Digiscoping and Post-production

The last two weeks have been difficult and challenging. When I should have been doing a lot of birding I have in fact been either too worn out or sick. We have had two consecutive long weekends. Last weekend exhaustion took hold of me and we scrubbed our scheduled trip to the wilds of Kanchanaburi province. It was the right thing to do as I needed the rest. This week I have been laid low by a severe case of the trots and it is only in the last 24 hours that I am getting back to normal. In the great scheme of things, fairly high class problems!

Long-toed Stint - unprocessed

Long-toed Stint - processed by Peter Ericsson

A week or so ago I was talking to Peter Ericsson about my images. Peter needs no real introduction as he is one of the best bird photographers in these parts. He told me he thought I should definitely be getting sharper images and he took one of my images and put it through Photoshop and in effect proved his point that "no image is done until it has been processed in PS". Peter's produced a tutorial which includes a basic PS treatment: it can be found here. Well the difference is very striking if you take a cursory look at the above two images.

So it's perhaps just as well that I have been out of sorts as it has enabled me to start learning how to harness the power of Photoshop. I have managed to get some instructional material and I am working leisurely through this. The Painted Storks below are in fact the same file but the first one has been processed using PS. I have also cropped it so it is not quite like for like but post-production has really transformed the image.

I am also very pleased with this picture of a Great Knot dating back to February at Pak Thale. The PS processed image, with some cropping, comes first and the original follows. It really is a no brainer!

So it's good to get started finally on post-production and Photoshop. Up to now I have done most of my post-production in Aperture. It's pretty simple and offers a very effective solution for image management. Photoshop is very different however and I am very aware of really just dipping my toe into the water, so to speak.

My indisposition also lead to me purchasing a 2 TB external drive and I am going to try and archive my images. Good as this may sound, I reckon I am going to be deleting an enormous number of image files. However I am going to try to get through them because there are some images which I can improve with some post-production.

On reflection I think I have been lazy. I should have made more of an effort with Photoshop. However it is not a load it up and play it sort of programme. It needs effort. I think I have also been guilty of accepting inferior results. Digiscoping allows for many mitigating factors!

So let me thank Peter for pointing me in this direction and I hope to get out birding in the very near future.

A Day in Pak Thale & Laem Pak Bia

White-faced Plover

I consider myself a very fortunate fellow to be able to jump in my truck and be in Pak Thale, Phetchburi province in a little over an hour. Just after 0700h I was viewing two Black-faced Spoonbills there. I wanted this species for my year list! What incredible birds with their very striking cooking spatula-like bills. Fortunate indeed, to have easy access and by virtue of this, never really feeling under pressure.

Chinese Egret at ISO 800 

I then headed back to Phetchburi at my leisure to pick up Padraig Quinn, a Birdforum contact.  I had  agreed to show him round the area. We had some great birds today and great to go birding with a kindred spirit.

As a novice and having done next to no birding in the British Isles I really don't know what species Padraig would be interested in. So a delight to stop for Greater Coucal, Collared Kingfisher, Asian Openbill and Red-wattled Lapwing. Pak Thale was a bit disappointing: we had a good look but couldn't find Spoonbill Sandpiper. Plenty of Marsh Sandpiper, Common Redshanks, Spotted Redshanks, Kentish Plovers, Little Cormorant, a solitary Indian Cormorant, huge numbers of Eurasian Curlews,  few Long-toed Stint, lots of Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, more Broad-billed Sandpiper than I can ever recall seeing, but no Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

We headed south to Laem Pak Bia for lunch and over a well-needed cold drink we decided it would be a good idea to head out to the sandspit. Mr Daeng was booked but he got us an alternative; instead of waiting we had a quick scout around the main Laem Pak Bia site. Padraig added  Green Bee-eater and Great Knot to his list of lifers. Lots of Gull-billed Terns,too. I rather fancy I saw Red Knot but conditions were hazy and the birds were a distance away, so no claims.

Off we then went out to the sandspit in near perfect conditions where the birding was quite fantastic: Greater Crested Tern, Caspian Tern, Brown-headed Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Little Tern ( I called it a Common, don't know why!) a Sanderling, a fair few Malaysian Plovers, lots of Greater and Lesser Sand-plover, Great Knot, Red-necked Stint. Nice and easy birds and they were putting on great aerial displays every so often. Then our boatman received a text to say Mr Daeng has located two Spoon-billed Sandpipers on the island nearest to land. So we legged it and Padraig located one Spoon-billed Sandpiper and I think we were both mightily relieved,  and grateful to Mr Daeng for letting us know. We only saw one but it showed well.

Next up Mr Daeng put us on a Whited-faced Plover, an exquisite little bird. Then the final coup-de grâce: 2 Chinese Egrets as we headed back in the gloom. I even managed some shots notwithstanding the poor light. What sublime beauty. Mr Daeng told us there had actually been three. Who cares?! One is erfectly adequate!

So a classic Spoon-billed Sandpiper - on the sandspit. A great day and great conversation, or should I say "craic" or perhpas the less affected "crack"!? .

An Early Start at Pak Thale

Spotted Redshank

Tringa erythropus

นกทะเลขาแดงลายจุด

Great Egret

Casmerodius albus

นกยางโทนใหญ่

 Great Egret

Casmerodius albus

นกยางโทนใหญ่

Long-toed Stint

Calidris subminuta

นกสติ๊นท์นิ้วยาว

Grey-tailed Tattlers

Heteroscelus brevipes

นกดีนเหลือง

Great Knot

Calidris tenuirostris

นกน็อทใหญ่

Grey-tailed Tattler

Heteroscelus brevipes

นกดีนเหลือง

Curlew Sandpiper

Calidris ferruginea

นกชายเลนปากโค้ง

Brown-headed Gull

Larus brunnicephalus

นกนางนวลธรรมดา

All photographs shot 23.04.11 at Pak Thale, Phetchaburi Province

The highlight of an early start this morning was a small flock of Grey-tailed Tattlers which I was able to photograph. These are refuelling while en route to northern climes. They and most of today's other  waders are sporting breeding plumage or assuming breeding plumage, the Great Egret too with its distinctive "skirt". It was lovely to be out for dawn and watch the flocks of birds moving around in huge, swooping cascades. There was a huge number of Curlews which I wasn't able to photograph but there were hundreds of birds in it. I think the shot of the day is the Short-toed Stint.

I have a dilemma. My birdwatching is taking second place to the photography. I am using the camera as my notebook. I didn't count the Tattlers; in fact I only positively identified the bird when  I got home. All I can say is it was a small to medium flock which is not much use to anybody. On the plus side I have spent a few hours this afternoon with field guides in order to identify the species. I do not have the ability to immediately call all these species: this includes  Tattler, the Knot and the Long-toed Stint. I might well be wrong in some of these IDs! 

I also wonder if the bird above the Greater Sand Plover in the Tattlers shot is a Dunlin - it looks rather short legged and low in the water. Too difficult for me to call!