Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
December 7th, 2023

Heading Back to Morro Bay, CA. Image Quality Then & Now

Clockwise from the upper left: in pink/purple predawn reflections; squabbling over feeding territory; with wings raised; with sand flea; ruffling after bath; on the edge of the surf with one foot raised.

Be sure to click on the composite image to view a larger, sharper high-res version.

Morro Bay Long-billed Curlew Images

2024 Morro Bay 3 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): WED 7 FEB through the morning session on SAT 10 FEB 2024: $1999 (Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 5).

There will be a short Meet and Greet after dinner on your own at 7:00pm on TUES 6 FEB 2024.

Join me in one of the most beautiful and scenic places on the planet to photograph a large variety of birds of sea and shore. As above, the star of the show will be Long-billed Curlew. There will be lots of Marbled Godwits, Whimbrels, and Willets as well, and lots of the smaller shorebird species like Black and Ruddy Turnstone. Black Oystercatcher is likely and we should get to photograph large flocks of Western Sandpipers in flight over the bay. With any luck we should enjoy some colorful sunrises and sunsets. There are lots of gulls including Western, California, and Mew. There is one location where we may get to photograph Western, Clarke’s, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, and Common Loon. We may run into some passerines including Anna’s Hummingbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and White-crowned Sparrow. And we have a chance for several species of raptors. Yikes, I almost forgot California Poppy, California Ground Squirrel, and Sea Otter.

The Details

This IPT will include four 3-hour morning photo sessions and three 2-hour afternoons (all times are approximate and dependent on conditions, most especially the weather), three working (image review and Photoshop) brunches (included), and of course tons of great in-the-field instruction photographic instruction. Each working brunch will be followed by Instructor Nap Time (INT). On cloudy days with a poor afternoon forecast, we may — at the leader’s discretion, stay out in the morning for a single long session and skip the afternoon. To ensure very early starts and that you get some sleep, breakfasts and dinners will be your responsibility. This IPT will run with only a single registrant as I do not like disappointing anyone.

Your $699 deposit is due now. Credit cards are OK for that. You can register by calling Jim during weekday business hours before noon Eastern time at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand. Once you leave a deposit, you will receive an e-mail with your balance and instructions for sending your check two months before the trip begins. If you wish to pay in full right off the bat, you can make your check out to BIRDS AS ART and send it via US mail here: BIRDS AS ART, PO BOX 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and clothing and gear advice two months before the trip. Please shoot me an e-mail if you plan to register or if you have any questions.

IPT veterans and couples or friends signing up together may e-mail for discount information.

Clockwise from the upper left: Great Egret fishing at sunset; pair of Western Gulls; Bird-Sh_t Rock at sunset; pan blur of the beach north of the rock on a foggy morning; shorebird flock over bay at sunset; Wild Turkey tom strutting.

Be sure to click on the composite image to view a larger, sharper high-res version.

Morro Bay Miscellaneous

Getting Up Early and Staying Out Late

Folks attending this IPT will be out in the field as early as possible and stay out late to take advantage of sunrise and sunset colors as is pretty much the case on almost all BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours. Doing so will often present unique photographic opportunities, opportunities that will be missed by those who need their beauty sleep and those who need to get home for a proper dinner. I really love it when I am leaving the beach on a sunny morning after a great session just as a carful or two of well-rested photographers are arriving. Or watching folk leave the beach just before the western sky lights up.

What You Will Learn

I short, you will learn more than you could ever have dreamed of. All will learn the basics and fine points of digital exposure. Nikon and Canon folks will learn to get the right exposure every time after making a test exposure, and SONY folks will learn to use Zebras so that they can be sure of making excellent exposures before pressing the shutter button. Everyone will learn how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. Most importantly, you will surely learn to evaluate wind and sky conditions and understand how they affect bird photography. And you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode. The best news is that you will be able to take everything you learn home with you so that you will be a better photographer wherever and whenever you photograph.

This image was created on 15 January 2009 with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400. Aperture Priority +1 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open). AWB at 3:34pm on a sunny afternoon.

Be sure to click on the image to view a larger, sharper high-res version.

Long-billed Curlew with tiny fish

Getting Back to Morro Bay

I am excited about getting back to Morro Bay, especially considering that I will have my Sony Gear with me. All of the images in today’s post were created about ten or more years ago. The AF systems on the Canon gear I was using then were crude at best as compared to the AF systems of today’s amazing mirrorless bodies. The Sony a-1, IMHO, is the best of the lot by far. If you would like to know why I am positive that the Sony a-1 is the best camera for bird photography, click here to shoot me an e-mail request.

The Stars of the Morro Bay Show!

The target species for nearly all avian photographers visiting bird-rich Morro Bay, CA at any season but summer is North America’s largest most spectacular shorebird, Long-billed Curlew. With their long decurved bills, these birds are adept at grabbing sand crabs on the edge of the surf and probing deeply into wet sand and mud to extract fiddler crabs from their burrows. The bills of the females, which often exceed nine inches in length, are longer than the bills of the males. At Morro Bay, this species is common in fall, winter, and early spring and are often easily approached. And best of all, there is tons of action — flight, feeding on sand crab, squabbles with other species, and bathing.

This image was created on 14 January 2015 with a handheld Canon 100-400mm lens and the EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 800. Aperture Priority +1/3-stop: 1/100 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open). AWB at just before sunset on a partly cloudy afternoon.

Be sure to click on the image to view a larger, sharper high-res version.

Long-billed Curlew at sunset

Image Quality Then and Now

As I re-processed most of the images use here today, I quickly came to realize how inferior the raw files are as compared to the raw files that I create today with my Sony a-1. As mentioned above, the older AF systems were simply not capable of consistently creating sharp-on-the-face-and-eye images. Today, image sharpness is taken for granted by competent shooters most of the time. Exacerbating the soft focus problem is the fact that the image quality of the files rendered by the older cameras is dismal when compared to what is routine today. The larger files sizes — 51 MP with the Sony a-1, for example — and the huge improvement in sensor technology makes it painfully obvious that we are living in a dream world today. Don’t get me wrong, processed following my latest BIRDS AS ART digital workflow, many of the older images made with my Canon gear stand up just fine for web use and many would surely make fine prints. When taking a close look by zooming in in Photoshop, however, the differences in image quality are obvious and huge (even to someone like me who does not have a good eye for fine detail). Not to mention that the vast superiority of today’s best mirrorless camera bodies in all three major system includes their hard-to–believe high ISO renderings.

The Digital Basics III Video Series

The Digital Basics III Video Series

I realized about a year ago that my digital workflow had changed significantly and was toying with the idea of writing a Digital Basics III. More recently, I have learned and begun working with two great new Photoshop Tools, the Remove Tool and the Luminance Targeted Adjustment Tool. The former is like a smarter Spot Healing Brush Tool on steroids and the latter is a huge step up from the fabulous Color Mixer Tool. During that same time frame, I came up with a new and improved 2-step noise reduction technique. I still use Divide and Conquer, Quick Masks, Layer Masks, an expanded array of personalized keyboard shortcuts, and tons of other stuff from both versions of Digital Basics.

As soon as I realized that I did not want to take on another large writing project, I realized that by creating a series of videos I could much more easily share all the details of my current digital workflow and much more easily incorporate additional new tips, techniques, and tools as I went. And so, The Digital Basics III Video Series was born. You can check out Volume I/#1 here and Volume I/#2 here.

You might opt to purchase single videos or to subscribe to Volume I and save $26 by ordering the first five videos in one fell swoop. You can purchase the five videos in Volume I by clicking here. The videos will be most valuable for folks using the latest version of Photoshop (2024) or Lightroom along with Topaz DeNoise AI and Topaz Sharpen AI.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.

December 5th, 2023

The Osprey Flight Direction Reveal and DB III: VOL I/#2

The Digital Basics III Video Series

The Digital Basics III Video Series

I realized about a year ago that my digital workflow had changed significantly and was toying with the idea of writing a Digital Basics III. More recently, I have learned and begun working with two great new Photoshop Tools, the Remove Tool and the Luminance Targeted Adjustment Tool. The former is like a smarter Spot Healing Brush Tool on steroids and the latter is a huge step up from the fabulous Color Mixer Tool. During that same time frame, I came up with a new and improved 2-step noise reduction technique. I still use Divide and Conquer, Quick Masks, Layer Masks, an expanded array of personalized keyboard shortcuts, and tons of other stuff from both versions of Digital Basics.

As soon as I realized that I did not want to take on another large writing project, I realized that by creating a series of videos I could much more easily share all the details of my current digital workflow and much more easily incorporate additional new tips, techniques, and tools as I went. And so, The Digital Basics III Video Series was born. You can check out Volume I/#1 here.

You might opt to purchase single videos or to subscribe to Volume I and save $26 by ordering the first five videos in one fell swoop. You can purchase the five videos in Volume I by clicking here. The videos will be most valuable for folks using the latest version of Photoshop (2024) or Lightroom along with Topaz DeNoise AI and Topaz Sharpen AI.

What’s Up?

It was very foggy here the last two mornings. I enjoyed my two walks with the peashooter rig, the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II lens, the 2X TC, and an a-1. I kept a few images from the Sunday session including a spectacular male Boat-tailed Grackle dorsal flight shot with the perfect wing and tail spreads. Monday was a dud. I have been swimming my half-mile each day; the pool has been a relatively cool 77 to 78°.

Today is Tuesday 5 December 2023. I will be working on the yet-to-be announced Morro Bay Instructional Photo-Tour. I hope to see you there. Details soon. Wherever you are and whatever you choose to do, I hope that you too have a great day.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

You can find some great photo accessories (and necessities, like surf booties!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks who, like me, spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

If an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

This image was created on 21 November 2023. Standing at full height, I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 500: 1/400 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:51:30am, right after sunrise on a partly cloudy morning.

Tracking Zone/AF-C performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger, sharper, high-res version.

Image #1: Osprey carrying fish

Coming or Going?

Last week, in the blog post here, I published this:

Is the bird in Image #1 flying toward me or away from me? How do you know?

Four folk who commented said that the bird was flying away. Two thought that it was flying toward me.

Image #1A: Osprey carrying fish/converted lighter

The Flight Direction Answer

On the early morning of 21 November, at Sebastian Inlet State Park, there was some nice sky color for those who got there early — that would be only me. Several Osprey were fishing south of the jetty. At they flew away with their catch, the birds were angling away from me at about 45°. I knew from experience, that at times, it is possible to create a perfect optical illusion, a photo in which it appears that the subject is flying toward you (rather than away). As the lighter conversion — Image #1A, above — shows, the bird was in fact flying away from me.

This image was created on 5 May 2022 at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing at full height by the Osprey nest at the foot of the pier, I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 1000: 1/3200 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:19:03am on a mostly sunny morning.

Tracking Zone/AF-C performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger, sharper, high-res version.

Image #2: Recently fledged Osprey in fresh juvenile plumage landing at nest platform

The Situation and the Story

In most years, there are about six or seven nesting pairs of Osprey down by the lake near my home. In the spring of 2022, most nests fledged three chicks while one fledged “only” two. It was an amazingly productive year for the fish hawks. In 2023, only one or two young were fledged.

I took me nearly a year and a half to decide to optimize this image. In the original frame, the nest platform (with two siblings and an adult, all with poor head angles) was cut off. In addition, I hated that the right hand side of the handsome young bird’s face was in the shade. The current BIRDS AS ART digital workflow dealt easily with the many problems. You can see the original in the short YouTube video immediately below.

Digital Basics III, Volume I/#2/YouTube Promo

The Digital Basics and Digital Basics II PDFs have taught more than 8000 nature photographers to process their raw files optimally, to make them look great. The new Digital Basics III Video Series Is an educational Photoshop video series. Each video takes you through three complete image optimizations: converting the raw file, noise reduction and image clean-up, an JPEG creation. You will learn the complete and current BIRDS AS ART digital workflow. The use of two great new Photoshop Tools: the Move Tool and the Luminance Targeted Adjustment Tool (the latter in Color Mixer), is covered in great detail in the series.

You can purchase the five video series here.

Digital Basics III Volume I/#2

Digital Basics III, Volume I/#2

Sit beside me as I optimize three new images on my laptop. With my current BIRDS AS ART digital workflow, you can follow along step by step with the raw conversions — including the use of the Luminance Targeted Adjustment Tool (L-TAT) — to adjust the Saturation and Luminance (and rarely, the Hue) of the colors in the image, my new two-step noise reduction strategy, the image clean-up, including Divide and Conquer, and tips on using the new Remove Tool, making Color Range selections, working with masks and layer masks, saving the master (.tif) file, and creating and saving superb JPEGs.

You can purchase Volume I/#2 here.

Retroactive Discount Savings

If you have previously purchased a single video and learned a lot, you can upgrade to the complete DB III Volume I series and save $26.00 by calling Jim at 863-692-0906 weekdays, Monday through Friday at noon.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.

December 3rd, 2023

Sebastian Sucked. When Conditions are Tough, Don't Quit: Be Creative and Strive to Hone Your Low Light Skills

When Conditions are Tough, Don’t Quit: Be Creative and Strive to Hone Your Low Light Skills

Or you can stand around chatting with other photographers; bird photography, like life, is about choices.

Guido Bee: December 2, 2023 at 1:07pm

I’m with Joel. On-line d-o-f calculator shows 1200 mm at F/12.7 and 35 feet (just a guess, but it does not change very much) is 0.09 feet in front and also in back of the plane of focus. That’s about an inch either side. Nice shots. I’m partial to the hawk, but that’s just me.
Thanks for all your work in putting this out there for us. All the best.

Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART: December 3, 2023 at 8:20am

Hey Guy, Both correct on the d-o-f question.

And BTW, thanks for your kind words. I am inspired when folks are moved to leave a comment.

with love, artie

Please Remember

Please remember that the BIRDS AS ART blog is designed to be interactive. The more answers and comments that a post garners, the more you and I will learn. But only 100% of the time.

Your Call?

Which of today’s five featured bad weather images do you like best? Why?

What’s Up?

As you can tell from the title, Friday morning at Sebastian was not very good and the weather was beyond lousy for the most part. On Saturday morning, I put out the smelly rotted Black Drum carcass down by the lake. Conditions were perfect with cloudy-bright skies and a southeast winds. The vultures were slow at finding the bait but I persisted and was rewarded with one of my best ever road-kill cafe mornings. Details soon.

I took a midmorning walk with the peashooter rig, the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II lens, the 2X TC, and an a-1, and again, got a few ones.

Today is Sunday 3 December 2023. It is 7:26am and I am almost ready to publish today’s offering. It is cloudy, very dark, and foggy but I will head down to the lake in a bit to see what I can see and see what I can learn. Wherever you are and whatever you choose to do, I hope that you too have a great day.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

You can find some great photo accessories (and necessities, like surf booties!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks who, like me, spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

If an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

This image was also created on 1 December 2023 at Sebastian Inlet, FL. Standing at full height I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. The exposure was determined via Zebras with Exposure Compensation on the Thumb Dial. Multi-metering +2.7 stops in Shutter Priority mode. AUTO ISO set ISO 4000: 1/20 sec. at f/4 (wide open).

Tracking: Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Image #1: Black Skimmers in flight — blur

How Dark Was It?

There were huge dark clouds to the southeast when I walked out onto the small jetty. Making sharp images of birds in flight was simply not an option. I went to my standard pre-dawn blur set-up: Shutter Priority with AUTO ISO and Exposure Compensation on the Thumb Dial. At +2.7 stops, I wound up at ISO 4000 at 1/20 second. That is dark!

Despite shooting at +2.7 stops, this image was still a bit underexposed. My understanding of the best exposures for per-dawn blurs increased astronomically when I began evaluating raw file exposures and brightness with RawDigger.

I had lots of chances as this small flock of skimmers coursed up and down the inlet. One of the nice things about Shutter Priority is that you can easily vary your shutter speeds to create a variety of looks.

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 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.

This image was also created on 1 December 2023 at Sebastian Inlet, FL. Crouching a bit behind my somewhat lowered tripod — I pulled the front leg out, I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. The exposure was determined via Zebras with Exposure Compensation on the Thumb Dial. Multi-metering +2.3 stops in Shutter Priority mode. AUTO ISO set ISO 2500: 1/60 sec. at f/4 (wide open).

Tracking: Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Image #2: Reddish Egret non-breeding head and shoulders portrait

Honing Your Low Light Skills

When things are crappy, it is a great time to improve your low light/slow shutter speed sharpness techniques, not to mention lots of opportunities to work on high ISO exposures.

Without a ton of wind and with a still subject, I am confident of making sharp images with the 600mm f/4 on the tripod at 1/60 second. Amazingly, that is true with either the 1.4X TC or the 2X TC in the mix. There were several Reddish Egrets posing near the shore, some perched on rocks. There was a group of four or five photographers chatting, standing under the bridge to stay out of the rain. Nobody seemed at all interested in trying to be creative, improving their skills, or learning anything. Lousy weather gives you the opportunity to do all those things at once.

I did seek shelter once or twice during the morning when it began to rain really hard. But for the most part, there was a light drizzle early on that let up as the morning progressed.

The Image Optimizations

As regular readers know, properly exposed to the right raw files will look washed out and boring. I followed my current workflow and brought the images to life. With Image #2 in particular, the Luminance Targeted Adjustment Tool made it easy to juice up the colors so that they matched what I saw in real time. Learn how in The Digital Basics III Video Series. Volume I/#2 was distributed to subscribers on Tuesday past and will be available for sale on Tuesday for those who wish to purchase single videos.

This image was also created on 1 December 2023 at Sebastian Inlet, FL. Standing at full height I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1250. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/125 sec. at f/5.6 (stopped down 1-stop) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:07:01am on a cloudy, drizzly morning.

Tracking: Expand Spot AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Image #3: Ruddy Turnstone shaking head after bath

The Violently Spinning Head Shot Blur

After shaking water off their feathers, most birds will spend a good deal of time preening after they bathe. On occasion, they will spin their heads violently while maintaining their feathers. I was attracted to this preening bird because of the relatively clean sand. Once the subject began ruffling its feathers, I pounded on the shutter button. The intermediate shutter speed of 1/125 second was capable of rending the eyes sharp when the bird ruffled its feathers, but with the violent head spin, it created a really neat blur effect. Though I am very selective in general, there may be some great benefits to holding the shutter button down when photographing action (and flight).

This image was also created on 1 December 2023 at Sebastian Inlet, FL. Standing at full height I used the handheld (!) Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1250. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/4000 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 9:22:28am on a cloudy morning.

Tracking: Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Image #4: Royal Tern wheeling in flight — wings fully down

I Must Be Getting Stronger: Hand Holding the 600mm F/4 GM

When I headed back to the jetty, I went with the 600 on the tripod, but there were very few Ospreys in the air. There were, however, lots of Royal Tern fishing at relatively close range. So, I took the 600 out of the levered-clamp and hand held it for about twenty minutes without a problem. If, and only if, you are able to handhold a lens comfortably, it will always be easier to pan with a bird in flight and keep it in the center of the frame than it is when working off a tripod and attempting to do the same thing.

I was happy that when I did head back to the car I had zero right shoulder pain and zero left elbow and left wrist pain. If I had kept at it for too long, I would surely have paid a somewhat painful price.

Image #4: Close-up of damaged bill — Royal Tern wheeling in flight — wings fully down

Damaged Bill

I used the new Remove Tool (as detailed in The Digital Basics III Video Series) to repair the badly damaged bill of this tern. I continued discovering more and more about this amazing new Photoshop Tool and am including what I learn in each new video. I wind up using it only virtually every image that I process.

This image was also created on 1 December 2023 at Sebastian Inlet, FL. Standing at full height I used the handheld (!) Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1250. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/4000 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 9:23:19am on a cloudy morning.

Tracking: Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Image #5: Royal Tern in flight with pinfish

Not Too Smart

I have stated for years, “If you head into the field wearing shorts or a short-sleeved shirt, only bad things can happen. You might get lucky, but …

As it had warmed up considerably as it brightened slightly, I removed my rain pants and my long-sleeved shirt. When the wind dropped away, the no-see-ums appeared and began chewing on any exposed areas of skin. That is why I lasted only 20 minutes or so. Again :-), I need to learn to listen to my own advice.

The Digital Basics III Video Series

The Digital Basics III Video Series

I realized about a year ago that my digital workflow had changed significantly and was toying with the idea of writing a Digital Basics III. More recently, I have learned and begun working with two great new Photoshop Tools, the Remove Tool and the Luminance Targeted Adjustment Tool. The former is like a smarter Spot Healing Brush Tool on steroids and the latter is a huge step up from the fabulous Color Mixer Tool. During that same time frame, I came up with a new and improved 2-step noise reduction technique. I still use Divide and Conquer, Quick Masks, Layer Masks, an expanded array of personalized keyboard shortcuts, and tons of other stuff from both versions of Digital Basics.

As soon as I realized that I did not want to take on another large writing project, I realized that by creating a series of videos I could much more easily share all the details of my current digital workflow and much more easily incorporate additional new tips, techniques, and tools as I went. And so, The Digital Basics III Video Series was born. You can check out Volume I/#1 here.

You might opt to purchase single videos or to subscribe to Volume I and save $26 by ordering the first five videos in one fell swoop. You can purchase the five videos in Volume I by clicking here. The videos will be most valuable for folks using the latest version of Photoshop (2024) or Lightroom along with Topaz DeNoise AI and Topaz Sharpen AI.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.