This weekend I spent at the salt marsh and also a new local at pouch camp. It was an early day starting out at the salt marsh timing the tides with sunrise. Thankfully low tide was around 7:30am so I could have the tide still receding as I ventured through the marsh. I put on my wellingtons (petroleum knee high boots) and carefully worked my way through the marsh. Many people walk into this marsh unaware of what they may be stepping on. All these grasses as well as fauna are all important to the biodiversity and food chain of the area. There are often thousands upon thousands of snails and tons of crab just below your feet. Not to mention the polychaetes and other annelids (worms) below the surface. Might not be our idea of a tasty treat, but it sure is to many birds and other species that share this habitat.
So as I arrived to my surprise there was a great egret, two snowy egrets, and three little blue herons. Really cool to see for size comparison and just plain fun to photograph.
Depth of field was tough on this one, but it was just enough to pull the little blue and great egret into sharp focus leaving the snowy egret a tad soft. I spent at least an hour taking my time shooting and getting ever so closer. These three birds love to fly away from you at very far distances. I often find the trick is to take your time (although I know that isn’t easy when you are eager to shoot) and use your camera as a blind. Make short movements that are slow from beginning to end. They need to realize you aren’t a threat and mean no harm to them. Shoot a few frames every time you approach. Don’t just wait until you can achieve eyeball shots. They may fly before you get there and you will have nothing, plus it helps the birds get used to the sound of your shutter. I find ripping real fast the first time is also not a good idea. A loud noise going fast and continuously is a good way to spook’em. If you make a slight mistake they don’t always take off in the other direction, sometimes just a little hop in their air to another near by location.
You don’t want to lose concentration and think the game is over. These are opportunities not to be missed. They can often provide flight shots at slower speeds easier to catch then the bird coming at or near you. Hard to tell the difference of a bird flying five feet or half a mile. Flying is flying to most viewers. Don’t go spooking them on purpose to get this shot however. It isn’t very nice; plus they often do this as they move from one hunting location to the next. All good things come to those who wait they say. Being prepared can make it all come to fruition.
After the marsh I decided to see what was hanging out at one of the fresh water ponds. On my way I could see nothing hanging out, but the usual mallards. However there was a cotton tail! A common bunny, but they sure are a pain in the ass to photograph. They have a nearly 360 degree angle of view making sneaking up on these suckers nearly impossible. The trick? walk like your 100 years old. No offense to the elderly, but it is the only thing that seems to work. Well there is one other thing, but I’ll mention that later. I had to approach this bunny walking incredibly slow across asphalt and a grass field. Not much cover. This was as close as I could get to him after 10 min of effort. A decent habitat catch, but I wanted more.
A bit disappointed I decided to head out of the park and meet up with my friend Seth to work on the Staten Island Dragonfly Atlas. On the drive out I thought I saw something. Looked odd, but I moved on for another hundred feet questioning if I should turn around. Instead of regretting it later I did a u-turn and headed back. What did I find? Another cotton tailed rabbit! I pulled over onto the grass real slow (silent hybrid prob helped a bit) and began shooting from the car. Thought my other trick was capturing them? Nah. I use the car as a blind whenever I can. Due to what we have done to our environment animals have become accustomed to cars being around and fear them a bit less then the humans that are in them.
I caught him with a mouth full. He continued for what must have been a good twenty minuted just going about his business. Lucky me a park ranger didn’t come by as it is part of the national parks system :-\. Oh, the things we do for Photography.
My last treat of the day was coming upon this eastern painted turtle spotted by Seth along out dragonfly walk in Pouch Camp with dragonfly expert Paul. She appeared to be looking for a place to lay her eggs. Not wanting to disturb her all that much I patiently sat for a while to gain a comfort level with her.
I was shooting with my 150mm macro giving me the ability to shoot macro photography at a further distance then shorter lenses. This exposure was done with ambient light opposed to my next shot which I used flash fill for.
I dialed down the flash unit to around 1 2/3 stop on my SB-800. I had the flash dome diffuser on and tilted to the side away from my subject. I wanted to dial the flash down enough so that it wouldn’t dominate and be apparent that it was used. Flash fill can be useful for certain subjects in areas of shade and to remove color cast. The goal is to not to blast your subject. We want to to look as if we never used it. Pouch Camp is private property so do please receive permission before walking its grounds. Hope your weekend brought pleasant surprises for you as well.
