Simon A. Smith Photography

Simon A. Smith Photography Deepening my understanding of photography, through wildlife & nature.

It's always a fun challenge to try and incorporate foreground elements into my wildlife photography. Here I used some ye...
02/27/2024

It's always a fun challenge to try and incorporate foreground elements into my wildlife photography. Here I used some yellow flowers to create a more interesting foreground, I think the yellows complement the green background and the colors of the puffin quite well!

Seeking mom's attention.Washington State, USASony a7Rv, 400 2.8
02/26/2024

Seeking mom's attention.

Washington State, USA

Sony a7Rv, 400 2.8

A house sparrow and the Louvre.On a recent trip to Paris I brought the new Sony 70-200 f4 lens as a compact telephoto to...
02/23/2024

A house sparrow and the Louvre.

On a recent trip to Paris I brought the new Sony 70-200 f4 lens as a compact telephoto to capture some urban wildlife. While I’ve always been an enjoyer of wide aperture lenses, it was a really refreshing experience to use such a compact and light lens.

When shooting in nature I tend to always prefer a shallower depth of field, but when incorporating urban backgrounds a shallow DoF often renders the background too out of focus. That’s where I found the f4 to be a perfect sweet spot, creating soft bokeh while keeping enough detail in the building to still be recognizable.

This is a spirit bear, her name is Łaaya (pronounced Thliya which is the Gitga’at word for high bush cranberry)
01/29/2024

This is a spirit bear, her name is Łaaya (pronounced Thliya which is the Gitga’at word for high bush cranberry)

Snow days always make for some unique images!
01/20/2024

Snow days always make for some unique images!

Friends of Different SizesOne of the most fascinating aspects of observing wildlife in their native environments is lear...
01/19/2024

Friends of Different Sizes

One of the most fascinating aspects of observing wildlife in their native environments is learning about the symbiotic relationships animals have developed with each other over time.

A great example of this is the oxpecker and the giraffe. While you may think the biggest threat to a big animal is an even bigger animal, it's the tiny ticks and parasites that end up being a constant threat to the animal's health.

That's where the oxpeckers come in to save the day! These little birds take advantage of the large surface areas of these large mammals, using the ticks and parasites as a food source.

A true win-win solution, when you look at a wild giraffe up close it's common to find their backs littered with these little oxpeckers. Enjoying the feast while the giraffe enjoys a nonstop spa treatment.

I bet the views up there are pretty good as well!

I went out tonight to test my a7rv's low-light performance. I went to a local park here in Vancouver with a feral rabbit...
01/17/2024

I went out tonight to test my a7rv's low-light performance. I went to a local park here in Vancouver with a feral rabbit population and found a few of them hanging out next to a soccer field. Using the light from the field, I was able to get this shot!

It was fun to try different angles and position myself so that the lights of the ski hills in the background created some interesting bokeh balls.

1/50
ISO12,800
135mm 1.8

At 1/50 and with the camera struggling to find the eye, I had roughly a 10% keeper rate.

Processing included the use of LR's denoise feature.

Sleepy Mondays
01/16/2024

Sleepy Mondays

Winter in Vancouver is always a great time to go searching for northern shovelers! These unique ducks have almost comica...
01/12/2024

Winter in Vancouver is always a great time to go searching for northern shovelers! These unique ducks have almost comically large bills which they use to sweep through shallow wetlands filtering out food.

When there's color all around you, how do you make a subject stand out? This was the challenge I ran into when photograp...
01/12/2024

When there's color all around you, how do you make a subject stand out? This was the challenge I ran into when photographing savannah sparrows at the Abbotsford Tulip Festival this past summer.

I walked around for hours watching these little birds hop from flower to flower trying to get a better grasp of their movement patterns. After trying multiple different compositions, I realized that the best way to make the bird stand out was to position myself so that the bird was directly in front of the dark green stems rather than the colorful tulips.

After many failed attempts, I finally got this shot. It was a total coincidence that the yellow flowers in the background perfectly matched the sparrow's signature yellow facial feathers!

During our Great Bear Rainforest trip this past fall, we spent an afternoon exploring a river estuary on our small zodia...
01/11/2024

During our Great Bear Rainforest trip this past fall, we spent an afternoon exploring a river estuary on our small zodiac. Off in the distance, we spotted a young grizzly bear, chest-deep in water, munching on some food.

On the other side of the river bank, a mom and two cubs emerged from the bushes and the mom started swimming towards the young bear in a possible attempt to claim the food source for herself. All while this was happening, the two cubs seemed unsure of whether or not to follow their mom. Finally, one of the cubs decided to go for it and began to get swept away by the powerful current.

When the mother bear spotted her cub floating farther and farther away, we saw her look at the bear across the river with the food then back at her cubs then back at the bear before finally deciding to abandon her mission and go save her child.

By the time she got her cub back onto the shore, they were right next to us! We quietly floated alongside them as we watched mom scavenge the shoreline for food. All the while the cubs stayed a bit further away from the water, with a newfound respect for the power of the ocean tides.

As our group arrived at the lodge in Kenya's Amboseli National Park, we were warned to double-check that our doors were ...
01/10/2024

As our group arrived at the lodge in Kenya's Amboseli National Park, we were warned to double-check that our doors were locked each time we left our cabins. Turns out, an unlocked door was an opening for one of the many vervet monkeys to sneak in and plunder our suitcases!

It was amazing to see them up close, having probably grown up on the compound they were seemingly unbothered by my curiosity.

One day, when we came back after our morning game drive for lunch I spotted a few of them hanging out under the shade of some trees. While most of the lodge area was covered in a well-maintained lawn, this was behind most of the buildings where the grass and plants were allowed to grow a bit taller.

After a few minutes of testing different angles, I managed to use foreground grass to totally blur out any detail (other than the subject of course), leaving the vervet monkey engulfed in green.

To me, this photo represents how there's always a unique photo to be discovered. Even when on a "lunch break" from the real safari, there are moments to be captured as long as you take the time to look.

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