Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Stuff

Sunday was a relaxing day. This blog post was published at 9:50pm on Sunday night from my hotel room in Morro Bay, CA–just after midnight on Monday.

Canon 100-400 II/7D II Morro Bay Incredible Versatility…

I borrowed a 100-400 from a friend for a few minutes on Saturday morning to create the ground squirrel image above. That afternoon I left the 500 II in the car and used only the hand held 1-4 with the 7D II. I had a ton of fun and made more than a few good images….

Your Fave?

Please take a moment to let us know which of today’s 6 images was your favorite and why you liked it.

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day

The Morro Bay Canon Destination Workshop March 20-22, 2015 now has only four slots open. To encourage folks to sign up I have planned the following:

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day. Friday March 20: $399.

This in-the-field workshop includes a 4-hour morning photo-session that begins in the pre-dawn, a 2 hour afternoon photo session (3-5pm or so), and a working lunch with image review and some Photoshop. We will finish up in time to attend the Friday evening program that opens the Destination Workshop. At present only two folks are signed up for the day so you will surely receive all of the one on one guidance that you can handle.

Though you not need to be registered for the Canon event to join me on Friday, doing so would make a lot of sense to me. The Friday evening program is of course open only to those who are signed up for the Destination Workshop. See immediately below for details on that.

BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay, CA Canon Live Learning EOS Destination Workshop
March 20-22, 2015: $1050

Borrow great Canon gear. Head home with a print or two. Learn from the best.

Click here for complete info or to register.

Click here to see the course agenda.

Join me in one of the most beautiful and scenic places on the planet to photograph a large variety of birds of the sea and shore. The star of the show will be the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. There will be lots of Marbled Godwits and Willets as well as lots of the smaller shorebird species. Black Oystercatcher is likely and we should get to photograph large flocks of Western Sandpipers in flight over the bay; with any luck we should enjoy some great sunrise and sunset photography. There are lots of gulls including Western, California, and Mew. There is one good location where we should get to photograph Western, Clarke’s, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, and Common Loon–you will be able to borrow a long lens from Canon along with various camera bodies. We may get to photograph some passerines including Anna’s Hummingbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and White-crowned Sparrow. And we have a chance for several species of raptors. Yikes, I almost forgot California Poppy. And California Ground Squirrel. Sea Otters are also possible.

Folks who register after seeing this notice are asked to shoot me a copy of their BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay Registration Confirmation via e-mail.

See lots more Morro Bay images here.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

Stuff

My flights to the west coast were long but uneventful. I prepared the cards and wrote the text for this blog post on the MCO to Phoenix leg. It is being published from my hotel room in Morro Bay at 9:39pm Friday which is midnight +39 minutes on the east coast.

The 3,000+ page views streak came to an end on Friday with 2890 views. I guess that I gave myself a kaynahorah.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. Please remember: no phone orders; web orders only!

Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Gitzo tripods, 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.

Nickerson Beach/JBWR (possibly…)/Black Skimmer/Oystercatcher/migrant shorebird IPT: August 13-16, 2015. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1399.

Meet and greet on the evening of WED August 12. Limit 10/Openings 9.

Most of our seven photo sessions will be spent at Nickerson beach photographing the nesting Black Skimmers. In flight, sometimes battling. Carrying fish. Chicks of varying sizes from a very few just-hatched to lots of fledglings. It is likely that we will get to see some Great Black-backed Gulls preying on the juvenile skimmers. They swallow them whole. There will be lots of gulls to photograph as well as some Common Terns. Locally breeding shorebird species include American Oystercatcher–pretty much guaranteed, Willet, which is likely, and Piping Plover, which is probable but we need to get lucky with those to get close….

If local conditions are ideal we may visit Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge to photograph southbound migrant shorebirds on one or possibly two mornings. Even if we do not visit JBWR we should get some good chances with the migrant shorebirds at the beach, especially Sanderling and Semipalmated Plover. Red Knot and others are possible.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office and arranging to leave your deposit of $499. I hope to see you there.

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge In-the-field Instructional Photo Workshop/Scouting Session. August 12, 2015. Morning only: $250. Cheap!

The tide will be pretty good at the East Pond…. If I learn that conditions there are un-photographable we will do Nickerson Beach as a back-up. This will work either as an add-on for out of town folks coming for the IPT above or as a stand alone session. Either way, you will, as always, learn a ton. And we might even get some good images.

Used Photography Gear for Sale

You can see all of the currently listed items by clicking here or at any time by clicking on the Used Photography Gear for Sale tab, the last item on the lower row of yellow-gold tab bars near the top of each blog page.

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day

The Morro Bay Canon Destination Workshop March 20-22, 2015 now has only four slots open. To encourage folks to sign up I have planned the following:

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day. Friday March 20: $399.

This in-the-field workshop includes a 4-hour morning photo-session that begins in the pre-dawn, a 2 hour afternoon photo session (3-5pm or so), and a working lunch with image review and some Photoshop. We will finish up in time to attend the Friday evening program that opens the Destination Workshop. At present only two folks are signed up for the day so you will surely receive all of the one on one guidance that you can handle.

Though you not need to be registered for the Canon event to join me on Friday, doing so would make a lot of sense to me. The Friday evening program is of course open only to those who are signed up for the Destination Workshop. See immediately below for details on that.

BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay, CA Canon Live Learning EOS Destination Workshop
March 20-22, 2015: $1050

Borrow great Canon gear. Head home with a print or two. Learn from the best.

Click here for complete info or to register.

Click here to see the course agenda.

Join me in one of the most beautiful and scenic places on the planet to photograph a large variety of birds of the sea and shore. The star of the show will be the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. There will be lots of Marbled Godwits and Willets as well as lots of the smaller shorebird species. Black Oystercatcher is likely and we should get to photograph large flocks of Western Sandpipers in flight over the bay; with any luck we should enjoy some great sunrise and sunset photography. There are lots of gulls including Western, California, and Mew. There is one good location where we should get to photograph Western, Clarke’s, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, and Common Loon–you will be able to borrow a long lens from Canon along with various camera bodies. We may get to photograph some passerines including Anna’s Hummingbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and White-crowned Sparrow. And we have a chance for several species of raptors. Yikes, I almost forgot California Poppy. And California Ground Squirrel. Sea Otters are also possible.

Folks who register after seeing this notice are asked to shoot me a copy of their BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay Registration Confirmation via e-mail.

See lots more Morro Bay images here.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

Stuff

I sent 73 e-mails yesterday, just the beginning of catching up. Got flights and vehicles for the now sold-out UK Puffin IPT. Enjoyed another long swim and an ice bath. Y’all just squeaked by yesterday with 3082 views to keep the 3000+ views streak alive…

This blog post took 3+ hours to prepare and was published from my home at ILE, FL just after 7:00am. Today’s blog post is the 64th straight with a new educational blog post.

I fly to Morro Bay on Friday for a week-long busman’s holiday followed by the Canon Destination Workshop. On Monday,Bosque In-the-Field workshop participant Dwayne Marrot called and signed up for my Friday Morro Bay In-the-field sessions and then registered for the Canon Morro Bay Live Learning Destination Workshop. Together they make for a neat and relatively inexpensive package. It is not too late for you to sign up for one or both and I would love to see you there. Scroll down for complete details.

E-mail Apologies

At no time in my career have I been so far behind in answering e-mails. If you sent one to me that has gone unanswered, please re-send it here and I will do my best to get to it as quickly as possible.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. Please remember: no phone orders; web orders only!

Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Gitzo tripods, 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.

Great Think Tank Rolling Bag Offer

Without a Think Tank Rolling Bag, I’m Going Nowhere!

Whether I am heading off to the Southern Ocean or down to the lake by my home, one or both of my Think Tank Rolling Bags is going along. Air travel is done with either the slightly smaller Airport International™ V2.0 Rolling Camera Bag (I actually own the limited edition fancier version, the Airport International™ LE Classic–there are still a few of those in stock on the Think Tank website), or the larger Airport International™ V2.0 Rolling Camera Bag. I always use the larger bag when the 600 II is going on a plane. When I am driving to a location, I travel with my gear safely stowed in both of these great rolling bags. I leave them un-zipped to allow for easy access. Discerning professionals use and depend on their rugged and practical Think Tank Rollers to protect their gear while they get where they are going without breaking their backs in the process.

Though I am not a backpack person, I do know that Think Tank makes a great line of them for those who are. And I use and love their Glass Limo long lens backpack. It proved invaluable on my Cheeseman’s Southern Ocean Expedition and it is going to Morro Bay with me. I will use it there to get the 500 II that I am borrowing from Canon Professional Services up and down the beaches. Since I am flying to the west coast without a big super-telephoto lens I’ll be flying with the the slightly smaller Airport International™ LE Classic Rolling Camera Bag. This saves me weight and bulk. I used this same bag for the Southern Ocean Expedition.

Free Think Tank Laptop Bag Offer

Click here to order your Think Tank Rolling Bag and then fill out and mail the rebate form here to receive a free 15″ Think Tank Laptop Bag. This offer valid from now through March 31, 2015. All rebate form submissions must be received by April 15, 2015. Here is a list of the eligible bags: Airport AirStream, Airport International V2.0, Airport Security V2.0, Airport TakeOff, Airport Roller Derby, Airport Navigator, Production Manager 40, Logistics Manager 30, and Airport International LE Limited Edition.

7D II ISO 1600

While I could have worked here at ISO 800 with a shutter speed of 1/125 sec., I chose to set ISO 1600 both to gain a stop of shutter speed and to have a 7D II ISO 1600 image to share with you here. To me, color, contrast, and image quality in today’s featured image look great. What do you think? I do have a low light ISO 1600 Osprey image to share with you here in a future blog post.

ISO 1600 Noise Before and After Animated GIF

This is a crop of the 100% view compares the converted TIFF with the optimized version. What do you think of the noise? Remember that the price of controlling high ISO noise is somewhat of a loss of fine detail. Before you go shouting, “Garbage,” please be sure to take a look at some of your ISO 1600 images at 300%.

The Image Optimization

During the RAW conversion in DPP 4 I used Arash Hazeghi’s luminance and chrominance Noise Reduction values. In Photoshop the image optimization was straightforward. I corrected the CYAN/GREEN color cast, did some bill clean-up, ran a 15% Linear Burn on the crown that was refined with a Regular Layer Mask, ran my NIK 50-50 recipe on the bird only at 50% opacity and refined that also with a Regular Layer Mask, and then applied a soft touch Layer of Filter/Blur/Surface Blur to the whole image. I finished the image off both Selective Color and Curves adjustments to give the image some additional pop.

Digital Basics

Everything that I did to optimize today’s image is covered in detail in my Digital Basics File–written in my easy-to-follow, easy-to-understand style. Are you tired of making your images look worse in Photoshop? Digital Basics File is an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. It includes my complete digital workflow, dozens of great Photoshop tips, details on using all of my image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro basics, Contrast Masks, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, how to create time-saving actions, the Surface Blur (background noise reduction) settings, and tons more.

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. 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 either with phone orders or here in the BAA Online Store. For phone orders, call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays.

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)

The Ideal Companion to the 7D Mark II User’s Guide

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. A free update that will cover most of the newly added cameras will be sent some time next week. See upcoming blog posts for exact details.

New Used Gear Listings

New ‘old” Canon 500 mm f/4L IS Lens

Gregory Asnis is offering a never used Canon 500 mm f/4L IS lens in brand new condition for $4999. The sale includes the the front leather hood, the rear dust cap, the lens trunk, an AquaTech SoftHood Collapsing Hood for the 500mm f/4 (a $150 value), and insured shipping by UPS Ground to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Gregory via e-mail or by phone at 917-597-9408, Eastern Time.

The old five was at one time the world’s most popular telephoto lens. It still makes great images with both TCs. Greg’s new, never used lens is priced lower than many used ones on the web. artie

Used Canon 300 mm f/2.8L IS Lens

IPT veteran Doug West is offering a Canon 300 mm f/2.8L IS lens in excellent condition for an incredibly low $2999.. The sale includes the Lens Trunk with a nice dent in on one corner (the empty case was damaged during a move), the Canon drop-in polarizer, the Really Right Stuff lens foot and insured FEDEX ground shipping to lower 48 US addresses. Payment by Paypal with the fee prepaid is acceptable as is payment by U.S. postal money order or by certified check drawn on a U.S bank. The lens will ship only after the funds have cleared. Please e-mail for a link to pictures of the lens.

Please contact Doug via e-mail only.

The older version of the 300 f/2.8 is just as versatile as the version II. With the tripod collar removed, they weigh just about the same. And any folks swear that the older version is every bit as sharp as the new lens. This is a great walk-around lens for hand holders. With a 7D II and a 1.4X TC you’ll enjoy 672mm of reach. With this lens and a 2X TC, the use of a Mongoose head and a sturdy tripod is always recommended.

Used Photography Gear for Sale

You can see all of the currently listed items by clicking here or at any time by clicking on the Used Photography Gear for Sale tab, the last item on the lower row of yellow-gold tab bars near the top of each blog page.

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day

The Morro Bay Canon Destination Workshop March 20-22, 2015 now has only four slots open. To encourage folks to sign up I have planned the following:

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day. Friday March 20: $399.

This in-the-field workshop includes a 4-hour morning photo-session that begins in the pre-dawn, a 2 hour afternoon photo session (3-5pm or so), and a working lunch with image review and some Photoshop. We will finish up in time to attend the Friday evening program that opens the Destination Workshop. At present only two folks are signed up for the day so you will surely receive all of the one on one guidance that you can handle.

Though you not need to be registered for the Canon event to join me on Friday, doing so would make a lot of sense to me. The Friday evening program is of course open only to those who are signed up for the Destination Workshop. See immediately below for details on that.

BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay, CA Canon Live Learning EOS Destination Workshop
March 20-22, 2015: $1050

Borrow great Canon gear. Head home with a print or two. Learn from the best.

Click here for complete info or to register.

Click here to see the course agenda.

Join me in one of the most beautiful and scenic places on the planet to photograph a large variety of birds of the sea and shore. The star of the show will be the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. There will be lots of Marbled Godwits and Willets as well as lots of the smaller shorebird species. Black Oystercatcher is likely and we should get to photograph large flocks of Western Sandpipers in flight over the bay; with any luck we should enjoy some great sunrise and sunset photography. There are lots of gulls including Western, California, and Mew. There is one good location where we should get to photograph Western, Clarke’s, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, and Common Loon–you will be able to borrow a long lens from Canon along with various camera bodies. We may get to photograph some passerines including Anna’s Hummingbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and White-crowned Sparrow. And we have a chance for several species of raptors. Yikes, I almost forgot California Poppy. And California Ground Squirrel. Sea Otters are also possible.

Folks who register after seeing this notice are asked to shoot me a copy of their BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay Registration Confirmation via e-mail.

See lots more Morro Bay images here.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

Stuff

I spent more than a few hours yesterday following up on a 90-minute phone interview the previous day with a Features Editor at Audubon magazine on a subject near and dear to my heart: the ethics of nature photography. At some point, you will almost surely be hearing lots on that topic from me here. I enjoyed a swim and an ice bath, did my core exercises, and just scratched the surface on catching up with old e-mails….

This blog post took about 2 1/2 hours to prepare and was published from my home at Indian Lake Estates at 6:09am.

I fly to Morro Bay on Friday for a week-long busman’s holiday and then the Canon Destination Workshop. Yesterday, Dwayne Marrot called and signed up for both my Friday Morro Bay In-the-field sessions and the Canon Live Learning Destination Workshop. It is not too late for you to sign up for one or both and I would love to see you there. Scroll down for complete details.

7D Mark II User’s Guide Update Info

An e-mail conversation with Jim Howell

I believe that this is the Jim Howell who has been on several IPTs with me.

JH: Dear Mr. Morris, This guide is wonderful – so much so that I’ve only gotten to page 25. There is so much in the camera manual that I could not understand; I greatly appreciate your efforts in making the material so much more understandable. I know it’s been said before, but it is so true: they should let you, pay you LOTS, to write the manual.

am: Hey Jim. Thanks a ton for your kind and supportive words.

JH: I did go through the entire manual and checked every spot where further information is indicated (an asset that everyone should follow). On pages 30 and 64 there are references to A Guide to Pleasing Blurs. When I click on it I get “Fractastic”

am: Thanks for pointing that out. The correct link is embedded above. On my PDF, that first error was actually on Page 31 🙂 As so many folks were in a hurry to get their hands on the 7D II User’s Guide, I decided not to have this eGuide checked out in advance. As usual, concerned readers have been e-mailing me with regards to typos, unclaritites, and plain and simple errors, grammatical and otherwise. Their efforts are greatly appreciated.

Here is the 7D II User’s Guide plan: over the course of the next month I will be making corrections to the master file. They will of course be based on the e-mails like yours that I have received and will likely continue to receive. At that point, I will create a new PDF that will then be sent to all purchasers. Many have sent e-mails detailing additional corrections; I will be getting to those and thanking the senders asap.

JH: On page 5: …folks using the 7D III. On page 8: High-speed – When you press ‘THE’ shutter button… Low-speed – I see ‘KNOW’ reason…

am: when I see things like “I see KNOW reason…” it makes me realize how tired I must have been.

JH: On page 11: The no more grid option! I have to learn to do this with the joystick. Thank you so much! And to know that I can switch direction on a moving target by moving the active AF point – I would never have discovered this – I thank you all the more.

Under this option you indicate that to set this function, “Scroll to the last symbol . . .” On my 7DII that symbol is ‘AF area Select Lever.’

am: Ah, you caught a good one. I changed that to read as follows:

“Scroll using the Joystick to highlight the camera symbol in yellow. It is the last symbol on the right in the second row from the top. Then press the Set button. Now scroll with the thumb wheel to the next to last symbol in the right hand column, the Joystick (Multi-controller) symbol. Press Set again. The Multi-controller screen pops up. Use the thumb wheel to highlight the right hand symbol, Direct AF point selection. Now press the Set button one last time.”

Many thanks for that one. Multiple IPT veteran Joe Barranco also noted that error and was kind enough to e-mail me on it.

JH: On page 25: Under Rear Button Focus, the second sentence begins: Ito… And on page 65: Though I’ve not read this far, under Firmware Version: SI is likely…

am: Many thanks for your typo- (and more) help. Over the years I have found that with the eGuides that our readership does a far better job of editing the first published version than any professional proofreader could do. And that goes for double when it comes to letting me know about stuff that is either unclear or dead wrong. So thanks not only to you but to the whole gang. And of course, a huge shout out to all who have purchased the guide.

JH: I love the photos throughout and the gallery. The quality of the images though, is not quite up to the standard found in your other guides. I’m sure this is not the email you want to read after so much effort to put this valuable guide together, but you did ask. No wait, an assistant asked so it is their fault. Now I feel better.

am: Jim, there may be several things at play here. First, I opted to do this guide with vertical pages. Previous guides with horizontally oriented pages featured larger images. I must say though, that size considered, the images look pretty good on my mac. Lastly there may be another mac/PC issues here; the PDF was created using a mac version of Adobe Reader. All previous eGuide PDFs were created using a PC version so there may very well be minor quality issues.

A final note: I was the one who asked, not Jim :). You are wrong about one thing, your helpful e-mail is very much the e-mail I wanted to read after so much effort. Many thanks for taking the time to write and for your helpful suggestions and corrections.

JH: Sincerely, Jim

ISO 1600 Early Morning Flight

From Sunday morning. I could have gone with ISO 800 and 1/500 sec. (at f/4) but I wanted to continue experimenting with the 7D II at ISO 1600 as many on the blog have requested that. I have a nice ISO 1600 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron that I will share with y’all here soon. And others. Be sure to see the DPP 4 screen capture below to see the original framing…. The color and contrast here look quite nice to me.

ISO 1600 Noise

This is a tight crop of the 300% view. What do you think of the noise? Remember that the price of controlling high ISO noise is somewhat of a loss of fine detail. Before you go shouting, “Garbage,” please be sure to take a look at some of your ISO 1600 images at 300%.

DPP 4 Screen Capture

Many folks love to blame the camera when they review an image that had the sensor right on the bird’s face but the resulting image is not at all sharp. When that happens to me I simply look in the mirror. Instead, I spend my time marveling at images like this one where none of the active AF points were anywhere near the bird yet the image is very sharp on the eye. That due in part to the detail-less sky background and in part to my AF Custom Case settings.

The Image Optimization

During the RAW conversion in DPP 4 I extrapolated Arash Hazeghi’s luminance and chrominance Noise Reduction values and brightened the image a bit. The Peripheral illumination settings under the Perform image lens correction tab ensured an evenly toned background by eliminating vignetting.

The image optimization was straightforward. I moved the bird down in the frame using a variation of one of the APTATS II tutorials. I did some Digital Eye Doctor work, ran my NIK 50-50 preset on the bird only and refined that with a Regular Layer Mask, and applied a Layer of Filter/Blur/Surface Blur to the whole image. I finished the image off with a Curves adjustment that increased contrast just a bit.

Digital Basics

Everything that I did to optimize today’s image is covered in detail in my Digital Basics File–written in my easy-to-follow, easy-to-understand style. Are you tired of making your images look worse in Photoshop? Digital Basics File is an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. It includes my complete digital workflow, dozens of great Photoshop tips, details on using all of my image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro basics, Contrast Masks, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, how to create time-saving actions, the Surface Blur (background noise reduction) settings, and tons more.

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. 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 either with phone orders or here in the BAA Online Store. For phone orders, call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays.

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)

The Ideal Companion to the 7D Mark II User’s Guide

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. A free update that will cover most of the newly added cameras will be sent some time next week. See upcoming blog posts for exact details.

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day

The Morro Bay Canon Destination Workshop March 20-22, 2015 now has only four slots open. To encourage folks to sign up I have planned the following:

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day. Friday March 20: $399.

This in-the-field workshop includes a 4-hour morning photo-session that begins in the pre-dawn, a 2 hour afternoon photo session (3-5pm or so), and a working lunch with image review and some Photoshop. We will finish up in time to attend the Friday evening program that opens the Destination Workshop. At present only two folks are signed up for the day so you will surely receive all of the one on one guidance that you can handle.

Though you not need to be registered for the Canon event to join me on Friday, doing so would make a lot of sense to me. The Friday evening program is of course open only to those who are signed up for the Destination Workshop. See immediately below for details on that.

BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay, CA Canon Live Learning EOS Destination Workshop
March 20-22, 2015: $1050

Borrow great Canon gear. Head home with a print or two. Learn from the best.

Click here for complete info or to register.

Click here to see the course agenda.

Join me in one of the most beautiful and scenic places on the planet to photograph a large variety of birds of the sea and shore. The star of the show will be the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. There will be lots of Marbled Godwits and Willets as well as lots of the smaller shorebird species. Black Oystercatcher is likely and we should get to photograph large flocks of Western Sandpipers in flight over the bay; with any luck we should enjoy some great sunrise and sunset photography. There are lots of gulls including Western, California, and Mew. There is one good location where we should get to photograph Western, Clarke’s, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, and Common Loon–you will be able to borrow a long lens from Canon along with various camera bodies. We may get to photograph some passerines including Anna’s Hummingbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and White-crowned Sparrow. And we have a chance for several species of raptors. Yikes, I almost forgot California Poppy. And California Ground Squirrel. Sea Otters are also possible.

Folks who register after seeing this notice are asked to shoot me a copy of their BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay Registration Confirmation via e-mail.

See lots more Morro Bay images here.

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We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

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Amazon Canada

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

Stuff

We had a great morning on the Hooptie Deux. We had a fine working lunch. We had a great afternoon at a local rookery. I am tired. I need to get up early. So I will be brief here 🙂

Today’s post was completed in less than an hour on Saturday night. It was published at 4:51am from my hotel room in Brandon, FL. I am checking out before 6am, meeting James Shadle and the small group at the dock at 6:30am, and heading back to ILE after the morning photo session.

Is It Real? Is It a Photoshop Phony?

Do you see any evidence of a major Photoshop changes? Did I add a head or an eye? Did I repair a wingtip? If so, please state your case clearly and let us know what the telltale signs were.

The Thinking

The male of this pair repeatedly flew from the nest in search of sticks, and he was quick to return. I got some nice horizontals of him returning to the nest but cut off too many wing tips. So I tried some vertical incoming flight and got a few killer good images. But I wanted more and better.

I shared my thoughts with Donna Bordon who was set up next to me. Let’s choose a lower right AF point, focus on the female, and when she gets excited about seeing her mate return, we will just hold the pedal to the metal. We both got a ton of great stuff. This was my very favorite.

Questions are of course welcome.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

Yesterday was a rewarding day for me. We sold nearly 100 copies of the new 7D Mark II Users Guide in half a day. We are off to a good start. If you missed the announcement see same in yesterday’s blog post here. Or skip the hype and purchase yours in the BAA Online Store here right now for $59. 7D II UG orders received after 2:00pm Friday will be e-mailed on Monday morning.

I am getting up very early tomorrow to head for DeSoto and a busman’s holiday morning with the Ring-billed Gulls. See more below.

This blog post, which took about 2 hours to prepare over the course of several days, was published at 2:56am from my home in Indian Lake Estates.

Ghost Gull Lens

The lens that I used to create the Ghostly Gull image in the blog post here, was the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens. The focal length was 59mm. Kudos to Gerald Kelberg who got the lens right and was off by only 11mm on the focal length. Thanks to all who took a shot at it.

Quite Pricey

You can get a loaf of cheap white bread at most supermarkets for 99 cents. I picked one up that morning for $2.19 at 7-11 but was glad to pay the premium. I have been feeding the gulls for several decades to provide action on otherwise slow days. Most times I’d have the 70-200 with me while I am tossing the bread using my professional gull feeding technique. The problem is that with the birds right overhead 70mm is often too long even with a full frame body. I finally got smart and stuck the 24-70 II in my beach cart. I’d hold some bread up in my left hand while trying to operate the camera with my right hand. A third hand would be helpful so that you could zoom, but having only two I had to guess the focal length as the birds would hover at various distances.

My Turn

After my feeding stint participants Cris Hamilton and Pat Lillich kindly relieved me. Cris in particular was beside herself with fun. While they fed the birds I stepped back and went to work with my 100-400 II and the 7D II.

In the original image the gull was centered in the frame. I moved it to our right easily and quickly using techniques from APTATS II. This bird, and many other of the Ring-billed Gulls are in gorgeous breeding plumage at DeSoto right now. So much so that even though I do not have to be in Brandon until late afternoon I am heading over to DeSoto at 4:30am to get my fill of those stark white heads and bright yellow legs and bills. Man, you gotta love what you do. Is there something wrong with me?

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. 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 either with phone orders or here in the BAA Online Store. For phone orders, call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays.

BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #472

BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #472 was published yesterday and can be accessed here.

• 7D Mark II User’s Guide Now Available
• Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT. MAR 7-8: 1 1/2 DAYS
• The Morro Bay, CA Canon Live Learning EOS Destination Workshop
• The Blog is the Bomb!
• Jim Neiger Osprey Heaven and Custom Anytime Workshops
• Used Photography Gear for Sale
• BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) Info
• South Georgia October 2015

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

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

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 :).

This Just In

7D Mark II User’s Guide Now Available

The long-awaited 7D Mark II User’s Guide is finished. You can purchase your copy right now in the BAA Online Store here for $59. This is the highest priced user’s guide surpassing the 5D II User’s Guide at $50. Why? I did twice as much work preparing the 7D II Guide. It required days of writing, dozens of hours of study and research, not to mention hundreds of hours in the field trying to figure out the best 7D II setting while doing what I love to do best, photographing birds and nature. Many thanks to both Rudy Winston and Chuck Westfall of Canon USA for their help in getting through the stickiest parts.

The guide contains 23,196 words in 516 paragraphs. There are 24 photos and screen captures interspersed in the main body of the text and a gallery of 23 additional 7D II images that show what the camera is capable of with a variety of lens and lens/TC combinations. We would love your feedback. The full advertising spiel will be coming soon.

What’s Up?

I spent about ten hours yesterday hard at work on the 7D Mark II Users Guide. I should be finished some time this morning and hope to announce the publication in a short Bulletin after lunch…. I ignored most e-mails and had time only for meals and a morning swim.

This blog post, which took about 3 hours to prepare, was published at 6:32am from my home in Indian Lake Estates.

Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT

Not much time left! Please call us at 863-692-0906 for late registration discount info.

The Hooptie Roseate Spoonbill Mini-IPT announced on Wednesday past has two full slots left. Please call us at 863-692-0906 or e-mail with questions or to check on availability. Scroll down here for details and prices and for the skinny on our morning and Saturday-only rates.

E-mail from Wilfred (Willy) Marissen

Hi Artie, I just wanted to drop you a note and say thanks. I had a great time on the DeSoto In-the-Field Add-on and it was very nice to meet you after all these years of following your bulletins and blog stories! The Photoshop session was also very valuable. It was great to see the words of the Digital Basics File in action. Thanks again and perhaps we’ll meet each other again in the future. Cheers, Willy

Comment by Cris Hamilton

Cris was a participant on the recently concluded Hooptie Spoonbill IPT:

I was fortunate enough to be a participant in the Hooptie Deux/DeSoto class, which ended on Friday past. It was so much fun and I learned TONS!!! Thank you, thank you, Artie!!!!! And thank you to James Shadle, the master boat commander. James is a vital and fun part of this duo. Super great guy. And, thanks to the other participants for putting up with all my questions!!! 🙂 We had a great group and a super time.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Gitzo tripods, 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 just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.

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.

A Nice Way to Finish

Three straight foggy mornings followed our clear, sunny start on the recently concluded Hooptie Deux Spoonbills and More IPT. On our last morning we graduated to partly cloudy with some soft sunlight after 8am. Even better was that we had the spoonies landing on the sandbar and that James and I got the group in perfect position for both flight and portraits. Learn a ton more below.

DPP Screen Capture with AF Point Illuminated

For this landing spoonbill image by calling this one “Expand” in our User’s Guides and here on the blog. The DPP screen capture illuminates only the selected AF point in red, in the case, the center AF point. If you have created an image using AI Servo AF and are viewing the focus points on the RAW file in DPP, you will see only the selected point rather than the additional active AF point or points, even if one or more of the latter were responsible for acquiring and tracking accurate focus. I added the small red dots in Photoshop (using the Pencil Tool) to show you the four additional AF that were active. With this image the lowest AF point may or may not have just caught the bird’s toes. None-the-less, the image was sharp on the eye most likely as a result of the Custom Case settings that I detail in the EOS-1D X AF Guide.

The cursor was on the spoonie’s neck when I created the screen capture; note the RGB values in the low 230s, just where I want them.

The Before and After Animated GIF

In the before and after Animated GIF you can see that I executed a pano crop, in part to complement the wings swept back pose and in part to eliminate lots of distracting junk at the bottom of the frame.

Image clean-up was done with the usual tools: the Patch Tool, the Spot Healing Brush, the Clone Stamp Tool, and a series of Quick Masks that were refined by Regular Layer Masks.

Eye Doctor work and a Contrast Mask applied to the face and bill only after being selected with the Quick Selection Tool–my shortcut M and put on a layer.

1D X ISO 1600 Noise

After applying Arash’s 1D X ISO 1600 Noise Reduction values for both chrominance and luminance noise during the DPP 4 conversion there was very little background noise evident. I used the Filter/Blur/Surface Blur techniques taught to me by Denise Ippolito to render the background smooth as a baby’s tush.

In both animated GIFs above note the improved sharpness in the face and the effects of my custom NIK Color EFEX Pro 50-50 recipe/50% Opacity Tonal Contrast and 50% Opacity Detail Extractor on the bird only (selected with the Quick Selection Tool–my shortcut M.)

Digital Basics

Everything that I did to optimize today’s image is covered in detail in my Digital Basics File–written in my easy-to-follow, easy-to-understand style. Are you tired of making your images look worse in Photoshop? Digital Basics File is an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. It includes my complete digital workflow, dozens of great Photoshop tips, details on using all of my image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro basics, Contrast Masks, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, how to create time-saving actions, the Surface Blur (background noise reduction) settings as taught to me by Denise Ippolito, and tons more.

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. 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 either with phone orders or here in the BAA Online Store. For phone orders, call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays.

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. A free update that will cover most of the newly added cameras will be sent some time next week. See upcoming blog posts for exact details.

The Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Mini IPT. 1 1/2 DAYs: $1250. SAT MAR 7 (full day) and SUN Morning MAR 8, 2015. Working lunch on Saturday included. Strict Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 2

Either morning photo session only: $475. Saturday morning photo session plus working lunch: $525. Saturday Full Day: $775.

Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Arthur Morris.

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in early March is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage….

Weather permitting there will be three boat trips: 2 mornings and 1 afternoons. Mornings at Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography with the birds likely carrying nesting material), cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we will get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. The afternoon trip will be either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes one working lunch.

Important Notes

We stay in Brandon, FL for this IPT. From our hotel it is only about 20 minutes to the dock. The plan is for all sessions to be by boat. For the Alafia Banks segments, Captain Shadle provides light weight chest waders as much of the photography will be done while we are standing in fairly shallow water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with balance problems. Note however that some folks may opt to stay on the boat. They always have lots of good chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

This mini Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity. It may fill quickly. We hope that you can join us. Scroll down for registration info.

Hooptie Mini-IPT Registration Info

Payment in full for this short notice trip is of course due upon registration. Call the office at 863-692-0906 to arrange to send us a check for payment in full (preferred) or to put the whole thing on a credit card. If by check, it should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and be mailed to BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee.

However you arrange for payment, please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with the paperwork. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

Following a Saturday afternoon of torrential rain, the pool was down to 70 degrees but by 1pm it was up to 75 on a relatively balmy day so I took my first swim since last week. And enjoyed it. I did a lot of work on the 7D Mark II User’s Guide and hope to have some great news for y’all this week. My #1 priority for today is to I will spend a good deal of time on the guide.

As I predicted yesterday, the used EOS-1D X camera body sold instantly…. It is hard to believe the the 300 II listed below has not sold: great lens, great price….

I wrote most of this blog post on Sunday night and put on the finishing touches on Monday morning. It was published at 7:26am from my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL.

Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT

The Hooptie Roseate Spoonbill Mini-IPT announced on Wednesday past now has only two slots left. Please e-mail to check on availability. See the blog post here for prices and details and our morning and Saturday-only rates.

Comment from Cris Hamilton

Cris was a participant on the recently concluded Hooptie Spoonbill IPT:

I was fortunate enough to be a participant in the Hooptie Deux/DeSoto class, which ended on Friday past. It was so much fun and I learned TONS!!! Thank you, thank you, Artie!!!!! And thank you to James Shadle, the master boat commander. James is a vital and fun part of this duo. Super great guy. And, thanks to the other participants for putting up with all my questions!!! 🙂 We had a great group and a super time.

Estero Help Needed

I have heard from several folks that Little Estero Lagoon on Fort Myers Beach is very poor at best this year, that the lagoon has been cut off from the Gulf, is mostly dry, and that there are very few if any birds present. If you have visited recently I would appreciate your leaving a comment and sharing your experience with us.

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. Click here for complete details.

A Lousy Morning at Fort DeSoto…

On Friday morning there were very few birds at the traditional morning spot: a tame oystercatcher pair, a very few gulls, and a Reddish Egret that left too soon. Then we searched in vain for the Great Horned Owl chicks reported from the Arrowhead Picnic Area. The weather was pretty crummy and the group seemed ready to throw in the towel. But I was not.

I took them to my last ditch spot and as we walked toward the Gulf things were not looking too good as the only birds in sight were a handful of Laughing Gulls. But as we got closer to the shoreline we spotted a tame group of Royal Terns. As expected, they were tame. And one was in full breeding plumage. First we made full body portraits and then, as I urged the group to get closer–we were advancing on our butts at that point, most folks got close enough for head shots.

We reviewed the cloudy day exposure principles: + 2 1/3 stops off the sky and check your histogram. Usually I would be working in Cloudy WB in these conditions but I forgot to change it. I was a bit surprised that the color balance was so close to perfect with WHITE RGB values within a point or two of 235 and the BLACK RGB numbers within a point of 40.

After a young child ran at the flock and scared off the terns I broke out my secret weapon; see tomorrow’s blog post for details. On this “lousy” morning I wound up with 120 keepers. I will be sharing lots of them here with you, some tomorrow and more off and on over the course of the next few weeks.

A lousy morning at Fort DeSoto is a lot better than a day at work. Wait! I was at work. 🙂

Image Question

Why f/8 when I could have been working at f/4?

New Used Gear Listing

Used Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III 21.1 MP Digital SLR Camera + RRS L-Plate + extra battery + FireWire cable

Janet Horton is offering a used Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III in very good to excellent condition for a ridiculously low price of $1299. The camera is in perfect working order having been cleaned and checked by CPS in early February 2015. It has a shutter count of 52,388 out of the estimated 300,000 for the life-of-the-camera. The body has some wear marks that do not affect function where the strap attaches. There is a small fine scratch on the LCD that is barely visible when the camera is on. The sale includes the original box if you want it and all of the items that came in the box: the battery charger, the English and Spanish instruction manuals, the pocket guide, the video cable, the DC Coupler with power adapter, 3 CDs, the ET-120 Lens Hood, the Hard Case 300B, the front lens cap E-145C, the rear lens cap, the wide Lens Strap B, and insured shipping to US addresses via UPS Ground. Extras include a RRS L-Plate, an extra battery, and a 14’ FireWire 6 pin to 6 pin cable to connect the camera to computer for tethered capture. Please e-mail for a link to photos.

Contact details are below the next 1Ds III image.

Interested folks may contact Janet via e-mail or call her at 425-313-3060 (Pacific Time Zone). The camera will be shipped only after your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

I used a 1Ds Mark III body for about two years. The camera has a superb AF system and produces superb image files. Janet’s package is a steal for folks wanting to move up to a pro body. The purchase price for all items was $6,906.

Relevant Used Gear Listings

Used Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens

Jacques Bouvier is offering a used Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens in very good condition with clean glass for $4999 US. The sale includes the ET-120 Lens Hood, the Hard Case 300B, Lens Cap E-145C, Rear lens cap, and the wide Lens Strap B. Also included is insured shipping to US addresses via UPS Ground.

You can contact Jacques via e-mail or by phone at 613-524-1154 (home) or 613-677-5140 (cell)–eastern time zone.

The 300 f/2.8L IS II IS is a super-sharp, versatile lens that can be hand held easily by most folks. I use it often with both the 1.4X or 2X Series III teleconverters. It served as my big lens on the recently concluded Southern Ocean trip. In addition I have used it a ton in Japan and at Fort DeSoto. This one is priced to sell instantly.

Used Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS (Image Stabilizer) USM Lens

Price reduced $350 on 10/17/2014!
Price reduced an incredible $650 on 12/10/2014!!!
Lowest price ever for this item!

Dan Womack is offering a used Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS (Image Stabilizer) USM lens in excellent condition with clean glass with a few small nicks on the lens hood for $4500. B&H was recently offering a virtually identical used “old 500” for $6,299.95; you can save nearly $2K by grabbing Dan’s lens asap. The sale includes the front leather hood, the rear dust cap, the original case with keys, and insured shipping to US addresses only. Your lens will be shipped only after your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Dan via e-mail or by phone at 337 412 1898.

The old five was at one time the world’s most popular telephoto lens. It still makes great images with both TCs. artie

Note: there are several other “old” fives listed here. Click on that link to see the complete current listings.

The Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Mini IPT. 1 1/2 DAYs: $1250. SAT MAR 7 (full day) and SUN Morning MAR 8, 2015. Working lunch on Saturday included. Strict Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 2

Either morning photo session only: $475. Saturday morning photo session plus working lunch: $525. Saturday Full Day: $775.

Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Arthur Morris.

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in early March is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage….

Weather permitting there will be three boat trips: 2 mornings and 1 afternoons. Mornings at Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography with the birds likely carrying nesting material), cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we will get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. The afternoon trip will be either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes one working lunch.

Important Notes

We stay in Brandon, FL for this IPT. From our hotel it is only about 20 minutes to the dock. The plan is for all sessions to be by boat. For the Alafia Banks segments, Captain Shadle provides light weight chest waders as much of the photography will be done while we are standing in fairly shallow water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with balance problems. Note however that some folks may opt to stay on the boat. They always have lots of good chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

This mini Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity. It may fill quickly. We hope that you can join us. Scroll down for registration info.

Hooptie Mini-IPT Registration Info

Payment in full for this short notice trip is of course due upon registration. Call the office at 863-692-0906 to arrange to send us a check for payment in full (preferred) or to put the whole thing on a credit card. If by check, it should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and be mailed to BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee.

However you arrange for payment, please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with the paperwork. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s up?

Five-sixths of the sold-out Hooptie Deux IPT group joined me for the DeSoto Add-on IPT. The always helpful, always smiling Mark Hardymon headed down to Naples, FL after our Thursday morning session. We were joined by the smiling, delightful Dutchman Wilfred (Willy) Marissen and Lou Newman’s friend Betty Neupert. We did well on Thursday afternoon and, after a dismal start, had a great Friday morning with a pair of tame oystercatchers, lots of Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls, and a small flock of Royal Terns, one in full breeding plumage.

This blog post, written on Friday afternoon, took a bit more than hour to prepare. I left at 6:00pm to meet older daughter Jennifer and her family at the Chicago Blackhawks/Tampa Bay Lightning game. Granddaughter Maya inexplicably has become a huge Blackhawks Jonathan Toews fan. This was published from my hotel room in St. Petersburg Beach, FL at 4:35am.

Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT

The Hooptie Roseate Spoonbill Mini-IPT announced on Wednesday now has only two slots left. See our morning and Saturday-only rates below. Scroll down for additional details. Please e-mail me to check on availability.

Comment from Cris Hamilton

Cris was a participant on the recently concluded Hooptie Spoonbill IPT:

I was fortunate enough to be a participant in the Hooptie Deux/DeSoto class, which ends, sadly, tomorrow (Fri 27th). It’s been so much fun and I have learned TONS!!! Thank you, thank you, Artie!!!!! And thank you to James Shadle, the master boat commander. James is a vital and fun part of this duo. Super great guy. And, thanks to all the other participants for putting up with all my questions!!! 🙂 We had a great group and a super time.

Estero Help Needed

I have heard from several folks that Little Estero Lagoon on Fort Myers Beach is very poor at best this year, that the lagoon has been cut off from the Gulf, is mostly dry, and that there are very few if any birds present. If you have visited recently I would appreciate your leaving a comment and sharing your experience with us.

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. Click here for complete details.

Save $242

Register before the end of the month for the South Georgia trip and receive a $242 discount on your return airfare. Please e-mail for details.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Gitzo tripods, 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 just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.

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.

Ghostly Gull/You Tell Me…

Take a guess, either wild or educated: What lens did I use to create this image? What was the focal length? Note to the snoopers: As far as I know, the EXIF was removed from the JPEG.

The Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Mini IPT. 1 1/2 DAYs: $1250. SAT MAR 7 (full day) and SUN Morning MAR 8, 2015. Working lunch on Saturday included. Strict Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 2

Either morning photo session only: $475. Saturday morning photo session plus working lunch: $525. Saturday Full Day: $775.

Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Arthur Morris.

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in early March is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage….

Weather permitting there will be three boat trips: 2 mornings and 1 afternoons. Mornings at Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography with the birds likely carrying nesting material), cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we will get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. The afternoon trip will be either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes one working lunch.

Important Notes

We stay in Brandon, FL for this IPT. From our hotel it is only about 20 minutes to the dock. The plan is for all sessions to be by boat. For the Alafia Banks segments, Captain Shadle provides light weight chest waders as much of the photography will be done while we are standing in fairly shallow water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with balance problems. Note however that some folks may opt to stay on the boat. They always have lots of good chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

This mini Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity. It may fill quickly. We hope that you can join us. Scroll down for registration info.

Hooptie Mini-IPT Registration Info

Payment in full for this short notice trip is of course due upon registration. Call the office at 863-692-0906 to arrange to send us a check for payment in full (preferred) or to put the whole thing on a credit card. If by check, it should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and be mailed to BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee.

However you arrange for payment, please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with the paperwork. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Super Price Drops

B&H is offering huge discounts on the original EOS-7D. Have you discounted this camera? Before you quit on it, be sure to check out the images created by Dan Cadiuex here and by Sally Sue South here. Both used the 7D and “only” the original 100-400…. Click here for details or to purchase.

EOS-7D Kit with the 28-135 Zoom Lens

Same great camera body plus the versatile 28-135mm zoom lens. Click here for details or to purchase.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

With a wind shift to the west and a bit of persisting fog, Wednesday morning was the worst of the IPT. That said a lot of learning went on and everyone made some nice pleasing blurs of spoonbills, pelicans, and cormorants. And later on we had a nicely juxtaposed group of three spoonbills that posed for us for a while. Then a displaying dark morph Reddish Egret in smoking-hot breeding plumage. Lunch again was at Ruby Tuesday’s in Gibsonton. During our Photoshop session I worked on a lovely spoonbill image that will be featured in Friday’s blog post.

In the afternoon Captain James trailered the Hooptie to Medard Park where we had too much fun and lots of challenges with the White Pelicans–the light was changing constantly and it was hard to predict their behavior. We had a small richly vegetated island topped with loafing Brown Pelicans and had a few more come in to land, right into the wind and right down sun angle. We also enjoyed some good flight chances with Double-crested Cormorant, Osprey, and Anhinga.

This blog post took 1 1/2 hours to prepare and was published just before 5:00am from my hotel room in Brandon, FL.

Super Price Drops

B&H is offering huge discounts on the original EOS-7D. Have you discounted this camera? Before you quit on it, be sure to check out the images created by Dan Cadiuex here and by Sally Sue South here. Both used the 7D and “only” the original 100-400…. Click here for details or to purchase.

EOS-7D Kit with the 28-135 Zoom Lens

Same great camera body plus the versatile 28-135mm zoom lens. Click here for details or to purchase.

Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT

The Hooptie Roseate Spoonbill Mini-IPT announced yesterday signed up two folks. There are just four slots left. See our morning and Saturday only rates below. Scroll down for additional details.

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. Click here for complete details.

Save $242

Register before the end of the month for the South Georgia trip and receive a $242 discount on your return airfare. Please e-mail for details.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Gitzo tripods, 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 just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.

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.

Getting the Right Exposure in the Fog

It is very simple: work in Manual mode and go three stops brighter than the meter reading off the white sky. For most birds with white on them like the spoonbills and pelicans, this setting will give you a workable if not a perfect exposure. For darker birds like cormorants you will want to go two to three shutter speed clicks slower, i.e., open up one full stop.

The DPP 4 Screen Capture

The bad news: I failed to keep the active AF point anywhere near the bird’s eyes, face, or even neck. The good news: the pelican’s eye was on the same plane as the base of the bird’s left wing. This resulted in the eye of the subject being in perfectly sharp focus. Note how far to the right I have exposed to ensure getting lots of detail in the feathers of the underwing….

The Image Optimization

As with yesterday’s featured image, also made in the fog, a simple Levels adjustment brought this image to life. You can see that image here. My NIK 50-50 recipe at a relatively high 75% opacity was a close second as it brought up the underwing detail beautifully. I finished up with some Eye Doctor work and a Contrast Mask applied to the whole bird.

Do understand that by exposing well to the right you maximize file size, minimize noise, and increase image quality. The goal is to create a RAW file that looks washed out on the back of the camera. A simple Levels adjustment will increase the contrast and give the images pop.

Digital Basics

Everything that I did to optimize both of today’s images is covered in detail in my Digital Basics File–written in my easy-to-follow, easy-to-understand style. Are you tired of making your images look worse in Photoshop? Digital Basics File is an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. It includes my complete digital workflow, dozens of great Photoshop tips, details on using all of my image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro basics, Contrast Masks, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, how to create time-saving actions, the Surface Blur (background noise reduction) settings as taught to me by Denise Ippolito, and tons more.

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. 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 only. Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays to order.

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 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Mini IPT. 1 1/2 DAYs: $1250. SAT MAR 7 (full day) and SUN Morning MAR 8, 2015. Working lunch on Saturday included. Strict Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 4

Either morning photo session only: $475. Saturday morning photo session plus working lunch: $525. Saturday Full Day: $775.

Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Arthur Morris.

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in early March is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage….

Weather permitting there will be three boat trips: 2 mornings and 1 afternoons. Mornings at Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography with the birds likely carrying nesting material), cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we will get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. The afternoon trip will be either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes one working lunch.

Important Notes

We stay in Brandon, FL for this IPT. From our hotel it is only about 20 minutes to the dock. The plan is for all sessions to be by boat. For the Alafia Banks segments, Captain Shadle provides light weight chest waders as much of the photography will be done while we are standing in fairly shallow water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with balance problems. Note however that some folks may opt to stay on the boat. They always have lots of good chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

This mini Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity. It may fill quickly. We hope that you can join us. Scroll down for registration info.

Hooptie Mini-IPT Registration Info

Payment in full for this short notice trip is of course due upon registration. Call the office at 863-692-0906 to arrange to send us a check for payment in full (preferred) or to put the whole thing on a credit card. If by check, it should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and be mailed to BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee.

However you arrange for payment, please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with the paperwork. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

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

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 :).