Nature Photography Workshops Tours
Here’s a shot from yesterday morning at Montana’s National Bison Range just north of Missoula. Had some awesome light and some great wildlife photography while up there. Unfortunately had to cut my trip short as my camera had a massive mechanical failure last night and I had just sent out my backup camera to Canon for routine service. Fortunately I got a few shots in while there. Murphy’s Law!
Canon 5D markIII 500mm f4LIS II, 2X f11 1/750 ISO800
Testing out my new Canon 500mm f4L IS II and 2XmkIII extender the other night, and couldn’t resist photographing the local whitetails in our backyard here in Montana. All I can say is wow! The image quality is superb and so is the autofocus. I am looking forward to putting together a review on this soon as it’ s become an even more versatile telephoto then the older version.
Last month I was hiking up Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park when I decided to stop and set up a landscape shot featuring the Olympic Mountains and some wildflowers dotting the hillside.
I had everything set up, my tripod adjusted, and was taking a few shots, when out of the corner of my eye a blacktail doe wandered into my frame. I had literally two seconds to adjust my camera settings in order to freeze the deer’s movement in-frame and include her in my shot.
Not an easy thing to do and most of the time when things like this happen we end up missing the shot while fumbling frantically to switch our settings. However luck and preparation were on my side this morning as I was using my Custom Shooting Mode, C1, on my Canon 5D mkIII for my landscape settings.
For those who aren’t familiar with using the Custom Shooting Modes on your camera, they allow us to preset or program custom settings into a designated mode that can be quickly accessed on the camera. Canon’s 5D mkIII has three custom shooting modes located for easy access, C1,C2,C3. Each mode is programmable and located on the mode dial. You can program any settings you like into each mode, so when you switch to that mode, your settings are ready to go and you’re not left navigating endlessly while you miss that once in a lifetime shot.
On my camera for example I have C1 set up for shooting landscapes. I have programmed all the usual settings we start out with when shooting static scenes.
C1: Aperture Priority, ISO 100, f11, mirror lockup, 2 second timer.
This makes it quick and simple when I want to shoot a landscape and especially when I need to switch back and forth between shooting situations.
So for my blacktail deer on Hurricane Ridge, I was shooting my landscape in C1 and when the deer entered the frame, I quickly switched my mode dial to AV mode which was already set for action at ISO 800 f5.6 with no mirror lockup or 2 second timer. I was able to fire off two frames and get one with the deer right in the middle.
Now by itself my landscape shot was not a very interesting one nor one that I really cared for. But with the deer in the foreground it made the shot more interesting and added a little something extra. This was the absolute perfect example of the convenience of the Custom Shooting Modes and also an example of how they can help us capture shots that we ordinarily may have missed.
Bison. Canon 7D 500mm f4.0 ISO 100 f4.5 1/500
Here are some shots from this week over at the National Bison Range, north of Missoula, Montana. It’s a great place to view and photograph wildlife with the Mission Mountains adding a great scenic backdrop. Bison, Pronghorn, Elk, Deer, Bear are just some of the local big game on the range. It’s a great day getaway if you’re near Missoula, or a stopover on your way up to Glacier National Park via Highway 93.
With all the great stuff to photograph around the area, you’d think getting a few decent shots would be no problem. However, this week it just wasn’t happening. Every once in while I get those trips where it’s just not in the cards and sometimes it seems like packing up and heading home would be more productive. But, it’s times like these that make those day’s where the planets seem to align, that much sweeter.
I did enjoy myself nonetheless and in this particular area of Montana it’s hard not to.
So now I’m shifting gears and getting ready for Fall Photography here in Montana and the northwest. It’s started to cool in the evenings here and you can sense a change in the seasons. This weekend there was even some frost on the ground in the early morning. Definitely getting anxious as Fall in Montana is without a doubt my favorite time of the year in Montana and probably one of the best times to photograph the state.
Whitetail Deer. Canon 7d 500mm f4. ISO 400 f4.5 1/1000
National Bison Range. Canon 5d mkII TS-24mm f3.5II ISO100 f16 1/30. 3 image panorama.
Canon 5dmkII 16-35mmII f16 1/10 ISO100
Here’s a couple shots from this weekend. I was shooting at the base of the Beartooth Mountains in southern Montana. Man are things looking spectacular right now, the wildflowers were out of this world!
Canon 7D 100-400mm f6.3 1/1000 ISO800
Mule Deer, Doe & Fawn. ©Jason Savage