Please keep your eye out here for some beautiful new photographs as well as more well written and informative articles about nature photography. All of us here at Nature’s Domain love to get outside and enjoy the nature we love to photograph so it can be difficult sometimes to sit inside but I know we are all committed to keeping fresh new content on this website. As always thank you so much for your support and continuing to visit our website and we always love your feedback.

Now to give you something a little different that hasn’t been posted here on Nature’s Domain yet. A short video of some of the nature surrounding my condo here in Southern NJ. I shot these clips in the summer of 2010 and have finally gotten around to doing something with them. I know this is not photography but it is something I personally think is a great addition to the new modern DSLR. I know there are many varying opinions about video on DSLRs but I have been approaching it with the “if you don’t want to use it then don’t and if you do well then great” motto. I never want to be a full time videographer instead of photographer, although I think there are some great things that can be done with video relating to nature photography. I hope you enjoy the short clip and we all hope you enjoy our website enough to share with others and stop back again.

Thanks,
Ray Hennessy

Watch the video here to see in HD it looks much better.

Around My Condo from Nature's Domain on Vimeo.

I choose to use space and off center crops quite a lot in my photography. Some of the time it may not be the best composition for a particular photo but it’s usually what I feel works best at the time. You may not agree with some of the examples shown here and that is perfectly acceptable. I believe every individual will always view the same photograph in a different way or make different suggestions to better the photo and that is one of the things I love about photography in general. No one way is the right way. Because of this I think you can use space any way you would like to try to make your subject stand out. I usually compose extremely off center when my background is a particularly smooth solid color as in the brown leaves against the solid blue sky below. Another personal preference of mine is when choosing to add extra space to a photo with an animal in it I like to have the animal looking into the photograph instead of out of it. You will notice three of the examples I’ve posted have the birds looking into the extra space in the photograph. As I mentioned this is not a cut and dry rule and the photo of the little shore bird hunting on the beach has him facing closer to the edge with less space. My main goal when using extra space in my composition is to try to cause the viewer to take an extra couple of seconds looking at the photo and to exaggerate the size of the subject or color of the background.

This method for the subject being “singled out” is entirely my opinion and please do not take it as the correct or incorrect way to take certain pictures. My goal with this entire series was to give you possibly new ways or just rekindle your creative eye when trying to make your subject stand out in a nature photograph. Whether that subject be a bird, flower, landscape scene or any other beautiful subject mother nature places in front of your lens, be creative and most importantly have fun with it. I’ve been lucky enough to have been working in the photography field in one form or another for the last 11 years. I’ve worked for a school and wedding portrait studio, an architect photographer, started my own portrait and wedding business and have always enjoyed taking nature photographs. It has become a huge part of my everyday life and I wouldn’t change that for anything. I hope photography can bring just as much pleasure into your life as it has mine.

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With the proper application space can be used to include more of a scene and still draw the viewer's eye to the main subject. In this photo we can see the bird is on the beach so it helps to give some location to the photograph and still the bird is the main subject.

I'm using 2 tools here, depth of field plays a part of making the blossom stand out but the use of space also contributes. The large amount of smooth bright water in the foreground helps to give the photo a different feel versus filling the frame with the blossom.

I used the space here simply for a more interesting composition. It also gives the Great Egret something to be lookin out towards in this photo.

Giving a huge palette of blue for the dark brown leaves to stand out against.

Using space again to show the empty snow covered ground surrounding this gull. The added space in this photo also allowed me to include the gull's shadow.

By positioning the gull in the lower right corner it allowed me to show the beautiful coastline beyond the main subject of the photo. This picture is a close call between the main subject of the photo being the entire scenic view or the bird on the cliff, but I still think the added space helps the photo and maintains the gull and rock ledge as the main subject.

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I have created silhouettes of many different things in nature but some of the most common for me are landscapes and specifically trees. Trees are great, large, immovable objects that come in thousands of varieties and shapes. One of my favorite was the B&W photo of the peach tree below. I had driven by this peach orchard hundreds of times near my home in southern New Jersey and always thought to myself “that would make such a great photo in the winter with fog”. One crisp morning in early February I woke up to see the perfect late morning foggy conditions needed to make the photo I had been imagining for years. I decided that would be the morning and I drove out to the orchard of peach trees. The morning had all the ingredients required to make the photo I had in my mind, leafless and creepy trees, plus thick dense fog. A few frames later and some added contrast in post processing and I ended up with a spooky, looming, dark tree outline against a bright white sky. This was one of the first silhouettes I was truly proud of as a budding nature photographer.

Another subject that can work well for silhouettes are birds (I like taking pictures of them if you haven’t noticed, haha). Some birds make for better silhouetted shapes than others and as always require a little luck to get the bird in just the right spot. As I mentioned, early morning and late evening can be the perfect opportunity to experiment with a few silhouettes because some times there is just not enough light to do anything else. It can also be fun for the viewer to try to identify the bird based solely on it’s shape and nothing else, which can be a challenge to even a seasoned birder, of which I am not.

Below are a few examples of silhouette photos that I’m quite fond of. Thanks for stopping by, and next week will be the last of the “Singled Out” series ending with “space”, which is my favorite technique.

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On a foggy morning the dark silhouette of the leafless peach tree against the bright white sky does a perfect job of making the subject become singled out.

Again, the dark silhouette of the single tree does the trick. It becomes the first thing the viewer's eye goes to.

Another tree example - hey they are easy to silhouette so I've got a few to share.

An Osprey perched on a branch becomes the perfect silhouette against the nice orange glow of a sunset. The fact that it is the one vertical thing in this photograph also helps make the bird become singled out.

Another tree silhouette, but this time it's the moon lighting up the sky and you can see a few stars too.

This silhouette is helped by the snow on the ground. If there was no snow, the bottom half of the tree would most likely blend in and only the top would be the silhouette.

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Flowers and plants can be a vast source or many different and vibrant colors. One advantage of photographing them is they don’t move. You can really take your time and look for the right colors or just the right composition to make a specific color stand out. In the first example below the green (which is one of the most common natural colors) really stands out because of the composition and utilizing a really dark background.

Another example of color that makes the subject stand out are birds. There are literally thousands of colors in the bird world and we as photographers can try to take advantage of that. The difficulty with bird photography is the inability to control what the subject does and where it goes. Most of the time luck plays a huge part in getting a beautifully colored bird on the perfect background. Other times it can be patience, waiting and waiting for a bird to show up in just the right spot to make it’s color stand out. I usually use a combination of the two. Since I become easily bored, luck plays a large part in my ability to capture the beautiful color of birds against contrasting backgrounds.

Colors can be used in all different types of nature photography, not just the examples I’ve shown and talked about. It can be more difficult and require some time and patience to pay off, but in my opinion it can be one of the most striking methods for making your subject “singled out”. Next week I’ll be talking about silhouettes and if you have time click below to view the rest of the series.

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Pretty obvious here, the red really makes the flower become the main subject.

This photo of the Cardinal has the 3 primary colors going on but the one that really stands out is the bright red. It's the most intense color in the scene and just seems to catch your eye the most.

Again here the bright white of the Egret stands out in the field of green marsh grass.

Another example of the bright red really catching the viewer's eye and making the blossoms on the branch become the main subject of the photo. This also has a little depth of field helping to draw your eye to the center blossom.

Here we have a great landscape on it's own. The many islands off the coast of Bar Harbor Maine make for a great scenic photograph. Once you add the bright red sails on this boat all of a sudden you have a definitive subject in the photo.

This is a more subtle use of color but the blue of the Tri-Colored Heron contrasts nicely against all the green in the scene and allows the subject to stand out.

There's that bright red again doing it's thing. In my opinion this is one of the most stand out uses of color there is.

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REDWINGS ARRIVE IN JANUARY DURING THE COLDEST MONTH.

Photography lends well to those who think,  “what else do you do when you look for things to grace that new roll of film or the mega pixels processed by the sensors on a digital camera?”  Then there are the times when the weather sucks like it did in the North East this year. So you comb through your files looking for things you missed all the time thinking about getting out there. I am fortunate to be able to go out pretty much when I want but most of the people I know shoot only on the weekends and there weren’t many nice ones in 2009 and so far in 2010. I never let weather bother me before the camera days so why now. I’m sure you can remember all those conversations about there not being enough light, or it’s going to rain tomorrow, and it’s freezing out there. So I thought why not use the weather and see what happens. 

A White-throated sparrow braves the winter winds.

When its blowing 40 Mi winds its a good time to test the focus on a lens.

A bee hovers the flower as the rain drops glisten on the pedats and leaves.

I had this idea of a shot while I was on one of those long periods of inactivity staring at nothing.      My first outing was to be a rainy day.  Not just any rain but the kind that runs down your back even with an umbrella.  I needed such a rain to get the effect I was looking for.  The first time I went out I thought I was pretty smart, I put on the gortex rain jacket, hip waders, carried an umbrella and had a plastic bag for the camera.  Of course I wasn’t prepared as well as you would think.  Trying to carry the tripod, camera with an extended flash and the umbrella was pretty cumbersome.  Not only that but trying to hold the umbrella and focus with the camera and subject was way too awkward for me.  Rain is one time you should shoot level or down at the subject or the lens hood will help collect water.  Then there was the walking with tree limbs catching the gear and helping send more water down my back.   Then came the realization that the umbrella I had was only good for a short time in that kind of rain before it was of no use at all, it was one of those free hand outs at some event.  I will confess that I use pro gear and the camera fared better than I did. 

As the rain fills the leaf the weight of the water tips the leaf causing a water fall to cascade.

After a few hours I did take some shots but I should have had a longer lens because with a million leaves there were only a few in the right position always farther then I wanted.   So naturally I started thinking….. about the next trip and how I would solve some of these problems. Fortunately it rained every week all summer long providing ample time to think about these problems, and so I did. 

First thing was to do some research on a more professional rain coat for the camera so I could forget about the umbrella.  I found one on the internet that was pretty cost effective and gave me a camo cover I needed anyway.  I was using a leg cut off an old pair of hunting pants.  I bought the better grade option so I could tripod the camera without taking the cover off and on.   Best money I spent because I also started to shoot HS Football and it rained every Friday night.  I hardly ever took it off.  I now felt more comfortable about the camera surviving so I headed off in the next rain storm to get that photo I had been thinking about for some time. 

Sometimes you get lucky and the water hits other leaves on the way down causing SPLATTER.

The next rain came right on schedule and I headed out to a local place that had the right type of plant. In Pennsylvania there are only two major places to find them.   The hardest part was to find the right direction because plants move to face the sun and where I wanted to be was on the opposite side.  Now here I go thinking again, thinking about the camera settings, and somewhere I’m not standing in the muck since rain and wetlands equal mucky walking.  I tried several spots until  I found the location with the right position.  I took a few test shots and began the long wait for the rain to do its job.   I had plenty of time to think about timing this shot however, too much thinking about other things sometimes called daydreaming and you miss the opportunity, having to wait till the next rain. You also have to pay attention while someone may be distracting you asking you about your rig and whatever could you be doing. It would be nice to nail the shot now because you never know about the weather and winter was coming. The plants wouldn’t be there much longer and the last thing I wanted to do is think about it till next year.   I’ve had a lot of people tell me about adding water but that’s not for me and after all, natural comes from Nature right? The weather never got any better and the winter came here too early for me.  The birds knew it was going to be ugly, and I took notice to the lack of winter food for them.  It was hard to find something worthwhile and was disappointing considering I was shooting the year before with good results.   I began to think, I used to like the winter. 

Snow covers a YOU ARE HERE sign although I don't think anyone cared today.

To know where you are going you have to know from where you came.

Winter with a camera presents a whole new problem, shooting white and not loosing detail while keeping it bright enough to show some really nice shadows.   Since buying the camera I hadn’t really encountered much snow and thought to put Yellowstone in winter on my high priority list. Foul weather in winter adds additional precautions for days out with the camera. Cold alone is enough but when you add the snow it hinders travel to and from places as well as the extra effort toting a 20 LB camera load through 30 inches of snow. I was certainly thinking about snow shoes after the first trek. Fresh snow can provide some interesting opportunities when you are the first to be there after the snow stops. It also provides some solace to think about things without being interrupted by a passerby or the sounds of civilization nearby. (Wildwood is basically a swamp in the shape of a triangle bordered on one side by major warehouses and the other two are interstate highways that merge. )    Snow can also be hard on the natives, food becomes even more scarce and wildlife cannot afford to get hurt by stepping in a hole they can’t see.   I think about those things when I am watching the snow fall through the local McDonalds window sipping the morning coffee. 

A table cloth of snow awaits diners.

Surfing was out of the question today.

Here are some things you would think obvious when going out in the weather that I learned the hard way.
• Carry an extra micro fiber cloth.
• Depending on the wind, even drifting snow will attach itself to the lense glass and rain will either put drops on the glass or become a mist much like fog.
• Squeezing the water out of a soaked cloth is better than not having any cloth at all.
• Carrying heavy gear can overheat you with all the extra clothes you need while you are thinking.
• Stepping into or down a snow bank can make you scramble to save the camera. (I hope no one was taking my picture that day)
• Warm rainy days can be bone chilling if you stay long enough.
• A gentle rain or snow fall can become extremely hazardous when wind starts blowing.

THE KISS THAT MADE ME MELT....Valentine's day gave me a present.

I don’t think winter is over yet as it is snowing outside again.  February has provided some interesting things, but you have to bundle up and get out there.  I have seen some bluebirds scraping at the boxes which is definitely a good sign.  I sure will be glad when I can put away the long underwear and boots and get back to business. 

AND YOU THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO TALK ABOUT SHOOTING IN THE RAW MODE!   Maybe next time, but I wouldn’t shoot any other way. 

Winter at its worst, snowing and blowing.

One last shot from the truck since it was cold enought to numb the hands shooting from the window. 

Trying to capture movement with the camera I tried to line up the blowing snow behind the trees.

The other take on fences is what I’m exploring with this post. There are countless time where a fence in the right place just MAKES the photograph. It may add texture, or depth to an otherwise boring photo. A fence can be the main subject of the photo or just a simple element that adds just the right touch. The majority of fence photographs I like are where fences are used for leading the viewer into the photograph, as in the first photo above. In that photo the fence is certainly the main subject of the photo, it’s almost the only thing in focus and because of the angle I took it at it tends to draw you into the photo. This is certainly a great way to use fences to your advantage in photography, they almost always have cool lines that can be a photographers tool in his or her picture.

For bird photography a fence can become a convenient perch for many different birds. Some fences can also be very natural looking and as stated above add depth to a photograph with a bird (like the photo below). Some of my bird-on-fence photos are great solely because of the fence, if the bird hadn’t been able to land on the fence I wouldn’t have had the beautiful background or great depth of field to a particular photo.

In the end my vote goes for good. I’ve incorporated fences into many of my photographs and I view them as more of an element to include instead of something to shy away from. Let me know in the comments what your vote is.

Larry Hennessy photographing a Crow on a Fence

HUMBACK WHALES SPOUTING

I spend a lot of time outdoors chasing nature with a SLR camera, big lens, and various equipment hoping, to get the job done.  I probably spend as much time talking to people about photography because big lens draw people who think you have all the answers.  Well no one does.  That prompted me to think about this subject in great detail and why I wanted to help people trying to get started.  Cameras are like a mechanics tool chest with each tool for a particular job.  You can multi task but there are certain things you need and one of them is great glass.  I often look at the forums and think about just how many different settings being used to achieve great photographs of the same subject.  However, the single most important thing in photography is getting started.  Whether you use the small in your pocket camera or you buy a camera that uses interchangeable lens, buying that first camera is daunting.  I know because I started in March of 2007 with my first real camera because I didn’t want to go to Alaska without one. 

GLACIER RUN OFF

 I didn’t know anything other than using someone’s point and shoot a few times so I researched forever trying to decide which way to go.  I knew I wanted a brand name and basically only looked at the top two because you get what you pay for and the offerings of camera and lens provided the ability to expand without buying another camera (so I thought).  I ended up buying a kit camera like most people with a zoom lens trying to maximize the investment.   Since I didn’t know anything even after reading the manual, off I went to a local nature center Wildwood Parkand basically turned on the camera and clicked away.   After a week of clicking I was hooked hard.  I upgraded my lens which I still have and use.  Of course this isn’t about the lens or the camera it’s about getting started.  I wondered around from March till June shooting some pretty good pictures that others said was great.  I started meeting other photographers who thought they needed to teach me about photography.  That’s when all my problems started.  Not the teachers but me.  Up until this point I had shot in auto setting, letting the camera tell me what I needed.  But all that was about to change when I found out about shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings and each person had their opinion on what I needed to do and how to achieve it.  So I experimented as they suggested but it was too much too fast and I learned enough to be dangerous.  The funny thing was the earlier pictures were much better and my keeper rate plummeted because I kept changing things when I really didn’t know what I was doing.  The biggest problem came when I finally went to Alaska and ruined 85 percent of the landscapes and half of the wildlife photos.

Mountaing goats take care of the Kids

 Between the trip, the camera, my lack of knowledge and forgetfulness when changing from one setting to another I would under or over expose most things.  If it hadn‘t been for gloomy days I probably would have over exposed all the fauna. Had I only left things on auto I would have been much better off since a trip to Alaska isn’t cheap and a redo may not be in the cards.   I have since learned a lot and hardly ever use any auto settings except for the ISO from time to time and yes learning how the camera works has really helped me but this isn’t about being an old hand at photography it’s about getting started and enjoying it without becoming so frustrated you quit before you get started.  I think it’s ok to use auto settings for awhile till you learn enough to understand what the heck that person is telling you. Not only that but I always find it ironic when a Canon person is talking to a Nikon person and the terminology is different, they use different settings and they both get to the same end.  I think it’s ok to continue to use auto settings if you are happy with your results.  There will be sometimes auto settings just won’t get the results you want like stopping a hummingbird’s wing, snow landscapes or whenever you want an artsy look by intentionally blurring moving objects or stopping the action.  You won’t be able to do any of this without first starting. 

Gizzly gives me a last look as the boat leaves.

Taking great photographs is just as much about the subject as it is about exposure.  As I repeated over and over that I think it’s ok to shoot auto however, I sure am glad all those who helped me learn had the patience to keep at it and I sure am glad I did.

Argentina is a place that might not normally be at the top of a wildlife photograhers must go list.  Maybe this post will change that.  Over a week and a half this past Christmas and the new year we traveled to several places throughout the country and saw some incredible places, wildlife, and birds.

We arrived in Buenos Aires on Christmas Eve, and within minutes of arriving at our hotel were heading down to Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve.  It is a wonderful place located at the edge of the bustling city, and it is a haven for over 100 birds species and several reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. 

As well as being in the reserve itself, there is a mile long wall along a main street that borders the reserve, and from here is where we did most of our birding.  We saw hundreds of birds from this wall.  Species we saw included Ringed Teal (above), Monk Parakeets, Black Hooded Parakeets, White Faced Tree Ducks, Brown Teal, Silver Teal, Coscoroba Swans, Tiger Herons, Common Moorhens, White Winged Coots, Red Gartered Coots, Red Crested Cardinals, and Guira Cuckoos to name a few.  And the best part is that the birds here are used to people since the wall is a hub for people doing all sorts of activities.

Guira Cuckoo- Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve

White Winged Coot- Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve

Common Moorhen?

Southern Lapwing- Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve

 This next bird is easily one of the most spectacular birds I have ever seen.  THe RED CRESTED CARDINAL.  First is the female, then the SPECTACULAR male. My shots don’t do justice to the male

Female Red Crested Cardinal

THE MALE

Male Red Crested Cardinal

After staying in Buenos Aires for several days, we took and hour and a half flight up North to Iguazu National Park.  Iguazu National Park is home to the second largest waterfall in the world.  The park as a whole is absolutley spectacular.  The falls are gorgeous and are definitely a place worth visiting.

Iguazu Falls from the Plane

 We stayed at the Sheraton Iguazu.  That is not in the photo here.  However, from our hotel, which is just out of the shot to the right, we could see the falls.  It truly is an UNBELIEVEABLE place.  The big falls with the plume of steam is called the Devil’s Throat and plunges over 350 feet.  The falls themselves are a couple miles from end to end.

Iguazu Falls

 It looks prehistoric.  And the diversity of wildlife in the park is staggering.  We saw around 30 species of butterflies, several lizard species, frogs, countless unusual bugs, and in the one day we spent there over 50 species of birds.

Double Barred Seed Eater

Plush Crested Jay

Violet Capped Woodnymph

Robust Woodpecker

Lastly, some butterflies, a caiman, and a coati

Eighty Eight Butterfly

Leaf Mimic Butterfly

Butterfly

Butterfly

Spectacled Caiman

This last animal is a coati. They are some of the coolest creatures I have ever encountered.  They are all over Iguazu, and are completely unafraid of humans.  But you need to be careful, because if you don’t pay attention they WILL steal your food.  Its quite comical if it doesn’t happen to you

Hope you enjoyed my first post, and hopefully I did a decent job. Thsese photos only scratch the surface of what we saw

Sunset

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