Photo Tips and Stories

To photograph a lunar eclipse, the sky must be clear. Historically, the Southwest has the USA's clearest winter skies, and going with the odds seemed the ideal decision. Death Valley National Park has the statistically optimal location and a long list of other photography opportunities, so it got the selection.

About 5 hours before the start of the eclipse, the selected Death Valley location, Stovepipe Wells, was getting an extreme storm. While there was little rain, the wind-blown dust and sand reduced visibility below 100 yards (meters) and blew fine sand through the edges of the solid hotel room door, coating everything in my room and creating little sand dunes just inside the door. It was crazy.

The forecast showed this storm coming, but much of the western US had the same or worse forecast. Forecasted clear skies were a flight away, and that option wasn't in play.

Miraculously, a slot of mostly clear sky opened up overhead just before the start of the lunar eclipse and closed just after the full moon reappeared. Heavy clouds were visible to both sides during much of that time, but the moon remained between them.

The primary goal for this trip was to capture the shots needed to create the lunar version of this 2024 Total Lunar Eclipse Phase Progression image. Goal met. #blessed

While the lunar eclipse was a top goal for this trip, most of the time was spent photographing the landscape, including many hiking miles carrying gear. The most solid tripod available is the optimal choice for photographing the dark total eclipse with a big, long-focal-length lens and long exposure, but a lighter model (that could still manage strong winds) was needed for landscape use.

Flying with more than one significant tripod impacts available storage, but this support need was solidly met by the Really Right Stuff TVC-32G Versa Mk2 Ground Carbon Fiber Tripod. A review of the TVC-32G Versa Mk2 has been on the to-do list for ... years, but it is an outstanding choice when short height is sufficient for the need. A lower tripod is typically less impacted by vibrations, and I was sitting for the eclipse, so height wasn't needed in that regard.

A Wimberley WH-200-S Sidemount Head solidly held the RF 600mm F4 L IS USM Lens and a RF 1.4x Extender on a Canon EOS R5 Mark II for exposures reaching 0.5 seconds.

A larger version of this image is available here.

I like this bull's body position, angling slightly toward the camera with nice leg separation and the leading leg slightly bent, showing motion. By getting the camera down low, the included background was farther away, making it more blurred, and the eye gets a larger catchlight.

The prominently visible drop tine is a much-loved antler abnormality. Hopefully, this bull's main beams will be slightly longer this year — so the drop tine does not interfere with the beam tip at this angle. :)

Join me to find out if that happens. Images such as this one are a realistic goal for the Elk Rut in Rocky Mountain National Park Photo Tour. Even if you've never photographed wildlife, I'd love to have you join me this September (2025). There is just one spot open.

Learn more: Elk Rut in Rocky Mountain National Park Photo Tour

Contact me for more information or to sign up.

A larger version of this image is available here.

There are few sounds better than a bull elk bugling.

Observation is a wildlife photography skill that pays off with better images. For example, learning that bugling elk usually hold their pose momentarily, giving the photographer time to (quickly) reframe the image and select a slower shutter speed, is beneficial from an image quality perspective.

Join me to photograph the elk rut in Rocky Mountain National Park this September (2025). I recently learned that a repeat tour participant had to cancel their reservation for both weeks due to medical reasons, so I have one opening for the first week of this previously filled tour.

Learn more: Elk Rut in Rocky Mountain National Park Photo Tour

Contact me for more information or to sign up.

A larger version of this image is available here.

As I mentioned before, I was blessed to photograph an all-out over-8-minute battle between two whitetail bucks in Shenandoah National Park. I'm sharing another moment from that fight.

As shared in the last battle shot, the Canon EOS R5 Mark II and RF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens get credit for the photos.

A larger version of this image is available here.

I can't think of anything that saturates the landscape like rain, which, in this case, exaggerated the fall foliage color. Fall foliage arrives during the summer in Denali National Park, but I suppose the meaning supersedes that technicality.

The big ram alone makes a great subject, but the background takes the image to the next level, making it stand out for selection over a vast number of alternative choices.

As often happens these days, the Canon EOS R5 Mark II and RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM Lens made it in the pack, and this combination left no regrets.

A larger version of this image is available here.

In the recently shared Bull Elk Among the Pines image, I suggested that thinking like a landscape photographer should be a top priority, seeing and capturing the environmental wildlife photo option when the right scenario unfolds. Still, I can't resist the in-your-face shot when it is availed.

The Canon EOS R5 Mark II and RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM Lens teamed for this image. The compact size and light weight of this combination made it ideal for the long hike required to get to this enormous bull, the focal length range enabled fast adjustment to quickly capture a wide range of compositions, and the delivered image quality is outstanding.

A larger version of this image is available here.

Entire careers are made around photographing vehicles, so most of us will not go beyond dabbling in this genre. Still, dabbling is great fun (and could generate a profit if you get good at it).

To get started, you need a vehicle subject. Fortunately, these are plentiful and available nearly everywhere. Find something old, new, special (such as because you own it), or just for sale. The car can be yours, a friend's, a client's, or someone willing to trade car time for pictures.

Next, you need a place to put the car, and the background matters. Even with the car filling the width of the image (with some breathing room on both sides and the bottom), the background (and some foreground) is often a huge percentage of the image. A supportive background will minimally be nondistracting, especially void of strongly contrasting lines intersecting the perimeter of the vehicle that compete for attention. Even if blurred, the background should be void of clashing colors. Mow the grass and remove leaves and other distractions/detractions.

Even small cars are large, so a large space is optimal, and that option is often outdoors, including in yards, parking lots, etc. For inside shoots, find a large garage (including a commercial parking garage), warehouse, airplane hanger, etc.

Clean the car. Of course, one of Bryan's Laws of Photography is that if you wash the car, it will rain. Still, give it a go.

Show love to the wheels and tires as they are the car's soul and have a primary role to play. Tire shine will give the tires a deep, rich, better-than-new look, but understand the penalty. The tire shine I've used holds dirt and makes the tires virtually uncleanable, creating an always-dirty look. The easiest way to get them clean is to replace them.

In some locations and times of the year, insects landing on the vehicle can be problematic, and they seem to be attracted to a clean vehicle. Usually, they are easy to remove in post-processing, but when they start accumulating in greater numbers or land on features that are not easily replaced by the healing or cloning brush tools, chasing them away is a better idea.

Cars (most, at least) are reflective, so consider what is reflecting in the body and windows. A large open space often works well, leaving primarily the sky to reflect. Also, consider using a circular polarizer filter.

Lighting a large subject is challenging. The easiest high-quality lighting is a broad sky immediately after the sun sets or, for those preferring to get started early, before the sun rises. A cloudy day and a low sun at your back also work well. Light painting the exterior at night provides a different look and, potentially, a different look to every image.

Especially if shooting at dawn or dusk, turn on the car lights to add life to the vehicle. Adding a touch of interior light can work well.

Camera selection is easy. Unless the car is in motion, even entry-level cameras can perform this job well.

Lens selection is more critical, but there are many good options depending on the desired look.

The basics always apply, and perspective plays an especially big role for big subjects that are easy to get close to. 2x farther from the camera means 2x smaller in appearance. If the camera is close to the front of the car, the back of the car will be rendered considerably smaller. That size difference is OK if that is the look you want.

Shooting from a high position, such as from a ladder, enables a top view with reduced perspective distortion (and a different looks at the vehicle's shape). Shooting at car level from the front, back, or side and not too close can reduce visible perspective distortion, and moving back is always certain to reduce perspective distortion.

Select the focal length or focal length range that supports the desired perspective and composition within the working space. Select the aperture for thedesired depth of field and background blur.

This BMW image was captured just after sunset on a clear day, with the car strategically positioned to show only sky reflection in the windows. The 85mm f/1.2 combination yielded a strong background blur despite the relatively distant subject. The slightly forward of straight on camera position meant that most of the visible portion of the car was within the plane of sharp focus.

A larger version of this image is available here.

I usually instruct my wildlife photography workshop participants to first think like a landscape photographer, prioritizing seeing and capturing the environmental wildlife photo option when the right scenario unfolds. While I love tight wildlife portraits, those are often more readily available than an image of the animal in a beautiful landscape.

Following such advice is complicated by using a long focal length prime lens, especially those in the 600mm F4 class. While these lenses create the best tightly framed, blurred background wildlife imagery, prime lenses require sneaker zoom to adjust the amount of the scene in the composition, and wildlife is not often patient enough to wait for the long sneaker zooming this narrow angle of view requires to sufficiently change the composition.

The long-lens environmental portrait strategy that more frequently works is watching for distant animals. On this afternoon, my crew was photographing a relatively close bull when another bull appeared far behind us at almost the perfect distance for 600mm. I say almost because the composition was slightly tight. Capturing some additional canvas in subsequent images enabled stitching a slight panorama that provided a little breathing room to the pines.

A common problem with long focal length long-distance photography is heat shimmer. While this image is mostly void of that problem, small indications of it still exist.

Join me to photograph the elk rut in Rocky Mountain National Park this September (2025). I recently learned that a repeat tour participant had to cancel their reservation for both weeks due to medical reasons, so I have one opening for each or both weeks of this not previously announced yet filled tour.

Special Offer: Sign up for both weeks and get two bonus days plus transportation from and to Denver.

Learn more: Elk Rut in Rocky Mountain National Park Photo Tour

Contact me for more information or to sign up.

A larger version of this image is available here.

A huge bull elk is a spectacular sight, especially when it is in rut mode. What if that was the view in your camera's viewfinder? I have that opportunity for you.

Join me to photograph the elk rut in Rocky Mountain National Park this September (2025). I just learned that a repeat tour participant had to cancel their reservation for both weeks due to medical reasons, so I have one opening for each or both weeks of this not previously announced yet filled tour.

Special Offer: Sign up for both weeks and get two bonus days plus transportation from and to Denver.

Learn more: Elk Rut in Rocky Mountain National Park Photo Tour

Contact me for more information or to sign up.

The 1/125 sec. shutter speed used for this image is often too slow to stop the motion of wildlife. However, elk are usually relatively still when bugling.

With the camera in manual exposure mode with auto ISO selected and the top dial configured for shutter speed, a quick roll of the dial enabled fast adjustment to a slow shutter speed when the elk's motion paused. The result was the camera immediately auto selecting a considerably lower and less noisy ISO setting than was in use moments before.

Aperture is the third image brightness component of manual exposure. I photograph wildlife with a wide-open aperture unless increased depth of field is desired, such as when multiple animals are in the frame.

A larger version of this image is available here.

When your target subject can be found in a variety of locations, try the location with the most attractive environment first. The low growth in this field turns red and purple in the fall, making it a perfect choice for white-tailed deer photography. And, the subjects were cooperative this afternoon.

One of the cool features deer (and many other animals) possess is the ability to make their hair stand straight out. Yeah, what if people could do that? This buck marched in from far across the field to exert his dominance over another buck I was photographing, and as the dominant buck approached, he raised his hair to appear larger and more intimidating.

While this shot seems not to have required the performance of the Canon EOS R1, this was the only moment the buck looked at me with both ears forward, and the R1's fast continuous frame rate ensured that the perfect look was captured.

Deciding where to place the buck in the frame was continuously on my mind as it approached. Usually, I prefer to leave more space toward the side of the frame the body is facing and more space toward the side the head is looking at.

In this case, the head is facing the camera, calling for a centered framing, and the background has the symmetry that usually supports a centered subject. The deer's body is moderately pointed toward the viewer's left, calling for a little extra space on the left side for an overall balanced image.

Other moments with different angles and background variations called for other framing, and the R1's Eye Control and Eye Detection AF allowed instant changes.

A larger version of this image is available here.

Upon finding this whitetail buck eating berries, I knew the shot I wanted. Patience paid off, and he eventually chose to eat the overhead berries to check that box.

I frequently talk about the background of an image, and here the green lichens-covered tree trunks add color that is indicative of this park. The lens took care of blurring those trees and the rest of the background, making the deer and berries he was eating stand out.

I was alternating between the EOS R1 and the EOS R5 Mark II on this trip, looking for performance differentiators, especially in regard to AF. The two cameras' AF systems performed similarly, with little difference being realized.

A larger version of this image is available here.

I love photographing white-tailed deer in fields, where it is easy to find a clean background, foreground obstructions are greatly reduced, and lighting is unhindered. While shooting in the woods adds complication to the composition, that increased challenge brings the opportunity for uncommon results.

On this day, the fog and rain added uniqueness, reducing background distractions and ensuring that lighting was good at all angles. While this gnarly antlered buck was tearing up a tree, I moved into a position that provided blurred trees to frame the buck and rubbed tree.

The Canon RF 600mm F4 L IS USM Lens is my go-to wildlife lens, but finding a clear line of sight for the long subject distance it requires can become problematic in a thick forest. With increasing frequency, I'm carrying the Canon RF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens into the woods.

While this buck was not moving fast, high-speed continuous shooting was still helpful at times, including for avoiding raindrops over eyes.

Speaking of raindrops and eyes, the EOS R1, including the viewfinder, was quite wet. Still, Eye Control AF continued to work impressively well. An occasional wipe was needed when the drops in the viewfinder became large, but I heavily relied on the Eye Control AF feature the entire day and trip.

A larger version of this image is available here.

The incredible performance of the latest mirrorless cameras has moved some of the challenges from capture to selection. Which of the great images should I delete, and which few should I share?

I recently shared a Blurred Frame Dall Sheep Ram. The subject and its colorful surroundings made it one of my favorite images from a photo trip. However, the Canon EOS R5 Mark II was set to 20 fps, and it nailed focus on essentially every shot, resulting in numerous situation-similar images to choose from.

Dealing with the new dilemma involves raising the keeper bar, deleting some images we like, and buying more storage. Still, final decisions are challenging, and in this case, the ram's slight head position changes tripped up final selection.

A single image is needed for a project, so I thought I'd crowd-source the final answer.

Which image do you like best? The slightly edgy angled head with a big eye shown here? Or the pleasant, inquisitive, straight-on symmetrical look? Head over to Flickr, Facebook, or Instagram to let me know your choice, helping with my final selection!

As I said in the previous image mentioned:

The viewer's eye is drawn to contrast, which is lacking in a strongly blurred portion of the image. Thus, blurring the non-subject area aids in drawing the viewer's eye to the sharp-focused subject.

For this image, the telephoto compression and long distance beyond the subject create the background blur, and getting down into some close rocks takes the foreground out of focus, eliminating those distractions.

Note that, while I love the use of blur in photography, I rarely like foreground blur covering the subject's face.

A larger version of this image is available here.

In this meeting of the minds, the two bucks were not seeing eye to eye, and it was an all-out brawl. There was blood, saliva, breath steam, and dust. The raging battle of the bucks lasted for over 8 minutes. I was blessed with a ring-side seat, and over 1,900 images were the spoils of this war.

The Canon EOS R5 Mark II gets the credit for this shot. For evaluation and comparison purposes, I was switching between the R5 II and the EOS R1, and the R5 II happened to be in the hand this morning. That was an optimal choice for this event. The animals' pushing and rotating changed distance rapidly and frequently, and they were sometimes far enough away to warrant cropping, and the R5 II's higher resolution provides more pixels on subject.

The RF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens was another integral piece of the kit. The f/2.8 aperture was critical for the dim early AM lighting, and this lens's ability to blur the background was also important at the framing distance required to keep the two animals in the frame.

A larger version of this image is available here.

I love it when only a 0.6-second shutter speed is needed to properly expose the Northern Lights. That setting indicates a super-bright show.

Not immediately apparent in a still photo is that the Northern Lights are often a fast action subject, and the dancing and pulsing light show is awesome. In a long exposure, that movement results in a blurry result. Wide aperture lenses (and, of course, a bright show) are optimal for capturing the aurora structure.

This night's display was extremely bright, permitting a relatively short 0.6-second exposure at f/1.4 and ISO 3200, and it was moving fast. Shooting straight up into the aurora is one of my favorite compositions, but the fast movement made guessing the ideal future composition challenging. It was exciting to anticipate and view the results.

We are at or near a solar maximum. Do you have the right Northern Lights lenses in your kit?

This night was the third over-4-hour road trip all-nighter in 4 days. I don't remember the tiredness, but as usual, the images were worth the effort.

A larger version of this image is available here.

This is one of my favorite images from a recent photo trip to Denali National Park. The picture does not convey the significant time and effort involved in its capture, but images such as this one make it all worthwhile.

Dall sheep are awesome animals, and I counted on the also-awesome Canon EOS R5 II and RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS Lens to bring home the images.

A larger version of this image is available here.

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS was in the sky, so, of course, it had to be photographed.

While single-exposure images of this comet looked nice, my upgraded tracking mount, a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi, was still in the box and longing for use.

This image is the result of stacking sixteen 30-second exposures using Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) software (it's free).

After aligning the mount and establishing the Canon EOS R5 Mark II settings, the shutter release button on a simple Vello Wired Remote Release was locked down (push down and slide forward), and the R5 II's continuous shooting mode captured about 45 minutes of images while I did something else. The middle 8 minutes of frames had the darkest sky and were selected for processing.

The Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens was chosen because it had the desired focal length, it creates extremely sharp stars, and it has a rotating collar to add the rotation direction natively missing on the mount. It proved an outstanding choice.

A larger version of this image is available here.

The viewer's eye is drawn to contrast, which is lacking in a strongly blurred portion of the image. Thus, blurring the non-subject area aids in drawing the viewer's eye to the sharp-focused subject.

For this image, the telephoto compression and long distance beyond the subject create the background blur, and getting down into some close rocks takes the foreground out of focus, eliminating those distractions.

While I love the use of blur in photography, I rarely like foreground blur covering the subject's face.

A larger version of this image is available here.