Earth Day “it’s for the birds”… and us too

Today is Earth Day. I’m guessing that many of you haven’t a clue as to what it’s about. Maybe you can get a glint of Earth Day here.

I recently completed writing what has become an annual article about Earth Day. Yesterday morning as I was having coffee and reading the Sunday NY Times, I was quite surprised that I didn’t find a single mention of Earth Day throughout the entire newspaper. But I did run across an interesting article that has a similar theme. As a lover of the outdoors, I’m an avid participant in nature photography. Having spent more than five decades with camera-in-hand, I’ve collected my share of wildlife images. Along the way, I’ve found that the most challenging parts of this favorite activity is capturing the varying graceful, delicate or powerful movements of birds in flight.

Yes, I like birds but I don’t consider myself a bird-watcher. Yet according to Brian Kimberling[1], there are some 5.8 million bird-watchers in the US. I’m not sure where he derives this number but his mention of The Audubon Society most likely accounts for a good share of them.

Last December amid our holiday festivities, I recall hearing about the start of Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count. During a two week period, participants take a census of birds in their geographic area with a main goal of studying how bird populations have changed in time and space. After reading Kimberling’s article, I have a better understanding of what these studies are telling us about the environment of all the non-bird species, i.e. us humans.

According the Audubon Society’s report, there has been a noticeable change in bird migration in recent years. The report says: we were able to look at the winter distribution of 305 species to see if their winter range had shifted over the last 40 years. We discovered that 177 of these species showed a significant shift north and this northward shift was correlated with an increase in mean January temperatures in the contiguous 48 states of almost 5 degrees during that time. You can find more details on the Audubon’s website.

Five degrees in 40 years. This is a pretty large increase within the lifetime of many of us. Obviously it’s a big deal to the habits of the birds.

Shouldn’t we be concerned? What do you think? I’d like to hear from you.

Written by Arnie Lee

[1]”What Do Birders Know”, NY Times Sunday Review Section, April 21, 2013

 

 

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The cold weather of winter is now upon us here in the upper midwest, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of opportunities for wonderful photographs. What it does mean, however, is that you’ll need to take extra care of your camera when you’re out in the cold. This is true for both digital SLRs and point-and-shoots.

Snow scenes require special care for your camera

You can help your camera stay warm as possible by keeping it under your coat. This will not only help it keep warm but will also protect it from the elements. The same is true for an external flash unit if you’re using one.

Another precaution against the cold is to bring spare batteries with you when you go outside. The batteries in your camera are likely to lose power faster at lower temperatures even if you’re not using the camera. Therefore, carry at least one extra set of batteries in your coat pocket where your body heat will keep them warm. Then, if your camera or flash batteries begin to fail, you can insert warm fresh batteries.

Condensation may be a problem you’ll have when you come inside from the winter cold. You’ve probably seen condensation on a glass of icy lemonade on a hot summer day. Your camera, especially the lens, is affected the same way when you bring it inside from the cold. The moisture from the warm air inside condenses on the cold surfaces of not only the lens, which can become completely covered, but also on the camera.

You can prevent condensation by wrapping the camera in a plastic bag or newspaper until it slowly reaches room temperature. The moisture will settle on the outside of the newspaper or bag and not on the camera. An even better idea is to place the bag on the camera while you’re still outside before you bring the camera inside.

Don’t use the camera if you notice that condensation has occurred. Instead, remove batteries and memory card and leave the compartments open until everything dries out. Don’t use the camera or take it back out in the cold until the condensation has disappeared.

So by dressing appropriately and properly caring for your camera, you’ll be taking great photographs in the cold of winter.

Dress appropriately and enjoy the fun of winter photography

Written by Scott Slaughter

Portraits are one the most common type of photographs. We’d like to share some tips for taking better people pictures.

Direction of the Light Shooting people outdoors offers a wide variety of lighting. Observe and take advantage of the direction from which it is falling on your subject.
Here the lighting originates predominantly from behind the subject. This backlighting produces shadows on much of the girl’s face.	For this shot, we turned the subject slightly so that the light is coming from the side. By doing this, we have added a more “rounded” and fuller look to the facial features.

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