sand

Ruddy Turnstone in early morning light

By Mia McPherson, on February 27th, 2013%

Ruddy Turnstone in early morning light – Nikon D200, handheld, f9, 1/500, ISO 320, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light

I photographed this Ruddy Turnstone at Fort De Soto County Park in Florida several years ago as it stood on the sandy beach in early morning light. I like how the sunlight created a subtle warm glow to the shorebird’s plumage and the great catch light. This image was taken in November when the Turnstones were in nonbreeding plumage.

Photographers, please be sure to check my post from yesterday; Standing up against Google’s new Image Search and the copyright issues involved – Class action lawsuit, I feel it is important to take a stand against Google now because who knows what they might do in the future that puts our copyrights at further risk.

Mia

More Ruddy Turnstone images

Low angle Long-billed Curlew

By Mia McPherson, on December 3rd, 2012%

Long-billed Curlew on the beach at Fort De Soto – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/750, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light

Since winter has thus far decided to stay in more northern latitudes and higher elevations I decided to post an image of a Long-billed Curlew taken in southern, sub-tropical climes a few years ago. Maybe it will tick Winter off enough to show up in its frosty cloak and icy breath. We’ve only had snow twice and it is December??

A few weeks before I left Florida to move to Utah a Long-billed Curlew showed up at Fort De Soto County Park’s north beach and stayed there for the entire nesting season which ended weeks after I had moved west. I had fun photographing the graceful shorebird before I moved.

When I photographed this female curlew I was flat on my stomach and a little lower than the bird, there were little mounds of out of focus sand between the bird and my lens and my selection of a shallow depth of field created the soft blur near the birds feet. Because of my low angle and the birds elevation on the sand dune there is only sky in the background, the water of the Gulf of Mexico was below the sand dune.

Mia

More Long-billed Curlew images

Playing Favorites – Resting Willet

By Mia McPherson, on August 24th, 2011%

Resting Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

Resting Willet (Tringa semipalmata)
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/500, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light

There are images that I have created that as soon as I see them on my monitor become listed as one of my favorites. Sometimes they aren’t all that great technically but they touch me in a way that is hard to describe. At other times it can be the subject, the setting, the light or the memories the photo awakens within me. This Willet image is one of my favorites and it was taken just about four years ago on August 26, 2007.

I remember the lovely light that morning, how warm the sand felt as I belly-crawled to get close enough to the Willet, the flock of resting Marbled Godwits in the background and how relaxed the bird was in my presence. It even dozed a few times. I remember wanting to get into the water because it was scorching hot but the angle of light would not have been as nice as it is here. I also remember a light sea breeze and the smell of salt water. Another reason could be that it was my first time out photographing birds with my new Nikon D200 and it felt great in my hands.

I almost lost this file due to two hard drive failures, I was only putting my files on two external desktop drives at the time and believe it or not within less than a week both of those drives had major issues which corrupted some of the files I had stored on them. I had taken this photo in both RAW and Basic JPEG and the RAW file became corrupted. I’m very glad it didn’t affect the jpeg file. I would have been heart broken.

I love the subtle colors of this picture and those of the Willet. It seems a lot of people prefer images that “pop”, a term I have elected to remove from my language unless I am talking to my mid-western relatives who refer to sodas as “pop”. I think I have enough hard drive space to include many different types of files from colorful birds and those not so colorful. Besides, I think all birds are beautiful and a delight to photograph.

This image doesn’t shout in my opinion, it whispers and because of that I take notice.

Mia

More Willet images

Black Skimmers – Down and dirty

By Mia McPherson, on July 31st, 2011%

Calling adult Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) in breeding plumage
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1/640, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light

Anyone who has photographed birds during the month August in Florida knows it is hot and humid even in the early hours of the morning. And it just gets hotter throughout the day. From mid March until November I was always prepared to sweat. And sweat some more.

Part of being addicted to bird photography I suspect. Dedicated bird photographers will endure heat, hunger, extreme cold, blistered feet, numb fingers and much more to get their shots. I’m sure to outsiders we look crazy.

The day I took the images in this post I arrived before sunrise to a light sea fog which burned off rather quickly and after that the heat was on. I wandered around for a bit taking images of shorebirds, egrets and pink fluffy clouds before I noticed a large mixed flock of gulls, terns and skimmers. As I walked towards them I could see hundreds of birds, some on their way out to go get food and some resting on the sand.

According to my EXIF information It was 7:15 am when I first started photographing where the flock of birds were that morning.

Many yards away from the birds I dropped down to my knees then laid on my belly and slowly sand-crawled within range. Sand-crawling is not just a way to get closer to your subject it is also low cost dermabrasion for your elbows, tummy feet and any other exposed part of your skin. It probably took me over 10 minutes of wiggling my way forward in the sand to get into a slight depression where I was close enough to the birds and low enough to get the low angle I wanted for my images.

Juvenile Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) spying on me

Juvenile Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) spying on me
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 340mm, natural light.

I had seen from a distance that there were juveniles in with the adult birds, my plan was to wiggle into that depression and stay put so that I wouldn’t disrupt the young birds or the adults who were flying in to feed them. The safety and well-being of the birds is always uppermost in my mind.

About the only movements I made were to lift my head to the viewfinder, click the shutter button, reach around to my backpack for my bottle of water to sip and to use my bandana to wipe the sweat from my brow. Long before that day I had learned that if I didn’t move much the birds were likely to come closer to me and they did that day. Dressed in light tans and khaki colors I probably began to look like I was part of the beach. Clearly my sweaty skin had enough sand stuck to it to make me look like something the tide had washed up.

I photographed Forster’s, Sandwich and Royal Terns along with Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls that morning but my main focus was on the Black Skimmers in the large mixed flock. The juvenile skimmers were either laying down on the sand resting or begging for food when they could see or hear the adults nearby. The image above shows a juvenile moving towards one of its parents to get some food. This pose and image reminds me of an old magazine cartoon, I think it was called “Spy VS Spy”. Mad magazine perhaps? Anyway, the pose makes me laugh.

Resting adult Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)

Resting adult Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) going out of breeding plumage
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1/500, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 310mm, natural light

Because I was laying in a slight depression which was below the birds I was able to get very low angle shots. My friends say when my images have such a low angle that I must have been “Down ‘n dirty”. Well I know for sure I was dirty, I had sand everywhere! And I was laying down.

Black Skimmers are very long birds from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail and it can be quite a challenge to have enough depth of field to get all of the birds in focus, to compose the frame well and then there is the difficulty of properly exposing a black and white bird with orange legs and bill. But they are well worth the troubles to get some nice shots.

Juvenile (L) and adult (R) Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger)

Juvenile (L) and adult (R) Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger)
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 230mm, natural light

Because I had been so still I was rewarded a few times by the birds moving closer to me than I would have approached them like the juvenile and adult bird above. It felt like an honor. My patience and laying still for so long paid off. I know I took hundreds of Black Skimmer images that morning, some I still have yet to process.

My EXIF information shows that I took my last skimmer image at 9:33 am which means I laid there in the sand and heat for two hours and eighteen minutes photographing those birds and in my mind it was worth every second, all the sand on my skin and the perspiration that at times had burned my eyes.

Maybe I am crazy to be so addicted to bird photography! A good crazy I hope.

Mia

More Black Skimmer images

Snowy Plover Resting at the Wrack Line

By Mia McPherson, on July 12th, 2011%

Resting Snowy Plover

Resting Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrius)
Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, f10, 1/350, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light

Snowy Plovers are the smallest plover of North America and as their name implies they are very pale colored. I spotted this plover resting near the wrack line near the Gulf of Mexico during the winter and sand-crawled up close to it to get a low angle in the beautiful light. For Florida the morning was cool so the bird had its feathers fluffed up to help keep the warmth close to its body.

I know that there are those photographers who would have “cleaned up” the sand on the bill of this bird using cloning and other Photoshop techniques but I prefer to leave my images as natural as possible. The sand was there when I took this so I left it alone. Personally I think it adds interest and reality as it is.

Mia

More Snowy Plover images