Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Two days ago, Canon released information on their next professinal digital camera body.  I was fortunate to have one to test about two weeks ago.  You can read my initital impressions on this BPN post:

http://birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=365077&posted=1#post365077

The short story is that I ordered two of them immediately <smile>

BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #301 can be viewed on line here:  http://www.birdsasart.com/bn301.htm

These are two of the featured items: ALAN MURPHY’S “Guide to Songbird Set-up Photography”  ($10 pre-publication discount), and  “DON’T BE TRAPPED BY A MIND-SET…”

If you have ever pointed a lens at a bird coming to a feeder you will find Aan's guide an amazing resource.

You can pre-order one here and save $10: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=275 

BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #302 can be viewed on line here:  http://www.birdsasart.com/bn302.htm

These are the most important featured items:  DAYTON, OH PROGRAM/SEMINAR:  NOV 6/7, 2009,  TOO WONDERFUL NOT TO SHARE, GALAPAGOS 2010 (looking for one lady….), THANKSGIVING AT BOSQUE,  “THE CLEAN LOWER EDGE,”, and THE 2009 BOSQUE OPEN WINDOWS VOLUNTEER PROJECT

A Tale of Two Nelsons

If you have already read  “TOO WONDERFUL NOT TO SHARE”  in BAA Bulletin #302 (immediately below),  be sure to read on to see Nelson’s follow-up e-mail and to learn of the second Nelson, Nelson Serrano. 

TOO WONDERFUL NOT TO SHARE

I received this e-mail this morning at 9:45am.  It put a huge smile in my heart and more than a few tears in my eyes.

Hello Mr. Morris,  My name is Nelson Gonzalez. I don’t know if you remember me, but you were my sixth grade teacher at P.S. 106 (Class 6-306) in the late 70’s. I’m the one who played the rich guy in the Happy Days play that we did (Cynthia, please come along, the cocktail guests are waiting at the club.”)   I was browsing the net and came across BIRDS AS ART.  As I looked at the pictures, I was caught by surprise when I came across a picture of you.  I’m happy you followed your dream after teaching for so many years. Now I know why you always took our class on trips to Gateway National Park and to natural history museums.  I just wanted to take the time to let you know that you had a big impact on my life.  From all the grades, I have fond memories of being a student in your class.  I remember you taking students to your home and your wife serving us spaghetti and meatballs. I don’t know how many other students have told you that you were a great teacher, but I felt the need to tell you.  Although we came from a poor and rough neighborhood, you gave your students hope by teaching us that we could accomplish anything if we put our minds to work.  

I wanted to tell you that I came out okay.  I joined the Navy after high school and served 6 years.  After the Navy, I attended Long Island University, and I now work as a relationship manager at a bank.  I have been married for 21 years and have 2 daughters and a son.  My oldest daughter Melissa is a junior in college.  Denise is a senior in high school and Nelson Jr. is a junior.  Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Mr. Morris, thank you for being my giant.   Take care and I hope to hear from you.  Nelson Gonzalez, U.S. Bank Corporate Trust Services

NELSON’S FOLLOW-UP E-MAIL

After responding to Nelson’s original e-mail, I received this from him yesterday:

Mr. Morris,  I’m sorry to hear about Mrs. Belsky.  My brother loved being in her class because she had such a gift to teach. My mom was also very fond of her.  It’s funny, when my mother spoke about our time at 106, she always reminded us that Mr. Morris, Mrs. Belsky and Mr. Alexandro were the best teachers her children ever had. I think she was right.   As for talking to anyone from 106, I used to talk to Jorge, who was in our six grade class (do you remember him?), but lost touch with him.  Jorge also served in the Navy. After the Navy, Jorge was working as a para- professional at Bushwick High School while attending college to be a teacher. I also spoke to Pablo about 8 years ago.  Pablo was also in your class at the same time I was.  I don’t know if you remember him.  Sadly, Pablo dropped out of school and was into drugs.  It’s sad that most of the kids I grew up with ended up serving time in jail, getting into drugs, or are dead now.  I remember growing up, most of these kids made fun of my brothers and me because we had a curfew.  My parents were very strict and watched over us like hawks. I thank my parents all the time.  I now live on Staten Island.  I bought a two family home and took my parents with me.  I appreciate them so much for how they managed to bring us up well despite the environment that I wanted them to live their last days in a peaceful environment.      Well take care and God Bless.

P.S. I will try and send you some pictures of my kids soon.  

NELSON SERRANO

Nelson Serrano was a tall Spanish kid with red hair and freckles.   He was a gifted student by any standards, another member of Class 6-306 some time in the early 1980s.  He was one of the most brilliant group of kids that I ever had.  On the city-wide tests, he scored in the 99th percentile in both reading and math.  And he always had a neat smile on his face. 

Nearly a decade later I was approached by a short Spanish man while standing in the hallway outside of the office at PS 106.  “Hi,” he said, “I am Nelson Serrano’s uncle.   I am not sure if you have heard that Nelson has been in prison for several years now after killing two drug dealers in a deal gone bad when he was 16 years old.  Would you be willing to write a positive letter on Nelson’s behalf?  He thinks that you and his sister are the only two who might be able to help him; we are trying to get his sentence communted.”  

I wrote the letter and a year later I received a letter from Nelson, from prision.   He said something like this:  ”Mr. Morris,  Thanks for writing the letter for me.  My appeal was turned down.   I would like to apologize to you.   You warned us of the dangers of drugs and I did not listen to you. I am sorry.  Nelson Serrano”

It was amazing to me how some kids could be dragged under by the conditions in Bushwick while others were able to rise above it.  Please feel free to share this with any of the youngsters in your life and ask them which Nelson they would like to be….

I hope to be back soon with some M IV images to post; right now Canon has requested that I do not post any of the images that I created with my pre-production Mark IV bodies just yet. 

This classic BAA image was created at a shutter speed of 1/30 sec. If you think that your equipment is the cause of your usharp images, please keep reading. Not sure who said this but I do agree: "Most lenses are sharper than most photographers." This print will be offered as a limited edititon canvas print in several months. See the Bulletins or the BAA store here: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=31 for details on this print series.

BASIC SHARPNESS TESTING

I receive several e-mails each week from folks who state that this or that camera does not focus properly or that this or that lens is not sharp.  In 99% of these cases I am sure that operator error rather than equipment malfunction is the cause.  That said, on rare occasion, folks using quality equipment from Canon or Nikon do experience real problems with focusing accuracy.  If you are handholding, please do not complain about unsharp images.  ( Handholding telephoto lenses can be done successfully only be a very few highly skilled folks.)  I was walking around in Sabine Woods late yesterday afternoon. It was cloudy dark. I was working at ISO 800 with shutter speeds of about 1/60th second and even slower at times. There were two folks walking around handholding 500 f/4 lenses; they might as well have gone fishing as there was no way that they could create a sharp image without a tripod in those conditions.  For most folks it is best to work on a tripod at all times when using your longest lens (unless you are handholding for flight or for action).  Another factor to consider is that most of the folks who write complaining of unsharp image are using cameras with 1.6X or 1.5X multiplier effects.  They need to realize that these cameras multiply vibrations and movement caused by operator error by the square of the equivalent focal length!  So using a 500 lens with say an EOS-50D you are really working at an effective focal lenght of 800mm, not 500mm.

If you are using a tripod you need to check and note the shutter speeds of your unsharp images. I had one guy on an IPT complaining that none of his images were sharp. I checked his set-up and saw that he was working in near darkness at ISO 100 with shutter speeds in the 1/8 to 1/15 second range. Making sharp images with a long lens at such slow shutter speeds is simply not possible 99.99% of the time.   When working at long effective focal lengths I am confident that I can make sharp images down to 1/60 second as long as I have time to lock the tripod head and provided that the bird does not move during the exposure.  With the prime lenses alone, I can usually get down to 1/30 second. With the relatively new Canon 800mm lens and its new 4-stop IS system, I have made some sharp images at shutter speeds as slow as 1/6 sec. Here are two simple tests to determine if you have faulty equipment.

 #1: Tape a sheet of newspaper to a sunlit outdoor wall on a relatively still day. Make sure that it is as taped down as flat as possible. (A magazine cover with fine print or a plastic or cardboard test chart are of course better options.)  Mount your telephoto rig on a tripod. Lock down the tripod and the lens collar. Make sure that you are beyond the minimum focusing distance of your lens and that the distance range switch (if your lens has one) is set to full.  Make a few images at the wide open aperture using both One-Shot and AI Servo AF with Canon gear or Single (S) or Continuous (C) AF with Nikon.  Then do the same thing at f/8. As long as the wall is sunlit you will have more than enough shutter speed to know that your focusing issues are not caused by too-slow shutter speeds.

Now download your images and check them for accurate focus.  If all of the images are sharp, then you can be sure that your unsharp images were being caused by operator error.

#2: Stand well off a somewhat busy road with the sun angled so that the approaching vehicles are coming right down sun angle. Use the wide open aperture and choose an ISO that results in shutter speeds greater than 1/2000 sec.   Choose AI Servo (Canon) or Continuous (Nikon) and select the center AF sensor.   As the cars approach, place the central sensor on the license plate.  Once focus is acquired, hold the shutter button down. and make a series of images.  Even this simple task requires some practice so be sure to take lots of images.  Download the images and sort them into two groups:  sharp on the license plate and unsharp on the license plate.  Now using an application that allows you to see the position of the active focusing sensor, in this case the central sensor, note the position of the sensor in the unsharp images.   If the sensor is consistently on the license plate and the images are unsharp, then you likely have equipment problems.  At this point you will need to send both camera and lens to the manufacturer along with a CD of the images.

You can repeat this test with various camera bodies and various lenses in an effort to determine the cause of your problem.  Again, when and if you are pretty sure that you have an equipment problem it is best to send the gear to the manufacturer along with a CD of the test images.  In the great majority of cases, folks will learn that their equipment is perfectly fine but that poor sharpness or panning techniques, slow shutter speeds, or incorrect AF settings  are the cause of the unsharp images.  Do also realize the importance of subject movement.   While working at the Cozad Ranch probably well more than half of my images were unsharp. This was due in most cases to subject movement. In other cases, the unsharp images were a result of the AF system being unable to maintain sharp focus on the tiny songbirds as they leaped off of their perches.  It is important to understand and to realize the limitations of our equipment.

I flew to Long Island on Monday past to visit my Mom who is recuperating from hip replacement replacement surgery.   Her original new hip lasted 16 years.   The surgeon found a big mess and three hours turned into six and a half.  After a few days in the hospital and two months in a rehab nursing home, she is back home and doing great.   Photography locally has been pretty poor both at Jones Beach and at the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. 

Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the 1.4X II TC and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/10.

This juvenile pectoral was one of a very few birds at the north end of the East Pond on Tuesday afternoon.  A visit to the south end on Thursday morning was also challenging. 

BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #300 is now on-line here:  http://www.birdsasart.com/bn300.htm

The first featured item (which had pretty much nothing at all to do with photography), generated more interest than anything I have ever posted.  I feel that it is so important that I am posting it here as well.  

YOUR HEALTH: NONE OF MY BUSINESS

Over the past decade or so, the nature photography community has lost several stellar contributors to easily preventable diseases and conditions.   All of these deaths have been needless. If you are grossly overweight or enjoy a pack or two of smokes a day and are totally happy with your life, please skip down to item 2 below.  After all, your health is none of my business and I can respect that.  But heck, there is a good chance that your doctor is telling you that you are in great shape anyway…. Sad but true.  If you have been thinking for years that you need to make some serious changes in your lifestyle, keep reading.     

First, I would like to make a preliminary comment on change.   Everyone says, “Change is so hard.”  That is true only if you believe your own story (Byron Katie: www.thework.com).  I used to drink a 32 ounce soda with lunch and dinner.   Every day.  I used to eat a box of Oreos a day, that for more than 35 years. Every day.  One whole box.  Three rows of 12 cookies.   Now I have had a total of about 7 cans of soda and zero Oreo cookies in the past 14 years.   Very recently I have tightened up my diet significantly, consuming only protein and about a dozen grams of carbohydrates from some veggies and a salad each at each meal.  No cookies, ice cream, cake, candy, pasta, bread, wheat, rye, rice, potatoes, potato chips, or cashew nuts.  And no processed foods.  Oil and vinegar on the salads.  In spite of what you might think, these changes were actually very easy to make once I made up my mind.

At age 18, I weighed 264 pounds.  At 40, I weighed 240. I had had high blood pressure since I was 13.   Twenty years ago I was told that I had advanced coronary artery disease.   I had 3-9 bouts annually of a severely irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation. I was on a ton of heart meds.  14 years ago I was diagnosed with non-insulin dependent, adult-onset diabetes and had a bleeding ulcer.  Today I take no heart meds, my ulcer is a thing of the past, I am off all of heart medications, my blood pressure is 120 over 70, and I have not had an a-fib in several years.  My last blood work was perfect report but for the blood sugar which continues to be difficult to control as eating 666,666 Oreo cookies and about 547 Entenmanns’s French-filled Chocolate Crumb cakes over the course of 35 years took its toll on my pancreas but I am working on that too.   

What gives?  I met a wonderful doctor/chiropractor/nutritionist named Cliff Oliver and followed his advice.  I underwent Nutri-Spec testing which enabled Cliff to prescribe supplements designed to balance three of my body’s systems.  I gave up soda and milk and began to eat protein at every meal.  I began exercising as much as possible.  Some of the changes were rapid, some were slow in coming, but all were dramatic.

Though many of you might scoff at all chiropractors (I did at one time in my life), I would trust Cliff Oliver with my life over any ten traditional Western doctors that I know–sorry Doc…  He is concerned with how your entire body functions and understands how the various organs and systems inter-react, while modern Western medicine is most often only concerned with one organ or system–drug em and cut em is the usual cure, the former usually with suppressive medicines that are harmful to us.  (Suppressive medicines prevent our organs and systems from doing what they are supposed to do, supplements help them do what they are supposed to do…)

Here is the latest on my battle with diabetes.   After going off the wagon for several months about two years ago (with Brach’s chocolate-covered peanut clusters), I have been attempting to normalize my blood sugars to no avail.   About six weeks ago I came home from the doctor’s office with a supply of injectable insulin.   I made one last call to Cliff to discuss this new course of treatment when he stated that he had spoken to a Doctor Richard K. Bernstein about my case.  Dr. Bernstein suggested that I try eating only protein for three days.  I did, and my blood sugars dropped about 50 points.  I immediately ordered Dr. B’s book here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316167169/ref=ox_ya_oh_product and have been following his program totally and completely.  The changes have been amazing.  The insulin is still in the refrigerator, unopened.  I have scheduled 13 hours of appointments with Dr. B in mid-December.   You can learn more about Dr. Bernstein here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_K._Bernstein or visit his home page here:  http://www.diabetes-book.com/

If you think that learning more about the changes that I have made in my life might inspire you to do the same, please e-mail me at birdsasart@att.net with the words Health Basics File in the subject line.  This file includes contact information for Dr. Cliff Oliver. Either way, I wish you the best.