Your Call
Which three sequences in the video do you think hold the most promise? Why did you make your choices?
What’s Up?
Thursday morning was a bit on the slow side. After shooting, I shed my socks and booties and three layers of shirts, and then ran through my 15-minute Bruce Scott Body Mechanics routine. Wearing only my skivvies and quick-drying pants, I waded into the Atlantic for a long soak. The water was delightfully cool and refreshing.
Crouching until I was neck-deep about 100 feet from shore, I experienced three utterly surreal minutes. First, a flock of about 40 Red Knots rocketed by directly overhead at astonishing speed. I could hear the wind whistling through their wings — they were so close that I felt like I could have reached up and grabbed one. Almost right behind them came a second flock of about 75 Sanderlings. Same exhilarating rush. Seconds later, a dozen Ruddy Turnstones swept by to put the icing on the cake.
As a lifelong shorebird nut, that is one swim I will remember for the rest of my life.
Today is Saturday 21 August 2026. We will be heading back to Nickerson to see if there are any rain pools left. Whatever you opt to do, I hope that you choose to have fun and enjoy life. Please remember that happiness is a choice — Byron Katie – The Work.Com
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Among the Interesting Comments act the Blog Post
Steve/August 19, 2026 at 11:14am
Regarding the chick image with the fish, it’s adorable! My main criticism would be that the out-of-focus yellow area behind the chick’s head is similar in color to the yellowish feathers on the chick and there’s not a strong distinction between the background and the subject — they sort of blend together. Is there a way to increase the contrast between the two? (I mean in post-processing; not moving your shooting position when making the shot.)
Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART/August 20, 2026 at 9:43am
Hey Steve,
Lots to say.
For me, the yellow leaf is at best a minor distraction in an otherwise fabulous image.
The too yellow leaf is much brighter than the chicks golden feathers. It they were more similar in tonality, the yellow would not be as distracting. I disagree with your comment as to the lack of a strong distinction between the subject and the background. The subject is sharp and the background is quite soft due to the extremely narrow depth of field and for me, that separates the subject nicely from the background.
I actually reduced the contrast in this image during the optimization. If you take a look at the original (in the video) you will see that I did quite a bit of work on the background to make it less distracting. That included reducing both Clarity and Dehaze on the background only using an ACR mask and eliminating some of the really bright areas using the Patch Tool, Content-Aware Fill, and even the Clone Stamp Tool at 80%.
To make matters even worse, once I lost focus the chick actually moved to its right (our left) resulting in a better placement of the subject with regard to the background. As my late Mom used to say, “Oh well.”
with love, artie
Steve/August 19, 2026 at 11:11am
When you have a scene like the one at the end of the video, which has the eyes of both the bird and the fish showing very prominently, is there ever an issue where the camera locks onto the wrong eyes — in other words, the fish when you want the bird or vice versa?
Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART/August 20, 2026 at 9:46am
That happens only very rarely. And was less likely to happen in this situation as I was in APS-C Crop mode — seeing the subject larger makes eye tracking better.
BTW, all mirrorless camera with eye tracking will get tricked on occasion; the a-1 ii only very, very rarely — it is the best I have used.
with love, artie
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Recommended: Shorebirds: Beautiful Beachcombers
Written for naturalists and birders, the text tells you everything you’ve always wanted to know about North America’s sandpipers, godwits, yellowlegs, phalaropes, plovers, avocets, stilts, and oystercatchers. Topics covered include identification and aging, shorebird behavior, their incredible migrations, feeding and diet, mating and breeding strategies, eggs, nests, and young, conservation efforts, and shorebirding tips. Also included are approximately 50 species accounts covering all of the regularly occurring North American shorebird species. With 70 of Arthur’s images and 26 more by some of the world’s best nature photographers, this book, at the time of publication, contained the finest collection of shorebird photographs ever published in a single volume.
Speaking of Shorebirds!
With rain in the overnight forecast, we decided to check out the pools between West End 1 & 2 at Jones Beach in hopes of finding some southbound migrant shorebirds. A lot had changed in the 40+ years since my last visit. Though there were no signs it seemed that you are no longer permitted in the dunes except on designated walking paths. So, turned around and headed to Nickerson. There were lots of shorebirds in the rain puddles so we grabbed out 600s and flattened tripods and picked what we thought might be the best pool. As expected, all the birds flew off despite our careful approach. So, we set up low and within a few minutes the Semipalmated Plovers began returning. While they were still at relatively long range — we were using our 2X teleconverters, an elegantly handsome juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs flew in and landed right in front of us, closely followed by another. Next up was a single juvie Least Sandpiper and a worn juvenal plumage Killdeer. I spotted a distant young Short-billed Dowitcher and implored it to join us. It did.
After editing the 4642 images that I made at the puddle in less than 15 minutes, I was left with 138 keepers.
Raw & Real Culling: From 6,473 Photos > 192 Keepers in 50 Minutes!
For Serious Bird Photographers Only
Modern mirrorless cameras fire at 30, 40, and even 120 frames per second, making it easy to generate thousands of images in a single morning. Ten thousand frames is common on a great day — and my friend Kevin Hice once made more than 25,000 photos during his first morning on a Homer IPT!
Most photographers dread culling (editing, sorting, or picking your keepers), viewing it as a tedious chore. Thanks to Photo Mechanic, I pride myself on lightning-fast image selection. Without the narration and teaching moments in this video, I would have finished this run in about 25 minutes. Normally, culling 3,000 RAW files takes me just 10 to 15 minutes.
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All with the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) (bare or with either TC). The 192 Keepers
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Tips On First Edit Speed Culling
a- Tag Keepers, Not Deletes: Always tag or mark the images you want to save rather than the ones you want to discard. Since you typically keep only 1 to 10% of what you shoot, marking keepers requires drastically fewer keystrokes. When finished, filter by “Show Untagged,” then Select All (Cmd/Ctrl + A), followed by Delete. Now hit “Show All,” and only your keepers will remain.
b-Follow the Golden Rule: Speed is the top priority on the first pass. My rule is simple: “If in doubt on the first edit, keep it and move on.”
c- Use the Right Browsing Program: If your image browser does not support instantaneous file advancing, switch to Photo Mechanic immediately. Waiting even a second or two for raw images to render will easily quadruple your total editing time.
d- Play Sequences Like a Movie: When reviewing high-speed action bursts, hold down the right arrow key to play the frames continuously. The absolute best poses, wing positions, or expressions will jump off the screen. Stop, go back, tag the frame, and keep moving.
e- Save Subtle Variations: For static subjects, slight shifts in posture, head angle, or eye contact matter. Save a few of the strongest variations during the initial pass and make your final comparative choices during the second edit.
f- Forward and Back (Toggle Selection): When you come up an interesting series of similar frames, toggle back and forth between them several times. Stepping backward and forward will immediately highlight key differences in head angle, wing position, or eye contact. Tag only the very best candidates to carry forward to the second edit.
g- Forward and Back: When you come across an interesting series of similar photos, paying them backward and forward and backward and forward will often reveal important differences; tag only the several best.
h- Defer Pixel-Peeping: Avoid enlarging images to check for critical sharpness during the first run. Save zoom checks for the second pass when you are working with a drastically smaller number of frames.
i- Establish a Simple Color-Coding System: In Photo Mechanic, use color codes to categorize your selections quickly:
1 (Red): Family Jewels (Top-tier hero shots)
2 (Yellow): Source Material (Frames kept for added canvas or head or wingtip replacement.
Stay tuned for the 18 August Second Edit YouTube video.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
My favorite sequence was the gull flying/running on the water, wings spread (going after the carcass of the skimmer chick). My second favorite was the skimmer chick fighting for it’s life while being attacked by the gull (but, like Anna I couldn’t watch the actual kill and the chick being eaten). My third favorite sequence was the skimmer with chick. Knowing me Art, I’m sure you are not surprised that I didn’t choose any of the blur sequences.