What’s Up?
On Friday, I enjoyed a different kind of wonderful morning with the pelicans. As predicted, there was a barely perceptible breeze from the east so there was not much flight and the birds that did land came in very low. The few photographers who came late left early leaving all of the beautiful pelicans for me to enjoy. With the 400mm f/2.8 on the tripod and both TCs in my fanny pack, I made my way safely down the crevice and in a very few minutes was point blank with several dozen pelicans. With its amazing minimum focusing distance (MFD) of less than 9 feet, this lens offers 0.16X magnification. Compare that to the 0.14X magnification of the Sony 600mm f/4 GM. How can the be? Magnification is measured at the MFD; the 400 f/2.8 focuses much closer than the 600mm f/4’s 14.8 feet.
Anyhoo, with either TC added, the lens I did not like for nearly forty years becomes a giant macro lens. I had a ball doing body parts and faces and bill and wing detail as the birds slept peacefully, some almost within arms-length of me. I got some good ones and learned quite a bit for the next time.
Today is Saturday 31 December 2022. The forecast for this morning is for more of the same, cloudy skies with a gentle wind from the east. I may head down the coast early. This blog post took about two hours to prepare and makes two hundred seventy-eight days in a row with a new, educational post just for you. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.
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Induro GIT 304L Tripod
Out of production for more than two years, BAA has just one of my favorite-ever tripods left in stock. The 304L was my go-to tripod for more than a decade. Best to grab this last one here right now.
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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 save 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 28 December 2022 at La Jolla, CA. While standing at full height I used the no-longer available Induro GIT 304L 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. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/640 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:48:18am on a cloudy morning. Manual focus with Focus Peaking performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the higher res version. Image #1: Anna’s Hummingbird displaying |
Anna’s at La Jolla
Over the years, heck, the decades, there is a single yucca tree near the pelican cliffs that the male Anna’s hummingbirds frequent often. I have never seen a female there. They are totally oblivious to the many humans that pass by within yards.
To drive away intruders, the Anna’s will display aggressively whenever another hummer zips by. At times, the will take flight in pursuit. When photographing the territorial displays, I find that shutter speeds of 1/500 sec. or faster will produce sharp images and will eliminate almost all motion blur.
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This image was also created on 28 December 2022 at La Jolla, CA. Again, while standing at full height, I used the no-longer available Induro GIT 304L 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. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/640 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:51:25am on a cloudy morning. Manual focus with Focus Peaking performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the higher res version. Image #2: Anna’s Hummingbird displaying |
Hummingbird Behaviors and Habits
When perched, hummingbirds are almost constantly doing something interesting. They display (Image #1), they stretch their wings (Image #2) in a variety of ways, often fanning their tails as they do, they sing, and they threaten other birds. They are constantly moving their heads either lighting up the gorget (as in all three of today’s featured images), or turning the head and neck feathers jet-black. Photographing hummingbirds is never boring and is always a challenge.
Image design Question
Why did I place the subject right of center looking out of the frame in Image #2
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This image was also created on 28 December 2022 at La Jolla, CA. Again, while standing at full height, I used the no-longer available Induro GIT 304L 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. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/500 sec. at f/6.3 (stopped down 1/3-stop) in Manual mode. AWB at 9:10:13am on a cloudy morning. Manual focus with Focus Peaking performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the higher res version. Image #3: Anna’s Hummingbird — shaded cave background |
The Cave Background
When the hummers are perched on the yucca leaves, it is not possible to use the shaded water inside the opening of the cave as a background. When the bird perches well to your right, you are good to try for that. So I did.
Your Call?
Which of today’s three featured images is your favorite? All are invited to leave a comment and let us know why they made their choice.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
My favorite is #1: the bird’s pose and the large amount of space around the bird give me a strong sense of place: he’s a little guy in a big world. Everything about this image really appeals to me. Image #2 is my least favorite. I think you may have added the space to the left for balance since I think he’s looking toward the viewer’s left. But I’m really not sure about that. Image #3 with the black background really allows you to experience the colors in the bird’s feathers and the way in which he cocks his head to the left is a very nice pose. These are all very beautiful images, Artie!
Bob Eastman got it right, too much interesting color on the left of #2. Don’t crop it out, leave the subject to the right.
2/3/1 and the reason was the background was best with your framing and it includes greens even if muted which are almost always a good thing. Probably as cute as Sue herself, with cheeks blushing pink like your Anna’s.
Images #1 and #2 and #3 Anna’s Hummingbird are interesting and well made!
What about cute?
a
The 3rd picture looks nice and cool, I like the color combination. The gem in picture 1 is also interesting. Artie, did you try to make a test between 400mm 2.8+2.0TC & 600mm+1.4TC, is there a big difference in terms of optical quality? Tks!
Hi John,
No experiments but if given a choice, and all things being equal, I’d go with the 1.4X and the 600. by a slim margin. I’ve had some problems with 400 f/2.8/2X/a1 flight photography, most likely because I will generally handhold that …
a
Hi Artie,
Nice work as usual. I would rank them in reverse order: 3,2,1.
Image 1 – angle is kind of odd – my least favorite of the three.
Image 2 – Very nice. I would like to crop away more of the left side so that, like image 3, there is more space for it to fly into instead of behind it.
Image 3 – Quite beautiful. I would like to crop off some of the bottom so that the branch emerges from the bottom instead of the side.
In general, it’s a good idea to give an animal subject about twice as much room in front of it (when it’s looking to one side) as behind it.
Artie
Anna did not disappoint, all 3 images are really beautiful! Image #1 is something I’ve never seen and the display is beautiful. Image #2 i am more engaged with the eye and the wing up. Image #3 is really beautiful with the black bg, i like that, almost as you set up a portrait shoot. My favorite is #2 with the beautiful eye and wing! However i would love them in my collection 🙂
Placed right of center you included the whole oof plant leaf to the left instead of clipping it.
Do you ever get to go over to find the Dancing Grebes? I’d love to see more. Your assignment for your wonderful trip. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Always with love b
Typo: In the paragraph “Hummingbirds Behavior and Habits” the last line you misspelled “boring”
A guess on your image design question: I think you chose to center the bird to bring in the out of focus yucca leaf in the background on the left.
I think the image with the black background is stunning, my fav.