Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge Part Five

This post is the final in this series from a very productive shoot at the wildlife refuge in New Mexico. The refuge is a very target rich environment for making bird images. The scenery wasn’t bad either! Let’s talk about creativity just a bit more. I saw a lot of photographers while I was there. And except for gear difference such as long lenses, I believe most photographers there were getting pretty much the same photo.

Why would I say that? Check out the photo below of the scene at almost every location in the refuge. What do you see?

photographers at bosque del apacheTake a careful look. Every camera is at the photographer’s eye level.

I saw this ALL the time. To obtain a different look to your images, you need to look at things from a different viewpoint. I spent a fair amount of time on my knees, sitting on my butt and getting the camera off of the tripod. Look back through my past posts, and I think you’ll see lots of variety. Bosque Pt 1 Bosque Pt 2Bosque Pt 3 Bosque Pt 4 Changing the height that you shoot from can have a dramatic effect on what is in the background of your subject.

I also heard a lot of motor drives at 8-15 frames per second going off. Motor drives can be helpful when tracking moving subjects or quickly changing background and lighting conditions, but I would see that happening when a photographer was shooting a relatively stable subject in constant light. Save yourself from extra editing time on the computer, Turn off the motor drive when you don’t need it.

sandhill cranes with reflection photoTaking a lower angle allowed for the reflection with the grassland environment in the background.

scenic photo bosque del apacheHad to be on my knees to get the composition of the reflection where I wanted it placed.

sandhill cranes in flight photoGenerally, a gimbaled tripod head would be needed to capture solid images of birds in flight. With new gear and in-camera stabilization improvements, more creativity is possible. The Sandhill Crane images were captured handheld with the Lumix GX85 and the Lumix 100-400mm lens (200-800 35mm equivalent) lens fully extended.

Excited about possibilities as I push this camera and lens combo even further.

See what you can do to differentiate your images from others at every chance you get.

Yours in Creative Photography,     Bob

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