Seagull doing a little people watching at the Huntington Beach Pier
Seagulls are a dime a dozen in Huntington Beach, as are pelicans. Most would think they’re out looking for food, which is probably true. But when they’re not, it’s all about keeping an eye on the people walking around.
Most people overlook them as they fly by or sit on a rail. Yet, I’m sure they are well aware of us. This one had his/her eye on me for a while. As far as seagulls go, this one looked pretty good, unlike one I shared two years ago. That one hopped around in one leg!
Although a few people do like the larger birds, as I shared earlier this year here and here.
Now for the photo specs. I shot this photo at f/5, 1/2000 sec, ISO-200 and a focal length of 120mm. I was using my Nikon D7000 and 80-200mm 2.8 AF-D lens. Some of you might wonder why I didn’t shoot wide open at 2.8, well in this situation I really didn’t need it. The background was so far away that at f/5 I was still able to blur it out. At 2.8 it’s overkill.
Here’s a tip, when shooting any type of bird in daylight, flying or standing still, use a high shutter speed. If you have a long lens and the subject is very far away then use a shutter speed at least 3x the focal length. I went much more than 3x, but that was only because I had enough available light to do so, otherwise 1/1000 of sec would have been ok.
Once again the Kite Connection store in Huntington Beach hosted a very large Kite Party on the south side of the pier. I was there for a few hours watching several of the kite pro’s perform their routines and it was so incredible. Like the large kite above, I was left in awe!
Every year the Kite Party keeps getting more and more popular. Kite pros and teams from around the country would choreograph shows synchronized to music. All this took place in special cornered off sections of the beach. Then everywhere else, you could see regular beach visitors flying their own kites. It was a cool scene.
I know I normally only post one photo, but today I’ll be sharing several pictures from the Kite Party. I didn’t get the names of the teams, sorry. But I did manage to capture a short video of one of the teams performing a routine.(See end of article)
With so much wind, capturing the event on video is a little challenging. There is wind noise towards the end of the video.
Plus I was hand holding my Nikon D7000, which of course wouldn’t make it very stable. But I did the best I could at the time. It was still some really fun stuff to watch!
If you have a fast connection, view the Kite Party 2013 video in full screen and at the highest resolution. I only uploaded the 720p version, but it should still look nice on your monitor. And turn up the volume to hear the music!
At 77 degrees, it’s a beach cruiser type of a day in Huntington Beach
Beach cruisers are a dime a dozen in Huntington Beach. People riding, parking and yes someone taking pictures of them (me!). This one was locked up to the rails on the south facing side of the pier. It caught my attention because it had the same color combination as our SoCalDailyPhoto logo!
Summer has come a little early to southern California, it was 80 degrees yesterday and today expected to be at least 77 at the beach. It’s not the high season yet, so parking is plentiful, but in the summer you really need one of these. Often most of the parking is taken by the early mornings or you’ll need to walk far to reach the beach. These bike cruisers are just part of life in Huntington Beach.
If you’re a tourist and visiting the area, just rent one of them. There’s a place just north of the pier called Zack’s. Then take your time and ride the full span of the beach. But don’t ride it on the pier, bike riding (along with dogs and skateboarding) are not allowed on the pier.
Micky’s Ferris Wheel at night at the Disney California Adventure Park
Yesterday I headed over to the Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim. We had perfect weather and also the same plans as thousands of other people, because the place was packed with visitors. It took us over and hour and a half in line at the new Carsland ride. Crazy!
I took over 200 photos, but the night shots were the best. There’s something about the lights and configuration at this park that makes it fun to shoot.
The challenge for me was to capture the night scenes without a tripod, yet not use a high ISO. So I improvised. I constantly looked for places where I could set my camera down, compose a shot and shoot at 100 ISO but with a longer exposure time. It worked! Well most of the time.
The top image with the reflection of the Micky Fun Wheel turned out great. However, my “almost” best shot is below. If it were not for the end of the ledge (left lower side, where I placed the camera down), the image would have been my top pick.
Tip on how to take night pictures at Disney Parks
I know this has been said a million times before by others, but for those people out there who are taking pictures at night with a flash, remember, an on camera flash cannot reach and brighten up a subject that is as far and as tall as this ferris wheel. This is the right way to accomplish it:
Use a slower shutter speed (in my case it was 2 seconds long)
Use a stable tripod (or ledge in my case)
Use a low ISO speed (I used 100).
Aperture setting will depend on distant from subject and what you want to be in focus. (In my case I used f/3.5)
And remember, never hand hold a camera with a shutter speed slower than 1/30th of second, chances are it will be blurred. Best thing is to use a tripod or place your camera on something stable, like a table.
While out for a short walk at the Huntington Beach Pier, I noticed a small crowd surrounding this large Brown Pelican. For the most part, the people were trying to pose with the bird. Watching them interact with the pelican was funny.
For example, this guy was trying to do the Karate Kid pose next to the bird, but instead the bird flew away and moved a few yards up along the pier. Needless to say the crowd was upset at him.
Having spent so much time on the HB Pier, I’m surprised I haven’t seen a pelican snap or bite a person. Instead, it seems the birds are very aware of their surroundings and let you know when you get too close. The pelicans instantly snap their large beaks when people get near them.
These pelicans are at the HB all the time, I’ve seen them year round and each time they decide to land on the side of the rail, it’s picture time with the tourists or locals. Here’s one taken last summer during the U.S. Open of Surfing. Looks like these birds have a good life!
As for the photo above and you photography people, it was one of a series of shots (five in all) taken quickly. The camera (Nikon D7000) was set on continuous high shutter speed. However, I made an error, the ISO was incorrectly set to 1000 instead of 100 and that is why you see the “grain” on the photo. The aperture was set to f/7.1 and the shutter to 1/4000 sec.
I normally don’t have the camera set to auto-iso, but I was doing some test shots using that feature earlier indoors and forgot to turn it off. This shot would normally be taken with about 1/1000 sec. and 100 ISO. But considering the error, the image turned out ok.
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