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!