It’s been a while since we returned but it’s also been a very busy month!  I did want to write about our Bald Eagle Trip with 4 participants that braved the cold in search of stellar Bald Eagle imagery.  Don’t let the image below fool you, I did spend lots and lots of time working with each participant.  I just can’t resist being a 10 year old when I can!  I could not, however, get anyone else to join me. =)

The long drive put us at one of my favorite spots on the Mississippi River in time for evening light on Friday.  While there weren’t as many Eagles as I’d hoped, they were active and the lighting was amazing!  All participants were in awe at the wonder in front of them and many of them stated that even if that was all they got all weekend, they were thrilled!

We spent as much time outside shooting as possible but the evenings also proved to be very beneficial for some as we talked about ways to improve exposure on the tough subjects as well as some quick lessons in Photoshop.  Saturday was full of harsh light which was good for teaching how to deal with tough situations such as that.  Our long time spent in the field all day paid off, however, as Saturday evening brought amazing lighting yet again as well as active birds.  As Dad says, I lead a charmed life!  He’s right, life is good!  The trip was quick but fun and all participants went home with some stellar stuff!

Stay tuned for future trips.  The Magee Marsh trip is full but I’m in the midst of planning my late summer and fall trips right now.

This lesson will focus on reading Histograms. Histograms in editing software provide valuable information for making tonal and color adjustments whereas in digital cameras, they provide you with the information needed to make exposure adjustments for better results.  The ability to read histograms will serve you well both in the field and in post-processing your images.

A Histogram shows the distribution of tones in an image. In a standard 8-bit image each color channel shows 256 shades of gray. 0 (Black) starts in the lower left hand corner. As you move from left to right the graph shows pixel values from shadows to mid-tone and finishing in the lower right hand corner with 255 or pure white (highlights). The vertical part of the graph shows the amount of each pixel shade in the image. As a photographer you are mostly concerned with where your darkest pixels begin on the left and where your lightest pixels end on the right. Don’t be obsessed about the shape and vertical components of your histogram but be concerned about starting and ending points.

The image above is a fairly typical full range image. The shadows begin at the left hand lower corner and the highlights end at the lower right hand corner. The full range of available tones are represented here with no clipping or lost pixels in the shadows (left side) or highlights (right side). There is an even distribution of tones across the image.

The image above is another full range image but note how different the histogram appears. This is because most of the pixel values in this image are between the mid tones and the highlights. Notice however that the shadows begin in the lower left hand corner and the highlights end at the right hand corner. This is what you really need to focus on when reading histograms rather than the actual shape of the histogram.

The image above is a low key image. Most of the pixels are on the shadow end (left side). There are some highlight pixels in the lights of the ship but there are not enough of them to show up as a spike on the histogram. This is a situation where you would not want a full range image. This image was intentionally exposed as a low key image bringing most of the pixels to the shadow side to create the effect of ships passing at night. Perfect exposure is not always about a perfect full range image. Rather, it’s about the photographer’s intent or vision for his or her image.

The image above is a high key image. Most of the pixels are on the highlight side of the histogram. There should be no attempt to color correct or change camera exposure to force this to be a full range image.

The image above has clipped highlights. The tell-tale sign of clipped highlights is the gray tone of the histogram stacking up against the right hand corner of the histogram. When color correcting, this situation represents lost detail that you will never be able to get back. The DSLR camera will typically show a warning when highlights are being clipped, and the camera histogram will clearly show the clipping. The appropriate exposure compensation can correct for this, restoring correct exposure and detail to the highlights. This is why correct camera exposure in the field is so critical. Clipped highlights are THE most important concern to the photographer when it comes to exposure.

The image above has clipped shadows. Note how the gray tones of the histogram are stacking up against the left hand corner of the histogram. The human perception is more tolerant of loss of shadow detail, so clipped shadows are of secondary concern when compared to highlights. Always try to expose for the highlights, as loss of detail in the highlights is noticed much more by the human eye.

The image above shows shadow AND highlight clipping.  Note how the gray tones of the histogram stack up against both sides of the histogram. The image has a range of tones that is beyond the capability of the digital sensor to capture in one exposure. In this situation you should always expose for the highlights as the cloud detail is more important than shadow details. Other options with this type of image would be to bracket your exposure (basically exposing one shot for the highlights and the second shot for the shadows) and merge the two shots into one in an image editing program.

Let’s go over the “Top 5” summary points to take away from this lesson:
     1) Histograms provide the power to obtain better in-camera exposure
     2) Histograms provide critical info for making tonal & color adjustments
     3) Don’t worry about the shape of the graph, the left & right sides are key
     4) Perfect exposure is not always about a perfect full range image
     5) Always expose for the highlights

Stay tuned for a full wrap-up of the Bald Eagle trip I led in February, including participant images!

For those iPhone users local to the Battle Creek/Kalamazoo area, we’ve been waiting………and waiting………and waiting some more for 3G to be turned on.  3G is on as of about an hour ago.

This is very good news, however initial speed tests show slow speeds (1mb download) compared to the normal 3G (4-5mb download) in bigger towns.  My hope is while they at least have it on right now, they will tune it over time to speed it up.

Florida has been good to us from a birding standpoint.  It’s been down-right enjoyable getting some time just us being outside and birding in the sun-filled heat.  With all the trips we lead and all the groups we bird with, it’s always nice just to get a chance to simply bird together.  Below is our full list.  Our goal was 100 species and we got to 105.  We’re both very content with that list.  New species for Kara were Swallow-tailed Kite, Snail Kite, Mottled Duck, & Black-bellied Whistling Duck.  New species for Josh were Snail Kite and Mottled Duck.  Species of note were a slightly early Acadian Flycatcher & of-course, the endangered Snail Kite.

Now in the Orlando area with family, I’ve had some time working a few more images and finally getting another post thrown together.  It’s been a good trip and we’ve seen a lot of birds (full list of birds coming in next post).  One bird that has escaped many good shots in Michigan was an easy take this trip, a Red-bellied Woodpecker.  Dad has some nice winter shots of this species and we think the image below will be a nice addition to the collection, given the warm summer glow in the background.

What would a southern Florida trip be without Alligators?  These guys are hard to find but decent images are another story.  It’s tough to get on their level when one doesn’t prefer to swim in the same waters they are hunting but I did manage a nice shot of a baby that Kara found while I was photographing a Common Moorhen.  Nice find Kara!

One of my favorite spots was on the beach on Sanibel Island.  We were lucky enough to come across a huge group of Terns with a few Black Skimmers mixed in.  Resting and fully accustomed to people, I was able to sit on the beach right inside the group.

I had Royal Terns within 5 feet of me on all sides (do I want to come back as a bird?  Hell yeah…but I hope to be  Northern Goshawk).  Anyway, I concentrated on flight shots and the images below are with a 70-200mm Lens which tells the photographers out there how close I was for these full-frame images!

I think the shot of the trip, however, is the Burrowing Owl at first light.  The warm glow of the summer lighting makes this image and the space around the bird helps tell a story.  Many photographers strive for full-frame images of birds but don’t be afraid to have some space in your photographs that give more meaning to your images.

Stay tuned as I will post again later today with our full bird list.  We plan to hit a couple spots tomorrow before heading home so a post when we return will most definitely be out as well.

Florida has been hot and sunny and besides a lot of driving, we’ve been hitting some great spots.  Some include Corkscrew Swamp, Blue Cypress Refuge, Shark Valley (Everglades) and Ding Darling on Sanibel Island.

We are lucky enough to be on Sanibel Island staying with some friends.  They have been so nice and welcomed us right in.  They’ve shown us their favorite spots and we’ve been able to spend quite some time in Ding Darling as well as on the beach.

The photography has been good and I’ve had some great opportunities.  We’re barely half way through our week and still have some amazing spots to hit yet.  Last night brought some great star-gazing on the island and wouldn’t you know it, there are 4 iPads between us and our group of friends and we had the pleasure of showing them the phenomenal app called “Star Walk” which excited them enough that the ladies couldn’t sleep!  Needless to say, all the iPads here now have the app and we’re excited for more star-gazing this evening.  =)  On another note, my super laser that I use for showing people where birds are excited them to see the stars we were talking about with pinpoint accuracy.

Stay tuned, I’ll will try and hit the blog a few more times before heading home.  In the meantime, feel free to laugh as I did after hearing Kara giggle and say she thinks the Purple Gallinule above is line-dancing!

Just an FYI for our followers.  Josh will be in Florida next week so stay close to the blog for posts about the trip with first looks at new images!

Also,  Lesson 7, Using Histogram is in the works.  Definitely a topic people have been asking about.  It should be out soon.  Stay tuned and get outside, Spring is coming!

When: Thursday Evenings, May 19 & 26, June 2
Where: Kalamazoo Nature Center (to register, please call 269-381-1574)
Audience: Adults with Digital or Film SLRs (limited to 5)
Fee: $65 KNC Members, $75 Non-Members

This 3-part Series to Bird Photography will be an amazing workshop stepping participants through some of the techniques to capturing better bird images day in and day out. Josh will help participants get out of AUTO modes and be more creative with the gear they currently own. The series will start out at the beginning level and move on to intermediate techniques that will include some of the following:

*Using the right equipment
*Composition and framing
*Preparing for the shot
*Exposure for birds
*Hummingbirds (this workshop will have a lot of focus on Hummers!!!)
*Perching songbirds
*Flight techniques
*Beginning set-ups

After getting my lens back, I finally had some good lighting yesterday to do some real testing.  The lens seemed to perform well.  I still have some tests to do but hopefully it will continue to perform.  I headed to the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary knowing I’d have lots of flying subjects to track and focus.

Dad met me out there and we enjoyed the shooting as well as hanging out with our good friend Roy Van Loo.  Near the end of the day, the Trumpeters became quite active and we even had group fly-bys no more than 25 feet from us.  Males are starting to show their dominance and even the juveniles are getting independent.  Great-Blues are even starting to claim nests in the nearby rookery.  Spring is coming!!!

March 9, 2011, 7:00 pm
The Chief Noonday Chapter of the North Country Trail will have a presentation of Nature Photography by Josh Haas, Co-owner of “Glances at Nature” during their March 9^th meeting.  Josh is a well recognized photographer of all things nature.  Glances at Nature offers training programs, field trips, and sales of some phenomenal pictures taken by Josh and his father.  Examples of their work can be found at www.glancesatnature.com.  The presentation is titled “Enriching your hikes, One photo at a time”  All interested in hiking or nature photography are welcome to attend!

The NORTH COUNTRY TRAIL is one of our Nation’s premier hiking and backpacking trails, extending 4,400 miles from New York to North Dakota.  First conceived in the 1960’s it links outstanding scenic, natural, recreational, historic and cultural areas.

The Chief Noonday Chapter is responsible for building, maintaining and promoting the NCT in Barry, Kalamazoo and Calhoun County.  Our portion of the NCT spans approximately 95 miles of trail!  We have a great group of volunteers.  The chapter has a monthly work day to improve our section of the trail.  We also have a monthly hike offering the opportunity to make friends and get some exercise.  There is a monthly chapter meeting, often with a presentation regarding hiking.

More information can be found at www.northcountrytrail.org/cnd/.  The March meeting will take place at 7:00, March 9^th at the Barry Township Hall located at 155 East Orchard St. Delton, MI.  For questions please contact Eric Longman, 269 671-5031.