Steve Gettle Nature Photography

Hello Everyone! For this post I am going to "steal" Nicole's words from her personal page because she wrote so eloquently and beautifully about this special sighting.

It was 4:40am. The sun would not make her appearance for another hour and 20 minutes, but this is what we do for special things. Off we went in an open-air truck, scanning for moving shadows. Surprisingly, about 30 minutes in, there she was. So, we sat. Nature photography entails a lot of sitting and waiting. It’s with patience that gifts are given. In this case, it was a Giant Anteater. As the sun came up, we walked slowly with her, a good distance away so not to disturb. We waited for the light. She foraged for her last morsels of the morning. She covered ground for sure – traversing open fields dotted with termite mounds, staked by Cumbaru trees, accented by the calls of wild birds sounding the dawn. We followed, we anticipated, we enjoyed. Then, she ducked into a tangle of roots and limbs. We thought she had retired for the day. Anteaters are nocturnal. But we waited a few minutes…ever the optimists, ever the imaginers of something more that may happen. And happen it did…..She emerged from the tangles with her baby on her back. What? A baby? Yup! – a big baby of just 4 months old! These are the gifts. We stayed with them, quiet and calm. At one point she passed by me so closely that I could hear her breath and her gentle foot steps on dry leaves. No, no pictures from this moment. I appreciated the trust, laid down my camera and enjoyed. By 7:30 our morning was done. Bedtime for them, breakfast for us. Who could imagine such a glorious day!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve and Nicole

It’s been a minute – sorry for that - Nicole and I have been in Kenya for the last three weeks. We did a week scouting for a possible new trip and then got to share Kenya with a terrific group for the rest of our time there. Kenya is such a fantastic location just overflowing with amazing photographic opportunities! We have just two spots remaining in our 2025 trip. I will put a link to that trip in the comments below. Now on to some images…

“Pretty in Pink” - Lesser Flamingos
One of the special places we visit on a day trip is Lake Bogoria. Last year this spot had over 3 million flamingos. This year, due to rising water levels from recent rains, the numbers were less than a million. But still, plenty of birds to make some compelling images!

Image: Lesser Flamingos, Lake Bogoria
, , 600mm TC, 1/640 @ f20, ISO 640, Image cropped 10% for final composition

“At the Water’s Edge” - Male Lion
I absolutely LOVE the eye contact in this image! I can tell you watching this through a big 600mm lens, that when he looked up it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to squeeze off a few frames! LOL

Image: Male Lion, The Massai Mara, Kenya
, , 600mm TC, 1/100th @ f10, ISO 1250, Image cropped 5% for final composition

“Preparing for a Night In” – Secretary Bird at Sunset
The Secretary Bird is an iconic bird of the African plains. This two-foot-tall predatory bird spends the daylight hours walking across the plains in search of lizards, snakes, and insects. As evening approaches, they find a treetop on which to spend the night, safe from predators on the ground below

Image: Secretary Bird, Massai Mara, Kenya
, , 600mm TC, 1/2500th @ f13, ISO 320, Image cropped 0% for final composition.

One spot just opened up! - Join us! Link to more details in comments.
Yellowstone in Winter is just magic, and in my opinion is the best time to visit the park if you are a nature photographer. We feel we have put together the ultimate winter trip. Unlike a lot of tours, we focus on the wildlife. Working from three locations we cover virtually every inch of the park and give you an unprecedented 7 1/2 days in the park over our 10 days together!! If you are comparing our tours to others, that is the only number that matters. More time in the park equals more incredible photographic opportunities.

"India Land of Tigers" Tigers and Sloth Bear
Nicole and I have just returned from a scouting trip to India. We are excited to announce that we already have another trip set up for Feb 25 to Mar 10. We will be working Bandhavgarh and Kanha National Parks arguably two of the best parks in India for Tigers. of course in addition to Tigers we will also be on the lookout for Leopards, Sloth Bears, Striped Hyena, and other cool stuff like the amazing birds.
If you would like to join us I will put a link in the comments.

"Three's Company" - Red Fox Kits
Nicole and I made a quick trip out to Yellowstone for some Spring photography. One of the highlights was this fox den. We spent a morning with these beautiful animals. It was fun to watch them play and enjoy each others company as they explored the area around their den.

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Red Fox kits, Yellowstone National Park, WY
600mm TC, 1/100th @ f11, ISO 800, Image cropped 5% for final composition.

"Monarch Tapestry" - Monarch Butterflies
I have been blessed to see many amazing things in my life and I am thankful for each and every one. But to see BILLIONS of over-wintering butterflies roosting on every inch of the trees in Mexico's Angangueo Mountains certainly stands out as one of the most memorable. I literally stood there awestruck for the first couple of hours!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

D500, 500mm PF, 1/8th @ f16, ISO 200, Image cropped 0% for final composition.

"Shadow in the Lodgepole" - Grey Wolf
One of the greatest things about getting out to Yellowstone in the Winter months is that we get a chance to see more wolves. It is such an amazing treat to get to see these animals roaming free in the wild. Even though this wolf is small in the frame, he still has quite a presence!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Grey Wolf, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
, , 600mm TC, 1/160th @ f10, ISO 800, Image cropped 0% for final composition.

"Coming at You" - Wood Duck
I Love the down, low in your face perspective of this wood duck swimming directly toward the camera. I achieved this unique perspective by shooting from a floating blind with my camera mounted just a few inches above the water.

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Drake Wood Duck, Island State Recreation Area, Milford, MI
, , 600mm, 1/250th @ f7.1, ISO 1,000, Image cropped 30% for final composition

"Sitting Pretty" - Emerald Toucanet
This is the smallest of the toucans and fairly common to see. This bird is surprisingly hard to see when it is in a tree with large leaves because it is shockingly well camouflaged! Like most birds in a jungle habitat, it is always a huge benefit to know their call so you know when one is in the area. Like most jungle birds, you hear it long before you see it.

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Emerald Toucanet, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica
, , 600mm TC, 1/125th @ f14, ISO 640, Image cropped 0% for final composition.

"On the Stalk" - Indian Leopard
From Borneo we moved directly on to India our first stop here was to photograph Indian Leopards. I Love the intensity of this cat as it stalks something in the underbrush.

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Indian Leopard, Rajaji National Park, India
, , 600mm PF, 1/500th @ f9, ISO 800, Image cropped 10% for final composition.

"Night Shift" - Western Tarsier
This amazing creature is a Western Tarsier and they are awesome. While we saw three of these on this trip, this one really put on a show and I think everyone in our group was able to get some great images!
Tarsiers are a small primate about 5 or 6 inches tall, and they are the only primate that eats a completely carnivorous diet, eating only insects, snakes, lizards and such. While they are tiny, they pack a powerful leap being able to jump as much as 30 feet from tree trunk to tree trunk! Super cool!!!

Food Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Western Tarsier, Sabah, Borneo Malaysia
, 600mm PF, 1/200th @ f14, ISO 400, Image cropped 0% for final composition.
Steve

“Super Cute” – Silver Leaf Langur Monkey
This is a baby Silver Leaf Langur Monkey. When they are born, they are this beautiful orange color. They only turn silver as they age. This changing of color starts at the very tip of their tail and slowly moves across their entire body. In this image you can just see the tip of this baby’s tail sticking out below mothers’ leg, and it is still orange which means this baby is less than two weeks old! Orange or grey they are super cute!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Baby Silver leaf langur, Monkey, Sabah, Borneo
, 600mm PF, 1/50th @ f11, ISO 1,250, Image cropped 0% for final composition.

“Jungle Symbiosis” – Giant Forest Ants and Lanternflies
When surviving in the jungle it is very helpful to have useful friends. Such is the case with these two insects. The defenseless Lanternflies can tap the tree’s bark and drink the sugar-rich tree sap. In fact, they get much more sap than they need. This extra is excreted as a drop of honeydew from their abdomen. The ants hang around and eagerly lap up this sugary treat and in exchange they protect the lanternflies from any potential threat!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Giant Forest Ants and Lanternflies, Sabah, Borneo
, 100mm Macro, 1/200th @ f14, ISO 200, R1-C1 Macro Flash, Image cropped 0% for final composition

“Timing is Everything” – Blue-eared Kingfisher
When you take as many pictures as I do, sometimes you just get lucky. Such was the case with this image. When we found this bird, I was in close making full frame portraits, clicking away as it turned its head giving me many different poses. The lucky part is - at one point it decided to take flight at the exact moment I decided to make an image and I tripped the shutter just as it was lifting its wings to take flight. Which is the image you see here.

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Blue-eared Kingfisher, Kinabatangan River, Borneo
, 600mm PF, 1/1,000 @ f9, ISO 2,500, Image cropped 0% for final composition.

“A Comforting Handhold” – Borneo Orangutan
We have arrived in Borneo so lets start with an orangutan! I Love how this young Orangutan has a fistful of its mother’s fur as it begins moving around exploring its world. As a baby Orangutan, there is a lot to learn from how to move through the trees, to what to eat, and even how to make a bed in the trees every night. For this reason, orangutan mothers spend as much as 8 to 12 years raising their babies, longer than any other primate in the world.

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Borneo Orangutan, Sabah, Borneo
, 180-400mm, 1/250th @ f9, ISO 1,600, Image cropped 20% for final composition.

"Jungle Curtains" - Jaguar
This is one of my favorite pictures ever from the Pantanal. I Love the entire scene with the hanging roots forming a curtain and the cat posed in such an elegant way. But, photographically, this was all very challenging to accomplish. First of all, there is just one opening through the roots big enough that you can see her face unobstructed. Secondly, the root curtain is about a foot in front of her, and for this image to work both the cat and the curtain need to be sharp requiring a stopped down lens and corresponding slow shutter speed. Lastly, I am shooting from a boat on a river with a current! So everything is moving and it is impossible to keep the shot lined up just right for more than a split second. But in the end perseverance won the day!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Jaguar, The Pantanal, Brazil
, , 180-400mm, 1/100th @ f16, ISO 800, Image cropped 5% for final composition.

"Sunday Best" - American Goldfinch
Around here in Michigan the Goldfinch have just molted into their beautiful Summer feathers. Just in time to meet a girl and make a family!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

, , 180-400mm, 1/250th @ f8, ISO 800, Image cropped 0% for final composition

"In the Woods Right Now" - Round-lobed Hepatica
This is my favorite Spring ephemeral and for me it marks the true beginning of Spring here in Michigan. Standing only two inches tall it is a tiny flower and the blooms are about the size of your fingernail. It lasts about a week or two and it only opens it's flowers on sunny days when the temperature is above 50 degrees. If it is cloudy or too cool the Hepatica saves its beauty for a better day.

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Round-lobed Hepatica, Brighton State Recreation Area, MI
, , 105mm Macro lens, 1/8 sec @ f32, ISO 800, Cropped 0% for final composition.

"Call of the Jungle" - Keel-billed Toucan
Another spectacular bird from Costa Rica is this colorful Keel-billed toucan. These birds mate for life and often move through the jungle together. In fact, this one was calling for it's mate when I made this image.
The Toucan bill is an amazing structure, being both lightweight and super strong. In fact, engineers came up with the idea for Kevlar based on the bills of Toucans.

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Keel-billed Toucan, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica
, 180-400mm, 1/5,000 @ f9, ISO 1600 (I was setup for flight shots) Image cropped 10% for final composition.

"The Streak" - Montezuma's Oropendola
On our recent trip to Costa Rica I did some playing around with motion blurs. By intentionally using a very slow shutter speed as this Oropendola flew by I was able to impart a feeling of motion to the image. I like the "painterly" effect rendered when using this technique.

For this image the shutter speed was 1/30th of a second, I also used rear curtain sync to fire my flash at the very end of the exposure to throw a catch light into the eye and give the image some "semi-sharp" bits.

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Montezuma's Oropendola, Near Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica
, 600mm TC, 1/30th @ f8, ISO 320, Rear curtain sync flash, Image cropped 25% for final composition.

"Margarita Anyone?" - Pallas's Long-tongued Bat
If you like Tequila... thank a bat! Most people don't realize it but many bats pollinate flowers, especially the agave flowers used to make tequila. This is a bat from Costa Rica and while it is not at an agave flower, it has visited many flowers this night. In fact, if you click on the image below you can view it full screen and see all of the pollen on it's chin! Good job bat!!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image; Pallas's Long-tongued Bat, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica
180-400mm, 1/200th @ f18, ISO 200, 4 flashes dialed down to 1/16th power, Image cropped 35% for final composition

"Shake Your Tail Feathers" - Resplendent Quetzal
Just the tiniest puff of wind helps this amazing bird to showoff his amazing plumes for best effect. It is breeding season here in Costa Rica and everyone is putting on their best in the hopes of attracting a mate.
This amazing bird was worshiped by the Aztecs and Mayans as the God of the air, a symbol of goodness and light. Even today, it is very high on the "wish list" of any visitor to Costa Rica.

As always feel free to share!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Resplendent Quetzal, San Gerado de Dota, Costa Rica
, ^00mm TC, 1/200th @ f5.6, ISO 1,250, Image cropped 5% for final composition.

"Jaguars and More" in Brazil's Pantanal Wetlands Sep. 4 -14, 2024
We just had two spots open up for this exciting trip! For two room share spots - one male and one female.
Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest seasonal wetland, is home to the highest density of Jaguars in the world. On our first day we had 12 encounters with 7 different cats. Get ready to experience Jaguars, Giant River Otters, and a stunning array of birds and other wildlife that concentrate here.
Follow the link in the comments below for full details!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

"Final Approach" - Female Cardinal
A Cardinal drops by the reflecting pool for a drink.
This image was from a project I did a couple of years ago. The goal of the project was to create images of birds in flight complete with a full reflection. It was all very involved requiring 6 special high-speed flashes and a custom trigger to fire the camera when the birds were in the right position.

As always feel free to share!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: Northern Cardinal Female, Brighton State Recreation Area, MI
, 180-400mm, 1/160th @ f18, ISO 320, 6 ea. Nikon SB-600 flashes @ 1/16th power, Sabre trigger
Image cropped 30% for final composition

"Lovers Quarrel" - African Lions
Even when you are "The King of the Beasts" courtship can be a bit tricky!
By choosing to make this image from a low angle I was able to include the herd of Zebras in the background. This really helps to give this image depth and a sense of place.
As always feel free to share!

Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve

Image: African Lions, The Serengeti, Tanzania, Africa
, 600mm TC, 1/500th @ f13, ISO 400, Image cropped 0% for final composition.