Nature clicks #191 - Northern Cardinal

The last birds that we see here every day are the Northern Cardinals. They seem to prefer the very early morning and early evenings for their visits. We have a conclave of about 15 cardinals who stay together during the winter. The daylight lasts already a bit longer than during the winter solstice a month ago. This allows to make a few clicks after work without relying totally on the flash light. However, I use the speed light as a fill flash to bring out the colors. This photo was made at 5:30PM today. As you can see there is still some daylight coming through the woods in the back and from the side, making for a nice separation of the bird from the background. The branch from a Red Cedar is part of our “balcony studio”. I think it worked for this photo… :-)

Nature clicks #183 - "Bully" on the watch

 

After the House Wrens had two successful broods this year they are gone now and their chatter isn't my wake up call anymore. The male showed up this morning and checked on the "real estate" but he was quiet and flew away after a few minutes. But there are other seasonal subjects for wildlife photography around the house that draw our attention. The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have their offspring usually in August and that can make for some interesting photos. At the moment "Bully", the male that tries to dominate the flower patches and hummingbird feeders, watches close over "his property" and chases every intruder away, even the lovely females. He sits either up in a tree or briefly on one of the perches I have set up for the birds near the feeders. I use the speedlight with the softbox again as a light source. As with the wrens, it is particular gestures I'm looking for to capture, not just the ordinary "sitting bird pose". I hope the hummingbirds will have a whole bunch of babies, which would make the place a lot busier and hopefully lead to some interesting images. I'll keep you posted as always here in the blog...

Signs of a great summer

 

I believe we have one of the loveliest summers so far, at least during the nine years since I live here in Iowa. Due to the rain in spring and early summer everything looks lush and green and wildflowers bloom wherever a piece of land is left in a natural state. I complained a little while ago that we didn't have many butterflies this year. It's true, some species have not shown up so far but now we have at least several swallowtails in the yard as soon the sun comes out. I hope you may agree, a Giant Swallowtail on top of a Purple Coneflower tells a great story about a wonderful summer...

The swallowtails are not the only insects that get attracted by the coneflowers. Bees, wasps, or Bumble Bees, like the one in this image, enjoy the food this flower provides. I use the Nikon SB600 speedlight together with my self-made softbox to fill in some light and overcome harsh shadows. The speedlight is mounted on a tripod and connected to the camera with a Nikon SC-28 spiral cable. (If you like to see how this softbox looks like, feel free to click HERE. The link opens in an older post where I introduced this useful piece of equipment.) In order to follow the fast moving insects the camera is handhold and I have of course to stay within the range of the cable. It is important to have the flash off camera because of the short distance between your lens and the subject. I usually concentrate on one group of flowers so I don't have to reposition the speedlight all the time. It spills enough light even if it is not always 100% directed to the flower with the insect of interest. Using the cable allows me to take full advantage of the TTL-capabilities of the flashlight. Are there better ways to shoot close-ups or macros? Of course, there is a lot of gear for macro photography available but for someone like me, who shoots it only occasionally, it doesn't make sense to invest in more expensive light solutions. The way I do it works for me and the important thing is anyway to go out, make the click, and have fun shooting the signs of a great summer...

Nature clicks #182 - House Wrens, intimate biology

 

I'm glad I made these pictures yesterday because today the young wrens left the nest in the gourd that is hanging from our porch. We didn't know how many young House Wrens were in the nest until I saw three little birds today. They were sitting together in another bird's nest that is hidden in a bush just a few yards away from the house. The parents had obviously called them out one after another and gathered them with them in the new place. I believe the nest belongs to the Chipping Sparrows that have raised their offspring and are seen now in the grass teaching them how to catch a bug. The wrens didn't stay very long in this place. A few minutes after I saw them in the second nest they had moved already on and we could hear them chatter somewhere in the woods nearby. We wish them save travels and hope to see some of them next year in late April or early May again. They might be here still for a little while but usually we don't see them again after the second brood left the nest.

Let's talk about the photos I show you toady. The first one doesn't need much explanation. Two of the three young wrens sticked their heads out, waiting for food (the third one was probably pushed to the back by the more powerful siblings) and seeing them with their bills closed was a rare moment. They made a lot of noise yesterday and again this morning right after sunrise. The parents came very frequently with new food and it was a joy for me to capture those moments.

My wildlife photography has a lot to do with showing the beauty of wild living animals but the avid reader of my blog knows that I always try to shed some light on some interesting biological facts about the animals I photograph. I have cleaned many bird houses after the breeding season in the past and it always impressed me how clean they are inside. You don't find much dirt beside the branches and grass of the nest. The wrens remove their excrements instantly and I'm sure other birds do too in order to keep the place healthy. And here is how it works. Raising three, four, or even more young birds requires a lot of insects to be caught and fed to the offspring. The last two pictures are shot within a few seconds. The young bird receives its meal, swallows, turns around immediately, and hangs its butt out of the hole of the nest box. The parent bird picks up the digested food from the backside and flies away with it. When the wrens are very young this happens obviously inside the nest box and we can't see it but we always see the parent birds coming out of the hole with trash. I also saw sometimes the young bird giving the excrements to the parents with its bill. This might not be the most pleasent thing to see for some people but I believe it is very interesting. Being intimate with a critter's biology is essential for making the click at the right moment or to predict when the action may happen that you are waiting for. This includes that someone shows you their butt sometimes... ;-)

Got the softbox out again

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, SB600 with softbox

One advantage of working from a home office is that the camera is always on-hand.  My D300s is mounted quite often to the tripod with the Sigma 50-500 attached, so I don't waste much time if I see anything interesting outside. We live in a wooded area and there are always at least a few birds around. During my lunch break today  I recognized that the birds came more frequently to the bird feeders than during the last few days with their relative mild temperatures. This is usually an indicator that we might get some snow and colder weather. Light was only good for 1/45s at 500mm and the maximum aperture of f/6.3. The birds, mostly chickadee, nuthatch, or tufted titmouse, were moving too fast for a sharp image. And this is when the speedlight-mounted softbox becomes really useful for some fill flash. I wrote about this little DIY-project some time ago HERE. I built this little softbox mainly for my bird photography in the winter. It allows me to shoot 1/250s, even on a day with gray overcast. The other benefit is that the colors turn out more vivid. 1/250s is still too slow to catch all the action, although it is fast enough to capture the birds during the moment when they rests briefly on a branch before take off to the feeders. Usually the chickadees and titmice stop only for about a second. They never become really motionless because the little branches vibrate under the impact of the bird. The light thrown at the bird from the softbox is subtle if you find the right setting at your speedlight. It may take a few shots before you like the results. Another good point for using the speedlight is that it can produce a nice catch light in the bird's eye that is away from the sun.

DIY project: Speedlight Mounted Softbox

I like to shoot wildlife pictures in my backyard or even on the balcony. We live in the woods and we see birds or other animals all year long. Especially in the winter, enhancing the color by using subtle fill flash makes sense. Famous wildlife photographer Moose Peterson uses a softbox for the same purpose on his balcony, and I actually learned about it on his blog. So, why not just do the same?

I began making plans to build my own softbox when I saw Larry Becker's very detailed tutorial on his blog "Larry Becker's Cheap Shots". This was exactly what I was looking for. He made his for the Nikon SB600 speedlight, the same that I use. I like to create things on my own but I'm all against inventing the wheel twice.

And here it is! I didn't change much. Found a nice guy in a sign shop here in town, who gave me a strip of black Coroplast for a few bucks that I used for the body of the softbox. At the moment I'm using a white report cover as a diffuser but I believe it swallows too much light. I will replace it as soon I find the frosted material that is a little more transparent. I didn't have gaffers tape, as recommended by Larry, but I used black vinyl electrical tape instead to cover all edges.

How does it work? First I did some indoor tests . The shadows turned out very soft, much better than with the bare flash. Last weekend I did some more testing on the balcony. It was bitter cold but that didn't reduce the fun I had waiting for birds and grey squirrels. The morning sun came very bright from the left hand side. The speedlight with the softbox mounted stood three feet to the right, 30 degrees tilted down, and pointing toward the bird bath. I had several good shots of the Tufted Titmouse and other birds. I liked this one in particular, because of how the flash made the trails of the water drops and the rising steam from the bird bath visible.

Exposing for the shadows on the right side of the Grey Squirrel would have blown out the highlights. The soft fill flash took care of that and without the flash being too obvious.

The softbox is very lightweight, folds flat, and fits easily in the computer pocket of my photo back pack. Taking it in the field will not be a big deal. Because it is my first softbox, more testing needs to be done but I already like what it does for my photography on the balcony. Check it out at "Larry Becker's Cheap Shots". He has more really good tips on inexpensive photography solutions. Thank you for this one, Larry!

August 2013: More images made with the softbox: Click HERE and HERE

December 2011: New post "Softbox out again", see HERE