If you’ve ever played any of the Pokémon video games, you probably know it feels like to spend hours or days trying to capture a rare monster in order to fill in another entry in your Pokédex. National Geographic photographer Tim Laman knows that feeling through his photography project titled Birds of Paradise. Laman spent a whopping eight years photographing all 39 birds-of-paradise species in the rainforests of New Guinea — the first time it has ever been done.
The behind-the-scenes video above shows how Laman spent countless hours perched atop trees, patiently waiting, hoping, and praying for the birds to land on a nearby branch. Read more…
We’ve featured a couple of projects involving cameras strapped to birds recently (see here and here), but photographing with birds is anything but a new idea. It was actually invented a little over a century ago, in 1907, by a German photography pioneer named Julius Neubronner. Read more…
Photographer Jon Meyers has shot many different subjects at his studio in Eugene, Oregon; but the birds of the Cascades Raptor Center were a first. Fortunately, he and his videographer friend Michael Ferry chose to record this unique photo shoot and put together a behind-the-scenes video for anybody interested in how capturing a hawk mid-flight in-studio might work. Plus, it makes for a good way to start off a great weekend.
Want to get closer to animals when doing wildlife photography? If there’s access, your car can do the trick by serving as a photography blind. Scott Bourne of Photofocus writes,
For whatever reason, most wildlife (birds included) won’t spook or flush when they see a car. Open the car door, step out of the car, now that’s a totally different situation. But as long as you stay in the car, your chances of getting close enough to wildlife to get the shot are improved by 90%.
Photographer JP Cariño experienced the awesomeness of pro DSLR weather sealing when doing bird photography from a floating blind:
I spent an hour at the least in the water. This “accident” happened in the first 10 minutes because of my poor floating blind design. Seeing the birds were so cooperative I decided to go on shooting. From time to time, I had to pour water from the swamp on the LCD so I could view my photos. When I surfaced, I took out the battery and started cleaning the body. I placed the camera in my dry cabinet when I got home and started it up the next day. No issues whatsoever. Works perfectly fine. All the seals worked and the compartments (cf, terminals and batt) had no dirt in it. I guess you really get what you pay for with pro camera bodies. [#]
You know you’re a hardcore outdoor shooter when you’re pouring swamp water onto your camera to clean it. Read more…
