Tips « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Image Optimization Magic Part II

This image of an adult Bald Eagle beginning a dive was created on the recently concluded Homer, Alaska Instructional Photo-Tour with the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM zoom lens (hand held at 207mm) and the Canon EOS-7D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop off the blue sky 30 degrees up from the [...]

Ugly Lessons II

Black Vulture head portrait; immature. Indian Lake Estates, FL. This image was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop (as framed): 1/400 sec. at f/9 set manually. The lens was supported by the BAA-designed Big Lens Ultimate [...]

Nikon DSLR User's Guide

Bald Eagle Striking, near Homer, AK. Image courtesy of and copyright 2010: Robert O’Toole Photography. Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO Autofocus Lens for Nikon handheld at 350mm with the Nikon D700. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/1600 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode.

Purchasing Robert’s new Nikon DSLR User’s [...]

IPT Student Getting Too Good? Part II with Image Critiques

Coastal Brown Bear Cub with salmon sliver, Geographic Harbor, Katmai National Park, AK. Image courtesy of and copyright 2011: Clemens van der Werf. This image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 1000. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. [...]

Beanbag Sharpness Issues

This image was created down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/8 set manually.

The 800 was supported by a BLUBB resting on the raised window [...]

Capture and Beyond Workflow Lessons That You Cannot Afford to Miss

There are no images to accompany this post. Why? When I first started digital photography in September, 2002 (not 2001 as I have written before…), I did not realize that it was important to save each RAW file. Each RAW file is the [...]

For Your Critique: Image #9

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 [...]

Sweet Situation

Western Gull, adult head portrait. Image created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-50D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/250 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. Fill flash at -2 stops with the Canon 580 EX flash on the 4th Generation Design Integrated Flash Arm with the [...]

Rattler Options!

Here I started with Fractalius’s Rounded pre-set on its own layer and did lots of fine-tuning to get the look that I wanted. The image was then tweaked in Photoshop. The snake’s original eyes were revealed by painting away the Layer mask that I created (on the Fract layer). With my Layer Masks [...]

Watch Your Step...

Tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, a 25mm Extension tube, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +2/3: 1/60 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. I placed the tube on the lens and the TC on the camera for a bit of extra close focus but doing [...]