So That's How It's Done

(January 24th) Sometimes you see something in a photograph and you can't figure out just how they did that. Water was one of those things I never fully understood how to photograph. I'd seen pictures that some photographers have where the water is all sorts of unbelievable colors and wished I could do something like that. I imagined that they had to be there in the most amazing sunset to get something like that. Anyway, the gameplan for this afternoon was to try and use the water in a new way. I started out and ran into one of my favorite subjects to shoot, Marbled Godwits. Fantastic bird to shoot, and I started off with some nice, clean shots.

The godwits were as cooperative as I could hope for. They ignored me completely and kept about there business. At first they spent most of the time sleeping but as time rolled on they began to forage. I was standing ankle deep in water to shoot from the water side. The waves drenched my pants, but luckily the camera remained dry. The godwits rewarded me with a wing stretch to show off their patterned markings.

As I worked the godwits and they moved down the beach, I started to understand how water works and how to create the images I was looking for. At first it was subtle. The water in this photograph has taken on a different hue, but it's relatively mild. I could start to feel the magic starting to happen and knew I was on to something.

At this point, I had one of the a-ha moments. Something that should have been so easy, but I just couldn't figure it out before. You just have to do it to learn it. I shot this Willet who was near the group of godwits. By this time, I had the color working full swing. It was one of those clicks that you didn't need to look at the photos later that night. You just know it worked out as you wanted.

The color kept blazing away and I had a blast shooting the godwits. Here's one of the Marbled Godwits in the color at its fullest. I learned that there is magic in these photographs all right. But it's not post-processing - this color is as I saw it. The magic as always is in harnessing the light.

I was happy working every last drop of light as I wondered if my pants would be salvageable. As I lost any direct light, it was time to shoot the only thing possible - silhouettes. Yeah I know it's rare, but sometimes I photograph people too. It was one of those classic images as the last die-hard surfers left the water as the sun went down. It may be a little cheesey, but I had to make that click.