What’s Up?
After my morning photo session I watched lots of golf, swam, did my bursts and Stairmaster, and ate too much sweet stuff. The afternoon temperature on the pool deck was 104 F. The pool is now a delightful 80 degrees.
The forecast for this morning — Sunday 9 AUGUST 2020 — is for gorgeous, still, and sunny. Since it did not rain at all yesterday, I will head back down to the lake. I did find a third large colt with the adults yesterday; I was not sure where it came from …
I completed the first draft of the RawDigger e-Guide and sent a few copies out to be reviewed. When I get back from shooting this morning, I will be creating an ILE 2020 JULY folder, doing a third edit, and watching the rest of the PGA Championship. I am rooting for Brooks Koepka but Dustin Johnson will be hard to beat if he plays as well as he did yesterday. The public course, Harding Park in San Francisco is — as it should be — very difficult.
|
|
This image was created on the morning of 8 AUGUST 2020 at Indian Lake Estates. Walking with the cranes on the North Field, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and the blazingly fast AF King, the Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 500. Exposure determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/640 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode; the exposure was confirmed as perfect by RawDigger. AWB at 7:25:39am on a sunny morning. Upper Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed superbly; the system selected an AF point on the base of the bird’s chin right on the same plane as its eye. Image #1: Sandhill Crane adult looking back over shoulder |
The Situation
There have been about a dozen cranes preening and feeding in the North Field each morning. Recently, I have spent lots of time photographing them from my vehicle with the Levered Clamp FlexShooter Pro/Induro/GIT 204-mounted SONY 600mm f/4 GM lens with the a7r iv and either teleconverter. On Saturday, on a whim, I grabbed the 200-600 with an a9 ii, took a walk, and had lots of fun.
|
|
This image was also and obviously created on the morning of 8 AUGUST 2020 at Indian Lake Estates. Walking with the cranes on the North Field, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 284mm) and the blazingly fast AF King, the Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 500. Exposure determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/640 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode; the exposure was confirmed as perfect by RawDigger. AWB at 7:26:41am on a sunny morning. Upper Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed superbly. Image #2: Point your shadow at the bird … |
My #1 Sunny Day Bird Photography Tip … Get my drift?
Hope so. But for the occasional strongly backlit image, ninety-nine point nine percent of bird photographs taken ten or more degrees off sun angle on a sunny day are insta-deletes. If you think that you have a good image in that .1%, shoot me a 1200 pixel on-the-long-side jpeg via e-mail for a free critique.
Image Critiques
Have your best images critiqued over the phone with Arthur Morris: Ten images for $100. Online digital galleries are best. 1400 pixel on-the-long-side sharpened JPEGs are best. Please call 863-221-2372 to pay via credit card or send a PayPal to birdsasart@verizon.net and include your e-mail address and the words Image Critique. Copy me via e-mail. You can shoot me a link to your photos or send them attached in a single e-mail.
You will get an honest but gentle, no-holds-barred critique during our phone consultation. If I think it’s great, I will say so and tell you why …
Leave a Reply