Birds on the Beach
Everything is Better With Clouds
Real Slow can be Real Cool
Water birds, surf birds, while the both have H2O in common, one is still water and one is moving water. If you shoot with a fast shutter speed, in your photo the still water and moving water are both frozen looking the same. Freezing the wave breaking on the shore, folks know it’s a wave. Blurring that same wave breaking on the shore and folks feel that water. Which do you want, them knowing or them feeling, the brain or the heart? If you’re like me, you’re going straight for the heart.
Lying on the beach again this morning, great way to spend a weekend. I was all pumped for some great bird photography. The sun hasn’t even come up yet and there I was with my usual rig D4s / 800mm on the Panning Plate. The American Oystercatcher you see here was walking up the shore foraging so like usual, I put myself in its path and it all worked out, he’d walk right up to me. Now here’s the deal, I wanted to communicate the movement in my still image. I wanted the oystercatcher stride in my still. I want the moving water to touch the heart. So I shot at ISO 100, 1/25 f8, and shot, and shot and shot. It is a low percentage shot but by shooting at the peak of action of its stride, you increase your odds. Now this isn’t for everyone. Some want everything frozen and tack sharp like a livemount in a museum and that’s just cool. Me, I want the life oozing through the frame. Real slow can be real cool.
Simple Blessings
My Thursday morning was anything but a yawn! I’m incredibly fortunate to have so many friends here in Florida. One of those friends is simply the sweetest lady whose giant heart and arms are always open. Knowing I was coming down I dropped Kathy an email to see if she had a morning to go shooting. She’s just a hoot to be with so couldn’t think of a better person to spend time with. Well we meet up today at 06:30 and hit the beach. We went to a Black Skimmer colony you can access during the week that is a photographer’s paradise. At this point in time, it appears most of the skimmers are on eggs and the start of hatching is just starting.
I’ve worked Black Skimemr colonies before but never one where you turn one way and shoot the colony, turn the other way and photograph them skimming. That was pretty cool. We started photographing them in the shadow of a large condo and then as the sun peaks over, it backlights some of the skimmers for a while like you see above. It set them crazy bills to glowing which is very cool! There are about 250-300 individuals in the colony so it’s pretty packed and very busy. This keeps you constantly looking for photo opps which are non-stop. We shot the entire time kissing the sand creating intimate images.
You probably noticed them crazy bills the skimmers own. The lower mandible is longer that the upper one (something they are born with). The lower mandible is dragged in the water as you see and when they feel a fish, the bill snaps close. In our four hours at the colony we photographed nesting, copulation, fights, fish exchange, eggs shell disposal, feeding, preening, bathing and a whole lot more depositing 3k image on the hard drive. And the whole time enjoying the company of great friend who filled me in on all the natural news for the area. Good shooting, good friend, good conversation early in the morning. Simple blessings! Thanks Kathy!!
The Simple Art of Beauty
There is no finer way to bring out the uncommon from the common than with the simple art of beauty. All critters have a beauty about them even if it’s just a moment in time during a day. That moment is one that as humans, we can impose our own feelings and connect to that critter. And this is just part of the equation because to bring that back in our photos, we need to tell this story along with the world in which the critter lives. In this example, it’s the world of two birds that spend their lives at the edge of the sea. The Sandwich Tern is a small bird that isn’t really a big fan of us humans. The Semi Palmated Plover is even smaller than the tern, smaller than a tennis ball. They both find comfort being around other small birds as they go about the beach foraging, sleeping or preening. And in telling their story and bringing their beauty alive in our photos calls for the same basic approach.
First is the light. You simply can’t go wrong with the soft, diffused light early morning brings especially with a slight layer of overcast. With sand bouncing up and filling in what shadows there are, you can take advantage of side lighting to bring out shape, color and texture. To make them visually pop out from their busy world of the sand, getting down low makes all the difference in the world. And by lying on the sand shooting, they figure you’re so stupid to lay in the mud with your expensive gear, you can’t be a threat so come close to you. Shooting with the D4s / 800mm on the Panning Plate, the Sandwich Tern stood in place as the tide slowly came in and wrapped around its feet. The Semi Palmated Plover walked over to see what I was doing looking right down the lens barrel. And the final photos, well none of this screams out. All they do is reach out and grab heart strings and in doing so, brings to life the simple art of beauty
No Accident, There’s a Formula!
Yes, YOU can take this same photo! No matter the lens you have, there is a formula and it’s no secret. I’ve and others have written it many times. Here it is, don’t miss it.
SUN and WIND on your back
That’s it, nothing more! This is simple photography and simple flight we are using to make the photo. When birds come into land, just like planes, they fly into the wind to help them slow down. When the sun is on your back, the subject will be frontlit. When the wind is on your back, the birds will land facing you. This Osprey is coming to its nest, knowing the light and feeling the wind, no guess work involved in making the shot. The only thing I was wondering was if shooting with the D4s / 800mm I would be too tight when it flew in. But capturing the action is just a simple formula, the rest is being there.