Wildlife Watcher - October 2008

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Coyote waits, Russian Ridge, Palo Alto, California

I used to get asked this a lot. The answer always seemed simple to me. The best camera is the one you have with you.

You can talk about Leica's superior optics, or Nikon's bang for the buck, or Canon's amazing range of IS lenses all day long. If you don't have a camera and lens with you when that juvenile Cooper's hawk shows up on the barbed-wire fencepost just before the crows chase him off, all you can do is watch.

This is also why you want to have a spare camera with you, or at least a spare battery pack. Murphy always leaves you with a dead camera when the coyote walks out of the grass to have his picture taken.

Taking a camera with you is always a good idea. I usually have a Leica M-series camera and two or three lenses in the car. I could carry a digital fixed-lens camera for a lot less money, and be prepared for a picture. I use Leicas because they're the smallest high-quality cameras and lenses I own.

I was cranking home after a short loop on my road bike, and saw an incredible August rainbow. I actually got sprinkled on a little before I got home. By the time I got back outside with a camera in my hands, the light and the rainbow had gone.

On my bike a month later, I saw unbelievable light a block from home as the sun set. This time, I retrieved the camera and drove back in time for a picture. I'd have been better off with the camera in hand so I could simply stop and wait for the best shot.

Freeway Sunset, Saratoga, California

What would you like to photograph?
That tells you what to use. A Leica M with the 90mm lens may be great for pink sunsets, but it's not going to work for wildlife. I find modern landscapes chock-full of too much stuff. Before you grab that wide angle while you grumble, "I'll never fit it all in," remember the best shots concentrate on just a few elements. Ask yourself what stoped you in your tracks and made you look. There were probably just one or two things, and they didn't occupy a large area. Keep your long lens handy - you may use it a lot.

I used to start with a moderate wide-angle when I'd photograph any landscape. Today, I rarely use anything shorter than 90mm, a moderate telephoto lens for 35mm film.

Cooper's Hawk, Saratoga, California

When I see that Cooper's Hawk in my neighbor's tree, I grab the 400mm lens on the EOS 20D. When I photograph nesting egrets, I grab the 500mm and 1.4X teleconverter. Bison might only need the 'barefoot' 500mm lens (and a lot of caution).

Maybe you noticed I didn't mention zoom lenses. I use prime (non-zoom) telephoto lenses for their relatively fast apertures and light weight. Canon's EF 400mm f/4 DO IS at f/4 makes a nice background blur, useful for getting rid of confusing 'stuff' behind or in front of my wildlife or sports subject. It weighs much less than Nikon's 200-400mm f/4 zoom.

Of course, the Nikon zoom gives you coverage out to 200mm. I chose to travel lighter with a lens I can easily hand-hold.

Many wildlife pros use 600mm lenses. For most of my subjects, the 500mm with 1.4X converter fills enough of the frame. A 600mm is bigger and heavier, and would have me going to the chiropractor more often.

If you're using big glass, you need a good tripod. For heavy gear, center posts are your enemy. They wobble and amplify any vibration, like your SLR mirror flipping up when you take the picture.

I use an older Gitzo 1325 Mk II. Its legs extend enough to put the viewfinder well above my eye level. That's with no centerpost - legs only.

I top that tripod with a Wimberley Sidekick gimballed head for fingertip aiming of big lenses. Properly balanced, the Wimberley makes it easy to track airborne subjects or large moving mammals (hopefully not charging your way).

Borrowing From Left Field
I've shot a lot of pro mountain bike races. My favorite event is dual slalom, especially when it's close. Then you get both racers in the frame, angling tightly around flags and cranking the pedals like crazy.

So when I look at a marsh full of shorebirds, I find pairs of them. This is easy to do during spring courting, like the Avocets below. It's natural behavior.

American Avocets, Palo Alto, California

Helmets partially cover the faces of pro bike racers, and what isn't covered is shadowed. That's why you'll see flashes popping at any race - everybody's looking for more shadow detail, even a grimace or two.

Fill light is good for wildlife too, but for a different reason. When you look at a portrait of your favorite animal, you probably look at the eyes first. One, they need to be sharp. Two, a catchlight makes them look alive.

You don't always get a natural catchlight, especially at the start or end of the day. A flash can add it and make your birds look wild, not like something stuffed by a taxidermist.

But your barefoot flash probably won't reach to outdoor subject distances. That's where I use a Better Beamer flash extender. This compact accessory attches to your flash with an elastic band. It gives you a touch of light at ridiculous distances, just enough to add a catchlight to that black-crowned night-heron 30 feet away. They come in different models for your particular flash.

Event shooting will teach you a lot about action and groups. Events are a little slower-moving than sports, so they're a good place to practice tracking subjects and watching for peak moments in great light.

They'll also teach you about group shooting. I want to capture all the participants in a group picture, but this sometimes requires a fisheye lens. I've been better off choosing smaller groups of people, or a leader conducting or speaking to the group. Then I show enough of the group reaction to let the viewer fill in the unseen participants.

Marbled Godwits, Palo Alto, California

Shorebirds group the same way. Yes, some large group situations work well in pictures. But they're usually showing off the light, lines and textures more than the group. If I'm looking for the animal's behavior, I'll cut down the number in my picture.

Avocets and Stilts, Palo Alto Baylands, California

Timing Is Everything
Sports shooting taught me to watch - at first for crashes (rare), then for flying dirt and competitors angled over almost to the ground. What's interesting to you - and what interests your viewer?

Talk to race shooters about podium shots, and they'll probably say they're boring. What I'd do is anticipate the spray of champagne the winner aimed over the audience. I'd cover the lens to keep spray off it and wait for the sprayer to be turned more in profile. Then I'd snap the shot. That's much more fun to look at than a static view of top finishers on pedestals, even when they get kissed by the pretty girls hanging ribbons around their necks.

When an egret parent returns to the nest, she doesn't regurgitate food for her nestlings right away. She waits until she has a reasonable chance of escaping with her eyes intact, then turns towards them and offers her bill.

Certainly I take pictures of nestlings waiting for their food and preening, but I also anticipate those feeding times. Action draws your viewers in, and it's predictable. Watch dual slalom racers enough and you'll know what lines they'll pick around flags and obstacles for the fastest times. Then you can set up for the next run.

Will you always get the shot? Of course not, nobody's that predictable. Sometimes the egret mom decides she's had enough gouging by her young for awhile. She'll hang out on a branch far above them instead of feeding them.

But more frequently, she'll fly in from the same direction and land on the nest before picking her feeding moment. My goal is to expect that, and be ready to capture it.

Egret feeding, Palo Alto, California

Got a different view? Discovered something useful? Email me

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