I am creating a pattern of starting posts with apologies and this one also starts with an apology. I am sorry, there is only a single picture of a bird below. I set out to meet a friend at the Stony Creek Nature Reserve to photograph birds and wildlife there but snow fell around Canberra on Saturday, 22 August and was still lying on the Brindabella Ranges the next day. As I was driving the 25 minutes to the nature reserve, and I was only about five minutes drive from my house, I looked out and saw the scene in the photograph at the top of the post. There is no doubt that I love bird and wildlife photography but I cannot ignore scenery like that when the sky makes it even moodier thanks to the dawn’s red glow and brooding clouds. I had to pull over to take some photographs. Coincidentally, while I was photographing, my friend phoned to say that he may be late or may not be able to get to the reserve as he was also photographing what he was seeing. We agreed that sometimes, when photographing, you just have to go with what is presented to you. Eventually, we did meet up, but on the road to the reserve where we both had pulled over to take more photographs. I stopped a couple more times on the way to the reserve. I also bumped into a nice guy who, like us, was out photographing the scenery. My friend and I eventually got to the nature reserve but it was then that a large cloud blocked out the sun. While was saw a number of birds the light was not bright enough to get good shots, so I only took one, possibly half-reasonable, shot of a Crimson Rosella. I was not disappointed with the morning because I really enjoyed the scenery and I thought that Stony Creek Nature Reserve was definitely worth another visit. Later that morning, I took my camera out to the yard, while I was supposed to be gardening, to take some shots around the garden. To cap off this very different photographic journey to the one I had envisioned, I had found a wombat skull in my touring around on Sunday and spent a couple of nights during the week trying to come up with the best way to photograph it. All in all, those change of plans on Sunday turned out for the best and I had a lot of fun. I will be back to photographing birds again but I do consider myself to be a nature photographer as well, so it was exhilarating to expand my photo collection that day with some different shots to those that I usually take. I hope you enjoy the photographs below.
Travelling south about ten minutes and the colours had already changed
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/13 and 1/80 SEC])
There was so much drama in the sky, it was fantastic to photograph
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 125, 153mm, f/8.0 and 1/100 SEC])
It was hard to know whether to keep my lens zoomed out
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/13 and 1/100 SEC])
Or to zoom in with my lens to catch the detail and contrast in the moment
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 227mm, f/14 and 1/320 SEC])
A drone perspective helped catch the conditions of the day
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 100, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/800 SEC]
Because I had the drone up, I had to get a picture of the Murrumbidgee River
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 100, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/100 SEC]
This Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans) was the only bird that I was able to take a decent shot of, and even this bird was in shade. It was perched on a branch by itself. When the sun came out, a minute after I took this photo, the rosella turned its back to the now bright sun and had its front in the shadow. It was too much dynamic range for me and before I could fix it the rosella flew off.
A Crimson Rosella perched in a tree
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/100 SEC])
After a wonderful morning out photographing I thought I had better do some gardening. My wife doubted my commitment to gardening when she saw me head out to the backyard with my camera around my neck. I did indeed do some gardening because it was very windy and the clouds continued to block the sun making it hard to take photographs. However, when there was some light, I did find two interesting flies. The first one was probably a bristle fly that was sat quietly on a camellia bud. It was sitting perfectly still on an internal bud, sitting slightly protected from the wind. I tried to capture a head-on shot but I could not quite nail it. I should have had my flash with me. The second fly was probably a murid fly that had fallen victim to a fungus. I am getting better at spotting these flies, it is their wings that point straight up, an unnatural angle for a fly at rest. This one appeared in an even worse state than the one I found a few weeks ago. This one had some black limbs and its eyes were also very dark. It is amazing to think that these flies that can move so fast are falling victim to these microscopic spores.
Bristle Fly perched on a camellia bud blowing in the wind
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 500, 100mm, f/7.1 and 1/100 SEC])
Fungus covered Murid Fly
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 200, 100mm, f/5.6 and 1/100 SEC])
Camellia in our garden
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 125, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/100 SEC])
If you are put off by bones and skulls then you should stop reading here as the next few photographs feature a Common Wombat (Vombatus ursinus) skull that I came across on my wanderings that morning. I ended up taking it home as I was not sure what it was. The skull looked similar to that of a kangaroo, of which I am familiar as too many kangaroos fall victim to cars and crawl off to die in the bush beside roads around Canberra. However, this skull was wider, and had those two large teeth at the front. I thought that it was a wombat skull and a quick Google search confirmed that fact. There were no other bones associated with the skull so I suspected that a car had hit the animal on the road further up the slope. The wombat had died just off the roadside and scavengers and the weather had moved the skull down to where I found it as the elements and small animals gradually cleaned and started to break down the skull. I knew that I wanted to photograph it to record it. I also wanted the challenge of how to record the detail. I ran out of time on Sunday so on Monday night I had a first go at photographing it by using my Canon EF40mm f2.8 STM lens. I focus-stacked some shots and although I was happy with the results I felt I could do better. So on Tuesday night, I used my Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens. I mounted my camera vertically on the tripod so I could get a series of shots. However, I focus-stacked each region of the skull to get as much detail then I stitched them together in a panorama. It was a bit fiddly but I was happy with result. I needed better lighting as I was using a single Canon 430EX III-RT flash but I am happy with what I achieved. I was also happy with my unintentional effect achieved in the final photograph. This was an accident that happened when I tried to ensure I knew which series of shots I was using for focus stacking. To do this I would take a picture of my hand close to the lens. I was not intending to use these ‘working’ shots but in a couple of them the flash gave my hands a wonderful red tinge and the lens saw through them some how, apparently covering the skull in a reddish curtain. I really liked this unintended effect.
A detailed shot of a wombat skull
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 200, 100mm, f/13 and 0.4 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash, multiple focus-stacked images stitched together as a panorama)
Front on view
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF40mm f2.8 STM [ISO 200, 40mm, f/13 and 0.5 SEC]with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
An accidental shot that I thought worked well; my hand over the lens
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF40mm f2.8 STM [ISO 400, 40mm, f/8.0 and 1/800 SEC]with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)