Home by the Sea

I grew up in New York, and I like to visit often.  This year I went in February and shot a lot of sunrise and sunset images at the beach.

This is an HDR from 3 source images shot with D4 and 14-24mm f/2.8, on 1 of my 2 new and favorite tripods (Really Right Stuff - extra tall 4 section series 2 and 3).  I'm probably going to get a 3rd one that's a series 4 XL 4 section.  After years of skimping on tripod and spending on lenses and bodies I've taken the plunge.

Last year right before going to Florida I got a 1000$ Gitzo and it broke on my second day shooting there when it was only around 3 weeks old.  One leg became wobbly and lose.

When I got back from Florida I returned the tripod and ordered an even better and only slightly more expensive Really Right Stuff series 3 tall 4 section one.  It is great.  I have absolutely no complaints.  And then I bought a second one that was a series 2 and as such a little smaller and lighter for a ball head and short lens use.

I have had a few other tripods (crap 1, small Gitzo, and large Fiesol) and really I should have just spent a thousand bucks on the best when I started and been done with it.  Everyone makes that mistake so I guess I had to as well.  You're probably reading this and have done it too, or will in the future.  It's like a right of passage all non-millionaire photographers have to achieve.



-Jon

AF-finetune for Subject and Shot - how to get better focus for birds in flight (towards the camera)

I use the AF-finetune to calibrate my lenses and cameras.  Usually this works out pretty well.  Calibration will set the camera to not front-focus or back-focus, the focus will land where you want it - on the spot where focus was attained.

What I have found almost all the time when shooting birds in flight is that focus is harder.  Sure, nothing news worthy there.

But what is most frustrating is when a bird is flying at the camera focus is rarely on the eye.  And it is because the eye is rarely in the center of the frame where the selected focus point is most likely to be.

I've speculated and toyed with changing my AF-finetune specifically to be setup for this type of bird flight shot, but it is rare that I do it.  The setup is to change focus to bias towards front-focus.  With the birds flying at the camera, and the head likely the closest part of the bird, you want focus to be closer than what you will normally get.

So, I rarely do it because how many flight shots towards the camera in a row do you get and if it is just a few is it worth blowing all the other shots?

On this day I was shooting the Herons as they were nest building and they kept flying a similar route.

I got some of the best focus in this setup than I have ever gotten before...  Normally my lens (600mm f/4) is set to about -14AF I think, and I changed it to -18.  I tried a few settings, and the following weekend I tried with my 500mm and experimented more.  I got better results with the 600mm at about -4 on top of my normal calibration.

Have you ever tried this technique?

Or are you already happy with your birds in flight towards the camera shots - so no need to tweak this setting?




Updated with another shot from this day


-Jon

Flying Fish

VA Osprey taking a fish for a ride.  It was soon to be a meal.

7. Sculthorpe Moor

A gloriously bright day, feeling truly like spring, with chiff chaffs calling from every bush and tree, or at least that’s how it felt. Their humble song, announcing their name, whilst mostly staying hidden amongst twigs, new leaves and catkins, accompanied us on our walk from reception to the reserve entrance. A viewing panel overlooking long feeders was our first stop. Drawing back the shutters, we were greeted by a male bullfinch in full colour, his deep red feathers shining out like a jewel from the feeding station.

M. bullfinch

F. reed bunting

Following the boardwalk, through the woodland and over ‘watervole bridge’, although we saw no water voles, a pair of marsh tits alighted in a low tree, their completely black caps contrasting with the brightness of the day. When we arrived at the woodland hide, at first, all was quiet, with little to be seen or heard. A pair of muntjac deer skulked along the shadows, occasionally dashing through sunlit patches, dining on new shoots and leaves. Chaffinches, both male and female, began to descend, balancing on feeder perches and gathering on the floor below. A female reed bunting joined in, flitting from tree to ground and back again, her yellow and chocolate brown stripes seemingly out of place in the woodland. A pair of green finches dined, serenaded by the fluting and slightly scratchy song of a male black cap.

Leaving the woodland hide and continuing on the boardwalk towards fen hide, a commotion began above us. A pair of very agitated great tits shouting at a pair of nuthatches paying too much attention to a particular nest box; they continued their harsh calls until well after the nuthatches had flown. Perhaps a war over a as yet unoccupied box? Or the nuthatches trying to invade?

Fen hide was bathed in sharp sunlight, reflecting prettily off the ripples made by the little grebes, mallards and coots. The little grebes had a small nest right in front of the hide, almost invisible until they shifted vegetation, exposing a clutch of eggs, then carefully covering them over again before heading back out to forage. A pair of doves and a selection of male reed buntings had ownership of one bird table, whilst the other was swarming with more reed buntings and bramblings, with the occasional visit by a long tailed tit, bullfinch or nuthatch.

M. reed bunting

Little grebe

The newest hide at the reserve is the tower hide, built so as to be level with the canopy. Here, we had amazing views of the small birds brave enough to alight on platforms close to the hide windows. Today, a brambling was one of them, as well as an acrobatic long tailed tit, who would steal a morsel of food, hang from a twig with one claw whilst gripping the morsel in the other and feeding from it. A red poll, less brave, but no less attractive, sat on a niger seed feeder slightly further away.

Brambling	Red poll
Long tailed tit	Peacock butterfly

We continued, walking along the boardwalk bathed in sunlight, towards the scrape hides, where, unfortunately, there was nothing to be seen, but a green woodpecker could be heard yaffling from nearby. The warm day had tempted out a few different butterflies; an orange-tip gliding along the path edges and peacock butterflies basking on the boardwalk or chasing each other in spirals.

A day to herald the arrival of spring.