{"id":7406,"date":"2011-11-03T10:24:53","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T14:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/?p=7406"},"modified":"2011-11-06T12:40:34","modified_gmt":"2011-11-06T16:40:34","slug":"so-its-bald-eagles-you-wanted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/2011\/11\/03\/so-its-bald-eagles-you-wanted\/","title":{"rendered":"So It’s Bald Eagles You Wanted…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Bald Eagle, adult on snow. Near Homer, AK. This image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f\/5.6L IS lens<\/a> and the EOS-1D Mark IV<\/a>. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1\/125 sec. at f\/5.6 set manually was well underexposed. Lightened and ran noise reduction in ACR. <\/p>\n

Central Sensor\/Rear Focus\/AI Servo AF and recompose. Click here<\/a> if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens\/camera body Micro-adjustment<\/a>: +2. <\/p>\n

For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

So It’s Bald Eagles You Wanted…<\/h3>\n

Homer has been great. The second group has two days left. Lots more on the two IPTs in the next BAA Bulletin. I leave Homer on Friday night for my red-eye flights. I am scheduled to arrive in Orlando just after 5pm on Saturday and should be back in ILE in time for dinner and LSU\/Alabama. <\/p>\n

I am using NIK Color Efexx Pro 4.1 on almost every image now; it is changing my workflow. I will share more on this amazing plug-in here soon. For the image above I did two Color Efex layers, one for tonal contrast at 70% and to improve the look and the apparent sharpness of the bird only (using a hide-all mask) and another with Detail Extractor at 20% to bring up the detail in the head only again using a Hide-All mask (and then painting away the head only). If you are totally confused by Layer Masks (as I was for ten years) see “Layer Masking for Dummies” in the last free update of Digital Basics<\/a>. DB is a PDF sent via e-mail (only $20) that contains my complete digital workflow and dozens and dozens of great Photoshop techniques. <\/p>\n

You can save 15% on all NIK products by clicking here<\/a> and entering BAA in the Promo Code box at check-out. Then hit Apply to see your savings. I have been using and learning and loving COLOR EFEX and Viveza and SILVER EFEX also. We will be bringing you lots especially on those first two soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Bald Eagle taking flight in snow, Near Homer, AK. This image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f\/5.6L IS lens<\/a>, the 1.4X III TC<\/a>, and the EOS-1D Mark IV<\/a>. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2\/3 stop: 1\/100 sec. at f\/8 set manually. <\/p>\n

Central Sensor (by necessity) Rear Focus\/AI Servo AF. See below for additional details. Click here<\/a> if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens\/TC\/camera body Micro-adjustment<\/a>: +4. <\/p>\n

For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

It got a bit brighter so I added the 1.4X TC to photograph this bird. I was doing portraits when it started to take flight. In such a low contrast situation I knew that pressing the rear focus button in an attempt to focus track the bird would be futile so I simply framed the bird as it took off as best I could and made a few images. I knew that at only 1\/100 sec. I had at least a decent chance to create a pleasingly blurred image. Added canvas top and right, filled in with several Quick Masks, and did a bit of Eye Doctor work all as described in detail in Digital Basics<\/a>. DB is a PDF sent via e-mail (only $20) that contains my complete digital workflow and dozens and dozens of great Photoshop techniques. As with the two images above, Nik Color Efex made this one sing for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f\/2.8L IS II lens<\/a>, the 1.4X III TC<\/a> (handheld at 215mm) with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV<\/a>. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1\/3 stops off a gray cloud: 1\/1000 sec. at f\/4 set manually. <\/p>\n

Lens\/TC\/camera body Micro-adjustment<\/a>: -8. <\/p>\n

Central Sensor\/Rear Focus\/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. To see a larger size, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

I actually prefer cloudy bright (as in the image above) to full sun for most bald eagle photography. This one qualifies as a dime a dozen image as we are tossing pollack (sold as bait to fishermen) to attract the birds to the boat. Due to my travel schedule I will not be returning to Homer until March 2013. If you are seriously interested in joining me then please shoot me an e-mail<\/a><\/center> with the words Homer March 2013 cut and pasted into the Subject line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f\/2.8L IS II lens<\/a>, the 1.4X III TC<\/a> (handheld at 185mm) with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV<\/a>. ISO 640. Evaluative metering +1 1\/3 stops off the sky: 1\/1250 sec. at f\/4 set manually. <\/p>\n

Lens\/TC\/camera body Micro-adjustment<\/a>: -8. <\/p>\n

Central Sensor\/Rear Focus\/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. To see a larger size, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

As you can see in the BreezeBrowser<\/a> screen capture below, I cropped this image from the right and from below to improve the composition and then juiced up the sunset colors. If you missed the silhouette lessons click here<\/a> and here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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As always you can learn a ton by studying this BreezerBroswer<\/a> Main View screen capture. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Which is Your Favorite?<\/h3>\n

Take a moment to leave a comment and let us know which of the four eagle images is your favorite, and why. It’s OK if you love all four of them equally :). <\/p>\n

Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here<\/a> for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools<\/a> valued in excess of $20,000. Click here<\/a> to visit the competition home page. <\/p>\n

Shopper’s Guide<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in today’s blog post. 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. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Canon 800mm f\/5.L IS lens.<\/a> Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
\nCanon 70-200mm f\/2.8L IS II lens<\/a>. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter<\/a>. I also use it a lot with the 1.4X III TC.<\/a>
\nCanon 1.4X III Teleconverter<\/a>. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
\nCanon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body.<\/a> My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies. <\/p>\n

And from the BAA On-line Store:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

LensCoats<\/a>. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
\nLegCoat Tripod Leg Covers.<\/a> I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders \ud83d\ude42
\nGitzo GT3530LS 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>.
\nCR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800<\/a>. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
\n Double Bubble Level.<\/a> You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
\nBe sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here<\/a>.
\nThe Lens Align Mark II.<\/a> I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.<\/a>
\nCanon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide<\/a>. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Bald Eagle, adult on snow. Near Homer, AK. This image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f\/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1\/125 sec. at f\/5.6 set manually was well underexposed. Lightened and ran noise reduction in ACR. <\/p>\n

Central Sensor\/Rear Focus\/AI Servo AF […]<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-90","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7406","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=7406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}