What’s Up?
As you can see below, I had fun on Friday morning at the eagle nest. Neither of the young birds has branched yet. I’ve also been getting some good stuff on Mottled Ducks from the car. My daughters’ families got me a nice gift certificate for the holidays from some seafood joint in Alaska. I ordered scallops and salmon. I had the former for brunch. They were so amazingly delicious that I had them for dinner last night and will have them for brunch this morning. Then I will break out some King Salmon. Thanks Jen and Lissy!
I got some online shopping done. I finally broke down and ordered the Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM lens from B&H. It is not a lens that I will use a lot, but there have been a several occasions over the past few months when I really wished I had it.
Today is Saturday 11 February 2023. The forecast is for cloudy early with a southeast breeze. It is not likely that I will be doing any backlit sunrise stuff, but it might be a good morning for video. Or perhaps, to photograph one of the eaglets flapping and jumping up on the perfect perch right next to the nest. I do not have much time left for that. This blog post took about 90 minutes hours to prepare and makes three hundred nineteen days in a row with a new educational post. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.
Please, please, pretty please remember to use my B&H or Bedford’s affiliate programs for all your new gear purchases. If you use B&H, please be sure to click on any link in the blog to start your search. Or simply start with this link. There is always the option of e-mailing me for gear advice and for the correct links.
The plan is to continue to post every day until the streak reaches one year and one day and then go back to posting every other day.
Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!
You can find some great photo accessories (and necessities, like surf booties!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks who, like me, spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so, works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.
Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.
What I’ve Learned About Video
1- You do not want any Zebras or blinkies when you are shooting video as you are really shooting JPEGs. And that is true even with dark birds against white skies.
2- I might have to improve my processing game as iMovie is limiting in many respects.
3- Folks like sound to go with their videos.
Thanks again to the few who commented on the videos. I am not giving up yet.
White Pelicans in Lakeland, the secret North Tampa Rookery, and 1 1/2 DAYS on the Hooptie Deux for Spoonbills
If you would like to join Gary Chappell and me in Lakeland on Tuesday morning for American White Pelicans, at the secret rookery in North Tampa that afternoon, and on the 1 1/2 day Spoonbill IPT beginning on Wednesday, get in touch via e-mail or text me at 1-863-221-2372.
|
|
This image was created on 10 February down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated on damp mud, I used the no-longer available (except from BIRDS AS ART) Induro GIT 304L tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens Manual Focus with Focus Peaking worked perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Bald Eagle landing after jumping out of nest |
Comparing the Two Exposures
Image #1: 1/3200 sec. at f/4 using ISO 125.
Image #2: 1/2500 sec. at f/8 at ISO 500.
So, the shutter speed for #1 is 1/3-stop faster (1/3-stop darker). The aperture for #1 is two stops brighter. The ISO for #1 is 2 stops darker than for Image #2. The last two exposure parameters cancel each other out. If my reckoning is correct, the exposure for the first image was 1/3 stop darker than for the second image. How can you explain that RawDigger showed that Image #1, the image that received 1/3-stop less light, was dead solid perfect while #2 was a full stop too dark?
To come up with the answer, all you need to do is look at each image.
|
|
This image was created on 10 February down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated on damp mud, I used the no-longer available Induro GIT 504XL tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the thumb dial. ISO 500. 1/2500 sec. at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was determined to be almost one full stop under. AWB at 7:22:48on a partly cloudy morning. Manual Focus with Focus Peaking worked perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Bald Eagle landing after jumping out of nest |
How Did I Do It?
Today’s featured images illustrate the new methodology I have been working on. I think that it is pretty neat, and cannot understand why I had never thought of it before. Do understand that both images were created in virtually the same instant. Image #1 was created at 560mm. Image #2 was created at 1200mm. Image #2 is not a crop of Image #1. They are two separate and distinct images. How did I do it? Please be specific.
Your Call?
Which of the two images of the same moment do you like best, the wide image or the tight image? Why did you make your choice?
|
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: 2.
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.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Artie
You had 2 tripods setup one with the 600 and the other with the 400 while using the Sony remote commander on the cameras and you smashed the button. I think in image #2 there is so much more tree dominating in the picture and filling the frame other than as in image #1 even though #1 does have more on the left and the bottom and right there are breaks in the trees to let in light? My favorite is image #1
Always with love b
Nope on the exposure question.
with love, artie
I think you must have set up two cameras and used some type of device to trigger them simultaneously. As for the exposure question, the second image is dominated by darker pixels and this may have caused RawDigger to interpret it as being underexposed.
One out of two ain’t bad. Now the question is, which one is correct?
with love, a