Eliminating Rookery Clutter at 1200mm!

Your Call? (I)

Which of today’s four featured images do you like best? Why?

The Fact$ of Life

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My flight to Bonaire was blessedly uneventful. I had a bit too much red wine to drink and the flight attendant kindly brought me four packs of delicious, shelled pistachios — all in all a perfect snack for diabetics. I flew down at the invitation of Steve and Meredith Schnoll who will be joining me on the Galapagos trip this coming August.

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This image was created on 21 April 2023 a Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Boynton Beach, FL. Standing at full height, I used the Robus RC-5558-3 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the thumb dial. ISO 1600. 1/1000 sec. at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was determined to be dead solid perfect. AWB at 9:00:01am on partly cloudy morning. Tracking: Spot S AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed perfectly even at 1200mm. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Wood Stork chick about two weeks old. Version I.

Eliminating Rookery Clutter at 1200mm!

Almost without exception, wading bird rookeries are difficult places to shoot due to the unending clutter and whitewash. Murphy’s law of Nests states that all bird nests have at least one distracting stick too many. In an effort to come up with attractive, uncluttered images I will often turn to the Sony 600mm lens with the 2X TC and an a1. With Canon, I was able to create some sharp images of static birds at 1000 and 1200mm, but the files were nowhere near a sharp or detailed as my Sony images are at 1200mm. The Nikon TC-E 20 was and pretty much remains a dog. Sharp images made with the Nikon 2X TC were rarer than hen’s teeth for me.

I am still on the fence as far as image quality with the Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM and the 2X TC with the a1.

This chick, a single, was in a nest atop the colony; that allowed for what I consider a pleasing, mostly white sky background. In the first version here, I increased the saturation and decreased the luminosity of the GREEN and YELLOW channels in Color Mixer to bring up the relatively dark, out-of-focus tones in the background.

This image was created on 21 April 2023 a Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Boynton Beach, FL. Standing at full height, I used the Robus RC-5558-3 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the thumb dial. ISO 1600. 1/1000 sec. at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was determined to be dead solid perfect. AWB at 9:00:01am on partly cloudy morning. Tracking: Spot S AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed perfectly even at 1200mm. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Wood Stork chick about two weeks old. Version II.

The Pure White Sky Version

For Version II, I increased the luminosity of the GREEN and YELLOW channels in Color Mixer to render the sky a nearly pure white. I did follow that up with some Content-Aware Fill work and then applied a layer of my usual 64.8 pixel Gaussian Blur on a layer and painted that in after adding an Inverse Layer Mask, all as detailed in BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.

Your Call? (II)

Which version do you prefer, Version one where we can make out a few out-of-focus leaves in the background, or Version II, with the nearly pure white sky background? All are invited to leave a comment and let us know why they made their choices. I have a clear favorite here.

This is an Unsharpened 100% crop of the Wood Stork chick about two weeks old. Version II image.

Astounding Sharpness and Fine Detail at 1200mm

I was not kidding. Sharpness and fine detail at 1200mm with the 600mm f/4 GM, the 2X TC, and the a1 are consistently astounding. Can your gear achieve results like this at 1200mm?

This image was created on 21 April 2023 a Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Boynton Beach, FL. Standing at full height, I used the Robus RC-5558-3 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the thumb dial. ISO 1600. 1/1600 sec. at f/11 (stopped down one stop) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was determined to be dead solid perfect. AWB at 8:01:23am on then-partly sunny morning. Tracking: Spot S AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed perfectly even at 1200mm. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #3: Wood Stork — Wood Stork — adult bill and breast feathers, backlit. Version I.

Opening Up the Shadowed Side

When I am creating strongly backlit images like this one, I am usually intent on creating a silhouette. For a change of pace here, I decided to attempt to open up (lighten) the detail and colors on the shaded side of the bird. I only rarely go that route.

This image was created on 21 April 2023 a Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Boynton Beach, FL. Standing at full height, I used the Robus RC-5558-3 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the thumb dial. ISO 1600. 1/1600 sec. at f/11 (stopped down one stop) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was determined to be dead solid perfect. AWB at 8:01:23am on then-partly sunny morning. Tracking: Spot S AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed perfectly even at 1200mm. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #4: Wood Stork — adult bill and breast feathers, backlit. Version II.

The Black and White Silhouette

With the version, I opted for the stark black and white silhouette that I envisioned as I pressed the shutter button.

I Could’a Been Famous

Moments before I created this image, I missed the money shot as the chick reached up to beg for food. I took my eye from the viewfinder to scratch my nose 🙁

Your Call? (III)

Which of the Wood Stork bill images do you like best, Image #3 tat shows some shadowed side detail, or Image #4, the stark silhouette? Again, I have a clear favorite.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.