dhollich

Indian Roller

Canon EOS 60D

settings

Aperture f/6.3 ISO 500 Shutter 1/400

upload_date

Aug, 2013

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430

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+14

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Gorgeous!

Very nice shot.

Stunning!

Platinum

Absolutely spot on. Superb :-)

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Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

Man fishing on Phewa Lake, Pokhara, Nepal

Tiger in Bandhavgarh National Park, MP, India

Taken from a houseboat on Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir

Behind The Lens

Location

This image was shot outside of Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India. Everybody goes there for the tigers (which are purely awe-inspiring), but there is a lot of bird life in the reserve, as well. Bandhavgarh is not the easiest place to get to. I traveled around India for several months, but getting there straight from Delhi or any other major city requires a long train ride to Satna, followed by several hours in a jeep. Or, you can fly into Jabalpur, and again, a car ride of several hours. Be ready for very early mornings, as almost all of the animals rest during the heat of the day. And be prepared for very dusty roads, as the park is only open during the dry season.

Time

This was shot around 10:30 in the morning on the very last day, and the very last drive through the park before continuing on my trip. Every morning, my guide and I would be up around 3 AM to get to the gates of the reserve so that we had the most time possible. I am not a morning person, so I must have been drinking chai by the liter. Every single morning drive produced tigers and a few sloth bear sightings. I had excellent light until about 11 every day, and there is something magical about experiencing blue hour, golden hour, and gorgeous diffuse light through the foliage for five straight days while shooting some of the most majestic creatures on the earth. And this picture is the cherry on top for me: before we left the gate for the last time, my guide pointed up and whispered, "Indian Roller." I was able to get 4 fast shots before he flew away. The camera was still set up for shooting the bears and tigers, so it was a quick adjustment for a faster shutter speed to get the settings to f/6.3, shutter at 1/400, and an ISO of 400. But this is one of the best shots of the trip.

Lighting

The lighting was complete serendipity: mid-morning light filtered through the trees in the forest. The bird happened to be positioned just right for the distance and to catch the light with his body. Honestly, luck played a big part in the light.

Equipment

This was shot with a Canon 60D and the EF 70-300 L lens. I didn't have enough room in my backpack for a tripod or monopod, and they would have been a pain to deal with in the jeep anyway. So shooting handheld was the only option.

Inspiration

I think that any great photographer has a true connection or love for their subjects. We see something in our subjects that we want to show the rest of the world. I tend to feel a strong connection to landscapes and animals. While the main focus of my safari was to photograph big cats, I didn't allow that to blind me to the other beautiful creatures that were also in the nature preserve.

Editing

As far as post-processing, I prefer to keep things simple and use Canon Digital Photo Professional. I cropped the original image (which told me that I should have zoomed in the other 40mm (this was shot at 260mm), added a bit of saturation, and boosted sharpness in the RAW editing tab.

In my camera bag

I always carry my Canon 60D (my main camera body for the last few years). It has been through Hell and back, filled with sand in Egypt, and braved monsoon rains after "Magyver-ing" a raincover out of a garbage bag and duct tape. After seeing a tourist have his camera strap sliced in Thailand, I have a Pacsafe strap that has steel cables woven into the sides. I know my equipment is not the most expensive or sophisticated, but it's all I have. While I travel, weight is a major concern since I am almost always backpacking or trekking. 2 pounds of weight for a lens may not seem like much when you start off, but it feels like a block of cement after a few weeks at high altitude. I carry an EF-S 10-22 mm for landscapes, the EF 70-300L for wildlife (equivalent to 500mm with an APS-C sensor). The EF-S 15-85, which is my absolute go-to lens, has great optics for not being part of the L line from Canon. If I can only bring one lens, it's the 15-85. With the zoom lenses, I can save a little weight and space while covering focal lengths from 10 mm to 300. Also, markets are a great way to feel the pulse of a location, so I use a 28 mm f/1.8 when I need a fast lens that has a relatively unobtrusive profile. I have Calumet polarizers and a set of ND grad filters with adapters for the wide lenses, which I love for landscapes and sunsets. And a small, inexpensive tool kit, knife, cleaning bulb, and Gorilla Tape for any repairs on the road. Most everything (TSA doesn't like the tools and knives) fits nicely into the large Tenba messenger bag, which is also unobtrusive and helps hide the fact that you have a few thousand dollars worth of gear in your bag.

Feedback

I learned image composition from my father, who used to be an art teacher. Although this was never a formal lesson. As a child, I spent a lot of time in art museums. Look at photos and art by other artists, and you'll start to see similarities as to what works in a composition. Compare Ansel Adams' images of the national parks to the backgrounds in Renaissance paintings. If you pay attention to how your eye moves over the work, these guys realized how to make an image flow. No matter how good you are at composing an image, chances are there is someone better. The same thing applies to wildlife. Check out how animals are portrayed in paintings and even in National Geographic photos. Learn how artists find a way to show gesture and use the animals' bodies to guide your eye through an image. My best advice to fellow photographers, especially trying to take images of birds: always be prepared and know your equipment. By fiddling with unfamiliar buttons to change settings, you will miss so many opportunities. Animals tend to move pretty fast, faster than you expect. My camera is capable of shooting around 5 frames per second in RAW, and I only captured 4 images of this bird before he flew away. Any time spent learning or re-learning my camera means I would have had less time to compose, and I would have lost the shot. I practice speed by photographing small animals around my house and yard, which usually means chasing around my mother's chihuahua when I dog-sit. It sounds silly, but it actually works! It's one thing to take a picture with settings that are a little off, because you learn something every time. Missing that same image because you don't know the machine or not being fast enough is the result of pure laziness. Once you know your equipment by feel, and can compose an image, wildlife requires patience and a lot of research. You never quite know what you're going to see or have the opportunity to photograph, but first you have to actually go to the place and then wait to see what pops up. Learn what the best time of year to travel is, since some parks close for a portion of the year as roads can become impassable. Good guides are important, but they can't make the animals show up or pose. So you have to be confident and ready with your skills and equipment, then when the forest shows you its treasures, just try to make the best image you can.

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dhollich

dhollich

Indian Roller

Behind The Lens

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