The Sky was On Fire! Thank You Elaine

Your Call?

Which three of today’s nine featured images do you think are the strongest? If you have a moment, please let us know why you made your choices. Much appreciated. Please put the best one of the three first, and so on.

From an i-Phone 15+ raw file Image #1: November 20, 2024 sunrise

What’s Up?

On Wednesday morning past, the forecast was for rain and more rain so we decided to leave the AirBnB 15 minutes later than our usual 5:45am. I woke wide awake at 2:30am and could not get back to sleep. I checked weather.com and noted that it was supposed to be clear at 6:00am and then become cloudy. To me, it seemed like a perfect recipe for a mega sunrise. So, I got everyone up and moving and we headed for the inlet at 5:50am. When we pulled into the South Jetty Parking lot there was a huge orange glow in the sky to the east and to the south. “Grab your 70-200s,” I shouted. We got to the beach about 10 minutes before the peak of color and went to work. As you can see, the sky color was gloriously amazing.

As the color began to fade, the date, November 20, hit me. My beloved wife Elaine died exactly thirty years ago to the day, November 20 1994. The sunrise was a gift of love from her. And BTW, she died at 2:30am eastern time. That explained why I had woken so early that morning.

The rest of the day was one blessing after another. The inlet was dead, so the four of us, Steve and Elisabeth Shore, Bob Eastman, and I, took a ride past the campground and found some subjects that were ideal for going over the basic with Elisabeth. And the rest of the gang as well.

After an hour, Bob said, “Hey, the Ospreys are diving on the south side of the bridge.” We hightailed it there and enjoyed two hours of non-stop action photography. Not only were the Osprey diving, they were catching. At times, we had two or three birds in the water at the same time. Keep reading to learn more about this great day and my miracle afternoon good luck below.

As I had forgotten Elaine’s birthday, I wrote her son Mitchell and learned that it was February 25, 1943. Had she lived, she would have been eighty. When I shared her birth date with the group, Bob Eastman said, “I was also born on February 25th.” I was totally amazed.

Sandy Calderbank joined us for Thursday morning and things were looking terrible with the chilly NW wind, but the clouds persisted for much longer than had been forecast so we did OK. A small flock of White Pelicans provided us with some good chances, and I discovered a first winter Franklin’s Gull (rare in Florida in fall) at the NW Pool.

Thanks to the fifteen or so folks who have already used one of my two links to purchase their new a-1 II bodies.

We stayed in that afternoon and Elisabeth prepared a sumptuous feast of Swedish meatballs and spaghetti for Steve and me. Sandy kindly took Bob out to dinner

Anyhoo, our 3+ week run of great morning wind and weather is coming to an end today, Friday, 22 November 2024. The forecast is for clear blue skies with a brisk NW wind. Death on bird photography! Our plan is to do a short sunrise session on the beach, check out the NW Pool before the sun gets over the bridge, head home early, and try an afternoon with the wind somewhat behind us. I need to get a look at some of Steve’s images and process a few and we all need to get ready to check out of the AirBnB after another short morning session tomorrow.

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Sony a-1 II Pre-order Info Updated

Those who wish to receive my Sony a-1 II settings for free in the form of a CAMSET.DAT file with instructions and an explanatory Buttons and Dials Guide should pre-order from one of my affiliate programs as below.

To pre-order your Sony a-1 II from B&H, you must use this link and only this link at or after 9:30am Eastern time today, 20 November 2024:

Sony a-1 II

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Thanks to those who pre-order using one of my affiliate links and for the faith they place in the information provided by BIRDS AS ART.

This image was created on 11 November 2024 on the Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More Extended IPT. Standing on the beach in awe, I used the handheld Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens (at 200mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 400: 1/30 sec. at f/4 (stopped down one stop in error) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:30:05am about sixteen minutes before sunrise. Tracking: (center) Zone AF/C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Brown Pelicans in flight at sunrise

Getting the Sunrise Exposure Right

With the bright yellows and super-saturated reds, I knew from experience that we needed to shoot at about the metered exposure (rather than adding light as is usual) to avoid over-exposing those colors. The 70-200 turned out to be perfect for this killer situation, as did my exposure advice.

This image was also created on 11 November 2024 on the Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More Extended IPT. Standing on the beach I used the handheld Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens (at 108mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 64: 1/8 sec. at f/4 (stopped down one stop in error) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:33:53am about thirteen minutes before sunrise. Tracking: (center) Zone AF/C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #3: Breaking waves at sunset

Remember to Experiment

As noted here often, it pays to try to remember to try something different when confronted with a spectacular situation. I created a very few frames at 1/8 second as there were not many breaking waves. I was, however, thrilled with this one.

This image was created on 5 January 2023 on a San Diego Instructional Photo-Tour at La Jolla, CA. I used the handheld Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens with the Sony FE 2x teleconverter (zoomed out to 360mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with Exposure Compensation (EC) on the thumb dial. Shutter Priority -0.7 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 160: 1/400sec. at f/5.6 (wide open). AWB at 7:04:08am on a then mostly cloudy morning. RawDigger showed the exposure to be dead solid perfect. Tracking: Zone AF/C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #4: Reddish Egret surveying the scene

Keep On Keeping On

While the color had faded, there were still some nice reflections along the edge of the surf. I added the 2X TC to the 70-200 and opted to remain in shutter priority mode with AUTO ISO. Notice that with bright reflections, I needed some minus EC to prevent overexposure of the highlights. The key was to move constantly while trying to keep the bird centered in the bright reflections and to get close enough to keep the head out of the darker water above. This was my best effort.

This image was created on 20 November 2024 on the Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More Extended IPT. Standing on the road near the campground, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 1600: 1/1250 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:14:48am on a cloudy morning. Tracking Expand Spot AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #5: Little Blue Heron adult on small, weathered, dead-tree perch

Stop and Pop

We were driving back toward the jetty when we passed a Cattle Egret on the perch in Image #5. It took a few minutes to get both vehicles backed up, get out of the cars, grab our gear, and approach the bird. That then flew away. As we headed back to the vehicles, I saw that an adult Little Blue Heron fly in and land on the perch. It allowed all four of us to get close. We talked AF methods, image design, and exposure right on the spot. All four of us got some nice stuff.

This image was created on 20 November 2024 on the Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More Extended IPT. Seated in the driver’s seat, just past the fishing pier, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 2000: 1/800 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:19:45am on a then very cloudy morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #6: Cattle Egret on rock

Car As Blind

Using your vehicle as a blind if often a great way to approach birds for the purpose of photography. With the Shore’s in the car behind me, I stopped on this bird and made a few images. I pulled up a bit and had the perfect shot lined up when a park guy picking up trash in a four wheeler passed me on the left and flushed the bird :-(. My plan had been to pull up to give Steve and Elisabeth a crack at the bird. In a few minutes we executed the drill properly on a Great Egret with Bob and I shooting from my vehicle — I would lean back so he could make a few images, and Steve and E also photographing from their vehicle. The bird was tame enough so that we all parked and got out. A Snowy Egret caught a small Mullet, flew out over the bay, and dropped the fish. The Great Egret flew after it, grabbed the fish, and flew back at us. Bob Eastman and I did well. If I were not so tired, I would have included one of those images. Photos soon.

This image was created on 20 November 2024 on the Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More Extended IPT. Standing near the fishing pier, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 1600: 1/800 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:24:22am on a then very cloudy morning. Tracking Expand Spot AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #7: Wood Stork yawning

Surprisingly Beautiful

Wood Storks are relatively easy to photograph at Sebastian. Most of the photographers ignore them. Along with all the other birds except for the Ospreys. None-the-less, I cautioned the group to approach them slowly. This bird might as well have been a statue. I remember saying out loud how cool the black marks on its folded wings looked, like some sort of tuxedo lapels. Anyhoo, when the bird yawned, we had our best chance.

This image was also created on 20 November 2024 at Sebastian Inlet, FL. Standing on the South Jetty, I used 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: 1/2500 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect. AWB at 9:08:25am on a cloudy morning. Tracking Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #8: Osprey with Yellow-tailed Menhaden in talons

Just One

This is just one of the 182 images that I kept from the feeding spree that morning. Nearly all were of the Ospreys, most of them with fish in their talons. I had also kept a few Brown Pelican images as well. See Image #9 for the best of those. It is, of course, a tight as everybody has been loving those, made possible by the Sony a-1 with Firmware 2.02.

This image was also created on 20 November 2024 at Sebastian Inlet, FL. Standing at full height on the South Jetty I used 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 2000. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/2500 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect. AWB at 10:10:04am on a cloudy morning. Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #9: Brown Pelican juvenile with Yellow-tailed Menhaden in pouch

Wow!

In all my years of photographing pelicans on three North American coasts (not to mention in Greece and in Africa), I have never gotten a shot of one with a large fish in its bill pouch. The late LF Van Landingham once made a great photo of one perched on the cliffs at La Jolla on a San Diego IPT. To this day I am not sure how I missed that one. LF worked with and was great friends with Steve Shore about two decades ago. I remember fondly a bear boat trip that we made together.

I kept 23 frames of this bird swallowing a fairly large bunker (menhaden).

This image was created on 20 November 2024 on the Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More Extended IPT. Standing near the end of the South Jetty, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 485mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 2000: 1/4000 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 3:09:57pm on a cloudy-bright afternoon. Zone AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #10: Osprey coming out of the water with a Yellow-tailed Menhaden in talons

Afternoon Miracle

Despite the amazing 5 1/2 hour morning session, we headed back out in the afternoon, tempted by the cloudy bright/partly sunny skies with the SW wind. There were a few Ospreys hunting over the inlet. Something (probably Elaine) told me to head out to the end of the jetty. So I did. I had just managed to find a spot among the many fishermen there, when an Osprey hit the water 40 feet from the end of the pier, just to my left. I zoomed out and created about two dozen images as the bird took flight right at me. I clipped quite a few wings. That was pretty much the end of our great day.

Typos

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