As we speak, I’ll stroll you thru the second half of my Japan Winter Wildlife Excursions for 2024, and on the finish, we’ll hear the feedback from the friends on each excursions. We completed final week as we ended our time with the Pink-Topped Cranes, and this week, we transfer on to the Whooper Swans at Kussharo Lake after which to the Steller’s Sea Eagles and White-Tailed Eagles across the Rausu fishing port on the japanese facet of the Shiretoko Peninsula.
With the oppressive Japanese summer season warmth already bearing down on us with full pressure, it was good to recall the coolness within the air as we labored within the subject up in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. After photographing the Pink-Topped Cranes, we loved some enjoyable shoots with the Whooper Swans. One includes a panning method that provides us a wonderful blurry background and blurry legs and toes on the swans as they run alongside the water. This picture, from the primary of the 2 excursions, reveals how we had a little bit of colour within the sky reflecting within the water. The lake wasn’t frozen all the way in which to shore on this tour, as generally occurs, however having the lake totally frozen hasn’t occurred actually for just a few seasons now.
I’ve many pictures with one or two birds in, so very often lately, I attempt to pull again a bit of on my zoom, and get extra birds in, as you’ll be able to see on this second picture. There was nonetheless a bit of heat within the sky, however as you’ll be able to see there was a mist over the ice the place the lake was frozen, including a pleasant environment to the pictures. I typically modify my aperture and ISO in order that I can set the shutter pace to round a 1/40 or 1/50 of a second, which is a good pace to seize the motion that you simply see in these pictures. We do, after all, get quite a lot of pictures the place the birds heads are usually not sharp, and though they are often pleasing to take a look at, it’s at all times good to get a small proportion of pictures with sharp heads, like these that I’m sharing in the present day.
On the second journey, we had a skinny layer of ice that mirrored the heat of the sundown, as you’ll be able to see on this third panning picture of a single Whooper Swan. I shot all of those with my Canon RF 100-500mm lens, and the focal lengths used vary from 128mm for the primary and second pictures and 186mm for this shot.
We additionally visited the lake straight after an early breakfast within the hope of catching some teams flying in, and we have been fortunate sufficient to get simply that on just a few mornings. That is my favourite instance picture of such a fly-in. I like to incorporate the road of bushes to the appropriate of the seashore at Sunayu, the place we shoot, and on this morning we have been handled to a bit of snow, which I at all times take pleasure in.
Somewhat later, I acquired this shot of a pair of swans touchdown within the snow collectively, with their wings nonetheless held out, in a breaking place, and the snow being kicked up round their toes as they touched down. I just like the dynamic really feel of this shot. They went on to honk at one another whereas bowing their heads, and I’ve some good pictures of that, too, however we have to transfer on to the ocean eagles, so right here goes.
I like capturing the ocean eagles catching the fish that we throw out for them from the water, inflicting this type of splash. I generally unintentionally minimize off the wing ideas, however I take pleasure in getting them cropped this tightly within the digital camera somewhat than pulling again and cropping the picture later. I crop some pictures, particularly when the birds are additional away, and my zoom gained’t allow me to fill the body with them, however this type of shut shot could be very satisfying to attain and not using a crop in publish.
One morning, we had some good formations within the sea ice, and I used to be fortunate sufficient to get this shot of two Steller’s Sea Eagles buying and selling locations on prime of this pinnacle of ice, with a splash of blue in its shadow. A 3rd eagle was sitting decrease on the ice to the left, however he was a bit distracting, so I cloned him out in Seize One Professional. Folks typically ask how a lot of my processing I do in Seize One Professional as a substitute of leaping into Photoshop, and are generally stunned to study that I do nearly all of my processing in Seize One Professional. I’ll take one out of some thousand closing selects into Photoshop, so it’s lower than 0.1 p.c. That is without doubt one of the large sights to me as I can preserve my pictures of their authentic uncooked format. After all, the truth that the picture high quality is head-and-shoulders above Lightroom is the primary motive I proceed to make use of Seize One Professional.
I additionally take pleasure in it once we get an eagle flying straight in direction of our boat, particularly when they’re making fists, like this one, who seems to be like he’s merely flying round in search of a combat.
This subsequent eagle was banking on the ice holding him afloat greater than it did, and sunk greater than anticipated as he reached for the fish. I like the water streaming off the fish on this shot. I’ve three or 4 extra frames of him truly rising out of the water, however that is my favourite due to that water working off the fish.
Whereas we’re in Rausu for the ocean eagles, we drive down the Notsuke Peninsula most afternoons and we have been handled to some good patterns made by the wind-blown snow and black sand on the seashore there. The wind blew by means of the tetrapods, forming lovely patterns that regarded nearly like cream melting into espresso in a TV business. I hardly ever share non-wildlife pictures from this journey, however I couldn’t resist doing so with this shot.
OK, in order that’s our ten pictures, however now I’ll play you the feedback from each teams, that I recorded as we ended every tour. I’ve by no means needed to wait this lengthy to create the travelogue episodes from my excursions, so it was an actual journey down reminiscence lane to pay attention to those effective individuals once more as I ready this episode.
<< LISTEN WITH THE AUDIO PLAYER ABOVE TO FIND OUT WHAT EACH OF THE PARTICIPANTS HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE TOUR >>
Wow! What superb individuals. It was a lot enjoyable to journey with these of us. I hope to take action once more in some unspecified time in the future. Should you’d like to hitch me on considered one of my excursions, please verify availability on our Excursions web page. Within the subsequent episode, I’ll in all probability begin to stroll you thru my Namibia Tour which I rant in Might, after which we’ll begin to get into a number of the different issues I’m as much as since shifting to our new house within the Gunma Prefecture.
Present Notes
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