I suppose some might view great blue herons as ‘common’ subjects, they have adapted well to many areas around us despite continued development.Â. One of the most famous heron rookeries in the country, in Venice, Florida, is pretty close to a busy town intersection.Â. We are fortunate to have a couple of heron rookeries here in southeast Michigan that offer good opportunities for photography.Â. Â. But after you have photographed them at the nest, in a pond, in flight, courting.. you start to look for something that will make the image unique.
Such an instance happened with this particular image that was exposed yesterday. Â. This cluster of tamarack pines has always been a great source of nesting material for both the herons and occasional egret that inhabit the rookery.Â. But it is rare that the bird lands in an area that puts them in clear view. Â. More often they are behind many layers of branches.Â. In addition, it is quite far away, requiring quite a fit of focal length to get a modest subject size.Â. (This was made with the equivalent of 1700 mm.)Â. I think it provides a great backdrop, interesting texture and a great setting for a habitat type shot.Â. In fact, like Venice shots have become so recognizeable because of the red berries, perhaps this is the only rookery with a tamarack pine forest closeby.Â. Â. So this will go into my great blue heron collection as one of my favorites.Â. Â. I am thinking it will make for a great print as well.
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In doing my edits and reviews of images lately I occasionally come across some subjects that just don’t seem complete.Â. Images where some post processing is necessary to capture the original feature that attracted me the most.Â. In particular with this geranium, what drew me to this particular flower was that it was saturated in raindrops from a storm that passed through overnight and that it had some fairly isolated features (the buds, the leaf, and a good background).
So after I prepared this image to be uploaded to the site, something was still not finished about it.Â. It many ways, the ‘as shot’ image wasn’t communicating what interested me to begin with.Â. Other elements were competing – mostly the color.Â. So I went back and worked with it a bit more, and decided this toned image just fit the subject matter better, fit the raindrops better.Â. The details tend to stand out a bit more, without having to compete for attention with the colors.
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I found this image rather humorous, like most images of chipmunks can be! But mostly because of the look this little guy was giving me, almost as if he thought I was going to steal the nut he was carrying. It makes you wonder if animals have other objects that they consider valuable and become selfish about. Perhaps that is a trait reserved for us.
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Ever since I listened to Craig Tanner’s excellent podcast talking about the various stages of twilight, I have had this graphic in my mind. I finally sat down one day and created the illustration in Photoshop. While Craig describes exactly why it is so beneficial to be at a location at these particular times, this puts the various stages in a visual form.
Personally, I like to be at a location at the start of nautical twilight, or at the latest 15 minutes prior to the start of civil twilight if I am already familiar with an area. Weather certainly plays a big part in this. If it is a clear night around Michigan, there isn’t a lot happening during nautical twilight. Civil twilight after a clear night can also be rather uneventful during warmer months, but can have some very nice pastels during winter. However, if you throw some clouds in the sky, a storm overnight, or fog conditions, you can be in for a real treat by getting to a spot early.
These twilight zones aren’t only helpful for landscape photography, but can also help for planning macro photography, such as photographing dew covered insects on a cold morning. After the sun comes up, your light starts to become more harsh, and insects begin to warm up and move. Civil twilight can create a very soft light glow on many plants, flowers, and other subjects.
As Craig talks about in detail, I also absolutely hate to be rushed. Rushing is equivalent to creativity kryptonite for me. Getting to a spot early allows enough time to get your gear set up, perhaps walk around a bit, and get a feel for things without having to worry about shooting right away. If you aren’t very familiar with a spot, and haven’t had a chance to do any prior scouting, then being there early can also help you plan a composition before the light gets exciting.
So I encourage any nature photographer to listen to the podcast linked above. The Radiant Vista is also now accepting donations, so please show these guys your appreciation for all the wonderful content they provide.
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My typical workflow after a day of shooting, or even after an extended trip, consists of downloading all the images from my compact flash cards, or perhaps off my portable hard drive.Â. Â. I will then use an image browser to start the culling process.Â. Â. After the edit, I will then selectively pick some images to do some post processing on, perhaps upload to the site gallery here, or maybe even make a print or two.Â. Â. Then time gets away from me, and the remaining images in those folders tend to sit.Â. In the “old” days, they would be slides sitting in boxes or pages to go through another day.Â. Â. Now they sit in a directory on my hard drive.Â. Â. Often I am surprised at how long it may be before I come back to that folder of images again.
Since the ocean is one of my favorite places to be, it is hard for me to imagine leaving any shots behind, but this one just happened to catch my eye today while I was wandering through some of those older folders.Â. The exposure was made April 28, 2004, 8:35 PM.Â. (You have to love digital capture – you always know when the shot was made..to the minute.) Â. I know I shot a dozen or more compositions of these rocks that evening as the sun was setting behind some pretty stormy clouds in La Jolla, California.Â. Â. The light was beautiful and constantly changing with the moving surf.Â. Â. I imagine I processed a few of my initial favorites, and just left the rest until later.Â. This one escaped me, until today.
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