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A Natural Calling

Wendy Shattil and Bob Rozinski take to the ground and to the sky for compelling nature and wildlife photography with the Tamron 90mm Di Macro and 28-75mm XR Di lenses.
© Wendy Shattil & Bob Rozinski
© Wendy Shattil & Bob Rozinski
© Wendy Shattil & Bob Rozinski
 © Wendy Shattil & Bob Rozinski
© Wendy Shattil & Bob Rozinski
© Wendy Shattil & Bob Rozinski
SP AF90mm F/2.8 Di 1:1 Macro
by Jennifer Gidman Zumpano 		SP AF28-75mm F/2.8 XR Di  

For 26 years, Wendy Shattil and Bob Rozinski have been photographing together out in the field, communing with nature and interacting with some of the world’s most exotic endangered species. In fact, Rozinski’s shot of a dancing pelican (a rare sight indeed) led to the name of their current website (www.dancingpelican.com). “This has been our life,” says Shattil. “Regardless of who snaps the shutter, the final image is the result of input from the two of us.”
The two ecologically conscious photographers are also deeply involved in conservation efforts. “Our primary subject matter has become the kind of imagery that is of value to species and habitats that are at risk,” explains Shattil. “We work a lot with the Nature Conservancy (www.nature.org), as well as with other organizations that can use our images to further the goals of protecting wildlife and habitats.” But whether they’re zooming through the skies in a cropduster in search of awesome aerial shots or framing fickle creatures scurrying around the countryside, the duo relies on a variety of lenses, including the Tamron 90mm Macro and 28-75mm XR Di lenses to capture their natural surroundings.

Moving in With the 90mm Macro
While they aren’t afraid to use a variety of lenses for nearly every application, the Tamron 90mm Macro lens comes in handy when it’s time to showcase a moth’s wings or the delicate petals of a flower. “I’m quite fond of the 90mm in doing macro work, because it gives me working room and is quite lightweight,” says Rozinski. “It’s also relatively sturdy by today’s standards—so many lenses are so light and flimsy that you’re almost afraid to use them. Plus, I’ve run quite extensive tests: Many lenses fall down through diffraction limiting in the f/22 range, and this lens holds up well in that range.”
Shooting insects with the 90mm helps Rozinski keep tabs on his small subjects without scaring them off. “With the 90mm, I’m about a foot away, and that really helps,” he says. “We also like the perspective you can get with the 90mm. It’s difficult to deal with backgrounds, and that’s where the 90 really shines: This lens allows us to get nice, blurred surroundings. We always try to look at the background and see how we can make it most pleasing and most effective. When we’re doing workshops, we tell our students, ‘What do you want to see? If there’s anything else in there, let’s get rid of it!’ A longer focal length allows you to do that.”
Avoiding camera shake when you’re focusing so close to the world’s tiniest critters and plantlife is also critical. “Tripods, tripods, tripods!” exclaims Rozinski. “In macro, there’s a stunning number of adaptations you have to make, and it’s very time-consuming. We use relatively heavy Gitzo ballheads to do a lot of the macro work because they’re very sturdy. But we’re not above using beanbags, or any other available support that’s around.”
Shattil agrees. “We shot these images with Fuji Velvia, ASA 50 at the time,” she says. “So we had to be extra steady to have the benefits of using such a fine-grain, high-quality film, and had to do whatever was necessary to stabilize the camera to get the pictures. The alternative would have been to go to a faster film, but that’s a tradeoff too. Everything in photography is a tradeoff, but you never want to trade off quality for convenience.”
They offer sage advice for mastering macro photography when you’re “in the trenches.” First, really consider what it will take for you to get the picture you want. “Are you going to be able to get in there with a beanbag or a tripod, or even at an angle that’s appropriate to show your subject in its best light?” asks Rozinski. “We think about flowers almost like portraits—almost all of them have a good side and a bad side in terms of what you’re trying to represent, so choose an angle that illustrates the best qualities of that particular species.”
Get as much context in the photo, too, to tell a little bit of a story. “The other thing we do in macro is shoot the plant wide enough—shoot the plant, the leaves, and the habitat it exists in,” Rozinski says. “For plant identification, you often need to see the leaves. After that, then you can start exploring closer and closer; then you’ll have the story behind the plant, not just a formal portrait of it.” Also decide if you can properly get into position without disturbing other plants and with minimal impact on the landscape. “When we get down on our stomachs, we often dig with our feet or with our knees,” he explains. “We do minor landscaping, cleaning up a dead piece of grass here and there, but we’ve seen people who just totally excavate around a plant. A lot of these plants live in very specific environments. Take removing pine needles, for instance: They may hold moisture, or there may be a symbiotic relationship with something in the soil. We try to shoot them with respect and with as minimal an impact as possible.”
Since depth-of-field can sometimes prove difficult to deal with, Rozinski suggests thinking about the plane of focus. “Try to get the camera back parallel to that plane, because if you’re shooting with that plane of focus and the camera back parallel, you’re going to need the minimum amount of depth-of-field,” he says. “If you’re on an angle to a plant and not parallel to that plane, then you need a lot of depth-of-field to carry it.”

Up, Up, and Away with the 28-75mm
Shattil and Rozinski also tap into the 28-75mm XR Di lens for its versatility and useful focal length range. “A good photographer is an opportunist,” says Rozinski. “We generally start out at a location with a gameplan, but at the drop of a hat or move of a cloud, it’s nice to have something small and lightweight in our backpack so we can take advantage of whatever situation might arise. You want to be prepared with the best tools so you can take advantage of whatever photographic opportunities present themselves to you.”
Rozinski especially enjoys using it when he’s up in an airplane zooming in on sprawling landscapes below. “When we were still shooting film, we would push the Velvia to ASA 100. I ended up wanting to shoot almost all of the time shooting wide open or at the most f/4, so I needed a relatively fast, short zoom lens for the altitude I’m usually at and the features I want to portray.”
A stunning image of sand dunes proved how well this particular lens worked for aerials. “Not only were the dunes pertinent in that picture, but by zooming out to 28mm, I was able to include the 14,000-foot peaks in the background,” explains Rozinkski. “It puts the environment beneath you in perspective. A plane actually takes quite a bit of time to either lose or gain altitude and still be in a good shooting position. So it’s very handy to zoom to get the composition you want.”
Rozinski prefers to shoot in planes that either have a window that opens a sufficient amount or a door that can be completely taken off. “Plane windows are usually Lexan or something like that, which is not optically very good,” he explains. “If you are forced to shoot through a window, many of which are somewhat scratched and weathered, take a little bottle of Windex to clean the window. Then you want to get the lens as close to the window as possible, actually even touching the window. Of course, then you’re prone to more of the plane’s vibrations. Brace yourself by putting your hand against the window to add a little bit of cushioning.”
It’s also a good idea to scout out your location ahead of time on the ground. “You have to know when you need to be there for the light and to check up on any regulations—there are sometimes altitude and local restrictions over some national parks.”
Talking to your pilot-to-be helps as well. “I fly with one fellow who has a very high-performance plane, while the other guy I usually fly with is a cropduster: He’ll ask me, ‘Do you want to fly at 10 feet or 10,000 feet?” says Rozinski. “I do quite a bit from about 300 feet up to 1,000 feet in landscapes. If you get much higher, there’s too much air and haze that can diffuse the image, and you want detail when you shoot aerial landscapes.
Plus, by talking to the pilot ahead of time, it’s easier on everyone—that way your flightplan won’t resemble a drunken snake!”

Tip Box

Finding Perfection in Mother Nature
Carry around a small hand lens when you’re out shooting macro nature photography, says Bob Rozinski. “This way, you can really look at the specimen you’re shooting,” he explains. “Quite often at the 1:1 macro level, you’ll find your subject has a lot of flaws. If you are trying to portray a specimen of the best quality, be willing to at least ‘shop around’ and look with your hand lens till you find a specimen that’s in good shape and in a location you’d like it to be in.”