Pelicans of the Shem

When I've traveled to South Carolina, seems I always find some time to spend at Shem Creek in Charleston.  The waterfront area is built up, commercialized, nicely.  What I like the most are the commercial fishing boats.  All the masts, booms and nets.  And the colors.  The scenery lines are everywhere.  And the colors.

And where there are free fish to be had, Pelicans are around.  I'm guessing the locals think of Pelicans as trash birds - and they may be.  But for the tourist in me will overlook societies harsh judgement.

Pelican on a Roost

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51/NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

350 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 110 (AUTO)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size FX, Polarizer

Pelican Committed to Takeoff

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51/NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

175 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 (AUTO)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size FX, Polarizer

Pelican Water Takeoff

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51/NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 220 (AUTO)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size FX, Polarizer

Pelican Water Takeoff

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51/NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 (AUTO)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size FX, Polarizer

Pair of Sandhill Cranes in Flight

Last Saturday's Eagle chase yielded some surprising guest shots.  One of the unexpected guests was a pair of Sandhill Cranes.

This was a very cool event.  Through a long clearing, over a mix of water and grass, a pair of Cranes flew just about right over the spot where I was standing.  I watched their approach for I'm guessing, about 300 yards.  I heard them before I saw them.  I'm guessing I watched them for about 15 seconds - but felt like minutes.  In a good way.  Plenty of time to get the camera up and acquire focus.  No rookie mistakes.  Even had time to breathe.

One of the few events I could watch the entire event unfold through the camera, and not miss much.

Pair of Sandhill Cranes in Flight

NIKON D850 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6

500 mm, 1/1,000th sec, f/5.6, ISO 140 (Auto)

EV +0.67, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

Pair of Sandhill Cranes in Flight

NIKON D850 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6

500 mm, 1/1,000th sec, f/5.6, ISO 280 (Auto)

EV +0.67, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

Pair of Sandhill Cranes in Flight

NIKON D850 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6

500 mm, 1/1,000th sec, f/5.6, ISO 320 (Auto)

EV +0.67, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

Very cool experience to have a subject fly so close.  Will be tough to beat.

More from MCAS Beaufort - Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion

I really enjoyed the MAGTF demo at the MCAS Beaufort Airshow.  

I have a number of F-35, F-18 and demo team (Blue Angels) shots already.  Not that the shows are boring, I could listen to the sound of Freedom all day long.  For those events to get something different, I have to experiment with fames, and angles, and exposure triangle stuff.  Not much success in that department this time around - other than I know what to rule out at future events.

But, helicopters.  Very little library and very little experience.  Not like a jet where you set the speed as high as you are comfortable with and GO!  Props, not matter if it is for thrust or lift take some amount of planning.  A new toy.

You have to have some amount blur on the main rotor - and still be able to see the tail rotor.  The main rotor turns at under 200 RPM.  At a diameter of 79 feet, the RMP must keep the blade tips from going super sonic.  And however the math works out, about 185 RPM will do that.  The tail rotors diameter is 16 feet.  It can turn a bit faster.

So the dilemma is shoot slow enough for the main rotor and fast enough for the tail rotor.

In these three shots, I was 'experimenting' with shutter speeds.  I know to get a full rotation of blur on a C-130, that is 1/60 second.  If it is not moving, very doable.  That being said that same shutter speed on a UH-1 renders both main and tail rotors invisible as posted here.  Depends on what you like.  But catching a moving object at that speed is a bit beyond my normal capability.  But I can get a good percentage of shots at 1/100th of a second.

In the end for me, as long as the rotor isn't frozen I'm good.

Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51/NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G

280 mm, 1/60th sec, f/22.0, ISO 100

EV 0 (Polarizer), Shutter Priority, Size FX

Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51/NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G

310 mm, 1/100th sec, f/16.0, ISO 100

EV 0 (Polarizer), Shutter Priority, Size FX

Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51/NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G

185 mm, 1/125th sec, f/16.0, ISO 100

EV 0 (Polarizer), Shutter Priority, Size FX

I really like the last shot.  Blur is OK, but both helicopters are reasonably sharp.  There was a lot of movement going on here.

As to lessons learned, I think I'll be keeping to 1/80th to 1/100th second for my larger aircraft shots.

And as is said, no matter how many shots didn't turn out - a bad day at the show is better than a day at (fill in blank).

Eagle with Dinner

A week ago, I was in 80 degree weather.  Today, 40 degrees, 8 knot winds and drizzle.  The only difference, about 1,000 miles.  I'll get back to South Carolina.

Today, I had an invitation to see an Eagle's nest in Clarkston, Independence Oaks County Park.  Can't pass that up.

Did I mention the weather was pretty crappy?  All of the sky shots will end up being deleted.  Anything eye level or lower, or with a dense tree in the background turned out OK.  And in reality, I'll be back there when the sky is much better - someday.

But we did have a few moments of excitement when one of the parent Eagles hit the water for an un-suspecting catfish and departed for the nest in what seemed to be one move.  I missed the business end of the bird and fish, but did get the water takeoff.  There is a fair amount of distance involved, so the cropping is fairly aggressive.  Won't win any prizes, but looks good on the monitor.

A bird and a fish.

All photos were taken with the D6/200-500 f/5.6 combo, 1/1,000 sec, f/5.6 and ISO between 2500 and 3600.

Bell UH-1 and AH-1 from MAGTF (MCAS Beaufort)

The 2023 photo season for me opened up with a stellar airshow in Beaufort S.C.  This is the second time I've attended the show.  April is the perfect time to escape the winter of Michigan and get some sun and warmth.  The 2021 show was cancelled due to Covid - so the last show was 2019.

This year's weather didn't disappoint.  Mid 80's with a broken deck.  Thunderstorms factored in to the show, but late in the afternoon.  The final act, the Blue Angels had to end about 15 minutes short when lightning moved into the area.  Still, a very good show.

While the Blue Angels were the headliner, for me I wanted to see the MAGTF event.  In 2019, I took one of the best helicopter shots in my journey, up to that point.  Good photo, but lots of room to improve.  The four year wait was worth it, as the show was bigger and better with more active participants.

MAGTF is the Marine Air-Ground Task Force.  The force is comprised of a variety of response options, coordinating teams of ground, air, logistics, and cyberspace assets under a central command.  Planes, trains and automobiles.  Almost.  In this case - airpower.  The participants for this demo was fighter aircraft and helicopters.

For me, I concentrated on the Bell UH-1 Iroquois and the Bell AH-1 Cobra helicopters.

In my opinion, the helicopter photography is very challenging.  Very slow shutter speed.  And a relatively heavy lens.  The only saving grace, if any, is usually a slow and predictive motion.  In reality, only about 5 to 10% of my shots were useable.

Bell AH-1 Cobra

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51 /NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/80 sec, f/20, ISO 100 (Auto)

EV 0, Speed Priority, Size FX

Bell UH-1 Iroquois

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51 /NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/80 sec, f/20, ISO 100 (Auto)

EV 0, Speed Priority, Size FX

Bell AH-1 Cobra

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51 /NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/80 sec, f/20, ISO 100 (Auto)

EV 0, Speed Priority, Size FX

Bell UH-1 Iroquois

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51 /NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/80 sec, f/20, ISO 100 (Auto)

EV 0, Speed Priority, Size FX

Bell UH-1 Iroquois and AH-1 Cobra

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51 /NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/80 sec, f/20, ISO 100 (Auto)

EV 0, Speed Priority, Size FX

Bell AH-1 Cobra

NIKON D6 Ver.01.51 /NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/80 sec, f/20, ISO 100 (Auto)

EV 0, Speed Priority, Size FX

The shutter speed for the rotors, both main and tail, makes the photo.  There has to be some blur, but you also have to see the blur.  The UH-1 photo from Thunder over Michigan was shot at 1/60th second.  The tail rotor is barely visible.  And the main rotor is just visible.  In most of this year's helicopter shots, the tail rotor is more visible - and some overlap.  (If I remember) I may use 1/100th next outing.  Or not.