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This Macaroni Penguin preening its mate was photographed at Hercules Bay, South Georgia, with the tripod-mounted Canon 300mm f/2.8 L IS II lens, the 2X III teleconverter, and the EOS-1D Mark IV now replaced by the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -2/3 stop: 1/200 sec. at f/10 in Manual mode. This is still one of my favorite images from the trip. The birds were so tame that I rarely if ever felt limited by my longest effective telephoto length of “only” 780mm (300mm X 2 X 1.3). An upper left-hand sensor was chosen manually: AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image for a larger version. |
Coming Soon: the Fractastic eGuide
The image above was one of my very favorite images from my January 2012 Falklands, South Georgia, Antarctica expedition with Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris.
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My first Fract of the Macaroni Penguin image. Click on the image for a larger version. |
The Original Fractalius Creation
The image above is the Fractalius image that I created about a year ago. I started with the Glow 100 preset on its own layer, tweaked it a bit, added a Layer Mask, and revealed the original eye. I’ve always liked this one.
Coming Soon: the Fractastic eGuide
Denise Ippolito and Andrew McLachlan have written a fantastic new Creative User eGuide for Fractalius, the great Photoshop plug-in that creates “unusual, eccentric artworks in a single step. The effects are based on the extraction of the so-called hidden fractal texture of an image. You can also simulate various types of exotic lighting and high-realistic pencil sketches.”
I have been hard at work during my free time editing this great new guide. Andrew is now working on the 2nd draft. Denise was and is the driving force behind Fractastic, which will be the first-ever guide to the Fractalius interface. Most folks who are enchanted by Fractalius–the cover of this eGuide includes the phrase, “Beware; Content Addictive”–open the program, are immediately confused by the sliders and the various other buttons and controls, play around a bit, try some of the presets, and wind up creating something nice. With this great new eGuide you will be unguided no longer.
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The new Fract! Click on the image for a larger version. |
The New Fract!
The image above is a new Fract that I created with a single click from the original Fract using a tip that I learned while editing Fractastic. This new Guide, which will be well under-priced at $27, should be available from BIRDS AS ART (we are the publisher) in a month or less.
Your Favortie?
Take a moment to leave a comment and let us know which is your favorite Macaroni Penguin pair preening image, the original, the first Fract, or the second Fract. And do let us know why?
To Purchase Fractalius
To purchase Fractalius–for PCs only and those Mac folks using Parallels Desktop and VMWare/VMWare-Fusion–please use the Fractalius Fun logo link (the Fracted Brown Pelican) on the right hand side of each blog page. Thanks.
April Fool’s Day Updates
Arthur Morris Switches to Nikon
Many again were taken in by my personal April Fool’s Day humor here despite the fact that that blog post included this item towards the end:
A Second Admission
The press release above is of course an April’s Fool’s joke. Have a great month everyone :).
Boys and girls, you gotta read the whole thing.
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The new Canon EOS-7D L for left-handed photographers. |
The Left-Handed EOS-7D
To see the announcement of this great new camera, click here. To follow up, please click here.
Tanzania Photo Safari with Todd Gustafson and Arthur Morris
Africa/Tanzania/Serengeti Summer Migration Safari: 12 full and two half-days of photography: $12,999/person double occupancy. Limit: 12/Openings: 4.
Leaders: Todd Gustafson (he does use Nikon gear) and Arthur Morris. Leave the US AUG 3, 2013. Fly home from Arusha, Tanzania on the evening of August 18. Day 1 of the safari is August 5. Our last morning of photography is August 18. We will be visiting Tarangire National Park, Seronera Lodge–aka Leopard City!–twice, an exclusive mobile tented camp in the Serengeti, and at the end, the spectacular wildlife spectacle that is Ngorongoro Crater. Please e-mail for itinerary.
Please click here for complete IPT info.
BOSQUE del APACHE 2013 IPT: “The Complete Bosque Experience.” NOV 26-DEC 2, 2013. 7-FULL DAYS: $3399. Co-leader: Denise Ippolito. Introductory Slide program: 6:30 pm on 11/25. Limit: 12.
Tens of thousand of Snow Geese, 10,000 Sandhill Cranes, ducks including point-blank American Wigeon and Wood Duck, amazing sunrises, sunsets, and blast-offs. Live, eat, and breathe photography with one of (if not the) world’s premier photographic educators at one of his very favorite locations on the planet. Top-notch Photoshop instruction. This will make 19 consecutive Novembers at Bosque for me. Nobody knows the place better than I do. Join us to learn to think like a pro, to recognize situations and to anticipate them based on the weather, especially the sky conditions, the light, and the wind direction. Every time we make a move we will let you know why. When you head home applying what you learned will prove to be invaluable. Includes all lunches and the Thanksgiving Buffet at the Crowne Plaza in Albuquerque. I hope that you can join me for what will be an unparalleled learning experience.
A $500 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. Your balance is due 4 months before the date of the IPT and is also non-refundable. If the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. If your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.
Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check (made out to “Arthur Morris.”) You can also leave your deposit with a credit card by calling the office at 863-692-0906. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail
EOS-5D Mark III User’s Guide
In the EOS-5D Mark III User’s Guide You can learn everything that I know about the following important topics: 5D III exposure fine points, handling the WHITEs, the top LCD and all camera control buttons, 5D Mark III drive modes, how to manually select an AF sensor, choosing an AF Area Selection Mode, and Menu Item access. Coverage of almost all Menu Items and Custom Functions including: Image Quality, Auto Lighting Optimizer, Highlight Tone Priority, AF Configuration Tool (includes details on the custom Case setting that I use), Acceleration/deceleration tracking, Tracking sensitivity, Lens drive when AF impossible, Orientation linked AF point (I love this feature on the 5D III!), Highlight alert, Histogram display, Auto rotate, Custom Shooting Mode set-up, Safety shift, using the Q button, and setting up rear focus.Plus detailed instructions on how to set up for both in-camera HDR and in-camera multiple exposures.
The guide is–of course–written in my informal, easy-to-follow style. Learn more or purchase here.
EOS-1D X AF Guide
You can learn exactly how I set up and use this camera’s great new AF system in our EOS-1D X AF Guide. And you can learn about our other camera User’s Guides here.
Typos
On all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or leave a comment regarding any typos, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂
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And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. 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.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂 And you will love them in mega-cold weather....
Gitzo GT3532 LS CF Tripod. This one replaces the GT3530LS Tripod and will last you a lifetime. Learn more about this great tripod here.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. 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.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera's hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
The Lens Align Mark II. 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.
BreezeBrowser. I do not see how any digital photographer can exist without this program.
Delkin Flash Cards. I use and depend on Delkin compact Flash Cards and card readers most every day. Learn more about their great 700X and 1000X cards here or about my favorite Delkin card here.
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Bless you! Aubrey.
Thanks. I will ask Peter Kes. artie
I first heard of this program from Art and Denise during their weekend seminar in Staten Island, NY. It is definitely a program I would own in a NY minute, if, alas, it were written for Apple OS. I regard that as a definite shame that it’s not. Come on, Frac’ peeps, write this for Apple, the de facto standard used by photographers and other creative people all over.
LOVE the first FRACT post. The dark bg makes the colors pop and the plumage is perfect for the firey glowing effect.
My preference/favorite is the first picture. Beyond it being a great shot, it could just be that I’m boring/unimaginative, etc. and the fractalius doesn’t excite me as much as you. When choosing from the buffet, we don’t have to put everything on our plate.
Hi Artie,
I’ve been reading your posts for a long time and I am a true admirer of your talent.
I wanted to tell you that I made the move to purchase a used camera off your site.
This is something I have never done before, being overly cautious of electronics on
the internet. I am on a fixed income so this was very important to my budget. I did
buy a used Canon 7D from Brent Bridges. This was to have as backup to my 5Dlll. I
have to say I was amazed at the quality, packaging and overall experience. The camera
is impecable, complete in box with manuals and extras included. It looked as if it was
never used. The frame count was 4657. I have only used it a few times so far but the
entire experience was a definite plus.
Brent is a good egg. No problema posting this here 🙂 And thanks for your kind words. artie
That first picture is a corker for sure, but I love how the second one distills the 3 main elements, the preening beak, the stunning crest and the eye.
Not as keen on the third but what do I know!
The second one is my favourite by a fair margin.