snow-just set you camera to manual and spot metering, set the aperture to what you want which in my case was F8 then looking through the viewfinder with the screen on a large snowy patch adjust the compensation until it shows +2 and you are done,Make sure that you meter off of snow that is in the same light as the birds,Also make sure that you spot meter, I made the mistake to leaving it in evaluative/matrix for the test shot and the whites completly blew-quickly changing back to spot and all was fine,Remember when you look at the histogram that most of the scene is white so it should be all the way to the right but not clipping and no flashing highlights,That way the snow will be lovely and white and not grey, I only shot for 2 hrs as it was a bright sunny day and after that the light was getting harsh,The added bonus yesterday was that the waxwings were joined by some robins and a couple of beautiful Eastern Bluebirds, The snow will be all gone tomorrow and the forecast is back to a warm 65, I hope the birds stay around for a while longer as i would like to get some in flight, I was hoping that my website would have been finished and up and running by now but there are still a couple of issues and its now looking like a few more days before they are sorted-all very frustrating but i hope it will be worth it in the end

Dave

Monday, 2 March 2009

Local Patch-Raleigh-Winter returns

After 2 days of heavy rain it was forecast last night for snow-3-6 inches they said so i went into the garden and repositioned the hides just in case, First thing this morning i opened the blinds and there it was nice and crisp and white as a sheet, I quickly got dressed in layers and put some fresh bird seed out and got ready,Within 5 minutes i had Dark eyed Junco,Mourning Dove,Cardinals and finches fighting for the food,I spent a couple of hours shooting before i fancied a coffee, I noticed a small flock of Cedar Waxwings come and go when i was in the hide so after the coffee i decided to take a drive around the estate and see if they were around, I quickly found a flock of about 50 sitting in a small tree in somebodies garden next to the road so i slowly drove up and began shooting,They were very relaxed and i soon got some shots before they dropped onto the bushes and started to eat the berries,

They moved a couple of times but seemed to like coming back to the same gardens,Really nice to be able to shoot these beautiful birds with snow around, It would have been nice to be able to use some flash as there black band around the eye makes it hard to see the eye if you dont shoot at the right time but there was not enough room in the car to use flash, All in all i must admit i am extremly pleased with a few of the shots and they will make nice greeting cards,When i returned to my house i looked out of the winow to check the bird feeders and there was a white tailed deer eating from the bird table so i managed a couple of shots of the deer in the snow-what a great morning
I should have mentioned that the images were exposed for Manually-spot metered off of snow in the same light as the birds then 2 stops added

Dave

Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.