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How to make your family brighter - use an external flash. Sunny days present a problem when trying to fill dark spaces with flash.  Brightly lit backgrounds with large EV values will demand either small apertures or high shutter speeds, or some combination of both.  If you expose for the shaded areas, you will blow out the background.  Built-in flashes can mitigate shadows a little bit, but unless you are very close to your subject, they just don't have enough power.  The best solution is a powerful external flash. Following the sunny-16 rule, the above photo (shot with slide, I don't have the exif) an ISO of 100 at 1/100th of a second would require an aperture of f/16.  Built-in flashes are only good up to about 2.5 feet at these settings; by 5 feet, the flash is two stops underpowered.  I was probably 10 feet away at the time; the built-in unit would have made no difference (other than catchlights in the eyes).  Even if the shutter speed was increase...

Bush tit nests are unusual.  I photographed this on the Okanagan rail trail near Winfield, BC.   Saturday found a friend and I walking along the Okanagan rail trail near Winfield, BC.  There were several grey-coloured bag-shaped things hanging from several trees beside the path.  I looked at them, wondering what they were.  Possibly debris of some sort that had been blown up into the crown, or maybe some article of clothing that had become discoloured over the years.  Then, it occurred to me.  These had to be the nests of bush tits. The bag or sock nest of bush tits are made from grasses, mosses, and other vegetable matter woven together eith spider webs making them somewhat elastic.  The bowlshaped end is well insulated and is lined with feathers and fur.  The enterance is at the top.  The ones I saw were high up in trees; it would be unlikely for a snake to make its way up there.  The birds take up to a month to make the nest...

Photographed along the Okanagan Rail Trail near Winfield, BC. Have your camera at the ready.  Turned on, longest focal length acquired, focus and release settings appropriate.  Sometimes, you only have a second or two before your quarry is gone. I photographed a Townsend solitaire once before in Edmonton, Alberta.  It was in a wooded area during the winter.  The berries that are left behind by others during the fall are the source of energy.  The above photo is the better of the two shots; partly because I was closer and the lighting was better.  Also, it's always nice to get a side view of a bird instead of a front or rear view. These birds are often found at higher elevations during the breeding season.  At lower elevations, such as where I found this one, they overwinter and eat berries, having a particular fondness for juniper berries.  They tend to switch to insects and other invertebrates during the summer months when they are raising chicks...

Male mountain bluebird on Beaver Lake Road, Winfield. Canada isn't known for having colourful birds.  There are a few that stand out, however.  Red cardinals, wood ducks, and Atlantic puffins are a few of them; here in British Columbia, there is the male mountain bluebird.  The entire male of the species is feathered in sky-blues, darker shades above and lighter below.  And, although not as colourful as the aforementioned species, the sight of one makes you catch your breath.  Anyway you call it, it is beautiful. I photographed this today (Saturday, March 28) along the Beaver Lake road in Winfield, about half an hour outside of Kelowna.  I also saw a western meadowlark, a Townsend solitaire, and a host of other fairly common birds (robins, starlings, song sparrows).  I also saw a female mountain bluebird, although she was farther away and didn't wait around for me to get a photo of her. By next month, the birds should be beginning their nesting, and I ...

These are some of the garter snakes I have caught and photographed over the years. Native to North America, the garter snake is one of the most common and oft-caught reptiles.  There are 35 recognized species, but about 50 recognized subspecies.  The common garter snake has the largest number of subspecies, with a total of 13 known for the common garter snake. The common garter snake also has the widest distribution of any reptile in North America, where it can be found in all Canadian provinces and territories, including Newfoundland, where they were first observed in 2010.  Since garter snakes are unable to travel great distances, they form isolated breeding populations where subspeciation has an opportunity to occur.   The photos above include the common garter snake (bottom left two), the western terrestrial garter snake (bottom right two), the plains garter snake (top right) , and the northwestern garter snake (center left).  The top two left snakes an...

Black oyster catcher in Ambury Park, New Zealand, 2018. I enjoy photographing wildlife and landscapes.  Occasionally, the two come together.  When this happens, the wildlife component may be relatively small, as in this case, where the bird is visible and identifiable, but hardly eye-catching.  Still, it makes for an interesting photo. What makes this shot work is the multiple aspects that draw your eye.  The rough but narrow rocky shoreline, the two trees of different sizes, the blurry but recognizable background, and, of course, the bird (which is on the right, rocky shoreline, by the way). Most of my bird photos are just of the bird itself, with some background or foreground relative to the bird's environment.  In this photo, the two are reversed, with the environment taking the stage and the bird remaining somewhat obscure.  However, the bird's presence is important as it gives important context to the image.  It also wouldn't be the same is the bi...