John W Jacobsen Photography

The February desktop background image is here! I’ve taken one of my favorite shots and sized it specifically for several different monitor resolutions and included a handy February calendar in the lower right corner. Click on your monitor resolution below to view/save the image to your local computer. Enjoy!

• 2560 x 1600
• 1680 x 1050
• 1440 x 900
• 1280 x 800

One of the best kept secrets in photography also happens to be the best zoom lens money can buy. I’m certainly not the first photographer to say this, but it bears repeating – When you think you’re close enough to the subject, take two steps forward!.

Getting closer will allow you to capture more detail, highlight your subject further, and often times, you will be rewarded with a photo that many others wouldn’t get.

The second image shows a much more intimate shot of the bee with a lot more detail than the first image. Next time you are out taking photos, give it a try. Frame up your subject and get your image properly exposed, and then take two steps forward and fire away!

One of the best tips I can give is to be prepared. Being prepared includes knowing how to change the settings on your camera, understanding what settings you’ve chosen, and understanding the scene you are trying to capture. If you like shooting wildlife, you are occasionally presented those special ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunites to get a great image. If you are busy fiddling with camera settings – the shot will likely evaporate before your very eyes.

One of the things I like to do to combat that is is to practice my technique at the local zoo. Being able to take your time and practice in a controlled environment will help build skills that will become second nature to you. With that in mind, I headed to the Denver Zoo this past weekend to hone my wildlife photography skills!

The temperature was perfect – for January anyways! It was mid 50′s but unfortunately, it was also fairly overcast. It’s always a struggle to make images that don’t appear flat and lifeless when the clouds are out – or to a photographer who likes a challenge, a perfect opportunity to practice new techniques to better prepare for real life situations.

After several hundred captures, these three are my favorite. The top image is of an infant hyena playing. The middle image is of a napping black bear, and the bottom image is a close-up of a male lion’s eye. By using different focal lengths, exposure settings, and lighting conditions, I was able to capture images that weren’t flat and lifeless. I can certainly take what I learned from this trip and put it in practice the next time I’m in the mountains on some obscure trail. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Hello. My name is John and I have a problem. I’ve been stalking the Canadien Geese near our home for the last six weeks. It started out before Thanksgiving when I noticed the flight pattern the geese take most days is right over the corner of our house. After several failed attempts, I almost gave up.

But then I heard them beckoning (laughing?). I grabbed my gear and headed out to the front porch. I had completely forgotten I was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and no shoes (and it was sub 30 degrees out). It didn’t matter. I was being taunted. Sure enough, they made a couple passes as if to throw an old dog a bone. I was able to snap off several photos and here are a couple of the better ones. It’s only added fuel to the fire within to capture these flying beauties more.

It didn’t stop with the geese. Our neighborhood was teaming with different species of birds. Chirping. Taunting. I’ve become obsessed. Hello. My name is John and I have a problem. I’m a bird stalker.

Black Friday – the day everyone goes shopping and retail stores turn a profit. We decided to buck tradition and pile the family in the car and make the 90 minute trip to one of my favorite places – Rocky Mountain National Park!

We arrived at Sprague Lake at about 8AM. As expected, the lake was a frozen block of ice. Because the temperature was in the low 30′s however, the skies were as clear as I had ever seen them. I spent a lot of time trying to capture the streaks of light the sun was creating as it was peaking through the over-hanging branches of the resident pine trees.

Our next stop was Bear Lake. The trail to get to the lake was ice packed snow so it made the short walk more harrowing than need be, but as always, Hallets Peak didn’t disappoint.

Our last stop at the park was along Trail Ridge Road, at the overlook of Upper Beaver Meadow. It was here that we found the Steller’s Jay and his regal headdress. I put the big hardware on the camera and was able to snap off several shots of this elegant bird has he flew from branch to branch looking for some breakfast.

Our journey nearly complete, we had one more stop – Le Peep in Longmont. I’ve already waxed eloquent about the food there. Suffice it to say it didn’t disaapoint. It all added up to a great Black Friday for the entire family.

We woke up early this morning – far too early for a vacation day – and headed up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ve been there five or six times in the last year and have always gotten some good images, but today was by far the best.

We started out at Sprague Lake. I’m addicted to the reflection of the peaks on the smooth water. Today was no exception as we were able to get several images from many different locations and angles.

On the way back from the lake, we went on the Fern Lake Road and were treated to three herds of elk. There were hundreds of them. They weren’t very close to our shooting location, but I managed to get a couple of shots of a solitary buck trying to win some female companionship. As we continued down the road, Tara screamed “Coyote!”. Wow! I’ve seen coyote before but never this close in the wild. Spectacular.

We meandered through the park some more and my mom screamed “Deer!”. Sure enough, there was a buck laying down no more than three feet off the side of the road! We turned the car around and hopped out to take pictures of the regal deer. He was not at all intimidated by us and was quite content to let us photograph him.

So yeah, a pretty good day at Rocky Mountain National Park!