The heavens were on fire over Bued River last night

The long, hot summer has ended in our islands, and the migratory birds have flown back to their breeding grounds. Gone are my favorite flying subjects, but the rainclouds have started to visit with increased regularity and the night skies have become much more interesting and photogenic. 

Here's a couple of images from my first lightning hunt of the season. On this particularly humid night, the air was so still that almost all leaves of trees along Bued River were unmoving, and were rendered sharp even with a long exposure of 30 seconds. I got lucky with my choice of manually set focus distance - the nearby foliage and the far away lightning bolts were in reasonably good focus even at f/4.

The corner-to-corner sharpness of the EF 16-35 f/4 IS continues to amaze me. This little zoom has the highest satisfaction-to-cost ratio (STCR) among all lenses I've used so far. The big whites, and the 400 DO II, are stellar but their high cost drags down their SCTR.

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Shooting info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, June 13, 2017, Canon 5D MIII + EF 16-35 f/4 L IS,
35 mm, f/4, ISO 160, 30 sec, manual exposure in available light, Uniqball UBH45/455B support, cropped in the vertical to fit 16:9, resized to 800 x 450.

High-res 1920 x 1080 version

Shooting info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, June 13, 2017, Canon 5D MIII + EF 16-35 f/4 L IS,
35 mm, f/4, ISO 160, 30 sec, manual exposure in available light, Uniqball UBH45/455B support, near full frame resized to 800 x 533.

 High-res 1500 x 1000 version

'Tis the amorous season once again

Not much BIF opportunities lately because of the mostly overcast skies this onset of the rainy season. But the sun briefly showed itself this morning beyond the high Cordilleras, and this allowed me to get a snapshot of this nest-builder.

Yes, the breeding season for endemics and residents has begun. This coincides with the explosion of  growth of various plants, and abundance of insects and invertebrates, nurtured by the life-giving water from the heavens. It seems that the breeding clock of birds is calibrated such that their instinct to mate and build nests happens during times when there is an abundance of food.

I look forward to a new generation of avian subjects in a couple of months. 

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Red Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia tranquebarica, resident)

Habitat - Open country or lawns. 

Shooting Info - Bued River, Rosario, La Union, Philippines, June 6, 2017, EOS 7D MII + EF 400 DO IS II,
400 mm, f/5.0, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400, manual exposure in available light, hand held, 19.70 m. distance, major crop resized to 800 x 533. 

 

 

 High-res 1500 x 1000 version