If you enjoy and learn from the blog, please consider using one of my affiliate links when purchasing new gear. To support my effort here, please order from B&H by beginning your search here. Or, click here to order from Bedfords and enter the discount code BIRDSASART at checkout to receive 3% cash back to your credit card and enjoy free Second-Day Air Fed-Ex shipping. It is always best to write for advice via e-mail.
In many instances, I can help you save some serious dollars.
It was as cold as promised on Saturday morning. I was dressed to the max and did not get really cold until we got out of the blinds at about 8:20am. The increasing wind was the culprit. Tomorrow morning is again looking at a frosty 24° F.
Today is Sunday 21 April 2024. We will again be headed early to two different sharp-tailed leks. Whatever you are doing, be sure to have fun.
If you plan on purchasing a Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera (or anything else for that matter), please remember to use or write for either my Bedfords discount code or my B&H affiliate link. Folks who use one of my two affiliate links to purchase the a9 III will receive my .DAT settings (the complete camera set-up) along with a Buttons and Dials Guide.
Please remember to use the B&H links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!
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.
Join me in Little Rock, Arkansas this May for a great weekend of learning and fun. You can check out any and all of the latest/greatest photo gear. If you know any good nearby spots for bird photography, and/or if you would like a free (5-image) portfolio review, shoot me an e-mail.
Little Rock Photo EXPO
A Bedford Event: Inspire, Learn, Discover
HUGE TWO DAY INTERACTIVE TRADE-SHOW
May 17-18, 2024
State House Convention Center
101 E. Markham St., Little Rock, Arkansas
​Don’t miss the Photo Expo in Little Rock! Regardless of your experience level, join hundreds of photographers, as we take over Little Rock on May 17-18, 2024. The Little Rock Photo Expo offers a remarkable experience packed with presentations, hands-on demonstrations, and a massive trade show featuring all the major photographic companies. Explore the latest gear, trade in your old camera equipment, and gain valuable insights from our experts. Get up close and personal with world-renowned keynote speakers and seize countless unique photo opportunities. Bring your camera and get ready for a weekend of fun, learning, and inspiration to elevate YOUR photography to new heights.
Click here to learn more and follow the links to see the schedule of events and/or register. Use this discount code at checkout to save $20.00: VIPEXPO24.
Save 15%!
If you’d like to try out a new lens or if you need a lens for a specific trip or project (or for an IPT), LensRentals.com is the only way to go. To save 15%, simply click on the logo link above, arrange for your rental, and type in BIRDSASART15. If you type the gear you are looking for in the search box, it will pop right up. LensRentals.com offers affordable insurance. You can decline it, opt for LensCap: Damage Only, or select LensCap: Damage & Theft. Then hit PROCEED TO CHECKOUT. After you enter all of your info but before completing your order, be sure to scroll down to Promo Code box and enter the BIRDSASART15 code to save 15%.
I checked on renting a Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens for a week. The cost is only $122.00. LensCap: Damage Only coverage can be added for a very low $18.00. Going with LensCap: Damage & Theft would be $27.00. The shipping charge varies. They offer an interesting program called Lensrentals HD. By signing up for this shipping discount program ($99.00/year), you’ll get free Standard Shipping on all the orders you place.
Renting a Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens for a week will cost you $536.00. The two coverage options come in at $76.00 or $114.00. Less your 15% discount when you enter the BIRDSASART15 code into the Promo Code box at checkout and enter the BIRDSASART15 code in the Promo Code box at checkout to save 15%.
Remember, to save the 15% on your rental you must start your search by clicking on the logo above, or on this link: LensRentals.com
B&H
To ensure that I get credit for your B&H purchases, you can always click here. The tracking is invisible but greatly appreciated. And, you can use your PayBoo card. You must use the website to order. B&H will reopen on Fri April 14. Thanking me for the past 4000 educational blog posts could not be any easier and will not cost you one penny. Please shoot me your B&H receipt for major purchases.
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. 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 Simplified
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.
Bedfords Amazing BAA Discount Policy
Folks who have fallen in love with Bedfords can now use the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout to enjoy a post-purchase, 3% off-statement credit (excluding taxes and shipping charges) on orders paid with a credit card. The 3% credit will be refunded to the card you used for your purchase. Be sure, also, to check the box for free shipping to enjoy free Second Day Air Fed-Ex. This offer does not apply to purchases of Classes, Gift Cards, prior purchases.
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 stave 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.
Tracking Zone/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: Sharp-tailed Grouse male displaying
Like Trying to Photograph a Herd of Frenetic Mice!
The sharp-tailed lek was tiny compared to the huge Greater Prairie Chicken lek that we photographed on near Pierre, SD. It is perhaps 20 yards wide by 30 yards deep. With more than 30 birds in such a small place, there were often too many birds in the frame, along with too many rocks. The GPCs in SD were spread out over many, many acres. That was the largest lek Kevin has ever seen. Since there were so many obstacles on the sharp-tailed lek this morning, framing a clean shot was difficult.
Not to mention that the Sharp-tailed Grouse are smaller and much faster moving than the Greater Prairie Chickens. When they display, the air sac is purple and smaller than the yellow/orange sac in GPC. Two male sharp-tails will often sit down on the prairie facing each other for minutes at a time before exploding into battle. As there were many birds on the lek at close range, Anita and Kevin were, for the most part, using shorter focal lengths than I was — 300mm and 400mm respectively. Seeing too many birds and too many rocks I quickly went to 840mm for greater isolating power and a lower angle of declination. In addition, I was able to get beyond the shadow of the blind and work birds at the back of the lek.
Working with both the a1 and the a9 iii on Saturday morning, I created 3675 Sharp-tailed Grouse images. After a second edit that afternoon, I wound up keeping only 28 raw files. That works out to .0076% keepers, less than 1%. Talk about challenging photography.
Tracking Zone/AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version.
Image #2: Sharp-tailed Grouse — rear view of tail of male — a 96% crop!
Don’t Try This With Your Sony a9 iii
Image #2 represents slightly less than 4% of the pixels in the original capture. Sharp a1 images can stand up to relatively huge crops. I routinely execute small crops with my a9 iii images, but would never attempt anything like this.
Aptly Named
Sharp-tailed Grouse has a white-edged, wedge-shaped tail with two long central feathers that give it an elongated, spiky appearance. I actually rescued the raw file for this image from the trash. I brought up the detail in the WHITEs with a 15% linear burn layer after reducing the YELLOW Saturation.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
If you enjoy and learn from the blog, please consider using one of my affiliate links when purchasing new gear. To support my effort here, please order from B&H by beginning your search here. Or, click here to order from Bedfords and enter the discount code BIRDSASART at checkout to receive 3% cash back to your credit card and enjoy free Second-Day Air Fed-Ex shipping. It is always best to write for advice via e-mail.
In many cases, I can help you save some serious dollars.
What’s Up?
It is 6:30pm on Friday 19 April 2024 as I type. It is cold and very windy. We are headed out to position the blinds as that would be impossible to do in the dark tomorrow morning. The wind is supposed to finally abate tonight (good) but it is supposed to be 24° F in the morning (bad). We got all three blinds in place and were headed back to Kevin’s place exactly at 9:00pm as Kevin had planned. We said blessings over the blinds hoping that they would not blow away before morning ,,,
Before that, again thanks to the high winds, Friday was another day of Photoshop, of rest, and of too much eating.
Today is Saturday 20 April 2014. We’ll be leaving for two of Kevin’s local sharp-tailed leks at 5:30am. I gotta get to bed soon. Whatever you are doing today, I hope that you too opt to have fun.
This image was created on 8 May 2020 in North Dakota by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon 500mm f/4L IS II lens, a 1.4X III TC, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III. Evaluative metering +0.7 stop in Aperture Priority (AV mode). ISO 1600: 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1.
Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version.
Image #1: White-faced Ibis in breeding plumage
Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Kevin Hice
Kevin Hice
Kevin was born in Cincinnati, OH in 1954. He spent most of his time in the woods and by the creeks near his home, searching for box turtles and salamanders. He thought about photographing nature in his late thirties but with not wanting to have to deal with film and having kids to take care of, his interest was postponed. When I did a seminar for the Photographic Society of Chattanooga, Kevin attended and was smitten. He bought a Canon 300mm f/2.8 and a 5D Mark II and was off to the races. He had signed up for a SW Florida IPT soon afterwards, but a huge ice storm in Atlanta put the kibosh on those plans. He says, ” I would have gotten a lot better a lot faster if I had made that one. He attended a Homer IPT in 2022 — created more than 25,000 images during a single morning session. He often recommends that his Canon friends purchase my EOS R5/R6 Camera Users Guide but they always respond, “What do I need that for?” He credits me with finally learning to expose far to the right and thus greatly reducing noise. Kevin has been a member of Bird Photographer’s.Net since 2013. To this day, he posts often in BPN’s Avian Forum. At first he was intimidated, but persevered and received tons of advice, especially with Photoshop. He singles out Andreas Liedmann of Dortmund, Germany as having been exceedingly helpful. Kevin says, ‘Had I not joined BPN, it would have taken me many more years more to get to where I am today.”
Kevin has lived in Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and California. He has enjoyed two distinctly different careers: he was a welder (in a nuclear power plant!) for a decade and followed that up with 30 years as a nurserymen. Now retired, Kevin is a world class falconer who hunts his two gyr/Peregrine hybrids with his sleek and beautiful English Pointer Sage. You have never seen a dog run as fast or as far as Sage. He is now living with His significant other, Colleen, Parrill in Washburn, ND. They will be moving to a beautiful new home on a spacious natural lot outside of Indianapolis Indiana.
All are invited to leave a comment on the quality of Kevin’s images. Please let him know which of his images you like best and why you like them.
Nothing for Me …
I am especially envious of Image #1 because I have nothing at all on breeding plumage Glossy Ibis, the eastern conspecific species of white-faced.
This image was created on 12 November 2020 in Badlands National Park, South Dakota by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon 500mm f/4L IS II lens, a 1.4X III TC, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III. Evaluative metering +0.7 stop in Aperture Priority (AV mode). ISO 6400: 1/640 sec. at f/7.1.
Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version.
Image #2: Bighorn Sheep ram (flehmen response)
Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Kevin Hice
Flehmen Response
Flehmen Response: (from German flehmen, to bare the upper teeth, and Upper Saxon German flemmen, to look spiteful), also called the flehmen position, flehmen reaction, flehmen grimace, flehming, or flehmening, is a behavior in which an animal curls back its upper lip exposing its front teeth, inhales with the nostrils usually closed, and then often holds this position for several seconds. The primary function of the flehmen response is intra-species communication. By transferring air containing pheromones and other scents to the vomeronasal organ (VNO), an olfactory-chemosensory organ located between the roof of the mouth and the palate, animals can gather chemical “messages”.
What’s Not to Like?
I love the ram’s attitude and the lovely clean background. If I remember, Kevin got lost of help in BPN’s Wildlife Forum when optimizing this one. It turned out great.
This image was created on 9 April 2012 in the Nebraska Sandhills by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon 500mm f/4L IS II lens, a 1.4X III TC, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III. Evaluative metering +0.7 stop in Aperture Priority (AV mode). ISO 1600: 1/3200 sec. at f/7.1.
Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version.
Image #3: Greater Prairie Chickens fighting on lek
Image courtesy of and copyright 2021: Kevin Hice
Addicted
Kevin has long been addicted to game birds, the prairie chickens and the Sharp-tailed Grouse. He lusts for a decent Sage Grouse lek. He routinely arises way too early even for me in order to get in a blind to photograph his favorite subjects at least 45 minutes before sunrise. He is good at what he does and I will be forever thankful for his invite as the Greater Prairie Chickens were a first for me and tomorrow should be my first time with the sharp-taileds (if our blinds do not blow away overnight …)
Thanks, Kevin. And we still have almost a week to go!
This image was created on 28 July 2022 in Haines, AK by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM lens and the Canon EOS R3 Mirrorless Camera. ISO 3200: 1//2500 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode.
Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version.
Image #4: Trumpeter Swan pair
Image courtesy of and copyright 2022: Kevin Hice
Sicker than Sick
Kevin had COVID when he created this image. He had pulled a trailer all the way to AK in hopes of photographing Brown Bears (grizzles). As he and Colleen drove into Haines, Kevin spotted a pair of Trumpeter Swans in a small pond. He grabbed his gear, lay face down on a rocky slope, and photographed the pair for an hour. He finished the session squatting in three feet of cold water in order to get low. The good news is that he did not die.
This image was created on 4 December 2022 in Yellowstone National Park, Montana by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the handheld Canon RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM lens and the Canon EOS R3 Mirrorless Camera. ISO 3200: 1//4000 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode.
Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version.
Image #5: Coyote in snow
Image courtesy of and copyright 2022: Kevin Hice
Smart Always Works
Kevin was driving his truck around Yellowstone in search of subjects when he spotted this coyote walking along a small river right towards him. He grabbed his gear, and using his truck as a blind, hid behind it. The beautiful animals in a pristine setting walked by him. With a combination of good spotting and excellent photographic and field skills, Kevin was justifiably rewarded.
This image was created on 22 March 2024 in North Dakota by good friend and multiple IPT veteran Kevin Hice. He used the tripod-mounted Canon RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM lens and the Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Camera. ISO 2000: 1//3200 sec. at f/4 in Manual mode.
Be sure to click on the image to see a larger and sharper high res version.
Image #6: Sharp-tailed Grouse fighting
Image courtesy of and copyright 2024: Kevin Hice
Just Enough Snow
Kevin is smart, strong, and tough, seemingly impervious to fatigue or cold. He is mechanically gifted. He can figure stuff out and fix pretty much anything. He can hike for miles in the dark carrying heavy loads of gear. He has gotten lost in white-outs and fog, but always finds his blind. He is persistently addicted to grouse and prairie chickens. He has hiked in blizzards through drifts 3, 4, and 5 feet deep. He has hiked through mud a foot or two deep. Recently, he rescued a blind from a very cold farm pond. He simply will not be deterred.
Less than a month before my visit, he headed out to a local sharp-tailed lek and with just enough now on the ground, created this lovely image of two male Sharp-tailed Grouse going at it. I love the sharpness, the soft light, and the dorsal view of the attacking bird that kindly turned its head to the right just as Kevin fired off a long series. Best of all are the dried grasses just peeling through the snow cover.
Photography Notes
Because Kevin is so strong, he uses a Wimberley head and an Induro GIT 504 XL tripod, a real brute. For several years he worked in Av mode but finally and correctly switched to Manual mode in 2022 when he realized that he was losing many images as the background tonality changed. He is the only Canon shooter I know who prefers the R5 to the R3 for its higher quality, more detailed raw files.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
If you are interested in sharing an AirBnB with me near Huguenot Memorial Park east of Jacksonville, FL during the second week of July, or in doing an IPT that week, please stop what you are doing and shoot me an e-mail. Big discount for the person who shares the AirBnB with me. IPT details below. Here’s wishing you great light and better photography.
Flight Photography at Jacksonville Till You Can’t Lift Your Lens!
Join me on the beach at Huguenot Memorial Park to learn about photographing terns in flight. 8,000 pairs of Royal Terns nest there and there are birds in the air all the time, often carrying all kinds of fish and crabs and other invertebrates for their young. Learn about how the relationship between the wind and the sun impacts flight photography and about the best gear for shooting birds in flight. Note that all the images in the video were created with the Sony a1 (and a variety of lenses). Join me on a workshop at Jacksonville this summer. See the details below.
What’s Up?
The high winds continue in west/central North Dakota. Thursday was another rest day and Friday will be more of the same. On Thursday afternoon we visited the home of Kevin’s friend, Lugene Gerber and her significant other, Doug Kitzan. Lujene loves to photograph birds but loves cooking great food and serving friends even more. Included were salad with a scrumptious homemade ranch dressing, a killer spinach dip, roasted smoked turkey that tasted like a Christmas ham, Italian shrimp, and olive and pickle plate, her aptly named “Funeral” potatoes, and tasty, greasy fried chicken that was much better than the colonels! Most folks ate two desserts one of which was the hugely popular lemon pudding cake. I limited myself to one slice of chocolate-drizzled coffee cheesecake (AKA Caramel Machiatto cheesecake). Suffice to say, I needed a lot of extra insulin after that amazing meal.
Today is Friday 19 April 2024. If the forecast does not change, it is likely that we will be transporting the blinds to the Sharp-tailed Grouse lek about 30 minutes from Kevin’s home.
Clockwise from upper left corner around to center: ink-stained Royal Tern with squid for chicks; fluffy white Royal Tern Chick about two weeks old; Royal Tern with shrimp for chicks; 3-4 week old Royal Tern chick; incoming adult Royal Tern with greenback; Royal Tern in flight with juvenile mahi-mahi; large Brown Pelican chick preening; field guide portrait of fresh juvenile Laughing Gull; Royal Tern chick begging for fish from incoming adult.
Join me at Huguenot Memorial Park this July
Join Me
I have an AirBnB checking in on the late afternoon of Saturday 13 July and checking out on Thursday 19 July 2024. If you are looking to improve your bird photography by leaps and bounds while sharing the place with me, please shoot me an e-mail. ASAP.
Clockwise from upper left corner around to center: Royal Tern chick feeding frenzy; Royal Tern nearly fledged chick; ink-stained Royal Tern with squid for chicks; Royal Tern chick begging; Brown Pelican immature tight flight; Royal Tern adult screaming — tight flight; Laughing Gulls mobbing Royal Tern to steal fish; Royal Tern with fish for chicks.
Join me at Huguenot Memorial Park this July
Huguenot Memorial Park in Early Summer
Driving on the beach at Huguenot Memorial Park in early summer is a bird photographer’s delight. You park this side of the last rope on the beach and you are within 100 yards of the Royal Tern colony atop the dunes. There are also many thousand Laughing Gulls and a few Sandwich Terns breeding as well. In some years, there are some Brown Pelican nests on the ground! .
In early July, the tern chicks begin to make their way down to the flats to bathe and drink and get fed by the parents. On the way, they spend a lot of time on the face of the dune where they are easy to photograph at eye level. They may also gather in fairly large groups at the base of the dunes.
Flight photography both in the mornings and the afternoons can be quite excellent as the terns are carrying all manner of marine life to sustain the rapidly growing chicks: the adults are often seen flying around in search of their chicks with all sorts of small baitfish as well as immature fish, large shrimps, baby crabs, and even squid in their bills. The squid will squirt ink on the terns in protest. So if you see an adult Royal Tern flying around with a black necklace you can understand why.
2024 Jacksonville IPT: 4 1/2 DAY option Monday 15 July 2024 through the morning session on FRI 19 JULY — $2299.00 (Limit 4 photographers)
2024 Jacksonville IPT 3 1/2 DAY option: Monday 15 July 2024 through the morning session on THUR 18 July: $1799.00. (Limit 4 photographers)
I do not like to disappoint: each trip will run with only a single participant. If necessary.
I first visited the beach nesting bird colony at Jacksonville in late June 2021. I was astounded. There were many thousands of pairs of Royal Terns nesting along with about 10,000 pairs of Laughing Gulls. In addition to the royals, there were some Sandwich Terns nesting. And there are several dozen pairs of Brown Pelicans nesting on the ground. Flight photography was non-stop astounding. And photographing the tern chicks was relatively easy. Folks could do the whole trip with the Sony 200-600, the Canon 100-500 RF, or the Nikon 500 PF or one of the many nw Z lenses. With a TC in your pocket for use on sunny days. Most of the action is within 100 yards of where we park (on the beach). As with all bird photography, there are times when a super-telephoto lens with either TC is the best tool for the job.
Morning sessions will average about three hours, afternoon sessions at least 1 1/2. On cloudy mornings with favorable winds, we may opt to stay out for one long session and skip the afternoon, especially when the afternoon weather forecast is poor. Lunch is included on all but the last day of each IPT and will be served at my AirBnB. After lunch, we will do image review and Photoshop sessions. My AirBnB is the closest lodging to the park.
The deposit is $599.00. Call Jim at the office any weekday at 863-692-0906 to pay by credit card. Balances must be paid by check.
What You Will Learn on a Jacksonville IPT
1- First and foremast you will learn to become a better flight photographer. Much better.
2-You will learn the basics and fine points of digital exposure. Nikon and Canon folks will learn to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, and SONY folks will learn to use Zebras so that they can be sure of making excellent exposures before pressing the shutter button.
3- You will learn to work in Manual exposure mode even if you fear it.
4- You will learn to evaluate wind and sky conditions and understand how they affect bird photography, especially the photography of birds in flight.
5- You will learn several pro secrets (for each system) that will help you to become a better flight photographer.
6- You will learn to zoom out in advance (because the birds are so close!) 🙂
7- You will learn how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them.
8- You will learn to spot the good and the great situations.
9- You will learn to understand and predict bird behavior.
10- You will learn to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system.
11- You will learn to choose the best perspective.
12- You will learn to see and control your backgrounds.
13- You will learn to see and understand the light.
14- You will learn to see and create pleasing blurs in pre-dawn situations.
15- You will learn to be ready for the most likely event.
And the best news is that you will be able to take everything you learn home with you so that you will be a better photographer wherever you are and whenever you photograph.
This image was created on 29 June 2021 at Huguenot Memorial Park on a Jacksonville, FL IPT. Standing at full height I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 200mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 640. 1/3200 second at f/7.1 (stopped down 2/3-stop) in Manual Mode. AWB at 9:16:26am on a sunny morning. RawDigger showed the exposure to be dead solid perfect.
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 #1: Royal Tern screaming in flight
It’s Not Always Easy to Get it Exactly Right in Bird Photography
If you knew that I was using a zoom lens for Image #1, most would react by saying, “You should have zoomed out wider.” As we often get greedy as far as wanting to get as many pixels on the subject as possible, clipping wings and feet and heads is a common occurrence when photographing birds especially birds in flight and in action. Until yesterday, I had long stared at this image thinking of a way to salvage it; I love the bird’s expression. And I had long assumed that I had simply failed to zoom out. That was until I was working on this blog post and saw that the focal length was 200mm, the widest possible.
I gave up trying to think of a way to repair the badly clipped wing and instead, turned to a square crop. WDYT of Image #1?
Tracking: Spot S/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version.
Image #2: Royal Tern with wings raised
What Do You Think of Square Crops?
Lots of folks think that the-out-of-the-camera 3X2 and 2X3 proportions are sacrosanct and that anything else is heresey. I disagree wholeheartedly. Many images scream out for a square copy, often images with two centered subjects like the Ospreys below. Strangely, I try to avoid boxy crops unless they are the only option.
Framing at 1200mm Ain’t Easy
Especially when you are standing atop an eight foot ladder. I badly mis-framed the original capture for Image #2; the bird on our left was almost touching the frame edge. A square crop resulted in a useable image.
How are Less than Perfect Images and Square Crops Related?
As we have seen in both Image #1 and Image #2, a square crop can often be used to save images that seem to be destined for the trash heap. Or a square crop might be perfect for perfectly executed images, as immediately below.
This image was created on 18 March 2024 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing outside my vehicle near the old eagle nest, I used the handheld Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 1250: 1/3200 sec. at f/2.8 (wide open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was pretty darned good. AWB at 9:00:06 on a cloudy morning.
Zone/AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed to perfection. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version.
Ospreys near nest: serendipitous synchronous flight
Bingo!
So, was this image the result of pure luck or the right gear?
Actually, it was a combination of both. And more. Note that I had the perfect lens in my hands and the perfect camera body with the perfect settings. But without knowledge of the wind and sky conditions and the necessary skills, I would have come up empty.
With the wind from the SW in the morning, I was lucky that it was totally overcast. If you are trying for flight on cloudy days, simply position yourself with the wind behind you. And I followed my own advice: if you are photographing a bird in flight and a second bird flies into the frame, press the shutter button and hold it down until they separate. But don’t quit entirely as one of the two might provide additional good chances. That is exactly what happened in this case; I kept nine additional images of the bird with the stick landing at the nest. None, however, were anywhere near as good as the “Bingo” shot.
I was lucky to witness the behavior; I had never seen anything remotely like it in 47 years of birding. But I was patient :-). And I was lucky that at the magic moment that the faces of both birds were on the exact same plane.
Note, however, that even if you are the luckiest bird photographer in the world and amazing behaviors happen often right in front of you, you will wind up with nothing unless you have mastered the basics needed to consistently create sharp, nicely designed, properly exposed images. Consider joining a BIRDS AS ART IPT.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
