What Do You Have to Say to Red?
After reading Red’s bird photography story and checking out five of his images, what do you have to say to this 80-year old beginner who never photographed a bird before Monday afternoon? Please be so kind as to leave a comment.
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Don’t Just Shoot: Learn
If you are interested in changing your life and becoming a better photographer by joining me on the Extended IPT at Sebastian Inlet for Ospreys and more (OCT 25 to NOV 24, 2025), in San Diego for Pacific-race Brown Pelicans and more (JAN 6 to FEB 2, 2026) as below, or for Roseate Spoonbills at Stick Marsh (March 2026), please e-mail for dates, rates, terms, and additional information. Or shoot me a text to 863-221-2372. Some offerings include options for shared AirBnB lodging and meals. Ground transportation during your stay is a possibility at times.
What’s Up?
Jim Litzenberg kindly picked up Alvin “Red” Stevens at the Melbourne airport on Sunday afternoon and dropped him off at the Vero Lake Estates AirBbN. After an early dinner of fresh seared tuna and a big salad, we headed to Sebastian Inlet.
Alvin (AKA Red), a retired dentist, is a very fit 80 years old. Three months ago he was looking for a new hobby that would exercise his brain cells. As he is returning to Antartica early next year he thought of bird photography. Before yesterday, he had never photographed birds before. IPT veteran and mutual friend Dr. Dick Curtain told Red that if anyone could get him on the right track with bird photography, it would be me. After some lengthy phone calls and lots of e-mails and with his Southern Ocean trip in mind, he followed my advice and purchased a Sony a-1 ii, the Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens, and both teleconverters. He used my B&H links (thank him very much) and had his gear sent to me in Indian Lake Estates so that I could set up his new camera.
I had Red practice the process by photographing mailboxes and cars around his home, and downloading his photos with Photo Mechanic. At times he was quite frustrated and was unsure that he could learn bird photography. Boy was he wrong. I was 100% positive that I could help him get started but did not expect that he would be a natural. Don’t get me wrong: he still has a long way to got to master the process, especially with regard to framing. He is doing fabulously well with shutter speeds, exposure, and creating sharp images.
Anyhoo, that afternoon we headed out each with the same rig in our hands so that we could be on the exact same page. Somewhat amazingly (but not for me), Red made each of today’s five featured images. Waking early on Monday, I optimized three of his best images. When I first showed them to him, he thought that they were my photos.
Unfortunately, Red brought wind against sun conditions with him; the forecast three mornings is for sunny with NW winds in the morning (bad) and northeast winds each afternoon (bad). We checked out the Ospreys in the inlet and I was pleased to see that Red was easily able to locate and track the birds with his 400mm rig. With the wind against sun, there were no good pictures to be made.
We headed to my favorite afternoon spot and found some birds in the shade. I woke early on Tuesday morning and optimized Red’s two best images from a difficult wind against sun Monday morning.
As you can see below, Red is a quick study, one who is capable of speedily learning the essentials of something to be done and readily absorbing new information.
We spent several hours on Monday afternoon reviewing and optimizing Eugen’s and Red’s images from our Monday morning session. Today is Tuesday 14 October 2025 and we will be headed out early to Sebastian for Red’s second and Eugen’s 17th morning instructional session. Whatever you opt to do, I hope that you too choose to have a great day.
If you would like to join in the fun and learn an absolute ton, I have room at the AirBnB for you on a Sebastian Extended IPT any time from 25 October through and including 23 November. For complete details you can get in touch via e-mail or try me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please leave a message and shoot me a text if I do not pick up.
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Don’t Just Shoot: Learn
If you are interested in changing your life and becoming a better photographer by joining me on the Extended IPT at Sebastian Inlet for Ospreys and more (OCT 25 to NOV 24, 2025), in San Diego for Pacific-race Brown Pelicans and more (JAN 6 to FEB 2, 2026), or for Roseate Spoonbills at Stick Marsh (March 2026), please e-mail for dates, rates, terms, and additional information. Or shoot me a text to 863-221-2372. Some offerings include options for shared AirBnB lodging and meals. Ground transportation during your stay is a possibility at times.
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This image was created on 11 October 2025 by Alvin “Red” Stevens of Birmingham, AL. crouching as instructed, he used the handheld Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II Lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter (at 394mm) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel — ISO 800: 1/500 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:25:34pm afternoon in the shade on a sunny afternoon. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Image #1: Reddish Egret head portrait |
Using Wide for Perfect Image Designs
Wide (non-tracking) AF is my go-to AF method with the Sony a-1 ii. Start with the bird’s eye in the center of the frame and recompose as needed. Having Red watch the back of my camera body, I showed him how the AF system tracked the eye as I perfectly re-positioned the bird in the frame. Then, he did the exact same thing.
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This image was also created on 11 October 2025 by Alvin “Red” Stevens of Birmingham, AL. Standing at full height, he used the handheld Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II Lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter (at 400mm) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel — ISO 800: 1/800 second (!) at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:42:14pm in the shade on a sunny afternoon. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Image #2: Great Egret taking flight |
Push the Button Now, Ask Questions Later
Red was making images of this young Great Egret working to place the bird on the left side of the frame. When it took flight, he panned with the bird and created several images despite the fact that his shutter speed was theoretically too slow for making a sharp flight image. But his accurate panning rate yielded a sharp image.
Is this the world’s greatest ever flight image? No, no by a long shot. But considering that it was Red’s first ever afternoon of bird photography it is quite amazing.
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This image was also created on 11 October 2025 by Alvin “Red” Stevens of Birmingham, AL. Crouching a bit, he used the handheld Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II Lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter (at 400mm) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel — ISO 2000: 1/500 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:51:06pm in the shade on a sunny afternoon. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Image #3: Great Egret head portrait |
Why Crouch?
With situations similar to this, crouching to get lower effectively moves the background farther from the subject and usually renders a more pleasing, less detailed background.
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This image was created on 13 October 2025 by Alvin “Red” Stevens of Birmingham, AL. Standing near the base of the South Jetty, he used the handheld Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens with the with theSony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with Exposure Compensation (EC) on the thumb wheel. Multi Metering +2.3 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 125: 1/8 second at f/5.6 (stopped down one stop) in Shutter Priority mode. AWB at 7:17:01am on a clear morning with one large cloud on the eastern horizon. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger high-res version. Image #4: Pre-sunny morning wave blur |
Open to Learning New Techniques and Making Creative Blurs
On our first morning, Red was open to learning the Shutter Priority Mode technique that I use at the beach for creating pleasing blurs. He made lots of them, and created on quite sensual image. He learned during the image optimization that properly exposed raw files of overall light-toned scenes should look washed out and boring and that they can then be brought to life during the raw conversions.
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This image was also created on 13 October 2025 by Alvin “Red” Stevens of Birmingham, AL. Standing, he used the handheld Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II Lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter (at 400mm) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel — ISO 500: 1/2500 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:27:59am in on a sunny afternoon. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Image #5: Adult Wood Storks squabbling |
Insanely Impossible? Not!
A One Second Wood Stork Fight
The Wood Storks were in a very cooperative mood at Northwest Cove on Monday morning. With some birds in the shade of the bridge and some in the sun, this made for an ideal teaching situation. When the two adult Wood Storks in Image #4 went at it for about one second, I saw it but never even raised my lens because it was over almost before in began. Unbeknownst to me, Red raised his rig and made a short sequence. Only one worked, that with a square crop, but it is an amazing image especially considering that it was his first ever morning bird photography session.
I can only be envious of Red’s incredibly fast reflexes and reaction times. Not to mention that he can do a full and complete deep squat with his butt nearly on the ground. Like a 12-year old!
I’ve long said that beginning and intermediate shooters with the latest greatest mirrorless gear, their cameras set up properly, and a modicum of good instruction can — on occasion, create action shots as good, or in this case far better, than a pro with 42+ years of bird photography experience.
If …
If you had previously receiving blog post notifications via e-mail on a regular basis but they quit coming in the last month or so, please let me know via e-mail and cut and paste this into the subject line: Please Add to the Personalized Blog Notification List. It seems that some e-mail providers (likely including Gmail) recently began blocking the blog post notification e-mails being sent by the Word Press Newsletter plugin. The new, authenticated sending address was supposed to fix that problem, but it has not 🙂 Life goes on.
Don’t Just Shoot: Learn
If you are interested in changing your life and becoming a better photographer by joining me on the Extended IPT at Sebastian Inlet for Ospreys and more (OCT 25 to NOV 24, 2025), in San Diego for Pacific-race Brown Pelicans and more (JAN 6 to FEB 2, 2026) as below, or for Roseate Spoonbills at Stick Marsh (March 2026), please e-mail for dates, rates, terms, and additional information. Or shoot me a text to 863-221-2372. Some offerings include options for shared AirBnB lodging and meals. Ground transportation during your stay is a possibility at times.
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