This is a difficult time to photograph at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. The Johnson Grass growing next to the road blocks my view of most wildlife. Employees at the refuge keep lots of it mowed near the auto tour road but this plant grows and spreads.
Johnson Grass isn’t the only plant that grows tall at the refuge. Most of the fields are in corn and soybeans and the corn stalks are over head high this time of year.
Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy visiting this refuge during this time of year.
Several times I have climbed into the back of my pickup truck to see over the Johnson Grass and photograph Whitetail Deer. Over the years I have gotten some cool photos of Whitetail Bucks feeding in the cornfields with their heads showing.
This time of year you will see that I photograph lots of snakes and turtles that are on the auto tour road since this is all I can see. I will also do lots of macro photos of insects that I find next to the road.
How I Got The Shot – Johnson Grass Blocking View
My pickup truck is parked on a road that leads to the Baker Parking area which is at Sally Jones Lake (Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge). One side of the road is planted in corn this year. The other side is allowed to grow wild and is never mowed or plowed.
I stood in the road hand holding my Fujifilm X-T3 Camera with a Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens attached with a Fringer EF-FX Pro.
Camera Settings
- AV Mode
- Back-button Focus
- Auto White Balance
- Multi Metering
- Single Point, Continuous Auto Focus
- Aperture f8
- ISO 1600
- Shutter speed 1/240 of a second
- -.07 exposure value
- Focal Length 135 mm
Here is a photo of a Cottonmouth Snake (Water Moccasin) I photographed in some tall grass at this refuge: Cottonmouth In Tall Grass
Here is my macro photo of a Dragonfly on a blade of Johnson Grass: Dragonfly On Dew Covered Leaf