Songbird Extravaganza !

My stepfather Tom and I are currently photographing birds together in northern Texas. Today started out a bust. We were up at 5:30am and on location at dawn, but the birds were not cooperating. Our luck began changing mid-morning once we figured out the best shooting techniques. The rest of the day was exceptional - it turnd out to be one of the most productive days of songbird photography of my life.

Tom is a videographer and when we're out together we alternate shooting because the fill flash from my camera ruins his video. I typically get on a bird before him and fire off a few shots. He needs 7 seconds footage and tells me when he's about to film, so I stop flashing. I was so excited about the composition on the gnatchatcher (first photo below) that when he said "don't shoot' my brain heard "go shoot". I fired away, captured the image, and ended up flushing the bird. As a result, he mised the shot. Sorry Tom!

Photo 1: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x teleconvertor; 580EX fill flash


Photo 2: Northern Parula warbler
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x teleconvertor; 580EX fill flash

Photo 3: Prothonotary Warbler

EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x teleconvertor; 580EX fill flash

Photo 4: Prothonotary Warbler
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x teleconvertor; 580EX fill flash

6 month trip update

Laughing Gull pair courting
EOS 50D; 500/4 IS & 1.4x TC
ISO 200; 1/500 @ f/8

As of today, I've been on the road for 6 months. What a blast the trip has been with many extraordinary experiences, interesting people, and some of the best photos I’ve ever shot. I thought you might like to hear some stats and stories from along the way.

Before I get into it, let me say a huge thanks to all of you for checking out the blog…. and especially those who've taken time to post or send a comment. THANKS!

Stats since I started the trip on October 20, 2008:

• 40,190 km driven
• 45,500 photos taken
• 558 km walked carrying my camera gear
• 2-3 days – average time between showers
• 6 days - longest time wearing the same t-shirt
• 358 species of birds seen
• 8,174 different blog visitors
• climbing a landslide: most dangerous thing I've done (aside from driving)
• $141/gallon – cheapest gas I found (Tucson in December)
• favorite towns: Portal, Arizona and Mendocino, California
• favorite spots: giant redwood forests of northern California & Death Valley, California
• top trip songs: The Unforgettable Fire (U2), Big Casino (Jimmy Eat World)
• trip album: Viva la Vida (Coldplay)
• worst sleep: Radisson Hotel, Phoenix (domestic dispute outside my room; they set off the fire alarm at 2:30am)
• best park staff: South Llano River State Park, Texas
• cheapest bottle of wine consumed: Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon ($2)
• celebrity encounters: Hulk Hogan passed me while driving
• 1 camera destroyed to get Canvasback duck photo (Canon G9)
• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - best beer

I'll be back in Ontario in just over a week and look forward to touching bases with friends and family, as well as shooting on my home turf, as the journey continues.

Bunting Bonanza

Another fantastic day, surpassing yesterday due to brighter overcast conditions which allowed for faster shutter speeds. Buntings were the stars of the show.... amazingly cooperative, so I spent the entire day photographing them. I shot well over a thousand photos and ended up with a few that I'm very happy with!

Photo 1: Indigo Bunting fanning tail
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 2x TC; 580EX flash
ISO 400; 1/400s @ f/8; fill flash at -1 2/3


Photo 1: Painted Bunting on grass
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 2x TC; 580EX flash
ISO 640; 1/320s @ f/8; fill flash at -1 2/3

Photo 3: Common Yellowthroat
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 2x TC; 580EX flash
ISO 400; 1/50s @ f/8; fill flash at -1 2/3

Texas coast migrants

Indigo Bunting (male)

EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x TC
ISO 800; 1/250s @ f/5.6

The last few days rank among the best migrant shooting I've ever experienced. The most colorful characters - Indigo Buntings and Scarlet Tanagers - were so cooperative! The light was dreary, the color saturation rich, and the shutter speeds painfully slow. I shot at least a thousand images today. Most were blurry, but the few that worked out are gems..... best I've shot of these species. I'm crossing my fingers that the next few days are as half as good!

Warbling Vireo
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x TC
ISO 400; 1/640s @ f/5.6


Scarlet Tanager (male)
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 2x TC
ISO 800; 1/50s @ f/8


Scarlet Tanager (male)
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 2x TC
ISO 640; 1/40s @ f/8


Dickcissel (male)
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 2x TC
ISO 640; 1/100s @ f/8

Hooded Warbler

Hooded Warbler (male) near Port Aransas, Texas
EOS 1DSIII; 500/4IS & 2X teleconvertor; 580EX flash with Better Beamer
1/50s @ f/8; fill flash at - 1 2/3

After more than 10 years of unsuccessfully trying to photograph Hooded Warblers during spring migration in Ontario, I've had incredible luck with them here in Texas.

The past couple days on the central Texas coast have been spectacular for both songbird and waterbird photography. I've added at least a dozen species to my collection.

I'm camping on the beach right now and have to ration my power usage (batteries are running low) so will keep this a brief post. Will post more photos soon when I'm in a hotel.

Northern Cardinal

Photos of Northern Cardinals are perpetually good sellers. No surprise, this a beautiful and familiar bird to people across much of North America. I photographed these in central Texas yesterday, using a 1DsIII with a 500/4IS lens & 2x convertor. I chose to use this camera body over the 50D because I was working at fairly close range with birds landing on predictable perches (so I could prefocus). In low light - like these were shot in - the file quality of the 1DsIII appears much better than the 50D.

I sat virtually motionless on the ground near the feeding station for 6 hours to get these and several other species that were coming in. Unfortunately at the end of the day I found a tick crawling up my shorts and thankfully removed it before it had a chance to embed itself. While I admire the survival adaptations of ticks, I prefer not to be the parisitized host!

Northern Cardinal (male)

Northern Cardinal (female)

Birds - Central Texas

Just a quick post before I crash out... I'm fried after a scorching day here in central Texas!

I've been photographing from a blind for the past couple days, trying to improve my coverage of a few species as well as adding some new ones to my collection. It's been extremely dry here this winter, so the birds are easily attracted to water fountains/drips.

This has been a good opportunity to put the 50D body through the paces, using it with the 500/4IS and a 1.4x teleconvertor. I've shot thousands of photos, but the keeper ratio for this kind of shooting is painfully low. Here are a few I managed to process so far....

Wild Turkey head


Northern Cardinal

Lincoln's Sparrow

Bird season approaches!

Great weather and cooperative birds have been keeping me busy lately, hence the lack of blog posts! With spring fast approaching, I've been shifting to photographing birds. April and May are a marathon of songbird photography for me.... starting in Texas and following the migration north to Ontario.

Songbird photography is tricky.... the birds are small and rarely sit still. Capturing sharp, well-framed photos requires being fast and efficient with a long lens. I get rusty at this over the winter and have to tune up my technique each spring, which is what I've been up to lately. I've been using my new 50D body and have found it to be excellent for bird photography. I'm most impressed with the incredibly quick and accurate autofocus, as well as the fast frame rate. It blows away my 1DsIII body for shooting birds. A downside is the 50D files have more noise (digital grain) than 1DsIII files, especially in low light. This doesn't surprise me, the 50D is way less expensive and has a smaller sensor. Nevertheless, the files are still pretty good - very publishable - and I expect to use this body for the majority of my songbird photography this spring.

Here are a few recent bird photos.

Photo 1: White Pelican landing - Salton Sea, California
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor
Exposure: 1/1600 @ f/5.6; ISO 250


Photo 2: Pyrrhuloxia on cactus - Tucson, Arizona
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor
Exposure: 1/1000 @ f/5.6; ISO 200; fill flash at -1 2/3


Photo 3: Black-throated Gray Warbler - Madera Canyon, Arizona
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor; 580EX II flash & Better Beamer
Exposure: 1/60 @ f/5.6; ISO 250; fill flash at -1 2/3


Photo 4: Townsend's Warbler - Cave Creek, Arizona
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor
Exposure: 1/160 @ f/5.6; ISO 400


Photo 5: Yellow-eyed Junco - Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor; 580EX II flash & Better Beamer
Exposure: 1/60 @ f/5.6; ISO 400; fill flash at -2

Small dog, big truck

Every now and then I stumble across a funny scene that warrants stopping for a quick photo. Here's one I shot the other day near the Salton Sea in California. I think the dog is a Chihuahua??

500/4IS & EOS 50D; handheld from my vehicle

Coastal Old-Growth Forest

This week marks 5 months that I've been on the road. Time flies! With spring fast approaching, the intensity of the trip - and shooting - is increasing. The last couple of days in particular have been exhausting, with far too much driving. I just returned to southern Cali to drop off some camera gear for service at Canon. It was hard to leave northern Calironia and Oregon, my time up there was far too short. Photographing in the coastal old-growth redwood forests of northern Cali was a dream for me..... few places have left me in such awe. The mornings I spent wandering those forests were spiritual experiences.

I'm way behind in editing and processing all the photos, but I wanted to make a quick blog post with some photos I sent to my family. It's difficult to convey the immense size of trees in the redwood forests, so I jumped into many of the photos for scale.

Will post some more photos when I get caught up on sleep and work!

All photos taken with EOS 1DsIII; 17-40mm or 24-70mm lenses and Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer

Pacific Coast

The last few days I've been on the Pacific Coast in northern California and Oregon. The weather has been pretty wild - rain and high winds. Photographing shoreline scenes has been a challenge because of the blowing salt spray (it's all over my gear). The winds have been so strong, there were a few times I thought my camera/tripod was going to blow over!

Although I haven't been able to photograph much due to the weather, I've enjoyed exploring this area for my first time. This is an incredibly scenic stretch of coast with rocky outcrops, lighthouses and quaint seaside towns each with myriad restaurants that claim to serve 'world-famous' clam chowder.

For the next few days, I'll continue shooting seascapes (assuming the weather improves). And I'm especially looking forward to exploring some of the stands of huge, coastal old-growth trees.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the coast this week, all taken in northern California just before the bad weather rolled in.

Photo 1: Rugged coastal scenery in northern California.
EOS 1DsIII; 70-200/2.8; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer & 3 stop soft edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 200; 1/25 second at f/16


Photo 2: Pacific sunset near Redwood National Park
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8; Singh-Ray LB colorcombo polarizer & 3 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 320; 5 seconds at f/16

Photo 2: Pacific sunset near Redwood National Park
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8; Singh-Ray LB colorcombo polarizer & 3 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 400; 25 seconds at f/16

The Alabama Hills

Prior to crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains, I stopped in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, California. This is a very scenic area for landscape photography, with sculpted rock formations backed by the snow-capped Sierras. Many films, including classic westerns, have been filmed here.

Below are a few of the images from my brief time in the hills. Since the sky was clear, the opportunity to make truly dramatic sphotos was limited. So I used my timer to jump into some of the photos to add an element of perspective. This also shows my family and friends that I'm still alive and well.

I'm sitting in a laundromat on the north coast of Cali and the light conditions are terrible in here for processing the photos on my laptop, so I hope these look ok!

Photo 1) The cliche sunrise photo of Mobius Arch framing the Sierras.
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; cable release & mirror lock-up
Exposure: 1/30s @ f/18; ISO 200


Photo 2) Me framed by Mobius Arch at sunset (horizontal)
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; cable release & mirror lock-up
Exposure: 1/10s @ f/22; ISO 200


Photo 3) Me framed by Mobius Arch at sunset (vertical)
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; cable release & mirror lock-up
Exposure: 1/30s @ f/22; ISO 200


Photo 4) Afterglow at Mobius Arch
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray LB colorcombo polarizer; 2-stop hard edge ND grad; cable release & mirror lock-up
Exposure: 1.3s @ f/22; ISO 200


Photo 5) Moonlit camping in the Alabama Hills
Yes, that's where I camped (I was in the van during the long exposure)!
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens
Exposure: 477 seconds @ f/11; ISO 200

The Racetrack - at last

You may recall from an earlier post my failed attempt to get to the 'Racetrack' in Death Valley because the rear shocks on my van exploded on the rough road. I've been plotting my return ever since and finally gave it a shot this week. I had been well advised about the rugged condition of the road, infamous for causing flat tires and other various mechanical issues. Rumour is the cost of a tow back from the Racetrack can run you upwards of a couple grand.

I approached the drive with trepidation and figured the key was to go slowly.... very slowly (which is not an easy thing for me to do). I even resorted to using reverse psychology on myself with a personal challenge: how slowly could I possibly drive and still get there? And so I began the trip, with the new U2 album loaded on my iPod, to help take my mind off how painfully slow I was moving. This was going to be a long 43km (27 mile) drive.

I've driven famously shitty "roads" in central and south America, but the road to the Racetrack is easily the king of washboards (see photo below). The objective of these evil ripples it to make your drive as punishingly uncomfortable as possible and to destroy your car. I tackled them by virtually idling along at about 2okm/hr. At one point during the drive, I was passed by a desert tortoise walking backwards.

After 2.5 hours I was elated to arrive at the Racetrack playa with the legendary windblown rocks. The plan was simple: shoot for the evening, camp out overnight and photograph again in the morning before driving back out.

The sky was perfectly clear for both evening and morning, which made for a tough shoot. The mountains that surround the playa cause abrupt sunrises and sunsets, so the rocks quickly transition from light to shadow. A few clouds would have been ideal to create dramatic light and skies, but the photo gods were not with me. Below are a few of the resulting photos. And yes, I'm going to have to go back there again when there are clouds in the forecast!

Photo 1: Washboard road to the Racetrack

Photo 2: Sunset on the Racetrack
EOS 1DsIII; 17-40/4 lens; Singh-Ray LB Warming polarizer & 2 stop soft edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 200; 1/8 second at f/22; mirror lock-up & cable release

Photo 3: Sunset on the Racetrack
EOS 1DsIII; 17-40/4 lens; Singh-Ray LB Colorcombo polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 200; 0.6 seconds at f/14; mirror lock-up & cable release

Photo 4: Sunrise on the Racetrack

EOS 1DsIII; 17-40/4 lens; Singh-Ray LB Warming polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad Exposure: ISO 200; 1/15 second at f/18; mirror lock-up & cable release

Death Valley landscapes

The past couple of days in Death Valley have been great! I've been shooting my favorite type of images... wide-angle landscapes with cool foregrounds. Death Valley is an outstanding place to to make these kinds of images. I've been photographing with with my friend Walt Anderson and his wife Carol. Walt is the inventor of the Better Beamer flash extender. Everyone who uses flash with a long lens should have one of these (no, Walt did not bribe me with beer to say that!).

These two photos were taken with an EOS 1DsIII and the 17-40mm lens. If I had to be stuck with one type of lens for the rest of my life, it would definitely be a wide-angle... they are so much fun to shoot!

Photo 1: Sunrise at Salt Creek
Singh-Ray LB Colorcombo polarizer & 3 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: 1.6 seconds at f/20; ISO 200; mirror lock-up and cable release


Photo 2: Sunset over Badwater Basin (lowest spot in the US)
Singh-Ray LB Colorcombo polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: 2.5 seconds at f/20; ISO 200; mirror lock-up and cable release

Death Valley

I've spent the last few days exploring Death Valley with a visiting friend. The light hasn't been very cooperative, but my friend was wearing red, so this made for some natural photo ops! I'm heading back to Death Valley to spend some time shooting desert wildflowers, which are just starting to bloom. And I'm crossing my fingers that the 'Racetrack' playa dries out (it rained recently) so I can once again attempt to make it there!

All below photo taken with EOS 1DsIII.

Photo 1: Mesquite Flat Dunes near Stovepipe Wells
17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad; mirror lock-up & cable release; Exposure: 0.6 seconds at f/18; ISO 200

Photo 2: Mesquite Flat Dunes near Stovepipe Wells

17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB Colocombo polarizer & 3 stop hard edge ND grad; mirror lock-up & cable release; Exposure: 4 seconds at f/20; ISO 200

Photo 3: Mesquite Flat Dunes near Stovepipe Wells

17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad; mirror lock-up & cable release; Exposure: 1.3 seconds at f/22; ISO 200

Photo 4: Desert Gold wildflowers

17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; cable release; Exposure: 1/80 second at f/10; ISO 200

Elephant Seal & Star Trails

Hi all, here's a very quick post because I'm in Death Valley with very limited internet access.

There are two approaches I usually take in photography: 1) cowboy style "yeehaw, there's something cool to photograph" and 2) planned images. The two below photos are the result of planning.

Photo 1) After about a week photographing elephant seals, I came up with the idea for this photo. The hardest part was finding a location where I could get down low with the seals, and of course doing it safely (the bull seals weight thousands of pounds)! EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray warming polarizer and 3 stop hard-edge ND grad; 580 EXII flash


Photo 2: I scouted this location to shoot star trails in the Jumbo Rocks campground in Joshua Tree National Park a couple of nights ago. During the day I planned the composition and figured out the focusing distance. When I went back to make the shot at night, it was easy to set up the gear and trip the shutter before going back to my van for a glass of wine! [As a side note, Jumbo Rocks is one of the best campgrounds I've ever been to.]
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; 1 hour exposure at f/5; foreground rocks subtly light-painted with a dim flashlight; Canon multi-function remote shutter release

Wildflower Workshop - June 6-7

Just a heads up that I've posted details for my Orchid & Wildflower photography workshop on the Bruce Peninsula in early June. This is one of the premier wildflower locations in Canada, especially for orchids. The tour is timed to coincide with the blooming peak of Yellow Lady Slippers and a handful of other specialities.

Check out the link: http://www.ethanmeleg.com/tour-BPwildflowers-2009.htm

If you're interested in joining, be sure to sign up soon.... it's booking quickly!

Point Lobos State Reserve

It finally stopped raining after several very wet days here on the coast. It wasn't a pleasant drizzle that you can keep shooting in and end up with rich, moody photos. It was windy, with driving rain... impossible to keep the front of my lens dry. So I drank coffee, read and edited photos to wait out the weather.

With great weather conditions back, I spent yesterday at Point Lobos State Reserve near Carmel. My photo targets at Point Lobos were harbor seals and seascapes, both of which were obliging.

Photo 1: Harbor Seal

EOS 1DsIII; 500IS + 1.4x TC; 580EX flash + Better Beamer (for fill flash); Singh-Ray LB polarizer (drop in). There was no way to move to the other side of the backlit seal, so this was a classic situation for use of fill flash. Without it there was basically no shot.

Photo 2: Weston Beach sunset

EOS 1DsIII; 17-40mm; Singh-Ray Colorcombo polarizer & stacked 2 & 3 stop hard edge ND grads (4x6" size, handheld in front of the lens); mirror lock up & cable release; ISo 200; 5s @ f16

This beach is named after pioneer photographer, Edward Weston.

Photo 3: Kelp stems at sunset - Weston Beach (horizontal)

EOS 1DsIII; 17-40mm; Singh-Ray Colorcombo polarizer & stacked 2 & 3 stop hard edge ND grads (4x6" size, handheld in front of the lens); mirror lock up & cable release; ISo 400; 25s @ f18

Photo 4: Kelp stems at sunset - Weston Beach (vertical)

Whenever possible, I shoot both horizontal and vertical compositions to have variety for publishing. I think the vertical is a stronger image. What do you think?