Tag Archives: telephoto

November 24, 2022 · 6:27 am

Texture And Color

In many articles I write for the National Parks Traveler, I stress a couple of things for capturing a great image: look for texture and look for color(s). This telephoto shot of a bison seen between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park is an example of both color and texture. Take a look at the thick, wooly textures of the bison. And take a look at the differing shades of red-brown. When you look at a bison from a distance, you don’t necessarily see all those color gradations within its furry coat. And you know that the bison has a thick, wooly coat for the winter, but when you look at a close-up, you see the fine differences in texture, from what looks like soft undergrowth to much coarser wooliness. Even the bison horn has a certain amount of textural and color differences.

I captured this image at a turnout on the way to the Lamar Valley, testing out my previously-underused 200-600mm lens on the Sony A1. While not a prime lens, it’s a pretty decent lens for getting close to the subject.

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Filed under Photography, Wildlife, Yellowstone National Park

Tagged as 200-600mm, bison, close-up, closeup, color, National Park, photography, Sony a1, Sony Alpha, telephoto, texture, where the trails take you, wildlife, Yellowstone National Park

March 5, 2021 · 5:42 am

Fun Fact Friday, 3-5-2021

It’s #FunFactFriday ! Meet Chief Mountain. Half of it is in the eastern portion of Glacier National Park, and half of it is in the Blackfeet Reservation. Named Ninaistako by the Blackfeet, it’s a place of sacred ritual and ceremony going back thousands of years.

According to the National Park Service’s Geodiversity Atlas for Glacier National Park, it’s also a premier example of a klippe: “a geologic term for the erosional remnant of older rocks in a thrust sheet completely detached from comparably aged rocks trailing behind. Like the Lewis Overthrust itself, Chief Mountain is considered one of the world’s outstanding examples of a klippe; its images grace the pages of many geologic textbooks.” Come to think of it, I believe I *have* seen this mountain in one of my geology textbooks.

Back in 2017, when I told my editor I was heading into Glacier National Park, he asked me for images of Chief Mountain to go with a National Parks Traveler article about bison, I think. On the day I traveled over to this area, it was really hazy with smoke from the Sprague Fire over on the west side of the park. So getting a clear image was impossible – on that day, at least – and took a little bit of editing and Adobe Lightroom’s dehaze slider to bring forth any details.Veiled with wildfire smoke or not, Chief Mountain is an impressive site.

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Filed under Glacier National Park MT, Montana, National Parks, Photography, Travel

Tagged as 100-400mm, Canon, Canon 1DX, geology, Glacier National Park, Montana, National Park, photography, telephoto, telephoto lens

June 26, 2020 · 9:16 am

It’s Fun Fact Friday, 6-26-2020

It’s Fun Fact Friday, folks! The image above is of a plant called devil’s club. It’s quite striking among the other greenery growing in the forest interior at Mount Rainier National Park. And, as you can see, it’s got little stickers on it. But, there’s more to this plant than what you think.

In addition to using devil’s club for an arthritis remedy, fishhooks and deodorant, Alaska Natives have also used this plant for coughs, colds and fever, skin disorders, and digestive ailments.

This plant was one of the quiz questions for National Parks Quiz and Trivia #8.

So, the next time you wander the forests of the Pacific Northwest and see this plant, you’ll know more about the forest and this plant than you did before.

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Filed under Fun Fact Friday, Mount Rainier National Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, National Parks, nature, Nikon, Photography, plant

Tagged as Fun Fact Friday, Mount Rainier, Mt. Rainier, National Park, Nikon, photogaphy, plant, telephoto, where the trails take you

November 21, 2019 · 4:53 pm

Corporate Behavior

Even the smallest and/or prettiest of creatures can be territorial and exhibit more than just a little bit of visciousness in the daily fight for survival. Heaven knows I’ve experienced it within the human workplace, hence the sarcastic title.

I’ve been rescuing photos from a dying portable hard drive. The hummingbird images I captured between 2012 – 2014 are favorites of mine and they needed to be saved to another drive.

As a photographer, you can learn quite a bit about birds or other wildlife by simply watching and photographing them on a regular basis. During that span of years my mother and I hung out those hummingbird feeders in Texas, I would be over there every morning and/or evening to photograph these soft, tiny little birdies. The more I watched, the more I learned they aren’t quite as sweet as everybody might think. Luckily, this extended observation led to some very interesting photos.

Canon 1DX and 100-400mm lens

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Filed under 1DX, birds, Canon, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, Canon Lens, hummingbirds, Life, nature, Photography, Texas

Tagged as 100-400mm, 1DX, behavior, bird, birds, Canon, close up, hummingbird, hummingbirds, life, September, telephoto, where the trails take you

November 16, 2019 · 9:00 am

Dawn Along The Seashore

How about a nice, peaceful, beach scene colored by the blush of “rosy-fingered dawn” to start your weekend? I have a feeling dawn won’t be as pretty where I live – it’s been overcast with a low cloud ceiling for the past few days.

Padre Island National Seashore in Texas is a great place to watch the sun rise. I got there at dark-thirty a.m. and just watched the play of colors over the sky and Gulf of Mexico, as the shore birds pattered along the water’s edge looking for breakfast.

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Filed under 1DX, birds, Canon, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, Canon Lens, National Parks, nature, Padre Island National Seashore, Photography, Seasons, Spring, sunrise, Texas, Travel

Tagged as 100-400mm, 1DX, April, beach, Canon, Canon 1DX, dawn, morning, national seashore, Padre Island, Padre Island National Seashore, photography, pink, rosy, shore bird, spring, springtime, sunrise, telephoto, telephoto landscape, Texas, where the trails take you

August 15, 2019 · 9:10 am

Biscuit Basin Landscape

During my road trip move from TX to central WA, I made Yellowstone National Park one of my stops along the way. Of course, it was summertime, probably the worst time in the world to visit that particular park. I couldn’t find a parking space at Upper Geyser Basin (and those of you who have gone there know how big that parking lot is) so, disgruntled, I drove on toward Gardiner, my hotel stay for the night. On the way, I saw the turnoff to Biscuit Basin and decided to try my luck there. A car was backing out of a small parking space so I quickly squeezed my own little car in. The landscape in this show was one of the first sights that greeted my eyes as I headed toward the boardwalk. The geology of Yellowstone never fails to amaze me.

I’m heading back there this fall and can’t wait!

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Filed under 1DX Mk II, Canon, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, Canon Lens, Geology, National Parks, Photography, Seasons, summer, telephoto lens, Travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park

Tagged as 100-400mm, 1DX Mk II, August, Biscuit Basin, Canon, geology, geyser, landscape, landscape photography, National Park, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, scenery, steam, summer, telephoto, telephoto landscape, telephoto lens, travel, trees, Wyoming, Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

July 20, 2019 · 8:35 am

Honey Bees On The Thistle Flower

We were waiting for my oldest nephew to arrive from the airport, and I took my camera out into the backyard to photograph the bees on a large thistle bush. This bush is not like the weedy thistles you see sprouting from pavement cracks – it’s more like something a home-and-garden store would sell for a decorative yard plant. The bush is quite large and the spheres are golf-ball sized and covered with lavender flowerets. The honey bees absolutely love them.

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Filed under 5DS, Canon, Canon 70-200mm, Canon Lens, flowers, insects, Life, nature, Photography

Tagged as 5DS, 70-200mm, bee, bees, Canon, flower, floweret, honey bee, honey bees, insect, insects, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, telephoto, telephoto lens, thistle

April 22, 2019 · 6:45 am

A Cup Of Sunshine

The tulips are now blooming. Our house only has small patches of them in yellow, red, and the striped orange & gold you see here. I believe they are my favorite flowers, although I do like the colorful calla lilies, too, and fragrant sweet peas. I’m posting this bit of sunshine because I think it’s supposed to be a little overcast today. That’s ok. I finished sweeping up the shop roof yesterday and trimmed the overhanging branches. And don’t worry – I was very careful. I have a slight fear of heights – well, maybe more than slight, since there is no way in hell I would ever hike that last half mile on the Angels Landing Trail in Zion National Park 😉😟🗻

This photo is brought to you by my 100-400mm telephoto lens, then cropped a little more. I used to own a macro lens but realized I didn’t use it much. So, I traded it in for a different lens. And this is a lesson to you in how to get close-up “pseudo-macro” shots using just your telephoto lens on an SLR or telephoto setting on a point-and-shoot camera.

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Filed under 1DX Mk II, Canon, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, Canon Lens, flowers, Photography, Seasons, Spring, telephoto lens

Tagged as 100-400mm, 1DX Mk II, April, Canon, central Washington, fringed, orange, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, red, spring, telephoto, tulip, Washington, Washington State

April 13, 2019 · 8:33 am

Glory-Of-The-Snow

These little flowers are quie eye-catching, especially when looked at close-up, with their almost neon-bright white centers. I must admit that I was pretty pleased and proud with myself for finding out what they are called so quickly when I ran an online search. I think all I typed in were “blue and white flowers washington” or something like that.

They are stiill in bloom here at the house, but look like they might not last too much longer.

Happy Saturday! What are your photography plans?

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Filed under 1DX Mk II, Canon, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, Canon Lens, flowers, nature, Photography, Seasons, Spring, Washington State

Tagged as 100-400mm, 1DX Mark II, April, blue & white, Canon, central Washington, Flowers, glory-of-the-snow, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, spring, telephoto, Washington State, Yakima

April 12, 2019 · 9:19 am

Hellebore

Spring has definitely sprung, if the flowers have anything to say about it. First came the iris, and now the bright yellow splotches of daffodils are blooming in spots of the yard. I’ve noticed some tulip buds coming up but it’s apparently still too early for them – at least, here in Yakima. The hellebore have been in bloom since March. I never really gave much glance to these perennials but as I look at them more closely, they are, indeed, lovely. They are also poisonous, accodring to what I have read (so no hellebore salads – ahem). I’ll content myself with photos of these beautiful blooms.

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Filed under 1DX Mk II, Canon, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, Canon Lens, flowers, Photography, Seasons, Spring

Tagged as 100-400mm, 1DX Mk II, April, Canon, central Washington, eastern Washington, flower, Flowers, hellebore, purple, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, spring, telephoto, Washington State, Yakima