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 2024-07-01

 

' bird & barbs '

This cheeky little fellow wouldn't leave the chain link fence or barbed wire topper so I had to settle for the normally to be avoided "bird on a wire" composition ... but I think it works ok here with the light blue sky as background.
 

I had captured his mate in a natural setting earlier and shared that image last week.

From a Guelph Photographers Guild outing to Urquhart Butterfly Garden, Dundas ON, a really nice little park, easily accessible, free parking and access with lot's of colourful flowers, a large butterfly identification aid and a number of birds dropping in for a visit.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-06-24

 

' mama bringing home the bugs '

Female Yellow Warbler - From a GPG outing to Urquhart Butterfly Garden , Dundas ON

 

A number of GPG members met up at Urquhart Butterfly Gardens in Dundas ON, prepared to photograph butterflies and flowers but I encountered this brightly coloured beauty making repeated trips back to what I surmise is the nest with hunger little ones. I kept my distance and allowed her space to do what she needed to do ... ethical wildlife photography trumped interfering with her duties to get a better shot.

A little while later, I saw the male in the same area and grabbed a number of images that I'll share later on social media ;-)

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-06-03

I hadn't processed any images after the ones from my recent visit to Algonquin, so I randomly picked one from a collection of candidates set aside fora time just like this ...

' GBH from behind '

This was captured around 5 years ago, one morning at Wilson Flats.  As I recall, I was making my way through the waist high growth on the flood plain between branches of the Grand River and startled this heron from it's fishing in the shallows.

I would rather that I had been more stealthy and noticed it before it saw me ant took flight, but it was what it was ...

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-05-27

 

Sticking with images from my recent Algonquin excursion, I've chosen a couple of the iconic Algonquin Moose. What trip to Algonquin is undertaken without fingers crossed in hope of seeing one of these large wild animals?

 

' late for dinner '

' late for dinner II '

Fingers crossed or not, we had not seen a moose since the very brief (too brief to get a photo) encounter with a skittish male very early that morning. It was late in our day and we were heading across the park on Hwy 60 and back to the hotel with minutes left in our window of opportunity. Sun was officially setting, it was within minutes of 8:30 pm when the excited shout of "moose" resounded in the vehicle.

 

At a roadside marsh pond, a decent sized male with sprouting antlers was having a late dinner. He allowed us to approach while continuing to munch away, looking up only periodically to check that we were still there.

 

The light was poor requiring me to shoot at ISO 6400 handheld with a shutter speed of only 1/40s in burst mode to get anything resembling a sharply focused shot. We were close enough that I zoomed back out to less than max 400mm of my EF 100-400 L II and pulsed away with short bursts whenever there was an opportunity for something different which wasn't often as this big fells just wanted to dip his snout into the water for another tender mouthful.

 

Hit rate at ISO6400 f/5-5.6 and 1/30-1/40s exposure was low as to be expected but I had to try. Thankfully these couple were good enough for some follow up processing with Topaz DeNoise AI and some finishing touches in PS/ON1

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-03-06

 

' A visit from Oakley '

Almost 9 years ago to the day, I had my first close encounter with Oakley on the ice of Hay Bay. Today, Oakley made a return visit, or it could be Oakley Jr. given the time gone by. In any event, it was a great experience to see and observe the activity of this critter.

 

Lynn and I had just finished out morning walk with Murphy, which he concludes with a trip "down to the water" (or ice as it is in winter). I hadn't always joined them but since seeing an otter far off across the bay a couple of days before, I made a point of following to see what was going on.

Looking out over the ice, I noticed a far off dark spot and watched it for a while until I saw movement. That was enough to send me back to the cottage for a camera with my longest lens mounted on a monopod. When I returned, I framed up on the spot and made a number of shots from the treeline before moving closer and potentially spooking the whatever it was. I could see it was an otter and wanted to get closer. I re-positioned out on the shoreline where I was quite visible, framed up again and could better see the otter grooming as it lay near what I assumed was an opening in the ice.

It seemed quite content to continue with a wary glance now and then to keep an eye on me. EXIF data from the first series of captures at the treeline showed I was focusing to a distance of more than 150m. After repositioning twice more, I managed to get within 100m but that was as close as I could get in a direct line between me and my subject. I was at the edge of thin ice along the shoreline and took my eye off the subject to assess other options to get closer. When I looked back to the otter it was gone, off under the ice heading somewhere else on the bay. I remained there for several minutes scanning the ice from left to right, near and far without any sign of my subject.

Thinking the encounter was over, I collapsed the monopod and trekked back across the ice to our place, always looking down, my footing (no time to put on ice cleats). As I approached the snow covered shore at our place, I glanced to my left and there was the little bugger had come out of an opening in the ice in front of our neighbour's. Unseen, I froze, raised the camera and grabbed a few hand held shots. Trying to keep stable on the uneven spot where I had abruptly stopped rather than look for something flat, less slippery and risk losing this closer photo opportunity, I cautiously extended the monopod, framed the subject, zoomed in to the max and fired off frames at maximum burst speed. Unsteady and trying both to keep my balance and capture Oakley bounding towards shore at our neighbours, I was spotted. It froze for just a second, turned to stare at me, then hurried back to the safety of water, keeping one eye on me. Stopping for one last look before slipping back below the ice, I was able to grab some final shots with the subject well lit by morning sun over my left shoulder.

 

What a great encounter! Another for the memory bank.

 

Note: EXIF data from this last series of shots indicated a focus distance of just over 40m. I was shooting at 400mm with a 1.4x converter on full frame for an equivalent focal length of 560mm to get the lead shot for this post. I cropped the image about 5% to remove some foreground for better balance but that's about it.

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2022-05-09

 

Getting a decent shot of a Belted Kingfisher has been on my list for a while ...

 

' Mrs. Kingfisher '

 

... not any Belted Kingfisher, one of those that continue to intrigue me with their "piercing rattle" out over the shallows of Hay Bay.

I first heard the call of a Belted Kingfisher years ago, long before I began recognizing it again during my time outdoors at our cottage on Hay Bay and even that was some time ago now. Fast in flight and quick to bolt from their perch, I had mostly just kept an ear out for that familiar sound, then tried to spot that darting movement over the water and along the shoreline.

With spring fully arrived, so had the resident Kingfishers a short while ago. Late one sunny afternoon, with water levels much lower I managed to get out on the rock and approach the area where one had been stopping to perch while making the rounds looking for dinner. There wasn't much "cover" to hide my careful approach and after spooking this female from her perch a couple of times, she returned for a brief portrait session. I managed a few decent frames, this being a significant crop from the original frame but now I want better ...

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2022-04-11

I haven't picked up a camera in a week, but there are plenty of images in the queue. These are from a few weeks back when I rushed to get some shots of four Bald Eagles that were out on the ice near the far shore of the bay.

 

An adult Bald Eagle seemed to be teaching class. I think it was 'Flying in the Wind 101' because it took off before I could grab a shot of the 4 birds together. Then each immature bird took a turn trying to emulate what they were shown. There were varying degrees of success but all eventually made it and out of my sight line.

 

' flying low '

' three immature baldies - waiting their turn '

I hope this family stays around and I'm able to photograph them again in the coming months.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2022-02-21

 

This week, a departure from my foray into infrared, but still something showcasing the wonder of winter because regular followers of my photography know I love winter.

 

' Left at the Birch '

 

 

With every snowfall, a fresh canvas,

 

 on which nature will paint

 

Be it hard cold edged ice

 

or soft delicate flake

 

The beauty is there to be seen

 

You have only you look

 

 

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 2021-03-08

 

Always on the lookout for wildlife as I travel to and from Tobermory, this time of year has my "eyes peeled" for snowy owls. I usually see at least one, sometimes more. But last week, as we drove out of the hot spot for owl sightings, I was about to take a break from scanning the area to either side of the highway when I noticed something large perched in a tree.

 

Nicely perched, this bald eagle was close enough for me to park roadside and shoot from the vehicle without disturbing it too much. Though it is quite evident that it knew I was there, I did not approach any closer than other passing traffic and got what shots I could without causing it to fly off.

 

I make a point of describing how I approached photographing this magnificent bird because I've seen first hand how others with camera (I hesitate to call them photographers) are far too careless and disruptive in their approach. It's not just about getting the shot. It's about capturing a genuine wildlife moment with as little stress to to the subject as possible.

 

note: these images are 35% crops from the original captures, even with my 7DII, EF100-400 II and 1.4x Extender for a effective focal length of ~900mm

 

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 2019-12-02

"Variety is the spice of life"

... I find this to be true in my photographic life.

When people discover that photography is a passion for me, they frequently ask me what I photograph. My usual response is something like "mostly nature, landscape and wildlife", though in truth, I enjoy photographing just about everything.

In the past month alone, I have photographed a variety of subject matter, with a variety of cameras, in a variety of styles. Travel, Documentary, Nature, Wildlife, Landscape, Street, and Infrared are all genres that my photography has touched in a short few weeks. Photography really is a 'Journey' for me, an enjoyable, sometimes whimsical, sometimes frustrating, always enlightening journey.

Here's a sampling of what I saw through my lens in November 2019. None of these have been shared prior to this post, though others from the respective outings may have ... enjoy.

Alan Doyle

not so shy

As my 'bio' reads: "My library of work could be described as a somewhat eclectic collection but primarily covers the outdoors, landscape, nature and wildlife. I make images of scenes and subjects that move me visually, sharing them with others through my photographic fine art prints and online."

To everyone who follows me on the 'journey' offering encouragement and comment, I sincerely thank you. To those who don't yet, I invite you to follow along.



DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-02-20

This week's photos are more about the experience around the photo rather than showcasing a single image that I'm pleased with ... quite the opposite actually. I wish I'd been able to get a lot closer to capture a stunning image of the activity I experienced on a gorgeous sunny winter afternoon.

The background ... it begins with me heading into the cottage after a short walk with Lynn  and Murphy. I'd been fighting a cruddy cold, coughing, sputtering, wheezing, sniffing and generally feeling crappy since Thursday. Tired out from the walk, I decided to go in and rest for a bit, while Lynn headed down to sit in the chairs at the shoreline and take in the sunshine.

She had taken the binoculars with her, as she often does now, and soon there was a knock at the picture window and some words that were just mumbles through the glass. But she turned and seemed to hurry back down to the shoreline so I figured there was something to see. I grabbed my 7DII with the 100-400mm and went down to see what was up.

It turns out she had spotted a Bald Eagle flying along the far side of the bay and by the time I managed to get out there I figured it was long gone on it's search for a meal ... not so. Lynn managed to spot it again perched in a tree along the far shore and directed me to the spot.

Even with the longest lens I had, there would be no close ups given the distance so I settled into a chair and we watched the eagle for well over an hour. We saw it fly from the tree to the ice, where it caught something (fish likely) and had a meal before flying to perch on top of an ice mound. As it sat there we scanned around and we both noticed some other activity that turned out to be a family of three otters bobbing in and out of the open water. Apparently there was a meal in the area and eventually I was able to capture a scene with with all the payers in one frame.

3 Otters and an Eagle

Yes there's actually and eagle out there ...

an Eagle ... crop

 Yes there is actually a family of 3 otters out there ...

3 Otters ... crop

 ... and yes I'm wishing I had a longer lens but even 600mm @ $10,000 wouldn't have gotten the image that I wanted in this case so I'll save my money.

One final image as I followed the eagle over onto the ice flow where it had another meal and then flew back to perch on the ice mound for a while before taking off for who knows where.

touchdown

... what a memorable experience.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-01-30

Ontario Parks recently posted a great article on etiquette for nature photography to their Facebook page. I shared and posted the following to my Photography page:

"Great article from Ontario Parks that made me do a quick "gut check" on my practices when photographing. I never bait, work to maintain a suitable distance, never chase/follow wildlife, don't use recorded calls, don't destroy habitat ... but I admit I could improve by always sticking to the marked trails.
My wildlife and nature photos may not be as "impressive" as some of those from others ... but I'm OK with that. And I'll keep working in a responsible way to get better ones."

So this weekend, while up at my 'happy place', armed with some intel on the location of a male snowy owl (code named Popeye ;-), I headed out early Saturday morning making the drive to said location. Arriving just after sunrise on a very overcast day with intermittent snow squalls, I prowled the grid if rural concessions and side roads in search of my target. Driving with 3 cameras on the front passenger seat within reach should something catch my eye, also keeping an eye out for other cars approaching from behind, I edged over to stop and frequently scan the surrounding area with binoculars (a little more convenient that using the camera).

Only 40 minutes or so after arriving in the area, I spotted something white on top of a leaning utility pole up ahead at the edge of a narrow side road. Stopping the car, I grabbed a camera and zoomed in, Yup ! It was a male snowy. Zipping up my jacket and putting on hat & gloves, I grabbed some gear (spare battery too when it's cold) and got out to slowly approach, stopping to snap shots at various points.

Staying aware to maintain suitable distance from the owl in my eagerness to get a good image, I stopped to make the image below, which I call 'Q-Tip'

Q-Tip

The image was made at 400mm on my 7DII so he's still a good distance away. I had checked the frame on the camera LCD and was satisfied that I had at least one decent shot so I decided to stand and wait for a bit and observe the bird's behaviour. He remained settled in position, feathers ruffling with the wind, swivelling his head from side to side as they do while listening, hunting for prey. I waited a good 5 min without moving, then decided to move another 20m or so closer. I looked down to be sure of my footing on the icy road and when I looked back up he was in flight dropping down to skim across the field behind some bushes at the edge of a drainage ditch. I had no chance to catch him in flight but walked up to the pole where he had perched to have a look around. I managed to locate him again, far off, perched on a fence post out in the middle of the fields. I stayed and watched, just taking in another experience with these lovely birds.

The tech ...

Using high-end gear for photography has many benefits ... and it's not all about the megapixels. My 7DII has a 20.2 MP sensor, high by some standards but not others considering the 36,42 and 50 MP sensors available in the highest end DSLR/Mirrorless cameras these days. Still, the 7DII captures an file that can be cropped significantly and still provide a quality image. 'Q-Tip' as shown above is roughly a 90% crop (for compositional purposes) of the the original 20.2 MP image. To show the extreme crop possible with high quality images from this (and other high-end cameras), consider the image below, cropped from the already 90% image above. This is cropped to roughly 20% of the original (and then upscaled in Lightroom to 1200x1200 for web viewing) and still shows nice detail.

Q-Tip (crop)

DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-01-18

They live amongst us,

their signs here and there,

actually most everywhere.

'Tis but for us to look,

and lift our gaze,

from life's daily drudge.

Amid brisk blowing snow,

winter's morn reveals,

their every presence here.

They live amongst us.

Nay ... it is we,
who live amongst them.

My morning tromp, particularly up north, provides opportunity to see and experience much. In winter, rather than lower my head and grumble at the snow and cold, I choose to savour the experience. The chill freshens my outlook and I enjoy searching the road and trail sides for signs of activity. Rabbit, squirrel and coyote tracks, I commonly encounter.

When last at the cottage, after a fresh snow, I noticed new tracks from our local wildlife at several locations as took  Murphy for his morning walk. During the days following, with very little more snow fallen, tracks and trails became more numerous and began to paint a picture of the activity around us. I eagerly anticipated each next outing and the changes that would be revealed, until ... another fresh snow, when it would start all over again.

DJE