Bosque del Apache - 4

I now understand why it takes so long for a wedding photographer to get back to you with the images. Now, after nearly 2 months, I finally completed the processing of the final images from Bosque del Apache. Here's the best of the last of that trip back in December.

Bosque del Apache - 3

The longer I spent shooting photos at Bosque del Apache, the fewer shots I took. Once I got over the initial excitement (nearly 900 "keepers" from the first morning) I settled down to a few hundred. This makes it much easier to sort and process. In this batch from morning two, I had fewer out-of-focus and empty shots and a much higher fraction of keepers. This is mostly because I went out a little later when I had more light. Since I can't afford the really fast telephoto lenses and am stuck at f/8, I need more light than the folks with the really big f/2.8 lenses.

The image above is one of the earlier ones in the morning. You can see that the water around the cranes legs is frozen.

Bosque del Apache - 2

I have now processed the next patch of images...those from the afternoon of the first day. Went a bit quicker this time since the stack to go through was smaller.

We start with the Great Blue Heron above, just to let you know that there are animals in the reserve other than the Sandhill Cranes.

Bosque del Apache - 1

This is the first of several installments on my trip to New Mexico to photograph the Sandhill Cranes. This was a photography trip, loosely guided by a couple of pros who've been here many times. We got tips on where to go when for the best chances of good photos.