Light at its best

I can’t really tell how the quality of light was during the day because I spent most of it behind my desk, trying to finish a work project. However, early in the morning and early evening we had some awesome light for wildlife photography today. The first two images were made at our “woodpecker tree #2”. It gets the early morning sun at this time of the year because the trees have still no leaves. The critters must like it too because it was still quite cold this morning and they all posed well for my pictures. The two other photos were made this evening down at the Mississippi. Again, great quality of light for this Northern Flicker and the Blue-winged Teals. I hope you enjoy.

We wish all of you a wonderful Easter weekend!

Nature clicks #139 - Eastern Gray Squirrel

 

I had recently an image of an Eastern Gray Squirrel here on the blog but can you really blame me if I like to show you a couple more if they were shot in really great light? Snow is in general a nice reflector to get some light underneath a critter but if the sun is out it gets even better and the colors come out in a much better way. Some pixel peepers may say, but wouldn't it be better to color correct the snow so it doesn't look so bluish? I'm a big a fan of leaving it just the way it is. The blue is the reflection of the sky and there is no other color that tells the story about cold temperatures better than blue.

Critters dealing with new snow

 

Winter and its weather have never left us really since December last year and today we were reminded that any thought about spring is ridiculous right now. A winter storm came through today and left plenty of the white stuff on the ground. I could talk about birds that have been here all day long but I also took some images of the critters with four legs that came close to our house today. We have lots of Eastern Gray Squirrels here that try to get a good share of the bird food in the feeders. Most of them are really gray but we also have a few black morphs here in the neighborhood. There is one exception and this little guy has really some color in its fur. We wonder if some Red Squirrel was mixed into the equation. We have never seen a Red Squirrel here up on the ridge but we know there are a few down in the valley. The one I show you is definitely as big as a Gray Squirrel (Red Squirrels are much smaller) and we really wonder how this guy got its color.

Any time the ground is covered with snow there is a good chance that the White-tailed Deer will show up in our yard at dusk. Today we had our usual group of two does and two fawns here. I saw them too late to open the window before they arrived and had to shoot through the glass. It was still snowing and the falling snow messed a few times with the autofocus system in the camera. Daylight lasts much longer now already and this image was made at 1/60 of a second. I know, the books will tell you that you need at least 1/320 of a second if your focal length is 320 mm, as in this picture, but I try to shoot long exposure in order to keep the ISO settings as low as possible for best detail in my photo.

Sigma 50-500 F4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM OS

 

No, I didn't buy a new lens but I had a chance to test the Sigma 50-500 F4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM OS with optical stabilization (OS). My photography friend Dave Updegraff owns this lens and yesterday we tried to replicate a problem that he had experienced several times before with this lens. The lens sometimes stopped working in very low temperatures, which is very annoying if you are out and like to shoot Bald Eagles or other birds in the winter. Well, we were not able to make this happen at our house even after leaving the lens outside in the cold for about twenty-five minutes. It worked flawless on my Nikon D300s and as well on his D3. Finding out that the lens was often stored in his car near the heat inlet made me believing that we see a problem (ok, we didn't see it yesterday :-)  ) created by heat, moisture and a following temperature shock that makes the lens freeze up. Time will tell, if by putting it to a different place in the car while driving the problem can be solved. I would be very happy to hear that from Dave. If not, well, I'm out of other ideas at the moment.

Dave had also asked me about my opinion regarding the sharpness of his Sigma 50-500. I took quite a few test shots using the same set up that I used during the last few weeks for my own bird photography. This gave me the chance to compare the performance of his lens directly with my previous results. Here are my impressions.

The Sigma 50-500 with the OS feature delivered the same good results if it was mounted on the tripod, using the gimbal head, and the optical stabilization turned off. I had the feeling (not sure) that the lens responded a tad faster to the autofocus than my older lens. Not every image was sharp because birds chew on seeds or move around fast and sometimes there is just not enough time for the autofocus to detect contrasty edges. This is not unusual and I call it pilot error (the pilot being me :-) ). The photo of the House Finch here may serve as a proof for my first statement.

We stepped outside and I made some more clicks, this time handhold, without the aid of a tripod, and the optical stabilization turned on. What a difference to my old lens! Without any preparation or "warm up" I was able to create some sharp images of the Eastern Gray Squirrel, who in great numbers occupy the bird feeders in our yard. Squirrels are not always easy to shoot because of the lack of contrast on their fur (unlike a woodpecker) and I was positively surprised how much the optical stabilization helped here to get the image sharp. To be honest, I wished I had waited a few months longer with my purchase until Sigma introduced the OS feature on the 50-500. I still think it is a great lens for those of us that have a limited budget.

Beside all the lens and camera talk Joan and I have enjoyed the conversation beyond photography with Dave. It was time well spent and now I just hope that we found the cause for the freeze up of the lens.

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