All My Blogs

Song sparrows range over much of Canada and the US, but not all year.  Many in the lower east and midsouth migrate to northern locations when spring is near.  Central US and western birds may reside the entire year.  For a range map, click here . I don't usually hear their familiar call during the winter months, either because they are absent altogether or because breeding season has not yet started.  However, their voices were loud and clear yesterday when I visited Munson Pond here in Kelowna, BC. Although song sparrows have quite a varied plumage over their range, their song during breeding often starts with three notes followed by a series of twittering and warbling.  You can hear their song by clicking here . Although their song is not particularly melodious or pretty, it is distinctive enough to be readily identifiable.  I have not developed a good ear for being able to identify many birds by their song, but I am familiar enough with song sparrows.  They do, however, possess

American coot and Western painted turtle Depth of field is affected by numerous factors.  These include in-camera parameters such as focal length, aperture, and distance from camera (focal plane).  More esoteric aspects include the size of the circles of confusion, viewing distance, and magnification of the image. I was out shooting yesterday and came across two interesting subjects offset from each other by a modest distance.  Focusing on one left the other blurry.  The problem could have been fixed by reducing aperture size, using a less powerful telephoto lens, or focus stacking (a software solution).  Each of these has its drawbacks. A smaller aperture would increase depth of field, but a lower shutter speed or higher ISO would be required to maintain the same exposure.  In doing so, the risk of definition loss would be increased by camera/subject blur or increased noise.  Besides, I quite like the narrow depth of field as the image emphasizes a particular subject while eluding to

Hooded mergansers in Maple Ridge, BC today (Mar 20, 2024) For the uninitiated, FX refers to cameras that use a full-frame sensor (36 mm x 24 mm - the same size as a 35 mm negative).  DX refers to cameras that use the smaller sensor usually referred to as APS-C sized (about 25 mm x 17 mm) and has a 1.5 crop factor (1.6 for Canon).  APS, by the way, stands for Advanced Photo System and was a new film size first produced in 1996.  The film itself is discontinued but the size remains the same.  Today we use the terms FX and DX to denote if a camera is full-frame or cropped sensor.  A DX camera has a smaller image sensor that can only be used in DX mode.  An FX camera has a full-frame sensor but it may be able to operate in either FX or DX mode.  If you put a DX lens on an FX body, the camera will automatically crop the sensor and produce a smaller image.  An FX lens will normally allow you to shoot in FX mode.  But you can choose to use an FX lens on an FX body but shoot it in DX mode.  Th

Male house sparrow on a nest box in Langley, BC using double VR. Image stabilization, vibration reduction, optical stabilization - whatever you call it, the technology represented a game-changer for photographers.  I remember when it first came out, I was amazed at how my minimum handheld shutter speed magically could be lowered by two, three, or even four stops.  It was a boon to wildlife photographers as we could now use long lenses without having to resort to ridiculously high ISOs. Nikon and Canon chose to build lenses with stabilization technology while other companies built it into their cameras' bodies.  With the trend towards mirrorless cameras well underway, the two dominant camera corporations now build their Z-type cameras with in-body-image-stabalization (IBIS).  So, you now have a choice.  When using a mirrorless camera with a VR/IS lens you can turn off IBIS and use the lens's system, turn off the lens's system and use the bodies, or use both. Wait, what?  You

Photographed at Braydon Lagoon, Langley, BC today. My camera and lens of choice is a Nikon D500 with a 500 mm PF (phase fresnel) lens.  Today I thought I would shake things up a bit and combine an 80-400 mm Nikkor lens, a 1.4TCiii teleconverter, and a Z7ii mirrorless camera.  In order to mount the TC and lens on the camera I had to use the FTZ adapter.  The combination worked well.  I have read that the number of couplings could cause a malfunction due to a loss of electronic integrity, but I had no problems. As is often the case, I used the lens at the 400 mm setting - its maximum focal length.  When photographing wildlife I find that zoom lenses are at the maximum zoom value, which is why my normal go-to lens is a prime.  Primes often perform better than zooms at any given focal length, plus they likely will have a lower minimum aperture.  My 500 prime and the 80-400 zoom both have a minimum aperture of f/5.6 when the zoom is maxed out, but the 500 has more magnification. The Z7ii ha

Who knew there were so many species of sparrow?  In BC, where I live, there are at least 20 species.  That may not seem like an insurmountable number, but you have to include the fact that there are male, female, breeding, non-breeding, and juvenile forms.  Then there are other sparrow-like birds, which include finches, nuthatches, kinglets, and a host of others all belonging to the Pasceriformes.  Of the 10,000 species of birds known to exist, a third of them belong to this family.  Bird identification is more than just looking at a photo and seeing a duplicate of what's in front of you. Although I have not yet verified the species, I am modestly certain that the photo I took this morning is of a non-breeding golden-crowned sparrow.  Sparrows have certain distinguished characteristics that include there small size, thick and conical bills, and gregarious natures.  When trying to identify them, I look for cap colour (rusty vs plain), eye streak, breast pattern, and the presence of

  Wood duck photographed at Fishtrap Creek, Abbotsford (March 17, 2024) I teach photography classes and have written a number of books (learning guides) that go along with them.  Over the years, I have given a lot of thought regarding what to put in them.  Much of the content comes from tried and true practice, but some of it has come from my own experiences and understanding about both the hobby itself and life in general.  One of the key precepts is the question, "What's your passion?" Or, more to the point, what do you like to photograph?  I have always had a passion for living things and so my photography tends to focus (pun intended) on creatures.  I go out of my way to obtain equipment that facilitates that end.  The pocketbook certainly controls much of what I can obtain, but I have carefully managed to obtain good equipment at a reasonable cost.  That has often meant buying used, extremely discounted, previous-generation, or third-party stuff.  But the point here

Spotted Towhee photographed today in Langley, BC. I have had my Nikon 500 mm PF lens now for a few years and I love it.  The unfortunate thing about photographic equipment (in fact, stuff in general) is that you eventually want more.  There was a time when I thought 300 mm was awesome, but then I got my 80-400 zoom and was enthralled by that. Most recently the 500 mm has been the apple of my eye, that is until the 800 came out. Nikon's 800 mm PF lens only comes in a Z mount, which means that my D500 DSLR camera would not be a functional option; I would have to use a Nikon mirrorless camera for it to work.  It is also very expensive, about $10 a millimeter, and requires deeper pockets than what I possess.  But then I read about Nikon's new TC14-III, a 1.4x teleconverter that magnifies the image by 40% at the cost of one stop of light. Wood duck photographed in Abbotsford yesterday. The reviews on it were very good.  I have owned numerous teleconverters over time and have always