Photo of the Week 2025-04-14

 

Sorry (not really) to take you back to winter when spring is really just arriving but I knew I had another Snowy Owl image in the RAW reservoir ... 

' snowy in a snowstorm '

I was out with the then recently acquired RF 200-800 to gain more familiarity with it and work on my wildlife shooting. Approaching the location where I hoped to see a Snowy Owl, the weather worsened with snow falling very heavily by the time I arrived. It was difficult seeing the road ahead at time so wasn't sure how things would be for shooting.

 

Driving slowly along the sideroads, the tires were kicking up the freshly fallen snow and it was accumulating on the side windows of the vehicle. Every so often I would get out and brush off the snow for a clear(ish) view of the fields outside. Deciding to head down a little used track where I'd had success previously and that I knew would be closed to traffic for the season in the next couple of weeks, I stopped to clear the windows and strained to see across the field to a line of wrapped hay bales along a distant fence line.

 

... and there it was !

 

Across the field in heavy blowing snow with the 200-800 at it's maximum, I would shoot short 3 or 4 frame bursts between gusts of blowing snow. I was trying to time the shots such that my subject would be less obscured and managed it a few times.

Notes:

- for context, the top image is original width, just cropped top and bottom to 16:9 ratio 

- this lower image in approx. a 100% crop to show the detail I was able to get at 800mm across fields of blowing snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 DJE

Photo of the Week 2025-03-31

 

 

' on the lookout '

After finding and photographing a Snowy the previous day, I came back to the area in hope of another encounter ...

Quite far from my position, I shot this with the owl in centre frame and then cropped in post keeping much of the remaining barn structure for context. Even with 800mm focal length you can still be too far away for a portrait close-up.

 

Shooting from the car window along the side of a busy roadway, I wanted to work quickly so not to attract too much attention or be a distraction for passing vehicles as there was not a full shoulder with the snow left by plows. Hand holding at 800mm in an uncomfortable position turning to the side is an art that I will be practicing more. As it was, I managed enough sharp frames to pull a couple of keepers from.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-11-29

Almost the end of November and they're baaaack !!

 

' wary glance '

I recently made some time to visit an area that has provided most of my opportunities to photography Snowy Owls and was again rewarded with sightings ... two separate sightings on two separate days (likely the same bird).

 

This image of a female or immature male Snowy Owl was made on the second day, when the bird was much closer to an accessible vantage point. I was able to get close enough for this highly cropped image (approximately 60% of the original frame height) from my Canon R5 in 1.6 crop mode with EF100-400 LII and EF1.4x III (effective focal length 896mm).

 

There is no substitute for focal length when photographing birds, not just focal length, good glass and high mega pixel resolution all play an important part. I like to photograph birds, in particular, unique species like the Snowy Owls and Bald Eagles I can find near our cottage. If I was more dedicated to bird photography, my expenditure on lenses would be significantly greater. I'm not saying never, but for now I'll stick with the gear I have and get what I can get image wise.

 

Sadly, I've decided that I will I no longer share locations of where I find and photograph wildlife on social media. I've seen and heard of too many instances where wildlife are harassed by over exuberant photogs too focused on getting the shot to the detriment of stressing the animal. I'm not saying that I have no impact on my subjects, but I strive to observe and read the animal's behaviour to know when to move on ... as I did with the owl in this week's photo.  I had spent some time at the side of a busy road close to this beauty when it became evident that other cars were slowing down and my presence I was drawing more attention to the bird. As experience has taught, soon other's would be stopping and ... well, I'll just say it usually doesn't go the way I would prefer.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-12-28

Well, well, well ...

 

I forgot to get a post out yesterday. I think this makes twice in over 10 years that I've missed making a Photo of the Week post on Monday. So here we go, a day late and backdated to yesterday ;-)

 

' Sleeping Beauty '

 

The back-story: I made a solo trip up to the cottage for a single night just before Christmas to check on things and take some items up so we would have more room in the vehicle the next trip. It also gave me an opportunity to scout around and look for photo opportunities without having to be concerned with passengers.

 

The drive up was mostly unrewarding photographically as the weather was quite blah. After cruising some of the secondary roads north of Wiarton, I managed to photograph a Rough-legged Hawk and grabbed a far off shot of a female Snowy Owl sitting on a fence post out in a farm field, but nothing really noteworthy. That day remained heavily overcast and dull so there were not night sky photo opportunities either.The weather forecast was for rain the next day so I planned to take care of a couple of things and leave early morning with enough time to do some Snowy Owl scouting on the was home.

 

I made a mid-morning departure and about 30 min into the drive I decided to pull off the highway to refill my coffee cup from my thermos. Safely on the shoulder of a side-road, I screwed the cap back on the thermos and looked out the side window to catch ' Sleeping Beauty '

 

 

Sleeping Beauty

Talk about serendipity! I'm not sure I would have noticed this bird as I scanned the area to either side of the highway as I drove along, but there she was. Sitting pretty and completely at rest if not sleeping. I watched for almost an hour and she never moved for nearly 20 minutes when she opened her eyes a bit and shortly after began preening.

I particularly like this image because the owl is perched on a rock in a natural environment as opposed to on a fence post, hydro pole or other man made structure. She stands out well against the darker field grass background.

An there you have it ... a day late and well worth it IMO.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2014-12-15

A chance meeting Saturday morning at the Tobermory Farmer's Market Christmas Sale led to some great intelligence for my wildlife photography. While there, I heard two people talking about the number of Snowy Owl's in the area. I interrupted the conversation, introduced myself and listened intently. Another person entered the conversation and the next thing you know I had a plan for Sunday morning.

I left the cottage in the dark before sunrise with the weather heavy.  The morning light was very dull making it necessary to bump up the ISO for decent exposure settings but I was treated to a sighting within minutes of reaching my intended location. A male Snowy was perched on a fencepost a hundred or so metres out in a field so I pulled the vehicle over, grabbed a few quick images, then sat back and poured some hot tea from my thermos to wait.

Eventually he moved on to a utility pole, across a field and then courteously perched on a dead tree stump making for a perfect environmental portrait setting. Fortunately, I was able to get relatively close access from a local dead-end county road and make a number of images, but still from a fair distance.

sitting pretty

I managed to see 2 other Snowy's in the same area, but distance and crappy light remained a challenge preventing me from making any better images.

I'm going to have fun getting to know these beauties this winter.

DJE