Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

What’s Up?

Monday was spent stock-piling blog posts and finishing the “UK Puffins and Gannets” article for Helen Longest-Saccone and Nature Photographer magazine.

Both the Fort DeSoto IPT and the Sunday morning Cheap in the Field Session (I need to do more of those) were huge successes filled with great folks, tame birds, and more than a few amazing situations. There was one Unhappy Camper at the Sunday workshop who was what she was. And I loved it. The fourteen other Happy Campers went home happy–no shock there, smarter, and with more than a few good images. Lots more on the IPT coming soon.

I am still working on finishing up the draft of the LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjusting tutorial. Thanks for your continuing patience.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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.

The Streak: 326!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 326 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Things to Notice

Notice that I varied the size of the bird in the frame. Notice that with the bird small in the frame I tucked it well into the corner of the image. Notice that I changed my perspective from standing behind my tripod to kneeling to lying in the mud. Notice the right exposure for each image, even the last one; when the sun went behind a cloud I needed to add a lot more light.

Notice that the very same bird can exhibit a variety of postures and thus shapes.

Your Favorite?

Please leave a comment and let us know, via the file name, which of the six images you like best. And why.

What They’re Saying

Via e-mail and personal comment from the young Mr. Patrick Brady; Pat signed up at the last minute.

Artie,

Wow. With ten folks you did a masterful job. I had an amazing time at the workshop and learned so much! Thank you! I got some great pictures (for me) of the night heron and the green heron and afterwards got to see lots of warblers at East Beach. I’m really excited to put what I learned to use on my own.
Cheers, Patrick

Best of luck to Patrick who is moving to the British Virgin Islands for his new job.

Fort DeSoto Spring IPT

Fort DeSoto is such a great teaching laboratory that I will be doing a Spring Fort DeSoto IPT in 2017. Dates TBD.

Living Vicariously: A Completely Free, In-the-Field Morning Fort DeSoto Fall Workshop.

Note: completely free is better than cheap!

Obviously, for a man who loves creating acronyms, a TLD-bird is a tour leader’s dream bird. More on that below…

I met my group of 10 (reduced by two due to the car crash on the drawbridge mentioned in yesterday’s blog pot) at 6:45am. Three folks from the IPT stayed on for their free morning session and were very glad that they did. Well before the sun came up I have a big lesson on exposure and on working in Manual mode. “When the sun is not out at full strength and the scene averages to a light tone (like pre-dawn sand or sky) the meter is stupid. Now point your lens at the sky in Av mode (Aperture for Nikon folks) and take one image with zero EC (exposure compensation). Where is the histogram?” All responded, “In the middle.” “Now, add two stops of light to your exposure again in Av Mode.” I helped the one gentleman who did not know how to set EC and was smart enough to admit it. “Where is the histogram?” All responded, “To the right.” And I added, “Right where we want it.”

“Y’all just learned that when the sun is not out at full strength and the scene averages to a light tone (like pre-dawn sand or sky) the meter is stupid.”

“Now, switch to Manual mode. If you have a zoom lens, zoom to the longest focal length. Set your widest aperture (the one with the smallest f-number like f/4 or f/5.6). Now, adjust the shutter speed so that the indicator on the analog scale comes to the 0 or null mark, that is, in the middle. Now point the lens at the sky and make one image. Where is the histogram?” All responded, “In the middle.” “Now, while pointing the lens at the sky, lower the shutter speed until the indicator on the analog scale shows +2 stops. Take one image. Where is the histogram?” All responded, “To the right.”

“Congratulations! You just learned how to work in Manual mode and that working in Manual mode is no different than working in Av mode.”

The Sunday Morning Cheap In-the-Field Fall Fort Desoto Group and the TLD-Bird

Thanks to Juan for sharing this image with us. One thing he learned on the IPT was exposure. On cloudy days he was underexposing everything by two stops. But he was a quick study and got the WHITEs right here in full sun!

Technique Questions

That’s me lying on the ground in the middle of the group with the blue sun shirt on. Standing next to my left was multiple IPT veteran Bob DeCroce; I originally thought he was to my right. In any case you can see the TLD-bird standing in the water just to the right of my 100-year-old tan sun protection hat and just to the left of the left thigh of the guy to my right, the one in the dark gray shorts.

#1: From what you can see of the bird, why do you think that I was working a bit off sun angle (with my shadow pointed to the right of the subject)?

#2: What was I doing that was very wrong?

#3: Why do you think I did it?

#4: Which of the six images did I make while lying on the ground? (Please use the file #).

What Juan Said

Via e-mail from Juan Tolentino

Thank you for the wonderful IPT. It was amazing! And even more amazing was the huge amount of information that you shared in just 3 1/2 days. I loved it! Juan Tolentino

And Just What Is a TLD-Bird?

We headed out to the spit and noted that the amazing feeding spree from the day before did not repeat itself. We spotted a young Yellow-crowned Night Heron and approached it slowly. Many of them–including the one we were gaining on–are very tame. But with our shadows pointed at the subject, the bird, hunting for fiddler crabs, had its back to us with the sun behind it. The better to see you with my dear crab. Then came the TLD-bird: A second young Yellow-crowned Night Heron flew in and landed about 40 feet from us in beautiful still blue water. It was perfectly square to the light. We got into position, some folks standing, some folks kneeling, and one or two folks–including me eventually–lying in the wet muck.

The handsome bird stood stock-still for 30 minutes. With the sun out on a beautiful clear morning I suggested +2/3 or + 1 stop (or even more plus for those with short lenses). And then check your histogram to make sure that you have some data in the rightmost box. As the sun rose higher in the sky and we got closer, the bird filled more of the frame, so I suggested +1/3 or +2/3 and then check your histogram as above and as always. When the sun it out on a clear day, the meter is smarter; you need less positive EC. Had the bird stayed for an hour, we might have gotten to the point where zero EC, the metered exposure, might have been best. After 25 minutes a light cloud covered the sun and I explained that we all needed to get well above +1, to as much as +2 stops. Remember, when the sun is not out at full strength the meter is dumb…

In addition, we were able to talk about composition: “Choose an AF point that gets the bird out of the center of the frame. Be sure to give the bird 3-4 times as much room in front as behind.” And we discussed One-Shot AF (Single Servo in Nikon) and AI Servo (Continuous in Nikon) and when and why to use which one. Finally the bird moved off and so did we.

So now you know exactly how a tour leader’s dream-bird behaves.

After photographing a cooperative young Great Egret and an amazing juvenile Green Heron that flew in and landed 15 feet from the entire group, an adult Great Blue Heron caught and–after five minutes–swallowed a gorgeous green-striped, silver Pinfish. Pinfish, Lagodon rhomboides, is a saltwater fish of the Sparidae family. Again, it was high-fives all around.

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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂

What’s Up?

On the morning of Day 3 of the DeSoto Fall IPT we absolutely killed. We had a feeding spree with eight totally tame Roseate Spoonbills, several Great and Snowy Egrets, a gorgeous Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two, Tricolored and a Little Blue Heron, a dark morph Reddish Egret, and several dozen winter Laughing Gulls all catching shrimp and small pipefish in just a few inches of water. I am hoping that the action is repeated for the Sunday morning In-the-Field get-together. Time will tell…

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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.

The Streak: 324!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 324 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

A Bad Morning at Black Rock…

After a great first full day, the morning of our second full day was shaping up to be a big dud. The spot where we had had a great morning the day before was pretty much dead. Carlotta Grenier set up by a small pool and got some great stuff on Black-bellied Plover and Willets with nice reflections. But the rest of the group and I were sucking dirty pond water. So off we went to my back-up spot. Not a bird. On the way out of the park we spotted and off-angle to the light Roseate Spoonbill but it did not like us and flew as we tried to get into position. My second back-up spot was also dead. And my third as well. Not a bird. So we tried a fifth location but the tide was still too low and the light too harsh. As we pulled into the very last chance spot I saw a spoonbill about fifty yards to our left in the shade of some trees. I alerted the group and got everyone into position as the bird approached us and walking into the sun that was now just a bit muted by a light cloud. We had about ten minutes with the bird and everyone was thrilled.

Then we spent almost an hour with the beautiful tame young Great Egret that is featured above. We went over exposure and AF fine points. We shot the bird in the sun against sweet blue water backgrounds and in the shade against lovely green grass. The bird was 100% oblivious to humans. Finally the group tired of the situation and we headed back to the vehicles. Carlotta needed help with her Mongoose so we helped her and then talked for about 30 minutes on a variety of tripod, tripod head, and gear and gear clean-up topics. Then we headed back to the hotel for quick showers and another great lunch at the Neptune Grill in Gulfport.

By absolutely refusing to give up we turned what was looking like a very poor morning into a joyous celebration with high fives all around.

Upper Zone AF…

Upper Zone AF for vertical head and shoulders portraits (as above) with the 5D Mark IV is deadly accurate and a much better choice than 65-point Automatic Selection.

White Neutralizer

When you have some sweet sky blue tones in your image it is almost always worth seeing if the White Neutralizer filter in NIK Color Efex Pro can bring them to life. It will come in to Photoshop on it’s own layer and you can modify it by reducing the opacity of the layer or adding a Regular Layer Mask and then fine-tuning things. I used the former approach here to the tune of about 75%. This technique usually works well with a variety of sky blue tones.

Your Call…

Do you think that the BLUEs are lovely or that I have over-done it a bit. Do feel free to let us know your thoughts.

The Fort DeSoto Site Guide

You can get yourself a copy of the Fort DeSoto Site Guide here. Fort DeSoto is about the only bird photography hotspot that I know of that has the potential to offer great opportunities to every day of the year. The big attractions here are shorebirds, all the large wading birds (including Roseate Spoonbill at various seasons), many species of terns, and gulls. In the spring photograph the breeding behaviors of Royal & Sandwich Terns and Laughing Gull. Flight photography can be good when feeding sprees occur just off of the beach. These feature terns and gulls and Brown Pelican. Spring and fall migration can be excellent for all manner of warblers, vireos, gnatcatchers, tanagers, grosbeaks, and orioles in some of the wooded areas. The Skyway Bridge Piers and environs are also covered in this Site Guide. By purchasing the guide you will know exactly where to be on what tide and what wind. Why waste your time searching for the birds when you can just show up and act like a DeSoto veteran? And yes, all of my back-up sites are detailed in the guide.

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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂

What’s Up?

On Thursday we had a great day (even with wind against sun in the morning). We endured the threat of thunderstorms pretty much all day long but escaped unscathed. As the skies got black toward sunset we beat a hasty retreat and as we headed back to the hotel it poured. It is 9:06pm now and I am off the bed. So good night and good morning.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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.

The Streak: 322!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 322 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

A Whole New World: 500 II + 2XIII TC + 5D Mark IV…

I decided a while back to leave the 600 II at home and take the 500 II to South America to save weight and to help keep my right shoulder in the great shape it is now. Plus it is way easier to travel with the 500 II than it is to travel with the far bulkier 600 II. So I committed to using the 500 II as my long tripod-mounted super-telephoto on the DeSoto Fall IPT. As compared to the 600 II, its smaller size and lighter weight makes it exponentially easier to get into position. With the 5d IV AF is fast and sure and stable.

LensAlign/Focus Tune Micro-adjusting

LensAlign/Focus Tune micro-adjusting is a pain in the butt. I recently spent well more than two full days doing all of my lenses and TCs with my two new Canon EOS 5D Mark IV bodies. My time was well spent. The breathtakingly sharp images that I am producing made all of that time spent dealing with the sometime huge challenges that come with micro-adjusting beyond well worth it.

A Realization

When trying to figure out the reasons that I have long been able to create super-sharp photographs such as today’s featured image with the 2X TCs and f/4 super-telephoto lenses while others have struggled mightily one factor that pops into mind is the fact that I have been micro-adjusting (MA-ing) my gear ever since LensAlign and FocusTune came into being. Here’s the key: the MA values with TCs are generally greater than the MA values with the prime lenses alone and the MA values with the 2X TCs are generally greater then the MA values with the 1.4X TCs. Fact: the longer the effective focal length, the harder it is to come up with a good MA value… So add perfect sharpness techniques to a lens/TC/body combo that has been accurately FocusTuned and the sharpness can be astounding.

An Interesting Pat Sparkman Thought on the 500 II versus the 600 II

My friend Patrick Sparkman, a brilliant photographer who is far more technically proficient than yours truly, has long reasoned that dropping down from the 600 II to the 500 II will allow you to create sharper images, images that when cropped to the same subject size as images made with the 600 will be at least as sharp if not sharper… I am now in the process of proving that to be true.

100% Crop of Today’s Featured Image

When exposed well to the right high ISO images from the 5D Mark IV can be virtually noise free. The only noise reduction applied to today’s image was done during the RAW conversion in DPP 4. The image file was so clean that I did not even consider running NeatImage on it. Remarkable indeed.

Your Thoughts?

Please leave a comment and let us know what you think of the fine feather detail and noise levels in today’s ISO 1600 featured image.

If…

If the images you are seeing here on the blog and what you are reading inspires or prompts you to purchase a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, please consider using my B&H affiliate link. Doing so will not cost you one penny and is the best way to thank me for my efforts here on the blog and the time spent answering your gear and photo related questions 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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂

What’s Up?

I spent the better part of Monday and Tuesday micro-adjusting my two new 5D Mark IV bodies with all of my lenses and TCs… Whew. Almost done.

Condolences to my former (and first) wife Dana Geils and her sister Rachel Bedford on the loss of their younger brother Brian Wenger on Tuesday. My two daughters, Jennifer and Alissa, loved their Uncle Brian.

Condolences also to the friends and family of long-time veteran bird photographer Tony Mercieca of Chula Vista, CA. Tony, who had been photographing birds for many more decades than I, always had a wry smile on his face and a wise-crack to go with it. I saw him in Coronado on my last visit to San Diego.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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.

Nikon Gear

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR Lens

Huge Price Reduction/Price Reduced $1000 on SEPT 27, 2016!

IPT veteran and good friend Mark Hardymon is offering a used Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR lens in excellent condition for the by far BAA record low price of $5999. The sale includes the original trunk (CT-607), a Wimberley low profile tripod foot, the original Nikon tripod foot, a LensCoat soft front lens cover, the original Nikon front lens cover, a black LensCoat, all other original accessories, and insured ground shipping via UPS. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Mark by e-mail or by phone at 614-296-2277 (Eastern time).

The 600 f/4 lenses are ideal for those who do birds and wildlife. This older version of the Nikon 600 weighs 11.16 lbs. This model is still in production and sells new at B&H for $9,394.00. The newer lighter version, the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens (designated by “E” rather than “G” after the f/4) weighs 8.4 pounds but costs $12,296.95. Thus, Mark’s lens is a great buy for someone young and relatively strong who would like to save $4395. artie

The Streak: 320!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 320 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Three great camera bodies cheap! Dan Cadieux used a 7D body to create all of the images in today’s blog post!

Canon EOS 7D Camera

Ed Hutchinson also is offering an EOS 7D camera in like-new condition for $379. There are no scratches, scuff marks, or other blemished to suggest the camera has been used. The camera comes in the original box with all in-box items as purchased (except as noted below), including battery pack & charger, strap, cables, documentation, and warranty card. One of the two discs originally included, EOS Digital Solutions Disc, is missing, however downloading the current software from the Canon web site is recommended as the information on the disc is now outdated. The package also includes David Busch’s Compact Field Guide for the Canon EOS 7D. The camera will be sent by insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only.

Your camera will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Ed by e-mail or phone at 832-689-8111 (Central time).

This 7D would make a great starter camera body for any new digital photographer. artie

Canon EOS 7D Camera Body

Henry Raymundo is also offering a Canon EOS 7D camera body in excellent condition for $399 with an extra battery. The sale includes the front and rear lens caps, the original CDs and cables, the battery charger, an extra battery (as noted above) and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangement are made.

Please contact Henry via e-mail or by phone at 1-(303) 880-0424 (Mountain time).

The original 7D digital camera body makes an ideal starter camera for someone just getting started with digital. Be sure to learn to expose to the right with this body (especially) to keep the small pixel noise to a minimum. artie

Canon EOS 7D

Joseph Higbee is also offering a Canon EOS 7D in excellent condition for $299. The sale includes the camera in the original box with all in-box items including battery, charger, strap, cables, manual, CD and warranty card. Insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Joe via e-mail or by phone at 253 846-1254 (Pacific time).

This 7D would make a great starter camera body for any new digital photographer or a great gift for a young photographer.. artie

Dan Cadieux

Dan Cadieux, a Canadian federal government employee, lives with his wife Chantal in Ottawa Canada. He is the proud father of two boys and two girls and an avid bird/nature photographer in his free time. He is a skilled, hard-working moderator in the Avian Forum at Bird Photographers.Net. As of 1:54 pm on September 21, 2016 he had started 2928 threads and posted 20,903 comments. Many of his threads include one of his great images posted for critiquing. In most of the comments he is critiquing the work of others telling what he likes, what he does not like, and offering suggestions for improvement. He is an invaluable member of the BPN staff. You can learn more about Dan here.

You can see more of Dan’s old 7D images here and learn about his post-processing here, both on the BAA Blog.

Let’s not forget….

Let’s not forget that good photographers make good images with whatever gear they have in their hands. At a time when everyone is lusting for the latest greatest super-telephoto lens and the state of the art $6K camera body, the body of work that Dan Cadieux, our top BirdPhotographer’s.Net Avian Moderator, put together while working “only” with the much-maligned EOS-7D is beyond impressive. As we were saying, good photographers make good images, and great photographers make great images.

Even with the beautiful framing and flowers that this image would have failed without the perfect over-the-shoulder look back head angle. Please do not think that that was the result of luck. I know for a fact that Dan was praying for the bird to look back at him… Or not 🙂

After…

Not too long after Dan added the 500 II to his gear bag he upgraded to the 7D Mark II. Though not as maligned as the older 7D, many folks look down their nose at the newer 7D. In the not-too distant future I will be sharing two collections of Dan’s amazing higher ISO 7D Mark II images with you here. Hold on to your seat belts; this guy is good!

Taking Advantage!

When Dan came across a once in a lifetime natural history situation at Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton island in the summer of 2014–many hundreds of beached mackerel–he responded by making a slew of great images. It is not enough to be lucky, you need to be lucky and prepared through hard work, skill, and practice. Read the whole story, see more images, and find a link to the video in Dan’s blog post here.

Facebook Follow-up!

Learn how Dan uncovered an amazing photo opp by following up on a cell phone image posted on Facebook by his brother and sister-in-law in the blog post here.

High Key Running Success…

To create a successful image here Dan needed to push the exposure all the way to the right to keep the snow white and avoid under-exposing the subject. In addition, he needed to choose and upper AF point in order to ensure sharp focus as the fox ran toward him. Missions accomplished!

Getting Low is the Way to Go!

Here Dan was lying flat on the ground so as to provide an intimate view of this lady Bufflehead. Again notice the sharpness and the perfect exposure with detail in both the BLACKs and the WHITEs.

Your Favorites?

Please leave a comment and let us know which two of Dan’s fabulous images made with the old 7D are your favorites. And do let us know why you made your choices.

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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂

What’s Up?

Jim and I had lots of action on Saturday evening and Sunday morning on our Fort DeSoto scouting trip. With each session I am loving my 5D Mark IV more and more. You will be seeing more amazing 5D IV images toward the end of this week. Jim did his usual stellar job of getting us home from St. Pete. After our usual stop at Publix we were back at ILE just after 1pm. Football and blog posts for me. With help from Tivo, I got in a swim between games…

It is not too late to join me at DeSoto this Wednesday for the Fall IPT. Scroll down for details on the late registration discount. Do consider joining us for part of the IPT or for the Sunday Morning (cheap) In-the-Field Workshop. Please e-mail with any questions.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending IPTs and dozens of the 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.

The Streak: 318!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 318 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

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 charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. 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. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange tab on the right side of the menu bar above.

September Used Gear Sales Continue to be Flaming Hot!

• Yours truly, Arthur Morris, sold one of his two Canon EOS 5DS R bodies in excellent condition but for a very small, very fine sort of x-shaped crack in the upper-right corner of the top LCD screen, for $2549 in late September.
• Doug Rogers sold his Vortex Razor 85mm Ultra High Definition Scope in like-new condition for $795.00 in mid-September.
• Ed Hutchinson sold his Canon EF 100-400mm L IS USM lens, the “old 1-4,” in like-new condition for $649 and his EOS 5D Mark III in like-new condition for $1499 within days of listing them in mid-September.
• Hisham Atallah sold his Canon 600mm f/4L IS II lens in excellent condition for $9499 in mid-September within days of listing it.
• Good friend and BAA Japan IPT co-leader–the oft-honored BBC and Nature’s Best photographer Paul McKenzie–sold his Canon EOS 1DX in excellent condition with an extra Canon battery for $2299 in mid September two days after it was listed.
• Eric Karl sold his Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender in excellent condition for the full asking price, a very low $8,099 in mid-September.
• Gary Meyer sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in mint condition for $1599 with an off-brand battery grip in mid-September.
• IPT veteran Ken Siegel sold his Canon EOS-1DX in excellent condition with several extras for $2899 in early September.
• Roger Doughty sold his Canon EOS-1DX in “like-new” condition for $2,749 and his Canon EOS 7D Mark II in like-new condition for $1,049 both within hours of listing them in early September.
• Multiple IPT veteran Phil Frigon sold his barely used Canon EOS 5DSR in like-new condition for $2799 within three hours of listing it on September 6.
• Joe Alexander sold his Gitzo GT3532LS carbon fiber tripod and a Wimberley V-2 WH-200 gimbal head both in like-new condition for $799 within an hour of listing it on September 6.

New Listings

Canon EOS 5DS R/With Extras!

Top BAA Used Gear seller Jim Keener is offering a Canon EOS 5DS R in like-new condition–purchased new from B&H in July 2016– for $2699. When he writes, “like new”, that’s exactly the condition of the camera. The original box and all accessories and insured ground shipping via major courier are included in the sale price. In addition a Peak Design camera strap, an extra Canon LP-E6N battery–for a total of 2, a Lexar 64 Gbyte UDMA 7 CF card, and a SanDisk 64 Gbyte Extreme Pro SD card are also included. The camera is ready to go. Clip on the strap, load the cards and battery, put on a lens, and click away.

Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Jim by e-mail or by phone at 310-741-7435 (9am till 9pm Mountain time).

I waited a bit too long to get my first 5DS R but once I did, I quickly added a second. I used each of them more for birds than I did my EOS-1DX Mark II. Go figure. I fell in love with the amazing sharpness and fine feather detail of the 5DS R image files and the AF system was great as well. It is the premier landscape body in the Canon system. artie

Canon EOS 7D

Sale Pending!

Steve Zarate is offering an Canon EOS 7D camera in very good condition with 23,000 actuations on its new shutter for a BAA record low price of $279. Included are the original box, one battery, the charger, the strap, the cables, the documentation and discs, and the cost of 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 Steve via e-mail.

This 7D would make a great starter camera body for any new digital photographer or a great gift for a young photographer.. artie

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Sale Pending!

Steve Zarate is also offering a Canon EOS 7D II camera showing minor signs of use but in excellent condition for a BAA record low $799. It underwent the 18-Point Digital SLR Clean and Check at Canon Factory Service Center in July, 2016. Included are the original box, one battery pack and the charger, the strap, the cables, the documentation and discs, and the cost of 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 Steve via e-mail.

Simply put, the 7D II is the greatest ever value in a digital camera body. It’s 1.6 crop factor is ideal for folks needing additional reach. artie

The Oft-neglected Combo: 70-200 f/2.8L IS II/2X III/7D II…

Since I have fallen in love with the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens and with my three (soon to be four) full frame bodies (two Canon EOS 5DS Rs, one Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, and coming today, my EOS 5D Mark IV) I have forgotten how deadly the
70-200 f/2.8L IS II/2X III/7D II can be in the right hands.

For those using big lens on a tripod it is still a great lens to have on your shoulder with an RS-7 strap. And for beginners and for folks who live and work around tame birds, this rig can be a pretty decent “go-to telephoto lens.” The maximum effective reach works out to be 640mm…

Basic Exposure Note

Let’s not forget that when the sun is out at full strength the meter is pretty darned smart. I needed only to add 1/3 stop to come up with a good histogram. Had it been a cloudy day when all of the evaluative and matrix metering systems are pretty dumb, I would have needed to add well more than a stop of light to the metered exposure. Plus three stops off the sand alone and then set manually when working in low light would have either been perfect or pretty close to it. If you have no idea what I am talking about, you can learn the basics of exposure theory in the original The Art of Bird Photography (now in soft cover) and follow that up by studying the section on Exposure Simplified in The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II: 916 pages, 900+ images on CD only). Best bet: save $10 by purchasing the two-book bundle here.

Image Design Questions

Should I have gotten lower for this image? Why or why not? How would it have helped? How might it have hurt? What is the biggest advantage of staying on your feet?

DPP 4 Screen Capture

After noting the selected AF point illuminated in red, realize that I was tracking the subject while it was standing more erect with its head up. When the bird stopped and crouched forward to strike I did not even attempt to change the AF sensor. Instead, I placed it on the bird’s upper back and continued tracking it. With the 7D II and the AF Grid Void issue remember that I only had three assist points with the configuration above–the one to the left and then two below and to the left of the selected point.

A Depth-of-Field Question

In this particular situation how specifically did the extra d-o-f help?

The Image Optimization and Clean-up

After converting the image in DPP 4 I brought it into Photoshop for the beach clean-up. The toughest part was removing the stick that was directly behind the young bird’s head. Actually that was not tough at all. I used a combination of the Divide and Conquer technique and followed that up with a series of small Quick Masks that were put on their own layer and refined with a Regular Layer Mask. Remember to zoom in and work large so that you can clean up the edge perfectly. My regular clean-up tools, the Patch Tool, the Spot Healing Brush, and the Clone Stamp Tool (sparingly) were used for the rest of the beach clean-up. Noise reduction with NeatImage really helped in the shadowed area below the bird.

Everything above is detailed in my Digital Basics File, an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. It includes my complete digital workflow, dozens of great Photoshop tips, details on using all of my image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, the basics of Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, how to create time-saving actions, and tons more.

Learn about NeatImage for noise reduction in The Professional Guide to Post-Processing. Learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair.

BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99

Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.

You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.

Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet at 2pm followed by our afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10/Openings: 6. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.

Call us at 863-692-0906 for late registration discount info.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.

Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.

On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).

At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one? If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.

As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.

Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.

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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂

What’s Up?

After some early Friday morning work on even more blog posts–I have about 40 stock-piled as I type–and an early swim and core exercise session, Jim and I headed to Fort DeSoto on Friday afternoon to do some scouting for the upcoming IPT. I had planned on heading farther south to visit the new spoonbill pool but it has dried up quite a bit. If there is a storm at that location, we will head down there at some point in hope of getting in on the action on Sunday morning.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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.

The Streak: 316!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 316 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

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 charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. 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. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange tab on the right side of the menu bar above.

September Used Gear Sales Continue to be Flaming Hot!

• Yours truly, Arthur Morris, sold one of his two Canon EOS 5DS R bodies in excellent condition but for a very small, very fine sort of x-shaped crack in the upper-right corner of the top LCD screen, for $2549 in late September.
• Doug Rogers sold his Vortex Razor 85mm Ultra High Definition Scope in like-new condition for $795.00 in mid-September.
• Ed Hutchinson sold his Canon EF 100-400mm L IS USM lens, the “old 1-4,” in like-new condition for $649 and his EOS 5D Mark III in like-new condition for $1499 within days of listing them in mid-September.
• Hisham Atallah sold his Canon 600mm f/4L IS II lens in excellent condition for $9499 in mid-September within days of listing it.
• Good friend and BAA Japan IPT co-leader–the oft-honored BBC and Nature’s Best photographer Paul McKenzie–sold his Canon EOS 1DX in excellent condition with an extra Canon battery for $2299 in mid September two days after it was listed.
• Eric Karl sold his Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender in excellent condition for the full asking price, a very low $8,099 in mid-September.
• Gary Meyer sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in mint condition for $1599 with an off-brand battery grip in mid-September.
• IPT veteran Ken Siegel sold his Canon EOS-1DX in excellent condition with several extras for $2899 in early September.
• Roger Doughty sold his Canon EOS-1DX in “like-new” condition for $2,749 and his Canon EOS 7D Mark II in like-new condition for $1,049 both within hours of listing them in early September.
• Multiple IPT veteran Phil Frigon sold his barely used Canon EOS 5DSR in like-new condition for $2799 within three hours of listing it on September 6.
• Joe Alexander sold his Gitzo GT3532LS carbon fiber tripod and a Wimberley V-2 WH-200 gimbal head both in like-new condition for $799 within an hour of listing it on September 6.
• IPT veteran Larry Master sold his Canon EOS 5DSR in like-new condition for $2799 in early September.
• Top pro Jim Zuckerman sold his Canon 7D Mark II in excellent condition for $899, his 5D Mark II in excellent condition for $799, and his Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM lens in very good condition for the amazingly low price of $1049 in early September, all within a week of listing.
• Yours truly sold his Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens in near-mint condition for $4783 in early September.

New Listings and More…

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens

Joe Alexander is offering a Canon EF 100-400mm L IS USM lens, in excellent plus condition for $599. There are no scratches, scuff marks, or other blemishes. The lens comes in the original box with all original stuff: the tripod Collar, the E-77 II 77mm lens cap, the rear Lens Dust Cap E, the ET-83C lens hood, and the LZ1324 Lens Case with Strap. The cost of insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only is also included. Paypal is preferred and the seller will pay Paypal fee. If paying by check, your item will not ship until your check clears.

Please contact Joe via e-mail or phone at 301-639-0783 or 301-371-9607 (Eastern time).

The 100-400 is a versatile intermediate telephoto zoom lens with 1,000+ uses. It makes a great starter lens especially for folks who do general nature and wildlife in addition to birds. I’ve sold 100s of images made with the old 1-4. Joe’s 100-400 is priced to sell quickly. And from what I can tell, this lens is closer to like-new than it is to excellent plus. artie

Canon EF 1.4x III and EF 2x III Extenders

Sold in one hour!

Joe Alexander is also offering one of each of these: Canon EF 1.4x III and Canon EF 2x III Extender. Each is in excellent plus condition. The price of each TC is $249. Buy the pair for $498. There are no scratches, scuff marks, or other blemishes on either TC. The extenders come in the original box with the lens pouch LP811 included. The cost of insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only is included. Paypal is preferred and seller will pay the Paypal fee. If paying by check, Your item will not ship until your check clears.

Please contact Joe via e-mail or phone at 301-639-0783 or 301-371-9607 (Eastern time).

As everyone here knows, both TCs are vital to my work and my style. I routinely travel with three 1.4X TCs and two 2X TCs. These two, the latest versions, sell new for $429 so you can save a bundle by grabbing the pair asap. And from what I can tell they are closer to like-new than they are to excellent plus. artie

Canon 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 Telephoto Zoom Lens

Gerold Hanck is offering a Canon 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 telephoto zoom lens, the “old 1-4,” in excellent condition for $549. The sale includes the original lens case and strap, the front lens cap, the rear lens cap, the lens hood, the removable tripod collar, and insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only.

Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Gerold via e-mail or by phone at 773-263-6730 (Central time).

The 100-400 is a versatile intermediate telephoto zoom lens with 1,000+ uses. It makes a great starter lens especially for folks who do general nature and wildlife in addition to birds. I’ve sold 100s of images made with the old 1-4. Gerold’s 100-400 is priced to sell. artie

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM Lens

Price Reduced $200 on SEPT 22, 2016.

Ron Ozuna is offering a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens in near-mint condition for $2775 (was $2975). The sale includes the original lens front lens cover, the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original Canon product box, and insured Ground Shipping via FedEx Ground to US addresses only. This lens was recently cleaned and checked at the Canon Service Center in Costa Mesa, CA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Ron via e-mail or by phone at 1-626-799-7616 (Pacific time).

The older version of the Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS is a super sharp lens that is great for hand held flight and action photography and great with both teleconverters. It has long been the favorite focal length of the world’s best hawk photographers. artie

Canon EOS-5DS R with Extras!

Dear friend and multiple IPT veteran Patrick Sparkman is selling his Canon EOS 5DS R with the Canon battery grip in like-new condition for $2899. Includes the original box and everything that came in it, an extra battery for a total of two, and insured ground shipping via FedEx.

Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Patrick via e-mail.

I waited a bit too long to get my first 5DS R but once I did, I quickly added a second. I used each of them more for birds than I did my EOS-1DX Mark II. Go figure. I fell in love with the amazing sharpness and fine feather detail of the 5DS R image files and the AF system was great as well. It is the premier landscape body in the Canon system. artie

Simplicity at f/2.8…

I created this image with the sea oat frond positioned pretty much horizontally in the frame knowing that I would want to optimize it with the frond oriented diagonally. To do that, I created a duplicate layer and used the Transform command to tilt and position the frond so that it entered the frame from the bottom right. As there was a slight gradient to the sky I needed to use the Clone Stamp Tool to even things out after the crop.

Remember That What You See is What You Get…

If you are curious as to why I did not stop down more for this photo, remember that if everything looks sharp through the viewfinder, then everything will be sharp in the final image; there is no need to stop down. In addition, when working with a 1.6X crop factor camera body the increased distance to the subject will yield additional depth of field. Lastly, I positioned myself so that I was parallel to the plane of the subject.

On Diagonal Compostions…

I have long believed and taught that diagonals are usually most powerful when they enter the frame precisely from a corner (as in today’s featured image). Others are equally adamant in feeling that diagonals should never enter the frame precisely from a corner. Please leave a comment and let us know which camp you are in.

Notice…

Notice here another fine image created with the EOS 7D Mark II.

BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99

Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.

You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.

Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet at 2pm followed by our afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10/Openings: 5. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.

Late Registration Discount: please call 863-692-0906 for discount info

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.

Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.

On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).

At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one? If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.

As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.

Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.

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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂

What’s Up?

I realized this week that I lost one of the two sets of my keys for my Toyota Sequoia so I decided to drive over to Vero Beach to the dealer. Purchase two keys… Simple matter, no? Actually not. It took more than 3 1/2 hours, and at that, they were only able to make me one key… But I had my laptop so I answered e-mails and worked on blog posts. My planned late afternoon swim was cancelled by thunderstorms…

I was thrilled to learn yesterday of the sale of Hisham Atallah’s 600 II for the full asking price of $9499 just a day after it was listed. Another gem of a 600 II is listed below.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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.

The Interview Now on YouTube

The interview by Peggy Farren of Understand Photography can be seen and heard on YouTube. And, the sound is now synched perfectly. If you missed it (or not), you can access it here.

The Streak: 314!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 314 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Canon 600mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Another Weapon of Mass Destruction!

IPT veteran Mark Overgaard is offering a Canon EF600 f/4L IS II USM lens in excellent plus condition for $9,495. The sale includes a LensCoat, the rear lens cap, the front lens cover, the lens trunk, the monopod mount, and both the lens and lens trunk straps, the lens manual and warranty card–the latter included for record-keeping purposes only since the warranty is expired, and insured ground shipping via either FEDEX or UPS to US addresses only.

The lens just underwent an 11-point clean and check service from Canon Professional Services.

The lens will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made. Please contact Mark via e-mail.

As y’all know, the 600 II has been my go-to long lens since its introduction several years ago. It is relatively lightweight and super-sharp. It goes great with the 1.4X III TC and with a bit of practice and good sharpness techniques, you should be able to make sharp images with the 2X III TC down to 1/60 sec. As a new one goes for $11,499 you can save a nice $2005 by grabbing Mark’s lens right now. artie

birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100

My latest e-book, created on a wing and a prayer in less than two weeks–see Harebrained Scheme here–includes the 67 spectacular images that hung last winter and spring in the Ordover Gallery at the San Diego Natural History Museum in a career-retrospective solo exhibition. In addition, there are 33 additional images in the spectacular e-book that barely missed making the show.

This exhibition companion e-book makes it possible for everyone to “visit” TheNAT gallery and, in addition, to enjoy seeing my top one hundred bird photographs under one roof. Each image includes a title, the species name, the location, relevant EXIF data, and an anecdotal caption. The short story: the collection is inspirational.

birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100: $23 for the professionally produced CD (includes shipping to US addresses only)

Please click here to purchase the physical CD. As above, your purchase price includes shipping to all US addresses. If you would like your CD signed on the inside cover with a black Sharpie, you will need to place your order by phone and request a signed copy: 863-692-0906. For our Canadian friends we are offering the CD for $28 with shipping to Canada via phone orders only: 863-692-0906.

Those who purchase the CD are advised to copy the file to their computers and then archive the CD.

birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100: $20 via convenient download.

Overseas folks, and anyone else as well, can purchase the e-book via convenient download for $20 by clicking here.

Kindly Note

Please share this e-book only with your spouse or significant other. If a friend asks you to share a copy with them, please direct them either to this blog post or to the appropriate link in the BAA Online Store as above. All of the images and text are protected by international copyright law and may not be copied or printed without written permission from the photographer/author. Many thanks for honoring these requests.

You will–of course–need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF.

Southwest Florida Free Site Guide Update (or should we call it a Downerdate?)

As most of you know, Ding Darling has gone downhill over the past decade in large due to anti-photographer management attitude and policies. Though I have not been in years, I hear that on occasion it can still be worth a visit at times at different seasons. Be clear though, that it is no longer close to being the crown jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge System that it was in the 1990s and a bit beyond.

Little Estero Lagoon on Fort Myers Beach has also hit the skids as the lagoon has pretty much dried up after being cut off from the Gulf. Least Terns and Black Skimmers nest on the beach most years about 3/4 mile east of the Wyndham Garden Hotel (formerly the Holiday Inn).

The Venice Rookery ain’t what it used to be, but neither am I; both are still pretty good. And lastly, my understanding is that Corkscrew has been poor forever most likely due to small ecological changes related to the water levels. And to the fact that the Wood Storks have been moving north for more than a decade.

There are however, still lots of tame birds in Southwest Florida and lots of great places to photograph them. Pretty much all of them are covered in detail in the Southwest Florida Site Guide.

Southwest Florida Roseate Spoonbill Site Guide Update

Multiple IPT veteran Jim Robellard and all-around nice guy, who kindly supplied the images for today’s blog post, recently alerted me of a new hotspot with spoonbills and skimmers and an assortment of wading birds and shorebirds. The birds are coming to a fairly large but surely temporary rain pool. We are not sure how long it will last. But it is quite active right now.

Folks who have previously purchased the Southwest Florida Site Guide (and those who purchase it now) who would like to learn about this location must contact us via email. You must click on the preceding link and you must cut and paste either the first page of the site guide or your order confirmation e-mail. E-mails from folks who do not include proof of purchase will be deleted.

Your Favorite?

Which of Jim Robellard’s fine spoonbill images is your favorite? Please let us know why you made your choice.

More on the Sigma 150-600 Zoom Lenses…

After seeing Jim’s images I learned that the Sigma 150-600 is not only available as a Nikon-mount version (the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens for Nikon F) but that they make a lighter inexpensive version in each mount for folks on a budget ( the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens for Canon EF and the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens for Nikon F.) And the lighter weight Contemporary versions are just as sharp as the Sport versions. What times these are: you can get a sharp, lightweight hand holdable zoom lens that gives you 600mm of reach for under $1000. Amazing.

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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Bodies in Stock Right Now at B&H!

I learned on Tuesday afternoon that B&H received an unexpected second shipment of this hot, hot camera body earlier today. Order your Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR using my B&H affiliate link and you just might have your camera on Wednesday or Thursday. Be sure to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

A Thank You Bonus

As a thank you for using my link I will be glad to share a little 5D IV AF Surround secret with you…

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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂

What’s Up?

On Sunday I made it down to the lake yet again with my relatively new Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. At this time of year, but for the cranes, bird photography at ILE is a slow pick at best.

I did lots more work on stock-piling blog posts, watched the UFC on TV in the morning, lots of NFL games afternoon and evening, enjoyed a late 3/4 mile swim, and did my shoulder stretching and exercises.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending IPTs and dozens of the 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.

Wanted to Buy

A friend is looking for a used 7D Mark II in excellent or better condition. If you are looking to sell one, please contact me via e-mail.

The Streak: 311!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 311 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Learning About Life and Light Angle From Fan Mail

The following comment came up for moderation with regards to the “200-400 w/Internal TC at the Beach/Bug-eyed But Not Bushy-tailed/7D II Pretty Darned Good…” blog post here.

Sorry, Artie, but how can you reconcile this image with your constant pounding of sun angle? I have seen a lot of your critiques that put an otherwise good image into the trash can because of slightly less than ideal sun angle. By opening up the shadows, aren’t you doing the same thing here? I am trying to learn and got confused by this blog post.

It seemed to me that the guy, let’s call him DH for now, was being a bit negative, and probably looking for a piss-fight. And it was even more obvious that he had a really big problem expressing himself clearly via written English. But I approved it anyway and followed up with a few questions. I am sure that as you continue reading you might figure out why I opted to refer to him as DH.

Here is what I posted:

What are you sorry about?
Whom do I need to reconcile with?
What are you referring to when you say “constant pounding of sun angle”?
Critiques of my work or of the work of others?
You wrote, “By opening up the shadows, aren’t you doing the same thing here?” I would ask, the same thing as what???
Please be sure to answer each of my questions above. Thanks.
I have long espoused that folks work on sun angle or within 15 degrees of sun angle and this image follows those guidelines.
later and love, artie

A few minutes later I received the following e-mail:

am: Whom do I need to reconcile with?
DH: With your own stupid and aggressive opinions.

am: What are you referring to when you say “constant pounding of sun angle”?
DH: Your constant pounding of sun angle, stupid.

am: Critiques of my work or of the work of others?
DH: Why, invariably others – your work is invariably beyond reproach.

am: You wrote, “By opening up the shadows, aren’t you doing the same thing here?” I would ask, the same thing as what???
DH: Trying to correct shadows created by shooting off sun angle in bright sunny conditions, stupid. Art, you are a master of deliberately misunderstanding a straightforward and well meant question with the with the express purpose of delivering a demeaning putdown. What a sad, self important old knob you are.Yep, I know, I’m spammed.

Talk about understanding and appreciation. Do note that DH’s question was not “well meant” and it certainly was not straightforward. He was looking to be nasty and pick a fight. I have no idea why the bitter and unhappy folks like him cannot control their need to spread their poison. I simply deleted his e-mail and yes, I spammed him.

Please understand that the purpose of publishing DH’s e-mail is not to solicit pats on the back. I get plenty of those; do know that each one is greatly appreciated.

From UrbanDictionary.com

Internet Troll

A person whose sole purpose in life is to seek out people to argue with on the internet over extremely trivial issues. Such arguments can happen on blogs…

Dickhead

A person who is an idiot and shows it all too well…

Working Off Light Angle…

As for working off light angle, my advice has always been to try to work on or close to light angle, or at least within 15 degrees of light angle while paying careful attention to how the light strikes the bird’s face (as I did with the yellow-crowned “Big Eyeball” image. Except of course when creating silhouettes or backlit images.) Do understand that each and everyone of you is free to work 90 or even 135 degrees off sun angle on clear day if you wish. You are the artist. It will be your picture. And you are free to like those images. Or not. On rarer than rare occasion I might like one of every 100,000 images made 90 degrees off sun angle. Might. I think that I have seen one of those in my 33+ years…

Sidelit Waved Albatross

As near as I can figure, this image was created while I was about 40 degrees off sun angle. Why did I push the button?

1: the area to my left was off limit.
2: the bird’s head was being hit nicely by the very late afternoon light.
3: I was pretty much square to the world.

I think of this one whenever the discussion turns to sidelit images…

All but a handful of pairs of Waved Albatross in the world breed on Espanola (Hood) Island. My two-week Galapagos trip is the only trip to visit Hood and the equally spectacular Tower Island twice each on a single cruise… Join us.

GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. August 8-22, 2017 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $12,499. Limit: 13 photographers plus the leader: yours truly. Openings: 4.

Same great trip; no price increase!

My two-week Galapagos Photo-Cruises are without equal. The world’s best guide, a killer itinerary, a great boat (the Samba), and two great leaders with ten Galapagos cruises under their belts. Pre-trip and pre-landing location-specific gear advice. In-the-field photo instruction and guidance. Jeez, I almost forgot: fine dining at sea!

The great spots that we will visit include Tower Island (including Prince Phillips Steps and Darwin Bay), Hood Island (including Punta Suarez, the world’s only nesting site of Waved Albatross, and Gardner Bay)—each of the preceding are world class wildlife photography designations that rank right up there with Antarctica, Africa, and Midway. We will also visit Fernandina, Puerto Ayora for the tortoises, Puerto Egas—James Bay, and North Seymour for nesting Blue-footed Boobies in most years, South Plaza for Land Iguanas, Floreana for Greater Flamingoes, and Urbina Bay, all spectacular in their own right. We visit every great spot on a single trip. Plus tons more. And there will be lots of opportunities to snorkel on sunny mid-days for those like me who wish to partake.

It is extremely likely that we will visit the incredible Darwin Bay and the equally incredible Hood Island, world home of Waved Albatross twice on our voyage. The National Park Service takes its sweet time in approving such schedule changes.

We will be the first boat on each island in the morning and the last boat to leave each island every afternoon. If we are blessed with overcast skies, we will often spend 5-6 hours at the best sites. And as noted above, mid-day snorkeling is an option on most sunny days depending on location and conditions. On the 2015 trip most snorkeled with a mega-pod of dolphins. I eased off the zodiac to find hundreds of dolphins swimming just below me. Note: some of the walks are a bit difficult but can be made by anyone if half way decent shape. Great images are possible on all landings with either a hand held 70-200mm lens and a 1.4X teleconverter or an 80- or 100-400. I sometimes bring a longer lens ashore depending on the landing. In 2017 I will be bring the Canon 400mm IS DO II lens. In the past I have brought either the 300mm f/2.8L IS II or the 200-400mm f/4 L IS with Internal Extender.

An Amazing Value…

Do know that there are one week Galapagos trips for $8500! Thus, our trip represents a tremendous value; why go all that way and miss half of the great photographic locations?

The Logistics

August 6, 2017: We arrive in Guayaquil, Ecuador a day early to ensure that we do not miss the boat in case of a travel delay.

August 7, 2017: There will be an introductory Galapagos Photography session and a hands on exposure session at our hotel.

August 8, 2017: We fly to the archipelago and board the Samba. Heck, on the 2015 trip some people made great images at the dock in Baltra while our luggage was being loaded!

August 22, 2017: We disembark late morning and fly back to Guayaquil midday; most will overnight there.

Most will fly home on the early morning of July 23 unless they are staying on or going elsewhere (or catching a red-eye flight on the evening of the 22nd).

$12,499 includes just about everything: all transfers, guide and park fees, all food on the boat, transfers and ground transportation, your flights to the archipelago, and three nights (double occupancy) in a top notch hotel in Guayaquil. If you are good to go, a non-refundable deposit of $5,000 per person is due immediately. The second payment of $4,000 is not due until 11/1/16. The final payment of $3449 per person will be due on 2/1/17. A $200 discount will be applied to each of the balances for couples or friends who register at the same time.

Purchasing travel insurance within 2 weeks of our cashing your deposit check is strongly recommended. On two fairly recent cruises a total of 5 folks were forced to cancel less than one week prior to the trip. My family and I use Travel Insurance Services and strongly recommend that you do the same.

Not included: your round trip airfare from your home to and from Guayaquil, beverages on the boat, phone calls, your meals in Guayaquil, personal items, and a $600/person cash tip for the crew and the guide—this works out to roughly $40/day to be shared by the 7 folks who will be waiting on us hand and foot every day for two weeks. The service is so wonderful that many folks choose to tip extra.

Please e-mail for the tentative itinerary or with questions. Please cut and paste “Galapagos 2017 Tentative Itinerary Please” into the Subject line.

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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂

What’s Up?

I made some more 5D IV images on my morning outing down to the lake. I will share my favorite here tomorrow. I worked on a few more blog posts including this one. I started my core exercises at 12:15 and swam at 1pm. Then I was a lazy bum for a few hours. And enjoyed it. It is now 6:30pm and I am back at work with renewed vigor. I plan on heading down to the lake in the morning.

Most everyone thinks that my first 5D Mark IV image in yesterday’s blog post here was pretty darned sharp. I will reveal what lens and focal length I used to make it in tomorrow’s blog post. Right now the guesses are all over the lot…

Join the DeSoto IPT and get to use my 5D Mark IV for one hour. And consider renting my 200-400 cheap! Scroll down for details.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending IPTs and dozens of the 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.

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender

I learned via e-mail at 12:53am last night that this lens sold and is being shipped today!

Eric Karl is offering a Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender in excellent condition for a very low $8,099. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original tough front lens cover, the lens strap, the original product box, 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 Eric via e-mail or by phone at 1-503-272-1055 (Pacific time).

This is the world’s best lens for a trip to Africa. It kills also in the Galapagos and in South Georgia, the Falklands, and Antarctica. And I use mine a lot at Bosque and other dusty places where the built-in TC helps to keep your sensor clean. And I love it in the Palouse for its versatility. The lens sells new at B&H right now for $10,999. You can save a slew of dollars by grabbing Eric’s lens now. artie

The Streak: 310!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 310 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Canon EOS 7D Mark II Pretty Good

With today’s featured photograph, the superb image quality of this 7D II file allowed for a decent crop. Sharpness and feather detail are outstanding. Though I have forsaken my two 7D IIs, I firmly believe that the 7D Mark II represents the best ever value in a Canon digital camera body.

Canon 200-400 w/Internal TC at the Beach

I write often, The 200-400 with Internal Extender is is the world’s best lens for a trip to Africa. It kills also in the Galapagos and in South Georgia, the Falklands, and Antarctica. And I use mine a lot at Bosque and other dusty places where the built-in TC helps to keep your sensor clean. And I love it in the Palouse for its versatility.

As today’s featured image shows, the 2-4 can be a great bird photography lens for folks who routinely work with silly tame birds as in some part of Florida and California. Though I am able to hand hold it only for short periods of time I am able to work with it all day using the knee pod technique: while seated with your left hand under the front of the lens and with your left knee bent, place the back of your left forearm on your left knee to support the lens. This is the next best thing to a tripod.

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender

Save almost $3,000!

Eric Karl is offering a Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender in excellent condition for a very low $8,099. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original tough front lens cover, the lens strap, the original product box, 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 Eric via e-mail or by phone at 1-503-272-1055 (Pacific time).

The DPP 4 Screen Capture

Note the selected AF point illuminated in red. The 7D II suffered from what I call the AF Grid Void. Once you cross the boundary between the central AF array and either side AF array, the AF system losses contact with the AF points across the void. When I created this image, Surround offered only five AF assist points, not the usual eight. Learn more about the AF Grid Void here. This problem, that exists only on the 7D II, can hamper your image design efforts.

Another Lying Histogram

Note that with the RGB values for brightest whites below the bird’s right eye at 238, 234, 220, that we should see at least some data very close to the right axis of the histogram… When there are small patches of bright white be sure to check for blinkies, especially on sunny days.

A Rare BAA Sidelit Image

By comparing the optimized image with the screen capture, you can see that I opened up the shadowed side of the night-heron’s head; I used my NIK Color Efex Pro 50-50 Recipe. I hid the effect with a Hide-all, Black, or Inverse Layer Mask and painted the effect in (B, D) as desired with brushes of varying opacities.

BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99

Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.

You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.

Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet at 2pm followed by our afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10/Openings: 5. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.

Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.

On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).

At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one? If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.

As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.

Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.

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 we are 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 we, 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.

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Typos

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