Balancing Family, Life, and Photography

Canada Goose Profile

One of the things that I have found since becoming a father, is that it is can be difficult to find the time to capture images as I once did. In the past, I could leave and take photographs on a whim - I would look at the weather patterns, scout locations, and simply go if the conditions were right. Recently, I find that it just isn't that easy anymore - nor do I find myself as compelled previously. It's not that I don't have the same desire to photograph the world as I once did, it's just that there are times that I find myself in a field waiting for a sunset and I'd rather be home with my wife and daughter. My favorite times to photograph are when my daughter is with me and she is exploring the world, and I follow this exploration through my lens. This photograph is one such example. She loves to go see the ducks at Schramm State Recreation Area, and as such my collection of duck/bird photographs has increased considerably. By the way, she still thinks that Geese are ducks, although occasionally she will say "Geese!" to both geese and ducks. I try not to confuse her too much.

Our vacations have changed as well. We try to stick closer to home, and I've modified my schedule somewhat. I will still go out before sunrise to try and get that glorious morning shot, but the middle of my day is spent with activities with my family. I will still take photographs, but I really enjoy seeing how my daughter is reacting to her environment and the sights around her. I feel that my photography has evolved since she has come into the world - for the better. As I have said before, she has given me a new view of the world - I see things that before I may have passed over.

I will still continue to travel and photograph and I hope that as my daughter grows she will join me on these adventures. Who knows, maybe some day she'll pick up a camera and follow her daddy. All I know is that my life has changed and that I enjoy sharing the world with her. I continue to check out sunrises and sunsets, just sometimes it will be without a camera and with my daughter.

Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/125 sec.

Schramm State Recreation Area, Nebraska

Muskrat Profile

Squaw Creek has many muskrat huts throughout the refuge. It is not unusual to see many of these guys working away, eating, or just swimming around. They are a little skittish and don't like it when you get out of your car. I managed to capture a few of them, but when you approach they tend to dive under the water and never come back up. In this case, this guy was close to shore and I was able to stick half my body out of the window to get a tighter shot. When I finally did open the door, he took off. I don't like startling these guys too much so I moved on. I never really knew that much about muskrats before taking this guys photo so I did a bit of research. Here's a tidbit of what I found out (wikipedia - it's probably accurate - right?)

Muskrats are found over most of Canada and the United States and a small part of northern Mexico. They always inhabit wetlands, areas in or near salt and fresh-water marshlands, rivers, lakes, or ponds. They are not found in the state of Florida where the round-tailed muskrat, or Florida water rat.

Muskrats continue to thrive in most of their native habitat and in areas where they have been introduced. While much wetland habitat has been eliminated due to human activity, new muskrat habitat has been created by the construction of canals or irrigation channels and the muskrat remains common and wide-spread.

Muskrats are most active at night or near dawn and dusk. They feed on cattails and other aquatic vegetation. They do not store food for the winter, but sometimes eat the insides of their lodges or steal food that beavers have stored. Plant materials make up about 95 percent of their diets, but they also eat small animals such as freshwater mussels, frogs, crayfish, fish, and small turtles.

For this image I utilized a Nik plug-in called "Vienza". It allows spot changes to saturation, contast, and brightness. I was a little skeptical about this product as I figured I could always mask the object in photoshop and apply whatever I needed to the mask, but I find that this plug-in helps cut down on the work. I am sure at this point, I am only scratching the surface of what it can do, but here it helped me apply a bit more saturation to the muskat, raise the brightess on the facial area, and increase the contrast slightly for a little more pop.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1/4tc, f/7.1, 1/1000 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

Togetherness

I made it down to Squaw Creek again for another trip on the way through to Kansas City. On one of the trips around the lake, I captured these two Canada geese hanging out on a muskrat hut. They just watched as I took their photo, content to be together. I felt the black and white treatment here was the best to isolate the subjects.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/8, 1/1600 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge

Coot on the Run

I wanted to get some up close shots of the Snow Geese at Squaw Creek, but every time I got fairly close, they decided to up and run away. So, I tried my hand at the American Coots. I got a little close, and when they go they almost look like little road runners before they take off.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/8000 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

Tornado of Birds

Another type of image I wanted to capture from the visit to Squaw Creek was a wide-angle view of all the birds. In this photograph, some of the birds are discernible, while the majority exist only as a large black wave in the background. This really exemplifies the shear magnitude of this flock of geese on the lake.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 40mm, f/7.1, 1/2000 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

Snow Goose Abstract

For today's image, I wanted to shoot directly into the flock of snow geese in such a way, that unless you knew that they were birds, you might not be able to ascertain what exactly the photograph was. Here, I waited until they were really stirred up by something and then shot several directly into the storm of birds. It appears as an abstract with black and white and small touches of blue.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/2500 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

Ready.... Set.... Go!

A few days ago I mentioned that I made it down to Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge for the snow geese migration. It was quite an experience, one that is hard to describe without being there. Today's image is just a minute selection of the birds that were hanging out on the lake. Here, the they are defined and you can actually see individual birds. In the next couple of days I will post some that simply look like an abstract painting. I wanted to post this image first so that you could get an idea of what a snow goose actually looks like if you haven't seen one.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l, f/4, 1/2500 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

Little Blue Jay

I made a trek down to Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge yesterday since they had over one million snow geese and 150 bald eagles. Recently, I rebuilt my computer to install the latest version of Photoshop and I haven't had an opportunity to color profile my monitor again, so I will have a lot of work when that is done. In the meantime, I found this blue jay photograph that I took on one of my circles around the lake.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/7.1, 1/2000 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

Bashful

A couple of weeks ago I managed to capture this image of a duck at Scramm State Recreation Area. While I like the color version of this image, the thing that really drew me into this photograph was the composition. To accentuate the composition, I decided to remove the color. I used a new plugin, Nik Silver Efex Pro to do the conversion. This is the first time I have used that utility and I found that I liked the results and the ease at which I was able to do it. It definitely opened some good Black and White possibilities for me.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/6.3, 1/1600 sec.
Schramm State Recreation Area, Nebraska

Flying High

Today's image was taken a couple of weeks ago when I went to DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge to capture some sunset images. The sunset fizzled, but there were plenty of geese flying around overhead and I captured this when they flew directly over me. The pattern this creates in the sky is always different and always fascinates me.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l+1.4tc, f/6.3, 1/400 sec.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa/Nebraska

A Brief Glimpse of Spring

Last week the highs were in the 60s and the birds were out chirping. I couldn't help but go capture a couple of images of the robins as they scurried around in the warm sun.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/640 sec.
OPPD Arboretum, Omaha, Nebraska

Where's Rocky?

A few years ago my wife and I took a two week trip to Glacier and Banff. It was a spectacular vacation and we saw an assortment of landscapes, weather, and creatures. We decided to take a short hike near a lake in Glacier where we saw a moose on the other side of the water. He started to move across the lake. Well, I hadn't brought my camera and the car wasn't far, so I rushed back to grab my gear. When I returned, I couldn't find my wife or the moose anywhere. After a short time, my wife appeared and proceeded to tell me that not only did the moose not stop, but he sped up towards her. She decided to head into the forest and wait for me. I'm not sure what would have happened if she had stayed, but I am sure that she did the right thing.

Over time, I have found that one of the hardest large animals to photograph is the moose. All in all, I have seen maybe 5 or 6 in the wild, and they are usually shy and hide within minutes of me spotting them. They are a powerful, magnificent creature that can charge at a moment's notice (obviously), so I tend to keep a pretty good distance when I do see them. This particular photograph was taken on my trip to Canada a couple of years ago. Hiding in the trees and just a bit off the road, this moose was eating the low foliage around her. She managed to stay for a few shots.

Technical Details:
Canon 20d, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/200 sec.
Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada

Chirping in the Sunlight

As I was returning the other morning when I ventured out to photograph the Platte River at sunrise, I heard an incessant chirping from a nearby tree. There I found a little red cardinal that was welcoming the day. Not wanting to disturb him for too long, I took only a couple of shots and then continued on.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/500 sec.
Near the Platte River Connection Bridge, Nebraska

Tag, You're It!

As a nature, landscape, and wildlife photographer, I have to be aware of the natural world around me. As such, I have learned things about weather, moon phases, migratory patterns, and species than I ever thought I would ever learn, a nice side reward of what I do.

A year and a half ago, my baby daughter was born. As most parents probably know, as she grows I find that I look at the world differently, things that I might have passed over before fascinates her and now they fascinate me. I love taking her outside to explore her world. One of her favorite activities is going to see animals of any kind. As I have said before, there are almost always ducks or geese at Schramm State Recreation Area at any time throughout the year. They get feed by the passer-byers often and we have found ourselves saving up old bread to feed to them when we visit. We have been a few times recently, and when it warms up I expect to be there again.

Because of my evolving view of the world, I felt the title was appropriate for these two ducks. Looking at the world like a child might.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/7.1, 1/800 sec.
Schramm State Recreation Area, Nebraska

More From the 50D

On the Hunt

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec., ISO 800


Today I went to the arboretum to give the 50d another try. There was a woodpecker there when I had my G10 and I wanted to see if I could get some good up close shots. In the past I would have used my 20d, but that would not have allowed for much cropping at 8 megapixels. The woodpecker was there, but I didn't get a good angle, like I had last visit, plus I was crunched for time so I focused on the squirrels busily hunting for their hidden nuts. After a walker startled these guys, they carefully came back to their position, where I was waiting with my camera.


Munch, Munch
Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec., ISO 800

Candid Duck!

Once again I found myself at Schramm testing a new camera while my wife and daughter fed the ducks. I got some cute video on the G10. Anyway, here's the story with the new camera. Due to some unfortunate circumstances with my old 20d which only had a little less than 30,000 shots taken with it - died, two days before the repair plan was to expire. No, I did not hasten it's death, it just happened to have never really been repaired from the previous 4 times I had it in (not a fun experience, mind you). They finally gave up trying to fix and gave me a 50d. I won't say who, but let's say it's a big multi-national chain store that specializes in electronics.

Whenever a new Canon camera comes out (or probably any manufacturer for that matter), there is always fierce arguments on message boards about which is the better camera - the old or the new. And these always include what the poster would have done differently, or how Canon should have done B instead of A, or how Canon is genius. The 50d was no different, and actually received more pounding than any other recently released DSLR. Canonrumors.com even put it as the worst DSLR release of the year (really, that bad?). The price has fallen from $1,300 to $1,050 in less than 3 months (could be the economy too - but that is rarely to blame, I guess) For the most part I don't care. I read because I want to know what's new, but I always reserve judgement until I have it in my hands.

Here's what I think about the 50d after about 100 shots -no, not a thorough evaluation by any means. I like it. There I said it, I like it. The detail is better. The ISO performance? I think better, although I no longer have my 20d to compare, but then again I do have some old photos (30,000?) to look through, and my gut feeling. The features? Live View, Autofocus Adjust, better frame rate, spot metering (yep the 20d didn't have it) etc. Don't get me wrong, I loved my 20d, but the 50d is definitely a step up.

Oh, and the autofocus, better than the 5d Mark II. There was some discussion on this one and it's true. I hate to say it, but it's true, the autofocus on the outside points is faster on the 50d. I guess the posters were right about one thing.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/400 sec., ISO 3200 - Noise Ninja used (barely)
Schramm State Recreation Area, Nebraska

Real-World Impressions of the Canon 5d Mark II

To the Sky

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l+1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400

Today's post contains several images captured over the weekend at Schramm State Recreation Area in eastern Nebraska. I had recently received my new Canon 5d Mark II camera and wanted to test out some of its new features and performance on some real-world moving subjects. Schramm is the perfect location for some performance testing as there are always some ducks swimming and you can usually get fairly close to your subjects. Here are some of my thoughts on the Canon 5d Mark II as they pertain to my experience with the camera in regards to wildlife photography on three major subjects: autofocus, megapixels, and ISO speeds.

Coming in for a Landing

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

First up I am addressing the autofocus system. There has been a lot of discussion on the web about the fact that the autofocus system is the same from the 3 year old Canon 5d (Mark I) and that an upgrade should have been necessary. Over the years, I have found the autofocus in the Canon 5d acceptable, but not exemplary. For the majority of my landscape, this is a non-issue since I focus manually most of the time. For large critters such as bears and deer, this becomes more of an issue, but I have found the autofocus hits more than it doesn't. Birds, however, are a different story. I found that the autofocus was lacking slightly more of the time. Most birding and wildilfe photographers would use AI Servo, however, on the Canon 5d I found AI Servo slower than one-shot, although I am sure that this is more a photographer technique issue than a technical issue. As such, I have stuck with one-shot mode, of which was used to capture all of these photographs. The Canon 5d Mark II, like its predecessor sports 6 helper autofocus points for AI Servo which may have helped my cause. I do plan on getting more experience with AI Servo on the Canon 5d Mark II in the future, however.

The second subject I have really noticed the average autofocus speed is on my 18 month old daughter. I have found that the autofocus is just not fast enough to capture her most of the time, although I think even the 1d Mark III (no AI Servo here!) or Nikons 3-d autofocus system would have trouble with that moving subject. Regardless, my experience is that the speed of autofocus with the accuracy is about the same as the Canon 5d, no real improvement there. It would have been nice, but for me, not a deal killer.

The last note I would like to make regarding the autofocus system is the addition of microadjustment of autofocus on a per lens basis. For years photographers have complained about lenses front focusing or back focusing on each new model of camera. Essentially, since both the lens and the camera are machined parts there is an allowance for a variance of some specifications while still considered being "calibrated". For the most part, this variance is not detected, but for photographers who require precise focus (and shouldn't we all?) this could cause photos with some lens+camera combinations to be slightly out of focus. The Canon 5d Mark II now addresses this by allowing each lens to be calibrated by the user to the camera. This now allows all those lens+camera combinations that front focus or back focus to focus precisely. I welcome this addition as I have found that my Canon 20d front-focused slightly with my 300 f/4l lens. At first, I thought the lens was fuzzy, or it was a lack of megapixels, but after it focused perfectly on my Canon 5d (and other lens focused find on my 20d) I realized I too was subccumbing to the "front/backfocusing" hell that others had complained/blogged/reviewed/previewed/etc. about.


A Flight with Friends

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/320 sec., ISO 400

The next feature (and the most important one in the marketing department) is the increase in megapixels. The Canon 5d Mark II packs 21 megapixels into a full-frame sensor. This allows for better detail and tighter cropping of the composition. I know when I used to use my Canon 20d with 8 megapixels, I would be hesitant to crop some of my compositions, but now even a liberal crop retains great detail, granted that you are using a high-quality lens. I am quite pleased with the new number of megapixels. The resolution and detail is definitely there and I feel like it is a great upgrade from 12.8 megapixels from the previous generation. A lot of people comment that the megapixel race should end as there are all sorts of adverse effects that start manifesting themselves (such as noise) at higher pixel densities. If 21 was the upper limit on a full-frame sensor, I think I could definitely live with that.


A Quick Stop

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/6.3, 1/320 sec., ISO 640

The third item I am going to address is ISO performance. There has been quite a bit of discussion on the net surrounding the noise levels at higher settings. Since this is more of a real-world look than a technical review (there are lots of sites dedicated to that), I am going to simply discuss what I have seen. The ISO levels seem better than the Canon 5d by somewhere from about 1 to a little less than 2 stops. This means that greater detail and less noise is available at higher ISOs. On my Canon 5d I never had any problem dialing the ISO up to about 800 for some shots. 1600 was about my absolute maximum for retaining detail. Beyond that I found that I had to use noise programs fairly liberally. All the wildlife photographs on this blog post were shot using a minimum of ISO 400 up to 640. This allowed me to achieve shutter speeds that would stop the action, but allow a little blur to show the movement of the birds. At these speeds there is virtually no noise.


Quiet Day

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM, f/5.6, 1/50 sec., ISO 6400

To follow up with a little more testing in a (little) more controlled environment, I decided to purposely photograph my stationary cats at ISO 6400. I found the noise was well-controlled and definitely an welcome improvement. Another nice feature is that the ISOs are set at third (or half depending on your preferences) stops up to 6400. That means that I have good selection of ISO speeds between 1600 and 6400 to use without changing a full stop. On the Canon 5d, after 1600 the only choice was a full stop up to 3200. Beyond 6400 on the Canon 5d Mark II, the noise makes the image degrade to a point where I would find it unusable for a print, unless I was applying liberal use of filters and noise control. Even then I question it's real-world application for my primary work. In a pinch, though it is useful to capture the shot in conditions that I would have been unable to get it before, although it may just frustrate me in post-processing.


Reflection on Libby

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM, f/2.5, 1/60 sec., ISO 6400

Overall, I find the Canon 5d Mark II to be a worthy successor to the Canon 5d. It doesn't have everything I wanted (I would like DEP mode back, but that's just me I think), but it has enough to warrant an upgrade. There are always function and features to be added and on future posts I may comment on a few of those. Check back to see what new feature I might dig up.

One last note, I processed all these photographs from RAW using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and the free DNG converter found here. Adobe conveniently ended RAW support for CS3 right before the Canon 5d Mark II was released (and well after it was announced). Some couldn't even get a copy of CS4 prior to receiving their camera! While I agree with drawing a line in the sand for support, most companies, including ones like Microsoft offer support for the current version and one previous. I find that ending support as a way of forcing upgrade when the product (CS4) isn't even released a bit much. For those who cannot afford the upgrade there are several support sites dedicated to the DNG converter (such as scripting and processing) and I recommend that you look into those.

A Pelican Profile

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went through the Wildlife Safari park near Mahoney State Park in eastern Nebraska. It allows one to get an upclose view of several birds and animals that wouldn't be normal in the wild. Here, a pelican grooms himself while carefully watching me get some close shots.

On another note, I will be one of 20 artists attending the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge's "Art of the Wild" show occruing on the 22nd and 23rd of November. DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is located near Missouri Valley, Iowa. If you have questions or need directions visit their page at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/desoto/.

Technical Details:
Canon5d, 300 f/4l +1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec.
Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari, Ashland, Nebraska

Wading it Out

While waiting for sunrise on Sprague Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, this bull elk wandered out into the lake to cool off.

Technical Details:
Canon 20d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/2 sec.
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Family Dinner

The other night I visited DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in order to capture some blooming lily pads on Wood Duck pond. I cam across this family of deer feasting on a field in the refuge and stoped to capture them.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/6.3, 1/500 sec.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge

To view other photographs, order this photograph as a print, or purchase licensing rights, please visit my website at http://www.journeyoflight.com/.