Sometimes It Just All Comes Together

Gorillas have always been a difficult subject to photograph.  They're nearly black making it a challenge to retain any detail in their faces. You simply cannot photograph them well in direct sunlight, you need them to be in even shade and preferably on an overcast day.  In captivity there are few enclosures with a natural green background.

It all came together for me the other day with an opportunity that lasted for just a few seconds.  This is an endangered Western lowland gorilla male silverback with a prominent sagittal crest.

Manual mode, 1/250 sec, f5.6 ISO 200 Canon 400mm with Canon 480 EX Speedlite for fill light.

High Speed Strobe Synch

It's been nearly a year since we last photographed these Burrowing owls.  Therisa learned something new that still has me shaking my head in disbelief, High Speed Strobe Synch!  With our Canon 430 EX Speedlite we can enable High Speed Synch and  synch higher than 1/250 sec.  We can strobe synch at any shutter speed! Wow, where have I been.? What a plus this is for moving subjects and being able to utilize faster shutter speeds with long lenses.

With this in mind we set out to photograph the diminutive Burrowing owls, knowing that we needed to get lower and closer.  It's frustrating to have good tripods that still don't go low enough.  Bean bags to the rescue!

CHASING THE LIGHT JURIED PHOTO COMPETITION

Here is an opportunity to get your photography in front of over 1,200 professional Photo Editors and Art Directors:  Chasing The Light Juried Photo Competitions:

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Our goal is to unite emerging new photographers with the Photo Editors and Art Directors of  the publishing world.  We are looking to discover those photographers who have the talent to turn the mundane into something extraordinary.

Talented photographers from around the world enter our themed competitions.  Any and all inquiries for publication and print sales are referred directly to the photographer per the contact information provided with each image. Our judges and publishers are looking for those photographers who can take the mundane and turn it into something extraordinary!  How much glitter do you have on your wand?"

Lighting Zoo and Aquarium Exhibits

This Electric eel, Electrophorus electricus, was photographed with a 10-22mm. Canon lens at 22mm. More photos can be viewed here.

Many people have asked me over the years how I shoot indoor zoo and aquarium exhibits.

Lately I've seen photo submissions from aspiring photographers who have simply tried to take advantage of improved noise reduction in the current crop of Digital SLR cameras while pushing their camera's ISO into unacceptable realms. I'm afraid 3200 ISO is not going to be acceptable to any photo editor, art director or photo agency unless you've captured something that no one else can duplicate. In short, I am a firm believer of keeping your ISO at your camera's lowest possible setting.

To light indoor zoo and aquarium exhibits use a strobe. Yes, you can use the pop-up strobe built into your camera. In this case I used the Canon 430EX Speedlight, set to TTL, mounted on the camera's hot shoe with a diffuser. In either case I shoot in Manual mode, usually with the shutter speed set at it's maximum synch speed (1/250 sec in this case) to eliminate the unwanted color temperatures of the exhibit's artifical lighting sources. The lens aperture will usually be the smallest f stop (in this case f 13) in can get for the light output with the diffuser on. Your camera's LCD will give you exposure feedback in each situation. If your image is too dark at f16 (underexposed), open up the aperture. If your image is too light (overexposed), close down the aperture. Pretty soon, you'll be getting the repeat experience you need so you can dial in the f stop quickly.

The other trick to avoid reflections is to make sure your lens is touching the exhibit glass. If you have a subject really close to the glass, you still can shoot it if you get your strobe off the camera on a TTL cord to the hot shoe or by using a wireless TTL strobe trigger.

Testing New HDR Software

Just downloaded Nik HDR EFX PRO software for a free 15 day trial. This image was from my very first test drive. I'm impressed. You will not believe the amount of control you have over the image output with their "U Point" feature:

with "U Point^® technology, you can make precise selections to easily fine-tune and enhance specific areas of your image."

Sunrise through Florida Slash Pines, Pinus elliottii, Everglades National Park, Florida

More of our Everglades images here.

Different Perspectives

To capture what remains of the Key West shrimp fleet at first light, we set our alarm clock for 4:00 A.M. and drove the 90 miles south in darkness. We had a good idea where to find the old shrimpers as we had done our homework even utilizing Google Map's satellite imagery.

Arriving in dim pre-dawn light, we located the rusting boats and grabbed our camera gear. I opted for the Canon 10-22mm while Therisa took off in the other direction with the Canon 100mm. Soft first light draped the shrimp boats. 30 minutes later the best light was gone but we each had our images. It was fascinating to see our different perspectives on the same subject, proving to us once again the importance of our teamwork.

More of our Florida Keys images here.

Granddaughters In The Pool

Once in awhile it's simply good to get out of your comfort zone and try something new, with the helpful cooperation of two of our beautiful granddaughters.

Manual exposure ISO 100, 1/250sec at f 11.

12 year old Maxine from Montana on the top and our 3 year old Florida Keys mermaid Anya on the bottom.