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Mirrorless cameras give you the option of including a live histogram in the viewfinder. Having grown up with SLR film cameras, I have gotten used to the optical viewfinders associated with them.  I have always liked the clear TTL view that one gets when putting your eye to the camera, regardless of whether the media is film or a digital sensor.  With the advent of live view, you could now see the world to be photographed with all the benefits of information displayed right on the screen.  Of course, this meant that you had to hold the camera away from your face, which limited stability and made it difficult to see in bright environments.  Then, along came mirrorless cameras. The EVF (electronic view finder) was nothing new to photography as compacts, bridge cameras, and video cameras all came with one.  This was a game changer for those wanting the information available on electronic viewing screens while still using the camera's eyepiece.  There was a seco...

Photographed on March 26, 2025, Mission Creek Park, Kelowna, about 9:00 AM I find that diurnal animals tend to be most active in the mornings.  I have seen this time and time again, but the thought was recently revisited last week.  I had gone for a walk with a friend early Wednesday morning along the Mission Creek walkway in Kelowna.  I saw and photographed half a dozen different species, the muskrat was the one that was least expected.  I had never seen one in that area before. On Friday, I did the same walk with another friend and saw very little.  I had my camera with me and only managed to photograph a now-defunct wasps' nest.  The time was around 1:00 PM.  The reason for the vastly different experiences is simple. Diurnal animals are not active at night and in the morning they are eager to find food.  Even though temperatures are a lot cooler, they will still go out to find sustenance.  The cooler temperatures also means that cold-blood...

Pygmy nuthatch main, White-breasted nuthatch inset. There are four species of nuthatch present in North America; the brown-headed nuthatch is the only one whose range does not include Canada.  The pygmy nuthatch, shown above, is a permanent resident wherever it lives - in Canada, that is only in southern British Columbia.  I have seen them a couple of times.  I photographed this one on Wednesday, March 29, in Kelowna BC. Not all pygmy nuthatches have a black stripe through the eye like the one above - the image below shows one without that mask.  Both birds were photographed in BC. Pygmy nuthatch photographed in Swan Lake, BC, in 2020.  Notice there is no eye stripe. These social little birds are strongly associated with pine trees, especially ponderosa pine.  They feed on insects gleaned from the trees they forage on and consume a variety of seeds.  They store seeds in small caches under pieces of loose bark which they will access later.  If you ...

Walking along the Mission Creek trail, near downtown Kelowna, I witnessed a red-tailed hawk sitting atop his man-made perch.  He flew to a nearby tree branch and, after a few moments there, returned to the previous lookout.  The fact that traffic was just beneath him or that people were busily walking by concerned him little.   This was not the first time I had witnessed these large buteos being quite at home in an urban setting.  This led me to the question, "Why do they seem so comfortable amongst people?"   In general, red-tailed hawks are found in open plains areas throughout the continent, although they may not overwinter in many northern climates.  The exception to this seems to be southern BC, where they may be found year-round.  They are often present in cities, apparently due to their adaptable nature.   Another benefit of city life is the abundance of food.  Although these birds of prey feed primarily on small mammals...

Breeding plumage European starling Yesterday, I was out with my camera and long lens, photographing wildlife on my walk.  As is my habit, I had my camera set on manual exposure mode, my long lens at its minimum aperture, and an ISO value to allow me to achieve a decent shutter speed.  In this case, as there was a heavy overcast sky, the ISO was 1600 and I ended up with a shutter speed of 1/320.   I use manual exposure mode because I am much more likely to obtain a proper exposure when shooting backlit scenes.  I look for a well-lit area, nothing with significant backlighting, and select my settings.  Then, as I go about shooting, anything with the same incident lighting will obtain a proper exposure.  A starling, sitting on a rooftop, had only the bright sky as a backdrop.  An automatic mode would have resulted in a significant underexposure for the bird.  I took one shot on automatic to prove the point.  You can see it below. European s...

Muskrat photographed in Mission Creek Park in Kelowna on March 26, 2025. High ISO values often result in something called noise.  The amount of noise is highly dependent upon numerous factors, the key ones being ISO, sensor size, and darker tones.  If you examine the top photos (left inset is magnification of image on right) you can see pixelated ripples and poor definition of fine details.  The bottom photos and inset is the exact same image, only a noise reduction algorithm was employed in the Photoshop Raw conversion program.  Everything else was the same.  You can see the difference in pixelation and detail is significant. I still prefer to shoot at lower ISOs when possible as the captured image is better, everything else being the same.  The big problem for us wildlife photographers is that lighting is not always conducive to allowing us to have the desired shutter speeds.  Shooting with premium minimum shutter speed glass would be nice, but most ...

Near Lake Louise, Banff.  Full-frame camera with 20 mm lens @ f/13.  Hyperfocal focusing. When shooting landscapes, I like to look for two main components.  The first is an attractive background.  That often means sweeping vistas, places where I love to explore anyway.  Some of my favourite landscapes include the Rockies, Badlands (like Drumheller), water-carved canyons, and carved seashores.  Many of my best shots have been taken at such locations. The second thing I like is some near subject to shoot against such majestic backgrounds.  Often it may be flowers but it can also be interesting rock formation, animals, benches, trees, etc.  Within this framework, I like to photograph people, sometimes individually but more likely in small groups.  They can, in fact, be the subject themselves.  I often use fill flash in such situations to provide a little extra saturation and contrast for the members as it improves their contribution to the ...

Murphy may have ingested a Tylenol pill last night. Got a headache, fever, or cramps?  We often reach for pain relief in the form of a pill.  Whether by their brand names or generic drug name, they help remediate some of these symptoms.  They are fine for us, but for dogs and cats, they can be killers. Tylenol (acetaminophen), Advil (ibuprofen), and Aleve (Naproxen) are NSAID (non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs) that work well in humans but are toxic to pets.  The problem is two-fold in that small pets can easily receive a toxic dose.  Tylenol, for example, reaches toxicity at 100 mg/kg.  In humans, that dosage is toxic as well. Murphy may have eaten a pill this morning.  He is a little over 5 kg and he may have eaten a 500 mg Tylenol last night.  If you do the math, you will find that it is near the 100 mg/kg dosage.  I gave Kathryn two pills as she has been feverish but she may have dropped one.  Murphy was heard crunching something i...

John's Family Conservatory 22 years after the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Wildfires Succession is the natural progression of change in an ecosystem after disruption.  There are two types generally recognized; primary and secondary.  Primary succession takes place when there is no soil or other organic material present at all such as what you may find after a lava flow or volcanic event (upper mount St. Helens).  Secondary succession occurs when organic material is present, such as when a wildfire occurs.  Surface structures may be destroyed but underlying substrates remain intact and there may even be dead trees on the surface. Primary succession typically takes a very long time as the formation of soil occurs over many hundreds of years.  Secondary succession typically occurs rapidly with new life appearing shortly after the disruption and progressing through a number of stages until the mature ecosystem is established.  The time difference is due to the presen...

John's Family Conservatory near Kelowna, BC. Framing, rule of thirds, lines, foreground and background subjects of interest - these are all things that can be used to create attractive landscapes.  I try not to approach photography from a formulaic point of view, but rather an artistic one keeping in mind the fundamentals of composition.  I like the above photo because much of what I just said is somewhat evident.  Have a look at the image below - it details areas that help to make it an attractive image. 1)  Rule of thirds - The bridge is both at a thirds position and a line along the upper thirds.  The city is exactly the same.  The large erratic rock is in the lower right thirds.  Also, the center of the image is open, this helps the eye to move around the photo instead of being fixed centrally. 2)  Framing - The framing here is a little different from most of my other work, but it is just as effective.  The higher hills act as a frame wit...

Shot with my iPhone 15 Pro in Raw capture mode I was suitably impressed when I arrived at John's Family Conservancy, my first time visiting there.  Hills, hummocks, and valleys greeted me as I walked the well-maintained gravel pathways.  It was mid-March and there was still some snow on the ground, but most of it had disappeared.  I was hoping to photograph some wildlife; instead I found myself shooting landscape after landscape. Much of the area is devoid of trees.  This appears to be the work of the amount of rocky outcrops present and a fire that had ravaged the region way back in 2003.  There are still many dead-standing logs present; you can see some in the photo.  The park has seen succession renewing the landscape, and while there is a lot of growth present, the openness provides excellent vistas. I was fortunate in that the day was bright with limited overcast skies.  The excellent light facilitated a great opportunity to photograph some of the...

A variety of water birds I photographed at Munson Pond on March 17, 2025 It finally feels like spring has arrived now that the ice is off the local lakes and ponds.  The variety and number of birds on Munson Pond in Kelowna was truly heart-warming, even if the waters were cold.  The mergansers kept in a group in the center of the water body and were constantly diving for fish.  The geese kept to themselves as did the other assorted ducks.  The coots too were not too interested in mixing with other avian species while there was only one lone pied-billed grebe. I did manage to get one decent photo - a shot of a female mallard.  She was sitting on a tiny hillock at the pond's edge and the sun was to my back (I am a strong believer in "pointing my shadow" in the direction that I am shooting; it is a technique that rarely lets me down).  You can see her in the photo below. What I especially liked about this photo was how close she was; she filled the frame on my...

OK - I know, not a great photo.  I shot it from my vehicle, window open, with a 500 mm and a 1.4 teleconverter which equates to just over 1000 mm relative.  Even with all that magnification, the bird was relatively tiny in the viewscreen - just look at the inset. The great thing about it though is that it is the very first northern shrike I have ever seen.  I knew it was a shrike the moment I saw it; the black mask and hooked beak told me everything I needed to know.  I never saw its larder, the place where it impales its prey for later consumption, but there was likely something very near.  I have to keep in mind that the breeding range of this species is much further north ( see map here ) so it may only be a transient, although they do overwinter here. I have photographed loggerhead shrike while visiting my brother in Texas.  They do not live in BC at all, but their ranges do overlap with their northern cousins somewhat.  You can see a photo of a lo...

Pied billed grebe, breeding plumage, Monson Pond, Kelowna, Mar 17, 2025 I have seen pied-billed grebes throughout most of Southern BC; they may overwinter on the coast where there is plenty of open water available.  I am amazed at the size of the fish they can catch and swallow - you see an example in the photo below. In breeding season they have the tell-tale pied (two colours) bill.  Juveniles and birds in the off-season do not have the stripe on the bill.  You can see photos taken below of breeding and non-breeding birds. Pied-billed grebes are not the smallest grebe species as the least grebe holds that distinction.  All grebes have their feet located far back in the body (the genus is Podylimbus means feet at the bottom) which gives them an advantage in swimming but is a detraction on land.  Their feet are also lobate in form, giving them another advantage in the water. Some grebes have a black patch on the chin/lower neck, I don't know if this is a breedi...

My buddy, Charles Silk, when we visited New Zealand in 2018 Godfather.  Best man.  Buddy.  Partner in crime.  Target of Queen in Hearts.  Best friend.  These monikers all describe what Charles means to me.  A brother from another mother. Everybody has one, guy or gal, a person that you can count on who is not related, with whom you have a deep connection and history.  We don't see each other often, maybe two or three times a year as we are 10 hours apart by car.  When together, there is no need for talk, although a deck of cards or game of Catan is appreciated.   We have stuff in common.  Silliness, games, ping pong, camping, travelling, and interest in each other's lives.  During our youth we travelled to the Yukon, Texas, New Zealand, across Canada, and throughout BC together.  We know each other's kids and spouses well.  When trouble calls, we both make an effort to be there.  He was at my mom's funeral, ...

  Click here to play video. Dog sitting.  Not a dog sitting, as how a dog rests on its rear end.  Rather, looking after a dog.  That's been my life for yesterday and today.  And not to make it sound like I am complaining.  I actually don't mind it at all. There are several benefits to the task.  It's like an extended play date, with responsibilities.  Murphy is somewhat shy around other dogs, although he recognizes other dachshunds and engages with them to some extent.  He knows Olive as her mom sits Murphy when the need arises.  They get along, and even snuggle together on my lap (see image below). Another benefit, albeit one that is unsolicited, is that we get to go out for more walks.  Two walkies, as a common vernacular, and another chance to pick up after the pair of pooches.  It's better to do it outdoors than indoors, although I have already had to amend two liquid deposits that otherwise wouldn't have happened.  Su...

Cabbage butterflies and fireweed. Spring, flowers, and butterflies.  A potent combination that would make anyone stop and take the scene in, if only just for a moment.  Stopping to smell the roses just becomes a whole lot better if there are butterflies involved.   Unfortunately, butterfly populations are down across the globe.  Like most other forms of life, the decline in Lepidoptera is due to the activities of man.  In order to thrive, we have tamed the landscape by adapting it to suit our needs.  We destroy forests, bulldoze swamps, and turn open areas into crops or grasslands. But that's not the end of it.  No sir, destroying habitat is just the beginning.  Our need for controlling nature turns to chemistry where we use sprays and powders to kill any would-be pests that might feed on our crops or damage our foliage.  Not only does this keep nature in check locally, the overspray and leeched chemicals get into what little natural hab...

Version 3.0 of GIMP - newly released and ready to take on Photoshop I have been a Photoshop user since CS 2 was released, some 20 years ago.  I have also used Photoshop Elements and Lightroom.  All of them are high quality photo editing computer tools, and they all cost money.  You used to be able to buy them individually, and once you owned them it was forever.  Not anymore.  Now you pay a monthly lease to operate Photoshop and Lightroom and your Elements license only lasts for 3 years. Fortunately, there are other photo editing programs out there that are less, or even free.  A popular one has been GIMP.   It is a free program that is opensource, meaning that anyone can add code to it to improve it.  Version 2 has been the de facto choice for many, however it has been in dire need of an upgrade. Enter Gimp 3.0 - the new release which now is past Beta testing and available for use.  You can see the above image - an example of the screen...

Family photo Circa 2000 at Pacific City in Oregon.  My goal was to remove the dog from the shot. Generative AI is a form of artificial intelligence that creates new content from any given source material.  In the case above, Gen AI is used to fill the deleted area where the dog used to be.  It works by using a chosen region as a basis for what the fill will look like.  By leaving the generative fill area blank, the program uses the area around the deleted subject as a reference. It works something like a healing tool, except with the ability to choose what is used as a reference.  In the above image, the dog was sitting very closely to my wife's legs.  None of the newly generated area had any evidence of her pant colour or texture.  It also estimated what the shadowed area of the rock would look like and made it look very natural.  I was suitably impressed. The steps to follow in using the object selection tool and replacing it with something else...

A man walking on a Kelowna pier holding a coffee mug.  Original image is 48 megapixels. The number of pixels, or rather megapixels, a camera's sensor has defines its resolving power.  Optical resolution is the ability to distinguish two points.  In any image, those two points are determined by a number of factors.  Chief amongst them is the pixel count. Other factors affecting resolution include lens quality, accuracy of focus, what part of the sensor the area in question resides in, the ISO, nature of exposure (over, under, proper), and finally the points to be distinguished.  Each of these will reflect on the capacity to capture visual information.  Pixel count means very little in an overexposed, blurred, high ISO, object shot at the corner of a frame.  On the other hand, a centrally located object shot with a proper exposure in focus and with a low ISO will likely reveal something significant.  In this situation, pixel count makes a difference...

Dark eyed junco - D500 with 500mm PF & 1.4 TCiii teleconverter   ISO 1600    1/200th    f/8 Shooting with a  long f/5.6 lens and teleconverter on a heavily clouded day was likely to result in low shutter speeds and/or high ISOs.  Those thoughts were confirmed when my light meter readings showed well below three stops of underexposure at my previous settings, f/400 at 200 ISO sans teleconverter.  A whole 5 stops difference. I photographed the junco from my back yard.  The truth is I have been under the weather and didn't feel up to doing any exploration.  I only got one shot of the fellow before he disappeared.  However, it was enough to download and play with on Photoshop. Yes, I know - I have owned CS2, 4, and 6 - all of them bought and paid for, but now I am in the world of rent-a-program and paying too much.  However, I can't deny the quality, and I am very much impressed with that the new noise reduction algorithm ...

Hope when there is none.  A dream that is just that.  And yet the human heart and imagination can rise above everything preventing it from doing so. That's the story in a nutshell.  It had me cheering, in tears, and wishing them the best in whatever 2025 brings them.  I can't begin to imagine the risk and prejudice they faced given their circumstances.  A victory that took over twenty years to achieve. I won't tell you more; you should go see it for yourself.  The movie theatre was empty last night, maybe ten people present, less if you don't include the cleaning staff.  The movie deserves better.  It's not flashy, no superheroes or special effects.  But it is a flick for the heart.  And it may give you something to think about. So, what's keeping you?                                          Trailer Eric Svendsen      ...

Left:  Cedar waxwing I photographed February 28 in Kelowna, BC. Right:  Eggs and chicks of a cedar waxwing photographed August 2017 in Creston, BC. My first spring outing, a week ago today, brought me to a Kelowna park bursting with bird life.  The most active area, by far, was a mountain ash tree loaded with berries that was the star attraction for robins, house finches, and waxwings. I have seen cedar waxwings in Texas, Alberta, and across southern BC but I didn't know their range was throughout most of North America (up to the territories), all of Mexico, and most of Central America.  You can see the range map here .  I had always assumed that they always migrated North but it seems that they are year-round residents throughout much of southern Canada.  I imagine this is not true for all of them as northern residents would migrate further north during breeding.  I would be interested to know what percentage of waxwings are year-round residents. I ra...

I have photographed a fair number of hooded mergansers over time, but this is the best one to date as his position and closeness to me and the sun were all near perfect.  To add to the moment, his "hood" was nearly at full extension.  This was the last of half a dozen photos I took. Three years ago I photographed one in February and saw it swimming underneath the ice of a mostly frozen pond.  You can read the account here .  Altogether I have 6 blogs on these guys.  I guess I just love their contrasty appearance and the chestnut siding of the male. I heard yesterday that the bluebirds have returned.  There is a place near Winfield where I photographed mountain and eastern bluebirds last year and western meadowlarks too.  I will head up there in the next couple of days to see what I can find. Thanks for reading. Eric Svendsen      www.ericspix.com

Barrow's goldeneye shot last year (left) and this year (right) in the same place with different cameras. There is much to be said about the capabilities of cell phone cameras; their popularity certainly supports the idea that they are both convenient and effective.  However, they cannot match DSLR and mirrorless cameras in a few areas.  These include high ISO exposures, exposures with flash, and long lens shots that you may find in sports and wildlife photography. My sport-shooting days are over as my children are grown, but I still do a lot of wildlife photography (if you look at my blog history, you will see what I mean).   Last year I got a great shot of a Barrow's goldeneye duck (click here to see the post).  This year I saw another male in the same pond and it was about in the same position.  I took out my iPhone 15 Pro and zoomed in to its maximum magnification at 15x.  Although it looked OK when viewed as a thumbnail, it was lacking details and...

Red-winged blackbird singing on bullrush by a frozen pond, Kelowna. RWBB are very territorial during breeding season and will stake out an area and patrol it diligently. While some birds mate for life, RWBB are highly polygamous and will mate with up to 15 females. In the photo above, the male RWBB is demonstrating his authority over his staked territory. RWBB vary their diet with the season.  They take insects when they are available and will eat seeds and berries at other times.  I had one visiting my feeder taking sunflower seeds. The red epaulettes on the wings of male RWBB grow brighter with age; females tend to seek out these larger patches as they denote a healthy, successful male. After the nesting season is finished the birds join flocks, sometimes of hundreds of birds.  I once saw a large group of RWBB in a murmuration; they all turned at once and the sun suddenly reflected off their shoulder patches displaying a brilliant red patch in the sky for just a moment....

I misidentified the swan as a trumpeter, rather it is a tundra swan.  First I ever saw one. OK - so what is a tundra swan?  I knew of mute and trumpeter, but never heard of tundra swans before.  I posted a blog on the BC birds site I belong to and was soon told it wasn't a trumpeter but rather a tundra swan (thanks to Les W Dewar).  The yellow mark by the eye is the key to identification.  And yes, this bird certainly has it. If you look at the range map (here), you can see that it is called a tundra swan for a very good reason; it flies far to the north to the edge of the continent and breeds along or near the Arctic's coastline.  The funny thing, though, is that there is a tiny area in central southern BC in the Okanagan where they be found when not breeding.  My guess is that these birds are part of the local population that has spent the winter here. When they overwinter they are perfectly comfortable sleeping in the water as I witnessed them doing...

A pair of trumpeter swans on Okanagan Lake near Kelowna, BC. I never get tired of seeing swans.  Large majestic birds, they are both graceful and powerful.  At first, I mistook the pair for  boat float buoys, the kind that boats hook up to offshore.  Their heads and long necks were originally nestled close to the body or under a wing; they were likely resting before continuing onto some other destination. These birds typically don't breed on large lakes, rather they prefer small ponds with lots of cover and food.  They mostly nest north of here or along the coast; you can see a range map here .  Trumpeter swans eat aquatic vegetation and some small water insects or even fish; they will take grass and grain if available.   Trumpeter swans are North America's heaviest flying bird, males coming in at an impressive 26 pounds.  Although that may not seem like much, having an angry one come at you would be nothing to sneer at.  I had a male Mu...