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Both images taken aboard the cruise ship.  50 mm prime lens used.  No flash was used. Left: 50 mm f/1.4 ISO 400 indoors.  Right:  50 mm f/14 ISO100 outdoors. My goal for these photos was to use my APS-C body and 50 mm f/1.4 prime lens to do some portraits of Kathryn.  Both images were taken with the same equipment, but the camera settings were somewhat different.  I shoot most of my stuff in manual exposure mode and so had full control over all the main tenants of exposure. The shutter speeds were nearly identical (1/80 vs 1/100).  Outside, the wind was playing havoc with her hair while there was no such issue indoors.  Outdoors also had less even light than indoors.  You can see the shadows on the right are harsher than the shadows on the left.  Clearly shooting in a more controlled location has an impact. The low f/1.4 aperture allowed the background to be blurred for the photo on the left while the much smaller f/14 aperture allowed t...

Golden crowned sparrow aboard the Noordam on our trip to Alaska. This was one lucky bird, unlike many of his feathered friends.  The passengers aboard the cruise ship who woke early saw the most stunning sight; the sky was crowded with passerine birds of many species silhouetted against the early morning sky.  The birds, in the midst of migrating, had been attracted to the vessel's lights during the evening and early morning hours. I awoke a little later than those who first took in this spectacle, but I was still amazed at the thousands of birds that circled the ship.  My awe was cut short when I entered the Lido deck where the large glass canopy was dotted with bodies, not of people, of course, but of birds.  They had flown down to the ship's surface at night, attracted by the lights, and plunged directly into the glass structure.  Dead on impact. These weren't the only casualties; there were more.  And then there were the birds that struck the sides of t...

Red-necked grebes are very common.  I see them from early spring well into fall.  I have photographed them in Alberta, BC, and Alaska..  They are common in Western Canada but are also found back east.  They spend their winters on the ocean in northern latitudes; you won't find them flying south for the winter. I have dozens of photos of red-necked grebes I have taken over the years.  In the early spring, you can find them building a nest out of reeds and rotting debris.  They care for their young into summer.  The chicks have a comical striped appearance that gradually fades into fall.  In winter, they moult into a drab gray appearance and bide their time until the return of spring.  They exhibit something called philopatry. Philopatry is when an organism either stays where it was born or returns to it year after year.  Red-necked grebes exhibit this behaviour, as well as being monogamous for their entire lives.  The pair may separa...

Although not uncommon in southern British Columbia where I live, I have never actually photographed one before.  The females look somewhat akin to female mallards and the males have a rather drab appearance.  It is entirely possible that I have seen them but never took notice. Gadwall eat aquatic vegetation and any invertebrates that happen to be in the mix.  Females will target invertebrates when laying a clutch of eggs for the protein they harbour.  What's interesting about their egg-laying habits is that they lay one egg a day, in sequence, for up to a rather large clutch of up to a dozen eggs.  Likewise, the young hatch in the same order, which makes parenting duties a little easier.  The heavily vegetated ponds and water bodies they nest around give ample cover and food for the developing offspring.  The young leave the nest within a couple of days.  What's interesting about a bonded pair (male& female) is that they are "seasonally monoga...

Alaskan harbour seal after ripping a tentacle from an octopus.  Inset - before the encounter. We hiked up a small peninsula while visiting Kodiak Island in Alaska.  There was a seal that was just offshore; we saw it popping its cute-looking head up for air from time to time.  There was nothing surprising about that as seal sightings were a common occurrence during our cruise.  What came next was spectacular. A lot of commotion suddenly took place as the seal reappeared, this time with something long and pink in its mouth.  Then it began to shake its head violently, in the same manner that a dog does with a toy.  The seal was facing away from me for most of the encounter, but it did come around momentarily during its thrashing motions.  Somehow, it managed to tear the limb off of an octopus. The entire scene lasted only a few moments, and I was lucky to get a few frames of the event.  From what I can tell, the arm was removed underwater, as none of...

Amanita mushroom (bottom right) growing on Kodiak Island.  There were hundreds of them. I used a technique called hyperfocal focusing to get everything in focus in the above photo.  The key to a successful hyperfocal technique is threefold.  A wide angle lens (28-35 mm relative) is a good choice, although you can achieve similar results with higher focal lengths with a small enough aperture.  I often use ultrawide angle lenses (less than 28 mm relative).   The second factor is aperture, where smaller apertures will guarantee greater depths of field.  In the above shot, I used a focal length of 21 mm (32 mm relative) with an aperture of f/10.  If the subject was closer, a wider angle lens and/or a smaller aperture would be needed.  As it was, I could get everything in focus with the two parameters I used.  An APS-C lens has more depth of field relatively than its full-frame counterpart. Thirdly, it's the point of focus that is important....