Impressive Shorebird Wing Action by Anke Frohlich. Mining the Comments. BIRDS AS ART Camera User’s Guides” « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Impressive Shorebird Wing Action by Anke Frohlich. Mining the Comments. BIRDS AS ART Camera User's Guides

Word Press Disappearing Act

For the third time in a week, a published blog post disappeared. I am re-publishing this one — with apologies, on the morning of 12 September 2021.

Unanswered e-Mails?

If you send an e-mail to us and you do not hear back in a day or two, please call Jim at the office, let him know what’s up, and give him your correct e-mail address. At times, Apple Mail and other e-mail providers mysteriously transform your correct e-mail into a bogus e-mail address that looks something like this: outlook_1234F5678@outlook.com when you hit Reply. You will never be aware of the problem … A gentleman named Roger Williams keeps e-mailing me about selling some used gear and is surely wondering why I do not answer. It is always a good idea to include your correct e-mail address in the body of your e-mail 🙂

The BAA Camera User’s Guides

Be sure to check out the Mining the Comments section to learn of a big R5 AF shortcoming … One of the big lessons is that some folks do not realize the great value of the BIRDS AS ART Camera User’s Guides. Over the years, we have sold several thousand Camera User’s Guides with perhaps two complaints at most. On occasion, folks have sent me links to FB posts with comments such as this: Why spend $XX dollars on artie’s guides when the same info is available on Joe Blow’s website for free? The answer is usually very simple. You get what you pay for. When I have visited the free camera guide sites and watched the free videos I have always found that the free info is superfluous or wrong and that the key info is simply nowhere to be found. On the other hand, folks who have previously purchased our camera User’s Guides do not hesitate to get their hands on the guides for the latest greatest camera bodies. Recently, we have sold 157 Sony Guides and have 79 folks in the a1 Group. There are guides available for many of the older Canon bodies and for the Nikon D850 as well.

What’s Up?

Not much. I will be on the Auto Train heading south on Monday and will be back at ILE midday on Tuesday. Today is Thursday September 9 2021. It is drizzling here in NYC. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.

Remember that you can find some great photo accessories (and necessities!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks who, like me, spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

This blog post took about two hours to prepare and makes 252 consecutive days with a new one. Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to save 3% at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

Mining the Comments

Though folks ask some great questions in the Comments section of each blog post, few readers return to take advantage of the solid info that is often available in the responses. Below are a few examples from the recent A Killer Vertical AF Tip for All Systems blog post here.

From David Policansky

Great tip and photo, Artie. Is the Cabin EOS 7D Mark II “modern” enough to have that feature?

Hey Dr. Fish, Do you have my 7D Mark II Camera User’s Guide? That feature is covered in detail there.

with love, artie

From BPN Avian Super Moderator Dan Cadieux

Hi David, I still use that camera as well, and yes, that feature is there. Nothing special to do: just move the focus point(s) as needed, and next time you go vertical it is at the same spot as last time used in that orientation.

artie’s Response

Thanks, Dan.

From my 7D Mark II Camera User’s Guide:

C.Fn III/12. Orientation linked AF point.

I have grown to love “1: Select different AF points.” This allows you to select one sensor (and even a different AF Area Selection Mode) when working in horizontal format and another sensor (and again, even a different AF Area Selection Mode) when working vertically. The camera detects the orientation and “remembers” your AF settings for horizontal and your AF settings for vertical.

There is more on this topic in the guide. And tons more on the AF system.

with love, artie

My Last Comment

Dan and Folks,

The R5 does offer the Orientation linked AF point feature. It is covered in detail in my R5 Camera User’s Guide.

From that guide:

The fact is that Canon really dropped the ball here by not allowing the camera to remember a different AF Method for each orientation. In other words you are not able to set and have the camera remember Face Detection plus Tracking for one camera orientation and Zone AF — — for example — for another. It was possible to do that with previous Canon bodies.

Don’t you love it when great features are eliminated in newer supposedly better products?

with love, artie

This image was created on 28 August by Anke Frohlich at Nickerson Beach. While seated on damp sand, she used the hand held Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 2500. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/3200 sec. at f/5 (stopped down 2/3 stop). AWB at 11:56am on a windy very cloudy stormy morning.

Tracking: Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Image #1: Least Sandpiper, juvenile flapping after bath
Image Courtesy of and Copyright Anke Frohlich Photography

Anke’s Impressive Shorebird Images

As noted in several previous blog posts, August 28th was a banner today at Nickerson Beach. Together, we created more than 11,000 images on a windy stormy morning. Our single session landed more than six hours and when we finally did leave the beach at 2:20pm, the action was still torrid.

Please remember that Anke has been photographing birds for only fourteen months …

This image was also created on 28 August by Anke Frohlich at Nickerson Beach. While seated on damp sand, she used the hand held Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 3200. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/3200 sec. at f/6.3 (stopped down 1 1/3 stops). AWB at 12:02pm on a windy, very cloudy, stormy day.

Tracking: Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Image #2: Semipalmated Sandpiper, juvenile flapping after bath
Image Courtesy of and Copyright Anke Frohlich Photography

Hand Holding the SONY 600mm f/4 Lens

Anke rarely uses a tripod when working with her Sony 600 f/4 GM and the a1, preferring instead to hand hold for action. I used the same lens on a tripod for most of the day, often with the 1.4X TC, and to put it mildly, she killed me on the flapping after bath images … If you are physically able to hand hold the big lenses, it if far easier to get on the action, acquire focus, and frame and follow the action while keeping the bird somewhere near the center of the frame than it is when working off a tripod. Don’t get me wrong, Anke had many hundreds of mis-framed action shots, but her best images were — for the most part, a lot better than mine.

This image was also created on 28 August by Anke Frohlich at Nickerson Beach. While seated on damp sand, she used the hand held Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1600. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/3200 sec. at f/6.3 (stopped down 1 1/3 stops). AWB at 12:52pm on a then windy, cloudy, stormy day.

Tracking: Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Image #3: Western Sandpiper, juvenile flapping after bath
Image Courtesy of and Copyright Anke Frohlich Photography

Eye Replacement

I loved this image because it showed the rufous scapulars that are characteristic of juvie Westerns. Note also the long bill with a slightly de-curved tip. The bird’s eye was closed in this frame so I replaced it with the open eye from the previous frame in the series. Learn how (and tons more) in the Eye Doctor section of Digital Basics II.

This image was also created on 28 August by Anke Frohlich at Nickerson Beach. While seated on damp sand, she used the hand held Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 2000. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/3200 sec. at f/6.3 (stopped down 1 1/3 stops). AWB at 1:00pm on a windy, cloudy, stormy day.

Tracking: Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Image #4: Semipalmated Plover landing after bath
Image Courtesy of and Copyright Anke Frohlich Photography

Your Fave?

Which of today’s four featured images is your favorite. All are invited to leave a comment and let us know why they made their choice.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.

8 comments to Impressive Shorebird Wing Action by Anke Frohlich. Mining the Comments. BIRDS AS ART Camera User’s Guides”

  • If you own an R5 I can’t imagine NOT buying Artie’s guide. Much better than learning from the downloaded user guide which is over 900 pages!

    • avatar Steve Schiff

      >> If you own an R5 I can’t imagine NOT buying Artie’s guide. Much better than learning from the downloaded user guide which is over 900 pages! <<

      I find this rather amusing. I remember back in the film days, when the Canon A-1 camera was criticized for its overly-long instruction manual which, if I remember correctly, came in at 99 pages!

      • avatar Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

        Hi Steve, Not sure that I find Mike’s comment amusing. Every Canon, Nikon, and SONY camera manual that I have read has been quite close to useless as they have been impossible to understand and contain zero practical advice. That is why I sell so many Camera Users Guides.

        with love, artie

        • avatar Steve Schiff

          Well, it’s not the comment that’s amusing so much as the fact that a 99-page manual was once considered bloated, and now they’re 10 times as long!

          Just another reason to grab a BAA Camera User’s Guide — though each is comprehensive, each is short, sweet, to the point, and based on actual in-the-field experience.

          with love, artie

  • avatar Ted Willcox

    Image #4 is my favourite. When it came up on my screen I knew right away this was my favourite. The beautiful colours of the bird and the background, and the action of the bird, and the beautiful near wing made it my instant favourite!

  • avatar David Policansky

    Hi, Artie, and thanks again. I did go back and I am most grateful for the helpful answers to my question. Once upon a time, I used to get notifications of responses on the blog, but those haven’t been happening for many years. ☹️

    My favorite of Anke Frohlich’s lovely images is #3. She should be very frohlich with all of them.

  • avatar Adam

    #1 for me with the almost ballet like tension/pose. Ms. Frohlich appears to have an uncanny ability to anticipate and capture movement and it is difficult to believe she has been involved in photography for only 14 months.

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