American Dippers

so fantastic Connor. Creative, original, beautiful, technically perfect. wow

Such an inspiring image. Just love it.

Beautiful image...wonderful point of view....

Great shot Connor and congrats, again!

As others have said, great set-up and lighting - technically, thumbs up, especially the setting.

However, IMHO that's a startled (adult) bird you have. It looks like the bird has "jumped" back in surprise, and so is not holding a natural pose. This is not to suggest the bird is harassed. It's more a reflection that the bird is responding to a "startling" event. It can happen in response to pre-flash or shutter noise (and can also be seen when firing off a continuous burst, where the first capture is fine but the following ones are not). And is especially a potential issue when photographing birds feeding young when adults are naturally more nervous. I also note you're shooting at 22mm, so even though you're triggering remotely any shutter noise will for sure be audible to bird.

Sorry, I'm sure not what you wanted to hear.

Martin

mvsneary wrote:As others have said, great set-up and lighting - technically, thumbs up, especially the setting.

However, IMHO that's a startled (adult) bird you have. It looks like the bird has "jumped" back in surprise, and so is not holding a natural pose. This is not to suggest the bird is harassed. It's more a reflection that the bird is responding to a "startling" event. It can happen in response to pre-flash or shutter noise (and can also be seen when firing off a continuous burst, where the first capture is fine but the following ones are not). And is especially a potential issue when photographing birds feeding young when adults are naturally more nervous. I also note you're shooting at 22mm, so even though you're triggering remotely any shutter noise will for sure be audible to bird.

Sorry, I'm sure not what you wanted to hear.

Martin

Thanks Martin! As for the bird's pose, this was actually taken after it fed the chicks and just as the adult is taking off from the rocks. The camera didn't seem to bother the birds. They came back to feed their young every couple minutes, and allowed me to take multiple shots per feeding session. I just chose to display this photo because it offered one of the more dramatic looking poses. 

Hi Connor,

Many thanks for the response and very happy to be corrected!!

I imagine you have some "classic" feeding shots, but good to choose the one that's different. Congratulations again on the set-up. I really like the positioning of all the elements.

Martin

Hard work pays off Connor. This is a brilliant image. Congrats on EP!

Very nice, Connor, and great work on a technically difficult image to pull off! Though there's lots to think about when doing this kind of work, I might have considered slotting a grad ND across the brighter part of the image, the relatively distant trees on the far riverbank. It may or may not have worked as it might have darkened the water too much but it's something I would have considered in order to really keep the viewer's eye firmly on the birds.

That's just a suggestion on how I think this super cool image could possibly have been improved in-camera. That said, I'd be very happy to have this one in my files just as presented

Cheers,
Greg

I question your ethics when it comes to an image like this.  Your camera setup must have been only a few feet from the nest.  I argued with you over this when you posted your loon on the nest image some time ago.  You defended your actions by stating that you could tell by the birds behavior that you weren't bothering them.  Well, just exactly how do you know this?

Sure, the adult dippers continued to feed the chicks because of their strong instinctual drive to do so, but what level of stress were they experiencing? The young birds in this image appear to be fairly developed.  It is a known fact that birds close to fledging can leave the nest prematurely if disturbed, causing the loss of the chicks.

Those of you who have complimented Connor on this photograph only serve to ensure he will continue this questionable practice.

aolander wrote:I question your ethics when it comes to an image like this.  Your camera setup must have been only a few feet from the nest.  I argued with you over this when you posted your loon on the nest image some time ago.  You defended your actions by stating that you could tell by the birds behavior that you weren't bothering them.  Well, just exactly how do you know this?

Those of you who have complimented Connor on this photograph only serve to ensure he will continue this questionable practice.

I guess two flash units calm them down. :-\

But let's give him a benefit of  doubt and hear a little bit more about setup ?
He probably left his tripod weeks before, well camouflaged so birds got used to it.

aolander wrote:I question your ethics when it comes to an image like this.  Your camera setup must have been only a few feet from the nest.  I argued with you over this when you posted your loon on the nest image some time ago.  You defended your actions by stating that you could tell by the birds behavior that you weren't bothering them.  Well, just exactly how do you know this?

Sure, the adult dippers continued to feed the chicks because of their strong instinctual drive to do so, but what level of stress were they experiencing? The young birds in this image appear to be fairly developed.  It is a known fact that birds close to fledging can leave the nest prematurely if disturbed, causing the loss of the chicks.

Those of you who have complimented Connor on this photograph only serve to ensure he will continue this questionable practice.

I couldn't agree more with the Aolander's comments. I don't visit this forum much at all anymore, and that is partly because of images like this and the misguided praise they get. I would personally like to see Canada make nest images like this a criminal activity. To give it Editors Pick, well IMHO that is just guiding young photographers in the wrong direction.

Tim Zurowski wrote:  To give it Editors Pick, well IMHO that is just guiding young photographers in the wrong direction.

That would be an understatement.

Great photo! Good to see the birds enviroment with the behavior.

Congratulation!

Although I have not posted here for a long time, I must add my support to Aolander, Andrew and Tim regarding the ethics of using wide lenses for photographing nesting birds. As a NANPA Scholar, perhaps you should revisit their mission statement

NANPA's Mission -
   NANPA promotes the art and science of nature photography as a medium of communication, nature appreciation, and environmental protection.
   NANPA provides information, education, inspiration and opportunity for all persons interested in nature photography.
   NANPA fosters excellence and ethical conduct in all aspects of our endeavors and especially encourages responsible photography in the wild.

Using short lenses and flash at active nesting sites for the sole purpose of creating a unique image ranks right up there with trying to get Snowy Owls to fly by whistling and waving your arms.

I congratulated Connor so I'll chime in.

Not all birds and not all situations are the same, so you can’t use the same knife to cut through the merits and details of general criticisms. One would need specifics and detailed information before making general assertions of the effects of a particular interaction with nature.

Photos like this make me appreciate this species in a way that I might never get to see "for real", thus I am grateful it exists and that I have seen it and studied it... Twice, because I believe it had won EP once before.

Every person in this planet is responsible for environmental degradation and effects on other species and other humans- some more than others. The key is to understand, minimize and mitigate - if one cares - not everyone does.  

To me, Connor's image depicts a "happy" family on what looks like adequate environment for this species... It is both artistic and informative - and reassuring. 

And on the emotional side, I suspect this image resulted in no more effects to the well-being and survival of this family of this species than going camping at your favorite waterhole would on any weekend. That is why I have not problem liking it. 

I find that during these types of discussions, the comparison between conservation photography and biological studies is rarely mentioned. Having been involved in both for the last few years, I can tell you that Connor's setup (I watched the entire process) was FAR less invasive than many of the sampling procedures used in field biology.

I think the greater picture needs to be considered here. This photo was displayed for many months in Vancouver's Telus World of Science which saw well over 600k visitors last year. Ask yourself - what's more important - this photo that educated countless people on the importance of local wildlife and ecosystems, or a scientific journal publication seen by a small contingency of that specific community?

While I think issues can rightfully be addressed within both topics, I often wonder why scientific studies are put on a pedestal by critics, undermining important and compelling story-telling photographs such as this.

Love this photo Connor. Nice work!

enrique patino wrote:I congratulated Connor so I'll chime in.

Not all birds and not all situations are the same, so you can’t use the same knife to cut through the merits and details of general criticisms. One would need specifics and detailed information before making general assertions of the effects of a particular interaction with nature.

All wild birds are wild.
Most birds when disturbed will abandon nest. It's that simple.
There's no picture worth more than well being of an animal,bird,etc.

One can always use telephoto from good distance to shoot nest behavior.
What's next,fish-eye from 10 cm to get new "artistic" perspective ?

610k people saw that picture ?
Great,so now 610k people think it's OK to take pictures at a nest. With 22mm lens it's probably what,1-1.5m away from the nest ?
}:-(