Another Gatorland Short Notice Saturday Full-Day In-the-Field Workshop: Saturday May 3, 2014
Announced Here for the First Time
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The Streak Continues: 137
It is 5:42 am. Though I leave for the airport at 10:30am for my flights to Amsterdam for the Holland Tulip IPT, I still have not begun packing my two checked bags…. My Think Tank rolling bag is packed. I decided to take the 300 II and leave the 200-400 at home and to leave one of my two 1D X bodies at home since we will be doing only a few birds at most and I will be depending on my 5D Mark III for the tulips and the flower fields.
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This blog post took 3 hours to put together. Enjoy!
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This image was created at 7:23pm on Saturday April 12, 2014 aboard Jim Neiger’s customized pontoon boat with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens (hand held at 24mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop as framed: 1/2500 sec. at f/5.6 in Av mode. Color temperature: 10,000K. Central sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF on the horizon line and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
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One Business You Do Not Want to Get Into
We first noticed the swirly clouds at about 5pm. By 7:30, most were–going by the gorgeous patterns of the light clouds on the eastern horizon, predicting a killer colorful sunset. Though I agreed, I did caution: “One business that you do not want to get into is predicting sunset color….”
Within 20 minutes, my caution rang true.
Image Optimization Note
I wanted to try adding a reduced opacity later of Auto Contrast (ALT-SHIFT-CNTRL L) as taught to me by Denise Ippolito) but I accidentally hit SHIFT-CNTRL L. Wow, that really popped the BLUEs, similar to what White Neutralizer does in NIK but a lot faster. A bit of searching showed that I had hit the default keyboard shortcut for Auto Tone. I reduced the opacity to 80% and was thrilled with my new discovery. I shall not forget it.
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This image was created at 7:45pm on Saturday April 12, 2014 aboard Jim Neiger’s customized pontoon boat with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens (hand held at 26mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/640 sec. at f/4 in Av mode. Color temperature: 10,000K. Three sensors to the left of the central sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF as framed active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
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Straight Up
Once Jim positioned the boat grabbing the 24-70 and going wide with it was the obvious choice. With a bit of color above the horizon I went with the traditional approach by creating a sharp image.
Image Question
What 2 species of birds can be identified in this photo? Note: clicking on the image to enlarge it will help.
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This 3-frame in-camera HDR Art Vivid image was created at 7:46pm on Saturday April 12, 2014 aboard Jim Neiger’s customized pontoon boat with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens (hand held at 24mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/125 sec. at f/4 in Av mode. Color temperature: 10,000K. Three sensors to the left of the central sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF as framed were active at the moment of each exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
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What to Do With a Fizzle?
In-camera Art Vivid HDR
My first thought was to boost the color by going in-camera HDR Art Vivid, offered only in the Canon EOS-D Mark III. I know that with the boat rocking that both the horizon line and the trees would feature funky black outlining. I was right.
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This 5-frame in-camera multiple exposure was created at 7:53pm on Saturday April 12, 2014 aboard Jim Neiger’s customized pontoon boat with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens (hand held at 26mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/125 sec. at f/4 in Av mode. Color temperature: 10,000K. Three sensors to the left of the central sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF as framed active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
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What to Do With a Fizzle?
In-camera Multiple Exposure
Just for the heck of it I decided to try an in-camera Multiple Exposure. The first one looked quite ghostly so I created 5 more. This one is my favorite.
Your Favorite
After enlarging each image, please take a moment to let us know which one you like best and why.
The Feather Button
I access both the in-camera HDR feature and the in-camera Multiple Exposure feature via the Artist’s Brush button on the back of the 5D Mark III. Learn everything that there is to know about these 2 great features, everything that there is to know about the 5D III’s great new AF system, and pretty much everything that there is to know about this great camera in our 5D MK III User’s Guide.
Get a Free Copy of Our 5D Mark III User’s Guide
Purchase a Canon EOS-5D Mark III using one of our product-specific B&H affiliate links above or by clicking on the logo link below and shoot me your B&H receipt via e-mail. Once and if the purchase appears in my account–it should unless you screwed up somehow and did not use the link :), I will be glad to have Jim send you a free copy of our 5D Mark III User’s Guide.
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Join me at Gatorland for a ton of learning. If you want to learn to use your flash, you will not want to miss this one. Click on the composite image to enjoy a larger version. Click on the composite to enjoy the larger size. |
Another Gatorland Short Notice Saturday Full-Day In-the-Field Workshop
Saturday May 3, 2014. 7:15am till 10:15am & 4:00pm till dusk. Lunch, image review, and Photoshop session included. Limit 6. A very small group is again likely: $399.
The cost of your Gatorland Photographer’s Pass is not included.
Chicks in nests likely. Breeding plumage Cattle and Snowy Egrets. And tons more. You will learn to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. A big part of the above is that you will learn how and why you must work in Manual mode 90% of the time at Gatorland.
At lunch we will review my images, take a look at five of your best images from the morning session (for those who opt to bring their laptops), and process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time. Last Saturday all 3 folks had a great time and learned a ton. And the weather for this coming Saturday is looking good.
Payment in full via credit card is due upon registering. Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 to register.
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Typos
In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂
My favorite is image 2. By the way, predicting sunset colors works both ways. I recently left what looked to be a fizzle a few minutes too early and missed a biblical sunset. My consolation was that the one the previous evening, which I didn’t leave, was every bit as good.
Absolutely love images 1, 2, and 3. Beautiful work!!!
difficult to be sure about the species as the images are so small but I’d go for Osprey on left and Anhinga on right [but it could be DC Cormorant]
When I first looked at Image #1, I said Wow!!, This is one beautiful, beautiful image!! ted
Art: I loved the landscapes (waterscapes?) that you created on Jim Neiger’s boat! Have a great time in Holland!
Thanks on all counts Pat. I am doing two more days on Jim’s boat on May 23 & 24. Details to be announced soon. You and Stokes should come up for those. You can stay in my guest bedroom no charge :).
Love the first and third images!!
Thanks Lady D.
“Purchase a 5D Mark III User’s Guide using one of our product-specific B&H affiliate links above or by clicking on the logo link below and shoot me your B&H receipt via e-mail.”
Isn’t that “Purchase a 5D Mark III CAMERA BODY” and get the free Users Guide?
BTW, I really like your 5D III user guide and I paid full price for it 🙂
Enjoy Holland.
Thanks for catching my brain typo and for the Holland good wishes.
I must ask, did you use my B&H affiliate link? 🙂
Yes, I did use your B&H link and wrote you that after using the link I did not see any notice that I was doing anything different from just going into their website. You wrote that it would be OK. I was nervous about that because my wife went for a nice “landscape kit” (5D III, 24-105 & 24mm TSE) for my birthday and I wanted you to get something from my purchase.