Dock 

Old Courthouse 

Community Federal 

Firehouse 

Katherine 

Chemistry 

Night Shots

I came home this evening to find my daughter and her friends had set up some candles on the patio table. I was thrilled to see they did this outside and not in the house. It was a drizzly, breezy, night so they had a bit of a challenge keeping the candles lit.

Of course I saw this as a golden opportunity for a photoshoot. Not sure if they would approve of my shutter clicking away, I took some from inside the house first without their knowing it. The shots from inside were shot through a window that has glass blinds. The glass blinds created double and tripple candle reflections, none of which were particularly pleasing upon later review.

Fortunately when I ventured outside the kids welcomed the chance to get some shots of their "chemistry" experiments. Here are two important tips for photographing people in candle light. Tip1: Stablize the camera. Use a tripod or a sturdy surface. Night shots require long exposures and while the shutter is open any movement causes blurry pictures. Tip2: Tell your subjects not to move! Same principle. If the photographer's hand moves everything is blurry, if the subject moves just the subject is blurry. Of course you may want to experiment with movement in night photos, but the two tips apply if you want sharp (or fairly sharp) images.

Some cameras have a mode for taking pictures of people at night (the icon is a person's torso with a moon or star behind them). The program mode might do a pretty good job also. In the pictures posted here I used ISO 200 (note, although higher ISOs do provide more light, lower ISOs still provide a sharper less grainy image so if you can use a tripod and get your subject to hold still you can get away with a low ISO), 1/4 shutter speed 4.0 aperature (horizontal picture), and 1/5 shutter speed 3.5 aperature (vertical picture with the chemistry book).

Oh, one more tip, have your subject very close to the candle.

In prior night shots I got some interesting pics of the Community Federal Building (Ok, I know it was bought by Edward Jones, but I still think of it as the old CF building), and a firehouse on a foggy night. When the weather sets the stage for unique photo ops get out there and shoot. Did you know you can use the landscape mode for night shots of buildings? Just remember to use a tripod. I like using my car window tripod so I don't even have to get out of the car. But you do have to turn off the engine or the vibration of the car's engine will blur the shot.

In contrast, the dock picture (at Acorn Point Lodge in Reel Foot Lake Tennessee) was taken at 1600 ISO with a shutter speed of .3 and an aperature of 3.5. This made for a fairly bright shot even though it was taken at night. The trees are lit by lights that are connected to the trees.

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Turkey 

Death Defying Leap 

Mini Horses 

Muscovie Duck 

Photography Adventure: Spring in Souson Park

A break in the drizzle inspired me to go on a photoshoot yesterday. Ok, as you've noticed I always go on photoshoots every spare minute I can find. The weather was crappy, around 38 degrees and overcast. In addition I am battling with a cold so I had no desire to spend a lot of time in the lousy weather, but I just had to shoot some pics. So I picked Souson Park. To get to Souson Park (South of St. Louis, Missouri) from I-270 take Tesson Ferry Road South, go left on Wells Road, and in about a mile you will see the park entrance on the right.

Souson Park is unique in that it has a "farm" in it, complete with horses, sheep, goats, chickens and various other petting zoo type animals. It also has a stocked lake that attracts various water foul as well as fishermen.

As I parked the jeep I saw an odd bird that I couldn't identify, following around a pair of Canada geese. This bird was large, black, had a broad tail like a turkey that it waggled while it groveled, webbed feat, and a duck bill. It also had red around it's bill that looked like a turkey's face. A friend on an email group, Nina Campbell, identified this bird as a Muscovie Duck. I'll post this pic by popular demand (thanks for the request Alicia and CarolH). I used the 400 mm lens for this one.

Wandering around the park further I saw some miniature horses running around. I switched to my 28-135 lens and upon closer inspection I discovered that they weren't just running, they appeared to be fighting. The larger one chased the smaller one, teeth bared, biting, they'd rear up fighting each other, all teeth. They provided some interesting action shots. I took some in program mode (ISO 200, white balance set to cloudy day) which kept the shutter open long enough to create a blur effect on the running turns, and others with the sports mode. The thing I love about the sports mode is that it sets the shutter speed high, turns on the continuous shooting mode, and turns on the AI servo panning focus tracking, all with a turn of the mode wheel. The horse action was another opportunity to take full advantage of the extreme memory card's speed. As they reared up the 20D was firing like a machine gun and every move was recorded.

There was also a huge pig named dolly, an albino (I think) pot bellied pig, a beautiful white and brown turkey strutting his stuff, and lots of chickens and geese. Hey Nina, there was even a guinea hen. As I walked back toward the jeep to go home I heard peep, peep, peeping and saw two fuzzy baby geese (I guess) walking around looking for their mom. They jumped off a retaining wall onto a cement sidewalk, about a 3 foot drop, and went on their way.

The weather was so crappy that day I didn't expect to stay out long or get much in the way of shots but Souson Park sure provided a plethora of photo ops. Also, since the weather was so bad I almost had the park to myself. I did see some park service vehicles stop to laugh at that Muscovie duck though.

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Eagle Lift Off  

The Eagle has Taken Off

With the eagle photography season winding down here in the heart of the Mississippi flyway, I would be remiss not to post an entry about one of my favorite subjects, the American Bald Eagle.

If you would like to get great shots of eagles, first start with a camera with a lot of zoom. Even though eagles are pretty big, they seldom walk up to you and say cheese. So if you have a little point and shoot with a 3x (105mm) zoom, chances of getting much more than a spec aren't that good. Something in the 10x (380mm) or more range is more like it.

Next, to get great shots you have to have patience. If you run up to a perched bird it will fly off, and you will most likely miss the shot because you were in motion at the time. Find a spot where the birds like to land and make yourself as low profile as possible. There are some great places to go where the birds are used to photographers enough that a 400mm lens is enough. There are a couple tricks to staying low profile, without camping out in a blind. If you are viewing from an actual viewing platform, like the one at Winfield Missouri, staying on the lower deck rather than the upper can reap great shots as the birds fly in over the upper deck, not seeing you until after they perch. Another trick is to use a window tripod. These tripods clamp right onto your car window. I've seen countless people who see a bird and want to get a picture of it, drive up, open their door, jump out of the car, and by the time they get the camera to their eye the bird is gone. The bird that perches near roads can be pretty used to seeing cars go by, and may not even mind a stopped car, but if you open that door (and slam it) and they see the shape of a standing human, they are gone. Staying in the car with a window tripod can keep you out of the weather and get the bird in your sights long enough for a great shot.

Eagles have a lot of contrast in color, dark brown and white. If you meter your camera to the body the head can be to bright and the sky washed out. Metering to the head can make the body to dark to see the feather details. Here is a trick that can help, a polorizer filter can cut down the glare from the head while making the sky a nicer shade of blue.

Patience is a virtue so unless the friend you are thinking about taking with you has endless patience, go alone. Seriously. The best eagle shots aren't the bird just sitting, it is the bird taking off, in flight, or landing. Wait for the bird that is landing or taking off and the shot will be much more interesting. Eagles usually feed a couple times a day and rest most of the rest of the day. Arriving at sunrise can get you fantastic action shots.

Dress for cold weather. The best time to view eagles is after a long cold spell of two or more weeks. When the rivers are freezing over the eagles congregate where they can get to the fish, at the damns and behind river boats that break up the ice. Winfield Missouri was rated the best place in the Northern Hemisphere to view eagles ("National Geographic's Guide to Wildlife Watching, 100 of the Best Places in America to See Animals in their Natural Habitat") The birds migrate up and down the Mississippi river, so you don't have to go all the way to Alaska to view them.

If you have been shooting eagles long enough to graduate from perched shots to action shots, don't forget to set your shutterspeed high (or use the sports setting on your camera if you have one), to freeze the action when the bird is in flight. While you are waiting for the eagle to come by, practice shooting the seagulls. There are plenty of them frequenting the same feeding grounds.

Also, don't forget to notice where the sun is. A backlit shot is nice once in a while but the best shots are usually not backlit.

Have fun, but don't forget to give the birds a chance to rest also. Stalking them relentlessly isn't good for them and could chase them off to more remote feeding grounds where you won't get any shots of them.

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White Hawk 

Photography Adventure: White Hawk and Heron rookery

Last Monday I finally found the time to revisit a couple places I had done photoshoots at several years ago. I have wanted to reshoot them because the first time I went, I was still shooting with one of the first prosumer digitals on the market, a Sony Mavica with a 14x optical zoom that stored it's pictures on a floppy diskette. That camera was from 1996 and back when it was made the term megapixel hadn't been coined yet (or if it had it wasn't commonly used yet). So this camera shot at less than a megapixel. Needless to say the pics from that camera lacked quality. The lens was great but the picture quality was non-existant.

For this particular photoshoot I took along my son and assistant (driver and photographer). I shot with the 20D with the 100-400 lens, Ben shot with the 10D and the 28-135 lens. We arrived in the morning and made our first pass in our search for the white hawk. This bird is a very large albino red tail hawk. It had been years since I had seen it, and I wasn't sure if it was still alive, but I did have contacts in the area who had seen it this season so my hopes were high.
On the first pass we didn't see the bird. We went way beyond the area I had seen it in previously and explored a nice nature preserve. My jeep always gets me where I want to go, even over miles and miles of gravel and dirt roads. Then on the way back just as we were discussing whether to hang around in hopes of a sighting or whether to head to our next destiantion, there she was. A huge beautiful white hawk, in a tree near the road. She was to close for my lens to get a bead on her before she flew away, and I only got a couple shots of her hasty retreat. But I was so happy to see that she is alive and well. Once she disappeared into the vast forest valley, we went on to our next stop, the heron rookery.

The heron rookery is in a massive tree. The first time I shot it I counted over 50 nests in that one Sicamore tree, and as many birds. We hiked a mile or so through the woods to a river valley, through a couple barbed wire fences, and through a creek to find the tree. This time my heart sank to see that a house had been built on the bluff behind the tree. Most of the nests were gone, probably blown down in the winter winds, and we only saw a half a dozen great blue heron inhabiting the nests. It was still exciting to see these giant birds exit thier nests, fly off, and come back riding the winds to ever-so-gently land amongst the limbs. The sound of the raucous calls gives the scene an erie, African-like aura. I hope that the lack of nests was normal for this early in the spring and that the others would repopulate the tree in the next few weeks.

Once we had a nice lunch at base camp, we went back for another attempt at the white hawk. As luck would have it, we saw her in the distance down a dirt road and across a field. I was able to get some shots of her, both with the 100-400 lens and with the 1000 mm telescopic lens. I don't recommend a 1000mm mirrored telescopic lens for wildlife photography since it can't freeze the action of a moving subject, but it can be useful for a subject that otherwise would be to far away to get any kind of shot of. TIP: If you ever want to try using a telescopic lens with your camera you need two accessories, the camera mount and the T-adapter for your model of camera.

The white hawk was kind enough to give me some pretty nice shots this time. One is posted for your viewing pleasure. Note that this picture is made much smaller than the original for efficient Net loads. If you are interested in purchasing this or any of my photography, send an email to me at kdentonh@ix.netcom.com.

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Photography Adventure: Flashing Deer

There is a small group of people who like to go to the park at sunset to watch the deer come out and feed. We call ourselves the JB Social Club (JB is for Jefferson Barracks Park). If you've tried to get pics of deer before, you know they come out in low light so it can be a challenge to get good pics of them.

One night I was testing out a Promaster flash on a Canon 10D so I hung around at the park until after dark. Park rangers frown on being in the park after dark so I had to hope they wouldn't catch me. I watched the deer disappear into the field as their camoflage and the low light combined to make them almost invisible. I creeped up as close as I could without making a sound and prepared to shoot from the edge of the tall grass. The grass provided some camo for me so the deer didn't run off. They were still pretty far away, and I wasn't sure if the flash would go that far, but I had to give it a try. I thought that I'd get only one chance at this because I fully expected them to run once the flash fired.

Attempting to focus, I discovered that the camera couldn't focus in total darkness. That may sound like a given, but the owners manual said that it should be able to do this using the infrared sensor. Eventually I gave up on getting it to focus and just hoped for the best. I took the shot and the flash fired. I could see in the review that it wasn't in focus, and the deer were to far away for a good shot anyway. But to my total amazement, when I stared out into the field I could make out the shape of the deer. I thought my eyes were deceiving me because not only had they not fled, they appeared to be closer. Totally excited, I got ready to try again. Again the camera wouldn't focus, I fired, and again, the deer actually came closer. They seemed to be fascinated by the flash. I repeated this until the deer were so close I could almost reach out and touch them. I had one more chance and as I zoomed out to try to fit one into the frame (they were so close the 28-135 lens was suddenly almost to big), I noticed one of the deer move to the left, in an arc. I couldn't take my eye off the one directly in front of me to see what the other deer was up to. I fired again. This time the deer that had ventured off, saw my human sillouette and stomped her foot. All the deer scattered.

That was an amazing close encounter with wild animals. I was disappointed in the pictures, as the camera never did focus correctly and it was to dark to manually focus. After that I borrowed a friends' Canon flash and tested it in total darkness and guess what, the camera focused correctly with the Canon flash. The Promaster flash worked fine under normal lighting conditions but I traded it for a Canon flash since I need the night focus feature to work for me.

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St. Louis Downtown 

Pulitzer Prize

Since I wrote last I have gotten a few photo shoots in. One of deer in JB park, some night shots, and another trip to the top of the arch. I'll just post the updated St. Louis City panoramic today. This time I got the stadium and the old courthouse into the shot. Note that the new stadium is going up right next to the old one.

There is an exhibit of the Pulitzer prize winning photographs at Maryville University. I recommend anyone interested the least bit in photography or historic news events attend. Tip: Bring tissues. Most of the photographs were taken with Nikons and Kodak Tri-X film. The stories behind each photograph are gripping as well. To get there from St. Louis take I-40 (also known as I-64) West to 141 North. Turn right on Conway Drive, then right again and follow the signs to the exhibit. I called in advance and they told me today (Thursday) they were open until 9 p.m. I'm not sure how long it will be there and what their weekend hours are so you may want to call to confirm hours.

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