Imagine nearly 20,000 tons of northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), stretched cheek to jowl on a 10 km (6 mile) stretch of beach. That’s what I saw during the breeding season at Piedras Blancas, on the central California coast, early last year. Each adult male seal weighs up to 22...
I’m often amazed at just how much subconscious thought and planning goes into the creation of a “simple” photograph.
Using a longer exposure to capture motion is very common when photographing waterfalls, although, this technique is not used as often when photographing birds. After repeatedly photographing a species, using this technique allows me to create different images from the ones I have already capture...
For many aspiring wildlife photographers, capturing beautiful portraits of their favorite birds or animals in the wild is often their primary goal. This is certainly an understandable and a worthwhile endeavor. When I began photographing wildlife over thirty years ago, I was inspired by the stri...
When I began shooting RAW files, the processing tools available were somewhat rudimentary. I labored with the early Adobe Camera RAW converter to process my files (Lightroom didn’t exist then), but often felt I could not get the final images to look exactly the way I envisioned them. Part...
“Good composition is like a suspension bridge – each line adds strength and takes none away.” –Robert Henri
This is part two of a two-parts essay. In part one, we looked at how the image was created, from field work to studio work, including shooting, converting, stitching, proc...
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“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” –Aristotle
Daytime photographs suffer from poor light and desaturated colors. In many instances waiting for sunset is the answer. However, there are locations where this does not work. O...
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It is often said that great photos are made, not taken. This can be interpreted in many ways, but to me this means that great images are the result of some forethought, planning and skill. Yes we all get lucky from time to time and “take” a great image without much thought, but in or...
In 2011 Canon released the lighter versions of their 500mm and 600mm lenses. At that time, I owned Nikon’s very first AF-S 600mm f/4 version which weighed in at 14.5 lbs, on my scale. Safe to say, I didn’t do much hiking with it and was very envious of Canon’s new offerings. About 4 years...
Those of you who follow my blog and/or have traveled with me on a photo tour here in Costa Rica know that I strive to capture the best RAW file possible and that I consider only a perfect (or near perfect!) RAW file to be a full success in my own photography. I don’t pretend that every photogr...
When teaching photography workshops, I often get asked to discuss the most impactful techniques needed to create excellent wildlife photography. I often tell them about the four angles of success: a triangulation of the sun angle, height angle, head angle and background angle.
The Great Horned Owl begins nesting earlier than most other birds in the U.S. and by spring, young likely have hatched or are ready to hatch.
Here, I share photographs and the story of one pair from the incubation to fledging of this cosmopolitan bird. This January 2015,
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Macro photography is a fascinating way to explore new worlds by seeing things from a different perspective. Objects that would otherwise by undesirable to photograph can suddenly become alluring and inspiring. However, taking good macro photographs is no easy task, and it is one of the most chal...
Although I’m not an astrophotography expert, I recently posted this image under the landscapes image forum on NatureScapes.Net and was asked to describe how the image was created. As I sat down to write, I realized a little more depth on my experience would best convey how I stumbled through...
I grew up in the outdoors and my dad encouraged me to listen to the birds, to see the trees and to feel the water. I also was brought up to respect all nature and that it’s improper to litter.
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