Autumn Colors and Rutting Whitetails

The autumn colors are slowly reaching their peak here in Southcentral Pennsylvania.  This is not one of the most colorful fawns I can remember, but it is good. At first the colors were reserved and subtle as the scene below, taken late in the evening on September 30th illustrates.

Early Autumn: Canon 5D MK III 24-105L @ 35mm-  ISO 1000-1/40 sec. f4

Autumn color was nearing its' peak by mid-October, so I spent some time concentrating on taking scenic shots.  Unfortunately early morning and evening is the best time for photographing both scenery and whitetail bucks, so I usually end up picking the deer over the scenery.  I would preferred to have taken the following shots under a bit different lighting conditions, but still I think they capture the essence of autumn to an acceptable degree.  Woodland steams and cornfields are an integral part of the autumn landscape here in Fulton County. A circular polarizer was used on the second and third shots, which enhanced the richness of the colors.

Autumn Glory: Canon 5D MK III 17-40L @ 17mm-  ISO 100-1/50 sec. f8

Autumn Cornfield: Canon 5D MK III 24-105L 4535mm-  ISO 100-1/100 sec. f8

This is the backdrop against, which the bucks are chasing does during the early stages of the whitetail rut. The rut began early this year and most days yield one or more buck sightings, but the tempo should pick up even more in the next few weeks.

Whitetail Buck in Hot Pursuit of Doe: Canon 5D MK III 500mm F4L-  ISO 1600-1/640 sec. f4

Whitetail Buck Pauses From Chasing Doe: Canon 5D MK III 500mm F4L-  ISO 1600-1/800 sec. f4

Soon the leaves will be gone and the whitetail rut will be at its' peak and then all to soon fall we be over, and once again we will face the bitter winter months.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Round Island Falls-A Scenic by Paul Staniszewski

While this blog focuses more on wildlife photography and video than scenics,or close-ups of flowers, they are still special subjects to me. In fact I always try to incorporate a liberal amount of video clips of this type of subject in any film that I make and it is always good to see an excellent photograph of any subject pertaining to nature. Today Paul Staniszewski sent me a photograph of the Round Island Falls in the Quehanna Wilderness Area, which I decided to share with you.
 

Round Island Falls: by Paul Staniszewski all rights reserved

Paul also included a link, which gives information on the falls and how to find them:  http://wapitiwoods.com/blog/?p=31 .

A special thanks to Paul for this information.Also I will try to post a bit more frequently--it has been so good to take some time off after the intense effort of bringing the editing and release of Running Wild in Pennsylvania Elk Country to a conclusion.  I have promised in the past to write some articles about various subjects and I hope to address some of them soon.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Running Wild In Pennsylvania Elk Country-The Introduction

Today I am posting a condensed version of the introduction to my latest film on Pennsylvania Elk, "Running Wild in Pennsylvania Elk Country". The introduction makes the point that when most think of elk, they think of the high mountain west, but elk were once native to Pennsylvania as well. Today Pennsylvania has a dynamic elk herd with great elk viewing and photography opportunities. The actual introduction shows more wildlife and scenery and features a short segment on the Elk Country Visitor Center.



The film goes on to take a look at the life cycle of the elk and what other key species that live in elk country are doing at different seasons of the year as well. The majority of this segment was shot with the Canon Rebel T3i,. Other cameras used were the Canon XL-H1 with nano Flash, and the Canon 5D MK III. Music is licensed by Getty Images.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.