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In the Last Blog Post
In the last blog post, there were so many excellent images that rating them was extremely challenging (he said modestly). Here are mine with my favorite first and so on: 12 (nobody else chose that one), 6, 2, 3, and the very popular 9.
What’s Up?
Photography in Central Florida has continued to be fantastic. Thanks to a tip from long-time friend Fred Vaughn, Anita and I tried a new location to photograph a single, distant Roseate Spoonbill nest. It was a different and very challenging situation. I was thrilled to get two images that I really liked, those out of more than 4,500 images. Stick Marsh has been great and we’ve done well at ILE as well. Tuesday morning dawned clear and sunny with a brisk NW wind, a death forecast for bird photography. We headed down to the lake expecting to be back home in ten minutes. Surprise. There were several flocks of Cattle Egrets feeding in various locations. We found a group feeding near a large patch of purple flowers and worked those for an hour. After that, we found a killer backlit situation with the same subjects. We did not get back to my house until nearly 10:00am!
Today is Wednesday 12 March 2025. It is clear and still and we are headed back to Lakeland for another American White Pelican fix. Whatever you plan on doing, I hope that you too opt to have a wonderful day. Do remember that happiness is a choice — Byron Katie, The Work.Com.
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This image was created by Anita North on 10 March 2025 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing near the nest tree, I used the hand held Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. ISO 2000: 1/2500 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead-solid perfect. AWB at 9:32:52am on a cloudy-bright morning. Tracking: Spot XS/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger, inexplicably sharper high res version. Image #1: Osprey perched on natural nest tree |
Knowing Where to Be When Based on Sky Conditions and Wind Strength and Direction
The forecast for Monday morning had been for cloudy skies and a strong SW wind. Knowing ILE as I do, I said to Anita, “The only place to be is the natural Osprey nest near the tangerine house. This nest is terrible for photography on clear morning with any wind with a western component. But with the clouds, I knew that the birds would be landing right at us.
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This image was created by yours truly on 10 March 2025 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing near the nest tree, I used the hand held Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. ISO 2000: 1/2500 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead-solid perfect: AWB at 9:22:06am on a cloudy-bright morning. Zone/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger, inexplicably sharper high res version. Image #2: Osprey in flight with twig for nest |
Weapon of Choice
Though I made a great image last week in similar conditions with the bare 300mm f/2.8 GM lens, I decided that adding the 1.4X TC was best. So that is what we both did. With the high winds the birds were both quite active. I do not think that they are on eggs yet.
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This image was created by Anita North on 10 March 2025 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated on the grass, she used the hand held Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. ISO 1600: 1/4000 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was about 1/3-stop short of perfect. AWB at 9:55:52am on a cloudy morning. Zone/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger, inexplicably sharper high res version. Image #3: Osprey after grabbing moss from canal |
A Mossy First!
We often see Ospreys grabbing Spanish Moss that has fallen to the ground; they use it to line their nests. On Monday past, we saw one of the Osprey pair disappear to our left while flying over the canal. Amazingly, it flew back to the nest with a load of moss in its talons. I was confused as I had never seen and Osprey grab floating moss from the water but that seemed to be the only possible explanation. A few minutes later, the same bird dropped down out of the sky and grabbed some floating moss from the canal. I was stunned. I an act of Fatih, Anita sat down on the grassy bank and was rewarded within minutes as the Osprey flew right at her. She made a long series of fine images. As she was so close, she clipped a few wingtips.
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This image was created by yours truly on 10 March 2025 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL Standing near the nest tree, I used the hand held Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. ISO 2000: 1/3200 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead-solid perfect: AWB at 9:55:52am on a cloudy morning. Zone/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger, inexplicably sharper high res version. Image #4: Osprey after grabbing moss from canal |
Same Bird, Almost the Same Instant
When I saw the bird swooping down to grab the moss, I got on it easily know that my exposure settings were perfect. This is my favorite from the series. As I was not a fan of the trees and bushes along the upper frame-edge, I went to a pano crop and added a Gaussian Blur.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
I like #4 the best. Great idea for crop and trailing moss
Why is image 3 so dark on the left and right? Is it just reflections from the background?
Hi Steve, Yes, just the natural reflections. I have never liked intentionally vignetting the corners during post processing.
with love, artie
Artie, those last two images of the Osprey, particularly the next to last one (to my eye), are spectacular. Osprey nesting, or in flight, or an opportunity I haven’t had yet but hope to. And while I like the first one for the light, wing position and how tight (in a good way) the composition is, I love the panoramic crop to the second, and how the moss is dragging across the surface of the water. Nicely done…some day!
Thanks for your erudite comments, John. When we saw our photos on the back of the camera, I liked hers best and she loved my idea of a pano crop. The funny thing is that she was about 40 feet from the bird, I was about 80 feet away.
with love, artie