Tides

Yesterday after a relaxing day at the seaside, I headed out to the beach to catch the last light.  A small gap in the clouds was looking promising.  A whole day of grey colors ended in a fiery sky.

Fire Sky

The one that got my feet wet

Tide

Back to land

First review 8MP Bushnell Trophy Cam

Finally I have had some time to get the first review up. It can be found in the new section Gear Reviews.

120km of Vosges

This trip was more focused on hiking and discovering good locations to come back to later.  The last week of June was a good time to go to avoid the 'masses'.  Due to hot weather and consequently harsh light, I didn't take many pictures during hiking.
The tracks I made with topo maps went through and around Sentier des Roches, Grand Ballon, Hohneck, Gazon du Faing, Gran Ventron, Lac Blanc et Lac Noir, Rainkopf, Lac Longemer and The Belbriette Valley.

My favorites were the Sentier des Roches and the Grand Ventron forest.  Sentier des Roches is a bit of an adventure.  The track is sometimes very difficult to see.  It's not a great track to see wildlife but the views were great.   I love the Grand Ventron forest for it's silence, hopefully I can get some shots of the forest wildlife here.  

Can't come to the Vosges and not take a Chamois picture! 

 




























That's it for this trip.
There was some great news from Vincent Munier, the wolf is back in the Vosges!  And most important, it's a natural comeback.  I hope people there will give them a chance.


Next big trip should be to the Gran Paradiso parc in October-November.  I hope to get a week off from work, fingers crossed!

Long Eared Owl

This owl got me into nature and wildlife photography 4 years ago and I finally got a shot of it flying towards me in low light and busy background.  I have had less then 10 chances for this in all those years.

I tried with my first dslr, the 450D, then the 50D and now the 7D on a 400mm F5.6 L and the 300mm F2.8 L is.  Every time the autofocus failed to lock, even if I was a 100% sure I had the center point on the head.  This is one of the most difficult shots for both man and machine.  Low light, busy background, low contrast bird, waiting patiently and only 3 seconds to react, lock, track and shoot.  For panning shots all camera's are capable enough.

Many reviews and guides that explain how use the 7D for birds in flight advise to set the tracking sensitivity to slow.  This way, the camera doesn't lock too soon on to other objects.  I thought I tried all combinations of the setting until I came across the review of Alex Sukonkin. I tried his settings and it worked first time the same evening!  I had 3 frames in focus that gave me the luxury of more wing positions.

300mm F2.8  1/640  iso1600

It isn't my best shot yet, I still have to make that one, but it's big step forward.
I got back from the Vosges yesterday with many gigabytes of landscapes and wildlife after 120km of hiking so next up is the summer Vosges trip report.

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Cape Gris Nez - Blanc Nez

2 weeks ago, I was in the well known region of Cape Gris Nez.  A 30km hike revealed many nice views but the light was way too harsh for photography most of the time so i haven't shot more then 20 frames during the day.  I had the 10-22mm and 55-250mm with me and for long distance hiking this is as lightweight as it gets for wide angle and a bit of tele.

I used my Redged travel tripod for the rocky coast shot.  The wind was blowing quite hard and the spray from the waves made me jump back a couple of times.  I was worried about the 20sec exposure in such strong winds but sharpness is still good.  I also used a gradual ND filter and it is perfect for these kind of shots.  I could only wish for a little more dramatic sky.

10mm F9  20sec  iso 200  -2/3 ec  Grad ND filter

Not only the rocky coast is nice but the landscapes at a couple of km's away from the coast can be very good for photos also.
































I will certainly return if the weather forecast promises a nice sunrise or sunset.
Right now i'm very busy with the long eared owls close to home.  I had my 4th evening in a row now to get some decent 'in flight' shots of these nocturnal stealth bombers that lured me into this nature photography.

Eifel in May

Halfway the month of May, I revisited the Eifel region.  The weather was a bit unstable so I took my tent instead of the bivy bag and that was a good choice.  I had quite a bit of rain but I managed to keep my stuff dry.

It didn't take long for the first sighting of the deer.  Again they came to the same spot and this time I had a better background so better pictures then last time.

420mm F5.6  1/640  iso 200

420mm F5.6  1/1000  iso 200

420mm F5  1/1000  iso 200

After a while, i hiker passed quite far away but still they felt uneasy and took off, bummer...

After that I only saw a big herd from very far.  At 600mm, the layers of warm air made the pictures look fuzzy.  I saw the herd cautiously approaching a trail.  The lead female took a look left and right, just like someone crossing a street. The road was clear and all the others quickly followed.

The next day, the sun burned so looking for some shade was important.  During the day i tried to find
insects for macro and some of the bugs were cooperative in staying put.  Grasshoppers are not so easy at all.  There were many but most of the time when I got close enough and when i was ready to take the picture, poing! And then it's starting all over again.

100mm F10  1/60  iso 200

100mm F10  1/40  iso 200

That's it for this trip.  Next up are a couple of pictures from the beautiful region of Cape Gris Nez and Blanc Nez in Northern France.
And at the end of June a hiking trip in the Vosges is planned.  A lightweight backpack to cover more miles also means taking fewer and lighter lenses.  I hope to get some nice landcape opportunities.

I will also put up a new review section were I will share my experience with the gear I use on hikes and photo trips.  This is quite a bit of work so it will take some time to get all of this online.


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Ballons, pine trees and a lot of horns

The Vosges, it's feels good to be back.  Last december it was all cold and wet but now spring has changed the landscape in another kind of beauty.

After a 7 hour drive, i arrived at my first destination, a valley in the Longemer region.  This large swamp area is not very known among tourists so it's always quiet.  Only birds were to be seen and in the dark a roe deer was barking for a long time.  The landscape here made up more then enough for the lack of wildlife in front of the lens.

16mm 1/100 F8 iso100

22mm 1/250 F7.1 iso100

10mm 1/80 F8 iso100

The second day i headed to the Gran Ventron forest.  It was even more quiet here as i didn't see any humans around here!  Unfortunately did the animals also send a rain check.  Even so, hiking around in this large forest doesn't get any better then this.  More photography luck next time.










The third and fourth day i geared up for a two day hike from the Hohneck to Kastelberg and back.  My backpack was heavy but it was still doable to get safely down steep trails and rocks.  The first day was downhill and i managed 15km down into the Wormsa valley and to the Kastelberg but during the day, only birds are present to get their photo taken.  At the end of the day i found a nice level spot on the east side of the Kastelberg.  There i saw the first chamois but it was still far away.  The day ended with a few nice moments during sunset and another picture was born.

100mm 1/800 F5.6 iso100

420mm 1/160 F4 iso400

35mm 1/200 F8 iso100

Getting up the Kastelberg in the morning was hard but a nice field of flowers was part of the scenery .  Reaching the top felt great but it took quite a bit of food and water to keep my energy level high enough.  From there on it was an easy hike back to the Hohneck.

600mm 1/640 F8 iso400

The rest of the day i rested half way down the trail in the Wormspel Valley.  I had a very nice view on the slopes and the chamois were resting on the snow.  At 16h the chamois started to get active and jumped around the rocks and the snow.  Some suicidal tourist with his dog couldn't resist getting closer to the chamois by trying to walk on the snow.  The slope is so steep that i wouldn't have been surprised to see an avalanche when the snow gives way.  Then i heard some noise in the bushes and a stoat popped up from behind a rock! I instantly had a picture in my head but when my hand was going for my camera, it already disappeared.  A moment i will not soon forget.

600mm 1/1600 F6.3 iso400

600mm 1/160 F6.3 iso400

Then it was time to try and get some closer chamois pictures, not by trying to stalk them but to wait and let them come to me.  They like the grassfields so that's were i got down and waited.  After about an hour they started coming my way.  Very relaxed they started feeding and lay down in the grass.  I used live-view for these pictures because i had time enough and the subject didn't move.  This way i got that extra sharpness to make the image pop a little more. At 600mm with the 2x tc the IQ is still very good with the 300mm F2.8. I read so much about the 2x tc lacking sharpness but it all comes down to stability.

600mm 1/160 F6.3 iso400

When the metering on my 7D showed 1/10 at iso6400 it was time to pack up.  I headed back up the Hohneck to prepare my bag of adventure food.  After a while, a storm started to approach.  I set up the tripod and took some testpictures.  30sec F3.5 iso1600 seemed to get a good exposure.  Then it was all down to luck to get a nice lightning in the picture.  The 10-22mm lens is ideal for this but at 10mm the lightning has to be pretty close to be big enough in the picture.  I then heard some noise right in front of me.  A couple of chamois just passed in front of the camera!  I was hoping the lightning would have made them visible in the picture but no luck.  After about 30 photos i packed up because it was getting far too dangerous to be on the second highest point in the Vosges with a lightningstorm coming my way.

Storm over the Vosges   10mm 30sec F3.5 iso1600

300mm 1/2000 F2.8 iso400

The next morning was dedicated to chamois photos.  I got up early and as expected, the chamois were feeding between the Hohneck and little Hohneck.  I used the technique of approaching them zigzagging.  This worked extremely well as i got so close after a while that i almost had to swap my 300mm for the 100mm macro.

300mm 1/640 F2.8 iso400

I did have problems with my backup third party batteries.  In a burst they died and taking the battery out was the only way to make the 7D come back alive.  I could still take pictures one by one so i didn't lose to many shots.  In the end most of the time you get what you pay for...

300mm 1/1600 F2.8 iso400

300mm 1/1250 F2.8 iso200

300mm 1/1000 F3.5 iso400

420mm 1/500 F4.5 iso200

100mm 1/60 F8 iso200

The last evening i decided to give it another try in the valley of the first day.  When i got there it got dark and heavy rain started coming down.  In a brief dry moment i hurried to a location to set up camp.  Just when i arrived it started pouring again.  I quickly set up a tarp and then i had to wait it out.  After an hour it finally stopped.  The valley was now looking like a rainforest.  I quickly made some shots with the 100mm and then finished setting up camp.  Apart from a growl and probably the same barking roe deer all was quiet.  Again no sightings of animals but a paradise-like valley covered in mist was the reward for sitting in the rain for an hour.  

100mm 1/80 F8 iso200

420mm 1/500 F4.5 iso200

In the morning i couldn't resist going back to the Hohneck and it was the right decision!  The chamois were there again but i was a bit late.  They had already moved a down the slopes and i could only photograph them for half an hour.  This time i made many shots of them running or walking.  

420mm 1/500 F4.5 iso200

420mm 1/640 F4 iso200

When they got out of reach on the steep rocks one chamois trailed behind the rest of the herd an was looking for his friends.  It filled in the gap of a 'chamois on the rocks' photo that i didn't have yet.  

600mm 1/1250 F7.1 iso400

When going back up the mountain, a raven passed by pretty close so a nice bonus picture filled up the last bytes on the card.  

600mm 1/800 F7.1 iso400

With the batteries drained and 2 full cf cards i was happy to return.  The Vosges is a fascinating region were one can walk the earth for life and not see everything it has to offer.  My next destination for May is still undecided but in June the Vosges are on the menu again.  Stay tuned!