Redemption: Artie Gets His Dovekies!

Alive and Well in an Oslo Airport Hotel

After several days of sleeping all day long and photographing all (sunny) night long, I awoke this morning at 4:15 am Central European Time on Monday, June 27 (it was 10:15pm the previous day in Florida then)…. I will be a total jet-lagged zombie when I get home about 23 hours later. (Oslo/Newark/clear customs/arrive in Orlando at 6:14 pm. Publix in Lake Wales before 9pm, and home in Indian Lake Estates by 9:30 pm.) It will be a very long travel day.

Dovekie Redemption

After I got the bad news for me/good news for them info at 4am on the 24th (they had headed up the mountain on the 23rd), I grabbed the car keys and headed out for a while with comme ci, comme ca results. When we met for breakfast at 9am it was decided that since the weather forecast for the evening of Friday, June 24th was poor that we would try for the dovkies again on our last evening. But my good weather Karma continued (the weatherman be damned). By noon it was clearing nicely so we decided to commit to making the climb again–third time for them, second time for me. My hopes had risen upon hearing their tales of success and actually seeing the images. I slept again for several hours. We met for dinner at 5pm and I had fish soup yet again. After a short nap we left the hotel at 9:15 pm.

This time when we got to the base of Plateaufjellet (PLAT-toe-FEE-el-ut) we could large see flocks of Dovekies flying about and dozens perched on the rocks. Best of all, the birds were relatively low down on the mountain. Hopes high, I practically flew up the mountain. Not only were there lots of perched birds as we approached but most were quite tame. If you moved slowly and kept your tripod low it was easy to get within 15 feet of the birds. Pretty soon I had my first Dovekie images in the can and could begin to concentrate on making some good images. The wind and sun were at our backs so the incoming birds were landing right at us. In four hours we were sated; we headed down at about 2am as most of the birds had headed out to sea to fish.

As you can see in the opening image, the going over the rocky areas where the birds were was extremely tough especially for a just-turned 65 year old coming off two hand surgeries, a nasty infection, and several rounds of even nastier antibiotics. Believe me, I was extremely careful with every step. Disaster was nearby at every moment but that only added to the thrill of the challenge and my great feeling of accomplishment.

It felt so good.

With sun on the black and white birds it was vitally important to Expose to the Right; see the ETTR Revelation blog post–it should be mandatory reading for everyone who uses a digital camera.

Photographing the Dovekies in flight was a huge challenge in part because of their small size and great speed and in part because finding a spot to stand while keeping your balance on the rocky terrain was quite difficult.

Check out the pretty much perfect head angle here: 45 degrees for a bird facing the camera often works quite well. After seeing Jasper’s and Patrick’s great images this one was especially sweet and added to my feeling of having redeemed myself. Why? Both of my friends had seen Dovekies holding a rock in their bills but had not been lucky enough to get any decent images. Even an old dog can hunt once in a while, that even when standing on a rocky 35 degree slope.

There are several important lessons here. First, note that in all of the images of perched birds here that I looked for situations with relatively distant backgrounds so as to soften the look of my backdrops. In some cases, I pulled out the front leg of the tripod to get a bit lower and further enhance that effect. Second, when using a tube with the TC you must place the TC on the lens if you want AF. Placing the tube on the lens lets you focus closer but you will nee to turn the AF switch to M (or Off???) and focus manually. This is just one of the hundreds of great lessons in ABP II. Third: making my conversions in ACR as I usually do left them too red with the BLACKs looking somewhat washed out. Rather than having to work hard in Photoshop to get the images looking the way I wanted them to, I simply did the conversions in BreezeBrowser my crack editing and sorting software. Sorry: PC only.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in today’s post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot–as above–with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon 1.4X III TC. This new Series III TC is designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
25mm Extension Tube. This vaulable accessory allows for closer focusing.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.

The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable. Clicking on the link below will bring you to the Delkin web site. There is lots of great stuff there. If you see a product that we do not carry let us know via e-mail; we will be glad to have it drop-shipped to you and save you a few bucks in the process.

I pack my 800 and tons of other gear in my ThinkTank Airport SecurityTM V2.0 rolling bag for all of my air travel and recommend the slightly smaller Airport InternationalTM V2.0 for most folks. These high capacity bags are well constructed and protect my gear when I have to gate check it on short-hops and puddle jumpers. Each will protect your gear just as well. By clicking on either link or the logo below, you will receive a free gift with each order over $50.

Think Tank Free Offer