While I consider myself a druid of sorts I’m not prone to numinous tendencies.  Then again, I have my moments.
I was photographing snow geese at the Dead Creek Wildlife Preserve in Addison, VT on a bitterly cold morning a few autumns ago when I happened to glance away from my camera.  My eyes were tearing in the biting wind and I had to wipe them every few moments.  As I turned to swipe the sleeve of my fleece jacket across my face, I was confronted by the transfixing stare of a snowy owl.

For the time being, a book deadline, home improvements, my part-time gig at the local college, and my HO trains provide ample reason for getting out of bed every day during the winter.  Going outside, apart from snowshoeing with the boys and bringing in more firewood, least of all to take photos, is not part of my daily routine between December and March.  I was never cold-hardy and am becoming even less so as, well, my father pointed out to me during my last visit with him, my hair takes on a more distinguished look.   Though, there are those occasional photo opportunities when I simply have to bundle up and brave the frostbite, say, when there’s a brilliant display of northern lights or the rare ice fog creates the enigmatic Truhin’s Pillars or there’s an eruption of great gray owls or pine grosbeaks.  About every other week, Jeff Parson’s and I trudge out on our snowshoes to check our game cameras.  An article on how to use game cameras for wildlife photography which highlights our adventures over the last several winters as we attempted and finally succeeded in capturing a magazine-quality image of a bobcat appears in the current (Winter, 2011) issue of Northern Woodlands magazine.  You can see an online version of the article on the Northern Woodlands website here:
http://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/camera-trapping-how-to-get-the-shot/

Caribou Bull, Newfoundland
Gustav W. Verderber
Canon EOS3
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens with 1.4x
1/90″ @ f4, Kodak E100G
light meter, manual exposure
handheld
special effects by Rob

Last spring, I planted a hawthorn tree right outside of our bathroom window.  Once it bears its bright orange berries which remain on the tree well into winter, I look forward to picking the birds off from inside the bathroom as they land on the snow-covered branches before helping themselves to our bird feeder just below the tree. Otherwise, you can find me right here, snuggled into my recliner with my laptop in front of the wood stove, the boys lounging on their respective rugs either side of me.

Immature Male Pine Grosbeak
 Canon EOS3
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens with 1.4x
1/30″ @ f4, Fuji Velvia
 Gitzo Studex tripod with Manfrotto 3047 head
light meter, manual exposure
Canon 550EX Speedlight at – 1 2/3

Morning Doves
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens with 1.4x
1/400″ @ f8, ISO 200
evaluative metering, aperture priority
Gitzo GT3541LS carbon fiber with Wimberley Head

Truhin’s Pillars on Christmas Night
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM at 70mm
f/4 @ 30″, ISO 1000, manual exposure
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Manfrotto 3047 head
cable release, mirror lockup

(I realize that I featured this image a few days after I took it last December, but this is such a rare event I thought it worthwhile to exhibit it again here.  If you want to read the story behind the photo and an explanation of this incredible meteorological phenomenon, visit this blog: http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/parting-shot-of-2010-gustavs-hot-shot-truhins-pillars-on-christmas-night#.TvCkpNRtZ8E)

Most of the stunning winter landscapes on our website are Rob’s.  He enjoys defying arctic conditions to capture remarkable, austere scenes of his frozen home ground that, if they came with a soundtrack, you would expect to hear the cacophony of emperor penguins or the grumble of a polar bear coming from just off the frame, not the drone of Montreal traffic.  For some winter photography tips, see Rob’s blog, “The Joys of Winter Photography”:
http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/the-joys-of-winter-photography#.TvCogtRtZ8E

Winter Sunset Over Lake of Two Mountains
Canon EOS 20D
1/10″ @ f16, ISO 100
manual exposure
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens
Hoya Moose polarizer and 3-stop GND
5 exposure HDR shot, each 1 stop apart
Gitzo G2220 with Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead

Meanwhile, back in my den, I’m already dreaming about next year’s tours and workshops.

In May, we’ll be headed back to the American Southwest to explore the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and several other iconic western landscapes.  Join Ed Taube, Eliot Scher, me, and a small gaggle of high plains drifters on this tour of these classic western locations.  View the itinerary by clicking on the display ad for the tour along the right column and email me soon to join us!

In June, I’ll be joining Roger Hill, the noted storm chaser, to photograph tornadoes in the midwest.  That’s right, I’m a wimp when it comes to snowflakes but I’m willing to stare down a twister to get the shot!!  Are you?  This is a tour that’s sure to blow your mind!!  (Sorry, I just had to use that line.)  Click on the display ad to see the entire itinerary.

For those of you who are still struggling with your cameras or climbing the digital photography learning curve, there’s always the Green Mountain Nature Photography Workshop in spring.  For four days, we’ll take you through the entire toolbox of field technique and the nuts and bolts of digital processing so you can capture and process images like the pros.  All this, and a generous helping of Vermont hospitality, down home cooking, wine, cheese, luscious scenery, carnivorous plants, spring wildflowers, and, if we’re lucky, even a moose.  Come on and immerse yourself in your passion among kindred spirits.  The display ad on the left side of the blog with will take you to the itinerary.

The popular “Tom Jordan Memorial Boreal Tour” is on hold until we hear from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department who are withholding permits to the puffin rookery on Machias Seal Island while they consider “commercializing” the operation.  This is not about minimizing environmental impacts on the island.  This is all about money.  Traditionally, there have been only two private charters permitted to land on the island, one of which I’ve been using for fourteen years – Bold Coast Charters out of Cutler, ME, led by Capt. Andy Patterson.  There are no landing facilities on the island and Capt. Patterson has earned a reputation of safely ferrying people to the rookery and bringing them back without injury for nearly two decades.  Now, the F&W department wants to open up the bid to anyone with a boat to bring people to the island.  More boats, more permits, more money for the F&W department.  Of course, this would also increase the impact on the rookery and decrease the quality of this unique experience.  What’s next?  Cruise ships!!

If you would like to add your voice to help keep the Machia Seal Island rookery safe from destructive commercial exploitation and to preserve the exclusive, intimate quality of visiting this exceptional seabird rookery, I encourage you to contact either or both of the following Fish & Wildlife officials.

Beth Goettel, Refuge Manager, Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex
Beth_Goettel@fws.gov

Janet Kennedy, Refuges Program Supervisor/North U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region
Janet_Kennedy@fws.gov

Until we meet in the field, may the light be with you!

Gustav

It was a rather amusing situation… As I’m carefully working compositions on this plain beach, calculating my long exposure settings, adjusting my filters and tripod, I was passed by a few tourists with their high-end cameras (you know the type – they’re from another country and are stereotypically known to take 1000′s of pictures of the same subject. ). Yet, on this cloudy, drizzly and very windy day, they did not even bother to take their cameras out of their bags! They seemed puzzled when looking at me – I guess they could not understand why I was doing little happy dances while chimping the image on my camera’s LCD…

To be fair, these images were not that easy to compose and capture, and required the use of the 10-stop ND, 3-stop GND and polarizing filters to soften the water and sky, tame the contrast and enrich the colors. But the images were there to be captured. When you look at a scene, try to “simplify” it in your mind. Use your viewfinder, different angles, focal lengths and point of views before dismissing a scene.

And bring an umbrella with you. I got wet on this day. But it was worth it.

Hope you enjoy these images.

See you in the field,

Rob

By using a very long exposures, it is possible to dramatically “simplify” an image, blurring anything that moves, and really makes the photographer focus on pure composition and color.

These images reflect this concept perfectly. Hope you enjoy the set.

Sand, Sea and Sky – North Rustico Beach, PEI National Park
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM at 25mm
75″ @ f/11, ISO 200, Bulb Mode
Tripod Mounted 

Sand, Shells, Water and Sky at PEI National Park (Brackley)
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM at 28mm
100″ @ f/14, ISO 100, Bulb Mode
Tripod Mounted 

Sand, Water and Sky at PEI National Park (Greenwich)
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM at 65mm
36″ @ f/11, ISO 200, Bulb Mode
Tripod Mounted 

Seaweed, Sand, Sea and Sky – Brackley Beach, PEI National Park
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L IS USM at 40mm
45″ @ f/11, ISO 200, Bulb Mode
Tripod Mounted 

Sand, Sea and Sky – North Rustico Beach, PEI National Park
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L IS USM at 30mm
110″ @ f/10, ISO 200, Bulb Mode
Tripod Mounted 

Do you have a favorite? Please let me know – I’d love to hear from you!

That’s it for now – other PEI image sets coming soon.

Until next time,

Rob

]]> http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/robs-hot-shots-pei-set-1-simplicity/feed 10 http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/getting-high-in-glacier-national-park http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/getting-high-in-glacier-national-park#comments Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:05:13 +0000 Gustav http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/?p=2344 G’day Mates,

Several years ago, a client purchased all the spaces in our Kenya tour for the privilege of having an exclusive experience, to have me all to himself as it were, and learn all the field technique and digital processing he could absorb during the two-week safari.  It was a sublime adventure for both of us; Peter, the client, felt he got his money’s worth  (He could be driving a nice sports car for what he paid for that exclusive experience.) while I regarded the tour as a magnificent, once-in-a-lifetime event.  Let’s be honest, being in the company of kindred spirits in some of the world’s most remarkable natural locations doing what we love to do is always a precious gift.  I never take it for granted.

Still, when one is in charge of all the needs and exigencies of a small group, there’s some work involved.  A single client, while perhaps demanding, requires much less management, if any.  What’s more, is that Peter and I got along splendidly; we were fast friends before we landed in Nairobi and the whole tour was more like I was on safari with an old pal.  To be sure, I made the most of the tour myself.  I did Kenya justice and captured a portfolio that eventually became the second book in our Sojourns In Nature coffee table series: Sojourns In Nature, The Kenya Edition.  On the flights back home, I wallowed in the exhilarating feeling of knowing that I was living my life well and in that same sense of accomplishment one gets after capturing one of those extremely fortunate images that rarely, if ever, present themselves in the life of a nature photographer.   “Wow,” I said to myself, “that’ll never happen again.”

Then, last year, Eliot Scher famously (See my “Light & Color in the Southwest” article in the Spring, 2011 Nature Photographer iPad ap.) hired me to do the same thing for him in the American Southwest.  Another fabulous adventure and a forever friendship and again, flying home from the southwest, I said to myself, “Man, what an experience.  Bet that’ll never happen again.”

Well, guess what happened this year?

Mountain Goat and Kit on Ledge at Logan Pass*
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens at 70mm
1/320″ @ f8, ISO 200
handheld

I initially met Everett Davis in the “Nature Photographers” group on Facebook.  He had read my “Light & Color” article and eventually asked me if I would be willing to give him the same experience I had shared with Eliot.  Everett lives in Kalispell, MT, about an hour from the west entrance of Glacier National Park.  He offered to spend two weeks with me in Glacier, entirely at his expense including air fare, in return for photographing the park with him, sharing my field techniques, and teaching him all I know about the digital workflow.

It’s a job and someone’s got to do it, right?

Bighorn Ram
 Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens
1/500″ @ f5, ISO 200
 Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Wimberley head

Everett and his wife, Laura, picked me up at the airport in Kalispell on August 5, 2011.  By the way, this was the first time I had travelled without having to carry anything onto the plane, aside from an Ipad and my book. (I still prefer reading the old fashioned way.)  I had carefully packed up all of my gear in a Pelican case and sent it to Everett via the local P.O. a few days prior to my flight to Montana.  The gear arrived safely at Eliot’s P.O. three days later.  At the Burlington, VT airport, I had checked my duffel and empty LowePro backpack.  Sorry, but I do believe I displayed somewhat of a smug, haughty demeanor as I strode through the concourses carrying or dragging absolutely no baggage behind me. 

Lake McDonald
 Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM Lens at 32mm
1/5″ @ f22, ISO 100
Moose 81A polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Manfrotto 3047 head

Everett and I spent the next ten days working Glacier NP. Hard! It’s a two-hour drive from Everett’s home in Kalispell to Logan Pass in the heart of the park at the top of the “Going to the Sun Road”.  The alarm usually went off at 4:00 am and we were out the door at 4:30 am in order to catch early light at Logan Pass and intercept the bighorn sheep and mountain goats out in the the alpine meadows before they bedded down in the shady spruce groves for the day.  Everett has a bum knee and it takes him a while just to get out of the car, let alone into position for a shot.  Forget about quickly jumping out of the car to snatch a shot of a passing grizzly.  Nevertheless, his passion for nature photography and my single-mindedness when I’m in the field enabled us to do the park justice.  Indeed, we were a redoubtable, pertinacious pair.

Alpenglow on Mt. Reynolds and Bighorn Sheep
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens at 70mm
1/125″ @ f4, ISO 200
 Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Manfrotto 3047 head

Every evening, after a long day in the park, Everett and Laura took me out to dinner in a different restaurant and we talked about photography mostly, but also about horses (Laura’s passion), my depression (over my father’s passing; Laura is a physician), Montana vs. Vermont politics, and planned the next day’s itinerary over several bottles of Moose Drool, the best beer ever brewed (after Rob’s home brew).  Then, we usually spent an hour or so critiquing and processing images before turning in and doing it all again the following day.  Laura and Everett provided me with lavish accommodations – a whole separate apartment attached to the garage and stocked the fridge in the apartment with, yep, more Moose Drool.

Golden Eagle in Flight
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens with Canon 2x at 400mm
1/640″ @ f8, ISO 200
handheld

About half way through the trip, we were joined by Carol and Brian Seago, and Sheila, the wife of one of my dearest friends, Vince Madama.  (That’s why Vince and I are such bosom buddies; who else would send his wife to spend a week with me in Glacier NP?)  They had travelled from Ashland, WI to join us and were camped in an RV just outside the park.  Carol, Sheila, and Brian are avid nature photographers and all three, including Vince, had participated in the Tom Jordan Tour several years ago.  I dare say that Carol has been the de facto president of my fan club ever since.  Alas (for Vince), work prevented Vince from joining us this time.  Needless to say, the second week was a reunion and a sublime photo adventure and partying and pizza and, yep, more Moose Drool with new and old friends and Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one grand week!  I was on top of the world!!!

Hidden Lake and Bearhat Mountain
 Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM Lens at 17mm
1/80″ @ f8, ISO 100
  handheld

Mountain Goat on Goat Lick Cliff
Canon EOS 5-D
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens with Canon 2x at 400mm
1/2000″ @ f5.6, ISO 200
handheld

Note that the above photo includes Carol, Brian, and myself in the byline.  This is because we hadn’t initially spotted any goats on the cliff face where they are frequently observed licking up the mineral salts that leach out of the rocks.  So I left my gear in the car (yeah, I know, I know…) while Carol and Brian and Sheila took in the breathtaking Montana scenery.  We were far from the car and way out near the edge of the cliff when Brian suddenly spotted some goats.  I was about to run back to the car to get my gear when we heard Carol yelping out for help.  She had sat down on the flaky gravel at the sloping edge of the precipice to photograph the goats that were scrambling across the cliff face on the opposite side of the gorge.  The loose gravel under her was slipping (hence the reference “slickrock”) and she was slowly sliding over the edge.  While Brian, a north woods logger, grabbed his wife’s belt and pulled her back from the abyss, Carol reached back and handed me her camera.  Thus, Brian and I both did what we do best – he saved his wife’s life and I got the shot.

Yellow-bellied Marmot
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens with Canon 1.4x
1/200″ @ f4.5, ISO 400
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Wimberley head

Columbian Ground Squirrel and Pink Mountain Heath
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens with 2x
1/400″ @ f7.1, ISO 320
  Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Wimberley head

Mule Deer Buck and Doe
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens with Canon 2x at 203mm
1/80″ @ f8, ISO 400
handheld

“What an experience!  I thoroughly enjoyed the time my wife, Laura,  and I spent with you.  I want to thank  you for your patience with me and for sharing so much of your knowledge.  I am forever indebted for your help.  We’re really going to miss you.  Come back anytime!”

Everett Davis
Kalispell,  MT

Once again, everyone got what they had hoped for out of the experience.  Moreover, Laura and Everett are coming out to join me in a few weeks for fall foliage.  The adventures continue but something as good as those two weeks in Glacier NP, come on, that sort of high…well, that can’t possibly happen again.  Can it?

 Blackfeet Tepees and Horses
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens at 70mm
1/320″ @ f16, ISO 200
handheld

Anyone in Hawaii, New Zealand, or Australia want to learn nature photography?  Have camera.  Will travel. 

*This is a composite image; the goats were photographed on the trail, the ledge and background separately.  Honestly, this is the first time that I’ve created such an extensive composite but, what with the republicans threatening to eliminate social security, I could not afford to delete such a perfect portrait.
So I found a suitable setting for the goats, photographed it, and added the goats as the foreground.  I will only use this image in my gallery as a framed print.  I will not publish it outside of this blog.

With gratitude and respect,

Gustav

Conventional wisdom recommends using several strobes for photographing hummingbirds.  Typically, hummingbird setups employ two strobes at about 45 degrees either side of the bird and level with it, a top and bottom light, and one or two additional strobes to light the background.  My brief note here is not intended to refute the merits of this standart technique, not at all.  Indeed, most circumstances will require a number of strobes to properly illuminate the scene and freeze the wing motion, especially in the field when one is not entirely in control of all the variables, i.e., flash to subject distance, the distance between the main subject and the backgroud, ambient light, etc.

However, under certain conditions, it is possible to capture outstanding images of hummingbirds with a single strobe…and a little help from the sun.

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird & Columbine
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N and Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens
f32 @ 1/180″, ISO 400
Canon 550EX at 1/16, manual mode
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only hummingbird species commonly seen east of the Mississippi.  My wife, Cheryl, and I have made a point of attracting these resplendent little nectar-feeders to our garden with plants that produce bright, red, typically tube-shaped blossoms including honeysuckle, cardinal flower, and columbine.  Of course, we also put out a few hummingbird feeders.

With only a single species to work with, at least here at home, I wasn’t that keen on investing in half a dozen strobes.  So, a couple of years ago, in the hope of capturing just one good photo of the male and female, I started experimenting with a single strobe, the Canon 550EX.

The Ruby-throat beats its wings, on average, about 50 times per second.  Even the fastest shutter speed on today’s cameras is not sufficiently quick to freeze that sort of high-speed motion and provide a pleasing photo of the bird with relatively sharp wings.  (I am not a fan of hummingbird photos in which the wings are nothing more than dark smudges on either side of the bird’s body and neither are most editors.)  What, in fact, is required is an electronic strobe that can provide a burst of light the duration of which is so extremely short that in the fraction of a second the strobe light illuminates the bird (the effective exposure) the wings have not moved appreciably through the field of view.  That duration is approximately 1/20,000 of a second!

The Canon 550EX’s power output can be manually dialed down from full power to as low as 1/128 of its maximum output.  As power is reduced, so also is the flash duration which, in turn, reduces the illumination.  At a power output of 1/16, the strobe duration approaches that required to freeze the motion of a hummingbird’s wings.   At 1/32, the duration is roughly 1/22,000 of a second.  We’ve achieved the necessary short exposure to stop the motion of the wings, but now we have to deal with the greatly reduced illumination.  Normally, the illumination is brought back up by simply adding additional strobes, all of which have been dialed down to deliver the necessary short flash of light.

If we can anticipate intercepting the hummingbird at a blossom or, even better, provide a blossom for it to come to, one can set up the strobe on a tripod within inches of the flower, and thus the bird when it arrives. By placing the strobe close to the main subject and increasing my ISO to 400, I compensated for the diminished power output of the strobe.  In the case of the two photos featured here, the Canon 550EX was positioned 15″ from the blossom, slightly to the right and level with the bird. Putting the strobe so close to the subject also helps “fold” the light around the bird precluding the need to light the bird from the top and bottom and from both sides with additional strobes.

The soft, green background was provided by a tangle of ferns that grow alongside the edge of the flower garden and extend along the old stone wall bordering the southeast side of our property.  The ferns were several feet behind the blossom and thus out of reach of the strobe and, in the morning, are shaded by an old apple orchard on the neighboring property.  However, in the afternoon, they recieve direct sunlight.

So, I waited until the afternoon to set up my shot.  The strobe would illuminate the blossom and the hummingbird, and I relied on the sun to light my background. (In fact, the hummingbird also received direct sunlight, as evidenced by the two catchlights in the eye of the male, one from the strobe – linear reflection, and one from the sun – circular reflection, but as it was late afternoon and my aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings underexposed any ambient reflection by about one and a half stops, I did not get any ambient light ghosting of the bird.  Had that been a problem, I would have constructed a light shield to keep the blossom and hummingbird, but not the background, in shade.)

I mounted my Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens and my Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N on a seperate tripod at about seven feet from the blossom, prefocused on the stamens of the flower, and connected the camera to the strobe with a synch cord.  From such a close distance, I expected the 300mm would need considerable DOF to keep the hummingbird in focus from wingtip to wingtip so I set my aperture to f32.  A few quick test shots confirmed that my main subject would be properly exposed, as indicated by the blossom and that, in order to adequately expose the sunlit ferns, my shutter speed would have to be 1/180″.  Finally, I ran an extra long electronic cable release to a shady spot beside the shed, cracked open a Guiness, and settled into a lawn chair.

The image of the female above was taken with the strobe dialed down to 1/16.  You can still see some blurring of the wings, though there’s sufficient detail to render the primary feathers clearly and even reveal the barbs.  The photo makes the grade and was subequently published in Nature’s Best magazine.  Not bad for a first attempt.

For the male, I dialed down the strobe to 1/32 power in the hope of getting a sharper image of the wings.  While this worked, the bird and columbine were underexposed.  I did not want to compromise my DOF or increase my ISO so I simply strapped my fresnel lens (Better Beamer) onto the front of the strobe and that concentrated the strobe light into a much tighter and brighter beam and corrected the exposure on the bird and the flower.

Yet, the male proved somewhat less cooperative.  Spoiled by the graceful pose of the female, I wasn’t satifsied with the stiff, sometimes awkward poses I was getting of the male.  It wasn’t until just this summer that I finally captured the male in an elegant posture and a composition with which I’m very satisfied.

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird & Columbine
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N and Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens
f32 @ 1/180″, ISO 400
Canon 550EX at 1/32, manual mode, with Better Beamer
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod

With gratitude and respect,

Gustav

In this final briefing of our experiences using high-quality game cameras to produce publishable images of otherwise elusive wildlife, I’ll cover the important considerations for placing the cameras in the field, that is, for locating field sites with a reasonably high potential for yielding usable images of the intended subjects, and I will also provide you with some pointers on properly positioning the cameras. Though I will use our experience with bobcats to illustrate our techniques and provide examples, the concepts I outline here are generally applicable to virtually all wildlife.

It goes without saying that knowledge of one’s subject is paramount. You cannot be a successful wildlife photographer, regardless of the camera you use, if you are not familiar with the habits and habitat of your subject. You might read in a field guide that bobcats are distributed throughout New England. Does that suggest that you can simply strap a game camera to any ol’ beech tree in Vermont and expect a bobcat to stroll by within range of the viewfinder in a reasonable amount of time? You might want to consider that the home range of a single bobcat extends upwards of 201 square kilometers and that there might be only one cat in every 25 square kilometers. I’m no mathematician, but I suspect that the odds of a cat crossing in front of a single camera in that amount of space is, well, let’s just say you’re not going to get enough usable bobcat photos to cover the cost of the camera. Not in your lifetime.

So, what’s one to do? Put simply, you learn to stack the deck in your favor.

First rule of wildlife photography – go to where there’s a lot of them. I just mentioned that there might be only one bobcat for every 25 square kilometers. However, that’s an average number. In some places there may be more, in others, even less. What’s more, that ratio is the density of cats in a given area, it says nothing about their distribution. What if all four of the bobcats within 100 square kilometers occasionally congregated? Unlikely, given the solitary nature of bobcats, but you see my point? Limited resources, like food and shelter, seasonal events such as migrations or reproduction bring otherwise widely dispersed animals together forming what’s referred to as a clumped distribution. Some species, like bees at a hive or ant colonies or prairie dogs have permanently clumped distributions, others, like bobcats, never congregate outside of the breeding season, and still other species, like birds at a roost, form frequent, albeit transient clumps. It would be an extravagant waste of time to set out to find and photograph a spotted salamander in August, a reclusive species with a very scattered distribution, when one knew that these woodland amphibians migrate to small, vernal wetlands and form “congresses”, i.e., clumps, of dozens of breeding individuals in these pools during the first, warm, spring rains in late April or early May. Knowing if, when, where, and even why individuals of a species you’d like to photograph aggregate, greatly increases your odds of getting that photo.

Extremely territorial, bobcats typically remain broadly distributed over their range. They only come together in late February or March to breed. Even then, there may only be two cats in several square kilometers. Those a still very poor odds. But this isn’t Las Vegas where counting cards will get you arrested. In wildlife photography, counting cards, that is, using whatever knowledge or experience you can gain that will help put you, or in this case your camera, in the right place at the right time to intercept your quarry, is more than fair, it’s a prerequisite to being in the game at all.

As dispersed as bobcats are, they have their favorite haunts, places where they are more likely to be found at any given time. Cats use ledges and, according to recent research done here in Vermont, riparian zones – banks of rivers and streams – as corridors to patrol and hunt their territories. More information to increase the odds in favor of the camera hunter. Additionally, we do most of our game camera photography in the winter when it’s much easier to track animals. We look for ledgy areas near rivers and then scout the area for tracks and scent markings. When I discover fresh bobcat tracks in the snow, I follow them. At times, the track might swerve toward a marking post, i.e., a tree trunk or some other vertical object poking up out of the snow. That’s where the cat has left its scent. Breathing on the trunk just above the snow to volatilize the urine, I can confirm the identification of the tracks by smelling the distinct, catlike odor of the marking. If you were playing poker, this is paramount to sneaking a peak at your opponents hand. Strapping a camera to a marking post will, within time, yield a shot of a bobcat but, on second thought, you might want to strap the camera to a tree directly opposite of the scent marking.

Jeff below the ledges  in Troy, Vermont where we found numerous sign of bobcat including tracks, scent markings, and scat.

Ultimately, when using game cameras, it’s even fair to tuck a joker up one’s sleeve so long as it’s done ethically. Yes, ethical cheating and if that isn’t an oxymoron, well…let me explain. We feed birds, don’t we? Though, many ornithologists advocate taking down the feeders in the spring when birds should resort to their hunting and foraging skills to find food, lest they become addicted to the easy largess of sunflower and cracked corn at our feeders, and when bird food can get moldy and turn a bird feeder into a poisoned trough. Similarly, using bait to lure a bobcat in front of a game camera in the winter when some portion of their regular diet is lacking, notably chipmunks, nesting birds, snakes, insects, various amphibians, etc. and when the cats are apt to forgo a bit of caution in return for a meal can be highly productive. However, here’s where the ethics apply. It would be totally irresponsible to lure a cat, or any wildlife, off of its home ground, in particular, to any place that might put your subject(s) in harms way. Locate the bait along the animal’s usual travels so it will not have to go out of its way to discover it. Even if one spots a set of wildlife tracks crossing a road, as convenient as it may be for you, establishing a bait site fifty feet from the road will almost certainly result in a good deal of carnage as more animals cross the road to get at the bait. Keep the bait far afield of human activity, especially hunters and trappers. Ideally, locate the bait site such that only you and the bobcat and perhaps the local raccoons and passing ravens know where to find it.

A bobcat print.

When establishing a bait site there are some rather obvious, though easily forgotten considerations to keep in mind. First, choose the appropriate bait. If you’ve ever lived with a cat, you know that they can be extremely fussy about their food. Bait that broadcasts a strong odor, even in cold weather, such as fish, will help your subject home in on your bait site…and camera. Augment that odor with wildlife lures. Cat’s hate intruders. Smear some bobcat scent on the trees around your bait site and the resident cat will not doubt come to investigate and defend its territory.  An assortment of wildlife lures can be had from Trapline Lures. Be sure to secure your bait. You want your subject to spend all of its time feasting on the bait in front of your camera. Don’t underestimate the strength of many animals; a bobcat can drag the carcass of a full-grown deer through deep snow and out of sight of your game camera.

Jeff positioning and securing the bait.

I totally ignore the first rule of photography, that is, to keep the sun over my shoulder when I position my game cameras. Instead, I find a well-lit, but shady spot, something north-facing so that the camera isn’t triggered by the reflection of direct sunlight (remember, these cameras are triggered by both movement and infrared radiation) from trees, rocks, and especially snow in the composition.  Keep branches, grasses, or anything that will move when the wind blows out of the composition to avoid hundreds of false exposures and thus drain the batteries prematurely.  I also strive for a solid background in the composition, in the case of bobcats, typically a ledge which, at the same time, speaks to their habitat.  A fairly homogenous background about five feet behind where you expect to photograph your subject reduces clutter and prevents the background from going completely black whenever the camera fires the strobe. Remember, these cameras use wide-angle lenses so the nice separation one gets with a telephoto lens between a soft background and the sharp foreground isn’t possible. If the background is cluttered, you’ll end up with a cluttered photo. So it’s necessary to simplify the composition by, in turn, keeping the background simple. Position your camera and walk in front of it to get some test shots with and without the flash. Scrutinize the test shots on the camera’s LCD screen and look for bright spots, distracting objects, etc. and make sure the camera is level. A few moments spent now to clean up the composition will save you a great deal of heartache a week or two later when you discover that, though you have several dozen images of a beautiful bobcat, because of some consistent flaw in the composition you could have easily resolved, no amount of Adobe magic will save them.

An established game camera site.  Camera 2 is strapped to the tree off to the side for the profile shot .  Camera 1 is strapped to another tree just off the edge of the photo.  The bait is wired to the overhanging ledge just above the composition so it will not appear in the photo.  Note the conveniently placed rock below the bait which should serve as a pedestal for the cat to perch on, i.e., to help it reach the bait and pose for the cameras. 

Finally, top off the odds by using more than one camera. I know these cameras are a considerable investment but so is your time and if you’re sufficiently passionate about becoming a camera hunter to have read this far, my advise to you would be to get at least two cameras. We usually position our cameras such that one camera faces the bait directly and another camera body is off to the side in order to capture a profile of the animal as it approaches the bait. I’ve just snowshoed three miles at -10F in deep snow carrying thirty pounds of roadkill on my back, batteries, cables, wire, lures, clippers…and I’ll be doing this repeatedly over the course of a New England winter.  When that bobcat or bear or mountain lion or (I have a friend in India who does this.) tiger finally arrives at the bait site, do we really want to rely on only one camera to get the shot and than merely from a single angle?  Think about it.

To read the first two installments of this series on remote setups, follow these two links:

http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/?p=1551#more-1551  (#1: introduction to the use of game cameras and a portfolio of photos we’ve taken with remote setups)

http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/?p=2064#more-2064  (#2: describes the technology of game cameras and what to consider when purchasing a remote camera)

We only have space remaining for a few participants in our Tom Jordan Memorial Boreal Tour in Maine and our Fall Foliage Magicial Mystery Tour.  See both complete itineraries here: http://www.sojournsinnature.com/inthefield.php .

Look for our Southwest Light & Color article in the current (Spring, 2011) issue of Nature Photographer Magazine. It’s a real western adventure (no one gets shot except the landscape) featuring highlights from our 2010 tour of the southwest.  Nature Photographer now also has an Ipad ap where you can see many more images from that tour.  Download the ap here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nature-photographer-magazine/id417787853?mt=8

For current Hunt’s specials, click on the logo:

 Best of luck and send us jpgs!

Gustav

In this long overdue follow-up to my introduction to remote setups (see http://www.sojournsinnature.com/blog/?p=1551#more-1551), I’ll outline what I’ve found to be the most important considerations when purchasing a game camera.

Game cameras have been popular for some time, notably with hunters who use them not to produce publishable photos but to locate game, hence the common name for these devices. I don’t mention this to point out the obvious but to emphasize that, given their usual application, these cameras are not necessarily designed to produce gallery-quality photos. As a professional nature photographer, I have to produce images I can sell to editors and enlarge to frame for my galleries. Simply put, most game cameras, especially those easily found in outdoor retailers like Cabela’s, L. L. Bean, or the local hardware store for under $300.00 will not prove adequate for my, and since your reading this, your purposes. I personally arrived at this conclusion via the expensive route which, yes, even included impulsively purchasing a couple of $65.00 game cameras made by some obscure manufacturer from our local hardware store with embarrassing results. Be prepared to spend upwards of $400.00 on a digital game camera if you want photos that you can publish and enlarge.

A Typical Game Camera

This narrows our choices of cameras and manufacturers to a manageable list of about a dozen brands and models.  However, I’ve found that one cannot let down one’s guard even after deciding on a particular manufacturer or even a certain model of camera.  I’ve returned half a dozen cameras to their manufacturers for various issues, from forgetting to include instructions on how to set up the camera (If one doesn’t know what the dip switches do, one cannot set them.) to lack of quality control.  In one instance, I purchased six cameras from a manufacturer, all the same model.  Two performed well while four produced out-of-focus images.  Obviously, I returned those four cameras but did not ask to have them replaced.  I demanded a refund.  You see, I knew that this manufacture produced a decent camera but that they had quality control issues.  So, in order to end up with one usable camera, I ordered six and expected to return all but one or two.  Here’s where customer service becomes crucial; always deal with a supplier with whom you can communicate directly, either by email or telephone.  Arrive at a clear understanding about what you need the camera to do and whether the camera can fulfill your requirements before you make the purchase and confirm that you will be compensated for any problems following the purchase.  Obviously, this is common sense when making any purchase, but I reiterate this because, one more time, these cameras are not designed to perform like a $5,000.00 Canon EOS 1-D Mark IV N.

This blog is not intended to be a game camera review; that would be disingenuous since these cameras are constantly in flux and what I write now may not apply in six months.  (I purchased an outstanding camera last September and when a colleague attempted to purchase the same camera in December he found that it had been discontinued by the manufacturer.)  Rather, my intention is to arm you with the insight I’ve acquired (mainly by making the mistakes I’m hoping you’ll avoid) that should help you make an informed purchase and follow a much shorter and less expensive route to producing high-quality images using remote setups.

Besides, there are websites devoted to game camera reviews.  I’ve found this one very useful: http://www.whitetaildeer-management-and-hunting.com/digital-trail-camera-reviews.html

What is a game camera?  It’s a point-and-shoot camera enclosed in a weatherproof housing with a motion detector  (like the kind used to trigger outdoor lights and automatic doors) and a circuit board that controls camera function.  The housing has three ports, usually made of glass or Plexiglas, for 1) the camera lens, 2) the flash, and 3) the motion detector.

Game Camera Inside View

The most important specifications of a game camera, in my opinion, are the following:

• picture quality
• resolution
• file format
• camera brand
• trigger speed
• burst mode and time delay
• infrared or motion sensor
• battery requirements
• cold tolerance
• power-draining accessories
• day/night settings
• previewing and downloading
• time/date stamp
• camera controls
• customer service

(With the exception of picture quality, I have not ranked these specifications.)

Obviously, picture quality is paramount when choosing a game camera.  Alas, it’s also the most difficult attribute to confirm.  Websites will give you sample photos but, as I’m sure you know, one cannot truly determine picture quality from a jpg thumbnail.  Again, one must rely on customer service.  Either the manufacturer agrees to send you a sample of original files from the camera (These may also be jpgs but they should not have been resampled or further compressed for the web or emailing.) or you get the camera with a money-back guarantee in the event you are not completely satisfied with its performance.

All consumer-quality game cameras use point-and-shoot, pocket-sized cameras which can produce extremely high-quality photos in many cases rivaling images made by many SLR cameras.  Still, be aware of the camera make and model embedded in the game camera housing, the quality of its lens, it specifications, ease of use, etc.  The pocket camera’s own user’s manual is typically included with the purchase of the game camera.

Typical sensor resolution in a good game camera is 4-6 megapixels with up to 12 MP available in a few models.  The usual file format for point-and-shoot cameras is jpg though be sure that you have the option to set the quality of the jpg file to a reasonably high resolution.  Many game cameras offer “low”, “medium” and “high” settings for their jpg captures which corresponds to the low to high settings whenever you save an image file as a jpg on your computer.  Always set this parameter to “high” to get the optimal resolution of the sensor.

Trigger speed, aka, power up, refers to how fast the camera responds to a subject entering the camera’s field of view.  Game cameras try to maximize their battery life by powering down when not taking photos. How long it takes the camera to wake up when the sensor detects a subject is, of course, critical.  Clearly, faster is better.

Burst mode and time delay determine how many photos are taken during a single burst (much like “frames per second” in an SLR”) and the length of the interval between bursts.  Typical time delays range from 15 seconds to 30 minutes.  Number of frames per burst is usually from one to three.  I prefer cameras that provide a 15 second interval between bursts of two or three captures.

The motion detectors in most game cameras detect a subject using both infrared radiation (body heat) and motion.  Thus, it’s important, when placing your camera, that the camera’s field of view is clear of any objects that may sway, wave, quiver, or otherwise move in a breeze or receive direct sunlight and act as thermal sinks and reflect the absorbed heat back at the camera as infrared radiation.  Either situation will result in dozens of false captures which wastes memory and battery power.

Most, if not all of my remote setups are put out during the winter when it’s easier to track and scout animals and when food, particularly for carnivores, is scarce and they are much more inclined to be lured to my camera with bait.  Thus, one of the important considerations for choosing a game camera is how long it endures bitterly cold temperatures and remains active.  Reading reviews, field testing, and getting advice from wildlife biologists who use game cameras to record wolverine activity in Alaska in winter helps narrow down the candidates.

As for battery requirements, the fewer the better.  Minimally, a 9V battery powers the circuit board and a couple of AA batteries power the pocket camera.  I have two cameras that require eight C batteries to power the circuit board.  By the time I change out all eight batteries with frost-bitten fingers I’ve dropped half of them into the three-foot snow cover or watched them roll down the bank into the creek.  Rechargeable, Nimh batteries will save you money and will retain a charge for several weeks, even in the single digits, fahrenheit.  I’ve also found that good alkaline batteries, such as Duracell Coppertop brand, last for upwards of two – three weeks in the cold.

Apart from the quality of the batteries, another factor that determines how long a game camera continues to function in the field, especially in the winter, is how much power it uses when it’s not taking photos.  I mentioned earlier that a good game camera powers down when there’s no subject in the field of view.  Some cameras have indicator lights and digital displays that stay on all the time and thus drain the batteries.  It’s important to minimize or eliminate altogether such powered accessories.  Some of my cameras provide LCD displays that give constant readouts for the number of photos taken, remaining battery life, etc.  At first, I thought these to be valuable features but soon found out that I would trade this information for not having to snowshoe three miles into the wilderness to change my batteries every week.  I soon started using remote units without such displays and that shut the camera down completely in between wildlife events.  Now I can go for nearly four weeks before having to strap on my snowshoes and brave the cold to go and change the batteries.

Also to extend battery life, if it’s an available option, I set the camera to daytime function only which means the camera will not operate at night thus further increasing the life of the batteries.  Flashed photos from these cameras, with the rare lucky exception, are of much too poor quality with foreground subjects often overly flashed to be of much use to the nature photographer.

I believe that all pocket cameras now come with LCD screens for composing and viewing photos and a few game cameras offer LCD screens on the back of the exterior housing.  Yet, when I check my cameras, it’s important that I complete my chores at the remote site quickly; my first consideration is to reduce my impact on the location.  As I pointed out in the first blog on remote setups, the animals I’m attempting to capture in this manner are extremely reticent species; any sign of human presence will deter them from approaching the bait and venturing in front of the camera.  Thus, I strive to limit my visit to the remote site to the time it takes to replace my batteries and the memory card and checking and replacing the bait if necessary.  I will certainly not look for a comfortable log and sit down and start reviewing hundreds of captures in the field to see if I got anything worthwhile.  Besides, did I mention it’s usually bitterly cold when I’m doing this?

There is an exception…. When I first set up my camera on the site I always take a few photos to check the composition on the LCD screen on the pocket camera and confirm that the game camera is precisely positioned.  Yet, LCD screens on the back of the housing, while they would make this a bit more convenient, for my purposes, aren’t worth the extra cost.

For pretty much the same reasoning, I do not find an external USB port on the exterior housing for downloading captures directly from the camera into a portable flash drive necessary.  To change the batteries, I must, in any case, unlock the camera and open it.  (Oh yes, don’t forget to bring the key.  Take it from me, it’s damned frustrating to trek 3 miles into the wilderness only to find that I forgot my key and can’t open the camera to replace the card and batteries.)  It’s the only way to get at the batteries and the memory card.  Admittedly, if battery life were not an issue, as in warmer climates or seasons where replacing the batteries at each visit to the camera might not be necessary and all I did was retrieve my captures, then, certainly, a USB port would save some time.

Some game cameras stamp a time and date on the photo, others do not.  Most provide an option for turning off this feature.  I always turn off the time/date stamp because it reduces the useable area, and thus the resolution, of the image.  Besides, now one simply has to access the picture properties of the photo to view capture time and day – in Windows 7 by clicking on the image.

Buttons that scroll through a menu visible on an LCD screen or dip switches on the circuit board or separately mounted inside the housing provide the means for you to set all these various parameters as desired.  Since there are many combinations of time delay, bust mode, picture quality, day/night operation, and so forth, it’s wise to take some time, indoors, to familiarize yourself with the controls and learn how to adjust all these settings before you take your game camera into the field.  There’ll also be an on/off switch.  With the memory card installed (2G or more, depending on the capture frequency and how often you can get to the remote site to change out the card), all the controls appropriately set before you leave your house, and the camera turned off, all you’ll want to do at the remote site is secure and position the camera and turn it on.  (Game cameras come with a means of strapping them to a tree or post and, in some cases, a lockable cable is included.  If the latter is not part of the package, then I strongly recommend slipping a strong cable lock through the piping or loops built into the exterior housing to protect your investment from theft.)  Set out and secure your bait and then pass in front of the camera upon leaving the site to make certain the camera is working properly.

Next month, I’ll discuss how to find suitable locations for a remote setup and how to position your camera(s) and bait.    

May the Light Be With You,

Gustav  

Due to visit my in-laws on Christmas day, Cheryl suggested, instead, that I stay home and nurse a mild head cold I came down with on Christmas Eve.  It’s not what you think, my in-laws, in occasional measured doses, are a real treat, like watermelon wine or fried dough at the county fair.  I really did, and still do, have a cold.  So, I stayed home, bundled in my new, cozy fleece jacket and pants I found under our Solstice Tree, a welcome gift from Cheryl, and worked at my hobby table building a cinema for the New England & Erie Railroad, our HO ceiling layout that runs throughout our house. 

I did manage to take a few turns around the meadow with the boys (our English Setters) while Cheryl was visiting her family but, what with the temperatures in the teens and my not feeling well, I was dressed like an arctic explorer and even the boys weren’t keen on being out our usual half hour or so.  After fifteen minutes, they were on the deck waiting to get back inside and I was only grateful to return to my hobby table and hot tea and the original Three Tenors concert on the stereo, HiFi, or whatever you call it these days.

Had you told me that the day would end with my being out on the deck at 7 degrees above zero Christmas night and that I would be out there until 12:30 am, I would have had you committed.

 Truhin’s Pillars on Christmas Night
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM at 70mm
f/4 @ 30″, ISO 1000, manual exposure
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Manfrotto 3047 head
cable release, mirror lockup

Cheryl had let the boys out once more before turning in and mentioned something about an eerie mist or fog enveloping our snow-covered meadow when she came back inside.  Outside, the temperature had dropped into the single digits.  I was lying on the futon browsing through the new 2011 Walther’s model railroad catalogue, another gift from Cheryl, and having one last mug of Theraflu to assure clear sinuses while I slept and was frankly too lazy to get up and check out the unusual “fog”.  Cheryl had gone to bed and about an hour later, after taking my last gulp of the hot, medicinal brew, I got up to let the boys out one last time before turning off the Solstice Tree and going to bed myself.  This was around 10:00 pm.  Watching the boys from just inside the door, I noticed a very faint, barely visible shaft of light appearing to shoot straight up from the horizon, like a search light, and actually dismissed it as such.  I thought that, after all, it’s Christmas and someone in Newport must be festively flashing the sky with a searchlight.   Besides, there were clouds on the northern horizon and so even if there were northern lights, they wouldn’t necessarily be visible.  Yet, searchlights have motion; they usually sweep across the sky but this beam was absolutely motionless.  It stretched vertically like a celestial firmament resembling nothing if not one of the heavenly rays of the Star of Bethlehem.   It was, nevertheless, animated in that it changed its brightness from moment to moment.  I scanned the sky for additional signs of northern lights, but couldn’t detect anything.

I called the boys inside, turned off the Solstice lights, and crawled into my bed.  But that beam of light nagged at me; I wouldn’t want to be listening to the radio the next morning and learning that there had been northern lights and that I missed them.  I threw back my covers and got up to look out the window.  This time, what I saw was unmistakable, or so I thought.

Multiple beams of colored light stretched across the northern horizon.  Red, green, purple, blue, …  I turned on a light and rummaged in my dresser and closet for the warmest clothes I own, put them all on, and slipped into my Sorel boots.  Then I rigged up my camera with the 70-200mm, opened up the aperture all the way, set the ISO to 1000 and the shutter mode to “bulb”, secured the camera to my tripod, attached the cable release, and ventured outside.

Frantic to get a good shot of these remarkle light beams before the cold froze me into an icy statue or before they disappeared, I wasn’t thinking much about what actually produced them.  I thought, at first, that these colorful lights were some sort of very rare form of aurora borealis.   After all, the beams had the right range of colors, they faded in and out, and appeared due north of my house…  I mean what else (besides the mother ship) could they be?  I was even going to devote this blog to the unusual “auroral display”.  Fortunately, several friends to whom I sent the above jpg to see if they too witnessed the display were much less gullible than I and convinced me to be more skeptical.

Upon reexamining my raw files I traced one of the beams directly down to a nearby house that was brightly lit.  Sure enough, these lights extended from the ground up; they did not originate in the heavens.  (There were so many beams that I had originally dismissed the alignment of the bright house and one of the beams as a coincidence.  See what happens when  you want to “believe”?)  These beams clearly weren’t the northern lights.  Then what were they?

I called Jay Peak (the mountain and ski resort visible in the left side of photo) and asked if they were aware of any laser light shows in the area.  The customer service person, her name was Phoebe, said that she wasn’t aware of any such shows and if there had been, whoever put on the show would certainly have let Jay Peak know in order to tap into the skiers looking for some evening entertainment.  Apre ski I believe they call it.  However, she did offer some valuable information.  She remembered that while driving home from work Christmas night, around 10:00 pm, she noticed what seemed like a very thick fog on the road and that her headlights produced a pair of glowing columns in front of her car.  I thanked her for the information and recalled Cheryl’s comment about the eerie fog.  Immediately after ending the call I typed some key words into Google.  Within a few seconds I was able to confirm that I had, in fact, not been photographing the northern lights on Christmas night.  I was suddenly very grateful that I also had not yet clicked the “post to web” button on my draft of the December blog.

Apparently, what I photographed is, for lack of any other more official name, now known as Truhin’s Pillars. The light beams are a meteorological, not a celestial phenomenon caused by suspended ice crystals low to the ground, frozen fog if you will.  This is indeed what Cheryl had noticed settling over our meadow.   The crystals reflect and/or refract the light upward from lights near the ground though why the light is directed upwards in a tight, almost laser-like beam rather than being scattered as light is in a fog and why, in some instances, the beams fan out at the top is a mystery.   Designer Aigar Truhins photographed similar beams over Sigulda, Latvia last year.  The photos went viral on the web and his name has since been associated with this unique combination of weather and light.  (see: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090112.html)

Though the photo doesn’t capture a celestial phenomenon as I had thought, it is a record of what is seemingly a very rare event, made more rare in that there are no towns or cities immediately north of my house with that many multi-colored lights.  As many of you know, I live in a very rural part of northern Vermont and so it’s more likely and perhaps just as remarkable – I mean given the timing of this unusual meteorological phenomenon, that the colorful light beams are actually produced by Christmas decorations on homes scattered around the nearby towns of Jay and Troy, VT!

I hope you all had a joyfull Christmas and holiday season and everyone here at Sojourns In Nature, myself, Rob, Johanne, Cheryl, and the boys, wish you a fulfilling and healthy 2011.

Peace and may the light, of whatever form or nature, be with you,

Gustav

As fellow naturalist, Jeff Parsons, and I are preparing to put our remote cameras back in the field, I was hoping to devote the November blog to “part two” of the thread I began last May on Camera Hunting with Remote setups and provide a description of the setups and some insights into camera options.  However, Jeff and I are currently testing several new remote camera units and so I’d like to put off that discussion until December when we’ll have some additional data on the cameras and can share that with you.

In the meantime, as many of us are still enjoying our Thanksgiving feast leftovers and the landscape outside my office window is turning white, I thought you might allow me to indulge in some shameless holiday promotion.  I trust you’ll appreciate that Rob and I don’t do much by way of “marketing” beyond writing this monthly blog.  Quite frankly, that’s because we’re both lousy at it.  Still, we hope you’ll not begrudge us a bit of tasteful, gentle, holiday advertising.  We couldn’t afford a jingle and don’t sing very well so, to put you in the right mood, feel free to hum your favorite holiday carol while you read on. 

Fine Art Gallery

From now until the end of December, 2010 we’re marking down our fine art prints from $195.00 to $175.00 and are offering free shipping.  Our prints have received acclaim from discriminating buyers and are exhibited in homes and offices around the world.  All prints are open edition, 18” x 24”, signed, matted, and framed in solid oak.  We use only premium photo papers, Epson inks, archival mats and backings.  We’ve added many exciting images to the gallery from our travels in 2010.  Click here to see the entire gallery:  http://www.sojournsinnature.com/galleries.php 

Order your print online and we’ll have it in the mail to you in two days!

Tours and Workshops

Lower Antelope Canyon II (from the Southwest Light & Color Tour)
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 40mm
f/22 @ 1.6″ ISO 100
evaluative metering, aperture priority
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod, cable release, mirror lockup

Know an aspiring nature photographer?  If you do, consider giving him or her (or yourself ) the opportunity to participate in a Sojourns In Nature photo tour or workshop.  All full payments for tours and workshops made between now and the end of December, 2010 will earn a $100.00 credit on the cost of the tour!  Come along with us to Newfoundland to photograph whales or to the prairies to chase tornadoes or learn all the basic techniques of nature photography at the Green Mountain Nature Photography Workshop in beautiful Eden, Vermont.  Give someone a Sojourns In Nature program and leave it to us to give them the experience of a lifetime.

The River at Coteau du Lac
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 23mm
f/16, 6 seconds, ISO 100
Filters: Gold-n-Blue polarizer, 3 stop hard GND, 4-stop ND (all Singh-Ray)
Gitzo GT3541LS, Really Right Stuff BH-55, Mirror lockup & cable release
Converted to B&W using Nik Silver Efex Pro

That’s it.  That’s all the salemanship you’re going to get out of me.  How’d I do?

Peace and may the light be with you,

Gustav

Another fall and my focus shifts once again from fieldwork to desk work and writing.  The top of Jay Peak is already white with about 14″ of snow and I suspect that Rob is dusting off his winter wear and digging out his snowshoes even as I’m settling into my garret to work on yet another memoir (while my first continues to make the rounds of the publishers) and to finish the addition to our house. Encouraged, however, by our success last winter in getting one publishable frame of a bobcat (to appear in this winter’s issue of Northern Woodlands magazine) my friend and naturalist, Jeff Parsons, and I will keep our snowshoes and long underwear handy in order to venture out about once a week to set out and check our three game cameras.

Indeed, coyotes have been venturing very close to my house leaving their scat, strewn with tiny rodent bones and rabbit hair, on the path that Cheryl keeps mowed around the perimeter of our field to exercise our dogs (the “boys”). Several times last week and again last evening, just before turning in, we sat on the deck and listened to the coyotes howling and yipping at one another until the chill drove us back inside. They sounded close enough so that, had it not been dark, I’m sure we could have seen them running across the wetland or among the balsams at the bottom of the meadow. Today, I’m putting out one of the game cameras on the off chance that I might get another shot of a New England coyote. In the November blog, I’ll pick up the thread I started several blogs ago on camera hunting with remote setups.

Meanwhile, we pulled it out of the hat once again and delivered trophy moose (capture and release, of course ) and fall color during the Blue Ox Moose and Fall Foliage Magical Mystery Tours, in spite of a rather luckluster fall foliage and some frustrating new restrictions in Baxter State Park.

Mt. Katahdin and The Penobscot River
From the 2010 Blue Ox Moose Tour
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 26mm
1/10″ @ f/11, +33 EC, ISO 200
Moose 81A Polarizer
handheld

If you’ve ever been to Baxter State Park you’ll know that parking at trailheads and at the various ponds is extremely limited.  Competition, especially during the moose rut and fall foliage, for precious parking spaces at some of the popular ponds that the moose frequent is fierce.  What’s more is that viewing areas are also very small so that once, say, half a dozen photographers set up their lenses and tripods in prime spots, along with as many visitors, there’s not much room left for anyone else to squeeze in to get a clear view of a moose feeding in the pond without getting in someone else’s way.  With this in mind, and to maintain a certain low level of human impact on the park, beginning this year, park officials are requring all visitors to make on-line parking reservations well in advance of their intended stay in the park.  We made our reservations for the moose tour about two months prior to the tour.  And to assure that we had access to our favorite viewing areas, we rose very, very early to be the first vehicles in line when they opened the gate at 6:00 am.  And the effort paid off!

 Bull Moose
From the 2010 Blue Ox Moose Tour
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L  IS USM lens & 1.4x TC
1/25″ @ f/4, ISO 500
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Wimberley Head

Nevertheless, it got crowded, so much so that people became militant and rangers had to break up a few scraps between photographers and people who were blocking shots by stepping in front of their lenses.  I’m happy to say that all the conflicts took place at locations other than the ones where our group was set up because we stuck to overviews where human access is clearly designated with gravel paths or boardwalks.  It’s the less well marked areas where people tend to spread out and stray onto the game trails and into the muddy wallows hoping to intercept the moose and get closer to the animals (with their smaller cameras) and where they tend to get out in front of all those obeying the rules and who remain further back where the public belongs.  What’s more is that these less considerate folks are also harassing the wildlife by blocking their paths and encroaching on their space and ultimately scaring the moose away or preventing the animals from coming to feed at the pond altogether.

Consequently, the rangers got even more aggressive and, alas, took their aggression out on the pros by coercing us to relinquish locations after a few hours and not “squatting” in a spot for most of a day.  In other words, they want us to behave more like the pointy-shooty people who barely get out of their cars when they spot a moose, grab a shot with their pocket cameras or cell phones, and move on.  The question is, do we move on before or after the moose shows up? 

Bull Moose Drinking and Fall Foliage
From the 2010 Blue Ox Moose Tour
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L  IS USM lens & 1.4x TC
1/30″ @ f/4, ISO 500
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Wimberley Head

Taken together…the competition for the limited space, the early hours, and the fact that getting a good image of a nice moose is still very much a crap shoot, causes not only me but our clients a good deal of stress.  Doing it every day for five days really wears us down and, quite frankly, takes much of the fun out of it.  Being in nature should not be stressful!!

So, in an effort to make the tour somewhat more tolerable, I’m considering shortening the tour and perhaps even making the moose tour an optional extension of the fall foliage tour.  Yes, this gives us less time to find a moose in Baxter, but the stress would still be less since the tour, as a whole, would not be relying solely on photographing a trophy moose but will merely include that component with other, much, much more reliable subjects that are already part and parcel of the fall foliage tour, namely, waterfalls, reflections, covered bridges…and fall colors.   What’s more is that combined, the tour would cost participants less than it currently costs to participate in both tours separately.   I’ll welcome your opinions on this matter, especially from those who have participated in either or both of these tours.

 Upper Falls at Diana’s Baths
From the 2010 Fall Foliage Magical Mystery Tour
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 31mm
2″ @ f/22, ISO 100
Moose 81A Polarizer
Mirror lockup & cable release
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Manfrotto 3047 Head

And speaking of tours……..

In 2011, Stu Randall and I will be returning to Newfoundland on another Avalon Tour, Ed Taube, Eliot Scher, and I will be riding the range again in the sequel to the Southwest Light & Color Tour (this time to include Monument Valley!), and as always, Rob and I will be helping you update your work flow and hone your field techniques in the Green Mountain Nature Photography Workshop, I’ll be catching puffins on the wing and seals in the surf in Maine on the Tom Jordan Memorial Boreal Tour with Capt. Andy Patterson, and, are you ready for this………we’ll be adding another truly exciting (hair raising even) adventure to our offerings: the first Twister Tour with the most successful storm chaser in the world (and as featured on the Weather Channel), Roger Hill!!!  I’ll have detailed itineraries for all the 2011 tours on our “In The Field” page of the website shortly.

As always, may the light be with you,

Gustav

Early on in our communications about this trip, Eliot had made it clear to me that there was a singular image that he simply had to get or he would consider the entire venture to be a disappointment.  I had so far done my job, always standing close to Eliot in case he needed advise about composition, filters, choice of lenses, to check his histogram and suggest some exposure compensation, and, at times, he reciprocated with valuable suggestions of his own.  We made a good team.  Owing to our due diligence and good fortune we had already taken a number of publishable photos.  Still, as we drove up to Moab, Utah, I couldn’t shake the apprehension I continued to feel about fulfilling my role in this enterprise because we had yet to nail Eliot’s prize, what he considered to be the Holy Grail of our southwest tour – the stunning image of Mesa Arch aglow at sunrise.

Sunrise at Mesa Arch
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 17mm
1/5″ @ f/22, +.33 EC, ISO 100; aperture priority, evaluative metering
Moose warming polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Manfrotto 3047 head
cable release, mirror lockup

            On a hot, needless-to-say, sunny afternoon, we pulled up to a short trailhead in Canyonlands National Park and, along with a throng of tourists, we followed the short, sandy path to Mesa Arch.  When we arrived at the foot of this magnificent natural sculpture I took out my compass and noted about where the sun would rise.  Then Eliot and I peered under the arch at various angles, stepped forward and back, crouched, knelt, even laid down across the rocks under the arch and otherwise behaved curiously enough for one of the tourists to ask what we were doing.  Before I blurted out that we were trying to determine where to set up our tripods for the best sunrise composition, Eliot quipped that we were looking for rare jumping spiders.
Indeed, once we concurred on the exact placement of our tripods, I was struck by how limited our options were to get that coveted shot of the rising sun igniting the entire underside of the arch with the view of the totems and the valley beyond; the last thing we wanted was to interest more people in joining us the following morning.  We mentally marked the spot and walked somberly back down the trail as we debated just how early we would have to get out of bed the next morning to increase our odds of arriving at the arch before anyone else.
My travel alarm went off at 3:00 am.  Though we had gone to bed at nine, I struggled to roust myself out from under the soft, cozy covers as it occurred to me that it would be darn chilly up at Mesa Arch so early in the morning under a clear sky in the desert and, for a millisecond, I considered rolling over and sliding deeper under sheets.  That I would consider, even for a faction of a second, passing up such a world-class photo frightened me so much that it got my blood flowing and I was up and dressed and had started the coffee before I remembered that I had to pee.
We reached the base of the arch around 4:00 am; Eliot and I were all alone.  Sunrise wasn’t until 6:02 am and it was downright cold but we were in high spirits.  We huddled on the rocks next to our tripods which were already in place, their legs interlaced, and gazed up at more stars than I have ever seen in the night sky; the Milky Way looked like the east coast of the United States as seen from a satellite at night.
At dawn, we heard cars from down the trail, doors slamming, voices, then heavy footfalls approaching.  Eliot and I were already behind our cameras adjusting our compositions and checking the light.  Just before sunrise, a sizable group of photographers came up behind us and I heard some grousing, some expressions of disappointment, and caught a few belligerent remarks.  We empathized but held our ground and, when the sun cleared the horizon and approached the bottom of the arch, Eliot and I got the shot.

Delicate Arch
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens at 70mm
1/500″ @ f/5.6, +.33 EC, ISO 100; aperture priority, evaluative metering
Moose warming polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Manfrotto 3047 head
cable release, mirror lockup

I suspect many of you readers know that feeling of sublime satisfaction one gets after finally capturing a much sought after image, an image that takes considerable planning, physical and mental effort, expense, skill, not to mention getting out of bed at around the time we used to come home from a party when we were younger.  It’s a feeling of contentment that lets us know that there was no place else in the universe we were supposed to be at the moment we made the exposure other than right there, behind our cameras, and at that precise space-time coordinate.  Eliot and I were wallowing in that wonderful sensation as we walked back to our cars and, I dare say, I’m still cheered by its afterglow.

Bryce Canyon
Canon EOS 1-D Mark II N
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens at 70mm
1/13″ @ f/22, +.67 EC, ISO 100; aperture priority, evaluative metering
Moose warming polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with Manfrotto 3047 head
cable release, mirror lockup

            It turns out that our initial itinerary was too ambitious and so, after briefly visiting Arches and Bryce Canyon National Parks, we ran out of time and had to forego Zion National Park altogether.  Far from being disappointed, we drove back toward Phoenix knowing that, like the famous Texas Rangers, Augustus MaCrae and Woodrow Call, in Lonesome Dove, Eliot and I had more adventures ahead of us in the American southwest.  Ed, Eliot, and I are already planning the sequel for 2011 and you’re more than welcome to ride with us!

May the light be with you,

Gustav