Really lovely images. Are you shooting from something like a hide on/in the waterline? I'd love to learn more if you're willing to share a bit about your set up.
cocodrillo wrote:
Really lovely images. Are you shooting from something like a hide on/in the waterline? I'd love to learn more if you're willing to share a bit about your set up.
Thank you very much, Sean!!
I shoot these from a standard aluminum 12ft boat. It's a decent size lake and I like to shoot several families, which gives me different backgrounds and even different prey - one of the families gets crayfish pretty often. You are also constantly on the move once the babies grow up.
To get as close to the water as possible, you need to position the boat with the motor facing the loons. There is a cutout where the motor sits and it gives me about 8 inches from the water surface. With the constant movement of loons and the wind, you have to sometimes shoot from a slightly higher position but you're still shooting over the stern, never over the sides or the front. Knee and elbow pads are a must.
Another good alternative is a pontoon boat as it has openings on all sides and you can lie on the deck and reposition the boat with a remote controller connected with the trolling motor. This way you don't have to get up unless the loons surface too far away from the boat. Unfortunately, you're higher off the water surface than in a fishing boat.
I shoot these from a standard aluminum 12ft boat. It's a decent size lake and I like to shoot several families, which gives me different backgrounds and even different prey - one of the families gets crayfish pretty often. You are also constantly on the move once the babies grow up.
To get as close to the water as possible, you need to position the boat with the motor facing the loons. There is a cutout where the motor sits and it gives me about 8 inches from the water surface. With the constant movement of loons and the wind, you have to sometimes shoot from a slightly higher position but you're still shooting over the stern, never over the sides or the front. Knee and elbow pads are a must.
Another good alternative is a pontoon boat as it has openings on all sides and you can lie on the deck and reposition the boat with a remote controller connected with the trolling motor. This way you don't have to get up unless the loons surface too far away from the boat. Unfortunately, you're higher off the water surface than in a fishing boat. ...Show more →
Thanks for the ideas. I'm not sure I can pull that off on my normal urban river, but I'd also never thought carefully about shooting out the back of a boat from the motor well. Very neat idea! It works absolutely fabulously based on your images.
Nice shots, but I yearn to see some more pics of them less tightly cropped. There's not much "room to breathe" in these, and a few slightly wider ones might establish the birds in their habitats/part of the ecosystem
Robin Smith wrote:
Nice shots, but I yearn to see some more pics of them less tightly cropped. There's not much "room to breathe" in these, and a few slightly wider ones might establish the birds in their habitats/part of the ecosystem
