Routines

This flight shot of a male Great Spotted Woodpecker was taken in a completely other manner than the flight shots of the Common Terns shown earlier in this blog.

The woodpecker had its nesting cavity with very loud chicks in a dead berch tree, about 3 meters above ground level. I had spent a mere 20 minutes at the nesting site, when I had seen three identical visits of the woodpecker. It would land at the back of the nesting tree, would walk around the trunk towards the cavity, feed the young ones, go inside and fly away with a billful of rubbish from inside the cavity, everytime in the same direction.

This routine offered very good chances for flight shots. With the camera and lens mounted on a tripod, I focused on the cavity, put the lens on MF, increased the ISO to 800 to achieve a shutterspeed of 1/2500s at F8 and waited. Every 15 minutes, the woodpecker would visit the cavity and perform the same routine. So did I. As soon as it sticked its head out of the cavity, I hit the shutterbutton and took about 20 images in 2 seconds. Of these, I could throw away 19, but could keep one. Within 45 minutes, I had several sharp flight shots, of which the one shown here has the best wingposition and the best position of the bird in the frame.

Great Spotted Woodpecker; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS; 1/2500s at F8 and ISO 800; Gitzo tripod

Hai Kie

Another flight shot, and again of a Common Tern, yet a completely different image. This was taken on a very cloudy and windy day with a dull sky and little to no contrast. Perfect circumstances to try high key flight shots of white birds, such as terns.

I increased the ISO to 1000 to get a fast enough shutterspeed and exposed to the right. By doing so, I kept noise levels to a minimum. Only in the black cap of the tern some noise is visible, but by increasing the black levels and contrast in postprocessing, it almost disappears. Who says you need sunlight to create nice photographs?

The fact that it was a windy day helped a lot, as the terns would occasionally hover against the wind in about the same spot for a few seconds. I am happy with the series of highkey images I got on this day, they are a fine addition to the regularly lit flight shots and the silhouetted flight shots such as the one on the frontpage. So again: don't stay at home whenever there's no warm sunlight, there's always something creative possible. Had the light been even worse, I might have tried highkey pan blurs at slow shutterspeeds. Well, maybe next time.

Common Tern; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS and 1.4x; 1/800s at F6,3 and ISO 1000; Handheld

Purple Rain

Last Friday, I had an appointment with two other nature photographers to photograph whatever we would come across in the sweeping wide landscapes of Zuid-Holland. Thanks Peter and Arjen, we had a blast.

We had planned to meet at 9am, which meant we would not be able to photograph at sunrise. So I got up at 4.30am and drove to a well-known Purple Heron colony around the area we would meet.
The place is usually crowded with photographers at sunset, when the warm light of the last sunbeams illuminates the herons.

I wanted to photograph them at first light, as I expected the soft light through the wings would look spectacular. Apparently, I was the only one with that idea, as there was not a single other photographer.

Unfortunately, the day started cloudy and the sun only appeared around 8am, the light being already a bit harsh. The good thing was that a strong wind blew from behind me, so the birds would slowly land towards me. As it is still early in the breeding season with no chicks to feed yet, the herons did not fly around a lot, but enough for me to get some photographs that vaguely resemble what I had in mind. I can only imagine what it will look like at 6am with the first warm rays of light shining through the wings.

By the way: with large and slow birds like herons, a shutterspeed of 1/500s is more than enough to freeze the motion. Also, I could shoot from a tripod instead of handheld, because the birds flew right towards me. The larger turning radius was not an issue in this situation.

Purple Heron; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS and 1.4x; 1/500s at F6,3 and ISO 400; Gitzo tripod

Birds in Flight

During a short stay on the island of Texel, I temporarily changed my photographic diet back to the birds. Not a big surprise I guess, as Texel is renowned for its birdlife. Photographers from all over Europe visit the island during spring for species as ducks, gulls, terns, waders, spoonbills and raptors.

As it is nesting season, birds fly around a lot. A good opportunity to try and capture birds in flight, or BIF if you like. Instead of just venturing into a nesting colony and simply shoot everything that comes close enough for a frame filler, sit down for a moment and do some thinking:

1) Determine wind direction. Birds will always land and take off against the wind. So the best circumstances for good flight shots are when both the light and wind come from over your shoulder. When the wind comes from another direction, change your location for silhouettes or just be happy with loads of butt-shots.

2) Try to focus (literally) on a single bird. It is impossible to predict the flight pattern of a bird that by accident flies through the viewer. Instead, find a bird that takes off from a nest close to where you are. Pick it up in your viewfinder and track the bird until it lands at the exact right spot. This will certainly improve your chances on a shot of a landing bird such as the one you see here. Can you guess where the wind came from?

3) Increase the ISO. Shooting birds in flight is not easy. Only larger birds as geese, swans and gulls fly slow enough to get sharp images at say 1/250s. With terns, waders and ducks, you need 1/1000s or even faster. Don't be afraid to increase the ISO to get a fast enough shutterspeed. Better a sharp shot with some noise, than a noiseless blur, right?

Common Tern in landing; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS and 1,4x; 1/1250s at F8 and ISO 400; Handheld