Top 5 tips for better Thanksgiving Photos -for any camera

1) Take a lot of pictures of your subjects.  Use different angles and zoom levels if you have a zoom. The more you take the better your odds. This works for me. Cost of taking digital photos = zero. 

2) Review your shots on the pc before posting to flickr, snapfish, facebook etc. Throw out the bad shots and post the good ones

3) Try to avoid putting your main subject in the exact center. If your camera forces you to focus on the center spot, after focusing, keep the shutter button pressed half-way and recompose.

4) Remember that bright sunlight at mid day is the worst lighting for just about anything, especially people shots. Move them into the shade if possible

 3 and 4 require you to forget everything that your parents or Kodak every taught you

5) If you must photograph people in direct sunlight, try turning on the flash.  This may seem counterintuitive but it often helps. If you don't believe it, try "before and after" shots with and without flash.

Any questions?  Post them here and I'll try to answer!

Happy Shooting

Ode to a Puffin

Hello and welcome to the Puffin Man blog

I hadn't  met a puffin until June 4th, 2009  and now 3 months later, I'm publishing a Puffin-centric blog, photo-site and web store! . In 15 years as a bird photographer, I was never inspired to open a website called "The Mallard Man",  "The Heron Man" or the "White Ibis Man" ..........

So why puffins?
The answers lie  on the rocks of Machias Seal Island, Maine and in my photo galleries.  

Viewing the Puffins was an incredible experience

• The creatures are as cute, lovable, and strikingly beautiful in person as they are in the photos and trinkets you see in gift shops.
• Most of us tend to "anthropomorphize" about animals we see.  There's the wise old owl, the cuddly bear, the wily coyote  metaphors  based mostly on physical features. "Owls really aren't very wise at all", a raptor expert recently told me.  Try cuddling up with a bear, grisly or otherwise; you'll get mauled or worse. Can we know what a puffin is thinking or feeling?  Nope. Yet, the indelible impression they make is one of joy, cuteness and need I say it, "humanity".
• With the exception of my visits with captive parrots, I've never felt so much personal interaction with birds. Were the puffins really checking me out with curiosity when they peered up at me?  Maybe. Those who landed with a few feet from my camera lens were definitely  making "good,  eye contact" with their visitors.Yes, these Puffins probably would do well in an interview!

The Photographs

•   The photography gods were with me on both puffin trips

Bright mid-day sunlight is rarely ideal for  photographing  living or inanimate subjects, but it's better than shooting in  the fog, rain and gusty winds that can envelope the Bay of Fundy. The strong light allowed let me get  blue seas and skies in the background,  and  good detail  in  the birds' feathers, bills and feet.

• My  photographic "technique" is usually to show up and shoot. While  most professional nature photographers stress the value of "planning" and "pre-visualization"  I rarely heed that advice. But I knew that chances to photograph puffins are few and brief, unless you're a harbor seal. (the number and length of visits to Machias Seal Island are tightly restricted by wildlife authorities) 

The night before my trip I searched the web for other photographers'  puffin  images to get an idea of what to expect and mentally map out my shots. This helped me make the most of my brief opportunity.
Even with my planning I was overwhelmed by the number of birds and the spectacle that greeted me.  Luckily I remembered to take pictures and filled all my 4gb media cards.  "Take many shots, cover many angles" and use "auto-bracket"(3 different exposures for each shot.) Those are my trade secrets!

• A lot of  Photoshop editing
  

When I got  home and uploaded my media cards,  I knew I had high percentage of "keepers", probably the highest I've gotten on a photo trip.  I flagged the best ones and got to work on tweaking  colors, contrast and composition to come up with the images the shots you see on my websites.


A Big Audience
These images are very special for me because I got to spend a brief but intense time living amongst  the puffin colony and many hours viewing them on my  monitor. Judging by the number of comments and hits on my  galleries, some other people were able to enjoy the experience with me.

Hence, the Puffin Man website, blog and store!!!

end of Puffin season

The "puffin season" in Maine ended in August when the birds all left the coast islands for the open seas.
I'll be back for another tour of Machias Seal Island in June, armed with lots of gift products which I'll be designing over the winter.

BTW, the Puffin tote bag from Cafepress  arrived today and it looks great.  Cafe Press gets my designs over the web and does the production, I get a commission.  I order my own products to see if they look ok.  The mug I designed needs some work so I'm going to tweak the photo a bit. If anyone wants to create any products from your own photos or art, try Cafepress.com So far I've gotten great service and products from them.
After "puffin season", comes foliage season and I'll be spending a lot of time in October up in New Hamsphire.  I'll be based in Newbury, NH near Lake Sunapee and will make side trips to the White Mountains, the Connecticut River Valley side of Vermont, and where ever else I can find "leaves of color".
My previous year's covered bridge and other scenic shots of New Hampshire and Vermont are on my main photo website

What is a Pelagic Bird?

Pelagic (pronounced with a soft "a") or oceanic species spend most of their lives in the open seas.

An  example is the albatross family, famous for their "wandering" about the oceans, and as a metaphor in Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner.  Unfortunately, the great poem gave the Albatross a bad name. There's nothing scary or mean about an albatross.  Coleridge used  this  as a metaphor because superstitious sailors of the day believed the bird contained 'the souls of dead sailors'. The Great/Wandering Albatross is the world's largest flying bird, and can have a wingspan of up to 11 feet and a weigh 25 lbs.  Imagine having to carry one of those around your neck! (I'll never forgot the speech impaired Mayor of Boston who once said that "high taxes are like an Alcatraz around your neck")

Puffins and albatrosses may spend most of their days "out to sea" but birds lay eggs, unlike fish eggs, avian eggs need nests and nests need land. Atlantic Puffins nest on small islands like Machias Seal Island and others of the coast of Northern Maine and Canada.  They arrive in large colonies in May, each female can lay one egg. After the eggs  hatch and the young bird is ready to fledge, the parents head out back to sea for until the following spring.  Oh yes, the Puffins are monogomous, one pair stays together "till death do them part"

some acknowledgements

Now that the Puffin Man has flown after weeks of hacking away at website and blog, I want to thank some people who helped this web-luddite to get airborn: Andy Patterson who got me to Machias Seal Island smoothly and safely, Barbara who didnt laugh in my face when I suggested this idea(and who I can credit/blame for the title),Hil & Jo for long distance phone support, Tina my friend, colleague,artist and web expert, everyone at Smugmug.com and DigitalGrin.com who helped me w/coding on thepuffinman.com, everyone at Tufts Human Resources who puts up w/my "puffonery" every day