photo - Ken Gilbert

54 popular photography january 2010
our iguana shoot, several young
hawks began hovering over the
white sand beach, some landing
on driftwood a good distance
away. But with that area closed to
protect sea turtle nests, we could
not get into decent position—we
had the sun directly in our faces.
In this case I followed a basic
strategy—when the sun is bright,
shoot tight—and went with my
longest lens plus a teleconverter.
By cropping tightly, you can
eliminate many of the harsh and
distracting shadows in the scene.
Morris
shot this
spoonbill
with a tripodmounted
Canon
EOS-1D
Mark III
and 800mm
f/5.6L Canon
EF IS lens
with 1.4X
EF II teleconverter;
1/1000 sec
at f/10 (+0.3
EV), ISO 400.
www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com
Get low, try to move as close
to your subject as possible (while
always mindful of the welfare of
the animal and your own safety
as well), and try for as clean a
background as possible. If you can
get nearer to your subject than
the minimum focusing distance
of your lens, adding an extension
tube will let you focus closer.
use Strong Backlight
Another strategy for shooting
during the harsh hour is to exploit
backlight. Keep in mind that on