Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

Chapter 91: Chapter 84: Photography: Birding Notes [6,000 Words] (3)

Zhu Qingyue set up a folding chair beside the car, leisurely leaning back, and unfolded a book.

Li Younan, on the other hand, took out the tent tarp bag, intending to find a flat spot.

As he bent down to place the bag, he glanced sideways at a shallow mudflat near the shore.

The water there was shallow, just above the ankles, with some scattered water plants and small puddles on the mudflat.

A few long-legged avocets were bowing their heads, swiftly sweeping their upturned beaks in the muddy water to forage.

This bird is a local summer bird, one of the few kinds still visible before winter.

Their movements were swift yet carried a unique rhythm, their white feathers standing out against the dull background.

The scene was vivid, imbued with the bustling vitality unique to lakeside settings.

Li Younan thought this scene was pretty good; his camera was still in the trunk, so he casually pulled out his phone from his pants pocket.

For Li Younan, even with just a phone, at this distance and lighting, it was enough to capture interesting moments.

Li Younan crouched slightly, leaning forward, finding an angle where no weeds would obstruct the view.

He simply tapped twice quickly on the screen to lock the focus on the avocet, which had the most graceful pose, then lightly tapped the small sun icon for exposure compensation, slightly darkening the background to make the bird’s outline clearer.

His finger hovered above the virtual shutter button, patiently waiting for two to three seconds. Just as the bird suddenly snatched a wriggling little fish from the water, leaning back slightly to maintain its balance, and its wing tips opened just a bit, he pressed down.

Li Younan straightened up, quickly swiped through the photos he just took on the phone screen.

Not bad, the motion was frozen well, the background was naturally blurred, the bird’s details were sharp; the composition wasn’t very intricate, but it had a sense of being present on the scene.

Li Younan casually stuffed the phone back into his pocket and continued to bend down to untie the tarp straps.

”Hey, little brother...” The photographer’s voice suddenly sounded behind him, carrying a hint of surprise.

He had unknowingly wandered over, likely noticing Li Younan’s recent actions of taking pictures.

The confidence he had earlier while handling equipment diminished a bit, his eyes carried a bit of curiosity and uncertainty.

He came a little closer: ”I saw you using a phone... did you capture it?”

Li Younan paused his work, nodded: ”Yeah, it happened to be catching a fish.”

”Can I see it?” His eyes glanced toward Li Younan’s pocket where the phone was.

”Sure.” Li Younan took out his phone, unlocked the screen, found the photo, and handed it to him.

He took it, zoomed in, and enlarged it on the screen, leaning close, scrutinizing it for quite a while without saying anything.

”Phones can shoot like this?” His tone carried a bit of bewilderment.

”Yeah.” Li Younan responded, not offering further explanation, reached to reclaim his phone, pocketing it, ”the light was decent, lucky it was close, though if using a camera, the effect would be even better.”

The photographer opened his mouth but ultimately just said ”Oh... oh” twice.

Didn’t say anything more.

Zhu Qingyue chuckled softly nearby, without looking at Li Younan, lowered her head to continue reading.

The lake breeze blew past, rustling the reeds.

...

Several dark clouds drifted overhead, blocking the sunlight, causing the light to dim significantly.

Li Younan retrieved his camera from the equipment bag in the rear trunk of the Land Cruiser.

Attached a telephoto lens.

Even at this price point, the camera, although focused on specific features, was still sufficient for usual landscape and bird photography.

Powering it on, Li Younan habitually checked the battery and memory card.

Just then, a sudden urgent, loud, and slightly rough call emerged from deep within the nearby reed bed close to Li Younan and Zhu Qingyue—

Immediately after, a medium-sized great egret suddenly shot out from the reeds, almost skimming the water surface at high speed.

Its wings flapped quickly, flying low and fast, heading straight towards the open water area near Li Younan and Zhu Qingyue.

This bird’s flight trajectory was hard to predict, fast, and the light was poor.

But this was Li Younan.

The system even granted him instinctive reactions.

Li Younan immediately assumed a stable semi-crouched posture, left arm bent to support the heavy lens’s front, while his right index finger swiftly manipulated the camera’s shoulder screen, adjusting the drive mode to high-speed continuous shooting, pushing up the sensitivity a notch, and cranking the shutter speed directly above 1/2000th of a second!

Meanwhile, Li Younan pressed his eyes tightly against the viewfinder, the lens locked onto the fast-moving white figure.

It was flying too quickly, rapidly enlarging in the frame.

Li Younan held his breath, his body slightly moving with its trajectory, finger half-pressing the shutter...

Just as it was about to sweep past above Li Younan and Zhu Qingyue’s heads, its wings fully spread, body in its most graceful and powerful form—

”Click click click click...” The rapid shutter sound echoed like fabric tearing, lasting for more than two seconds.

The sound ceased.

Li Younan set down the camera and quickly reviewed the photos he just took.

Out of the dozen or so high-speed continuous shots, only two or three were sharp.

In one photo, the white-winged tern was perfectly centered in the frame, wings fully spread. The background was dark, but the subject was accurately exposed with rich details, the dynamic motion frozen completely, composition simple yet powerful.

Li Younan exhaled a long breath; being able to capture a clear shot under such lighting was pretty impressive.

At that moment, the photography enthusiast had somehow moved in closer, eyes fixed intently on the replayed image on Li Younan’s camera screen.

He had heard the rapid shutter sound.

Li Younan, not shy about it, handed it over for him to see, feeling a slight thrill of showing off.

”This... this lighting... this speed... how did you do it?” He pointed at the screen. ”I... I didn’t even realize a bird flew by just now! You just... just held it and shot? And got it this clear? The ISO must be in the thousands, right? What about the noise?”

He spewed out a series of bewildered questions.

”With poor light, the shutter must be fast, so the ISO has to be high, and noise can be dealt with in post-processing.” Li Younan explained simply, not mentioning any specific settings, hung the camera back around his neck, and bent down to adjust the canopy, ”Mainly, you need to anticipate its flight path, focus quickly and steadily.”

He stood there, unable to process this information.

Looking at the well-used camera on Li Younan’s neck, he was silent for several seconds before stepping forward, a somewhat awkward yet extremely sincere smile on his face: ”Uh... brother... teacher! Could... could you... teach me? Just... just how to capture shots like that? My equipment isn’t bad, but I just can’t get it right...”

”I... I’ll buy you dinner! Or... or you can take a look at my equipment, see if there’s anything to improve?” He pointed at his own gear.

Zhu Qingyue nearby gave a slight cough, as if choked by the wind, or perhaps something else.

She flipped through the pages of her book with her head down, still not looking up.

Li Younan looked at the well-equipped yet perplexed man in front of him, finding it amusing yet understandable.

Photography, sometimes it isn’t just about spending money.

Some rely on talent, some on skill... and others on systems.

Everyone has made touching contributions.

...

Out in the world, we’re all friends.

The photography enthusiast’s last name was Wang, let’s just call him Old Wang.

Old Wang said, ”For those who often camp outside, sharing is instinctive. Borrowing salt or firewood at a campsite is as natural as breathing; you can bite into food given by strangers without hesitation.”

There were only their two cars nearby, naturally making it easy to picnic together.

Old Wang had brought fresh charcoal, which he used a blowtorch to ignite and throw into the stove, having done so a while ago.

By now, the coals in the stove were just right, red-hot with minimal smoke.

Li Younan placed a few small crucian carp skewered on iron rods above the grill, two fingers’ height from the flames.

The fish skin tightened quickly from the heat, emitting a slight sizzling sound, oil droplets oozing out, dripping onto the coals, sending up a small wisp of blue smoke with a burnt aroma.

Qingyue sat on the nearby picnic cloth.

She had a thick leather notebook spread on her knees, pencil in hand, the tip hovering above the paper for a long time without moving.

She gazed at the blurry line where water met sky in the distance, the lake breeze blowing, causing the wisps of hair on her forehead to flutter.

Occasionally, she lowered her head, sketching a few brief lines on the paper, then paused, raising her head to steal a look at Li Younan.

About a dozen meters away was Brother Wang’s family’s tent.

Brother Wang was bent over fiddling with a slightly larger cartridge stove, with a stainless steel pot on top, steam pushing the pot lid edges to purr. His wife sat on a small stool, holding an apple, peeling it with a knife in circles.

Once the meal was ready, they all sat together, eating and chatting.

The lake breeze came in waves, slow and steady, dispersing the smoke from the grilled fish and the heat from the stove.