Galapagos Day 5/Morning, July 10: Tagus Cove, Isabella

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This three frame stitched panorama was created with the 24-105mm zoom lens handheld at 28mm with the EOS-1D Mark IV. I was inspired by the sweet light and the sloping hillside covered with incense trees. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/200 sec. at f/11 set manually. One Shot AF. When creating stitched panos it is important to work in Manual mode to ensure a consistent exposure.

We slept a bit late to allow the group to recover from the continuous frantic action of the past few days. When the sun broke through the mist at 7am I grabbed the short zoom lens and a body so that I could create the image above. We had another wondrous morning in the pangas photographing any number of Galapagos Penguins including four copulating pairs. We had chances with lots of different behaviors including squabbling, courtship snuggling, and individual birds jumping into the water but I pretty much struck out on most of those; such is the nature of panga photography. In addition we had an elegant perched Swallow-tailed Gull and a handsome young American Oystercatcher foraging on a lava boulder. You can tell the year-old birds by their dusky bill tips.

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Our guide, Juan Salcedo, is superb at positioning the panga for photography even in choppy seas and moderately strong currents. Here I hand held my very favorite panga lens the Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens along with the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/5 in Tv Mode.

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Galapagos Penguins mating. This image was created from a panga with the handheld Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 500. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop; 1/500 sec. at f/4.5. in Tv mode with ISO safety shift set again to ensure an adequate shutter speed while photographing from a rocking boat.

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A vertical rock wall with a collection of young Sally Lightfoot Crabs caught my attention as we drifted along near shore. Again, I made this image with the handheld 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 3200. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/4 in Tv mode. ISO safety shift raised the ISO to 3200 so that I could have the shutter speed that I (mistakenly) dialed in. Even pros make mistakes 🙂

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We stayed with this young American Oystercatcher for about 15 minutes with Juan re-positioning the panga every few minutes so that the folks on each side of the boat had excellent chances. Meanwhile, the bird continued to pry all manner of invertebrates from its favorite huge rock. Then it would then bash away at them with its stout bill, often after placing the prey item in a crevice to secure it until it was able to get at the juicy flesh inside. You guessed it: this image was created with the handheld 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -2/3 stop: 1/1500 sec. at f/5.6 in Program Mode. (Don’t ask me how I got in Program Mode!)

We quit at 10:30 and snorkeled in Tagus Cove with about 20 Pacific Green Sea Turtles in water much too cold for me even with two wet suits on 🙂 Then it was lunch, a nap, and a two hour cruise to Urbina Bay.

Here is the gear that I used that morning.

Canon 24-105mm IS L zoom lens
Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body

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