You almost always hear me say that I photograph during mid-morning or my preferred late-afternoon to evening period – when the sun is lower in the sky so shadows are mostly eliminated when you have the sun at your back. That’s when lighting will be best for almost all photography. But last year I found that when photographing loons on lake water, overhead sunlight doesn’t take much away from the photos, and sometimes, you don’t have the time or option to pick the best time with the best lighting.
That was the case last Thursday when light clouds shaded the sun during our preferred morning photo session period from 9 to 11am, but as cloud cover to the north began to break up about 11, my friend Andy and I grabbed our gear and headed for his dock on Little Pelican Lake, where Craig appeared halfway across the lake with his extra-comfy loon pontoon. Andy and Craig planned the photo session for me the night before at a roaring birthday party for our friend Linda, and with the promise of sunshine breaking through soon, we checked the bay to the north. The first loon appeared amid surface water reflecting dark-gray and light gray with no sunlight to brighten the loon’s plumage. But the loon stayed almost submerged with only the top of its back and its head and beak poking above the water’s surface, then dived and repeated its low-profile behavior quite a distance away, so we moved on.
Just as the clouds began to break up in earnest, a second loon surfaced in a second area of the lake, and although the bird was better lighted, the water was still pretty gray. Even so, I enjoyed taking the first pontoon-based photos of the season, including a series of photos as the loon raised up and flapped. Moments thereafter the sky changed dramatically as it reflected bright blue and white against the mostly calm surface of the lake. Craig repositioned the pontoon slowly as I watched the sunlight and water color improve every foot of the way, and just before getting into the perfect position, the loon was illuminated beautifully, and that’s when the accommodating Common Loon rose up and performed a second wing flap, this time surrounded by especially pretty light-blue to white water on this exceptional Minnesota lake – Bingo!
During the photo episode, which included some swimming and preening, it was quite remarkable to see how rapidly the light and sky changed the colors of the reflections of blue sky and white clouds on the water – and then the action erupted! I was already focused on the bird, so it was easy to follow through to take the photo series. The difference with other photos I take was that the sun was almost directly overhead, which usually creates a deep shadow on the underside of the bird. In this case, the underside of the loon was immersed in water, and the top side was beautifully bright. The one thing I noticed was that the red eye didn’t show well under the overhead light, but well-enough considering the plumage colors and the reflected light on the loon’s black bill.
It was a nice to have the chance to get on the water, enjoyed among friends that consider this a part of our summer events – a true birding event – and when we settled back a moment, and took in the larger view of where we were, we realized the loon led us back to the waterfront just offshore from Andy’s home – what a beautiful setting the first days of June, with as many shades of green in the woods as there were shades of blue in the water and sky, all mixed with summer bird songs to emphasize the grandeur of Minnesota lakes country.
Article and Photographs by Paul Konrad
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