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Black-billed magpie, Yoho National Park, BC - backlit and underexposed. A backlit field often renders a subject significantly underexposed, in this case by about three stops (see bottom left inset).  There are few details in the shadows, which renders the bird as a silhouette in this case.  There are about eight stops of latitude in a JPEG (HEIF formats are better at around 10), while raw images carry much more, often surpassing 12 stops.   Although HEIF images are superior to JPEGs in almost every way, few apps allow you to edit an HEIF without converting it to a JPEG first.  So, either way, if you're not shooting in raw file mode, you are making JPEG images (if you plan on editing them at all outside of the camera that took them). This may be the point at which one could argue that you have to convert the raw image into a JPEG for it to be of much use.  While that is true (most web platforms won't work with raw images), they also don't work with HEIF imag...

Ring-billed gull (left) and Foster's tern (right) photographed using my Z6iii camera I am not well-versed in electronics and do not have a good understanding of the word "gain" as it applies to digital photo sensors.  So I have had to do some research on this to understand what exactly gain is and what a dual-gain sensor is.   The voltage produced by electronic sensors that convert light into electricity is very low, and that's at a sensor's native ISO.  As ISO increases, those voltages become even lower.  The problem with high ISOs is that the background electronic noise that exists starts to interfere with the generated values produced, especially in shadows, which results in this thing we call noise.  I have written about this before ( click here to see good examples on noise). Gain is related to noise - the higher the ISO, the greater the need to boost the signal.  Boosting the signal (gain) results in brighter images (underexposed images from nat...

Alberta Jewel Spider photographed with my iPhone 15 Pro I discovered that my 3x lens on my iPhone defaults to using the ultrawide lens (0.5x) for close-ups.  The problem with this is that the ultrawide does not have the resolution of the main camera (1x), and getting really close physically blocks light.  The solution requires a few steps. The first step is to switch the camera to ProRAW & Resolution control (Settings > Camera > Formats) from the lower-resolution mode.  In your iPhone's Camera app, you can choose whether to use RAW or HEIF format.  I use RAW, but the HEIF format is also a good choice, especially if you can't deal with raw images.  Since I use Photoshop, it is not a problem for me. Then you have to turn off the automatic switching between cameras when doing macros.  You can find the Macro Control slider under the Camera app in Settings (Settings > Camera, then scroll way down).  Turn it off (slide the "slider" control to th...

Killdeer photographed in Red Deer, Leva Avenue Natural Area.  July 16, 2026. I have been shooting with my new lens and camera for two months now.  I have taken over 1600 photos with it on a variety of settings, although mostly in manual exposure mode.  The camera has performed well, and the 180-600 lens is reasonably sharp. On the upside, the 24 mp full-frame sensor produces low noise at modest ISO settings (an ISO of 800 produces images with little noise).  Although it lacks the resolution of the Z7, Z8, and Z9 series, I find the reach of the zoom at 600 mm adequate.  In the event that more magnification is needed, I can use a1.4x teleconverter.  Image quality takes a bit of a hit, and my minimum aperture turns to f/9 when using the TC.  Using a higher ISO to compensate for the light loss does not seem to affect the images. The downside of the Z6iii's sensor is that it lacks the dynamic range of other Nikon cameras.  Having said that, it has not ...

Top:  Yellow-headed blackbird, Clay-coloured sparrow, Yellow warbler, Hairy woodpecker. Middle:  Bonaparte's gull, American goldfinch, Song sparrow, Double-crested courmarant. Bottom:  Red-winged blackbird, Foster's tern, Franklin's gull, Spotted sandpiper. There are about 270 species of bird regularly present in Alberta at some point during the year, and another 150 or so that are accidental, and another 30 or so that are migratory but not present for breeding or are residents.  There are a few more species not included in the above shot that I have photographed or just seen (including corvids, hawks, grebes, and gulls).  If I go back into my files from previous years, I am sure I could come up with about 100 species or so. The great thing about birding in Alberta is that there is such diverse habitat.  Mountains, large lakes, small lakes, ponds, potholes, prairie, woodlands, and more.  There are also very large parks dedicated as habitat for wildlife...

1. My friend, Charles, in an enclosed mobility aid.  2. Walker with 2 wheels.  3.  4-wheeled walker with seat/wheelchair.  4.  Electric mobility aid.  5.  All-terrain mobility aid. Mobility aids.  They can be anything from a simple stick to a complicated, enclosed electric scooter complete with signal, head, and tail lights.  All of them have one purpose - to help those with mobility challenges get around.  So, why are some of them banned? It depends on the jurisdiction.  The main item drawing attention is the enclosed mobility aid, such as a weather-proofed personal cart that gives extra protection to the user, seen in the above photo (1).  They may be deemed too powerful, too large, or too fast.   A scooter/mobility aid does not require insurance to operate.  They are not legal on roadways, in the same way that pedestrians are not.  Yet, as they get larger, enclosed, or more powerful, their place on the si...

Left:  Praying mantis photos from Oregon (top) and Florida (bottom).  Right:  Kelowna (my yard). My favourite insect is the praying mantis.  As a boy, I caught dozens of them in Ontario.  I never saw any while living in the Lower Mainland, but did manage to get photos of them in Oregon and Florida (insets).  Since we have been living in Kelowna, I have caught three or four, one just a few days ago (right image, taken with iPhone 15 Pro).  I haven't seen them for a while, not since our cold snap a few years back that killed the stone fruit for the year.  I had wondered if the insects had survived. The one I found recently was a juvenile (nymph); it was two, maybe two and a half, inches long.  It had another two moults to undergo before becoming an adult.  Oddly enough, it was sitting beside my front door when I saw it.  I took it to my backyard where it was placed on a raspberry plant.   The colour of an European praying ma...

The Lordco Ladies photographed at Kelowna's Canada Day Celebration, 2026. Backlighting is a constant issue for photographers, regardless of whether your subject is human, animal, vegetable, or mineral.  Averaging light renders the foreground dark.  Exposing for the foreground leaves the background overexposed and incurs bloom.  Exposing for the background and filling with flash is often the best way to go, if you have a powerful enough flash.  But what if none of those options work for you?  What solution do you employ? Exposing for the background, especially when it is significantly out of focus as above, makes no sense, so having it slightly overexposed is fine.  This will leave the foreground modestly underexposed, but there is enough latitude in raw dark values to lighten them using a pixel editor like Photoshop.  Lightroom will do the same thing, as will iPhone editing software (although I find that iPhone raw images do not have the save dynamic r...

Kathryn nestled up inside the "O" of the Kelowna sign by the waterfront. We moved to Kelowna five years ago.  We have discovered the city has a lot to offer, and not just during the summer.  Certainly, Kelowna is known for its vibrant summer life.  Beaches, celebrations, eateries, trails, and easy access to the Okanagan and Shuswap.  But it is the winters that I particularly like. With a climate in between Vancouver's oceanic conditions and Alberta's frozen, 8-month-long winter, the Okanagan has mild, dry winters that facilitate outdoor activities and good driving conditions.  Traffic is better too; the large number of summer visitors often results in long drive times between local destinations.  In winter, the reduced population renders most in-city trips to less than 15 minutes. I have written quite a lot on things to do in Kelowna.  Some of my links are below. Canada Day Okanagan Rail Trail Okanagan sunflowers Walking trails in the winter Knox Mount...

It is always a good idea to pay attention to the backgrounds of your photos.  It's easy to get caught up in the moment, especially when shooting at public gatherings where time and opportunity are fleeting.  Such was the case during the Canada Day celebration in Kelowna when I was photographing people.   Photographers love control.  We love to control light, subjects, camera settings, and activity around our shoot.  The one thing we have the most control over is our own position.  Street photography is all about capturing the moment, the person being in their element, and their story.  Positioning yourself to capture them relative to a desirable background is important. The second thing you have direct control over is the equipment you use and the settings.  For the image above, I used my 135 f/1.8 Nikon Z lens and chose an aperture of f/1.8 to make the background blurry.  There is enough detail in it to give some context as to where the...

Little girl trying to feed a duck - at the Kelowna Canada Day celebration. A photo can be about what something looks like, but it can also be about an event that is unfolding.  It makes me think of Gary Larson's The Far Side , where each panel is about some event that will happen, is happening, or had happened.  The purpose of his work is to elicit humour, while most of us are taking a snapshot of a moment in time that conveys an action or sentiment. While a video shows exactly what happens and leaves little to the imagination, a single image allows one to project cause or effect.  The challenge is in capturing that moment, and there is no better way to do that than to take a series of photos and use the one that best defines the event. There are pros and cons to this, as the perfect moment in time may be only a fraction of a second.  Dozens of images may be captured, each being achieved with a press of the shutter button or choosing a release mode that captures imag...

Left:  Mill Creek Falls.  Right:  My friend, Charles, and his dog, Randy. As falls go, they're not very impressive.  Yet, that's what makes them all the more inviting.  Not too high, not too much current, and a plunge pool just the right depth.  If the water were a little warmer, you would find people jumping into the basin ( click here to see my blog on that subject). It was warm yesterday, reaching the mid 30's.  The path to the falls isn't very long, maybe a 15 minute walk, but it is pleasant and filled with the sound of birdsong.  And then there is the sound of water.  See the video below that I took of the falls, and listen to the soothing sound of water as it cascades over the precipice.  The second part of the video was taken above the falls, with the water tumbling along its rocky path. My friend, Charles, and I have always enjoyed hiking trails.  We have done the West Coast Trail together (twice), the Juan de Fuca Trail, a...

Pale swallowtail butterfly in my garden, taken with my iPhone 15 Pro. Like most insects (except true flies), butterflies have four wings.  Although they appear to only have two, each side is actually equipped with a pair.  You can see it more clearly on the butterfly I photographed a few years ago while visiting Palm Springs. Checkerspot butterfly photographed in 2023.  Notice there are four wings. The forewings are the most important in flight; the hindwings are less important and can take a moderate amount of damage before rendering a butterfly flightless.  Many butterflies, like the swallowtails, have small projections coming off the rear wings that can be sacrificed to help facilitate escape from a predator. While a butterfly may be able to fly with less than 50% of its original wing area, a more important consideration is a balance between both sides.  If the hindwings are both totally removed, a butterfly may still be able to fly.  However, if the lef...

Possibly Athous haemorrhoidalis  - a native of Europe now established in parts of BC I have always enjoyed finding click beetles.  They are small, harmless, and have a fascinating display when they are turned upside down - they flick themselves into the air with an audible "click."   The larvae of click beetles are wireworms.  Like all beetle larvae, they are grubs.  These look similar to ground beetle larvae but without the front jaws, and they have a curled end to their abdomen.  You can find examples of the adult and larval forms here . The click beetle adults themselves are not a problem.  It's the wireworm larvae that cause damage.  They are soil-dwelling grubs that feed on the seeds, roots, and tubers of plants.  Many of them are pests of crops, especially on the prairies.  I have wireworm damage in my vegetable garden, where my potatoes and carrots have holes drilled in them.  If you want to see an example of wireworm da...

Canadian tiger swallowtail butterfly, Leduc, Alberta. Although I love good prime telephotos, the truth is that they can be a little limiting, literally.  The minimal focus point is often five or six feet away.  Not a problem with birds, as they rarely ever get that close to you, but it is a different story with my more diminutive subjects.   I recently acquired a Nikon Z 180-600 mm zoom lens.  I have been shooting a lot with it lately, exploring its features and enjoying the slightly longer reach it has over my 500 prime.  It has a similar shortcoming (pun intended), in that its minimum focus point is almost eight feet away at 600 mm.  However, when zoomed in at 180 mm, the focus distance decreases to just over four feet. According to Nikon, the reproduction ratio of the lens remains the same throughout its entire zoom range.  Now, I take exception to that fact because the distances and the zoom values don't align.  At 180 mm, the minimum foc...

Kathryn, Charles, Taylor, Landon, Jennifer, April, and Eric.  Dogs:  Murphy and Randy. Jennifer and her two children, Taylor and Landon, are Dell's child and grandchildren.  Although he has been gone now for some 17 years, his presence is felt through them and the remainder of his family.   We had a whirlwind visit this weekend as Jennifer and her kids came to visit and stayed overnight for two evenings.  We played cards, went to the beach, and reconnected.  It has probably been eight years since I saw them - a lifetime in a child - and it was wonderful spending time together. Neither Kathryn nor I are related to any members of the Silk clan, and yet my connection to them runs deep.  Friendships that span both time and distance have allowed us to remain connected on some level.  My own family is both distant and unengaged.  It's nice to feel the acceptance that comes with family, even if you aren't part of one.  Sitting around the t...

Bottom:  A group of 19 goslings cared for by 3 adults. Center:   Before their swim, the goslings were resting in the shade of a tree.  Top right:  The rest of the parents were on the other side of the Leduc Reservoir preening and enjoying a quiet moment. It turns out that humans aren't the only ones that drop their kids off at day care and spend the day doing something else.   Called a crèche or nursery group, this communal behaviour frees members of a community to get to the business of survival, which in this case seems to be preening.  With humans, it usually means going off to work, but the idea is the same.  Survival comes in all forms. The wild is much less hospitable.  The geese living in human communities rarely have to worry about predation, have plenty of food, and are near various forms of shelter should the worst come.  In the wild, they have to forage for food, avoid predators or gang up against them, or find/make shelter....

Photographed with extension tubes, a 105 mm macro lens, and a macro flash. I have enjoyed making macro photos for over 40 years now, first with my Nikon FE2 and 55 mm macro lens and later with my Nikon D-series cameras, 105 mm macro lens, and SB200 macro flashes.  Somewhere along the way, I discovered that adding an extension tube to my 105 and using a crop-sensor camera added to the system's magnification. I recently switched over to a mirrorless system, so my camera of choice for macro is a crop-sensor Zfc body and Nikon's Z105 mm lens.  I also use extension tubes, about 25 mm, which allows me to focus a bit closer.  Of course, this means that I can't focus at infinity anymore, but I can live with that, as I rarely need it when my mind is set on macro mode.  Of course, I can always pull the extension tubes off if I'm in a pinch. Although you can do macro photography without a flash, my best photos are done with a dedicated macro flash.  There are lots of them ...

Kathryn at Kelowna's Canada Day celebration.  Left:  135 mm @ f/2.5    Right:  f/10 I used a full-frame mirrorless camera and an f/1.8 135 mm lens to photograph my wife on Canada Day.  The high cloud meant there was very little shadow; fill flash wasn't needed.  I took a variety of shots ranging from f/1.8 to f/16.  The two above were taken at f/2.5 (left) and f/10 (right). Depth of field is influenced by many factors, but the main ones to consider are the aperture (f/number) and the focal length of the lens.  Relative focal length plays a role as well when using crop-sensor cameras, although the end results are similar.  The smaller the sensor, the higher the crop-factor.  You get more depth of field at any given relative focal length and aperture setting compared to the same settings on a full-frame camera. Some of my best portraits were done with modest telephoto lenses at low apertures.  At the low end of the scale is a goo...

Kathryn and Eric at Kelowna's Canada Day celebration.  Charles came too. We arrived early to find parking in downtown Kelowna.  It was a good thing, because there were few spots available half an hour before the activities began.  The crowds, initially small, rapidly grew in size so that there was barely standing room along the main pathways within a couple of hours.  The mood was upbeat, the venders and volunteers enthusiastic, and the weather perfect.   There was far too much to see in the four hours we spent walking around the site.  Canada flags were everywhere; we even had them applied to our faces.  Music filled the air, with solo artists and bands adding joy to the upbeat crowd.  There were also upright pianos located at various spots along the walkways where anyone with a little knowledge could apply it to the waiting keys.  Activities for the kids, food, and the joy of living in Canada brought us all together. Snippets of Canada...

A warbling vireo near Merritt, BC. "The warbling vireo is one of the most abundant and familiar breeding birds in deciduous stands throughout most of British Columbia" (quote from BC breeding bird atlas ).   I find this statement odd, in that I have lived in BC now for almost 40 years and this is the first one I have ever photographed.   Warbling refers to "the act of singing or producing a melodious sound with rapid changes in pitch, vibration, or tone" (from Merriam-Webster).  If you listen to the song ( click here for video ), you will notice that the bird does indeed warble. The warbling vireo has been split into two species, the western and the eastern species.  They look similar and can be difficult to tell apart.  I photographed this bird near Merritt, BC, so it is likely a western warbling vireo.  There is a great image of both birds here .  The differences are minute, and I can't be sure that it is the western variety, but it makes s...