Anticipating behaviour (an important component of knowing our photographic subjects) is one of the three most important factors that contributes to us being successful bird and nature photographers. In my view, it is the most important factor.
Category Archives: Pro Capture
Osprey Mid-Air Shake
This article features 5 consecutive images of an osprey mid-air shake which were captured during a recent visit to Hendrie Valley. A few additional photographs that were shot after the osprey mid-air shake are also included.
Dragonfly Tussle
This article features five consecutive images of a dragonfly tussle that occurred during an August 2022 visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG). I had been photographing dragonflies taking off and landing on some of the pond plants at the RBG when this interaction transpired.
Attempted Meal Steal
This short article features a gull’s attempted meal steal from an egret fishing at one of the ponds at Hendrie Valley. These eight consecutive images were captured handheld using a frame rate of 18 frames-per-second in continuous auto-focus.
Mid-Air Chases
Birds interact for a number of reasons and anticipating mid-air chases can yield some interesting and sometimes dramatic photographs. This article features 12 new images from 2 mid-air chases and discusses some simple observation techniques that can help anticipate mid-air chases.
Dragonfly Doing 180
Earlier this summer I captured a Pro Capture H run of a dragonfly doing a 180 degree turn while taking flight. Dragonflies can be erratic when taking flight but seldom change directions as abruptly as this maneuver. This run of 8 consecutive Pro Capture H images falls under the ‘slice of life’ category.
Special Moment at ISO-10000
Back in May of this year I captured a special moment at ISO-10000 when doing a high ISO test at Biggar Lagoon Wetlands in Grimsby. Earlier in the day I had been successful photographing swallows in flight. It was getting later in the afternoon so I decided to change my approach and try some test images of swallows at ISO-10000 before I headed for home.
Salvaging the Day
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we’ve not captured any usable images during an outing and our focus becomes salvaging the day. Many of us would not want to spend most of the day out with our cameras… and drive 350 kilometers… with nothing to show for it. Such was the case yesterday.
Experimenting in Post
After badly screwing up some initial image captures, I sometimes save these types of files specifically to do some experimenting in post later on. After all… if I mess up the files even more in post I really haven’t lost anything. The upside is that I may learn something useable by experimenting in post with them.
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
During a recent visit to Hendrie Valley I had the opportunity to capture some photographs of a Yellow-rumped Warbler. This is a very common bird found throughout much of North America. During breeding season their range extends into the far north reaching Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Labrador.