Posts in Category: video
6/6/2010
Song Sparrow on a Post
Happy Sunday!
Brought to you through the magic of digiscoping. Nothing like it. I was 30 feet or more from this little guy. This is about as close to a bird-in-the-hand view as you can get. On my laptop monitor he is close to life size right here, and I could view him at several times life-size.
Canon SD1400IS Digital Elph behind the eyepiece of a Zeiss Diascoope 65FL. Equivalent focal length about 3500mm. Exif f5.0 @ 1/320th @ ISO 80. Programmmed auto. Computed f-stop based on the scope/camera combination: f9.6.
In Lightroom, some Recovery for the sky, a touch of Fill Light to compensate for Blackpoint right. Added Clarity and just a bit of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
I zoomed back to get the full bird in full song. This one is at about 1800mm equivalent. Note that the bird has its nictitating membrane over the eye.
And here is the video, along with a curious passerby.
6/4/2010
Bobolink
For some reason, the Bobolink has been a digiscoping jinx bird for me. Every year I try for new shots at Laudholm Farm, just down the road from us, where they are abundant and very visible during courting season in the spring. I tried two years in a row in North Dakota where they are also abundant. And I have nothing to show for it…or at least, nothing I am willing to show to others. 🙂
So, this year, I gottem! Or at least I got my best shots yet.
Even then, this is still a very hard bird to photograph. White on black is always a hard exposure problem, and the fine-fur like structure of the head feathers is a real challenge to capture effectively. And when they are visible in courtship, they are always moving. After courtship they simply disappear. I have never seen a Bobolink that was not courting or being courted. Maybe I am just not looking hard enough.
Canon SD1400IS behind the eyepiece of a Zeiss Diascope 65FL for an equivalent focal length of about 3500mm. Exif f5.0 @ 1/160th @ ISO 80. Computed f-stop, considering the spotting scope, f9.6.
In Lightroom, some Recovery for the highlights, a touch of Fill Light to open the black plumage, and then a bit of Blackpoint right to intensify the colors. Adde Clarity and just a bit of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
And, though the light on this video is not what I would like (got to leave some challenge for next year), it does showcase the song!
All but the video are from Digiscope Around Home on my Wide Eyed In Wonder site.
5/6/2010
Carolina Wren
This wren was high in a tree at Vaill Point Park, one of St. Johns County, Florida’s little pocket reserves. We had an amazing morning there which included a Great Blue Heron rookery and a Barred Owl, besides this wren.
I don’t know what is going on with the wing feather. It appears to have exploded. Whatever it was, it was not bothering the wren much, as it was singing up a storm.
Digiscoped with the Canon SD1400IS on Programmed auto behind the eyepiece of the Zeiss Diascope 65FL. Equivalent focal length of the combination was just over 2000mm. Exif data shows f5 @ 1/80th @ ISO 200. Limiting f-stop based on the scope was f5.5.
In Lightroom, Recovery for the background highlights. A bit of Fill Light for the shadowed parts of the bird. Blackpoint just slightly right. Added Clarity and a smidge of Vibrance. Auto White Balance to tame the yellow from the Canon’s Auto WB in this light. Sharpen landscape preset.
From St. Augustine FL 2010.
And here, just to prove the singing part, is a bit of video.
5/4/2010
A Little Spoonbill Love
Believe it or not, I am actually coming to the end of my series from the trip to St Augustine. One, maybe two more, Pics of the Day.
For today, lets do Roseate Spoonbills. I did a similar set from Merritt Island in January. Spoonbills, in all the splendor of full breeding plumage, were abundant at the Alligator Farm this year. In the past the most I have ever seen at the same time is 2. This year there at least 20. I don’t think any bird has more spectacular breeding plumage. It is so vivid, and so unlikely!
Add with the Canon SX20IS. All in Programmed auto.
1) 560mm @ f5.7 @ 1/1250 @ ISO 160
2) 560mm @ f5.7 @ 1/1250 @ ISO 80
3) 470mm @ f5.7 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 100
4) 470mm @ f5.7 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 125
Similar treatment in Lightroom. A touch of Recovery and Fill Light. Blackpoint right. Added Clarity and just a tiny amount of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
And finally, a little video.
5/1/2010
A Little Tricolor Love
Tricolored Herons nest low, mostly in mangroves, which places them, amazingly, delightfully, close to the boardwalks at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery. Some are literally within reach of a long arm, and all are certainly within reach of your average P&S zoom. Tourists love them. I (while not admitting to being a tourist) always come back with lots of Tricolor shots, so this will be a bit more than a Pic of the Day…kind of a Tricolored Heron retrospective.
It is well to remember that, while taken in what amounts to a zoo, these are wild birds, attracted to what is apparently in their eyes, an ideal nesting site. They are not fed, managed, caged, clipped, or manipulated in any way. They are free and fully wild. While they might be habituated to close human presence on the boardwalk, they are not tame. That is the real wonder of the Alligator Farm rookery.
All shots were taken with the Canon SX20IS on my most recent day at the Alligator farm. All were taken at equivalent focal lengths of 520-560mm, @ f5.7 on programmed auto with –1.3EV exposure compensation. Shutter speeds and ISOs varied as the camera set them, with ISOs ranging from 100-320. All received similar processing in Lightroom. Basic Presence adjustments, Blackpoint and White Balance on the two in the shade, and the Sharpen landscape preset.
And finally, a bit of video, also shot with the Canon SX20IS.
Gotta love those Tricolored Herons! Gotta love the Alligator Farm.
12/7/2009
Dressed for Winter Sunrise: never looked so good
Over-night snow, early sun, and this tree, though attractive at all times, really looks it best. This is, of course, an image all about shape, texture, and light. Very simple. Even more about the essentials than most photographs. I used the camera zoom to crop and frame for that effect.
Taken in the fields behind Parson’s Beach in Kennebunk ME, about 2 miles from home.
Sony DSC H50 at about 70mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
You might think that a snow scene like this would require some exposure compensation, or the sand and snow program at the very least. But the light was low…sun just cresting the clouds along the horizon on a day approaching the solstice in Maine…and the intensity of the light was easily handled by the regular Program on the camera.
Auto color balance, auto tone in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From First Snow 12/09.
And, from the same morning, a little video that maybe captures the winter wonderland effect.
7/25/2009
Storm Surf
Taking a break from out coverage of the Coastal Main Botanical Gardens…
Last night my wife and I and youngest daughter went for a walk on the beach. It was the end of close to 24 hours of petty steady rain from a classic noreaster gale, and the ocean was muddy brown in the late light and the clouds still impressive. And, of course, this being Maine, the surfers were out. To be a surfer in Maine means you haunt the edges of storms and surf in a wet-suit even in July and August.
I did not take my H50. I have a new little HD camcorder with a 10mp CMOS sensor that also takes stills. It has a 16×9 wide screen mode at 7.5mp, and I am still experimenting with it as a pocket, all purpose, always on me, camera.
I have taken a few shots with it in better light than the evening offered which have showed promise…so…
If you blow the image above up to full size so you can peek at the pixels it begins to break down. It is, in fact, more like a painting of the scene than it is a photo. That is undoubtedly the result of over-agressive noise reduction which kicked in to compensate for the light levels. Even though the exif data says ISO 50, the sensor was clearly starved for light, and the camera did its best to overcome its limits.
Still, at normal screen resolution, and even in a 5×7 or possibly 8×10 print, it is a dramatic image. I could have gotten better with my H50, but the only camera that counts is the one you have with you.
Sanyo VPC CG10 at about 190mm equivalent. F4.2 @ 1/400th @ ISO 50. Auto.
Recovery for the clouds in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint to the right, and added Contrast. Landscape sharpen preset.
From Around Home Kennebunk ME.
And just for fun…the video:
5/13/2009
Hands Off!
While scouting for the World Series of Birding, driving the back streets of Cape May Point, along Lilly Pond, we came upon this fellow attempting to cross the road. Found a place to park the car and of course took some shots. We did try to encourage him out of the street, but he was not having our help (or interference). It was a quiet street had he was pretty safe, but the next day we found a crushed carcass along side a more traveled road, just to prove the danger of being a very large snapping turtle in the spring wander season.
Straightforward tel portrait. Minimal processing in Lightroom: Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen. A bit of added contrast.
Sony DSC H50 at about 400mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/400 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto. -.7 EV exposure compensation.
From Cape May 2009.
And for context, the video (taken with the Sanyo TH1, HD camcorder).
4/30/2009
Great Egret Display
Not an easy exposure. White bird in shadow against dark foliage. -1 EV exposure compensation for the feathers, but that leaves the scene dark and flat. Fill light in Lr, and some global added exposure. Vibrance for the green leaves and green breeding lores of the bird. Added Clarity for the feather detail.
Sony DSC N1 through the eyepiece of a Zeiss Diascope 85FL spotting scope. 1/160 @ ISO 64. F-stop determined by scope.
From St. Augustine FL.
Video: