Photographing an Evening Grosbeak

We were in the visitors’ center at Hartwick Pines State Park when this striking Evening Grosbeak with a resplendent yellow eye brow and greenish bill made an appearance at their feeders. I have never seen an Evening Grosbeak in SW Michigan, but according to the e-bird maps, this species makes bi annual visits through most of Michigan as it travels to and from its breeding grounds.  (NOTE: That  green pigment on his upper and lower mandibles appears in the breeding season. As the season progresses, the membranes on the beak peel away and by winter, reveal a bone-colored beak.)

Soggy Weather

The camera was setup on the balcony of the visitors’ center. The thick cloud cover and saturating mist didn’t make for the best light conditions, so the flash gear was attached. While waiting for the Evening Grosbeaks to perch on something other than the feeders, I started wondering what I would do if the rain got heavier…and why I did not anticipate soggy weather.

Just how much rain and condensation can the camera, lens and flash gear safely endure?Canon professional equipment is suppose to be “weather sealed” and somewhat protected from mechanical and electronic damage caused by moisture and dust. That doesn’t mean that the tight rubber sealing around the various buttons, ports, joints and doors make them weather proof, especially for an extended period of time.

The rain continued unabated, so shortly after I photographed this male Evening Grosbeak, I picked up the tripod and moved inside to tear down and pack it away.

Rain Gear

I’m now in the market for a form-fitting, wind breaker type nylon jacket or camera cover that is flexible and easy to attach. (NOTE: It does not have to accommodate driving rain.) It should be designed to work with both tripods and hand holding, allow me to change long lenses and tele extenders on the fly, give me easy access to camera controls, and accommodate flash gear. Most of all it can not interfere with my picture taking habits and routines.

Too much to ask?  Sounds like in order to get this kind of relief from the rain, I need a canopy– in which case, I might as well get out my blind and campy chair.  I will, however check out the large or extra large Vortex Media Pro SLR Storm Jacket Camera Cover. It looks like it might fit most of my requirements for under $50.00

Resilience and Tenacity

Watching the birds interacting with their environment and visualizing possible scenarios to photograph constitute a lot of what bird photographers do. Then comes the strategizing and setting up to actualize those dreams. Rain or shine, there’s always a chance that you will be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment.. and you get the shot.

Photographing a Leucitic Rose Breasted Grosbeak

This partial Leucitic female Rose Breasted Grosbeak arrived at the feeders with 6-7 other Grosbeaks, but did not stay. I was taken back by those white plumage patches on her head and breast in an otherwise healthy-looking bird. Everything else appeared as it should…. the color pigment in her eyes and legs look the same as other females of her species, her breast had the typical orangy – yellow plumage and her wings and tail feathers were dark. The unusual coloration on her feathers, where some of the color pigment is simply not there, is called “partial leucism”.

Albinism is the systemic lack of pigment in the body. An albino bird lacks pigment melanin in all cells, and consequently would display all white feathers, pink legs and pink eyes. In a Leucitic bird, some of the plumage cells are damaged and consequently cannot make the pigment necessary for feather coloration. These individuals generally have the species appropriate color in their eyes and legs and much of the plumage.

It’s All About Light

Just got back from a wedding celebration last weekend, and, as usual, I spent most of my time watching the photographer. Lighting challenges abounded. The ceremony took place on the stage in the main auditorium of a turn-of-the-century Masonic Temple that showcased vaulted ceilings and tall narrow windows.  The illumination in this space was mixture of natural, fluorescent, incandescent and spot lights. The photographer and one assistant added no other light…..anywhere in the room. No doubt the color temperature imbalances would throw off the camera’s ability to correctly assess white balance.  (My camera’s ISO read ISO4000 – with the aperture wide open at 2.8 and shutter set for hand holding – 1/60th second).

The reception area was in the basement, ceilings around 12 ft high, fluorescent lights, no windows, and 12-15 bright purple uplighting units placed on the floor around the perimeter of the room to illuminate the walls and columns. This lighting concoction was topped off with a spinning disco ball.  In this space, the photographer used one on-camera flash…. and bounced that light by pointing it straight up to the tall ceiling. The assistant had been sent home.

My main rule when observing other photographers is to stay the hell out of their way. I have to admit though that it’s hard not to make judgements and, given the lighting challenges and photographer’s choices, be predictive about how those images are going to turn out.

Back to the Birds

When using my flash to photograph this Grosbeak, I mentally considered atmospheric conditions, direction and intensity of ambient light, ambient light in foreground and background, ETTL or Manual flash, quality of flash device, impact of flash extender, distance between lens and bird, and color of plumage. Also in this mix was FEC fine tuning, histogram settings, ISO settings, DOF,  and sensor quality. (NOTE: These thoughts generally do not include lighting adjustments that are possible in post processing.)

A Range of Choices

Your skill level comes down to how quickly you deal with many light variables. I start with a couple go-to practices and settings that have worked in the past. #1) The flash gear (flash, extender, battery pack, bracket, and all related sync cables) is attached to my cameras at all times, though not necessarily on. #2) The flash is set to ETTL II… so it can automatically calculate how much extra light is needed. #3) DOF on long fixed telephoto lenses set to a tight aperture…. at least f/8 on my 500mm. ( NOTE:  As the ambient light transitions, I rarely stay with these parameters. Also, I use the down time to take and review test shots.)

Perfect, complementary light is a rare luxury when photographing birds in MI. Photographers have to be able to make choices quickly in order to expose what’s hiding in the darkness or just uncover the underlying shadows. Figuring out the precise tweaking to make your images look good takes time and practice. You do have the instant feedback on your camera’s back LCD screen, but that takes your eye off the viewfinder and robs you of opportunities when photographing active and unpredictable birds.

The same is no doubt true for wedding celebrations.

Photographing Rose Breasted Grosbeaks

It’s quite a treat to be able to photograph a species of bird throughout the spring and summer seasons. At least six pairs of barrel chested Rose Breasted Grosbeaks nest in or near our yard each year. They arrive in late April/early May around the same time as the Baltimore Orioles. Most are bold individuals, rarely willing to wait in line at the feeders or the suet. The fledglings start following their parents to the free food in mid-June- lots of them all at once. (NOTE: My bird books note that Rose Breasted Grosbeaks produce only one clutch per season.) The females of this species look quite plain compared with the males and can be mistaken for a large female Purple Finch..until you get a look at their size and sturdiness at close range. Rose Breasted Grosbeaks head south for Central and S. American while it’s still warm….. in early September.

Masking in Post Processing

Anybody who spends a lot of time reviewing images and examining them for detail and sharpness is bound to (over time) develop a more discriminating eye. With my newest camera, the Canon 1D X Mark II, I find there is less need in post processing to use the Lightroom sliders that impact sharpening, clarity, vibrance, highlighting, saturation, shadows, and noise reduction. Once in a while though, I like to experiment with the sharpening sliders, especially the one labeled “masking”.

When I first started loading my images into Lightroom, I never really paid much attention to how the process of masking affected my images. I knew that this Lightroom post processing slider was not intended to fix out of focus photos…. I knew procedurally that I had to hold down the option key while I moved the slider to the right…. and that I was to stop moving the slider when the pebbly background looked completely black.

Post processing is very time consuming and not especially fun. It’s best to know the what and why of those procedures before spending time on them.

A few thoughts about the process and benefits of masking:

• When in Lightroom’s Masking view….. while you are holding down the option key (or alt key with PC) with one hand and moving the sliding bar with your mouse, you will see only a grey scale overlay of your image. In this mode, you can observe that the areas in white will be sharpened and the areas in black will remain unsharpened. No distracting colors are observable.
• When the slider is set to 0, everything looks white so the entirety of the image gets the same amount of sharpening, as specified in the 3 sliders directly above the masking slider (amount, radius, detail).
• When the masking slider is set to 100, only the strongest whitest edges of the image get sharpened. (You can see these edges when you hold down the alt or option key while moving the slider.)
• How do I know how much masking to use? As you move the slider toward 100, watch how the graininess in and around your subject and in the background slowly turn SOLIDLY dark. At the point where you see the graininess disappear and only a black background remains, you stop moving the masking slider. Lightroom will then apply sharpening only to the white areas… and leave the dark areas unsharpened.
• It’s important not to go overboard with any of the sharpening tools in Lightroom. Over sharpening brings out more noise, zigzag lines and/or unnatural looking borders around your subject.
• Sharpening your subject and not the other parts of the image helps to make it stand out more.

NOTE: It is important to note that the detail quality improvements brought about though the process of masking will likely not knock-the-socks-off the typical fan of bird photography. In fact, I have learned NOT to expect people who are not photographers to notice or care.