Morning Reflection

This morning I made sure I was up and out to the photoblind before the sun was even up to beat the heat. Even the mosquitoes weren't too bad this morning. After filling the feeders and settling in I sat back to wait. Being in the blind always gives me lots of time to think ponder and pray. This morning was no exception and the Lord and I had some good conversations. There are many things in my life I need to change and there are plenty of others where I need to keep on doing what I am doing and stay the course. Photography this morning was a lot of fun once the birds started coming in to feed. I was working hard to get a good clean reflection in the water set up I had created. I have a lot of ones with chopped off feet, tails,beaks and even heads. This one of the Band-tailed Pigeon was one of my favorites of the ones I really liked. Note there are no chopped off parts on this one! God's precious love to all, chris Please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography" to see how this water feature and image were created. https://www.rockynook.com/shop/photography/secrets-of-backyard-bird-photography/ This image was created with a Canon 7D and a A Canon 100-400 IS lens. AV mode,ISO 800,F 5.6 at 1/800th of a sec.

Catch the Look

There are good images and there are great images. They may have the same subject and both have excellent composition but one of them really appeals to the viewer. Sometimes the difference between the two is as simple as the turn of the head and a catchlight. Good eye contact is extremely important when photographing wildlife. The turn of the head or "head angle" as it is often referred to is having the subjects head turned so that it is looking towards the camera. This helps make a connection between the viewer with the subject. It can help create an intimate moment. A head turn of just few degrees towards the camera can make an impressive difference. In addition to the head angle the other important thing is to make sure that you capture the catchlight in the eye. The catchlight is a reflection of a light source that causes a specular highlight in a the eye of your subject. It shows up as a bright spot in the eye. Look carefully as you are photographing your subject and focus on the eyes. Look for the catchlight and be ready to depress the shutter when you see it. Below are two images taken within less than a minute apart from each other. In editing it was quite easy to see appeal of the second image over the first one. The second image has a really great head angle and eye contact with a nice catchlight. It just draws you in. May you have a blessed day, chris Both images were created with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 250mm. Camera settings for both images were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/100th of a sec. The camera was supported on a Manfrotto 190 XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead. To see more examples like this please check out my book on the "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". It is available in both hardbound and Ebook editions at most online book sellers. Cut and paste this address into your browser http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

Wait For It

As many of you may have noticed and probably already know photographing wildlife takes a lot of patience. It also takes learning to watch and wait for the moment. Last Sunday I went to one of my favorite places to photograph Harbor Seals on the coast north of Ft. Bragg. I sat, watched and photographed them for a couple of hours while they slept on the rocks. After a while the incoming tide and the larger waves started washing them off of their haul out spot. They would get washed off and then have to climb back up onto the rocks and find a new spot to slumber. This is where anticipating the moment came into play. I prefocused my camera on one of the seals. After a wait of about five minutes a larger wave rolled in and I was able to capture an image of the seal trying to stay on the rock amidst the wave.It made for a great image. Anticipating the action works for smaller animals as well. This morning while photographing birds a Western Gray Squirrel stopped by for a snack of bird seed. I noticed that periodically it would stop feeding and put its paw up onto the mossy part of the stump and look my way. I prefocused my camera on this spot and I was ready when the squirrel looked my way again. A bit of observation and the patience to wait can go a long way towards creating some beautiful images of wildlife. God's tender love and mercies to all, chris #TeamCanon, #Bringit, #hqspanimals

Rewarded for Your Patience

As many of you have noticed I love photographing wildlife. Animals by nature don't typically trust human beings for a good reason. They don't want to become lunch! Because of this they establish a bubble or safe zone around themselves that varies depending upon the situation. Any predator that comes inside that zone causes them to go on alert or possibly to flee. But it is situational and with a bit of patience on your part you can alter that by changing your behavior so that you don't appear to be as dangerous a predator. Most animals don't like things that stand erect, move too fast or head directly towards them. So don't do those things! First observe the birds or animals from a distance. Then get as close as you can without disturbing them. Now sit and wait keeping all your movements to a minimum. When you go to take a picture you must move very, very slowly and cautiously. The following images were done this way. I love the sight and sound of Black Oystercatchers. I went to a rocky place that they frequent and then I sat down and waited. After about a half hour wait they worked there way feeding among the rocks to less than thirty feet from me. Sitting quietly with very little movement has its rewards. Both images were created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens on a Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen ballhead.Camaera settings used were AV mode, ISO 400,F9.0 at 1/500th of a sec. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon, #Bringit

Extra Blog for Today- It's a Matter of Perspective

On Saturday I bought myself a used 1941 Plymouth pick up for three bucks. Today while I was having my pick up repaired I set out to photograph my new Plymouth for fun even though the lighting was terrible and I thought it might be kind of fun to see what worked best and what didn't. It was all a matter of perspective as you can see from the last image. All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 17-85mm lens. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon, #Bringit

Isolate Your Subject

Sunday I went over to the coast and had some lunch and a great time with friends. Afterwards I went to one of my favorite spots north of Fort Bragg. I spent several hours photographing a wide variety of subjects which I'll cover over the next few days with a short lesson in each one. The first lesson is on isolating your subject. One of the great things about using a telephoto lens is how they can be used to isolate your subject. Using a telephoto lens you can make the background out of focus it can really make your main subject pop and stand out in the image. The key is in getting close as possible to your subject and making sure that your subject is higher in relation to the objects around it. In both of the images below I looked for subjects that were raised up above the surrounding foliage with no distracting elements around them. I used a wide F stop the background would go out of focus in the image. I Usually F 8.0 or wider will work just fine so long as your subject is close to you and the background is farther away. I had some luck with the sparrow. When I first spotted the sparrow it was on a tall plant much further back. Then it flew towards me and landed on a sprig of plant that was even closer! The second image of the thistle was a gift. When I was walking up a trail from the rocks down by the ocean the bright color of the thistle caught my eye. First I got as close to the flower as I possible could focus. Then I maneuvered my camera so that the sloping hillside behind it made a beautiful green back drop behind the flower. Following that I checked to see that I was in AV mode and that my F stop was at F 8.0. I chose F 8.0 because I needed some depth of field to keep the flower full in focus but I wanted the background to blur out as much as possible. So grab a telephoto lens and head out there and have some fun. God's love and blessings to all, chris Both images were created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens at 552mm. ISO 400, AV mode F 8.0 at 1/125th of a sec and 1/400ths of a sec. Both were on a Manfrotto 055 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead.

Time for a Cool One

This morning I was up and around and in my backyard photoblind even before the sun rose. I have been noticing that with so much more light that the birds were coming to my bird feeder earlier and earlier. So in order to catch the birds in the best light I needed to be in the blind before the birds came. My decision payed off as I was able to get some really nice Steller's Jay and Band-tailed Pigeon images. My favorite image of the morning though was of a Western Gray Squirrel that came to get a drink from my water set up. I could really tell that it wanted a drink. It kept looking longingly at the water and then it would scamper away as soon as it heard the sound of the camera's shutter clicking. I eventually got smart and prefocused on the water where I thought it as heading for a drink. I didn't click the shutter until it was actively drinking. I came away with two images that I really like and this one was the best. May you have a blessed weekend, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 Is lens on a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen Ballhead. Camera settings used were AV mode,ISO 800, F 5.6 at 1/125th of a sec. #TeamCanon

Species in Decline

I had a great time photographing Band-tailed Pigeons (P.f. monilis) in my backyard this morning. I have nowhere near the numbers of them that I used to have visiting my bird feeders. Five or six years ago I would have flocks of twenty or more. Now flocks are typically less than a dozen. In fact this morning there were only six or so. At present the population is still considered to be a species of "Least Concern" even though they have been steadily dropping in population since 1945. Recently a new pathogen (Trichomonas stableri) has been found by scientists from UC Davis looking into major die-offs of pigeons native to North America. The pathogen creates nasty lesions that can block the esophagus. This prevents the birds from eating or drinking often leading to suffocation. Hopefully a way can be found to stop this disease so that future generations of people can enjoy seeing this bird in the wild. God bless, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens. Camera settings used were. AV mode, ISO 800 at F 5.6. Shutter speeds varied. Camera and lens were supported with a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead. If you are interested in learning how to photograph birds in your backyard please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". It is available in both hardbound and as an Ebook on most online book sellers. Please copy the following link into your browser. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

My Aloe Vera Plant is Blooming

Yesterday I spent about half an hour photographing hummingbirds. I had the perfect spot for hummingbirds as my Aloe Vera plant was in bloom and the hummingbirds just love it. I placed it right next to the hummingbird feeder for the hummingbirds to find and it didn't take them very long to start using it. Here are two images of them. The first one is an Anna's Hummingbird with moulted wings. You can see the feathers starting to grow back in if you look closely. The second is and immature Rufous Hummingbird. The images are quite different in tone because I used a different setting and I moved my flashes. Both images were created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 mm lens at 250mm. Camera settings used were Manual mode, ISO 400, F 11. and F 9.0 at 1/160th of a sec. If you are interested in learning how to photograph hummingbirds please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". It is available in both hardbound and as an Ebook on most online book sellers. Please copy the following link into your browser. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

How in the World Do They Fly?

I have always been fascinated by hummingbirds in flight. Watching them dive, roll, twist fly upside down and even fly backwards is just amazing. Right now many of them are moulting during which they lose quite a few flight feathers. Would you be willing to board an airplane in which they just hacked off close to half of each wing? This morning I photographed two images of a male Anna's Hummingbird in moult and it looked like he is using sticks to fly with. How do they do that? I also made one image of an immature Anna's with full wings. Check out the difference. May you have a blessed day, chris All images photographed with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens on a Manfrotto 055 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead.. Camera setttings used were ISO 200, F16.0 at 1/160th of a sec. Four Canon 540 EZ flashes were used to light up the scene set to 1/16th power. #TeamCanon, #Bringit, #BringitCanon If you are interested in learning how to photograph hummingbirds please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". It is available in both hardbound and as an Ebook on most online book sellers. Please copy the following link into your browser. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

Let it Rain!

Today I'm stuck inside and enjoying the rain. The rain gave me some more time on getting some of our window sills sanded and stained. It also gave me an opportunity to look back at images from last weekends metal mixer. The house doesn't smell that great from the wood stain though. I may have to open a few windows and let it air out. Here are a few images of car parts. It was pretty bright out so I stuck mostly to car interiors and car parts. God's love and blessings to all, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 17-85mm lens. #TeamCanon, #Bringit, #Canonbringit

Wild Iris

This morning I went looking along our road for a wild Douglas Iris to photograph. We have three types that grow around our house. The most common are the yellow/ white colored ones. They often grow singly or in clumps with five or more blossoms. These are followed by the purple ones. They are almost always in clumps of five or six and rarely do I find them growing by themselves. Last but not least are the purple and white which I'm guessing is a cross between the other two. These I find rarely so I was pleased to find one right off the end of the driveway. I used my Canon telephoto lens with an extension tube for close focusing. I set up my tripod flat on the ground at a low angle so that the dark forest would be the background behind the flower and it would really stand out. I'm quite pleased with the result. May you you have a blessed day, chris This image was created with Canon 7D with a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens with a 20mm extension tube. I used ISO 800 because the forest was rather dark and F 18.0 for more depth of field. The shutter speed was 1/40th of a sec.

Simple Moon

I'm always looking at and photographing the moon at night or during moonrise. That's why I was really surprised to notice it during the day earlier this week. Usually it's so pale during the day that I really don't tend to notice it. For some reason it really stood out. here is the moon photographed with a canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600 ay 600mm handheld. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Red Dragonfly and a Weird Green Bug

This morning I was playing around with an extension tube and the Tamron 150-600 lens photographing dragonflies next to our little garden pond. There were two red flame colored ones fighting over territorial rights to the small pond. After one would chase the other off it would hunt insects for awhile and then stop to take a rest on one of the plant stalks next to the pond. I set up my tripod and and prefocused on the stalk and just waited for one of them to land. The other image is of a strange looking green bug that landed on Lenore when we were driving. I photographed it and then set it free. When I went to drive off later in the day it was on my windshield. It stayed on there for a long long time until after about a mile of highway driving it blew off. It must be a new form of migrating! God's love and blessings to all, chris The dragonfly image was created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens with a 20mm exension tube for close focusing. The weird green bug was photographed with a 100mm macro lens and the 7D. Both images were done on a Manfrotto Tripod with a Bogen ballhead.

Those Amazing Acorn Woodpeckers

This year at my photoblind in the garden out on the ranch in the Little Lake Valley I have had more Acorn Woodpeckers than almost anything else. Which has been great because they are so much fun to photograph and watch. This morning was no different as they were the most dominant bird coming into the bird feeder. There were also quite a few visits from the House Finches and one Eurasian collared Dove.What a fun way to spend the morning. God's love and blessings to all, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens.Please take some time to check out my book "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography", on Amazon and other fine book sellers. It is available in both hardbound and as an Ebook. It has been getting great reviews from readers.

Anna's on Display

Today was beautiful. It was a warm day with a light breeze off of the coast and the sun was shining. I took advantage of the nice weather and spent most of the day setting up a large water feature to photograph birds bathing in the back yard. Look forward to some images from that in the near future. It will take awhile for the birds to start using it. This should compliment the hummingbird bath that I purchased a couple of weeks back. The hummingbirds really love it. When I was finshed with the water feature I set up a photoblind near where the hummingbirds were landing and photographed hummingbirds. Thank you Lord for such a wonderful day. chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600 lens. A Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen ballhead was used to support the camera.

Lazuli Bunting

I have been slowly wading through and editing my bird images from last Wednesday. I think this image is my favorite image so far. Every year there are a pair of Lazuli Buntings that love to taunt me by weaving in and out of the fence line at the gardens edge. They are extremely difficult to photograph! This year the fence has been removed as they are replacing it. The female came by the bird feeder first followed secretively by the male. She dove under the feeder and he went after her. They mated and then the male popped up onto this perch next to the feeder. It was just long enough for me to make three exposures. They are such a beautiful bird. Image created with with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens. Camera settings used were AVmode, ISO 800,F 9.0 at 1/640th of a sec.Camera was supported by a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Fabulous Finches

I was up late last night processing bird images from my photoblind in the little Lake Valley. There were a lot of House finches in the mix of birds I photographed. What was neat to see was the amount of variants. the ones that had plumage different from the usual red that the males typically had. There was also an immature or a young female with some wild looking feathers on its head.These are some of my favorites. God's love and blessings. Have a great day, chris all images made with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens on a Manfrotto tripod with a Bogen ballhead.What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of pennies? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows. (Luke 12:6)

Up Close, Closer, Closest!

Wednesday found me out in my photoblind in the Little Lake Valley of Northern California close to where I live. The weather was perfect for bird photography with overcast clouds and the sun fighting to shine through.It started off really slow but by nine thirty there were a lot of birds coming into the feeder. I set up a feeder off to the side for the Acorn Woodpeckers and they started using it about ten o'clock. After photographing them for awhile I decided it would be really nice to get a close up portrait. After a couple of tries I got a really nice one. I really love the fine detail. God's precious love to all, chris mage created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600 at 600mm. ISO 800, AV mode, F 9.0 at 1/400th of a sec. Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead.

Looking for Dinosaurs

After Jay and I left the Ladybird Johnson Grove near Orick, Ca we headed north a little further to Prairie Creek Redwoods to look for dinaosaurs. Ok, it's true we weren't looking for dinosaurs but if we were this would be a the perfect place for them. At least that's what Steven Spielberg thought when he filmed part of Jurassic Park 2 here. Fern Canyon is just so cool. It is a beautiful narrow steep canyon that is cut through sedimentary soils. The walls are anywhere from 50 to 80 feet tall and are lined with five different kinds of ferns. It is just spectacular. The floor of the canyon is fairly flat and has a small creek that meanders through making shallow crossings almost impossible to avoid. There are numerous piece of driftwood place randomly here and there to help with the crossings. Jay just went barefoot. Later towards summer the park crew puts in little boardwalks to make it easier. I would highly recommend it for a cool summers hike. God's love and blessings to all, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 17-85mm lens.