Rocky mountain big horn sheep were introduced into Badlands National Park in 1964. Here are several images captured during my recent visit there.  You’ll notice several have radio collars. The flock seems to be doing quite well as they were easily and frequently spotted in the craggy terrain along the Sage Creek Rim Road in the western portion of the park. They were fairly tolerant of humans so it was easy to get close when they were not perched on the edge of cliff a 1,000 feet above or below where we humans hang out.

My timing was not very good so the light was pretty harsh when I took most of these. I’d like to have another chance with better light. Also, later in the year I presume they would be a little more photogenic after they completely lose their shaggy winter coats – they look a bit tattered now.

These images were captured with the Pentax K7 and either the Pentax DA*300mm f/4 or the Pentax A*600mm f/5.6 mounted on a Feisol Tournament Class tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head.

Badlands National Park at sunrise (click to enlarge):

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Pentax K7 w/ Pentax DA 15mm F4 ED AL Limited

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Pentax K7 w/ Pentax DA*50-135 @ 135mm

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Pentax K7 w/ Pentax A*600mm

Who would think such a beautiful water fall exists in Nebraska?  This is Smith Falls at Smith Falls State Park near Valentine, NE.  The falls is located on a spring-fed creek thats feeds into the Niobrara River.  It’s a beautiful park.  This was a 1 second exposure at f/11 iso100 shot with the K7 and Pentax smc DA12-25mm @ 12mm with the Fader ND set to at about ND 4.

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Smith Falls - Smith Falls State Park, NE

In preparation for a summer trip to Yosemite and a fall trip to Maine, I’ve been studying images of waterfalls. There is no shortage of fantastic waterfall images all over the web. IMO, the best ones combine high dynamic range with perfect exposure, depth of field with the image tack-sharp front to back, as well as falling water that has just enough “motion” in it to make it smooth and creamy yet it retains some detail.

In addition to a polarizing filter, the best waterfall photogs seem to universally use an assortment of neutral density (ND) filters to reduce light in order to shoot at a slow shutter speed to blur the water. Lightcraft Workshop makes an adjustable ND filter (Fader ND) that lets you get by with carrying just one ND filter. It’s adjustable from 2 to 8 stops and looks and works a lot like a polarizing filter. As you turn the outer ring, the amount of light coming through varies. I ordered one a few weeks ago and it finally arrived this past week. I bought it from a Hong Kong eBay seller – apparently the only source. Singh-Ray also makes one, but it is about twice the price of the Fader ND.

There aren’t a lot of waterfalls in my neck of the woods so practice with the Fader ND filter prior to my trips will be difficult. However, there is a very small one at a state park about 30 minutes from my home. I went there this morning for a test run. One thing is certain, more practice is necessary. These shots were taken with Pentax K7 and Pentax smc DA12-24mm lens at f/16.0 with a shutter speed of 6 or 8 seconds. Although I am not certain on the amount of light reduction I set on the Fader, I believe it varied from 4 stops to 6 stops depending on the image.

I welcome C&C and any advice on technique:

Click to enlarge

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K10D & DA15mm 1/180s @ f/8 iso400 w/ flash

My friend Mike was gracious enough to get up before sunrise for a photo shoot from his boat on the Missouri River his morning. Although we didn’t see much wildlife, it was a beautiful morning to be on the river. The air temperature was cold so the day started off with some fog over the water but it dissipated shortly after sunrise.

I worked the image below pretty hard in post-processing. It was captured with a Pentax K7 dslr with Pentax smc FA43mm at 1/250s at f/8 iso200.  To deal with the dynamic range of this shot, I started by processing two versions of the RAW image; one with the exposure adjusted extremely dark to maintain some detail in the sky and star burst at the sun. The second one was adjusted with a better exposure for the trees, fog, and water. I layered the darker image on top of the lighter one and used a layer mask to selectively reveal some of the lighter areas from the first image.

After the two images were combined I used curves to increase contrast, applied shadow/highlight adjustment to the trees, and finally, pushed saturation with NIK Viveza 2 (plug-in for Photoshop). I saved it for the web by resizing to 72 dpi, sharpened the trees and river bank with NIK sharpener, and changed the color space from aRGB to sRGB. Comments welcome.

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K7 w/ FA43mm - 1/250s at f/8 iso200

Just had to share these!  Thirty-three examples of impecible timing . . .

Taken at Hitchcock Nature Area in Western Iowa.  Pentax K7 w/ Pentax smc DA*50-135mm @ 75mm 1/100 @ f/3.5 iso200

I got up early this morning, 4:30AM, to catch the sunrise at Squaw Creek NWR. A few eagles, great blue herons, and a pair of pelicans amused me for a few hours.

I spent last weekend in central Nebraska enjoying the spring migration of sandhill cranes. Each year, hundreds of thousands of lesser sandhill cranes migrate through central Nebraska between March 1 and April 15. Although this was my fourth trip to photograph the sandhill cranes, it was by far my most interesting experience.

I camped out Friday night on the banks of the Platte River in a photo blind. I got there about 4:30 PM on Friday and did not leave the blind until 11:00 AM on Saturday. The blind was literally right on the edge of the river. It was 6′ wide, 8′ long, and 5′ high with small openings in the front and sides which gave me a nice view upstream, downstream, and across to the opposite bank. There were no lights, no heat, no floor, and no plumbing. What it lacked in amenities, it made up for with plenty of cranes.

With over night low temperature of around 35 degrees, I was concerned my camera batteries would give out. I carry three rechargeable batteries for each camera. The last thing I wanted was to spend the night out there only to wake up to cold, dead batteries. One option was to keep the batteries warm by bringing them inside my sleeping bag.  However, I didn’t like the idea of sleeping with six lithium-ion batteries (I heard some airlines won’t let you bring these on airplanes because they are a fire hazard unless installed in a device). Instead, I put the batteries with two disposable hand warmers, the kind you buy for less than a dollar at sporting good stores, in a small compartment inside my camera bag to keep them warm over night. The camera bag, with all the foam padding, is well insulated. I replenished the hand warmers at 2:00 AM (I was up anyway – nature called). The hand warmers worked well.  In the morning the batteries were nice and warm with plenty of power.

Sandhill cranes spend their days feeding in nearby corn fields but they roost on the river at night.  By 6:30 PM they had begun to descend on the river.  By sunset at 8:00, there were tens of thousand, maybe hundreds of thousands, of cranes easily visible from my blind.  The closest were 30 to 40 yards from my vantage point. The sky was heavily overcast with very poor light until just after sunset (of course) when there was some clearing on the horizon which gave me about 10 minutes of good light.  It was just enough time to get a few silhouettes as the cranes settled in for the evening.

Cranes can be heard from long distances, making what some describe as a clacketty-clack and bugling call.  One thing I didn’t know is they keep up the chatter all night long. They never totally quieted down.  I woke up several times and I could easily hear them.  A photographer in another blind suggested there may have been a predator in the area which kept them agitated.

Although very cold, the light was much better on Saturday morning. The sky was clear and the sun was bright. In previous years shortly after sunrise, the enormous flock of cranes would somehow synchronize their ascent from the river in one sky darkening and ear splitting moment. Saturday morning however, they left their roost in small groups with the last of them not leaving until around 11:00 AM. This gave ample time for me to work on BIF (birds in flight) photography.

It was a great experience and I recommend anyone interested in nature photography or birds to get out there and expeirence the cranes.  It is quite a spectacle.  They should be there for another week or so.  Check out http://www.rowesanctuary.org/ for more info.

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PENTAX K-7 w/ Pentax smc A* 600mm 1/2000s @ f/5.6 iso800

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PENTAX K-7 w/ Pentax smc DA* 300mm 1/800s @ f/5.6 iso200

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The Blind - 1

The Blind - 2

No matter the skill or preparation, a wildlife photographer with bad timing will miss the shot.  This weekend, I executed a classic example of bad timing.  I spent the weekend at Bosque del Apache NWR – the desert sandhill crane mecca - in New Mexico. I was late; three weeks late to be exact. Just like in Nebraska, birders and photographers from all over the world come to Bosque del Apache to see and photograph sandhill cranes. I was hoping to do the same- but I missed the shot. Unfortunately, the “Bosque” cranes are well on their way north for the summer. Ironically, these are Greater Sandhill Cranes and do not migrate through Nebraska (we see the Lesser Sandhill Cranes near Grand Island and Kearney each spring).

In  my defense, I knew the cranes likely would be gone by the time I was required to be in the area for business. Regardless, I did not want to miss an opportunity to experience this famous place.  Even without the cranes, it turned out to be a very worthwhile photography experience. One of my bad habits, besides occasionally arriving late, is to become obsessed with wildlife at the exclusion of landscape opportunities.  Well with cranes nowhere to be found, and other wildlife opportunities limited, I was able to focus on the beautiful desert scenery at Bosque del Apache and the surrounding areas. As it turned out, it was time well spent. Here are two representative examples of the area. Had the cranes been present, I likely would have missed these shots. The first one was taken within the Refuge and the second one was taken near the ghost town of Chloride, NM.

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Pentax K10D ,Pentax DA* 60-250mm F4 ED (IF) SDM 1/750s f/4.5 at 98.0mm iso100

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Pentax K-7,Pentax smc P-DA 12-24mm 1/160s f/16.0 at 21 mm iso200