Private client Joel Eade and I had a superb afternnon on Saturday. Much to our delight, the diving terns and pelicans cooperated fantastically. Joel’s wife Debby made it out to the beach to enjoy the terrific weather. After we wrapped things up, we drove the short distance to Good Times Continental Restaurant, probably Tierra Verde’s best kept dining secret: 1130 Pinellas Bayway S, St Petersburg, FL. Telephone (727) 867-0774. (Continental Cuisine. Imported beers. Fine wines. More than 50 types of hand crafted soups and desserts.) Mom and Pop, originally from the Czech Republic, have been at this location coming up on 40 years–they do not accept credit cards but the food is so good that nobody complains. Debby enjoyed their legendary duck, I went for the wiener schnitzel, and Joel had the wiener schnitzel in brown sauce special. All scrumptious.
Don’t believe me? Check out the Yelp reviews here.
Galapagos 2017
If you would like to join me on the August 2017 Galapagos Photo-Cruise of a lifetime, please scroll down and see the details below. Please e-mail for couples or repeat customer discount information.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks an insane 206 days in a row with a new educational (and fun) blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click on the image to see a larger version. Daylight WB.
Image #1: Going down: Brown Pelican adult wheeling in flight
The Situation
While I was thrilled on Friday afternoon to learn that the pelican/tern feeding spree action at the new location at Fort DeSoto continued, I was hoping against hope that the birds would be there on Saturday afternoon so as not to disappoint my private client, Joel Eade. Not only were they there, but the action was more frantic than ever. And the birds were feeding closer to the shore, and even better, there was lots of action on the beach right in front of the parking lot; the 1/4 mile trek through soft sand was not necessary. Boy, did we have fun.
Sitting Down on the Job
I found it best to sit, especially for the pelicans, so that I had more room above the horizon… That strategy worked quite well on this 117 keeper afternoon.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #2: Where’s the fish? Sandwich Tern kiting before dive
Flight Photography With a Deadly Weapon…
As I have said here often, the Wheeleeze, with its huge wheels, has prolonged my beach photography career by a decade or two. At DeSoto, I can easily manage the 600 II, the 400 DO II, the 100-400 II, three camera bodies (if need be), the 24-105, the Induro GIT 304 tripod topped by a Mongoose M3.6, and a bottle or two or water. (For information on Wheeleeze, click on the Beach Stuff tab on the yellow-orange menu bar at the top of each blog page.
I started with the tripod mounted 600II/1.4X III/1dX II combination but many of the pelicans were too close and getting on the terns was quite difficult. So I set up the 400 DO II/1.4X III/1DX II combination, took a seat on the warm sand, and went to work. This combination is just light enough for me to hand hold for an extended shooting session. And getting on the birds is–as always with birds that are constantly zigging and sagging and changing direction–a lot easier when hand holding than when working with a bigger lens on a tripod. The speed of initial AF acquisition with this combo is lightening fast provided that you raise your lens and get the bird in the frame on your first try, and once the 1DX II gets on a subject and begins tracking sharpness is not an issue…
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click on the image to see a larger version.
For most of the last hour, I worked with ISO 800. With the light being pretty darned constant, I went with 1/2500 sec. for the terns, and 1/2000 sec. for the pelicans as the WHITEs are not quite as white as the WHITEs on the pelicans. With image #3, I did not remember to make the switch to the tern exposure… Thus, the WHITEs showed RGB values in the low 250s, much too bright for me. Though I pulled down the Brightness slider and moved the Highlight slider to -2 for the RAW conversion in DPP 4, I still needed to run a layer of my NIK 50/50 recipe on the WHITEs and then paint in about a 20% Linear Burn on the brightest WHITEs after that.
Your Favorite?
Which of the three images presented here today do you like best? Be sure to let us know why. All comments are welcome.
You can order your copy of “The Photographers’ Guide to Canon Digital Photo Professional 4.0” (aka the DPP 4 Raw Conversion eGuide) by Arash Hazeghi and Arthur Morris by clicking here.
The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)
Learn how and why I and many other discerning photographers choose and use only DPP 4 to convert their Canon RAW files in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly. The latest version supports all of the newer Canon camera bodies and several older models including the EOS-7D and the EOS-1D Mark IV. The DPP IV Guide is the ideal companion to the 7D Mark II User’s Guide, a runaway best seller.
The 1D X II
If what you read today on the blog or what you have been seeing for the past month inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.
Tame birds and wildlife. Incredible diversity. You only live once…
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!
This trip needs nine to run; in the unlikely event that it does not, all payments to BAA will be refunded in full.
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.
Do consider joining me for this once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos archipelago. There simply is no finer Galapagos photography trip. Learn why above.
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.
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 🙂
I met private client Joel Eade very early on Saturday morning. I regaled him with tales of Friday afternoon. I could not have asked for a happier camper. We had a great morning with a very few birds that included a pair of tame Wilson’s Plovers, two late Marbled Godwits, a dancing Reddish Egret–Joel killed me with his best image, and of course some Laughing Gulls, Ruddy Turnstones, and Willets.
We were joined by Debby–Joel’s lovely wife of 37 years–for lunch at the Sea Porch Cafe in the historic Don Cesar Hotel on St. Pete Beach. The fish tacos and grouper sandwiches were great but the taste and presentation of the little rectangular log of Key Lime Pie were beyond the beyond. Though I regret not having photographed it, I will not soon forget it…
Galapagos 2017
If you would like to join me on the August 2017 Galapagos Photo-Cruise of a lifetime, please scroll down and see the details below. Please e-mail for couples or repeat customer discount information.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks an insane 205 days in a row with a new educational (and fun) blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the 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, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, 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 left side of the lower menu bar above.
Joe Subolefsky sold his Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM lens and a 1.4X TC II, both in excellent condition, for $3,899 in late May.
Robert Doster sold his used Canon EOS 7D body in excellent condition for $419 in early April.
Sandra Calderbank sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in mint condition for $1599 in mid-April in one day.
Jim Keener sold a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens in mint condition for $999 in early May.
IPT veteran Bill Wingfield sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in excellent condition for $1498 in late April.
IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.
KW McCulloch sold his used Canon 5DMark III for $1499 in mid-May before it was even listed.
Paul Roscoe sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II lens in mint condition for $9450 in mid-May.
The sale of Les Greenberg’s Canon EOS Canon 5D Mark III is pending.
New Listing
Canon EF 100-400 USM IS USM Lens (the old 1-4)
Moody McCall is offering his used Canon EF 100-400 USM IS USA lens in excellent condition for $599. The sale includes the lens hood, the front lens cap, the product box, the lens case, the rear cap, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made. Please contact Moody by e-mail or by phone at 904-635-4388 (Eastern time).
I owned and used the original 100-400 with great success for close to a decade and made many memorable and sale-able images with it. artie
Center AF point/AI Servo/Expand Shutter Button AF as originally framed. This is a crop from a horizontal image. The selected AF point was right on the point where the upper wing meets the body.
Image #1: Brown Pelican vertical dive in front of Sunshine Skyway Bridge
Too Much Fun: Sunshine Skyway Dive
Though I was by myself on Friday afternoon at the new spot in DeSoto, I had a ton of fun as the action was again fantastic. I spent most of the time trying to photograph the diving pelicans. With a nice west wind, the challenge is to make an image before they turn their heads away on the way down… At first I was a bit bummed about the bridge in the background but then decided that it helps tell the story; it was nice of the bird to dive right between the supports… The frame before this one was excellent with no bridge and a slightly less dramatic pose.
Image Question
What do you think of having the bridge in the image?
One AF point two rows down and one to the right of the center AF point was selected: AI Servo/Expand Shutter Button AF as originally framed. This is small crop from the left and from below. The selected AF point was right on the top of the pelican’s head.
Image #2: Klepto-parasitic Laughing Gulls harassing Brown Pelican for fish
Too Much Fun: Klepto-parasitic Laughing Gulls
As detailed in the Astounded By 1200mm Flight and Action Images...blog post here, the Laughing Gulls try to land on the pelican’s head to be in the best position to grab a few of the tiny baitfish that the pellies are scooping up. I have one spectacular image of a pelican with its bill open showing a ball of the tiny baitfish that I will share with you here soon.
Your Favorite?
Which of the two images presented here today do you like best? Be sure to let us know why. All comments welcome.
The 1D X II
If what you read today on the blog inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.
Tame birds and wildlife. Incredible diversity. You only live once…
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!
This trip needs nine to run; in the unlikely event that it does not, all payments to BAA will be refunded in full.
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.
Do consider joining me for this once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos archipelago. There simply is no finer Galapagos photography trip. Learn why above.
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.
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 🙂
It is way early on Friday morning, May 27. I am working on Saturday’s blog post as I head over to St. Pete today to meet private client and blog regular Joel Eade for a full day on Saturday. That will give me busman’s holiday sessions on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.
This just in: much to my surprise, the fabulous diving pelican and tern show at DeSoto continues. If you own the Fort DeSoto Site Guide–or if you purchase it on Monday–and send me an e-mailthat includes a cut and paste of the first page of the guide, I will be glad to let you know the details of the currently hot location.
Galapagos 2017
If you would like to join me on the August 2017 Galapagos Photo-Cruise of a lifetime, please scroll down and see the details below. Please e-mail for couples or repeat customer discount information.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks an insane 204 days in a row with a new educational (and fun) blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
One AF point below the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. The selected point just caught the back of the gull’s hood. Click on the image to see a larger version.
AF Micro-adjustment: +4
Image #1: Laughing Gull kiting above a pelican that was at the bottom of the original frame.
Individual Birds in Flight at 1200mm? Not Possible! Or is it with the 1DX Mark II?
In the original Astounded By 1200mm Flight and Action Images…here, I mentioned that I was easily able to get on single birds in flight at 1200mm thanks to the amazing AF system of the new Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. Here, I present two of my favorites from that remarkable afternoon. I have so many good keepers from that session that it is absolutely silly. Soon I will be sharing some of my diving pelican images from that next-to-last IPT afternoon.
Center AF point/Expand Shutter Button/AI Servo AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was well above the bird’s head; two of the assist points fell on the tern’s right wing. Click on the image to see a larger version.
AF Micro-adjustment: +4
Image #2: Sandwich Tern after emerging from the water after a dive
Why Individual Bird Flight Photography Action Success at 1200mm?
Three reasons:
#1: 1DX Mark II AF is far faster (in terms of initial focusing acquisition) and surer and more accurate by far than with any previous Canon camera body.
#2: At +4 micro-adjustemt, this combination–the 600 II, 2X III TC, & 1DX Mark II–has been perfectly LensAligned/FocusTuned.
#3: I used an advanced pro technique that involves the Lens Drive When AF impossible setting. This technique is covered in detail in all recent Camera User’s Guides including the 1DX AF Guide, the 5D Mark III User’s Guide, and the 7D Mark II User’s Guide. With all of the action at relatively consistent distances from the lens, this trick really helped. Note that the info on this feature in the Canon camera manuals and the info that is available on the camera itself is 100% confusing. Doubt me? Try to figure it out yourself.
Lens Drive When AF Impossible Guide Offer
If you are one of those rare photographers who shoots Canon and does not own one of the Camera User’s Guides mentioned above and would like to learn this very specialized technique, you can send us a Paypal for $10 to birdsasart@verizon.net with the words Lens Drive When AF Impossible Guide cut and pasted into the Subject Line and I promise to get you the info by Tuesday. Folks who do not use Paypal are invited to call Jim at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to order. For the phone orders, please note that this coming Monday is a holiday.
The 1D X II
If what you read today on the blog inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.
Tame birds and wildlife. Incredible diversity. You only live once…
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!
This trip needs nine to run; in the unlikely event that it does not, all payments to BAA will be refunded in full.
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.
Do consider joining me for this once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos archipelago. There simply is no finer Galapagos photography trip. Learn why above.
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.
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 🙂
My 2015 taxes are done and on their way to the accountant! I came up with a new method for preparing my end of the work last year when I got audited for 2014; it puts nearly all of the responsibility on me and almost none on daughter Jennifer. My return will be deadly accurate and I am ready to walk into an audit at any time.
I enjoyed another wonderful 30 lap swim (22 laps is a half mile) and will be climbing into the ice bath very soon.
Galapagos 2017
If you would like to join me on the August 2017 Galapagos Photo-Cruise of a lifetime, please scroll down and see the details below. Please e-mail for couples or repeat customer discount information.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks an insane 203 days in a row with a new educational (and fun) blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the 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, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, 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 left side of the lower menu bar above.
Robert Doster sold his used Canon EOS 7D body in excellent condition for $419 in early April.
Sandra Calderbank sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in mint condition for $1599 in mid-April in one day.
Jim Keener sold a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens in mint condition for $999 in early May.
IPT veteran Bill Wingfield sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in excellent condition for $1498 in late April.
IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.
KW McCulloch sold his used Canon 5DMark III for $1499 in mid-May before it was even listed.
Paul Roscoe sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II lens in mint condition for $9450 in mid-May.
The sale of Les Greenberg’s Canon EOS Canon 5D Mark III is pending.
Price Reduction!
Canon EOS-1DX Professional Digital Camera Body
Yet Another Lowest-ever BAA Price!
Price Reduced $200 on May 27, 2016.
Multiple IPT veteran Larry Master is offering a near-mint condition Canon EOS-1DX for only $2699. Was $2899. The sale includes the LP-E4N battery, the battery charger, the front cap, the original box, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Interested folks may contact Larry on his cell phone at 518-645-1545 or via e-mail.
I used, depended on, and loved my two 1DX bodies since their release several years ago. artie
This image was manually de-focused as noted below.
Burchell’s Zebra intentionally de-focused
A New Bright Sunny Day Creative Technique: Glamour Glow Without the Glamour?
The rather handsome subject in the image above stood like a statue for more than 30 minutes a good distance from our safari van. It never moved a muscle. But the sun was so bright that I stuck with photographing a mother zebra with a young colt. When they finally moved off I came up with an idea; with my lens atop the roof of the van on my splayed Induro GIT 304L tripod I was going to create a soft sharp blur–a double exposure with one image sharply focused and the other defocused. This technique is used often with flowers and at times goes by the name “Orton Effect.”
It took me a minute to set up for the double exposure; for whatever reason I decided to create the de-focused image first. You guessed it; at that moment, the statue decided that it was indeed alive and took a short hike. So I was left only with the single de-focused frame. It caught my eye while I was reviewing the images from that day and then I came up with the idea for this blog post.
I know for sure that I like it a lot better than any traditional image that I might have created in the harsh desert light.
This image was created from the opening image above. It was converted to B&W using the Wet Rock pre-set in NIK Silver EFEX Pro. It is one of my favorite NIK SEP pre-sets.
Burchell’s Zebra intentionally de-focused
Multiple Choice Test
Pick one and leave a comment:
A-I hate all blurs including both of these images. Why would you publish such garbage?
B-I find the de-focused blurs mildly interesting.
C-Of the two, I like the original image better because…
D-Of the two, I like the B&W image better because…
E-I like both of the de-focused blurs because…
F-I am smart enough to speak for myself. Here is what I have to say about today’s two featured images: …..
Feel free–of course–to expand or embellish upon your answer.
[Not a valid template]
Learn the secrets of creating contest-winning images in our “A Guide to Pleasing Blurs.”
A Guide to Pleasing Blurs
In our A Guide to Pleasing Blurs, by Denise Ippolito and yours truly, we discuss just about every technique ever used to create pleasingly blurred image. Heck, between the two of us we created many of them! Ninety-nine point nine percent of pleasing blurs are not happy accidents. You can learn pretty much everything that there is to know about creating them in this instructive, well written, easy to follow guide.
And yes, we even cover de-focused blurs!
A Comment from Kathleen
I ordered this e-Book when it first came out; it maybe the best $33 that I have ever spent on photography!
My own style is crisp and sharply-focused and I’ve been thinking of adding a more artistic effect to some images. This PDF gives me way more ideas than I could possibly have come up with on my own. The images are great and so are the detailed instructions. It’s well worth buying if you’re looking to add something different to your repertoire.
The Namibia IPT
For a variety of reasons, I decided not to go back to Namibia next year. Good friend Denise Ippolito is going. You can learn about her trip here; if you sign up, please let her know that I sent you.
Tame birds and wildlife. Incredible diversity. You only live once…
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!
This trip needs nine to run; in the unlikely event that it does not, all payments to BAA will be refunded in full.
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.
Do consider joining me for this once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos archipelago. There simply is no finer Galapagos photography trip. Learn why above.
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.
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 🙂
I am thisclose to finishing my 2015 taxes. I will have them on the way to Chip Jackson tomorrow for sure. I enjoyed another wonderful 30 lap swim (22 laps is a half mile). My ice bath was very chilly. Not sure why but I have lost a solid five pounds in the last ten days. I tried to gain some weight today 🙂
If you are interested in the 2017 Japan in Winter trip see yesterday’s blog post; and please e-mail for couples or repeat customer discount information.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks an insane 202 days in a row with a new educational (and fun) blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
Image #1: American Oystercatcher double overhead wingstretch
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Jim Robellard
Jim Robellard and His Sigma 150-600mm Sports Lens…
I like to do a critiquing session on Day 2 of most IPTs with folks sharing some of their images from the trip. This helps me to learn if someone needs extra help in the field. When I saw Jim’s images I was most impressed and quite a bit curious: “Just what is that lens that you have been hand holding?”
Turns out that it was the Sport version of the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM for Canon EF. The images were quite sharp. Jim loved having a relatively light zoom lens that could offer him 600mm of reach. And with the amazing high ISO performance of the 1DX II the lenses relatively slow maximum aperture of f/6.3 is not much of a hindrance.
Thanks a stack to Jim for allowing me to share this collection with you. It is quite an impressive group of images by any standard.
Image #2: Black Skimmer skimming
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Jim Robellard
Black Skimmer skimming
I do not quite remember where I was when this skimmer flew at us but I was on a tripod with the 600 II and a TC so I had no chance to get on the bird. As I say here often, when you are hand holding a shorter focal length lens you will be able to get on unexpected flight and action much more easily than if you were working with a big lens on a tripod.
Image #3: Dunlin feeding
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Jim Robellard
Way to Go Jim!
Jim Robellard is a quiet man. But he is always paying attention. All the exposures for today’s featured images were spot-on and with the Dunlin image, he got down low. Being so close to the subject, he knew to go for a bit of extra depth-of-field. Getting the bird with an invertebrate tidbit in its bill was a nice bonus for doing everything right.
Image #4: Squabbling White Ibises
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Jim Robellard
Stand Up!
One afternoon I had the whole group having a ball photographing a cooperative White Ibis catching fiddler crabs right in front of us. In addition, there were some nice shorebirds around including a few Dunlin, a Willet, and some Short-billed Dowitchers. When the ibis took flight, nobody was distraught as we had been photographing it for quite some time. I looked across the tidal pool that we were working and learned why the ibis had flown: it was involved in a knock-down drag-out battle with another White Ibis. Everyone started photographing. “No” I screamed, “stand up!” Everyone stood up and kept firing and quickly realized that by standing we had eliminated the Sunshine Skyway Bridge from our photos. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is a beautiful bridge, but not one that I want as a background for a battling ibises image…
Image #5: Sandwich Tern with baitfish in bill
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Jim Robellard
A Big Crop
This was a big crop from the original but Jim sent it along to show the neat behavior; Machine-gun Mike Hankes alerted the whole group to the fact that it was possible to create images of the terns emerging from the water after they had dived by focusing on the splash. It was easier said than done but here Jim pulled off somewhat of a miracle by making a nice image of the tern with not one but two baitfish in its beak.
I ran some extra NeatImage to clean up the noise caused by the large crop. Noise is increased with a big crop at the same time as image quality is degraded a bit; here you can note some posterization of the background (upper right) along with a few funky color shifts.
Image #6: Marbled Godwit
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Jim Robellard
Marbled Godwit
Here Jim used his new gear to create a stunning portrait of one of my all-time favorite shorebirds. Note throughout the collection that Jim did not hesitate to go to the higher 1DX Mark II ISOs when he needed them, especially with his beautiful oystercatcher image.
The 1D X Mark II
If what you read or today or what you have read on the blog over the past few weeks inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.
Image #6: White morph Reddish Egret wing-raised feeding strategy
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Jim Robellard
Silhouette Education
I spent lots of time on the IPT showing folks how to create some nice silhouettes both at sunrise and sunset. I think that I was asleep at the switch when Jim made this lovely image.
Image Questions
#1: Why does a Reddish Egret raise its wings and hold them over its head?
#2: Which of Jim’s wonderful images do you think is the strongest? Please let us know why you made your choice.
#3: In which image is the subject to sensor plane (the back of the camera) slightly less than ideal?
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 🙂
I am just about finished with my 2015 taxes awaiting a only return e-mail from my accountant on a wages question. I enjoyed my longest swim in many months and am heading for an ice bath in a very few minutes.
If you are interested in the 2017 Japan in Winter trip please scroll down for details on this amazing experience. Please e-mail for couples or repeat customer discount information.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks an insane 201 days in a row with a new educational (and fun) blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the 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, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, 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 left side of the lower menu bar above.
Recent Sales
Robert Doster sold his used Canon EOS 7D body in excellent condition for $419 in early April.
Sandra Calderbank sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in mint condition for $1599 in mid-April in one day.
Jim Keener sold a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens in mint condition for $999 in early May.
IPT veteran Bill Wingfield sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in excellent condition for $1498 in late April.
IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.
KW McCulloch sold his used Canon 5DMark III for $1499 in mid-May before it was even listed.
Paul Roscoe sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II lens in mint condition for $9450 in mid-May.
The sale of Les Greenberg’s Canon EOS Canon 5D Mark III is pending.
New Listings
Canon EF 100-400 USM IS USM Lens (the old 1-4)
Janet Horton is offering her used Canon EF 100-400 USM IS USA lens in excellent condition for $629. The lens hood shows small signs of use, but otherwise the lens is unmarked and in perfect working order. The sale includes the Canon LZ1324 Lens case with strap, the Canon ET-83C Lens Hood, the rear cap, and insured ground shipping via major carrier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made. Please contact Janet by e-mail or by phone at 425-313-3060 (Pacific time).
I owned and used the original 100-400 with great success for close to a decade and made many memorable and sale-able images with it. artie
Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM Lens
Long-ago IPT veteran Charles Sleicher is offering his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in very good plus condition for $3750. The sale includes a RRS plate, the 52mm drop-in Canon polarizer, the original leather front lens cover, the lens trunk, the original product box, and insured ground shipping to US addresses only. The lens has a few small spots where the paint has worn off, but is otherwise excellent; the glass is mint and the lens functions perfectly. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Charles via e-mail or by phone at 206-254-1576 (Pacific time).
I owned and used this lens for well more than a decade before upgrading to the 500 II. Lenses of this versatile focal length have long been the world’s most popular super-telephoto lenses. artie
This photo, today’s featured image, was created on the eagle boat at Rausu on the 2015 Japan in Winter IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +2 stops off the gray sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF with the selected AF point squarely on the top of the eagle’s back was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #1: Steller’s Sea-eagle taking flight
The Great Wall of Japan Part II
In the “The Great Wall of Japan” blog post here, I described a can’t miss birds in flight situation. This is another of the many keepers that I made that morning. Staller’s Sea-Eagle and Red-crowned Crane are my two favorite Japan in Winter species. Soon I will be sharing some more images of each with you here. Along with more new lessons.
This is a pano crop of today’s featured image. With the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +2 stops off the gray sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF with the selected AF point squarely on the top of the eagle’s back (as originally framed) was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #2 Pano crop of Steller’s Sea-eagle taking flight
2X3 or Pano Crop? Your Call
Which do you prefer, the 2X3 version or the pano crop? Help keep the blog interactive by letting us know which you like better and why.
Consider joining me in Japan in February, 2017, for the world’s best Japan in Winter workshop. Click on the card to enjoy the spectacular larger version.
Japan In Winter IPT. February 9-24, 2017: $11,499 (was $13,999)/double occupancy. Limit 9/Openings: 5.
Price Reduced $2,500 on 3-8-16!
All lodging including the Tokyo hotel on 9 FEB, all breakfasts & dinners, ground transport and transfers including bus to the monkey park hotel, and all entrance fees and in-country flights are included. Not included: international flights, some lunches–a few are on the run, and alcoholic beverages.
Please e-mail for couple and IPT repeat customer discount information.
This trip is one day longer than the great 2014 trip to allow for more flexibility, more time with the cranes, and most importantly, more time for landscape photography. Hokkaido is gorgeous. You will enjoy tons of pre-trip planning and gear advice, in-the-field instruction and guidance, at-the-lodge Photoshop and image review sessions in addition to short introductory slide programs for each of the amazing locations. Skilled photographer Paul McKenzie handles the logistics and we enjoy the services of Japan’s best wildlife photography guide whom I affectionately call “Hokkaido Bear.” His network of local contacts and his knowledge of the weather, the area, and the birds is unparalleled and enables him to have us in the best location every day.
Arrive Tokyo: 9 FEB 2017 the latest. 8 FEB is safer and gives you a day to get acclimated to the time change. Your hotel room for the night of the 9th is covered.
Bus Travel to Monkey Park Hotel: 10 FEB: A 1/2 DAY of monkey photography is likely depending on our travel time… This traditional hotel is first class all the way. Our stay includes three ten course Japanese dinners; these sumptuous meals will astound you and delight your taste buds. There are many traditional hot springs mineral baths (onsens) on site in this 150 year old hotel.
Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 11.
Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 12.
13 FEB: Full travel day to Hokkaido/arrive at our lodge in the late afternoon. The lodge is wonderful. All the rooms at the lodge have beds. Bring your warm pajamas. A local onsen (hot springs bath and tubs) is available for $5 each day before dinner–when you are cold, it is the best thing since sliced bread. The home-cooked Japanese styles meals at the lodge are to die for. What’s the best news? Only a small stand of woods separates us from the very best crane sanctuary. During one big snowstorm we were the only photo group to be able to get to Tsurui Ito; we had the whole place to ourselves in perfect conditions for crane photography!
FEB 14-23: Red-crowned Crane, raptors in flight, Whooper Swans, and scenic photography. Ural Owl possible. An overnight trip to Rausu for Steller’s Sea Eagle and White-tailed Eagle photography on the tourists boats is 100% dependent on the weather, road, and sea ice conditions. Only our trip offers complete flexibility in this area. It has saved us on more than once occasion. The cost of 2 eagle-boat trips is included. If the group would like to do more than two boat trips and we all agree, there will be an additional charge for the extra trip or trips. No matter the sea ice conditions, we will do two eagle boat trips (as long as we can make the drive to Rausu; it snows a lot up there). We have never been shut out.In 2016 there was no sea ice but our guide arranged for two amazingly productive boat trips.
Lodging notes: bring your long johns for sleeping in the lodge. At the Snow Monkey Park, and in Rausu, the hotel the rooms are Japanese-style. You sleep on comfortable mats on the floor. Wi-fi is available every day of the trip.
FEB 24. Fly back to Tokyo for transfer to your airport if you are flying home that night, or, to your hotel if you are overnighting. If you need to overnight, the cost of that room is on you.
Life is short. Hop on the merry-go-round.
To Sign Up
To save your spot, please send your $5,000 non-refundable deposit check made out to “Birds as Art” to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. I do hope that you can join me for this trip of a lifetime. Do e-mail with any questions or give me a buzz at 863-692-0906.
Purchasing travel insurance within 2 weeks of our cashing your deposit check is strongly recommended. On two fairly recent Galapagos 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.
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 🙂
I got lots done on Monday but am not quite sure exactly what I did. Had a great swim and am planning on another ice bath. As has been usual lately, I started and finished this blog post. It took close to four hours in all…
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks an insane 200 days in a row with a new educational (and fun) blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
For far too long the BAA Online Store has been an embarrassment. While it has been partially functional, and many BAA friends have made thousands of purchases in the old store, an equal number of folks have been rightfully turned off and fled. Shipping has been the huge problem from day one: overseas folks would purchase a $40 CD and be billed for $87 postage… Folks who e-mail Jim their concerns were issued a timely refund of the overcharges. The old store was designed to offer US Mail as a legitimate shipping choice. That never came to be. When folks entered their address they were often baffled when the state abbreviation came up as OT. Many folks e-mailed expressing their consternation and we responded to each letting them know of the glitch in the system. And the “This Site is Not Safe” warnings will be a thing of the past. (We always kept our security certificates updated, but getting the system to consistently recognize that was simply beyond us.)
Thanks to good friend Chris Klapheke of Outdoor Photo Gear who kindly recommended a pre-packaged store from BigCommerce.Com. Thanks to the hard work of my righthand man, Jim Litzenberg, and the folks at BigCommerce.Com, the new and long overdue BIRDS AS ART Online Store is now open. All can access it here, or always, by clicking on the New BAA Online Store! tab on the left side of the lower yellow-orange Menu Bar (on most browsers). It should be just to the left of the hugely popular Used Photo Gear tab (again, on most browsers).
Loyal patrons of the old store will appreciate the ease of ordering from the new store and the deadly accurate shipping choices and function. Though you can checkout as a guest, we urge everyone to take minute to register. Doing so will allow for faster checkout and in addition, you will be able to track the status of your order. And your next visit will be that much easier.
Once you get to Checkout, be sure that “Register an account” is checked. All, including patrons of the old BAA store, will need to register (just once). Please type carefully, check your data carefully before hitting OK, and make a note of your password. If you have a question or need our help, simply click on “Contact Us.”
Big time thanks to the many who have patronized the old BAA Online Store despite the problems. All should really enjoy the new version.
Please note that it will not be too long until BAA store links in old blog posts and Bulletins will not work. We hope to have a page in place soon that will direct folks to the new store but not to the identical product page. You will need to surf around a bit.
artie (on the left in his Pribs pants) and Lou Newman at Lou’s recent photo exhibit opening in Sarasota, FL. The two baby Great Egrets in the nest image that you see on the wall in the image above was one of my very favorites from among Lou’s new exhibit images.
Photo courtesy of and copyright 2016: Kristen Herhold, Community Editor of the Sarasota Observer
The Pribs Pants
Wildlife artist Ramiel (Ram) Papsish painted my dungarees for me in 2001 after my second visit to St. Paul Island where I believe he was working as a tour guide. I ran into him on Facebook a few weeks back and decided to wear the pants to Lou Newman’s opening. They proved to be a big hit. I also learned that Ram is headed back out there this summer!
I think that I first saw some of Ram’s artwork on a poster or two on St. Paul. I was blown away by how beautifully he captured each bird as if in life. I remember thinking, “This guy really knows these birds.” Many artists paint this or that species but the shapes and proportions often do not add up to the living thing. Ram nailed every bird he painted. At some point, I realized that he had painted the filthy, dirty, ragged, threadbare jeans that he wore around the island every day with the birds of the Pribilofs. We struck a barter deal: some prints for a pair of painted Pribs pants.
I’ve worn them only a very few times but plan to change that as time is getting short :). Yeah, I know, 70 is young but I am thinking that it will be the first birthday ever to get my attention… The pants can be washed inside out in cold water I think, with a gentle detergent. Enjoy each of the pants legs below.
Artwork copyright 2001: Ramiel Papish
Right leg front
…..
Artwork copyright 2001: Ramiel Papish
Left leg front
…..
Artwork copyright 2001: Ramiel Papish
Right leg back
…..
Artwork copyright 2001: Ramiel Papish
Left leg back
Pribilofs Pants Questions
Which is your favorite pants leg? (Be sure to note front or back) Which is your favorite bird? How many birds can you identify as to species? Go ahead, name them if you like.
Grammatical Question
I did some surfing to see if I could learn if “pants legs” needs an apostrophe somewhere. But came up empty. If you know for sure, please share.
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 🙂
Sunday was a hazy lazy day. I did a bit of mopping up on my 2015 taxes, worked on a few Soduko puzzles, and watched some golf and NBA playoff basketball. And again I enjoyed a great sunny day swim. Oh, and started and finished this blog post.
I took a rare Sunday evening ice bath end enjoyed my best night’s sleep since the surgery.
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming. And we will surely get to photograph American Oystercatchers. With a bit of luck, they will be feeding chicks of various ages. Scroll down here for complete Nickerson details.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks an insane 199 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
I selected on AF point above the center AF point/AI Servo Surround/Rear Focus AF as framed. AF was of course active at the moment of exposure as the bird was striding forward while calling. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
I was sitting in about six inches of saltwater at my favorite early morning spot. I had lowered my Induro tripod and taken the time to level the bubble on the tripod platform (by shoving first this leg and then that leg into the wet sand) and then leveling the camera body; this ensured that no matter where I pointed the lens the image would be pretty darned close to perfectly level. I taught this lesson several times on the IPT. It works great whenever you will be working from the same spot for more than a few minutes. Sometimes you need to lengthen or shorten a leg to get the bubble centered in the circle. This technique also works well when you are standing for flight photography, and equally well when your tripod is on a solid surface such as a dirt road or a parking lot.
Group I: Image #2:
Displaying Oystercatcher Lands Right in my Wheelhouse
While I was photographing some feeding breeding plumage Dunlins this oystercatcher flew in and landed–right down my sun angle–right in front of me and began displaying. As I swung the lens to get on the bird I clicked the index finger wheel one click clockwise for the next faster shutter speed (to avoid burning the oystercatcher’s brighter whites) and moved the AF point up one row. Then I fired off about 20 frames. The extracted JPEGs from the best six are presented here today in two groups. In Group I, the bird is parallel to the back of the camera. In Group II, the bird is angling toward me.
Group I: Image #3:
You Get to Edit the Two Groups, i.e., pick the keepers
Your Chinese Food Menu Task
Please select the best image from Group I, and the best image from Group II. Feel free to comment on one or more images from each group, and please let us know why you made your choices. For me, the choice with Group II is crystal clear. With Group I, not so clear… I will be interested to see what y’all have to say.
Please note that you are viewing full frame extracted JPEGs cropped to 1200 pixels wide and sharpened with Unsharp Mask at 110/.3/0.
The Hardest Question
Which is the single strongest image? Why?
Group I: Image #4:
AF Comments
With the first four images, the selected AF point fell just forward of the white slash at the bird’s shoulder. With lots of contrast there, the 1DX II AF acquired instantly and tracked the subject perfectly. Once the bird turned to angle toward me, I kept the same AF point and Area Selection mode and the system again worked perfectly; with the last two images, those in Group II, the selected AF point was not even on the bird; it was in front of the bird well below the bill. But one or more of the upper left Surround assist points was on the bird’s neck and the system got every image sharp.
Group II: Image #5:
My Perspective on My Perspective
I could not have (without lying down in the water) chosen a better perspective. I was very happy that the bird’s head did not merge with the base of the background grasses. Lying flat down in 4-6 inches of water would have provided a wondrous perspective, but it is not a lot of fun> It can put a lot of stress on the muscles in your lower back and shoulders and, as I learned last year, put’s your gear at risk of saltwater damage.
As age 70 draws closer, sitting is fine for me 🙂
Group II: Image #6:
Head Angle Comments
In Image #1-4, the bird was kind enough to turn his head a perfect two degrees toward me. And the head angles in frames 5&6 are just fine as well.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
I got a ton done on my 2015 taxes. With a bit of help from daughter/accountant/BAA Executive Director Jennifer (Morris–mother of Sam and Maya) I should be done by Tuesday the latest. I did have time for another great swim.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 198 days in a row with a new educational blog post. I have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
Peregrine Falcons copulating
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Glenn Conlan
A Real Stunner
Buddy Patrick Sparkman first saw this image on Glenn Conlan’s cell phone and raved about it to me. When I saw it posted in the Avian Forum on BirdPhotographer’s.Net. You can see Glenn’s BPN post here.
Many times when I critique a fantastic image, whether it be on BPN or when judging a contest, I often make suggestions. My feeling is, if you can help make a great image even greater, why keep your mouth shut. Though I was late to the party, I posted the following in Pane #2:
Hey Glenn, Patrick was telling me about this one in glowing terms. He did not do it justice. This is beyond spectacular. The wing position and pose of the male is amazing. What’s with the curled talons? Have you ever seen anything like that before? Not too mention the sweet color tones of the distant BKGR. I keep going back to look at it.
I think that a selectively applied Contrast Mask (Unsharp Mask at 15/65/0) to the top of the female’s head and face (and then pull the curve up a bit) would make an amazing image just a bit better.
a
Glenn let me know about the curled talons in Pane #3:
Nature gave these amazing raptors a great method of dealing with their needle sharp talons during copulation without impaling their mate.
In Pane #14, I posted my version of Glenn’s great image with my suggestions implemented; that image is today’s featured image.
BPN is all about learning for everyone involved.
So What’s the One Big Problem With This Image?
The one big problem with this image is that it is not mine…
Thanks a stack to Glenn for sharing his image with us both here and on BPN.
What’s Your Take?
What’s your take on Glenn’s image? What do you like about it? What is your favorite part of the photo?
Not a Black-bellied Plover…
Not a Black-bellied Plover…
My bad: I assumed that the bird on the sandbar was a Black-bellied Plover. When I blew the image up on Saturday morning, I realized me error.
So What Is It?
Why not a Black-bellied Plover? That’s an easy one.
From the shape of the bird and the shape of the bill, there are only two possibilities (and one is not Long-billed Dowitcher–that species almost never occurs in saltwater). The other possibility is Common Snipe which is rarely seen at DeSoto. If we assume that the bird on the sandbar is not a snipe, what is it?
Shorebirds; Beautiful Beachcombers
If you would like to learn more about identifying and aging North America’s regularly occurring shorebirds, get yourself a copy of my Shorebirds; Beautiful Beachcombers. Click here to learn more.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
I spent most of Friday getting lots more done on my 2015 taxes. I enjoyed another nice swim.
A Big Loss
I learned on Friday that Michael Reichmann, founder of the highly respected Luminous Landscape website, passed away at age 71 on Wednesday past. I am sending love, strength, and energy to his family and many friends. Though I knew Micheal only through a few brief e-mails, we do have a bit in common. Age. And the fact that our work, our passion, and our very beings were closely connected to our business names: Luminous Landscape for him, BIRDS AS ART for me.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 197 days in a row with a new educational blog post. I have dozens of new topics to cover; here should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
This image was created on my last morning at DeSoto after the IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 200mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/160 sec. at f/11 in Tv mode. Color temperature: 8000K.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the sandbar and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #1: Sandbar at dawn
Getting Up Early…
Fortunately, I am a morning person. I am usually up and working (or on my way to photograph) between four and five am. The fact is, when I am afield early on some beautiful beach, I am almost always alone at dawn (unless I am leading an IPT group). And that is a big shame for sleep-late nature photographers. Heck, there are times when being in the right place 30 minutes before the time of sunrise is 15 minutes too late. Try getting to bed early and getting out to your favorite beach in time to enjoy the often spectacular sunrise colors.
This image was created at 6:38am, about twelve minutes before the official time of sunrise. When this image was made I was hurting for birds…
Image Question
So exactly where is the alleged Black-bellied Plover in Image #1?
Image #2: Black-bellied Plover ruffling in almost blasting highlights: 6:49am.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus on the plover’s legs and re-compose. (Learn why below…) Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Tips for Photographing Blasting Highlights
I first wrote about creating glaring (blasting) highlights silhouettes in Chapter Six of The Art of Bird Photograph II, Exposure and Flash Simplified & Autofocus Essays. (I’m thinking now that I might have made two or three chapters there instead of one…) With most blasting highlights situations, you need from 1 to 3 stops (or more!) of under-exposure to keep from severely over-exposing the specular highlights. But in Image #2 the sun was just touching the horizon so the highlights were simply not that blasting.
Some folks mentioned diffraction with telephoto lenses in the recent post that dealt with depth-of-field with regards to the large Great Egret chick image. I have never seen diffraction at f/11 or f/13 or f/16. But I have seen diffraction with long effective focal lengths at tiny apertures, most recently, at f/57. Lesson? When working in really bright blasting highlight situations be sure to switch to a lower ISO and a very high shutter speed while striving not to go past f/11 or so.
Blasting Highlights AF Tip
While AF needs contrast to see, too much of a good thing blinds the AF system. If you are trying to focus on a bird in the blasting highlights swath, and AF cannot lock focus, try putting the sensor on the legs; it works extremely well pretty much all the time.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus on the plover’s head and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #3: Black-bellied Plover in soft backlight: 6:51am.
Blasting Highlights Too Bright?
Within a minute of creating Image #2, the sun had gotten much stronger and I could no longer control the over-exposure of the specular highlights. I simply moved a yard or two to my right to place the cooperative plover against a background of soft and sweet yellow water. Remember: the success of each and every image that you create has everything to do with the perspective that you choose, exactly where you place your lens.
Just Think…
Today’s three featured images were created in a span of about 13 minutes; what a great way to start my day.
Your Favorite?
Which of these three sunrise images is your favorite? Be sure to let us know why you made your choice. I do have a clear favorite…
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
I spent most of Thursday getting lots done on my 2015 taxes. I enjoyed a nice swim before the daily thunderstorms hit.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 196 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the 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, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, 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 left side of the lower menu bar above.
IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.
The sale of Les Greenberg’s Canon EOS Canon 5D Mark III Camera Body is pending.
New Listing
Canon EOS 7D Mark II
KW McCulloch is offering a used Canon EOS 7D Mark II in very good plus condition for $999. The sale includes the front body cap, the original product box, an extra LP-E6 battery, the battery charger, and insured shipping via UPS Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears or other arrangements are made.
Please contact KW by e-mail or by phone at 361/727-2652 (Central time).
I’ve owned and used a 7D Mark II almost from the beginning. I championed it for a while until I fell in love the the far more expensive 5DS R. Several of my images that made the final rounds of judging in this year’s BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition and three of the four photos that are currently in the last round of the Nature’s Best Contest are 7D Mark II images… artie
One AF point above and one AF point to the right of the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
What is it?
Peruvian Pelican
In the November 8, 2015 blog post here, I asked, “What is it?”
It was and is a tight portrait of the neck of a Peruvian Pelican. Kudos to Adrian Dancy who commented:
Gular pouch and throat of a Peruvian Pelican or other similar species…
Ain’t the 100-400II amazing?
This image was created at Gatorland last Thursday with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 360mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/3200 sec. at f/6.3. Daylight WB.
The selected AF point was two to the right and one row up from the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected point fell on the bottom part of the bird’s eye. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Great Egret large chick
Depth-of-Field Answer…
In the May 9, 2016 blog post here, I wrote, With the bird’s eye super-sharp and the tip of the beak not in sharp focus, would I have been better off going to a small aperture like f/13? Why or why not? I did have lots of shutter speed to work with…
The first few folks who responded were right on. But I will always withhold judgement especially of the right answers. That to give others a chance to hang themselves. And many did just that by suggesting that f/13 was the way to go, that it would yield a sharp bill tip (possibly but who cares?), and that it would have little to no effect on the distant background. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Stopping down even a bit would bring up unwanted details in the distant background that consisted of bushes (the green stuff) and part of an ugly fence (the tan stuff). And the only time I have ever seen diffraction with a telephoto lens is when working at tiny apertures (can you say f/57?) and shooting into blasting highlights…
Elinor Osborn nailed it when she wrote, f/13 probably f13 would have made the bill tip sharp, but would have brought out too much detail in the o-o-f background (with those lovely colors). But Henry left my favorite answer: The eye is perfectly sharp and that’s all I care about. As I have written here and elsewhere, I have made a wonderful living for the past 32 years focusing on the bird’s eye and working wide open or close to it–depth-of-field be damned.
Red Dunes, Mocha Dunes…
In the Red Dunes, Mocha Dunes blog post here, I must confess that I like both images equally well. If you twisted my arm really hard and made me pick one, I’d go for the mocha dunes for all of those rich tones. Heck, they would look great on any wall as a pair.
AF Micro-adjustment for the 400 DO II/2XIII TC/1DX: -5
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was on the side of the breast right below the base of the bill. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #1: Sanderling in breeding plumage/ISO 4000.
Sanderling or Turnstone?
In the It’s a Whole New 1DX Mark II World: Hand Holding 800mm & ISO 4000… blog post here, my preference, shared by about half the folks, was for the simplicity and rich colors of the Sanderling image.
Why Tv Mode at 1/320 sec.?
In the EOS 1DX Mark II ISO Elevator: Going Up to 8000 post of May 12th here, I asked, Why did I work in Tv mode and select 1/320 sec?
Kent Downing’s comment was spot on. I have paraphrased what he wrote here:
1/320 is pretty much the minimum shutter speed for hand holding the selected lens-tc combination with IS on. f9- to increase the small DOF at the subject Oyster Catcher and still leave a pleasing background. Safety Shift to ISO- to use the fantastic ISO capabilities of the new 1DX Mk II and preserve your selected Tv-Av settings.
Your exposure decision was based upon the changing light conditions of the very early morning light and a mostly stationary subject. With the mostly consistent subject size and background you were able to avoid an improper exposure and keep shooting, thus resulting in a beautiful image.
Hope I am on the correct path. Thanks Artie
I responded:
Hey Kent, You were not only on the correct path you nailed everything! Well done. a
Note: while I most often use Tv mode when creating pleasing blurs it can be quite effective when you are working in low light but want to commit to a minimum shutter speed, one that will likely yield sharp images. Being able to quickly dial in the correct EC (exposure compensation) and ISO Safety Shift (or Auto ISO) are the keys to success.
Tripod Question
In the 1DX II Automatic Selection AF at Sunrise… blog post here, I asked, Can anyone figure out why I was hand holding the 600 II with the 1.4X III TC in relatively low light rather than working on my Induro tripod?
Nobody came close to the very simple answer: Much to my chagrin, I forgot to put my tripod into the Wheeleeze. (Click here and scroll down to learn about the balloon-wheeled cart that has prolonged my beloved beach photography career by at least a decade.).
Center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was squarely on the center of the tern’s back. (This is a small crop for composition from the left and the top.) Click on the image to see a larger version.
Sandwich Tern diving
My Favorite Part of the Diving Sandwich Tern Image…
In the Canon 100-400II + 1.4X III TC + 1DX Mark II for Hand Held Flight/Teacher Learns From Student: Machine Gun Mike Hankes… post here, I asked, What do you think is my favorite part of the bird?
Answer: that silly little foot just to the left of the sweetly cocked tail, acting like a rudder.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
I spent most of the day on Wednesday watching re-runs of Chopped while working on my 2015 taxes. Lots more work for the IRS this week.
I enjoyed a nice swim and an early evening ice bath.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 195 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the 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, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, 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 left side of the lower menu bar above.
IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.
The sale of Les Greenberg’s Canon EOS Canon 5D Mark III Camera Body is pending.
Price Reductions!
Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS Lens with Internal 1.4 Extender
Yet Another Lowest-ever BAA Price!
Price Reduced $700 on May 18, 2016.
KW McCulloch is offering a used Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS lens with Internal 1.4X Extender in excellent plus condition: was $8,994, now, $8294. The sale includes the lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, the rear lens cap, and insured shipping via UPS Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears or other arrangements are made.
Please contact KW by e-mail or by phone at 361/727-2652 (Central 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 KW’s lens now. artie
Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II Lens
Yet Another Lowest-ever BAA Price!
Price Reduced $400 on May 18, 2016.
Moody McCall is offering a used Canon 300mm F/2.8L IS II in excellent condition: was $4599, now $4199. The sale includes the hard case and key, the nylon front lens cover, the rear cap, the lens strap, a LensCoat, and insured ground shipping via major carrier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Moody by e-mail or by phone at 904 635 4388 (Eastern time).
The 300mm f/2.8L IS II is astoundingly sharp both by itself and with either Series III teleconverter. It is relatively easy to hand hold for most folks and is a truly great flight lens. It makes an ideal everyday super-telephoto for folks who like to go light and those who usually work with tame birds. artie
New Listings
Canon EOS-1DX Professional Digital Camera Body
Multiple IPT veteran Larry Master is offering a near-mint condition Canon EOS-1DX for only $2899. The sale includes the LP-E4N battery, the battery charger, the front cap, the original box, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Interested folks may contact Larry on his cell phone at 518-645-1545 or via e-mail.
I used, depended on, and loved my two 1DX bodies since their release several years ago. artie
Canon EOS-1DX Professional Digital Camera Body
IPT veteran Billy Wingfield is offering a Canon EOS-1DX in excellent plus condition but for a 3/4″ scratch on the rear LCD for only $2799. The sale includes two LP-E4N batteries, the battery charger, the front cap, the Canon strap, the original box, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Interested folks may contact Billy by phone at 843-729-6670 or via e-mail.
I used, depended on, and loved my two 1DX bodies since their release several years ago. artie
65-point Automatic selection)/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed framed was active at the moment of exposure. The system activated three AF points that fell perfectly on the bird’s face and the near wing. As you can see in the DPP 4 screen capture below, This is a very large crop.) Click on the image to see a larger version.
Sandwich Tern tossing tiny baitfish
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Mike Hankes
Machine-gun Mike’s Best Shot
Curious as to whether Mike was shooting blanks with his rapid-fire style I asked him to shoot me three of his best Sandwich Tern flight images. He did, while letting me know that he had had time only to scratch the surface of the thousands of images that he made. Today’s featured image was my favorite of the three. It was obvious that Mike’s image optimization skills were somewhat lacking and still curious, I asked him to shoot me the RAW file. He did. Though the JPEG that he had sent was a huge crop, the image quality had held up fairly well. I converted the image in DPP 4, executed a less drastic crop, and did lots of work on the face and bill. I eliminated a stack of specular highlights near the base of the bill, darkened the bill, and sharpened the face and bill. He loved what I did with his image.
Mike’s Post-IPT Comments Via e-mail
MGMH: I’ve been into photography for about 5 years now. I started with wildlife but moved to portraits for several years. I just got back into wildlife and birding primarily about 6 months ago. My Grandfather Randy has been on about the same timeline. I’m not sure how I’d describe myself, maybe intermediate. I really really enjoyed the IPT and definitely would like to join you on future trips. You’ve definitely helped me think different in how I approach bird photography.
AM: In what ways?
MGMH: Paying attention to light angle for sure is now stuck in my head in a good way. And making sure the histogram is well to the right. Though not as much as in the fish tossing image 🙂 Not being afraid to get down and dirty. I think some of my best photos come from crawling in the mud and approaching the birds slow and low. The angle of the bird’s body in relation to the sensor. And head angle. I am definitely paying more attention to those.
Thanks! Mike
The DPP 4 Screen Capture
Lessons from the DPP 4 Screen Capture
In this DPP 4 screen capture, you can see the large crop. And you can see how nicely 65-point Automatic Selection AF worked. What is misleading, however, is a quick peek at the histogram; it give the impression that the image is a pretty good exposure, if anything, perhaps a bit under-exposed. As it turns out, this is a great example of what I call “the lying histogram.”
Take a close look at the RGB values. With the eyedropper on the brightest WHITEs on the bird’s neck, the RGB values read R=255, G=255, B=255. Over-exposed. Still curious, I copied the RAW file to a card and put the card into my 1DX Mark II. The image showed blinkies (highlight alerts) on the whole side of the bird. The Luminosity histogram showed the clipping but the RGB histogram did not. Mystery solved: Mike blew the exposure.
To try and save the image I reduced the exposure one-half stop via the Brightness Slider and moved the highlight slider to -2. In Photoshop the flanks showed a severe lack of detail. And that was putting it mildly. I continued with some NIK Detail Extractor and a Linear Burn but the brightest WHITEs were still without detail. As a last resort, I painted those in with a 30% opacity brush using properly exposed WHITEs as the source. The resulting image was more than passable but less than ideal.
I often see the lying histogram in the field; the histogram looks fine but a close look at the image reveals blinkies. Regular readers know that I have long advised that they make sure that the right side of the Luminosity histogram not come anywhere near the right-hand axis; this will ensure that your brightest WHITEs come into Photoshop with RGB values in the mid-230s, just where I want them. Some prefer their WHITEs to have RGB values in the mid-240s. Either way, you do not need to jump through hoops to reveal the detail in the WHITEs. With WHITE RGB values in the 250s, you make your life very difficult.
The most important lessons: be sure to check for blinkies when working in changing light and always avoid blinkies on the subject.
And another: being more selective and waiting for subjects in flight to get closer will result in more pixels on the bird and much better image quality… That comes with experience.
The 1D X II
If what you read here on the blog today and recently inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
I spent most of the day on Tuesday catching up on e-mails and Used Gear stuff and finally got back to work on my 2015 tax return. Lots more of that today.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 194 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
From upper left to center counter-clockwise: Quiver Tree sunset silhouette, endangered Black Rhino (off-camera night flash), mud bathing African Elephant, Gemsbok on crest of Sossusvlei red dune, Great White Pelicans with flash, Deadvlei dunes, Quiver Tree Milky Way light painting, Palmato Gecko, and Kolmanskop desert urbex.
…..
From upper left to center counter-clockwise: Great White Pelican face detail with the 100-400 II, Milky Way from Dune Lodge balcony, Burchell’s Zebra on road, Desert Chameleon, Kolmanskop doorway at night, Kolmanskop interior zoom blur (desert urbex), Sossusvlei Gemsbok & red dune, Hartlaub’s Gull, and Swakopmund dunes.
…..
From upper left to center counter-clockwise: male Kudu, Deadvlei trees, Angolan Giraffes and Springbok, stormy skies with the 11-24mm, African Lion over old zebra kill, Nefertiti face on dunes from helicopter, Tractrac Chat, dune shadows from helicopter, Vulture Wars on zebra kill, Greater Flamingo in flight, and Burchell’s Zebra and Red Hartesbeest female at Okaukuejo waterhole.
Creating Cards
On May 9, Glen Fox left a comment on the blog post here. Here is an adapted version:
This off topic. I have a request! I’m sure that many viewers greatly admire the IPT cards that you produce so beautifully. I would like to learn how one goes about creating those 3×3 image cards, assuming that he/she has some beautiful images to populate one. What software do you use and how do you do it? I’m always impressed with your skill and care in choosing the 9 images, but that is another matter and definitely one of your many gifts. I just wanna a learn the process.
In Photoshop, I create a new file: 1200 X 800 pixels. Then I crop each of the 9 horizontal images to 400 X 267 and drag a duplicate layer of each onto the new file. Then it is just a matter of working with the various layers. It helps to rename each layer with the name of the subject so that they are easier to identify when you need to move an image from here to there. I often need to flip and image by hitting Control + T for the Transform Tool and then right-clicking and hitting Flip Horizontal.
Once in a while, I use two verticals in place of a single horizontal. Those are cropped as follows: 200 pixels wide by 267 pixels tall.
You can learn all that you need to know about working with layers so that you can create your own card in my Digital Basics File.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
I spent most of the day on Tuesday catching up on e-mails and Used Gear stuff. I enjoyed a swim and an ice bath. And I started working on my 2015 tax return. Lots more of that today.
I learned yesterday that the sale of Paul Roscoe’s Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II lens in mint condition is pending. See more on Used Gear below.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 193 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the 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, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, 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 left side of the lower menu bar above.
IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.
New Listings
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens, the “new 300 2.8”
Les Greenberg is offering his Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens in mint condition for $4499. The sale includes a Wimberley lens plate, the lens trunk, the rear lens cap, the original leather front lens cover, and insured ground shipping to US addresses only in the original Canon cardboard shipping box. This lens was purchased on 04/03/12 and used less than a dozen times. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Interested folks can contact Les via e-mail or by phone as follows: 216-571-3636 (cell) or 216-292-7510 (home, after 6:00pm) Eastern time.
I own and use this super-sharp lens for flight and when I want to go light to the beach and hand hold. It is quite versatile as it pairs well with both the 1.4X III and 2X III teleconverters. The new 300 II would make a great super-telephoto lens for someone with a 7D Mark II body… artie
Canon EOS Canon 5D Mark III Camera Body
Les Greenberg is also offering a used Canon 5D Mark III body in excellent condition for $1649 with two great extras. The sale includes the front body cap, the original boxes, one LP-E6 battery, the battery charger, and all the cables and CDs that came in the box. The two big extras are the BG-E11 Battery Pack/Vertical Grip and a Kirk L-bracket. And insured ground shipping to US addresses only.
Interested folks can contact Les via e-mail or by phone as follows: 216-571-3636 (cell) or 216-292-7510 (home, after 6:00pm) Eastern time.
I have owned and used this superb, full frame, 22mp digital body for several years. It was always my first choice for scenic, Urbex, and flower photography until I fell in love with the 5DS R (for a lot more money!). artie
Center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was squarely on the center of the tern’s back. (This is a small crop for composition from the left and the top.) Click on the image to see a larger version.
Sandwich Tern diving
Canon 100-400II + 1.4X III TC + 1DX Mark II for Hand Held Flight/Teacher Learns From Student: Machine Gun Mike Hankes…
The DeSoto IPT group was a pleasure. Mike Hankes, an earnest young man who was eager to learn, attended with his grandfather Randy Cleveland, about as smiling and pleasant a guy as you are likely to meet. Both had started photographing nature about five years ago as a shared common interest. They soon turned to portrait photography, and then–about 6 months ago–got back into wildlife and bird photography. Mike describes himself as an intermediate photographer. As far as bird photography goes, Grandpa Randy describes himself as a beginner. I agree.
We learned from good friend Tom Pfeifer of the huge pelican/Sandwich Tern feeding spree taking place every afternoon. As the group learned a ton and enjoyed the phenomenal action, I noted several things about Mike.
He was using the hand held 100-400 II with the 1.4X III TC and the new 1DX Mark II.
His hand-eye coordination were extraordinary; he was able to get focus on a bird and fire off ten shots to every one or none of mine. He photographed the terns hovering, the terns and pelicans diving, and the terns coming out of the water with a fish.
I had never even considered photographing flight and frantic action with the 1-4 and the 1.4TC, assuming that AF would not be able to acquire focus quickly enough. But that was before the remarkable EOS-1D X Mark II. Inspired by Machine Gun Mike, I tried the combo and was amazed at how quickly and accurately the AF system acquired focus.
Today’s featured image was my favorite from that first afternoon. I was much more selective than Mike, waiting for a tern to hover on sun angle at relatively close range. But even then this was extremely difficult photography as the Sandwich Terns rarely hover for more than a second or two. The fun starts when they stall and dive; tracking them in flight is quite a challenge. I wound up with many images with only a bird’s head or tail in the frame, and many that featured only blue sky. But as is usually the case, my persistence (rather than my skill) paid off handsomely.
Thanks a stack to Mike Hankes for opening my eyes to the gear possibilities. I will be sharing one of Mike’s tern images with you here on the blog soon.
Image Questions
What do you like about today’s featured image? What don’t you like? What is your favorite part of this image? What do you think is my favorite part?
The 1D X II
If what you read here on the blog today and recently inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
After a short morning photo session at DeSoto on Sunday morning with friend Tom Pfeifer I headed back to the motel and then drove back to ILE. With lunch, a nap, and a stop at Publix, I was home just a bit after 1pm. Just in time for a second nap.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 192 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
A single AF point one to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the top of the bird’s lower neck just forward of its upper back. Click on the image to see a larger version.
AF micro-adjustment: +7. (More soon!)
Image #1: Roseate Spoonbill feeding in late afternoon light in soft blue water
Rewarded For Being Lazy or Rewarded For Being Wise and Prudent?
After the IPT I stayed an extra night so that I could enjoy two extra photography sessions, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. The pelican/Sandwich Tern feeding spree afternoon action was but a fraction of what it had been on the three previous afternoons. Two blog folks–both IPT veterans–who had previously purchased the Fort DeSoto Site Guide e-mailed me on Friday and met me at the location specified in the DeSoto Current Conditions Update on Saturday afternoon. They thought that the leftover action was pretty amazing.
I did not so I said my goodbyes and left early. As I trudged through the sand I debated about heading to the North Spit to see if anything nice had showed up. I got back to the car at 7:10 about an hour before sunset. Part of me said, “Don’t be lazy. Make the drive, do the walk and see what’s there. You might get something great. Don’t be a quitter. You are not gonna make any good pictures in the motel.”
Another part of me countered, “Take it easy. You’ve done a lot lately. Major surgery. Namibia. The Fort DeSoto IPT. Give yourself a break.”
I packed up and headed back to the hotel despite the gorgeous light.
In the Fort DeSoto Site Guide, I advise that folks leaving the park a bit early check several spots on their way out. I followed my own advice and was thrilled to find a pretty nice spoonbill feeing in the late light. Pink bird. Soft blue water. Pretty sweet.
A single AF point two rows up and one to the right of the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the upper back just forward of the bend of the wing. Click on the image to see a larger version.
AF micro-adjustment: +7. (More soon!)
Image #2: Roseate Spoonbill feeding in late afternoon light in black water
The Black Water Background…
When the bird fed close to the mangroves the water turned a very dramatic black…
Your Favorite?
Help keep the blog interactive by letting us know which spoonbill image you like best, the pink and blue or the pink and black? And do let us know why you made your choice.
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
Saturday was a much appreciated lazy day. I was out early in the morning and enjoyed sitting behind my lowered tripod in six inches of water photographing a variety of shorebirds. It is Saturday afternoon as I type; I will head back out at about 4:30pm in hopes that the newly found spectacle will continue.
If you own the Fort DeSoto Site Guide–or if you purchase it on Monday–and send me an e-mailthat includes a cut and paste of the first page of the guide, I will be glad to let you know the details of the currently hot location. It has been amazing but I am not sure how much longer the action will continue.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 191 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the 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.
IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.
New Listing
Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM Lens, the “old five”
Walt Novinger is offering a used Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in very good plus condition for $3,899. The glass and lens body are perfect with wear showing only on the lens foot. The sale includes the lens trunk, the front leather hood, the rear lens cap, and insured ground shipping within the continental US. Will deliver within 100 miles of San Diego, CA. The lens will be shipped only after your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Interested folks can contact Walt via e-mail or by phone at 442-222-4081. (Pacific Time Zone).
I owned and used this lens for well more than a decade before upgrading to the 500 II. Lenses of this versatile focal length have long been the world’s most popular super-telephoto lenses. artie
Two AF points below the Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version.
AF Micro-adjustment: +4
Image #1: Laughing Gull screaming above head of adult Brown Pelican
How We Found the Feeding Aggregation
My good friend Tom Pfeifer from Long Island is staying in Clearwater with wife Carleen to attend a family wedding this weekend. I invited Tom to meet the IPT group and photograph with us on Thursday afternoon. I gave him perfect directions but fortunately, he got lost. When he had not showed up by 5:30pm, I called his cell. He had turned right too soon and wound up at a spot that I had rarely visited. But he found dozens of pelicans and Sandwich Terns diving on bait. Not too far from shore. I rounded up the group and we enjoyed three great afternoons of flight and action photography… Talk about serendipity.
The Biology of the Situation
The pelicans dive for small baitfish. When they come up, they squeeze the water out of their bill pouches. More than a few small fish escape with the expelled water. The Laughing Gulls routinely land on the pelican’s head so that they are in good position to snatch a free meal or two. And the terns will often dive within inches of the pelican’s heads to do the same. Kleptoparasitism at its finest. (Learn more here.)
Image #2: Laughing Gull on head of adult Brown Pelican
One AF points below the Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version.
1200mm Flight and Action with the 1DX Mark II
While I was having fun photographing the Laughing Gulls landing atop the pelican’s heads I really did not expect any great results. But when I saw the images on my Apple 15.4″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display I was astounded. Most of the images were tack sharp. I had even messed around photographing single birds in flight and again I was shocked by how sharp some of those were.
One AF points below the Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #3: Laughing Gull tip-toeing on head of immature Brown Pelican
Why Flight and Action Success at 1200mm?
Three reasons:
#1: 1DX Mark II AF is far faster (in terms of initial focusing acquisition) and surer and more accurate by far than with any previous Canon camera body.
#2: At +4 micro-adjustemt, this combination–the 600 II, 2X III TC, & 1DX Mark II–has been perfectly LensAligned/FocusTuned.
#3: I used an advanced pro technique that involves the Lens Drive When AF impossible setting. This technique is covered in detail in all recent Camera User’s Guides including the 1DX AF Guide, the 5D Mark III User’s Guide, and the 7D Mark II User’s Guide. With all of the action at relatively consistent distances from the lens, this trick really helped. Note that the info on this feature in the Canon camera manuals and the info that is available on the camera itself is 100% confusing. Doubt me? Try to figure it out yourself.
Lens Drive When AF Impossible Guide Offer
If you are one of those rare photographers who shoots Canon and does not own one of the Camera User’s Guides mentioned above and would like to learn this very specialized technique, you can send us a Paypal for $10 to birdsasart@verizon.net with the words Lens Drive When AF Impossible Guide cut and pasted into the Subject Line and I promise to get you the info by Tuesday, May 31, 2016. Folks who do not use Paypal are invited to call Jim at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to order.
The 1D X II
If what you read today on the blog inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
The IPT was great. The group was fabulous. The afternoons have been so amazing that I extended my stay another day so that I can get out once more to photograph the spectacle. If you own the Fort DeSoto Site Guide and send me an e-mailthat includes a cut and paste of the first page of the guide, I will be glad to let you know the currently hot location. It has been amazing and I made some really amazing discoveries on Friday afternoon… As you might imagine, those are coming soon.
Though my daily post-surgical improvements continue to be small, I am surely doing better each week. And last night I enjoyed a great night’s sleep, my best since the surgery. I will be home on Sunday afternoon in time for a swim.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 190 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
This image was created very early on Friday morning on the Fort DeSoto IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop in soft light: 1/400 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. Daylight White Balance. (Converted at 10,000K.)
AF micro-adjustment: 0
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the bird and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Great Blue Heron in pre-dawn backlight
Revisiting An Old Friend…
There was a single Great Blue Heron standing stock still (as Great Blue Herons are wont to do) in the gorgeous water so I grabbed an old friend from my Think Tank Rolling bag, the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. After all, the bird was static.
Center Zone/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Dunlin feeding–breeding plumage
Both
We switched locations well before the sun came up over the single large cloud in the east. As I was packing my Wheeleeze, I decided to bring a 5DSR along with my new friend, the 1DX Mark II. I sat low adjacent to a lovely shallow pool photographing Dunlin while most of the group was photographing a white morph Reddish Egret that was dancing up a storm. I assumed that it was the ratty one we had seen near the protected area the day before but it turned out to be one in pretty snazzy breeding plumage with a nice pink bill. I guess I had been missing the incredibly sharp and detailed 5DS R image quality so I went with that body for my shorebird photography.
Help keep the blog interactive by letting us know which of today’s featured image you like best. And be sure to let us know why you made your choice.
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
Apologies. This blog post was published at 3:30am on the morning of Friday, May 13, 2016 with grievous errors in the image caption. As of 9:42am, those errors have been corrected. We have been enjoying consistently great afternoon sessions on the Fort Desoto IPT and finally had a great morning shoot today, Friday the 13th 🙂
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 189 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
65-Point Automatic Selection/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The system selected a single AF point the fell squarely on the bird, one row up and four to the left of the center AF point. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Brown Pelican at sunrise
1DX II Automatic Selection AF at Sunrise…
Though it looked as if it were going to be a totally overcast morning, there was a small pink hole in the clouds in the predawn that got pretty red just after sunrise. And there were more than a few pelicans flying around in the eastern sky. I let the group know that the best images would contain the nice patch of colored sky and a pelican. And that the best way to come up with a pleasing composition would be to use the Automatic Selection AF mode on their Canon cameras or the Nikon equivalent. That would be 61- or 65-point on the newer Canon camera bodies. So I did as I said and it worked out quite nicely with the pelican positioned well off center and the color nicely framed.
Tripod Question
Can anyone figure out why I was hand holding the 600 II with the 1.4X III TC in relatively low light rather than working on my Induro tripod?
DPP 4 Screen Capture
DPP 4 Screen Capture
In the DPP 4 screen capture above, the illuminated red AF point shows that the system worked perfectly and in doing so, allowed me to put the pelican well to one side of the frame. As with the 5DS R, I have found that Automatic Selection AF performs superbly in all but very low contrast situations…
Neat Image Noise Reduction
Neat Image Noise Reduction
Because the RAW file was about a stop underexposed from ideal, the image showed a good deal of background noise. As noise on the jet-black subject was not a concern, I created a Neat Image noise profile for this specific image and was able to apply it to the entire photograph. The area inside the blue box above shows the noise completely eliminated. The area outside the blue box shows the original sky after conversion in DPP 4. As you can see, the improvement is huge.
The Professional Photographers’ Guide to Post-Processing by Arash Hazaghi with Arthur Morris
If you are ever at all concerned with noise in your optimized images this new e-guide will astound you.
The Professional Photographers’ Guide to Post-Processing: $48.
Your e-book (11mb) will be delivered either by e-mail or by Hightail (for download).
Arash’s Take on the guide…
In recent years, advances in CMOS image sensor technology have enabled DSLR cameras to capture detailed, high-quality images at very high ISO settings; this has taken low-light and action photography to a whole new level. To make the most out of your camera’s high ISO performance, proper post-processing, including advanced noise reduction and efficient sharpening, is essential. The first step in effective post-processing is executing an optimal RAW conversion that produces a TIFF file that is clean, free of artifacts, and detailed, without too much sharpening or strong noise reduction. For Canon users, we recommend converting your RAW images in Canon Digital Photo Professional 4 (DPP 4). We cover exactly how to do that in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide. This new supplemental guide deals with the post-RAW conversion processing of your TIFF files for final presentation.
In order to use this guide, you need Adobe Photoshop (CS4 or later) as well as the Neat Image noise reduction plugin for Photoshop. This plugin can be downloaded here. We recommend the pro version. You will need an up-to-date PC or Mac computer to process your files. A modern quad-core processor (Intel i7 or Xeon) with at least 16GB of RAM and a fast SSD drive for running Photoshop is recommended. It is best to do your image processing on a high quality IPS LCD panel capable of displaying Adobe RGB color gamut. We recommend calibrating your screen using a hardware color calibration solution such as Spyder or Xrite. The consumer LCD screens used in many laptops and low-end desktops suffer from poor contrast ratios and a limited color gamut. Images processed on inferior screens may appear noisy, too dark, too bright, or unsharp. And they will often show a color cast when viewed on a high quality monitor that has been properly calibrated.
Artie’s Take on the guide…
This guide is for serious photographers who wish to maximize the quality of their optimized, noise reduced files and who want to learn to sharpen their images after they are sized for a final usage. The emphasis is on sharpening for electronic presentation. The guide includes the brilliant techniques that Arash developed for applying just the right amount of NR to the subject (while retaining all the fine detail) and then applying a lot more NR to the background where it is almost always needed. His efforts were refined by Arthur Morris to ensure that the guide is clear, concise, easy-to-read, and easy to-easy-to-follow; artie’s great strength is his how-to writing. He has used Arash’s brilliant NR and sharpening techniques on his 15 inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display with great success.
The first guides should be sent out on Monday, April 11, 2016.
Important Note
The entire guide is based on the remarkable Pro Version of NeatImage. Only the Pro Version supports 16-bit files. This Photoshop Plug-in requires a separate $79.95 purchase. Why NeatImage when there are so many other Noise Reduction programs available?
When someone asked about Topaz Denoise on the blog I got in touch with Arash. Here was his response:
It cannot calibrate the noise levels. I tried it. It was garbage.
Best
Arash Hazeghi Ph.D.
To which I added:
In the guide, we teach folks to calibrate noise levels for an image or series of images. As an option, also covered in the guide, we teach you to create a Noise Profile for each ISO with a given camera by photographing a NeatImage calibration target.
Arash continued the next day; this published here for the first time:
Here is a more elaborate answer. A preset is a “one size fit all” solution; it is not the same as a calibration. If you look carefully through your images you will find that the ISO value used and the amount of visible noise in the image aren’t always correlated. An image at ISO 400 can look noisier than an image taken at ISO 3200. Many factors other than the ISO determine the amount of visible noise in an image. Two images taken at the same ISO may require significantly different amounts of NR. Furthermore, different areas of the same image often require different amounts of noise reduction.
The presets are made by looking at the noise characteristics of a flat neutral or 18% grey target with no detail. They don’t include shadows, highlights, grain size, or the possibility of the effects of post-capture exposure boosts. (In other words, images made at a given ISO that are lightened during or after conversion will always exhibit more noise than properly exposed images.) The presets are often made using in-camera JPEGs that have been already noise-reduced, sharpened, and compressed thus smearing (destroying) the fine feather detail. Sometimes they are made from ACR RAW conversions that are vastly inferior as compared to properly executed DPP 4 RAW conversions.
A calibrated noise profile is created for each image in its present form independent of the ISO value, the exposure levels, or the RAW convertor. It makes no assumptions. NeatImage NR calibrations can be compared to purchasing a hand-crafted, custom-tailored suit versus buying a suit off the rack at WalMart. In engineering terms, NeatImage calculates the noise spectrum for each image and then with proper adjustment attenuates only the frequencies that don’t overlap with the detail. Other NR tools like Topaz, Nik etc. apply constant attenuation regardless of what the spectrum looks like. Try the guide and see for yourself.
You can learn more about NeatImage or purchase a copy here. NeatImage does offer a demo version.
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
Though we had some very good chances, we had one of the worst mornings ever at Fort DeSoto. We followed that up with one of the best afternoons ever. In both cases, there was lots of learning going on. More details soon.
With the image optimizations, this blog post took about an hour to prepare. I finished and published it at 5:12am this morning.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 188 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as originally framed (this is a small crop from the left and below) was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point fell on the back of the head and neck. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
AF micro-adjustment: +7. (More soon!)
American Oystercatcher feeding at dawn
EOS 1DX Mark II ISO Elevator: Going Up to 8000
Any port in a storm. I was in Tv mode at 1/320 sec. I put in +1 1/3 stops of EC. The camera selected the ISO: 8000 because I set Safety Shift to ISO (as detailed in all of our camera body guides…)
Shutter Speed Question
Why did I work in Tv mode and select 1/320 sec?
Tight unsharpened crop of the ISO 8000 oystercatcher. After running Neat Image noise reduction as per the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi with yours truly.
ISO 8000 1DX II Noise
I started by extrapolating Arash’s brand new Chrominance and Luminance Noise Reduction settings for the 1DX II for ISO 6400. Then I created and applied a Neat Image noise reduction profile as detailed in the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi with yours truly.
What do you think of the ISO 8000 noise levels in the tight crop immediately above?
1DX Mark II Autofocus at f/8 with the 100-400 II and the 1.4X III TC
The speed of initial autofocus acquisition and AF tracking accuracy with this combination is unparalleled.
The 1D X II
If what you read today on the blog inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
I met the Desoto group at 3pm sharp. Right now it is looking like nine happy campers, and Mike Ross’s wife Joanne is the most serious birder in the group so she too is having a great time.
After the introductory program we spent several hours at a high tide puddle photographing a very cooperative White Ibis, a nice variety of shorebirds–many in breeding plumage, and a lovely young of the year Great Egret. Then we made a wiggle and found a tame American Oystercatcher and some nice Laughing Gulls.
With the image optimizations, this blog post took well more than 2 hours to prepare. I finished and published it at 4:13am this morning.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 187 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
AF Micro-adjustment for the 400 DO II/2XIII TC/1DX: -5
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was on the side of the breast right below the base of the bill. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #1: Sanderling in breeding plumage/ISO 4000.
It’s a Whole New 1DX Mark II World: Hand Holding 800mm & ISO 4000…
Necessity is often the mother of invention. Folks have been asking about 1DX II noise. I wanted to see how the 1DX II did with the 2X III and the new camera. I wanted the freedom to hand hold. And I needed a fast enough shutter speed to have a chance at freezing a running shorebird like the turnstone in Image #2 below.
So what was the answer? ISO 4000. Most important was to expose far to the right to minimize the noise. This +3 off the gray sky…
100% crop of the ISO 4000 Sanderling image. Unsharpened.
ISO 4000 1DX II Noise
As the RAW file did not look noisy at all, I started off by using Arash’s Chrominance and Luminance Noise Reduction settings for the original 1DX at ISO 1600. Otherwise I applied no noise reduction in post. No Neat Image.
What do you think of the noise levels in the tight crop of the Sanderling’s head in the image immediately above?
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). This was terrible technique as the active AF point was on the side of the bird, on the folded wing, well on this side of the plan of the bird’s eye. But I got lucky–in part because of the distance to the bird–as the eye and face are fairly sharp… Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
AF Micro-adjustment for the 400 DO II/2XIII TC/1DX: -5
Image #2: Ruddy Turnstone running in breeding plumage/ISO 4000.
1DX Mark II Autofocus With the 2X III TC
The speed of initial autofocus acquisition and AF tracking accuracy with the 1DX II and the 2X III teleconverter is unparalleled.
APTATS II to the Rescue
Here I did not pan fast enough to keep the subject back in the frame. So I used one of the many techniques detailed in APTATS II to move the bird back a bit in the frame.
APTATS I & II
Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS I. Mention this blog post and apply a $5 discount to either with phone orders only. Buy both APTATS I and APTATS II and we will be glad to apply at $15 discount with phone orders. Please call Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-221-2372 to take advantage of this special offer. You can find the same deal in the BAA Online Store here.
Your Favorite?
Which of today’s two featured images do you like best, Image #1 or Image #2? Be sure to let us know why.
100% crop of the ISO 4000 turnstone image. Unsharpened.
ISO 4000 1DX II Noise
Again, as the RAW file did not look noisy at all, I started off by using Arash’s Chrominance and Luminance Noise Reduction settings for the original 1DX at ISO 1600. Otherwise I applied no noise reduction in post. No Neat Image.
What do you think of the noise levels in the tight crop of the Ruddy Turnstone’s head in the image immediately above?
The 1D X Mark II
If what you read or today or what you read on the blog inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.
IPT Similarities
The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.
The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.
Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.
From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.
The IPT Logistics
The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.
Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.
Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.
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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
