Posted by Richard Ditch on October 2, 2011 at 7:15 PM
Anna's Hummingbird(Calypte anna) on negative edge water feature
Place: Boyce Thompson Arboretum, AZ
Date: September 30, 2011
Equipment: Nikon D300, Nikkor AF-S 300/2.8, TC20E (2x), Gitzo 1325, RRS BH55, Sidekick, SB-800
Exposure: ISO 400, Aperture priority matrix metered 1/60th at f/10
Raw, PS CS3 on Mac G4, 76% of frame
There's been some curiosity about the setting of my current post in the Avian Gallery, so I thought I’d post this image to give everyone a better understanding of the situation.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum is an AZ State Park near the small mining town of Superior, about 60 miles east of Phoenix. I've been going there regularly since moving to AZ in 1994, and I've been a volunteer at the park since about 2001 leading weekend bird walks. It's a good place to see birds that aren't common to the desert around Phoenix, but a difficult place to get photos of them.
I've had most success at a handful of man made water features there – two of them are so-called "negative edge" basins where the water jets up in the center of a round bowl and cascades over the edge to be collected below the bowl.
This is the newer of the two and only recently has it been attracting birds – mostly migrant Warbling Vireos, resident Lesser Goldfinches, and wintering sparrows that have just arrived.
This water feature is set in a fairly open area with a few small shrubs nearby and larger trees that block a lot of the light. I've shot here now three times in the past couple of weeks and am experimenting with light and exposure. I've tried natural light at ISO 800, natural light with a gold reflector, and fill from a remotely mounted flash (used for this image).
Posted by Dennis Plank on October 3, 2011 at 10:44 AM
Discussion
1 repliesPlace: Boyce Thompson Arboretum, AZ
Date: September 30, 2011
Equipment: Nikon D300, Nikkor AF-S 300/2.8, TC20E (2x), Gitzo 1325, RRS BH55, Sidekick, SB-800
Exposure: ISO 400, Aperture priority matrix metered 1/60th at f/10
Raw, PS CS3 on Mac G4, 76% of frame
There's been some curiosity about the setting of my current post in the Avian Gallery, so I thought I’d post this image to give everyone a better understanding of the situation.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum is an AZ State Park near the small mining town of Superior, about 60 miles east of Phoenix. I've been going there regularly since moving to AZ in 1994, and I've been a volunteer at the park since about 2001 leading weekend bird walks. It's a good place to see birds that aren't common to the desert around Phoenix, but a difficult place to get photos of them.
I've had most success at a handful of man made water features there – two of them are so-called "negative edge" basins where the water jets up in the center of a round bowl and cascades over the edge to be collected below the bowl.
This is the newer of the two and only recently has it been attracting birds – mostly migrant Warbling Vireos, resident Lesser Goldfinches, and wintering sparrows that have just arrived.
This water feature is set in a fairly open area with a few small shrubs nearby and larger trees that block a lot of the light. I've shot here now three times in the past couple of weeks and am experimenting with light and exposure. I've tried natural light at ISO 800, natural light with a gold reflector, and fill from a remotely mounted flash (used for this image).