The Top Two Tips for Shooting in Harsh Sunlight

Your Call?

Which of today’s three featured WHIB images do you like best? Why? Which background color do you prefer, the dark green or the light yellow? Which raised wing photo is the strongest, #2 or #3? Why? Each and every comment is greatly appreciated.

In the Last Blog Post

In the last blog post, A Very Unusual Morning Photo Session here, my favorite image was #1, the AWPE with the Cypress Tree trunk. That despite the fact that I wished that the pelican’s head were turned just a bit more towards me. Kudos to multiple IPT veteran Warren Robb for being the first to nail that. I also loved Image #2 for the same reason that lots of other folks did.

What’s Up?

On Wednesday afternoon Anita North and I enjoyed lots of action at the Brandon Rookery. Thursday morning was my first at DeSoto in since the spring of 2024 I cannot believe that I did not visit last fall. Anyhow, most of North Beach was dead but two of my backup spots saved the morning with lots of Willets, Red Knots, Ruddy Turnstones, Great and Snowy Egrets, and handsome breeding plumage Laughing Gulls.

We took the afternoon off and had an early dinner at Pia’s Trattoria in Gulfport. We were saddened to see that Neptune Grill is boarded up. They are currently closed due to damage from Hurricane Helene and are awaiting permits and FEMA approval to begin to rebuild and reopen, but do not have an anticipated timeline yet. It seems that I have had a zillion great IPT lunches/image review and optimization session there; the grilled fish tacos were the bomb! I’d get three and discard two of the tortillas.

If you are seriously interested in exploring the possibility of joining me next fall to do the Ospreys and tons more at Sebastian Inlet, please get in touch via e-mail. I have an AirBnb and will be staying there for two whole months, from 25 September until 24 November 2025. Multiple IPT veteran Eugen Dolan will be joining me for the first month.

Today is Friday 21 March 2025. We will head down to the Celery Fields in Sarasota as we have heard that there are several active pairs of Least Bitterns there. I have never been. We will be meeting 26-time IPT veteran — yes, 26 is not a typo — Lou Newman. It will be great to see him again. 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.

If an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

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Used Induro Tripod Bargains at Give-away Prices

Your truly, Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, is offering the following used Induru tripods for sale as below. Each includes only the legs and insured ground shipping to your lower 48 address. Please contact artie via e-mail.

Induro Stealth GIT 304L in excellent plus condition: a steal at $325.00. The 304L was my go-to tripod for more than eight years. It is perfect for big lenses for folks as tall as 6 feet or so. B&H is offering one in the same condition here for $441.95 (plus tax).

Induro Stealth GIT 304L in very good to excellent condition: a steal at $275.00 as this one is also in perfect working condition. The 304L was my go-to tripod for more than eight years. It is perfect for big lenses for folks as tall as 6 feet or so.

Induro Stealth GIT 505XXL (used only very rarely) in like new condition: an absolute steal at $525.00. This is the monster of all tripods. It offers maximum strength and rigidity and can support 88.2 pounds of gear with ease. It stands 81.3″ tall with the legs fully extended. It is perfect for folks desiring maximum stability in windy conditions, those working from a fixed position with very slow shutter speeds, and in situations where you need to ge very tall such as when working a tree nest possibly while standing on a ladder. This is not a tripod that you want to be carrying around in the field unless you are Superman.

I could not find a single one for sale anywhere in the world. It sold new for $809.95 when it was in production. I paid B&H $802.50 for it when purchased new in 2021.

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Click here to start your search. Choose standard shipping, and when you get to the payment page, enter BIRDSASART in the discount code box and hit apply. You will be upgraded to free second day air Fed-Ex and receive 3% cash back on your credit card once your stuff ships. Either is greatly appreciated by yours truly.

B&H

Many folks have written recently stating that they purchased a Sony a1 from B&H and would like their free membership in the Sony 1 Info and Updates Group, a $150.00 value. But when I check my affiliate account, their orders have not been there. When I let them know that they get credit for B&H purchases only if they use one of the many B&H affiliate links on the blog or begin their searches with this link, they are always disappointed. If in doubt, please contact me via e-mail and request a BH link. I am always glad to help and to guide you to the right gear.

Bedfords Amazing BAA Discount Policy

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Visit the Bedfords website here, shoot Steve Elkins an e-mail, or text him on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592.

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.

This image was created on 19 March 2025 at Brandon, FL. Standing at full height, 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 2x Teleconverter, and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a-1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel. ISO 800: 1/2000 second at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect. AWB at 5:5:47:54pm on a on sunny afternoon. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1: White Ibis breeding plumage adult with wings raised

Happy on the Railing

There is a small observation deck at the Brandon Rookery. As the light is relatively harsh in the early afternoons Anita and I arrived at 5:15pm. As we were the first to arrive, we found some White Ibises on the railing of the deck. With the time of sunset at 7:40pm that day, the light was still plenty harsh when we arrived. That brings us here:

The Number One Tip for Shooting in Harsh Sunlight

My number one tip for shooting in bright sun is to use your longest lens and strive to get perfectly on sun angle with your shadow pointed directly at the subject’s head to eliminate most dark or black shadows. That done it was just a matter of getting some good head angles. The raised wings here were a bonus. It is probable that the somewhat bedraggled look of this individual was the result of a recent bath.

A Note on Sony Zebras

Note the three perfect exposures. With Sony’s Zebra technology properly set up and employed, you know you have a perfect exposure before you press the shutter button whether you are working in full sun (Image #) or in total shade (Images #2 and #3). And there is never a need to create and evaluate a test image.

This image was created on 19 March 2025 at Brandon, FL. Standing at full height, 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 2x Teleconverter, and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a-1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel. ISO 2000: 1/200 second at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect. AWB at 5:50:31pm in the shade on a on sunny afternoon. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #2: White Ibis breeding plumage adult — single wing salute

The Number Two Tip for Shooting in Harsh Sunlight

My number two tip for shooting in harsh sunlight is to find subjects in the shade. Even better is to find a subject in the shade with the background lit by the sun. With Images #2 & #3, the combination of a shaded subject and sunlit vegetation produced the spectacular look that included the sweet yellow background. Note that the background in the first image — distant vegetation, is exactly the same as the background in the next two images. Hard to believe, but true.

Note the soft tones in the whites and again, the perfect head angle. The raised wing salute was a big plus. This bird was not wet so it much have been showing off. I’ve never before seen the pink blush on the breast of a White Ibis.

This image was created on 19 March 2025 at Brandon, FL. Standing at full height, 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 2x Teleconverter, and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a-1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel. ISO 2000: 1/200 second at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect. AWB at 5:50:51pm in the shade on a on sunny afternoon. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #3: White Ibis breeding plumage adult — double overhead wingstretch

20 Seconds Later

The same bird took two small steps forward on the railing. Two more and I would have been blocked by vegetation is I was very happy when it stopped where it did. This time, it raised both wings and posed for about two seconds. As I had forgotten to reset Pre-Capture from one full second back to 0.2 seconds, that meant 60 raw files.

A Note on the Shutter Speed

I decided not to go any higher than 1/200 second so that I would not need to go beyond ISO 2000. The was somewhat of a gamble as all of the images made while the bird was moving its head were not sharp. But with these last two images, the subject kindly stood completely still. I am glad it liked showing off.

The BAA Middle of Florida Photographic Site Guide You can purchase your copy here in the BAA Online Store.

The BAA Middle of Florida Photographic Site Guide

126 pages, 87 photographs by (the late) Joe Przybyla and Arthur Morris.
The PDF for this e-Guide is an electronic download sent via e-mail.

Purchase your copy here in the BAA Online Store.

I had thought about doing a guide to some of the great but little-known photo hotspots around central Florida for about a decade, but those plans never came to fruition. I met Joe online in the Avian Forum at BirdPhotographer’s.Net about two years ago. Joe’s photography has improved tremendously over the past few years; he credits the BAA blog, my books and PDFs, and his participation on BPN. The one thing that I learned right from the get-go about Joe is that he is a hard and tenacious worker, always striving to improve his skills and to grow his knowledge base. As he knew of more than a few good spots in central Florida, I broached the idea of us doing a photographic site guide that covered many of the little-known photographic hotspots from Brandon to Lakeland to Joe Overstreet Road to Indian Lake Estates (my Florida home for the past 20 years or so). After more than many, many dozens of hours of effort, The BIRDS AS ART Middle of Florida Photographic Site Guide is now a reality. Thanks to Joe’s wife Dottie for her review of our writing. We all learned once again that writing is a process, a back-and-forth process. All thanks to the white pelicans of Lakeland. Below are the locations that are detailed in this e-Guide. Please note that last season, Gatorland did not offer a Photographer’s Pass.

• Indian Lake Estates: Sandhills Cranes with chicks and colts, lots of vultures, and Ospreys up the kazoo!
• Gatorland, Kissimmee: Learn to make great images of wading birds in a cluttered rookery. Note: In 2024, this theme park eliminated its Photographer’s Pass Program that allowed for early entry.
• The Brandon Rookery: Great for nesting Wood Storks, Great Egrets, and more.
• Circle Bar B Reserve, Lakeland: Here you will find a great variety of avian subjects in a great variety of beautiful habitats.
• Lakeland: There are lots of silly tame birds in the various lakes here including and especially American White Pelican (AWPE) during the colder months.
• Lake Mirror, Lakeland: Tame Anhingas, Limpkins, and a zillion White Ibises at times.
• West Lake Parker, Lakeland: Here, if you are lucky, you will have a chance for two difficult birds: Snail Kite, and Purple Gallinule.
• Joe Overstreet Road, Kenansville: Crested Caracara, meadowlarks, Loggerhead Shrike, and much more on the fenceposts and barbed wire.

Each location includes a map, a detailed description of the best spots, best season, light and time of day instructions, the expected species, and an educational and inspirational gallery that is designed to open your eyes as to the possibilities.

You can purchase a copy here in the BAA Online Store.

Typos

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