Galapagos Day 2/Afternoon, July 7: Prince Phillip’s Steps, Tower Island
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| As often happens in the Galapagos in June and July, we walked past a nest with two eggs only to find out five minutes later that there was just one egg in the nest along with a chick. This newly-hatched Nazca Booby chick was photographed with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/80 sec. at f/5.6. The improved image stabilization on the 800 allows folks with poor sharpness techniques to produce images at relatively slow shutter speeds. Happily, that group of folks does not include me! |
July 7. Afternoon at Prince Phillip’s Steps
The dry landing–you step onto a wet rocky shelf rather than into the water–at Prince Phillip Steps on Tower Island entails a somewhat steep and precarious walk up approximately 45 steps roughly hewn out of the cliff side. The wooden handrails are a most welcome addition. At the top you are usually greeted by dozens of Nazca Boobies either setting up territories, on eggs, or with chicks. This year it was pretty much A & B. A walk across the island to the rocky shelf along the south coast brings you past some interesting geology in the form or a large volcanic fissure, several pairs of nesting Red-footed Boobies, more Nazca Boobies, and several species of Darwin’s Finches and Galapagos Doves. When you reach the rocky coast you are greeted by more nesting Nazca Boobies, a good helping of Galapagos (Wedge-rumped) Storm Petrels–about 200,000 pairs call the island home–and usually a Short-eared Owl or two; the storm petrels are manna from heaven for the owls. Juan found us a pair of owls but for the most part they were content to sleep the afternoon away. As it clouded up at about five pm we were back on the boat a bit on the early side.
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| In some years, there are dozens of Nazca Booby nests near the paths at Prince Phillip’s Steps. This was one of those years. This bird was displaying to its mate. The image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS L lens (handheld at 176mm) with the and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/7.1. Here I had a choice of kneeling or making the image while standing…. It was a hard one: if I had gotten lower the background would have been a mess of bare bushes so I opted to stand. |
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| This preening adult Nazca Booby was photographed with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/1250 sec. at f/8. 7.1 set manually after checking the histogram. When photographing preening birds strive to make the image when the bird’s head is parallel to the back of the camera. The head angle here is pretty much perfect. |
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| Here, to increase my magnification while staying low, I added a 1.4X II TC with a 25mm Extension tube behind it to the Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS L lens and the EOS-1D MIV. The rig was handheld at 261mm. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/13. When working at very close range it pays to stop down so that you have enough depth-of-field to cover the subject. Knowing how and when to use various accessories as above allows you to increase the versatility of your telephoto and telephoto zoom lenses. |
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| The image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS L lens (handheld at 89mm) with the and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/320 sec. at f/4. This nest was only yards from the nest of the bird immediately above. But with the loverly stand of flowers right behind the nest as my inspiration, I opted to work wide (with the same lens) rather than tight. Note both the careful framing and the careful choice of perspective. (I tried a few from a lower perspective but they were not nearly as pleasing.) Note the relative rule-of-thirds placement of the subject. |
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| This totally tame Short-eared Owl was was photographed with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/80 sec. at f/8. We found one owl and were photographing it for about 15 minutes when Christine Doyle noticed a second bird standing right out in the open just a few feet from us. Because the birds were both in unattractive settings I opted to add the 1.4 teleconverter and work very tight. |
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| That is Juan on the lower step grabbing some equipment from the captain who helped with all of the landings. Getting up to the top was not as difficult as it looks in this photos as their are handrails all the way to the top. Prince Phillip actually visited this site in the 60s. |
After another great dinner, the overnight navigation to James Bay on Santiago was much smoother than Juan had expected and everyone slept well.
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Your pics are great.
Have one question though. Did you use a Circular Polarizing filter in your shots. Was it cloudy most of the time when you were there? I dont see shadows in these pics.
Thanks,
Hem
Did not use a circular polarizer for any of those images and rarely ever use it… I pray for cloudy bright weather while I am in the Galapagos and those prayers are usually answered.
Beautiful as usual, especially the preening Nazca Booby, and thanks for the picture of your landing which is helpful for anyone contemplating such a venture.
Thanks :). This is pretty much our toughest landing. From there, about 100 steps up with handrails.