One of my all time favorite portraits -- animal or human -- is this Siberian tiger shot in minus 35 degree weather in China, just a few hours from the Snow and Ice Festival in Harbin. The fact that you can see the big cat's breath condensing in the frigid air makes the picture. What's really interesting about this shot is that the balaclava (hood and face mask) I wore kept my nose and facial skin warm, but because the camera was up against my face, my breath condensed on the LCD monitor and in a very short time it was covered with ice! I couldn't see any of the pictures I was taking -- sort of like the old days with film. When I wasn't shooting, I'd hold the camera body inside my parka against my chest to keep the battery warm. My solution for keeping my fingers warm is to wear a glove liner only, and in each pocket of my parka I have 5 hand warmers. When my fingers get cold, I hold this wad of warmers -- which together generate a lot of heat -- and I'm instantly comfortable. My settings for this shot were 1/800, f/11, 640 ISO, and I used a 500mm f/4 Canon telephoto.
2 Comments
Sep 26, 2017, 10:48:47 AM
Richard - So you took your 100-400 & your 500mm? Did you make an exception because you were going to China? Great shot.
Sep 26, 2017, 9:54:40 AM
Jim - Hi Richard, Thank you for the compliment. This was taken 3 1/2 years ago and the new Canon 100-400mm hadn't come out yet. I only had the 500mm lens and the 70-200mm which wasn't long enough. When I lead this tour again at the end of next year, I will only bring the 100-400mm lens plus a 1.4x teleconverter. That will be ideal.