Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

April 12th, 2011

Sometimes I Even Impress Myself...

Sometimes I Even Impress Myself…

Please take a few seconds to view the 3-frame animated GIF below.

I gotta admit, sometimes I even impress myself.

I created the original capture above near Homer, Alaska with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 2X III TC, and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +2 stops: 1/640 sec. at f/11. I focused in Live View using Live Mode focus. I will cover this technique in detail in the next update of the Mark IV User’s Guide.

I have been through my Homer images many times and this one never impressed me much other than with it’s exceptional sharpness (considering that the equivalent focal length was 2080mm). This works out to an incredible 41.6X magnification! Until last night on the plane to Midway (see item 2 below) I did not realize the huge two-way potential of this image. First I optimized it as a straight shot to bring out the detail on the young eagle (even though the image was backlit at sunset). The key was to use yet another Robert O’Toole trick: in ACR I used Fill Light at about 60%. Then I dealt with the noise and processed the image normally. To create the silhouetted version I re-converted the image in ACR, this time moving the BLACK slider well to the right until extensive SHADOW clipping highlight warnings almost covered the bird. Then I moved the Exposure slider to the left to brighten the sky. Once the converted image was in Photoshop, I blackened the BLACKS by moving the shadow slider well to the right (as described in detail in Digital Basics).

Sometimes I even amaze myself 🙂

The basics of converting images properly are covered in detail in Digital Basics, a $20 PDF sent via e-mail. It covers my complete digital workflow and includes many dozens of great Photoshop tips. Most folks are amazed at how good my posted images look. All of my secrets are revealed and Digital Basics even includes details on how to create the action that I use to create the 800 wide JPEGs that I use in the Bulletins and on the blog.

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Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the silhouetted image alone. Note the exceptional sharpness at 41.6X magnification. I used the advanced sharpness techniques described in detail in The Art of Bird Photography II (916 pages on CD only).

Safe on Midway

The group flew to Midway last night in luxury on a gorgeous corporate-type jet, replete with the fixings for Subway sandwiches for dinner. We landed safely and made our way via golf cart to Charely Barracks. With the 7 hour time difference I am typing as 4:30 am. We have an orientation meeting this morning and we will begin photographing this afternoon. Everyone was thrilled as we made our way in the dark past thousands of Laysan Albatrosses and their chicks as hundreds of Bonin’s Petrel flew about above us.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear that I used to create the image above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
2X III teleconverter. The new 2X III TC is sharper than the older 2X II version.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
Double Bubble Leve.l You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am on a tripod and not using flash.

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

Think Tank Free Offer

April 11th, 2011

Safe in Honolulu & Gear Questions Answered

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This intentional and pleasing (to me at least) image of a Glaucous-winged Gull was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS II and the 1.4X III TC (hand held at 280mm) with the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering -1 stop as framed: 1/15 sec. at f/13. To see what the folks at BPN’s Out of the Box Forum thought of this one and to see how they helped me improve it, click here. The image itself was in part inspired by a student friend, Jan van der Greef. Learn more about Jan here.

Safe in Honolulu

I flew from Orlando to Chicago on Sunday and continued on to Honolulu arriving late afternoon thanks to the six hour time change. Am in a somewhat shabby (by Hawaii standards) hotel. The group flies to Midway by chartered jet today at 6:30pm. I did my best and stayed awake until 8pm (2am the next day in Florida), slept off and on and finally “awoke” at 3:23 am. I was unable to get on line from about 5am until 1pm. You gotta love it!

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This image was created near Homer, AK with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, the 2X III TC, and the EOS-1D MIV. Hand held at 300mm. ISO 400: 1/1600 at f/6.3. Exposure pushed to blinkies and then 1/3 darker. To see the original version that I posted on BPN and to learn of my confession, click here. What could I have done?

Gear Questions

Telephoto Lens-Related Questions/By e-mail from Kenneth Lui:

KL: How do you clean the front element of your 800 mm f/5.6L IS lens. I understand that it does not accept a filter, unlike the intermediate telephoto lenses where you can screw on a filter to protect the lens from dust and damage.

AM: First off, you should never have a “protective” filter on the front of any lens. Camera store salespersons are trained to bilk you out of every possible penny. UV filters and the like degrade image quality and slow autofocus. If you keep your lens hood on, you reduce almost any chance of damaging the front element. You should unscrew your UV filters and toss them in the nearest lake asap. I use Lens Clens and an old undershirt with Lens Clens to get the front elements of all of my lenses sparkling clean. And I use it to clean my computer screens as well as the outer surfaces of my camera bodies. All with the old undershirt. In a pinch in the field I use the t-shirt I am wearing and my breath. Just like most other pros. (To learn about Lens Clens, click here and see item 2).

KL: The 800 mm has a built in glass filter with the filter holder 52mm. Do you put any gelatin filter in it, like haze, or skyline filter?

AM: The filter holder needs something in it at all times so do not be tempted to remove it. For the most part I just leave the plain glass filter in place. When I need to reduce shutter speed drastically to do blurs on a sunny day, I use either the specially made polarizer or a 3-stop neutral density filter. If the latter,. it is best to simply purchase an extra filter holder, leave the 3-stop in place in the holder, and then simply swap out the whole assembly when you need to reduce your shutter speeds.

70-200 f/2.8L IS Question/By e-mail from Craig Mcarthur:

CM: I know you probably receive too many emails to answer directly but thought I would ask your advice in case you have time to reply..

AM: I try to answer every single one asap. In return we ask that folks purchase their accessories from BAA in part as a thank you for all the great free info that we provide almost daily on the blog and in our BAA Bulletins. And we try to price everything a penny less than B&H.

CM: I see you are a big fan of the Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II/2X III TC combo..

AM: Yes sir.

CM: Question…I currently own the older version 70-200 f/2.8 L IS ….

AM: Though I love the new version II that was and is a great lens.

CM: I’m Looking to break into bird photography as inexpensively as possible until I decide if this is going to be a serious endeavor or a passing fad….

AM: 28 years ago I thought that bird photography would likely be a passing fad for me….

CM: Do you think I could achieve satisfactory results with the older 70-200 and a TC before upgrading to either the version 11.

AM: 100% yes. With a 7D I would advise against using the 2X unless you plan to be on tripod more than 90% of the time. (For that we recommend the Gitzo 3530 LS CF for 99% of the folks along with a Mongoose m3.6.). Barring operator error, which is the cause of 99.9% of unsharp iamges, you should be able to create sharp photos with the older 70-200 IS and any 1.4X TC.

CM: Or maybe I should get a 100-400….

AM: No way Jose. I just sold my 100-400….

CM: Getting just the 2X III TC at a cost of $499 would be my least expensive route if this is a feasible opinion….

AM: Again, unless you plan to work on a tripod most of the time I would not recommend that you start with the 2X. With a 7D you start with a 1.6 crop factor so with a 1.4X TC that would give you an effective focal length of 448mm or just a shade under 9X. With the 2X III on a tripod that would work out to 640mm (or 12.8X magnification). With my pro body (Mark IV) and the 2X II I am at effective 520mm or 10.4X magnification.

Now here is the best news: with a 7D and the older 70-200 f/4L IS I would advise getting the older 2X II TC. You should be able to get a used one very cheaply right now. You should make great images with that combo. And is looks very much as the 1.4XII and the 1.4X III are optically the same, that is, about as sharp. Note: the new 2X III is noticeably sharper than the older 2XII. Do check out the post here.

CM: Thanks for your time…and such and excellent photography resource…..

AM: YAW. If you get do hooked feel free to get in touch for more advice. If you want to make your learning curve far less steep, do check out ABP, ABP II, and Digital Basics.

Lens Align MII Question/From Colin Smale via e-mail:

CS: I would like to ask wildlife photographers who really use their gear a lot, “How often do you need to calibrate your lenses?”

AM: I calibrate mine every two to three months, whenever I get a camera or lens back from Canon Repair, and certainly whenever I give my lens or camera body a good whack (usually too, too often).

To learn about the Lens Align Mark II and read my killer tutorial click here.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear (or the current replacement) that I used to create the images above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot–depending on the situation–with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon EF 1.4X III TC. This new TC is designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

Think Tank Free Offer

April 10th, 2011

Photographic Risks and Rewards on Safari: Guest Blog Post by Todd Gustafson

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African Lion cubs at play. Nikon D3, 600mm f/4, and 1.7 converter. 1600 ISO. Matrix metering at zero in aperture priority: 1/400th sec. at f/6.7. Image copyright 2011: Todd Gustafson/Gustafson Photo Safari.

Photographic Risks and Rewards on Safari: A Guest Blog Post by Todd Gustafson

Let the Photo Come to You

By Todd Gustafson

Being a proactive nature photographer and letting the photo come to you need not be mutually exclusive concepts.

As a photo safari leader I see people caught up in the event of being in East Africa and missing the actual experience of making great photos. So many photographers (amateurs and veterans alike) own lots of high end photo equipment and have the energy and know-how to make crisp, well composed photographs. When they finish their safari they have a lovely portfolio of representative images of Africa. My goal as a leader and teacher is to teach them to move beyond those initial successes and put people in position to make not only beautiful portraits but to be able to capture the decisive moment and images that reflect the human condition.

The best way for me to do that is to teach folks to understand these elements of natural history and geometry:

1: What is my chosen subject capable of doing?
2: What is the subject most likely to do?
3 Where do I want the action to take place? Consider the background, the foreground, and the direction and quality of the light.
4 Where do I want and need to be at the decisive moment?

Some people move constantly (and sometimes thoughtlessly) while trying for a better angle on a subject while others stay rooted in one spot because they have a good view of the subject at the time. I prefer to photograph some of the action and get a feel for the subject’s behavior. If it’s a fluid situation, as with these lion cubs, I will move to the place with the best situation and the most open view and wait for the action to come my way. If I try to move when the peak moment arrives, I inevitably miss the shot.

This image of the lion cubs playing at first light (above) was captured because of a proactive move made well before the decisive moment. I had made lots of images of the young cats playing in a half-way decent situation, but what I didn’t like was the angle of view; we were looking down into a grassy creek bed six feet below us the safari van. A bit farther down the creek there was a flat, clear space with no brush and a green background that I thought would make an ideal setting for the same behavior. I opted to move to the better setting. Leaving the cubs playing in the creek bed was a difficult decision that was rewarded 3 minutes later (and right on cue) when the cubs climbed the bank and resumed playing, this time in a far better setting while bathed in soft early light . (Note: Todd often knows what the animals are going to do before the animals know….)

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Having captured lots of great action in the perfect situation I was able to safely gamble on a higher risk set of shots. The cubs were practicing take-down and kill behaviors by chasing each other around the banks of the creek. Low light and fast moving subjects are the perfect recipe for creating pleasing and dramatic blurs. Note: Todd contributed several spectacular blurs to A Guide to Pleasing Blurs by Denise Ippolito and yours truly; each is accompanied by a short write-up. Note to Todd: it is best when creating pleasing blurs at slow shutter speeds to reduce the ISO to 100 or lower if possible. This will allow you to use a much wider aperture. As a result, dust bunnies (like those in the upper right corner here) will be either minimized or eliminated. As we suggest in the Blur Guide :).

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Chasing leopards can be frustrating. If they are intent on a destination their movements almost always have a certain momentum to them. They usually are not going to stop and strike a dramatic pose just for you. Chasing them rarely offers many good chances. Being proactive by moving away from the subjects along a hoped-for route can often give you enough working distance to execute a dramatic shot. In this case a mother leopard and her 3 week old baby were out for a stroll near a safari track. As is often the case, vehicles in the area congregated to see these beautiful and elusive cats. Rather than joining the traffic jam we positioned the vehicle 500 meters away adjacent to what we hoped would be their path. Five minutes later they did in fact walk past our vehicle 10 feet away. Shooting out of the lower window offered this eye level view of the cub. Who would have guessed she would have chosen that exact spot to stop and play with a grasshopper?

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If you are seeing a theme of risk and reward here you are indeed correct. In the image of a silver-backed jackal above the principle of risk and reward again holds true. The “real action” was a team of hyenas that killed a wildebeest calf in the predawn. When the jackal made off with this scrap of wildebeest fur I saw an opportunity. As he reached a safe distance from the kill he carefully bundled the fur in his mouth and proudly trotted off. Anticipating a golden sunrise and taking advantage of the pause in the jackal’s movement, we had been able to move quickly into position so that all were able to capture this tiny slice of life.

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Single zebras are graphically beautiful subjects simply because of their stripes but a large herd of zebras can offer dramatic behaviors that can be a challenge to photographic well, yet these situations can deliver huge rewards if the photographer is able to capture the action. It is important to be proactive on a safari drive. Don’t expect your driver to spot all the action for you. Scan groups of animals for any signs of neat behavior that might occur. When a group of young zebra stallions starts nipping and kicking, have the driver stop the vehicle and see what develops. Here a group of zebras were sparring in the cool of the morning. It was impossible to guess which two stallions would go up on their hind legs and really go at it. The best bet was to move the vehicle to a spot with an unobstructed view of an open area. These two zebras ultimately chose that spot and jousted for a short three seconds. I opted for a 400mm shot that captured the dance-like quality of the interaction. Again, chasing the subjects would have resulted in many missed opportunities. Being proactive and then waiting for the photo to come to me was the key to success.

Thanks a stack Toddi for guest-blogging for me :). Todd is the author of A Photographer’s Guide to The Safari Experience. If you head to Africa for the purpose of photographing the animals there without having purchased and studied this great guide you are making a huge mistake. To learn more about Todd, to see more of his great images, or to explore the possibility of joining him on safari or elsewhere, visit his web site here.

TODD GUSTAFSON ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TELEVISION

Safari photographer Todd Gustafson is the on-screen expert in one of the three segments on episode 105 of Nat Geo’s “Wild Case Files”. The show features riveting narrative interviews, HD video footage, and stunning still photographs. Watch as Todd tells the story of the 2007 mass wildebeest drowning at the Mara River. A must-see for nature lovers and photographers. This episode will air on April 11, 2011 at 9:00pm eastern time on Nat Geo Wild. Synopsis: Investigating a mass squid invasion on the California coast; Australian mouse plague; mysterious wildebeest deaths in Africa.

You can see the promo here. I clicked on a few of the promos and all that I can say is that I will be TIVO-ing the series! I gotta find out about the Montauk Monster.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear that Todd uses regularly. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Nikkor 600mm f/4 VR II lens. There is no link for this product as for all practical purposes members of the general public are unable to purchase this lens.
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II lens. This is a newer, sharper version of a very versatile lens.
Nikon D3 S Digital Camera Body. This professional body has replaced the D3.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Gitzo GT3541XLS Tripod. This is the tall man’s tripod. At 6′ 8″ Todd loves his!
Wimberley V2 head. Todd uses the Wimberley head full time with his 600.
Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

April 9th, 2011

Why Wide Open Works Well For Me

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Why Wide Open Works Well For Me

When I posted the image above in yesterday’s blog post, Why 32-gb Flash Cards? Why Delkin e-film Pro?, I commented: “Note that at f/8 I have brought up a pleasing amount of background detail, but nothing too sharply defined.” (Note: wide open for the 800mm L IS lens is a relatively slow f/5.6; thus f/8 is stopped down one full stop from wide open.) My first in many situations is to work wide open or stopped down only 1/3 stop. With a Brown Pelican sitting on the edge of a cliff at LaJolla the background will be about 100 yards from the subject, even farther away if you get low. So stopping down from f/5.6 to f/8 still yielded a pleasing, relatively out-of-focus background. (For more on my usually preferred style, see Tight or Wide? My Thoughts on Photographic Style and More.)

If you plan on visiting San Diego next winter to photograph, getting yourself a copy of our San Diego Site Guide now will give you lots of time to study and learn all the great spots that we describe in detail. You can check out all of our great Site & Set-up Guides by clicking here.

When the pelican in the opening image went to sleep, I figured that it would be a good time to create some educational images so I created a series of photographs at varying apertures. In the animated GIF above, the image with the very soft, out-of-focus background was created wide open at f/5.6. The image that shows the wavelets defined relatively sharply was created at f/22. Of the two, which background do you prefer? Does the bird look any sharper at f/22 than it does at f/5.6?

My very great preference in this and in similar situations is to work wide open or stopped down no more than one stop. Doing so will yield the pleasingly out of focus backgrounds that I love so dearly and that define the BIRDS AS ART style. It is important to realize that this does not mean that this style is best for you….

For more examples of images created at varying apertures and their effects on the background, check out James Shadle’s excellent thread, How Aperture Selection Affects DOF and Background, in the Educational Resources Forum at BPN. (Note: if you are within driving distance of Tampa Bay it would behoove you to get out on the Hooptie Deux with James for a day or two on the bay with the Roseate Spoonbills asap. Click here for info.)

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear that I used to create the images above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

I’l be packing my 800 and tons of other gear in my ThinkTank Airport SecurityTM V2.0 rolling bag this afternoon for my flights to Hawaii tomorrow. I recommend that bag or the slightly smaller Airport InternationalTM V2.0 for most folks to make their air travel easy. These high capacity bags are well constructed and protect my gear when I have to gate check it on short-hops and puddle jumpers. Each will protect your gear just as well. By clicking on either link you will receive a free gear bag with each order over $50.
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
Double Bubble Leve.l You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am on a tripod and not using flash.
Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

April 8th, 2011

Why 32-gb Flash Cards? Why Delkin e-film Pro?

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This image was made near Homer, AK with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop off the blue sky: 1/1600 at f/5.6 set manually. Early morning (8:56am) light. I have utmost confidence in my 32gb Delkin e-film Pro Flash Cards. In fact, I never give them a second thought.

Why 32-gb Flash Cards?

For years the argument against large cards has been as follows: “If you use a very large capacity card and it fails or you lose it, you lose everything. It is wise not to put all of your eggs in one basket.”

Why then do I head afield with one 32-gb Delkin e-film Pro compact flash card in the Mark IV on the 800 and another 32-gb Delkin e-film Pro compact flash card in the Mark IV on my shoulder along with the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens?

In my nearly ten years of digital photography, I have never lost a single image to a failed card. I have had a few cards fail over the years (though none in the last four years knock on wood; I do not want to give myself a kinehora), but each time I was able to recover the images.
As long as I remember to format the cards at the start of a session, I never have to change cards in the field. A 32-gb card is large enough so that I never fill a 32-gb card with Mark IV RAW files even though I routinely photograph at many of the worlds premier photographic locations. (The latter is just one of the many blessings that I enjoy.) Thus, I never miss any action because I am changing cards; I am effectively working with an endless roll of film in each camera body.
If you use smaller cards, the odds of losing one of them or of having one of them fail increase greatly….. When photographing at locations where I bring my gear into the room each night, I simply leave my cards in the cameras until my two rigs are placed on my bed. Then I remove and re-charge each battery, remove each card, and place them on the desk next to my laptop. At some locations I opt to leave my gear in the trunk. When we get back to the motel I remove the batteries and the two cards, place the cards in my otherwise empty right hand pants pocket, get back to the room, and begin downloading. I always have a small tote bag with me so that I can conveniently transport small items to and from the room. The batteries go in the tote bag.

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This Brown Pelican image was created in La Jolla, CA with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/2000 sec. at f/8. Early morning (8:53am) light. Note that at f/8 I have brought up a pleasing amount of background detail, but nothing too sharply defined.

When I visit San Diego either for an IPT or for Photo Expo West I often wind up having dinner with Martin Wood and Alan Parry of Delkin.

Why Delkin e-film Pro?

At a NANPA Forum about a zillion years ago, probably in 2002 or so, I first met Alan Parry of Delkin Devices. In those days a 512 mb card was a big card and cost about $300! Delkin had a booth. In short order Alan offered to give me a few cards to test. (In those days I was too timid to ask. I have learned to ask and I almost always get what I ask for. Just another of the many great blessings in my life.) Anyway, I used the cards and loved them. I found them to be quite dependable, and though I never test anything, I found them to be fast. Soon we were up to 4gb cards, and then 8gb, and then 16 gb cards. Delkin always keeps up with the latest technology and the cards are always fast, especially with Canon cameras. I began using a variety of Delkin card readers with my various computers. All but one were very dependable. Right now I have the same Delkin Express Card 54 adapter (reader) in the PCMCIA slot of my laptop that I have used for about four years. On IPT, I am always the first one downloaded at lunch… The combination of Delkin UDMA 32 gb e-film Pro cards, the Express Card 54, and BreezeBrowser’s Downloader Pro is lighting fast. There have been times at Applebee’s when I have actually finished editing a good morning’s folder of images before the group has finished ordering!

At some point, probably about 2005 or so, I visited the Delkin plant in Poway, CA for a tour. It reminded me of being in the place where the shuttle is assembled–never been inside that of course but I have seen the images. There the cards are assembled from a good number of components and tested rigorously, all right here in the US of A. Part of the operation includes soldering tiny bits and pieces…. Amazing.

Over the years I had two 4-gb cards fail, and one 8-gb card fail. Each time I was able to grab the images using a recovery program and each time Delkin cheerfully replaced the card at no charge. No questions ask. We have been marketing the Delkin cards for about six years. On rare occasion folks have returned cards that failed to us. We send them a new the next day and Delkin replenishes our stock.

Now here’s the great news: I have used Delkin 16-gb e-film Pro cards for about three years, first the gray ones and then the 450X red, white and blue UDMA cards. Then about two years ago I graduated to the 32gb UDMA cards. I have never had either a 16gb or a 32 gb Delkin card fail. Does that mean that if you order at 32 gb card from us that it will never fail? No, of course not. Cards of all sizes from all manufacturers will fail on occasion; it’s those tiny soldering jobs that cause the rare problem. With Delkin cards you can be confident that you have the same dependable card in your camera that I use every day, and that if there is a problem that the card will be replaced promptly and without question even if the paint is worn off. Do know that if a card is going to fail it will most likely do so during the first few days of use–again, its those soldered connections. It is best therefore to use a new card for at least a week before taking it to Antarctica or the Galapagos….

That said I have had a Delkin card spend several hours in the garbage at a Chinese restaurant. When I finally got it back, it was lathered in grease. It worked perfectly for many years after a bit of clean-up. And on several occasions, I have put Delkin cards in the washing machine. All functioned perfectly after a session with a blow dryer. I use my 32-gb Delkin e-film Pro cards without ever giving them a second thought.

Delkin created the Sensor Scope that I use at least once a week to help me keep sensor dust under control. And in addition to the card readers they make a wide variety of photographic related products including replacement camera batteries, re-chargeable batteries and chargers, archival storage media, Fat Gecko Mounts, flash drives, and more than a few clever accessories. Though we only carry a few of them, we would be glad to have any Delkin items drop-shipped for you while you save a few bucks in the process.

You can visit the Delkin Devices web site here. I did this morning and learned of a variety of products including their new 625X waterproof, ruggedized Combat Flash cards designed for folks working in extreme conditions. Learn more about the Combat flash cards here. Delkin has just introduced the USB 3.0 Universal Memory Card Reader. We will have them in the store soon. Here is their blurb:

“Move video and image files from memory card to computer over ten times faster, with sustained transfer speeds up to 5Gbps. Transfer two hours of high definition 1080p video in 26 seconds, almost 10,000 images in less than a minute or 2000 MP3 files in less than 13 seconds. Complete backwards compatibility with USB2.0 and USB1.1 allows for seamless integration with portable and desktop computer systems, making this the ideal companion for your present and future data management needs.”

(Note from me: though this card reader will work with older USB, the fastest transfer speeds are available only with USB 3.0.)

Delkin is of course a BAA sponsor and I look forward to a long and continuing relationship with Martin and Alan and the rest of the gang at Delkin Devices. Again, we will be glad to save you a few bucks and have your order for any Delkin product drop-shipped to you same day. The new USB 3.0 Universal Memory Card Readers will be in stock and in the store in a day or two.

Shopper’s Guide

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot–depending on the situation–with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EF 1.4X III TC. This new TC is designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

I pack my 800 and tons of other gear in my ThinkTank Airport SecurityTM V2.0 rolling bag for all of my air travel and recommend the slightly smaller Airport InternationalTM V2.0 for most folks. These high capacity bags are well constructed and protect my gear when I have to gate check it on short-hops and puddle jumpers. Each will protect your gear just as well. By clicking on either link you will receive a free gear bag with each order over $50.
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
Double Bubble Leve.l You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am on a tripod and not using flash.
Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

April 6th, 2011

Will the EF 800mm f/5.6L Soon Become Obsolete?

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This image was made near Homer, AK with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the 1.4X III TC and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/320 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. The key to a successful composition here was placing the bird high enough in the frame to include the lower breast and show off the bird’s full crop.

The Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS with or without the 1.4X III TC is obviously superb tool for nature and wildlife photographers, especially those who love birds. Read on to learn what the future may hold for this lens.

Will the EF 800mm f/5.6L Soon Become Obsolete?

When I first heard that Canon would be releasing an 800 f/5.6L IS lens I stated that it was a stupid lens. Then I borrowed one to try out at Bosque and purchased one the next week. It quickly became my everyday workhorse super-telephoto lens. I went nowhere without it. I use it about half the time with the 1.4X III TC and on occasion, with the 2X III TC using Live View to focus accurately. It is the sharpest super-telephoto lens that I have ever used and the new 4-stop Image Stabilizer system performs amazingly well; I have created sharp images at shutter speeds as low as 1/6 sec. Absurd!

The playing field, however, is about to change. On September 23, 2010 I posted news of the four new Series II Canon Super-telephotos and the two new Series III tele-converters along with my comments here. On February 3, 2011 I posted Series III 2X TC Gut Reaction. And on February 7 I followed that up with Worth the Weight? The Skinny on the Two New Canon Super-telephoto Lenses. It seems that in this last post that most folks failed to read between the lines…. (See my explanation below.)

About two months ago I pre-ordered both the Canon 500mm F/4L IS II and the Canon 600mm f/4L IS II lenses. I had been hoping to get my hands on a 500II in May and on the 600II sometime in June but with the recent natural disasters that struck Japan those hopes are in no way realistic. I have no clue as to when these lenses will be available but would not be surprised if they were delayed a full year.

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This image was created at Lake Kerkini, Greece with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2 1/3 stops of the white sky: 1/800 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. This somewhat serendipitous capture includes an adult Dalmatian Pelican and an immature Herring Gull (yellow-footed race).

The Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS is and always will be a superb flight lens. The new lens coating make it the fastest autofocusing telephoto lens that I have ever used. The new Series II super-telephotos should be even quicker….

Now lets get on to the question of the day, “Will the EF 800mm f/5.6L Soon Become Obsolete?” Well, one answer is that it if it ever becomes obsolete it will not be soon! Here, adapted from my February 7 comments, is where folks failed to read between the lines:

“The new 600 will weigh only 8.8 pounds. The 800mm f/5.6L IS lens weighs 9.9 pounds. The relatively new 800mm f/5.6 lens was the first to offer the amazingly revolutionary 4-stop Image Stabilization system. All four of the Series II super-telephoto lenses offer 4-stop IS. The new 600 IS II offers far greater versatility than the 800mm and offers a longer effective focal length with functioning central sensor-only autofocus (1200mm with the 2X for the 600 IS II as compared to 1120mm with the 1.4X for the 800). In addition, the new 600 weighs 1.1 pounds less than the 800. And it should be mentioned at this time that the Series III teleconverters will offer improved AI Servo tracking accuracy only with the Series II Super-telephoto lenses. The micro-chips in the Series III TCs cannot communicate with the older super-telephoto lenses. Do note however that early reports indicate that the EF 2X Extender III is noticeably sharper than the EF 2X Extender II.” (For more on the new TCs, check out Series III EF Teleconverter Misconceptions…

Expanding on my “greater versatility” comments: with the 800 you have only two useful focal lengths when using a pro body: 800 and 1120 (the 800 + the 1.4X TC). With a pro-sumer body like the 50D or the 7D, you have only one: 800mm. (An f/5.6 lens will not autofocus with the 1.4X TC). In either case, 800mm is often too long a focal length. An example would be at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm where many of the nests are this close. And there would be a huge gap between the minimum available focal length of 800mm (800mm) and the maximum available focal length of the rig on my shoulder, 400mm (the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II and the 2X III TC).

With the new 600 II and a pro-body you will have three useful focal lengths: 600mm, 840mm (the lens plus the 1.4X III TC), and 1200mm (the lens plus the 2X III TC). You will enjoy a considerably closer minimum focusing distance with the new 600. And the gap between the minimum available focal length of the prime lens alone (600) and the the maximum available focal length of the rig on my shoulder, 400mm (the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II and the 2X III TC), is greatly reduced.

And this greater versatility will be provided by a lens that weighs 1.1 pounds less than the 800…. For serious photographers with adequate budgets, the choice between the 800 and the 600 II seems to me to be an easy one.

So where does this leave me? As I was always able to make sharp images with my old 600 IS and the 2X II TC at shutter speeds as low as 1/60 sec., I will–with the 600 II’s 4-stop IS–have no problem at all doing that quite consistently with the new lens (when I get it) :). So the very great likelihood is that I will be selling the 800 f/5.6 at some point down the road.

So why did I also pre-order the 500 IS II? On some trips, say Antarctica, South Georgia, the Falklands, and the Galapagos, I will bring the 500 because the birds are tame, the 500 II will weigh nearly two full pounds less than the 600 II, and–with its smaller physical size, be easier to travel with. The 500 II will be imminently more hand holdable than the 600 II, great for photographing seabirds off of a large ship. And with the 500 II I will still have a nice maximum focal length of 1000 mm (with the 2X II TC). In addition, I will be able to rent either the 500 II or the 600 II to participants on (most) IPTs.

I am positive that the 800 will always be a great lens for bird photography, and that it will always be in high demand. The price of used 800s will surely come down a bit as some folks will switch from the 800 to the 600 II. So will the 800 f/5.6L IS lens become obsolete? Not in my lifetime!

Shopper’s Guide

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 600mm f/4L IS II. This one will surely replace my 800 f/5.6L IS….
Canon 500mm f/4L IS II. I cannot wait for this lightweight beauty.
Canon EF 1.4X III TC. This new TC is designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EF 2X III teleconverter. The 2X III is a bit sharper than the 2X II.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Gitzo 3530 LS Tripod. This quality tripod will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
Double Bubble Leve.l You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am on a tripod and not using flash.
Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

April 4th, 2011

Gear Stuff & My Comments on the Squabbling Eagle Images

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This image was made from the boat near Homer, AK with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (hand held at 185mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. 7:05 pm. Evaluative metering +1 stop off the blue sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/5 in Manual mode.

I am down to 1250 images from the Homer trip. After the next edit I should be well below 500. I probably created more than 7,000 images during my 12 days of photography. I found this one sort of by accident. I love the soft, low angled light. I love the sweeping wing positions and the way that the bird is angled towards us. There is one thing that I do not like about the image. Only one…. If you think you know what it is, do feel free to post a comment.

Apologies

Sorry about the mis-fire earlier today. I accidentally hit Publish instead of Preview and that mistake was followed by a comedy of errors :). All is now well with the world.

BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #368

BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #368 is on line and can be viewed here.

FEATURES

THE HOMER IPT REPORT
ANNOUNCING THE OCT/NOV 2011 HOMER IPTs
GALAPAGOS JULY 2011 OPENING
ASSORTED BAA KUDOS
THE BLOG IS THE BOMB!
TODD GUSTAFSON ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TELEVISION
USED CANON GEAR FOR SALE
POSSE NEWS/ROBERT AMORUSO/ROBERT O’TOOLE
POSSE NEWS/JIM NEIGER
SHOPPER’S GUIDE
IPT UPDATES

The great stuff, above, plus 13 really good images, eight of those mine with our legendary BAA educational captions. Be sure to see the news about the Homer IPTs and the single opening on this summer’s Galapagos Photo Cruise.

GEAR STUFF

I swear, I must answer 50 e-mails a week from folks asking questions about photographic gear, mostly about lenses. Below are two.

Here is an e-mail exchange with Nancy Bell:

AM: Howdy, re:

NB: I just want to say thank you and THANK YOU!!!

AM: YAW.

NB: I just purchased the Digital Basics PDF and the Mark IV users guide. Your teaching and writing skills have provided super-valuable information that NOBODY else provides. I have learned more from these two guides than I have from reading manuals that seem way too general and do not provide the nitty-gritty details for using either the camera in the field or Photoshop. Thank you for putting in your time and talent into producing these and your other great guides. You are a generous man and I am grateful to have spent time with you last year on the SW Florida IPT. I enjoy learning from your blogs and the abundant information provided by all on BPN.

AM: Thank you for your kind and supportive words.

NB: Now just a quick question.

AM: Ah, so you were just buttering me up 🙂

NB: I have the 400 DO lens and now the Mark IV (yeah!), as well as the older 70-200 f2.8 IS L lens and the old 1.4 II teleconverter. Could you recommend adding the new 2x III teleconverter to this setup? I have always heard that a 2X degrades the image substantially and of course, uses 2 stops of light. At $500 I only want to add a very useful piece of equipment.

AM: Have you seen the images on the blog made with the 70-200 and the 2X III TC? They are amazingly sharp. Do know that I have been using and making professionally sharp images with 2X teleconverters with my f/4 super-telephoto lenses for close to a decade. Yes, the images made with any TC are not as sharp as images made with the prime lenses alone but they are so sharp to start with that with good technique most folks should be able to create critically sharp images with either the 500 or 600 f/4L IS, the 2X II or III TC, and any pro body. Period. That said, the 2XIII is only marginally sharper than the 2X II. And the two 1.4X TCs are about the same as far as sharpness. As I have been saying for many months, the biggest advantages with the Series III TCs will likely be seen when they are used with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses. The availability of the new lens will surely be delayed substantially by the recent tragedy in Japan. I love my 70-200 f/2.8L IS II with the 2XIII so much that will be selling my 400 DO very soon. The only thing that I will miss is the 400 DO with the 1.4X TC…. See the mockingbird image and related comments here. It pays to subscribe to the blog and enjoy tons of great free info 🙂 later and love, artie

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This is another 2nd pick that I have come to like a lot. It was created from the boat near Homer, AK with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (hand held at 222mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. 7:05 pm. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops off the white sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/4 in Manual mode.

To soften the look of the snow covered mountain-side at the bottom of the frame I created a Quick Mask and applied about a 20 pixel Gaussian blur.

And another with Brenda:

AM: Hi Brenda, re:

B: I am a long time reader and occasional purchaser of items from your site. I really enjoy your blog and the Bulletins. I live in Galveston, Texas. My main photographic interest is birds. My current equipment consists of a canon 50D, a recently-ordered Canon 7D, a Canon 100-400mm, a 400mm/5.6, a 24-70L/2.8 and a Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM UD. The lens that stays on my camera the most is the 400/5.6. I have been reading the excellent reviews of the new Canon 70-200 and 2x teleconverter combo and was thinking of purchasing one and selling my 100-400mm.

AM: Given that you own the 400 f/5.6, the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II would be a great choice… Heck, with the 2X you could even think of selling the 400 f/5.6 though it is a bit lighter… And you would have IS.

B: I think that the IS would help. I do not currently own any teleconverters. If I purchase a TC should I buy the new version in case I buy a new 500mm in the future.
AM: Only if you can realistically afford the new Series II 500mm.

B: I love shooting birds in flight and I have great opportunities to photography migrating warblers. Much of the time the 400 f/5.6L Is too much lens for the breeding birds at the High Island rookery but is not long enough for the warblers. I am hoping that the 7D will allow me to make tighter crops. I have not used the 7D yet.

AM: In my opinion you would much be better off with a 500mm lens and a 1.4X TC for the warblers. As more pixels are stuffed onto a small sensor, image quality begins to suffer as the pixels are smaller (in this case 4.7 microns for the 50D as compared to 4.3 microns for the 7D). So you would not gain very much if anything by cropping 7D images….

B: I have an upcoming June trip to Alaska.

AM: Have a great trip. I hope that my comments helped a bit 🙂

My Comments

Though I liked both of the two squabbling eagle images here, I felt that the top image, the one with the right wing of the juvenile clipped in the middle of the primaries, was the stronger by far. I like that we have a clear view of the young bird’s face and I like the fact that the adult is looking at the young bird rather than at the fish they were fighting over. The final tally was 10-6 in favor of the top image, the one with the clipped wing. (I did not count Clear Ken’s vote as he posted that he was clearly confused :)) Do not that I am fine with the wing which has actually been cut rather than clipped. I often teach, “Cut don’t clip.” And that is just what I did with the top image. Had I zoomed wider the image would have lost a ton of its impact.

Note: the folks who liked the bottom image best were not “wrong.” Everyone did a fine job of making the case for the image that they chose. And there were lots of things about the bottom image that I liked. A lot.

Shopper’s Guide

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot–depending on the situation–with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon 2X III teleconverter. I use this with both the 70-200 and with the 800 (the latter while focusing in Live View as described in our Mark IV User’s Guide).
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

April 2nd, 2011

Bald Eagle Squabble #2/Which Do You Like Best?

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This image was created near Homer, AK with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 2XIII TC (hand held at 238mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops off the sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode.

Bald Eagle Squabble #2/Which Do You Like Best?

The image below was featured in the previous post: Bald Eagle Squabble/Interactive Photoshop Lesson. The image above was the next frame in the sequence. Which do you like best, the top image or the bottom image? Be sure to let us know why.

Do see the excellent comments on the before and after Photoshop images here: Bald Eagle Squabble/Interactive Photoshop Lesson.

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To foster the learning experience here, i have included a screen capture of the BreezeBrowser main view screen for the top image below.

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I use and depend on BreezeBrowser every day of the year. It allows me to sort my keepers and deletes faster than any other browsing program. We use it on the main computer to to catalog our images file drawer style. And the companion program, Downloader Pro allows me to download my images quickly and conveniently. It automatically adds my IPTC data and the location. It creates a folder named by the Month/date/year. The Breezebrowser/Downloader Pro saves me hours of time each week. To learn earn more or to purchase, click here.

Things of note on the Main View page for the top image:

The active focusing sensor was off the subject at the moment of exposure yet the image is razor sharp. Why? As explained in the Mark IV User’s Guide I set CFn III: 8 to 1: Left/right AF point. In addition, also as per the MIV UG, AF expansion w/selected pt. is one of the items in my My Menu Settings. Both the M IV UG and the 7D User’s Guide help you select items for your My Menu Settings and teaches you how to set up this time-saving feature. I access my My Menu Settings dozens of times during each photographic session.
My AF micro-adjustment was set to -4 for a specific lens/TC/camera body combination. To learn about micro-adjusting your gear, see the Lens Align Mark II Tutorial.
You get to see the image as it came out of camera. The work that I did in Photoshop was quite similar to the work that I did on the bottom image. That work is detailed in the Comments here: Bald Eagle Squabble/Interactive Photoshop Lesson.

Shopper’s Guide

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

March 31st, 2011

Bald Eagle Squabble/Interactive Photoshop Lesson

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Bald Eagle Squabble/Interactive Photoshop Lesson

The optimized image is above. The original capture below.

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This JPEG represents the original, the converted RAW file.

The adult and the immature (the dark bird) were squabbling over the codfish that we had put out for them on a spit. I had swapped out the 1.4XIII TC for the 2XIII TC so that I would have more reach when photographing single birds. Here of course I needed to zoom well out from my 400mm maximum focal length.

Obviously I did lots of work here in Photoshop; I spent about 30 minutes on the image. Leave a comment and let me know what changes I made (there were many!) and what Tools/techniques you think that I used to make them. Here is how we will play the game: each of you may comment on one change and how you think I implemented that change. Those who own and have studied Digital Basics will of course be on top of things. Then I will respond to each comment.

Shopper’s Guide

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

March 30th, 2011

Insanity, Exhilaration, Exhaustion, & Home

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This sunset silhouette was created with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/5.6. From the shore. I moved this bird back in the frame in about ten seconds using the ” Composition Correction: Increase Lead Room Without Cropping/Basic” technique from Robert O’Toole’s APTATS II. And then I cleaned up the sky a bit with a series of small Quick Masks and some Clone Stamp Tool work as described in the recently updated Digital Basics File.

Insanity, Exhilaration, Exhaustion, & Home

I awoke at 4:58 am on Sunday, March 27th to crystal clear skies above Homer, AK. We got on the boats at 8am and were in position well before the sun cleared the Kenai mountain range behind us. It was my 11th straight day of photographing eagles pretty much non-stop. On Saturday morning I had been so fatigued that when I acquired focus and my brain told my right pointer finger to press the shutter button most times nothing happened. And yes, it was fatigue not cold fingers…. My brain and my body were simply frazzled. I was, however, thrilled that the last IPT group would get to enjoy a clear sunrise. And my brain and body were energized by the fine weather.

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (hand held at 280mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops off the blue sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. From the boat at 8:56 am.

I just loved photographing the eagles in early morning light. I tried to teach the group not to depress the shutter button until just before the moment when the underwings were completely and evenly lit (as in the image above).

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (hand held at 205mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop off the blue sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/7.1 in Manual mode. From the boat.

This image was created more than an hour later than the previous one at 10:13 am. Note the somewhat harsher light (despite a thin cloud in front of the sun). The calmer water in the background was a result of the wind having dropped out.

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This image was created with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +2 2/3 stops off the white sky: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6. From the shore.

After our thank you lunch at Fat Olive’s–we had 20 folks in attendance, we conducted a lengthly critique session at the Land’s End Resort where we were based. Then we headed out late on a beautiful afternoon. We set up on a spit and had a lot of eagles flying right at us into a brisk wind. But nobody noticed the huge, dark, gray cloud until it slid in front of the sun…. We continued photographing despite that fact that it kept getting colder and colder and darker and darker. We kept raising our ISOs and adding light to our exposures. With some noise reduction in ACR during conversion following by additional NR in Photoshop, I would have to say that the Mark IV at ISO 1600 handled the noise quite nicely. (You can learn both of these NR techniques and tons more in the recently updated Digital Basics File.

As you can see in the image above, we were photographing the landing eagles against a background of distant headlands. Several folks (including me) were losing focus whenever the sensor dropped off the bird for a moment; we were getting extremely frustrated. I instructed everyone to use the trick that I developed and describe in detail on page 14 of the MIV User’s Guide and on pages 25 and 26 of the 7D User’s Guide as well. Doing so made all the difference in the world as we easily maintained focus. Participant Mike Gothelf could not believe the difference. “It’s like night and day” he said.

In the meantime it continued to get colder and colder. And darker and darker. Many folks wanted to leave. “Nope” I said. Do you see the clear strip of sky on the western horizon? We are gonna stick it out. We are gonna have a killer sunset. We did. Later on, participant Malcolm MacKenzie and several others stated that had they been there on their own, the would have left two hours earlier. Then they thanked me 🙂

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This is Spencer, one of our boat captains, tossing fish at sunset with trusty dog Daisy at his side. This image was created with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6.

It seemed like ages until the sun slipped slowly under the big gray cloud that had plagued us for two hours. To photograph the silhouetted eagles, we had to face right into a very cold 20-knot wind. I instructed out boat captain/guides to move farther up on the big sand ridge so that the eagles would be silhouetted against the brightest portion of sky. Soon everyone was freezing. But exhilarated. My hands were getting painfully numb and I began to shiver. Photographic conditions were beyond challenging. But most of us kept at it for more than 30 minutes. I found myself laughing with joy and shivering at the same time. Finally, as the light faded and the eagles quit, I gave up and we all headed back to the boats.

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This image was created with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/8000 sec. at f/8. This is the full frame original capture with about a 70% Multipy. With the +1 exposure compensation I was set up for silhouettes against the orange sky (as in the opening image here). An exposure compensation of -3 stops would have resulted in a much better exposure when this eagle unexpectedly flew right at the setting sun but I am not that fast 🙂 Heck, nobody is. For more on this image, check out my BPN post, Sunset Banding.

As it had begun to snow late on Monday, four of us caught the 7:30 pm flight from Homer to Anchorage, had dinner at the airport, and hung out at the gate until our 1:30 am flights to Salt Lake City. (I managed to sleep on a bench for two hours with Malcolm and co-leader Robert O’Toole watching my carry-ons.). And I slept for most of the red-eye flight to SLC and did lots of work on the laptop on my final leg to Orlando. I could not find my parking ticket and searched the B-parking structure at MCO for well more than an hour hoping to click on the lights of my SUV. Then I remembered that I had parked my Toyota in the lot at the Courtyard Marriott where I had stayed the night before flying to Alaska 🙂 You gotta love it. As a lover of what is (see the work of Byron Katie at TheWork.com) I simply smiled and was glad for my exercise walk. Years ago, I would have beaten myself up. I arrived at ILE just after 7:30pm on Tuesday evening. Insanity, Exhilaration, Exhaustion, & Home!

Shopper’s Guide

And from the BAA On-line Store:

March 28th, 2011

Tight or Wide? My Thoughts on Photographic Style and More

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Osprey leaving nest. This image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS L zoom lens (the older one) with the EOS-1Ds. Hand held at 100mm. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/1600 sec. at f/2.8.

For years, heck, for decades, my style has been to work clean, tight and graphic. Many of John Shaw’s flowers and the bird photographs of Rod Plank and Tim Fitzharris influenced my early efforts and I quickly fell in love with images that featured backgrounds of pure out-of-focus color. Images like that still float my boat to steal a phrase from my late friend Dr. Hugh P. Smith. (See “In Memoriam” here.)

Don’t get me wrong, I do love images that include lots of habitat. And I love environmental-type portraits with small-in-the frame birds and animals. But for me, the the surroundings need to be pleasing, even beautiful. When they are not, or when they are distracting, I do my best to eliminate the distractions usually by using long lenses and trying to work clean, tight, and graphic.

When folks post an image of a bird perched in a jumble of sticks where you can barely see the subject and defend their work by saying that they were only “photographing what was there,” I do try to make the point that what is there in nature does not always make a good photograph. As John Shaw has written, “The job of the nature photographer is to make order out of chaos.” When I find something in an image that is distracting and draws my eye from the subject, I simply state just that.

There are different strokes (and different styles) for different folks. Though I have strong opinions and often voice them I try my best to respect the opinions of others even when they are different from mine. I have put a lot of time (18,000 posts) and effort into doing critiques on BPN and have tried to lead by example. But I can only call things as I see them If I did otherwise I would not be being true to either myself, or to our mantra, “Honest critiques done gently.”

I love seeing great images whatever the style. Each of us needs to develop our own style based on our likes, dislikes, our skills and our equipment, our vision, and our personal experiences and preferences. Am I flattered that so many over the decades have emulated my style successfully? Yes, of course. But all that I have ever done is post my favorite images and comment honestly on the images posted by others.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on any or all of the above.

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This tight portrait of the head of a just fledged Osprey was created with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 320: Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. From my SUV with the BLUBB.

I love both of the images in this blog post. Both feature the same subject, Osprey. One very tight, and one wide. Only one of them is in tile behind my kitchen sink.

Shopper’s Guide

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Gitzo 3530 LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
Double Bubble Leve.l You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am on a tripod and not using flash.
Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.
BLUBB. The world’s greatest big lens bean bag. Designed by yours truly.

March 27th, 2011

What Makes a Great Bird Portrait?

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This image of a perched adult Bald Eagle was created with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/500 sec. at f/8 set manually after histogram/flashing highlights check.

What Makes a Great Bird Portrait?

Today we will take a closer look at the image above. It was featured in a recent blog post here.

What makes this an outstanding portrait?

The subject is beautiful. Even in Homer, adult eagles with clean white heads are tough to come by.
The perch, with its yellow lichens, has character.
The perch is angled. Introducing diagonals into your images is always a plus.
The soft blue background complements the subject perfectly
The out-of-focus background does not have any distracting elements.
The soft blue streaks at the bottom add to the image.
The very soft o-of dark band at the top serves as a frame.
The three quarters facing portrait shows off the bird and its breast feathers nicely.
The 45 degree head angle is perfect for this pose.
The feet and the talons are clearly visible.
The soft light is quite pleasing.
The image is sharp and properly exposed.
The WHITEs are bright yet detailed.
With the bird a bit back in the frame, the composition works well.

Can you add anything to the list? All of the principles detailed above (and tons more) are discussed in detail in The Art of Bird Photograph II (916 pages on CD only).

Here is a challenge for eagle-eyed readers. Can you find the difference between the image above and the nearly identical one that I posted here originally?

Shopper’s Guide

Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EF 1.4X III TC. This new TC is designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

March 25th, 2011

A Blurry Morning in Homer

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 210mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +3 stops off the white sky: 1/30 sec. at f/9. I like the pan-blurred background streaks in this image, especially those behind the bird.

A Blurry Morning in Homer

Thursday morning dawned foggy on the 1st day of the last Homer IPT. I started teaching zoom blurs right in the harbor (see the image below) explaining that with such low light levels thinking pleasing blurs was the way to go.

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This zoom blur was created in the harbor with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (handheld) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/3 sec. at f/16. I love the effect on the masts.

As explained in A Guide to Pleasing Blurs by Denise Ippolito and yours truly I zoomed from long to short, in this case from 280mm to approximately 150mm during the exposure. While we were in the harbor, several folks tried creating zoom blurs without much success. As we explain in the Blur Guide, though creating zoom blurs seems easy it does take a bit of practice to get the timing of the shutter release down pat.

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 210mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +2 2/3 stops off the white sky: 1/32 sec. at f/11.

The Glaucous Gulls are usually the first to respond to the tossed fish; most of the time they quickly attract the eagles. For the image above I used the Clone Stamp Tool to get rid of a blurred bill in front of the bill that you see in this image and then used a series of Quick Masks to increase the density of the bill that you see in the image. I needed to warp some of the Quick Masks and ended with a Gaussian Blur of the bill. All as detailed in Digital Basics and APTATS I.

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 210mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +3 1/3 stops off the white sky: 1/30 sec. at f/8.

For most folks it was their first morning with the eagles so in large part they understandably ignored my advice and tried to create sharp images of the fishing birds with high ISO settings. In the meantime, I was having great fun creating pleasing blurs.

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 210mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops off the white sky: 1/15 sec. at f/9. I love the blurred streaks of snow in this one.

At lunch that afternoon, and later on during our first classroom session, I shared about 50of my pleasing blur keepers. Though most in the group had stuck their noses up at the thought of creating intentional blurs, they loved many of the images that I had created that morning and are hoping for another dark, foggy morning 🙂

I predicted sun for the afternoon despite the heavy fog. My forecast was ridiculed. We did however, enjoy a mostly sunny afternoon filled with eagles. If you would like to learn to create pleasing blurs, do check out the Blur Guide.

Shopper’s Guide

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

March 24th, 2011

Enhancing Silhouettes

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens with the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 235mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/3200 sec. at f/5.6.

The optimized image is above, the original capture below.

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This is the original image converted at the ACR defaults with the image brightened by moving the Exposure slider to the right.

Enhancing Silhouettes

Most folks, especially members of the general public, love silhouettes that feature bright sunrise and sunset colors. Here are four tips for creating quality image files of silhouetted subjects when you are in the field:

Position yourself so that the subject will be directly between you and the sun at the moment of capture.
Strive to create the image when the bird or animal is positioned against the most brightly colored portion of the sky (or its reflection in the water).
Set your White Balance to K and dial in a color temperature between 8,000 and 10,000.
When working with intense colors, always use and check the RGB histogram to ensure that you are not burning the RED channel.

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens with the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 222mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/8000 sec. at f/5.6. (A bit of the bright sun was included in the original un-cropped image.)

The optimized image is above, the original capture below.

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This is a cropped version of the original capture.

If you are not blessed with a killer sunrise or sunset there is a lot that you can do at the computer when you are converting your RAW files to boost the color and enhance the silhouetted effect. Here are just a few:

Increase the (Color) Temperature.
Increase the Vibrance and/or the Saturation.
Adjust the Hue/Saturation/Luminance of individual colors via the HSL tab in ACR; resist the urge to move any slider more than 10 points as doing so will often produce edge and background artifacts.
To blacken your silhouette hold down the ALT key while moving the BLACK slider to the right until the subject shows as totally underexposed. The release the ALT key and move the slider to taste.
Adjust the Exposure and Brightness sliders as you would normally.

Learning to convert your RAW files in ACR is one of the dozens of digital workflow topics covered in Digital Basics. And the most recent free update includes a great tip on working with WHITEs during conversion to maximize detail.

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This image was also created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens with the 1.4X III TC (this time handheld at 280mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/2000 sec. at f/5.6. (The sun was well muted when I made this image.)

The optimized image is above, the original capture below.

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This is a slightly cropped version of the original capture.

Once you have your converted image in Photoshop there is lots more you can do to jazz up the color and blacken the Blacks. Here are a few:

Increase the Saturation.
Adjust the Color Balance.
Create a New Layer (Control A, Control J) and change the Blending Mode to Multipy./li>
Make Selective Color adjustments to the REDs, YELLOWs, or MAGNETAs. Adding BLACK can intensify color dramatically.
Open a Curves Adjustment Layer, go to the RED channel, and pull up the curves.
Blacken the Blacks with a Curves or Levels Adjustment layer or by adding BLACK to the BLACKs in Selective Color.
Add a RED or YELLOW Photo Filter.

You can learn to do all of the above and tons more in Photoshop in the recently updated Digital Basics File (on PDF only).

You do not always need a great sunrise or sunset to create dramatic silhouettes. And doing so after the fact can be great fun.

Shopper’s Guide

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

March 22nd, 2011

Finally, Finally, and Finally in Homer!

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This striking Bald Eagle silhouette was created last evening (Monday, March 21) with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens with the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 230mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/5000 sec. at f/5.6.

Finally, Finally, and Finally in Homer!

The second Homer IPT group (the first that Robert O’Toole and I are leading together) has been blessed. We enjoyed two out of four sunny mornings, no rain, and lots of great cloudy bright conditions. We had lots and lots of eagles and flight photography has been so good that folks have been quitting from fatigue and exhaustion. Many of run out of storage space; I have sold all but one of the Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro flash cards that I brought 🙂

But we had not had very good luck with perched birds. We had not had very good luck getting tight head portraits. And we had very little luck with sunset color. Until yesterday afternoon….

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This image of a perched adult Bald Eagle was created yesterday afternoon with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/500 sec. at f/8 set manually after histogram/flashing highlights check.

After getting off the boats we put out some fresh cod for the eagles. Within twenty minutes we were surrounded by about a dozen adult birds and a dozen younger birds of varying ages including several gorgeous birds of the year. Most of them were quite tame.

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This image of a calling adult Bald Eagle was also created yesterday afternoon with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/320 sec. at f/11 set manually after histogram/flashing highlights check.

The bird above allowed several of us to walk right up to it. When a young bird hovered right above it in an effort to steal its perch, it began calling.

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This image of the talons of a juvenile Bald Eagle was also created on Monday afternoon with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/250 sec. at f/16 set manually after histogram/flashing highlights check.

After downing two four pound codfish a gorgeous immature eagle sat on a driftwood log for about two hours. The group created a large variety of images using lots of different lenses. For these talon shots I work at f/16 and focus half way up the closest toe.

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This Bald Eagle silhouette was created on Monday evening with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens with the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 250mm) with the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6.

We left the dock at 3pm and did not return until nearly 8:30. Simply put, it was a memorable day.

Shopper’s Guide

And from the BAA On-line Store:

March 21st, 2011

Who, What, or Where is Ray Morris-Hill?

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Image copyright and courtesy of Ray Morris-Hill. On our lone sunny morning, Ray did a great job with sun angle to create this image of a group of the Dalmatian Pelicans with the snow-covered mountains in the background. He used a Nikon D3-S camera with a 24-70 lens hand held at 24mm. ISO 500. Matrix metering +1/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/8.

Who, What, or Where is Ray Morris-Hill?

Is Ray Morris-Hill a posh neighborhood in London? Or a skilled photographer living in the UK who enjoys photographing a wide variety of subjects including nature and especially people?

Ray Morris-Hill was the first person to sign up for the Greece/Lake Kerkini/Dalmatian Pelican IPT. We were on the same flight from London to Thessaloniki. Ray is a soft-spoken, easy going pleasant man. As nice a guy as you could hope to meet. The IPT turned out to be a huge success and everyone got along just great. If you missed the whole story, click here.

In my thank you letter to the group, I invited each participant to send me five of their favorite images from the trip. I was quite impressed with several of Ray’s images, so I visited his web site and was even more impressed.

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Image copyright and courtesy of Ray Morris-Hill. Here Ray used the Nikon D-3S with a 70-200mm lens hand held at 130mm to come up with an interesting composition involving several birds at varying distances. ISO 640. Matrix metering +2/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/7.1.

I am a self employed consultant specialising in the internet and catalogue home shopping market in the UK. I help small businesses with their financial and marketing strategy.

From Ray, “My passion is photographing living things – from fashion to portraits, from sporting action to wildlife. I was a keen film photographer in my twenties but then lapsed for more than twenty years. I bought my first DSLR two and a half years ago when I saw that digital cameras had become seriously good.”

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Image copyright and courtesy of Ray Morris-Hill. Again Ray used the Nikon D-3S with a 70-200mm lens this time hand held at 200mm. ISO 800. Matrix metering +1 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6. When Ray showed this image at one of our evening critiquing sessions the group let out a collective gasp of admiration. They key here was getting sharp focus on the lead bird.

Ray continues, “For the last twelve months I have been getting paid for some of my photography work and have been published in several magazines and newspapers. Most recently I was the official photographer for the London Chess Classic tournament. My photos from the event have appeared on websites across the world. The UK publication Chess used more than fifty of my images from the event. In addition, I was published in the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant and the US magazine Chess Life.”

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Image copyright and courtesy of Ray Morris-Hill. Ray created this feather abstract with the Nikon D-3S with a 70-200mm lens hand held at 200mm. ISO 1800. Matrix metering +1 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/8 set manually. After sharing some of my feather abstracts with the group many folks were inspired to begin creating their own.

More from Ray: “I think that I was the only member of the Lake Kerkini IPT who had not photographed with Artie before. I was made very welcome and learnt a tremendous amount from being immersed in such an intense photographic environment. Each day I ventured out with a mission to do better than the day before. I particularly liked the evening picture critique sessions. I didn’t have the best photos but what mattered was that I learnt how to make my pictures better.”

I received this e-mail from Ray in response to my thank you e-mail:

Hi Artie,

It was a great trip and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I know that when going to a place for the first time there is a chance that things won’t work out according to plan but I thought we could not have been more fortunate to have a great hotel, a friendly local restaurant, two enthusiastic fishermen, a terrific group, and of course birds aplenty. The weather was what I had expected; that sunny morning was a bonus. Thanks for all your help and instruction. I plan to write up some notes so that I don’t forget what I learned during the trip but that might take awhile. Best, Ray

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Image copyright and courtesy of Ray Morris-Hill. Here Ray created another sunny morning/snow covered mountain masterpiece, this time using the Nikon D-3S with a 24-70mm lens hand held at 70mm. ISO 500. Matrix metering +1/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/8.

Thanks Ray for joining us and for your kind words and for your loan of the images. If you enjoy seeing good general photography be sure to check out Ray’s galleries here. And if you enjoy seeing good images of beautiful women be sure to check out the three fashion galleries.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of that Ray used to make the images above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Nikon D3 S Digital Camera Body

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens

AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens

March 20th, 2011

Lens Align Mark II and Homer Follow-ups

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This image was created at 9:30 am in Kachemak Bay, AK on Saturday morning with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II with the 1.4X II TC (handheld at 280mm) and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400: 1/2000 sec. at f/5.6 confirmed by histogram check and set manually. Amazingly, it is a full frame vertical original. I was going for broke and got lucky; in the next frame, the wingtips at the top were clipped. For an interesting discussion of phase angle and to see how the folks on BPN helped me to improve this image, click here.

Lens Align Mark II and Homer Follow-ups

Folks are always asking how I get my images so sharp. In part, it is because I carefully micro-adjust my lenses every month. The day before I left for Homer I micro-adjusted both my 70-200mm and my 800 mm with the Lens Align Mark II. Once you get the hang of tethered-testing it usually takes only five or minutes at most to be confident of the accuracy of your results. To learn more about Lens Align Mark II and view the tutorial, click here.

Here are my current micro-adjustment settings:

800mm alone with MIV #1: +1

800mm with 1.4X III TC #1: +3

800mm with the 2X III TC: 0 (See below for Lens Align Instructions when AF is not possible)

70-200mm alone with MIV #2: +7

70-200mm with 1.4X III TC #2: +5

70-200mm with the 2X II TC: -4 (For some reason getting a consistent result for this combo took quite some time…)

As I own two 2X TCs I have labeled them as #1 and #2. I use #1 with the 800, #2 with the 70-200. The camera bodies can tell the difference between a 1.4X and a 2X TC but they cannot identify individual 1.4X TCs as different so it is important to always use the same TC with a given lens after that combo has been micro-adjusted.

In the comments here, Fred Solis asked:

“The Mark III doesn’t autofocus in Live View. What procedure do you recommend in this case, please?”

With camera bodies (or with lens/TC combinations like the 800mm f/5.6L IS/2X) that do not autofocus in Live View the procedure is simple. Set everything up as usual, magnify to 5X, and then focus manually. With telephoto lenses sharp focus will snap into place. The simple proceed as before noting and adjusting for any back- or front-focus issues.

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Same place and gear as above, this one at 9:02 am at 255mm. Though this one was created only 28 minutes before the vertical image above, note how much sweeter the light is. This has to do not only with the difference in the time of day but also with where I was pointing the lens in relation to the sun. In this image the light was much more behind me….

And Joe Herrick wrote:

“You are quite specific about utilizing the Image Stabilization (IS) during the process. Could you elaborate why this should be done versus no IS? Without opening the whole argument about IS and it’s behavior on a tripod, I have noticed a particular behavior with IS on my 7D. After the image is focused and I get the confirmatory beep, I then release the shutter button. It appears to me the IS disengages with a visible change in my image. I can notice the change through the viewfinder, on the camera view screen in live view mode, and when connected to the EOS Utilities. It appears the focus changes slightly? I tried alignment with the IS on and off. With IS on, during the alignment process the repeated calibration results were somewhat erratic. I had much more consistent results with IS off. Any suggestions would be welcomed.”

Joe, sorry to have taken so long to get back to you on this. After several e-mail conversations with top Canon technical representative Chuck Westfall, he stated, “In some instances IS might affect focus and thus make the micro-adjustment results less consistent.”

You will be glad to know Joe that my last round of micro-adjustments was done with IS turned off. Thanks for the heads up.

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This image was created from a drifting, rocking boat at 11:04 am yesterday with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/1250 sec. at f/8. The almost magical 4-stop IS of the 800 surely helped in this situation as did the recent micro-adjustment.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear mentioned above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot–depending on the situation–with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EF 1.4X III TC. This new TC is designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EF 2XIII teleconverter. The new 2X III TC is a bit sharper than the previous version, the EF 2X II TC.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

March 19th, 2011

Universal Advice for Better Flight Photography with a Zoom Lens....

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (hand held at 192mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1 set manually after histogram check.

Universal Advice for Better Flight Photography with a Zoom Lens….

I say it often to my groups and almost always with a smile on my face: “Here is universal advice for better flight photography with a zoom lens: zoom wider.” It happens all too often. You create a spectacular image, sharp, great light, the perfect exposure to go along with a killer pose. Only to find that you have clipped a wingtip or a toe or a tail….

Many folks calling themselves purists choose to delete such images. I choose to add canvas and repair/replace the missing wingtips, toe, or tail feathers. I always let folks know what I have done. And for those quick to criticize me in these cases my response is always the same: I can guarantee you that when I pushed the shutter button that the bird had the five missing primary tips….

Below is the original for the image above.

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There were three sharp frames in this series. Frame one is above. In frames 2 and 3 I had the whole bird in the frame but the pose was not as strong in either of those images as it was in the first one…. And of course, in the first one I had cut the primary tips…..

Usually in a situation like this it is easy to add canvas and then grab the primary tips from another image in the series. But in the next two frames several of the primaries were less than ideal candidates for transplant. I was able to grab the forth and fifth primaries from the second image in the series. I painted a quick mask of each of them individually, put them on their own layer, and used the Move Tool to bring each of them into the 1st image (one at a time). Then I transformed and warped the layer and positioned it carefully. For the third, fourth, and the tiny bit of the fifth primary tip I used a series of tapered and re-shaped Quick Masks of the individual feather that I was working on. I moved each into place and then added a Layer Mask to each to sculpt the feather. In addition I used the Clone Stamp Tool for edge and sky clean up and followed that up with some Patch Tool work to smooth the sky.

You can learn the skills needed for such complex repairs–this one took me about 45 minutes–in the recent update of Digital Basics and in Robert O’Toole’s APTATS I.

Shopper’s Guide

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot–depending on the situation–with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.
Canon EF 1.4X III TC. This new TC is designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

March 18th, 2011

First Day Homer Favorite

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This image was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC (hand held at 280mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1 set manually.

First Day Homer Favorite

Yesterday, Thursday, March 18, was a between-the-IPTs optional day. We had two full boats with two folks from Robert’s just concluded IPT and eight of the ten folks from the jointly-led IPT that starts today. Yesterday was typical Homer: we started with snow and ended with clear skies and sun with pretty much everything else in between. Today was supposed to dawn clear but the weatherman forgot to look out the window so our 8am start was delayed until 10am. About half of the group hung out in the lobby and enjoyed a 30 minutes session with Robert and I as we discussed many fine points of Bald Eagle photography most having to do with autofocus and exposure.

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This JPEG represents the original capture with no adjustments at all. I included it here so that you could see the crop and see what I did during the image optimization. As you can see, the image was originally a bit underexposed; even pros make exposure mistakes when the light is changing constantly:). Some of what I did with this image was done in ACR prior to the RAW conversion when I lightened the exposure a bit and then used the Recovery slider to bring the brightest Whites to 236 or below. Then I used the Fill Light Slider sparingly to brighten the image a bit more. All that plus my default settings.

Once I brought the image into Photoshop I did a bit of bill clean up, ran a Linear Burn on the head and bill and then reduced the opacity of that layer, and ran a contrast mask on the face to sharpen it. I used a Quick Mask with a Layer Mask added to cover one relatively large white discoloration at the base of the bill. I also did a bit of Eye Doctor work on the pupil, applied my standard Selective Color action to deepen the Blacks, and ran my standard Curves adjustment at 50% opacity to further increase the pop. Everything above is of course detailed in the fantastic MAR 2011 Digital Basics Update.

The image above is my favorite from our two boat trips yesterday. It was made just as the bird was beginning a dive and just as the sun broke through. I have tons of work to do and e-mails to answer so this will be it for now. I will be back asap 🙂

Thanks to all who have begun reading and making comments 🙂

Shopper’s Guide

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

March 17th, 2011

Since You Asked... & Comments on the Comments

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Yours truly photographing a baby Green Heron at Green Cay Wetlands in Boynton Beach, FL. Image copyright and courtesy of Fabiola Forns.

Since You Asked…

In the comments on the last blog post, I Can’t Believe That I Forgot This One!, Vikram wrote: “Hi Artie, Amazing shots. How far were you from the Green Heron when you took that shot? I am learning a lot of useful info from the Digital Basics File. Thanks for your hard work. Kind Regards

I wrote back, “Vikram, I was quite close, maybe three feet, maybe closer. The young bird, just out of the nest, was sitting on a railing. It was totally tame. I am glad that you are enjoying Digital Basics. We have sold a ton of them over the past few days; I guess folks want to learn how to use Layer Masks!”

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I posted the image above 🙂

Comments on the Comments

You all know that I have been working very hard on the Blog, and that I do think that it is “the bomb!” But I believe that many of you may be missing lots of additional information by failing to re-visit a topic that interests you and clicking on and reading the comments. Though a few folks need to work on their writing skills–it is hard to respond when you cannot understand what someone is saying or asking–there are lots of great great comments, questions, and answers. Click here and scroll down to see what I am talking about 🙂

As I was typing this post, two folks correctly answered a question that I had posed in the comments: “What it the only thing (besides speed) that I lose with the 70-200 2.8L IS II with the 2X converter when compared to the 400 DO?”

The answer? The main thing that I miss with the 70-200/2X combo is the ability to go to 640 while hand holding as I can do easily with the 400 DO and a 1.4X TC. I often need to do that when taking a walk without the big lens….”

(Important note: Several folks had problems with my math above. Obviously so did I 🙂 The 640mm is wrong no matter how you slice it… 400 DO X 1.4X = effective 560mm. 560mm X 1.3X (crop factor) = 728 equivalent focal length. Me bad :))

Below is an image that I made on the Galapagos with the 400 DO and the 1.4X II TC hand held. While taking a walk without the 800….

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San Cristobal (or Chatham) Mockingbird, San Cristobal Island, Galapagos. The bird would have been a lot smaller in the frame if I had only had the 70-200 with the 2X….

Safe in Homer

After a 21 hour travel day yesterday I arrived at the Land’s End Resort on the Homer Spit at 8pm Alaska time. It is snowing this morning. Today is an add-on day; ten eager photographers will be heading out at about 10:30 to photograph Bald Eagles 🙂 The second IPT begins tonight. Robert ran the first one on his own.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear (or the current replacement) that I used to create the mockingbird image above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens. A great everyday lens for folks who need something long and light. Pricey.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. The very best professional digital camera body that I have ever used.
Canon EF 1.4X III TC. This new TC is designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card. These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.

Sometimes I Even Impress Myself…

I gotta admit, sometimes I even impress myself.

Safe on Midway

Shopper’s Guide

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Safe in Honolulu

Gear Questions

Telephoto Lens-Related Questions/By e-mail from Kenneth Lui:

70-200 f/2.8L IS Question/By e-mail from Craig Mcarthur:

Lens Align MII Question/From Colin Smale via e-mail:

Shopper’s Guide

Photographic Risks and Rewards on Safari: A Guest Blog Post by Todd Gustafson

Let the Photo Come to You

TODD GUSTAFSON ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TELEVISION

Shopper’s Guide

Why Wide Open Works Well For Me

Shopper’s Guide

Why 32-gb Flash Cards?

Why Delkin e-film Pro?

Shopper’s Guide

Will the EF 800mm f/5.6L Soon Become Obsolete?

Shopper’s Guide

Apologies

BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #368

FEATURES

GEAR STUFF

Here is an e-mail exchange with Nancy Bell:

And another with Brenda:

My Comments

Shopper’s Guide

Bald Eagle Squabble #2/Which Do You Like Best?

Shopper’s Guide

Bald Eagle Squabble/Interactive Photoshop Lesson

Shopper’s Guide

Insanity, Exhilaration, Exhaustion, & Home

Shopper’s Guide

Shopper’s Guide

What Makes a Great Bird Portrait?

Shopper’s Guide

A Blurry Morning in Homer

Shopper’s Guide

Enhancing Silhouettes

Shopper’s Guide

Finally, Finally, and Finally in Homer!

Shopper’s Guide

Who, What, or Where is Ray Morris-Hill?

Shopper’s Guide

Lens Align Mark II and Homer Follow-ups

Shopper’s Guide

Universal Advice for Better Flight Photography with a Zoom Lens….

Shopper’s Guide

First Day Homer Favorite

Shopper’s Guide

Since You Asked…

Comments on the Comments

Safe in Homer

Shopper’s Guide

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Great Stuff

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