Things they are changing

Beaver swimming around Dufferin Islands in the early morning light near Niagara Falls, Ontario.

It has been a few months since I have written anything.  Between looking for a new job, moving back to Canada and experiencing probably the worst spring weather wise I have seen in years, time and motivation to do any photography has been at a minimum.  Since nature photography is what I do for enjoyment and the fact that I find it reduces stress in my life, not getting out as much as I would like is a bit depressing.

So, now that I’m working again and we are kind of settled we are starting to get some time on the weekends to get out and explore the area.  As we are living on the shores of Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Niagara River there are some interesting new places to explore.

Muskrat on a cold and foggy morning along Black Creek

One of the things I have had to do over the last few months is change my expectations on what we can do.  We are no longer an hour from being in the Blueridge Mountains, or two from the Smoky’s.  We cannot spend the weekend easily on the coast or in the cypress swamps.  We had a plethora of wildlife to photograph in almost any direction from our base in South Carolina.  

Sunset along Black Creek outside the cottage we had on a short term rental.

So we have started to explore this region. Road trips along the north coast of Lake Erie. Hiking on the Niagara escarpment. Our latest was a trip to Letchworth State Park in western New York.  This area has its own beauty, but because it seems so much like what I have lived in most of my life I tend to overlook things.  

A very wet spring means tonnes of water flowing over the falls at Letchworth State Park.

To get back into the swing of things, I started just getting out on the Fort Erie shoreline after work.  The skies were grey but there were some shore birds and plenty of swallows and purple Martins nesting.  This gave me a chance to “perfect” my in- flight shots.  I Started  practicing with my Canon 500mm lens and 1.4 teleconverter.  That long and heavy lens takes some practice to follow a barn swallow in flight.  My Sony A7III also got a firmware update this spring and it was a good chance to get used to the way the tracking autofocus has changed.  

A still but foggy day on Lake Erie and the swallows are everywhere grabbing bugs in the air and off the surface of the water.

It was nice to watch the progression of a family of killdeer, from eggs to little hatchlings on the pebbly shoreline just outside the house.  Good practice for getting down low to eye level to get a good perspective, and even a shot or two of chicks under Mom’s wings.

One chick coming out from under wing while the other looks out from beneath momma killdeers wing.

Bird of prey have been less frequent than I had expected in this region.  There are a few Osprey along the Niagara River, but I have not been lucky enough to get to see them hunt so far this year.  We Kayaked past two Bald Eagles and got a few quick shots but again would like to be able to watch them regularly to capture more of their interactions.

Osprey taking off from a perch overlooking the Niagara River.

The one thing that I haven’t had any luck with yet is finding my favorite subject….owls.  We live in a farming area, with large fields along straight dirt roads.  I have spent a number of evenings driving along these areas just around dusk hoping for a sign of short-eared owls, and there have been barn owl sightings in these areas over the years.  Once I find some habitats and can observe them I’ll hopefully be back to learning more about my favorite raptors.

Bald Eagle shot from our Kayaks off the Lake Erie Shoreline.

I have learned over these last few months to enjoy what is around and try not to focus on what I don’t get to see.  I still get to relax and enjoy being with nature which is what makes me happy.

Tern hovering over some still water on the Niagara River shoreline just under the Peace Bridge.

High Resolution cameras and nature photography

Northern Cardinal - Canon 5DS with Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III. 700mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s, iso1600.

I used the Canon 1D mark IV for almost 5 years, it was a great camera and I loved the ability to get 10 frames per second to get a better chance of capturing interesting moments but I did very often find that I did not have enough reach.  I was often cropping my 16 MegaPixel pictures down to a point that they were ok on the internet but as soon as I tried printing them the details started falling apart.  As technology has been improving on all fronts in photography we started seeing higher resolution cameras that also had some reasonable tracking capabilities, although they were definitely much slower in terms of frames per second and how big the buffer was.  

Moving to a higher resolution camera, I bought the Canon 5DS originally for landscape and detail shots.  This camera with a 50 MegaPixel sensor was then as is still now the highest resolution full-frame camera on the market.  It had the pretty much the same autofocus system as the 5D III which at the time was pretty top tier, and really only the 1DX and Nikon equivalent were significantly better/faster at that time.  I started using it for high detail bird and nature shots and soon found myself using it  for action shots. I really got hooked on the detail more than the ability to get more shots per second.  This meant going back to what I used to do with older slower cameras trying to time my shots to ensure I got the precise moment in a action sequence….of course I missed moments that I might have gotten with the 5D IV but when I did get it, I often had a shot that was able to be printed much larger.

Red-shouldered hawk taking off. Canon 5DS with Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III. 700mm, 1/1250s, ISO 800. Original 8688x5792 cropped to 4178x4178. Printable at 300DPI to nearly 14 inches. Image posted at 2000x2000.

The ability to crop in on action is liberating since you can’t always get perfect composition while things are moving fast.  This allows you to keep action close to the center for good autofocus tracking while shooting and crop the composition that fits the shot afterwards while still keeping enough detail for a good size print.  This is starting to become less important with new mirrorless cameras that can focus just about anywhere on the sensor allowing easier composition while tracking, reducing the amount of cropping you need to do.  It is nice to have both resolution and full sensor tracking, and nice to have the choices after the shot.

Highly cropped image of a red-headed woodpecker. Taken with Sony A7RII using Canon EF 100-400 F4.5-5.6 IS II and Metabones adapter. 400mm, f/5.6, 1/1000s, ISO 400. Original shot 42 MegaPixels cropped to 1543x1543.

To get a sharp image, you always need to think about technique while shooting.   I shoot mostly hand held, even with the 500 and 1.4 teleconverter.  You need to be close to or even faster than the reciprocal rule (see explanation below) but the image stabilizers do give you a bit more leeway.  The other big bonus of this high resolution is in landscape photography and nature environmental shots.  People have asked me why I didn’t go with the 5DSR and the answer is pretty simple….I saw a refurbished 5DS on the Canon web site for nearly $1000 off the list price at the time I was looking for a new camera.  The difference to me was not worth another grand.  

Osprey landing in Sparkleberry Swamp. Taken with Sony A7RII from a kayak. Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter. 560mm, f/8, 1/2500s, ISO 1600. Cropped from original shot below.

Once I became hooked on the resolution, I started seeing that I could get both high resolution and better tracking/faster shooting.  I love the fact that technology is quickly improving to a point that I can do many things I thought were just not possible a few years ago.  As new cameras come out, you no longer need to choose between high resolution or high number of frames per second.  Sony A7RIII and Nikon D850 are already there, and I’m pretty sure that the technology in the Sony A9 will make it into higher resolution cameras within the next 3-5 years.  So far Canon doesn’t have anything in this space but I would imagine it is just a matter of time now that they have the EOS R.  They really just need to be able to process the data coming from the sensor a bit faster…..they have everything else in one camera or another. 

Since getting the Canon 5DS I have also gone high resolution on the Sony side.  Sony A7RII has also become critical for me, with the Sony 100-400 and 1.4 teleconverter I have reach and detail and can do tracking focus across nearly the whole sensor even at f8.  

I do still keep a lower (funny how 24 MegaPixel can be considered low resolution to me now) resolution Sony A7III to get that 10 frames per second and great low light shooting when I do need it.  That is a pretty great cheap way to get those capabilities. 

Osprey landing in Sparkleberry Swamp. Taken with Sony A7RII from a kayak. Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter. 560mm, f/8, 1/2500s, ISO 1600. Original 42 MexaPixel image.

Technique

Reciprocal rule:  Even with good image stabilization this is very important especially as you get to longer glass handheld.  Even though there may not be any difference in the amount of movement you have, you will be able to detect that movement more as your resolution increases.  Remember that if your subject is moving, you may still need a higher shutter speed to ensure that you stop the motion.

Cactus Wren taking off. Cropped image from Sony A7RII. FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS. 400mm, f/6.3, 1/2500s, ISO 800.

Explanation: skip over this if old news to you.

In general for full-frame cameras the reciprocal rule is a good guideline for capturing subjects without ending up with some blur due to the cameras movement while the shutter is open.  To ensure sharp images of moving subjects you may need faster shutter speeds still.  

With no stabilization and reasonably good technique handheld you should be able to get sharp images with a shutter speed that is the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens.  This is definitely a guideline to start with and it is a good starting point.  So if you have a full-frame camera and a 400mm lens, a 1/400 shutter speed would be a good starting point for a subject that is not moving quickly.  If you are using a camera with a smaller sensor then multiply this by the crop factor for the starting point.

Now with the latest lenses and cameras that have image stabilization you can get sharp images at shutter speeds that are much slower (longer duration of the sensor being exposed).   I have found that on static objects I can get about 5 times (more than 2 stops improvement) on the Canon and closer to 10 times (more than 3 stops) on the Sony where there is both camera and lens stabilization.  Both companies will advertise that you can get more than that but this is what I have experienced handheld in most conditions.

Great Horned Owl from a perch high in a White Pine, far enough that I had to crop in significantly. Shot handheld with Canon 5DS with EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III. 700mm, f/7.1, 1/125s, ISO 1600.

Subject movement: In these cases we are not taking into consideration subject movement or camera movement while shooting.

For moving subjects I will try to never get below 1/1000s and for small birds in flight I will normal double that again. I do this not because they are smaller, but because they move very quickly and I have to be closer to them. This will often mean higher ISO than I would prefer but a little noise is something you can work with, a blurry subject is most often (unless you are specifically going for that) going to mean a lost shot.

Female Mallard taking wing. Using fast shutter to stop wing motion….still a little visible at wing tips. Canon 5DS with EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III. 700mm, f/5.6, 1/4000s, ISO 1600.

Hand held technique:  The longer and heavier the lens the more you will see the effects of your good or bad technique.   Holding your breath as you focus and as you hit the shutter can reduce some shake and I have found to be a good way for me to concentrate on being steady. Find a way to stabilize your arms, elbows in to your body if standing. If you can stabilize your body or the camera against a tree, fencepost even better.  

Young black bear in the fields in Cades Cove. I would often use fence posts to help steady my shots as I waited for action from these bear. Taken with Canon 5DS using EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III. 700mm, f/5.6, 1/640s, ISO 1600.

Smooth motion while tracking: This gets more difficult as the lens gets longer and heavier.  When I first got the Canon 500mm it took quite a few weeks of shooting to get used to keeping a subject tracked even though I had been using a 100-400 with the 1.4 teleconverter regularly.  The length of the lens was a new challenge to keep steady as was the different weight distribution.  Every lens and camera combination has a different center of mass, and you hold them at slightly different points.  I have found that the only real way to adjust to this is more time practicing.  Panning is a difficult technique to perfect and it only gets more difficult as your resolution increases.  Smooth movements and smooth action on the shutter button will give you the best chance to get a sharp subject.  

Barred Owl hunting for Vole. Canon 5DS with EF500mm f/4L IS II USM. 500mm, f/4, 1/2500s, ISO 1600

What I’m hoping for in the Future and what I think is coming.

There are still times that having 10 or even 20 frames per second is useful, I have missed what I think was the best moment in a string of shots.  However, I have learned to work on the timing and when I get the shot I can do more with it than before.  I keep a Sony A7III with a 100-400 within reach for those moments that look like they will turn into faster action.  

What I would love to see in the next few years is a combination of what I already see either coming down from high end cameras or just putting a number of existing bits in one camera. 

The Sony A9 and the Nikon D850 as well as the Sony A99II that has been mostly forgotten have a good deal of the technology that I think will be common in a couple of years.  Currently and with the coming firmware updates the Sony A9 has most of the autofocus capabilities that I can currently imagine needing.  I’m sure the first implementations of animal eye autofocus will not be perfect but that will be fantastic as it improves to a point that all I really need to do is choose the animal/eye I want and then I can purely concentrate on the composition and action.

White Tailed buck in the fields near Whitby, Ontario. Canon 5DS with EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III. 700mm, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 1600.

I do think that the electronic shutter on the A9 is what I would like to see on a high resolution sensor the most.  I realize that is also the most difficult and likely expensive thing to want.  Silent shutter would be amazing for nature, however the implementation in any camera other than the A9 means that it is only really useful for static subjects.  This is due to the amount of time it takes to access and push to memory all the the data from the sensor and currently means that you will notice motion artifacts in your shots on anything other that the A9.

Buffer is the next issue when looking at high resolution and high frame rates.  The ability to get >100 raw images before the buffer slows you down may seem like a lot but when action happens in nature I often will take 3-5 shot bursts and may need to do many of these until the action stops.  Examples might be bull elk fighting or herons chasing each other.  The solution to this will come in faster memory cards and larger memory buffers…both of these will increase cost of camera and not everyone will want to pay for it.

Really what I’m hoping for is a combination of the Sony A9 and the Nikon D850 and I know if it comes out I’m going to not like the price.  I do think a camera like this is coming, I just don’t know who is going to come out with one first.  Sony has already shown most of the capabilities and the A9 shows they are willing to put something out there.  Canon and Nikon both are likely to first try to come out with a fast 20-30 MegaPixel fast mirrorless camera for the upcoming Olympics and are unlikely to bother with a higher resolution one that also has high frame rates at this time since there are likely not that many sport shooters that are currently asking for that.  

Beach Boneyards of South Carolina

Salwa shooting through the roots on the beach at Botany Bay Plantation

Growing up in the snow belt of Ontario we all dreamed of March break on the beaches of the South East coast.  You thought of the sandy beaches, the warm water (or at least not frozen solid), golf courses and beach houses.  Interestingly, now that I can get to those beaches in a few hours I look for things that are a bit different in my beach vacations.  

The coast changes rapidly along the eastern seaboard.  Weather makes new sand bars and takes them away over time and sometimes within one storm.  One interesting part of this change are the beach boneyards, locations that don’t look like they have changed in years with dead trees on the beach that are exposed every 6 hours or so with the tide.

There are two locations in South Carolina that are fairly easy to get to wander along and are fantastic for landscape photography.  Hunting Island State Park is a good starting point.  You can camp on the Island or stay in the nearby town of Beaufort.  The other location is Botany Bay Plantation close to Edisto Beach.  Edisto Island also has camping or beach houses that can be rented.

Both of these locations have been hit hard by hurricanes in the last couple of years, changing the landscape and often making it a challenge to get out to these locations.

So many textures and details on the beach at Hunting Island state park

Hunting Island

Camping at Hunting Island State park will allow you access to the beach boneyard as well as the salt ponds and marsh areas at all times of day or night.  You are going to want to walk this beach at sunrise, during the day, through sunset and even get night shots with long exposures.  

Shore birds are plentiful wandering around the dead trees as the tide goes out, with plenty of herons and egrets looking for fish caught in tidal pools.  Bald eagles and Osprey can be found along the salt marsh and in the big pond.  Pelicans will be feeding just off shore and black skimmers flocks will fly by.  In the woods there are plenty of small birds including the painted bunting….or at least that is what I have been told….still don’t have a good picture of one.

Snowy egrets playing and preening after the tide went out in the salt marsh on Hunting Island.

Late spring and early summer is a good time to chance upon nesting loggerhead turtles.  Take a look at the website for when it is best to see the turtles nesting and the babies hatching.

One thing to be prepared for is the no-see-ums.  These little bugs live up to there name and can be active to the point of frustration on the beach just at dusk.  If you can make it through, they do disappear again leaving you to enjoy the night sky.

Sunrise on the beach at Hunting Island State park. Get out early, it is worth it.

For dusk and dawn definitely bring a good tripod, long exposures of the water swirling around the trees can look amazing.  Astrophotography can be excellent as well, especially if you use some of the trees in the foreground.

As the tide goes out take out your telephoto lens and start looking for birds.  Ibis, tri-colored herons, little blue herons, wood storks and plenty of egrets can be found looking for what didn’t make it back to the ocean.  This is a great place to get down low and shoot these birds feeding and fighting at eye level.

Tri-colored heron hunting on hunting island

Botany Bay Plantation - Edisto Beach

Edisto Beach State park has camping on the beach and a second area that is more protected on the other side of the salt marsh.  Both locations make for a great place to relax.  The beach is a “no light zone” or certain times of the year when the loggerhead turtles nest on this beach.  There are organized night walks if you are there in June or July.  If you want to take pictures you will need to do so without flashes, so high ISO capabilities will be important.

Sunset on the beach bone yard at Botany Bay Plantation

The beach itself is great for morning and evening walks with tonnes of seashells to pick through.  The boneyard beach is a few miles away on Botany Bay Plantation which is accessible from dawn to dusk but check the schedule as it closes for hunters a few times a week.  The drive in through the plantation is beautiful as the live oaks make a canopy over the road and the sun tries to make it through the leaves.

Live Oak canopy drive into Botany Bay Plantation.

To get to the beach itself you need to walk across the salt marsh and through a couple of hammocks (tiny islands with many small birds). As you walk over the last sand bank you come directly into the middle of a boneyard of trees in all directions.  The best time to go is about an hour after high tide and up again until about an hour before the next high tide.  Sea shells are everywhere as it is illegal to remove anything from the beach.  This can make for some amazing foreground elements in your landscape shots.  Each time we go we find new compositions based on the height of the tide and what the weather has brought in or moved around.  

Shadows and silhouettes at sunset on Edisto Beach

During the high sun we look for details in the scene and wait for the sun to head down for some great shadows and less harsh scenes.  If the tide is right, definitely stay for the sunset and have a couple of compositions picked out.  The tide moves so quickly that you might need to change up even as the sun starts to set.

Getting down low with ruddy turnstones

There is definitely more to see on the Plantation, a number of places to hike along trails, tidal creeks with plenty of birds and even dolphins fishing along the creeks herding fish up onto the banks and almost beaching themselves to feed.  Nearby there is Ernest F. Hollings Ace Basin National Wildlife Refuge with hikes along manmade channels and beautiful old live oaks surrounding an old plantation house.

There is always more to explore on the south east coast, and hopefully soon we will get a chance to tell you about the Georgia and North Carolina coastlines.  

Sparkleberry Landing - Entry to a Cypress Swamp

From a nature lovers point of view, there is a hidden gem in central South Carolina that I kind of happened upon accidentally. My first month in the south was on my own, and with a rental car and not much to do on the weekends, I began scouting for interesting locations to go to once Salwa joined me. On one of those day trips, I went looking for good locations for shooting birds along some of the larger interior lakes. I wasn’t inspired until near the end of the route on the way back towards Greenville when I noticed a boat launch sign on the north shore of Lake Marion. On the map, it didn’t look like there was much lake at that point for a launch, but I drove down a dusty dirt road lined with dilapidated single wides and rundown pickups until I saw a bunch of empty boat trailers and a concrete boat launch that lead to the water.

Paddling past bald cypress trees as we take off from Sparkleberry landing on the North-West end of Lake Marion, SC.

Getting out of the car, I wandered over to a guy pulling his little flat bottom fishing boat out and asked a few questions to make sure I was actually in a public spot. This is when I got my first real view of what might be the best little kayaking location in all of South Carolina. It would take another couple of months before the movers brought our kayaks, but once we put in here we were hooked and have gone back several times, each time presenting new and different sights and experiences.

Salwa in her Current Designs Suka Kayak with a backdrop of spanish moss

The landing looks out onto a small opening surrounded by beautiful cypress trees with a path at the end that heads out into the greater swamp. Depending on the time of year, you can follow that route out, or in the wetter seasons, you can just head straight into the trees and explore the maze (at least in a kayak or canoe).  

The locals all seem to know the routes through the trees, and there are markers along the way, but if you do come down here I would suggest you have a GPS to plot where you start so that you can retrace your path if needed. We’ve gotten turned around a few times looking for alternate routes back to the launch without much luck. 

It is so easy to wander off path, so many things to see

Although we love the kayaking, the real reason we keep coming back is the photography.  The birds are abundant, and sometimes really noisy. There are turtles everywhere, and while nowhere near as numerous as the Okefenokee Swamp, we’ve also seen alligators. But it is the landscape, or should I say waterscape, that makes this an amazing location for photographers. It doesn’t matter the time of day or season, there is always something different to see. Shadows play across the water and the sun beams through the moss-covered trees creating some amazing moody scenes.

Getting near the end of the day and the shadows were getting longer as we paddled through the cypress trees in Sparkleberry swamp on the north-west end of Lake Marion, SC.

Sparkleberry Swamp is a jewel and for photographers and nature lovers, is definitely worth a wander and a paddle or two.

What To bring:

This is a location that you can quickly lose sight of time and lose yourself in the trees. It’s definitely better to be prepared with plenty of water, snacks, bug spray, sun block, and then more water.  It can get surprisingly hot, even in February as we discovered on our most recent trek. Definitely bring a hat, and if you don’t want a goofy burn on the exposed parts of your legs, don’t wear shorts.  

I typically bring two cameras, one with a 16-35 and the other with 100-400 and 1.4 teleconverter.  A GoPro or similar video camera is a great thing to have attached to the kayaks if you have one (or a couple).  I bring a towel that sits between my legs that I keep the telephoto ready to shoot and the wide angle sits in a deck bag just in front of me. One thing I would love to figure out is a tripod-like device that could sit on the rim and fold easily back down for paddling. If there is anything like that out there, please let me know, I would love to test it out.

What you might see:

You are very likely to see most of the usual water birds: ibis, egret, herons, and anhinga. Last year we were lucky enough to see two Limpkin in the trees, a pretty rare sighting in this part of South Carolina.  

Limpkin - rather rare to find in this area but hard to miss as its call was definitely unique.

When you pull in to the parking lot you are likely to hear red-shouldered hawks, barred owls, and osprey before you even get on the water.  The Osprey nest in the trees and are pretty easy to locate, and they always announce their presence when you get near them.

Pair of Osprey doing what they do in their nest

The beauty of the marsh itself is one of the main things to shoot.  Cypress trees, reflections, mist, sun, Spanish moss….there is so much and so many combinations from sunrise to sunset we could go back a dozen times and not scratch the surface of all the potential shots.

Where to stay, what else is nearby:

Sparkleberry landing is approximately 1 hour from Columbia or 1.5 hours from Charleston.  Both great places to stay as a base. Congaree National Park is a half hour back towards Columbia and a little closer is Poinsett State Park. The launch itself isn’t much and there are no facilities near by. Of course there are great opportunities for coastal nature photography all down the coast from Myrtle beach down to the Georgia border with Edisto Beach and Hunting Island as two other great locations that I will be writing about soon.

Quick tips:

• Being in a kayak gives you a great low angle for shooting a new perspective, take advantage of this and get your camera down low. 

• Bring filters as the light changes greatly as you move through the different parts of the swamp.  A circular polarizer can help reduce glare and help keep the sky blue. 

• Remember that you are on a moving platform, keep your shutter speeds high enough as you may not notice the boat moving. A gimbal (dji ronin-s is the one I use) can really help with video as you won’t notice the boat rocking until you get back and start editing.  

• Keep a towel and some micro fiber cloths since it’s inevitable that you will get water on the camera and lenses at some point.  

• Pay attention to small details as well as the larger scenes, there is so much to see sometimes you can totally miss the proverbial forest for the trees.

• Bring a good GPS. It is easy to get turned around in the miles of cypress trees, sometimes even the marked trails the fisher people use can be confusing with ribbons marking favorite spots as opposed to a return route. 

Sunset back at Sparkleberry landing, time to pack up the kayaks and head back upstate.

Okefenokee Swamp - Shooting from a Kayak

Gator heading towards my kayak….not as close as it looks as this is a crop from a shot taken at 560mm

Growing up there were stories and TV shows on Saturday mornings of people living in the southern swamps.  Amazing waterways with Cypress trees and grassy areas that you could travel by airboat.  I had heard of the Okefenokee Swamp long ago but never thought much more about it until we were looking for a new road trip location and I saw this huge green area on the map.  Up to this point we had hiked through Congaree National Park, kayaked on some rivers close to the coast but I don’t think we had a real appreciation for how big a swamp could be….or how much wildlife was living in one of these areas.

Salwa taking the lead down a side channel heading towards Minnie Lake

We have now made three trips to the swamp over our 4 years living in Upstate, South Carolina.  The first time we stayed on the coast and made a side trip to Cumberland Island to see the wild horses.  We really didn’t know what to expect on our trip into the swamp.  We ended up there on a very hot day at the beginning of May in 2016.  

We put in at the boat launch off Suwannee Canal Road on the east side of the Wildlife Refuge.  Packing in our cameras, water, snacks but did not at this time realize how the sun down south can suck up your energy and burn your skin.  Although we both had good hats, our arms and a couple patches on our legs were exposed and by the end of the day, were rather lobster-like.  We both bought light long sleeve shirts almost immediately after that trip since the sun block really was not enough for 5 or 6 hours out in that sun.

Shooting little blue herons in Okefenokee Swamp - photo credit Salwa Farah (wanderingphocus.com)

Gear

We have gotten pretty good at packing camera gear for the kayaks, I usually carry 2 cameras so that I don’t ever have to change lenses in the boat.  On the Sony A7RII I had a wide angle lens and the Canon 1D IV had the 100-400 (version II) telephoto.  I usually put the wide angle in a waterproof deck bag and the telephoto starts off in a regular dry bag but I keep it between my knees on top of a little towel for getting those quick bird shots.

Circular polarizers are a necessity on these types of trips, they really cut the glare down and help keep the sky from getting blown out. 

Little blue herons, everywhere you turned there were more of them.

I think we barely touched the surface of the swamp on the east side, even though we paddled for almost 6 hours.  We went off on a side channel very soon into the paddle and that took us through some amazing areas of narrow streams opening into ponds or small lakes.  Around every corner there was something to shoot.  Gators swimming next to you or sunning on the shoreline, herons and egrets everywhere.  We found one spot where there was two trees with nearly a hundred little blue herons.  They didn’t seem to be interested in us but we did manage to get some interesting perched and inflight shots (at the time I didn’t think about getting a good shot of all together).  

Getting ready to launch at Stephen C. Foster State Park. photo credit Salwa Farah (wanderingphocus.com)

Second time around

Next trip we decided to camp in the park and found a spot on the west side in Stephen C. Foster State Park.  This is a beautiful park with really nice tenting spots as well as places for large campers and a few cabins for those who don’t like to sleep on the ground. Hiking around the campground you will likely see red-shouldered hawks as well as barred owls.  On a clear day you can see Swallow-tailed Kites circling above you and Osprey fishing.   Deer also wander around everywhere on park property.

red-shouldered hawk looking a little ragged after a massive rain storm

Kayaking here is amazing.  Once you get out of the initial channel you move into a much larger channel that leads to multiple, smaller channels within less than an hours paddle. 

I would highly suggest getting out before the sun comes up, especially on a calm days, as the reflections and the mist over the water can lead to some spectacular shots.  From a nature perspective, on the morning we were out, the alligators were swimming near our kayaks and we got some amazing shots with reflections that are still some of my favourites of all time.  There was a noise that we heard that morning that really chilled us to the bone.  Male gators were doing a mating call in which they seem to vibrate their entire bodies to make a noise that sounds like something out of Jurassic Park.  If we go back again I would love to get some video of the water bouncing off the scales of the gator as it vibrated like a speaker membrane.

calm water in the morning allows for some fantastic reflections.

Our most memorable paddle came from taking the first channel off the main route heading towards Big Water Lake (trail map link https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/OkeWildMapSide.pdf ).  On this route we passed through cypress tree forests, long narrow passageways with alligators only a few feet from us, openings with ibis and herons roosting in the trees and a great picnic stop to get out of the kayaks and stretch….just watch for the water moccasins resting by the shore. Kingfisher were abundant and always just out of picture range, teasing us by perching until we just got the cameras out and then moving up stream for another go.

blocking the way as my kayak turns while I’m trying to get a shot of baby alligators

There is a camping spot further up in Big Water that I think would be on our list for a future trip but this time we just headed back for some relaxing at the state park. Even though the sunsets were pretty beautiful, we were so tired by the time the sun went down we did not get a chance to be on the water for sunset shots….another reason to go back again.

boat launch on a clear night. Had to use a post to steady the shot…remember to bring tripod next time.

I haven’t had a lot of experience so far with astro photography but it was a nice surprise that we found out Okefenokee has been designated a dark sky area.  I did take a couple of quick wide angle shots that turned out ok and it would be a lot of fun to do some more serious stacking and deep sky shots.   It is very likely that if we go back I will be taking a telescope and tracking mount to get some long exposure shots.

warming up in the morning sun. This young alligator was not worried about us as we paddled by.

Things to remember for shooting in Okefenokee:

Camera perspective - There is so much to shoot but also so many ways to get the shot.  In a Kayak you have a great opportunity to get a very low perspective  both for landscapes and to get eye level shots of the alligators and birds.

Video - this is a great opportunity to get video using an action camera or your main SLR/mirrorless.  

Tripod - Don’t forget a tripod for any night shots, focus stacking and panoramas. 

Filters - Polarizers, ND filters, graduated filters are all useful for reducing glare, adding a sense of movement and dealing with the fact that you are going to have bright skies with dark shadows in many shots.

Lenses - get out your wide angle and your telephoto lenses, different perspectives can really change how you look for that shot….I guess by definition :)

Leading lines - with so many tree lines and creeks try to use them to your advantage in leading the eye to the subject or through your the photo.

Be aware - not just for shooting, you are in an area with animals that can seem to be safe to be near but they are wild and you can also unwittingly disturb them or damage their environment.

Even after 3 trips to the Okefenokee swamp we feel like we have barely scratched the surface of what there is to see.  There are at least two other boat launches that we haven’t been to and camping in the refuge would allow us to see much more.   

This gator was one of the bigger ones we saw, we were happy that it just wanted to sit in the sun.

Getting the shot - Screech owl after dusk

First shot taken - definitely not the right settings, even though I’m already at iso6400.

Driving up our driveway just at dusk after a day of downpours of rain in upstate South Carolina, turning to go into our carport and I see a little lump on the ground that is hopping.  Once it noticed the headlights it flew up to our cherry tree, I thought at first it was a small hawk buy the way it took off, but the shape was wrong…a little too small and round looking.  I got out…left the car running and went to grab the camera out of the hatchback.  Luckily, the Sony A7III was sitting ready with the 100-400 on it.  I quickly adjusted the ISO to 6400 and as soon as I brought the camera to my eye I could tell it was a screech owl.  I was excited to get a shot but it immediately dropped back down to the ground about 10 feet in front of me.  I guess it missed what it was after and it again flew over to another tree in the yard landing about 6 feet up on a branch. 

This was my chance and I took a couple of shots quickly, and realized that my settings were wrong. 

I adjusted the exposure compensation to -2 stops to match the level of light outside (knowing that I could recover shadows pretty easily with this camera), increased my shutter speed and took a couple more shots….this time I got a couple of good ones off but the light was disappearing very quickly. 

Best shot that I got at ISO 6400, had to drop the exposure -2 stops while taking the shot but with the Sony A7III I was able to bring it back up without loosing too much detail in the noise.

I increased the ISO to 25600 and aimed again.  At this point the autofocus was struggling, but was still managing to grab the subject and I took another dozen or so shots before the owl took off again.

Sample of shot taken at iso25600, dropped 2 stops in exposure. This is how most of the shots looked before processing.

It went into our back yard and started a whinny and a few trills.  I then noticed an answer about 30 feet off behind our house.  At this point it was too dark for pictures so I just listened to them chatting for a few minutes before they both took off into the woods behind the house to continue the nights hunt.

Like the last image but after some post processing, brought the exposure back up and applied some noise reduction as well as adding a bit of clarity. Not a horrible shot for the web, but I won’t be printing it anytime soon.

It wasn’t until I reviewed the shots that I realized that this wasn’t the same screech owl that comes to stay in a tree in our front yard regularly.  That one is a pretty little grey morph, but this one was a beautifully coloured red morph…the first of that type I have seen and photographed.  Sometimes the most interesting nature interactions have only luck as a basis for getting a shot…but I’ll take it anyway it comes.

Last Chance….at least for now

Snowy on the side of the road, finally one close enough to get a shot….too bad the sky is still almost the same shade as the bird.

We came back to Ontario after 4 years of playing with nature in the sunny South of the Eastern US.  This was always going to be a short stay, get our paperwork in order and start looking for the next place we want to live/work/photograph.  During this time we were lucky in some ways and unlucky in others.  On the less than fun side, we came back to one of the coldest, dreariest autumns that I can remember.  I think we saw the sun 3 times in 60 days….and only for a few minutes.  Cold and snow came early this year, but with that came some good news. 

There have been a significant number of owls to be seen in Southern Ontario this fall.  Along the north shore of Lake Ontario you can often find (if you are patient and know where to look) 5 types of owls.  Great Horned, Barred, short eared, long eared,  and Saw-whet are always on the list.  Now it seems that last year was a good year up north for lemmings and that often means that a bumper crop of Snowy owls fledge and the next winter many come south to forage.  Even this early in the season the carrot fields and shorelines are becoming great places to find one.  That is a bit of an understatement as we saw 8 on one day alone.  Most of those were far off in the fields but on the last day we did find one in a tree along the road.

Breakfast? Lunch? a quick snack, and it didn’t last long.

So far this has also been a good season for Barred Owls as they head a little further south for winter.  We had cold but fun morning watching a successful vole hunt just a few feet away from us. 

Start of the hunt, Barred Owl taking it to the voles.

I also got a chance to see some Great Horned owls way, way up in the white pines.  I did a bit of searching, unsuccessfully for Saw-whet and long eared owls.  Those will have to wait for our next trip.

Great Horned Owl high up in the white pines

Now December has come, and we have finished what we needed to do in Ontario and have decided to spend Christmas back down in the Carolinas where we have already found the sun again.  We have left the northern owls behind for now, I’m sure some of my photo friends are getting more shots of the owls that are there and hopefully will get a chance to see some that I missed on this trip.  Don’t worry about me too much, as we got back to our property down south we were greeted by our screech owl….well, at least he was sleeping in its usual tree in our front yard.

Sleepy Screech Owl keeping our front yard safe from critters

So, where to next???  Maybe out west….we shall see, I’m looking up good birding locations (and I guess a new place to live and work).  

Time to go.

Snowy Far Away

Grim morning on Lake Simcoe. Snowy owl was seen in this area the day before but no luck on this day.

It has been a pretty grim fall back in Southern Ontario for the first time in four years. October and November have been mostly raining and cold. With Winter seeming to be coming early there is one benefit….Snowy Owls are coming south already.

I looked up sightings on eBird last week and saw a sighting on Lake Simcoe. Since we were going to be up in Bradford area this was a simple side trip on a rainy day but turned out that we were unable to find it. Salwa was supportive as usual but spent most of her time trying to keep warm in the car.

This weekend there were some more sightings, and another one up near Lake Simcoe so we headed out to some farmers fields to see what might be around. I guess you could say we had better luck, found an owl and it was a beautiful male, but….it was far out in the field sitting on the ground and it was bloody cold and windy.

You probably can’t pick it out, not sure how I did but there is a tiny white spot out there near the barns. Camera is set up, time to wait and watch.

Still, this is the first very white male that I have seen and there is always the possibility that it will come closer so I set up the tripod, took out the 500mm with the 2x teleconverter on the Canon 5DS grabbed my coffee and stood in the cold and waited.

Snowy owl sitting off in the distance, even with 1000mm I’m going to have to crop like crazy to get anything.

…..and waited…..the owl was pretty active, watching gulls and crows above him and taking a look at me every once in a while.

Massive crop of the last image, not the detail level that I would like to have but nice to capture a few shots of this owl.

…..and waited, nice to see it in this sea of green but I was still hoping it would fly.

….and waited, it started preening its feathers and stretching. Usually a good sign that it might take off but not this time. I’m sure if I could have waited the rest of the afternoon I would have gotten something but the chill was setting into me and coffee was calling.

For about an hour and a half I watched in the cold, Salwa is patient but this bird was not going anywhere soon. At least I got a few shots and hopefully this owl will stay in this area for a while. Nice to have a couple of shots even if they are massively cropped, and the anticipation of the next owl will keep me going.

photographing Black Bears in Cades Cove

Salwa (WanderingPhocus.com) looking for a good spot to capture the morning mist across the valley in Cades Cove.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the busiest park in the US, and Cades Cove can seem like you are in the worst of New York and Toronto commuter traffic. So why on earth would you want to spend a perfectly good weekend stuck in traffic? Simple, once you look beyond the bumpers ahead of you, the rewards quickly become apparent. 

Over the last 4 years we have done day trips, weekend getaways, and week-long camping trips into this small corner of the crowded park. We finally found the right combination to get the place mostly to ourselves to experience the exceptional sunrises, have a picnic overlooking the distant mountains, and shoot both landscape and wildlife photographs in spite of the occasional selfie-taking tourists wandering into the picture, placing themselves dangerously close to the resident black bears.

Standing cub looking to ensure mom isn’t too far away.

Bears, that’s exactly what the majority of people come in to Cades Cove for. Fortunately for everyone, the park rangers have managed to ensure that the bears don’t see people as a source of food and enforce a strict standard for food storage at the campground. While the bears are tolerant of the people, we’ve seen plenty of occasions that would irritate even the most docile animals - including encroaching on their space and blocking their escape routes, cornering them in trees, or our favourite, approaching them with cell-phones extended and a complete disregard to their or the bear’s safety.

Sow and cub looking up from eating the new grass shoots in early spring.

The best time for shooting bears is in the Spring when they venture out of the woods to eat the new shoots of grass after a winter of foraging acorns. Mother bears with new born cubs amble along the edge of the fields, keeping a close eye for potential danger (usually from the irritable males), keeping their cubs close by and close to climbing trees. Year-old cubs eat along side mom until they get bored and start sparring and testing the limits of their mom’s patience.

cubs are just as comfortable in the trees as on the ground. This is the first place to head at any sign of trouble.

Finding the bears takes some patience, knowledge of their habits and luck. Having said that, the easiest tell-tale sign of a bear spotting are the “bear” jams - a snarled and snaking line of stopped vehicles that can stretch back for miles. Trying to drive to the sighting is usually an exercise in futility and frustration since some drivers refuse to pull over. Instead, they stop their vehicles in the middle of the road, swing their doors open, and race toward the bears with complete disregard to everyone else - cue the car horns. 

While the cars are backed up, I typically grab the cameras and walk past the traffic jam to get some shots. This is usually worth the effort since the bears are often only about 50 to 100 yards off in the field. With a long lens, and a bit of patience you can get some fun shots even with a line of cars and people in the background.

Pair of cubs keeping an eye on the crowd of tourists on the road.

To get the best shots, however, you need to find the bears before the crowds find them, and this means knowing some of the locations that the bears frequent, the trees they like to climb and sleep in, and where they find security and slip off to when a crowd encroaches. A good set of binoculars helps too and you can often see the bears at the edge of the tree line and anticipate if they are going to come to a good shooting location. In these cases you will most likely get some of the more interesting shots before people catch on to what you are looking at with that big lens.

Bears are not the only wildlife you’ll encounter at Cades Cove. We’ve spotted deer, coyote, river otter and a variety of birds there. 

Pair of bucks doing a little sparring in early fall as the rut starts.

When the crowds get a little much and the animals have retreated from the midday heat of the sun you can get out on some of the hikes that are along the edges of the cove.  One in particular has a spectacular waterfall at the end of a fantastic walk along Abrams creek.  Don’t be surprised if you see a black bear wandering along the creek as you make your way up and down the trail.

Abrams falls is the reward for a long hike up and down a couple of mountain ridges. Great place to sit and relax before tackling the walk back out to the cove.

The Gear

Much like shooting Elk in Cataloochee, the gear I take consists of the Canon 5DS with the 500 f4 and both 1.4x and 2x teleconverters usually on a tripod with the Jobu gimbal head.  I carry a second camera with a 100-400mm lens, in this case either the Sony A7III for faster action or the Sony A7RII for high detail shots.  

In the morning, I will usually have a landscape lens on the A7RII.  Often the first hour in the cove you will find spectacular light and misty views around every corner.  

Misty morning across the valley in Cades Cove

Technique

From the perspective of being ready for the shot, I always try to keep a camera ready for action in fairly low light.  Since the fun with bears usually happens close to the edge of the forest, light is unpredictable and animals move in and out of deep shadows quickly.  I will usually keep one camera set to a minimum of ISO 1600 at the largest aperture of the lens (in aperture mode) and watch the shutter speed range from shadows to the brighter areas.  I try to keep to a 1/1000s in the shadows when possible.  I have found it is almost always better to have a bit more noise and get the shot without any blur.

If you have never shot black bears in low light it is good to know that single point autofocus can be fooled since there is very little deltas in contrast for the cameras to detect.  I will tend to use wide area focus on the Sony and then drop down to smaller groups if the bear is behind leaves or high grass.  The canon is usually good with 9 point focus as at least one of those points can find the edge of the bear’s fur.

For the most interesting shots, anticipating some actions can lead to great shots.  Young bears will often wander a little ways from mom while chewing on grass in the fields.  Once they realize this they will often stand and look around giving some really fun shots.  

If you see another bear in sight of a mom and cubs, be ready to watch mom give a grunt signal to climb.  Shots of the cubs climbing trees and sitting on the limbs are some of the best you can get.

Young cub waiting for mom to give the ok to come back down out of the tree.

Phocus Tips

• Pick your season: The first couple of trips we made the mistake of visiting on a beautiful weekend in the summer. We quickly caught on that spring is the most interesting times of year and that’s when the bears typically come out of the woods to graze in the open fields.  Late Fall can be fantastic as well as the deer are in rut and the bears are busy eating all they can before winter.

• Pick your day: A weekday is best if you can. Sunrise is the best time to photograph in Cades Cove. Choose a day that has a chance of rain in the forecast which typically clears out the park and gives you an opportunity to take some moody landscape shots in the morning fog.

• Carry binoculars and scan the edge of the woods for the tell-tale shape of black bears.

• Take the longest lens you have or rent one.  A Sigma or Tamron 150-600 on a crop body can give you enough reach that you won’t disturb the bears and won’t completely destroy your wallet.

If you get to Cades Cove at the right time of year you can have portions of the park all to yourself, at least for a few moments.

Once you have found the magic times to wander Cades Cove, each trip has the potential for some amazing experiences and views.  Whether it is bear cubs climbing a tree, deer sparring in the fields or magical landscapes at sunrise we have yet to come home without something to add to the portfolio.  Even if you get there and it is busy there is always someplace to go to get away from the crowds.  

Photographing Elk in the Cataloochee Valley

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Lone male elk, one of the lesser males in the valley heading towards the herd around the corner. The dominant male did not let it get very close, there was no fight this morning just a lot of noise.

It doesn’t take long before the sun casts a warm yellow light on the meadow, revealing a glimmering frost on the grasses. As the fog begins to lift, the shadowy outlines of solitary trees begin to take shape. 

The unmistakable trumpeting sound of a bull elk in the woods announces the herd. They scatter from out of the woods, casually rubbing their antlers on a tree branch, and with heads down, graze their way toward the meadow.

We are in the Cataloochee Valley, a corner of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina. To get there, you drive past a few ramshackle homes and seemingly abandoned trailer homes to where the paved road gives way to a heavily rutted single-track dirt road. The descent into the valley is not for the faint of heart, and with each corner there is a high probability of encountering a caravan of pickup trucks hauling horse trailers barreling up the valley, reluctant to break their momentum. 

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Frosty morning in the valley, this herd came down out of the woods as the sun was coming up and stayed active for a good 2 hours before finding warmer spots in the field to settle down. You can see the line where the sun hasn’t yet burned off the frost.

Capturing wildlife is a combination of luck, persistence, and observation. After making several trips to the valley the elk’s habits began to reveal themselves. We can anticipate which paths they will follow, predict their penchant for a mid-morning nap, and of course, expect their commanding displays of dominance and aggression during the rut.  We have also found what we think is the best timings to avoid any crowds.  It is pretty rare that we have seen many people at all in the early morning which we have found to be the best time for shooting. Week days are the best, however due to the 2 major religions in the South, Saturday and Sunday are not as busy as you would expect. The other religion, by the way, is college football.

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Dominant male elk sounding the horn as another male approaches across the valley floor.

Best Timing

If you really want to see the elk at their most active you need to be in the valley as the sun starts to rise over the mountains.  In the fall as the rut starts and the temperature starts to drop you can get some of the most interesting shots.  Active males keeping close eye on their harem with younger males looking to challenge or just for a quick foray to see if they can get in for a few minutes of fun.  If you can, pick a day when the temperature has gone below freezing over night.  The frost in the valley is an amazing scene and seeing an elk bellowing with heated breath can make for a stunning shot.

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Dominant male elk continuously testing the air, warm breath fogging up on a relatively cold and frosty morning in Cataloochee Valley.

Technically Speaking

On the technical side of things, I have found that the best setup for me is with two cameras.  I carry the Canon 5DS with the 500 f4 and have available the 1.4x and 2x teleconverters on a tripod with a good (in my case Jobu) gimbal head.  I also have the Sony A7RII or A7III with the 100-400 f4.5-5.6 hanging from my neck for when the action gets a little closer and less predictable.  The park has limitations on how close you should be to the elk (and bear) and these rules are good guidelines from a photography perspective, allowing you to capture natural behavior as much as possible.  Keep a wider angle lens available for some good environment shots as the sun comes over the mountains and into the valley.  Salwa (WanderingPhocus) will usually carry the 100-400 on her Canon 5D III and have a wide angle or macro lens available.

Due to the constantly changing light conditions while shooting we tend to shoot in aperture mode, adjusting the iris for the depth of field we need to get enough of the subject in focus and then getting a good feel for what ISO will ensure that we don’t go below 1/500 second in the darkest areas. Exposure compensation becomes your friend if you are using anything other than spot metering. I tend to shoot nearly 100% of the time in Ai servo mode with the 9 point box that I move around for composition on the Canon 5DS. On the Sony cameras I usually use all points and continuous tracking since in these cases the algorithms are excellent for picking out the subject and staying with it. I will change to single point or small group if there are many subjects and I want to focus on one in particular. At the longer distances we are shooting at, you can usually shoot close to wide open and get the full subject in focus. You can get a feeling for the depth by distance using something like the photopills app.

There are no gas stations, stores or cell phone service in the valley.  Preparation for us usually means bringing a cooler full of food and a little camp stove or a big thermos.  Hot coffee is a necessity for us on the drive in and while watching and waiting before the sun is fully up.  Come with many layers of cloths as well, you will need them early and can peel them off as the day progresses.

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Once the elk have settled for the morning there are many hikes in the valley. Some of these hikes lead to old cabins and cemeteries, others follow creeks up into the mountains. Keep your camera ready as the trails are also used by elk and bear.

As the sun rises higher in the valley the elk become less energetic and tend to either lay in the grass or retreat to the edge of the woods. At which point we trade our telephoto lens for a wide angle and hit the trails.  Although not as predictable, you will still often come across wildlife on the trails, and the creeks and valleys make for some beautiful images under the dappled light in the forests.

A lunch by the creek, top off more coffee and sit and watch the steam which on a prior visit, we saw a herd crossing.  This is a typical day for us in the Cataloochee Valley.  As with all nature photography your luck will vary on any given day in the valley, but if you follow our timings above you can up your odds and avoid crowds 

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Picnic lunch after a cool morning with the elk herd. This stream is a relaxing point with the bonus that the elk often cross just downstream.

Compared to other parts of the Smokies, Cataloochee Valley is a relatively little known gem and well worth a visit or two to get shots of some wildlife that you will not often see in the south east.