Even the very best wildlife spots, such as Fort Desoto, may have days with less good photography opportunities. Two days ago, the weather was pretty bad at Fort Desoto with a dark overcast, high winds blowing in the wrong direction and very few birds in sight. Nonetheless, I met Jim Urbach that day. He is a fantastic photographer with lots of superb photographs in his collection, which I invite you to admire on his wildlife photography website. Later that day, I asked him if he ended up having a nice outing and he replied by email as follows: “Nice to meet you as well, Steven. Many excellent images on your blog. This was my worst day at Fort Desoto ever and I have been there over 50 times easily in 10-12 years”. Well I agree that it was a particularly challenging day, I believe there is always an opportunity to create a nice photograph…
Yellow crowned Night Heron – Fort Desoto, Florida.
ISO 2000 | f/5.6 | 1/1000 sec. | Manual mode | AI servo rear focusing
This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens (Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM review), the Canon EOS 5D mark III handheld while seating in the shallow water with waders. Have a look at the equipment I typically carry with me.
While there were not many opportunities for photography, armed with a pair of waders I am usually able to access difficult to reach spots, eventually finding subjects with the right angle and an unobstructed background. See the Yellow crowned Night heron above… Low angle, non-distracting background and a good head angle make this creation fairly satisfying. If I did not mention a proper sun angle, it is because it was very overcast, allowing a lot more leeway. When I am about to press the shutter I strive to wait for the moment when good angle, head angle and non-distracting background join together. This is quite more difficult than just finding a subject to frame…
Belted Kingfisher – Fort Desoto, Florida.
ISO 2000 | f/5.6 | 1/800 sec. | Manual mode | AI servo rear focusing
This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens (Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM review) coupled with the 1.4x extender, the Canon EOS 5D mark III handheld while standing. Have a look at the equipment I typically carry with me.
Kingfishers can be quite difficult to approach… They easily fly away and don’t stay still for long, going from one perch to another far away. I still mustered enough patience to go after this one, and while I did not get the full frame shot I would have liked, this capture turned out OK.
Botswana and the Victoria Falls instructional photography workshop / $9,800 / limit 6 people / Sep 2014:
Few African safaris guarantee only one person per row in the vehicles. If you want to have a chance to always be able to take the shot, you know who to go with…
Spoonbills and shorebirds instructional photography workshop / $980 / limit 5 people / Mar 2014:
Short and sweet, this 3 day workshop will give you a unique opportunity to photograph Spoonbills in flight in a large rookery, only accessible by boat.
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Steven