Tag Archives: fly

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Five Brown Peilicans

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Five Brown Peilicans
Five brown pelicans skim along just above the surf along the California coast on a winter day.

Five Brown Peilicans. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Five brown pelicans skim along just above the surf along the California coast on a winter day.

Photographing along this section of California’s coast presents a lot of decisions. Should I focus on winter surf, the haze and clouds, the land-meets-sea landscape, beaches, surfers and beachcombers, wildlife? I usually start out with one or two of these in mind — it was the atmosphere and the waves on this visit — but soon get distracted by the others.

The coastal pelicans are usually spotted gliding along just offshore, heading north or south along the coast. (They do land, but it is less common to find them settled on the ground.) They often fly extremely close to the water — so close that it seems that they are almost touching it as they follow the counters of the rising and falling surf.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Departure

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Departure
Sandhill cranes take to the air in the ealry morning tule fog.

Departure. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Description

My expectations are pretty straightforward. When I arrive at these locations before dawn to photograph birds, I want exactly the right amount of fog, enough developing sunrise light overhead to warm to the light a bit, the right birds against a photogenic background. (A cup of coffee and a fresh muffin would be nice, too, but that might be pushing things.) The reality is usually a bit more complicated.

I certainly found fog when I arrived on this morning. Perhaps a bit too much fog. It wasn’t quite the sort where you might be more successful making audio records of birds than photographing them, but it was close. As I moved around looking for the right birds in the right place, I eventually came upon a group of cranes, barely visible at first in the gray light. Although it isn’t really apparent in the photograph, it was sunrise, and the birds seem to know this even when the sun’s light is blocked by the tule fog. And if it is sunrise, the birds know that it is time to rise from the ponds and head off to wherever it is that they spend their days.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Sudden Flight

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Sudden Flight
A flock of Ross’s geese takes to the air at the end of the day.

Sudden Flight. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of Ross’s geese takes to the air at the end of the day.

As an afternoon of migratory autumn/winter migratory bird photography runs on into sunset and then twilight, it is inevitable that there will eventually be too little light to photograph the way I might during the daytime. But I usually continue until it is virtually dark — to the point that I may need a headlamp to stow my equipment when I finish. During that final low-light period I often end the cycle of increasing ISO and pushing shutter speed, and instead I drop ISO down to the minimum and let the exposure times lengthen, allowing me to work with motion blur from birds in flight.

We had positioned ourselves near a large flock of geese in a pasture, and they were gradually become more restless, beginning to take off in small groups and depart for parts unknown. Groups tend to depart together, and as they do they rise, with little or no warning, en masse and take to the air. It is hard to say what makes a photograph “realistic,” but I often feel that these masses of blurry birds may suggest the quality of these departing flocks at least as truthfully as stop-motion photographs.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes Above The Levee

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Cranes Above The Levee
A small group of sandhill cranes flies into a mist-filled early morning winter sky above a Central Valley levee.

Cranes Above The Levee. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small group of sandhill cranes flies into a mist-filled early morning winter sky above a Central Valley levee.

Light comes in infinite variations — bright, warm, cool, clear, misty, back, front, reflected, glowing, harsh, and on and on. (I wonder how many ways there are to describe light?) Photographers and photographers may be characterized by their favorite subjects, how they compose, elements of post-processing, and much more. But what light they prefer and how they handle it may be among the most important factors.

I have my preferences. One of them is for light coming through a glowing, mist or fog filled atmosphere, so bright that you almost cannot look straight at it. In this light the atmosphere almost becomes a tangible thing. This winter morning in California’s Central Valley had that quality as this small group of sandhill cranes flew past.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.