 There we go. All right. Everybody enjoy Nick Ledley touch the wild photos calm. We're fighting on through zoom bombings Let's keep the range the burning festival going Turn it over to you Nick. Okay. Good morning everybody and thank you for coming. It's great to see over a hundred people here. Um This presentation was actually listed as Um on wildlife photography, but it basically centers on birds, but I will alert you there was one token mammal photo in there So anyway, let's get started If you see me moving my cursor, that's me simply changing screens or using the cursor as a pointer So I apologize if that's a distraction Getting started in bird photography and I title this there's no place like home because that's exactly how I got started Doing this was right in my own backyard and that's where I'm going to start talking about how to approach bird photography Come on mouse. There we go. Um One of the key things is provide natural-looking perches which are set up near feeding stations It makes for much more natural-looking photos if you do provide the natural-looking perches If you do so use what's available in your yard Position near what attracts the birds which means either food or water and Watch the background behind your perches To make sure that it's not a distraction from the actual photos of the birds itself And if I'm going too fast people, please let me know Um Position any perches you set up near cover So that way if a predator comes through they can duck for protection I've had this happen in my backyard with northern strikes That have flown in near my feeders and the birds all scatter My feeders are all positioned near cover so that they have a chance to go high Uh watch for natural perches that they use because often they'll return to them near the feeders Before flying into the feeders Both of these photos were taken in my backyard Obviously after an ice storm on property. I used to own down in whitefield um One of the great ways to find birds is Looking for a sit spot And if you're not familiar with the term sit spot there's a book I recommend called what the robin knows by john young which is j o and it is well worth reading On ways to approach and interact with wildlife in a safe and manner um When you're setting up a sit spot look at the surroundings Um, do you have fairly clear lines of sight? To where the birds are coming in from Mind how the sun goes meaning where your light source is positioned If you look at these two images on this slide Both of these locations were selected in such a way that the sun is either coming in from my behind me Or from one side And these were both spots where I was attempting to photograph winter rents um Select your sit spots based on behavior Um If you look at the top image in this slide This is the exact spot where the picture of this winter rent was taken And the reason I selected this spot was for two reasons if you see This cedar and this bird tree here. That's where I actually set up the camera And the reason being is that having those tree trunks I may tended to break up my shape And the bird was consistently moving up and down this trunk right here or perching up on these roots Of this upturned tree feeding Um, another thing when selecting sit spots is to create Blinds much like this one Now this blind was obviously created just by me piling up whatever debris was located at the site It's not so much designed To hide me to a certain extent or more just to break up my shape I don't really tend to be blind like this where I'm completely enclosed Because it interferes with my peripheral vision So I can't really see where the bird's coming in from which is sometimes critical Because often when they come into a perch Or a swat like where this rent was singing They don't always stay there long. So the more peripheral vision you have the better in creating these blinds This blind was sort of designed multipurpose that I could either hide behind it Or could sit in front of it and would break up my shape because the bird would constantly come in on a path That was from behind the blind around to in front of it which is the angle that I'm looking at Right now Um, this is really just a very brief slide show. I'll be actually out in the field talking about how I evaluate locations For bird photography. I will foreword you. I'm not going to win any jobs for voiceovers in this thing And this is the first video I've ever put together. So please bear with me. It's probably going to run three to four minutes Large wide open area Which is the reason that I like it The particular cost I'm standing in It's partially shaded and the reason I kind of set my tripod up Just being in the shade makes me a little bit less noticeable to the birds and I've got All this vegetation and the limbs right here behind me would break up my shape I'll avoid standing in front of this wider area right here Because that puts me in silhouette and makes my movement Just a bit more noticeable than if I'm standing in the shade The sun is basically coming in from about 90 degrees to my right which provides side lighting my favorite lights the area behind the camera that I'm facing is the stand of Bruce and small deciduous trees that aren't terribly high So if a bird comes in and lands in it, I'm not shooting as really an angle Let's take a walk around We're about this location and why I choose to be here Now we're looking at the spot I mentioned in the first part of the video where the birds come in to feed and sing Standing in the shaded spot where I set up the tripod You'll note that it's a fairly short distance between myself and the trees There's a little to nothing in the way you interfere with sight lines or being able to focus on the bird And the trees are not too tall. So I'm not shooting in the extreme upward angle, which I really don't like So let's take a walk around and look at the rest of this area Now you're getting a clear view of the edge habitat that makes this one so effective for bird photography There are clear sight lines, nothing to interfere with all of I can easily position myself to get the birds in the best light Oftentimes in spots like this I'll pick a sit spot In one of these seated areas where I'll stand and observe and photograph the birds for up to 20 to 30 minutes at a time Depending upon their activity level In the next segment, we're going to move on to a different location Because a key element to be considered when selecting your bird photography spot Here we are at our second location a small palm tucked up in the leaf I really like this spot because its orientation allows me to get the birds in good early morning light It's just large enough time far enough away from the birds to not spook them But still close enough to get them large enough in the frame Hover nearby and plenty of perches along the edge of the pond so I can get reflection shots if possible It's also shallow enough in certain spots along the edges to provide the birds the places to come in to bathe and to drink Open stands of the city of hardwoods such as this one A location that I come to fairly frequently for the thrush not hatch And woodpecker species along the room It provides really good sight lines nice soft light They don't work very well for warbors because most of them are feeding up fairly high in the canopy That's a really steep angle to photograph from One that I don't think ones themselves Very well pools such as this one to my left offer really good opportunities for bird photography It has very clearly defined the edge habitat Good sight lines the source of water and the mix of coniferous and deciduous trees surrounding the fertile pool Will attract various species of birds Okay, so that covers over basically how I select locations to photograph birds These are slightly some of the high points of that So people want to take notice of this will certainly be available publicly Once made automatically get some posted a couple of things I didn't go over in the video Some which Doug Hitchcock's mentioned yesterday is logging cuts Are a really prime spot to find birds Because they've gotten various strata of levels of vegetation that the birds like And look for trails or woods roads that cut along the sides of a hill And the reason for that is that allows you into a view into higher parts of the canopy sometimes on the downhill slope Where the birds are likely to be feeding Um, if any of you are familiar with the whistle stop trail in farmington The beginning of that between the parking lot and the bridge at the west farmington end is a really good example Because it slopes off very steeply on either side of that and you can sometimes get a look Into the higher parts of the canopy Where the birds are feeding one thing that's really critical when selecting your location spot Is be mindful of the birds fight or flight distance The closer you try and get to them The less comfortable they're going to be And they won't keep returning back to the same spot where they sometimes come to purge to feed Or to sing When photographing birds I've often heard said to do this effectively you have to become a bit of a naturalist This is why a little knowledge goes a long way when photographing birds um One key thing to do In selecting a spot to photograph is watch for their territorial movement Both these birds is savannah sparrow and this common yellow throat Will returnly return routinely return to these spots Time and time again to sit there and sing So positioning yourself Along their routine flight path around their territories is a really good way To position yourself to get really good effective photos of the birds observe their behaviors preening and Hunting much like this Thrush here or this hooded warbler always make for really interesting photos observe their behaviors Hunting and feeding are really good examples In the case of this right turnstone on a beach down in florida It's going through routine behavior of Looking the sand of looking for what it's feeding on Or as with this great blue heron or this osprey also down on florida They also make for really interesting photos as to pergo bird just sitting stagnantly nesting always makes photos Whether the bird is actually sitting on a nest as with this snowy plover taken down in florida Or with this female common yellow throat who's actually bringing in nesting material Which is taken in range Again, this involves sitting in one spot just watching and waiting and knowing that they're going to keep returning in and along that path Or as with this common loon Uh, this is actually one spot right in the dump sitting one day for eight hours straight in the middle of a marsh area Getting eaten alive by bugs to get photos like this Or as with these two yellow warblers, which are taken out in the geemarsh area in Ohio Coming in building their nest So behaviors and activities like that will always take your birds up to a new level Territorial defense Is always a great thing to photograph and that can vary from anything From simply males singing along their territory As in the case of this black-throated green warbler or this snowy plover driving off a ghost crab away from its nest site in florida Bathing is always fun to watch with birds With this sparrow species down in texas or this leased turn also down in florida So behaviors are really key to Capturing good bird photos and one of the best ways to go about doing that is to observe the birds Watch what their routines are what time of day. Do they do it? Where do they tend to do it? Do they return to the same spots to do it? Quirch ship always makes for gray photos As in the case of these two great blue herons or these laughing gobs down in florida Again, it's knowing what time of year they're going to start doing this. We're likely to do it Went wrong way. There we go Preening also always makes for really interesting photos Particularly when they draw their feathers through their bill as in the case of this leaf turn Or in this preening loon interaction Both between adults and young as in the case of these snowy plovers or these royal turns These two males one obviously didn't like the other one being there Interaction watch for that think about telling a story with your bird photos Don't just think about bird portraits. There was absolutely nothing wrong with bird portraits But watch for any and all these behaviors. It will certainly take your bird photography up to a new level capturing flight This is really really challenging Um and It takes a lot of practice to do this One of the key things to watch for is indications that the bird is about to take off The previous slide. Oops. I just go the wrong way Yes, I did. Sorry about that. I need to figure out how to go backwards here Oh, come on. There we go I apologize for that If you watch this photo right here, these rosy and spoon bills are actually engaging in a behavior That is sky-pointing and that indicates that they're about to take flight So again watch for indications of takeoff one of the other sure thing birds are likely to do Is they will actually defecate Right before they're about to take off Just to lighten the load just a little bit So that's another indication they're about to take off um High film speeds or isos are usually essential In order to achieve The shutter speeds fast enough to freeze the birds in motion Normally you want a minimum of one two thousandths of a second or higher Look for an aperture that ensures the eyes are going to be sharp um Use continuous autofocus if possible There are various settings on DSLRs these days I know in the icons they refer to it as Group settings where you can select certain sensors that are active And they'll pass the focus off from one sensor to another As you're moving with the bird. I forget what they call it in canon, but I know that it exists um Use the wind uh to your advantage birds are always going to much like pilots will take on It will take off and land coming into the wind So if you position yourself or you're actually upwind and you get them coming at you Or at least across the wind That's a very effective way to capture them And look up and practice what's known as panning And panning is actually moving With the bird as it's flying usually In a perpendicular path to you Which makes it fun to do your photograph getting them coming at you head on is a bit more challenging But with practice it can be done Okay What is one of the best approaches to using birds My favorite one particularly with these red knots on a beach down in florida Or this and I forget what the name of this bird is but it's taken on a golf course in rangery. I believe it's a horned lark There we go um I tend to know prefer what's known as the low and slow approach Which means getting down as close to with birds like this getting down as close to ground level as possible um Moving slowly as possible Sometimes stealth is not always the best because then you're acting a bit like a predator Particularly so if you're standing up Usually it's still better to move a small amount stop move a small amount stop um using ground plates Is a really really effective way To photograph the birds and keep the camera at above high level for those of you who are not sure what a ground plate is Feel free to contact me. I actually have a link Or I have a blog post on the main autobahn site on how to build one for about $15 Instead of spending all the money to go out and buy one um One of my favorite methods for approaching birds whether i'm crawling on my stomach or Standing up is what I call the 10 move method I probably should call it the five and 10 move method, but 10 moves seems to work What that means is I will take anywhere from five to 10 steps or crawls forward I'll see what the bird does If it continues in its normal behavior be it feeding preening or whatever I will take another five to 10 Steps or crawls forward And see if the bird moves the minute the bird goes on alert You know picks up its head starts looking around Or it moves away from me. That's when I stop. That's when I know I've hit its fight or flight distance Um, a lot of times I'll watch for a return to their usual behavior And then maybe try again, but usually once they've gone on alert and moved If I move again, they're probably likely to spook and fly off. So I Generally don't do that um One of the clearer things is to let them come to you Um, as in the case of these red knots when I was photographing them on the beach in florida They would routinely move up and down the beach So a lot of times if you stayed in one spot, it was reasonably certain Better than 90 chance that they were going to come right back in front of you If you just waited a little bit just a bit of patience goes a long way Excuse me. Um One great way to get photos of birds Is to take to the water It gets you close to the hard to reach places Um This is my kayak actually rigged out to go on a shooting expedition for loons up to the north end of azizka haas lake um Allow acts it allows you access to aquatic species or those that live near the water Loons are a prime example of this. It's the best way to photograph them is to get out on the water um Again, I will stress Don't pursue them around the lake That's like teaching pigs to flock And waste your time and annoys the pig One of the key things with photographing loons is that they Almost routinely move each morning will move in certain paths around the territory One of the best ways to do that is just position yourself On a path where you know, they're likely to be moving and just wait Uh one of the great advantage of shooting on the water particularly in kayaks is that it positions you low So you're almost right down at their level Use wind and current to your advantage the paddle movement will sometimes spook the birds So if you can use mother nature to help you out, that's great As again, this is the one token mammal photo in here There's another great thing about water is it also allows you to approach relatively quietly as opposed to crashing around through the woods And it will allow you to get closer things such as these two moose feeding in the water Or this american bittern taking on the lake where I live up here That's the only time I've actually ever seen it out there And the only time everybody was successfully photograph it was from the water So what makes a really strong bird image? It can be very very simple things Simply as the turn of the head As in the case of this brown prasher Taken to have a panhandle of florida Or with this cattle eager also taken down in florida. So simple things as the turn of the head Um, so the bird's not necessarily looking straight at you If you want to think of it As some passion photographer might is the bird striking a pose So body position has also in the case of this brown prasher right here if you look at The way the tail and the body almost form a line Coming this way The line invisible line coming through the head going this way If you look at the feet position here Again, the body position on this egret Was sort of the the bend in this neck The way it's looking down one side These feathers being extended out here by the wind Um, all that stuff plays into taking your bird photography from being static to somewhat dynamic Uh leg position Makes Simple little changes in leg position can make your bird photos really really interesting Is on those the slight bend in the leg of this bird here How with this blue gray neck catcher one leg is positioned slightly higher than the other one on the stalk Uh again looking at body position the tail is extended and up Think about which way the bird is looking frontal poses with the gaze forward But just in the case of this osprey here We've got one osprey itself. If you look straight ahead The other two are looking down this way So different lines Created by the way they're looking lends itself greatly to the strength of the photos again as with this Reddish egret here, it's basically sort of in what's known as a three-quarter pose So it's not looking sort of straight at me Or with this Like talking just almost turned almost in the full profile pose So always watch for little simple things like the simple turn of a head Or if it lifts its head up So sort of developing your own style. Um Watch for clean backgrounds whenever possible This photo of carolina ren taking down virginia is a really prime example of Uh the background a being relatively clean And far enough away from the bird that it's not a distracting element by any means Also, a lot of things I will look for in my photos again. If you look at the body position It's almost In profile The tail is lifted up. There's a slight difference in the leg position To me that takes this photo up several notches um Look for Lines that lead your eye around the image Uh in the case of this atlantic puffin out on matias seal island um You're looking at the line created by the top of this rock right here Lends to leading your eye around the image and actually back to the bird itself The one thing I probably really don't care for in this image is these distracting elements back here in the background But it was sort of unavoidable because we were sitting in a blind the way you could reposition to maneuver them out of the background Look for frames within the frame that focus attention on Where you want the viewer's eye to go or what looks interesting to you So in the case of this bird here, and again, I'm drawing a blank on the name of this. I apologize You'll notice that it's framed by the willets Around it. So your eye is focused Right in that area it's also combination of The depth of field where the birds in the front and the birds in the back are out of focus Or in the case of this sparrow here where it's framed by the vegetation around it Particularly this area right here Lighting is is always critical and and studying the lighting and how it Makes the birds pier is is really key to this um Silhouette shots like this are always very dramatic Metering for these involves metering actually off the brightest areas of the scene Probably right down in here Even proper exposure for those One of my favorite lights In the case of this cattle egret feeding in the surf is sidelighting It gives really nice shape and texture to birds protected since they tend to have very rounded bodies With not a lot of sharp defining edges to them by any means So I I always like sidelighting The general rule has always been You know photographed with the sun behind you which I follow some of the time But it's not my it's not necessarily my favorite lighting But on mr. Merrick oyster catcher right here This is a really good prime example of what is basically full what's frontal lighting Lighting is usually described in relation to the subject You'll note that It's sort of a really flat almost one-dimensional lighting Not my favorite but Again, it's fairly effective This type of this lighting these american avasets which is down in marriott on national wildlife You'll notice that the sun This is late in the day the sun is basically coming in at a very low angle So in some ways it's almost rim lighting Certain parts of the birds This this is probably actually one of my favorite lightings for birds Is one that provides rim lighting or some degree of fine lighting This is one of my favorite things to do with birds is looking for mirror images As would these two male and female put in a gangster here I love mirror images where one bird is Literally reflecting the position of the other either looking in the same direction as in The case of these two birds down here This american avaset and a blacknext tilt I'm also a real big fan with water birds of getting reflections of them Because again, it's all creating an inverse mirror image As in the case of this pied-billed grieve um When it comes to environmental shots don't You don't always have to get in close to the bird in order for it to be a really effective bird photo um Then these photos of these two loons are a prime example of it never hurts to show Some degree of their environment. It's really effective in telling a story about the birds Or in the case of this silhouetted shot of these brown naughties in sooty turns which was taken out in the dry tortugas national park Don't ever be afraid to think To flip the camera to a vertical frame or a composition Um, this is one thing that really kind of drives me crazy when I see other photographers out in the field And they're always shooting with the camera in horizontal position Um, particularly in photographing the wading birds because they're so Rather tall and elegant that oftentimes shooting with the frame horizontal really doesn't lend itself To them flipping the camera vertical sometimes can make a really big difference Oh, we're actually at the end early. Um, so i'm surely going to open this up to uh questions Comments that sort of thing. Um, if anybody wants to see any particular slides or images again to ask questions Just please, uh, let me know Um, Nick, do you want me to stop screen sharing at this point? Sure, if you'd like to um, you can do that I apologize. I went through that pretty quickly. I was trying to leave time for questions And I may have gone just a little bit too fast. That's all right. It's great to have time for questions. Okay Do you want me to stop sharing? Sure Okay, and let me start let me start you off with a question. Can you tell well first of all, thank you so much Uh, and I want to make sure you have a chance to see where people can tell people where they can see your photos We have just a hint behind you of some of the, uh Stuff up on your store. Yeah, and let me um Uh, well, there's one question here from carl Do you do you use back button focus? Yes, I always use back button focusing I have been using back button focusing for years And it is probably the best auto focusing Uh, or best way to auto focus I find Can you tell me actually what that is? I'm a I'm a neophyte here Back button focusing at least on my Nikon's. Um, let me see if I can get one. I'll show you what back button focusing is Bear with me a second My Nikon's I've used it so much on this camera that all the lettering on the back button focusing button is worn off But if you look at the button That's directly above my finger This is the back button focusing button And what that does is It allows you so that you're focusing and you're firing the shutter becomes basically a thumb and a forefinger operation The advantage to back button focusing is that it allows you to very effectively Move the camera or keep it focused on your birds Um without having to fire the shutter button Almost every nature photographer. I knows no recommends and uses back button focusing I hope that answers the question cool A couple more questions coming in for you Let's see here from john keeter. What speed do you use when panning? John if you mean film speed I will tend To shoot at fairly high ISO is depending upon lighting conditions On average, it's anywhere from 800 to 1200 or 2000 ISO Awesome From Jim Ferrara, what kind of lens do you use for telephoto shots? And actually maybe if I if you want to talk a little bit about your setup in generally, uh, that would be My setup usually depends upon what birds i'm photographing and what they're doing If i'm going for flight shots I will tend to use the big telephotos But they're a little bit Constricting in that they have a fairly narrow field of view. So sometimes it's very hard to keep The lens on a fast moving bird It's really hard to shoot with them handheld because they're heavy So I will tend to photograph moving birds With lenses similar to nikons 200 to 500 millimeter Simply because I can zoom in and out as the bird comes closer on its flight path And it's easy to shoot handheld so it's much easier to pivot This way as opposed to trying to do with the tripod because then you have to worry about tripping over the tripod legs Uh for songbirds my primarily go-to lenses Are 600 meter prime and an 800 millimeter prime Uh for two reasons because they are so skittish that Focusing on them or getting up close to them is really challenging It doesn't mean you have to have those lenses to photograph songbirds I know a lot of people that do it With handheld 200 500 millimeter lenses and they get perfectly acceptable photos Sometimes they've actually even get great photos So it's not always a question of how good the equipment is it's a question of How the quality the the length of the lenses And your approach it's a two-fold thing there next question Did you want to talk a little bit about your typical setups? or different ones you use? Again, my my typical setup if i'm photographing songbirds is either the 600 800 millimeter lens usually shooting with a d850 occasionally with a flash mounted off-camera that has a um I feel it's a it's sort of a flash intensifier. It acts much like the fresnel lens in a lighthouse It focuses the light going out to the side in towards the center Usually i'm not relying on the flash as a main light. I usually tend to use it as a fill just to provide Improves a little bit of contrast. It allows me slightly faster shutter speeds because it's focusing more light in towards the center Um, but that's for songbirds. Those are my primary go-tos Um, I also you use them for shore birds and wading birds also Awesome, uh a question from Hannah McGee When shooting from the water, how do you keep your equipment accessible while keeping it secure from the water? Uh, I tend to carry I will carry my cameras in dry bags in the kayak down in between my legs Um, I try to position the boat so that I'm not Twisting with the camera out over the water though. Sometimes it's necessary. I try to keep the camera Located over the center line of the boat as much as possible But definitely in dry bags Um, either large enough if I'm just transporting in the canoe to get to a location I'll carry them in dry bags or in pelican cases If I'm in the kayak, I have a small dry bag that fits down in between my legs Very cool. Um from Barbara peskin. Do you you pinpoint focus or area focus? Uh Usually I will pinpoint focus unless I'm trying to photograph birds that are in motion and then I'll use What is called group focus which I'm pretty certain is Close to what she's referring to as area focus group focus means that there's a select number of sensors that are active at any given time And there's one that is always the prime sensor But if the bird moves the autofocus will pass the focus From the prime sensor off to one of the ones On either side above or below So the answer is I use both but it depends upon the situation great A really interesting question here from christine rogers Um, do you have any stories of the one that got away? The one that got away Um And as a photographer, let me say all the time i'm I finally get the thing up It's in focus as soon as I it's finally there to flies away. I feel like that's constantly happening to me Oh There are so many of those stories that they're numerous that they probably outweigh all the successes um If I if I have to pick The one bird That consistently gets away from me It's the canada warbler I can't tell you how many times I have come This close Getting that bird and just the last minute poof gone Yep It's sort of a similar question. Do you have a species sort of a dream species? Yeah, the peng was an Antarctica pick a species Any of those Yep Is there a favorite bird that you like to to track down sort of one that you you know favorite bird? Actually I would have to say that probably comes down to either Black cap chickadees or gray jays Or canada jays as they're technically known now I believe They just have such wonderful personalities. Yeah I totally agree with you um from David Miller, what is one of your favorite photos you've ever taken or and what made it your favorite? Uh Actually, I would have to say That probably the favorite in terms of being most memorable Comes from a trip to Africa in 2001 With very early morning in the Masai Mara With about five-year-old male lion walking through the grass directly towards the van And actually I can show you the picture hold on Actually for those of you who can see it It's That picture right there And that's the actual picture that is not cropped in And how far away were you? Uh 30 to 40 feet A standing in a van with a hatch that opened up in the top And I will tell you when A lion looks at you. You know, you've been looked at. Yeah Holy moly. That's probably the most memorable photo ever is that one right there I was actually so stunned at watching approach the guy that reached over and punched me in the shoulder and said Nick take a picture Did the lion just retreat after that or or uh, he actually just what he would Was one of two brothers that were the same size And you could hear them they were walking along going Calling for the females and he walked literally around the back of the van about 10 feet away from it and just kept right on going Man, oh man. That's very cool. Not something you have to worry about and rangerly. Thankfully, uh, that's great um A couple more questions here one, uh from susan Uh, tell us about the images behind you on the wall. Uh, which image is she asking about? I'm not sure but we see that we see some leaves and it leaves some some water Uh, yeah the waterfall up there. Okay, the brown one. She says the brown one looks like leaves Brown, okay the leaves that's a macro shot that was taken on the national mall in washington dc No way one fall um, and it's actually Some foliage is starting to sort of dry up And it's actually covered in frost Lovely if I get up close to it Maybe you can see it a bit better I'm trying to juggle it. I'm not pulling the power cord out of the computer here Of course part of the sofa is in the way But oh susan says amazing. That's where she is right now Uh, is that is that photonic available on your website? Touch the wild photos.com. I believe so. Yes. If not, it will be All right, great Another question from Valerie Any thoughts about the newer mirrorless cameras or sticking with dslr's? Uh, I'm looking at the new mirrorless cameras one reason being for their weight the one drawback I find with the mirrors at this point is that Pretty much my current list of lenses Aren't designed to work on them unless you get some sort of an adapter. Yeah um, and I'm not Really comfortable with that idea at this point. I've got so much money invested in what I've gotten now um, I'm certain at some point a mirrorless is going to be Somewhere down the road. I'm just not there yet I in terms of image quality I've talked to friends of mine in the uk that use mirrorless and or one friend in particular He swears by it I've heard a lot of people sort of really growing in attraction if you actually because they because they pulled off that filter that goes over the There's no mirror in it. So it's basically a direct line of sight straight onto the sensor Yeah, I believe that there are, you know, definite improvements in the image resolution But I haven't looked into it that seriously Gotcha So 1050 I see Um, any other questions for nick? We got a few minutes left and I want to thank you all again for fighting through the craziness of Uh, a couple hours ago. Um, we are back in stronger than ever Nothing shakes us here. We have another question. Yeah, what do you think of tele extenders tele extenders? um I use them on occasion. I avoid the two x tele extenders like the plague Simply simply the the reason being is um The it degrades the image quality too much to use one of those things. It's too much. You're adding too much glass Or too much more glass in between your subject of the image. I do use the one four and the one seven occasionally But with using those things you really have to be very careful about um vibration going up and down the lens barrel and you want to be um very careful about because you're extending The length of the lens you want to make sure that your shutter speeds are fast enough to avoid Any vibration up and down the lens barrel causing uh sharpness issues Interesting What is the best week to see loons with babies safely for pictures? Um, Albert first, I hope that answered your question about tele extenders. If not, please let me know What is the best week to see loons with so if you want to photograph baby loons from a safe distance, of course, uh, as she clarified When would you want to do that? And I can Say, um, it's about it's in july generally, right? I would generally say in early july Um And again, that's the situation or you have to approach them very very very carefully Um, that's where the fight or flight distance really comes into it. Is that photograph of that nesting loon? That was a bird that I had spent a great deal of time Observing and I knew exactly how close I could get to that nest without spooking them But in general if you're looking for a time Uh, I don't know early july but bear in mind that usually if they've got two chicks the chicks usually catch about 24 hours apart And within a matter of hours of the second chick hatching usually within 24 hours They will abandon the nest site And they'll take the chicks out into a nursery cove some layer In which case you're then going to have to get out in the water and photograph them um Do you print your photos in your shop? That's everything except the panoramas. Yes Okay, um any, um How much aftershocks processing do you use? How much aftershocks aftershocks processing is? So not much I guess is the answer there Um, but to sort of answer that question. I keep my processing down to the bare minimum possible Uh, I I subscribe to the theory that it's best to get it right in camera to spend as little time in front of the computer as possible Um, that's fun oven bird tips uh for oven birds Um find spots similar to that part of the slideshow if you didn't see it I'll be happy to share it with you again where they have It's our open stands of deciduous trees is probably one of the best spots to look for oven birds Uh, get in there observe where the birds are Watch how they tend to move around if they have certain perches they Um come to regularly within their territory Find one of those spots sit there and wait Um, you can chase oven birds around through a spot like that all day long And you'll probably end up with nothing but frustration Um, interesting question from Kayla. Um, why do you take photos? Uh, that's a really good question. It's a deep question, man That's a very deep question. I guess to answer that question as succinctly as possible. It's in my blood um Years ago when a family passed away, we went out to new york and I discovered that my paternal grandfather whom I actually never knew While being a physician by trade was a very skilled amateur photographer So and since I first started taking photographs When I was in college I got hooked and I've been hooked ever since That's great. Um, let's see here So any other questions? We have a few minutes left. Um And I've put let me put it again. Um, hope I don't have it up Um, I've put nick's website in the chat a couple times. Let me get it again Um, and you have a store in town. Is that right nick? Tell us where you are right now That is correct. I actually run a gallery located here on main street rangelie Which is open seasonally throughout the spring summer and fall um When I'm not here, I actually spend winters down in florida I have a partner who lives on sanibel island and we lead bird photography tours and workshops And along the gulf coast of florida, particularly in the sanibel fort meyers area um So yes, that's pretty much what I do in a nutshell Um all all the information about um The workshops is on my website. I see barba had a question about photo workshops this summer Yes, I do have workshops scheduled Um, generally those tend to be scheduled when it's uh When people can get up here, uh, I'm generally available for those on sunday monday and tuesday of each week awesome, um Debra, there were 34 slides in this show actually 35 because the one with the video was new All right Well nick lidley, I want to thank you so much for joining us. This is fantastic Um, we really look forward next year for you giving a sort of an You know in-person walk photography demonstration. We were really excited to Do an on-the-ground rings birding festival photography workshop slash walk slash cool stuff So, uh, stay tuned for next year. Please come up to the range of birding festival If anybody has any questions, please feel free to contact me through my website And I would be more than happy to arrange a sort of a one-on-one zoom A discussion with anybody if they want to do so All right, awesome. Thank you very much nick Um, and we'll we have a few minutes left. So we'll um just hold on here And in just a few minutes brian olson from the university of maine is going to come on to give his Keynote which i'm very thrilled about I saw him come on and so he's ready to go So, um, everybody if we could just thank nick one more time That would be really great Thank you everybody. Thank you