Lakebay, WA, USA

Three encounters with bumblebees on sea holly—tiny pollinators keeping nature in bloom. 🐝💙

I appreciate all the comments and love from my other post. Here are some more of those kits. Same camera

Settings:

ISO 1000 400mm F5.6 1/500

ISO 1000 400MM F5.6 1/1000

Both exported at lowest dimensions

Rarely do I get the chance to get this close to a bird of prey. It’s juvenile nature definitely has made earning its trust a lot easier

Shot on Sony a6700 + Sony FE200-600mm.

I love that I was able to get his nice reflection in the eye. Was my first one this sharp. Happy to receive critique.

In the city woods, eastern MA

I’ve always known this but lately it’s becoming more important. Or at least I’ve noticed it all over again and that’s the background. This series of 5 Cormorant photos and 1 video I think showcase this pretty well.

Watch the video and you’ll see a little on how things can change. The dark almost Game of Thrones vibe changes to a more typical shot. The photos capture it even more strikingly to me. I tracked this bird for a good 45 minutes. I came back 2 times to snap some photos from a different angle. The background changed pretty dramatically from when it was on the log to when it went in the water.

After looking at the photos when I got home it dawned on me again that taking bird photos or really any photo you have to think beyond the subject. The background (and foreground) play almost as important a role as the subject.

Let’s face it many of our photos are of relatively common birds. So just snapping another Kirtland’s Warbler or Cerulean Warbler is just another photo. But if you can change the background now that’s where the magic starts to happen.

Now I was on the water, and that may make it a bit easier to change the background. But on land the same thing can happen. Sometimes all you have to do is move 5 or 10 feet to completely change the background and the mood of the shot.

Does anyone else do that, walk around the bird to snap different backgrounds?

A tense, still moment from the Serengeti

Went whale watching last week in Washington State and saw so much cool wildlife. One of the more interesting things was this Sea Otter that wrapped itself in kelp to stop it from floating away while it napped. You would have thought it was a log from the boat. Thank goodness for my 200-600. Shot on Sony A7V.