Saturday started out looking like another gray day but before I knew it the sun was out. I headed to the lake at 8:30am. About a dozen times I had a vulture doing a perfect full double wing stretch taking in the morning sun. And a dozen times I screwed up by taking too long. I came away with nothing. There’s always next time. In the evening the sunset was very clear so I came up with a new strategy: I quit trying to get the Anhinga against the ball of the sun and photographed it against the bright sky. Why? When it does its elaborate stretching it does not completely fit inside the disc of the sun. I missed the dependable head-down stretch while moving the tripod but got a few good ones of the takeoff. There’s always next time.<\/p>\n
I was having a problem autofocusing with the 600 II and the 2X III TC last night — AF simply did not work. I will try to figure things out this morning; is the problem is with the lens, the camera, or the TC. Depending on what I learn, I might be doing lots of micro-adjusting today …<\/p>\n
Again I spent much of the day doing second and third edits on various folders to make more room on my laptop. The pool temps continue to drop so I tried out my new snorkeling vest and kept myself fairly warm for another mile. It was the first time that I had done a mile three days in a row. Soon I will be one month without swimming. <\/p>\n
While multiple IPT veteran Jake Levin of Montreal, Canada, left a near-perfect answer to the “In what ways did I get lucky with the Black Vulture flight image in yesterday’s blog post here<\/a>, not a single person attempted to answer the quality of light question. Revisits are welcome. Well done Jake. I will see Jake again on the San Diego #1 IPT; there are still 3 spots open on San Diego #2. <\/p>\n How I think you got lucky:<\/p>\n 1) The bird started flying away, but looked back towards you, creating a good head angle.<\/p>\n 2) The selected focus point caught a piece of the wing on the same plane as the bird\u2019s head and eye.<\/p>\n 3) The vulture was captured entirely within the blue area created by the background water, meaning you didn\u2019t get any lines cutting through it.<\/p>\n 4) The wing position at the time of exposure didn\u2019t create any shadows on the body.<\/p>\n To that I would add that had the wings been down I would not have even seen the bird’s face …<\/p>\n Today makes one hundred fifty-four days in a row with a new educational blog post! This blog post 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. <\/p>\n Gerald Barrack is offering a Canon EOS 5D Mark III digital camera body (with extras) in excellent to near-mint condition for $1,349.00. The sale includes the front cap, the Canon camera strap, one Canon battery, the battery charger, the Really Right Stuff camera body plate (B 5D3 A, a $55.00 value), a Delkin 700X- 64GB compact flash card, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US address only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.<\/p>\n Interested folks can contact Gerald via e-mail<\/a><\/center> or try him on his cell at 201 638 3510 (Eastern time).<\/p>\n I owned and used this superb, full frame, 22mp digital body for several years. It was always my first choice for scenic, Urbex (urban exploration), and flower photography until I fell in love for a while with the 5DS R (for a lot more money!). Then I switched to the 5D IV body. In addition, I loved my 5D III body for birds with my big lenses and both TCs. I used mine to create many dozens of high quality images<\/em>. artie<\/p>\n 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<\/a> and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service. <\/p>\nJake Levin
\nDecember 30, 2017 at 1:03 pm \u00b7 Reply\t\u00b7 Edit<\/h2>\n
\n$300 off on the Canon 100-400 II!<\/center> <\/strong><\/h2>\nThe Streak<\/h3>\n
New Listing<\/p>\n
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Canon EOS 5D Mark III digital camera body<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Booking.Com<\/h3>\n