05 | January | 2012 | Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller

I just recently read Jeff Lynch’s post (his blog) about showing sense of scale to your photographs. Give it a read. It is excellent and has great photographs. I was impressed with it and decided to show you here, what sense of scale can accomplish.

Santa Elena Canyon - Big Bend National Park

These walls of the canyon reach a height of 1,500 feet. The photo looks somewhat nondescript until you notice that speck at the bottom left. That is a hiker making his way into the entrance of the canyon. You can also see another person showing as a white speck in the center of the green growth. Click on the photo and you see what I am talking about.

This photo was taken about ten years ago. I was on a narrow trail up on the wall of the canyon, about 100 feet above the Rio Grande River. (I am sure that Jeff has been there.) The wall was near my right side looming high above me. I wanted a vertical shot, but I needed something to show the scale of it all. I looked down and saw the hiker meandering along. I waited until I could fit him into the image. I was using a slightly wide angle lens so I could include a sliver of sky at the top. I was using film and all my EXIF data has been lost.

So you can see how important it is to show something in your photos to show sense of scale. For example, if you are photographing a lizard, an object, or anything that your viewer has no idea the size, include a pencil, ruler, or something that is familiar.

Now onto birding news. The Common Goldeneyes have left the water ponds at Eldorado. As you remember I saw them back on, I believe Dec. 29. They were a lifer for me and I showed you the photograph. Ann and I drove back down there today, as I was hoping to see them to add them to my 2012 species viewed list, but alas, not to happen. We did add 11 more to my 2012 species list, bringing it up to 44 towards my goal of 225 for the year.

But the wind was blowing quite hard and most of the water birds were hunkered down under the banks of the ponds. I did come up with another photo of a Wilson’s Snipe which I will share with you here.