Jeroen Stel Nature & Wildlife Photography

The BIG update....

2011-09-23T05:20:00.000-07:00

Hello...anybody there....That's what everyone must have been thinking lately if they checked my blog..

It's been hard the past year to keep up with work, Photoforums, and life in general as my health has let me down several times. Still i was able to create some wonderful work with big thanks to mother nature who has been my greatest source of inspiration over the years. So...

It is time for an update..
As you can imagine i simply cannot post all images shot over the past year but will try and pick some nice ones for this update..
So..if you are ready here's some of last years work that's been in the files for way too long..

Let's start out with some Kingfishers as i was lucky enough to do another Kingfisher project this year and besides photographing them i have also started filming for the first time and must say that's been great fun too.

As usual i have also been visiting my good friend Vince Jones in the UK who has a rescue centre for birds of prey and Owls and where i host my annual bird of prey workshops. Besides going to the rescue centre we also visit a special feeding programme for Red Kites wich are supported in Wales to help to get their numbers up. This year i had some wonderful groups of guys joining me and we had loads of fun on both visits. Here are some of the images we managed to capture.

Another species i have been spending some time with are Wild Konik Horses wich live in our largest wetland reserve called the Oostvaarders Plassen. I love working with these beautiful animals as there is always some action going on rain or shine.

Landscape has been something i have put too little time in over the years and it was time to catch up so especially towards the end of the season i picked up my box of filters and headed out towards some wonderfuls sunsrises and sunsets in order to start building up a nice portfolio with landscape images. This is not always easy as in my area there is a big lack of hills, rocks, waterfalls etc etc but luckily we do have some nice windmills so i decided to put some effort in photographing these as best as i could..

As can be read in the previous post on this blog earlier this year i made another trip to the Grey Seals and Red Deer during the workshop i host in the UK. We had a blast as weather was superb and all conditions where as we could wish for. Here are some results from that trip wich i have planned again for next winter so anyone interested in joining me is more then welcome!

Last winter we had an invasion of Bohemian Waxwings over here in The Netherlands so this was the perfect opportunity to photograph these beautiful birds from nordic regions. As 2004 was the last "big invasion" we had i was happy to get some more images from these lovely birds.

Winter has brought me many more interesting species and project such as my favourite winter bird the Bittern, but also Horned Grebes wich i managed to capture during a snowstorm. Last but not least i was able to capture some Dippers this winter wich reside as migratory birds in the Amsterdamse Waterleiding Duinen area.

Another bird that's been on my wishlist for many years and i was finally able to get some proper images of was the Hen Harrier. These gracefull raptors where regularly seen in a highly debated new nature reserve in the provence of Flevoland. Visited by many photographers they where at the reserve with numbers reaching up to 10 of then per day and this was a wonderful site to witness.

In spring i hosted another Bird Photography Workshop on the Isle of Texel together with fellow professional wildlife photographer Craig Jones and we had some wonderful times as the weather was on our side and so where the many species out on the Isle of Texel. We have had all sorts of species in front of our lenses ranging from Marsh Harriers to Spoonbills and from Black-necked Grebes to Avocets. Here are some of the images from that trip and if you want to join us on this trip next Spring make sure to book soon as places are scarse.

Ofcourse Foxes have been on my mind like they have over the past few years. Unfortunately i could not spend as much time with them as i would have wanted but nevertheless i was able to capture some lovely images of these predators over the past few months. Here's some of the Fox images i got.

I hope you have enjoyed this relatively small...yet very large update from my 2011 work. It's been another privilege to have been able to capture so many beautifull species. I have a trip planned to photograph Common Cranes in Hungary in october and after that the month of November will be spent in Australia and Tasmania so i have a lot to look forward to. Hope i will be able to update this blog on a regular base and to keep all of you informed on my whereabouts..

All the best and thanks for your attention!

Best regards,

Jeroen Stel

Last available places at Grey Seal workshops -So...Book Now!!

2010-09-27T02:25:00.000-07:00

Hi There,

The annual Grey Seal and Red Deer workshops are about to happen again next November.
I have some final places left for those of you whom might be interested to join me on this photographic adventure in the UK.

For some examples have a look down here..

I will host a one day workshop at the Grey Seal colony and another at a Red deer site and both are great for working with 200mm + type lenses so no huge telelenses needed!

If you are interested to join me, send me an e-mail at: info@jeroenstel.com
or have a look on the website: http://www.jeroenstel.com

Dances with .....euh...Foxes

2010-06-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

I have been following the family lives of two Foxes with cubs and it has been a great joy to do. One Fox in particular let's me get really close to her when she is out hunting for Greylag Geese. Sometimes i see her out in the field crawling towards a group of Geese and i know it won't take long for her to catch pne despite her old age and one leg not working as it should. When she returns to her den i carefully choose the right position where she will pass me and sometimes she walks by at only 2 meters. The thrill i feel when that happens is something out of this world!

I hope to be able to follow the two families for some time but the youngsters are allready growing tall so it won't take long before they decide to go out and explore this world on their own.

If you are interested in doing a 1:1 workshop on Foxes with me or perhaps one of the other workshops i host then have a look at the website: http://www.jeroenstel.com

New Website online!!!

2010-06-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

Finally...

It took me a while and it's been pretty silent i know...
But i have been working hard on my new website wich has just been published!

So have a look at:

http://www.jeroenstel.com

And drop me a line to tell me what you think of it..

Boxing Hares

2010-04-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

One of the things i just love about Spring is when male European Brown Hares start boxing amongst eachother for the right to mate.
The best place to photograph this action over here in The netherlands must be nature reserve Polder Arkemheen wich is well known amongst the natre photographers community for it's Waders such as Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Oystercatchers but also in wintertime for Bewick and Whooper Swans.

But the Brown Hares can be found in abundance too. It's just a matter of the right timing. Parking your car near the right field and a bit of luck and a lot of patience to get the right images.
Here are some i shot last week when i had some spare hours between business meetings in the nabourhood of the reserve and had a blast with these brown beauties.

And ofcourse what it is all about for these guys...

A son is born!

2010-04-11T00:52:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since i last posted on my blog...

Several reasons for that such as my health issues concerning my sleeping apnea, work related issues keeping me away from photography, my 1D Mark 3 falling out after photographing in the snow and last but foremost the birt of our second son Robijn (Ruby translate in English) who has decided to join our happy family on April the 9th.

We feel priveliged, proud, and very happy that Robijn is born and that mother and son are doing well..

I guess photography will be something i can pick up when Canon releases it's Canon 1D Mark...17...hahhaha

Hope to be back soon with some nice animal pictures as i long to get out there again when i have become more acustomed to the new family situation.

For those of you that are curious...here's an online presentation of the new kid on the block:
www.jeroenstel.com/Robijn.html

cuisses de grenouille sil vous plait...

2010-01-31T08:33:00.000-08:00

In other words....Frog-legs anyone..??

I went back to the Bittern site where i photographed the Bitterns in the last post. Today was another succes as there where two Bitterns active out on the ice. One of them was hunting the edges of the reed bed and all of a sudden i saw it reaching out for something from underneath the ice...There it was...a big fat Frog!

Was hoping for such action but never expected it...
Tomorrow i will revisit the site to get some more shots and hopefully more of the action as i will be hosting another "Winter-Wonderland-Workshop" with the Bitterns as main point of focus..litterally..

So thumbs up for tomorrow and hope the Bitterns will be cooperative again and may the light be with us.

Mr. Camouflage..Exposed

2010-01-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

Maybe some of you will remember one of my first posts on this weblog back in February of 2009 called "Masters of Camouflage",followed by another post of this mysterious creature called "Mr. Camouflage strikes again". I was talking about a Bittern ofcourse. A beautiful and mysterious bird that rarely steps out of it's natural habitat of the reed bed. It blends in perfectly and is very hard to detect.

There is a patch of reed bed near my home that i pass perhaps hundreds of times a year and i always think...this would be great Bittern territory....but i never see one...
Today i had about an hour or so to go out so i passed the same patch again and today it finally happened! There he was..fouraging out on the ice..a beautiful Bittern!
After taking some shots of it a few people on bycicles passed by and the Bittern decided to fly off and i finally got a couple of Bittern in flight shots that had crossed my mind several times..

I hope to be able to get some more shots of this amazing bird in the days to come and for those of you who are interested in doing a "Winter Wonderland"-Workshop with me (see 2 posts below this one)..be sure i will take you to several of my Bittern hotspots as they are out there right now!

Camera Magazine Interview

2010-01-14T00:47:00.000-08:00

Recently i was interviewed by the Dutch Camera Magazine. This is a magazine for both amateur and professional photographers and is well known for it's high quality articles and information. I was very pleased to see the interview being published this week and here's some scan's i made of the article.

Inside the article is a coupon for 15.- euro discount on my regular workshops for all Camera Magazine and the first 5 participants even get the workshop for free as they will be paid by Camera magazine! So be quick and make sure you are one of them!

For more information on Camera Magazine see: http://www.cameranet.nl/

Winter Wonderland

2010-01-10T11:30:00.001-08:00

We have had a beautiful winter so far with loads of snow and ice. Ofcourse these are hard times for birds and they have to head out further from there regular feeding grounds in order to find food. For us nature photographers a great time to look for birds and other wildlife as they are more easy to get close to then usual.

In winter times i always host my 1:1 winter workshops wich means i take a fellow photographer with me in my car and we drive around my local patch to look for wildlife or we head out to a certain area to look for birds and wildlife with the main aim at winter visitors and scarce species. Last friday i had another one of those workshops and took fellow photographer Dennis Martens out to our southern province of Zeeland which is well known for its winter waterfowl and waders.

There is always plenty of wildlife around during these harsh and cold days. From White-fronted Geese to Tufted Ducks and from Eurasian Wigeons to Hen Harriers it is a joy to be out even if my fingers freeze off..

Besides these lovely birds we where very pleased to also have a chance at what was a mystery bird to me so far as i could never get a decent shot...the Short-eared Owl. A beautiful Owl species wich is very scarce to our country.

Besides the Short-eared Owl there was another bird high on my wishlist..
This Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) wich is largely nocturnal, spending most of the day in dense cover.Their camouflage is one of the best i have ever seen in the animal kingdom and even now it is not easy to find them so i was very glad to come across this beauty.

Another thing i like about winter time is that low warm sunlight that lights up the wildlife in a very warm and gorgeous setting.

And some more images from the recent trips out into "Winter Wonderland"...

If you are interested in a 1:1 tuition workshop like this one or in one of the other workshops just send me an e-mail for information to: info@jeroenstel.com

Wildlife of the Peaks Workshops

2010-01-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned a co-operation with UK based nature photographer Craig Jones before and we have now set up diverse workshops together starting February next called "Wildlife of the Peaks". For more information on Craig Jones see: http://www.craigjoneswildlifephotography.co.uk/blog/
These will be a 3 day workshops which i will co-host with Craig and he will take us to some of the best possible locations in the English Peak District.

The heaths and moors of the peak district are an eerie exposure of peat covered moorland sitting about 600m (2000 ft) above sea level. Large wind carved eroded rocks sit among vast plateaus and rock formations supporting a healthy population of Red Grouse. These iconic moorland birds make their home on these moors and are reliant on their camouflaged plumage to blend in to this habitat. They feed on the tender shoots of the heather that cover the majority of the moorland, and at certain times of the year the heather forms a pink blanket of colour. These 3 day workshops will run all year and we will take you to those places Craig has found over time, to be some of the best places to see and photograph diverse beautiful birds such as Red Grouse, Dipper, Barn Owl but besides birds there will also be a possibility to photograph Snow Hares.

If you are interested in joining us on this special workshop you can get more information by e-mailing me at: info@jeroenstel.com

Additional Information

The weather in the Peak District is a mixture of mist, fog, rain and sunshine, and during winter month’s also snow, so appropriate waterproof clothing is necessary. A little walking will be involved so walking boots are also needed. Water proof housing and lens covers are a must as rain can be upon you in minutes.
Recommended Kit

You will need to provide your own photographic equipment, a 500mm lens is ideal but a 300mm with convertors should meet your needs A tripod is also essential. The landscape of the Peak District will present you with many opportunities so if you have a wide angle lens then this would also give you a chance to capture some beautiful landscape images.

All images by Craig Jones wildlife photography

Great White

2010-01-10T01:51:00.000-08:00

I recently called a post "Little White" wich was about the Sanderlings on the UK beach where i host my Grey Seal workshops. Now i thought it was time for a post on "Great Whites". The sharks..??? no...i am sorry...we are still talking about birds..

The Great White i refer to is the Great Egret (Casmerodius alba) wich is a winter visitor to our country and is usually quite hard to approach but as winter is kicking in over here and temperatures are dropping hard the Great Egrets have become more easy to get close to. And so here's a small species report on these beautiful Egrets.

There is a place where the Great Egrets gather at night to rest near my home and this is always my starting point for photographing these white hunters. From there on i head out to different streams in the area where i can find them fouraging.

Grey Seal and Red Deer Workshop II Report

2010-01-10T01:28:00.000-08:00

The new year has started and i have a lot of catching up to do..
So first of all i would like to wish all of you a Happy and healthy 2010 with loads of photographic highlights! May the light be with you!

As said i have some catching up to do as i have been very pre-occupied with my health and prepairing new workshops etc etc. I will tell you more about the new workshops wich i will be hosting in co-operation with UK based photographer Craig Jones soon but for now a report on a workshop i hosted in the UK in December 2009. It was another Grey Seal and Red Deer workshop and again the weather was great and we had a very good time. Besides Grey Seal there are always a couple of Common Seals around if you look closely.

Here is a small report of the workshop. For those of you that might be interested in joining me on one of my group or 1:1 workshops just send me an e-mail: info@jeroenstel.com

Then the Red Deer part wich is always a good time spent..

The workshop is called a Grey Seal and Red Deer workshop but besides the Red Deer there are also several groups of Fallow Deer in the area wich makes the Deer part more interesting. Here are some of the results we got dureing the Red Deer and Fallow Deer workshop.

For this workshop i was in the company of some lovely ladies called Frederique, Jaqueline and Sandra and i took a few pictures of them during the workshop in order to give future participants an idea of how this works..

And some more Red Deer..

Little White

2010-01-10T01:21:00.000-08:00

I went over to the UK to host several workshops on Grey Seals and Red Deer recently and when i am on the beach to photograph the Grey Seal i am always on the lookout to spot these lovely little birds too. These are Sanderling (Calidris alba) wich we call Drieteenstrandlope in The Netherlands wich is translated as "three-toed-beach-walker".

They are agile and nervous little birds and getting them running by is always a huge challenge but one i am more then up for.

Grey Seals and Red Deer Workshop

2009-11-20T07:19:00.000-08:00

Just one week after the France workshop i had a workshop Grey Seals and Red Deer planned in the UK. So we went out to the beach on the first day to photograph the Grey Seals and we had some bright and sunny weather so that was good! The Grey Seals where present and some allready gave birth to young so everything worked out well..

We had a blast at the beach and i finally met up with my friend Craig Jones and his wife Vanessa. I did not photograph as many Seals as last year as i was chatting away with Craig for too long..(not your fault mate..:)-..)But i had a wonderful day with good company and lovely weather and opportunities. The Grey Seals where working along and so was everything else..

The next day it was time for the Red Deer and Craig joined us for the day and so we where at the reserve at dawn to get some Red Deer images. It was a bit cloudy but later on the sun came out and we had another perfect day with cooperative subjects.

We set out on foot and the Red Deer where a bit cautious as always and so we decided to split up in 2 groups to enhance our chances and that worked out well for both parties. There was still a bit of rut activity as i had hoped for so that made everything just a tad more exciting.

Later that day my group discovered some male Red Deer hiding within the bracken and that gave us some chances of getting really close to the Deer.

As said there was still some rut activity amongst the males and so i was able to get some shots of fighting Red Deer.

In the afternoon we decided to join Craig who has a very interesting place to photograph Dippers wich where high on our wishlist so we where glad to got a chance at them.It was a tad crowded at the Dipper site due to loads of people walking their dogs or being out on a sunday afternoon walk so i did not manage to get the type of shots i was after but i guess i will get another chance at them later on..Thanks again Craig for your help and we had a great day!

Here's a shot of the exhausted team after 2 days of hard work on the beach, in the forest and near the stream in the background...

For those of you who might be interested in a workshop like this one or with another theme feel free to contact me for more information: info@jeroenstel.com or have a look at the workshop page on my website: http://www.jeroenstel.com/Workshops%20Diverse-JSWF.html
In December i will go another time and let's hope weather and the animals will treat us kindly once more...Here are some more images from the trip..

The France Workshop

2009-11-20T02:43:00.000-08:00

End of October i went over to Southern France to host a photographic holiday with a group of 8 people in a place called Les Brousses. I went ahead a few days earlier together with my good friend Bart Stornebrink to prepair for the workshop as this was something i had never done before in this way. I usually set up my own workshops as this time i was hired by the Franch organisation to host the weeklong holiday.
The team over at Le Mas Blanc was great and the holiday house we stayed in wich was a former monistry was beautiful and located in a wonderful setting.

The first two days of preperation we had some awfull weather so Bart and i had to go out and scout locations in the rain wich was a pitty. We went over to Gorges de la Jonte to look for Vultures in a large rock formation setting. Despite that the Vultures where present we thought they flew to far off for the workshop participants to get some good shots of them but i made some record shots any way...

The next days we went over to the Camarque region wich is a wonderful nature reserve and we went out to look for several landscape locations. Then on saturday evening the first guests arrived and we had a nice meal together with the group. On sunday the workshop started with a lecture i gave on Macro photography and afterwards we set out at Le Mas Blanc for some macro photography as we had allready caught several Praying Mantis and some Scorpions wich made for some excellent macro subjects to experiment with.

End of the day we had another fantastic meal provided by the people of Le Mas Blanc and afterwards i held a presentation on photographing Mammals in the wild and then we head off to bed for a well deserved sleep..
The next day i had a day of Landscape photography planned in and we went over to a beautiful rock formation with several waterfalls called Roque sur Seze. This provided the perfect surrounding for a day of landscape especially combined with the lovely old and typical French village on the top of the mountain where we went for some details and village photography.

I personally fell in love with the little church that was near the entrance of this small village and had a lot of lovely ornaments and details to photopgraph. But also the town square and the small streets provided some excellent photograpical subjects.

An ideal place to practise some Black and White photography...

Late afternoon we went over to the Parc de Cevennes ich is a large woodland nature reserve where we joined two guides who where supposed to show us the Red Deer of this area but as could be expected with a large group of 10 people the Deer where nowhere to be seen unfortunately. Still the two guides where able to take us up the mountain and presented us with a spectaculair sunset wich showed off the layers of mountains really well. Sometimes you just have to make the best of a situation and this was such a time and so i was able to get some really nice sunset shots after a long and tiring walk.

On Tuesday we had a day of rest wich Bart and i spent at the site of Le Mas Blanc and i had a good day shooting some more macro stuff and was especially pleased with the Praying Mantis as this is a species i can never get enough of..In the evening i held a presentation on Bird photography as the next day we would head out to the Camargue nature reserve down south to photograph all sorts of birds.

And so on wednesday morning we set off at 05.00 hours to visit the Camargue wich was a large nature reserve where we would first photograph some groups of fouraging Flamingo's in the morning and then we would split up and meet again at a spot i had found with some Mediterrenean Tree Frogs and a lot of other interesting bugs.

As said we first went over to photograph the Flamingo's in some gorgeous early morning light. Unfortunately part of our group decided to head in another direction and discover the Camargue themselfs so they missed out on this part of the day trip. Then we each went off to look for birds in the Camargue and found several beauties such as Cattle Egrets and Little Egrets but also some Birds of Prey such as Marsh Harriers, Kestrel and Buzzards.

Ofcourse we where also able to photograph some of the "famous" Camargue white horses wich can be found throughout the reserve.

The Catlle Egret was one of my favourites as we parked the car in a shady place near to where it was hunting and the Egret just came closer and closer..

In the afternoon we had agreed to meet up at a spot where there several Medeterrenean Tree Frogs and othe interesting bugs. Unfortunately only one couple was able to join us there and the rest of the group decided to roam around the Camargue. We where able to get some lovely images of the Tree Frogs wich are a sub species of the European Tree Frogs and they came in all sorts of colors. As it was hot they where warmed up and it was not always easy to get a good shot but in the end we managed to get some lovely stuff from this place.

Despite the fact that autumn bird migration was not at it's usual levels and there where fewer small birds as one would expect we still had a great day with loads of photographic possibilities. If i had only shot the series of the Catlle Egret it would have been more then worth the effort..End of the day we searched for some small waders and for some more Flamingo's in the sunset and found a few on the edge of the reserve.

And ofcourse at the end of the day we witnessed the beautiful Camargue sunset...

On thursday my friend Bart Stornebrink who is a funghi specialist prepaired a wonderful presentation on photographing funghi wich would be our theme of the day. We set off to the forest around the property of Le Mas Blanc where we found the first couples of funghi. A large diversity of funghi was found throughout the day and we had a good day of photographing this special subject.

Another day with great weather wich we had all week long and some interesting subjects to photograph. The next day we would go to visit "Augustine" wich is a man in his seventies and he migrated to Southern France at the age of 27 to start a life as a wild boar farmer. We expected sto photograph Wild Boar when we arrived but as it turned out the pigs this rather interesting man kept where of an Iberian species and looked like a mixture between Wild Boar and regular Pigs so that was rather dissapointing. He said there where Wild Boar in the forest surrounding his property and we looked for them but as can be expected with a 10 man group these will not show themselfs.. This was very dissapointing as i too had expected to photograph Wild Boar and not another species and once more it shows that the perception of a photographer is very different from that of other people. Luckily another species wich was high on our wishlist did show itself as this man had some dark cellars in his building we where able to find some Bats wich was anothe topic we had planned for the workshop so after all we where able to get some nice images of Bats.
Then to celebrate the week we had a lovely Iberian pig for lunch and we had a great time out in Augustine's garden with some excellent food! Looking back on the workshop it is a pitty that we where not able to get all species we had anticipated to photograph but we had wonderful weather and many other possibilities photographically and with the great food and shelter we had turned this week into an interesting experience. Would i do it again? Well...Yes, but not in this way as i prefer to have everything in my own hands and be able to predict what to photograph instead of having someone else predict that. Still i think i will do this workshop again next year but then arrange the whole program myself and therefor have more control over the workshop and its content. I hope the group has had a great time nevertheless and that everybody has learned and grown from this week like i have. Next year i will host another weeklong photographic holiday again at Le Mas Blanc but then it will be a starters course and the program will be slightly different. If you would like to learn more about photography and do it in the best way possible at one of the nicest locations of Southern France...make sure you are there and reserve your spot on this workshop for next year!
And mow some more random shots from this week to end with...

First Frost

2009-10-15T07:21:00.001-07:00

Some time ago i hosted the very succesfull Roe Deer workshops during their rut season. As i was working with the Roe Deer at the time i got the idea to return when the first snow or frost would appear this fall or winter. Last night the weather report gave some first nightly frost so this was the right moment.

So this morning when i arrived i went to look for the Roe Deer and after some searching i was able to find them in one of their area's. The moorland was covered in white ans there was a thick layer of fog hanging over the field wich created a wonderful atmosphere and i was glad i got out of bed at 06.30 hours.

The Roe Deer where perhaps not as cooperative as they where during the rut season but i still managed to get some decent shots and they let me get as close as 20 meters from them so my day was spent well..

Later this morning the sun started to shine and the light and atmosphere changed completely resulting in another setting and i was able to get some more shots in that light again before returning home.

Hope you have enjoyed viewing these Roe Deer images again and next week i will be off to southern France to host a week long photographic holiday and i am ofcourse looking very much forward to that event wich i will surely report more of on this weblog in a later stage.

Silver Y Moth Study

2009-10-14T03:40:00.000-07:00

I have not been out much lately due to preperation of workshops and personal stuff. Today the light was stunning and i would have liked to go out but as it is "daddy-day" i was bound to our backyard. That is not a punishment as one can always find interesting subjects close to home. And so i did when i found this Siver Y Moth this morning and was able to turn it into a case study..

When i am working on a certain subject i always try to get very different images by using several viewpoints and lenses. In this case i used the Sigma 150mm F2.8 Macor lens and a Canon MPE-65mm F2.8 extreme Macro lens combined with the Canon MT 24 EX Twin Flash for some fill flash light (especially with the baclit images).
I love shooting backlit images but beware of flare and make sure you use a flash for some fill in light on your subject without loosing that all important rim of ligt on the subjects edges.

But also a plain "light in your back" situation can provide some interesting images. In that case try to render a uniform background by using the widest possible aperture in order to focus the attention on your subject without losing detail in the subject.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSnakes

2009-09-15T07:06:00.000-07:00

I have been out to photograph the autumn migration of the Dutch Snakes. There are actually 3 species of Snake in The Netherlands being the Grass Snake (Natrix natrix), the Adder (Vipera berus) and the hardly known or seen Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca).Migration sounds like they are heading south but what i mean by that is that most Snakes are returning to their winter den after giving birth to the youngsters in the moorland.

So let's start with the Grass Snake. A beautiful snake wich is often recognized by it's yellow collar. Contrary to popular belief the Grass Snake is not venomous. It does have some small fangs in the back of it's mouth but the venom within them is only used for digestion and is not dangerous to humans. It is also the largest snake we have groing up to more then 1 meter in length (allthough the specimens i found where just 20 cm long juveniles...) As this one was in slough it's eyes seem somehwat blue and obscured.

Then there is the Adder.This species of Snake is venomous and if you are bitten by one you won't die at the spot but getting to a hospital for anti venom is seriously advised. This snake is easily recognised by the square pattern on it's back and the vertical pupil instead of a round pupil like the other two species have. Adders are found within moorland and around small woodland ponds or dry tall grassland in forest area's.

For those of you who have not seen them yet i did a topic on Adders befor on this blog, see: http://jeroenstel.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html

Then the last one of the herpatological threesome is the rarest and most unknown we have the Smooth Snake. Unlike the other two this one des not have scales but has a smooth skin hence it's name. Where the other Snake species need warmer weather and a clouded sky with tempertures of around 15 to 18 degrees to be seen. This Snake get's out after a nice rain shower and lives a secretive life. That is the reason most people never get to see it or have not heard of it's excistance. A lovely Snake nevertheless ans one that has been high on my wishlist for several years.

Also the Smooth Snake has been covered before on this blog, see: http://jeroenstel.blogspot.com/2009/04/smoothy-anyone.html

Then last but not least there is another "Snake"...or isn't it...? Nope it is not...
The Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis) is not actually a Snake. It is a legless Lizzard and if you take a good look at it's head it resembles a Lizzard more then a Snake. This legless Lizzard is also living in wood- and moorland and is very slick and shiny and often seen crossing footpaths in forests.

And as i had so much fun photographing these beautifull animals here are some more shots fro the recent sessions of Hollands slippery 3...(or actually 4..)

Skaters at the pond

2009-09-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

When i have little time to go out and photograph as happens too often when being a parent to a one year old i tend to stay close to home and photograph at the nature reserve behind my home wich has some really nice hidden treasures each season.

One of the animals i always like to watch on the streams in the reserve are the Pond Skaters-Gerris lacustris as the way they walk on the water appeals to everyone's imagination i guess.

Today i decided to dedicate some spare time to these tiny wonders of nature and here are some of the results..

Wie is de ...?

2009-08-04T02:21:00.000-07:00

A Dutch title tis time refering to a Dutch television show called "who is the mole?"..

This is one species i have been wanting to photograph for a long time so when the opportunity was there i ducked down and took the shots.

Common Brimstone-Gonepteryx rhamni

2009-07-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

One of the finest Butterflies we have over here in The Netherlands is the Common Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni). It is however hard to find and with the past few years being very bad Butterfly years i had little hope of finding one soon. But then my good friend Bart Stornebrink told me he knew of a good place for Butterflies and as this year is eceptionally good for Butterflies compared to the last few years i was hoping for some good results of the Common Brimstone in particular.

We head out to his Butterfly place yesterday and on arrival there where loads of Butterflies flying around including the not so "common" Brimstone!

So here's some of the results;

We also found other species so here's some of them too;

The Roe Deer Workshops-Report

2009-07-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

Have been hosting my Roe Deer workshops over the weekend and had a great morning and evening with a lot of cooperative Roe Deer.
In all we have been able to shoot around 40GB in 2 days wich is more then i could have imagined.

Here's just a couple of shots from this weekend's sessions to give you an impression of the workshops. If you are interested in joining me on one of my Roe Deer workshops just send me an e-mail at: info@jeroenstel.com

And some more...

There's more where that came from...

And that's not all....

But my absolute favorites must have been these wich we have photographed with some backlight after a good meal...

The Extremist is back...

2009-07-16T05:15:00.000-07:00

With the real thing this time...

Finally my new toys arrived being the Canon MP-E 65mm F2.8 Macro and the Canon MT 24 EX Twin Flash. A set of gear i have been dreaming of using ever since i started my many macro experiments years and years ago..

Ofcourse i can get similar or even more extreme results using the rversed lens technique but this is so much easier to work with and does not give me a headache from peeping through a 2mm small diafragm hole into a bright shiny LED light.

The other thing is that i can start at 1:1 and work my wy up to 5:1 or more using my macro extension rings or a converter.
I do feel that working 1:1 at 65mm is very hard as insects tend to run or fly of when you get that close so for the 1:1 stuff my Sigma 150mm F2.8 regular Macro lens will still be the best solution. For extreme macro however this is the set to use!

Handling the MT 24 EX Twin Flash is another thing as i found out and like most macro flashes it produces way too much light. Diffusion is the thing to do so in order to get accurate diffusion i now have made a set of semi transparent diffusers from an old film roll box wich seal of the flash heads and on top of that a pair of the trusted Gary Fong Puffer diffusers and this combi seems to give me the best results. One of the flash heads has also been modified by placing it higher using a Kaiser hot shoe adapter. That way i can avoid specular highlights as the flash heads are not at the same angle.

Nocturnal adventures

2009-07-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

Or rather..."Athena noctua"...

My cousin Conrad (see his website at: www.conradpauw.nl) had recently been working on a Little Owl project and invited me to join him for an evening. This was just before the juveniles flew out of the nest so there was a lot of feeding activity going on.

Unfortunately....for me... (not for him that is..) my cousin went on a holiday and we just missed the actual flying out of the chicks. But yesterday he invited me over for another evening of Little Owl photography as there where still some chicks around. I was surprised that after more then 2 weeks the chicks where still in the area but when we arrived we had some good chances at photographing one of the chicks right away.

The rest of the evening was a little harder as the Owls did not show themselfs well and the temporary hide was a bit too small resulting in some ackward positioning all evening long..

In all i had a great time on both occassions and got home with a nice series of Little Owl images of wich i will share a few over here with you.

Gentlemen of the Swamp

2009-06-26T01:59:00.001-07:00

I feel like Christopher Columbus as i have discovered new "territory"...
As i was out to look for a Baillon's Crake (Porzana pusilla)wich is an absolute rarity in our country and due to it's small size (about the size of a Blackbird) and secretive way of living very hard to find i came across many more interesting wading birds in the same area. I had never been there before and was amazed as it only excists for a couple of years and allready there are Baillon's Crake, Spotted Crake, Spoonbillls, Ruff, Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwitt and many more wading birds.

I focussed on the Ruff first as they are the true "Gentlemen of the Swamp" and to me a species wich are very hard to find let alone get close to. I hide myself in between the grassland on the shore of the swamp and within half an hour the Ruff where confident i was not out to harm them and they came closer wich gave me some good opportunities to photograph them. The light was a bit harsh but since the birth of our son i can not always head out when i like to so sometimes i just have to settle with some harsh afternoon light and try to make the best of it.

The great thing about Ruff is that no singel one looks the same! Their plumage is so diverse that every one of them offers a different photograph and this makes portraying them a wonderful challenge.

As said besides Ruff there where also some other wonderful waders in the same area and i must say that the Spoonbills where one of the nicest surprises next to the Ruff.

But also a Greenshank will bring a smile to my face...

Now as mentioned earlier i headed out for the Baillon's Crake and did see it that afternoon but it was fast and i could not get a proper shot in the harsh afternoon light. So i returned to the area just before sunset and waited for the Baillon's Crake to show up. Just after sunset it did and allthough i had to work at ISO 1600-2000 i managed to get some shots of this elusive bird. I will get back to this magnificent place many more times in the future that's for sure so i guess one day i will be able to get some better results of the Baillon's Crake and hopefully also of the Spotted Crake.

1:1 Roe Deer Photography Workshops

2009-06-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

I have been out a lot recently to photograph Roe Deer in order to prepare for my 1:1 Roe Deer photography workshops. I have come to know the reserve where they live well as i have visited this place many times together with my wife and son to take a walk and enjoy the wildlife over there.

It is a gorgeous place with both moorland and grassland providing the perfect setting to photograph Roe Deer in. As the Roe Deer rut is almost starting it is also the best period to photograph the Roe Deer as they are easier to approach and many of the juvenile males will be looking for a mate.

Sometimes people do not even see what is passing them by within a few feet...
I would have liked a better point of view and had preferred not to have both intersect but it happened in a split second..

At the end of the day the light went gold and the Roe Deer where still very cooperative as they always are in this area. There are still a few places left for the 1:1 Roe Deer Photography Workshops so if you are interested just contact me for information.

Hope to see you at one of the Roe Deer photography workshops in June or July!

The Beetles

2009-05-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

No...not the artists...but actual Beetles...
Springtime has set in and one of my favorite Macro subjects are Beetles so why not spent a topic on these lovely little critters.

They come in all shapes, colors and sizes from the small Mint Leaf Beetles with their golden colors to the enormous Stag Beetles wich are one of my favorite type of Beetles but also darn hard to find in our small but crowded country.

Hope you will enjoy some of my recent (and a few older) shots in this Beetle special..

Texel another time around...

2009-05-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

I just can't get enough of Texel..and went over there to host another bird photography workshop last sunday. We focussed on Marsh Harriers, Yellow Wagtail, Avocets and Spoonbill. The Marsh Harriers where by far the best opportunity that day as the wind was headed our way and the sun was just peeking through the sky.

Besides the Marsh Harriers also the Yellow Wagtails gave us quite some photographic opportunities and so did a Whitethroat and the Spoonbills.
We had a great day and i hope to return end of may or early June to photograph the juvenile Avocets and Terns. Perhaps in fall the annual bird migration will also draw me back to this gorgeous island.

Texel the Bird Photography Workshop

2009-04-28T02:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend i went over to the isle of Texel again and this time with a group of photographers to host my Bird Photography workshop. As mentioned earlier on this blog Texel is one of the best places for migratory and nesting birds.

We left early around 05.00 hours to catch the first boat out to the island where the group would meet near the harbour at 07.00 hours. As the first daylight started to appear on the boat and the sun was getting warmer i felt this was going to be a good trip.
Everybody was present at the meeting point and we could head out to photogaph the Spoonbills wich we had planned to start off with that morning. They flew by very gracefully and gave us loads of opportunities. In the afternoon we visited a nesting site of Marsh Harriers wich i had seen nesting the week before and unfortunately they did not show themselfs well this afternoon but not to worry as we had many other occasions on wich the diverse Harriers posed well in flight.

Later that afternoon we went to look for passerines in the dunes and found a Nightingale, some Lesser Whitethroaths, Reed Warblers and Bluethroats. After all that excitement we went over to our lovely hotel where we had a good meal and then headed out to try to spot a couple of short eared owls near their nesting site but as diner was rather good and turned out longer then expected by the time we where at the Short Eared Owl location light was setting rapidly and we could only get some pheasant shots before the sun went down.

After a good but short night sleep we went out the next day to shoot waders and gulls such as Avocet, Redshank, Tern and Black-headed Gulls. We where at the location of the waders just when the sun started to appear wich gave the Avocets a wonderful golden glance. We had a superb morning with gorgeous light and loads of cooperative birds.
Then we went over to one of Texel's little harbours to have a good fish lunch and in the afternoon we headed out to a location where i had spotted some Eider ducks the week before and had some fun photographing these remarkable looking birds.
Back to the hotel for a good diner and as requested they served us a little faster as the day before so we could have another go at the Short Eared Owls. Unfortunately luck was not on our side this evening and again they did not show themselfs to us. Nevertheless we had a great day and where able to fill many of our memory cards.

On sunday we started out early again and despite some rain we where able to photograph some waders again and then headed out to lunch in one of the lovely beach restaurants. The afternoon was free to everyone to spend as the liked and most of the photographers went out to photograph the tulip fields wich where in bloom but i spend the afternoon with one of them to shoot Spoonbills out on the sand banks. This was a wise decision as we had some great opportunities to photograph the Spoonbills.

looking back it was a great weekend with a wonderfull group of photographers and i hope i will be able to host the workshop again next spring.

Here are some more random shot's from the weekend workshop Bird Photogrphy:

Smoothy anyone..??

2009-04-28T01:57:00.000-07:00

There are only three species of snakes in The Netherlands wich are the Adder, the Grass Snake and the Smooth Snake. The first two are well known by most people but the last one has a secretive way of living wich makes it very unknown and it it also the most scarce snake we have.

When i was out to look for Adders last week i was in a bad mood as i could not find any... The males had all gone to the moorland to look for females and in the moorland they are very hard to find. So on my way to a cup of coffee i suddenly stumbled across this wonderful brown snake.. At first i thought it was a female Adder but after closer inspection the circular pupils of it's eyes gave it away...oohhhh yess...it was a Smoothe Snake!

So here a a couple of shots from the encounter i had with this beauty..

A day at Texel

2009-04-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

Texel is one of the Dutch isles up north and is one of the best places to go for bird photography in spring. There are loads of migratory birds but also regular inhabitants wich nest at the isle.
Last sunday i went over to Texel to prepare next weeks "Bird Photography Workshop" and my cousin Conrad joined me on the trip. We also joined Emanuele Juza who is a very talented Italian nature photographer who was on the island for the same reason as us, to photograph birds.

When we came off the boat the first place to go was the "Mokbaai" wich has a wonderful vantage point from which to photograph Spoonbills and several species of Harriers.

Quite unexpected we also spotted a pair of Lesser Whitethroats wich are quite scarse on the mainland and a species i had been anxious to photograph for a long time.

There was also a couple of nesting Marsh Harriers around and they gave us quite a show with their aerial performances. We even saw them exchanging prey wich is one of the things i am looking forward to photograph a little closer...

Another rarity presented itself with this Montague Harrier flying by. I just love Texel for all its Harrier species. They are one of my favorite birds of prey and are very elegant to watch. We even saw a couple of Hen Harriers but the photographs i took of these where too poor in quality to show over here as they where just too far away.

Later that day we set out to photograph waders such as the Avocets for wich Texel is well known. There are several places to spot them such as Ottersaat, De Petten and De Slufter but Het Waagejot is the best place for me as it offers a very low point of view.

At the other sites we also came across many Terns, Gulls and Geese such as Brent Geese and Greylag Geese.

In the afternoon we went to the north-west side of the island to look for one of the most beautiful species of duck the Eider. I had photographed female Eiders before but the males where still high on my wishlist.We where very lucky as the males where showing their courtship activities by blowing up their neck and making really weird sounds. Besides the Eiders there where also some lovely passerines present such as Wheatear and Reed Bunting.

Later on in the afternoon we went to look for Bluethroats and Reed Warblers in the dunes and where able to get some shots of the Bluethroats. The Reed Warblers where present but did not show themselfs well..

At the end of the day we headed out to a location where i had heard that a couple of Short Eared Owls where hunting. As allways this elusive species did not show itself to me but perhaps i will have better luck next week during the workshop. Allthough the Short Eared Owls where not cooperative there where a couple of Pheasants at this location who where more then willing to pose for our camera's!

Looking back at the day i can say we have had a wonderful day with gorgeous weather and loads of photographic opportunities. I am really looking forward to hosting next weeks workshop and expect similar conditions.

Here are some more images i shot last sunday and now it's back to work again...

Raptor Workshop UK

2009-04-07T04:34:00.000-07:00

Just returned from the UK where i hosted the Raptor Workshop. We had a great time as the weather was awesome and the birds where very co-operative on both days.

First day we joined falconer Vincent Jones who has a large collection of Owls and other Raptors at his Barn Owl Centre. Vincent was very helpfull and was able to create optimal conditions for us to photograph the birds in as he is a photographer himself and thus understands what photographers want from such a day.

The second day we went over to Wales to photograph Red Kites at a conservation feeding centre. This was another day of great joy as it is a marvelous site to see 300 Red Kites (and one white leucistic Kite) flying over your head. There where also numerous Ravens and Buzzards to complete the scene.

This surely was a workshop i will host again someday soon so if any of you readers out there are interested in this Raptor Workshop i am more then willing to give you all the details and set a date.

Venomous Friends

2009-03-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i went out to shoot Adders and boy did i have a great day! We where able to locate 5 of them throughout the day and had a blast photographing these venomous beauties.

The Adder is quite scarce over here and is considered a protective species. It is not easy to find them and by looking at their distinct back pattern i was able to spot them within their dense habitat. March is the best time to spot them as the males (wich all these are) will come out of their winter den to bask in the early morning sun. Later this month also the females will show them selfs but i will need a little patience before i can photograph these.

So..here's a small selection of the many shots i was able to make..

Most of these shots where taken with the Canon Mark III and Sigma 150mm F2.8 in combination with the G.I Twin or customized Tripple flash. I also made some Adder in habitat shots with the Sigma 17-35mm at 17mm.

Spiderman

2009-03-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

Itsy bitsy spider crawled up against the wall...

Yes...the sun is slowly coming up and macro subjects are starting to emerge from their winter hibernation state. Spiders are superb macro subject with their 8 eyes and hairy bodies and especially Jumping Spiders are amongst my favorites!

So i set out to look for some Jumping Spiders and did not have to look for long to find one. I was looking for a new flash set-up as an alternative for the expensive Canon MT 24 EX system and after some internet seaching i came across the Gadget Infinity Twin Flash. The whole set-up is very inexpensive and allthough it's all plastic it does work fine and is wireless wich is a lot less bulky then the Canon alternative.
I did some modification to the set-up by placing the flash receivers and flash heads on both upper corners and added a mini ballhead where i will place a 3rd similar flas set later on to provide me with some fill flash from a higher point. The Holga flashes do put out quite a big flash and the provided fabric diffusers where not easy to handle and so i bought a pair of Gary Fong "Puffer Diffusers" wich are actually meant for pop-up flashes and cut the pins in half wich u usually use to attach them to the pop-up flash and superglued these to the flash heads so i can place the Puffer Diffusers but also be able to remove them again. I also turned the bracket around so the flash heads and receivers are placed more backwards for better contact to the trigger and more importantly to get the flashes closer to my subject.

The results look very promising and so far and i am very pleased with this cheap and very light set-up. The flash head can be positioned in different angles and give me the freedom to use them for regular macro work as well.

For those of you who might be interested...
Here's what the set-up looks like wich was used to get these 8:1 up to 10:1 magnification Jumping Spider shots:

It's the Canon Mark III, 36mm + 12 mm of extension tubes, a Canon 2x teleconverter and a reversed 28mm lens combined with the customized G.I Twin Flash. There is a small mini Ballhead in the middle between the flashes (wich can not be seen on this photo..) an this is to add a 3rd flash from the top. And last but not least is the small LED light to help me focus my subjects in the dark viewfinder.

Green Lacewing-Chrysoperla carnea

2009-03-14T03:13:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite insects is the Green Lacewing. This mainly has to do with their enormous oily eyes and the fact that one of the first prizes i ever won in a photography competition was a photograph of a mirrored Green Lacewing.

When i saw this one this morning it's eyes inspired we to photograph it on the backside of a DVD wich has the same oily colours and can provide some stunning light effects.

Here's a series of the Green Lacewing i shot this morning.

The Extremist...Part II

2009-03-08T01:33:00.000-08:00

Have not stopped experimenting with extreme macro set-ups yet..
But...one thing that bothered me all this time was that i was working with set-up's wich where as extreme as the subjects i was trying to photograph..

The length of some of these set-ups came close to my 600mm telelens and that does not work well in the field i can tell you...
So after some stacking lenses and converters and macro rings i found a Soligor 3x teleconverter hidden somewhere inside my camera bag. I have hardly used the converter as for tele work i prefer to use Canon's 2x converter or even stack the 1,4 TC and 2x TC.
But...for macro this thing came in handy so i coupled the Canon 1,4 TC, a 20mm or 36mm extension tube and the 3x TC with the Canon 28mm FD in reverse and that turned out to give me images of between 8:1 up to 10: 1 with a set-up wich was 17 cm and could easily be used in the field!

Here's a shot of the set-up as described above:

I have also tried to add some Hama diopters i had laying around and though the magnification was huge the diffraction was likewise and there was just too much glass on glass. I guess a solid diopter from Raynox or a Canon 500D might do the trick but i have to get my hands on one of those some day..

Here's what the above set-up gave me from a 3mm Jumping Spider...

Some more test with this set-up at 10:1 magnification using electricity wire and the tip of a ballpoint...

Going Extreme!

2009-03-06T00:56:00.001-08:00

Extreme macro that is....!
For a couple of years i have been using a reversed 50mm F1.8 to get extreme macro results wich are larger then the regular 1:1 macro lens has to offer. I used combinations of extension tubes and teleconverters and got decent results up to around 4 times lifesize.

I had however an old Canon 28mm F1.8 FD lens laying around wich i had intended to use for reversed lens technique but never got the aperture ring to work properly. As i usually work at around F9 for extreme macro (due to diffraction at these extreme magnifications) i decided to break te lens open and fix the aperture at F10.

I did some testshots of a Jumping spider and was very pleased with the results wich came out somewhere between 5:1 up to 8:1 wich is even larger then the Canon MP-E 65 can provide. There was however one drawback...due to the large aperture i had only a very small aperture-hole to peek through wich turned the viewfinder in one large black hole with hardly anything visible. I had seen a tip once from another macro photographer displaying how he used a small LED light to assist him with getting the focus right when working with extreme macro and a reversed lens. So at first i bought some small LED's and tried it without any good results. Then i drove off to the local gas station to look for one of those small LED light key-chains and i found one wich worked really well and provided me with a narrow but clear bright lightbeam to assis me with my AF. It works very good as when the viewfinder turns bright i know i am close to getting an accurate AF.

Here's the Jumping Spider i photographed with this set-up:

And here you can see the actual size of the Jumping Spider photographed with a regular 1:1 macro lens. As you can see the spider was only around 3mm so you can imagine how hard it was to get accurate focus on such a small animal when working handheld with a dark viewfinder.

Here you can see the set-up i have used in order to get the final Jumping Spider image. It is not as small as the Canon MP-E 65 and i propably will some day invest in that exceptional lens but for now this works like a charme...

I do not always use a ringflash though as it tends to give me circular highlights in the animal's eyes even though i diffused the ring somewhat with styrofoam. I prefer to use the set-up with a macro bracket and my regular Canon 550EX flash being diffused by the Gary Fong-lightsphere and some kitchen towell.

Here you can see a result with the ringflash where the circular highlights are present and in my opinion less attractive then the one shot with the regular flash pointed from above when using the macro bracket, Canon 550EX and Gary-Fong lightsphere:

And things can always get extremer....so here i coupled a bellows unit to the 2x teleconverter and added a 28mm F1.8 in reverse...

This set-up provides me with images at around 10:1 scale wich is double what a Canon MPE 65mm would produce. Ofcourse diffraction is a real issue here and shooting at F5.6 and then stacking the image is the only option.Also the viewfinder is completely dark so that's why i put the LED on top to help me get accurate focus.

Some more "Focus Stacking"

2009-02-28T04:25:00.000-08:00

Have been experimenting a little more with "focus stacking" and this time instead of using the Photo Acute program i usually use for this job i have tried stacking within the new Adobe Photoshop CS4 stacking tool. It works through Bridge in CS4 where you load the images in layers in Photoshop and then you align them and stack them and i must say i am pretty pleased with the results!

Here's a stack of 3 images (see below) of pollen of a stamper of a crocus flower. These pollen are around 1/10th of a millimeter and are hard to get into focus. I used the 1D Mark III combined with a 2x Teleconverter, and 96mm of extension tubes and a macro rail in order to get this extreme magnification. Perhaps stacking more images would have provided even more depth of field but for now this was a nice excercise.

Here's the images i used to get the stacked result above:

All where shot at F11-1/200 sec-200 ISO-macro rail-Gary Fong Lightsphere-home made bracket.

Just some Flowers....

2009-02-27T07:49:00.000-08:00

Have not had much time to shoot anything today as i was stuck to home due to workload.
Did a couple of flower shots to test some different light angles and flash types.

Most of these where shot with the Canon 1DMarkIII, Canon 1,4x TC, 56mm of Soligor Extension Tubes, and a Olympus 1.7x TC and a diffused Vivitar ringflash wich i handheld from different angles.

Unfortunately the photographs shown on my Blog get heavily compressed so the quality is much less then in the original pictures.

Hope i will find some more time to go out soon...

My Nemesis....

2009-02-25T10:34:00.001-08:00

For many years i have been trying to get a decent shot of a Great-spotted Woodpecker and have failed at most attempts...
My good friend and fellow nature photographer Bart Stornebrink had a garden at the edge of some woodland and had invited me to photograph his regularly visiting Great-spotted Woodpecker several times but i have only got a snapshot of it just before Bart moved house..

Lucky for me Bart moved to an even better place in the woods and has made another set-up where he has diverse birds coming in for lunch amongst wich the elusive Great-spotted Woodpecker. This time i came prepared and had a vision of how to photograph the Woodpecker and if it would land on the perch i would be ready for it...
After just an hour and many Blue Tits, Great Tits and Nuthatches there he was landing right where i wanted him! And....finally..i got the shot i was after!

We had a blast with about 20 visiting species today so perhaps i will post some of them later on.
For some of Bart's work have a look here: http://www.bartfotografie.eu

A day at the Oostvaarders Plassen

2009-02-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

Spent the day today at nature reserve the Oostvaarders Plassen together with Jaco Ottevanger who is doing an internship with me this week. The Oostvaarders Plassen is one of the largest reserves we have in The Netherlands and it is one of my favorite places to visit in wintertime.

My intention was to try and get close to a Rough-legged Buzzard wich had been seen in the area several times and we got lucky as it flew past my car and landed in a perch only 15 meters away. Besides the Rough-legged Buzzard there are always regular Buzzards to be found and another species on my wish list was the Red Deer who tend to stay hidden between the reed beds. Besides the Red Deer we also spotted some Roe Deer.

At the end of the day we spotted some Red Deer on the edge of the reserve and again we where quite lucky as they where all large males with beautifull antlers.
Here's some of today's results;

Focus Stacking

2009-02-24T00:25:00.000-08:00

One of the things wich intrigue me a lot is "focus stacking". It is a technique to solve the age old problem of limited depth of field in macro technique. In maco photography the depth of field is often extremely thin and when using large apertures and shooting objects from an angle there are always parts of the subject wich will be unsharp.

This is not always an issue as limited depth of field can provide us with gorgeous shots where for instance only the eyes of your subject are within focus. However in macro photography it is often a golden rule to get as much sharp as possible (preferebly with a soft background). The only things left to do are making sure your subject is absolutely parallel to the sensor or.....you've guessed it.....focus stacking. Ofcourse another option is to set you F-number to F32, but then you will loose that smooth backdrop.

Here's an example of a subject i photographed from an angle showing what happens when you shoot at F9 to get a soft background and as you can see due to the length of the subject you loose a lot of sharpness and detail in the further parts of this subject.

Now when i start photographing the middle and lower section of the subject in 3 more frames as shown here below we have a set to start focus stacking. Ofcourse you can stack even more images but i will start by using these 4.

The final result of stacking these images is this:

As you can clearly see the sharpness in this subject has improved a lot and a photograph comes to life wich is technically not possible but looks very good!

There are several focus stacking programs available such as CombineZM, Helocon Focus, or as i have used Photo Acute.

Give focus stacking a try and you will see that it will give you some excellent results!

Water sculptures

2009-02-19T07:16:00.000-08:00

Went on with testing the new macro-flash set-up (see topic below) and this time i took a bowl of water and tested the rig with some falling waterdroplets. Still one of my favorite subjects when there's no insect life around or when i am stuck to my office with a heavy workload and want to take a break..

Changed some of the white balance modes in order to get the color effects i was after.

Bubbles...Bubbles...

2009-02-19T05:30:00.000-08:00

Was testing a new Macro Set-up today where i have used a styrofoam bowl with a plastic cap (see picture). I cut a hole in the plastic cap to fit the external flash in and use a macro flash bracket wich was made by my good friend Wim wich i altered slightly to get the right angle. There is a Kaiser sort of mini balhead to get the right angle for the flash and an off-camera shoe cord to get the flash working. Ofcourse i work with a remote control in order to get sharp results.The advantage of this set-up is ofcourse to get softer light and less shadows. Looks stupid.....yes it does...but hey...where not doing macro for the looks..

I tested the rig with some waterdrops today and also tried some shots with drops of olive oil and lemon oil to get a nice coloured effect. You gotta do something when there's no insects available...

Here's some of today's results...

Canvasprints for sale at www.jeroenstel.com

2009-02-17T08:22:00.000-08:00

I finally found some time to set-up a webshop linked to the www.jeroenstel.com website.
There is a selection of 50 images represented in diverse sizes from 20x30cm up to 90x120cm but actually anything is possible.
Prices are very compettetive and shipping is included.

If you are interested in purchasing one of the prints more info and the webshop can be found over here:

Buy canvas prints by Jeroen Stel

If you have read about the prints over here you can get a one time discount of 5.- euro per print using the following code: BLOGJS

It's all in the details...

2009-02-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we are so busy looking for subjects to photograph that we tend to forget what's right in front of us..
Today was such a day when the light was dull, there was "nothing to photograph" and i was not in the best of moods.
Then i thought why not take the macro lens and go out to shoot some detail-shots. It had rained last night so there was an abundance of waterdrops on the plants and i was in for some "abstract" and detail shots.

Besides that it is always a delight to see Snowdrops as they are the first sign of spring to me. So let's forget about the cold and rain and head out for some macro work...

Taking a clear and detailed shot of something is one thing but trying to create a pan-blurred shot wich still looks appealing and artistic is another. So i spent some time on some of those hoping to get something nice out of it.

Here's some of the results:

Mickey "Green"-eyes

2009-02-07T01:08:00.000-08:00

What allways strikes me the most when photographing Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) is their amazing green eyes. They seem to pierce right trough you and with those bright eyes, funky crest and dark but gorgeous plumage they are great fun to capture.

Not the easiest species to get a good shot of though as they are quite skittish when approached. This one let me get close to him when i was driving his way with my car and allowed me some portrait shots showing that bright green eye well.

Later that afternoon just before the sunset i found one of his cousins perched up in a tree and was able to get some more shots op this lovely species.

Mr. Camouflage strikes again

2009-02-06T09:07:00.001-08:00

Had a business meeting near my Bittern place today so on the way back home i made a quick stop to see if "Mr. perfect camouflage" would show itself, or better said if i would be able to spot him again...
After driving past the reed bed several times i saw something moving in the reed bed and yes...there he was!

Once they notice your presence they do not run off but rely solely on their camouflage and raise their head to blend into their environment. Their slow movement and stunning feather pattern makes them blen into their habitat perfectly.

Birds in flight photography

2009-02-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

During my workshops i am often asked what the best way is to photograph birds in flight. Well...there are several ways actually. Ofcourse you can set your camera to shutterspeed priority and select all autofocus points, but what if there is a busy background and you wish to have control over the depth of field..?

I prefer to shoot birds in Aperture priority and select only the center auto focus point. Yes that's risky and difficult to keep that single point on the bird but with a little practise you will get the job done! It also makes sure that by using a lower F-number you maintain a cleaner background and faster shutterspeed.

Then there's allways the point of pushing stops in order to get enough light on the bird as too often we tend to underexpose as skies look bright, but then there is no detail left in the bird. So when shooting birds in flight make sure you over-expose one or two stops to get enough detail in.

Kingfisher Publication

2009-02-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

One of my Kingfisher images was published in the 2009 calender of the HGON wich stands for Hessische Gesellschaft fur Ornithologie und Naturschutz. They are a German Bird Conservation group and i am delighted to be in their calender amongst some of Germany's best nature photographers.
The image quality of the scan i made is a bit poor but nevertheless...

Here's the image they used for the month of March. (Feels a bit like i am playmate of the month March, but in a good way..)

The website for HGON is www.hgon.de for thos of you who are interested in their activities.