Stuff
On Friday I made some really nice tight head, and head and neck portraits of Sandhill Cranes down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. With gorgeous blue water backgrounds. Surely my best ever. In the afternoon I took a ride to River Ranch to look for some birds, most particularly, nesting Burrowing Owls. But River Ranch is a big place. I found nothing except for a slew of wading birds in a retention pond behind a tall chain link fence …
If you know the location of the alleged Burrowing Owls at River Ranch please shoot me an e-mail.
On Friday I took a day off from the pool but continued with my cobra pushups every two hours.
Click on the image to learn of some amazing Apple deals from B&H: I-pads, MacBook Pros, and Display Monitors; one day only!
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Amazing 5D Mark IV Sale! |
5D Mark IV Still on Sale!
Right now you can purchase a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with the BG-E20 Battery Grip for the crazy low price of $3199. I am not sure how long this Black Friday sale will last …
Blog regular Bill Hill was so excited when he read of this sale that he forgot to use my affiliate link. 🙂 He wrote, “I still think the 5D Mark IV sale is is too good to be true. I will believe it when it arrives. Thanks for the heads up.
Note: Bill went for the one with the free battery grip and the free Canon PIXMA PRO-100 Wireless Professional Inkjet Photo Printer.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred twenty-seven days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about 90 minutes to prepare. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections willing.
Booking.Com
Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of folks 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 might include system, camera body, accessory, and lens choices and decisions.
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This image was created down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL on the evening of Tuesday, November 28, 2017. I used the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 234mm) and my favorite silhouette photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop as framed: 1/800 sec. at f/6.3 in Av mode. WB: K7500. Right at sunset. . LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: extrapolated to -3. Center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Rear Button AF on the heron and re-compose. When you use Rear Button and re-compose, no AF point is illuminated in red in DPP 4. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Great Blue Heron at sunset, horizontal |
The Timeline …
5:28pm: “Hey Jim, Though the sunset looks like a fizzle right now, I am gonna drive down to the lake and see if anything develops.”
5:29pm: As I am driving down Park Boulevard the sun peeks out from under a cloud on the western horizon and the sky brightens.
5:31pm: As I get out of the car I see a Great Blue Heron perfectly positioned along the shore of the lake to the left of the pier.
5:32pm: I grab my 100-400 II and set ISO 800 with +1 stop EC at f/6.3 in Av mode.
5:33pm: I create a few horizontals and note that despite the fact that the sun is well-muted it is flashing as over-exposed.
5:33:30pm. I change the EC to +1/3 stop and create a few more horizontals.
5:34pm: I change my position slightly to create a few verticals.
5:34:15pm: The bird flew away.
5:34:30: I add my 1.4X III ii TC and create two sky scenics. In all I created only 18 images. I kept three of them.
5:35pm: As I get back in my Sequoia, I blow on the end of my lens as a gunfighter would have done way back when.
5:38pm: Ten minutes after I left, I get back to my house and say to Jim, “I was pretty lucky.”
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This image was also and obviously created down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL on the evening of Tuesday, November 28, 2017. I used the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 300mm) and my favorite silhouette photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop as framed: 1/800 sec. at f/6.3 in Av mode. WB: K7500. Right at sunset. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: extrapolated to -4. Center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Rear Button AF on the heron and re-compose. When you use Rear Button and re-compose, no AF point is illuminated in red in DPP 4. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #2: Great Blue Heron at sunset, vertical |
Image Perspective Question
For both the horizontal and the vertical images I got as high as possible. For the horizontal I got up on the pier. For the vertical where I moved to my left and climbed atop a foot high platform/cover of some sort. Why was it necessary to get just a bit higher for each of the images?
Your Favorite?
Please take a moment to leave a comment and let us know which image you think is the stronger of the two, Image #1, the horizontal, or Image #2, the vertical. Be sure to let us know why you made your choice. Unlike many of the recent comparisons, I think that there is a clear winner here. I will share my thoughts with you in a day or four.
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2017 in San Diego was a very good year …. |
2018 San Diego 3 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART IPT #2: Sunday, JAN 28 thru and including the morning session on Wednesday, JAN 31, 2018 and a free morning session the day before the IPT starts: 3 1/2 days (+1/2!): $1699. Limit: 8: Openings: 7.
Meet and Greet at 6:30pm on the evening before the IPT begins; Saturday, Jan 27, 2018.
San Diego IPT #2: Shorter and Less Expensive!
Please remember: I go with one.
Join me in San Diego near the end of January to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s (usually nesting and displaying) and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, Wood Duck and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Whimbrel, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seal (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lion; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well. Please note: formerly dependable, both Wood Duck and Marbled Godwit have been declining at their usual locations for the past two years …
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San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there…. |
With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography. And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication. You can do most of your photography with an 80- or 100-400 lens …
Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?
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Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings. |
The San Diego Details
This IPT will include four 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, three 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, three lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility. Dinners are on your own so that we can get some sleep.
A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 11/1/2016. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
If In Doubt …
If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 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.
I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.
Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.
Typos
In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).
I like the vertical comp better. You had to get higher to keep the head of the bird in the water and to keep it from merging with the vegetation as the others have said. I love the story…made me laugh.
Hi Arthur, my preference is for the vertical due to the slightly tighter framing, more of that glorious sky in the frame, and the heron took an additional step forward putting that longer blade of grass behind it, rather than touching the tail feathers, as it does in the horizontal. Your seeking out a higher perspective for the vertical eliminated any merges with the heron and the foreground/mid-ground elements.
Thanks Andrew. I never noticed that blade of grass 🙂
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I like #2 because the vertical framing mirrors the stretched up vertical bird.
But then the vertical bird in #1 is a contrast to all the horizontal lines there which emphasizes the bird. I like the feeling of lots of space there.
At first #2 was my favorite but that’s changing to #1 now.
You had to get higher to keep the bird’s head from merging with the lily pads.
Image #1 is my favorite since it conveys how small the bird is against the landscape.
BTW in The Timeline you mention Av mode but in Image info you mention Manual mode. Which is right?
Poojan-Bhai,
Thanks. And thanks for catching my cut and paste error 🙂 Av is correct and the error has been fixed thanks to you.
with love, artie
With Silhouettes you need to avoid having black patches in the background merged with the subject. In here we want to avoid merging the Sandhill crane head with the black patches in the background.
To keep the bird’s head out of the lily pads.