Zoom Zoom: ISO

Back in the day, before SD cards, cameras used a kind of memory stick that usually came in a little canister and they called it film. Different kinds of film had different speeds, indicating how much light it needed for exposure. “Faster” film required less light, but was grainier and “slow” film required more light but had better quality.

Today, digital cameras usually have a setting called ISO which controls the sensitivity of the sensor. Although the technology is totally different, the effect is the same. Lower ISO gives better image quality, using higher ISO lets you get photos in lower light (or with a faster shutter speed), but makes your images noisier.

ISO is one area in which cameras vary widely. Newer cameras are much better at taking decent images at higher ISO and cameras with small sensors, like point and shoot cameras, are often pretty bad (although also improving every year). For this reason, I can’t specify the proper ISO. In general, though, use low ISO if you can, and test your camera to see what ISO settings still produce usable images.

If you look closely, you can see the graininess of this high-ISO photo.
If you look closely (click to enlarge), you can see the graininess of this high-ISO photo.

Also, keep in mind, if you are cropping an image, high-ISO noise will be much more noticeable, and if you do lots of adjustments to your photos on the computer, many of these, like sharpening, may make high-ISO noise even more apparent. And, of course, if you are making images primarily for sharing in low resolution online, noise from using a high ISO may not be visible at all.

Sharpening accentuates noise from using a high ISO.
Sharpening accentuates noise from using a high ISO.

Zoom Zoom: Aperture

I propose that aperture, the size of the hole where light is entering the camera, is the least important setting for this type of photography. Having a big opening lets lots of light in, which is great if you are only opening the shutter for a very short moment of time. However, there are some downsides to this.

First, most lenses are “soft” when you shoot them “wide open.” In normal speech, it means if you have the aperture open all the way, your images will not be as sharp. The best sharpness usually starts a couple “stops” smaller than the maximum.

Wider apertures also give less depth of field. Sometimes photographers limit the depth of field intentionally so only a small amount of the photo is in focus, but this isn’t necessarily a good idea for bird photography. For birds, it is often nice if the eye and the bill are both in focus. A very small depth of field also means that any slight error or movement and your subject may be out of that narrow in-focus band. Because of physics (optics specifically) cameras with smaller sensors, like any point and shoot camera, will have greater depth of field, so this is only really an issue for cameras with large sensors like DSLRs.

This heron was shot with a wide open aperture. Possibly not as sharp as it could be, but not bad, either.
This heron was shot with a wide open aperture. Possibly not as sharp as it could be, but not bad, either.
With the aperture brought down a couple stops the image is slightly sharper and some details, like the skin on the legs, are in better focus.
With the aperture brought down a couple stops the image is slightly sharper and some details, like the skin on the legs, are in better focus.

That said, one can get great photos even at the widest aperture. The loss of sharpness won’t be as much of a problem as blurriness from a photo with a shutter speed that is too slow. If I have enough light I will always try to shoot a few stops down, but this is the first thing I compromise when I don’t have enough light.

As a side note, the difference between the two images in this post is much easier to see at full size. This also means that if you are primarily taking photos to share online, the aperture you’re using probably won’t matter.

Zoom Zoom: Shutter Speed

Of all the camera settings, shutter speed is probably the most important when you are zoomed in. Normally, when I’m photographing birds, I use shutter priority, meaning I set the shutter speed I want/need and let the camera adjust the aperture to get the right exposure. The shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open and light is reaching your camera sensor (or film). The faster the speed, the more you can freeze motion, either yours or your subject’s.

One rule of thumb is to have a shutter speed the inverse of the length of you lens in millimeters. By this measure, when I’m maxing out my zoom lens at 400mm, my shutter speed should be 1/400th of a second. Some cameras/lenses have image stabilization, which reduces the impact of your movement. This allows you to reduce your shutter speed if your subject isn’t moving.

You can figure out what shutter speed works for you with a little bit of testing. When you look at an image, if everything is blurry, that’s your motion. If only your subject is blurry, that’s probably their motion. Find the shutter speed that lets you consistently take clear photos when zoomed in.

Motion blur caused by camera movement and a slow shutter speed.
Motion blur caused by camera movement and a slow shutter speed.
Motion blur caused by a moving subject, only the fast-moving parts are blurry.
Motion blur caused by a moving subject, only the fast-moving parts are blurry.

If it freezes your motion and the motion of your subject, why not just use a super fast shutter speed all the time? A fast shutter speed doesn’t let in much light, so you need a bright day or you need to adjust your aperature and ISO to get a good exposure. Although the other settings are not necessarily as crucial, they are also important, as we will find out.

Getting Close: Too Close

I would say it’s a rare problem, but sometimes you can be too close! In this photo of a Lesser Antillean Bullfinch, I was focused on getting sharp detail in her face and didn’t even realize her legs and tail were being cut off. It seems like a silly mistake, but it’s rare that a bird is spilling out of the frame, especially a small one. For most of my bird photos I’m doing at least some cropping on the computer. I guess lesson here is that even though getting close may be the most important task facing a bird photographer, you can’t afford to ignore the other aspects of your shot.

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Getting Close: Start with Big Birds

It’s an obvious tip, but it works. If you are having trouble getting close enough to little birds, try taking photos of big birds, like pelicans, frigatebirds and egrets. You can take photographs from five times as far when you’re photographing a bird that’s five times as big as another bird. This is probably one of the reasons why there are so many photos of iguanas on St. Martin even though most of the other lizards on the island are much more interesting in many ways.

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Getting Close: Curiosity

Even though getting close to birds usually requires being as inconspicuous and unthreatening as possible, sometimes curiosity can work in your favor. This juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron definitely noticed me, and was scoping me out pretty intently. For the photographer, this is a much better situation that a bird flying away immediately, but it is still best to move slowly lest you tip the balance between curiosity and fear.

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For songbirds, there is a technique called pishing, which is mimicking bird calls to attract birds. There are a few theories why it works. The “pish” sound (and various other ones) may sound like an alarm call given when a predator is noticed, or a distress call from a young bird. Whatever the exact reason, a variety of small birds, like the Yellow Warbler below, will come to investigate this sound. If other people see you doing this you may seem a bit strange, but it can be a great way to get close-up shots of birds that are otherwise hard to see.

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Getting Close: Groups and Pairs

There are many different reasons why you might want to photograph a group of birds. Sometimes you just can’t get close enough to make a compelling photo of a single bird, but you can get something good by featuring multiple birds in the same photo. Four Short-billed Dowitchers make for a nice photo even at a distance where a single one would be a bit skimpy.

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Even just adding a second bird lets you zoom out a bit on a composition that would otherwise have too much empty space, as you can see with the pair of American Coots, a species that is often difficult to approach.

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When you are photographing a group or pair—because you’re too far away or for any reason—you do want to figure out which individual bird is the focal point of the photo. In most cases, only one bird is going to be fully in focus, and usually it’s the closest one to you. There are exceptions. Sometimes the biggest or most interesting bird is in the background and should be the focal point, and sometimes you can get a good focus on multiple birds. If the birds are moving, the “star” of the shot may be changing quickly.

Getting Close: Obstructed Views

The first column in the Bird Shots series for Bird Watch SXM in The Daily Herald’s Weekender focuses on getting close to birds. As you can see in this photo, nature often provides an impromptu bird blind at the right moment. In this case, it was a group of trees. Partially hidden, it was possible to get pretty close to this juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

In this situation, one has the option to shoot through the vegetation, use the vegetation to get close before stepping out for a clear shot, or doing both. I would recommend at least trying a few shots while partially obstructed by vegetation. Practically-speaking, stepping out to get the clear shot may scare the bird off before you get any clear shots. Shooting through vegetation can also be used to create interesting compositions, and to showcase important aspects of a bird’s habitat. Both these topics will be covered in later articles. For now, it’s enough to mention that the partially-obstructed views you have when sneaking up on birds can sometimes be used to capture photos that are more interesting than the average bird portrait.

A juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron, seen through trees.
A juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron, seen through trees.

Bird Shots: Getting Close

For the Bird Watch SXM column in The Daily Herald’s Weekender, I am starting a series on bird photography. The first article came out today and I will try to post some additional tips on the blog here between articles. Also, if you don’t get The Daily Herald, there is a mostly complete archive of Bird Watch SXM columns online here: http://www.sxmwildlife.com/publications/journalism/.

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Also, since newsprint loses some of the detail, here’s the heron photo from the article:

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Billfish Tournament Photos

Les Fruits de Mer partnered with the Saint Martin Billfish Tournament this year to add some science, education and fun to the event. We analyzed the stomach contents of fish to better understand their feeding patterns, we shared information about the various species of billfish present in the waters around St. Martin, we kept the kids busy with marine life coloring and activity pages and we volunteered at the bar to raise money for wildlife education on the island.

Kids, fish guts, Marlin-o-Meter, wigs, pirates and red caps! Check it out:

2014 Heritage Photo Contest and Exhibition: Vibrant and Vulnerable

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Heritage Photo Contest and Exhibition
(Pour la traduction française, cliquez sur “Continue reading →” et faire défiler vers le bas.)

Deadline extended: submissions are now being accepted until June 15, 2014.

The Heritage Photo Contest and Exhibition is an opportunity to showcase St. Martin/St. Maarten’s unique natural, cultural and historic heritage. The theme of this year’s contest and exhibition will be Vibrant and Vulnerable. The goal of this project is to raise awareness about the beautiful, valuable and extraordinary heritage of St. Martin/St. Maarten, as well as the threats facing this heritage and the need to preserve it. We hope that this contest will serve as an opportunity to explore, share and promote many of the things that make this island unique, and serve as a focal point to understand, discuss and act on the things that put this heritage at risk.

Entries for this year’s theme will include two photos, one representing a vibrant aspect and one representing a vulnerable aspect of St. Martin/St. Maarten, with a statement by the photographer explaining the selection of photos. Photos can be submitted from May 1st to June 15th, although they can be taken at any time. The photos and statement must be the work of the entrant. Qualifying entries will be displayed online as they are received, and an exhibition will be held in June 2014 featuring selected entries. There will be awards for the winning entries in three categories: Adult, Under 18 and People’s Choice. Prizes will be announced during the entry period.

This contest and exhibition initiative is created and managed by the Les Fruits de Mer Association, with funding from Be the Change SXM.

For rules and how to enter: Read more

Marie-Claire Mauro

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Vibrant
Vibrant is discovering these funny little beings, finding a house suiting their needs, climbing up the beach, the rocks, between roots and plants. Vibrant is the sound of their scrawling, of their shell rolling. Vibrant is the silence when they feel us around, when they hide in… Vibrant is the smile of our children, when they pick it up softly to observe. Vibrant is putting them back in the exact place, for them to go free, as they had planned. Vibrant was this unexpected meeting while hiking on Chemin des Froussards, in Anse Marcel.

Vulnerable
Beautiful sight, vibrant colours. Yet vulnerable sea. In Grand Case, a lot of houses and restaurants release used water on the beach. It goes to the sea. All that soap, all those chemicals, all type of organic waste mixing with that transparent blue water. At that pace, how long will the bay of Grand Case look like this ? How long before there is no more starfish ? How long before they must change the colour of their house, to match a darker dirtier sea ?
Nice colourful houses, along Grand Case Bay, sadly releasing poison every day…

Judith van de Pas van Oort

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Vibrant
Vibrant are lifelines
On big sailing ships, is the one hand guiding another, keeping lines literally untangled, guarding the lifelines for whenever they would ne needed.
Working hard to make sure everyone is safe and sound.
Weird isn’t it? It’s all about (life) lines.

Vulnerable
Vulnerable are lifelines.
From the little hands that pick up even smaller living creatures, to the hand that guides the child along, like that hand needed guidance or still does…
Working hard to make sure everyone is safe and sound.
Everything is about lifelines.

Judith van de Pas van Oort

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Vibrant
Vibrant is the whole environment we live in, especially in places like our tiny SXM
Walk out of your home, and register the first living thing you come across.
Yes, that takes about two meters of walking. We can nurture that!

Vulnerable
Vulnerable is the whole of environment we all live in, especially in places like our tiny SXM.
Walk out of your home, and register the first trash you come across.
Yes….that takes about two meters of walking. We can change that!

Prashant Asnani

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Vibrant
Iguana:
I was surrounded with plants, trees, and nothing but greenery. Everything around me was in regards to nature. As soon as I realized this, I saw an iguana that blended perfectly with nature and I knew I must take a photo of it. Whenever I view this photo, there is a great sense of nostalgia that comes with it. The iguana in it’s natural habitat and the vibrant shades of green allows me to enjoy the nature on our island.

Location: St. Peters, St. Maarten.

Sunset:
A two minute walk away from where I live in Philipsburg, is a small beach, where I have the privilege to view beautiful sunsets everyday. And here is one of them. In one of my science classes, I was taught that the sun is the primary source of energy, heat, and light. This lesson inspired me to capture the majestic beauty of the sun. There are sunsets, and then there are St. Maarten sunsets.

Location: Great Bay, St. Maarten.

Vulnerable

Egret:
Every morning when I would go to school, I would pass by The Great Salt Pond. What would never cease to amaze me were these birds known as White Egrets. There would be hundreds of them every morning enjoying their morning catch. One morning on a day off from school, I woke at 5:30AM and got there early to get a bit of morning light just to capture an image of one of these beautiful birds. The Great Salt Pond is undoubtedly historically significant to our island, and around this time, there was news about the filling-in of sand in the pond, which resulted in many dead fish. And it is these badly contaminated fish the birds would later have to consume. When I look at this photo, I cannot help but think how vulnerable these birds were due to human activities. The inspiring feature of this shot is that there is life among everything that has happened. The birds still live on, which is the white Egret’s true beauty in this picture.

Location: The Great Salt Pond, Pondfill Rd, St. Maarten.

Jovito Hermoso

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Vibrant
St. Maarten/ St. Martin
The mountainous terrain and hills of St. Maarten/St. Martin provides a unique charm. The beautiful turquoise waters and stretches of white sand beaches adds beauty to this beautiful island.

Vulnerable
The Shores
There are many perspectives to a photo. If you look far enough in this one (as many tend to do) you look past the ugly and see what you only want to see. If you look closely (as you are meant to) you see the truth right in front of you. It is a bad habit we must break in order to fix the problems instead of hide them behind a false truth

Luna Valenti

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Vibrant
Une merveille de la nature qui nous réjouit de ses couleurs chatoyantes ; le colibri, ne cesse de battre de ses ailes que très rarement…

Vulnerable
Le pont de Grand Case, patrimoine historique de notre île, témoin de l’évolution, fragilisé par le temps…

Keturah de Weever

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Vibrant
This fishing hut indicates the ability of a fishing family who continues the tradition of making fish pots and selling fish as a means of income. One of our eldest trade on St. Maarten.

Vulnerable
The skills needed to make a fish pot is on the verge of becoming extinct on our island.

Keturah de Weever

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Vibrant
Sailboats in the shore reminds us of our diversified economic pillar that builds our country.

Vulnerable
When funds are not available to remove old boats, it becomes an eye sore in our beautiful turquoise water while shedding its rust and debris slowly but surely in our sea.

Keturah de Weever

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Vibrant
The sunrise shines over the volcanic cliff rocks and gives the sahara dust it’s golden sheen. This beautiful haze in the atmosphere approaches our shore.

Vulnerable
The power of a hurricane may blow this bolder away into the ocean leaving the cliff bare.

Samantha Yerkes

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Vibrant
The Butterfly Farm is a place for butterflies and all the butterflies have their own plants to live on. They have their own colors too. This moth has bright orange, brown and white colors to blend into its background and camouflage itself.

Vulnerable
I took this at the Arrowroot Festival. It is preserving the culture because more people did arrowroot in the old times. They dig it from the ground, then people wash them, then they smash them, then they keep doing stuff to it so you can eat it. They can make it into a batter, then they can make it into arrowroot cakes, yummy!

It is important to keep your culture. People are passing it down so in the future, people will still do it.

Dolly Yerkes

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Vibrant
The first photo I vibrant as it shows the beautiful and colorful scenery of Saint Martin; the grassy hills and blue water without development.

Vulnerable
The second photo reminds us that this beauty is vulnerable. If we do not take care of the environment its beauty will be tarnished with our waste. We must take steps to clean it up so that other generations can enjoy the same scenery.

Dominique Noiré

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Vibrant
A djembe player celebrates a beautiful day with friends on Grande Cayes beach. Music and especially percussions are part of St Martin/St Maarten tradition, and played in many events all year around.
Un joueur de djembe celbre une belle journee avec des amis sur la plage de Grande Cayes. La musique et particulierement les percussions font partie integrante de la culture de st Martin/St Maarten, et on peut entendre les tambours resonner ici et la tout au long de l’annee.

Vulnerable
Museums have historically been centers of research, education, and public outreach. St Martin/st Maarten cultural heritage has been preserved in the Museum on the road to Fort Louis, near the catholic church. Although it has been opened for many years, and contains rare and original artifacts from the first island’s inhabitants, the Arawak indians, too few people know about it and/or visit during opening hours, Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm.

Dominique Noiré

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Vibrant
Each Summer in Colombier valley, one can only marvel at the vibrant beauty of Nature : Flamboyant trees (or Flamingo trees or July trees) in full bloom, vivid reds and yellows contrasting with the greenery, and cattle grazing peacefully in the shade.

Vivant
Chaque ete dans la vallee de Colombier, Les Flamboyants (ou arbres de Juillet), nous offrent la splendeur de leurs feuillages rouges et jaunes, contrastant avec la verdure des alentours tandis que le betail pait a l’ombre, en toute serenite .

Vulnerable
A Tiny seahorse is grasping a piece of sponge with its tail to fight the current off Simpson Bay beach. Pollution is threatening our Oceans and its inhabitants, just like anywhere else in the world. It is up to us to take care of our Nature, for example by keeping our trash down and banning plastic bags.

Vulnérable
Un petit hippocampe s’agrippe avec sa queue a un morceau d’eponge pres de la plage de Simpson Bay. La pollution menace nos Oceans comme partout dans le monde. Il n’appartient qu’a nous de les proteger, par exemple en reduisant nos dechets et renoncant aux sacs platique.

Dominique Noiré

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queen angel

Vibrant
I love my ram contest in COLOMBIER.
Since the year 2000, Every first Sunday in July the “most beautiful Ram “contest in the beautiful COLOMBIER valley is held.
Although the contest is relatively new, St Martin/St Maarten families have always been proud of their rams and rightly so. Let’s help preserve and reinforce this event that gathers a large local community in a friendly atmosphere.

Vulnerable
As pretty as it seems, the reef and its inhabitants need our help, like this young Queen Angel Fish swimming by colourful sponges a few miles off Great Bay. By keeping our Oceans clean and reducing overall pollution, each one of us, one step at a time, can influence Planet Ocean health.

Ilja Botha

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Vibrant
Vibrant are our youth and this yellow Flamboyant in Emilio Wilson Estate Park. Together with a friend the girl picked up the old seed pods later and they made music together. Vibrant is also the shak shak sound the pods of our National Tree make.

Vulnerable
Vulnerable are the few remaining mangroves on St Maarten/ St Martin. This mangrove in Oyster Pond has managed to survive the construction of marinas, pollution of the pond and the feasting on it by Green Iguanas. Due to the feeding of the iguanas by bar staff, the population in this bush as grown enormously and has become a loved photo shooting site for passing tourists. All I’m hoping is that this mangrove will survive September when the bar is closed and there is nothing to eat for the iguanas other than the mangrove leaves…

Jeremy Faro

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In his 1992 Nobel Lecture, Derek Walcott remarked that “visual surprise is natural in the Caribbean; it comes with the landscape, and faced with its beauty, the sigh of History dissolves.” I think about this submission in terms of Humankind and Nature physically meeting, overlapping, or intersecting on Saint Martin/St Maarten in ways that are sudden, surprising, beautiful, and terrifying to me. Vibrancy and vulnerability can be seen or felt in either photograph; the relative strength of either sensation is drawn out from the viewer herself or himself, according to the vagaries of their own personal History and current position in or on the world.

Liliane Magnin

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Vivant
MARIGOT / GRAND BAY-La statue “Lady Liberty” au rond-point Agrément est probablement la sculpture la plus connue du public par Theodore Bonev à Saint-Martin.

“La beauté magnifique et l’élégance de Lady Liberty” a été dévoilé en 2007 pour marquer le 159e anniversaire de l’émancipation de l’esclavage 1848.

Vulnérable
Au fil de l’eau-Le bateau cela peut être un merveilleux moyen de découvrir SAINT MARTIN LA BELLE
Attention amis plaisanciers ne vous amarrer pas trop prêt ! afin de ne pas gêner les baigne

Christine Garner

© Chris Garner Photography 2014 All Rights Reserved

All rights Reserved

Vibrant
VIBRANT is the green Iguana because any species that lives anywhere around me or my home is fiercely protected.

Vulnerable
VULNERABLE are the beautiful “Ladies of the Night” cactus that only come out once a year at night, then slowly succumb to the morning sun.

Ingrid van Viegen

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Sailboats

Vibrant
the Heineken regatta good sportsmanship, team work, competition and fun, sailors and landlubbers all involved, love it!

Vulnerable
hurricane luis was the proof that good and safe anchorage is important. it’s been a while but let’s not forget!

Ingrid van Viegen

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Pinel Key

Vibrant
sentimental memory, it used to be a quiet place for people to either camp or spend the day. if you didn’t have your own boat the fishermen would drop off and pick up at your convenience.

Vulnerable
nowadays it’s crowded, full ferries come in and leave, impatient boatdrivers using their whistles to hurry you up, and a beach filled with umbrellas and chairs.