Opposite Non-traditional Images

For as long as I have been shooting wildlife photos, some species have been photographed in similar compositions. The commonalities have not been intentional. It is just with some species you have only certain opportunities for photographs, unless you are lucky like I was tonight.

I was out paddling before the full moon rose tonight. Far off, in the top of a tree, I saw and photographed a double-crested cormorant silhouette image. Usually my double-crested cormorant images are of the birds in flight or on water or on a log, but not tonight. Tonight’s version of a double-crested cormorant is a tree-top silhouette composition.

My second non-traditional image of a common species featured a bufflehead on the Wapsipinicon River. I did shoot the regular style pictures of the bird floating on the river, but when it took flight I was ready and captured the bird running across the water, kicking up a wake in the process, as the setting sun highlighted the duck against a darker shoreline.