Least Sandpiper/Submarine Surfacing ...

[Arthur Morris]

This image was also created on 28 August 2021 at Nickerson Beach. It was a truly amazing day. While seated on damp sand with the tripod lowered, I used the Induro GIT 304L topped by a Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro– with the Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter(at 840mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 2000. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel: RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was dead-solid perfect: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 115am on dark, windy, cloudy morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed just about perfectly and produced a sharp-on-the-face image.

To entice some of you to subscribe to my blog, here is an excerpt from the blog post here.

Tight Bathing Bird Tips from the Wild Windy Saturday Past

When I see a bird dipping its breast into the water, I know that when it has finished its bath, it is practically guaranteed that it will rise up and flap its wings. If your AF system is up to it, the flapping-after-bath image (FABI) is the money shot. If you are too close to try for that, you can zoom out (with a zoom lens) or move back with a fixed focal length lens. The latter takes time, and in any event, there was a snow fence behind us last Saturday so there was no moving back. In addition, I had firmly seated my tripod in the sand, put on my reading glasses, and leveled the Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro perfectly by centering the floating bubble on the head inside the scribed circle. That done, I could point my lens in any direction and have every image perfectly square to the world. And on cloudy days, you do not have to worry about sun angle.

In short, I was pretty much glued to my carefully chosen spot. Note: remember that in bathing bird situations, you want the wind (and the sun on clear days), behind you.

So when a small sandpiper began bathing at point blank range, about 15 feet at 840mm, or a tern started its bath at 25 feet, I knew that getting the bird in the frame without clipping any wings or feet (I got lots of those!) for the FABI was pretty much out of the question. So in those point-blank situations, I acquired focus and blasted away on the splashing bird. Though there will be lots of deletes, the results can often be dramatic, different, or comical. Or in rare cases, all three.

You can see a very nice FABI White-rumped Sandpiper image in the Nearly All Bird Photographers Stayed Home on a Wild Windy Weather Morning … blog post here.

The Lesson: When you are too close for the FABI, go in for the tight splashing shot.

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome and appreciated.

with love, artie

[Colin Driscoll]

Lovely tones in this Artie, and the action is well captured. I'm sure you would have loved the bird to have the eye open.

[Arthur Morris]

Lovely tones in this Artie, and the action is well captured. I'm sure you would have loved the bird to have the eye open.

Thanks, Colin. I could have grabbed an open eye from another of the many in the series but when they are splashing and thrashing the eyes are most often closed or are protected by the nictitating membrane so I opted to go with what it was.

with love, a

[Brian Sump]

Artie, really fun action captured here. The soft color palette and feel works very nicely.

Love the pop of neutrals in the plumage. Eye closed or open, yeah I mean it would be great but this totally fits with the behavior.

I could also see one with a pano crop. Looks like you were indeed close, much crop?

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks, Bri. A tiny crop.

with love, a

[John Mack]

The splashing is great. Low angle right on. I could see more room behind the bird. I watched one of your Youtube videos. Could have swore I saw a side lit great egret.

[Glenn Conlan]

Great image, love the closed eye!

[Kurt Bowman]

Love the action and low POV on this one. The eye is fine with me, it matches the behavior. Nice work!