Galapagos Day 12/July 17, Morning, Santa Fe Island

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This image combined the two principal attractions on Sante Fe, the extremely large cactuses and a Land Iguana. It was created with the hand held Canon 15mm fisheye lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/8.

Galapagos Day 12/July 17, Morning, Santa Fe Island

Soon after our wet landing on Sante Fe Island (my first visit, BTW), we found ourselves in a surreal world of huge cactuses and seemingly prehistoric creatures–pale yellow Land Iguanas. And there were lots of birds including more Cactus Finches than we had seen anywhere. It was a cloudy morning with occasional drizzle. Most of the group made their way up to the cliff edges to photograph diving Blue-footed Boobies but Patrick Sparkman, Denise, and I, enchanted by both the cactuses and the landbirds, lagged behind. When we made it to the cliffs, it began to rain harder. Juan took most of the group to meet the early panga that he had radioed for but Patrick and Denise and chose to stay. Soon the rain abated and we were blessed when a beautiful young Galapagos Hawk landed first at the top of a tall cactus and then on a low perch just yards from us.

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Thanks to Patrick for pointing out this new growth (a spine) on the trunk of a big cactus. I made the image with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with a 25mm Extension tube and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/160 sec. at f/7.1. The extension tube allowed me to focus closer than the minimum focusing distance of the lens thus making the spine larger in the frame.

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This female Cactus Finch was photographed with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with a 25mm Extension tube and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/7.1. When photographing small or medium-sized landbirds I almost always have an extension tube on the lens. With the sky already overexposed, I did not want to add any more light but I did need to lighten the bird.

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I created this image, my best portrait of Galapagos Dove, with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with a 25mm Extension tube and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6 set manually.

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This image of a young, banded Galapagos Hawk, was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/500 sec. at f/6.3 set manually.

Shopper’s Guide

Here is the gear that I used that magical morning on Sante Fe:

Canon 15mm fisheye lens
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body
Canon EF Teleconverter 1.4X II
Canon EF 25mm Extension Tube

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Gitzo 3530 LS Tripod
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head

If you are considering the purchase of a major piece of photographic gear be it a new camera, a long lens, a tripod or a head, or some accessories be sure to check out our complete Shopper’s Guide.