Florida Dreaming
Florida Dreaming
Today with the winter chills here in NY, it is a moment for Florida Dreaming of the wildlife at the Ritch Grisson Memorial and this snowy egret as he skims over the wetlands searching for a small meal.
The Technical Layer
To read additional technical and location content please click on the tabs below.
Technical: Camera Settings
Technical: How & Gear
My favorite combination for bird photography is a Nikon D series body and the 200-400 with a 2.0 teleconverter. Next, bump the Iso to bring up the shutter speed to 1/500sec or above, the camera will set the aperture to f/8, and you are good for some handheld shooting. I tend to shoot in aperture priority mode, especial in uneven light, but if the light is a constant strength, I’ll opt for shutter priority.
Technical: Location & Inspiration
Bird photography at the Ritch Grisson Memoria in Viera, Florida is opportunity rich. There are so many birds migrating thru that you will find all sort of species swimming, flying, singing and perching. An example was this pleasant surprise of finding a small flock of hooded Merganser’s pruning and displaying their feather in the early morning sunlight. It is fun to walk the wetland trails during the evening as flocks of pink spoonbills and white ibis return to their rookeries.
Technical: Craft
For the most part, my wildlife images will remain faithful to the point of capture click. In this picture, I made adjustments to the white balance because my in-camera picture control setting of ‘vivid’ seemed to make the feathers and water muddy. Mastering birds in flight (BIF) photography is a technique that improves with practice and activity, and this image is centered just a tad to much for my liking.
