Posts By Year « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

I Thought She Was Totally Nuts! How Observation, Intelligent Planning, Forethought, Patience, Belief, Skill, Faith, and Determination Led to a Big Pay Off!

Which?

Which of Anita North’s five images do you think is the strongest? Why? Also, you may wish to learn something by trying to answer the Aperture Errors Question below.

What’s Up?

Early on Saturday morning, I sat on a plastic milk crate in the marsh behind my tripod-mounted 600 GM/a1. Anita was to […]

Is it possible to make beautiful, small-in-the-frame images of shorebirds that include habitat? And Sony Alpha a1 AF Magic

Need Your Help

In general, shorebirds live in flat, featureless, — usually pretty ugly places. There is not usually much of interest on a sandy beach or a mudflat. Your best chance of creating an artistically pleasing image is to get right down on the ground as close as possible to the bird’s eye level. […]

Soft Light Flight. Exposure Basics Lesson. And ISO Savings versus Shoulder Shoulder Pain and Dysfunction ...

Which?

Which of today’s two featured images (made only minutes apart), is the strongest? Why?

What’s Up?

I wound up staying in on Thursday morning and worked on an e-mail for the Sony Alpha a1 Info and Updates group. New member Mike Liddick asked about the Custom Set. Memory menu item. In that highly […]

Cleaning Up at the Beach. And My Three Steytler Faves

What’s Up

On our last morning at DeSoto there were some egrets in the washover pond, but with few baitfish, there was very little action. Working on the Panning Ground Pod with the 600 f/4GM lens, I went after some more eye-level Marbled Godwit images using the rear monitor. After a bit, I added the […]

The Canon EOS R5: Rockin' in the right hands!

What’s Up?

We had a second great morning at DeSoto with a big wading bird feeding spree. Before the sun came over the one big cloud in the east, I got a few killers on Snowy Egret and Tricolored Heron hand holding the 600 f/4 GM lens. Once again, the Red Knots proved to be […]

BBWD Operator Errors

What’s Up?

Monday morning at DeSoto was epic. It started with still blue water and five pink and carmine birds with spatulate bills. Woohoo! Throw in 3 dozen Snowy Egrets, six Great Egrets, a few skimmers, and a tidal pool full of fish, and you have a full-fledged feeding spree with tons of activity, I […]

Rookeries are Cluttered, Messy Places ... And So are Wood Stork Nests! Insane Tripod Set-up ...

What’s Up?

I had a great morning session photographing birds at ILE on Sunday, with lots of variety. In addition to the baby crane family, I got some nice stuff on Black-necked Stilt, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, and, my first-ever ILE images of a drake Wood Duck. I did get my feet wet.

Yesterday afternoon I […]

Winning the Lottery? And a Multiple Choice Quiz

What’s Up?

It has probably well more than a decade since I had been to Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray. Heck, probably two decades. I began with digital in 2001, and do not think that I have a single digital image from Wako … During my absence, the Wood Storks have taken over the joint. In […]

Australian Lady Bird Photographer Georgina Steytler Creates High-Key, Soft Light, and Dramatic Stunners ...

A Very Difficult Chore

All are invited to leave a comment listing no more than three of their favorite images created by the quite amazing Georgina Steytler. Be sure to let us know why you made your choice or choices. I will share my three favorites here in a day or three.

Remember that […]

How Low is Too Low?

What’s Up?

On Thursday morning I stayed in to finish yesterday’s blog post while Anita went down to the lake. Again, she came back with some fine images. I ran some errands in town, had a great swim, and answered lots of e-mails. Thanks to the many who purchased the video webinar on day one. […]

Announcing the Video Webinar: Designing and Creating Pleasing and Dramatic Natural History Images. Low Carb Seafood Curry. Why the Larger, Heavier, More Difficult to Hand Hold 600mm f/4? And Why the Subject to Background Distance is More Important Than Aperture!

What’s Up?

After many, many consecutive days of photography, I opted to take a day off on Wednesday. Anita went down to the lake and came back with some beautiful wing-stretch images of the large surviving colt.

I spent several hours working on this blog post and getting the webinar into the BAA Online […]

Tall, Shorter, and Snail Meat Two Ways

What’s Up?

On Tuesday, Clemens, Anita, and I had another very good morning at Lake Blue Cypress. The highlight was a just-fledged Osprey on a relatively clean (but tall) perch. I got lots of practice hand holding at 1200mm. Clemens kindly dropped me back at the dock at 8:45am so that I could make my […]

Aperture/Depth-of-Field Multiple Choice Question. And Turn-around is Fair Play: Viveza Revisited

What’s Up?

On Monday, we put Clemens Van der Werf’s flats boat in at Coleman Landing at Shady Oaks, just 20 minutes from my home. The highlight of the morning occurred early on when a male Snail Kite landed very close to us right down sun angle with a large snail and then extracted the […]

Osprey with Black Crappie: Cool Light/Warm Light. And Hand Holding a 600mm f/4 Lens ...

Oops!

I forgot to ask, which of the two favorite images is your favorite, the wider habitat shot, or the tighter vertical?

What’s Up?

Anita North, Clemens Van der Werf, and I had a great morning on Lake Blue Cypress. Again, we were blessed early by an Osprey with a fish with the head […]

Simply Deadly ...

What’s Up?

As noted in yesterday’s (published-rather-late) blog post, Anita North and I enjoyed a fine session with the two crane families on Saturday morning. I took an early nap and an early swim. I edited several folders of images and did some image-sharing and Photoshop with Anita. Clemens Van der Werf came by for […]

Slow Canon RF Lenses and Topaz Denoise AI. Laguna Seca Ranch. Which is your favorite Joel Eade R5 image? And There’s No Telling What You Might Learn on the BAA Blog ...

What’s Up?

Donna and I photographed down by the lake for a bit on Friday morning. We found and photographed the large colt, but could not find the two small colts. Jim and I got Donna to MCO in plenty of time for her flights to Chattanooga (via ATL). Then Jim drove me to the […]

Symbiotic Relationship Yields Serendipitous Image

What’s Up?

On the final morning of the second Fort DeSoto IPT we enjoyed yet another great session. The tern/skimmer flock was nowhere to be seen so we quickly made our way to the large pool and set to work photographing yet another very active feeding aggregation.

With Jake Levin and Jim Miller having […]

Running With Both Feet Off the Ground!

Whats Up?

Though I did not create as many images on Wednesday morning as I had on Monday, the 3rd morning of the second DeSoto IPT was fantastic. The terns and skimmers were great right at sunrise but all the birds took flight and left without explanation. So we headed for the calmest pool to […]

A Catch-up Learning Day on the BIRDS AS ART Blog

What’s Up?

Tuesday morning was good, but nowhere as good as Monday morning on the second DeSoto IPT had been. With our best pair of copulating Royal Terns — in the very shallow water on the edge fo the Gulf in sweet early light, we got photo bombed as a tern with a dirty breast […]

How Low Do You Go? A Used Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS Lens!

What’s Up?

The DeSoto IPT got off to an incredible start on Monday. The morning session was filled with pairs of copulating Royal Terns, a dancing Reddish Egret, two wonderfully cooperative Laughing Gulls in a perfect setting, and a nice variety of shorebirds, including and especially some fairly bright Sanderlings molting into breeding plumage. The […]