Outdoor Photography Canada

Story and photography by Ethan Meleg Outdoor photographers are often extremely specialized in their field. There are the Don Komarechkas zoned in on snowflakes for months at a time, John Marriotts living with grizzly bears and wolfpacks more than he’s at home, and the Glenn Bartleys who can identify a Crested Bush Thrush fart from […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg I shoot 98% of my photos in RAW format, which means they require post-processing in order to share them with the world. Ever since I ditched film and dipped my toes into digital photography, I’ve found post-processing to be an enormous pain in the butt. I’d rather shoot wedding […]

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By Ethan Meleg Let me give you the straight facts: I love outdoor photography, travel and food. But you know what’s even better? All three at once. I’d pass up dinner with Ansel Adams, a Pulitzer Prize for my literary efforts in this magazine and a chance to go back in time to photograph dinosaurs […]

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By Ethan Meleg I’ll jump right in and start off with a big announcement. After five years of writing this bird photography column, I’ve decided to retire from it. This is my last one. The demands of a young family and other priorities have left me with less time to focus on bird photography and […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg We’re planning a family trip to Florida this winter so the kids can go to Disney World, but my secret motive is all about bird photography. Florida is one of the best places in North America for bird photography in winter. It’s downright easy there, which is a nice […]

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Gear for a professional outdoor photographer is the equivalent of a trumpet for a jazz player. These essential tools enable us to turn encounters with sea slugs, sand dunes and soaring eagles into artistic masterpieces worth thousands of dollars, a couple hundred Facebook likes and a prime spot on our mother’s fridge. My camera gear […]

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Story and Photography by Ethan Meleg   For the past 43 years, I’ve enjoyed a freewheeling, staunch bachelor lifestyle where I’ve basically done just about whatever I wanted. My house was clean, tidy and quiet. I slept all night, making it easy to wake up early each morning and seek out the tranquility and beauty […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg Autumn is here and with any luck you’re planning an exciting bird photography trip somewhere exotic this winter, in search of new species in different environments. There’s nothing I love to do more than photograph new bird species in far-away places, but it took me a long time to […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg When I tell people that I’m a wildlife photographer, at some point in the conversation they usually say something along the lines of, “Oooh, that must be a really dangerous job.” I get a belly chuckle every time I hear it! There’s no doubt about it, wildlife photography is […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg The background and setting surrounding the bird are extremely important ingredients in a bird photo. To be sure, they can make or break a photo. These elements are often ignored, although probably not on purpose. It’s hard enough to just get a sharp photo with the bird being a […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg Of all the photo gadgets I’ve ever laid eyes upon, my reaction to seeing a selfie stick for the first time went something like this: “That is the stupidest, most ridiculously douchie camera accessory EVER invented! What kind of shallow, narcissistic human being, so devoid of self-worth, would ever […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg The Royal Canadian Geographic Society recently concluded the National Bird Project, a process to pick a national bird for Canada. They held a public vote and expert panel debate, and in the end the grey jay emerged as the winning species, which the society will put forward to the […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg In the last issue, I wrote about how to find out which bird species can be expected in the areas where you’re photographing. Now, I’m focusing on tips for identifying bird species by observing their unique differences and characteristics. The great thing is that since many of the identification […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg The realm of outdoor photography includes all kinds of people who specialize in shooting all sorts of different subjects. Some photographers focus solely on big, furry carnivores, some only shoot monochromatic landscapes, or out-of-focus waterfalls, or unicyclists on trails, or dead trees, or yellow birds, or brown bats or […]

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Story and Photography by Ethan Meleg Digital cameras have made it ridiculously easy and cheap to hold down the shutter button until your finger aches. A couple hours of landscape photography will rack me up a few hundred images. A good day of bird or wildlife photography tallies up more than a thousand clicks. And […]

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Story and Photography by Ethan Meleg Many fledgling bird photographers start without a bird-watching background and find it difficult to identify all but the common species. Fantastic bird photos are posted daily on social media by photographers asking what kind of bird they captured. My own email inbox fills up weekly with bird photos taken […]

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Story and photography by Ethan Meleg In bird photography, we want to have our cameras set up in a way that ensures the greatest chance of capturing sharp photos most of the time. For this reason, almost every bird photographer shoots in a continuous auto focus mode (e.g. AI Servo for Canon; AF-C for Nikon) […]

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Story and Photography by Ethan Meleg It was a glorious morning. A cool mist hung in the valley, drifting lightly on the gentle breeze. The sun burst over the horizon, its golden rays delivering warmth and life to the forest and its creatures. Cardinals and chickadees, nuthatches and titmice were harmonizing in song, filling the […]

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