A Rare Submission … « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

A Rare Submission ...

What’s Up?

I spent about an hour on Saturday morning photographing Old Gnarly’s family feeding in the South Field — Old Gnarly, it’s mate, and their small colt (that is doing just fine). I finally am sure that Old Gnarly’s mate has a bad right foot. The sun is supposed to be out this morning for the first time in more than a week but with the winds from the SW, I will be leaving the large road-killed turtle in the fridge. I will be heading down to the lake today, Sunday 19 APR 2020, as soon as I finish this blog post. To do some hunting with my SONY gear …

I sent the final draft of the SONY eGuide to Patrick Sparkman for his final review. If you already own the guide and would like an opportunity to review it, please send me an e-mail by clicking here. I should be publishing it this week. Please write only if you have time to review the document in the next day or two. All 47 folks who currently have the guide will receive a link for the final-final version later this week.

Your Favorite?

Please take a moment to leave a comment and let us know which of today’s six featured images is your favorite. And why. And wish me luck on the submission!

Click on the image to enjoy a larger version.

The SONY e-Guide by Patrick Sparkman and Arthur Morris

The Sony Camera Videos and Pre-publication e-Guide Costs and Discount Info

The cost of the SONY e-Guide is $100.00 US and will include one of the four (4) camera set-up videos — we offer one video each for the a7r iii, the a7r iv, the a9, and the a9 ii — and the written guide with the galleries. The guide is now 98% done and you will — of course, receive the final version when it is completed. I sent out the third draft today to those who have purchased the Guide with or without the discount.

Folks who have used my B&H links or purchased their SONY gear from Bedfords will receive said discount based exactly on how much they spent. If you spent more than $10,000 you will receive one free video and the e-Guide. Additional camera videos are $25.00 each. If you spent $2400, you will receive a 24% discount, and so on and so forth. And again, additional camera videos will be $25.00 each.

I will need time to verify your B&H purchases so folks will need to send their receipts and then be a bit patient. It is much easier to verify Bedfords’ purchases but I need those receipts as well.

If you have not used BAA links, please do so in the future. If that is the case and you would like the e-Guide now, please send a Paypal for $100 US to birdsasart@verizon.net and be sure to include the words “SONY Pre-publication Guide” in the Paypal e-mail along with the name of your camera or cameras so that you can receive the correct video or videos. Please add $25 for each additional camera video. Be sure to send a copy of the Paypal transaction to me via e-mail.

Folks who have used BAA links to purchase their SONY gear should send their receipts to me via e-mail asap and let me know which camera videos they need. I will verify their purchases as quickly as possible and send a quote to be paid via Paypal as above.

Thanks to all who have properly used my B&H links or gone through the fabulous Steve Elkins at Bedfords, and thanks to everyone for having faith in the information that I provide, knowing that it will be the best available anywhere.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase over $1000.00, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H. Those include the SONY a7r IV, the SONY 200-600, the SONY 600mm f/4 GM, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is eager to please.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

This image was created on January 7, 2019 at The Rookery on Saunders Island, The Falklands. While seated, I used the hand Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens and my suped-up Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering plus about 2/3 stop as framed (was somewhat of an underexposure): 1/500 sec. at f/7.1 in Manual mode. NATURAL AUTO WB at 6:59pm on a typically cloudy afternoon.

Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +3. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here.

One up and to the left of center D-9/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure.

Image #1: Magellanic Penguin tight head out-of-burrow portrait

A Rare Submission …

It has been a while since I did a photographic submission of any kind, but with Jim at home I was checking out e-mails on the office computer and came across this one on Friday:

Hello RRJr Contributors,

I hope that you are doing well and staying healthy during these interesting times. If you didn’t hear already, I and the rest of the National Wildlife Federation / Ranger Rick staff are currently working remotely until guidance by the State of Virginia says otherwise (currently June 10th). Luckily we have a great IT team that has set our organization up for remote work success.

Attached you will find our Photo/Video Want-List for the November edition of Ranger Rick Jr. Stories include:

Gray Wolves
Holey Homes (underground burrows)

Please see the attachment for more details and feel free to email me with any questions!

Thank you!

Chris Conway

Well, I have only seen one or two wolves in my life, both close to mile away. And I have no good photos of puffings in burrows, but I knew that I had some good ones of Maggelanic Penguins …

This image was also created on January 7, 2019 at The Rookery on Saunders Island, The Falklands. Again, while seated, I used the hand Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens and my suped-up Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering plus about 1/3 stop as framed: 1/400 sec. at f/6.3 (was close to one stop underexposed). NATURAL AUTO WB at 6:05pm on a cloudy afternoon.

Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +3. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here.

One down and to the left of center D-9/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. I executed a pano-crop from the bottom.

Image #2: Magellanic Penguin tight head out-of-burrow portrait

So …

So, I searched on my laptop for images. I began at the JAN-2018-19 Falklands trip to transfer folder and found four suitable images, all created with the handheld Nikon 500 PF. Next up was the _ _ _ A A A Falklands 3 WEEKS 2016 transferred where I located the last two images featured in today’s blog post. Both were created with Canon Gear.

This image was also created on January 7, 2019 at The Rookery on Saunders Island, The Falklands. Again, while seated, I used the hand Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens and my suped-up Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering plus about 1/3 stop as framed: 1/640 sec. at f/6.3 (was about a half-stop under). NATURAL AUTO WB at 5:55pm on a then cloudy-bright afternoon.

Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +3. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here.

Two to the right of center D-9/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure.

Image #3: Magellanic Penguins in burrows

My e-mail to Chris Conway

Hi Chris,

I hope that all is still A-OK at NWF. All here at BIRDS AS ART is A-OK.

Jim and Jennifer are home isolating and getting paid 🙂

I have sent six large JPEGs of Magellanic Penguins in burrows via Hightail. You can access them here: ttps://spaces.hightail.com/receive/Fs5jv9S0Oy

If you would like the optimized files for one or more of the images, please reply to the sending address of this e-mail (samandmayasgrandpa@att.net) and I will get them to you in short order.

Thanks with love, artie

This image was also created on January 7, 2019 at The Rookery on Saunders Island, The Falklands. Again, while seated, I used the hand Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens and my suped-up Nikon D850. ISO 1600. Matrix metering plus about 2/3 stop as framed: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6 (was a good exposure). NATURAL AUTO WB at 5:37pm on a then cloudy-bright afternoon.

Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +3. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here.

One up from center D-9/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure.

Image #4: Two half-grown Magellanic Penguins in burrow

The Good Old Days

Twenty-five years ago it would not have been uncommon for me to work on two or three photo submissions in a single week. I would send a plastic sleeve or two of slides to various publishers for consideration. In 2001, we generated more than $220,000 selling one-time usage rights. By 2011 that number had dropped more than 90% to $21,000. By 2017, the last times we checked, image sales were below $2,000, down more than 99%.

I knew that I would have to adapt or wind up as a greeter in Walmart. At BAA, we have done just that.

This image was created on December 23, 2016 at Bleaker Island, The Falklands. Again, while seated, I was seated behind my Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens and my favorite Canon body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/1250 sec. at f/6.3 (was another good exposure). AWB at 6:39am early on a sunny morning.

Three up from center Expand AI Servo AF was active at the moment of exposure.

Image #5: Magellanic Penguin displaying a the top of it burrow

Patience

Getting this image required something that I am usually short of — patience. A penguin would pop out of its burrow, display briefly, and then disappear for 20 or more minutes. But I really wanted the shot …

This image was created on December 22, 2016 at Bleaker Island, The Falklands. While seated I used the handheld Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 176mm) and my favorite Canon body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR. ISO 800. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/1000 sec. at f/6.3 (this image also was well underexposed). AWB at 6:41pm on a

Three up from center Expand AI Servo AF was active at the moment of exposure.

Image #6: Magellanic Penguin adult in burrow

Why So Many Bad Exposures?

As good as I was at getting the right exposure (with both film — the original softcover The Art of Bird Photography, and digital — ABP II), and teaching others to do the same thing, having to create a test image for each situation was difficult. And when the light changed even slightly you were often left in the lurch with exposures as much as a stop or more from perfect. Things are so, so much easier with SONY once you learn to use Zebras with ISO on the Control Wheel. As the light changes, simply adjust the ISO so that you have some blinkies and your exposures will be 99.8% perfect even when you screw up!

Click on the image to enjoy a larger version.

All images created on various Land-based Falklands IPTs

2020 Land-based Falklands Trip

December 10-26, 2020. $8999.00 per person. Deposit $4000.00. Limit four photographers/openings: 2. Please e-mail for a complete itinerary and complete details.

Fly on a red-eye to Santiago, Chile on WED 9 DEC 2020, arriving there on THURS 10 DEC. We will do an add-on condor trip ($450/per person including lunch) that morning assuming that everyone gets there by about 8am at the very latest. And another add-on morning to Del Mar for Inca Terns and Peruvian Pelicans ($450/per person including lunch) on FRI 11 DEC leaving the hotel very early. We fly to Mont Pleasant on SAT 12 DEC. In the Falklands we will visit Bleaker, the Rookery and the Neck on Saunders, and Pebble. Then two nights at the Malvina House on Stanely with a visit to an amazing rockhopper colony. Fly back to Santiago on SAT 26 DEC. Fly home either that night (red-eyes are hard to get) or the following day.

If In Doubt …

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To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog or Bedfords, for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

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Typos

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8 comments to A Rare Submission …

  • Art — No 5. is by far my favourite Nos 1, 2 and 6 – nice but nothing special and Nos 3 & 4 have problems on the right side of the image — to tightly cropped or with the large white body that should have been cropped.
    I am guessing the bird in No 5 is calling for mate/parent – action vs. static wins every time for me.

  • The images are all wonderful. Image #5 is my favorite, but image #2 is my second favorite and works best I think for this submission, clearly showing the burrow.

  • avatar Andy R

    Hi Artie,
    Appreciate you’re hanging in there.
    I’m assuming that photo sales figure in 2001 was net, not gross.

    From someone who used to deal with the traditional stock photo agencies.

    Andy R
    Santa Fe

    • avatar Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

      It is the total amount of money we took in for rights. That sounds like gross to me … But just for sales of the rights to images. In our best year at BAA we grossed more than $900,000.00. That after folks told me in 1993, “you can’t make a living being a bird photographer.”

      with love, artie

  • Love the Penguin images, especially #1 and #3. This blog post reminded me that I had yet to send along my submission as well 🙂

  • I really like Image 5 as a stand alone image but # 2 and 6 may fit the “underground burrows” category a bit better. My favorite would be Image 2. Something interesting happens to me when viewing Image 6. I can see from the other images that the white eye brow is above the eye but I switch to “seeing’ it below the eye at times on this one.

  • avatar JEANCLAUDE EBRARD

    Making the photo of any bird express a feeling,isn’t an easy thing.Three do.And thei’re informative at the same time.Of course it’s not”Birds as ART”.My picks :pic one “the Head” ahead.Second “Shy”6.Third”Pride”5
    Of course,i know quite a few of your photos which hit the three marks.I did’nt
    say “images” mind you.You deserve better.A word you should banish from your writings.I hope you will.You’re an Artist”by Jove”.
    KUDOS TO YOU.
    jean claude jce.

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