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A few of today’s 75 keepers, tagged in Photo Mechanic… |
Urgent Shorebird Photography Report from McDonald’s on Cross Bay Boulevard
I just enjoyed probably the best morning of shorebird photography ever at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY (and that includes the last 33 years). In all there were more than 1,000 shorebirds, most of them handsome juveniles, all of those in fresh plumage. More than a few approached too close to focus…
Theoretically, Wednesday August 17 should have been the single best day of the year for photographing young shorebirds in fresh juvenal plumage. It was. Two weeks ago, as reported here, the water levels were too high to do any photography. But the with the folks at Gateway on top of the situation, things are now perfect. Though the wind was wrong (west wind against sun) I knew exactly where I needed to be.
Tomorrow morning should be just about as good as today was. Possibly better as I spent an hour doing mud flat clean-up. Each day thereafter becomes less and less ideal for a variety of reasons. You will learn why on the workshop.
Jamaica Bay In-the-Field Single Morning Workshop. Thursday August 18, 2016/6:00-9:30am, working brunch to follow: $350. Limit 6/Openings 5.
A 500 or 600mm lens with TCs is best though a 400mm lens with a 1.4X TC and a 7D II will get you there. I could have shot some of the gorgeous fresh juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers with the 100-400 II and a full frame body if I had had it on my lap… You will learn the East Pond shorebird ropes, get to identify and age a variety of shorebird species, and learn a ton about shorebird photography… But only if you take off work tomorrow and join me.
You must call my cell at 863-221-2372 to confirm and arrange payment; please leave a message if no answer. Or shoot me an e-mail asap. This is a one time, one day only gig. I will be there. I hope that you can join me.
I am guessing Canon uses 4 digit numbers like Nikon does, so I was figuring that the fourth digit was cut off when I was doing my computations (if they deserve to be called that, consult your inner teacher of old). I fully understand that the number of really good images gets to be a smaller %-age of the total over time and repeated evaluation iterations. I just stick the ones I have played with into a “worked” folder and keep the 4 digit number as part of the working name so I can find the original one if I have to start over for some reason. (I use non-destructive editing software.)
All the best.
Gotcha. The one I am using in tomorrow’s blog post is _A0I8066. I always retain the complete file number with every version… It can only help.
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Art,
Looks like a great day. Most interesting to me in seeing your keepers is the numbering of the files; specifically the spacing between keepers (where the non-keepers used to be). When I worked for a daily newspaper (40+ years ago), the editors always wanted to see all the negatives (proof sheets), for lots of reasons. Since I don’t do this for anyone’s enjoyment by my own, I am often happy if I get one or two images in a shoot that make me print ’em. I clearly recall running a bunch of rolls of film for a NY working pro who was regularly published in books. The ratio of keepers to “not-so-hot” was abysmal. I am impressed with the ratio you are getting out in the field.
Wish I could be there tomorrow, but we are off to Canada and then to Glacier NP for the next couple of weeks. All the best. Stay well.
Have a good trip. Many, many deletes… And above was only the first edit. Many similars will hit the trash after a second go-round.
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Just realized that you cannot see the complete file numbers…
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