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July 2011 Gerlach E-Newsletter
Greetings Everyone! What’s In this Newsletter 24 Bears!!!!! Galapagos Bull River Hummingbirds Michigan Summer Workshops Smoky Update Shoot Sharp Animal Images (Photo Tip) 2012 Gerlach Photo Tour and Workshop Update
24 Bears!!!!
We recently returned from a photo trip to the Canadian Rockies with one of our friends. Although we have traveled all over the world, this is the first time we have visited Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Lake Louise, and many other exquisite places. We should have been going to these parks many years ago. The scenery is absolutely spectacular with rugged peaks reflecting in the many lakes surrounding them.
The wildflowers are abundant and colorful. A highlight for us was finding a moist and cool coniferous woods where hundreds of Yellow Lady-slipper’s and Round-leaf orchids were blooming together. This is the first time we have seen the gorgeous Round-leaf orchids and they were a delight to photograph--well worth the wait.
The wildlife is incredible, too. During the 10 days we were in the Canadian Rockies, we saw at least one bear every day. In all, we saw three Grizzly Bears and 21 Black Bears. Usually the light was too dim or too contrasty for good bear images, or other tourists scared the bears away by running after them with their cell phone cameras, but we did manage to get some images of Black Bears. We enjoyed photographing baby Bighorn Sheep (the adults were shedding so we ignored them), Mountain goats with babies, Pikas, Hoary Marmots, White-tailed Ptarmigan, Mule Deer, White-tailed Deer, Elk (including a 7 x 8 point bull elk in velvet), Columbian Ground Squirrels, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Moose, and Clark’s Nutcrackers.
We can’t help but wonder what these parks are like during fall color from mid- September to early October. All of these animals in their winter coats and autumn colors reflected in the lakes mean we hope to travel north again in September. By leaving early in the morning, we can reach Banff easily by nightfall from our home near Yellowstone National Park. We also want to spend some time in Glacier National Park. It has been a busy travel year for us. So far this year we have been home about 15 days. Sometimes we wonder why we even have a home, since we travel almost non-stop.
Thanks Jason for showing us a fabulous part of the world and we love the fact it's so close to home. We are sure to travel to the Canadian Rockies again. I won't be surprised to see us both there in the fall.
Many Thanks!!!!
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Galapagos
We know many of you want to photograph the wonderful and unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands. From 1990 to 2003, we led about twenty photo tours to Ecuador’s enchanting Galapagos Islands--the very place I read so much about when studying Darwin and evolution in my biology courses during college and high school. All of the trips have been fabulous. Reluctantly, we stopped going to the Galapagos when we started leading trips to the Falkland Islands, Midway Atoll, Antarctica, and many other places around the world. We simply ran into a time crunch. We have long been eager to return to the Galapagos Islands and can’t wait to use our digital cameras to photograph the trusting wildlife and landscapes of this unique corner of the world for the first time with digital.
We work with International Expeditions on our popular Kenya photo safari during January and now continue to work with them in the Galapagos. International Expeditions operates their own boat for touring the Galapagos Islands which is specially outfitted for their clients who love nature adventures. The boat even has kayaks for us to use. It is a deluxe ship that holds thirty-two passengers. This means it is one of the most comfortable touring ships in the Galapagos. It can sail fast, so all of the key wildlife-rich islands can easily be reached in a single week. Therefore, we have decided to run a small exploratory trip to the Galapagos this November. We do have room for some of you to join us. We know the Galapagos well from twenty previous trips, but we want to see what their ship is like before we add the Galapagos to our regular travel schedule. We aren’t charging any tuition for this November trip and International Expeditions is offering a $1,000 discount to our clients for this trip, so it is a real bargain. We will still treat it as a photo tour, though, and you can pay us by simply giving us your opinion about the ship and the whole experience. Please contact International Expeditions directly for complete details.
Contact:
International Expeditions 1-800-633-4734
Here is a link to the PDF Brochure from International Wildlife.
GALAPAGOS BROCHURE
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Bull River Hummingbirds
Once again the hummingbird photography at the Bull River Guest Ranch near Cranbrook, BC proved to be absolutely fabulous. Every year gets better and better! The bushes we asked Greg and Gina to plant several years ago have grown nicely. The hummingbirds use these bushes as their home base--a hummingbird condo of sorts. This means they perch in the dense bushes and regularly fly to our photo setups that are only a few yards away where they let us photograph them easily. Then they return to the safety of the bushes. We are using large tents to photograph the hummingbirds when using flash. The tents protect the flash station and the photographer from wind, sun, and rain. Since the Calliope, Black-chinned, and Rufous Hummingbirds are staying in the bushes between cabin four and cabin five, we have one station set up on the deck of cabin four and another on cabin five. Four other flash stations are set up on the ground between the two cabins. The photography at all of the stations is terrific during all times of the day--and especially from 6pm to 9pm. The only time a station slows down is when a Red Baron (a.k.a. Male Rufous Hummingbird) arrives and attempts to “own” the feeder. This means he perches close to the feeder and chases all other hummingbirds away. However, due to the large number of hummingbirds trying to come into the sugar water feeder, he normally gives up after a few hours of frantic chasing and “learns” to share--whether he wants to or not.
We continue to expand the art and science of photographing hummingbirds. This year we made great strides in developing techniques for photographing hummers with only natural light and natural light/fill flash combinations. Our detailed article on photographing hummingbirds with natural light will appear in the summer issue of Nature Photographer.
Fill-flash is especially useful for making the iridescence shine in the hummingbird’s gorget and opening up shadows when the natural light is bright sun. In the past, we largely avoided bright sun for hummingbirds due to the harsh shadows it creates. However, fill-flash nicely controls the contrast problem. Bright ambient light lets us stop the lens down more to achieve more depth-of-field and use faster shutter speeds. We especially like the effect of using high-speed sync flash. High-speed sync let’s you use flash successfully when you wish to use shutter speeds faster than sync speed. Most cameras have a sync speed around 1/200 to 1/250 second, but do check your manual to find out exactly what it is. High speed sync let’s you use 1/500 second and faster shutter speeds if you wish. The faster shutter speeds freeze the wings a bit more. When the flash is set to high-speed sync, the flash emits a series of small flashes that light the subject as the traveling slit created by the two shutter curtains move rapidly across the camera’s sensor. This series of small flashes essentially freezes the wings over a small distance which helps to show the motion and path of the beating wings. We plan to do a lot more of this next year at Bull River.
We are offering only two hummingbird photo workshops next year because of our demanding schedule. Of course, both workshops are planned for the two best weeks. If you wish to join us in 2012, enroll right away to secure your spot. Call Michele at 208- 652-4444. The complete hummingbird workshop information is posted on our web site.
Here is a link to our Hummingbird Page...
GERLACH HUMMINGBIRD WORKSHOPS
The Hummingbirds of British Columbia
May 20 - 26, 2012 -- May 27 - June 2, 2012
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Michigan Summer Workshops We may still have a couple spots in the last summer workshop we are conducting in Michigan. This is a superb week with cooler temperatures (normally) that are ideal for making plenty of dew in the morning. Call Michele right away to find out about available spots in any of our programs. Contact Michele at (208) 652-4444 or michele@gerlachnaturephoto.com.
Our Summer in Michigan Nature Photography Workshops
August 7-13, 2011 August 14-20, 2011 August 21-27, 2011
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Smoky Update
Barbara’s new Pomeranian has topped out at about 7 pounds and changed color in the process. He no longer has a Smoky appearance, so we have been trying to decide on another name. He was (and still is) as cute as a bug when he was a two-pound puppy, so Barbara sometimes called him “Bug.” Our other pom is Yogi, so many thought we should call him Boo-boo. Greg, who manages the Bull River Ranch, says he can only be called Boo-boo while at the ranch. He is a smart puppy, so some voted for Einstein. What does John think? The puppy still thinks my nose and toes are doggy chew toys, so I vote for either Mischief or Trouble. When I forget about him constantly tormenting me (just try to put your socks on when he is around), I like PeeKa, after the small adorable animal (Pika) that lives in the rocky slopes of the alpine zone. I think his official name is “Boo,” but I have heard Barbara call him “Bug-a-boo”, too, so I am not sure right now. Anyway, you will meet whomever he is when you attend our Michigan workshops.
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Shooting Sharp Animal Images
This year has been a banner year for wildlife photography. We started the year by leading a photo tour to the best game parks of Kenya and shot at least 20,000 images between the two of us.
Although we led four photo tours of Yellowstone by snowmobile, we didn’t shoot any wildlife then because we never had cameras with us. Instead, we spend all of the time helping our clients shoot magnificent images.
Then we traveled East to teach one-day seminars in several states. While traveling, we discovered the incredible Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park (www.shwpark.com). Over four intensive days of photographing, we shot at least 30,000 images of more than 100 species of ducks and some geese. It is duck photography overload!
May found us teaching our hummingbird workshops in British Columbia, where we shot at least 10,000 more images. While our clients were photographing at our multiple flash stations, we worked on developing tactics for photographing both perched and hovering hummingbirds with natural light.
Then we embarked on a ten-day trip to the Canadian Rockies. The wildflowers, landscapes, and wildlife are terrific in the fabulous parks of Yoho, Banff, Jasper, and others. We especially enjoyed Jasper National Park and the Icefield Parkway. We shot at least 20,000 more images.
Presently, we are home in Idaho photographing a Northern Flicker feeding young in a tree adjacent to our house (the young fledged July 6-two boys and two girls). The flickers are accustomed to seeing us in the yard, so they don’t protest our presence. The nest is about 10 feet above the ground, so we are using one section of construction scaffolding to secure a better photography viewpoint and hiding in a bag blind Barbara made for us many years ago.
We are also working on water birds, such as Red-necked Grebes, from a floating blind. My long time dentist and friend, Alan Charnley, helped us build this blind a couple years ago when we were visiting him in Michigan. It’s a fourth generation model, so it is the Cadillac of floating blinds. Don’t ask us how to build one, though. We can’t remember all of the incredible ideas Al put into the blind. He modified a lot of stuff to make it all work so well. We wear chest waders inside the blind which looks like a muskrat house and stalk the subject very slowly while walking on the bottom of the lake or pond. Should we enter deep water, the blind supports the weight of the camera gear and the photographer, but you have to kick like crazy to go anywhere slowly.....
A floating blind definitely isn’t for everyone, but we grew up wearing chest waders and love aquatic habitats, so we feel right at home. We also love the low photo viewpoint of being only inches above the surface of the water and you never know what may come paddling by. Yesterday, a pair of Ring-necked Ducks came swimming by. The drake didn’t pay any attention to the floating blind, but the hen swam right up to it and gave John an ear full before swimming off after deciding it was okay for the blind to be on it’s lake. At times, she was way too close to photograph. We are using this blind to photograph Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the reeds along the margin of the lake catching insects for their young. The floating blind is our kind of photography. Although some birds do notice it, nothing gets especially anxious about it. Birds do not fly away from the blind. If they are suspicious, they either approach closer to check it out or slowly paddle away. Other birds virtually ignore the blind and carry on about their business. Not only is it fun to photograph animals acting naturally, but it is interesting to see how all of the species interact.
The biggest problem with this floating blind is you must have calm water. Any chop on the water make the floating blind bob up and down. Since our big lenses are attached to a big Kirk Cobra gimbal head mounted on the front of the blind, it bobs up and down. Just try to compose and focus precisely on a grebe slowly swimming by when the composition is bobbing up and down and you have to pan left or right. It isn’t an easy thing to do. Naturally, the shutter speed must be fast in the 1/800 second range to have any chance of capturing a sharp image.
At times, though, calm water conditions, terrific light, and subjects willing to pose prevail. Then you can shoot a 1000 plus images in a very short period of time.
As a rough estimate, I figure we have shot 80,000 to 100,000 wildlife images since the 1st of January. Of course, most of these have already been deleted because the light is bad, portions of the subject are cut off, no hummingbird is in the image (a common problem when photographing hummingbirds in flight), soft focus, and many other reasons. We edit our images ruthlessly with PhotoMechanic (www.camerabits.com) because it pulls up all RAW files fast. First, we look for obvious unworthy images. Then we blow up the remaining images to 100% and check for sharpness. If they don’t meet our sharpness standards, they are deleted instantly. Then we go through them one final time and delete images that are essentially identical copies of each other. Usually this process eliminates 80% of the images. We feel there is no point to keeping good images if you have excellent images of the same subject. We always use the best images, anyway. Why needlessly fill up external hard drives with images that will never be used? If you don’t learn to delete digital images, you will soon be buried with them.
We do capture a large percentage of really nice images, though. A pleasing image must have a captivating subject in a sensible composition, no distractions in the foreground or background, perfect exposure, be lighted beautifully, and be critically sharp in the face and eyes of the subject. We employ a number of photo techniques to help us capture sharp images. However, we do admit that in many images--if not most--it isn’t possible to make every part of the animal sharply focused due to the limitations of depth-of-field. But, the image should still look fine if the face, nose, and eyes are sharply focused!
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Three Key Sharpness Tactics to be Used Together
1. Keep the Shutter Speed Up
Using shutter speeds that are too slow is one of the leading causes of unsharp images, especially if you routinely use Aperture-priority. We always try to use at least 1/250 second for still subjects and 1/500 to 1/1000 second for moving critters. Often this means we must use ISO 400 to ISO 1600, but we feel the increased noise at these higher ISO settings is a good tradeoff for sharp images. We often use Shutter-priority for wildlife images and like this semiautomatic exposure mode for maintaining sufficient sharpness. Shutter-priority does exactly what it says, it gives priority to the shutter speed and varies the f/stop when the exposure changes. In dim light, using Auto ISO helps to maintain a favorable exposure.
2. Focus on the Eyes
We always use a single AF point in the viewfinder. If you keep all of the AF points activated, the lens tends to focus on the closest object, which may be the shoulder of the duck, rather than the face. Using back-button focusing, we select (when possible) an AF point that coincides with the face of the subject when the image is composed the way we want it to be. We hold the back-button control in while keeping the AF point on the animal’s face and keep the camera set to continuous focus to allow the camera to instantly change the focus as the subject distance changes. This works incredibly well with ducks swimming by and any other moving animal!
3. Use Excellent Technique
We always use a sturdy Gitzo 1340 tripod and a Kirk BH-1 ballhead. Since we often must pan with an animal, we use a Wimberley Sidekick on the Kirk ballhead to convert it into a gimbal style head. Once you balance the lens on the Sidekick, you can pan left or right and up or down. If you let go of the camera, the lens will remain pointed where you left it because it is perfectly balanced. We almost never use a cable release or remote wireless release when photographing wildlife with telephoto lenses. Instead, we use our finger and hold on to the big lenses we are using to steady them. As long as fast shutter speeds are maintained, the focus is perfect, and your technique is solid, there are no problems capturing sharp images--at least most of the time.
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2012 Photo Tour and Workshop Update
The Magnificent Wildlife of Kenya January 3-17, 2012 Samburu, Lake Nakuru, and the Masai Mara January 16-20, 2012 Masai Mara Extension
As of July 5, we have about four spaces left in this tour. A Kenya photo safari is the premiere wildlife photo trip. All safaris are enormously productive in Kenya.
Please contact Sherry Boyd at 1-800-633-4734.
She will send you a PDF on the trip.
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We have led about three dozen photo tours to the best game parks of Kenya. We make sure you have the perfect trip, learn a lot about photography and Kenya wildlife, and come home with thousands of wonderful images. Don’t wait too long to decide to join us. We only go to Kenya in January now because we like seeing lot’s of babies, wintering birds from Europe, and enjoying the game parks without crowds of other tourists. Call our tour packager, International Expeditions, for complete information and prices. Ask for Sherry Boyd at 1-800-633-4734.
Yellowstone National Park in Winter!!!!!
Jan 29-Feb 4, 2012 -- Feb 5-11, 2012 -- Feb 12-18, 2012
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Yellowstone Winter Tour by Snowmobile
January 29-Feb 4, 2012 February 5-11, 2012 February 12-18, 2012
We only have a couple spaces left in these tours. Please call Tracy at (800) 221-1151 or Email Tracie@yellowstone-travel.com to grab the last spots or get information. Complete details are posted on our web site. It is likely we may add a fourth winter snowmobile tour, as we did in 2011. Get your name on Tracy’s list, so we can contact you if and when we do decide to offer a fourth trip.
For information or to enroll, contact Tracie at Yellowstone Tour & Travel. Call Tracie at (800) 221-1151 or Email Tracie@yellowstone-travel.com
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How to Shoot Beautiful Nature Photographs Seminars These enormously popular one-day seminars have not been set up yet for 2012. However, we plan to conduct them during March and April of 2012. If everything goes as planned, they will be held in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma. We will send out an email notice once everything is set up later this year.
Hummingbirds of British Columbia
May 20-26, 2012 May 27-June 2, 2012
These are the two absolutely prime weeks at the Bull River Guest Ranch. You’ll have swarms of Black-chinned, Rufous, and Calliope hummingbirds to photograph. At times, you can expect to shoot 300-700 images per hour. Please contact Michele to join us next year for this incredible hummingbird experience. Contact Michele at (208) 652- 4444 or Michele@gerlachnaturephoto.com. Complete details are posted on our web site.
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Wilderness Photo Tours on Horseback July 15-20 Yellowstone’s Fabulous Bechler Region
This is your trip if you like wilderness, great food, camping, horses, mules, photography, and tons of fun. Okay, you don’t have to like mules--but we think you will once you come to know them. Contact Terry Search for details at (406) 646-7230 or Search@Yellowstone-Guides.com.
Lee Metcalf Wilderness Photo Tour by Horse in the Alpine Zone July 24-29, 2012
We love the high country and spring arrives in late July! The incredible vistas and multitude of colorful alpine flowers will keep your camera busy. Imagine riding horses above the treeline. It’s awesome!!!! Contact Terry Search for details at (406) 646-7230 or Search@Yellowstone-Guides.com
Michigan Summer Field Workshops
August 5-11, 2012 August 12-18, 2012 August 19-25, 2012
We have been teaching these workshops since 1987 and they have become our best all-around teaching workshops. Even beginners who work hard, and listen to us carefully, can be turned into pro quality plus photographers in a single week. These workshops offer an abundance of macro and landscape opportunities. A highlight of this workshop is we teach you how to do fill-flash, main flash, and balanced flash. We are flash experts and can easily solve your flash problems.
Michigan Fall Color Workshops
September 30-October 6, 2012 October 7-13, 2012 October 14-20, 2012
Michigan is known for offering exquisite fall color viewing and photography. Five species of colorful maple trees dwell in the forest of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, plus there are plenty of yellow beech and aspen leaves, too. We have been leading fall color workshops in the Munising area for 24 years, so we know what to do and where to go no matter what the color looks like or what the weather is doing. We don’t know when the fall color will peak. Over the last 24 years, it has peaked as early as October 2 and as late as October 18, so it’s anybodies guess. No matter what the color looks like and what the weather blows at us, we will make sure you have a wonderful time, learn a ton about photography, and shoot many enchanting images. If you want to learn to shoot incredibly high quality images easily and efficiently, our Michigan workshops are the best ones to attend. We don’t shoot any images of our own during these workshops. We spend all of our time helping you master the art and science of superb nature photography!
Canada Seminar We are scheduled to appear in British Columbia, Canada at the 2 day Abbotsford Photo Arts Photographic Seminar October 27 & 28th.
We will be offering our one-day seminar plus other instructional programs. This fine group offers a wonderful weekend seminar annually with many speakers and other photo activities. For more visit: www.apac.bc.ca
Thanks for Everything!!!!!
Thanks for taking the time to browse this E-newsletter. Please forward this to others. We love sharing our ideas, adventures, and photo strategies with everyone. Don’t forget to read our two most recent instructional articles that are posted on our web site. One article covers manual metering strategies (a must read for everyone) and the other describes our experience in publishing our first two books on nature photography. Of course, we are working on our third book now covering wildlife photography. It is expected to be out sometime in 2012. Many more books are planned, too. Thanks again to everyone for making our books a big seller for our publisher--Focal Press. They appreciate it and so do we.
All the best,
John & Barbara Gerlach Yogi Bear and Boo-boo (I think) Teton, Joker, and Bandit (our three Tennessee Walking Horses)
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