Nikon N90S
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| Some of my most memorable photographs are featured in this section, along with photo tips and the story behind the making of each photograph. I hope these images inspire you to go out and experience your own memorable moments. |
Nikon N90S
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| I was fortunate to experience one of those
rare wildlife moments at Grant Ranch County Park, located in the hills of the Diablo Range
near my home in San Jose, California. The park's habitat, consisting of oak-covered
rolling hills, brushy canyons and plentiful water, is a magnet for wildlife and supports
thriving populations of wild pigs and wild turkeys. With their poor eyesight wild pigs are
fairly easy to photograph with a 500mm telephoto lens if you move slowly, quietly, and
watch the wind direction. My best selling mammal photo is a backlit image of a wild boar taken at this
park. Wild turkeys, however, are a different story. They have excellent eyesight and are very cautious by nature. In locations where they are not habituated to human presence -- such as lightly used Grant Park -- turkeys can be very difficult to photograph. I had seen them on several occasions, but they always kept their distance or slipped back into the woods. That all changed one clear morning in early Spring. Before my car had come to a stop in the parking lot I saw several male turkeys displaying to females in a nearby field. They were too far to photograph from the car, and they didn't appear to be heading in my direction, so I had to get closer on foot. To my great surprise they ignored my approach across the open field and continued their display routine. Backlighting glowed through their raised tail feathers -- creating a halo effect around each male. The budding trees behind the birds, also backlit, shimmered against the dark hillside still in shadow. At about 75 yards, not wanting to push my luck any further, I stopped to make some exposures. At that distance my initial composition included five turkeys. Two birds were later cropped out because I like the symmetry of the 3-bird composition shown above. Back then, cameras' matrix meters were not as sophisticated as they are today, so I relied on spot metering and setting exposure manually. The turkey's dark body was spot metered and placed at -1 stop. I then spot metered various areas around the frame to see if all significant features were within the tonality range of about 3 stops for slide film. The check revealed the grass in front of the birds was too bright so I composed to eliminate most of it from the frame, showing more of the shimmering trees in the background. I managed to fire off a few frames before the turkeys separated. I followed the flock for the next half hour and shot several rolls of film -- sometimes within 20 yards of the birds -- as they continued to display. However, none of the later images exhibit the same magical feeling of that first backlit sequence. It was indeed a thrilling and rare moment that will stay with me for years to come. See here for my article on adding abstract elements -- such as backlighting -- to wildlife photos. |
