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This Galapagos Sea Lion pup was photographed with the hand held Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens at 185mm and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 1000. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/320 sec. at f/6.3 in Tv Mode. I got downy on my belly to give the image an intimate feel and to provide a sweet background to go with the sweet light. When hand holding I will often work in Tv Mode to ensure a minimum shutter speed as I did here. I use the ISO Safety Shift custom function as described in the MIV User’s Guide. To learn about User’s Guides for the MIII and the 7D, click here. |
Galapagos Day 10/Afternoon, July 15: Gardner Bay, Hood Island
With more than 200 Galapagos Sea Lions with pups ever-present during July along with bands of marauding young Hood Mockingbirds on the loverly white sand beach, the afternoon landing at Gardner Bay is always a favorite of mine and of the group You can go barefoot and bring just a short telephoto zoom if you like but I always bring a big lens for the mockingbirds and for the other land birds that often can be found foraging where the beach meets the vegetation; edge habitats are always worth exploring when you are looking for birds to photograph. (I was being a bit lazy that afternoon and brought the 400 DO rather then the tripod-mounted 800….)
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Here is an image of Denise Ippolito playing in the sand box with some of her new friends at Gardner’s Bay. Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens hand held at 176mm with the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6. Note the kneeling photographer from my group in the upper right hand corner of the image photographing land birds at the top of the beach. |
When working with short telephoto focal lengths it is imperative to get down to the subject’s eye level as Denise did above. Pointing your lens almost straight down at a subject works only rarely. Denise is photographing the same pup that is the subject in the opening image above. When we first landed everyone thought that it was abandoned and near death; Juan and I assured them that it was just resting. In a short time it was frolicking about the beach. Its mom was likely out to sea fishing.
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This clean, simple image was created with the same 70-200/MIV rig this time with the 1.4X II TC to give me 235mms of reach. ISO 50–I had been set up for Blurs and forgotten to re-set a higher ISO. Evaluative metering +2 stops: 1/30 sec. at f/10 set manually. I love the soft light and the clean sand. |
Note the incredible difference in the quality of the light in the image above as compared to the quality of the light in the opening image. I like both the warm light in the first one that was created just before sunset and the soft, subdued, detail-revealing light in the image immediately above that was created when a big cloud covered the sun.
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This image of feisty Hood Mockingbird was created with hand held Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop in full sun: 1/3200 at f/5.6. |
We had just landed when boom, the young mockingbirds were duking it out big time. They travel in packs of three or four each group looking to kick the snot out of the other group. Never fails…..
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Same subject, same gear. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop in even brighter sun: 1/5000 at f/5.6. |
Shopper’s Guide
Here is the gear that I used hand held at Gardner Bay that afternoon:
Canon 70-200mm f/4 l IS lens
Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body
Canon EF Teleconverter 1.4X II
If you are considering the purchase of a major piece of photographic gear be it a new camera, a long lens, a tripod or a head, or some accessories be sure to check out our complete Shopper’s Guide.
The light in the first image of the Galapagos Sea Lion pup is beautiful and the images of the Hood Mockingbirds are great.
Hi Artie. The Mocker images are awesome! Dan
Artie, great photos as usual.
Love the Images of the Hood Mockingbirds … Northern Mockingbirds are of prime interest to me & ones I study. Be interested in your thoughts about the differences between the two … and would always enjoy more Images of ” The Hood.” These two photos communicate a lot of character
Artie:
I like the last shot of the Seal pup best … its the seamless background that does it for me … as if it had been shot on a backdrop. Very nice!
I too love the soft light and the clean sand of that Sea Lion shot.