snow-covered

Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow in a snow storm

By Mia McPherson, on December 24th, 2012%

Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow in a snow storm – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/1600, ISO 1600, +2.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

The White-crowned Sparrow in this image is small in the frame, the bird isn’t super sharp and there isn’t a lot of contrast or color to the photo either yet the image speaks to me.

When I look at this image I see the snow-covered shrub and can compare the size of the bird to how high the snow is piled up. I can see an icy ring of snow around the base of the bird’s bill. I see harsh conditions but I also see the small sparrow’s ability to survive and adapt to the environment.

I see more than the image itself.

Mia

It is a challenge to photograph in low light and even more so with snow falling heavily which is why I selected a higher ISO than I normally do, ISO 1600 is pushing it with my Nikon D300 and I also had to use positive exposure compensation so the image wouldn’t be too dark.

More White-crowned Sparrow images

American Bison in the Snow

By Mia McPherson, on November 11th, 2012%

We’ve gotten a lot of snow in the Salt Lake Valley since Friday, I swept at least a foot of snow off my vehicle yesterday and about 3 to 4 inches on Friday, as I write this the snow is still falling.

We went out to Antelope Island yesterday despite the gray skies, low light and the falling snow and while most of the birds and animals were hunkered down, the Bison were not.

Bison fighting in a snow storm – Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1/250, ISO 400, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 70mm, natural light

Early in the morning the snow fall was heavy and the light was a challenge. In the image above even though I had used +1.7 exposure compensation I still had to lighten the darks some in post processing to show fine details.

As I photographed two Bison that were grazing close together they began to fight, with the snow coming down hard it was difficult to get images where the eyes of both Bison showed. These two fought for about a minute then separated and grazed some more.

Bison on a snowy day – Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1/640, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light

Later on when the snow was coming down lighter I was able to get images that showed the nice detail of the snow-covered Bison fur.

Bison in the snow – Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1/640, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 95mm, natural light

This Bison walked past with the Great Salt Lake in the background. The snow on his face is there because he had been pushing his nose through the snow to get to the grass below it.