As I mentioned in the previous post using the new gear from Panasonic with five-axis image stabilization such as in the Lumix GH5 and the long reach of the Leica 100-400mm lens makes photographing wildlife a new joy. Here are a few more examples from a photo shoot in the Salt River Wildlife basin near Fort McDowell, AZ.
The avian population on the Salt River is diverse. This is a Yellowlegs Sandpiper.
The 800mm equivalent reach of the Leica lens makes acquiring action photos such as this possible. The stabilization allows for handholding even though the lens is extended to its fullest range. I enjoy making images that include behavior such as birds in flight. Got just the right shutter speed in this case as the body of the bird is tack sharp while the wing tips are slightly blurred showing motion.
Isolated tree along the banks of the Salt River.
I like how the tree is highlighted against the darker background of the hillside behind. Processed with Adobe Camera RAW, Photoshop and finished with Luminar as a plug-in.
Capturing the image is only the beginning of photography in my opinion. Images are massaged, and the vision is completed in post-production. The tools are quite varied, but I try to settle on specific software so I can use it to its fullest. Below are my current most used software options.
Adobe Bridge, Adobe Camera RAW, and Photoshop – Learn more here
Skylum software including Luminar, Aurora HDR 2018 and the Creative Kit – Learn more hereUse the code COATES to receive $10 off your purchase. You can try the software for free for 30 days.
NIK filters – Formerly free from Google DXO has purchased NIK and still makes the plug-ins available for free. They are working on a new release scheduled around the middle of 2018. In the meantime, with a few workarounds, the software still works (mostly) with the current MAC OS system. Learn more here and download for free.
Just gotta say, “Arizona kicks ass in the variety of subject matter to photograph!”
Had an opportunity to go photograph with my friend Sara Goodnick. She was helping me find the wild horses in the Salt River Area of Fort Mcdowell, AZ. This area is ripe with wildlife. In addition to a couple of horse groups, we came across there was a pretty substantial avian population scattered along the banks of the river. I’ll be looking forward to exploring this area more often in the future. Arizona has so many different ecosystems within a relatively short distance it makes for a great place to play. An hour in almost any direction gives you a significant change in flora and fauna. I believe I have been remiss in photographically exploring my state.
Let’s take a look at a few of the captures. We had just a slight soft layer of clouds for the day which softened shadows ever-so-much which made photographing at the time of day acceptable.
Such gentle creatures. Salt river horse up on the hillside. Rim light made this image work for me.
The framing of the horses with the scrub brush helps tell the story of the wild animals in their environment.
Dig the beard on the horse in the back!
Down by the water I enjoyed the log, cormorant and its reflection. A long lens helps make it possible to get close-up images of the wildlife with disturbing them.
All images captured with the Lumix GH5 and the Leica 100-400mm lens.
I think part of my renewed excitement about my pursuing wildlife photography is the use of the Leica 100-400mm lens on the Lumix bodies with five extra stops of hanholdability. Having that reach has made a HUGE difference in the number of ‘keepers’ from my wildlife excursions.
The zoo can be a great place to begin to study animal behavior to help make you a better wildlife photographer.
When I photograph wildlife, I try to get behavior images that I believe have a bit more impact than capturing the animals while they are stock still. The secret to making that work is learning and knowing an animal’s micro-movements that occur just before they are about to do something different. Often you will see a small twitch. A turn of the head or some other indication they are about to move. The only way to see that is to watch intently over long periods of time and patterns will begin to emerge.
Primates in the Phoenix Zoo. I had to be exceptionally patient in waiting for eye contact with these Gibbon (buff cheeked?) monkeys.
Again, I was waiting for eye position helped make this a more moving portrait of the orangutan. This image was captured at 1/30th of a second handheld with an 800mm equivalent lens. (see my camera notes below)
A beautiful animal, the jaguar, looks to another across the pen.
This baboon appears lost in thought. Primates being as close to human expression as you can get in the animal kingdom keep me interested for long periods of time.
One of the things I find extremely helpful in photographing wildlife is a lens with a long reach. This can allow you to fill the frame with your subject. All of these images were made with the Lumix GH5 and the Leica 100-400mm DG Vario-Elmar f4.0-6.3 lens. The five-axis image stabilization and the lens stabilizer working together allow for hand-holding and getting sharp images. The jaguar was at 1/800th of a second. The Gibbons were at 1/320th of a second. If an animal is still such as the baboon, the 1/160th of a second is no problem at all.
The tools we have at our beck and call are kinda amazing and allow us to capture photos that were virtually impossible only a few years ago.
Testing out the slow motion in 4K Video with the Lumix GH5. Hummingbirds are a favorite of mine. They are fascinating to watch as they maneuver through the air. Here’s a short clip that tells so much about their feeding and territorial habits.
Slow Motion Hummingbirds (click on the video above to play
Here’s a still I grabbed from a very small section of the video frame
Ran into a very interesting phenomenon pointed out by my wife. She was working in the yard and saw these long strands of moving stuff. (tech talk here) Never saw anything like it. Turns out it was tens of thousands of Gnat larva on a migration.
I wanted to get a shot of the larva to help identify it. Grabbed the GH5, my Leica 45mm Macro-Elmarit f2.8 lens, and a small tripod and was having no success. Even at 6400 ISO I couldn’t get a sharp photo of the moving, writhing masses due to the macro lens and speed with which the larva was moving.
I decided to try the Post Focus Photo Mode just to see if it could help. The photo mode uses all 225 focus points in the camera and captures them in a 6K video. Each of those 225 frames can be pulled and processed into an eighteen meg-pixel photo. The intended use in the beginning was to allow the user to decide which focus point to use later. An addition to the mode is the ability to fuse all the frames together giving you just the sharpest bits. The beauty is this can be processed in camera. Focus stacking in camera! Able to give you a 50MB plus file.
6K Photo mode image focus stacked in camera.
Even though this was a moving mass because each focus point is being photographed separately it is stopped and in focus. When all the images are processed together I get a Depth of Field i couldn’t with a single capture it also processed the sharp areas into a still image even though there was lots of movement.
Single capture of the same general subject.
The new technology can be leveraged in many ways to make it possible to create images in a different way.
This is Part two of a four-part series on a ‘day in the life on Oak Creek’ while photographing nature and wildlife. Check out the first installment here.
The second camera I brought on my nature adventure was the Lumix GX8 and 20mm 1.7 lens. (1.5 Pounds) This combination is for capturing time-lapse and/or video. Because the lens is a pancake style it fits in my Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 20 along with two additional lenses. On this day I ended up using the camera for video but I like to have the option of having the second camera body for taking time-lapse while photographing other subjects at the same time.
Here’s a still image screen capture from the video
Oak Creek and Cathedral Rock video. A little one and a half minute respite with flowing water and the spectacular rock formation that is probably one of the top ten most photographed places in the United Staes.
the video was captured in 4K quality. Shooting in 4K allows for creating additional camera movements like a Ken Burns movement in post production. A tiny tripod was used to steady the camera a bit but this was for fun and most of this was handheld. It tells the story of the day. The sound was recorded with the in-camera stereo microphones. The 20mm lens was a bit too static so I switched over to the Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 lens. This lens has a wonderful range from wide angle to medium distance zoom.
The next installment will be centered around another camera and lens combination. The Lumix G6 and the 14-140mm G Vario f4.0-5.8 lens. This camera has been converted to infrared by Lifepixel and has opened up the middle of the day for more creative imagery.
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
Fotopro tripods are well worth checking out. You can learn about the ones I use and recommend by clicking on the Fotopro Tripods link at the top of this page. If you want to see what other tripods might fit your needs check out the Fotopro.com website. Check back with me before you buy as a Fotopro Ambassador I’m able to get you discounted pricing including complementary continental USA shipping for my followers that you won’t find through retail outlets.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
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A High Speed Smart Camera Remote
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Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
Isolated tree along the banks of the Salt River.
