Not too much writing here, just wanted to introduce you to some of the shots I got this past weekend in Homer. There are two main shorebird festivals in Alaska. The first is the Copper River Delta Shorebird Festival, based in Cordova and the eastern Prince William Sound. It is more secluded, logistically challenging (you can’t drive there, you have to fly or take a ferry), and has much larger numbers (bird wise). In Cordova, they regularly see 5 million shorebirds during the festival. 5 MILLION! I find that if you say it with a Doctor Evil accent, it really helps it sink in.
The other major shorebird festival is in Homer, and is known as the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival. Homer sees only a fraction of the numbers of the birds that Cordova does, but with much higher species diversity. Kachemak Bay has a lot to offer, both in the way of birding and photography. There are grand landscapes & seascapes, whale watching (I saw a lone humpback on Sunday morning. He was in the ocean:) Sorry, I’m tired…), and a great variety of macro subjects. This was another scouting trip for me, as I am considering leading a weekend workshop (focusing on the Shorebird Migration) next year in Homer. I divided my time between shooting birds, scouting locations, picking the brains of several prominent birders, and doing tide pool photography across the bay in Kachemak Bay State Park.
In this post I’m going to stick with a theme: “Silhouettes”. The colors are super saturated. Brilliant yellows, glowing oranges, and pumped reds. They really look unreal, but I assure you – these are un-manipulated colors, no filters or saturation “creationism”. With the recent volcanic activity on Mt. Redoubt, the atmosphere is thick laiden with ash. The sky is hazy and long range visibility is diminished. In fact, after a weekend in these conditions, my throat is rebelling a bit. Try sucking in air with pulvarized ash and toxic chemicals in it – it does a number on you. But you know what? SO WORTH IT!
Silhouettes are easy to shoot. They are composition simplified to its most basic form. Light and dark, shape and the void. Color and it’s absence. To photograph silhouettes, all you have to do is have a subject that is dramatically backlit (the light must be behind the subject). Then just take a meter reading of the background and expose for it. Any backlit subject you put in the frame will be underexposed with this meter reading. If the backlighting is bright enough and the subject not lit from the front, you’ll get a silhouette. Simple right? They can make for very effective images if done correctly.
I’ve always preferred “environmental portraiture” over wildlife action shots. Basically that means that I like to include the animals habitat and surroundings in my photographs. Rather than just making a full frame shot (which I still do when it is called for), a sense of place can tell a lot about your subject. To each their own. In the images below, the color variances are due to the ever changing light conditions. Early on, right after sunrise, the light was a deep red. Then it transitioned from orange to a brilliant yellow. I really enjoyed the mornings near Beluga Lake. Great light, fog, and birds.
Beluga Lake Panorama, Fog and Ducks. Click to Enlarge.
Beluga Lake, Morning Glow with Ducks. Click to Enlarge.
"Enjoys Long Swims on the Water..." Silhouette. Click to Enlarge.
Ducks and Dock. Click to Enlarge.
Forest on Fire. Click to Enlarge.
Water that Glows from Within. Click to Enlarge.
Ripples and Silhouette. Click to Enlarge.
Next up, I have some more shots from the Shorebird Festival. Stay tuned!
Shoot well & often.