Month: September 2017

After spending time fighting the wisteria, whose tendrils and drying leaves intruded  into my hummingbird photographs, I decided continuous pruning was not the answer.  The wisteria is between me and the hummingbird feeder with the most desirable background.  The backgrounds of my other two feeders are too busy.  Moving those feeders is another project but moving them would likely involve ladders and because of my tendency to shy away from ladders, it is a chore I will not soon tackle.  A much easier option was simply to move myself and my camera so that I wasn’t fighting extraneous encroachments.

My tendency to plant myself in one place when using a tripod has been the subject of more than one discussion with Moose.   Sometimes moving just a few inches makes such a remarkable difference that it is really a no- brainer and one of the easiest ways to dramatically change a photograph.  I think I have a tendency to be a little like the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, when he sings, “If I only had a brain,”   although the “no-brainer” aspect of this act implies that it should be instinctive,  not requiring a brain at all.   So I actually surprised myself when I decided to move just a few feet and place my camera 90° from where I’d been.  The background was still desirable and although I didn’t have quite as clear a view of Homer as he perched watching over his territory, I could still see him on one of his resting spots so I usually knew when he was going to fly to the feeder.

Of course, after I moved, Homer chose the feeder directly behind me.  I heard him making the tiny peeping sounds when he feeds.  But, I was persistent and sure enough, he returned to his preferred feeder in front of me after about ten minutes.   I didn’t double check my settings after I moved so I let my shutter speed get a little slower than I intended (1/160 instead of 1/250) so much of his body is blurred from movement.   Plus, we were having a rare partly cloudy summer day, and the light changed often with clouds moving in front of the sun.   Even with two flashes, only a small part of his gorget was lit.  But by moving, I was able to see a different side of Homer.

 

The smoke from wildfires in the region and elsewhere has lessened and the temperatures have dropped by twenty degrees, making it possible to enjoy my patio in the late afternoon.  Of course I wasn’t just sitting there.  I had my “hummingbird rig” with me and this time, I was using the two flash system that we used in Madera Canyon.  Homer was lurking in the shadows and every nine to 13 minutes (based on EXIF data from my camera) he would fly to the feeder, hover and feed for four to five seconds and then return to his perch.

The afternoon light doesn’t seem much different from what I saw in the morning shoots I’ve done this week, but I think the two flashes may have improved the overall appearance and sharpness of the subject.

 

Late summer is fig season.  I love ripe figs and this time of year whenever I see the black Mission Figs or the green Kadotas, I buy a basket and devour them.  When I spotted these striped figs, I knew I had to try them.  They are Tiger Figs and they are delicious.

When I photograph Homer, I position myself with the camera facing the feeder so that the place where he usually watches over his domain is in the background.  This positioning serves three purposes.

First, it allows me to keep an eye on him.  When he starts to fidget, I know he will fly to the feeder soon and I can make sure my focus is set and the camera positioned with just a tiny bit of the feeder in the lower right corner to allow the  Auto Area AF to quickly grab focus on him.  Second, with the feeder between the camera and Homer’s perch, I know he will fly directly at me so I will have a better chance of a front view inflight shot.  And, third, the green shrubbery is far enough in the distance that it becomes a smooth, non distracting background.

In the first shot, Homer is perched and surveying his area.  He hasn’t started to fidget yet.  In the second shot, Homer is approaching the feeder but the perch he flew from was directly behind the feeder so the feeder is in the shot.  He usually flies in from one of his other perches deeper in the shrubs so that he flies at a slight angle.  That allows me to  frame the shot to eliminate the feeder from it, unlike this shot.  I guess I’ll have to find another place to position my camera when he decides to use this perch.  The background is the same group of leaves shown in the first shot.  I didn’t move the camera but I did use High Speed Crop on the first shot because Homer was about 20 feet away from me.  He’s about 7 feet away in the second shot.  The distance between the subject and the background using a telephoto lens creates the desirable non distracting background, but I do have to watch for gaps in the leaves that create specular highlights that make distracting light spots in the background.

 

 

This White-faced Capuchin on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica this past May seems just as curious about me as I was about him.

 

Some time ago I named my resident Anna’s Hummingbird Homer because a friend pointed out to me that she always knew when I was home because I’d post a photograph of my resident hummers.  I’ve been home for most of two months now and Saturday morning was the first time I’ve photographed Homer since I visited Madera Canyon, AZ to photograph hummingbirds.

They say that the more feeders you have, the more hummers you’ll attract.  I think Homer is very effective in deterring interlopers.   Despite having three feeders in my yard, Homer manages to dominate all three.  While I was out Saturday morning, he kept 2 other males at bay while watching me at the same time.  There is never more than a single hummingbird feeding  at a time.  So, unlike Madera Canyon, visits to the feeders are few and far between.  I focused on a single feeder and a few times, Homer outsmarted me by visiting one of the other feeders but the backgrounds were not as pleasing so I waited.  Hummers feed every ten to fifteen minutes so they’re fairly predictable and Homer always announces himself by chirping when he comes to feed.  I’m not sure if that’s a warning but it helps me know when I need to pay attention to my focus.

I used a modified version of our flash setup from Madera Canyon because I wanted to see how it worked using a single flash with a curved Flashbender reflector instead of two.   The heat (Saturday’s forecast: 110°) prevented me from comparing the two-flash system and  I was driven indoors before I could do the comparison, despite the early morning hour.  Smoke from fires in California turned the sky to a hazy yellow and Homer’s gorget didn’t reflect its usual bright pink but has more of a rosy gold color.  I don’t know if that is just the angle or if the smoke has created a filter that affects the color.

 

 

 

So many photographs I take bring to mind songs I know so well that they start playing in my head, over and over.  When I identified this butterfly that I photographed in Costa Rica in June, I learned its common name is Small Postman.  It should be obvious, then, what song is running through my head.   Heliconius erato, or the Small Postman, also known as   the Red Postman, is distinguished from an almost identical species , H. melpomene, called simply The Postman, by the dots where the wing attaches to the thorax.  The Small Postman has four, The Postman, only three.

And, wait a minute, wait a minute, dear reader.   I’m pretty certain I know what song’s running through your head now too.  You’re welcome.

 

At noon Thursday, I heard the sound of a helicopter circling the neighborhood.  This has happened on numerous occasions, almost always when a child is missing.   I noticed that this helicopter was a California Highway Patrol helicopter, not a county helicopter.  Always on the lookout for a photo-op, I changed lenses and went outside.  I took several shots, then strained to understand what the officer was saying over the copter’s  loudspeaker.  I have never been able to understand everything that is said because the transmission is usually garbled because of the sounds of the rotary blade and they seem never to repeat it.   So I continued to take photographs.  Law enforcement agencies in this area are on particularly high alert because on Wednesday, a Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy was mortally wounded and two CHP Officers were shot by a car theft suspect in a neighborhood where I used to live.  It is my understanding that there may be additional suspects.  When I did manage to pick up a few of the words from the loud speaker, I immediately went inside.  The words I heard were, “we’ll send the canine units in after you.”  It was then that I realized the first announcement had said something like “stay inside and lock your doors.”

The first few photographs I took showed the blades of the helicopter stopped, with no motion blur.  As with the wings of a hummingbird, a little motion blur is a good thing.  So, I changed my settings to ISO 100, f/16, and a shutter speed of 1/125 to get a blurring of the rotors.  I should have slowed the shutter even more to get a complete circle of the rotor.  But by then, it was too late.  The helicopter had moved further away from my house.  I heard sirens screaming down the street behind my house just a few minute ago but unless this turns out to be a big deal, I will probably never  know the reason for the CHP’s visit.  However, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a rescue mission, despite the words on the belly of the helicopter.