Four of My Favorites from the DeSoto Mega Afternoon

What’s Up?

Today is Sunday 21 May 2023. I leave for the Auto Train station at Sanford, FL at about noon today. You should be able to find me on Nickerson Beach on Tuesday morning. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.

Below are four of my favorite images from the YouTube video in the previous blog post. If you missed the video, you can see it here. Thanks to the very few (two) folks who shared their favorites with us.

Which one of my favorites do you like best? Why?

Are You Old Enough to Remember This One?

I had been trying to find the song above online for months, but could not remember the words. The other day, when listening to “50’s Oldies” on Sirius radio in the car, I heard, “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” For some reason, that brought to mind “there’s a pawn shop on a corner in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.” A quick search found the Guy Mitchell YouTube version above. Other from the early 50s include “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?” and “‘Twas on the Isle of Capri that I Found Her.” Oh, and “The Ballad of Davy Crockett.”

If you have a favorite or two from that era, please note them in a comment.

This image was created on 11 May 2023 on the third Fort DeSoto IPT. Seated on damp sand, I used the heel-pod technique with the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 539mm) with The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera ISO 1600. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel: RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was dead-solid perfect: 1/800 sec. at f/10 (stopped down 1/3-stop) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:40:58pm on a sunny afternoon. Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Image #1: Breeding plumage Sanderling ruffling

Ruffling

My fourth pick is one of the ruffling Sanderling images. I am a sucker for ruffling birds, especially shorebirds. Once I acquire focus and the bird leans forward, I hold the shutter button down until the bird quits ruffling. With mid-range shutter speeds, you can get dozens of varied and pleasing poses with the wing feathers blurred. I never realized that when shorebirds stand on one leg (as they do so often, that the leg they are standing on is anything but perpendicular to the ground.

Note that as I had to zoom out from 840 to 539mm, I must have been really close to this bird.

This image was also created on 11 May 2023 on the third Fort DeSoto IPT. Again, seated on damp sand, I used the heel-pod technique with the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (this time at 840mm) with The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera ISO 1600. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel: RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was more than 2/3-stop short of being perfect: 1/1000 sec. at f/11 (stopped down 2/3-stop) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:47:42pm on a sunny afternoon. Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Image #2: Molting adult Sanderling ruffling with breeding plumage Dunlin in background

Juxtapositions

I love images where the subject is in sharp focus, with a second, somewhat offset, out-ot-focus bird in the background. You had best be on your toes as juxtapositions often last a second or two at most. I quickly butt-wiggled a bit to my left to put the Dunlin right where I wanted it in relation to the Sanderling.

This image was also created on 11 May 2023 on the third Fort DeSoto IPT. Standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 411mm) with The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera ISO 3200. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel: RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was 1/3-stop short of perfect: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:38:31pm in the shade of Hidden Lagoon late on what had been a sunny afternoon. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed adequately. Image #3: White Morph Reddish Egret dancing

White Morph Reddish Egrets

White morph Reddish Egrets are always very special. Getting to photograph one dancing is always a thrill. In soft light? Better yet. Picking just one of the 49 images of this bird that I kept was not an easy chore. I shared fifteen of those in the video.

This image was also created on 11 May 2023 on the third Fort DeSoto IPT. Standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 565mm) with The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera ISO 3200. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel: RawDigger showed that the exposure was perfect: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:41:39pm in the shade of Hidden Lagoon late on what had been a sunny afternoon. Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed adequately. Image #4: Roseate Spoonbill with marsh grasses

My Clear First Choice

When this spoonbill landed in the perfect spot just behind the stand of marsh grasses, I got really excited. While framing the image, I zoomed out a bit so as to include the entire stand of grasses. Though the bird was looking out of the frame, to my left, my plan was to make a few images anyway. Miraculously, the bird turned its head and looked to my right. Perfection!

I love the soft light and I am a sucker for pink and green. Not to mention that the image design is exquisite (he said, modestly).

Typos

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