squiver

Thanks for your comments - much appreciated!

 

The colors are true. They are probably even more saturated than this, especially around sunrise and sunset.

 

This was shot from a microlight airplane. Every year we have friend who is a professional microlight pilot fly us over the dunes. Microlights are perfect for aerial photography, much better than helicopters (too much noise, no flexibility inside), airplanes (too fast, too much noise, no flexibility inside) and hot air balloons (no control over direction, you go where the wind blows).

Ah, looks like I'm going to get competition in Cabarceno!

 

Well, I guess it makes sense since you practically live around the corner. ;-)

 

Although the darkening is very obvious in this shot, the pose of the animals is just so insanely perfect that this is easily one of my favorite shots from you.

 

Hope you're well!

The angle of light here is not ideal, and it is quite harsh. As a result the contrast is very high and the highlights are hot or even blown (underside of the bird). In dark images our eyes are always drawn to light parts and vice versa. In this shot everything has more or less the same brightness, except for those blown highlights. In a perfect world, the light would hit the head, and in particular the eyes, from a better angle so that our attention would go to the head first, then to the rest of the elements in the shot. Hope that helps.

Very minimalistic, but very beautiful. Most people would not see a photo opportunity in this, so kudos for that.

Very nice. The pano crop works great and the oof line of swans in the background is stunning, as is the light. Well done.

I like this one as well, but the other one is stronger imo - especially because of the uniformity in direction.

I love the sense of direction and the monochromatic look - very nice. If this were mine, I'd crop out the snow in the foreground and clone out the dark spots near the top. Also, the shot needs some clockwise rotation.

As a wildlife photographer we only have very limited influence on oursubjects and the circumstances, and for me that is what makes it soaddictive - you never know what you're going to get, and you keepwanting to go back for more and better.

For most of the subjects that I shoot, I have the perfect imagealready inside my head, I just have to try to get it on camera.Knowing your subject and being at the right spot at the right time ispart of the work, but unfortunately with wildlife you also have to beincredibly lucky.

And lucky I was when I was flying in a microlight over the giant redsand dunes of Sossusvlei during the Namibia Untamed tour. We wereheading back to the lodge when I suddenly saw this small herd of oryxrunning right in front of us on a giant sand dune. I always have twobodies with a 24-70 and 70-200 when I'm in a microlight, because yousimply cannot change lenses in an open airplane. I quickly grabbed theD3 with the 70-200 and shot a short burst before we had passed them.It was over in seconds. When I looked at the images back in our camp,I couldn't believe my eyes - the perfect choreography. I could havenever previsualized an image like this, simply because it would seemabsurd to think it would be possible.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 70-200/2.8, 1/3200 @ f/5.6, ISO 800, handheld

[if you would like to join me on our next Namibia Untamed photo tour,please have a look on my website for more information, prices, datesand a spectacular video]]

Just a quick one from Japan.

I was going through my old snow monkey files just before I left andfound this one. For some reason - don't ask me why, I don't have aclue - I shot this at f/2.8. As a result the DOF is very shallow andI'd prefer to see more. Shutter speed was 1/320, so that shouldn'thave been the problem.

My initial reaction was to throw the shot away, but then I realizedthat I often think that we (the serious photographers) tend tooveranalyze our images, especially in a technical way. The fact thatI, or any other photographer, would prefer more DOF (or more contrast,or more sharpness, etc.) in an image does not mean that magazines,newspapers, stock agencies, print buyers or friends and family membersfeel the same way. The more specialized or professional you become,the more obsessed you get with the small details, details other(normal :-) ) people might not even notice. Just a reminder to notoveranalyze my images to death.

Anyway, I like the reflection, the pose and the snow flakes(especially the combination of the latter two) - so it will go into myselections folder, despite the shallow DOF.

Looking forward to meeting these guys again in a few days.

Greetings from sunny Tokyo!

D2X, AF-S VR 70-200/2.8, 1/320 @ f/2.8, ISO 400, handheld

[if you would like to join me on one of my photo tours and workshops,please have a look at my website]

One of my biggest concerns with wildlife photography, is that most ofthe subjects have been photographed to death and the pictures arestarting to look more and more alike. The differences between what isconsidered a good photograph and a not so good one often concern thetechnical aspects; better exposure, better shooting technique, betterfocusing, better processing, etc. We seem to have accepted this, asmost of the comments on wildlife images concern exposure, sharpnessand processing. Good composition is a more creative aspect ofphotography that will create better and more original images, but evenwith that the possibilities are becoming more and more limited as thepile of photographs of any given subject is growing and growing andgrowing.

I go to Japan every year to photograph snow monkeys, cranes, swans andeagles, and as a result I have a lot of images of these subjects. Mystandard preparation is to find out what photographs already exist ofthe subjects I'm about to photograph to see what has already been doneand where the possibilities lie to create something different.Composition and viewpoint are usually good starting points, but withmany subjects, all the compositions and viewpoints have been tried before.

In an effort to create more original images of often photographedsubjects, with more room for creativity, I decided last year toexperiment with a technique that macro photographers use all the time,but which is very uncommon in mammal photography: off-camera flash. Ihave posted some earlier efforts here before,

Light is the very essence of photography, and as photographers we aredepending on the quality of the light for the photograph to work.Instead of waiting for the perfect light, and hoping that the subjectwill be there when it happens, preferably with the perfect pose, Idecided to take matters into my own hands and create the light myself.

Here's one where I used off-camera flash in a very unconventional wayon a Japanese macaque. I positioned the flash behind the subject toemphasize the steam rising from the water's surface and I used somemajor underexposure to render the monkey as a silhouette with a nicerimlight.

Curious what you think.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR II 70-200/2.8, 1/125 @ f/11, ISO 200, SB-900(off-camera)

[if you would like to join me on one of my photo tours & workshops,please have a look at my website]

I have been traveling in the desert of Northern Africa for the pastweeks with no internet access, so I found out about this rather late:my charging lion picture was commended in the 2010 TravelPhotographer of the Year Awards.

As with most wildlife shots, there was quite a bit of luck involved toget this shot - after all, with wild animals you never know what'sgoing to happen. Most wildlife photographers use long tele lenses tophotograph potentially dangerous animals, and that is probably a wisething to do. However, wide angle shots are often more dynamic, more inyour face, so that's what I wanted to try in South Africa with lions.I used a radio controlled remote and shot from a handheld monopod,turned upside down, without getting out of the car. It's my secret(well, not anymore) technique to get low level perspective shots withwide angle lenses, while remaining flexible and without running therisk of getting eaten. This male lion did not appreciate the clickscoming from the grass very much, and decided to charge the D3. I guesshe was more the Canon type. :-)

Greetings from the Sahara.

[if you would like to join me on one of my workshops and photo tours,please have a look at my website]

That is spectacular. Most of the polar bear images look so much alike, but this is really something else. Great job.

The Christmas edition of UK magazine Digital Photo will featurea double page spread with four of my snow monkey images from Japan.Here's one of the shots they selected, taken on this year's Japan tour.

There was plenty of light and no distracting background, so I couldhave gone for more dof, but I wanted the softness of the all-aroundoof fur to emphasize the cuddly feeling of the shot. I also added atouch of fill flash to balance the brightness of fore- and backgroundand reduce contrast.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 70-200/2.8, 1/400 @ f/5, ISO 800, SB-900,handheld

[if you would like to join me on the next White & Wild Japan workshop,please have a look at my website for more information]

Japanese macaques, aka snow monkeys, are most famous for the fact thatthey can spend ages bathing in natural hot springs. But as withhumans, the little ones have way too much energy to stay put in onespot for longer than 10 seconds.

These two guys were constantly stalking each other, jumping on oneanother, and running through the snow. It was exhausting trying tokeep up with them, but a lot of fun.

Shot on this year's Japan workshop.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 70-200/2.8, 1/1250 @ f/8, ISO 200, SB-900, manualmetering, handheld

[if you would like to join me on the next Japan workshop, please havea look at my website]

One of my favorite trips each year, is the one to Japan. The countrynot only offers a fascinating culture, super friendly and respectfulpeople and a delicious cuisine, it also offers great wildlifephotography opportunities in stunning settings.

Winter time is when I go there, when the landscape is transformed intoa wildlife photographer's dream. I love photographing wildlife in thesnow, as it really fits my style of photography. The white blanketremoves clutter, makes strong lines and shapes more dominant, createsthe possibility for cleaner compositions, and, most important, addstons of atmosphere.

Being able to photograph wildlife while it's snowing, is what I hopefor each year, but you have to be lucky. This year we got exactly whatwe wanted when we were shooting the elegant Japanese cranes. The daystarted heavily overcast, and soon after we arrived in the earlymorning, snow started falling down. The cranes had just left theirroosting spot and were landing on the fields right in front of us.After a few hours it stopped snowing, and it was only then that Irealized that the wet snow had completely soaked my down jacket.Needless to say that the rest of the day was rather chilly.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 200-400/4.0, 1/1000 @ f/8, ISO 500, manualmetering, tripod

[if you would like to join me on our next White & Wild Japan tour,please have a look at my website]

This was shot on this year's Japan workshop. We were waiting earlymorning next to a field where the cranes like to spend the day, andevery now and then a small flock would fly over our heads and thenland right in front of us - a very pretty sight.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 70-200/2.8, 1/1000 @ f/8, ISO 200, handheld

[if you would like to join me on one of my tours and workshops, pleasehave a look at my website]

This shot was recently used as the opening spread for a portfoliointerview East & West Magazine (the in-flight magazine forCathay Pacific and Lufthansa) did with me. You can read the wholeinterview on my blog.

The image was shot at a large tiger reserve in the Northeastern cornerof China, close to the Siberian border. I love big predators, and thetiger has always been high in my top ten of the prettiest ones. As 99%of all the tiger images we see are Bengal tigers (Panthera tigristigris), mostly shot in India, I decided to go for the largestsubspecies of tiger, the Siberian tiger (Panthera tigrisaltaica). It has a thick coat to protect it from the cold,distinguished by a paler golden hue and fewer stripes.

In the past, tigers were found throughout Asia, from the Caucasus andthe Caspian Sea to Siberia and Indonesia. Today the range of the tigeris only 7 percent (!) of what it used to be. Furthermore, within thepast decade alone, the estimated area known to be occupied by tigershas declined 41 percent. :-(

I took this shot in a similar way as you'd do in India; from an openvehicle. The only difference being that it was -38C/-36F. I've neverbeen so cold in my life.

Nikon D2Xs, AF-S VR 200-400/4.0, 1/800 @ f/8, ISO 320, bean bag

[if you would like to join me on one of my photo tours and workshops,please have a look at my website]

One of the great things about Japan in winter time, is that thescenery is stunning when it's covered in snow, and this isparticularly the case in areas where there are natural hot springs.The hot water can cause a lot of steam, which results in veryatmospheric scenes.

This was shot on this year's Japan workshop. We arrived at this scenebefore sunrise to see the whooper swans wake up and to watch theirmorning rituals. I liked the low contrast feel, but I decided toinclude a considerable part of an overhanging tree to add some punchand to give the shot a more graphic, more Japanese look. I croppedsome water off the foreground that didn't really add to the shot.

Your comments are appreciated as always.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 200-400/4.0, 1/1600@ f/5.0, ISO 800, tripod

This was shot early morning on this year's Japan workshop. The sun wasjust peeking over the mountains on the left, illuminating the mistrising from the water.

We were all standing there in the cold, waiting for the sun to rise,when we got this fox as a bonus.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 600/4.0, 1.4x TC, 1/250 @ f/14, ISO 1000, tripod

[if you would like to join me to Japan, please have a look at my website]

Namibia is not only the least densily populated country of the world,it is also one of the driest. The clear desert air is perfect forshooting stars and star trails, so that's one of the things we alwaystry on each year's Namibia workshop.

I had planned the trip to coincide with new moon, so that we wouldhave pitch dark nights with lots of stars. By the end of the tour wehad managed to try it at three different locations. And even if youdon't like star trails (you know who your are, it's still a lot of funto try - being out there in the darkness, fiddling around with yourbuttons and settings, and not to forget the excitement a few hourslater, or sometimes even the next morning: did it all work? Or: ehm,where was it that I put my camera last night? :-)

Last year the only star trail that had ever been shot there before,was done by Art Wolfe (as far as my research could tell me), and I wasthen the only person who wanted to double that and dared to leave hiswhole setup in Deadvlei during the night, 60km away from camp. :-)This time there were more dare devils in our group.

When we returned the next morning, everything worked out, and we spentour time in the bus stack the whole lot in PS to see the results. Ifyou're interested, please have a look on my blog to see the imagesfrom the rest of our group.

For this shot of a dead camelthorn tree I made a 58 second exposurefor the master image, during which I painted the tree and theforeground with a small torch and a warm-up gel. There was still someafterglow on the dunes in the background. During the night the cameratook little over 80 shots, each four minutes long.

I would have liked the center of the star trails to be more to theleft, but to get this view of the tree, with all the branchesperfectly separated, this was the only position that worked - andbelieve me, I tried. :-)

As I was shooting with a D3X, I converted the star shots to jpeg afterraw conversion before stacking them in PS, to keep the file sizemanageable.

Your comments are appreciated as always.

Nikon D3X, AF-S 14-24/2.8 @ 14mm, 58s @ f/5.6, 80x4min @ f/5.6, ISO100, tripod, programmable cable release

[if you would like to join me on one of my photo tours and workshops,please have a look on my website for tours currently on offer]

Lovely. I would suggest you reprocess the shot though, as I can see lots of cloning traces in the clouds, just above the village. You obviously removed something there, which is no problem, but it is very obvious now. That said, it is a wonderful scene.

Simple and clean composition, nice. I like the visual echo in the background of the stem in the foreground. Small details: I can see a dust spec on the sensor just below the wing, and if this were mine, I'd clone out the white area in the lower right corner, as well as the bright element at the bottom of the frame, just to the left of the stem.

They look quite young to me. Siblings? Great shot!

Beautiful - particularly the foreground rocks leading to the rock formation on the horizon.

I've been going through some of the gazillion images I haven'tprocessed yet, for a presentation for National Geographic I gave lastweek. This was shot on last year's Japan workshop.

These snow monkeys are just übercool. During the cold winter monthsthey like to bathe in the natural hot springs, very clever. For mostanimals, water is just something they need to drink or wash with, butthese guys really know how to enjoy a warm bath.

I'm off to Alaska now, to see if can find some bathing bears.:cool:

D3X, AF-S 70-200/2.8 VR II, 1/125 @ f/8, ISO 100, SB-900, handheld

[if you would like to join me on one of my workshops, please have alook at my website]