Western Bluebird at Boyce

Like many species in Arizona, Western Bluebird spends the warmer months at higher elevations and can be found at lower elevations only in the cooler part of the year. Even then I feel lucky to see one. I rarely see them at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, but my luck has held this season – there was a small flock of them at Boyce on my last visit on 11/06/09.

They were actively feeding, hawking insects in an open glade under the largest trees at the arboretum. They would make occasional brief stops on the ground but mostly spent their time in the air chasing insects or perched on high bare branches.

This behavior presented some challenges for my photography. I needed more than my 600mm (300mm with 2x), so this shot is cropped about 50%. The dim light also required use of my SB-800 flash even with an ISO setting of 400 for an exposure of 1/125th second wide open at f/5.6. I also engaged the spot meter so the brighter patches of sky in the frame wouldn’t dominate the meter and lead to under exposure.

I would have been happier without the need for flash as I feel it flattens the image a bit by reducing the natural shadows that define three dimensions. But I like the image overall and especially the color harmonies between the plumage of the bluebird and the branch it is sitting on.

Cactus Wren on BTA Fence

The Cactus Wren is the official Arizona State Bird, and that tells you that it is common and popular. It is large compared to the other species of wrens found in AZ and elsewhere in the U.S., and it is vocal and can be aggressive. It is a fun bird to watch and have around.

Their numbers went down for a while at Boyce Thompson Arboretum where this image was made, but they are back in force on recent visits. This bird was quite active when I arrived on my visit last week, and I was immediately attracted to it.

I’ve mentioned before that I like directional lighting, and the sidelight on this wren is a good example. I like how such light gives dimension to an image by bringing out the three dimensional form of a subject. The light here was a bit more contrasty than I really wanted, and a bit of low power fill flash might have helped. But I’d just got the camera on the tripod and hadn’t dug out the flash yet so I shot anyway. I based my exposure on the breast, using the spot meter in my Nikon D200: I didn’t want to “burn out” the detail by overexposing the breast. My exposure saved the brights, but it put the rest of the bird in deep shadow. I was able to bring some detail back in Abode Camera Raw when I converted the raw file on the way into Photoshop by adding some exposure, using the Recover slider to protect the bright breast, and also adding some “fill flash” with the ACR slider.

This “pixel torture” took a toll on the noise levels of the green background, so I need to give the background a shot of Noise Reduction with my NoiseWare plugin for Photoshop. I always apply NR selectively to protect detail in the subject, so if you look closely at the darker feathers under the rump you might be able to see some of the noise.

I know there are a lot of nature photographers who would have passed up this shot: some because of the light; others because of the fence. There’s a school of thought that maintains a nature image should never show the “Hand of Man,” but I’m not such a purist when I work. Personally I think the fence adds interesting texture to the image, plus I always like to add strong graphics in my compositions whenever possible.

If I could change anything in this image it would be the overly bright part of the fence at the extreme left below the wren.

D200, 300/2.8 plus TC20E (2x), ISO 400, 1/640th second at f/8.

Western Grebe

Western Grebe, and its close relative the Clark’s Grebe, can be found in small numbers in central Arizona in most winters. But unlike their smaller cousin The Pied-billed Grebe I’ve found them difficult to photograph. They prefer the deeper water and they like to keep away from the edges where the people are, so until recently my shots of them have been dismally distant and not suitable for sharing (or much else for that matter).

So when fellow local photographer Scott Frye discovered one at Veterans Oasis Park in Chandler about 25 miles from where I live that allowed him to get some good shots I went to see the bird and try my luck. I got to see the bird later in the day, but the weather had turned and the grebe wouldn’t come in close for me. Although I got marginally better shots than I had previously I was still disappointed in my results.

Things got worse when another friend got better shots and closer views when he got to see this bird, so I tried a second time. The weather was better and the light was nicer, but the grebe still kept its distance from the shoreline and my shots were again less than I’d hoped they would be.

So, I went back for a third day of shooting and finally had the good fortune of good light, still water, and a close subject. A took a lot of frames, concentrating on those brief times when the grebe had its neck extended and its position to the light caught a sparkle in the eye. I got a few of the grebe “foot stretch” as well when the bird sticks one webbed foot out behind the body like a wing or rudder.

But the shot I liked best was this rest position, where the grebe folds back its neck on top of the chest and tucks the bill under the folded neck. Mostly the pose is a bid boring as you see less of the bird, but for just a moment it was perfectly positioned to my camera and the light to show the red eye with a catchlight. The smooth water allowed for a nice reflection. My low shooting position eliminated all other compositional distractions and helped create the restful mood of the image.

I was careful to center the grebe with reflection for the composition – I find powerful subjects with direct eye contact often demand  central placement in the frame. Forcing such a subject into the “rule of thirds” composition makes it feel arbitrary and unbalanced, at least to my eye.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 300/2.8 plus TC20E (2x), ISO 320, 1/250th second at f/10, OCtober 30, 2009

Bobcat at Boyce Thompson Arboretum

I’ve rushed this image and post since I know many of my readers will want to see this.

I went birding at Boyce Thompson Arboretum this morning, hoping to relocate the vagrant Eastern Phoebe and White-throated Sparrow that my friend Brendon had discovered there on Saturday 10/31/09. I couldn’t find either bird but I had a good time with what I did see, including three Crissal Thrashers in two locations.

While watching one of the thrashers bathe in the spray from the irrigation system around 10 am I heard a low noise behind and was thrilled to find a bobcat moving through the bushes not far away. It was so close that I couldn’t get the whole cat in the frame with 600mm so I settled for for 3/4 head shots! I thought I was done when the bobcat moved on so I spent 15 minutes showing the Crissal Thrasher and other birds to a small group of birders in the area.

Then I walked about 50 feet to the other side of the hedgerow and found the bobcat resting under the other side of the shrub. I took a few frames with the 300 and 2x, then puled off the converter and shot the 300/2.8 alone, even adding my SB-800 flash for some of the shots to help control the spotty light and allow more depth of field. This is along the main trail opposite the Herb Garden, between markers #36 and #37.

This is one of the many frames I took. Nikon D200, 300/2.8 AF-s lens, SB-800 flash, ISO 400. It is a very quick jpeg conversion from the raw file without any adjustments in conversion.

See results of another Bobcat Encounter I had in AZ.

White-crowned Sparrow

Now that we are past summer her in AZ we are getting to see many of our old avian friends that winter in the desert lowlands, including the abundant White-crowned Sparrow. I’ve always enjoyed these birds, finding them unassuming in their understated colors and ease of access in brushy areas in parks and elsewhere.

White-crowned Sparrow

This bird popped up beside me at the Gilbert Water Ranch as I was trying for a shot of a Yellow-rumped Warbler that was faster than I was, so I took advantage of the opportunity and turned my camera to the sparrow on my left. I didn’t touch any of the camera settings, which were ISO 200 and f/5.6 and auto exposure in matrix meter mode. That gave me a shutter speed in the 1/90th-1/100th second range for this bird in the shade of the bush, and with focus on the bird I got off a few frames before it moved on about its business.

White-crowned Sparrow

I like all three of the poses presented here. Although these are essentially the same image it is interesting how the character of the overall image changes with the head position of the sparrow. Its a good example of why every photographer should keep shooting as long as the subject is available – I ended up with three different images that could have different appeal for different viewers.

What I like most about these shots is the soft look of the setting: the way the mesquite leaves go out of focus but still retain their identity; and the way the greens and soft yellows blend together.

The important parts of the sparrow are unobstructed; the mesquite leaves in front the wing give the image more depth and help show the bird in habitat.

Processing was minimal for these images: a shift in white balance in raw conversion to counteract the blueness of the shaded area; a tiny bump in contrast from spreading the histogram in raw conversion; about 5 points of saturation boost in photoshop. I wanted to retain the open airy soft feel so I avoided levels and curves to boost contrast excessively.