{"id":23294,"date":"2014-10-11T06:14:02","date_gmt":"2014-10-11T10:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/?p=23294"},"modified":"2014-11-05T06:25:03","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T10:25:03","slug":"a-long-strange-day-and-a-cheap-blog-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/2014\/10\/11\/a-long-strange-day-and-a-cheap-blog-post\/","title":{"rendered":"A Long Strange Day and a Cheap Blog Post…"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Long Strange Day But The Streak Continues: 315<\/h3>\n

Yesterday was not a typical day for me. I awoke at about 4:30am, finished yesterday’s blog post, had breakfast–a fresh tuna cheddar melt, and headed down to the lake where not much was going on. Once I was back in the house I started packing and answering e-mails. Jim Litzenberg helped me prepare fish and chicken for my breakfasts on my short road trip. I plan on being home late on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

I left for DeSoto after lunch–baked flounder and butternut squash, at 12:30pm and arrived at East Beach just after 3:00pm after a few short pit stops. I did not even have time for a nap. Everything worked out great for the rest of the afternoon and we did not leave the beach till the sun touched the western horizon over the Gulf. After we checked into the hotel co-leader Bob Kimbrell, Deirde Scheer Gross and I went for a quick dinner at the Seaporch Grill. Having left my insulin in the fridge at the hotel room I order only a cerviche but it was so good that I had another one. My body reacted well as my blood sugar was only 87 at 9:30pm. I had three small bites of chicken for some additional protein and injected 3 units of fast acting insulin along with my overnight 5 units of slow acting. This morning my blood sugar was 75. 83 is the target. <\/p>\n

Then I started working on a Turkey Vulture head shot for the blog but could not get the REDs right. Tried a crane head shot from the morning with the same problem; the REDs were way off. I think that I need to re-color calibrate this laptop…. Then tried a shorebird group shot and decided that I did not like it. By the time I was happy with the Marbled Godwit image below it was nearly midnight and the Orioles Royals MLB playoff game was tied at 5. Not wanting to stay up till the end I turned off the TV, set the alarm for 5:00am, read for two minutes, and fell asleep quickly.<\/p>\n

From 9:00 till midnight I was in a sort of non-tired zombie state knowing that I should be tired but continuing to work…. As I said, it was a long strange day for me. Without a nap. <\/p>\n

This blog post, the 315th in a row, took me about an hour to prepare if you don’t count the 2+ hours that I spent on the misfires! It was published just before 7:15am from my motel room in St. Petersburg Beach, FL. <\/p>\n

To show your appreciation for my efforts here, we do ask that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store<\/a>, especially Gitzo tripods, Wimberley tripod heads, and the like. We sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n


\n\"marbled-godwit-_36a7803-fort-desoto-county-park-pinellas-fl\"<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

This image was created at 5:23pm on the afternoon of 10 October, on the first-ever BIRDS AS ART Meet-up In-the-Field Workshop. While seated in the very warm lagoon water employing my knee-pod technique, I used the the hand held Canon EF 200-400mm f\/4L IS USM lens with Internal 1.4x Extender<\/a> with the internal extender in place at 513mm) and a beta version of the Canon EOS 7D Mark II <\/a>. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2\/3 stop as framed: 1\/2500 sec. at f\/6.3 in Manual mode. <\/p>\n

Central sensor\/AI Servo Surround\/Rear Focus AF on the spot where the bird’s breast meets the bird’s belly was active at the moment of exposure. Click here<\/a> to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. <\/p>\n

Marbled Godwit<\/h2>\n