As is my [...]]]>

This panorama was created from seven vertical frames stitched together in Photoshop (File/Automate/Photomerge). The individual images were made with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark III (replaced now by the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV). ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2 stops: 1/800 sec. at 8.

As is my habit, I woke early. I was entranced by the eerie, foggy scene before me. Seen and created at 6:17am on June 10, 2009 from the deck of the bear boat anchored in Kukak Bay, Katmai National Park, AK.

For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.

For Your Critique: Image #9

The image above is presented for your critique; feel free to praise it or rip it to shreds. All suggestions are welcome. Would you keep it or delete it? Let us know why either way, what you like or what you hate. What would you have done differently?

Over the course of the next month or so I will present eleven more images in this series for a total of twenty in all. The last one will be followed by two major revelations.

For a greater appreciation of this composite image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.

KATMAI BEAR BOAT IPT: July 24-31, 2012 fr. Kodiak, AK: $6499. Limit 8/Openings 6.

Coastal Brown Bears at point blank range, cubs nursing and playing. Spectacular scenery. Likely: puffins, nesting Bald Eagle and kittiwakes, Steller’s Sea Lions, & rafts of Sea Otters.

Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.

More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear used to create the image in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.

Lens/TC/Camera Body Micro-Adjustment: 0.

For a greater appreciation [...]]]>

Tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/500 sec. at f/25 in Manual mode. Central Sensor/Rear Focus AI Servo AF and re-compose. Read on to learn about rear focus.

Lens/TC/Camera Body Micro-Adjustment: 0.

For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.

Something From Nothing Sillhouette Lesson

In last night’s post, Something From Nothing, I presented two very washed out images and asked “Which would you keep, and why?”

Lots of folks chipped in with relevant comments but perhaps none more telling than David Pugsley who wrote, “I prefer the HA of the gull in A, but prefer the positioning of the sandpipers (?) in B. Regardless, I suspect you’re going to blow us away with an optimized image.

I kept both images. I converted B first increasing the the color temperature, contrast, exposure, and Vibrance and then pulling the black slider far to the right. I was most of the way to a nice silhouette. To convert the second image I chose “Previous Conversion” from the Basic dropdown menu. Then I used a Quick Mask to bring the head of the gull in A (that one had a a perfect head angle with the head feathers blowing up a bit) into frame B (which as many felt, had the nicest arrangement of Sanderlings). Kudos to those who mentioned the difference in head angles and those who like arrangement of the sandpipers better in B. Once I had the new head in place–that was as easy as pie–I blackened the blacks with a Levels adjustment while holding down the Alt key. That was followed by lots of beach and specular highlight clean-up mostly with the Patch Tool, the Clone Stamp Tool, and the Spot Healing Brush. Everything above of course as described in detail in Digital Basics. Both Subhrashis and Bill Richardson both pretty much mapped out my battle plan (but missed the head replacement deal.

Tonight’s Questions:

1: What do you think of the optimized image above?
2: Do you like the Sanderling that is right below the Herring Gull?

See how others answered those questions in my BPN post here.

Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.

More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear used to create the image in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine.

Lens micro-adjustment: -4. Central sensor/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF (with AF active at the [...]]]>

This image was created at Nickerson Beach, Long Island, NY with the tripod-mounted (I was kneeling) Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, a 25mm Extension tube, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 stops: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6

Lens micro-adjustment: -4. Central sensor/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF (with AF active at the moment of exposure).

The extension tube increased magnification about 3% and allowed me–if need be–to focus about 2 1/2 feet closer than with the prime lens alone. Lots of beach clean-up and seaweed re-arrangement. See the original below.

For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.

Preparing JPEGs for the WEB

When questioned about poor image quality more than a few folks on Bird Photographers.Net complain about the 200kb file size limit. I am always baffled by these comments and I never have a clue as to what folks are doing that causes their image quality problems.

Here is what I am am currently doing: I start with my master file and crop horizontals 1024 px wide at 96 dpi. I know that that the word on the street is to save web JPEGs at 72dpi but I have been saving at 96 dpi since forever: if it ain’t broke, done’t fix it. (With most of my avian images I selectively sharpen the bird only in my master files using a contrast mask and a hide-all mask.) I sharpen my JPEGs to taste using Unsharp Mask with the Amount between 130 and 225 (to taste) and the Radius always at .3. The average Amount would be about 180. Then I Save for Web with the image optimized to <195 kb. If you convert to sRGB you need to make sure that the Embed Color Profile box is checked when you save for web. If you are not right on the money with all of the above you can find everything detailed in our Digital Basics File, an easy-to-follow PDF that is sent via e-mail. DB includes my complete Digital Workflow, dozens of great Photoshop tips, and free updates for as long as I am still pushing the shutter button.

I have been preparing my JPEGs for web presentation this way (albeit with smaller sized images and smaller KB allowances) for more than ten years and all that I have ever heard is “Your JPEGs look great!” I have never once had image quality problems by having to save at <200kb and never even in the old days when saving at 800 or 600 pixles wide and <80 kbs. Ever. So when I see comments like those above I am always mystified.... Do note that many of the images posted to the web are not optimized to less than 200kb but if I downsize them for BPN they look just as good!

This is the original image from which the image above was created.

Note: the image above is unsharpened. Here’s what I did to get from A to B (my master file saved as a TIFF at 300 dpi): Leveled the image with the Ruler Tool based on the foot. Expanded canvas with the Crop Tool Added beach with a flopped Quick Mask. Filled in open spots with the Clone Stamp Tool. Cleaned up the seaweed with a series of Quick Masks and moved a small pile of the green stuff from behind the bird to in front of it. Additional beach clean-up with the Patch Tool, the Clone Stamp Tool, and the Spot Healing Brush. Used those same tools to clean the large sands specks from the birds head. Eliminated the dark area behind the leg with the raised foot using Denise Ippolito’s great new Improved Protect and Defend Cloning on a Layer. Click here for more info or to get the free tutorial. Selectively sharpened the bird only using a contrast mask and a hide-all mask. Lightened the iris. The usual contrast and Selective Color work. Flattened, converted to 8-bit, and saved at full resolution as a TIF.

Editing Your Comments

Many folks have noticed that it is no longer possible to edit a comment using traditional methods. We are aware of the problem; it was caused by the recent update to the latest version of Word Press. Do note however that you can correct your errors by using the backspace key to navigate. Peter Kes is working diligently to find a solution.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear used to create the image in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.

Remember: you can earn free contest entries with your B & H purchases. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here for details.

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EF 25mm Extension tube. I am never out without one of these in my vest; it allows for closer focus in a variety of situations.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine.

Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: 0.

As regular readers know, wind against [...]]]>

I created this image while seated behind my tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the 1.4X III TC and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/10 in Manual mode.

Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: 0.

Juvie Sanderling Capture Lessons

As regular readers know, wind against sun conditions on clear days make things very challenging for bird photographers. With the birds flying into the wind and away from the light flight photography opps are limited to banking birds and even when the birds land they will almost always face into the wind to avoid unnecessarily ruffling their feathers. Denise Ippolito and I were at Nickerson Beach, Long Island, NY on the morning of August 24th. It was clear right from the get go but with a stiff breeze from the west southwest photographing the skimming skimmers was simply a waste of time. With the tide dropping we noted decent sized flocks of Sanderling with a smattering of other species feeding on the wet sand left by receding waves. We lowered our tripods and sat along the edge of the surf. As Denise was working with the 500 and the 1.4X II TC while I enjoyed a much longer focal length we chose different locations on the beach.

Feeding shorebirds are not affected much by the wind so we had lots of opportunities to photograph the foraging shorebirds. That’s the good news. The bad news was two-pronged. First, most of the Sanderlings were worn, molting adults; they did not make very attractive subjects. Second, feeding Sanderlings run up and down the beach rarely pausing even for an instant to grab a tiny invertebrate morsel. A bird landed among a group of about 15 feeding birds and immediately caught my attention: it was a Sanderling in fresh juvenal plumage looking sleek and bright. The feathers of the bird’s upperparts exhibited a consistent checkerboard pattern.

I love shorebirds. And I love juvenile shorebirds even more. And I love birds in fresh juvenal plumage most of all so I concentrated exclusively on the silver, black, and white gem. For the most part it was a frustrating endeavor. I wound up keeping seven of more than 120 images of the bird with only two that made me really happy. This was pretty much par for the course with fast feeding shorebirds.

If you would like to learn more about ageing and identifying North American shorebirds be sure to order a signed copy of my Shorebirds; Beautiful Beachcombers from the BAA On-Line Store.

Juvie Sanderling Clean-up Lessons

Clean-up of the glistening wet sand was rather straight-forward using the Patch Tool along with a bit of Spot-healing brush work. Bill clean-up was accomplished in similar fashion but I also used a 50% Clone Stamp Tool. All as described in detail in Digital Basics (a PDF sent via e-mail that includes my complete digital workflow and dozens of great Photoshop tips).

Is the cleaned-up image level? How would you crop it? (Not that in the original capture the bird is centered.)

This screen capture of a BreezeBrowser main view page shows that the central sensor was active when the image was made. (When using rear focus the active sensor does not show when “Show Flashing Highlights” is checked.) Note also the perfect histogram. You can learn why I use BreezeBrowser every day for sorting, editing (selecting the keepers), and storing my images by clicking here.

Juvie Sanderling Cropping Lessons

In an ideal world I would have had the central sensor on the bird’s neck; this would have placed the point of focus on the same plane as the bird’s eye. With the active sensor on the bird’s side it is a good thing that I was at f/10; the bit of extra d-o-f from wide open rendered the bird’s eye plenty sharp. (Note that with the 800/1.4X TC combo that only the central sensor is active.) Despite the Bubble Level in my hot shoe the image needed a bit of CW rotation. To determine the exact amount I drew a line with the Ruler Tool from the edge of the water drop to the edge of the reflection of the water drop. It needed about .9 degrees of rotation. (Note; when working on a sloped beach in soft sand it it hard to keep everything level even when occasionally glancing at the Bubble Level.)

I cropped know that I would be moving the bird back in the frame. The key was leaving only the very top of the reflection as everything below the center of the head was too distorted to do the image any good.

After cropping I expanded canvas right and used an APTATS II technique to drag the upper layer (and the bird!) back in the frame. Then I used the Eraser Tool to smooth the seam. You can learn this and similar techniques in Robert O’Toole’s APTATS II. (APTATS stands for Advanced Photoshop Tips and Techniques.)

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of he gear used to make the three mages in this post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.

Remember: you can earn free contest entries with your B & H purchases. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here for details.

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. The new 1.4X TC is designed to work best with the newer Series II super-telephoto lenses but it works just fine with the current lenses.
1.4X II Teleconverter. Most folks including me believe that the 1.4X II TC is as sharp as the 1.4X III TC.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sale value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head. (Note: Denise prefers the Wimberley head to the Mongoose.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
BIRDS AS ART Camera Body User’s Guides. Why spend $2-5 grand on a camera and not learn to use it properly and efficiently?

In the original “The Art of Bird Photography” I wrote something to this effect: the size of the bird in the frame is not a factor of the focal length but rather a factor of the square of the focal [...]]]>

Size Does Matter; The Power of the Square of the Focal Length

In the original “The Art of Bird Photography” I wrote something to this effect: the size of the bird in the frame is not a factor of the focal length but rather a factor of the square of the focal length. In other words, if you go from a 400mm lens to an 800 mm lens, the bird will be four times bigger in the frame (not twice as big). 500mm f/4 lenses are surely the most popular focal length for folks photographing birds. And most folks do quite well with the 500 and a 1.4X teleconverter.

Yesterday afternoon at Westhampton Beach, Long Island, NY, Denise Ippolito and I were photographing a young Royal Tern while standing next to each other. She was using the Canon 500mm f/4L IS lens with the 1.4X II teleconverter and the EOS-1D Mark III. I was using the Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens, the Canon 1.4X III teleconverter, and the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV.. The animated GIF above shows the huge difference in magnification. In addition, note the smoother background in the image created by the 800 lens.

Both ISO 400. Denise: Evaluative metering at zero: 1/2000 sec. at f/7.1 in Manual Mode. Artie: Evaluative Metering at zero: 1/1000 sec. at f/10 in Av Mode. Coincidentally, each of us opted to stop down 2/3 stop from the wide open aperture. Each image was leveled using the Ruler Tool and cropped just a bit using the Straighten button.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of he gear used to make the three mages in this post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.

Remember: you can earn free contest entries with your B & H purchases. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here for details.

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 500mm f/4L IS lens. A fast, sharp, versatile super-telephoto lens. I owned and used two for close to a decade. I now own only one and will be selling that when the Series II lenses are available.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. The new 1.4X TC is designed to work best with the newer Series II super-telephoto lenses but it works just fine with the current lenses.
1.4X II Teleconverter. Most folks including me believe that the 1.4X II TC is as sharp as the 1.4X III TC.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sale value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head. (Note: Denise prefers the Wimberley head to the Mongoose.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
BIRDS AS ART Camera Body User’s Guides. Why spend $2-5 grand on a camera and not learn to use it properly and efficiently?

The Warbler Finch image image was created at Gardner Bay, Hood Island, in the Galapagos with the the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 500 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode.

Lens/TC/Camera Body Micro-Adjustment: +10.