Nature Photography - It's More Than Just Finding the Animals

 

I've been working on my nature photography this spring, and have been enjoying my new Nikkor 200-400mm f4 VR lens in the process. While I'm now quite comfortable with the lens, and very impressed with the image quality it produces, I haven't really nailed any nature shots that make me super proud yet.

Here's an example of what the lens can do:

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 200-400mm f4 AFS VR Lens

This is a perfectly acceptable photo of a bald eagle, in a technical sense, but it sure doesn't tell much of a story. Really, I just found the animal, and got a decent shot of him. Then it was over.

 

Here's a shot below that I made some time back, of a much less exotic animal, with less exotic optics, but with more of a story. I love how the toad's singing, exhibited by the extended throat, and more importantly, by the standing waves in the water surrounding it, tell you more than "This is a toad." I aspire to finding more stories like this.

 

Eastern American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus), by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm Zoom Lens

The reason I'm thinking about this is that I read an interesting story about Frans Lanting, famed National Geographic nature photographer, on the Smithsonian website. (Click Here) to read that post. Lanting is a very interesting person, and the TED talk video embedded in the story tells a lot about how he feels about his work.

 

I've seen a lot of his night photography, where he sets up remote camera traps for elusive species. I see these as mainly challenges to find the animal and document it. However, he has other images, some of which he describes in the blog piece, that really tell much bigger stories. Read about the hunters reflected in the zebra's eye, and the African bullfrog, with approaching clouds above. Interesting stuff.

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Pond Life Shows Spring Is Here

 

Dragonfly Larva, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.8, 1/2000 sec

 

So, in my full-time job, I work for a biomedical research organization. One of our researchers studies the predator-prey behavior of dragonflies. It turns out, these guys are the ultimate predators of the insect world, and exhibit very complicated visual processing and use sophisticated guidance algorithms to intercept their flying prey in mid air.

 

Okay, by now you're wondering "What the heck does this have to do with photography?" Well, our scientists gather dragonfly larvae, like the one above, from the ponds on our campus. I got the opportunity to enjoy a little warm spring weather, and photograph them in action.

 

 

Collecting, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.5, 1/500 sec

 

While they were collecting, we started to notice what we thought were frogs singing to each other. They turned out to be toads, Eastern American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus americanus), which were quite amorous, and the singing led to other things.

 

 

Singing to the Girls, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.8, 1/500 sec

I love how you can see the vibrations in the water in the shot above. In the shot below, a pair are breeding. The helical black strands that you see in the picture below are the fertilized eggs.

Breeding Pair, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.8, 1/500 sec

 

On this particular day, the boss got selected to spend an hour in one of the staff's shoes (waders). As you can see below, he had a pretty good time out wading around in the pond.

 

A Good Day at Work, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.8, 1/500 sec

 

It's nice to see that Spring is here.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com