Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Stuff

Tuesday morning at DeSoto was much better than it was on Monday morning. We started off with a young and an adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in a beautiful setting in sweet early morning light. Then we made a wiggle. I concentrated on fishing and posing Snow Egrets and some foraging Ruddy Turnstones. An unexpected bonus was an approachable first-winter plumage Red Knot.

Lunch at the Seaporch Cafe was great again. And again I had the Artisan Salad with rare skirt steak added. Yummy and easy on my blood sugar.

Back at ILE the sunset was nice but there were no birds anywhere near the new perch.

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 thirty-one days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour 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.

This image was created down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL on the morning of Sunday, December 3, 2017, just about 24 hours after Anita North and I had erected the perch. I used the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 214mm) and my favorite predawn photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops as framed: 1/60 sec. at f/5.0 in Tv mode. AWB. 7:15am on a clear morning. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: extrapolated to -3. Right Large Zone/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF performed to perfection. The Perch!

Erecting the Perfect Perch

I have been meaning to get down to the lake and set up some dead tree perches ever since I moved to Indian Lake Estates about two decades ago. Just before Anita arrived I did plant one nice perch about six feet high. I’ve been hoping for a red-shouldered. So far as I know nothing has landed on it. When Anita got here we used a post-hole digger to erect a second one about 8 feet tall: still too short. As I mentioned in blog post recently, we went out with my hand-saw looking for a tall skinny dead tree perch maybe 15 feet or so tall We saw two candidates in a burned wood lot; as I was exploring I saw the perfect perch, lying on the ground. No sawing needed. We opened the rear hatch and the passenger-side-window of my Sequoia and stuffed the perch in the car.

We each had on a pair of waders. I knew just where I wanted to put the tall perch. I had seen an Osprey land on the top of the cluster of bushes several days in a row. We made our way out carefully to the cluster with a pair of loppers, some heavy cord, and a box cutter. Ans the perch of course. I clipped away lots of dead branches at the bottom of the bushes for better access. Our plan was to plant the tall new perch between the two main stalks of the bush complex and tie it off with the cord. And that is just what we did.

We were very proud of ourselves as we drove away to check out the vultures. When we returned 20 minutes later an Osprey was sitting on the beautiful parch. Photos soon!

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 …

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?

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 is payable only by check. 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.

Facebook

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 :).

Stuff

On Sunday morning I had two alarms set for 3:15am. The both went off right on time. I finished packing for my DeSoto busman’s holiday and planned to leave at 4:15am. I woke Anita North and we were both coffied up and just about finished packing at 4:10am when I happened to look down and noted that my left rear tire was flat, but only 100% flat 🙂

I called the AAA at 4:15 and after a few fits and starts we were good to go just after 6am. Not wanting to miss the first 90 minutes of great light at DeSoto, we headed down to the lake to photograph the setting full moon and the usual suspects once the sun came up. We met friends Noel Heustis and Lee Sommie for lunch at the Neptune Grill in Gulfport before heading out to North Beach.

North Beach was dead. My afternoon back-up spot was not bad, and we enjoyed a killer sunset at my secret sunset spot but alas, there were no birds.

Featured Item

Canon EF 400mm f/4 IS DO Lens

The Lowest-ever BAA Price!

Pradip Thachile is offering a Used Canon EF 400mm f/4 IS DO lens in excellent condition for the BAA record low price of $2097.00. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original tough front lens cover, the lens strap, an Arca-Swiss compatible lens plate, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Please contact Pradip via e-mail

I used this lens for several years with great success, especially for birds in flight and while working from various type of water craft. In addition, it would make a great prime super-telephoto lens for folks with a 7D II. The multiple-honored Gannets in Love was created with the old 400 DO. You can see that one and 13 other killer images that I made with my old 400 DO here. The title of that blog post is “The Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO Lens: Fourteen Images that Prove that the Internet Experts are Idiots.” Pradip’s lens is priced to sell. artie

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-nine days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour 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.

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 278mm) and my favorite dancing crane photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop as framed: 1/3200 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB. 7:15am on a clear morning. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: extrapolated to -3. As you can see in the DPP 4 screen capture above, Center Large Zone/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF performed to perfection. Image DPP 4 Screen Capture

Kill Me Why Don’t You!

When I saw this image on the back of the camera moments after I made it, I said, “Kill me why don’t you! I felt that I should have zoomed out. But after a few minutes of studying the image on my Macbook Pro I realized that there might be a pretty good image there. See below.

Image #1: Sandhill Crane grass-throwing display/square crop

My First Square Crop

Above is my first square crop. I included the bird’s ankles. Yes, what you think are the bird’s knees are actually the ankles. The bones below the ankle correspond to the bones in our feet.

Image #2: Sandhill Crane grass-throwing display/tighter square crop

My Second Square Crop

Above here is my second square crop. With this one I cropped above the ankles and cropped more tightly from the left.

Multiple Choice Image Question

A- The original image as seen in the screen capture that opens this blog post is unsalvageable; you should have deleted it and then put a bullet in your head!

B- Image #1, the slightly wider image, is by far the stronger image.

C- Image #2, the slightly tighter image, is by far the stronger image.

D- There is a better crop available.

Whichever you choose, please give your reasons.

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 …

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?

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.

Facebook

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 :).

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!

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.

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.”

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.

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 …

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?

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.

Facebook

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 :).

Stuff

I spent a good hour on the phone with Apple Care as my Macbook Pro was acting strangely; the screen was blacking out periodically and I was having some password issues 🙂 Apple’s Jennifer was great and everything is running perfectly right now. Knock on wood.

I did have time for a half mile swim on Wednesday.

1DX Mark II Oil Spatter

I took 2023 images of the sky with my 1DX II yesterday afternoon and am still firmly convinced that the only thing that could possibly cause what I am seeing is oil spatter on the sensor. You can learn more here. More than a few folks around the world are having the exact same problem yet all that Canon does is deny and stall. And repeatedly offer to clean the sensor yet again … Stay tuned for lots more on this topic soon.

Brand New Listing

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II Lens

BAA record low price!

Mike Newman is offering a Canon EF 600 F4/L USM IS II USA lens in like-new condition for the record-low BAA price of 9,398.00. The sale includes the the lens trunk with key, the trunk strap, the lens strap, the front lens cover, the rear lens cap, the original warranty card, a three year New Leaf Service Contracts protection plan (transferrable for a $25 fee), and insured ground shipping via Fedex to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made. Photos are available upon request.

Please contact Mike via e-mail or by phone at (706) 829-8060 (Eastern time).

Weapon of Mass Destruction

The 600 II is the state of the art super-telephoto for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports. If I can get it to a location, it is my go-to weapon. It is fast and sharp and deadly alone or with either TC. I’ve seen photos of this lens; it is absolutely pristine. With a new one going for $11,499, you can save a cool $2101 by grabbing Mike’s lens right now. artie

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-five days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took almost two hours 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.

This image was created down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL on the morning of Tuesday, November 28, 2017. I used the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and my favorite vulture photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2 stops off the sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. AWB. Clear skies at 8:15am. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. Center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter Button was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the base of the vulture’s left wing just left of where the head would have been if it were visible. The DPP 4 screen capture for the straight-out-of-camera RAW file for Black Vulture banking left

The DPP 4 Screen Capture

Though the data on the histogram does not appear to go well into the fifth (highlight) box, note that with the cursor on the brightest WHITEs in the far wing the RGB values were R=253, G=245, B=226. In fact, I was exposing far to the right in an effort to reveal maximum detail in the BLACKs.

Note that the image is nowhere near level and that I would need to deal with the white buildings on the far shoreline. I moved the Color fine-tune dot a bit towards BLUE and away from RED, moved the Highlight slider to -1, and the Shadow slider to +2.

This is the optimized version of Black Vulture banking left Be sure to enjoy an enlarged version by clicking on the image.

The Image Optimization

After converting the image in DPP 4 I brought the image into Photoshop and leveled it using the Ruler Tool (my personalized keyboard shortcut R) to draw a line parallel to the far shoreline and then Image > Rotate > Arbitrary (my personalized keyboard shortcut Command + /). I hit OK to rotate the image 3.03 degrees clockwise. Then I executed a fairly substantial crop and used John Haedo Content Aware Fill to fill in the single skinny triangle on the left frame edge.

Then I used the Patch Tool (my personalized keyboard shortcut P), the Spot Healing Brush (J), Content Aware Fill (Shift + Delete), and a series of Quick Masks refined by Regular Layer Masks to eliminate the houses on the far shoreline. Last I used the Patch Tool to remove some floating vegetation from the blue water (in two spots). Then I saved my master file, cropped it to 1200 pixels wide, sharpened it with Unsharp Mask at 110/.3/0, and saved it as a JPG optimized to less than 395kb.

Be sure to click on the image to view the larger version and check out the amazing 5D IV image quality after the crop.

Your Call

Do you like the optimized version of today’s featured image? Be sure to let us know why either way. On a related note, would you have deleted this image? If yes, be sure to let us know why.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II) will teach you an efficient Mac or PC/Photo Mechanic/Photoshop workflow that will make it easy for you to make your images better in Photoshop (rather than worse). That true whether you convert your images in DPP 4 or ACR. See the blog post here to learn lots more and to read a free excerpt. You can order your copy from the BAA Online Store here, by sending a Paypal for $40 here, or by calling Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II)

The few things mentioned above (and tons more) are covered in detail in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Learn more and check out the free excerpt in the blog post here. The new e-Guide reflects my Macbook Pro/Photo Mechanic/DPP 4/Photoshop workflow. Do note that you will find the RGB Curves Adjustment Color Balancing tutorial only in the new e-guide. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.

The two most recent and many of the older MP4 Photoshop Tutorial videos releases go hand and hand with the information in DB II):

• The Wingtip Repairs MP4 Video here.
• The MP4 Crow Cleanup Video here.

Folks who learn well by following along rather than by reading can check out the complete collection of MP 4 Photoshop Tutorial Videos by clicking here.

You can learn how and why I and other discerning Canon shooters convert nearly all of their Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 using Canon Digital Photo Professional in the DPP 4 RAW conversion Guide here. And you can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair. Folks can learn sophisticated sharpening and (NeatImage) Noise Reduction techniques in the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly.

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 …

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?

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.

Facebook

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 :).

Stuff

I spent most of Monday dealing with low back/hip pain issues. 🙂 And I cut down one more skinny dead tree as a potential perch. And I swam my 3/4 mile and exercised.

If you need a hotel reservation be sure to give Booking.com a try; at worst, you will save $25 off your first reservation. See below for details.

Everyone did a good job of leaving comments on yesterday’s Can a 1 1/2 degree head angle difference be a big deal? blog post here.

I was glad to learn that Mansoor Assadi sold both his 1DX Mark II and his 1D Mark IV after the recent price drops.

The Streak

Today makes one hundred twenty-three days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took almost two hours 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.

These image was created on the morning of Sunday, November 27, 2017 from my Toyota Sequoia (engine turned off) with the BLUBB-supported Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and my favorite tern photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering minus about 1/3 stop (should have been +2/3 stop): 1/640 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB in early morning light. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -1. One AF point up from the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. As originally framed, the selected AF point was on the bird’s cheek directly below the bird’s eye. Mottled Duck

The Under-exposed RAW File as Viewed in Photo Mechanic

Above you see what I see when I am editing my images (so swiftly) in Photo Mechanic. You do not need to look at the histogram to tell that this image was a gross underexposure. Notice though that the histogram is pretty much centered with little or no data on the right side of the histogram. Note the tiny check-mark in the small white box bottom left of the histogram. I hit “t” (for tagged) on the keyboard to denote my keepers. The rejects are left blank.

So how did I wind up one full stop under? I was photographing a Boat-tailed Grackle when three Mottled Ducks flew in and landed quite close by just to the left of sun angle. These ducks are usually quite skittish. I thought that the ducks would need less exposure than the grackle so I spun the shutter speed dial two clicks to get from 1/400 to 1/640 sec. In addition, with the ducks somewhat left of sun angle you lose about 1/2 stop of light. As the grackle turned out to be underexposed I wound up much too dark for the duck. If I had been in Av mode at +2/3 stop I would have been a lot closer to the correct exposure for the duck. That said, I continue to use Manual mode for about 90% of my photography. And I recommend that you learn to do the same. 🙂 Note also that the red channel is the farthest to the right …

This is the DPP 4 Screen Capture after I had made adjustments to the RAW file

The DPP 4 Screen Capture After I Had Made Adjustments to the RAW File

First note the placement of the active AF point, the illuminated red square. You are much better off going for the cheek than for the eye as it provides a broader, more stable target. Note also that I needed to move the Brightness slider one full stop to the right to +1.00. That represents a rare mistake for me. You cannot see that with the one stop under-exposure I opted to use my 5DIV ISO 800 recipe rather than my 5D IV ISO 400 recipe; it is always a good plan to go to the recipe for the next higher ISO when you have a gross underexposure error. Notice that the RGB values for the brightest area of the duck’s cheek show RED predominating even though I moved the Color fine-tune dot toward BLUE and away from RED.

You can use this same strategy if you are converting in ACR: increase the exposure and use your RAW noise reduction noise settings for the next higher ISO.

This is the optimized version of today’s featured image Be sure to click on the image to view the larger size and see the superb image quality and the lack of noise.

The Image Optimization

First off notice that despite the gross underexposure I was able to create a virtually noise-free, high quality TIF file without much effort. After converting the RAW in DPP 4, the first thing that I did once the image was brought into Photoshop was to level it. I used the Ruler Tool (my keyboard shortcut R) by drawing a line along the bottom of the aquatic plants in the upper right part of the frame. The I hit Command + / ((my keyboard shortcut for Image > Rotate > Arbitrary). Then I hit C for the Crop Tool and then Clear. I cropped from all sides but the bottom. That left me to fill in the three skinny triangles with John Heado Content Aware Fill. When you do that be sure to enlarge the edges to check for any problems. With this image, the water was perfect but the spots with the vegetation were not. When I tried to use the Spot Healing Brush (my keyboard shortcut J) to smooth things out, I made more of a mess so I simply redid the obvious creases with the Patch Tool (my Keyboard shortcut P).

Then it was just a matter of naming and saving my master file and creating and sharpening the 1200 pixel wide JPEG that you see immediately above.

Image Design Question

Do you like the inclusion of the aquatic vegetation in the upper right or would you have preferred an all-water background? Either way, let us know why?

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II) will teach you an efficient Mac or PC/Photo Mechanic/Photoshop workflow that will make it easy for you to make your images better in Photoshop (rather than worse). That true whether you convert your images in DPP 4 or ACR. See the blog post here to learn lots more and to read a free excerpt. You can order your copy from the BAA Online Store here, by sending a Paypal for $40 here, or by calling Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II)

The few things mentioned above (and tons more) are covered in detail in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Learn more and check out the free excerpt in the blog post here. The new e-Guide reflects my Macbook Pro/Photo Mechanic/DPP 4/Photoshop workflow. Do note that you will find the RGB Curves Adjustment Color Balancing tutorial only in the new e-guide. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.

The two most recent and many of the older MP4 Photoshop Tutorial videos releases go hand and hand with the information in DB II):

• The Wingtip Repairs MP4 Video here.
• The MP4 Crow Cleanup Video here.

Folks who learn well by following along rather than by reading can check out the complete collection of MP 4 Photoshop Tutorial Videos by clicking here.

You can learn how and why I and other discerning Canon shooters convert nearly all of their Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 using Canon Digital Photo Professional in the DPP 4 RAW conversion Guide here. And you can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair. Folks can learn sophisticated sharpening and (NeatImage) Noise Reduction techniques in the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly.

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.

Facebook

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 :).

Stuff

With the alarm set for 3:30am I was in bed at 8:30 and asleep by nine. I woke feeling well-rested at 3:09am. I showered, had a quick breakfast, and finished packing at 4:44. The cab was outside waiting and off we went. I did not get TSA-Pre and though there was a big crowd at Southwest curbside check-in and at security, things went smoothly. I prepared this blog post on my nonstop flight to Orlando and will save it once we hit the ground, assuming that we do so right-side-up. 🙂

I exercised and got back in the pool late on Sunday for my usual slow 3/4 mile. It all felt good.

If you are interested in joining the Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT at this late date, please shoot me an e-mail or call me on my cell at 863-221-2372 (and leave a message if I do not pick up).

The Streak

Today makes one hundred twenty-one days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took more than an hour 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.

These two images was created on the morning of Saturday, November 25, 2017 at Field 2 in Robert Moses State Park, Long Island, NY. I used the hand held Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and my favorite gull photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering + 1/3 stop as framed: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 in Av mode. AWB in sunny conditions at 7:43am. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -2. Two AF points to the right of the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. In each image, selected AF point just caught the front edge of the bird’s breast pretty much on the same plane as the bird’s eye. T the assist points surely came into play. Herring Gull, second cycle with shattered whelk. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version. Note: the lens was rested on the window frame atop a woolen watch cap. To make comparison of the two images easier, click on the composite to see a larger version.

The Whelk Solution to Wind Against Sun …

As we saw in yesterday’s blog pot, you can be pretty much up against it with wind against sun conditions as most birds will be facing completely away from you when you are (properly) working on sun angle. One trick involves finding birds that are foraging or feeding. Shorebird searching the mud or the shallows will often feed without regard for the wind direction. While driving on the park roads that morning, I noticed several gulls feeding on large mollusks or crabs that they had intentionally dropped from on high to crack their prey items. The state park rangers at Moses frown upon folks stopping along the roadways to photograph. When I passed a great black-backed with a decent-sized whelk I backed up, grabbed the whelk, drove to Field 2, and tossed it high in the air. Within seconds several gulls flew over to investigate.

The second cycle Herring Gull that is featured in both images above was — for unknown reasons — the dominant bird. And — as I had hoped might be the case, it completely disregarded the northwest wind as he enjoyed his feast, opting instead to pose pretty much pretty much square to the back of the camera. Note that the two consecutive frames above were made in the same one/one-hundredth of a second at 7:43:19. In addition to the birds that visited the whelk others nearby fed on shatter clams, conchs, and crabs.

Which is Your Favorite?

If you were only going to optimize one of today’s featured images, which one would you choose. Be sure to let us know why you made your choice. I am pretty much stumped as there is something that I like about each image. Remember that the more folks who opt to leave a comment, the more everyhone learns.

Recent Fort DeSoto Images From bottom left clockwise back to center: Great Egret, blasting sunrise highlights; Black Skimmer, winter plumage in pre-dawn light; Roseate Spoonbill foraging; Brown Pelican, juvenile landing; hybrid heron X egret???; American Oystercatcher feeding; Royal Tern, worn juvenile; Great Blue Heron from below. You can see a composite of more recent images in the DeSoto Sucked This Past Weekend blog post here.

Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT. 3 1/2 days: $1599

Saturday DEC 2 (afternoon session) through the full day on Tuesday DEC 5, 2017. Meet and Greet Introduction on SAT DEC 2, 2017

With no water in Estero Lagoon, Corkscrew Swamp and Anhinga Trail total busts for many years, and Ding Darling NWR managed into oblivion, Fort DeSoto has emerged as the premier bird photography location in the state. Join me in early winter to escape the cold weather and photograph lots of tame terns, gulls, herons, egrets (including Reddish Egret), shorebirds (including and especially Marbled Godwit), Osprey, and Brown Pelican. Long-billed Curlew, Wood Stork, and Roseate Spoonbill all range somewhere between likely and possible.

Learn to get the right exposure every time, to approach free and wild (and often tame!) birds, and to design a pleasing image. And learn the location of my new Fort DeSoto hotspot along with my favorite sunset location (sky conditions permitting). To register call Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 or shoot me an e-mail.

DeSoto IPT Details

This IPT will include four 3 hour afternoon sessions, three 3 1/2 hour morning 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.

Your $499 non-refundable deposit can be paid by credit card. Call Jim or Jennifer at the office on Monday with a credit card at 863-692-0906 to register. Your balance must be paid by check once you sign up. The balance check (made out to “BIRDS AS ART) should me mailed to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your balance check. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Canon lens rentals are available on a limited basis: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, and 200-400 f/4 with Internal TC.

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.

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use the logo link above.

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here.

Facebook

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 :).

Stuff

The early Friday morning forecast was less than ideal: clear skies with freshening northwest winds. But it was my last day so I left younger daughter Alissa’s house just after 6am and headed to Heckscher State Park. The puddle in Field 7 was frozen solid and there were no birds anywhere so I headed west to Robert Moses and there was not much going on there either. With the now bright sun the deer were cooperative but the photography was impossible … There were very few gulls in either parking lot so I made second loop and saw a gull dropping a large whelk onto the roadbed to crack it. I grabbed it as bait and headed back to Parking Field 2. With wind against sun photography was not easy; see below to learn why. I did have a few good chances and cashed in on some of those. Photos and lessons on that here soon.

I visited my younger sister Arna at lunchtime and then headed east to the parking lot at the jetty on the east side of Shinnecock Inlet. With the wind and sun together, my goal was to create some head portraits of Herring Gulls with distant blue water backgrounds. Things worked out perfectly.

I woke very early on Saturday to catch the 6:20am Southwest non-stop to Orlando. I will be home well before lunch.

If you are interested in joining the Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT at this late date, please shoot me an e-mail or call me on my cell at 863-221-2372 (and leave a message if I do not pick up).

The Streak

Today makes one hundred twenty days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took more than an hour 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.

This image was created (while I was out of the car on foot) at Robert Moses State Park on the morning of Black Friday, November 24, 2017 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 328mm), the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and my favorite gull photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop as framed: 1/1000 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB. Clear skies at 9am. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: extrapolated to zero. Four AF points to the right of the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter Button was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was placed on the gull’s neck. Great Black-backed Gull, first winter, in parking lot. Be sure to enjoy an enlarged version by clicking on the image.

Wind Against Sun Explained …

Northwest wind in the morning with clear skies is about as bad as it gets, and the stronger the wind the worse it is. Note that I am almost right on sun angle. Note that with the northwest wind in my face the bird is standing into the wind. If I was a tad to my right and the wind was a bit stronger the bird would have been facing directly away from me and the only shot available would be a perfect butt shot. I.E., not good. I zoomed out BS waited for a nice head turn to create this “parking lot habitat” image. Notice that by zooming out I had pretty much enough depth of field to cover the bird from bill tip to tail tip.

Though this was intended to be “just” an educational image, I rather like it. I like the image design and I like all of the angled lines. And the bird was a handsome specimen.

I will be sharing additional images from this same morning to teach you a few more tricks when you are attempting to deal with wind against sun conditions.

Recent Fort DeSoto Images From bottom left clockwise back to center: Great Egret, blasting sunrise highlights; Black Skimmer, winter plumage in pre-dawn light; Roseate Spoonbill foraging; Brown Pelican, juvenile landing; hybrid heron X egret???; American Oystercatcher feeding; Royal Tern, worn juvenile; Great Blue Heron from below. You can see a composite of more recent images in the DeSoto Sucked This Past Weekend blog post here.

Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT. 3 1/2 days: $1599

Saturday DEC 2 (afternoon session) through the full day on Tuesday DEC 5, 2017. Meet and Greet Introduction on SAT DEC 2, 2017

With no water in Estero Lagoon, Corkscrew Swamp and Anhinga Trail total busts for many years, and Ding Darling NWR managed into oblivion, Fort DeSoto has emerged as the premier bird photography location in the state. Join me in early winter to escape the cold weather and photograph lots of tame terns, gulls, herons, egrets (including Reddish Egret), shorebirds (including and especially Marbled Godwit), Osprey, and Brown Pelican. Long-billed Curlew, Wood Stork, and Roseate Spoonbill all range somewhere between likely and possible.

Learn to get the right exposure every time, to approach free and wild (and often tame!) birds, and to design a pleasing image. And learn the location of my new Fort DeSoto hotspot along with my favorite sunset location (sky conditions permitting). To register call Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 or shoot me an e-mail.

DeSoto IPT Details

This IPT will include four 3 hour afternoon sessions, three 3 1/2 hour morning 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.

Your $499 non-refundable deposit can be paid by credit card. Call Jim or Jennifer at the office on Monday with a credit card at 863-692-0906 to register. Your balance must be paid by check once you sign up. The balance check (made out to “BIRDS AS ART) should me mailed to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your balance check. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Canon lens rentals are available on a limited basis: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, and 200-400 f/4 with Internal TC.

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.

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use the logo link above.

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here.

Facebook

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 :).

Stuff

On Wednesday morning I headed out to Robert Moses in the rain to look for deer but there were no deer. There were lots of gulls in the parking lot rain puddles so I had fun photographing them. There were four adult and one third year Lesser Black-backed Gulls. I photographed two of the four. On the way back to Lissy’s to babysit for Ilyas I stopped by Heckscher where I found another third year lesser black-backed along with the usual gulls in the now huge rain puddle in Field 7, and spotted the godwit for the second time. The sun came out briefly after my short nap but within minutes it was cloudy black and windy so I took the afternoon off. 🙂

If you would like advance notice of a slew of used Fuji and Sony gear coming to the Used Gear page soon — including a Fuji X-T2 camera body — please get in touch with me via e-mail.

If you are interested in joining the Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT at this late date, please shoot me an e-mail or call me on my cell at 863-221-2372 (and leave a message if I do not pick up).

Canon EOS-1DX Mark II

Shock the world price #2/Reduced $800 on 22 NOV 2017!

Mansoor Assadi is offering a lightly used Canon EOS-1DX Mark II professional digital camera body in like-new condition for a BAA record low $3998 (was $4899) with only 23,000 shutter actuations.The camera was recently cleaned and checked by Canon. The sale includes the front body cap, a RRS L-plate, a LensCoat BodyBag, the original box with everything that came in it, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Mansoor via e-mail or by phone at 415-559-8027 (Pacific time).

The 1DX Mark II is Canon’s rugged, blazingly fast professional digital camera body. It features an amazing AF system and high quality image files with great dynamic range. It is the choice of Arash Hazeghi, one of the world’s premier birds in flight photographers. artie

The Streak

Today makes one hundred eighteen days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took less than an hour 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.

Enjoy the family and the football and try not to eat too, too much. Happy Bird-day!

Everybody’s Doing It…

Everybody’s buying and selling used gear on the BAA Used Gear Page. Sales of both lenses and camera bodies have been picking up recently. There are lots of great deals on a variety of camera bodies right now, all with low prices. Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They recently folded. And eBay fees are now in the 13% range. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. Even the prices on the new 600 II and the 200-400 with Internal Extender have been plummeting. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange menu bar at the top of each blog post.

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.

This image was created at Fort DeSoto on the what turned out to be a great morning of November 11, 2017 with the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my favorite calidris camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop as framed: 1/1250 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. AWB in mostly sunny, very slightly overcast conditions. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -10. Center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the side of the upper breast just behind the faint grey collar, perhaps a shade in front of the plane of the bird’s eye. Image #1: Western Sandpiper, winter plumage

First-winter Western Sandpiper

This worn young bird was hanging around with the young Piping Plover that we photographed so well on November 11. (You can see my two favorite images of that endangered species in the blog post here.) Western Sandpiper is well smaller than Sanderling and the bill is deeper at the base than the bill of Semipalmated Sandpiper. As the semis winter in South America, you pretty much never see one completely molted into winter or first winter in North America.

With this bird foraging constantly — see Sandpiper Photography Tips here — it was a matter of trying to track it as it foraged or waiting for the rare milli-second pause. Today’s featured image might have been a combination of the two. But the large, dark shadow under the forward part of the bird was unfortunate. So once the image was converted in DPP 4 it was off to Photoshop to try to do something that I had never done before.

This is the optimized version of today’s featured image. Western Sandpiper, winter plumage Be sure to enjoy an enlarged version by clicking on the image.

The Optimized Image

After bringing the TIF file into Photoshop I did my basic image clean-up with the Patch Tool, the Spot Healing Brush, some Content Aware Fill, and a small Quick Mask or two refined with a Regular Layer Mask. Then I tackled the problematic shadow under the bird. After several failed attempts I used Select > Color Range to select the dark stuff grabbing just what I wanted with careful adjustments of both the Fuzziness and the Range sliders. Then I did a Curves adjustment and followed that with a Hue-Saturation adjustment pulling down both the BLUE and the CYAN channels down about 95 points. At some point I touched things up with a few swipes of a relatively large 25% opacity Clone Stamp Tool. All of that on one layer looked a bit overdone so I reduced the opacity of the adjustment layer to about 50% and was quite happy with the results.

Though I had never done exactly that before I simply used many of the usual tools in my clean-up arsenal to achieve the desired result. Once you have mastered the use of the tools detailed in the The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II) it is up to you to use those tools creatively to solve new and different image optimization problems.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II) will teach you an efficient Mac or PC/Photo Mechanic/Photoshop workflow that will make it easy for you to make your images better in Photoshop (rather than worse). That true whether you convert your images in DPP 4 or ACR. See the blog post here to learn lots more and to read a free excerpt. You can order your copy from the BAA Online Store here, by sending a Paypal for $40 here, or by calling Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II)

The few things mentioned above (and tons more) are covered in detail in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Learn more and check out the free excerpt in the blog post here. The new e-Guide reflects my Macbook Pro/Photo Mechanic/DPP 4/Photoshop workflow. Do note that you will find the RGB Curves Adjustment Color Balancing tutorial only in the new e-guide. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.

The two most recent and many of the older MP4 Photoshop Tutorial videos releases go hand and hand with the information in DB II):

• The Wingtip Repairs MP4 Video here.
• The MP4 Crow Cleanup Video here.

Folks who learn well by following along rather than by reading can check out the complete collection of MP 4 Photoshop Tutorial Videos by clicking here.

You can learn how and why I and other discerning Canon shooters convert nearly all of their Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 using Canon Digital Photo Professional in the DPP 4 RAW conversion Guide here. And you can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair. Folks can learn sophisticated sharpening and (NeatImage) Noise Reduction techniques in the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly.

Recent Fort DeSoto Images From bottom left clockwise back to center: Great Egret, blasting sunrise highlights; Black Skimmer, winter plumage in pre-dawn light; Roseate Spoonbill foraging; Brown Pelican, juvenile landing; hybrid heron X egret???; American Oystercatcher feeding; Royal Tern, worn juvenile; Great Blue Heron from below. You can see a composite of more recent images in the DeSoto Sucked This Past Weekend blog post here.

Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT. 3 1/2 days: $1599

Saturday DEC 2 (afternoon session) through the full day on Tuesday DEC 5, 2017. Meet and Greet Introduction on SAT DEC 2, 2017

With no water in Estero Lagoon, Corkscrew Swamp and Anhinga Trail total busts for many years, and Ding Darling NWR managed into oblivion, Fort DeSoto has emerged as the premier bird photography location in the state. Join me in early winter to escape the cold weather and photograph lots of tame terns, gulls, herons, egrets (including Reddish Egret), shorebirds (including and especially Marbled Godwit), Osprey, and Brown Pelican. Long-billed Curlew, Wood Stork, and Roseate Spoonbill all range somewhere between likely and possible.

Learn to get the right exposure every time, to approach free and wild (and often tame!) birds, and to design a pleasing image. And learn the location of my new Fort DeSoto hotspot along with my favorite sunset location (sky conditions permitting). To register call Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 or shoot me an e-mail.

DeSoto IPT Details

This IPT will include four 3 hour afternoon sessions, three 3 1/2 hour morning 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.

Because of the narrow time frame, your $499 non-refundable deposit can be paid not by credit card. Call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906 to register. Your balance must be paid by check once you sign up. The balance check (made out to “BIRDS AS ART) should me mailed to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your balance check. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Canon lens rentals are available on a limited basis: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, and 200-400 f/4 with Internal TC.

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.

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use the logo link above.

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here.

Facebook

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 :).

Stuff

I tried for the Hudsonian Godwit on Monday morning and Monday afternoon; the bird was nowhere to be seen. The morning was a total bust with strong northwest winds and clear skies so I headed back to daughter Alissa’s home where I am staying till my flight home early next Saturday morning. I visited Arna just before lunch and then did a podcast by Skype with old friend Paul Parisi of Boston for Savior Labs. Thanks to Pete Daniels for the invitation. Click on the Savior Labs link to enjoy a wide variety of eclectic business and technological podcasts. I will of course provide links once the podcasts are published.

Do consider joining me on the Early Winter DeSoto IPT. Details below.

The Streak

Today makes one hundred sixteen days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took less than an hour 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.

Used Gear Sales

Things have been picking up on the Used Gear Page recently after a two-month downturn, especially with long glass. You can see the complete updated listings here.

Recent Sales

• Chesley Swann sold a Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS Zoom lens (the original 1-4) in excellent condition for the very low price of $529 in mid-November.
• Mike Lawie sold his Canon EOS 7D Mark II body in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $923 and his Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM zoom lens in excellent condition also for a BAA record low price: $448. Both in mid-November.
• Gary Wade sold his Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens in near-mint condition for the record-low BAA price of $7449 in mid-November.
• Multiple IPT veteran Shelly Goldstein sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM Super Telephoto Lens (the “old five”) in excellent condition for the $3899 a week after it was listed.
• Peter Noyes sold his Nikon D-810 Digital SLR Camera Body in excellent condition for $1499 two hours after it was listed.
• Multiple IPT veteran Shelly Goldstein sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM Super Telephoto lens in like-new condition for $9,399 in early November before it was even listed …
• IPT veteran Duncan Douglas sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM Super Telephoto Lens (the “old five”) in early November for #3699.

Canon EOS-1DX Mark II

Insanely low shock the world price!

Like me,Robert Blanke is going all 5D mark IV. He is also offering a barely used Canon EOS-1DX Mark II professional digital camera body in like-new condition for the BAA record low/shock the world price of $3999 with less than 250 shutter actuations! The sale includes the the original packaging, the manuals, the strap, the software, the front body cap, the charger, two LP-E19 batteries, two 64 GB CFast cards, a CFast card reader, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your new body will not ship until PayPal confirms the payment or your check clears.

Please contact Robert via e-mail or by phone/text at (813) 417-8967 (Eastern time).

The 1DX Mark II is Canon’s rugged, blazingly fast professional digital camera body. It features an amazing AF system and high quality image files with great dynamic range. It is the choice of Arash Hazeghi, one of the world’s premier birds in flight photographers. artie

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.

This image was created from my vehicle at the big rain puddle at Parking Field 7 at Heckscher State Park on Long Island, NY with the engine turned off 🙂 I rested the Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens with the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III and my favorite gull photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop as framed: 1/1000 sec. at f/6.3 in Tv mode. AWB in very late afternoon sunlight. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -2. Two AF points up and one to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was just in front of the bird’s eye (as originally framed.) Ring-billed Gull, winter plumage adult Be sure to enjoy an enlarged version by clicking on the image.

Late Light Puddle Portrait

Whether you live by the coast or inland, you can often find gulls in rain puddles or tidal pools. Ring-billed, the common species that is seen here today, occurs widely from coast to coast in temperate North America. They often make for reliable and cooperative subjects that can provide countless opportunities for bird photographers to practice and improve their skills. When the species you were hoping for do not show up, a variety of gulls can often save the session as they did for me at Heckscher State Park on the afternoon of November 17, 2017.

Recent Fort DeSoto Images From bottom left clockwise back to center: Great Egret, blasting sunrise highlights; Black Skimmer, winter plumage in pre-dawn light; Roseate Spoonbill foraging; Brown Pelican, juvenile landing; hybrid heron X egret???; American Oystercatcher feeding; Royal Tern, worn juvenile; Great Blue Heron from below. You can see a composite of more recent images in the DeSoto Sucked This Past Weekend blog post here.

Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT. 3 1/2 days: $1599

Saturday DEC 2 (afternoon session) through the full day on Tuesday DEC 5, 2017. Meet and Greet Introduction on SAT DEC 2, 2017

With no water in Estero Lagoon, Corkscrew Swamp and Anhinga Trail total busts for many years, and Ding Darling NWR managed into oblivion, Fort DeSoto has emerged as the premier bird photography location in the state. Join me in early winter to escape the cold weather and photograph lots of tame terns, gulls, herons, egrets (including Reddish Egret), shorebirds (including and especially Marbled Godwit), Osprey, and Brown Pelican. Long-billed Curlew, Wood Stork, and Roseate Spoonbill all range somewhere between likely and possible.

Learn to get the right exposure every time, to approach free and wild (and often tame!) birds, and to design a pleasing image. And learn the location of my new Fort DeSoto hotspot along with my favorite sunset location (sky conditions permitting). To register call Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 or shoot me an e-mail.

DeSoto IPT Details

This IPT will include four 3 hour afternoon sessions, three 3 1/2 hour morning 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.

Because of the narrow time frame, your $499 non-refundable deposit can be paid not by credit card. Call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906 to register. Your balance must be paid by check once you sign up. The balance check (made out to “BIRDS AS ART) should me mailed to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your balance check. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Canon lens rentals are available on a limited basis: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, and 200-400 f/4 with Internal TC.

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.

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use the logo link above.

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here.

Facebook

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 :).

Stuff

We tried for the godwit early on Saturday morning at Heckscher without success. No sweat, I figured, we can photograph some gulls in the parking lots. No gulls in the parking lots. Let’s try Captree. No gulls in the parking lots. Lets try Robert Moses. No gulls in the parking lots. We finally did get some nice stuff on a White-tailed doe with one young one but we whiffed on some killer bucks because our 100-400s were in the trunk. My bad.

Then it was off for lunch at younger daughter Alissa’s. Then we had to take a school bus to the LIRR in Hicksville because of track work on the Ronkonkoma line 🙂 Tonight it will be Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, the second time in a month for me, the first for Anita.

Do consider joining me on the Early Winter DeSoto IPT. Details below.

The Streak

Today makes one hundred fourteen days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took less than an hour 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.

Everybody’s Doing It…

Everybody’s buying and selling used gear on the BAA Used Gear Page. Sales of lenses especially have been picking up recently. There are lots of great deals on a variety of camera bodies right now, all with low prices. Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They recently folded. And eBay fees are now in the 13% range. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. Even the prices on the new 600 II and the 200-400 with Internal Extender have been plummeting. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange menu bar at the top of each blog post.

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.

This image was created at Fort DeSoto on the Piping Plover morning of November 11, 2017 with the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my favorite pelican taking off camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop as framed: 1/640 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. AWB in mostly sunny, slightly overcast conditions. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -10. One AF point to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the side of the bird behind the base of its neck. Brown Pelican taking flight Be sure to enjoy an enlarged version by clicking on the image.

What do you do when the bird takes off but you have too slow a shutter speed for action, have the wrong AF point selected, and have no chance of fitting the subject in the frame?

I had spent well more than an hour photographing the tame juvenile Piping Plover seen twice in the DeSoto composite image in the DeSoto Sucked This Past Weekend blog post here. Near the end of that session I splayed the legs of my Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod and got down flat on the ground. When I saw this pelican I set up to make a simple portrait of the floating youngster. The first thing that I did was to go three clicks (one full stop) lighter; I did that instinctively by lowering the shutter speed. Leave a comment if you think you know why this was a mistake on my part — please explain your thinking. Then I moved the AF point a bit to the left to move the pelican back in the frame. When the bird began to take flight I thought “There is no way that I am gonna avoid clipping the wings or half the bird.”

That brings us back to the original question: What do you do when the bird takes off but you have too slow a shutter speed for action, have the wrong AF point selected, and have no chance of fitting the subject in the frame?

The answer: Push the shutter button! It’s digital and won’t cost you one penny. So that’s what I did. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the results. Especially in light of the fact that photographing action from a prone position has never been my forte.

Critique This Image

All are invited to post a thoughtful critique of this image. What do you like and why? What don’t you like and why? Any suggestions for improving it either in the field or during the post processing are welcome?

Recent Fort DeSoto Images From bottom left clockwise back to center: Great Egret, blasting sunrise highlights; Black Skimmer, winter plumage in pre-dawn light; Roseate Spoonbill foraging; Brown Pelican, juvenile landing; hybrid heron X egret???; American Oystercatcher feeding; Royal Tern, worn juvenile; Great Blue Heron from below. You can see a composite of more recent images in the DeSoto Sucked This Past Weekend blog post here.

Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT. 3 1/2 days: $1599

Saturday DEC 2 (afternoon session) through the full day on Tuesday DEC 5, 2017. Meet and Greet Introduction on SAT DEC 2, 2017

With no water in Estero Lagoon, Corkscrew Swamp and Anhinga Trail total busts for many years, and Ding Darling NWR managed into oblivion, Fort DeSoto has emerged as the premier bird photography location in the state. Join me in early winter to escape the cold weather and photograph lots of tame terns, gulls, herons, egrets (including Reddish Egret), shorebirds (including and especially Marbled Godwit), Osprey, and Brown Pelican. Long-billed Curlew, Wood Stork, and Roseate Spoonbill all range somewhere between likely and possible.

Learn to get the right exposure every time, to approach free and wild (and often tame!) birds, and to design a pleasing image. And learn the location of my new Fort DeSoto hotspot along with my favorite sunset location (sky conditions permitting). To register call Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 or shoot me an e-mail.

DeSoto IPT Details

This IPT will include four 3 hour afternoon sessions, three 3 1/2 hour morning 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.

Because of the narrow time frame, your $499 non-refundable deposit can be paid not by credit card. Call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906 to register. Your balance must be paid by check once you sign up. The balance check (made out to “BIRDS AS ART) should me mailed to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your balance check. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Canon lens rentals are available on a limited basis: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, and 200-400 f/4 with Internal TC.

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.

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use the logo link above.

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here.

Facebook

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 :).