Jax
If you are interested in sharing an AirBnB with me near Huguenot Memorial Park east of Jacksonville, FL during the second week of July, or in doing an IPT that week, please stop what you are doing and shoot me an e-mail. Here’s wishing you great light and better photography.
Your Calls?
Which of today’s three featured Royal Tern images is your favorite? Why? In one of the images, the color seems a bit off. Which one?
What’s Up?
My flights from Orlando to Minneapolis and then with a tight connection to Bismarck, ND were a breeze. Kevin and Anita picked me up and we drove down to Pierre (be sure to say peer or pier), SD where we are staying in a lovely 4 bedroom AirBnB that was built in 1911. It is both a warm, comfortable home and a museum. I cooked up some great burgers and made a wicked salad. I napped and washed the dishes while my two friends went to check on the leks. We head out early tomorrow morning for our first try for the Prairie Chickens. Wish us luck!
Today is Wednesday 10 April 2024. We walked about 1/2 mile in the dark from Kevin’s truck to the three blinds that he and Anita had erected the night before. As it got lighter bit by bit and I could see the Greater Prairie Chickens, I was instantly enthralled. The amazingly colored males are gorgeous and the hens are understatedly beautiful. Working exclusively with the a9 iii, I created 8923 (as yet un-edited) images, most with the 1.4X TC in place. I glanced at the photos and was thrilled. I did not even attempt to photograph fights and interactions but that should come soon as the perfect weather is supposed to continue for at least a few days. Knock on wood. Photos soon.
Don’t look now, but this blog post makes eleven days in a row with a new educational post just for you. You know the drill; please use my affiliate links or patronize the BAA Online Store.
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Click on the card to view a larger, sharper high resolution version. Sony a9 iii .DAT File and More e-Guide |
Sony a9 iii .DAT File and More e-Guide
Though I have had the a9 111 for only a month, I have created many amazing images with it. (I did get to play with one in Homer for a bit>) As it is a complex camera body and there are more than a few differences when compared to the a-1, it has taken me a while to get the setup close to perfection and I am still and will continue to learn more everyday. I am 100% convinced that a9 iii Bird Face/Eye AF/C is significantly better than it is on the vaunted a1.
Use one of my two affiliate links (B&H or Bedford) to earn a free copy of the guide. Overseas folks and this who purchased their 19 iii without using a BAA affiliate link may purchase the e-Guide for $209.93 by calling Jim weekdays until noon on Friday at 863-692-0906.
Why so expensive? Heck, it is free if you use one of my links. Get in the habit. It never costs you one one penny more and in many cases I gave save you some money if you get in touch with me before you purchase something great.
Your camera cost you about $6K USD. You might opt to struggle with the menu and with trying to figure out the proper settings for bird photography. Or, for just 3 1/2 percent of the price of an a9 iii, you can have my settings on your a9 iii in about five minutes. And ten minutes after that you will know as much as I do about this amazing new technological miracle.
What you will get:
My a9 iii .DAT file along with instructions on how to load it onto your a9 iii. In just minutes, your camera will be set up exactly as mine is. And you can begin making great images.
A Buttons and Dial guide.
An INFO sheet with my comments on all the important stuff.
Product support to the best of my ability. E-mail your questions and I will either answer them or get them answered.
Occasional e-mails with anything new that I discover.
Rejoinder — there may very well be stuff about the a9 iii that I am unaware of. And some of that might be beneficial for bird photography. Do not hesitate to let me know via e-mail if you figure out something great.
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Clockwise from upper left corner around to center: ink-stained Royal Tern with squid for chicks; fluffy white Royal Tern Chick about two weeks old; Royal Tern with shrimp for chicks; 3-4 week old Royal Tern chick; incoming adult Royal Tern with greenback; Royal Tern in flight with juvenile mahi-mahi; large Brown Pelican chick preening; field guide portrait of fresh juvenile Laughing Gull; Royal Tern chick begging for fish from incoming adult. Join me at Huguenot Memorial Park this July |
Join Me
I have an AirBnB checking in on the late afternoon of Saturday 13 July and checking out on Thursday 19 July 2024. If you are looking to improve your bird photography by leaps and bounds while sharing the place with me, please shoot me an e-mail. ASAP. I will be announcing a 4 1/2-DAY Instructional Photo-Tour in that same time frame very soon. If you are interested in that, please do the same.
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This image was also created on 28 June at Huguenot Memorial Park east of Jacksonville, FL. Again, standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 800. 1/1250 second at f/8 (stoped down 2 clicks or 2/3-stop) in Manual Mode. AWB at 10:25:03am on a then partly sunny morning. RawDigger showed the exposure to be perfect. Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Royal Tern large chick begging on face of dune |
Huguenot Memorial Park in Early Summer
Driving on the beach at Huguenot Memorial Park in early summer is a bird photographer’s delight. You park this side of the last rope on the beach and you are within 100 yards of the Royal Tern colony atop the dunes. There are also many thousand Laughing Gulls and a few Sandwich Terns breeding as well. In some years, there are some Brown Pelican nests on the ground! .
In early July, the tern chicks begin to make their way down to the flats to bathe and drink and get fed by the parents. On the way, they spend a lot of time on the face of the dune where they are easy to photograph at eye level. They may also gather in fairly large groups at the base of the dunes.
Flight photography both in the mornings and the afternoons can be quite excellent as the terns are carrying all manner of marine life to sustain the rapidly growing chicks: the adults are often seen flying around in search of their chicks with all sorts of small baitfish as well as immature fish, large shrimps, baby crabs, and even squid in their bills. The squid will squirt ink on the terns in protest. So if you see an adult Royal Tern flying around with a black necklace you can understand why.
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This image was created on 28 June at Huguenot Memorial Park east of Jacksonville, FL. Standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 239mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 800. 1/1000 second at f/8 in Manual Mode. AWB at 10:27:47am on a still cloudy morning. RawDigger showed the exposure to be perfect. Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Royal Tern coffee klatch |
Coffee Klatsch
Coffee klatsch (noun): an informal social gathering for coffee and conversation. The term comes from the German word, “kaffeeklatsch,” which translates to coffee (kaffee) + gossip (klatsch). While Royal Terns do not drink coffee, they sure like to gather in groups of from several to as many as two dozen to discuss fishing and whatever else it is that terns like to discuss. You can usually find and photograph such groups either atop the dunes, on the face of the dune, or at the base of the dune. The trick is to get as many good head angles as possible.
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This image was also created on 28 June at Huguenot Memorial Park east of Jacksonville, FL. Again, standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 800. 1/3200 second at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual Mode. AWB at 11:20:46am on a then partly sunny morning. RawDigger showed the exposure to be perfect. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #3: Adult Royal Tern calling in tight flight |
Lenses for Flight Photography at Jax
While a handheld or tripod mounted 500 or 600mm f/4 lens can be quite useful for flight photography on the beach, handhold-able intermediate and zoom telephoto lenses like the Sony 200-600mm G lens, the Canon RF 100-500, and any one of the Nikon intermediate telephotos are often the ticket to success when flight shooting. I did quite well on my last visit handholding the Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM lens usually with the 1.4X teleconverter.
Note that the Sony 200-600 was used to create all three of today’s featured images.
Would pick #1. Direct contact with the viewer. Makes you wish you had a fish to give it…