NatureNotions

Tufted Duck

Peter Kes — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:19:25 +0000

Tufted ducks are quite common here in Switzerland. They are mainly a winter migrant and reside in parks and rivers. On rivers, they congregate in large groups, sometimes flying up in large numbers, almost as if they have fun flying or exercising the stiff muscles.

In parks they are quite approachable and also in riverine areas you get a chance to see them flying past a lot as well. On rivers they dive for mussels and drift along the stream, flying back upstream again if they drift away too far from the group.

For a small bird as this duck is, they are extremely fast flyers.

Their day consists of feeding, sleeping and grooming.

Sleeping is a big term for their actual state, as the eyes open every other second.

Grooming is a sweet spectacle. They acrobat on their backs to reach the belly …

… stretch their legs …

… and finish all cleaning with a freeing wing flap.

In between all these activities they also just float around and it is alway nice to try and catch them ‘head-on’.

Finally an image of a drake in early breeding colors, where the white belly parts are brightening up. Soon after this, most Swiss Tufted ducks leave for Scandinavia to breed.

For more images grom Switzerland, goto the Swiss Gallery.

Macro Adventure

Peter Kes — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:55:52 +0000

Today I attended a macro workshop, organised in cooperation with Photo Video Marlin, with the emphasis on using household items. In some distant years I ran after bugs and butterflies and photographed some flowers. Trouble with natural subjects is that they move …. duh … but that is the problem of macro. Flowers rock in the wind. Bugs fly away when you get too close.
Going to the kitchen is something I tend to avoid, except to getting a beer. Today I learned that the kitchen stores a treasury for macro photography. Thank you Markus Bissig for teaching us to see ! Markus is a self taught photographer with a very creative eye for macro and landscape photography: click here to learn more.

For more Macro/OOTB images, visit my Macro & OOTB Gallery.

Coucal Portrait

Peter Kes — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:46:10 +0000

This image was created in Botswana on our newyear’s bush trip with our friends from South Africa. Near our campsite, a waterhole attracted a wide range of birds. Normally shy and not eager to leave the comfort of the thick vegitation, Burchell’s Coucals are hard to see in the open. I was sitting in a portable hide when this coucal suddenly popped up and took a few sips from the pond. The bird was in such proximity (nearly 7m), that a full frame portrait could be made.

1D4, ISO800, 1/800, 800mm @ f/5.6

Please do listen to the call of this bird: it is one of the most lovely sounds of the African bush: [See post to listen to audio]

August 1st in Basel

Peter Kes — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:24:23 +0000

As always the Swiss National day is celebrated with some spectacular fireworks on the Rhein in the center of Basel.
I had a good position in relation to the firing pontoon and was able to take a few nice images. My experience has taught me to get a long exposure of around 2 seconds. This is enough for a blast to burn its trail on the sensor. Longer exposures are fine too, but have a negative effect in that there is then much more time for other blasts coming in and overlaying eachother. I prefer to get individual blasts in. Less than 2 seconds won’t work, as the trail of the blast is then significantly reduced and looks like a half blast.

The rest of the exposure (maually set) is aperture and ISO, a few test runs will get you to the right exposure quickly. With my camera (5DII) I opted to keep ISO low (ISO200) and choose the appropriate aperture, in my case f/11.

Canon 5dII, 2sec @ f/11 @ ISO200

I rotated the image until it looked like a flower.

Different Technique

Peter Kes — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 09:10:25 +0000

The trip to Hungary concentrated around hide visits, as mentioned in my first Hungary post. The hides are all in ‘ideal’ light positions, but the light conditions are not always predictable. The forest water station was located in a stream of light, occasionally blocked by the waiving trees.

So, where I normally set my camera to manual mode, if light conditions are constant, here I tried a different setting. Since activity at the water station was quite frantic, with birds chasing eachother away and birds doing their bathing and getting out asap, I opted for a minimum shutterspeed value of 1/1000 (in shutter priority mode), exposure compensation at 0 and auto-ISO: so where light changed, the ISO would be set up if there was not enough light and ISO would drop where there was too much light. To enable the Auto-ISO, just press the ISO button on top of a (Canon) body and dial until the display reads ‘A’, for auto.

With the camera I was working with I knew that if light would drop, my noise could become problematique, but this image was much to my delight:

Hawfinch (en), Appelvink (nl), Kernbeisser (de)

Canon 50d, 1/1000 @ f/4 @ ISO400

See also: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=65845 for reviews of this image.

Hide Photography

Peter Kes — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:23:54 +0000

Early May I joined a photographic tour in Hungary (organised by Robert O’Toole, http://www.robertotoole.com/). The main attraction of this tour was the usage of hides. Bence Máté (http://www.hidephotography.com/), the owner of the farm we went to, has specialised in building hides at strategic positions, to get up close and personal with birds you normally never get close to. The next image gives a good impression on how the view on the bird actions is setup. A dug-in hide, with a glass window (grey, one way viewing glass, with a 1.33 stop light reduction), making sure that the birds can hardly see you and that the noise of the camera is largely reduced to background noise. The great advantage of the hide is of course the close proximity to the birds, but the glass does create quite a distortion if images are taking with an angle through the glass.

I was amazed at the amount of birds actually present in a forrest and saw birds and bird interactions I had only dreamt of seeing so far. One of the frequent visitors was this European Goldfinch. A beautifully colored bird.

Image created with a Canon 50d and 400mmDO lens at 1/800 @ f/4.5 @ ISO400

I will submit a lot more posts from this trip, so keep looking.

Poor chaps

Peter Kes — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:47:42 +0000

Last week we spent a week on the dutch island of Texel, the largest of the group situated in the north of Holland. The wheather was fantastic with clear blue skies and a firm breeze from the north. I visited a number of breeding colonies, mainly habituated by black-headed gulls and northern terns. European Avocets, who stay the whole year around on the island, breed among these birds, to a great cost: in particular the black-headed gulls, but also Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls who fly over, will always try to snatch a chick away. Although the parents are very protective, their young will need to run for their lives until they can fly.

At the first morning of my visit to the ‘Wagejot’ colony, there were about 10 avocet chicks running around.

When I visited two days later, there were none left.

See also: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=65437 for reviews of this image.

Website & Blog Service

Peter Kes — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 10:02:11 +0000

In 2008 I started my own blog and loved the way WordPress handles content. Although working in the IT industry myself, rules I teach my customers I didn’t do myself. Sort of like the handyman not fixing things at home. Things went wrong in October last year, when my server and backups burnt down. A full year’s of work was lost. The images I published I still had, but all the other content of my server was lost. It took me 3 months to get everything back and stumbled on little problems I solved before, wondering how did I do that again ?

To make a long story short, I went through the dust and learned a lot about setting up a website, in particular using WordPress.

Reference sites:

http://www.birdsasart.com, the main website of Arthur Morris
http://www.birdsasart-blog.com, the blog of Arthur Morris
http://kinderinkenia.org, the website of a charity organisation for aid to children in Kenya
http://deniseippolito.com, the blog of Denise Ippolito
http://www.pdvideofoto.nl, the blog of Patrick Doherty
http://www.podomed.ch, Podologiepraxis Kurt Buerki

If you need help setting up a website, setting up WordPress, securing your blog or organising it, contact me on kpkes@yahoo.com.

UBS Photo Exhibition

Peter Kes — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:16:35 +0000

Exhibition Announcement

From 1 April until 30 May I have organised a photo exhibition in the entrance hall of the UBS building (Viaduktstrasse 33 in Basel) where I work. On display is a selection of my work, mainly nature and birdlife. All images are printed on the best quality photo paper and mounted on a double layered aluminium plate: this prevents the image from bending as a result of temperature or moisture. All images (except a few) are for sale and range in price from CHF90,- to CHF 490,- as a mounted image and from CHF50,- to CHF200,- for an unmounted print. Contact me for details on kpkes@yahoo.com.

The images currently available as prints can also be viewed here online, in the Exhibition Gallery.

All other images, in other galleries, are available for print as well, but require some more time in preparation. See All Galleries for more images.

Black Rhino Photographic Workshop (Update)

Peter Kes — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:59:29 +0000

Foto Video Marlin and I are proud to present the announcement of a photographic tour to South Africa. The venue will be Black Rhino Game Reserve in the Pilanesberg, 200km north of Johannesburg. Black Rhino is a privately owned game reserve in the far north of the Pilanesberg. The game reserve offers all of Africa’s big game, a great number of birds and is a malaria free area. Part of our group will be Erwin Marlin, the owner of the store in Basel and Peter Kes, a semi-professional photographer. Foto Video Marlin is professional dealer for Canon and Nikon photographic equipment. The objective of this tour is to photograph the African bush with ‘birds of a feather’.

Lodge Details

The Black Rhino Lodge consists of a large villa, with all the basic luxuries. Hot water, electricity, kitchen facilities and air conditioning are available. The lodge has two communal areas for relaxation and dining. A small pool outside provides for some hot-day relaxation. The lodge has 5 bedrooms, 2 with king-size beds, 3 with each 2 single beds. For signing participants, you will be asked to share a room with a colleague photographer. The lodge is situated on a private piece of land of app. 10.000m2 of bush field. Lots of birding and photographic opportunities !

Workshop Costs Times Dates and Participants

There will be space for 8 participants, including the organisers. Registration will be handled and coordinated by Erwin Marlin. The price of this workshop will be CHF 5.900,- per participant. This fee includes all costs from departure from Zürich (CH) until return to Zürich. The workshop is planned from 7 January 2011 until 14 January 2011. A deposit of CHF3.000,- is requested from the participant, so that flights and lodge can be booked. CHF750 is non refundable provided you find a replacement participant. Full payment of the entire workshop fee needs to be payed by 30 September 2010.

Workshop Schedule

Upon arrival in Johannesburg at 7 January 2011, you will be picked up by a a transporter that will transport you to the Pilanesberg. The daily schedule will include an early morning game drive in an open landcruiser, guided by a professional game ranger, a siësta in the hot hours, an afternoon drive and finishing the day with a bush meal. During the midday break, there will be time to discuss our photographic opportunities, discuss images, plan the next day schedule and provide education on processing images. Meals are not prepared: we as a group take care of that. It means we organise our breaksfasts all individually and will enjoy a group ‘braai’ in the evening.

The Black Rhino Game reserve is approximately 50km away from Sun City. The rented car can be used to visit this park, where you may also find the Lost City.

Workshop Hardware

Each participant will be responsible for their own equipment. This includes cameras and lenses, tripods, monopods, beanbags and necessary clothing. An information evening will be scheduled at Foto Video Marlin to discuss and inform all participants about further and final details of the tour. There are options available to arrange additional equipment through Foto Video Marlin.

Workshop Policy

This workshop is scheduled with the intention to complete it. There are however, circumstances that could force us to cancel the trip, for example if the lodge burns down. Any down-payment or reservation fee for the trip will of course be reimbursed. It is strongly advised that all participants take special care of inoculations, please consult the “Tropeninstitut” in Basel. Also, while at location in South Africa, the organisers will not vouch for accidents or natural events: an indemnity form will need to be signed.

Reservation

Please contact Erwin Marlin at +41 61 273 88 08 or Peter Kes at +41 79 238 62 05 for reservation details.