The Sensor Knows

Well, as a quick update, I am still down with the Las Cruces Crud. I am telling you, this is the most craptastic and nastiest hellspawn I’ve come down with since I can remember. General rule..Bri don’t get sick. At this point now at the mercy of the doctor who basically told me to keep down, suck it up and it should pass. Tapping my watch and noting “time’s a tickin’ on my ultra training schedule” didn’t win me any of his sympathy. He gets three more days and I’m out the door ‘nuf said. The good news is I am finally getting transferred over to the new computer. Still have some clean up to do, but this is officially the first post from the new Alien. Note, disappointed I have yet to locate the “auto-generate a post button” on this watts sucker. I’ll keep looking, but at least for now, stuck with me. 

If you recall in my last post, I mentioned it was part one of two and eluded to the possibility our little yellow-eyed feathered friend might have been on the lookout for more formidable predators having easily dispensed with an intruding Sparrow. Time to reveal what led us to that conclusion. This is the first time I’ve ever used the WP image compare widget – apologies if it doesn’t work correctly on your monitors.

Hit the jump to read more about our dark encounter with another resident of Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.

Just in case the slider didn’t work, here is a static image of the heavily worked over image. I’ve read countless articles on RAW vs JPG, many discussion with Brad, my brother Ron and several other photographers about the different formats. I’ve come to two conclusion. First, the opinions are about as passionate and diverse as the proper way to breakdown and clean your handgun. Second, from day 1 I’ve been on Team RAW and I’m the designated franchise player ha. Definitely do not want to try and change anyone’s opinion, all this is just reference to the fact it saved my ass in what turned out to be one amazing encounter.

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

The sun was dropping fast by the time we finished up chatting with the Burrowing Owl. You probably noticed the light was coming nearly horizontal over the Owl’s eyes in some of those shots. Took some extra time to tin a few Short-Eared owls hunting the nearby fields before calling it a day and heading back to the campground. 

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

Nearly back to the autoloop merge, a shape moved across the road about 100 feet from the Jeep. For those not familiar with Anahuac, the roads into the deeper part of the park are all rock with plenty of holes likely commissioned by the local chiropractors – this shadowy shape obviously knew it was not in immediate danger as it gingerly made it to the other side. Grabbed The Beast, yelled our single code word for “stop the car immediately so Bri can jump out immediately” and well, jumped out of the car. I find trust and understanding to be very important in a successful marriage hehehe.

 I figured it would scurry off as soon as it got to the other side – by then, pretty sure it was a Bobcat and my experience with those has been usually two to three head/side shots and everything else just a series of ever shrinking butts. To my surprise it made it into the grass, turned and stared at me. I may be wrong, but I swear I heard Linda hit the door locks…just saying. 

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

There I knelt in the road doing everything I could to not be greeted by total blackness on the back of the LCD screen shot after shot. I was literally trying every trick I knew to suck in whatever stray rays of light were bouncing off the overhead clouds. You have to be amazed at what the human eye can discern on its own.  After staring at me for a minute or two, the Bobcat turned and looked back the way it had come and hunched lower to the ground. It was definitely intent on something having thoroughly assessed what danger we posed. 

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

Then it got lower and seemed to be staring even more intent. All of sudden a cub emerged from the weeds and quick made its way over to what I assumed now was its mother. My excitement quickly turned to disappointment as I was still only getting dark smudges in the tin aaarrrggghhhh! Once the cub had successfully made it across, the two came back out into the middle of the road, took a few bounds further away and, to my total surprise, both STOPPED and looked back at me. They seemed pleased I stayed put (oops, apologies for the anthropomorphism).  Then they both turned and looked back to the other side of the road.

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

Hmmm, that seemed a familiar posturing. The mother started kicking her back feet while the cub turned its focus back on me. By this time I was kicking myself I didn’t grab Linda’s D850 instead, which is fantastic in low light. Oh well, the best camera is the one you have with you. Any gains in the exposure were being quickly erased by the darkening skies. 

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

It seems the mother was getting fidgety. Any encounter that includes a humans is probably stressful enough, but this had gone on for at least 15 minutes by now. The cub gave up watching me and copied its mother’s posture.

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

….and then the mystery was revealed! A second cub appeared out of the weeds and gingerly sauntered towards the rest of its family. Kids these days hehehe. 

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

Hands down the most incredible experience I have ever had with these elusive Cats. The mother gave me one last glance before heading safely off with her two cubs. A threat not to follow, a quick nod of appreciation for keeping my distance or perhaps a passing question “have you seen any tasty Burrowing Owls about?”. We have no way of knowing, but my mind was immediately focused on the Owl we had recently left – thankfully, the opposite direction from their heading.

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

I definitely have more admiration for the Burrowing Owl. Clearly these are threats (as well as others I am sure) that can threaten its existence on a daily basis. Ironic that a potential solution is right at their fingertips, but I am sure using the advantages of flight can also bring with it an entirely different set of dangers. No arguing, top of the food chain is the place to be.

Bobcats found at Anahuac NWR in January 2023

Eventually, the three disappeared back into the dense vegetation of the fields and we went on our way…AFTER getting Linda to unlock the car doors.. I KNEW IT. As excited as I was about witnessing this all play out, the disappointment on the tins was bothering me the rest of the trip. There was as chance they could be improved.. but it would require some heaving manipulation in the digital darkroom. As you can see from these shots I absolutely lucked out – also now a big fan of the new LR AI Denoise feature for ISOs in the stratosphere. 

As I turned off the lights in the image lab, I notice a black fedora perched on my camera and an evil laugh rang out.. “The Sensor knows”.

53 thoughts on “The Sensor Knows”

  1. Fantastic story! Chance encounters with wildlife that can run you down has a way of getting the heart pumping. Maybe a bit of ultra training cardio in two minutes. Even more so as you hear the thunk of door locks when you are on the wrong side.

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    1. Thank you! I find those “you gonna die” moments can put a spark in life – of course that is usually more from the ultras vs these cute kitties ha. You know, she says she loves me (I have a VHS recording of it from our wedding that I have to remember to get transferred to a more long-time format!!) ….buuuttttt she has left me hanging in more situations than I can remember. Eh, my young adult mantra, that which doesn’t kill you only….

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  2. RAW rocks. What an absolutely wonderful encounter – I’m breathless! Can you share the camera settings? It would be fun to appreciate the abyss from which you pulled these images – and the images really are quite good. That was Lightroom AI Denoise, right? Your adventure has convinced me – I need to plan some overnight stays right outside Anahuac so that I can be in the Refuge early in the morning and late in the evening. Hats (and fedoras) off to you!

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    1. Thanks Sam! Let me check back on the settings and probably send you the details directly. Still trying to get transferred to the new computer and things are pretty much in chaos right now (just found out a major problem I was having was due to a stupid Windows 11 settings that decided to replicate preferences to my other computers thanks to dumbass programmers (from the industry..I know). These shots were done on the old (highly reliable, tried and true, oh, how I miss it) computer. That was the AI Denoise in LR. I started playing around with it before the new computer came – took 7 minutes per photograph on the old – guessing done before I finish hitting the key with the new one. From the limited tests I did, worked great on high ISO, but was too destructive on light noise, so I still recommend the manual sliders for that. We started liking Anahuac even more when we started hitting the early hour and the late afternoon timeframes. Last couple of years we have witnessed the Short-Ear Owls coming out to hunt about 4:00pm which is fantastic to watch – usually several, so plenty of tinning opportunities. Harriers are also out and about, of course, and the large flocks are coming in to spend the night on the auto-loop ponds. Admittedly, not a lot of people out there at those times so it can be a bit spooky.

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    1. Thanks Ed. I was thrilled to get the opportunity to enjoy one and was in awe in when the cubs came out, happy I was able to bring something back to remember the encounter – granted it took a bit of a miracle to pull them out of the darkness ha. Appreciate the drop in, take care.

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    1. Thank you! Can’t imagine the heartpumping that would result if that Owl locked eyes on these kitties. Not up on the breeding pattern of the Burrows, but if there are owlets in that cave it would probably get ugly for one side of the other (trying not to pick sides ha). Always appreciate you coming by Jerry.

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    1. Yes the picture slider. Depending on what brightness your monitor (or phone screen) is set at you might see blackness or some slightly lighter shapes (the kitty and fence post) on the image of the left. The right side is the massively extracted image from the digital darkroom. Trust me, you are not missing anything if you can’t see the shot on the left ha. Glad you enjoyed the kitty post Vic!

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    1. Thanks Vic, my temple has been breached and I’m pretty pissed. Normally I easily sweat that crap out, but being on the road it was able to settle in and my workout was confined what I could do in the RV. It has two days left to be gone on its own or I’m going in after it!

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  7. What a fantastic Kitty catch. And three bobcats to boot. I’m generally a RAW guy, but I do jpeg on the phone, which I use for most of my photos these days. I still adjust the jpeg like they are RAW files. Just what did you do in Las Cruces to get the crud? Most of the folks at the office go to Las Cruces often for projects at the schools, universities, city and county. None of us have ever come down with any crud from Las Cruces.

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    1. Thank you Tim – I can count the number of wild Bobcat encounters I’ve had in one hand – never more than one at a time and. as you would expect, they never stuck around that long.. I only did three things on the way back through Las Cruces on the way home. Stayed at the actually very nice KOA on top of the hill and didn’t come close to anyone. Went to a Dollar General where they were cranking hard core rap over the speaker which made me feel bad for the older customers there (actually, I don’t want to hear that shit either), then went to what we thought would be a nicer grocery store (Albertsons) where the first thing we see is a drug deal on the right side of the parking lot (while an older security guard stood and watched from afar) and then panhandled in the parking lot on the way out. Lastly we got a carry out pizza from a local pizza joint which I will say for the record was pretty tasty. Note, I spent my time waiting for the pizza reading no less than 4 placards explaining the open carry policy – 2 claimed I could based on New Mexico law, 2 claimed I couldn’t because they said so. That’s is fine of course, Las Cruces has a crime rate of 1 out of 100 live with your choices. So, somewhere in those last three stops, something violated me. Might want to warn you employees ha. Oh, funny note, the manager at the Dollar General was confused by a $2 bill a customer paid with and was busy looking up on the internet if it was fake.

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      1. That’s a tough one to diagnose. Reading about NM open carry laws while waiting for carry out is good use of your time. Business have to post a no guns open or concealed sign in a conspicuous location like the entrance to the business. No carrying into a place that sells alcohol and no firearms within 300 feet of a school. However, almost all high schools have shooting ranges. They way they have the laws, it’ hard to carry open or concealed with out braking various laws. An now the legislators are trying to make everyone who owns a gun an outlaw.

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        1. I heard your Governor was trying to tread on her constituent’s 2A rights. Crime is through the roof, hey, I know, let’s take the advantage from good actors and give it to bad actors. We have a constant battle in our state as well – their latest crap is getting seriously rebuked.

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          1. She got her pee pee whacked over that one, but the current route of rabid legislators are paying no heed and moving forward with more unconstitutional bills. If any pass there will be lots of lawsuits and more wasting money that our impoverished state doesn’t have.

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            1. Ridiculous – I find it odd people think they are qualified to lead people but unable to read something as basic as the Constitution. Hawaii just went way off the deep end on this and waiting for them to get whack-a-moled by the higher court.

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            1. Great, ruin my day Tim! O’Keefe at OMG has decided to bring the NGOs out of the shadows and start revealing how government (our) money is being used to facilitate their illegal behavior – ridiculous.

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    1. Thank you Luisella, glad you enjoyed reading about my encounter. Oddly enough, I am a fan of big Cats, not so much the little domestic ones that amuse themselves by driving our Poodles crazy ha. Take care and have a great rest of your week.

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  9. Well B they are great shots and I’m right with you on raw as you will see with my latest post (though it wasn’t as dark as your episode). Hate upping the iso, don’t have photoshop/lightroom all my images are done on Nikon NXD. Noise reduction is ok (ish) but the images are a bit soft and if you sharpen them the pixels go crazy again and it’s back to square one!
    Surprised you have not been given anti-biotics for that ‘crud’.
    Think the owls would be ok, their hearing is rather good and I reckon those cats wouldn’t get close.

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    1. Appreciate the kind words B.! I definitely need to get over to read your post, I saw it came in while I was in the 8th round of my fight with the new computer. My experience with the new Lightroom AI Denoise sounds very similar to your experience with the NXD – works well when the ISO is really high and really chunks down those blocks and color distortions, but anything at 1600 or below it causes loss and softens waaaay too much. I asked the Dr. if there was medications to give me back the advantage. A rarity for me as a general rule I do not take anything beyond maybe a vitamin or two if I am not getting enough sun or race depletes my reserves too much. Answer was a surprising no as I wasn’t experiencing fever so the body wasn’t raging outright war on whatever had invaded the temple. As I told Vic, two more days and if it isn’t out, I’m going in after it. You are probably right on the owl front – based on the sentry skills of that Owl, nothing was sneaking up on it – interesting enough, its cave was in a area with Cows in it so it might have friends to help keep the predators away – like when the local farmers put Donkeys or Goats in with their horses. Thanks for coming by!

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  10. Well done 👏👏👏. Getting more than a minute or two with them is a gift. DeNoise programs on RAW have saved many an image taken in the ‘too dark’ times. Topaz and Photolab 7 both do good jobs too. Topaz is best if you loose details.

    Sorry about the crud, occupational hazard….

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    1. Appreciate the applause Ted. I have heard a lot of good things about Topaz – I’ll have to look into that a little deeper. Most of the time I can keep the ISO at relatively tameable levels with some compromise on depth as The Beast is an end to end f4 – these were ridiculous conditions ha. Thanks for stopping by and for the advice.

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      1. I don’t think ISO is the problem it was years ago. When I switched to MFT gear (OM System) that was my biggest concern. I added Topaz and Photolab to my post work. Turns out I can consistently shoot ISO 200 if I want. A bit low I think, but I was surprised. My long lens is a Leica f4, good glass combined with new tech stuff is amazing.

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        1. Sensors are definitely much better than those early days – my D7500 is far superior to my old D7000 workhorse, but Linda’s D850 is outstanding…but she isn’t about to let me touch it ha. My rig has a sweet spot at ISO 400 for some reason – did a bunch of tests to find the best settings and was surprised to see the 200 level coming out a bit soft for the shutter/fstop I prefer to shoot at. Comfortable up through 800, can live with 1600, but as you know, it gets dicey from there depending on how well the tools can clean it up. Leica is some good glass.

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            1. I definitely like the idea of being lighter. I was looking into replacing my main glass thanks to reoccurring issues … saw the price tag and decided I am going to have it repaired for a second time. The few times I branched out from the Nikon glass I ended up regretting it (I also like the sealed glass from Nikon especially when out on the coastal beaches).

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  11. Okay, so – a day where you see an owl is special. When you see a Bobcat family during the same day and have the pics to brag about it – well – jealousy is an ugly thing. Of which I am officially guilty.

    Nice darkroom work. RAW rocks.

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    1. I can’t complain, life is good (although I still get cranky at times ha). Trust me, whatever shade of green you might be at, mine is many shades deeper from reading about all your incredible adventures down there in Florida. I openly admit my digital darkroom knowledge has served me well over the years. It has its limits, but those tools come in handy when you need them..at such a small cost of extra space for the RAW format. Take care and enjoy the warmth down there.

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    1. Based on my experience… universally elusive. You are right, we tend to pick them up on trail cams or security cams a LOT more than our DSLRs. Appreciate you dropping in Sharon, have a great rest of the week.

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    1. I should have ran right to the gas station and bought a lottery ticket ha! Just incredible timing to be coming out of the park at that exact time and having enough captured in the sensor to forever remember it by. I’d like to think they are working it for the camera, but I think it is more accurate to describe it as keeping an eye on me and making sure that stupid human didn’t do anything to endanger her cubs. Either way, I was have a great time snapping away. As always, appreciate you dropping in and have a great rest of the week.

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