Flamigos take flight over the Atacama desert, northern Chile. Canon 5 D Mark II, 70-300mm f/5.6L IS DO, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 1000

I’m back in the blustery snowy landscape of Fairbanks, following a few weeks in the springtime southern hemisphere of Chile, South America. That is one long, slender country, and I enjoyed the divergent environments of the consistently clear and dry northern desert to the dynamically changing slopes of the Torres del Paine National Park of the south. I’ll have a few images to share in the next few weeks.

Snow owl in flight. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4l IS w/2x, 1/500 sec @ f/8, ISO 800

I’ve had few chances to get a good photo of a snowly owl in flight, over the snowy tundra of Alaska’s north slope. On my last trip there many were spotted but this is the only one that I had a chance to photograph, and that was a long reach. I used my 500 with a 2x on a 1D, which makes a 1300mm lens. I even cropped this frame but still think it can produce a 16 x 24 inch print o.k. Net time, I’m hoping for something a little closer. They are truly majestic birds.

For me to leave Alaska in the summer for a chunk of time is rare. I did so in July, in part, to serve as photography guiding staff on a voyage in Svalbard. On this wonderful trip I accrued a few very notable nature encounters. One in particular ranks up there in what I have come to call “natural sanctuaries”, places that stand out with a degree of immensity in collective beauty, wildlife, emotion and scenery.

The Norwegian name of the place is Alkefjellet, which roughly means bird mountain. They are ocean side dolerite towers reaching 100 meters high, home to thousands and thousands of nesting Brunnich’s guillemots and kittiwakes. The experience of drifting along these sheer rock faces in an inflatable boat, immersed in sight and sound is nearly lost in attempt to convey it words. It was an immersion. A rare place on the planet. A place I will never forget. Below are a few images of a place difficult to convey in its immensity, but my humble attempt at doing so.

Guillemots and kittiwakes along the face of Alkefjellet, "bird mountain" Svalbard. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L 1/640 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 200

Guillemots and kittiwakes along the face of Alkefjellet, "bird mountain" Svalbard. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L 1/000 sec @ f/8, ISO 100

Guillemots and kittiwakes along the face of Alkefjellet, "bird mountain" Svalbard. Canon 5D Mark II, 100-400mm f/5.6L IS, 1/1250 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 200

Skiffing along the cliffs of Alkefjellet, "bird mountain" Svalbard. Canon 5D Mark II, 100-400mm f/5.6L, 1/500 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Atlantic puffin in golden sunshine, Svalbard. Canon 1Ds Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS, 1/640 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 200

I photographed this Atlantic puffin along the shores of the Island of Spitzbergen in Svalbard, on a sunny, calm evening. I’m familiar with the horned and tufted puffin that inhabit Alaska, but this was my first sighting of the Atlantic puffin. They are bright and colorful like the other gregarious puffins. As is often the case with telephoto photography, the background means a lot (presuming you have an interesting subject to begin with) and I found this blue/gold pattern of the water to be very pleasing. It is a mixed reflection of the blue sky and island hillside lit with golden sunshine. I was driving a skiff filled with photographers, so I was only able to grab a few shots here and there when not navigating. I’m sure the rest of the people in the boat got some great puffin shots.

Female willow ptarmigan

Female willow ptarmigan camouflaged in the tundra. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f/4L IS w/1.4x (700mm), 1/125 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Camouflage is at the heart of this bird’s survival. The willow ptarmigan has many color morphs, depending on the season and the terrain in which it lives. In this case, the tundra is just awakening to spring, and the dull brown colors are a perfect match for her brown feathers. In the winter, this bird turns completely white to blend in with the snow. I was amazed at how well the bird blended into the surroundings. Soon she will have chicks hiding under her wings.

Male King Eider duck

Male king eider duck. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS w/2x, 1/320 sec @ f/8, ISO 200.

Earlier in the week I posted a photo of a male king eider duck that I took at midnight in Alaska ‘s arctic, under cloudy skies. In contrast, I wanted to share a photo of the same species, but under completely different lighting conditions.  I took this picture at 12 noon, about 12 hours later than the other frame (and not much sleep in between), and while I do not consider that an optimum time for shooting due to hot light and heavy contrast, this worked out o.k. Photographing a subject with white areas in mid day sunlight can be tricky, due to the tendency to blow out the bright highlights. My general approach to a subject in these conditions is to shoot in manual mode, find an exposure that does not overexpose the whites, use as low of an ISO as possible and then be super careful on the focus. The low ISO helps when it comes time to boost the shadows in Lightroom, which are fairly underexposed due to highlight preservation.

I’ve included a screen shot below that shows the initial capture, and the red highlight reveals a tiny bit of blown out area which was recoverable in the RAW post processing.

Initial screen capture exposure before corrections. The red spot reve

It might appear like I cranked the saturation in post production, but I really did not. Below is the final processing. I boosted the individual channels of blue and aqua saturation a little bit, but the brightness and fill light brought the color to life in the bird’s face. I also added a brightness brush to the bird’s face to bring in the eye a little bit.

Final adjustments in Lightroom

It is also worth noting that I took this shot with Canon’s new 2x converter on the 500mm, on a 1D Mark IV that equals 1,300mm! It is amazingly sharp, and this tight compression let me make the simplicity of composition and use of positive and negative space that I think makes the image pleasing. It also provides a creamy, blurry background, with a slight pattern.

In addition, the bird raised its neck slightly for a few exposures, which make for a regal posture, as opposed to a more squatty, compressed look. I’ve got a few king eider photos posted on my website, but will have more added soon.

Male King Eider on tundra pond, arctic, Alaska. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS, w/1.4x, 1/320 sec @ f/5.6L, ISO 800

The king eider is a bird I have long wanted to see. While it is hard to call out a favorite bird, it ranks up there with the best with its  unique features, feathers, and colors. While in the very high arctic, I had only one evening to shoot due to a tight schedule and I fortunately found this male king eider swimming in a pond in the late hours of the nightless summer skies. The golden arctic light slipped behind a cloud about 10 minutes earlier. While I missed the golden light, this very flat and silvery light offers a soothing scene that really displays the features of the magnificent bird quite well. I took the shot at midnight, and the fog rolled in and vanquished much of the light, but I was lucky to sneak off this one frame. The following day offered more photo opportunities under completely different lighting condition.

Short-eared owl, arctic Alaska. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS, 1/800 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Over the years of travel across Alaska, I’ve watched many short-eared owls hunting and flying over the tundra landscape. They are artful flyers, often visible in the treeless environment in which they roam. On a trip last week however, I had the first really good opportunity to photograph an owl, that did not seem to mind my close proximity. Furthermore, it made many funny twisting gestures with its neck as those yellow eyes seemed to pierce mine. I took the photo at about 10:00pm under the arctic sunshine, and a nice back-lit rim light surrounds the bird offering pleasant contrast. It is a tight frame in the landscape orientation but by the time I switched to vertical to give more room above the bird’s head, it lowered it’s neck and I much prefer this inquisitive stance.

Short-eared owl almost, but out of focus. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS w/1.4x, 1/500 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800.

For those who can appreciate the world of “almosts” in photographing wildlife, here is a shot that I so wish was in focus. It was a hopeless grab shot effort, and would have been quite nice if my focal targeting had been accurate. All in all, I captured some nice images of birds that were not only new to my eyes, but also got some good images of a variety of birds that I’ll be sharing in future posts, including the amazing King Eider.

Male and female harlequin ducks in breeding plumage, Prince William Sound. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS w/1.4x

The male harlequin duck is a distinctively marked, and colorful bird in its breeding plumage. We have seen hundreds of them on the voyage in Prince William Sound, although they are a bit wary from an approaching skiff. They seem to be a little less shy when they are in the interior rivers of Alaska for some reason.

Common Loon, Unakwik Inlet, Prince William Sound. Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm w/1.4

Sunny skies in Prince William Sound have made the Spring Birding and Wildlife photography voyage on Discovery Voyages a great experience. So far we have seen all four species of the Loon. The common, the yellow-billed, the red-throated and the pacific. This common loon however, has been the lone bird that permitted some relatively close photography work. Such a beautiful bird. I shot it from a moving skiff with a 1D Mark IV, a 500mm and teleconverter. It is not the easiest thing to do but with a few attempts, which are often short periods, I was able to get some sharp ones in morning light.