Honeymoon Island Florida

Zanotti

Got up today and it was a bit chilly, but not a bad morning to find some birds.

I decided to go to Honeymoon Island, outside Tampa, because I know they have a large osprey density, and I had read about an owl nest.

Got there, unpacked, carried my stuff and tripod and set up the typical nest watch:



You all know the drill. Set up under nest, talk to everyone who walks by your set up and be polite when they ask if you are taking pictures.....

After a while, I get a few of Harry's classic bird on a stick shots:




Wait some more, and he moves:




Wait some more and he flies away....





About this time, I am lamenting that a week or so ago, I was right beside these kinds of birds getting head shots. That damn Harry has ruined me for life with that raptor center.....

So, I walk back ( after getting my required 100 bird on a stick shots) and start to go home. Decide to swing by the beach. Take an artsy photo:



And then start to cruise toward the exit.

I get out to take a shot of a walkway:



When I look closer, I see this:




So with my short lens on, I walk towards the bird:



Hey, its an osprey, cool. I'll get to it and it'll fly away and maybe I will get an OOF shot of a departing osprey.

So, I go closer:



So by now I see he is eating a fish. Why do they always eat the fish head first? More protien there?

I get closer:



Then basically slowly walk up directly under him, talking nicely to him all the way:


He looks at me, then the fish:



Then back at me:



I guess he decides that he likes my talking, so we continue this for a while:



Then he looks at me directly:



Tries to spray me with poop:



But never lets go of the fish:



We go on like this for several minutes:

(Full Frame, no crop)


When my battery dies......


Dammit, rookie move again. And I remember that the spare is at home in the charger where it belongs....NOT!

So ends my day.

BTW: Fill flash on board in AV mode doesnt work!:






I hope this wasnt too many photos, but other than the batteries dieing, it wasnt a bad day.

Z

pahl

Wow, them are some awesome close up shots of that last bird!

Great story to go with it too.

Thanks for posting them...

bfjr

Excellent
glad to see your short lens/technique worked, gives me hope

ShepsMom

I love your shots, so clear and crisp! What lens, camera?

Maestro

Nice series.

jwear

very nice but why did you use the flash looks like you had good light

gluwater

Zanotti wrote:

This shot is excellent. In the others the whites look blown out, especially on the head. As for the flash, I assume you used onboard flash? If you did it will only sync up to 1/250sec. So you can either stop down your aperture to get you a slower shutter speed or use an off camera flash that has high sync capabilities. This Osprey sure has some interesting colors. I wonder if it's an immature Osprey? It sure is fun getting this close to a bird isn't it.

Harryb

Hey Z,

Looks like you had a fine day there. The close-ups are outstanding.
Keep watching those highlights and I think you were a tad agressive with your sharpening in your processing.

Overall though these are some excellent shots and you are showing improvement with every post.

Zanotti

Thanks for the kind replies. I am really excited about these. I cannot recall ever being this close to a wild osprey before.

I was shooting -3/4 ev and the highlights were still blown on some, but better than many of my earlier attempts. Since I knew I was shooting with so much -ev, I thought some fill flash might be good.

Of course now in the calm refelection of the living room, I see the error in my ways. There in the heat of the moment, excited and thinking each shot would bring the bird's departure, I was at least cognizant enough to keep thinking on how to improve the shot and to change settings and experiment while I had the chance.

I can't see how anyone can chimp at the lcd panel and look at the histogram when you are directly in the sun and trying to watch the subject. I was just making the changes and trying new things.

When I got home, I downloaded the shots and invited my son to help me decide which ones to work on. We did this after Merritt Island as well. What we do is that I scroll through the shots and he decides whether they are "money" shots or not. It keeps me from getting excited about the subject and he is as critical as Harry is on what's good.

The nicest thing is after all this time working on the technique, my % keepers keeps going up dramatically.

Thanks for all the feedback - it keeps me improving. I really appreciate the support of the Dgrin community. You guys are great!

Z

Harryb

Zanotti wrote:

Thanks for the kind replies. I am really excited about these. I cannot recall ever being this close to a wild osprey before.

I was shooting -3/4 ev and the highlights were still blown on some, but better than many of my earlier attempts. Since I knew I was shooting with so much -ev, I thought some fill flash might be good.

Of course now in the calm refelection of the living room, I see the error in my ways. There in the heat of the moment, excited and thinking each shot would bring the bird's departure, I was at least cognizant enough to keep thinking on how to improve the shot and to change settings and experiment while I had the chance.

I can't see how anyone can chimp at the lcd panel and look at the histogram when you are directly in the sun and trying to watch the subject. I was just making the changes and trying new things.

When I got home, I downloaded the shots and invited my son to help me decide which ones to work on. We did this after Merritt Island as well. What we do is that I scroll through the shots and he decides whether they are "money" shots or not. It keeps me from getting excited about the subject and he is as critical as Harry is on what's good.

The nicest thing is after all this time working on the technique, my % keepers keeps going up dramatically.

Thanks for all the feedback - it keeps me improving. I really appreciate the support of the Dgrin community. You guys are great!

Z

I have the same problems chimping in bright sunlight. I usually do better with blinkies than the actual histogram in those circumstances. I have gone as much as -2.3 on some days with my ev adjustments. Sometimes with dark/white birds like ospreys you have to go with some blown highlights if you want to preserve shadow details in the darker parts of the bird.

There are times when you just can't avoid some blow-outs. At the raptor center I wouldn't even shoot Queenie when she turned her face into the sun. There was just no way I could get a decent shot w/o blowing out the feathers surrounding her eyes.

With birds like ospreys and eagles I always get my best results in early morning or late afternoon or on cloudy days. In the bright harsh light of the alte AM and early PM you will usually blow out the light areas of lose detail in the darker areas. Its a shot that is usually way beyond the dynamic range of the camera.

pathfinder

gluwater wrote:

This shot is excellent. In the others the whites look blown out, especially on the head. As for the flash, I assume you used onboard flash? If you did it will only sync up to 1/250sec. So you can either stop down your aperture to get you a slower shutter speed or use an off camera flash that has high sync capabilities. This Osprey sure has some interesting colors. I wonder if it's an immature Osprey? It sure is fun getting this close to a bird isn't it.

Nick is quite correct here, George. The thought of using Fill flash was excellent - this is where it can be helpful, but in bright Florida sunshine with a white reflector ( birds feathers ) you will need a very flast shutter speed and a flash that will synch with a focal plane shutter at a very high shutter speed. Focal plane shutters are not completely open across the entire sensor at shutter speeds higher than 1/250th or so - they become a narrow slit passing across the shutter. You need a fill flash that stays illuminated for the entire pass of the shutter slit. eg High Speed Synch

In that kind of sunlight, you cannot use 'in camera flash' in AV mode, because you need to use the "High Speed Synch" mode of an external EOS flash to allow a shutter speed much faster than 1/200 or 1/250th which is the native maxumum shutter speed to synch with flash.

In bright sunlight, you may need to use 1/1000th or higher, and this needs High Speed Synch in Cannon land. It use to be called Focal Plane Shutter synch if you remember that. The 430ex or the 580ex wil both do this nicely . You will want to set the FEC at -2/3 a stop or so.

I can't set a histogram in bright sunlight either, but Harry's suggestion of looking for blinkies in the LCD is what I do too.

You were fortunate, that osprey was hungry, and not about to leave without its fish. Nice series of images.

The reason your shots with fill were overexposed so badly, is that in AV mode when you pop up the flash, the camera defaults to a maximum shutter speed for flash which is 1/200th or 1/250th ( not sure which exactly for your camera) - check the EXIF data and you will see that the shutter speed was not allowed to go up higher as it was in your earlier shots without incamera flash. With High Speed Synd and an external EOS flash - you can go ahead and shoot at 1/4000th

Swartzy

What a great story
and series. We'll start calling you the Osprey Whiperer Unreal how you walked right up to him....great shots....love those close ups. Wish those skiddish hawks would cooperate like that!

Dee

The battery died?
I can only begin to imagine your pain!

I loved the story, especially of accidentally seeing the osprey where you least expected it. Then being able to walk up that close? Wow!

dbaker1221

fantastic shots what a thrill that it stayed for you

dallas

What a great opportunity to get so close, you did well....

Zanotti

Thanks for all the nice compliments!

Sometimes, just showing up and getting lucky is key. I find that the act of getting out and walking around presents itself with many wonderful opportunities.

Next year at MI V, I am going to try and walk Peacock Foot Lane and see what comes by.

Z