Dr Isaac Vaisman, PPSA  

New Born Spoonbill by Dr Isaac Vaisman, PPSA

June 2022 - New Born Spoonbill

June 2022 - Dr Isaac Vaisman, PPSA

Original

About the Image(s)

Last month we were in a roll showing spoonbills and matting alligators. This month I want to show a combination of both: matting spoonbills. This image was created last month at the Alligator Farm in St Augustin – Florida during an activity of the Central Florida Chapter of the PSA of which Erik and I are members. April is a very busy month with the birds setting nest and matting and taking care of the new born. This image was created using the Nikon D850 with the Nikkor prime 800 mm f/5.6 on a tripod with a gimbal and using these settings: ISO 500, f/8 and 1/1600 sec + 1/3 EC
The image was PP in LightRoom and cropped. An additional image is included labeled original for additional story telling fast forward a couple of months, where we have mama and papa spoonbill taking care of the chick which is eating directly from mama’s esophagus after she regurgitates processed food

This round’s discussion is now closed!
10 comments posted

Vella Kendall   Vella Kendall
Terrific family photo. The eyes are sharp, did not realize that the baby would have blu eyes. Does the father also feed the chick? Beautiful colors.   Posted: 06/03/2022 18:58:38
Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
Yes Vella, I have seen both parents feeding the chicks   Posted: 06/06/2022 06:06:35
Guy Davies   Guy Davies
Quite a remarkable shot, if a little confusing at first. I spent a bit of time trying to sort out what was going on but after reding your description it all became clear. You have caught the action beautifully in great detail.   Posted: 06/04/2022 08:03:13
Ian Chantler   Ian Chantler
Hi Isaac
The groups ability to capture the most stunning nature images never fails to astound me,obviously you were back a long way so as not to disturb the birds but also the use of an 800mm tells me that,the sharpness is outstanding the strong colours beautifully handled and you have caught the moment outstanding image.   Posted: 06/07/2022 15:58:37
R Gary Butler   R Gary Butler
Amazing shot Isaac! I don't think I have ever seen this type of feeding occur. I really appreciate the "when" and"where" information. I would like to get to some of the places that you and Erik visit.

To get the three birds all in focus at f/8 I assume that you were over 100' away and possibly over 150' away. How significant was the crop and do you still have plenty of pixels remaining in the original image?

Have you entered this in any Central Florida, F3C or PSA exhibitions as yet? If so how has it done?   Posted: 06/15/2022 12:17:26
Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
Gary, I am away from home until Friday. I will send the original so you can see the amount of cropping. Yes, sometimes the birds feeding can be quite dramatic as you can see here a Carmorant feeding the chick, the head completely inside the throat   Posted: 06/15/2022 15:11:08
Comment Image
Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
Gary, correction the metadata stated is for the spoonbills mating. The information on this image is Nikon Z9 with the 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 and the added 1.4x zTC at 420 mm, ISO 100, f/8 and 1/800 sec. Here the image out of camera with no PP. I did send this image to the Alligator Farm photo contest. On a local Camera Club monthly competition, "the judge" gave a low score stating that the birds were not "visible complete" in the frame....   Posted: 06/19/2022 05:53:44
Comment Image
R Gary Butler   R Gary Butler
Isaac, It is truly amazing the variability in the judging of images that occurs. But I guess that's human nature. For me I think your shot is a very good one. It seems to me that you've included all the important parts of the adult and baby bird that make the image.

I have an Osprey shot on which I originally included the entire adult male bringing the fish home to his family. Every time I submitted the entire photo it got rejected. So after some advice I cropped it down and literally took out the ends of both of the wings of the adult bird and it's now been accepted by 10 times. So you never know!   Posted: 06/19/2022 07:09:18
Erik Rosengren   Erik Rosengren
I spent a lot of time with this family as well Isaac. They offered many photo ops over a 6-day period. This is a strong Nature story complimented by your sharp image offering perfect color.   Posted: 06/18/2022 19:51:50
Bill Buchanan   Bill Buchanan
The Alligator Farm is a terrific place to shoot birds. I did that a few years ago. Although this image has a good story, the added bird in the background creates some visual confusion. Your image is sharp, and the colors are well rendered.   Posted: 06/29/2022 13:37:14