JHP Newsletter - 2016, No. 2, 28 June
Greetings from Franktown, Colorado. It has been an exciting three months since the content of the last Newsletter.
Jan and I spent about a month, from early April to early May, helping Jan's daughter Erica and her boyfriend Steve build two tiny houses near Monroe, Oregon. Steve had had some construction and building experience from remodeling houses, and he was very good at teaching Erica how to do things so that Erica could say that she built her own house. By the time we arrived, they had installed the floor joists and insulation on their made-for-tiny-houses trailers. We helped them install the subfloor for both houses and build the walls and roof for Erica's house. I really enjoyed being able to pass on some of my woodworking skills to the next generation. They hope to have Erica's house done by the fall and Steve's done a few months after that, then they'll move the trailers to their final locations.
Equipment: Canon EOS 1D X Mark II
I received a new Canon EOS 1D X Mark II in time to photograph swift foxes in early June, and it's fantastic! The biggest improvement over the Canon EOS 1D X (Mark I) is the autofocus system where all 61 points are active for f8 lenses, like my 600 f4 with a 2x tele-extender attached. In the past, only the center focus point was active for an f8 lens which required focusing on the subject and reframing when possible or tracking a moving subject and then cropping to get a better composition. The Automatic selection AF (all 61 points) also has better subject discernment and tracking to lock on and follow a subject when there is clutter between the camera and the subject. Because the new AF system is so good, I was quite happy to use my 600 f4 IS II and 2x III almost exclusively when photographing the foxes. There was no need to switch to the 1.4x III to get a better focusing system. This allowed me to get frame-filling shots while maintaining more distance from the den and thus putting less stress on the subjects.
The sensor also has improved higher-ISO capability, so I was comfortable shooting at a maximum ISO 3200 instead of ISO 1600 for the 1D X (Mark I). The small boost in megapixels from 18 to 20 is nice as is the boost in frame rate from 12 fps to 14 fps. The significantly-increased buffer is a major improvement. The 1D X (Mark I) can handle about 32 RAW images and the 1D X Mark II can handle about 55 RAW images with a CF card and about 170 images with a CFast card. I had occasionally maxed out the buffer with the 1D X (Mark I), and with the Mark II it is essentially a non-issue.
The body feels great in the hand. The grip fits better and the multi-controllers (joysticks) have a much larger tip which is easier on the thumb. For some reason, the Quick Control Dial didn't feel as comfortable at first, but after a few days of shooting it feels fine.
Another great change is the spring on the card slot cover to keep the cover in the fully-open position so you no longer have to "re open" the door. The "My Menu" can now have tabs so that more options can be registered.
If you have been thinking about getting a Canon EOS 1D X Mark II to photograph wildlife, I can't recommend it enough.
Travel: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
I went to Yellowstone National Park for about three weeks in May, mainly to photograph the bear cubs, and this year was great for grizzly bears (Grizzly Bear, Ursus arctos horribilis)! There were two sows with COYS (cubs of the year) or spring cubs, and I had two great opportunities to photograph both of them.
The first grizzly bear sow had two COYs, and it was probably the sow known as Quadmom. She had a big gash on her head above her right eye, probably from an encounter with another bear, and I referred to her as Scarmom. On my first encounter with them, I thought I had missed everything because I saw them running away from the road which usually signals the end. Fortunately, after they had moved away from the road, they stopped and continued to forage but just beyond shooting range. I set up to photograph them from the car and got a nice image of them as they came into shooting range with the 2x (below left). I moved to stay ahead of them and got another nice image as they came close enough to shoot with the 1.4x (below left).
1/1000 sec, f8, ISO 1600
1/1500 sec, f5.6, ISO 1250
I continued to stay ahead of them and they came so close that I could get a full-frame image with no tele-extender of one of the cubs standing up to get a better look at the paparazzi (below left). I also photographed the sow after the cub moved partly behind her (below right).
1/750 sec, f4.5, ISO 1250
1/750 sec, f4.5, ISO 1250
The second grizzly bear sow had three COYs, and she is known as Obsidian. I was really excited to photograph them because the COYs were still very small, and they were nice enough to line up for me (below left). Unfortunately, a boar chased them the day after I took that image and she lost one of her cubs. After that, the cubs stayed much closer to her (below right). After I left the park, I heard that she lost her remaining two cubs. It's a tough life to be a bear, even in a protected area!
1/350 sec, f8, ISO 1600
1/1500 sec, f8, ISO 1600
This year was also very good for black bear (Ursus americanus) cubs. There were two sows with two COYs each that shared the same territory, and I was able to get some of my best black bear cub images ever! Black bears are very good at climbing trees, and the cubs like to play in them too (below left, center, and right).
1/125 sec, f8, ISO 1600
1/60 sec, f8, ISO 1600
1/500 sec, f5.6, ISO 1250
I also had some nice encounters with adult black bears. It's always nice to get head shots, and two young adult bears were nice enough to practically walk right up to my car so I could get a nice close up of one of them (below left). The first bear I photographed on the visit was this very healthy cinnamon black bear (below right). Black bears come in all shades from black to brown to white.
1/1000 sec, f5.6, ISO 500
1/250 sec, f5.6, ISO 1000
I didn't have many opportunities to photograph canids this year, but I did have two good encounters. The first was with a red fox (Vulpes vulpes, below left), and the second was with two gray wolves (Gray Wolf, Canis lupus,! A gray one was eating at a bison carcass and then a black one joined it. After a while, they both looked up (below right).
1/750 sec, f5.6, ISO 1250
1/350 sec, f8, ISO 1600
The first animal I photographed this year was a porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)! I haven't seen many of them in the wild and have photographed only a handful, so I was thrilled that this one paused briefly so I could make this image (below left) before it moved off into the woods. Badgers are also uncommon, and I only had one opportunity to photograph an American Badger (Taxidea taxus) this year (below right).
1/20 sec, f4.5, ISO 1250
1/750 sec, f5.6, ISO 1600
Pronghorns (Pronghorn, Antilocapra americana) are fairly common, but I had never seen one swimming before. I saw this buck walking along the river bank looking down at the river, so I slammed on the brakes and was able to photograph him as he swam across the Lamar River (below left). Later in my stay, I photographed a pronghorn doe with her days-old fawn (below right).
1/1500 sec, f8, ISO 500
1/180 sec, f8, ISO 1600
Another baby I photographed was an elk (Cervus canadensis) cow and her hours-old calf (below left). I usually don't do much landscape photography there in the spring, but foggy conditions are appealing (below right).
1/350 sec, f8, ISO 1600
1/90 sec, f6.7, ISO 200
Travel: Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado
I met up with Jan in early June to spend nine days in the Pawnee National Grassland in northeastern Colorado to photograph swift foxes (Swift Fox, Vulpes velox). Jan had arrived a couple of days ahead of me and found a den, so I was able to immediately go into shooting mode instead of searching mode. Thanks Jan! I also had a brand new Canon EOS 1D X Mk II, and thoroughly enjoyed using it instead of the older 1D X (Mk I).
The vixen started off being very relaxed with us there which was really nice because sometimes they can be rather skittish. Here she is looking very regal sitting by her den (below left). However, the dog, or male, was very skittish, and we only saw him on the first couple of mornings when he popped out of the den and immediately took off. The kits were a bit skittish initially, but quickly got used to our presence and were able to concentrate on being kits (below right).
1/1000 sec, f8, ISO 3200
1/1500 sec, f8, ISO 640
Periodically there was a lot of action at the den where multiple things were happening at once. Here (below left) the vixen is grooming one kit, a second kit is grooming the vixen, and a third kit is about to interrupt. It's really hard to get a group shot of a wild animal family, especially with five individuals, but one morning they cooperated (below right).
1/1000 sec, f8, ISO 3200
1/2000 sec, f8, ISO 500
Towards the end of our stay, the kits had become so comfortable with us that they started to explore away from the den in our direction which led to some nice portraits (below left). I'll leave you with one final image of a kit learning how to be a swift fox by pouncing on a sibling (below right).
1/180 sec, f8, ISO 3200
1/1500 sec, f8, ISO 2500
Take care and happy shooting.
— James
James Hager Photography :: www.jameshagerphoto.com
