On Working a Prehistoric Subject

What’s Up?

The forecast for Saturday morning was for cloudy with a north wind so I headed to Jamaica Bay without hesitating. It turned out to be sunny and clear with a north wind; I should have been at Nickerson Beach.

Late Saturday afternoon was looking great for an orange/peach sunset filled with silhouettes and blast-off blurs, but a huge cloud materialized on the western horizon ruined the possible perfection. But I stayed late anyhoo and the skimmers were blasting off every two minutes as it got darker and darker. It is quite peaceful and beautiful being on the beach after the sun has set.

Today is Sunday 28 August 2022. The forecast is for the party cloudy skies with the first east wind since I arrived on Long Island at the very beginning of August. I will be headed for Nickerson Beach early, hoping that the weather forecast is correct and that skimmers skimming right at me are on the menu. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about 90 minutes to prepare and makes one hundred fifty-six days in a row with a new one.

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BIRDS AS ART Image Optimization Service (BAA IOS)

Send a PayPal for $62.00 to birdsasart@verizon.net or call Jim at 863-692-0906 and put $62.00 on your credit card. Pick one of your best images and upload the raw file using a large file sending service like Hightail or DropBox and then send me the link via e-mail. I will download and save your raw file, evaluate the exposure and sharpness, and optimize the image as if it were my own after converting the raw file in Adobe Camera Raw. Best of all, I will make a screen recording of the entire process and send you a link to the video to download, save and study.

Induro GIT 304L Price Drop

Amazingly, we have two, brand-new-in-the-box Induro GIT 304L tripods in stock. They are $699.00 each (were $799.00) and the price now includes the insured ground shipping to the lower 48 states. Weekday phone orders only: 863-692-0906. Order yours here while they last.

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Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear, especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. If you are desperate, you can try me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please leave a message and shoot me a text if I do not pick up.

This image was also created on 26 August 2022 at the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY. While standing and trying to get on sun angle, I used the handheld Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 840mm) with The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 1600: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6. AWB at7:44:16am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Animal Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly by accurately tracking the turtle’d eye. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger, sharper, high-res version. Image #1: Common Snapping Turtle in shorebird pool

The Discovery

While sitting at a shorebird pool populated by about a hundred sandpipers and plovers, I saw a dark, round shape just break the surface of the water. I got up and moved to the north to check it out. It turned out to be a large Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) that would have tipped the scales in excess of 25 pounds. I called my two clients over and created Image #1 just before it left the pond and crawled up onto the muddy shore of the East Pond.

This image was also created on 26 August 2022 at the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY. While seated on damp mud, I used the handheld/knee-podded Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 840mm) with The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 1600: 1/640 sec. at f/9. AWB at 7:51:14am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Animal Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly by accurately tracking the turtle’d eye. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger, sharper, high-res version. Image #2: Common Snapping Turtle — tight head portrait

My First Instinct:Go Head Hunting

With the creature crawling to the north and slightly away from sun angle, my first instinct was to go for a head portrait. With the 1.4X TC in place, I did not have much choice. I sat down in some deep gooey mud — no worries I wear fisherman’s skins bottoms made from canvas with a rubber outer layer.When the big turtle obliged by turning its head back towards me, I fired off a few frames. Speaking of frames, I created 656 images of this subject. I kept 28 of those and more than half will wind up in the trash after the second edit. I made a series of images of just the tail and thought that they would be really neat. But, I should have gotten a bit higher as parts of the bottom of third of the tail was obscured by clumps of mud and Canada Goose poop.

This image was also created on 26 August 2022 at the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY. While seated on damp mud I used the handheld/knee-podded Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1000. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/500 sec. at f/9 (stopped down 2 1/3 stops). AWB at 7:56:01am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Animal Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly by accurately tracking the turtle’d eye. Image #3: Common Snapping Turtle — tight facing image

Turnabout is Fair Play (and in this case, most welcome)

Surpisingly, the slow moving reptile reversed course twice by turning to its left, circling, and then heading north again. During the turn, I had the creature facing me with the sun coming over my right shoulder. By this time I had removed the 1.4X TC, but I still needed to add a bit of canvas above the shell for Image #3.. Though four folks joined me in photographing the turtle, everyone moved slowly and the animal was not stressed or bothered at all. In 46 years of visiting the East Pond, it was the first Common Snapping Turtle I had seen. I did have an up-close, personal, and very scary encounter with one at Big John’s Pond more than 30 years ago.

Alligator Snapping Turtle?

I had thought that ranges of Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) and Common Snapping Turtle overlapped in the northeast. While doing the research for this blog post, I came across an entertaining and informative video comparing the two species. The video was entitled Alligator Snapping Turtle VS Common Snapping Turtle: Can you tell the difference?. You can watch it here.

This image was also created on 26 August 2022 at the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY. While seated on damp mud I used the handheld/knee-podded Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1000. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/500 sec. at f/9 (stopped down 2 1/3 stops). AWB at 7:58:21am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Animal Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly by accurately tracking the turtle’d eye. Image #4: Common Snapping Turtle — leaving the scene

Bye, Bye, Baby

About 15 minutes after it emerged from the shallow, muddy water, the snapping turtle turned tail and clambered into the East Pond proper in search of a tasty duck dinner.

Typos

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