Last year will go down as one of the oddest years for most. It definitely wasn’t the best year for nature and landscape photography but I still managed to get out and get some shots for the portfolio. From a photography point of view it started pretty well for me, getting chances to get shots of a Northern Hawk owl that decided to stay the winter in a location that was 20 minutes from Salwa’s father, and I got to spend a couple weekends in upstate New York with Short Eared owls before the border shut down.
1
The first shot on the list is of the Northern Hawk Owl taking off.
This was taken on a cold February day with a bunch of other nature photographers taking in the action. This owl stayed in the little marsh in a small town in Ontario for a good portion of the winter. It seems that there was so much to eat that it would keep a bunch of voles stashed in the trees around the marsh. This particular shot was taken with the Sony A7RIV and the 200-600 at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/3200 s, and ISO 800. Cropped to 5x4, I wanted to focus on the look in its eyes as it took off. This was easily worth standing in -20 degree weather for before it decided to take off.
2
Some of my favorite shots this year were of the Short Eared owls, watching them hunting over the fields is amazing. I first went to the place they affectionately call Shortyville with a photographer I met while wandering around a little park in Buffalo. Since he had been before it made it easy to get to the right locations and find some of the best spots that the owls had been seen hunting. This was a well known sight for locals that would return each year with the migrating owls, but there were many farmers fields in which the owls might hunt each night. We got lucky this night as we saw one shorty and a harrier flying over a field just before sunset. It became a 40 minute shoot as a couple of owls and the harrier hunted across the fields continuously. The light wasn’t great most of the time but there were a few moments where the light and the action coincided to get some spectacular in-flight moments.
I picked 2 of my favorite shots from these outings to be on this list. The first, a banking shot as the owl was looking to dive shows off the wing spread and that amazing look of concentration. This was taken near dusk with the A7RIV, the 200-600 with the 1.4 teleconverter and was cropped afterwards to square. It was taken handheld at 840mm, f/9, 1/4000s, ISO 3200 and brightened half a stop in Lightroom.
3
This second shot was taken as the Short Eared owl glided back up towards me over the farmers field.
The grass and twigs in the foreground helped to give a bit of depth to the shot. What I love though is how the colors of the owl match the surroundings so well with the white to match the snow and the browns match many of the shades in the field. This shot was taken with the same setting as above but since I was shooting in aperture mode the shutter speed came down to 1/2000s since the background was a bit darker than the sky in the previous shot.
I probably could have picked another 10 shots of the Short Eared and Northern Hawk owls for this list but these as my favorites. You can see more of these in the following blog posts.
SHORT EARED OWLS IN SHORTYVILLE (OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE MY 200-600)
SONY A7RIV AND FE 200-600…ON TO THE NEXT LEVEL
4
I was able to do a little Astro photography last year, one night in particular as we were trying to get shots of Neowise comet I stayed out to capture some wide angle shots of the Milky Way.
This particular shot was taken at ISO 3200, f/4, at 16mm for 30s on a fixed tripod with the Sony A7III and the 16-35 f/4. The skies are dark enough in Haliburton to pull out some interesting color in a single shot. I always love to have something as a silhouette to give some context to the location and the trees here were perfect.
5
Living along the shore of Lake Erie and the Niagara River gives us plenty of opportunities to shoot Osprey.
This year was not the best for getting to see them fishing but I did manage to get some great shots in-flight and taking off. I really liked the feeling of action in this shot as the osprey’s claws are just releasing from the branch and the wings are just ready to come back down.
Taken at 840mm (200-600 with the 1.4 teleconverter), f/9, 1/2000s and ISO 400.
6
I managed to get back to a location where I used to spend a great deal of time doing photography when I lived near Toronto. Cranberry Marsh near Whitby, ON has more birds and animals than nearly any conservation area that I have been to. I was able to get there this fall as the shore birds were getting ready to migrate south.
Since the marsh was quickly losing water there was a mess of fish that were unable to get to deeper water and that meant birds hunting, and fighting for their share. I got down on my belly for this shot as I saw these two greater yellowlegs fighting over a spot. I was shooting with the Sony A7RIV and the 200-600 with the 1.4 teleconverter at the time and didn’t have a chance to take off the teleconverter for the closer action. This didn’t really affect the shot that I took at 360mm, f/9, at 1/2000s and ISO1000. I managed to stop the action well and since I was shooting at 10 FPS I was able to pick out what I thought was the best moment from about 30 shots over a couple of bursts. I do have a couple more from this set that I really like but this one stood out for me.
7
There were a great number of herons and egrets also taking advantage of the depleting water. I watched a Great Blue heron try to swallow an eel-like fish that had to be a foot long. It took about 10 tries before it was able to swallow but it was quite the sight. This juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron had such an odd look to it as it came in for a landing that it quickly became one of my favorite shots this year.
Again I took this shot from a low angle and ended up at eye level as it came in. The shot was taken at 600mm, f/6.3, at 1/2500s and ISO 1000 on the Sony A7RIV with the 200-600mm lens.
8
I came back to this location in October to look for owls and managed to get to watch a Barred Owl hunt along the road side.
This was a successful hunt as you can see the vole in its talons. Barred owls will often hunt during the day and rarely worry about people nearby...as long as they don’t bother the owl or get in the way of the hunt. Over the last 15 years I’ve had the privilege to watch owls hunt many times but it never gets old watching the process. This particular time I could actually hear the vole moving in the grasses and could hear that same sound in many places along the trails. Should be good hunting this winter. The light was not very good on this particular morning but with the new Canon R5 and the 500mm f/4 IS II and 1.4 teleconverter I was able to still get some good shots. This shot was at 700mm, f/5.6, at 1/1000s and ISO 6400. Very high ISO but I’m happy with the detail and the noise levels don’t take away from the shot.
9
As I was getting used to the new Canon R5 I tried to get out to practice with bird in-flight shots as often as possible this fall. The animal and bird eye autofocus has turned out to not be a gimmick.
Where the Sony cameras have been fantastic at grabbing onto moving subjects for some time now, this new camera catches the eye of birds so quickly and gives confidence that I am getting the focus where I want it. It isn’t perfect yet but boy is it good. This shot is from a burst in which every shot was in focus. I just love the simplicity and detail in this one. Nothing but the bird. Shot taken at 700mm, f/5.6, at 1/2000s and ISO200.
10
Our move out to the west coast of Canada in December did give me a chance for a few landscape shots that I found compelling.
This first one was of a waterfall in Kokanee Creek Provincial Park and although the light is kind of neutral I really liked the scene and textures. I hope to come back to this location a few times with more interesting light to see what kind of compositions I can get.
11
In the East Kootenays we spent a few days at Fairmont Hot Springs while waiting for our little apartment to be available.
The view from the hot springs was absolutely amazing and I managed to get a shot of the mountains as the sun was dropping and with a few clouds passing across. In the end a panorama made the most sense. This was shot on the Sony A7RIV with the 24-105 f/4 lens at 40mm, f/4, 1/1000s at ISO 100. It was cropped to a 4x1 aspect. I really can’t wait for the weather to improve to be able to explore these regions more.
12
The last shot was taken very close to the end of the year. A very foggy day in Slocan Valley watching 6 Bald Eagles interacting along the river. As the clouds or fog moved through the valley I was able to get some interesting shots. This one just started to reveal the trees on the edge of the valley with the eagle staring into the distance.
The shot was taken with the Sony A7RIV and the 200-600 with the 1.4 teleconverter. 840mm, f/9, at 1/1000 s and ISO 4000. I was hoping at the time for the eagle to take off but it was content to sit there for quite a while. I’m sure I’ll get more chances for these types of shots soon enough.
That was the 12 top shots from last year. This next year I’m really looking forward to new opportunities that come along with a new location and am really looking forward to getting more use out of the new gear. Should probably get out a review of that soon :)