White-faced Heron [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/400s f/6.3 ISO280]
White-faced Heron [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/400s f/6.3 ISO160]
White-faced Heron [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/400s f/6.3 ISO100]
Whenever you visit Trin Warren Tam-boore, chances are you will see a White-faced Heron. It is not clear if it is always the same heron that you see every time. I have seen more than one heron of this species in the same day. I seem to remember seeing as many as 6 White-faced Herons at the same time.
This particular heron was photographed on 22 May 2025. I have similar photographs taken a few days prior. It was a bird that is fairly comfortable with people around it. It allowed me close proximity before displaying any signs of anxiety. The fact that it allowed me to be close provided me with an opportunity to isolate the subject in my photographs. These photographs shown here required very little post-processing. This is not something that can be said of most birds.
The White-faced Heron was the first reasonably large bird I have photograph at the beginning of my wildlife photography journey. So, it has a very special place in my heart.
The 800mm lens that I normally use at Trin is a bit too long for this bird. I think a 400mm would have suffice and will get an image with a clean background.
Some people I know will not give any thought to photographing this bird. The reason being that it is too common. I always respond by saying that I would rather get a beautiful photograph of a common bird than get a bad photograph of a rare bird. Give me a Superb Fairywren or a New Holland Honeyeater or, indeed, a White-faced Heron any day.
Red-browed Finch [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO2800]
When we started wildlife photography, we moved from Nikon’s own image processing tool call NX Studio to Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. The bundle used to cost about AUD15 a month. I managed to secure the old price by purchasing a 1 year subscription at the beginning of this year. The current pricing on Adobe’s website is about double that price. So we will be facing a 100% price hike next year.
A doubling of price is not acceptable for us who don’t make a living off photography. This has prompted us to search for an alternative before the Adobe subscription expires next year. After a few months of research, we have settled on Affinity Photo 2 from Serif. Unlike Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, we will only need to pay for a major version. This gives us access to minor upgrades. Historically, version 1 of Affinity Photo lasted for 7 years. The current version of Affinity Photo 2 which was released in November 2022 is about AUD96. This is quite a saving.
Affinity photo 2 is more like Photoshop than Lightroom. It is missing the catalogue management that Lightroom provides. We are fine with that as we find that we seldom search the Lightroom catalogue. Instead, We would process our photographs and ingest the final images on our NAS (Network Access Storage). If we need to search the library, we prefer to use the NAS and its associated mobile app on our phones. We will use Nikon’s NX Studio to evaluate and cull our photographs. NX Studio will still be an essential tool for us because Nikon’s Pixel Shift images can only be processed by NX Studio.
What convinced us to move to Affinity Photo 2 is the introduction of AI subject selection in version 2.6. We found that this capability is on par with Lightroom. While Lightroom’s subject masking is more accurate when the subject is large in the photograph, Affinity Photo works better with highly cropped subject. We also find that Affinity Photo selection refinement is easier to use and gets things right most of the time. Adobe’s masking refinement usually involves the use of the brush tool which can be time-consuming and error-prone.
The learning curve with Affinity Photo 2 is steeper but Serif made lots of instructional videos that made the learning process easier. The starting point for us was the video dedicated to wildlife processing. Having access to Adobe Lightroom provided us with less incentives to learn Photoshop. However, learning Affinity Photo 2 actually helped opened up more possibility for us in post-processing which we presume is also available in Photoshop.
Did we look at other alternatives? Yes, we did. Why did we choose Affinity Photo 2 over the other alternatives? Most post-processing software will satisfy our needs but Affinity Photo 2 has a true non-subscription pricing model. The alternatives (which shall remained nameless) do not sit well with us – they either have a subscription model like Adobe or have what we call a pseudo-subscription model. By the later, we mean that they release a new major version every year and you have to pay yearly to get the new version. If you miss a version, we have to pay more to upgrade. The advantage of a pseudo-subscription over a full subscription model is that you have a perpetual license to use the last software version you have paid for.
The above photograph of a Red-browed Finch was taken at the Skink Habitat at Royal Park on 31 May 2025. It was post-processed using Affinity Photo 2.6.3 using multiple layers and masking. While it took longer than with Adobe Lightroom, the result we have achieved is better. We suspect that we will have to resort to using Photoshop and expending similar amount of effort to achieve a similar outcome. While it is not the best photograph of the species, we thought it demonstrated how we can take an ordinary photograph of a bird and made it pop.
Until the Adobe subscription expires, we will be using both software side-by-side with a view to explore the features of Affinity Photo 2 that exceeds that of Adobe Lightroom.
Great Cormorant [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO1600]
Great Cormorant [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO1600]
Great Cormorant [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO1400]
We have not observed any Great Cormorants at the Oak Street Wetlands for some time. On 10 May 2025, a couple of Great Cormorants decided to make that trip.
As the sun was still low in the horizon, the light was subdue. I set the shutter speed to a fairly low 1/500s. I wasn’t anticipating action shots. However, when one of the Cormorants started to dry its wing by flapping them, I forgotten that I had a low shutter speed and starting taking a series of photographs.
The resulting photographs aren’t terribly sharp. Most of them were deleted as a result. These 3 photographs depicted here of the various wing positions were of acceptable quality.
The 2 Cormorants didn’t stay long at Oak Street Wetland. It seems to have departed sometime in that morning. We were the only ones who have seen it that day.
As winter approaches, we are seeing less and less of the more common cormorants as well – the Little Pied Cormorants and Little Black Cormorants.
Galah (Male) [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/400s f/6.3 ISO1800]
The Galahs are back in force at the oval next to the Trin. This particular photograph of a male Galah was captured on the morning of 20 May 2025.
On that morning, it is fairly cloudy. The sun had just risen and behind the clouds. The light trickled through the cloud and backlighted the bird – hence a bit of rim light on the head and body.
The Galahs were foraging in the oval that is elevated from the walking path. This provided me with the opportunity to take this picture at eye-level with the Galah by adopting a kneeling position on the walking path. The background was far away so it was rendered as a blur. As the bird was mostly in the shadow, it took some processing effort to get to the final result.
Common Blackbird [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/250s f/6.3 ISO1400]
I like this photograph of a Common Blackbird more than I should.
The Common Blackbird is an introduced species that can be found almost everywhere is Melbourne. They have at times visited my backyard and they love my blueberries when they are in season.
Most people don’t adore these birds but I do find this photograph taken on 22 May 2025 at Trin very appealing. The focus is perfect, the background is reasonably burred with features that alluded to the habitat. It is a classic bird-on-stick photograph but the saturated orange beak compliments the black feathers on the body of the bird very well. It is quite likely my best picture of the Common Blackbird thus far.
Golden Whistler (Male) [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/800s f/6.3 ISO500]
Golden Whistler (Male) [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/800s f/6.3 ISO900]
Golden Whistler (Male) [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/800s f/6.3 ISO1400]
Female Golden Whistlers are frequently spotted around Trin. From time to time, male Golden Whistlers do present itself.
On 19 May 2025, I was fortunate enough to have a male Golden Whistler follow me as I traversed the Western Remnant. I have been photographing these birds when I have the chance but I have that had a photograph of a male bird that I was happy with until that moment.
This particular bird seems very curious about me. At some point, he even stopped to take a good look at me before he continued to hunt for insects. From what I can see he was a prolific and effective hunter.
He was later joined by a female Golden Whistler but she did not seem as eager to pose for me as the male bird. That is interesting because often find that the female bird has a smaller circle of fear.
The male bird followed me as I walked the length of the path at the Western Remnant as back. Previously, I had a female Golden Whistler doing just that and this time it was the first time a male bird has done the same. Moments like this is well-worth cherishing. In the past, I had the Brown Thornbill, Eastern Yellow Robin and Scarlet Robin expressing curiosity about me. These moments had allowed me to take some very interesting pictures. I hope that I will have an opportunity to pique the interest of a male Rufous Whistler some time in the future. Yes, I have yet to take a decent picture of a male Rufous.
Striated Pardalote (Yellow-tipped) [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO180]
On 3 May 2025, a Striated Pardalote with a yellow dot on its wings was spotted in the Western Remnant. Victorian Striated Pardalotes (sub-species Ornatus and Substriatus) usually have red spots on their wings. This particular sub-species is call Striatus. It breeds in Tasmania but migrates to Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland in Winter.
I have known this sub-species of Striated Pardalote do visit Trin, however, this is the first time that I have actually spotted one. I would have preferred that it posed for me longer but I am relatively happy with this photograph as it depicts why it is a Striatus and I managed to capture quite a bit of detail. Besides, the sun was getting high in the sky making the light rather harsh.
Silvereye [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO6400]
On 1 May 2025, I observed a flock of Silvereyes at Trin Warren Tam-boore. It is good to see that the Silvereye population is increasing again.
I managed to take this photograph of a Silvereye as it contemplated consuming the berries from a shrub. It did ended up consuming quite a bit of berries.
I was fairly close to the Silvereye which helped render the background into a pleasant blur. I have not had much success with photography in this particular spot in the past but I am glad it worked out this time.
Crimson Rosella [Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO1250]
28 April 2025 was a partly cloudy day and the morning was a bit crisp as autumn is slowly but surely setting in.
We were wandering at the Western Remnant of Royal Park when a couple of Crimson Rosellas made their presences known. I followed the Rosellas with my camera and managed to take this beautiful shot of one of the birds as it perched on a tree branch overhanging the railway cutting.
With the railway cutting rendered as a pastel peachy grey by the lens, the bright colour of the Rosella stood out complimented by the green leaves. This is possibly the best photograph of a Crimson Rosella that I have taken so far.
The sub-species Albiscapa of the Grey Fantail arrived at Trin late March – early April. This particularly sub-species spend their summer in Tasmania and their winters in the mainland.
The way to identity the sub-species is to wait until it fans its tail. In this sub-species, there is very little white on the tips of the tail feathers.
Grey Fantails are not the easiest birds to photograph, as they are frequently on the move and never stay still for very long. On 10 April 2025, one particular bird was kind enough to pose for me. Furthermore, it was at a location on a dead tree with background that is sufficient far away. This created a photographic opportunity that allow me to isolate the subject.
Although there were two Grey Fantail at the same location, these photographs are of the same bird. The other Fantail was more reserved and did not pose for photographs.
While I wished that more birds would pose for me, I understand that finding birds out in the open without protection of trees and shrubs is not in the nature of these animals. So, to me, this is a very special occasion. The bird allowed me to approach within 6 to 8 metres of it. As such, the photographs contained very imitate details.
First: Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO1400
Second: Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO1600
Third: Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO2200
Fourth: Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S @ 1/500s f/6.3 ISO2000
