Bosque del Apache with Juan Pons
pathfinder
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My wife and I just returned from a workshop in Bosque, focusing mostly on sandhill cranes and snow geese, but we did see some other wildlife there as well. The skies were mostly blue and cloudless, but we did have a few clouds occasionally.
Needless to say, there were a lot of snow geese there
At sunset we shot a lot of sandhill cranes coming in for landings, with the sun setting behind them
We also saw them taking off as well
We saw the briefest glimpse of a coyote along the entrance road
The colors of Bosque were their usual warm fall colors as the snow geese assembled
There are a few deer as well - this poor buck had a very sore right rear leg, I suspect he will end up food for a mountain lion
We spent the better part of an afternoon chasing a kestrel that was quite busy catching crickets
More images can be seen here -https://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Travel/Basque-del-Apache-in-December/ If you wander through my gallery, please leave a few comments that you feel are pertinent. Thank you.
Comments and criticisms are warmly encouraged.
Needless to say, there were a lot of snow geese there
At sunset we shot a lot of sandhill cranes coming in for landings, with the sun setting behind them
We also saw them taking off as well
We saw the briefest glimpse of a coyote along the entrance road
The colors of Bosque were their usual warm fall colors as the snow geese assembled
There are a few deer as well - this poor buck had a very sore right rear leg, I suspect he will end up food for a mountain lion
We spent the better part of an afternoon chasing a kestrel that was quite busy catching crickets
More images can be seen here -https://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Travel/Basque-del-Apache-in-December/ If you wander through my gallery, please leave a few comments that you feel are pertinent. Thank you.
Comments and criticisms are warmly encouraged.
Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
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Love the shot of the kestrel and the one with 4 snow geese in the air in very similar positions with a mass of birds on the ground.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
I am glad to hear that you like that image too, for the same reasons I do.
Although I was initially disappointed that I didn't get a clear shot of a coyote, I liked that the coyote was hard to see, and took a moment to sort out, and that the vegetation was almost a shot by itself too! Thanks again.
At first I thought I preferred this image below, but now I think I like the image I posted above better, even though it is harder to see the canine
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Sometimes I think that rules are meant to be broken.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
I agree ...for me, it's (by far) the strongest shot of the group.
I like the complexity etc of the subjects in the first, but less so the 'stripeyness' created by fg and bg, suspect a frame filled by just the birds might have been interesting?
2's nice, but uncertain about the (extent or presence of the) bg
3's nice action / catch ...but too high pov (imo) and too much clutter.
5 .. the white strip(e) of geese at the bottom of the frame are too much of an 'eye pull' / competition with the '4 in a row' for me
6 Wonder if your feelings for this subject overruled the impact of the bg?
Moving the first coyote pic around in the browser window makes me wonder if you've considered doing anything about the darker strip of bg at top of frame since - for me - reducing its impact make the pic even better / stronger?
Obviously all imo and probably not worth the same amount as my sign off ...
pp
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btw, I enjoyed reading Juan's comments in his recent MW blog post re Landscapes.
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The silhouettes are nice too.
I enjoy spending time with Juan, and always learn something new from him.
Thank you for your thoughtful post, Paul - I found each of your points informative and thought provoking, and worth discussing a bit further.
1. I have versions of the first frame cropped more tightly, and yet they did not say "New Mexico" to me, like the version I posted. Especially, since I have similar frames filled with birds shot in Missouri at Squaw Creek Wildlife Reserve. ( A great place to see snow geese and sandhills also )
I think the choice comes down to the artists intent for the image, finally. I have lots of images of just the clot of birds, but did not find them as appealing to my eye. Too confusing - maybe with a shorter focal length I might like them better.
2. For me, that frame is all about color - I have many frames of the sandhills descending, with the sky all colors from dark blue, to green, to orange, and green descending into yellow or blue. In all of them the birds are total silhouettes, there really being no detail in the birds to see or capture. I like the colors in the image I posted, but I knew/suspected not all wildlife photographers might feel total acceptance of it. Is the color a slight exaggeration of reality, of course it is. That's why I am an artist, not a documentarian isn't it?
3. I agree that 3 might be shot from a lower perspective. The clutter is what surrounded the bird, I did not want to crop tighter, but some certainly might. It is a sandhill launching. I had many others, but many are from within the other flight of birds, so that the launching bird is not clear on all its margins.
5. I agree that the white area at the bottom of the frame tends to pull the viewer's eye also ( I noticed it as well ) , but it is not the same image when I crop the sea of snow geese at the bottom out. One of the things I liked about this image, is that two of the descending geese are blue morphs I think. Again, it comes down to an artists intent again. I could just have an image of the 4 birds, but I didn't think that was strong enough on its own.
6. The buck was shot in landscape mode, as I was not really close enough to fill the frame quickly in portrait mode. When editing, I gave some thought to cropping the background out on the right, but finally decided I preferred the negative space in the image over a tighter framing with the buck in a portrait perspective. Not the best shot I agree, Paul, but maybe I just did like that little fellow and included it for that reason.
The shot could have been done better, if he had stayed around, but he tired of my watching him and wandered down over the dike and disappeared into the forest. That's the best I could do with what he offered me at the time.
4. I tried cropping off the darker area at the top of the coyote image, but ultimately I decided I preferred to keep the tops of the darker weeds in the image - If I cropped the darker area off, I had to sacrifice part of the weeds which I thought was a significant part of the image. If I had been faster at stopping the car, pulling off the highway, and shooting this coyote faster, maybe I could have gotten a better capture. I have to work with what I gathered finally.
Paul, I truly appreciate the time you spent asking these questions, and I fully realize my answers are only partially adequate. This kind of discussion I think, really helps one look at ones images, and, hopefully grow a bit as an artist.
This is another of my silhouettes that some may or may not like - The are clearly sandhills even in silhouette.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
The image with the "bird" centered is perfect; sometimes rules are made to be broken. I like the implied corner to corner lines of the head and feet, and the wingtip to wingtip going corner to corner.
Phil
Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity!
Link to my Smugmug site
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With respect to my initial comments, I - in the interests of brevity - seem to have introduced the potential for some misunderstanding too ...
1. If wanting to show the location in frame, then yes, I can see your thinking. Probably because I rarely visit places other than the (very) few local venues that I do, this 'geographical positioning' aspect isn't something at the forefront of my mind when taking a pic. I'm more interested in whether the background fits in (from a colour /textures pov) with what I'm trying to get in frame.
I've also reached a point (with my own pics) where I (much) prefer 'blended transitions' rather than the fairly distinct / well defined variety ... so probably notice them elsewhere.
I do wonder tho if all of the sky / vegetation currently in frame is needed to achieve your aim for the pic?
2. First brevity issue. I was referring to the bit of land at the bottom of the frame, rather than the sky - which I think is fine, and I have no issues whatsoever with 'operator's artistic tweaking' to get
I just wonder if the extent of the landmass pulls the eye a bit more than it should?
3. No problem with framing / composition / neg space ... 'clutter' would've been much reduced from a lower pov and as you agree on this, there's no point in me rabbiting on about it.
I don't know the circumstances behind the shot, but again, it's probably down to our different approaches?
4. Considering the circumstances behind the (taking of the) shot, you did a splendid job - there's no way I, on my bike could've stopped, got gear out and taken the shot before sbject had cleared off
Cropping the top dark area was only one way of dealing with / modifying it that I had in mind - the other was lightening it?
However, since even here, in the frame shown, not all of the weed tops are present, taking a course of action that removed others was one that I thought could be considered (as you did).
Seeing both this shot ... with a a dark 'anchor' strip floating at the top of frame - in the same group as 2 ... with one - at the bottom of the frame, was probably also a factor that made it worthy of comment (to me, anyway)
5. Think we'll just have to disagree on this one, and the 'blue morph' aspect would be present, irrespective of the presence of the 'white sea'
6. Again, I have no problem with the crop / neg space aspects - and am certainly familiar with the scenario of trying to get the best from a less than ideal situation (often the case with me, especially when it includes 'pilot error' )
In my case, such frames often are kept - if only for showing mrs pp (who rarely accompanies me) something 'of passing interest' ... and then get culled at some time when their 'use by' date has been exceeded
I obviously accept that not everyone has this approach, of course.
Re 'rules' (and their breaking) ..no probs with this, either ... if the final result is the better for it.
Whilst hardly a 'rule', I've recently been visiting a venue that - at about 12.5ml round trip - is just over double that to my usual (waterfowl) venue ... and note that every other person there (except me) is standing with their gear /tripods.
All I'll say is that lowering the gear a couple or more feet removes fence posts and associated wires (in the distant bg) from the frame and also changes -for the better, imo - the colour transitions at the far side of the field, because they're masked by closer vegetation.
Lowering the gear removes some chances / opportunities because of the shape of the land / vegetation ...but also - imo - increases the chance of a slightly different shot when one presents itself.
Taking advantage of any (or all) of this is another matter, of course, and it's a rare day (if at all?) when all the planets become aligned
pp
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I will try to remember to add a "dirty jump suit" overall with my kit for wildlife shooting next time, and a ball head on a cake pan as well. That is a sincere statement, not a jest, in case folks are wondering. Thanks for reminding me, and being persistent about it.
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Btw, one version of your cake tin based assembly (that I've made / used) is a couple of 12in dia pizza trays (£1 shop) with a 9in dia lazy susan turntable sandwiched between them, + a bean bag for support, rather than a ball head.
Life would be very boring if we all agreed on this sort of thing, eh?
pp
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Tony