by Scott Martin Photography | Dec 31, 2012 | Birds, Blog, Educational, Song Birds
Once again it is hard to believe that another year has quickly slipped by and we are heading into 2013 in just a few hours. Its been an exciting and busy year for our family yet we are looking forward to what awaits us next year. It has been an unusually long time since our last blog entry but hopefully as I get caught up with all the image processing that seems to clog up the Photoshop ‘in-basket’ the posts will become more frequent in the New Year.
For the last couple of weeks our city has been home for a bird that is very rare in this part of North America, the Western Tanager. Yesterday I was able to catch some shots of her in good light on relatively clean perches; both of which are great joys for a bird photographer!
The Western Tanager is a fairly small bird generally about six inches long and weighing an ounce! They live on the North American west coast and migrating to South America for the winter. They are rarely seen east of the mid western States so when one shows up in Ontario it creates a lot of interest in the birding community with many people travelling hours to catch a glimpse. Fortunately this bird is less than five minutes from our house. Western Tanagers have bright yellow bodies with darker backs and their wings have two wing bars, an upper yellow bar and lower white bar which you can see on the image above. The male has a bright red head while the female’s is an olive-green colour. The following image also shows the distinctive wing bars.
The Western Tanager typically feeds on berries and small insects, which it forages for on tree bark (as above) or, like swallows can catch in mid-flight. Given the cold weather & snow it is surprising this bird is staying around, however there are lots of berries in the area she is staying and given the fact she is thoroughly lost and on her own, she may not know which way to head so will choose to winter here as long as food is plentiful.
.
.
From a photography point of view, back grounds are almost as important as the subject in terms of getting the best photographic results. A nice perch and uncluttered back ground is generally the goal however almost impossible with the smaller songbirds which are usually foraging in bushes low to the ground. This Western Tanager was very cooperative and gave some good poses against a clear sky. Its imperative that you get the right exposure on the bird when shooting them against the sky and that typically means over exposing what your camera meter indicates by one or two f-stops.
The last two images have busy back grounds however show the bird in a more natural environment doing what she does as much as she can, relaxing in the sun in a location sheltered from the wind and then enjoying another berry.
.
All of the images above were taken with a Canon 1D MKIII and 500 mm lens + 1.4x TC mounted on a Jobu monopod with a Jobu Jr. gimbal head.
Thank you to all my many friends who have taken time this past year to drop by and check out the website. Thanks also for your comments and questions which are always appreciated. To everyone, Deb & I wish a very Happy New Year and I look forward to hearing from all of you in 2013.
UPDATE January 3, 2013 – I’m sad to report that this bird was found dead yesterday in the park it had called home for the past couple of weeks. Not certain of the cause however it may have succumbed to the cold weather.
by Scott Martin Photography | Oct 21, 2012 | Blog, Cityscapes, General, Landscapes, Travel
It has been far too long since my last blog post and I apologize for the tardiness, however there will be lots of material coming over the next few months.
Presently Deb and I are enjoying a vacation celebrating our thirtieth wedding anniversary. Its been a fabulous thirty years and the time has flown by but that’s what happens when you are married to your best friend! We arrived in Rome just over two days ago and are now enjoying our first of two nights in Venice. In the morning we are meeting up with Marco Secchi for a photographic tour of Venice. We can’t wait as Marco shows us the sights of Venice from a professional photographers standpoint, and as a photographer who grew up and lives in Venice he is uniquely qualified to do so.
Although we won’t be able to post any DSLR shots while on vacation, Deb and I have been also snapping away with our iPhone’s and they really do remarkably well. I have already posted some of the images taken so far onto the Scott Martin Photography Facebook page and if you haven’t already done so, please ‘like’ this page and check out some of the images from Europe. There are some images of the Colosseum and St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
45.44141812.328264
by Scott Martin Photography | Jul 10, 2012 | Birds, Blog, Loons
Over the past few years Deb and I have spent many early weekend mornings in June travelling about sixty kilometres from the cottage to Algonquin Provincial Park and then paddling a couple of kilometres in order to observe and photograph the Common Loon. June is typically the month that Loons are nesting and for the first few days after the chicks are born they spend a lot of time on their parent’s back providing a very desirable photo opportunity.
Loons are an amazing bird God designed to live on the water. They have solid bones and legs that are positioned far back on their bodies allowing them to dive and swim underwater with incredible speed and agility at recorded depths of more than 120 feet. Their design is so tailored to water that they are quite dysfunctional on land where they can only move around by a hopping and pushing themselves on their chest. They are unable to achieve flight from the ground and are only on land while nesting for the 26-31 day incubation period before their eggs hatch. Both parents share in the incubation responsibilities. Loons build their nests on the water’s edge so that they can gain access to it direct fly from the water and the young chicks can easily transition to the water; which they do the day they are born, never to return to the nest. Below is a typical nest located on a small ‘island’ not much bigger than the nest, located about twenty feet from shore and creating an important barrier to protect against predators.
As the Loon chicks move onto the water within hours of their birth, their small size and lack of development requires that they spend much time on a parent’s back for the first week of life. This allows them to rest and keep warm. They also float around on the water, always within a few feet of one of the parents. The parents keep within sight of each other and attend to the young by bringing small fry to them on a seemingly systematic schedule.
They are a pleasure to watch, and the effort required to see Loons up close is always worth it.
.
.
Watching the young chicks get fed is the prefect time to see the special bond between parent and offspring.
.
.
.
.
.
To see the chicks resting on a parent’s back and being sheltered, warmed and protected under a wing was something we’d been hoping to see for the past number of years so the following images are among our all time favourites.
.
One of the chicks launching off mom’s back.
.
.
.
“Hey some day you will be able to do this too”!
Family shot.
Although it’s a bit precarious taking lots of expensive camera gear in a canoe and quite a challenge to photograph from one, there are not many other ways to get close to Loons. All the images in this post were taken hand-held from a canoe with either a Canon 1D MK III & EF 500mm f4 L IS lens or a Canon 5D MK III and EF 400mm f5.6 L lens. I must thank Deb for single-handedly paddling and positioning the canoe so that the light was always right as we followed these Loons for about three hours. We are a great team but she does all of the work while I snap pictures!
If interested, more images can be seen in the Loons & Grebes Gallery
Please take the time to leave a comment as they are always appreciated and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.
by Scott Martin Photography | Jun 1, 2012 | Blog, Landscapes, Naturescapes, Travel
Deb & I spent a wonderful three days at the Mohonk Mountain House near New Paltz, New York which is about 85 miles due north of New York City. We were there over the Victoria Day Weekend along with about twelve other Chiropractors and their spouses to attend a coaching seminar with TLC 4 Superteams. TLC is one of the premier training organizations for chiropractors and it is a privilege to be one of their coaches; helping other chiropractors provide superb care for their patients.
The Mohonk Mountain House is the #2 Ranked resort spa in the United States and it is well worth the trip if you are looking for a quiet place to get a way for a few days. The 266 room Victorian style lodge was built in 1869 and I believe has remained in the same family since that time. It has entertained presidents, celebrities and normal people like us over the years and offers a multitude of outdoor adventure activities as well as a world class spa to pamper you afterwards.
We didn’t have a lot of time for photography but thought you may enjoy a few snap shots taken around the grounds.
The main lodge taken from across Lake Mohonk
.
.
There were many gazebos and porches around the property which were perfect for reading and just relaxing and enjoying the view.
.
.
Looking out from the other side of the lodge provided a great view of the Catskills Mountains
.
The view from the room.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
All of these shots were taken with the 5D Mk III and either 16-35 or 24-105 lenses.
by Scott Martin Photography | May 8, 2012 | Birds, Blog, Educational, Sparrows, Warblers
Although I haven’t had much time to get out with a camera, its great to see the Spring migrants starting to show up in large numbers, especially the Warblers. More than twenty species have been seen in our area and fortunately the leaf cover is still sparse enough that you can catch a good look at most of them. That will all change in the next few days as the leaves and ground cover reach full bloom.
We spent last weekend at the cottage, getting it ready for another summer and it was a pleasant surprise to have a number of Yellow Rumped Warblers in the trees by our deck. Although one of the most common warblers, they certainly are pretty, especially when they pose for you!
This next shot of a Red Winged Blackbird that didn’t want his picture taken is from Cranberry Marsh which is just off Lake Ontario in the south end of the Lynde Shores Conservation area in Ajax, Ontario.
Two photographers whose blog I follow are Darwin Wiggett and Samantha Chrysanthou and one of their recent blog postings talked a lot about using different crops to enhance images, including the square crop. This White Throated Sparrow shot provided a good opportunity to practice with a square crop.
This image was taken in Thickson’s Woods in Oshawa and the Sparrow landed on a very interesting perch, nicely separated from the back ground. The problem is the perch overwhelms the small bird, which is normally a ‘no-no’ for good bird images. Typically you can minimize the large perch by cropping the photo to minimize the visual impact of the perch, resulting in this typical landscape oriented crop.
After reading Darwin’s blog on square crops, and quite liking this large perch, I decided to re-do the little sparrow on the big perch in a square format.
It is always a good practice to think outside the box and break down some of the traditions we photographers cling to, especially when it comes to composition and all the other ‘un-written’ rules of photography.
Follow Scott Martin Photography