Antarctica -- October-November 2010

Possibly in Drake Passage.

I'm somewhat uncertain where many of these birds-in-flight photos were taken, but I have put all of them in with the Drake Passage photos.

There was a "lecture" that was a workshop (out on deck) about techniques for taking photos of flying birds. I believe the workshop was taught by John and Lou, and possibly by Anke too. I did not attend (which I regret greatly). My best memory is that the workshop was held while we were in the Strait of Magellan, after we left Magdelena Island (which makes sense, it would have had a pretty low turnout in much of the weather -- and sea conditions -- we experienced in the Drake Passage).

The idea (which I learned later) is that several kinds of birds tend to fly alongside (WITH) the ship in several areas where we were crusing. This enables you to have time to set up, aim, and focus your camera (I realize that nowadays cameras largely focus themselves, but, I think you know what I mean). The bird is (sort of) alongside you rather than flying past you (as could be the case if the photographer were stationary).

Another factor that enables this is that many modern (expensive -- or fairly expensive) cameras have an continous autofocus feature. That is, once the camera focuses on, say, a flying bird, it holds that focus, automatically adjusting, if necessary, as long as the shutter release button is held down. Thus, in theory, the bird stays in focus even if it drifts farther away or comes closer, while the shutter button is held down. This assumes you are taking continous photos with camera (I think these cameras take perhaps 4 or 5 photos per second).

Using this technique, you take a LOT of pictures. Then, afterward, you look thru them to find the best ones. Then you erase the others off your camera card.

I had never heard of this tracking autofocus feature. Got out the manuan of my Canon SX-1. It had a feature to take a continous string of photos (either 1.6 per second or one every 1.6 seconds, I forget which). However, on the SX-1, what ever the camera was focused on for the first photo in a burst, it held the same focus for the others. It did not adjust when the targer moved.

What is shown here are photos taken by others on the cruise.

A few of these photos MAY have been taken before we got to the Drake Passage. However, I suspect that most or all of them were in the passage (especially the second day, when the weather improved somewhat).

(Perhaps 25 Nov 2010)

There was a workshop on bird photography on deck on this day (which I did not attend). Because of that, I’ve put several of these bird-in-flight photos here, even though some or all of them may have been taken on different days.

This is comorant. This likely was taken on a different day, since I don’t remember actually seeing any of cormorants until we reached Antarctica.

I suspect this is a frame “clipped” from a video sequence (not sure if they had a camcorder or if it is the video or “movie” mod