800mm Handheld Sun Ball Photography Ain't Easy

What’s Up

As it was very cloudy and dark on Wednesday morning, I opted to stay in. I spent several hours making travel arrangements for three big trips coming up next spring and summer. And I got started packing for my San Diego trip. As you will see below, my short evening session just before sunset was fun, challenging, and productive.

Today is Thursday 15 December. The forecast for the morning is for partly cloudy skies with a breeze from the south. I will head down to the lake for a bit. This blog post took about an hour to prepare and makes two hundred sixty-two days in a row with a new, educational post just for you. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.

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This image was created on 14 December 2022 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated on the South Field I used the handheld Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with Exposure Compensation on the thumb dial. Shutter Priority +1 stop. AUTO ISO set ISO 500: 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open). When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file exposure was determined to be a bit hot in the RED channel but was easy to work with during the raw conversion. AWB at 5:27:27pm right before sunset. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed perfectly even at 1200mm. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Sandhill Crane head portrait with sun ball

It Ain’t Easy

I’ve been trying for this exact image at 800mm handheld for about a week.

Here are the requirements:

1- A crane in a relatively open spot
2- A crane that quits feeding and stands tall every once in a while
3- A setting sun very close to the horizon that is partially muted by very light clouds or by some moisture in the air. The latter conditions are fairly common at ILE.

Working handheld at 800mm presents many problems:

1- In order to place the bird’s head in the sun ball you need to be on the ground or kneeling.
2- Before you get low, you need to place the bird directly in line with the sun.
3- If the bird moves left or right, you need to move in the same direction. Sometimes this can be done by scooching. Otherwise, you need to get up and then down again. It helps that the cranes at ILE are very tame.
4- Once you are low, you must first acquire focus. This is best done by pointing the lens at the crane’s body and then raising the lens to frame the image with the bird’s head placed pleasingly in the sun ball. If you point the lens at the bird’s head with the sun ball right behind it, AF simply will not work most of the time.
5- The exposure compensation must be adjusted depending on the brightness of the sun. With Sony you have a chance as you aim for just a few Zebras on the sun ball.
6- The biggest challenge is fine-tuning the image design. Though the Sony 400 f/2.8 is only four ounces lighter than the 600mm f/4, it is much easier to handhold because it is shorter and much of the weight is to the rear. That said, the rig weighs a shade under nine pounds. Most folks can hold the lens up only for a few seconds before lactic acid builds up and their left arm begins shaking. How difficult is it to frame these images with this gear? Out of the 212 images that I created, all but a very few were badly mis-framed.

I guess if it were easy, it would not be so rewarding when everything falls into place.

Note: If you go to a lighter lens like the Sony 200-600mm, the size of the sun ball would be greatly reduced. As I typed the preceding sentence, I realized that the 200-600 with the 1.4X TC might be a better choice, albeit at much higher ISOs as you would be working wide open at f/9.

All images on this card were created by Arthur Morris on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks

2023 Spoonbill Boat 1-1/2 DAY MINI-IPT: $1199.00.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 3.

A full day on WED 15 FEB and the morning of Thursday 16 FEB 2023: 1 1/2 days.

Two morning and one afternoon photo session (weather permitting) via customized pontoon boat.

For early-arriving folks, artie is throwing in a free afternoon In-the-Field session at a little-known but very active rookery in North Tampa on Tuesday 14 February.

We will be leaving the dock in Gibsonton, FL very early for the morning sessions in hopes of photographing a pre-dawn White Ibis blast-off and creating some dramatic silhouettes or pleasing blurs. The morning sessions are planned for the Alafia Banks Roseate Spoonbill Rookery. We have several options for the afternoons including returning to Alafia. We may spend one afternoon on foot at the North Tampa rookery mentioned above. There will be lots of opportunities for flight photography of several species including and especially Roseate Spoonbill. Also likely for flight photography are nesting Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, and Double Crested Cormorant, many carrying nesting material. This IPT includes all boat and guide fees, in-the-field instruction from two great leaders, chest waders (feel free to bring your own of course to assure a perfect fit), and three working lunches (Monday thru Wednesday). For the most part we will be standing in mid-calf to knee-deep water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat safely with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with mobility or balance problems. Note however that some folks opt to stay on the boat to photograph. They usually have lots of chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

Mid-February is prime time for photographing spoonbills at the absolute peak of breeding plumage. For unknown reasons, the spoonbills at Alafia are much more colorful than the birds that breed at Stick Marsh later in the season. The Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity and I do hope that you can join us. All of the images on the cards were made on the Hooptie Duex during the last two weeks of February, prime time for the spoonies in mega-breeding plumage.

You may hold your spot with an e-mail request. Then, you may either secure your spot by calling Jim or Jennifer at the office at 863-692-0906 and leaving the $599 deposit on credit card or sending your check for payment in full to us as follows with the check made out to:

BIRDS AS ART

Please send it via US mail here:

BIRDS AS ART
PO BOX 7245
Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855

If you call to leave your deposit, you will be asked to mail your check for the balance ASAP. Be sure to give us your e-mail address.

Images courtesy of our guide; copyright 2017 Captain James Shadle (aka Froggie). All of the images here were created at Alafia Banks. Card creation and design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

Everybody Wants Spoonbills!

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in mid-February is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage…. with long telephoto lenses. A 500 or 600 with a 1.4X TC is perfect for flight.

As above, there will — weather permitting — three boat trips — 2 mornings and 1 afternoon — on this MINI IPT. All to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography often with the birds likely carrying nesting material), Double-crested Cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White) in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition, we may get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. Afternoon trips either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes lunches on the full day with small group image sharing and review and some over-the-shoulder Photoshop instruction.

The 2023 Expanded Winter/Spoonbill Boat/DeSoto 3 1/2-DAY IPT: $2099.00.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings 3

MON 13 FEB thru the full day on TUES 14 FEB 2023 + 1 1/2 days on the spoonbill boat: a full day on WED 15 FEB and the morning of Thursday 16 FEB 2023: 1 1/2 days

Bird photographers, especially those wishing to escape the snow, ice, and freezing winter temperatures to the north of sunny Florida, can add two mornings at Fort DeSoto an afternoon at the little-known but fabulous rookery north of Tampa, and a second (free) afternoon at that same rookery, to the 1 1/2 days on the Spoonbill Boat. Shared lodging is a possibility. DeSoto is one of the very few bird photography hotspots that has the possibility of being great on any day of the year. It is generally superb in winter with lots of wading birds, terns, both species of pelicans, many species of shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, and lots of flight photography.

You can hold your spot with an e-mail request. Then, you may either secure your spot by calling Jim or Jennifer at the office at 863-692-0906 and leaving the $599 deposit on your credit card or sending your check for payment in full to us as follows with the check made out to:

BIRDS AS ART

Please send it via US mail here:

BIRDS AS ART
PO BOX 7245
Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855

If you call to leave your deposit, you will be asked to mail your check for the balance ASAP. Be sure to give us your e-mail address.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.