April 22nd, 2009
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| This adult male Indigo Bunting was photographed on a perch that I found along the roadside and set up at a feeder. The image was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6 L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, a 25mm extension tube, and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/80 sec. at f/8. This image was created after our set-up had fallen into shadow. I much prefer this image to those created in the late afternoon light. Once I switched to digital, cloudy bright days and shaded subjects became my very best friends. This image was my last Dauphin Island keeper…. |
The hospitality that Chris and I encountered on Dauphin Island was incredible. First we met Mike Rogers, a contractor from Mobile, who invited us to the beautiful home on the bay that he built with his Dad and served us a great crab and shrimp dinner. He introduced us to his friend Terry Hartley and the two of them went out of their way to show us the best spots. On day 2 they brought us to the home of John and Jennie Stowers who just happened to be serving a sumptous lunch to more than 100 folks who were attending the Alabama Ornithological Society’s spring meeting. That night Mike took us out to dinner! We had to work hard for each image as we did not encounter any fallouts of major proportions.  Mike and Terry introduced us to Chris and Michele Steber who served us a great lunch on their deck and allowed us to remake their yard in an effort to photograph the great birds at their feeders. Again, it required a lot of work as the birds were quite shy. We achieved success on our last afternoon on Dauphin after erecting a makeshift blind using a blanket that I keep int the back of my SUV to keep the gear covered. We hung the blanket between two trees (secured by gold-colored horsehoes), left it in place for a day so that the birds could get used to it blowing in the wind, and finally got to stand behind it while  photographing Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, and Red-breasted Grosbeak.Â
We awoke before 3am on Tuesday, left just after 3:30, and made it to Hill Country near Austin, TX 12 hours later with Chris doing the bulk of the driving.  As always, you can click on each image to enlarge it.
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| Three happy campers. Mike, center, was thrilled to hang with us and we did our best to help him become a better photographer. This image was created by Dick ??? who had been with me on a Point Pelee Instructional Photo-Tour about six or seven years ago. Chris Dodds is on your right. |
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| This Northern Parula was attracted to our position by playing a tape of its call. The image was created with the Canon 800mmm f/5.6L IS lens, a 25mm extension tube for close focus, and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/100 sec. at f/5.6. Fill flash at -2 2/3 stops with the Better Beamer (to concentrate the flash). |
The Better Beamer is designed to be used with telephoto lenses with equivalent focal lengths of more than 300mm: learn more here: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=4. In the original image here, the bill tip of the singing bird was–as expected because of the slow shutter speed–quite blurred. I created a Quick Mask of the sharp lower mandible from the previous frame, moved it to this image as an layer mask, and then, using the techniques described in APTATS, warped the lower mandible to create a perfect (and sharp) match.  You can learn the basics of Quick Masking (plus tons more) in our Digital Basics File (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252) and learn the advanced techniques from the APTATS CD here: http://www.birdsasart.com/aptats.htm.Â
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| This adult male Blue Grosbeak was photographed on a natural perch with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II teleconverter, a 25mm extension tube, and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/250 sec. at f/9. With the blowing grasses about ten feet behind the perch, they created a pleasing background. It is the distance between the perch and the BKGR that is most responsible for creating the out-of-focus backgrounds that I prefer. |
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| This adult male Rose-breasted Grosbeak was photographed on a natural perch above the feeder with the same gear as the rest. No flash. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/80 sec. at f/8. |
I removed a secong hanging vine from the background here using a variety of techniques described in Digital Basics.Â
Though we did not get to enjoy a major fallout, Chris and I made some great images on Dauphin Island and had an overall great time. I particularly enjoyed taking my health walks on the seaside golf course. We offer our heartfelt thanks to all of the folks who made our trip more enjoyable and productive.
April 20th, 2009 I should have mentioned that when we arrived we were greeted by chants of “You should have been here yesterday.” As it turns out, Thursday–the afternoon of the day that we should have been on Dauphin Island, was a big wave day with a large fallout of neo-tropical migrants. And we soon learned that the preceding Monday had been an epic day….
In any case, on our first afternoon, there was a single adult male Scarlet Tanager that was very tame. The problem was that he spent most of his time on the ground.   On occasion, he did pop up for a second or two.
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| This is a JPEG that represents the original capture. The image was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, one 25mm extension tube (to allow for closer focusing), and the Canon EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/60 sec. at f/7.1. The image looks pretty washed out as it should (with the histogram pushed to the right). The perch below the bird is a bit hot with just a few over-exposed pixels, and the several little branchlets are distracting. Though I knew that it would require a fair amount of time (it took me about 45 minutes), I decided to remove all of the offending branchlets. |
Below is a JPEG that represents the optimized master file.  I used a variety of techniques including one that I call “Protect and Defend.”  You can learn more about this technique here: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn275.htm. Scroll down to “A FREE DIGITAL BASICS EXCERPT: GETTING RID OF THAT BRANCH!”. The work involves using the Clone Stamp, a series of Quick Masks, and the Patch Tool.
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| Getting the rich color was simply a matter of making a Levels adjustment while holding down the Alternate key while moving the highlight slider and the shadow sliders. Lastly, I did a small crop after balancing the color and working on the REDs. |
You can learn all of the above techniques plus dozens and dozens more from our Digital Basics file (a PDF sent via e-mail). Click here to learn more:Â
April 19th, 2009
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| The Red-eyed Vireo was photographed with the Canon 800mmm f/5.6 L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and a 25mm extension tube. ISO 640. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/200 sec. a f.8. Fill flash with the Better Beamer at -1 13/ stops. |
After the great SUV repair-job adventure, Chris Dodds and I arrived in Dauphin Island, Alabama on Friday afternoon. There have been lots of birds but photographing migrant songbirds is always a huge challenge: fast moving subjects, thick brush, tight quarters, low light, too many birders in the way, and cluttered perches all combine to make your efforts frustrating and physically demanding and your best images hugely rewarding.Â
BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #288 had been online for a bit. You can find it here: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn288.htm. As always, you will find lots of great info and images with our now legendary educational captions.  Do see the offer of the “Fire in the Mist” Fine Art cancas prints.Â
While at the Spacecoast Festival in Merritt Island I was  interviewed by Steve Moore of  www.BirdWatchRadio.com. You can listen to that interview (along with 3 others including one with birder/bird-watcher/author Pete Dunne) by clicking here: http://www.birdwatchradio.com/podcast.htm.  Actually, you can either listen to it directly off the site or you can download it to your computer, I-pod or similar listening device.
April 17th, 2009 Well, Chris and I were supposed to be on Dauphin Island on Thursday afternoon but slept in the Brandon, FL motel that night.  I brought my Toyota Sequoia in for the 90,000 mile service even though I had only 80,000 miles on the vehicle.  I figured that it would be a good idea bring it in before the long trip, but worried that they would somehow screw up a good thing; the SUV had run perfectly for all 80,000 miles with only oil and filter changes at the local Jiffy Lube. Well, the service with the timing chain and a new water pump ran just a shade under $2,000. Â
 We sailed on Tampa Bay for spoonbills with Captain James Shadle on Wednesday morning and then headed to the motel to pack the car.  Just a few miles from the motel every warning light on the planet came on in the vehicle that followed by strange sounds from the engine and that by plumes of steam and smoke. The short story is that the hose to the thermostat was put back in place but that the mechanic neglected to clamp it…. A temperature sensor in the engine computer sensor was burned out.  We were not supposed to get my truck back until late Friday at the earliest but miracale of miricles, it by Thursday night and we were good to go in the morning and will be leaving for Alabama at 5:30 am. Yes, I am an early riser.Â
The mishap with the vehicle allowed us to spend a great afteroon at Fort DeSoto on Wednesday and Thursday morning with Jim Neiger on Lake Toho in search of Snail Kites.Â
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| This Roseate Spoonbill image was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6 L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark III body. ISO 500. Evaluative Metering +1 stop off the sky set manually: 1/1250 sec. at f/8. Whenever I am trying to create flight images I stop down a bit to f/7.1 or f/8 if I have enough light for a bit of extra depth-of-field. |
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| This image of a dancing fishing Reddish Egret was created with the handhled Canon 400mmm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/6.3. I find it much easier to handhold when trying to follow erratic action than to work off a tripod and in addition, it is easier to move side to side to stay on sun angle. I used 45-Point AAFPS to make it easier to hold focus as the bird veered and twisted about. |
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| This young male Snail Kite image was created witht the Canon 800mmm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/9. The key to create this image was using 45-Point AAFPS so that I could acquire focus with the bird in the center of the frame and then recompose without losing focus. |
Instead us allowing a challenging situation to get us really angry we saw it as an opportunity to explore new options and create some great images.
April 14th, 2009 Despite a somewhat scary weather forecast, I photographed this morning at Fort DeSoto Park south of St. Petersburg, FL with Chris Dodds (www.chrisdoddsphoto.com) and Linda Robbins, the Hummingbird Queen. It was cloudy and dark so we were all using high ISOs and fill flash. By about 9am a huge black cloud was creeping up on us from the west,  from out over the Gulf. We knew that we would need to exit soon and quickly. After concentrating on our avian subjects for a while, we all glanced up at the sky just as we decided to high-tail it back to the cars. We were stunned by what we saw. Just offshore of the park was the strangest, most beautiful cloud formation that any of us had ever seen. There were huge , angled, diagonal clouds that were oriented more vertically than horizontally.  They had white borders and were changing shape each moment.  They seemed almost alive, to be gaining strength with every passing seonnd. We all thought that we were witnessing the birth of a tornado. Linda was well ahead of Chris and me. Then, Chris and I had the same thought at the same time: “Let’s photograph this now and run for our lives later.”Â
In both “The Art of Bird Photography” and in ABP II (on CD only) I am pretty sure that I wrote something like this: “You should never be afield without a short zoom lens in your vest. On those days when you get lazy and leave it in your car, you will surely regret it.”  Well, there we were, two professional photographers out on the beach without a single short lens between us.  “OK, we’ll run back to the car, grab a short lens, head back out to the beach, photograph those amazing clouds, and then run like hell.”  As we ran, the cloud formation seemed to be gaining on us, and as we appoached the restrooms it began to hail and the wind began to scream. The temperature seemed to have dropped 30 degrees in seconds.  I had the fleeting thought that I was might die in a tornado.  By the time that we reached the car it was pouring, but the wind had subsided a bit so Chris and I grabbed the short lenses and ran the hundred yards back to the beach only to be greeted by a sky filled with boring gray clouds, a sky completely devoid of drama.Â
As the title of his post says, do as I say….. Not as I do.   Chris and I spent the rest of the day talking about what we had seen and eventually agreed that it was likely that the experience had surely been better than the images would have been.Â
Below is my favorite image from our too-short morning.
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| This worn first winter Herring Gull was scavenging a long-dead saltwater catfish. The image was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6 L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6 set manually. Fill flash with Better Beamer at -1 2/3 stops. |
The trick to using fill flash is to set the correct ambient exposure (the ambient light is the existing natural light) and then dial back the flash, usually to somewhere between -1 and -3 stops.  A perfect result is an image that features additional sharpness, balanced, natural looking color, clean whites, and most importantly, an image in which the use of flash is not obvious.  What you are looking for is just a splash of flash.  With this image I love the sharpness, the perfect use of fill flash, and the carefully designed composition with the bird’s angled body entering the frame exaactly from the upper left-hand corner. And the perfect head angle.
April 11th, 2009 There is often much debate as to whether or not diagonal elements of a composition should enter the frame from one of the corners.  As the images below show, I strongly believe that they should.   Your compositions will be more interesting and more powerful.Â
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| This image of a Great Blue Heron with nesting material was created with the handheld Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS 50D. ISO 400. 1/1000 sec. at f/8. Central sensor AI Servo AF. At the moment of capture the sensor was not on the subject but the focus held. Note that I composed the image so that the heron's breast angled into the frame from the lower right corner. The DO lenses are great when working from small watercraft as I was here. |
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| Same bird, similar composition, different light. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS 1D MIII. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/80 sec. at f/5.6. It is important to use the RGB histogram when creating silhouettes to avoid burning the RED channel. |
April 7th, 2009 As mentioned in the last post, the wind and weather on the morning of the 3rd made it one very tough morning.  With the wind quite strong from the west, there were fewer birds on the exposed beach, and most of the birds were taking advantage of the small bit of shelter offered by the beach vegetation. After I assessed the situation, I know that I would be able to create some images in which the vegetation played at least as important a part of the image’s success as the bird….
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| This was the first habitat image that I created. My eye was attracted by the somewhat sweeping pattern of the vegetation. If I had gotten closer I would not have been able to include all of the plant behind the bird. I used the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 1000. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/250 sec. at f/5.6. With the rather fierce wind, I raised the ISO to ensure a fast-enough shutter speed. Fill flash at -1 1/3 stops with the Better Beamer. The most important thing to note as far as the image design is that I was careful not to clip the tallest bit of vegetation on our left. |
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| In this version, I eliminated the o-o-f vegetation in the u-r-c. Which version do you prefer? |
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| Here, note how I have carefully chosen my prespective to frame the Royal Tern against the sand. I made several images once I got into position but knew that this one, with the bird looking out of the frame (for the best compositional balance with the vegetation on my left), would be my favorite. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/400 sec. at f/5.6. Fill flash at -1 1/3 stops with Better Beamer. |
Â
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| This and the image below were created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIII body. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/250 sec. at f/5.6. Fill flash at -1 1/3 stops with the Better Beamer. In this image, the bird's head is turned just a bit away from the imaging sensor. This head position is far from ideal. |
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| This image features a pretty much perfect head angle with the bird's head turned a very few degrees towards me. You need to be aware of the head angle before you press the shutter button! |
To learn more about proper head angle see the Head Angle Police thread on BirdPhotographers.Net here:Â http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7781Â And while you are there, be sure to check out the other great tutorials in Educational Resources here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30Â See you all soon.
Jeez, I keep forgetting to mention: if you will be visiting Fort DeSoto, do check out our Fort DeSoto Site Guide here: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=19.
April 5th, 2009 When I used film-yuck, yuck, and more yuck–I refused to photograph unless it was a clear sunny day. Now I pray for clouds and overcast. Digital outperforms film by light years in gloomy or cloudy bright conditions.  It is important to remember that if you are exposing to the right (as you should be) that the images on your camera’s LCD will look washed out and flat. That is exactly what you are aiming for. Two minutes in Photoshop and voila!Â
On the mornings of April 2 and April 3, I photographed at Fort DeSoto Park south of St. Petersburg, FL. On the first morning, conditions ranged from cloudy dark to cloudy bright with intermittent fog. The wind was from the south at 20+ mph. The next morning started out a bit brighter, again with strong south winds, but by 9:30am black thunderstorm clouds dominated, it began to rain heavily in short bursts, and the wind switched from south to southwest to west. Then I left :). I did have two large plastic trash bags that I used to cover my equipment when it rained heavily.Â
When working on light colored sand on cloudy days, every decent digital camera will require that light be added to the suggested meter reading to prevent underexposure. When the sun is not out, the meters are pretty dumb. How much + compensation that you will need depends on the brand, the model, and often on your individual camera. The trick is to create images with data in the fifth histogram box, the farther to the right without having any flashing (pegged) highlights, the better.  Â
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| Long-billed Curlew is uncommon at most Florida locations but can be seen reliably at Fort DeSoto. This image was created while I lay flat on the ground with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark II. ISO 800 (I told you it was dark): Evaluative metering +1 /2/3 stops: 1/200 sec. at f/5.6. Most of the images in this series were deleted as a result of unsharpness due to subject movement, the relatively slow shutter speeds, and the inability of the camera to hold accurate focus in a situation that was virtually without contrast. |
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| The Laughing Gulls and the Royal and Sanwich Terns that are breeding on Egmont Key often perform various courtship behaviors on the beaches at DeSoto in April and May. These copulating Laughing Gulls were photographed with the Canon 800mm f/5.6 L lens and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/1000 sec. at f/6.3. Fill flash with the Better Beamer at -1 1/3 stops. When working in overcast conditions you do not have to worry much about using the proper sun angle, that is, having your shadow pointed at your subject. I was working a group of terns right in front of me when I noticed the male gull's telltale copulatory flapping off to my right. I did not have to move much to get the image that I wanted. |
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| Some tern species, most notably Roseate Tern, often show a pinkish blush on their breasts just prior to the breeding season. The Sandwich Tern in this image is about as bright as it gets. Canon 800mm f/5/6L IS lens with the 1.4X II teleconverter and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/500 sec. at f/8. FIll flash at -1 1/3 stops with the Better Beamer. The trick to using fill flash is to get the right ambient exposure and then reduce the flash output so that the effects of the flash are barely noticeable. |
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| This is the original capture for the image above. When creating it, I positioned myself so that there would not be any merges of the two background birds with the subject. That accomplished, eliminating the o-o-f head and tail was easy work with a series of Quick Masks and some Patch Tool and Clone Stamp work. All of the above techniques (plus my complete digital workflow) are described in detail in the Digital Basics File: http://www.birdsasart.com/digitalbasics.htm. Advanced Quick Masking Techniques are detailed in APTATS: http://www.birdsasart.com/aptats.htm. |
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| Though this image was created with the 800 f/5.6 L with the 1.4X II TC, most of the terns and gulls at DeSoto are so tame that making images like this with a 300 or 400 lens and a 1.6X camera body is routinely possible provided that you get down on the ground and move slowly. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/9. Fill flash at -1 1/3 stops with the Better Beamer. To learn more about a Better Beamer or to order one, visit: http://www.birdsasart.com/accs.html#BEAMER. |
The images above were all created on Thursday morning. I will share some Friday morning images in my next post. I have to get ready for my upcoming Warbler Chase SUV trip wtih Chris Dodds. See here for the details on this new adventure: www.birdsasart.com/bn287htm.
April 2nd, 2009 When we set sail in the pitch dark from Gibsonton on the Hooptie Deux we could tell that it was a bit foggy.  When we got out to Alafia, it was quite foggy.  When things are not great, do not fall into the habit of wishing things were better. Think outside the box and try to make soup from a stone. Become a lover of what is. (Byron Katie: www.thework.com). Right off the bat, I decided to try and create some pleasing intentional blurs.Â
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| After we got out of the boat, I created this image with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark III after adding 2 2/3 stops of light to the exposure off the sky and setting it manually: 1/60 sec at f/5.6. ISO 400. |
As it was blowing pretty good and the tide was too high for the spoonbills to land on the mud flats or in the shallows as they usually do, we headed around to the lee side of the island.  I got lucky and caught this spoonbill just before it landed on a snag.
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| Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens with the EOS-1D Mark III handeld. ISO 400. 1/2000 sec at f/4. In situations when the sun is getting brigher one second, and then being blocked by a fog bank, getting the right exposure is tough. I worked in manual mode here, changing the shutter speed and aperture almost instinctively as the sun went in and out. |
There were lots of White Ibises flying overhead so I added the flash to light their undersides. One thing that folks need to realize is that with birds in flight, I am gonna be deleting well more than  90% of the images that I create.  I get rid of dozens and dozens of sharp flight images because the pose and/or the wing position are just not right. The image below worked well for me.
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| Canon 400mm IS DO lens handheld with the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering + 2/13 stops (it was pretty foggy): 1/640 sec. at f/5.6. Fill flash with the Better Beamer at -1 stop. |
We had some good chances with Brown Pelicans carrying nesting material once the fog burned off. Tip: Don’t quit making images when the bird gets really close; you might get lucky as I did here.
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| Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens handheld with the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400: 1/1600 at f/8 confirmed via histogram check. |
March 31st, 2009 BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #287 is on line now. Click here for the great info and images: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn287.htm
I am headed to the west coast of Florida to do some photography and a program for the Fort Myers Camera Club on Saturday. You can find details, times, location, and directions here: http://www.ftmyerscc.com/
I am leaving at 4:45 am Wednesday for a morning on the Hooptie Deux with James Shadle, and Al and Fabs Forns. Will let you know how we do.
March 30th, 2009 When attempting to photograph erratic flight or action, I will often choose AAFPS, All AutoFocus Points Selected as in most cases this make it easier to track the bird or to maintain focus on two birds that are interacting. On my last trip with James Shadle on the Hooptie Deux, we were headed back to the dock at Gibsonton at about 10:15 am when we passed some feeding pelicans. I arose from my stupor and screamed, “Stop the boat!” James did and we spent almost an hour with the diving birds.  The neatest thing was that they stayed in a relatively small area, the area that held the school of bait!Â
James did a great job of keeping the boat in perfect position relative to the wind and the light.  After trying central sensor only for a while, I switched to AAFPS; with the 50D, this entails activating all 9 AF sensors.   Nikon users should try Dynamic in these situations.Â
If you would like to get out on Tampa Bay with James, try e-mailing him at james@wildflorida.net or james@birdphotographers.net.   James is the BAA Nikon Answer-Man and will be glad to answer your Nikon-related questions via e-mail. He takes dozens of folks out each spring aboard his photo-customized pontoon boat.  To learn more about James and his spoonbill trips, click here: http://www.wildflorida.net/.
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| Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens handheld with the EOS-50D. ISO 400. Evalutive metering +2/3 stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1 confirmed via histogram check. |
David Kennedy made that possible with a telephone lesson! Thanks David. David is a graduate student at the University of Missouri pursuing a masters degree in photojournalism. You can learn more about David here: http://www.david-kennedy.com/blog/?page_id=2 or check out his informative blog here: http://www.david-kennedy.com/blog/. Both David and Dad Keith (killer macro insects) are multiple IPT veterans and skilled photographers.
March 29th, 2009 We have had many requests recently to publish the settings that I use with my two Canon EOS-50D bodies so here goes. Bulletins readers will note that they are almost identical to the settings that I used with my Canon EOS-40D body. I have, however, added explanations here where applicable. While some of these settings are camera specific most are generic and a good read may yield some worthwhile info for Canon users and general and even for Nikon or other brand users as many of the options are similar.
Menu Items
(Shown for the most part only if settings are different from the default settings).
Red Menu 1.
Quality: RAW. All serious photographers should be using RAW capture.
Red-eye: Off. Turn this on only when photographing people in low light situations.
Beep: On. I find the focus confirmation beep helpful.
Shoot w/o card: Off. Setting this to “On” can only lead to disaster. Why not take advantage of idiot-proofing?
Review time: 8 seconds. This is entirely personal preference. As I use the vertical grip with the two batteries battery life is not an issue.
Peripheral illumination correction. I do not concern myself with this at all as it prevents vignetting only with JPEGs and is much more of a problem when using full frame cameras with long lenses and wide open apertures. Various methods of dealing with vignetting in both Photoshop and in ACR (during conversion) are covered–along with tons of other great techniques and info and our complete digital workflow–in our Digital Basics File. Learn more here: http://www.birdsasart.com/digitalbasics.htm
Red Menu 2.
Color Space: Adobe RGB.
Picture Style: Neutral, customized as follows: Sharpness: 3, Contrast: 0, Saturation: -1, Color Tone: +1. With the Sharpness set at 3, I have never encountered a situation where the image is over-sharpened after conversion. The settings for Saturation and Color Tone are brand new changes that I hope will deal with the Red/Magenta cast in some images. the +1 Color Tone setting adds more Yellow (and possibly less Red). Others have had large Red/Magenta color casts; I wonder what there settings here are? Another important point, unless you are using DPP or Breezebrowser to convert, these settings are meaningless as they only affect JPEG images. If you convert with DPP or Breezebrowser the Picture Style settings are applied. If you convert with ACR (or anything else) they are not applied.
Blue Menu 2.
Highlight Alert: Enable. Working without Highlight Alert Enabled is like buying a Corvette without an engine. Your goal should be to have just a very few flashing highlights with each image; this assures that you will be exposing to the right as you should be. JPEGs show more than RAW files and a few apparently overexposed pixels can easily be recovered during the conversion process.
AF Point display: Enable. This is strictly personal preference.
Histogram: RBG. While I use the RGB histogram all the time, it is most important to utilize it when creating images of colorful sunrises and sunsets. At such times, it is easy to over-expose the red channel; you must guard against this and you can do so by taking a good look at the Red channel on the histogram. Of course it would be a lot easier to read and evaluate the histograms on all Canon cameras if they would put a light colored border around the histogram (as I and others have been suggesting for several years at least).
Yellow Menu 1.
Auto Power Off: 30 minutes. Lots of folks set this at 1 minute or 2 minutes thinking that they will save their batteries. Over the course of a lifetime they would save about 2 cents worth of electricity while missing dozens of great images as they wait that fraction of a second for the camera to wake up. Even worse are those who turn the cameras off constantly to save battery power…
File Numbering: Continuous.
Auto Rotate: ON/computer. This allows me to see verticals full frame on the back of the camera but see them rotated (and therefore smaller) on the laptop.
Yellow Menu 2.
LCD Brightness: one notch below the brightest. Folks think that this may make the image look over-exposed. You need to be judging your exposures by looking at the histogram, not at the back of the camera. A bright setting here helps me to view the histogram in sunny conditions. Oh for that yellow box around the histogram…
Date/Time: Make sure that the date and the time are set accurately at all times even when you travel to new time zones. It will make various aspects of your photographic life simpler and easier.
Custom Functions (Shown only if settings are different from the default settings).
C Fn I-group (Exposure).
C Fn I-3/ISO Expansion: 1: On.
C Fn-I-6/Safety Shift: Enable (TvAv). This will keep you in the ballgame when working in Av or Tv mode in rapidly changing lighting conditions.
C Fn II group (Image).
C Fn II-1/Long exposure noise reduction. I leave this on all the time as it will kick in only for the long exposures (that usually only occur when I am creating scenics, bird scapes, or intentional wind or waterfall blurs.
C Fn II-2/High ISO noise reduction. I leave this on Standard because running NR with the higher ISOs does not reduce the size of the buffer anywhere near as much as it does with the EOS-1Ds Mark III. My gut feeling with this and the previous setting (C Fn II-1) is that in-camera NR is to be preferred to any other type of NR, either during or after conversion.
C Fn II-3/Highlight Tone Priority: Enable. As far as I know, there is no reason to leave this off as enabling it increases both highlight detail and dynamic range for tones lighter than a middle tone.
C Fn III group( Autofocus/Drive).
C Fn III-1/Auto focus/Drive/Lens may be helpful to some when photographing birds in flight at a relatively consistent distance. If there are birds flying close by and others at a distance, the lens will not even attempt to focus when switching from the close birds to the more distant subjects, so with C Fn III-1 set to 1: Focus search off, you will need to pre-focus manually in most cases. Why go to all this trouble? Once you have locked focus with C Fn-1:1 set, the AF system is supposed to be less likely to drop the subject and search for a different subject if the sensor momentarily falls off the subject. This was and is an important issue with the EOS-1D MIII bodies, but the 50D does such a good job of focus tracking that I rarely switch from the default setting, C Fn-1: 0.
(Folks interested in the details involved in setting up C-Fn III-1, C Fn IV-1 and C Fn IV-2 are referred to the Mark III User’s Guide: http://tinyurl.com/2pumhq<
C Fn III-2/Lens AF stop button function. I only recently began setting C Fn III-2: 2 when I had a problem while handholding my 400mm f/4 IS DO lens (especially for flight or action photography). The index finger of my left hand, which I use to support the lens barrel, would inadvertently press the focus stop button that is located just this side of the lens hood. (Others using this lens may or may not have this problem depending on how exactly how they hold the lens when handholding.) In any case, with C Fn III-2: 2 set, accidentally depressing the AF stop button will lock the exposure rather than stopping focus.
C Fn III-6/Mirror Lock which is enabled only when needed, most often with macro work and/or long exposures.
C Fn III-7/AF Micro-adjustment. I have been happy with the AF accuracy if my 50D that I have not found it necessary to perform these adjustments. Again, users who would like to learn to do there adjustments are referred to the MIII Users Guide: http://tinyurl.com/2pumhq
C Fn IV group (Operation/Others).
C Fn IV-1/Shutter Button/AF-ON Button: 1 Metering + AF start/AF stop. Inspired by Jim Neiger, I have been using this set-up for quite some time now but still do not have 100% confidence in it. It is sort of the opposite of the old CF-4-3 setting that I used to use on occasion and that some good photographers use full time. With C Fn IV-1 set to 1, I keep AF set to AI Servo AF. The shutter button controls metering and AF, If you press the shutter button you get the exposure data and as long as you keep the shutter button half-way down, AF will be active and the camera will focus track. Now here is the key with these settings: Rather than having to switch to One Shot AF for static subjects when you need to lock focus and recompose, you can focus on the bird’s eye and hold down the star button to lock focus. (Be sure to see the next item so that you understand why you are pressing the star button rather than the AF ON button.) Now you can recompose the image by shifting the lens as need be; the point of focus will not change as long as you keep your thumb on the star button. It takes some practice but can be quite useful.
C Fn IV-2/AE-ON/AE lock button switch: 1: Enable. The functions of the AE-ON button and the star button are switched. Now, whether you are using the star button as AF-ON or as AF-OFF (as with C Fn IV-1 immediately above) you do not have to arch your thumb to reach the AF-ON button. In addition, these functions were always assigned to the star button on previous cameras and the star button was has always been in the same position, just to the left of the AF Grid button.
March 28th, 2009 On Friday afternoon I enjoyed some more cloudy weather and before my walk and again had a few good chances with one of the local Ospreys. I have been trying to use ISO 8oo more with my 50D to check out the noise.  I am finding that the noise is best controlled by pushing the histogram as far right as possible (as I did here).Â
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| This Osprey was photographed with the handheld 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-50D. ISO 800. Evalautive metering +2 stops off the sky: 1/2500 sec. at f/4 in Manual Mode. |
If you have previously been viewing distorted images, please let me know if this one looks OK. We are working on it <smile>.
I went out a bit this morning as the sun attempted to break through the clouds. I saw a flock of Wild Turkeys with two big toms displaying but they were in a horrific spot with cars and sheds in the BKGR so I drove away and scouted a bit. When I returned, they were in much better position.
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| This image was created with the Canon 70-200mmm f/4L IS lens handheld at 135mm. ISO 800. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/1600 sec. at f/4 in Av Mode. |
Tomorrow, by popular demand, I will be sharing the details of how I set up my Canon EOS-50D camera bodies. See you then.
March 25th, 2009 The cloudy, breezy afternoon weather here of late has been great for my three mile daily walk. In addition, it has made for some good photgraphic opportunities. (I love white skies.) There are more Ospreys down by the lake than in recent years and many have been carrying moss for their nests. My favorite flight photography combo has been the Canon EOS-50D and the lightweight but pricey Canon 400mmm f/5.6L DO lens.  I have written extensiveley of the 50D’s fabulous autofocus tracking accuracy in recent Bulletins–you can visit the archives, which have a great search feature, here: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn.html. Though I have stated clearly that the 50D tracks birds in flight more accurately than any Canon camera that I have ever used, we get lots of e-mails from disbelievers.  You can also find a great BPN thread on the subject here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=29716.
The first three images are a sequence. Note that the bird remains in sharp focus even when it flies behind the telephone pole.
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| The image below is my very favorite from the afternoon. It was created it as the bird landed atop the pole. All images as follows: ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops at f/6.3., AI Servo AF/central sensor only. (The shutter speeds varied depending on framing. If that is confusing to you see the ABP/ABP II sale here: http://www.birdsasart.com/books.html). |
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To see this image larger, click here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=232556#post232556,
March 22nd, 2009 For those having image distortion problems related to their browsers, we apologize but will be unable to deal with that problem until we are able to customize Word Press; that will not happen for a while as I am hoping to get my taxes done on time for the first time in years. Anyone who has a solution is of course welcome to e-mail us at birdsasart@att.net.
I had the alarm set for 4am early on Friday morning. I was asleep before 9pm but woke with unabated excitement at 2:07am. I finished a Sudoku puzzle and then gave up on getting any more sleep.  Spoonbills can do that to you. I met Captain James Shadle at the dock at Gibsonton.  He had a single client, Randy Stout, who had been on the BIRDS AS ART SW FLA Post X-mas IPT. He has since become quite active on BirdPhotographer’s.Net (BPN: It Ain’t just birds; honest critiqutes done gently.)  You can see our Image of the Year here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/.
In any case, we were out on the bay in the pitch dark marvelling at the phosphorence in the wake of James’ pontoon boat, the Hooptie Deux. Soon after that we had some nice pre-dawn ibis blast-offs.
Here is an image I made with the 800mm lens alone and the EOS-1D MII (ISO 500: 1/1250 sec. at f/6.3 in manual mode. Evalutive -+2/3 stop off the low blue sky and then confirmed via histogram check):
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| I added canvas right and eliminated a variety of minor but distracting BKGR elemens. Once we had several birds in front of us on the mud flat I wanted to sit down in the water for a lower angle. I shortened the legs on my Gitzo 3530 LS tripod and pulled out the leg tabs. I was wearing my lightweight chest waders without a belt. I spread the legs of the tripod and attempted to sit down behind my rig in about 18 inches of water. The problem was that I began to float…. James called out that the water was about an inch from going over the top of the rear of my waders as my bouyancy attempted to tip me over backwards and he left his rig to give me a hand. Now I had a bigger problem. As I struggled to gain control of myself and my rig I pretty much lost control of the 800 lens with a Mark III on it. Two or three times the camera body came within 1/2 inch of the salt water. Finally, with James’ help, I regained control, pulled the tripod legs together, pushed in the leg tabs, and got on my knees–not my favorite position–behind the tripod, and made some images. It was a close call and I believe that disaster was averted only because I did not panic. Anyway, below is my favorite image from that little adventure. It was created with the 800 f/5.6 L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS 1D MIII. ISO 500. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/9 set manually. |
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| Anyway, below is my favorite image from that little adventure. It was created with the 800 f/5.6 L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS 1D MIII. ISO 500. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/9 set manually. |
If you are or will be in Florida at any time during the next six weeks do make sure to give James a buzz, get out on Tampa Bay, and enjoy some quality opportunities with one of Florida’s most sought-after species. You can reach James via e-mail at either of these addresses:   james@wildflorida.net or james@birdphotographers.net or on his cell phone:     813-363-2854. It is better to keep trying than to leave a message.  To learn more about James click here:  www.wildflorida.net.
March 19th, 2009 I wake up at my home-office at Indian Lake Estates (ILE), Florida about half of each year.  (Don’t ask me where the estates are….)   In any case, ILE consists of 450 modest homes on 4,000 acres surrounded by 17,000 protected acres on the Lake Wales Ridge. My late masseuse, John Lynott, told me that he saw a Florida Panther in the yard of the local church about 20 years ago, and there are Panther Crossing signs on SR 60 that I travel regularly.  On some mornings and even more rarely, on some afternoons, I do get out for an hour to photograph. The tame Sandhill Cranes make good subjects year round, and in early spring there are always some chicks about. In several months they grow to handsome colts.  The current issue of My Big Backyard (i.e., Ranger Rick for younger children), featured my image a large chick taking a sip of water and a spread of baby sandhill images inside. Do not laugh: they pay very well.Â
On the morning of March 15 I created two images that I liked; each required some special handling in Photoshop. The first image was of a displaying Boat-tailed Grackle. I photographed it from my vehicle near a golf course pond with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-50D on the BLUBB (the BAA Big Lens Ultimate BeanBag).  I began photographing the  bird from a spot just off sun angle when I noticed that if I moved forward a few yards I would be able to separate the three twigs and later, clone out the two distracting ones. I moved the car forward right to sun angle; fortunately the vehicle did not fall into the pond. The problem was that the very best pose was created right off the bat. The solution: I borrowed the foot from a later frame using a Quick Mask, covered the merged twigs with the borrowed foot, rotated and scaled the selection, and finally erased the two extra twigs with the Clone Stamp.
Here is the final image:
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| I liked this pose best because of the wonderully flared tail. BTW, ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/1000 at f/8. |
I found an Osprey sitting on a low post with some dried moss for its nest. Lens and set-up same as above. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/8. With the 50D you need to be more careful about burning the whites in bright sun than with the MIII bodies.Â
When I viewed the image on my laptop (where I optimize all of my images) I was dismayed to see a large nail in the post. Using the Clone Stamp, the Patch Tool, and a series of Quick Masks, I eliminated the nail and shorted a single long stem of grass that had inesected with the bird’s body. Â
Here is the image out of the camera:
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| Here is a close-up of the offending area. |
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| Here is that same section after I cleaned it up. |
All of the techniques that I used for the cleanup (as well as our coplete digital workflow and dozens of great Photoshop tips) are described in detail in our Digital Basics File. You can learn more here:
http://www.birdsasart.com/digitalbasics.htm Â
Finally, here is the final image:
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| Here is that same section after I cleaned it up. |
Notice the perfect look-back head angle.
Oh, by the way, when Jim, Jim Litzenberg,  my right hand man, came back from his morning walk (except in summer, I walk in the afternoons), he told me that he had seen a Florida Panther just two blocks from home….  All of you who have dealt with Jim on the phone know that he is personable, efficient, helpful, and friendly. If you would like to meet him, click here:
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=31956
Lastly, here is a killer image of me in action created by Jory Griesman, click here:
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=32199
March 17th, 2009
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| On a nice afternoon at Little Estero, the fog swooped in like some mythic creature. Rather than quit, I suggested that we begin making intentional blurs explaining that getting one great one was like winning the lottery. The image above was created with 70-200mm f/4L IS lens handheld at 78 mm with the 50D. Evaluative metering + 1 1/3 stops in TV mode: 1/8 second at f/29. Much better would have been to have had the correct 9-stop neutral density filter for the 70-200 f.4; then I could have used a much wider aperture to avoid maximizing the few dust spots. A start in that direction would have been to go from ISO 400 to ISO 2oo. |
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| When an IPT visits the Venice Rookery in the morning I have a great afternoon spot about an hour away for both Brown and White Pelicans. The green swatch in the water (that I love by the way) is the reflection of a pressure treated piling.. This image was made with the much maligned 100-400 IS L zoom lens handheld at 120mm with the EOS-50D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/1600 at f/7.1 in Av Mode. |
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| Early on still mornings at Estero can be magic but only if you are in the right spot at the eastern end of the lagoon where the sun comes up over the Gulf and a distant spit. This image was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/10 sec. at f/5.6. The 800 features a new 4-stop IS system that at times seems close to miraculous. I have made sharp images at shutter speeds as slow as 1/6 sec. |
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| Being at Little Estero Lagoon on a low tide with little wind and the sun just coming over the condos can be pure magic, especially when there is a natural feeding spree. This Snow Egret was photographed on just such a morning with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/8. |
March 15th, 2009 On the morning of March 14 I photographed at Little Estero Lagoon in Fort Myers Beach, FL with IPT veterans Brendan Quigley and Bob Blanchard. While we were amazed that there were so few herons and egrets around we still had lots of great photo opps.  The bridge over San Carlos Pass was closed for most of the morning for a parade so it took us a while to get to breakfast lunch. Brendan took us to First Watch on the corner of College and Cleveland where we looked at images and had some great chow.Â
The SW FLA IPT report will be coming soon.Â
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| Mottled Duck, drake, Little Estero Lagoon, Fort Myers Beach, FL, Image copyright 2009: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark III on the Mongoose M3.5 atop the Gitzo 3530LS CF tripod. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/11. Getting flat on the ground yields intimate images but you need to be willing to get wet and muddy as I did here. I went for some extra depth of field here knowing that with the bird swiming slowly that 1400 sec. was plenty fast enough for making sharp images. |
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| Wilsons’s Plover on beach, Fort Myers Beach, FL, Image Copyright 2009: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark III on the Mongoose M3.5 atop the Gitzo 3530LS CF tripod. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops set manually: 1/320 sec. at f/10. This image is a stitch pano created from three horizontal frames , combined in Photoshop CS3, and then cropped from the righ. To merge the images click on File/Automate/Batch/Photomerge. Whenever you see something that looks great long and low, think stitched pano. |
March 13th, 2009
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| Sandhill Crane flock at sunrise, Bosque Del Apache, NWR, NM. Image Copyright 2009: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens handheld at 135mm with the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2 stops: 1/400 sec. at f/5. Mid-rage telephoto zooms are extremely valuable at Bosque. This group of cranes was heading north for good so we were actually watching migration in progress. |
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| Northern Pintail, hen swimming, Bosque Del Apache, NWR, NM. Image Copyright 2009: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark III on the Mongoose M3.5 atop the Gitzo 3530LS CF tripod. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/200 sec. at f/10. Most folks do not realize that you can get some nice reflections and killer backgrounds by photographing from the far right-hand end of the flight deck just after the sun has come up. When the main impoundment has high water levels and is clear of vegetation as it was this year, the ducks are constanly swimming back and forth right down sun angle. |
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| Nine Ducks on Cloudy Morning, Bosque Del Apache, NWR, NM. Image Copyright 2009: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Canon 24-105mm lens handheld at 28mm with the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/125 sec. at f/22. Many folks are turned off when conditions are not spectacular. “Gray clouds instead of red and orange and yellow…. Nine swimming ducks instead of 10,000 geese in flight…. Jeez, what luck. Things are lousy.” Good photographers think more in terms of making soup from a stone. And so should you. Just open your eyes, note the things that interest you, see the patterns, select the best tool (lens) for the job, and get to work making pleasing, effective images. |
March 12th, 2009 After I attended the NANPA Summit in Albuquerque, I led a 2 1/2 DAY IPT to one of my soul places, Bosque del Apache NWR in San Antonio, NM. As always, we stayed at the Socorro Super 8 in the north end of town and ate lunch and conducted our classroom sessions at K-Bob’s right next door-the fajitas are great.  When you visit Bosque, be sure to patronize these two establishments; each hosted the NANPA High School Program; K-Bob’s provided complimentary meals and the Super 8 provided lodging for the students and the instructors at no charge.
When I scheduled this IPT I knew that there was a small chance that most of the geese and cranes would be gone. There are usually lots of geese and cranes present well into the last week of February but we ran into bad luck.  There were few cranes at the refuge during the IPT and while there had been 20,000 geese blasting off on Saturday there were only a few thousand present at dawn on our first morning, Monday, February 23, and just a handful on the next morning. We switched to plan B, enjoyed some great duck photography both at local ponds and off the Flight Deck, got lucky with some point-blank Ross’s Geese, had fun with a cooperative Roadrunner, had some interesting sunrises and sunsets, concentrated on making soup from stones, and took advantage of every teach-able moment both in the field and in the classroom.Â
NANPA High School Scholarship student Liam Cofell-Dwyer joined the group as my guest and retired USAF Chief Judge Jim Heupel served as my much appreciated co-leader. Jim was a perfect fit as he is well versed in landscape photography; this came in handy often as at times there were simply no birds :). Most of the group went home happy; multiple IPT veteran and good friend Lou Newman of Sarasota, FL said that it was the best IPT he had ever been on.
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| Ross’s Goose Head Portrait, Bosque Del Apache, NWR, NM. Image Copyright 2009: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-50D on the Mongoose M3.5 atop the Gitzo 3530LS CF tripod. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/9. Fill flash at -2 stops with Better Beamer. In all of my years at Bosque I had never been anywhere near this close to a Ross’s Goose. Note the field marks: short, stubby bill with greenish warts at the base. |
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| Liam and the Old Man. Image copyright 2009 and courtesy of Greg Ferguson. I pretty much use a lens hood only when it is raining or when I am photographing from a vehicle in a dusty environment. I am pictured here with the 800 f/5.6L IS. |
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| American Coot at dawn, Bosque Del Apache, NWR, NM. Image Copyright 2009: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark III on the Mongoose M3.5 atop the Gitzo 3530LS CF tripod. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/160 sec. at f/22. Here, I used the central sensor along with AI Servo AF to focus in the center of the wake. I knew that conditions were bright enough to stop down a lot while still maintaining a shutter speed that would likely yield a sharp image. This decision and many others like it was, and need to be, made in one or two seconds in order to capture the image in your mind’s eye. |
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| Greater Roadrunner on road (where else?), Bosque Del Apache, NWR, NM. Image Copyright 2009: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-50D on the Mongoose M3.5 atop the Gitzo 3530LS CF tripod. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/11. This bird was tame when we encountered it on the IPT but always sat in a tree on the wrong side of the road (and the light). On the day after the IPT, both Jim and I were thrilled to find it sunning on the road in early morning light. The background was out-of-focus salt cedar. It was far enough away that I new I could use f/11 to render the bird sharper without bringing up unwanted background detail. |
More images tomorrow.
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