Your Call?
Which, if any, of today’s three featured images do you like? Why did you make your choice. If none of them, why?
What’s Up?
I’ve been busier than the proverbial one armed paper hanger. Today is Sunday 18 August. On Monday morning, I head out to eastern Long Island for pre-surgical testing and medical clearance. This coming Wednesday — assuming no unexpected problems, I will have carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist. I have had sporadic numbness and tingling in my right hand for several years that has gotten worse over time, sometimes to the point of pain. The numbness often makes sleep difficult. It goes from the inside of my right ring finger to the inside of the right thumb, classic median nerve/carpal tunnel symptoms. More than a few times recently, I could not feel the shutter button at all and had to press it with my right pointer finger. And typing has been and is a challenge. Right now the hand is numb pretty much 24/7. The surgery will be done at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, NY by the word’s greatest hand surgeon, Dr. Steven Puopolo.
I have tried Vitamin B6 and all kinds of massage and stretching without success. While I am hoping that the surgery brings relief, there are of course, no guarantees.
I am far behind on e-mails so if you have been waiting to hear from me, please continue to be patient. With lots of rain in the forecast, I should get to some of them today.
On Friday evening, we were greeted by two evening high tide overflow pools at Nickerson. There were quite a few large gulls bathing and we had some fun with them. We were excited on Saturday morning to see if the pools had persisted. They had, and with the early morning high tide, they had gotten larger. Things started off slowly but by moving the group often as the pools first got deeper and then began to shrink, we enjoyed a ton of flight and bathing action for many hours, finally leaving the beach at about 11am as the sun broke through the heavy cloud cover. The 15 mph wind from the southeast had been perfect. Using my a9 iii for the first time in a while, I created more than 16,000 images. Anke made more than 8,000, and Geri about 5,500. With the extreme low light conditions, we were all using very high ISOs most of the time. My keeper rate for the first edit was a shade less than 2%, about twice what I had expected.
By the time we left, the pools had shrunk to relatively small puddles.
We were curious to see what the conditions would be like on Saturday evening, wondering if there would be any pools left at all. As we walked over the wooden walkway to the beach, we were stunned to see that the entire beach was flooded, almost from the parking lot to the berm. It was an amazing sight. With little light, I experimented first with ridiculously high ISOs, as high as 40,000 (at f/2.8!) but then went to blurs. There were lots of skimmers skimming and huge tern blastoffs.
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This image was created on 17 August 2024 at Nickerson Beach, Long Island, NY on the (extended) Combo IPT. Seated on damp sand, I used the Robus RC-5570 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 10000. 1/2500 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual Mode. AWB at 6:57:49am on a very cloudy morning. RawDigger showed the raw file brightness to be perfect. Tracking: Expand Spot AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Black Skimmer juvenile skimming |
a9 iii for Action
Knowing that the morning southeast wind combined with the flooding would likely produce lot of flight and bathing chances, I went with tripod mounted 600mm f/4 lens and the a9 iii, adding the 1.4X TC early on because most of the action was in the center of the pool.
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This image was created on 17 August 2024 at Nickerson Beach, Long Island, NY on the (extended) Combo IPT. Seated on damp sand, I used the Robus RC-5570 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 5000. 1/3200 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual Mode. AWB at 8:05:38am on a then cloudy morning. RawDigger showed the raw file brightness to be perfect. Tracking: Expand Spot AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Common Tern juvenile shaking off water in midair |
Whole Lotta Shaking Going On. But When?
I kept missing the Common Tern midair shakes until I realized that when they flap after their baths and then keep flapping to lift off, the birds would consistently flap several times more before shaking the water off their feathers. Once I figured that out, I stayed on them and created a few neat photos despite the high ISOs. My double noise reduction technique (as detailed in Volume I of the Digital Basics III Video Series) produced clean, noise free images even at ISO 5000.
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This image was created on 17 August 2024 at Nickerson Beach, Long Island, NY on the (extended) Combo IPT. Seated on damp sand, I used the Robus RC-5570 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. The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 2000. 1/3200 second at f/4 (wide open) in Manual Mode. AWB at 8:05:38am on a then cloudy morning. RawDigger showed the raw file brightness to be perfect. Zone AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #3: Black Skimmer adult taking flight after bath |
Footsies! What’s With the Feet?
As we watched and photographed mostly adult skimmers bathing right in front of us for hours, we all noticed that they were doing very strange things with their feet as they lifted off and took flight. They would flap vigorously in place after they bathed, and when they lifted off, it seemed that they were using their feet to push the air to give them more lift. They would point their toes down and then bring their feet forward, sometimes in tandem, other times in opposition, as if trying to walk on air.
Though Image #3 looks very much like the bird is braking to land, it is actually taking flight. We all made some very interesting skimmer footsie photos.
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Five videos, fifteen complete image optimizations. The Digital Basics III Video Series |
The Digital Basics III Video Series
I realized about two years ago that my digital workflow had changed significantly and was toying with the idea of writing a Digital Basics III. More recently, I learned and begun working with two great new Photoshop Tools, the Remove Tool and the Luminance Targeted Adjustment Tool. The former is like a smarter Spot Healing Brush Tool on steroids and the latter is a step up from the fabulous Color Mixer Tool. During that same time frame, I came up with a new and improved 2-step noise reduction technique. I still use Divide and Conquer, Quick Masks, Layer Masks, an expanded array of personalized keyboard shortcuts, and tons of other stuff from both versions of Digital Basics.
As soon as I realized that I did not want to take on another large writing project, I realized that by creating a series of videos I could much more easily share all the details of my current digital workflow and much more easily incorporate additional new tips, techniques, and tools as I went. And so, The Digital Basics III Video Series was born. The five videos (with 15 image optimizations in all) will be most valuable for folks using the latest version of Photoshop (2024) or Lightroom along with Topaz DeNoise AI and Topaz Sharpen AI.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Hoping the surgery goes smoothly, with a minimum of discomfort and disruption, and is totally effective. Andrew
Thanks, Andrew.
with love, a
Hi Artie, my wife had surgery for carpal tunnel on both hands many years ago and has been pain free ever since. I hope you enjoy the same success as she. Good luck to you.
Thanks for the good words, Steve. Me too 🙂
a
The feet look sharp in #3. You must have been in Canon mode!? Best of God’s tender mercies, guidance for your doc and healing powers to an aging but young at heart photoman.
Thanks, Jeff. The feet are on the same plane as the bird’s eyes.
with love, artie
Artie all the images are great. Really like the framing of the adult skimmer in #3 and the colors make it pop. I remember how much my back hurt after a couple of long sessions at Nickerson, I don’t know how you do it day after day; your passion for photography unsurpassed. Pray your surgery is uneventful and your recovery goes smoothly.
Thanks for your kind words and prayers. I am looking forward to some serious time off without skimmers, terns, and oystercatchers! The trip has been easy thanks to great clients and friends like you.
with love, artie
My favorite is Image 3 for the brighter colors, two-toned background, and the neat feet. Just read today (trying to correctly caption a Spoonbill photo) that birds use their feet and tails heavily for balance during takeoffs and landings. As seen in your photo, the bird’s torso is steeply inclined, and with wing thrust coming and going, lots of balancing needs to be done–having the feet forward might help balance the torso. Once airborne, of course, the torso will be level, just like a plane, with the feet tucked. Good luck with the surgery–I’d guess the odds are very high you’ll get significant relief.
Thanks for the footsie info. I hope so too 🙂
with love, artie
Love the images and best wishes Artie for a great outcome. I’m sure you have a great team caring for you and without knowing further details it is impossible to speculate on the approach, anesthesia, recovery, etc. Usually, the speed of recovery depends on the approach and extent of symptoms. The more mild the presentation, the quicker the recovery. You may or may not gain some degree of immediate relief and usually can start doing some light stuff in 1-2 days. Gym, weights, swimming, etc. can take several weeks. I know you’ll do well!
Thank you doc!
with love, artie
Great photos Artie. Wishing you good luck and a complete recovery following your surgery. Much appreciation for your perseverance with continuing with your Newsletters.
Thanks a stack, Sandy.
with love, artie
The timing of photo #1 is just awesome.
Best wishes with surgery
Thanks times two.
a
Good luck with your surgery!!
Thanks. Pouoplo is so good that I do not need luck 🙂
With love, artie
Hi, Artie. I love image #1 for the action, composition, foamy water, everything. And I’m a total sucker for skimmers skimming. Second favorite is the skimmer taking flight. I did think it was braking to land until I read your description. Good luck with your surgery. Getting old isn’t for sissies.
Thanks, David. While I could not sleep last night, I realized that my right thumb has become a trigger finger. Yikes!
with love, artie
Cheers Artie: I absolutely love the 3rd image. Everything about it is fabulous. The pose, the colors, the detail….all boxes ticked, a winner in my book!
Thank you Mary Jane. I like that one too. Geri Georg made a similar image of a different bird.
with love, artie
Those first two photos are incredible! Great work!
Thanks, Kathy. The first one is my least favorite as image quality suffered a bit atISO 10,000 (as expected).
with love, artie
Dear Artie: What an amazing morning that must have been at Nickerson Beach if you didn’t leave until 11:00am. Assuming you were there at your usual 6:00am, that means you made images for about five hours! Having taking a phototour with you at Nickerson Beach, I know how physically challenging it is to sit or stand on the beach for hours.
You are correct, sir! As we were sitting, our butts and backs were killing us!
with love, artie