Snowy in Quebec
Traveling through the Canadian Province of Quebec we located this beautiful female Snowy Owl outside of the city where we were camped out at the local Days Inn. Our guides had many locations for these birds in their GPS files. Since they are typically territorial by nature they generally do not fly to far away from the place where they can find food. Often times they fly away to keep other Owls from coming into their territory and sometimes try to scare off the others to protect their food sources. Females have more color on them than the males and are also a little bit bigger in size. This particular Owl was quite friendly and we had a large amount of time with her even when our numbers grew to 20 or so photographers.
Nikon D3s, Nikkor 200-400mm Zoom Lens @ 200mm, ISO 400, Manual Metered at 1/1250th of a sec at f/6.3. Gitzo Tripod, really Right Stuff Ball Head with a Wimberly Sidekick, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Nik Multimedia, OnOne Plugins.
Click on the image to see a larger photograph on the screen.
Male Snowy Owl
Sitting at the bar in an Airport Hotel in Ottawa, Canada, waiting to fly home after four great days in Quebec photographing Snowy Owls. Our guide for this trip referred to the Male Snowy Owl as the Holy Grail of Snowy Owls. They are few and far between. We needed to travel 2.5 hours from out base past Quebec City to find this Owl. Local spotters and photographers were used in a network to alert us to the location and assisted us with access to the farm land where this Male Snowy Owl was staying this winter. This is the first of many posts from this trip so stay tuned as I work my 1000+ images to bring you the best of the best.
Nikon D 3s Digital SLR, Nikkor 200-200 f/4.0 Zoom Lens, Nikkor 1.7x Teleconverter, ISO 400, Manual Metering, 1/2500 sec @ f/6.7, Gitzo Tripod, Really Right Stuff Ball Head, Wimberly Sidekick, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe CS4, Nik Color EFX Pro.
Click on the image to see a larger image.
Yellowstone Thermal Feature
Its Saturday evening here on the shores of Lake Erie. The peaceful solitude here on the Lake allows time to reflect on the weather and how it impacts my work as a nature photographer. At 19 degrees the cold reminds me of a recent trip to Montana to photograph in the area. A trip to Bozeman allows easy access to Yellowstone National Park which provides many different photo opportunities. Inside the Park there are many sulfur springs that we call Thermal Features throughout the park. One of the many photographic aspects can be found along side the edges of these sulfur ponds where bacteria grows in the warm waters. This interaction between warmth and the cold of Yellowstone form many colorful areas that lend themselves to great picture making. Danger lurks beneath many of these features as the temperature can reach 160 degrees in some areas. In addition, walking around the area can be dangerous as ice forms over the walkways and bridges. A special spring attachment that goes over you boots help to alleviate any issues with the frozen walks and we were able to get up close and personal with some of these springs. As always, you can click on the photo and see a larger image on your screen.
Nikon D3 Digital SLR, Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 at 24mm, ISO 400, Aperture priority, 1/100 sec at f/18, Gitzo Tripod, Really Right Stuff Ball Head, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe Lightroom.
Morning Sunrise at Monument Valley
On the Navajo Indian Reservation in Monument Valley there are many photo opportunities to found in and around the actual park. On this morning we arrived quite early to hopefully find a sunrise photo setting and capture some amazing images. Much to our dismay, the area was severely overcast and we watched as a sliver of light came through the clouds. I had set up my camera hoping for a colorful sky, but that was not what was shaping up. As we stood and watched to see what might happen as the morning moved by us, a larger sliver of light came through the clouds and provided me an opportunity to grab a panoramic photo that is quite stunning. I underexposed the image so that the blue clouds and the orange sunlight would increase their saturation. This also caused the monuments to drift more into the shadows and become a silhouette. When working as a nature photographer often times patience becomes a virtue. Time waits for no man, but if you have time on your hands and can wait for the right moment, magic can be realized and a vision becomes print. - Click on the image for a larger viewing area.-
Nikon D2x Digital SLR, Nikkor 24-120mm Zoom Lens at 24mm, Aperture Priority, ISO 100, 1/90th of a sec at f/8.0, Gitzo Tripod, Really Right Stuff ballhead, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop CS4.
Still Cold in Northwest Ohio
Once again I am staring out across the frozen tundra. Oops, I mean Lake Erie. Its still cold here and I am taking a needed break from things while I review some of my photographs from previous trips to cold places like Yellowstone National Park a year ago. Traveling through the park we came upon some of the thermal features located in the park and provided many opportunities to create some pretty cool images, no pun intended. This thermal feature provided me a chance to capture the force of this geyser as it would go off every so many seconds. Timing was the key in capturing the geyser at its peak. Thanks Nikon for the 8 frames per second capabilities which made my task a little bit easier.
Nikon D3 Digital SLR, Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 zoom lens at 145mm, ISO 1000, Aperture priority, 1/500 sec at f/16 for greater depth of field, Gitzo Tripod, really Right Stuff Ballhead, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe CS4.
by pkriner
no comments
add a comment link to this post email a friend