Back from California

Nikon D600, Nikkor 70-700 VR, 6 shot vertical panorama

It was my first trip to California and I have to say I was blown away by it's beauty. The diversity of beauty is what really has me jealous though. My wife and I did a kind of a mad dash across California. It was great to see the great diversity in landscape, but I really want to take a more focused approach next time.

We started in Yosemite and saw the great valley cliffs and mountains which included vast wilderness. Then we went to Monterrey and saw the coast as we drove through Big Sur down the Pacific Coast Highway 1. I have to say I was very surprised by the epic drive on Highway 1. I knew it would be a nice drive, but it was down right insane. We had clouds rolling in off the ocean which then made a steep climb up the mountain and over the road. We saw this rising of the clouds for most of the drive and it was awesome. I have to say that Yosemite was beautiful, but I knew it would be. I was surprised by Big Sur though, it's beauty was unexpected.

The next leg of the tour was to Los Angles which was not photography related but still an area in which a photographer could enjoy a wealth of subjects.

In coming posts I'll share some photos as well as time lapses that I took. I'm new to time lapses and will share what I learned. I also did a bit of work at night for the first time. I ran into some unexpected problems there as well and will share my experiences. So stayed tuned!

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6 Tips for an Efficient Trip

Can you feel the excitement? I can! Yes, I'm going to Yosemite in just a few weeks. Actually I will be visiting Yosemite as well as the California coast between Monterey and Los Angles. It feels a little odd, I normally put some sort of photo at the top of my blog posts. But I've never been to Yosemite or anywhere in California, so I don't have any photos to use. Well, I'll have to change that won't I.

That's right, new content is coming soon. I'm spending two nights in Yosemite, one night in Monterey and a couple more in LA. Many of you may be able to relate with this scenario... This is a vacation/photography trip. The vacation part is where the photography gets limited. Many of us that don't get to travel as much as we'd like, so we end up splitting time between photography and spending time with our family. This is where it becomes extremely important to be efficient with your time. Here is a short list of things you can do to prepare for an efficient trip.

1. 500px.com is not just a website with beautiful images. It can also be an excellent source to give you an idea of what people are shooting in a specific area. As with all photography communities you'll see a lot of similar images from the popular locations. This is fine, and if it's the first time you've been there, you'll want to hit the hot spots. There is usually other helpful information as well. Much of the images metadata is shown which can often tell you what focal lengths are used and what time of the year it was shot at.
2. Google Drive. Wait what? Yes, Word documents, Dropbox, Evernote, or any other note taking method will work. I have created a document which has names of locations, maps, hiking trails and travel times. There are links to 500px for reference photos and other websites which may be helpful. Many of these note taking services have apps on your phone so you can reference it in the field.
3. Google+ Community feature is another excellent place to go for information. There are many passionate photographers who are eager to help others and share information. There may be a community that focuses on the particular area where you are traveling. Any questions you may have or tips you can gather will be invaluable on the trip. This strategy can be extended to other online communities.
4. Google Maps and Google Earth. No really, this isn't a google advertisement. This may be obvious but checking drive times to various locations is very important. You can also get a pretty good lay of the land by familiarizing yourself with the area. You'll want which way is north and more importantly which way the sun will be rising and setting.
5. The Photographer's Ephemeris along with Maps, this will really help you get a handle of where the sun will be rising and setting. TPE is a iOS and Android App which will show the sun and moon angles from any given location and time. So with this app, you'll know exactly how to get that sunrise shot as efficiently as possible.
6. Stellarium is a free open source planetarium that can be downloaded on your Windows PC, Mac or Linux. You might wonder why this is important. Well, I'm very excited to try some night photography while in Yosemite. With the night shots I want to include both the beautiful scenery as well as the beautiful glow of the stars and Milky Way. With this program, similar to TPE, I can type my location and time and it will show me where the stars will be located in the night sky. If I want to get the Milky Way in the shot, I will know when the best times will be. Similarly, it will show me the exact position of the moon at various times of the night. The moon can be helpful or an obstruction depending on what type of shot you want. This tool will take some of the guess work out.

This has been my workflow for the past month or so. With our busy schedules, efficiency one of the most important aspects of a successful trip. A good research and planning process becomes key. I hope this list helps make your trip a successful one.

Minnesota Loon

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, f6.3, ISO 400, 1/2000

I took a quick break while fishing in central Minnesota last week. Every time I go fishing loons seemly circle boat. On this fishing trip I had my camera next to me in the boat hoping for a close encounter with a loon. I thought this would be an easy shoot, but once again I was wrong. Every time I pointed my camera at a loon it would dive down and emerge 100 feet away. I managed to snap off a few quick frames before this once dove under the water.

Favorite Photo of 2011 by Chad Griggs

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS @ ISO 500, f/7.1, 1/2500

Oh it's that time of year again and this time the choice was fairly easy one. The Common Loon is Minnesota's official state bird and I always wanted to get a good photograph of one. Finding a Loon in Minnesota is not the issue. They can be found on most of Minnesota's 10,000+ lakes. The issue isn't even approaching them (for the most part). Loons in Minnesota are not nearly as skittish as many ducks such as the Ring-necked Duck. The tricky part is getting them in that perfect environment for the photo.

The light has to be at the correct angle to show details in their black feathers, but not too bright to over expose their white feathers. An ideal Loon photo for me also requires calm glassy water and of course a clean background. And if you add in some Loon behavior..? Oh my! This is the photo of the year, and I knew it right away!

More information about this photo

Photo of the Week! White-tail Deer

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS @ ISO 800 f/5.6, 1/400

I photographed this white-tail deer recently at a local park. Derek and I were in search for some big bucks, but this opportunity presented itself.

Photo of the Week! Sanderling

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, ISO 400, f5.6, 1/2500, +1/3ev

Since I haven't been out shooting much lately, I've been going through my old files to see if I had left something behind. This photo was from my trip to Pensacola Beach, FL last April. I did flag it as something I liked in Lightroom, but never got around to processing it until this last week. What I like about this photo is the inclusion of the other birds that are out of focus. Almost every other bird photo I have is a single bird in the frame. I thought I would change it up a bit with this one.

Photo of the Week! Loon Part 2!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS @ ISO 500, f/7.1, 1/2500

This is the next photo in the loon series that began last week. I like this photo because of the head and beak angel and the clean background. It also shows some great behavior from the loon. It's also noteworthy that this is one of the very few wildlife photographs that I have where you can't see the eyes.

Photo of the Day! Dandelion

Nikon D90, 20mm f2.8, ISO 200, f18, 1/640

Back in 2009 during my 100 photos in 100 Days project I was inspired by Lisa Bettany to create a back lit photo. At the time, I had no idea what my subject was going to be since she was shooting models. While walking through a field I found these large dandelion's on a clear summer morning.

Photo of the Day! Loon!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS, SB-600 fill flash @ ISO 800, f/6 1/640.

This was from yesterday. Derek and I spent the day fishing, but of course, I had to bring my camera. Although I spent very little time photographing we were greeted at our fishing hole by this guy. He was not afraid of the boat at all so I just had to fire a few off.

Photo of the Day! Fishing at Gooseberry Falls..

Nikon D7000, Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 @ 27mm, ISO 100, f/16, 0.2 sec

This fisherman braved the rain and cold in pursuit of the elusive trout. Fishing at a scene like this, catching fish probably isn't even that important.

Photo of the Day! Tree Swallow!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS @ ISO 320, f/5.6, 1/800

This was from this week while photographing bluebirds. The tree swallows made it a point to harass the bluebirds and their nest boxes whenever possible. The bluebirds were vigilante though and fearlessly chanced them away each time. This tree swallow was much more relaxed soaking up some sun.

Photo of the Day! American Goldfinch!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS @ ISO 320, f/5.6, 1/1600

Late post today, Derek and I just got back from photographing song birds this morning. We saw some more eastern bluebirds, field sparrows, goldfinch and some other regulars. This is my favorite from the morning.

Photo of the Day! Eastern Bluebird!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm, f/4 AFS + TC-14E II @ 700mm, ISO 320, f/8, 1/500 

Derek and I went to a local wildlife area yesterday in hopes of finding some migrating water fowl. It was our first trip this year to this spot and unfortunately the water fowl was non existent. But we did notice some very active eastern bluebirds that were protecting their nest box from some harassing swallows. The bluebirds followed a pretty consistent pattern of perching locations in the area. The male made use of this perch several times so we decided to set our cameras up and wait. Of course as soon as we did, he decided to go elsewhere. After a couple of hours of waiting and the activity levels decreasing, we decided to pack up for the day. As we were about to leave Derek said, look at your perch! Would you know it, there he was. Fortunately my camera was still on the tripod. I quickly got back into position and fired a few off before he flew away. This is actually one of my first bluebird photos so I was very pleased.

Photo of the Day! Clark's Nutcracker!

Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f/4 AFS + TC-17E II @ 500mm, ISO 1000, f/6.7, 1/250, handheld

This was the first time I had seen a Clark's Nutcracker. All I knew is it was a pretty and interesting bird. As it turns out the Clark's Nutcracker is well known for it's ability to cache huge amounts of pine seeds for later consumption. The Clark's Nutcracker can cache as many as 98,000 seeds per year. This image was taken in the Lake Louise area of Banff National Park in Alberta Canada.

Photo of the Day! Willet!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/tc14 @420mm, ISO 800, f6.3, 1/2000, SB 800 for fill

Another photo from my recent trip to Florida. I sat and watched this Wilett fish for 5-10 minutes before it flew away.

Photo of the Day! Cedar Waxwing!

Nikon D90, Sigma 150-500 OS @ 500mm, ISO 500, f/8, 1/800

For this image I applied a basic rule in bird photography. Find a clean background first, then wait for the bird to come to you. I saw a flock of Cedar Waxwings along a walking path. So I set my camera up and pointed it at this nice clean branch. The waxwings kept landing on branches all around. After a lengthy wait, one finally decided to give me a break.

In the Midst of Migration

Reports all over the upper midwest have shown that the spring migration is underway! After going an entire winter seeing the same species of wildlife, it's exciting to see the migrants sweeping north. Just yesterday I saw bluebirds and robins as well as ring-necked ducks, goldeneye, bufflehead, hooded merganser, american kestrel and various hawk species that I could not identify.

Whats interesting about seeing this waterfowl is that all of the lakes and ponds are still frozen. But with all the snow we got this winter, there is massive flooding. Bridges are closed and my commutes is much longer because of it. But there is also flood ponds all over the place. These flood ponds are the only open pools of water and thus the waterfowl has been attracted to those areas.

This week I also saw both sandhill cranes and great blue herons in a snow storm. Probably not what they were expecting when they decided to head north. I'm still waiting for my first loon of the season. I think we will need actual lakes to thaw before I see that. So until then, I'm still waiting for spring to officially arrive!

Photo of the Day! Red-tail Hawk Portrait!

Nikon D40x, Nikkor 70-300VR @ 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 800, 1/1600

This beautiful light phase red-tail hawk. The white feathers make this hawk unique but it's the eyes that make the photo. The dark green background also helped.

Inspiration

Awhile back Chad wrote a blog post called Spotlight: "American Eagle" and Inspiration. Watching that particular PBS Nature documentary as Chad said really got our blood flowing. Last weekend, I was watch a PBS Nature documentary called "Clash: Encounters of Bears and Wolves." Let me tell you that after watching this it got my blood flowing to head back out to Yellowstone National Park!

If you haven't watched an episode before of Nature I encourage you to watch a couple when you have time. In "Clash: Encounters of Bears and Wolves" you will see grizzly's chase down elk and wolves fighting to keep a fresh kill from the bears. I will say that it is an epic battle between the two top predators in the park.

Here is a little sneak peak of the show!

Some of my other favorite episodes: In the Valley of Wolves, American Eagle, Raptor Force, and Walking with Giants: The Grizzlies of Siberia to name a few.

Watching PBS Nature show motivates us to go out and continue to shoot in any adverse conditions. I hope you find motivation within the show as well!

Photo of the Day! Peregrine Falcon Portrait!

Nikon D90, Sigma 150-500 OS @ 500mm, ISO 500, f/9, 1/200

Derek has posted a few of his Peregrine Falcon photos recently, so I thought I would follow that up with a few of my own. This captive falcon posed very nicely for me. I haven't had very many opportunities to photograph Peregrines, but they are one of my favorites, so I take any chance I get!