Bird Photography Pure and Easy, Instructor and College students « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

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Photography at Sebastian Inlet has continued to be difficult with wind towards solar situations. Friday morning’s northeast wind was a bit higher than the northwests which have predominated since Red Steven’s arrived final Sunday.

I took Eugen and Red to a brand new restaurant in Vero, The Oar on nineteenth Place. Everyone’s meals was extremely scrumptious; it was positive eating at its greatest, and never terribly expensive. It was one of the best meal I’ve had in latest reminiscence. The Thank You dinner was imagined to be my deal with. But Red had surreptitiously snuck his bank card to the waiter and my plan was spoiled. Thank you Mr. Stevens!

Today is Saturday 18 October. The forecast is essentially the most promising in additional than per week: an east wind with partly cloudy skies. We will in fact be heading to the inlet early. Red leaves on Sunday afternoon. Mishael Voisin is arriving early on Monday morning and can be becoming a member of me for a full week. Eugen Dolan is heading again to Toronto this coming Friday. Whatever you select to do, I hope that you just too have a cheerful and productive day.

If you want to be part of within the enjoyable and be taught an absolute ton, I’ve room on the AirBnB for you on a Sebastian Extended IPT any time from 25 October by way of and together with 23 November. For full particulars you possibly can scroll down right here, get in contact through e-mail, or attempt me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please depart a message and shoot me a textual content if I don’t choose up.

If an merchandise — a Delkin flash card or reader, a Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro, or a Wimberley lens plate or low foot — for instance, that’s obtainable from B&H and/or Bedfords, can also be obtainable within the BAA Online Store, it might be nice, and drastically appreciated, should you would decide to buy from us. We will match or beat any value. Please bear in mind additionally to make use of my B&H affiliate hyperlinks or to earn 3% money again at Bedford through the use of the BIRDSASART low cost code at checkout in your main gear purchases. Doing both typically earns you free guides and/or reductions. And all the time earns my nice appreciation.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many people attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see within the discipline and on BirdPhotographer’s.Net, are — out of ignorance — utilizing the fallacious gear, particularly in terms of tripods and extra particularly, tripod heads. And the identical is true in spades when ordering new digital camera our bodies or lenses. My recommendation will typically prevent some severe cash and should enable you to keep away from making a significantly unhealthy alternative. Please know that I’m all the time glad to reply your gear questions through e-mail. If you’re determined, you possibly can attempt me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please depart a message and shoot me a textual content if I don’t choose up.

Don’t Just Shoot: Learn

If you have an interest in altering your life and turning into a greater photographer by becoming a member of me on the Extended IPT at Sebastian Inlet for Ospreys and extra (OCT 25 to NOV 24, 2025), in San Diego for Pacific-race Brown Pelicans and extra (JAN 6 to FEB 2, 2026), or for Roseate Spoonbills at Stick Marsh (March 2026), please e-mail for dates, charges, phrases, and extra data. Or shoot me a textual content to 863-221-2372. Some choices embrace choices for shared AirBnB lodging and meals. Ground transportation throughout your keep is a risk at occasions.

This picture was created by yours actually on 13 October 2025 whereas main a Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More Extended IPT. I used the hand-held Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II Lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter (at 400mm) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The publicity was decided by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel — ISO 640: 1/3200 second at f/5.6 (broad open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:22:35am on a sunny morning. RawDigger confirmed that the publicity was lifeless stable good. AWB at 6:47:10pm on a partly cloudy afternoon. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection carried out completely. Click on the picture to benefit from the bigger, inexplicably sharper high-res model. Image #1: Wood Stork grownup head and shoulders portrait Image copyright 2025: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART Your browser doesn’t assist iFrame.

Shooting from the Hip Using the Vertically Tilted Rear Monitor

Regular readers know that I used to be thrilled to be taught that the Sony a-1 ii would have a rear monitor that could possibly be tilted vertically. Kneeling is each troublesome and fewer than secure for me for a wide range of causes. While standing, I typically wish to get decrease in order that I can transfer the background farther from the topic. If you don’t perceive that idea, please depart a remark and I’ll put together an explanatory diagram.

Anyhoo, now that I’ve two a-1 ii our bodies, the answer is to placed on my studying glasses, tilt the rear monitor vertically, maintain the lens a bit beneath waist stage, discover and body the topic, and make some photos. With observe, this turns into pretty straightforward to do. As this place is just not essentially the most secure, it’s possible you’ll expertise a little bit of what I name compositional bracketing — small however typically vital variations within the framing. It pays, subsequently, to make use of a sooner shutter velocity for static topics than you’ll use usually (i.e., when holding the digital camera to your eye and capturing by way of the viewfinder.

Note additionally: when capturing all handheld verticals your proper hand ought to be holding the digital camera from above after rotating the lens counter-clockwise.

This picture was created on 14 October 2025 by Alvin “Red” Stevens of Birmingham, AL on a Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More Extended IPT. Standing at full top, he used the hand-held Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II Lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter (at 400mm) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The publicity was decided by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel — ISO 250: 1/1250 second (!) at f/5.6 (broad open) in Manual mode. AWB at 5:29:48pm on a sunny afternoon. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection carried out completely. Click on the picture to benefit from the bigger, inexplicably sharper high-res model. Image #2: Brown Pelican in flight with puffy white clouds Image courtesy of and copyright 2025: Red Stevens Image optimization by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART Your browser doesn’t assist iFrame.

Pulled One Out of the Hat

We spent most of Tuesday afternoon previous photographing Reddish Egrets and Wood Storks at shut vary. While reviewing the folder of Red’s photos I used to be surprised to see this pretty picture of a younger Brown Pelican flying towards a background of fluffy white clouds. Considering that he had been photographing birds for effectively lower than two days, I used to be past astounded. Red didn’t bear in mind creating the picture. I collect from that that he noticed the chook coming, reacted, and fired off a body or two at simply the fitting second.

This picture was created on 15 October 2025 at Sebastian Inlet State Park by IPT veteran Eugen Dolan on an Extended Instructional Photo-Tour. Seated on a rock and dealing low off the tilted, lowered rear monitor, he used the hand-held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 376mm) and The Latest Greatest Flagship Body, the Sony a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The publicity was decided through Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 800: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 (broad open) in Manual mode. RawDigger confirmed that the publicity was good. AWB at 8:22:42am on a sunny morning. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection carried out completely. Click on the picture to benefit from the bigger, inexplicably sharper high-res model. Image #3: Ruddy Turnstone on seaweed-covered rock Image copyright 2025: Eugen Dolan Image Optimization by Arthur Morris/birds as Art Your browser doesn’t assist iFrame.

Kudos to Eugen

Kudos to Eugen for sitting down on a rock, and — for the primary time, working low off the tilted rear monitor. Again, this successfully strikes the background farther from the topic and creates pretty, gentle, out of focus backgrounds.

This picture was created on 16 October 2025 at Sebastian Inlet State Park by yours actually whereas main and Instructional Photo-Tour. Standing at full top, I used the hand-held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The Latest Greatest Flagship Body, the Sony a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The publicity was decided by Zebras with Exposure Compensation (EC) on the thumb wheel. Multi Metering +1.0 cease. AUTO ISO set ISO 500: 1/2500 second at f/6.3 (broad open) in Shutter Priority mode. RawDigger confirmed that the publicity was lifeless stable good. AWB at 6:47:10pm on a partly cloudy afternoon. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection carried out completely. Click on the picture to benefit from the bigger, inexplicably sharper high-res model. Image #4: Royal Tern in flight at sundown Image copyright Arthur Morris/birds as Art Your browser doesn’t assist iFrame.

Wind Against Sun & Silhouettes

While wind towards solar situations are horrible for conventional frontlit flight pictures, they are perfect for dawn and on this case, sundown silhouettes. Aware of the climate forecast, we didn’t depart the Airbnb till after 5pm. With the solar behind us that afternoon and a 20 mph northeast wind in our faces, we struggled for greater than an hour; chook pictures was unattainable. As the solar neared the horizon, we confronted northwest and started creating silhouettes of gulls and terns towards the coloured skies.

This picture was created on 16 October 2025 by Alvin “Red” Stevens of Birmingham, AL on a Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More Extended IPT. Standing at full top, he used the hand-held Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and the Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. Exposure decided through Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 3200: 1/2000 sec. at f/4 (broad open) in Manual mode. RawDigger confirmed that the publicity was lifeless stable good: AWB at 7:45:20am on a cloudy morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled carried out completely. Image #5: Great Egret in flight Image courtesy of and copyright 2025: Red Stevens Image optimization by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART Your browser doesn’t assist iFrame.

Red’s First Session With the 300mm f/2.8 GM

After working along with his 70-200 II, a-1 ii, and each teleconverters for the primary 3 1/2 days of his chook pictures profession, I had Red borrow my 300mm f.2.8 GM on a cloudy Thursday morning. With the 1.4X TC in place, he had 420mm of attain and, at first/4, a sooner equipment. He took to it like a duck to water.

This picture was created on 15 October 2025 at Sebastian Inlet State Park by IPT veteran Eugen Dolan on an Extended Instructional Photo-Tour. Seated on a rock and dealing low off the tilted, lowered rear monitor, he used the hand-held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 376mm) and The Latest Greatest Flagship Body, the Sony a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The publicity was decided through Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 4000: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3 (broad open) in Manual mode. RawDigger confirmed that the publicity was good. AWB at 7:44:39am on a partly sunny morning. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection carried out completely. Click on the picture to benefit from the bigger, inexplicably sharper high-res model. Image #6: Osprey gliding Image copyright 2025: Eugen Dolan Image Optimization by Arthur Morris/birds as Art Your browser doesn’t assist iFrame.

Angled, Gliding Flight

Though the solar broke by way of the clouds early on Friday morning, the wind from the northeast was not our pal.
Ninety-nine p.c of the time, the 20 or so Ospreys holding within the sturdy onshore wind have been excessive above us on solar angle at pretty shut vary. The unhealthy information is that they have been going through and looking out about 20 levels away from us. When this chook glided towards the ocean to our left, Eugen nailed the shot with an ideal publicity and 0 underwing shadows.

This picture was created on 3 October 2025 on a Sebastian Inlet Extended IPT. Standing at full top, I used the Robus RC-5570 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and the Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. Exposure decided through Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 1000: 1/4000 sec. at f/5.6 (broad open) in Manual mode. RawDigger confirmed that the publicity was lifeless stable good. AWB at 8:12:01am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection enabled carried out completely. Click on the picture to benefit from the bigger, inexplicably sharper high-res model. Image #7: Sandwich Tern juvenile with baitfish Image copyright 2025 Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART Your browser doesn’t assist iFrame.

The Best Available Situation

As solely two Ospreys had caught a fish on Friday morning, I made a decision to focus on the terns fishing southeast of the bottom of the bridge. The pictures was far more difficult than the Osprey scenario that had the birds hovering however angled away from us and away from the sunshine. As most of the terns have been flying and fishing fairly near us (and proper on solar angle), I might have been higher off with the 200-600, however the motion was scorching and I didn’t wish to miss something so I caught with 840mm on the tripod. Red made a number of good tern photos along with his 420mm rig.

The title says all of it. Purchase your copy here. The Complete and Quintessential Guide to Photographing Birds in Flight by Arash Hazeghi, Ph.D., and Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The Complete and Quintessential Guide to Photographing Birds in Flight: $99.00

I had lengthy dreamed of turning into a terrific flight photographer. When utilizing dSLR gear, making sharp photos was an enormous downside. Most of the time, the digital camera our bodies merely have been lower than snuff. Things have modified dramatically with mirrorless know-how. The high-end mirrorless digital camera our bodies now function science fiction-like autofocus techniques and body charges of 30, 40, and even 125 fps. Nowadays, getting the attention sharp is now not an issue. The downside extra typically includes deciding on the strongest picture from a protracted sequence of sharp photos.

The fact, nonetheless, is that there’s a lot greater than proudly owning a Canon EOS R1, a Nikon Z9, or a Sony a-1 ii to persistently creating nice images of birds in flight. Some of the largest elements to success embrace gear alternative, capturing methods, and understanding the significance of sky situations and wind velocity and course. Once you have got the strategies and technical facets down pat and might routinely create sharp photos, studying the significance of flight poses, wing positions, backgrounds, and topic placement and picture design allow you to create after which choose very good flight photos. And you guessed it, every of these matters and tons extra are lined intimately in The Complete and Quintessential Guide to Photographing Birds in Flight.

The information consists of 267 pages and 21,013 phrases. There are 82 illustrative pictures scattered all through the textual content, two display screen captures, and a 112-image gallery that features examples created by Canon, Nikon, and principally Sony gear. As seen above, every of the 194 inspirational pictures is labeled with an academic caption.

You can buy your copy here for $99.00.

Arash Hazeghi

Arash Hazeghi, Ph.D. is a principal electron machine engineer. He acquired his Ph.D. diploma in Electrical Engineering in 2011, from Stanford University, Stanford, California. His pioneering analysis on Carbon Nanotubes has been cited many occasions. In the previous decade, Arash Hazeghi has been a significant contributor to the analysis and the event of a few of the most cutting-edge applied sciences launched by Silicon Valley’s most respected names together with SanDisk, Intel and Apple.

More related right here is that he’s widely known as one of many world’s greatest birds in flight photographers. He focuses on raptors and the technical facets of chook pictures.

Flight pictures is a talent that may be studied, practiced, and discovered.

The Complete and Quintessential Guide to Photographing Birds in Flight
By Arash Hazeghi Ph.D., and Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

What you’ll be taught (about):

1- Weight and handholding super-telephoto lenses.
2- Weight and handholding intermediate telephoto and telephotos zoom lenses.
3- Choosing the fitting flight pictures lens or lenses for you.
4- The significance of focal size for flight pictures.
5- The significance of lens velocity (the utmost aperture for flight pictures.
6- Choosing between mounted focal lengths and zoom lenses for flight pictures.
7- The significance of AF velocity and efficiency for flight pictures.
8- Handholding suggestions and strategies.
9- Shooting flight off a tripod with the Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro.
10- Flight poses and wing positions.
11- Why artie modified his thoughts concerning the 400mm f/2.8 lenses for flight and extra.
12- The benefits and drawbacks of utilizing teleconverters for flight pictures.
13- Why to steer clear of off-brand lenses.
14- Understanding the significance of wind course and velocity for flight pictures.
15- The relationship between sky situations and wind course and the way it impacts flight pictures.
16- Creating flight silhouettes in wind-against-sun situations.
17- The significance of being on solar angle for flight pictures (and avoiding harsh shadows).
18- Tips on doing flight pictures in cloudy, foggy, or overcast situations.
19- About the course of sunshine in cloudy, foggy, or overcast situations and the way it impacts flight pictures.
20- How your understanding of chook conduct can dramatically enhance your flight pictures.
21- Tips on attracting birds for flight pictures.
22- What to do when your digital camera’s AF system is briefly blind.
23- The important significance of pre-focusing.
24- How Direct Manual Focus will help you with flight pictures.
25- The significance of capturing aggressively when doing flight pictures.
26- Everything that it is advisable know close to relaxation positions for flight pictures.
27- The significance of getting low when doing flight in lots of conditions.
28- Getting the fitting publicity when doing flight pictures.
29_ Why to make use of Manual mode 95% of the time for flight.
30- Tips on discovering the chook within the body, buying focus, and monitoring the chook in flight.
31- How to set and greatest make the most of your lens’s picture stabilization function (and why).
32- Setting the main focus vary limiter change in your flight lens or lenses.
33- To select one of the best shutter velocity for photographing birds in flight.
34- The important significance of pre-focusing. And sure, that is so vital that it’s on the listing twice.

You can see 4 pattern pages within the weblog put up right here. And you should buy your copy here.

Typos

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