Summary
When working the same subject — Black Skimmers for me every day now for almost a full month, it pays to vary your approach from time to time. Sometimes you succeed as planned, and at other times — as seen twice below in today’s post — a failed effort results in something fascinating.
Your Call
Which of today’s three featured items did you enjoy the most? Why?
In the Last Blog Post
Of the three featured Belt of Venus images, the first image was the strongest because of its stark simplicity and because it best showed the pink/purple/blue colors. The third was the weakest. Why? I do not like the horizon line cutting through the bird, the wings were too yellow, and I could not get the colors right despite my best efforts.
What’s Up?
Sunday morning was cloudy with a SW breeze. The skimmer flocks were not blasting off much. Alone, I sat on one huge group for more than 30 minutes before sunrise; they did absolutely nothing. I turned away from the flock for just a moment as I got up off my Rubbermaid Roughneck Step-Stool to stretch my legs. When I turned around, every bird was well offshore; I had missed the entire blastoff! The flock had departed without making a sound. And so it went on Sunday. I salvaged the morning by making a few nice images of a single juvenile oystercatcher being fed on the edge of the surf by one of its mom.
Monday morning was cloudy with a NNE breeze. A single large skimmer flock blasted off repeatedly for two hours in the soft light. Working in Shutter Priority mode with AUTO ISO and EC on the Thumb Dial, I created more than 1700 blurs along with zero sharp images. We got our steps in as the birds would blast off and then re-land 500 yards away. There were so many fabulous chances that I wound up keeping more than 100 raw files. Talk about an editing nightmare! Photos soon.
Today is Tuesday 1 September 2026. Can you believe it? The forecast is calling for cloudy with a SW breeze. I am hoping that I will do better than I did on Sunday 🙂 We will be attending the evening matches at the US Open Tennis tournament tomorrow evening. 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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A pro photographer friend — see more below — has a wonderful eye for both composition and light, and is one of the very few leaders (aside from me, he said modestly) who actually teaches on a photo trip. Galapagos Tortoises |
Stellar Galapagos Trip
An award-winning professional photographer friend has three open slots on a summer 2027 photo cruise to the Galapagos Archipelago. This trip is capped at just eleven participants on a fast ship that normally carries fourteen. He is an exceptional photographer and instructor, a master of image design, and works with light as well as anyone in the field. Over the past few years, his work has even inspired me to get off sun angle on occasion.
If you are seriously interested in learning more, please get in touch with me via e-mail.
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This image was created on 26 August 2026 at Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. Standing on the beach at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5 GM OSS lens (at 187mm) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a-1 II Mirrorless Camera (in full frame mode). The exposure was determined by Zebras with Exposure Compensation (EC) on the Thumb Dial. Multi Metering +1.0 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 3200: 1/800 second at f/4.5 in Shutter Priority mode. AWB at 7:50:13pm on a partly cloudy afternoon. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a larger high-res version. Image #1: Black Skimmer in flight at sunset |
Failed Cloud-scape!
I was doing blurs in Shutter Priority mode when I decided to make a sharp image of the colorful clouds. I simply dialed up the shutter speed to 1/800 second, more than fast enough for a cloud-scape and reduced the EC from +1.7 stops to +1 stop. When a skimmer unexpectedly flew right at me, center Tracking Zone serendipitously grabbed the bird so I pressed and held the shutter button for a series of about eight images. The bird was calling in one frame but was above the color so I went with this one because I could not have painted the bird in the cloud any better.
Somewhat surprisingly, all of the images were in the sequence were sharp at the relatively slow shutter speed of 1/800 second. Sometimes it pays to be lucky!
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This image was created on the morning of 30 August 2026 at Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY. Standing at full height, I used the handheld Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 444mm) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a-1 II Mirrorless Camera (in full frame mode). The exposure was determined by Zebras with Exposure Compensation (EC) on the Thumb Dial. Multi Metering +1.7 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 125: 1/13 second in Shutter Priority mode. AWB at 7:03:43am on a mostly cloudy morning Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a larger high-res version. Image #2: Black Skimmer as pterodactyl |
Black Skimmer as Pterodactyl
Creating single bird blurs at 1/10 second is risky business. While 1/15 second is the classic blur speed, 1/30, 1/60, and even 1/125th second are generally recommended for single birds at relatively close range. When you go slower than 1/15th, making even a single keeper is a huge challenge; however, when you do succeed, the results can be quite surreal.
Common Tern/Black Skimmer iPhone Blastoff Video
I was trying to create a slow motion video but failed. The seven second result, however, gives you a good idea of the Nickerson Beach late season experience.
Viewing Tip: once you click the Play arrow move the cursor off the video to enjoy it full screen.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
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