Bald Eagle STORMFLIGHT

An image from an epic day during my last Bald Eagle Workshop in Alaska. I love photographing on overcast days, especially when there is a fresh blanket of snow to reflect the ambient light and illuminate the underside of dark bards like the Eagle here. The big problem is all of the resulting images have bright white backgrounds (if you expose the subject correctly) without much (if any) detail in the sky. To solve the problem, and make the image resemble what we saw with our eyes, I replaced the white sky in the image with a separate image of the sky in Photoshop. The resulting composite image has loads of visual impact.

Bald Eagle Wings

Here’s a Bald Eagle that seemed to be showing off its wings during an awesome afternoon during my Bald Eagle Workshop in early March. We were starting to hear more about the spread of COVID-19, but never imagined it would stop tourism, travel and have such a devastating impact on so many people and families around the world. This was the last workshop I hosted before the COVID chaos, so I am grateful that I had such amazing clients to share it with.

Did you know? When a bald eagle loses a feather on one wing, it will lose a feather on the other in order to keep its balance.

Great Gray Owl HOP

KUDOS:

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip with Chris photographing snowy owls.

Chris’s knowledge of the location of the owls each day was key to all the participants getting great opportunities to photograph the owls.

What made the trip a great success for me was Chris’ easy and informative style in communicating camera settings and techniques for best results.

I would highly recommend a trip with Chris.

- Ian Brennan Ireland

Northern Hawk Owl

Chris Dodds knows how to do a workshop!

“I had the pleasure of attending Chris' Snowy Owl Workshop this past January. To be honest, I did not know much about Chris before the trip. All I knew was the quality of his images on his website and that I wanted Snowy owl pictures. Needless to say, Chris met and exceeded my expectations. He goes over and above to get you in the right place at the right time to capture the best images possible. Having been on numerous workshops around the world with various leaders, I can say Chris worked harder than most..... He also made sure that we were in position to get a variety of images and not just 1000 photos of the same animal behavior. Chris knows his birds and what they are going to do next (as much as humanly possible). He teaches in a way that things make sense. I was getting frustrated with my photography before this trip. I was able to get great shots before the workshop but felt that the percentage of great shots to missed shots needed to be better. Chris explained ways to change a few of my bad habits in a way that no one else ever did. I have tried manual exposure in the past but never got comfortable with it but after a day or two with Chris it clicked in my mind and my images improved and percentage of keepers went up.

If you get a chance to go on a workshop with Chris I would highly recommend it. I know I will again.”

- Rick Susi Orlando, FL, USA

Snowy Owl Dorsal View

Q: Hi Chris, I have been told a few times by other photographers that I should throw away any picture that does not include both eyes. Do you follow this rule?

-James Bauer

A: Hi James, Absolutely not! While it is rare for me to keep an image where you can’t see at least one eye, it does happen. The dorsal view of the Snowy Owl here is a good example of when that works. Browse through the images in this blog and you will see many images with just one eye visible to the viewer.

As for what to throw away, once you have deleted any images that are out of focus, or obvious immediate failures, it is up to you what to keep. We all have different tastes and storage is cheap these days. Keep the images that you like - smile!

Raccoon @ 10,000 ISO

We were the very first to make our way to “The Tip” during spring migration in May 2019 and we disturbed this Raccoon while eating what looked like a Blackburnian Warbler as we rounded the corner in the shuttle. It had finished its snack by the time we got back to it with our cameras, but we felt compelled to photograph it anyway.

The Tip of the peninsula of Point Pelee is the Southernmost point of Canada. Every spring people from around the world visit the point for the opportunity to observe the sudden influx of migratory songbirds. The tip is just south of the 42nd parallel, which is as far south as Barcelona and Rome.

Raccoons are clever and resourceful animals. ... Raccoons eat berries, other fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables. They also eat insects, eggs, poultry, rats, squirrels, small livestock, birds, fish, snakes, crawfish, worms, frogs, and mollusks. Additionally, raccoons will eat pet food, carrion, and human garbage.

Pine Warbler in a Pine Tree

My Niece and I went to Point Pelee with Chris Dodds Photo and it was a terrific experience. He is very knowledgeable with birds, their species, their calls and is quite witty. If you listen when he tells you to bring certain things on your trip and when he talks about camera usage etc you will gain so much from your time with him! He knows his clientele very well and try’s to cater to them. He has a good analogy on some things and makes you focus on the details. It was an enjoyable week!

- Karen Galati Ontario, Canada

Pine Warbler

I was impressed on how much Chris cared about making sure everyone was learning, engaged, and getting the most out of the trip. I look forward to my next workshop with Chris!

Michael Lyncheski Gladstone, New Jersey, USA

Horned Puffin in flight

“My truest feelings for my Saint Paul Island experiences were self-expressed spontaneously and subconsciously when, as our plane taxied down the runway on our return home, I choked up at the thought that our unique week together was over. Special thanks go to you, Chris, for your special help: giving me physical support to deal with the slipperies in the early days before I developed my sea-legs, directing me to good spots for close-up photos, helping me get into and out of them as needed, and especially for your converting me to use the Manual setting for my exposures. The true value of the latter became evident as I scanned my photo results on the computer. I confess I was plenty tired physically at the end of our week, but it was a week that in retrospect I would not have missed.”

— Charles Wyttenback Cape Cod | Massachusetts | USA

Coastal Brown Bear Mother with cub

At the end of a very long day hiking around Katmai National Park (Alaska) in the rain knee-deep in mud this mother and cub seemed to look as wet and muddy as I felt - smile. As always in Katmai, we respect the bears from a distance, but they usually tend to gravitate to my group as a trusted shield from the roaming adult males (called boars) and move closer to us. I can see from the timestamps on the images that we spent 44 minutes waiting for both of them to look our way at the same time; we were lucky to have the added bonus of the cub touching mom :)

Since the sky is much brighter than the bears, it was extremely bright and washed-out in the image, so I replaced the background sky to make the scene resemble more closely what my eyes saw.

Crested Auklet Preening

“As an experienced wildlife & landscape photographer I would highly recommend you attend one of Chris Dodds' workshops - I have attended a number of Chris' workshops and each of them reflect Chris' caring. I just attended the St. Paul, Alaska workshop - typical of Chris' professionalism, and expertise. He only takes you to those unique shooting opportunities when he is convinced that the shoot will provide you the experience you are seeking. In the Saint Paul Island workshop's case he has visited this unique special remote island for over 25 years. The local small population obviously respects Chris and they do all they can to assist the experience. You shoot from a variety of locations, with many types of birds, complimented by wild fox, sea lions etc. Chris has the talent to assist both experienced and novice photographers - he makes sure you get the opportunities you want, and if you need extra help he enjoys jumping in and helping you. If you had to summarize Chris' workshops in a few words - Great well researched locations, tremendous local knowledge, dedicate to your photographic results being all you could possibly want.”

— Wynne Powell British Columbia, Canada

Parakeet Auklet After the Storm

Saint Paul Island is, for all intent and purpose, in the middle of the Bering Sea. When there is a storm, it is usually quite a storm with heavy rain and high winds. The birds stay out at sea, or on/in their nests to protect their eggs/babies. It is after the storm when the birds start to arrive back at the cliffs in big numbers. It can be overwhelming, at times, seeing the number of birds swirling around. This is when we fight the urge to photograph the flying birds, and focus our lenses on the perched birds that seem to come out to stretch, or linger on the cliffs to rest. Even though I used a small aperture to try to get some details in the sky, the resulting image has very little detail, so I replaced the sky to add some drama to this image.

Black Bear

A Black Bear curiously watches as I maneuver around for a better angle. A much more passive encounter than the last Black bear I saw in Alaska that bluff charged me a couple of times, but that is a story for another day - smile.

Tufted Puffin dorsal view in flight & Top 10 Puffin Facts

Top 10 Puffin Facts:

10. Puffins only possess Technicolor bills—and their matching orange feet—during the spring breeding season. Just before winter sets in, they shed the colorful outer bill, leaving a noticeably smaller and duller-colored beak.

9. There are four species of puffins, three of which are slightly distinguishable from one another. The Atlantic and horned puffins look quite similar, with the exception of a blue-grey triangle at the base of the Atlantic puffin’s beak. During the mating season, straw-like feathers protrude from the crown of the tufted puffin’s head. The fourth species, the rhinoceros auklet, doesn’t look like the other three – it’s ashen colored, with a rhino-like protrusion during the breeding season. But it’s still technically a puffin.

8. The puffins’ genus name, Fratercula, comes from the Latin for “little brother.” The name refers to the sea bird’s black and white plumage, which was said to resemble the robes that monks once wore.

7. A puffin weighs about the same as a can of Coke.

6. Puffins lay just one egg per year—and usually with the same mate. Like some penguins, both parents take turns incubating the egg and caring for the chick.

5. Puffins may chatter up a storm at their breeding colonies, but they remain perfectly silent while at sea.

4. There are currently eight isles around the world named Puffin Island—so named because they all are or once were home to large colonies of puffins.

3. A puffin can fly as fast as 55 mph. Compared with other auks, which tend to stay just a few feet above the sea, puffins usually maintain a cruising altitude of around 30 feet.

2. brilliantly colored beaks of Atlantic Puffins also light-up -- like a glow stick! -- when exposed to ultra-violet (UV) light.

1.Puffins are one of the few birds that have the ability to hold several small fish in their bills at a time. Their raspy tongues and spiny palates allow them to firm grasp 10 to 12 fish during one foraging trip. They thus can bring more food back to their young compared with other seabirds that tend to swallow and regurgitate meals for their chicks.

Least Auklet Portrait

Also known as the Knob-billed Auklet, the least auklet (Aethia pusilla) is a seabird and the smallest species of auk. It is the most abundant seabird in North America, and one of the most abundant in the world, with a population of around nine million birds. They are able to locate their nest sites from the previous season, even when covered with snow. They sit where the nest is and take possession of it once the snow has melted.

Red-faced Cormorant in flight with nesting material

Also known as Red-faced or Violet Shags, this Red-faced Cormorant brings home some nesting material to its nest on the cliffs of Saint Paul Island, Alaska.

Deriving their name from the Latin term Corvus marines (“sea raven”), cormorants are highly adapted for underwater hunting. Their bodies are streamlined and somewhat flattened beneath, the neck is long and subtle, the wings broad, long and blunt, and the legs powerful and set far back. Using their lean bodies, they thrust through the water and along the seabed to flush out prey.

Parakeet Auklet Calling

Did you know?: The Parakeet Auklet makes a series of rhythmic hoarse calls and a quavering squeal. Their function is unknown but could be associated with defending its burrow from intruders and strengthening the bond with its mate.

Parakeet Auklet Dorsal View

The Parakeet Auklet is named for its unusually shaped bill, which is almost round like that of a parrot. We don't know for sure, but it is thought that this unique bill shape helps them to feed on their favorite foods like slimy jellyfish and zooplankton.

Tufted Puffin Portrait

I could spend hours perched on a cliff in front of a bird at the minimum focusing distance of my camera. I love the slight reflection of the cliffs in the eye of this Tufted Puffin.

Q: “Chris, I met you at the Toronto photography show in Dec 2019” (ProFusion where I was presenting for Sony) “where you were showing your Sony work. We spoke and then exchanged some emails later - I was inquiring if you ever used auto iso etc. 
Looking again at your portfolio, I had some questions on your technique to achieve the amazingly clean backgrounds that you do. I bought a Sony RX10m4 .. enjoying that ……… Also wondered if you are doing any virtual seminars. Thanks” - Ken Wagner

A: Hi Ken!

The trick to the out-of-focus backgrounds is to find a subject and angle that offers a distant, but pleasing background. Even with a slow lens with a maximum aperture opening of f/11 will produce pleasing out-of-focus backgrounds if the subject is at the minimum focusing distance and the background is far enough away.

I have a bunch of virtual seminars booked with camera clubs, but none scheduled for an open audience at this time; stay tuned here for an announcement in the future.

Tufted Puffin In Flight with nesting material

Sitting on top of cliffs with my lens pointed down tracking seabirds might be one of my favourite things to do. This is a Tufted Puffin bringing some nesting material back to its rocky crevice nest.

The Tufted Puffin is among the Alaskan seabirds facing the challenges of climate change and dying in large numbers. Be sure to read more here:

Unusual mortality of Tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) in the eastern Bering Sea (May, 2019)