Landscape, Nature and Travel Photography

Looking forward… I cannot wait until early September. The prospect of photographing Sea Otters again is keeping me going these days. The act of photographing a landscape or nature subject has always been a meditative experience for me. Add to the mix a cute furry critter like Sea Otters and you have a magical combination that adds up to a relaxing and fun time. Only 62 more days to go…

Join me on my Sea Otters of California Tour for a day of great nature photography and you’ll know what I mean.

Technorati Tags: Monterey, California, Sea Otter, wildlife, stock photo, photography, Enhydra lutris

California Sea Otters certainly have an air of relaxation about them.  As relaxed as they seem they’re actually quite active eating 20% of their body weight in food per day. Their constant pursuit of food is a reflection of their fast metabolism that helps them survive in the frigid northern California water. Their diet includes mostly invertebrates such as sea urchins, mussels, abalone, clams, scallops, crabs, sea snails, chitons, octopus and squid. You might say they have similar taste to humans. Sushi anyone?

California Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)

Technorati Tags: California Sea Otter,   Enhydra lutris,   photography,   wildlife

This fall I will be leading (2) two California Sea Otter photography tours near Monterey, California and you’re invited!

From the comfort of a pontoon boat those in attendance will have the ability to photograph the natural behaviors of California Sea Otters and potentially other species including Harbor Seals, California Sea Lions, Cormorants, Pelicans, Grebes, Surf Scoters and many other shore birds. Each tour will be limited to 5-8 people to ensure everyone has the opportunity to get great photos and interaction with my assistant and I.

Learn more about the September 7th, 2008 and September 14th, 2008 California Sea Otter Photo Tour. See you there!

California Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)

Technorati Tags: California Sea Otter,  Enhydra lutris, photography, wildlife, tour, workshop

One thing over the years that I’ve learned is to never keep your eyes too far off into the distance when trying to get your next photo. While photographing seascapes in Monterey, California I was rock hopping and paused to see what exactly I was hopping over. I was pleasantly surprised to see sea anemones in a rather small tidal pool. With a nice overcast sky I took the opportunity to switch out my wide angle lens for my macro lens and photograph them. Fortunately for me they were very cooperative subjects unlike the sneaky surf that caught me in a later photo (more on that later).

Sea Anemones & Pebbles

For the techies who read every word of my posts I should add this is one of the first macro photos taken with my Canon 1Ds Mark III. The detail in the full size version of this photo is mind blowing. If curious I can post a 1:1 crop later to give an example of the detail captured.

Update: See below for the 1:1 crop of the image above. The detail captured from the 21MP sensor in the 1Ds Mark III never ceases to amaze me. The native image resolution is 5632 x 3750 pixels. Enjoy and do take advantage of clicking on the image to enlarge it.

Click to enlarge

Technorati Tags: anemones, tidal pool, pebbles, photo, photography, stock, California, coast

Sea Otters are one of the more interesting wild animals in Northern California. From their playful interaction to their use of rocks as tools to eat their favorite food it’s hard to get enough of them. Photographed below is a wild Sea Otter in Monterey, California who kept his paws are on his ears while basking in the sun

Sea Otter fur is unique and the main reason they were hunted so aggressively in the past. They have the thickest fur of any animal with 850,000 to 1,000,000 hair follicles per inch! Their two coats, outer and under coat, traps air close to their body insulating them from the chilly ocean water. In this photo you can see the fur around the head freshly groomed and dryer than the rest of his body. What I find fascinating is the contrast between the look of the dry and wet fur in this photo. If you look at the stomach you’ll see the Otters reflection on his wet belly.

Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)

Learn more about Sea Otters via the Marine Mammal Center

Technorati Tags: Monterey, California, wildlife, photo, photography, stock photo, sea otter, Enhydra lutris

Recently I’ve been reading a lot of news stories demonizing Coyotes coming into suburban environments. It wasn’t that long ago that two coyotes were killed here in San Francisco and I thought I would post a photo of a typical Coyote encounter.

This Coyote like most others was very shy and was waiting to come down from the hillside early one morning only when it saw no one else around. Very skiddish it was only interested in hunting small rodents and birds in a near by meadow. As soon as I became visible this Coyote was quick to run off back into the safety of the dense foliage in the near by hills.

The problem I have with the demonization of Coyotes or other predators by the press is that they portray human-animal interaction in a very one-dimensional fashion. Seldom is there any note of how humans impact and condition animals to become acclimatized to us.  The build up of our trash, people feeding wild animals, etc. all contribute to these animals losing their innate fear of us. Unlike Raccoons, Skunks, Possums or other common urban wildlife that we often ignore, if not accept as denizens of our neighborhoods, Coyotes like many other larger predators, get the short end of the stick and pay the price of such acclimatization to humans with their lives.  There aren’t too many advocates for  these animals, but one day I hope to see that  we hold people accountable on some level for their part in these common and increasing human-animal conflicts.

In the case of Coyotes they get a double whammy when it comes to conflict with humans. The lack of predators in our neighborhoods results in a booming population of prey that initially draw Coyotes into our neighborhoods. When not hunting natural prey they become acclimatized to foraging in our trash or hunting small pets. it’s a tough balance for Coyote and humans, but sometime in the future I hope better civic and state policies are identified and put in place to minimize the killing of these predators and increasing public respect for local wildlife.

Technorati Tags: coyote, urban, wildlife, photograph, photo, stock photo, Canis latrans

Below is the third photo in a series of wild Bobcat photographs taken in Yosemite National Park in early March. This is one of many very close photos I was able to capture of this beautiful wild creature. Ironically my entire trip to Yosemite was devoid of wildlife encounters until I began my drive to leave for home at mid-day.

Wild Bobcat (Lynx rufus, Yosemite National Park

The story behind this photo and wildlife encounter is that I was leaving the park and got stuck behind a small traffic jam of 4 cars. As the backup cleared I drove slowly by a shaded snowy embankment. Just as I turned my head to the left to see what people might be slowing for the head of this cat popped up. In fact the bobcat stared me square in the eye as I passed. To date I’ve had horrible luck photographing bobcats so I was very frustrated I couldn’t pull over immediately. After driving a 1/4 mile or so I finally found a spot to safely pull over and park my car. I quickly got my camera out and attached my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and 2x TC. I was actually quite pessimistic I’d be able to catch up to the bobcat to photograph it, but I decided to give it my best shot. I ran towards the meadow across from my last sighting of the cat.

At the time the park was covered with a thick snow covering from a large storm the previous week. This made running around tricky. The meadows were covered in snow 2-3 feet deep with a few clearings of dead grass scattered across the landscape. Trying my best to stay out of the snow I ran parallel to a guessed path of the cat as quietly as possible. After 3-5 minutes of tracking the bobcat I found it standing in the shade of some trees. I took a few quick “look I saw a bobcat” photos mostly of its profile with very busy backgrounds and decided to try my luck moving ahead of its path to photograph him/her coming straight at me. It was very important to not disturb the bobcat so I aggressively ran far ahead and would take up position out of the cat’s view. I consistently guessed correctly where it was heading next enabling me to get quite a few good photographs. In one instance the cat walked with in 30-40 feet of me oblivious to my presence. The result was the photo you see above.

Technorati Tags: Yosemite, National Park, wildlife, photo, photography, Lynx rufus, wild, stock

The 15th episode of EXIF and Beyond has been released.

In this episode “Mastering Digital Panoramic Photography” is discussed. Topics covered include an introduction to the technique, best practices, pitfalls, alternative methods, computer & software tips, and creative vision. This information packed episode will put you on track to master this challenging photographic technique in roughly (30) thirty minutes.

Referenced Articles and Resources:
Mastering Digital Panoramic Photography by Jim M. Goldstein via JMG-Galleries

Breaking the Gigapixel Barrier - Max Lyons

Recommended Panoramic Photography Resources

Download the latest episodes:
EXIF and Beyond: Mastering Digital Panoramic Photography

For the non-iTune listeners a streaming version of this podcast can be accessed here.

Featured Panoramic Photos in this Episode of EXIF and Beyond:

click to enlarge
“4 Corners - Welcome to Colorado”
made From (16) Sixteen Vertical Images (1×16)

click to enlarge
“Last Light On Delicate Arch, Arches National Park”
Made From (6) Six Vertical Images

click to enlarge
“The Beauty of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge”
Made From (10) Ten Vertical Images

click to enlarge
“Bryce Canyon Sunset, Bryce Canyon National Park”
Made from (5) Five Vertical Images

click to enlarge
“100 Caribou”
Made from (21) Twenty One Vertical Images

click to enlarge
“Caribou Pass View To The South Panoramic ” - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Made From (35) Thirty Five Vertical Images

click to enlarge
“Caribou Pass and Kongakut River Panoramic” - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Made From (50) Fifty Vertical Images

click to enlarge
“Cable View Panoramic, Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco”
Made From (3) Three Horizontal Images via Tilt Shift Lens
Between the cables is Alcatraz and in the distance is San Francisco more…

“Golden Gate Bridge Panoramic Sunset”
Made From (3) Three Vertical Images via Tilt Shift Lens more…

click to enlarge
“Yosemite Trees”
made From (11) Eleven Vertical Images (1×11)

Technorati Tags: EXIF and Beyond, podcast, digital, panoramic, photography, technique, tutorial, how to, dSLR, Four Corners, Golden Gate Bridge, Bryce Canyon, San Francisco, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Arctic Refuge, National Park, Caribou, Arches, Delicate Arch,