October 13, 2009
G’day Everyone,
In last month’s blog, Rob explained his technique for photographing insects and other small wildlife without a tripod. Equipped with a macro lens, a strobe, and a diffuser, Rob enjoys (or so he claims) chasing his flighty subjects across the meadows and through the forests and wetlands hoping to creep up on them whenever they land, if they ever do. First, he has to find his subject. Then he as to keep up with it. If it lands, it may not land in an accessible location let alone a photogenic one that will enable him to create a pleasing composition. Even if he’s lucky and all this actually happens, he still has to hope that his photographic quarry allows him to get his lens within inches of it and keep the subject within the thumbnail-thin DOF long enough to get off a frame or two before he has to commence chasing it all over again. Whew!!! Asked why he does it, he says “It’s all about the thrill of the hunt.”
Let me tell you something about the so-called thrill of the hunt – it’s overratted. Ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. Me? I take a much more genteel approach to macro photography.
Cherry-faced Meadowhawk on Meadowsweet
Canon EOS 1-D Mark ll N
Nikon 200mm Micro Nikkor f/4 (with Canon/Nikon adaptor)
.4″ @ f/22, ISO 100
Gitzo GT3145LS tripod with Novoflex focusing rail
cable release and mirror lock-up
Read more…
Posted by Gustav under Fall,Macro,Seasons,Technique | Comments (0)
September 15, 2009
Hey all – Rob here…
Since starting photography in 2004, May to August have always been my most productive months. There are plenty of subjects to choose from: birds, amphibians, flowers, insects, landscapes… On weekends, I’d often head out before dawn to the Ile Bizard marsh to photograph birds, frogs, turtles, otters or other marsh residents. When I don’t feel like getting up before dawn, I’d set up for macro photography a little later in the morning.
This year? Man, oh man… May, June and July were cool, very wet and windy. Montreal had record amounts of rain in July (4.6 inches), with some rainfall on 26 days out of 31 days. You can forget about going to the Ile Bizard marsh for bird photography in these conditions, as it will be very quiet. And windy or very sunny conditions make traditional macro photography extremely difficult.
With changing weather patterns, bird photography has been getting inconsistent at the marsh. I cannot control this. But there are always insects to photograph, and these critters are what I turn to in order satisfy my need for photography. This summer, with either too much wind, rain, too much cloud, or (ironically) too much sun, even insects were hard to photograph.
How bad has it been? Well, excluding the images taken at the Green Mountain Workshop in June, my number of “keeper shots” from start of May to end of July was 19… Only 19!
Mating Japanese Beetles
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro lens with Canon 500D diopter
Canon 550EX flash with Micro-Apollo diffuser
f/16, 1/100s, ISO 400
Hand-held
Read more…
Posted by Rob under Equipment,Flash,Lenses,Macro,Summer,Technique | Comments (10)
June 10, 2009
Hey friends,
For many years now, I’ve been taking a vacation during the first week of June. Not only does this coincide with my birthday, but early June tends to be very nice weather-wise and is great for nature photography. Coincidentally, this is the same week as the Green Mountain Nature Photography Workshop takes places, and for the third year in a row, I headed down to northern Vermont for 5 days to be co-instructor of the workshop.
I know, I know, many of you are scratching your heads about this. Why on earth would I want to “work” during my vacation? Why would I choose to get up at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning for 5 days? Truth is that for me this is not work, and getting up early is worth it. I love to share my passion for nature photography with others, and I happen to have pretty good technical know-how regarding photography and equipment, so it is a pleasure and a thrill to help others in their photographic journey.
So on Friday May 29th 2009, my first day of vacation, I headed down to Vermont to hook up with my friend and photo partner Gustav. Sadly, my wife Johanne had to stay in Montreal, as our 13+ year Labrador Retriever, Gryphon, no longer travels well and gets too stressed when we are away. Many thanks to my darling wife, who did not make me feel bad about leaving her behind.
I’ll reserve a detailed day-by-day description of the workshop for a future blog post next spring… For now, I simply wanted to share a few of my favorite images with you. I’m deliberately choosing images that are different from my previous 2 trips to the workshop.
Four Corners Falls – Missisquoi River – North Troy, Vermont
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L lens at 21mm
ISO 100, 0.5s at f/20
Filters: Singh-Ray Gold-n-Blue Polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS Tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead
Read more…
Posted by Rob under Filters,Landscapes,Macro,Spring,Vermont,Workshops & Tours | Comments (2)
