Day 5: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips

It's Day 5 in my series here on my blog: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips. I'm running this series in preparation for my 2015 Bosque workshop (which is full) and my 2016 Bosque workshop. Click here to see all my 2016 workshops.

Feel free to drag my images into Bridge or Lightroom for metadata.

Opening image: This photographer is shooting with a super-telephoto lens and a telephoto lens. Most photographers at Bosque shoot with two lenses. Me? I always have my wide-angle zoom and telephoto zoom handy.

This photographer is also dressed in camo gear, which is good for photographing wildlife.

Parked behind this photographer were about 20 white, red, blue, silver etc. cars. Standing next to the cars were people wearing brightly colored jackets. So, I am not sure the camo gear helps, but it can't hurt.

Well before you leave home, pack your camera bag. Make sure everything fits and make sure you have everything you need to make great pictures, and process your images on site.

If possible, bring a back-up camera and back-up lenses. There are no major camera stores Bosque. The closest ones are in Albuquerque.

I took this shot of my car’s dashboard with my iPhone. I included it here as a reminded of just how cold it can get in the mornings during November and December. Dress warmly and in layers.

Remember that you are in the desert. By lunchtime, you may be in a t-shirt.

Don’t have super-telephoto lenses, or super-wide-angle lenses for that matter? If you are a Canon shooter like me, join Canon CPS (Canon Professional Services). If you get approved, you can borrow lenses, as well as cameras.

Borrowlenses.com is the company I recommend for renting cameras, lenses and just about anything photographic you need.

Bird photographers need to look up for two reasons: One, to look for photo opportunities; two, to look out for birds flying directly overhead. Overhead birds can mean falling bird poop.

That’s bird poop on my pants in these photographs. I should have been more aware of what was happening overhead!

Looking up is worth it. Check out the shadow on the wing of this sandhill crane. Talk about "dumb luck" shots.

I hope to see you in Bosque sometime. If we meet, remember to keep your head down!

Explore the light,
Rick

What's new? My 36th book: Creative Visualization for Photographers.

 

Day 4: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips

It's Day 4 in my series here on my blog: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips. I'm running this series in preparation for my 2015 Bosque workshop (which is full) and my 2016 Bosque workshop. Click here to see all my 2016 workshops.

Feel free to drag my images into Bridge or Lightroom for Metadata.

Today's Tip: Be Prepared – for photo ops and other photographers

Opening image: That’s my friend, and co-leader of my Bosque workshop, Chris Klapheke, owner of OutdoorPhotoGear.com in the foreground of this photograph. He’s at a viewing deck on the North Loop – the most popular loop for The Blast Off. It’s a good place from which to shoot – but you can find other locations before and after the deck on the South Loop. You want to be in a position to photograph the largest number of birds in one location – which can change from day to day.

Always look up, down and back. I took this photograph shortly after The Blast Off at a point along the Northern Loop.

When photographing action scenes like this, make sure your camera is set on the fastest possible frame rate.

As always, expose for the highlights, the moon in this case. Always check your histogram and highlight alert. I can’t stress that enough.

After The Blast Off, head off to the two Crane Pools, which are on the right side of the road as you go into the Refuge, and on the left side as you go out. That's Juan Pons, co-host of our DPE Podcast, truckin' down the road with his camera and tripod.

For the best light, shoot here in the early morning and late afternoon.

Be prepared to shoot alongside of other photographers, which is the norm in Bosque.

Here’s a late afternoon shot from one of the Crane Pools. Usually, one pool has more birds than the other, so check them both (via drive by) before you get out of your car and set up your gear. You’ll most likely see hundreds of birds taking off and landing. Sure, close-ups shots are nice, but also take the wide-angle shots, which capture the incredible number of birds in one location. Shoot at a small aperture to get all the birds in focus.

I know I have said this before but it’s worth repeating, especially when shooting white subjects against a dark background: exposure for the highlights.

If the highlights are a bit overexposed, use the Shadow/Highlight slider to recover them. Adjusting the Exposure and Whites can also help, but as always, try to get it right in camera.

As with The Blast Off, be prepared for a late afternoon mini-Blast Off.  

In wildlife photography, if the subject’s eyes are not well lit and in sharp focus, I feel that you missed the shot – in most cases.

I shoot all of my outdoor pictures (except my HDR images) in the Av mode. I pay careful attention to depth of field, and select an aperture accordingly. Here, I wanted both sandhill cranes in sharp focus. My focal length setting and aperture let me achieve my goal.

In Photoshop, I selectively sharpened the bird’s faces, and selectively blurred the background.

To add an artistic touch to this image, I used Topaz Impression, one of my favorite plug-ins. Learn more about plug-ins on my Save on Plug-ins page.

See you here tomorrow with the final post in this series. And, Chris and I hope to see you in Bosque in 2016.

For detailed information on photographing birds, check out my on-line class: Master the Art and Craft of Bird Photography.

Explore the light,
Rick

What's new? My 36th book: Creative Visualization for Photographers.

Day 3: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips

It's Day 3 in my series here on my blog: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips. I'm running this series in preparation for my 2015 Bosque workshop (which is full) and my 2016 Bosque workshop. Click here to see all my 2016 workshops.

Feel free to drag my images into Bridge or Lightroom for Metadata.

Today's Tip: Don't overlook landscape photography possibilities.

But first . . . Want to improve your landscape photography skills? You've come to the right place. Check out my on-line class, Master Landscape and Seascape Photography.

• • • • •

Yes! I know you want to photograph the birds at Bosque. However, don’t overlook the landscape possibilities, especially on the North Loop at sunrise. For the opening photograph in this post, I boosted the Vibrance in Lightroom to enhance the color. If you boost the Saturation too much, you can lose detail in saturated areas.

When composting a photograph, look for separation between subjects. This helps to “cut the clutter” in a two-dimensional photograph. Notice how the sun, large tree and small tree are all isolated in this image.

Often times, a good HDR image, like this one, does not look like an HDR image. That is, you don’t notice the halos where the dark and light areas meet. Reduce halos by using the Lighting Adjustment slider in Photomatix. Get a 15% discount on Photomatix on my Save on Plug-ins page.

In landscape photograph, strive to get the entire scene in focus – so your photograph looks like the scene looks to your eyes.

For maximum depth of field, shoot with a wide-angle lens, small aperture and focus 1/3 into the scene.

To add an artistic quality to this image, I applied the Duplex filter in Nik Color Efex Pro.

I took the photographs above and below on the North Loop. The tree in the distance in this photograph is the same tree that is in the foreground in the preceding photograph.

Watch the weather. Snowstorms can block Loop roads – as well as major highways. One of my workshop students missed a flight home due to heavy snow.

Shoot panoramas to capture the awesomeness of the sweeping landscapes. Or, do as I did for this image: shoot with a wide-angle lens and crop off the top and bottom of the scene to create the look of a panoramic photograph.

This pre-dawn photograph is another example of why you want to arrive at Bosque well before sunrise.

I hope to see you on one of my Bosque workshops . . . or on any workshop for that matter! :-)

For detailed information on photographing birds, check out my on-line class: Master the Art and Craft of Bird Photography.

Explore the light,
Rick

What's new? My 36th book: Creative Visualization for Photographers. 

Day 2: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips

It's Day 2 in my series: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips. I'm running this series in preparation for my 2015 Bosque workshop (full) and 2016 Bosque workshop. Click here to see all my 2016 workshops.

Feel free to drag my images into Bridge or Lightroom for Metadata.

Today's Tip: Compose and Crop Carefully

Do a “drive though” at the Refuge the day before your first sunrise shoot. Sunrise, by the way, is the best time to photograph at Bosque. All the colorful photographs in this post were taken slightly before, at, and shortly after sunrise.

There are one-way loops that you must stay on inside the Refuge. Sometimes, due to snow, some loops are closed. Check the weather before you leave your hotel room.

Pull off only in designated areas, or else you may see some flashing lights and park rangers who will ask you to move.

Compose and crop your photographs creatively. All the pictures in this post are cropped from the original RAW files.

Before you leave home, spend some time on the Friends of the Bosque web site: www.friendsofthebosque.org. You’ll find lots of good information here.

On the way into Bosque, stop by the information center to learn more about this awesome location.

Composing a photograph with an important subject off center leads the viewer’s eye around the frame.

Placing the horizon line near the top or bottom of the frame is a more interesting composition technique than placing the horizon line in the center of the frame – unless you are working with a perfect reflection.

I used a relatively slow shutter speed to add a bit of blur – a sense of motion – to the birds’ wings in this photograph.

Here’s an example of placing the horizon line in the center of the frame. It usually works well for reflection images. I created this reflection image in Photoshop.

For detailed information on photographing birds, check out my on-line class: Master the Art and Craft of Bird Photography.

Explore the light,
Rick

What's new? My 36th book: Creative Visualization for Photographers. 

Day 1: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips

It's Day 1 in my series: 5 Days of Bosque del Apache Images and Tips. I'm running this series in preparation for my 2015 Bosque workshop (full) and 2016 Bosque workshop. Click here to see all my 2016 workshops.

Feel free to drag my images into Bridge or Lightroom for Metadata.

Today's Tip: You snooze you lose.

Plan to arrive on site by around 5 AM so you can get a good spot to set up your tripod and gear. In November and December (the best times for The Blast Off) there will be many other photographers on site, all wanting to get great shots of the birds in flight.

About The Blast Off: thousands of snow geese and sandhill cranes take off at about the same time and fill the sky with action. The Blast Off usually happens around daybreak.

Always have your wide-angle lens and telephoto lens handy – as opposed to having them tucked away in your camera bag. That way, you’ll be able to take photographs that will tell the story of your experience. I keep my camera with a telephoto zoom lens on my tripod and my camera with a wide-angle zoom on a neck strap.

Use a shutter speed of at least 1/1000th of a second to stop the movement of the birds’ wings – if that is your goal.

To catch The Blast Off you need to arrive on site in the dark. Use a head-mounted flashlight so you can easily set up your gear without having to hold a flashlight.

Also make sure you have gloves that will let you operate your camera in the cold. In November and December, it’s often below zero before the sun rises.

Hand and toe warmers can be a godsend. However, at most shooting locations you are never more than a few minutes from your car.

Slightly underexpose an image to get a more dramatic silhouette.

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is located about 9 miles from the small town of San Antonio, which is south of Socorro, New Mexico, where birders and photographers book hotel rooms. Most folks fly into Albuquerque, NM.

The Blast Off happens fast, so you need to be ready to shoot. The Blast Off is usually over in a minute . . . but it’s well worth it. It’s an awe-inspiring site.

Check your histogram and highlight alert and make sure you don’t overexpose the highlights.

Plan to spend a few days on site, because the sky is different every day. The sky was actually quite dull in this image. I added the color with a Gradual Filter in Nik Color Efex Pro.

I hope to see you in Bosque.

For detailed information on photographing birds, check out my on-line class: Master the Art and Craft of Bird Photography.

Explore the light,
Rick