Backlit beards

I had heard about a Bearded Reedling couple not too far from where I live. They had been seen around the same spot for several days, so it was worth giving a try. In my mind were images of frozen reeds, blue skies and "Backlit Bearded Reedling Breath".

As usual, things worked out completely different. Me and a friend of mine could not find the Reedlings, nor the Bittern we had hoped for. We did get to see a Common Rail and a female Hen Harrier. A bit disappointed I decided to check the area again after a well deserved cup of coffee. And there they were, in the reedbeds right across a small pond.

Because of the fierce wind, they stayed relatively low and to the wrong (sheltered) side of the reedbeds, making it impossible for us to get a clear view. The only way to approach the (oblivious) Reedlings was across the ice. It looked too thin and made crunchy sounds, but I tried anyway. I shot against the light because the sun was already too high for nice frontlit images. Something I don't regret. What I do regret was cheering about having returned to the shore safely, with still two steps to go. So yep, I fell through the ice and got two very cold feet and calfs. My friend Gerard exposed a lot more of his bodysurface to the freezing water. Hope you've warmed up by now...

Bearded Reedling; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS and 2x; 1/320s at F11 and ISO 400; Gitzo tripod

His royal shyness

I like buzzards, but buzzards don't seem to like me.
They can be found just everywhere, sitting on fenceposts along highways and farmland roads. From this high vantage point, they survey their domain in an everlasting quest for mice, voles and earthworms.

When temperatures drop and the ground is frozen and/or covered with snow, food is hard to come by and they need to use every single minute of the day to hunt for prey. Because of this, they are usually less timid and therefore less difficult to approach (by car).

Even in the wintermonths, I seem to deter buzzards. When I watch them from a safe distance, they seem undisturbed by other vehicles and even cyclists and pedestrians at close range. But whenever my unwashed, natural looking 4x4 moves even the tiniest bit in their direction, off they go. I don't even need to open the window to scare them.

Yesterday, the odds turned slightly in my favour. I found an individual who was very aware of my presence, but kept its 'pole position' (too far for a decent image). After a while, it got onto the ground to hunt for earthworms, seemingly oblivious of my presence. Within some 20 minutes, it had caught at least 5. Then it flew off, right towards me! A bit noisy because of the high ISO and I could have done without the horseshed in the background, but hey, you can't have it all.

Common Buzzard; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS and 1.4x; 1/400s at F5,6 and ISO 800; Handheld

Monochromatica

Goodbye dear winter, it's been nice to know you.

I thoroughly enjoyed being stuck in traffic for hours because of the snow, fight a war against my tripod because the legs were frozen, watch my fingers do essentially nothing inspite of multiple brain signals fired in their direction, see ice cristals form on the LCD screen and see nothing at all through a constantly fogged up viewfinder. But I also loved to be the first to walk through pristine snow, choose between ripe covered trees to photograph and lure little birds to pose for me in the white-wonder-world. Now it's all over.

We're back in our typical Dutch winter weather. Dark gloomy skies, a moisture level that's somewhere between wet and rainy and few interesting subjects to choose from. I tend to lose my inspiration in this kind of circumstances. Not this time however: why not use the conditions in my favour and focus (no pun intended) on forms and contrast?

A way to do so is convert a photograph to black and white and play with the (local) contrast levels a bit. In this image of a flock of Canadian Geese, I kept just a tiny hint of color and increased the contrast only in the birds. The result: a rather moody image that stresses the symmetry within the flock (wing position-wise, that is).

Canadian Geese; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS; 1/125s at F4 and ISO 400; Handheld

We got him!

Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!

It has not been easy to get a photograph of this male Great Spotted Woodpecker. Ever since I've opened the doors of my forest feeding station, I've heard it around but never got a glimpse of it. I guess it was not in need of any assistance of the edible kind.

With the complete forest covered by a layer of snow for about a week now, food resources have become very scarce. That must have tempted the woodie to get closer to the feeders. Friday, I saw it patrol the surrounding oaks and pines. Very shy, never closer than about 30 meters and up high. Every now and then, it would fly/dive towards the food but make a very sudden u-turn just before arrival. Possibly just a safety check.

Saturday, things changed. Towards the end of the afternoon, its empty belly must have taken over control of its movements. Still very aware of every sound and movement, it flew onto the feeders and even stayed there for a while. I hardly dared to move the lens a few centimeters for a better composition.

As the sun could just peek through the dense spruce trees, I got a nice warm ray of light on the woodpecker. The background was still in full shade. The blue tones contrast nicely with the warm glow on the woodie.

Great Spotted Woodpecker; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS; 1/320s at F5,6 and ISO 400; Tripod from permanent hide

Into the light

We've passed the shortest day of the year and daytime hours slowly increase again. The good news is that it implies an increase in photography time too. The downside is that we'll have to get out of bed a bit earlier each day to be out at sunrise.

A more filosofical approach to "into the light" might be that we have left the year 2008, including the dark days of December, behind us. We venture into a brand new year, with fresh ideas and inspiration and lots of beautiful light to look forward to. I surely hope you'll all be able to fulfill at least some of your photographic dreams in the year to come.

The literal meaning of "into the light" should be clear. I shot this scene of a lonely, frost-covered tree directly into the sun. By placing the sun behind the branches of the tree, I could prevent flare and lower the contrast to acceptable levels.
A polarizer and two stacked ND Grad filters did the rest.

I would have loved to shoot this image with the sun lower to the horizon and with softer tones overall. Unfortunately, dense fog hid lots of interesting subjects from view during the early hours of the day. Though I must say the fog proved to be an interesting subject by itself. All in all I had a very productive morning. More to come!

Frost-covered treescape; Canon 1D Mark III w. 17-40/4; 1/30s at F16 and ISO 100; Tripod, mirror-lockup, polarizer, stacked 2 and 3 stop ND Grad filters.