Nature In Focus Photography Workshops

Alert.

I couldn't let the week go by without posting at least one more image of an adorable Whitetail Fawn. I always try to make sure we don't pressure an animal and disturb its behavior. These little ones were different from fawn to fawn. The younger ones would move if you got within 50 yards of them. The ones probably a week old, like this one, would let you get a little closer and fill the frame with 750mm worth of lens. What I will do is sit farther away and scoot a foot at a time closer. If the fawn paid me any attention, I would stop. Here the fawn is totally comfortable with me, but is alert to a family walking with a dog probably 200 yards away. After the family passed the fawn relaxed again and I was able to get the images I posted the other day. Taking time to learn your subjects not only makes you a better photographer, but a better naturalist. On a side note, I will touch on a lot of the techniques I use this weekend up at Unique Photo in Fairfield, NJ. I will be doing presentations and image reviews on Saturday and Sunday. Come on by and say Hi! For this image I used my Tamron 150-500mm lens on a Z50ii, at 500mm (750mm using the cropped sensor of the camera), Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/60th of a second, ISO 1400, Leofoto tripod, f-Stop Gear Guru AIR backpack.

Simply cute.

A good friend of mine works at Berry College and sent me some images he did this past week of the newborn fawns on campus. Berry is like 27,000 acres, the largest college campus in the World, and there a lot of deer. The deer tend to hang out near the buildings as a way to decrease chances of predation from Coyotes primarily. Along with another friend we met up Sunday morning. Most of the fawns we saw were days old and super cute. He described the fawn's stage of cuteness like the doctors described my cuteness, "in two weeks they won't be anywhere near as cute". We found a few that just wanted to lay in the grass, sometimes getting up to play, but offered some great image opportunities for us. Simply put, they were cute and adorable. I used a very short tabletop tripod and gimbal to get as low as possible and capture the images at the fawn's eye level. As always, getting down was easy, getting up, took much more time and effort! For this image I used my Tamron 150-500mm lens on a Z50ii, at 500mm (750mm using the cropped sensor of the camera), Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/60th of a second, ISO 1250, Leofoto tripod, f-Stop Gear Guru AIR backpack.

Cache, showing off.

Truly one of our most beautiful birds in the US is the American Kestrel. Not only beautiful but in reality very fierce, especially for its size. They primarily hunt insects like grasshoppers, making them extremely beneficial for farmers, but will hunt rodents and small birds as well. Such an incredible Raptor to have. Our groups always love seeing Cache, the male American Kestrel at the Teton Raptor Center. They explained to us that this time of year he would be busy hunting for youngsters in the nest box, so he is very active and loves his rewards. The Ambassador birds at the TRC are not releasable and I won't ever try to present them as wild birds. I include the jesses and anklets. They need to be shown doing their jobs with honor, they are first class Ambassadors. Being able to photograph them is so cool as we aren't pressuring wild birds and are able to supply the TRC with images as donations. I encourage everyone to be involved with rescue, rehab and educational centers and help get the word out whenever possible. We love the people there, and we love their mission. For this image I used the Tamron 150-500mm Di III E mount lens. My settings for the image were at 500mm on a Sony a1, Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, ISO 800, handheld, f-stop Gear GURU AIR backpack.