I Knew I Should Have Stayed Home. But ...

Summary

When the wind is blowing hard and right at the sun as it was on Monday past, making a single good image is a gigantic challenge. Keep reading to learn why and check out my results.

Your Call?

Which (if any) of today’s four featured photos do you like best? Why? Or should I have stayed home???

My Call

Thanks for all the comments at the last blog post. The overall top pick was the Philadelphia Vireo for the sublime background and the neat pose. Others liked the female Redstart with its tail spread and the two really tight crops. My very favorite image is the Magnolia Warbler with the longhorn beetle because of the beauty of the bird, the prey item, and the soft light. Next for me was the female redstart, Image #5.

What’s Up?

Tuesday afternoon was much better than Monday with a good wind from the north early on. I will share the full story here soon.

Ladies and gentlemen — it looks as if we have a series. The Knicks surprised me by coming back from 14 down in the third quarter with the final 11 points to dispatch the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Championship. It seems that I underestimated them. They are now the favorites to win the title.

Today is Friday 5 June 2026. I get my stitches out today. I was sort of shocked when I removed my bandages on Tuesday afternoon to count 15 stitches!

With the wind from the south this afternoon I am planning on staying in and heading out on Saturday afternoon with the forecast calling for SW winds at 15-20mph. (Note: W or NW would be a bit better.) Whatever you opt to do, I hope that you too choose to have fun and enjoy life. Please remember that happiness is a choice — Byron Katie, The Work.Com

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This image was created on 1 June 2026 at Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. Standing at full height I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 535mm) and the and The Latest Greatest Flagship Body, the Sony a1 II Mirrorless Camera in APS-C crop mode. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel; 1/4000 sec. at f/7.1 (stopped down 1/3 stop in error) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:07:17pm on a sunny afternoon. Wide/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly (ha ha). Click on the photo to enjoy a larger inexplicably sharper high res version. Image #1: Lesser Black-backed Gull 2nd cycle (JUNE) ID and age courtesy of Amar Ayyash

Wind Against Sun Results

When the winds are blowing hard and right at the sun, butt-shots of birds flying away are to be expected because birds will almost always take off, land, and fly directly into the wind. On Monday afternoon, I stopped at Nickerson Beach on the way to JFK to pick up my younger daughter Alissa and here husband Ajiniyaz after their flight home from their vacation in Spain. There was a 25 mph east wind and the sun was in the west heading NW. So, I was pretty much up against it.

This one, created somewhat out of desperation, turned out to be an interesting ID photo. Thanks to gull expert Amar Ayyash for identifying and aging the bird. Amar is the author of The Gull Guide: North America.

With a strong east wind your best chance would be to find a bird flying the wrong way or a shorebird foraging along the surf. Most shorebirds are not affected much by the wind when they are feeding.

The Photo Mechanic screen capture for Image #2: Common Tern strongly backlit

The Photo Mechanic Screen Capture for the Last Wind Against Sun Option

With wind against bright sun conditions your last pretty much desperate option is to stand with the wind at your back and attempt to make a decent image of a severely backlit subject against a white sky background. In short, this is not an attractive option. Keep reading to learn why.

In the meantime, note that the histogram shows a pretty much perfect exposure for the situation with the sky exposed completely to the right.

This image was also created on 1 June 2026 at Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. Again, standing at full height I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and the and The Latest Greatest Flagship Body, the Sony a1 II Mirrorless Camera in full frame mode. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 800: 1/4000 sec. at f/6.3(wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:21:41pm on a sunny afternoon. Wide/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled performed perfectly. Click on the photo to enjoy a larger inexplicably sharper high res version. Image #2: Common Tern strongly backlit

The Image Optimization

Bringing strongly backlit flight images of light-toned birds set against super-bright white skies in the vicinity of the sun to life requires a bit of skill to create even a decent looking image. I used about six ACR masks to create what is at best an OK image. The selection used to create the somewhat blue sky left the edges of the bird looking funky with a bit of an evident white fringe. In addition, there was a blue fringe on the bird’s breast that was eliminated using the Remove Tool. In short, it wasn’t easy and the resulting image is anything but outstanding.

This image was also created on 1 June 2026 at Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. Crouching a bit, I used my iPhone 17 Pro Max. Focal Length: 6.8mm. ISO 64: 1/4700 sec. at f/1.8. 6:48:53pm on a sunny afternoon. Image #3: American Oystercatcher footprints on dune

Giving Up

With the wind against sun conditions and no sign of a cloud in the western sky I decided to head back to the car early and head for JFK. En route to the parking lot, I noticed some neat American Oystercatcher footprints in the windblown dunes along the snow fencing. So, I grabbed my iPhone and went to work. I am guessing that this bird was confused as to where it was going 🙂

This image was also created on 1 June 2026 at Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. Crouching a bit, I used my iPhone 17 Pro Max. Focal Length: 6.8mm. ISO 64. 1/2400 sec. at first/1.8. 6:56:29pm on a sunny afternoon. Image #4: Snow fence shadows on dune

Patterns and Diagonals

This was the last image that I created. I placed the shadows of the snow fence diagonally so they intersected with windblown ridges of sand.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.