Heron Snack Time

Another sign spring is on the the way, or in progress.  A Heron on the ground.  There was a single Heron at the Reserve this weekend.  Just standing in the water.  For me, there was a lot going on at the pond.  No offense to the Heron, but I was looking at the Hooded Mergansers most of the time.  But every few minutes or so, I'd look back to see what the Heron was doing.

To be honest, I failed my pre-event checklist before heading out.  I skipped the step of checking my EV.  It was set from the past outing at +1.  Not a killer miss, but it certainly doesn't help.  But that's not the issue here, I caught the mistake earlier.  The shot is light, should have gone with -1 for the day, that is the miss that hurt.  And the angle of the Heron's head is a direct flat reflect from the sun to where I was standing.  Really messed with the camera.  What are the chances?  Reverse luck.  But the total subject works for me.  Yep, this took some time.

Although technically not the best photo ever taken, I try to balance the 'value' of a shot between the technical aspects and the aesthetics.  If it is interesting, it doesn't have to be perfect.  The fish may disagree, but this is interesting.  Not your everyday Heron shot.

Heron with a Snack

NIKON D500 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

375 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 (AUTO)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size: DX

Not being able to fix the clarity issue with the yellow eye keeps this from being a really good shot.  Room for improvement.

I take this as a sign warmer weather is on the way and better times ahead.  But, maybe not for the fish, who did not make it to the next shot.

Tree Sparrow - In Flight shots

On my travels to the Shiawassee Nature Preserve, I would often see these small 'fluorescent' birds moving around very quickly.  Seems I missed every opportunity to get a good shot as no shots were attempted.  I do that a lot.  Part of the journey.  On Saturday's venture to For-Mar, I had a chance to miss more shots of these birds.  Fortunately, I tried a different approach.  Take a shot.  Or two.

I found two of these little birds at the beginning of my hike.  They are hard to miss, even at a distance.  The coloring is pretty unique.  Practicing my best slow approach, I was able to get within ten yards of the tree a pair were sitting in.  I took a number of shots of the pair.  Sometimes they would fly off, never going too far but always returning to the tree.  The short round trip efforts never lasted more than 30 seconds.  Because of these trips, I had multiple attempts at something other than a bird sitting on a branch.

And I needed multiple attempts for an inflight sequence.  I had narrowed my AF down quite a bit, because I was expecting to mostly target stationary subjects, not birds in flight.  For the most part that worked.  And again being a seasoned rookie at this, it never dawned on me to change one setting.  In the field.  One command dial motion.  Yet another lesson.  And the journey continues.  

But there was some success.  If I ever go professional in this field at any level, I'd consider the name Blind Squirrel Photography for my business.  Or the next blog.  Because sometimes you just get lucky.  True, you can increase your chances at a good shot, but for me often it is luck when I get one of these quick action shots.  With aircraft, you know they are coming and at what speed.  Small birds are an entirely different set of skills.  And I count luck right up there.

The first shot is of a stationary subject getting ready for flight.  I'm not kidding anyone here, the bird's movements are so fast none of this beyond the bird's placement was planned.  I hit the shutter release at the time the bird was going to change locations.  Luck.

Tree Swallow Pre-Flight

NIKON D500 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

525 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

I was lucky enough to get a shot of one in flight with some great wing motion.

Tree Swallow In-Flight

NIKON D500 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

465 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 180 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

This next shot is a pair of Tree Swallows in flight.  Again, very lucky to get the AF on one of the birds.  Also what gets to me is the bird on the right appears to be looking back at me.  Wonder what is going through that brain.

Tree Swallow Pair In-Flight

NIKON D500 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

465 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

It is fun to see these photos turn out.  A lot more interesting in its own way.

Northern Flicker

Life was a lot easier when I didn't appreciate the smaller bird.  Something moves in the bushes, I have to find it.  Some sound comes from above, I have to investigate.  Prefect segue to my introduction to the Northern Flicker.  I was walking around For-Mar, heard some commotion in a tree ahead of me.  Followed the noise to the source.  There was some avian altercation going on that ended with two birds flying off in different directions.  And after the two ruckus participants had moved on, there was movement on the tree limb.  And I waited.  You have to work for it.  And I waited.  There was movement on the branch.  And the sun hit the bird and....

Northern Flicker

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED

200 mm, 1/800 sec, f/3.5, ISO 125 (AUTO)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

For me, there is a lot going on.  First, it has been some time since I used a polarizer.  usually, using a CPL will deepen my sky blues.  It is supposed to also help with contrasts.  Without a non-CPL shot to compare to it is tough to know what is or what isn't.  Under the category of what is, to me this is one of the technically better shots I've done.  The D850 and the 2.8 lens are turning out to be an awesome combo.  There is a pretty aggressive crop going on.  Still looks like full frame image.  The wood in the tree has a lot going on as well.  I did lighten the shadow of the perch a bit, trying to remember it is a shadow.  As to the subject, I've never seen anything like that pattern.  When I was looking on-line for what it was, one identifying mark was red on the back of the neck.  Tough to see from this angle, but if you look close enough the red is there.  I didn't see any of this until I looked at the photograph.

Hooded Merganser, Right?

Spring 2021 is getting here.  Rain instead of snow.  A warmer cold instead of a colder cold.  For sure, I'll take anything at this point.  Feels like a super long winter.  Like all of 2020 was winter.  Today was nice sunshine in mid-Michigan, very little wind.  On the ground was a lot of standing water.  The rainfall over the past 24 hours had no where to go.  When walking, you can still feel the frozen ground layer less than an inch below the surface.  No mono-pod work today.  On the positive side, my boots from the last two weekend hikes were cleaned.  Important stuff.  The boots can come inside the house now, the banishment to the garage being lifted.

Along with the nice sunshine that greeted me at For-Mar, noise filled the air.  Sure a lot of the noise was the Canadians (Geese), but others in the park were clearing their throats as well.  I was expecting a good day.  Something more than the Canadian Geese and squirrels.  And with any luck, by the end of the day I'll have to look up the name of a new to me bird.

The primary unit today was the D850/70-200 , backed up by the D500/200-500.  Over the winter I had purchased CPLs for the new lenses.  I wanted to try them out and there was certainly enough sunlight to drive the CPL on the 70-200 today.  Not sure if I will get one for the 200-500 as it is pretty expensive, but we'll see what the difference was to day between the two sets of photos.  With that said. the best shots for the day were from the secondary unit.  That big lens trumps just about everything when looking for small birds.  Other 'improvements' for the day.  Go with a slower shutter speed.  I didn't need to be close to 1/2000.  I should be shooting in that area for the 2X focal length rule, somewhere around 1/1500th.  Trying to dial it back a bit so I don't have to rely on software as much to clean up the shot.  My targets for the day were going to be pretty much stationary birds, not much speed needed there.

One of the new birds for me today was a pair of Hooded Mergansers.  A male and female pair.  You would be correct is stating that I couldn't describe this bird 24 hours ago.  Truth is, I've seen other photos of these birds before.  Still didn't know the name.  And I've read that they are all over Michigan.  So today when I was walking around one of the ponds, I saw something small on the water.  When I focused in, it turned into the good news/bad news scenario.  Good news, I see one of these birds on the water.   Bad news - don't screw up the photos.  No pressure.

Hooded Merganser

NIKON D500 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

750 mm, 1/1250 sec, F/5.6, ISO 500 (AUTO)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

Those colors are fantastic.  Black, White, Gold eye with black dot.  Copper/gray.  Wow.  Add a little water reflection.  

Pair of Hooded Mergansers

NIKON D500 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

750 mm, 1/1250 sec, F/5.6, ISO 720 (AUTO)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

Very cool to know where to find these.  There was another pair on the pond at the same time.  Something to look for next time out.

Broadwing Hawk Re-Do

Call it Throw Back Thursday.  One of my favorite bird shots came up as a screen background last night on the home PC.  As I looked at it, I started to think I could re do this photo a bit better these days.  And an afternoon project was born.

I am far from a Hawk expert.  I scoured lots of web photos to come up with this is a 'Broadwing' Hawk.  And I looked for help from other websites such as the page that lists what birds were seen at the Refuge for the day, or recently, as reported by much more expert birders.  So if someone says this isn't a BWH, I counter with the photo is good enough that you can tell and I really did try to identify it correctly.

The photo comes from September of 2018.  I was hiking the Nature Refuge with the D7200 and 70-300 lens.  I came across a veteran birder at the Grefe Tower observation deck.  He instantly recognized me as a person who could only ruin his day if I was allowed to roam freely.  Thankfully he did not carry a stun gun that day.  But as a nice member of the birder community, he motioned me to be quiet, and to come up on the tower.  (The tower is about four feet off the ground.)  He motioned for me to look over the far end of the tower deck, look over past the road and in the trees.  Looking back at me like I was a freshly fried donut was this BWH.  It was relatively far away at probably 20 to 30 yards.  The original shot frame is this:

For me to get this shot I had to extend the lens to its full reach.  And shoot with a reduced sensor size.  It's a physics thing.  Anyway, this is an effective lens angle, or reach, of 600 mm.  If I remember right, I braced myself on one of the tower rails for the shot.  The BWH did its part by just sitting still, even when a car passed within six feet below it, it just sat still.  (I bet the car occupants didn't even see the bird.  Rookies.)  Other photo information, 1/800th sec, f/5.6, ISO 640.

When this showed as the background on the monitor last night, I thought with some improved processing techniques and newer software I might be able to improve on this result.  This is the image from the original post in January of 2019: Eyes on Eyes

This was from a time when I was framing the finished shots with a black and white border.  I have since gone borderless.  The eye in the shadow always bothered me as well.  I have since improved on my shadow work.   The 'improved' shot.

I didn't boost any of the colors as much in the re do shot.  I could be talked into maybe giving it more of a vibrant look, but I seem to be going in a more realistic look phase.  The improvement of shadowed eye is reason alone to delete the original photo.  The bird's feet and tail also improved with more definition.  The overall definition or sharpness improved a bit.  In the end, the dampening of the eye shadow is the difference until you get into the pixel peeping.  I did use Gigapixel to help out, I think it is worth the time.

Lazy Sparrow Shot

It's Friday.  It's after work.  Can't get more lazy than that.  The sun is out - and although not summer warm, it is coming out of winter warm.

We have a homemade birdhouse in front of the house, close to my office window.  The house is untreated wood and it shows.  It has been weathered by at least 10 Michigan outdoor years.  Wood grains and colors are awesome.  Can't buy it in a store.

Over the years, the house has been home to a new Sparrow family every spring.  From the house I can watch the cycle of the birds freshening up the nest with new organic material, starting the family and then moving out, all in the space of a few months.  I never got it as a kid how all this could be interesting.  But now, we'll always have a bird house or many around.

So I have the cameras out this afternoon, getting prepped for a small outing tomorrow.  I've been working a lot with the D850, now how to bring out the D500.  Tomorrow's nature hike in a county park that will be new to me will have the D500 and the 70-300 lens as the primary unit.  I'll take the D850 and monster lens in the car for backup or opportunity.  (Frankly, I'm learning that unit is heavy to lug around!)

Back to today, and the sunlight hitting a Sparrow on the birdhouse in front of the house.  It's not exotic.  It's not exciting.  But it is a sign, spring is on the way.  The term lazy in the title does not refer to the Sparrow.  It refers to me being lazy in the effort to obtain this shot.   Slightly more than mailing it in.

Lazy Sparrow Shot

NIKON D500 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED)

300 mm, 1/2000 sec, f/3.5, ISO 160 (AUTO)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

Looking forward to tomorrow's hike.  Maybe a bit warmer, and just as many no clouds.

Today's Birds - Recovery from last Weekend

I've been looking forward to getting out and about this weekend.  I can't go too far as I'm wearing the work leash for this weekend and next.  But last weekend my efforts were far below where I need to be.  It's one thing to misfire on far off Eagles, but to miss aircraft on Final to FNT?  There was even an American Eagle flying into FNT - all the funny blog post headers will have to wait.  Root cause?  I think that even shooting at 1/2000th of a second was not enough to cure lens shake.  I also bought into the notion that Vibration Reduction could be turned off at high speeds.  I may have to re-think some of those moves.  And I may have to consider really working with the mono-pod.

So today arrives and I'm out the door, mono-pod in hand and lens VR On.  There will be a clear photo or something is going in the trash - including the one holding the camera.  I believe in technology, it's usually the human on the business end that has the issue.  That comes from years of tech support in some form or other.

And clear shots were had today.  As to the far off BIF, I saw a hawk of some breed that came in pretty clear but is so far off the contrast of the bird just isn't that good.  Can the sun offer too much light?  But great improvement over last weekend.  Confidence restored.

Lots of work with the mono-pod today.  Worked on important subjects such as how to carry the mono-pad and camera a long distance.  That's more important than one would think.  And once shooting is in progress, what hands go where?  Yes, there is bad news on this - I missed two shots that I might have had without the pod.  But in the end, what I did get was pretty good.

One of the fun parts of the day is researching the birds I have photographed.  I know not much about bird recognition in the field.  But in front of a PC - I'm starting to get the hang of it.  Today's bird of choice is a Whit-breasted Nuthatch.

White-breasted Nuthatch at the End of the Tree

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

460 mm, 1/2500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1400 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

I spent about fifteen minutes with this little birdie.  The bird would move around quite a bit looking for food.  We played a form of hide and seek.  With no counting.  The sunlight on the white feathering played havoc with some of the shots.  But it's all good.

In searching on the web for the identification for my new friend, the description was just about dead on.  Most notably the description said there was a lot of time in the bird's walking travels spent upside down.  And that is where I got this one.  I had a few shots with this pose, but I needed to get the side coloring with out the sunlight washing everything out,

White-breasted Nuthatch Looking Down

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

450 mm, 1/2500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1800 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

All in all a good day and good rebound from last weekend.  Certainly more critters out and about enjoying the improving weather.

The super batteries arrived - and other 3rd party thoughts

When I was researching the D850, for about two years, one of the things you find out is that it is advertised with regards to FPS (Frames Per Second) in two ways.  Either you will find 7 FPS or 9 FPS.  Both values come with an asterisk.  

Out of the box, the camera will do 7 FPS.  One may say that 7 FPS is not a lot by today's standards.  I would counter that the internals are pushing a 46 mg file across its innards.  That is approximately double what most other cameras push.  That's OK - it has its purposes.  If you need a higher FPS rate, step up to the D5 or D6.  Or in my case, pull out the D500.  But if you want to step up to 9 FPS on the D850, you need to add a bigger battery.

Without getting into battery electronic terms, the number of shots per charge is what matters most.  And in the murky mist that is numbers of shots per charge testing I found there are plenty of parameters involved, none of which I experience.  And looking in the back of the OEM (Original Manufacturer Equipment) User's Manual the information can be mind boggling as well.  But wait, there's more!  There are a double set of numbers based on shooting habits.  OK - in the end your mileage may vary.  But what you can tell is using the EN-EL18 battery, you get almost double the number of shots than you can with the EN-EL15 standard battery.  But wait, there's more!  Using the EN-EL18 battery will get you the boost from 7 FPS to 9 FPS.  Battery life is one thing, after-burner performance when needed is another.

According to some Nikon users on the web, the AF is also faster with the EN-EL18 battery.  Will it wash my truck as well?

I don't get it.  Is Nikon saying that for a few extra bucks you can 'legally' boost the camera performance?  I guess so.  Once you start down this road, in for a penny - in for a pound.  The few extra bucks is actually more than a few.  And this is where we get into 3rd party offerings.  To house the battery upgrade, the appropriate Nikon battery grip is required.  As a personal preference, I like Nikon's battery grip.  Feels better in the hand.  But Nikon's accessories are over expensive.  Their business model.  Necessary evil to deal with.  I tried a 3rd party grip on the D90.  I wasn't overly impressed.  So, it was OEM battery grips after that.  Just added to the total price.  The EN-EL18 batteries aren't cheap either.  They are designed for the D5 and D6 models, flagship level.  If you think if it that way, I get it.

But all this is nothing compared to the biggest insult by Nikon to it's users.  To charge the EN-EL18 is extremely expensive.  It is a deal breaker.  I'm usually reluctantly on board with Nikon's pricing.  I'm sure it is close to the other DSLR lines at the professional and flagship level.  But the battery charger for the EN-EL18 battery was $450 when I first started looking.  It is a normal battery charger - you get them for $20 at the hardware store.  OK, so the batteries may be more technical that the Energizer Bunny's brand, but $450?  Thus began the 3rd party conundrum.

I'm not going to put 3rd party accessory or lens on my camera.  That's just me.  But I won't lose sleep using a 3rd party charger.  So I did reviews on the 3rd party charger.  What did we do before YouTube? 

One of the nice things about matching up the D850 and the D500 is they are from the same generation.  I think the announcement dates for both models are about six months apart.   The design is the same in both units, the feel is the same, the menu is virtual identical.  The USB and the #1 data slots are the same.  Fortunately the battery grip design for both is pretty much the same.  And so the D500 will take the EN-EL18 battery as well.  As to performance differences, according to Nikon the EN-EL18 battery will more than double the number of shots per charge over the EN-EL-15.  Doesn't up the D500's 10 FPS.

So the two new batteries are here - and they are charging.  Fingers are crossed that the house doesn't burn down due to the battery charger.  (It will not be left charging unattended.)  

The Club's Covid Challenge

Almost a year ago to the day, the photo club which I participate had its last in person meeting.  At the time we didn't know that the meeting end would start a year before - well nothing yet.  There was a glimmer of hope as last night we tried a Zoom meeting.  There were a few brave souls in attendance.  It was good to see them all.

The bad news is we're not much closer to meeting in person again.  The location where we had meetings isn't open to the public yet.  Realistically, I don't see us meeting in person again until after our summer break is over in August.  Vaccinations will be had by all, and more importantly the post-meeting restaurant will be available again.

The good news.  Some of us will get together tomorrow to Eagle chase and chat.  The day is forecasted to be sunny, but brisk.  (Mid-20's but coming from a week in the low teens, brisk it is.)  We'll be outdoors so the ventilation will not be an issue.  And we'll observe the all important distance restrictions.  More than six feet, but closer than yelling distance.

And better news for me, this Eagle location will be new to me.  Intel says the Eagles are 'nesting'.  A good time is promised for all.  The location should be prime Eagle viewing area.  Flint City landfill close by and a pretty good creek in the area.  So just looked at the cameras.  Batteries are charged.  EV set to 0.  (You'd be surprised how many time I screw that up!  Or maybe not....)  I see a lot of walking in my Saturday future.

Another agenda item from the meeting was everyone 'send in' their five best Covid era  photos.  These don't have to be Covid related, thankfully, but show that at least for a few times we got out of the house.  Unless you have some bird shots from the inside.  Two months ago, I posted my best of 2020 shots.  Unless I had some better shots in 2021 - I have my pool of shots to choose from.  As it turns out, I do have a good shot already this year.  And I have more that five shots in the year end post.  And I want to spread out the interests.  So my five for the club challenge.

In May, after the initial lockdown release I made a few trips to the Shiawassee Nature Refuge.  In one of the trips I found an Eagle sitting on a dead tree overlooking the Shiawassee River.  Luckily, no one behind me.  Just stop - and enjoy the sight.  I was able to take a series of shots of the Eagle in the tree and in flight.  The Eagle flight path was almost eye level.  And because of Covid, I was still breaking in the 200-500 lens.

In May, I started going to the Michigan Barrel Racer's events.  Weather was heating up, nice to get out and about.  I made it out to three of the events.  I also made it out to some Hunter/Jumper events.  It was tough to pare down to only one photo in the horse photos.  I had some nice shots at the H/J events, but only nice to me.  I need to work on framing a better shot.  I had way too much non-subject junk in the shots.  Too much to clean up.  I did better at the Barrel events.  Again, getting to one shot was an exercise, but in the end I went with this one.  Background could be better, but that is what it is.  The subject fills the frame, by my standards anyway.  I like dirt flying, horse body defining and hair explosion in this shot.

I backed into a new subject to shoot during the summer, BMX bike racing.  Our local park has a pretty nice track.  The first time I went out, the place was alive and colorful.  Team colors and tents.  Racers all over the place.  And some were hitting the high jumps.  Close to home, I could spend an afternoon there when I was working on-call.  In November, after the published season was over, we had a nice Michigan weekend.  Plenty of sun - and a race was put together.  I had just picked up the D850, putting an end to the failed D780 experiment, and needed some shots.  At the same time, I picked up a 70-200 f/2.8 lens which also needed a test run.  It all came together.  This shot was a sleeper to me.  But I voted it the best shot of  2020.  Really looked good on the monitors.  That carries more weight than you'd think.

On New Year's Day, we had a wonderful early morning snowfall.  No wind.  Snow on the branches.  Lots of snow on the branches.  After clearing off the driveway, there had to be some photo ops somewhere.  I found my way to one of the county parks.  In the park is a bridge that crosses the Flint River.  I thought this would be an excellent view for the day.  As I was walking around, two kayakers came into view.  The shot is easily the front runner for Best of 2021.

The final entry on the Club Challenge is somewhat odd.  Again, in January the only game in town was "small" birding.  I found a nice area where small birds would congregate.  Or whatever it is called when birds of all demographics get together.  When I returned home to review the day's shots I had to look up a number of the subjects.  I am so small bird ignorant.  One I didn't have to look up was the Robin.  I was walking down the trail, having a stare down through the lens with this one when he/she/it took to the air.  Awesome effect.

Those are my five Covid Era shots to share with the club.  And maybe tomorrow - I might have to add another.