Scottes
11th of September 2004 (Sat), 18:48
I went back to Parker River NWR this morning. I slept in. 4:01 AM this time. As a result I just barely missed one of the most gorgeous sunrises I've ever seen. I can't describe it. I *could* describe my remorse, but I won't.
Needless to say I won't ever sleep late again. 3:45 or bust.
So I missed a shot of the sunrise and I didn't see as many birds as last week so I initially started out somewhat bummed. That's kinda ridiculous really, since I was only at the refuge for about 7 minutes by then. Yes, I have no patience. You should know that by now.
I was intently scanning the Salt Pannes for some birds, and only saw a few ducks. Ducks that were too far away. And they were dark ducks. They were definitely too dark, even at ISO 800. Hell, the only light I was seeing was the sunrise reflecting off the water. And it was *orange* so it wasn't even bright.
The sunrise just made the water orange, and didn't make the duck any brighter. Just a stupid dark duck swimming on some orange water. A dark duck and a couple of ripples. On orange water...
Hey.... there might be something here...
Maybe... maybe it could make a decent picture...
What the hell. I took the picture. Digital film is cheap.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/SunriseDuck_0432.jpg
OK, so now we're 22 minutes past sunrise, there's no other birds, and my orange light is breaking up. Not that I missed it, really, since it probably messed up my duck shot. Stupid orange light.
But hey, the clouds were breaking up. The sky was pretty with the red and yellow and orange clouds, but more importantly a bit more light appeared.
No birds.
No stupid birds and now I've got these stupid puffy tri-colored clouds reflecting off the water. But even that was no good because the stupid marsh grass was in the way.
OK, things are starting to click now.
I picked up on this one a little faster.
And digital film is cheap.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/MarshGrassSunrise_0436.jpg
Now it's 24 minutes past sunrise, I've seen THREE birds, and I'm going nuts. So I jumped back into the Crown Vic and puttered down the road at a healthy 12 miles per hour, scanning the trees for that Merlin.
I even had the new 550EX mounted so I could add a bit of light to him when he showed up again.
He didn't show.
Neither did anything else. Well, OK, there were a few egrets waytoofaraway but nothing worthwhile. So I kicked the Crown Vic up to 14 mph and stormed into the Hellcat Observation area.
I took off the useless stupid 550EX and mounted up the monopod - which was sticking *again* - and puttered with my spare CF and battery and such. Another car pulled up when I was doing this, and a guy jumped out and grabbed his camera from the back.
A Canon MkII on a Canon 500mm L with a 2x TC.
He was very pleasant.
The bastard.
We walked up to the dike, and I saw a couple swans in the North Pool feeding near the marsh grass. I took a few shots, but every shot was a mix of bright sun and deep shade. And the mosquitoes were eating me alive.
I killed one of those pesky mosquitoes, and heard a grunt of sorts behind me. I turned to see another swan flying in, flapping over the dike and swooping low over the water. I soon had 5 fantastic shots of his butt as he landed. And then he simply paddled across the pond.
I call this one "Swan Wake" - get it?
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/SwanWake_0454.jpg
So I wandered around Hellcat a bit, met some friends (check back later for more non-bird pics) and crossed the road following the Dune Loop, and came back to the car.
(Almost) Nothing.
So I headed up to Stage Island, where the Cormorants bask in the sun, and the egrets do egret stuff. I got a few pics at Stage Pool last week - some egrets along with a semipalmated plover and a least sandpiper. I also managed to capture several pixels of a Baird's Sandpiper, so I had hopes.
I figured that it was bright enough now to break out the New Gun - the Canon 400m f/5.6 prime. It seemed like a good time for it, so I hung it on the tripod and ambled up the path.
I saw a birder - just one this early - and I walked up near her to see what she saw. I did not see what she saw, as she had a 80x Swarovski cope. She coulda been looking at a Piping Plover in the next county for all I know. She walked off shortly after, and I shot the closest thing I could see, an egret.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/EgretAbstract_0505.jpg
I don't know if this "works" or not. I kinda like the lines of the sandbars, but the bland brown doesn't look so great. The egret isn't highlighted enough, that is, it's not really noticable because it doesn't stand out. And I managed to focus on the middle sandbar instead of the bird.
Part of my says "this is what happens when I think about being creative" and part of me says "I have no idea."
Hey, at least I'm thinking about something other than getting a bird big in the frame, so that's something.
Very little was going on, so I was doing some test shots with the 400 Prime, just shooting stuff, and occasionally attaching the 1.4 TC. If you ever get the urge to test a new lens for quality, don't bother shooting across a stretch of ocean where haze and heat-shimmer rule the day.
I tried a few shots at the distant cormorants, and whenever one lifted off I tried the autofocus tracking. But even a flying cormorant was rare today, so I didn't really try too hard.
The birder came back, and I must have been blocking her view as she was dancing from foot to foot and looking at me out of the corner of her eye. Since we were the only two people on a 200-foot long path, I ignored her. How could I possibly be in her way?
After a few impatient minutes she picked her tripod and walked past me and said - get prepared for this...
She said:
"Well if you're just going to take pictures I'm going to get a better look at the shorebirds."
OK, just in case you missed it, I'll repeat that with emphasis on the important parts:
"Well if you're just going to take pictures I'm going to get a better look at the shorebirds."
Some people....
So finally I was looking around, and seeing nothing. Well, no birds.
Then I remembered the current photo contest on Lines, Patterns, and Textures. I wished that I had remembered about it closer to sunrise, since a low orange sun looks pretty cool highlighting the tan marsh grass. There might be something there....
But the sun was neither low nor orange any more, but I did see this:
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/MarshGrass_0549.jpg
Personally I think it's a simple clash of lines at 90-degree angles, and the green isn't bright or string enough to balance the blue. But at least I'm thinking about stuff like this once I remember it.
So this is how I spent part of the morning. The birds were a little scarce, at least compared to last week, but I'm kinda happy that I started thinking about other things - composition and stuff. Maybe I didn't do so great, but at least I'm thinking "There's more to photography than just a subject in a viewfinder..."
And to explain a bit... I've been gearing up for autumn in New England, which means colorful foliage. I want to try my hand at landscapes, which is the original reason I bought this camera. I did some research on Landscape Composition Rules (this thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41328)) and I've been reading those articles. Most are darn good, by the way, and they're worth a read or two.
Needless to say I won't ever sleep late again. 3:45 or bust.
So I missed a shot of the sunrise and I didn't see as many birds as last week so I initially started out somewhat bummed. That's kinda ridiculous really, since I was only at the refuge for about 7 minutes by then. Yes, I have no patience. You should know that by now.
I was intently scanning the Salt Pannes for some birds, and only saw a few ducks. Ducks that were too far away. And they were dark ducks. They were definitely too dark, even at ISO 800. Hell, the only light I was seeing was the sunrise reflecting off the water. And it was *orange* so it wasn't even bright.
The sunrise just made the water orange, and didn't make the duck any brighter. Just a stupid dark duck swimming on some orange water. A dark duck and a couple of ripples. On orange water...
Hey.... there might be something here...
Maybe... maybe it could make a decent picture...
What the hell. I took the picture. Digital film is cheap.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/SunriseDuck_0432.jpg
OK, so now we're 22 minutes past sunrise, there's no other birds, and my orange light is breaking up. Not that I missed it, really, since it probably messed up my duck shot. Stupid orange light.
But hey, the clouds were breaking up. The sky was pretty with the red and yellow and orange clouds, but more importantly a bit more light appeared.
No birds.
No stupid birds and now I've got these stupid puffy tri-colored clouds reflecting off the water. But even that was no good because the stupid marsh grass was in the way.
OK, things are starting to click now.
I picked up on this one a little faster.
And digital film is cheap.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/MarshGrassSunrise_0436.jpg
Now it's 24 minutes past sunrise, I've seen THREE birds, and I'm going nuts. So I jumped back into the Crown Vic and puttered down the road at a healthy 12 miles per hour, scanning the trees for that Merlin.
I even had the new 550EX mounted so I could add a bit of light to him when he showed up again.
He didn't show.
Neither did anything else. Well, OK, there were a few egrets waytoofaraway but nothing worthwhile. So I kicked the Crown Vic up to 14 mph and stormed into the Hellcat Observation area.
I took off the useless stupid 550EX and mounted up the monopod - which was sticking *again* - and puttered with my spare CF and battery and such. Another car pulled up when I was doing this, and a guy jumped out and grabbed his camera from the back.
A Canon MkII on a Canon 500mm L with a 2x TC.
He was very pleasant.
The bastard.
We walked up to the dike, and I saw a couple swans in the North Pool feeding near the marsh grass. I took a few shots, but every shot was a mix of bright sun and deep shade. And the mosquitoes were eating me alive.
I killed one of those pesky mosquitoes, and heard a grunt of sorts behind me. I turned to see another swan flying in, flapping over the dike and swooping low over the water. I soon had 5 fantastic shots of his butt as he landed. And then he simply paddled across the pond.
I call this one "Swan Wake" - get it?
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/SwanWake_0454.jpg
So I wandered around Hellcat a bit, met some friends (check back later for more non-bird pics) and crossed the road following the Dune Loop, and came back to the car.
(Almost) Nothing.
So I headed up to Stage Island, where the Cormorants bask in the sun, and the egrets do egret stuff. I got a few pics at Stage Pool last week - some egrets along with a semipalmated plover and a least sandpiper. I also managed to capture several pixels of a Baird's Sandpiper, so I had hopes.
I figured that it was bright enough now to break out the New Gun - the Canon 400m f/5.6 prime. It seemed like a good time for it, so I hung it on the tripod and ambled up the path.
I saw a birder - just one this early - and I walked up near her to see what she saw. I did not see what she saw, as she had a 80x Swarovski cope. She coulda been looking at a Piping Plover in the next county for all I know. She walked off shortly after, and I shot the closest thing I could see, an egret.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/EgretAbstract_0505.jpg
I don't know if this "works" or not. I kinda like the lines of the sandbars, but the bland brown doesn't look so great. The egret isn't highlighted enough, that is, it's not really noticable because it doesn't stand out. And I managed to focus on the middle sandbar instead of the bird.
Part of my says "this is what happens when I think about being creative" and part of me says "I have no idea."
Hey, at least I'm thinking about something other than getting a bird big in the frame, so that's something.
Very little was going on, so I was doing some test shots with the 400 Prime, just shooting stuff, and occasionally attaching the 1.4 TC. If you ever get the urge to test a new lens for quality, don't bother shooting across a stretch of ocean where haze and heat-shimmer rule the day.
I tried a few shots at the distant cormorants, and whenever one lifted off I tried the autofocus tracking. But even a flying cormorant was rare today, so I didn't really try too hard.
The birder came back, and I must have been blocking her view as she was dancing from foot to foot and looking at me out of the corner of her eye. Since we were the only two people on a 200-foot long path, I ignored her. How could I possibly be in her way?
After a few impatient minutes she picked her tripod and walked past me and said - get prepared for this...
She said:
"Well if you're just going to take pictures I'm going to get a better look at the shorebirds."
OK, just in case you missed it, I'll repeat that with emphasis on the important parts:
"Well if you're just going to take pictures I'm going to get a better look at the shorebirds."
Some people....
So finally I was looking around, and seeing nothing. Well, no birds.
Then I remembered the current photo contest on Lines, Patterns, and Textures. I wished that I had remembered about it closer to sunrise, since a low orange sun looks pretty cool highlighting the tan marsh grass. There might be something there....
But the sun was neither low nor orange any more, but I did see this:
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/MarshGrass_0549.jpg
Personally I think it's a simple clash of lines at 90-degree angles, and the green isn't bright or string enough to balance the blue. But at least I'm thinking about stuff like this once I remember it.
So this is how I spent part of the morning. The birds were a little scarce, at least compared to last week, but I'm kinda happy that I started thinking about other things - composition and stuff. Maybe I didn't do so great, but at least I'm thinking "There's more to photography than just a subject in a viewfinder..."
And to explain a bit... I've been gearing up for autumn in New England, which means colorful foliage. I want to try my hand at landscapes, which is the original reason I bought this camera. I did some research on Landscape Composition Rules (this thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41328)) and I've been reading those articles. Most are darn good, by the way, and they're worth a read or two.