Posts Tagged ‘Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM’
Mushrooms
-click to enlarge-
I made this photo in a favourite local park – Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley, British Columbia. There is not much in the way of wide open scenery here, but it is a great place to focus on smaller things such as mushrooms, wildflowers and occasionally birds. If you have read my previous mushroom posts over on Google+ it will come to you as no surprise that I have not identified this species of mushroom.
I would normally shoot something like this with my macro lens, but in this case I was not going to be able to get close to this log at all without destroying a lot of underbrush, so I setup my tripod on the trail and used my 70-200mm lens to “get closer”. I am not against placing items in a scene, but for this particular photo I did not place the Maple leaf – it was already laying there. I do have another version of this photo without the leaf, but I believe the above composition is stronger with the leaf in place.
Tags: british columbia, campbell valley park, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, fall, fall color, fall colour, maple leaf, moss, mushrooms
Posted in Photography | 3 Comments »
Great Blue Heron
(
Ardea herodias)
-click to enlarge-
This is Part II in my series of posts on searching for Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) to photograph in the Fraser Valley this Winter – Part I was also at the Lower Stave River.
The Bald Eagles are not the only species here for the Salmon. A lot of gulls were around, and a few Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) too. Herons always seem to make good subjects. They are wary but quite easy to photograph compared to some other species. This Heron was one of the first subjects I photographed with my new Canon 1.4x EF Extender II on my 70-200mm f/4 IS lens. The combo works very nicely!
Bald Eagle
(
Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
-click to enlarge-
At the Lower Stave River I camped out a few locations that looked as though they might be likely Bald Eagle feeding spots (lots of salmon carcasses). Unfortunately I was not able to photograph any Eagles at these locations – perhaps my presence stuck out. I did manage to wait long enough to have one land in front of me but when I raised my camera (slowly) to make a photograph – they flew away into a nearby tree (the image on the right).
Stay tuned for Part III – this time at the Harrison River…
Tags: ardea herodias, bald eagle, british columbia, Canon 1.4, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, EF Extender II, great blue heron, haliaeetus leucocephalus, harbour seal, herons, lower stave river, mission, phoca vitulina
Posted in Photography | No Comments »
Bald Eagle
(
Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
-click to enlarge-
Every Fall there are a considerable amount of Salmon that spawn in the various tributaries of the Fraser River. After spawning, the dead Salmon become great food for Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and other species. There are many locations I visit every year in order to see the Salmon spawn including the Harrison River, Weaver Creek and the Lower Stave River in Mission, British Columbia. There aren’t usually many Eagles near Weaver Creek, but the Harrison and Stave Rivers are usually pretty good places to look for Eagles indulging in the Salmon feast.
The photo above illustrates the one situation where adult Bald Eagles don’t seem all that afraid of someone approaching. I guess they know that people can’t climb trees quickly. I have seen a number of Eagles nearby feeding on Salmon on the ground – but as soon as they see you they take off. Those in the trees do not do this, but a bird up in a tree is not always a very interesting photo. This was the best Eagle photo I made on my first trip to the Lower Stave – but not exactly what I was after.
Harbour Seal
(
Phoca vitulina)
-click to enlarge-
The first time I visited the Lower Stave River this year was in early December. Standing near a swiftly flowing channel below the Dam, there was suddenly a surge of water moving upstream – this confused me initially. I couldn’t think what would be large enough to create it. Suddenly a lot of Salmon started leaping out of the water, a few flopped up onto the bank and this big Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina) surged out of the water, caught one of the Salmon, and continued up stream with the fish hanging from its mouth. I was so shocked that I failed to do anything but stand there… a video or a few photographs would have been awesome. When I finally came to my senses I did make a photograph of the back of the seals head, but this is all I gathered from the encounter. VERY cool to see though – I never expected a Harbour Seal that far upstream, this far inland. I presume it ventured up the Fraser River and the Salmon were a meal well worth the trip.
Stay tuned for Part II!
Tags: bald eagle, british columbia, Canon 1.4x EF Extender II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, haliaeetus leucocephalus, harbour seal, lower stave river, mission, phoca vitulina
Posted in Photography | No Comments »
Northern Pygmy-Owl
(
Glaucidium gnoma)
-click to enlarge-
On Friday I drove out to the Lower Stave River area searching for Bald Eagles to photograph. The Lower Stave River still has a lot of Salmon carcasses (and still some live Salmon) for the Eagles to feed on. There are also a ton of Seagulls, Great Blue Herons, and Ducks of all sorts. I still have not managed to get a “good” Eagle photo – but I am still working on it. There are a ton of Bald Eagles out in the Fraser Valley right now, so I will keep going out there for a while trying to get some of the shots that I have in my head (or totally different ones).
Northern Pygmy-Owl
(
Glaucidium gnoma)
-click to enlarge-
Neither photo here is a Bald Eagle of course. So often I head out seeking a particular subject or photo, only to come home with completely different subjects. This is great, because even if I am not able to photograph the subject I am looking for – coming home with good photos of something else is nice. I think one of the many things I like about photography is you are just never quite sure what you are going to get.
I had never seen a Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium gnoma) before but immediately recognized it. A very small Owl species, this guy was probably only 17cm (7 inches) high. Much much smaller in size than the other Owl I photographed recently, a Barred Owl. I really enjoy the glare it is giving, though I have no idea what it was looking at. I made several photos of this owl and I think the first one here is my favourite just because of the facial expression – it looks like it is about to kill something. More apparently in a larger version is the small smear of blood on its chest feathers, indicating this is not necessarily an idle threat.
This was also one of my first set of photos using my new Canon 1.4x EF Extender II on my EF 70-200mm f/4L IS. This was handheld and I am quite happy with the early results from the combination of these two.
Tags: birds of prey, british columbia, Canon 1.4x EF Extender II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, glaucidium gnoma, lower stave river, mission, northern pygmy-owl, owls, raptor, stave falls
Posted in Photography | 3 Comments »
The Capilano River
-click to enlarge-
I made this photograph back in October at the Capilano River in North Vancouver, British Columbia. I like how the water flows slowly around these rocks while the river rushes by in the foreground. You may remember one of the earlier photos of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) that I posted from this location a few weeks ago. The Heron photo showed how a small tweak in shutter speed can make a huge difference in the photographic result. In this case, a shutter speed of 1/3 of a second gave me just the amount of water blur that I was looking for. Enough to show the water “in motion” but not so much as to blur it to the point of abstraction.
With my 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens I was able to isolate this part of the river for the photograph. Another example of why I often use long lenses for landscape photography!
Tags: Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, capilano canyon, capilano river, rivers, shutter speed
Posted in Photography | 2 Comments »
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM Lens
-click to enlarge-
Today I have the privilege of being a guest blogger on Dan Bailey’s blog with my review of the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens which you should go read now! Dan is a great adventure photographer from Alaska and in addition to great photography writes a lot of blog posts that always have interesting and useful information. You should also check out his ebooks!
Tags: Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM
Posted in Equipment, Photography | No Comments »
Great Blue Heron
(
Ardea herodias) – 1/125 seconds
-click to enlarge-
In October I visited the banks of the Capilano River in North Vancouver in search of some fall colours. I didn’t find much there, but the canyon is always so beautiful that I knew a photo opportunity would be likely regardless of the state of the leaf colours. Lucky for me, this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) was lounging near the bank and posed for some photographs.
Often when I shoot wildlife with my Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens, I switch to AV mode and f/4 so that I am always getting the fastest shutter speed possible. I do not know what I am going to encounter a lot of the time, and this gives me a good chance of being able to catch whatever action I may happen upon. On this day I had upped the ISO to 640, so that I had a bit of extra shutter speed available (1/125 sec) for this photo. Thankfully the 7D does great with much higher ISOs than this – so there is some room available for dealing with low light. When I came upon this Heron, I was able to make this photo quite easily with these settings.
Great Blue Heron
(
Ardea herodias) – 0.6 seconds
-click to enlarge-
While I like the above shot I thought there might be an opportunity to make a better photo. Having exhausted my ideas with a faster shutter speed, I decided to try a slower one to see what I could do with the water in the background. I changed my aperture to f/18, and lowered my ISO to 100 in order to create the longer shutter speed. Using a tripod, I made the photograph on the left with a shutter speed of 0.6 seconds.
I believe that the blur in the river created by the slower shutter speed makes the second photo here much more dramatic and interesting than the first. The Heron doesn’t really change between them, the rocks remain the same, but the longer shutter speed creates a great effect in the river. While I do this quite often with static landscape subjects, this is one of the first times I have tried this with a wildlife photo. Granted, the Heron made a great subject for this attempt, but this really shows how varying shutter speed can have dramatic impact on the photographic result.
Tags: ardea herodias, british columbia, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, capilano river, great blue heron, north vancouver, shutter speed
Posted in Photography, Techniques | 3 Comments »
Eureka Falls
-click to enlarge-
This is a close up shot of Eureka Falls just outside Silver Lake Provincial Park near Hope, BC. A bit wider take on the panorama I posted earlier. These falls are pretty easy to get to – they are right on the side of the road. Unfortunately, (as you can see in my shots of this area last year) Silverhope Creek runs between the road and Eureka Falls. At this time of year the river is really roaring (or I presume, as I’ve not seen it any other time of year) and I have not been willing to go down the bank near it. The river is running fast enough, and the rocks large enough, that being swept away would mean I would not be coming back to this spot. I do hope to return later in the Summer or maybe Fall to see if the water levels are lower and the bank more accessible so I can get some different angles on the falls themselves. I am also hoping that Eureka Falls is not a seasonal waterfall and actually exists with lower water levels.
Tags: british columbia, canada, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, closeup, detailed, eureka falls, hope, waterfalls
Posted in Photography | 3 Comments »
Barred Owl (Strix varia)
-click to enlarge-
I went for a walk through some trails last week and while I wasn’t going there specifically for photography I brought the camera along. I figured that if I didn’t have it with me, an eagle would land in a tree right in front of me and well, I would be out of luck photographically. No eagles this time, but a Barred Owl (Strix varia) did land right in front of me and posed for long enough for me to get a few decent shots of it. I have never seen an owl this close before, and I’m lucky I had a camera poised to take the shot. A few weeks ago I was in the same spot on the trail taking some macro shots of Pacific Bleeding Heart flowers. If the owl had shown up then I would have had the macro lens on (instead of the 70-200mm), camera on the tripod, mirror lockup turned on, the ISO too low, and an aperture stopped down enough that a handheld shot would have been impossible. I guess what I am saying is I feel fortunate to have had all the factors work out for me this time! Getting a nice composition is difficult with so many branches sticking out everywhere though.
Tags: barred owl, british columbia, campbell valley park, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, langley, owls, strix varia, wildlife
Posted in Photography | 4 Comments »
