What’s Up?
My right hand continues to heal nicely. The thumb (trigger finger) was as good as new the next day. The stitches come out next Tuesday. Though the crushing, tingling pain in the hand is gone, it appears that I will have some lingering tenderness along the inside of the ring finger of my right hand for quite some time as the nerve heals and calms down.
I have been getting lots of rest at younger daughter Alissa’s home in Ronkonkoma, Long Island, and have been taking a 1 1/2 mile sun walk every afternoon. Older daughter Jennifer and her husband Eric flew to Long Island MacArthur Airport in nearby Islip on Thursday afternoon and we all enjoyed a fabulous spaghetti squash lasagna prepared by Alissa followed by an absolutely sinful dessert, Best S’mores Bars: chocolate, peanut butter, and marshmallow sandwiched between two layers of a graham cookie crust.
Today is Friday 30 August 2024. I will continue working on a new writing project and a Getty Pacific-race Brown Pelican image submission. Whatever you opt to do, I hope that you too choose to have fun and to enjoy life.
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I checked on renting a Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens for a week. The cost is only $122.00. LensCap: Damage Only coverage can be added for a very low $18.00. Going with LensCap: Damage & Theft would be $27.00. The shipping charge varies. They offer an interesting program called Lensrentals HD. By signing up for this shipping discount program ($99.00/year), you’ll get free Standard Shipping on all the orders you place.
Renting a Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens for a week will cost you $536.00. The two coverage options come in at $76.00 or $114.00. Less your 15% discount when you enter the BIRDSASART15 code into the Promo Code box at checkout and enter the BIRDSASART15 code in the Promo Code box at checkout to save 15%.
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Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are — out of ignorance — using the wrong gear, especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads. And the same is true in spades when ordering new camera bodies or lenses. My advice will often stave you some serious money and may help you avoid making a seriously bad choice. Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. If you are desperate, you can try me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please leave a message and shoot me a text if I do not pick up.
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This image was created on 21 October 2021 on a Fort DeSoto Fall IPT. Seated on damp sand I used the lowered, no-longer available Induro GIT 304L tripod (now replaced by the Robus RC-5570 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 1600. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/4000 second at f/6.3 (stopped down 1/3-stop) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was perfect. AWB at 8:07:10 am on a clear sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1: Black-bellied Plover flying off with a lugworm stolen from a Marbled Godwit |
Lugworm City!
The lugworm (Arenicola marina) is a large marine worm of the phylum Annelida. Its coiled castings are a familiar sight on a beach at low tide, but the animal itself is rarely seen except by those who, from curiosity or to use as fishing bait, dig the worm out of the sand. At DeSoto, it is a favorite food of the Marbled Godwits that will often work for minutes extracting the worms from their holes. Black-bellied Plovers and Willets will almost always attempt to steal a just-captured lugworm from the larger godwits.
The plover in Image #1 grabbed the lugworm from a Marbled Godwit and flew right at me. Note that the black axillary (armpit) feathers are diagnostic of Black-bellied Plover and separate them from the slimmer, shorter-billed, (much rarer along the east coast) American Golden-Plover.
Photo Tip
Whenever the possibility of action exists, it is usually best to select a fast shutter speed along with the relatively high ISO that will result in a properly exposed to the right raw file. At times a shutter speed of 1/2000 sec. (or even slower) will suffice. Shutter speeds of 1/4000 sec. are ideal for flight and for action.
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This image was created at Indian Lake Estates, FL from the driver’s seat of my SUV on 30 May 2024. I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera.. Exposure was determined via Zebras with Exposure Compensation on the rear dial. Multi-Metering +2.0 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 2500. 1/4000 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Shutter Priority mode. AWB at 8:03:26pm just before sunset. Zone/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: Black-bellied Whistling Duck chasing another |
Real Photographers Use Manual Mode 100% of the Time. Not!
There are many who firmly state that real photographers use Manual mode 100% of the time. For years, I have firmly disagreed.
In bird photography, the main reason we work in Manual mode more than 90% of the time is that the tonality of the background changes frequently and often. In Manual mode, we determine and set the correct exposure for the bird manually so that the changing background tonalities will not screw things up as they would if we were working in an automatic (exposure) mode.
There are times, however, when working in situations where the tonality of the background is relatively consistent that working in Shutter Priority mode offers some huge advantages. At the beach, before the sun comes up, the sky, the water, and the beach are all of about the same tonality, each much lighter than a middle tone. As the possibility of creating some nice pleasing blurs exists, I will set up the camera as follows: AUTO ISO, Exposure Compensation (EC) on the thumb dial, and Shutter Priority. Then I’ll usually set the EC to +2 1/3 stops and the shutter speed to 1/15 sec., the classic blur speed.
The camera sets the ISO and the well-to-the-right exposures are excellent. And, I can quickly and easily change the shutter speed during a blastoff to try for a different effect. If a nice bird lands right in front of me, I can quickly dial the shutter speed up to 1/60 or 1/125 sec. and begin making sharp images almost instantly (without having to change both the shutter speed and the ISO as I would have had to do had I been working in Manual mode). Note: By using Zebra technology, I can always tweak the EC as needed.
I often use a similar strategy when photographing action against brightly colored skies or their reflection off the water (as in Image #2, above). I will set a fast shutter speed and an EC of +2 or so. As noted above, the camera will set the ISO. This approach works perfectly if either the sun is well muted or not in the frame. If I want to try for an image with the bird crossing in front of a partially muted sun, I can reduce the EC depending on the exact situation.
This approach will be far more efficient than opting to work in Manual mode “100% of the time.”
Note: some camera bodies allow you to save a combination of settings as a Custom Setting and usually denote them as C1, C2, or C3. That done you can do everything noted above in one fell swoop simply by moving the main dial from M to 1 (for example).
Your Call?
Which of today’s two featured images is the strongest? Please be so kind as to leave a comment and let us know why you made your choice.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Glad you are healing up well. Talk with your San Diego doc he may want you to increase your protein intake and possibly add a supplement like Alpha Lipoic Acid all for supporting your nerves.
Much Luv, Jeff
Pat and Artie, fishing pier is still closed with damage from Ian. Ding has been trimmed a bit, but very few birds, Spoonbills, gone by 8 am, and distant (I’m cropping from 1120mm equivalent). Little action elsewhere. No-see-ums bad on still mornings.
BBPL is excellent, but the BBWD has the emotional appeal for me.
Hey Cliff,
Thanks as always for your erudite comments.
much love, a
ps: any suggestions for Pat around Fort Myers, even for common birds?
There will be an early morning low tide at Ding Darling tomorrow morning. So, I’m headed there first. I hadn’t thought of the fishing pier — I’ll give it a try.
You would probably be better off on the beaches in the morning or the beach at Blind Pass. I have heard that Ding Darling is totally overgrown with few birds.
with love, a
Pat, my wife, who has shorebirding contacts at SCCF, mentions Bunch Beach (end of John Morris Road, not far off island) as a possibility for skimmers and other shorebirds. Haven’t been there myself since Ian.
Pat,
The spoonbills at Ding are at the mudbar on the left just past the observation tower. Takes 10 minutes to get there from the gate, which opens at 7, and the last two times I’ve been there, some are already leaving by the time I park. On a good day, some may stay until 8, and some that depart may fly directly toward you if you’re standing on the water control structure (the best place to be anyway, as the breeze there minimizes the no-see-ums.
Earlier in the year, some spoonbills were also overnighting at the Education Boardwalk that’s a quarter mile down the Indigo Trail from the fee station at the gate. Heard there was one there again yesterday morning. Possible close shots there too for green herons, night-herons, and anhingas, though less now that breeding season is over. Gators possible there too, as well as along the trail itself (trail’s as wide as a road, but be alert). Unfortunately, the best time for the Indigo Trail is the same time you’d want to be at the mudbar.
Other spots that have been good in the past, like the Bailey Tract and Reclamation Ponds, seem inactive. A guy I talked to Thursday morning, who lives near Harns Marsh, said it’s dead there too; the only thing he knew about was an Eagle Nest in North Fort Myers (didn’t get a location, seems early for eagles).
Artie: I love the first image for so many reasons: (1) the very sharp image — even the worm is sharp, (2) the soft background and (3) the light blue and brown swaths of color which, rather than detracting from the image actually enhance it.
Thanks, Pat. You might want to try some of the Sanibel beaches or the fishing pier for some summer bird photography near where you live.
with love, artie