Bird Life

Working at a bird refuge has it's up and downs, but when you have a passion for animals, I think there's many more ups than downs. I've only been working at WJH bird resources for a month now and I have already grown attached to some of the feathery residents. Upon my favorites at work is OJ. OJ is a 3 year old female trumpeter swan that was hand raised at WJH, making her fairly accustomed to people. And upon my other favorites are the Emperor Geese. So I decided I'd share a few photos I took with my iphone to show off my new friends! Enjoy!

Emperor Goose

OJ the Trumpeter Swan

Another day, Another Fish.

Last week, I took two full days to just go fishing. I fished the Stillwater and Big Horn rivers in consecutive days with my buddy Brad. Both days were excellent days for fishing and we produced some nice looking fish. I instructed my buddy Brad on how he should take a photo of me and one of my fish I caught on a streamer. So the picture is actually of me and not one that I took, but I really liked the way it turned out since I told him to focus on the fish so I was blurred in the background.

Not So Wildlife

I recently started working at WJH Bird Resources west of Billings, Montana. The waterfowl are somewhat habituated and don't mind the presence of humans too much, making for easy photography opportunities. I only took about 30 minutes to shoot a few photos the other morning of a few of the waterfowl species at WJH Bird Resources. I eventually plan on getting more photos of all the species residing in the sanctuary. In the mean time enjoy a few of the photos I have taken of these captive waterfowl!

Juvenile Smew (Merganser Family) 

Black-necked Swan

Emperor Goose

Cast and Blast Sunrise

I got to the Big Horn River last Saturday before day break for some cast and blast, which is the combination of fly fishing and duck hunting. The morning was chilly, perfect for the opening morning of duck hunting. The sunrise that morning was brilliant and I couldn't help but capture a photo. This made for a great start to a day full of fly fishing and duck hunting.

Photo Critiques

#1 - The water in the photo behind and in front of the main subject seems to be half way between being in focus and out of focus, but that was probably a sacrifice made to get the right exposure to get detail in the bears face and the details in the fish.

#2 - Attention right away for me is drawn to the red leaves to the left of the photo. I also feel like tree/ log over that red spot of leaves in the back is a distraction.

#3 - This image doesn't really follow the rule of thirds like most photos. But the image does seem to draw you in at the top left and keep you in the left side of the photo since there is not much attention drawn to the right.

#4 - The jagged peaks draw more attention than the curved peaks of the mountains. More attention is also drawn to the area of lights (Or where the snow is located). Noticing the stars in the sky was one of the last things I saw about the photo.

#5 - This photo contains all 5 elements of a good landscape photo, and could have the magical sixth if there were more clouds in the photo. The main subject of the photo seems to be the geothermal hole, and it seems too low and not centered in the photo ( This feature catches the most attention for me anyways).

#6 - Attention right away is drawn to the bird, the head being first because of the red, and the rest of the body second because of the yellow. The blurred background turned out pretty good, but some of the branches that are half way in focus do draw a little attention away from the bird.

#7 - The photo looks overexposed, but was probably done so to grasp details in the face of the bear and details of the fish. The sharpness of the image would have been great if the shutter speed was faster and the drops of water from the fish and bear were no blurred. Looks like the photo could have used a polarized filter as well.

#8 - Attention right away is drawn to the red flowers, then to the horizon where the oranges and yellows are. There seems to be a lack in detail of the moose, but that might also be because of the smallness of the image on my screen. It could have been exposed more to better captured detail in the moose.

#9 - This shot would have been even more epic if it was captured at a faster shutter speed, which would stop the wings, water, and put more detail in the fish.

#10 - The rule of thirds is followed nicely in this image. The bear further back in the image tends to draw attention from the rest of the landscape, even though there is not a whole lot to look at. The photo is cool and colors and makes you cold just looking at it.