Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Stuff

I tried out my brand new Nikon D-850 on Thursday morning. It was mostly cloudy and not the greatest of mornings. I was not too excited by the 45 mega-pixel images but when I shared them with Patrick Sparkman and Lee Sommie, they both were. I guess I need to either clean my glasses or get an attitude adjustment. The three of us got together in the afternoon and photographed at La Jolla. We had a ball. I will give it a go with the D-850 in the morning. My plan at present is to keep the D5, use it with the 200-500, and go with the D-850 on the tripod-mounted Nikon 600mm f/4. That will likely be delivered to my home in Florida.

Those interested in learning even more about my recent switch to Nikon might wish to read the many and varied comments along with my responses in the last few blog posts.

I was glad to learn recently of the sale of Walt Anderson’s barely used EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens in mint to like-new condition with extras for the BAA record low price of $9395.00 and that NANPA President Don Carter sold his Canon EOS 7D Mark II in near-mint condition for $849.00 and his Canon EOS-1DX in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $2298.00, both two days after they were listed.

The Streak

Today makes one hundred seventy-nine days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour to prepare. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.

Booking.Com

Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of folks whom I see in the field, and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

This image was created by multiple IPT veteran Jake Levin on the first 2018 San Diego IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 213mm) with the Canon EOS 7D Mark II. Brown Pelican, Pacific race, preening back

Canon Surely Does Not Suck: Part II

Exhibit A

Canon makes a variety of relatively inexpensive intermediate telephoto lenses and lightweight camera bodies. The 100-400II is an amazing lens and I will miss it.

This image was created by Bryan Holliday with the hand held Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my former favorite flight photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. Northern Pintail, drake in fight

Canon Surely Does Not Suck: Part II

Exhibit B

Are you kidding me? Kudos to Bryan for creating this image at 1200mm with hand held Canon gear. I will be borrowing a Nikon TCE 20 from B&H in late spring and try it out with my 600mm f/4 to see if what everyone says is true: “Harry, it sucks!”

If you know who Harry is please leave a comment. 🙂

This image was created by BPN Avian moderator David Salem with the hand held Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the EOS-1D X (now replaced by the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II.) Cinnamon Teal, drake in fight

Canon Surely Does Not Suck: Part II

Exhibit C

As this and the next two images show, David is right up there with the world’s best ducks in flight photographer; do you know anyone who is better? Cinnamon Teal is one of my favorite ducks. I have seen it only a few times in thirty five years and have zero good images of this small, fast flying duck.

This image was created byBPN Avian moderator David Salem with the hand held Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the EOS-1D X (now replaced by the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II.) Northern Shoveler, drake in fight

Canon Surely Does Not Suck: Part II

Exhibit D

What you need to make image like this with hand held super-telephoto lenses: good gear, strength, endurance, great hand-eye coordination, and lots of determination.

This image was created by BPN Avian moderator David Salem with the hand held Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the EOS-1D X (now replaced by the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II.) Green-winged Teal, drake in fight

Canon Surely Does Not Suck: Part II

Exhibit E

A fast frame rate helps David capture the dramatic downstroke poses seen here and with the shoveler image above. The downstroke poses reveal the beautiful colors of the speculum feathers.

This image was created by Arash Hazghi with the hand held Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. Short-eared Owl in flight

Canon Surely Does Not Suck: Part II

Exhibit F

Using Canon gear, Arash has made many of my favorite-ever flight images.

This image was created by Arash Hazghi with the hand held Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens and the EOS-1D X (now replaced by the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II.) Great Grey Owl incoming

Canon Surely Does Not Suck: Part II

Exhibit G

Arash has worked hard developing settings for his Canon cameras that will maximize his chances of getting razor sharp on the eyes images of birds flying right at him.

This image was created by multiple IPT veteran and dear friend Patrick Sparkman at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens and the mega megapixel Canon EOS 5DS R. Brandt’s Cormorant, incoming, with seaweed for its nest

Canon Surely Does Not Suck: Part II

Exhibit H

Patrick borrowed my 400 DO II on many occasions and usually did quite well with it.

Your Favorite?

Which of the Exhibits above, all made with Canon gear, is your favorite? Please let us know why you made your choice.

Canon EOS 5DS R

Mansoor Assadi is also offering a used Canon EOS 5DS R digital camera body in like-new condition for only $2649. The sale includes the front body cap, a RRS L-plate, a LensCoat BodyBag, the Canon batter grip (with only one battery), the original box with everything that came in it, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Mansoor via e-mail or by phone at 415-559-8027 (Pacific time).

The 5DS R is one of the premier dSLRs for landscape photography and as Patrick Sparkman and I proved, it is a great body for bird, wildlife, and nature photographers who have good sharpness techniques, especially those who make large prints; it’s image quality is unmatched. artie

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my (stupendous) efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

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

Stuff

The last two days have been busy, chaotic, and exciting. Even I have been impressed by the reach of the blog — at 3:55am Pacific time on Wednesday, January 24, 2018 I have sold all but a single listed Canon item (with several folks interested in the 70-200mm f/4L IS). Thanks to all who purchased my stuff at the give-away prices. I have a private client this morning and look forward to being joined by my new friend Lee Sommie midday tomorrow. Lee is signed up for San Diego #2.

Coming on Thursday

Coming on Thursday, a blog post entitled “Canon Does Not Suck.” So stay tuned.

Late Registration Discount

Due to a cancellation, there is a single opening on the second San Diego IPT. I am offering a $200 discount on the course fee. It is mandatory that you get in touch via e-mail or call me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Scroll down here for details on San Diego #2.

The Streak

Today makes one hundred seventy-seven days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took more than two hours to prepare including the time spent optimizing the image. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.

Booking.Com

Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of folks whom I see in the field, and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

This image was created on January 22 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens (at 440mm) and the blazingly fast professional digital camera body, the Nikon D5 DSLR camera body with dual XQD slots). ISO 400. Matrix metering probably +2/3 stop: 1/200 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB at 7:52am on a mostly clear sunny morning. Center Group Shutter Button AF. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Brown Pelican, Pacific race, taking flight.

The Dramatic Take-off Image

I tried and failed for decades to create images like this with my Canon gear. Do understand that many others, more skilled than I, have made images like this with their Canon gear. With my new Nikon gear I now feel that I at least have a good chance. That gives me more confidence to at least try in difficult or even near-impossible situations.

It took me a while to realize that when a big wave hit a pelican or two would take flight. I finally figured it out with this image. There is an amazing Content Aware Fill story that goes with this photo. I will share in a future blog post.

Why I Switched From Canon to Nikon

I was one of the original 55 Canon Explorers of Light. After speaking with Dave Metz (who was then with Canon) at some photographic event, I was invited into the program — probably in 1996 or so — by Michael Newler (aka “Captain Explorer.”) It was quite an honor. I served in that role for about eighteen years. Canon was exceedingly generous. Right after I signed up I did a commercial for the EOS-1V film body that aired worldwide. At some point Michael left Canon and Dave Metz took over the EoL program. When Dave moved on, Steven Inglima assumed leadership of the program. Michael, Dave, and Steve were all good to me. Unbelievably good to me. When I submitted no end of speaking gigs for EoL approval, Michael liked to argue, Dave seemed like a tough guy but had a heart of gold beneath that facade, and Steve liked to ask questions. That said, those three wonderful gentlemen approved everything single thing that I proposed. Heck, they often lined up speaking gigs for me and sent me on the next plane. That support included two major exhibits of my work, the first at the Peterson Institute in Jamesburg, NY, and the second at the National Zoo in Washington, part of the Smithsonian. Canon sponsored both of those exhibits to the tune of $30,000.

About three or four years ago, Steven Inglima called me. Steve never called me. He was going on and on about nothing and suddenly it dawned on me: I was being let go as an Explorer. And that’s what happened. As a result of political BS at Canon. Steve fought hard to keep me in the program. In about a year he was fired too. He did get one concession. I, and the other photographers who were let go, were OKed to use the title Canon Explorer of Light Emeritus. And the plan was that while we would not have formal Canon contracts, that EoL would continue to support our speaking endeavors on Canon’s behalf. That worked for a total of two events. But the new team at EoL steadfastly refused to support my exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum. B&H came to the rescue. Canon EoL did support the slide program that opened the exhibit. And one more speaking gig in South Florida. I submitted a request for support for a speaking engagement near Denver but they never responded. When the gentleman trying to arrange the program wrote them, they responded with a simple answer. “No.”

I opted to choose the high road. I continued to support Canon on the blog most every day of the year. I had a great 18 year run with EoL and Canon’s generosity was unparalleled. So thanks again to Michael, Dave, and Steven, to good friends, the technical advisors Rudy Winston and Chuck Westfall, and to Canon USA and Canon Japan.

For years I had seen the great flight and action images of some of the top bird photographers made with Nikon gear. I simply assumed that they were more talented than I. When I heard recently that BPN Avian Moderator Doug Brown of Albuquerque, NM, had switched, that got me thinking; Doug is a quite competent flight photographer. As I was no longer an EoL in any way, shape or form, I decided to borrow some Nikon gear and see if it was any better for flight and action. From the first moment that I acquired focus on a bird in flight three days ago on January 20, I thought “This is different. This is much, much better.” Like Canon, the system acquired focus quickly. The difference, for me at least, was that the system would hold focus perfectly even with bird flying in front of a cliff or just over the ocean. Talk honestly to any top bird photographer who uses Canon gear and they will voice their frustrations. “I was locked on and then had to bump the focus. AF keeps going to the background. More than half of my flight images are not sharp on the eye.” There is none of that with the D5. I probably created 100,000 images of birds flying right at me at 60 mph with my Canon gear. 99.99% of them were sharp. Sharp on the feet. For me, Canon AF simply could not keep up. Some of the very best Canon flight photographers have had success in this area with their cameras set up perfectly for flight. But never me. With Nikon this situation is a piece of cake. I will share a Brandt’s Cormorant image with you here soon.

Before I even saw the images on my laptop I realized that I would almost surely be switching. Once I saw the consistently sharp results on my Macbook Pro with Retina Display, I was convinced: for me, photographing birds in flight with Nikon gear would be a huge improvement, the chance to be the flight photographer I always wanted to be. With the Canon gear I rarely made more than two or three images of a given bird on a flight pass. Several times in the past few days with the Nikon gear I have created 12- and 15-frame flight sequences with all of the images well-framed and sharp on the eye. AF is that sure even when and if the AF Group cluster is nowhere near the bird’s face, head, or neck. There is no way in the world that I could have created today’s featured image with my Canon gear. Others maybe, but not me. I look forward to thousands more quick-grab and take-off images in my Nikon future.

If Canon versus Nikon for flight photography were a championship prize fight, they would be best to stop the bout at the weigh-in …Unless you totally screw-up there is no need at all to bump the focus. The whole Nikon thing has been like a re-birth.

I thought on the dilemma for about a day and then decided to go all-in by selling off my Canon gear, most of it in a single afternoon.

Folks have asked if my decision was vengeful in any way, if it was politically motivated, if I was now under contract with Nikon, or if it had to do with my being let go by Canon as an EoL. The honest answers are no, no, no, and no. In The Work (The Work of Byron Katie) we learn to ask if the thing that we fear the most (being let go as an Explorer) could possibly be the best thing that could have happened … In this tale, that has been exactly the case.

Other factors include Canon’s continued denial of oil spatter on the sensor problems with individual EOS-1DX Mark II bodies (like my first one) and problems with folks using Canon Repair centers. No worries on that though; I have heard that Nikon repair service is much worse. 🙂

What would I have done if I had learned that Nikon was the best system for me while I was still an Explorer of Light? That is a very tough question and I am a very loyal man, but boy, I would have been very tempted to end my relationship with Canon …

I have enjoyed the firestorm on the blog and on my two Facebook pages and have enjoyed the challenge of learning to work with an entirely new system. And most of all, I have been having a ton of fun.

Summing up I can only say that I switched knowing that Nikon was better for me at this point in my life. Please do not be fooled into thinking that the Nikon system is dead solid perfect; there are many things that bug me. I will be sharing those with you in future blog posts.

Many fear that I will quit teaching folks about Canon on the blog. That will not be true. If I never posted a single Nikon image I could do a blog post every day for the rest of my life with as yet unpublished Canon images. That said, the switch will allow me to broaden my horizons and become an even stronger teacher. Wait till I learn my two new camera bodies and learn how to zoom out with the 200-500!

Those who have read this far would likely enjoy reading my replies to various comments in the last three or four Nikon-related blog posts …

Nikon Menu Help Needed

If you know how I can assign Focus Stop to the AF ON button please leave a comment.

The San Diego Site Guide

Whether you are visiting San Diego for photography for the first time or live in the area and have done the pelicans many dozens of times, you will learn a ton by studying the San Diego Site Guide. Why spend days stumbling around when you can know exactly where and when to be depending on the wind direction and sky conditions? In addition to the pelican primer, there is great info on the best beaches for the gorgeous gulls, on Marbled Godwit, on the lower cliffs, Lesser Scaup, and Wood and Ring-necked Ducks as well.

Learn more or purchase your copy here.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my (stupendous) efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

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

Stuff

Despite seemingly perfect conditions it was a relatively slow morning for flight at La Jolla on Monday.

After the Canon Gear Fire Sale announcement post I was a busy boy and wound up selling nearly all of my Canon stuff in four hours. Folks may question the low prices but my plan was to unload everything quickly rather than spend weeks trying to squeeze out a few more dollars. My plan worked well.

The Streak

Today makes one hundred seventy-six days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour to prepare including the time spent optimizing the image. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.

New Used Gear Listing

Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM Lens (the “old five”)

Mark Casola is offering a Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in excellent plus condition (like new but for a scratch on the lens foot) for the BAA record-low price of $3649.00. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Mark via e-mail

The 500mm f/4 lenses have been the world’s most popular telephoto lenses for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. I owned and used and loved my “old five” for many years. If you don’t have the cash for the 500 II and can handle the additional 1 1/2 pounds, then this is your best super-telephoto option. Most everyone can produce sharp images with this lens and a 1.4X TC. Folks with good to excellent sharpness techniques can do the same with a 2X TC. With the new 500 II selling for $8,999 you can save a neat $5299.00 by grabbing Greg’s lens (plus the two TCs!) artie

Price Drop

Canon EOS-1D Mark III Professional Digital Camera Body

Price Reduced $50 on August 2, 2017.
Price Reduced another $50 on January 22, 2018.

David R. Gibson (the original owner) is offering a Canon EOS-1D Mark III in near-mint condition but for a few very faint scratches on the rear LCD for only $499 (was $599). The sale includes the front cap, the Canon LP-E4 Rechargeable Lithium Ion and the charger, the Canon camera body manual & pocket guide, a new Canon Pro Neck Strap 1, a Sandisk 8GB Ultra Compact Flash memory card, and insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears, unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact David via e-mail or by phone at 1-757-816-2825 (Eastern time).

Two EOS-1D Mark IIIs served as my workhorse camera bodies for more than 2 years. I created thousands of consistently sharp, saleable images with them. B&H currently has a used 1D III in excellent condition (8+) for $799.95; that makes David’s body a superb buy. As with my 1D III bodies, David never had any AF problems. artie

Booking.Com

Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

This image was created on January 22 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III (at 350mm), and the blazingly fast professional digital camera body, the Nikon D5 DSLR camera body with dual XQD slots). ISO 400. Matrix metering probably +2/3 stop:: 1/800 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:432am on a clear sunny day. Upper Left Group/Shutter Button AF. Brown Pelican, Pacific race, tight face detail This is the full frame original

This Just In: Internet Experts State That the Nikon 200-500/1.4X TC-14E III/D5 Combo is Not Sharp!

Via blog comment by my Nikon mentor, Krishna Prassad Kotti:

I heard from lots of folks on internet that Nikon 200-500 is not sharp. And that it is not sharp with 1.4X TC.

My response is the unsharpened 100% crop below …

This is an unsharpened 100% crop of Brown Pelican, Pacific race, tight face detail

My Response to the Internet Experts

I am confused. The 100% crop above looks pretty sharp to me. What do you think? In any case, I can’t wait to get my hands on the 45-mega pixel Nikon D850 DSLR … Several friends have confirmed that they have not experienced pixel smear as many did with the Canon 5DS R.

The Nikon D-850

The Nikon D-850 is one hot ticket. It is pretty much impossible to purchase one right now at any price. If you know of one sitting on a shelf somewhere, please shoot me an e-mail.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my (stupendous) efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

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

Stuff

On Sunday I spent another morning with the borrowed Nikon gear. With a nice east wind it was a great morning for pelican flight photography: I had 40 pelican flight keepers. What a pleasure it is to edit a series of flight images and simply look for the best poses without having to pray that this one or that one might be sharp …

The afternoon was spent at Patrick and Robin’s house watched the NFL playoffs on the tube and eating too much. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I was asleep at 7:30pm, woke at 2:30am, and edited about 10,000 images from my Phoenix and San Diego trips. I am all caught up.

There are only two slots left on the Spoonbill Boat IPT. The Master Classes will be announced soon.

The Streak

Today makes one hundred seventy-five days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about 90 minutes to prepare including the time spent optimizing the images. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.

Booking.Com

Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

Used Gear Page New Listings

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

With Extras!

NANPA President Don Carter is offering a Canon EOS 7D Mark II in near-mint condition for $849.00. The sale includes the Canon BG-E16 Battery Grip (a $209 value), a Kirk L bracket, an extra battery, the front lens cap, one battery charger, and insured ground shipping to US addresses via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Don via e-mail or by phone at (630) 390-0909 (Mountain time).

Both Patrick Sparkman and I used and loved the 7D Mark II until about two years ago when we both committed to using full frame Canon bodies. We both made some truly great images with it. Two of my three 2016 Nature’s Best honored entries were created with the 7D II, one still, and one video. One thing is for sure: the 7D Mark II is the greatest value ever in a digital camera body. With a new one alone going for $1499 you can grab Don’s 7D II along with some great extras. artie

Canon EOS-1DX Professional Digital Camera Body

BAA Record-low Price!

NANPA President Don Carter is also offering a Canon EOS-1DX in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $2298.00, The sale includes the front cap, a Kirk L-bracket, an extra battery, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Don via e-mail or by phone at (630) 390-0909 (Mountain time).

Two 1DX bodies severed admirably as my workhorse digital camera bodies for several years. The original 1DX has a superb AF system and produces high quality image files. It is fabulous for photographing birds in flight and in action. Some folks wish that they had kept there 1DX bodies and not upgraded to the 1DX Mark II … artie

This image was created on January 21 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III (at 350mm), and the blazingly fast professional digital camera body, the Nikon D5 DSLR camera body with dual XQD slots). ISO 400. Matrix metering probably +1/3 stop:: 1/640 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB at 9:12am on a clear sunny day. Upper center Group/Shutter Button AF. Image #1: Brown Pelican, Pacific race, two year old, vertical head and bill portrait

The Blue-eyed Chocolate Covered Cherry

We saw the beautiful bird featured in today’s blog post flying around early in the day as many pelicans left and returned to the cliffs after visiting an offshore feeding spree. At one point, it landed close to us in a big crowd of birds. I added the 1.4X TCE, got on the ground, and slowly inched closer. As the pelicans shifted position, the chocolate-covered cherry bird finally came completely clear for a vertical head and bill portrait.

This image was created on January 21 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III (at 600mm), and the blazingly fast professional digital camera body, the Nikon D5 DSLR camera body with dual XQD slots). ISO 400. Matrix metering probably at zero: 1/800 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB at 9:09am on a clear sunny day. Left Group/Shutter Button AF. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Image #2: Brown Pelican, Pacific race, two year old, tight head portrait

Tight Horizontal Head Portrait

I zoomed in tight to create image #2 when the object of my desire was surrounded by several other pelicans. The sharpness of the Nikon 2-5 with the TC-E 14 is astounding.

This image was created on January 21 at La Jolla, CA by Patrick Sparkman with the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens (at 500mm) and the blazingly fast professional digital camera body, the Nikon D5 DSLR camera body with dual XQD slots). ISO 500. Matrix metering probably +1/3 stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:40am on a clear sunny day. Group/Shutter Button AF. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Image #3:Brown Pelican, Pacific race, 2nd year, in flight Image courtesy of and copyright 2018: Patrick Sparkman

Potty Break

When I needed to visit the outdoor mens’ room-in-a-crevice, I took two out of focus images of the dirt and handed the rig to Patrick who was anxious to try it out. When I got back I took two more images of dirt so that we could easily locate Patrick’s images. As I was yesterday, he was quite amazed by the AF system of the D5. When I downloaded the shared XQD card, I saw that Patrick had had a good flight chance with our special bird. I was wishing that I could have held it a bit longer … Patrick, a long time Canon shooter, also had big problems with the “wrong direction zoom twist.”

Your Favorite?

Which of today’s three images is your favorite? Why?

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my (stupendous) efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

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

Stuff

The last morning of the first San Diego IPT was our first cloudy one. We went down the hill to work the Brandt’s Cormorants. The original group of seven participants had dwindled to three, numbers reduced by the flu and by family and travel plans. Now that the first IPT is over I should have some free time to edit more than 10,000 images that I created during the 4 1/2 day IPT. Stay tuned for info on next year’s San Diego IPT; there will be only one.

The 2nd San Diego IPT is now a sell-out and there are only two slots left on the Spoonbill Boat IPT. The Master Classes will be announced soon.

This Just In!

After my plea for Nikon help on Friday afternoon, I spent an hour on the phone and on FaceTime with IPT veteran and blog regular Krishna Prasad Kotti. He kindly and generously helped me set up the new Nikon camera. When I first picked it up I felt hopelessly overwhelmed. Right now I am confident that I can head out tomorrow morning and start making great images with the new rig. Huge thanks Krishna! The process was actually much easier than I thought it would be and — thanks to Krishna — I am able to comfortably navigate the menus! I am excited.

The Streak

Today makes one hundred seventy-three days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about 90 minutes to prepare including the time spent optimizing the image. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.

Booking.Com

Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

This image was created on the morning of Thursday, January 18 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 286mm) and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 1600 (set by ISO Safety Shift). Evaluative metering + 1 1/3 stops: 1/100 sec. at f/5.6 in Tv mode. AWB at 6:5am in predawn light. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: extrapolated to -3. One AF point up from the center AF point AI Servo/Surround/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. On-camera fill flash at -1 stop with the fabulous Godox VING V860IIC TTL Li-Ion Flash Kit for Canon Cameras Brown Pelican, Pacific race, pre-dawn flight blur

1/100 second Miracle

Don’t ask me how I wound up at 1/100 sec. I often try flying bird blurs at 1/30 or 1/60 sec. At 1/125 second you can get a nice blur with birds at fairly close range and on rare occasion, get the eye sharp. Remember that in most cases the bird needs to be flapping in order for you to create a pleasing blur. I was using my tried and true pre-dawn Tv mode blur technique: Tv mode and dial in the correct EC (exposure compensation). I set Safety Shift to ISO on all of my Canon camera bodies so that I do not have to waste time setting Auto ISO. Today’s featured image was a one shot wonder. It looked nice enough on the back of the camera to share with several of the folks in the group to show them what I was trying to do. I never bother to check for sharpness in the field; I do not want to miss the next fly-by. I never expected the eye to be razor sharp at 1/100 sec. hoping instead that the eye and the face might be just sharp enough to make the image worth processing.

When I saw the image on my laptop at lunch I was stunned.

The flash here helped to render the eye and face sharp but it is not a classic flash blur. In a classis flash blur the flash is set to a higher power and produces one sharp correctly exposed image of the bird atop the blurred image.

A Guide to Pleasing Blurs

Learn everything there is to know about creating pleasingly blurred images in A Guide to Pleasing Blurs by Denise Ippolito and yours truly. This 20,585 word, 271 page PDF is illustrated with 144 different, exciting, and artistic images. The guide covers the basics of creating pleasingly blurred images, the factors that influence the degree of blurring, the use of filters in creating pleasing blurs, and a great variety of both in-the-field and Photoshop techniques that can be used to create pleasingly blurred images.

Artie and Denise will teach you many different ways to move your lens during the exposure to create a variety of pleasingly blurred images of flowers and trees and water and landscapes. They will teach you to recognize situations where subject movement can be used to your advantage to create pan blurs, wind blurs, and moving water blurs. They will teach you to create zoom-blurs both in the field and during post-processing. Artie shares the techniques that he has used and developed for making blurred images of flocks of geese in flight at his beloved Bosque del Apache and Denise shares her flower blur magic as well as a variety of creative Photoshop techniques that she has developed.

With the advent of digital capture creating blurred images has become a great and inexpensive way to go out with your camera and have fun. And while many folks think that making successful blurred images is the result of being a sloppy photographer, nothing could be further from the truth. In “A Guide to Pleasing Blurs” Artie and Denise will help you to unleash your creative self.

The Godox Flash/Save $300!

The Godox VING V860IIC TTL Li-Ion Flash Kit for Canon Cameras is simply amazing. Priced at exactly $300 less than the Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT, the Godox flash is a virtual replica of the top of the line Canon 600 EX II-RT. I will soon be publishing a simple guide to using the Godox flash for bird photography. In the meantime you can learn everything there is to know about using flash for bird photography in the Flash Simplified section of The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II: 916 pages, 900+ images on CD only): ETTL flash as fill, flash as main light techniques, high speed synch flash (available on the Godox flash) and manual flash. Plus tons more!

Dealing With Flash Eye

In the Before frame you can see the deleterious effect of flash on a bird’s pupil. To repair the eye I selected it with a Quick Mask, placed the selection on its own layer, hit Command U (Hue-Saturation) on a layer, desaturated the image 100%, and moved the lightness slider all the way to the left to darken the pupil. It was still too light so I went to Tim Grey Dodge and Burn and made it nice and black. While I was there I lightened the iris to white. All that after converting the image in DPP 4 and executing a crop from below and behind the bird.

Almost forgot: I selected the head and the base of the bill with the Quick Selection Tool, placed the selection on it’s own layer, and applied my NIK Color EFEX Pro 30/30 Detail Extractor/Tonal Contrast recipe. Folks with sharp eyes viewing the Before and After animated GIF can note the effects of NeatImage noise reduction on the background especially. I applied 95% NI noise reduction to the background and only 50% NI noise reduction the bird’s head and upper bill using the technique detailed in the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly.

Note: the posterization on the pelican’s crown is the unavoidable result of the creation of the animated GIF.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II) will teach you an efficient Mac or PC/Photo Mechanic/Photoshop workflow that will make it easy for you to make your images better in Photoshop (rather than worse). That true whether you convert your images in DPP 4 or ACR. See the blog post here to learn lots more and to read a free excerpt. You can order your copy from the BAA Online Store here, by sending a Paypal for $40 here, or by calling Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II)

Your guessed it, everything mentioned above (and tons more) is covered in detail in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Learn more and check out the free excerpt in the blog post here. While the new e-Guide reflects my Macbook Pro/Photo Mechanic/DPP 4/Photoshop workflow, folks using a PC and/or BreezeBrowser will also benefit greatly by studying the material on DB II. Do note that you will find the RGB Curves Adjustment Color Balancing tutorial only in the new e-guide. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.

The two most recent and many of the older MP4 Photoshop Tutorial videos releases go hand and hand with the information in DB II):

• The Wingtip Repairs MP4 Video here.
• The MP4 Crow Cleanup Video here.

Folks who learn well by following along rather than by reading can check out the complete collection of MP 4 Photoshop Tutorial Videos by clicking here.

You can learn how and why I and other discerning Canon shooters convert nearly all of their Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 using Canon Digital Photo Professional in the DPP 4 RAW conversion Guide here. And you can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair. Folks can learn sophisticated sharpening and (NeatImage) Noise Reduction techniques in the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my (stupendous) efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

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

Stuff

We had our fourth great morning with the pelicans. We went back to Santee Lakes in the afternoon and it was worse than the first time we have gone when things were pretty bad compared to prior years …

The 2nd San Diego IPT #2 is now a sell-out and there are three slots left on the Spoonbill Boat IPT. The Master Classes will be announced soon.

The Streak

Today makes one hundred seventy-two days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about 90 minutes to prepare including the time spent optimizing the image. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.

Booking.Com

Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV (with extras)

BPN Avian Moderator Arash Hazeghi is offering a Canon 580EXII flash in excellent condition for $200. The sale includes the soft case, stand and manual, and insured Fed Ex groups shipping to continental US addresses only.

Please contact Arash via e-mail.

I own two of these and still use them on occasion. They are more intuitive than the newer 600 EX-RT. artie

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of folks whom I see in the field, and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

This image was created on morning of Thursday, January 18 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 420mm), and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/640 sec. at f/10 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:29am on a clear morning. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: +5. Upper Large Zone/AI Servo/Shutter button AF as framed; the system performed perfectly by activating an array of five AF points on the left side of the bill half way down. Brown Pelican, Pacific race in pre-breeding plumage, preening individual feather

Super-Tight

This gorgeous pelican was quite comfortable with our presence; there were at least five of us from the group photographing it from close range for close to an hour. I was the lowest and this enabled me to be the closest; others were standing and shooting over me. I created lots of head and bill vertical portraits with lovely Pacific-blue backgrounds. Then I decided to get even closer and try some abstract and quasi-abstract stuff. Why did I go super-tight? The bird had a chunk of feathers missing on one side of its forehead. Note that I went with just a bit of extra depth of field: f/10 instead of the wide open f/9. But at point-blank range, this did not make any real difference at all. Note als0 that I am zoomed out a bit here; from 560 to 420mm.

The JPEG here represents the full frame image capture.

Question #1

Does this image need to show the bird’s eye to be successful? Why or why not?

This image was created on late afternoon of Wednesday, January 17 at La Jolla Shores Beach, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 176mm) and my favorite bird-scape photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 stops: 1/200 sec. at f/5.6 in Av mode. K7500 at 5:11pm with light clouds and fog on the horizon. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: extrapolated to -2. Five AF points to the right of and two rows down from the center AF point/AI Servo/Surround/Shutter button AF as seen in the DPP 4 screen capture below. Willet foraging in the surf at sunset

Willet Foraging in the Surf at Sunset

When we got to the beach it was 100% foggy. We played around with the gulls and made some nice images. Just as it seemed that the sun might break through two folks left. Those who stayed were rewarded with a pretty decent soft salmon-toned sunset.

Question #2

Which of the two images above do you like best? Why?

Question #3

How would you attempt to level this image?

DPP 4 Screen Capture

Question #4

What was I attempting to do by moving the Shadow slider to -5?

Question #5

Why should I have used Single Point/Manual Selection AF instead of AF (Expand) Surround?

The San Diego Site Guide

Whether you are visiting San Diego for photography for the first time or live in the area and have done the pelicans many dozens of times, you will learn a ton by studying the San Diego Site Guide. Why spend days stumbling around when you can know exactly where and when to be depending on the wind direction and sky conditions? In addition to the pelican primer, there is great info on the best beaches for the gorgeous gulls, on Marbled Godwit, on the lower cliffs, Lesser Scaup, and Wood and Ring-necked Ducks as well.

Learn more or purchase your copy here.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my (stupendous) efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

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

All images on this card were created by Arthur Morris on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks

2018 Spoonbill Boat 1 1/2 DAY IPT: $1199.00. Limit: 6 photographers/Openings 3.
2018 Spoonbill Boat 2 1/2 DAY IPT: $1999.00. Limit: 6 photographers/Openings 2.

FEB 19 & 20: one full day with morning and afternoon photo sessions via customized pontoon boat. FEB 20, morning photo session.

FEB 23 & 24: two full days with morning and afternoon photo sessions via customized pontoon boat. FEB 25, morning photo session.

We will be leaving the dock very early for the morning sessions (weather permitting) in hopes of photographing the pre-dawn White Ibis blast-offs. The morning sessions are planned for the Alafia Banks Roseate Spoonbill Rookery. We have several options for the afternoons including returning to Alafia. There will be lots of opportunities for flight photography of several species including and especially Roseate Spoonbill. Also likely for flight photography are nesting Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, and Double Crested Cormorant, many carrying nesting material. This IPT includes all boat and guide fees, in the field instruction, chest waders (feel free to bring your own of course to assure a perfect fit), and two working lunches on Friday and Saturday. For the most part we will be standing in mid calf to knee high water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with mobility or balance problems. Note however that some folks may opt to stay on the boat to photograph. They usually have lots of chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

I recently saw a similar trip advertised two months too late for breeding plumage spoonbills. The Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity and with 3 slots filled already the remaining three spots should be filled very quickly. I do hope that you can join us. There will be a meet and greet at 7:00pm sharp on the evening of Thursday, FEB 22. All of the images on the card were made on the Hooptie Duex during the last two weeks of February, prime time for the spoonies in mega-breeding plumage. Many folks have written expressing interest so please do not tarry.

You may hold your spot with an e-mail request; the next two are in. Then you may either secure your spot by calling Jim or Jennifer at the office at 863-692-0906 and leaving the $400 deposit on credit card or sending your check for payment in full to us as follows with the check made out to:

BIRDS AS ART

Please send it via US mail here:

BIRDS AS ART
PO BOX 7245
Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855

If you call to leave your deposit you will be asked to mail your check for the balance asap.

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in mid-February is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage…. with long telephoto lenses. A 500 or 600 with a 1.4X TC is perfect for flight.

As above, there will — weather permitting — three boat trips — 2 mornings and 1 afternoon — on the first IPT –, five boat trips: 3 mornings and 2 afternoons on the second. Mornings to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography often with the birds likely carrying nesting material), Double-crested Cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White) in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we will get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. Afternoon trips either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes lunches on the full day with small group image sharing and review and some over-the-shoulder Photoshop instruction.

Stuff

The first San Diego IPT got off to a great start with lots of isolate-able pelican, some nice head throw, gorgeous light, and some early flight chances … We were headed for ducks in the afternoon but after our Photoshop program, it had turned cloudy/foggy so we headed for the coast. We had a large (but unexpected for the location) flock of shorebirds including more than 100 willets, about 30 Marbled Godwits, and a single Surfbird. And lots of gulls. And then as I had hoped, the sun broke through the lighter clouds in the west and lit the water golden. I wore my sneakers rather than the hiking boots I wear on the cliffs in anticipation of getting wet. And get wet I did.

When the dust cleared, I had created 1335 images on day one. Those included more than a few good ones. 🙂

There is only one slot left on San Diego #2 …

The Streak

Today makes one hundred sixty-nine days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about 90 minutes to prepare including the time spent optimizing the image. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.

Booking.Com

Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of folks whom I see in the field, and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

More on my 1DX II

I may have jumped to conclusions when I stated that my brand new (replaced by Canon) 1DX II showed the first oil spatter after 18 frames … It seems that there is not an oil spatter problem with the new body. That said both my original and my replacement 1DX II are dust magnets. I cleaned the sensor with the big blower brush and got rid of all the dust spots but two. And heck, they might have been new ones …

There is, however, no denying the killer accurate AF. And the blazingly fast frame rate is addictive … But the 5D Mark IV image files are clearly superior. Lots more on the 1DX II soon.

This image was created on the morning of Monday, January 15 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm), and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/4000 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:47am on a clear morning. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -4. One AF point up from the center AF point/AI Servo/Surround/Shutter button AF as framed; The selected AF point was on the base of the bill pouch where it meets the white neck. Brown Pelican, Pacific race in pre-breeding plumage scratching

I Can’t Get Enough; Less Equals More …

I just love photographing the pelicans in La Jolla. The only morning I have ever missed was the day after my major green light laser prostate surgery two years ago. On day two, I was back on the cliffs.

This year there are far fewer pelicans than in an average year; numbers on the cliffs at La Jolla are probably down 70%. But there are lots of gorgeous ones of all variety including chocolate-naped in full breeding plumage, white-naped pre-breeding, orange bill pouch variants, two years olds, a few strange dark birds, and even some juveniles. But few better birds makes for better photography. The biggest factor: it is far easier to isolate single birds. This in turn makes it easier to photograph a great variety of behaviors.

Super Fine-Point Question Answer

In the La Jolla Photography Cautions and Lessons. And Another Perfect, Boring Vertical Pelican Portrait blog post here, I wrote: Is there a possible way that I could have eliminated the darker water at the bottom of the frame in the field? Actually there are two ways …

Many folks suggested getting lower. That is the obvious correct answer. Some folks suggested waiting for the waves to subside a bit. That is problematic for two reasons:

• 1-This bird in particular was posing with its head slightly angled away. When he did turn perfectly two degrees towards me it was time to press the shutter button.
• 2-The water nearer the cliff is always appears darker than the distant water …

The Second Solution

The second solution was a simple one that nobody thought of: switch from the 100-400 II to the 500 II with the 1.4X III TC and move well back. All things being equal this would decrease your angle of declination and effectively move the background much farther away. This is just another way of getting lower.

The San Diego Site Guide

Whether you are visiting San Diego for photography for the first time or live in the area and have done the pelicans many dozens of times, you will learn a ton by studying the San Diego Site Guide. Why spend days stumbling around when you can know exactly where and when to be depending on the wind direction and sky conditions? In addition to the pelican primer, there is great info on the best beaches for the gorgeous gulls, on Marbled Godwit, on the lower cliffs, Lesser Scaup, and Wood and Ring-necked Ducks as well.

Learn more or purchase your copy here.

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Typos

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