{"id":3729,"date":"2011-01-18T14:32:12","date_gmt":"2011-01-18T18:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/?p=3729"},"modified":"2011-02-24T11:42:25","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T15:42:25","slug":"i-know-him-pretty-well-and-surf-scoter-image-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/2011\/01\/18\/i-know-him-pretty-well-and-surf-scoter-image-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"“I Know Him Pretty Well…” and Surf Scoter Image Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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I photographed this drake Surf Scoter yesterday morning from the boardwalk at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, CA with the Canon 800mm f\/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Exposure date will be revealed in a future post \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

“I Know Him Pretty Well…”<\/h3>\n

When I got to Bolsa early on Monday morning, there were very few birds around. Very few. Some Lesser Scaups, a few Ring-billed Gulls, and some Willets flying by. Yikes. I made the drive up from San Diego as I had an appointment with human health specialist Melvin Tann at his new office in Santa Ana. The guy is amazing. Learn more about Zenergy here<\/a>. In any case, I did not know of any other options so I stayed to see if anything developed. I chatted with the first photographer to arrive after me, a really nice guy named Art Holland. He told me that some Surf Scoters had flown in in the morning the previous day and hung out near the boardwalk. Ah, I had hope. I had photographed this species on film at Bolsa more than a decade ago and was excited about having a chance on them with digital. <\/p>\n

Two more photographers showed up and at about 7:20 am so did the scoters: two adult males, two females, and an immature male flew in and landed about 100 yards from the boardwalk. Within ten minutes a single drake began swimming towards us and we had some good chances. Note: the two images in this blog were not created until just before 9am in relatively harsh light. (“When the light is bright, think tight.”)<\/p>\n

After our first scoter chance, I heard one of the photographers say, “I’d love to go to one of his workshops or seminars but they are just too expensive. I think that he has a seminar in San Diego soon.” Half curious and half pretty sure that they were talking about me I asked, “Who are you guys talking about?” One of them answered, “Art Morris. <\/p>\n

I said, “I know him pretty well. Very well in fact.” I walked up to the first guy, put my hand out and said, “Your name…” “Don Burd,” he answered. “Arthur Morris,” I responded. I don’ think that Art or Ramon, yet another nice guy, had had a clue as to who I was. But as soon as I said “Arthur Morris,” each began to smile. Don looked quite confused for a few moments. Eventually it registered with him and he blurted out “No way!” “Way” I said. And we all had a good laugh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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As the bird continued swimming right towards the boardwalk, I kept on firing! Again with the Canon 800mm f\/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. And yes, the exposure data and mode will be revealed in a day or two. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Surf Scoter Image Questions<\/h3>\n

1-If you see a drake Surf Scoter swimming right at you on a sunny day would you want to be in Av Mode or in Manual Mode? And why? (Clue: there is only one right answer….) <\/p>\n

2-However you choose to expose in the above situation what should be your main concern be?<\/p>\n

3-Which of the two images is your favorite? And why?<\/p>\n

4-Why is the water a darker blue in the second image?<\/p>\n

5-The first image has a critique-able flaw. BPN<\/a> Out of the Box<\/a> Forum moderator Denise Ippolito spotted it in an instant. What flaw was she talking about? (Clue: it is not something subjective; it is something that can be proven….)<\/p>\n

Shopper’s Guide<\/h2>\n

Below is a list of the gear that I used to create the images above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins.<\/p>\n

Canon 800mm f\/5.L IS lens<\/a> Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
\nCanon 1.4X II teleconverter<\/a> This is my most used accessory; I would be lost without it
\nCanon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body<\/a> And this is the very best professional digital camera body that I have even used. <\/p>\n

And from the BAA On-line Store:<\/p>\n

Gitzo 3530 LS Tripod<\/a> This one will last you a lifetime.
\nMongoose M3.6 Tripod Head<\/a> Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head<\/a>.
\n Double Bubble Level<\/a> You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
\nDelkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card<\/a> Fast and dependable.<\/p>\n

If you are considering the purchase of a major piece of photographic gear be it a new camera, a long lens, a tripod or a head, or some accessories be sure to check out our complete Shopper’s Guide.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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I photographed this drake Surf Scoter yesterday morning from the boardwalk at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, CA with the Canon 800mm f\/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Exposure date will be revealed in a future post \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n

“I Know Him Pretty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[90,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-90","category-misc","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}