Your Call?
Which of today’s four featured images do you like best? Why? Which of today’s four featured images do you like least? Why?
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What’s Up?
We’ve done really well since we got to Denver. With overcast weather, conditions have been very good. We’ve been creating between 5000 and 10000 mages each session but for Friday afternoon. The forecast called for cloudy with rain and instead we have sunny with blue skies and nary a cloud 🙁
Today is Saturday 22 June 2024. We are heading back to the location with Tree Swallows and Mountain Bluebirds, and hopefully, some Mountain Bluebirds.
I hope that you too have a great day.
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This image was created on 20 June at Red Rocks Park, CO. Standing at full height I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber 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 4000. 1/400 sec. at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was determined to be perfect. AWB at 8:43:24am in the shade on a sunny morning. Tracking: Spot S/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Lazuli Bunting, singing male |
Why a Marginal Shutter Speed?
Most folks who photograph songbirds reccommend using a shutter speed of at least 1/800 or 1/1000 second when shooting singing birds. As 1/400 second had me at ISO 4000, I opted to gamble on making an occasional sharp image without any motion blur on the bill. To get to the reccomended 1/800 second, I would have needed ISO 8000 …
My Cropping Option
I cropped this one from the left and above to eliminate lighter portion of the background. The placed the bird nicely near the upper left Rule of Thirds spot.
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This image was created on 20 June 2024 in Evergreen, CO. Standing at full height, I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. ISO 2500. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/6400 second at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was perfect. AWB at 4:37:12m on variably cloudy afternoon. Tracking: Wide AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version. Image #2: Tree Swallow — on final approach screaming in flight |
a9 iii for Flight
We were working at a Tree Swallow nest box set-up. Though it was very cloudy, we opted for super-fast shutter speeds that come, of course, with high ISOs. Because the swallows are such erratic fliers, I went into My Menu and checked the box for Tracking: Wide. Bingo. Conditions were perfect with a nice breeze coming over our left shoulders. But still, it was very challenging photography. When a bird hovered for a moment, it was possible to get on it, acquire focus, and hold the shutter button down. This and several dozen other images from the afternoon session were razor sharp on the eye and face.
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This image was created on 20 June 2024 in Evergreen, CO. Standing at full height, I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. ISO 2500. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/8000 second at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was perfect. AWB at 4:51:23pm on variably cloudy afternoon. Tracking: Wide AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version. Image #3: Tree Swallow — male in flight — full downstroke |
More Square Crops
The square crops worked especially well with the swallow flight shots in part because the bird were flying toward us (because of the wind) and in part because the birds are relatively mall. With this image I went square to eliminate the nest box on the left side of the original frame.
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This image was created on 20 June at Red Rocks Park, CO. Standing at full height I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 2500. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/250 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was perfect. AWB at 5:32:21pm on cloudy afternoon. Tracking: Spot S/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #4: Mountain Bluebird male |
Sony a1 versus Sony a9 iii
As you have seen here recently, for perched birds, I will usually go with the a1 for better image quality with the accompanying crop-ability. For flight and action, the a9 iii is the clear choice for its amazing Bird Face-Eye tracking AF and the 120 fps frame rate.
Typos
All questions and comments are welcome. With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
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