Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2019 i Outdoor Photographer

Celebrating Our National Wildlife Refuges For amazing photo opportunities, flock to your nearest wildlife haven. Tip of the Week Available on our website—or delivered directly to your inbox—our free “Tip of the Week” provides shooting and processing insights to sharpen your photography skills. Sign up today. Solve Creative & Technical Challenges George Lepp’s “Tech Tips” column explores practical solutions and gear advice for a wide range of photographic subjects. Assignments Try new techniques and share your best shots in our weekly “Assignments” photo challenges. Submit your images that fit the week’s theme—you may be our next Assignment winner. Connect With Us Get the latest news and be inspired by great photos from the Outdoor Photographer community. Newsletter Subscribe today for updates on the latest features, how-to articles and photography news.…

MAJOR SONY A9 FIRMWARE UPDATE, PLUS NEW APPS Sony has released a significant update to the firmware of its flagship a9 camera. The Sony a9 firmware version 5.0 brings what Sony calls AI-driven Real-time Tracking capabilities to the camera, as well as Real-time Eye AF. The system uses AI object recognition to help the camera identify moving subjects and follow them throughout the frame. First introduced in Sony’s a6400 earlier this year, Real-time Tracking keeps your selected subject in focus using a combination of image data, including color, distance and face recognition, as well as pattern and eye detection. The system works by first identifying the subject’s general outline as an object. If the subject is a person, face recognition narrows the AF target, and once an eye is identified,…

Spring officially arrived at my home in Parker, Colorado, the other day. I knew this because I heard my first house wren of the year. This tiny bird, with its wonderful, melodious and happy bubbling song, is a true harbinger of spring where I live. The bird, a male, sat in my garden and trilled a happy good morning for all to hear. I grabbed my camera and telephoto zoom and decided to start the new season out with some photography. The wren was just the kick-start I needed to simply take a walk with my camera. I don’t usually need much motivation to go outside and take photos. I’m a passionate and motivated professional nature photographer, and I simply love outdoor shoots. But even so, office work, emails, marketing…

“I was photographing a pride of lions one afternoon at Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park,” says South African photographer Isak Pretorius. “They were sleeping off a buffalo meal they had the night before when one of the females got up and walked off. Anticipating that she might be going to have a drink, I positioned myself across the nearest seasonal pan of water. She appeared through the long green grass and then hunched down to quench her thirst. While she was drinking, she was occasionally looking up or to the side. I had to get my timing just right to catch her with her tongue out while looking in my direction.” See more of Isak Pretorius’ work at theafricanphotographer.com.…

Family Love “In late spring in the Sonoran Desert, burrowing owls mate, and then in early summer there are often several groups of owlets. In the early morning or late afternoon, the owlets wait for their parents to bring them food. This was taken at dusk at a small park in Gilbert, Arizona, right after the smaller owlet (left) had been fed by its parent (right).” See more of Sue Cullumber’s work at sue-cullumber.pixels.com. Halfhearted “A halfhearted breach by a humpback whale in Monterey Bay. It could be expected, since she had already leaped from the water roughly 20 times before this, and it takes a lot of energy when you weigh 40 tons. We watched this whale for an hour as she repeatedly did full breaches, chin slaps, half…

Location With nearly 80,000 acres of freshwater and brackish marshes, open water, alkali mudflats, uplands and river delta, the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is an oasis in the desert of northern Utah for birds, animals, insects, plants and people. The refuge is on the western edge of the Central Flyway and the eastern edge of the Pacific Flyway. It provides critical habitat for more than 200 migrating species of birds that use the area for resting and refueling as well as nesting areas for more than 60 species. From the 12-mile self-guided auto tour route, there are grand sweeping views of the Wasatch and the Promontory mountain ranges to the east and west. To the south, on clear days, Antelope Island can easily be seen. Bear River Migratory Bird…

Stomachs churned as our tiny plane jerked up, then left, right and back down. I glanced up and saw Nathaniel vomiting into a Ziploc bag. We passed a mere 100 feet over a jagged ridge and were once again thrown around like rag dolls. Beneath us, mountain ranges were sliced open by the blue and white waters of a wide braided river. We had been flying for an hour and hadn’t seen a road, trail or any sign of human touch. A series of 20,000-year-old caribou trails emerged on a mountainside. The Gwich’in people, who have lived on this land with the caribou for the entirety of their cultural memory, say that the caribou trails in the mountains of the refuge are like the lines in an elder’s face. Our…

In this issue focused on wildlife photography, we begin with awe-inspiring images from one of the world’s last great wild places. Encompassing over 19 million square acres, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is the largest U.S. refuge overall and includes roughly 8 million acres of land designated as wilderness. According to the refuge’s website, it’s home to “42 fish species, 37 land mammals, eight marine mammals, and more than 200 migratory and resident bird species.” One of those land mammals is the porcupine caribou, which migrate to the refuge each spring to bear calves. The area is also home to the Gwich’in people, for whom the caribou have been an important source of sustenance “for the entirety of their cultural memory,” as photographer Peter Mather eloquently puts it. In…

WATERPROOF BOOTS Footwear that provides waterproof protection and support for long hikes and mucky conditions is essential gear for tracking wildlife. LOWA’s Tibet GTX boots, available in both men’s and women’s styles, are an excellent option with their sturdy, durable construction and breathable, waterproof GORE-TEX lining. X-pattern lacing above the ankle makes them easy to put on and take off. The men’s version is available in both medium and wide widths. List price: $395. Contact: LOWA, lowaboots.com. VEHICLE SUPPORT Your car can serve as a convenient, mobile blind for wildlife photography and can be even more effective with the right camera support. The Kirk Window Mount WM-2 clamps inside your window to provide a stable platform from which to photograph in the comfort of your vehicle. The solid aluminum design…

Cameras typically have four main shooting modes—Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual—represented by the letters P, A, S and M. My photo tour clients frequently ask which shooting mode is best for wildlife. “Is shutter priority a good choice?” Or, “Do I always need to use manual?” Since choosing the right shooting mode can mean the difference between capturing a compelling wildlife image and missing the shot entirely, it’s important to know the options. I choose my shooting mode based on my subject and environment, how quickly the light is changing and my personal preferences. There’s no one right answer, but if you check my cameras, you’ll find them in either manual mode with Auto ISO enabled or full manual most of the time. My best results come from…

When I moved to Vermont, I had for the first time the opportunity to photograph a New England icon—the eastern moose. My photo project began with “desk research.” I scoured the internet for moose images to get a sense of what was possible. The best images I found included moose in water or standing in the woods surrounded by fall colors. I imagined my “ideal” shot—I wanted an image of a bull moose standing in a lake with the water cascading off his massive antlers with a mountain forest covered in glorious autumn colors as a backdrop. I learned from my reading that Maine has the largest number of moose in the Northeast, so I reached out to potential guides. One guide explained the life cycle of the moose and…