Soup from a Bosque Stone

An Amazing Streak

Today’s blog post marks 40 days in a row with a new post, a new record by far that should continue for at least another week or two. To show your appreciation, we ask that use our B&H and Amazon affiliate links for all of your B&H and Amazon purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store. We sell only what I use and depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

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This vertical pan-blur was created at Bosque del Apache NWR with the hand held Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, the Canon 1.4x EF Extender III (Teleconverter) (at 280mm), and the EOS-1D Mark IV (now replaced for me by the Canon EOS-1D X . ISO 200. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops as framed: 1/15 sec. at f/4 in Tv mode. Central sensor/Rear Focus AF and pan vertically. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Soup from a Bosque Stone

On rare occasions, action can be on the slow side at Bosque del Apache, NWR in San Antonio, NM. And sometimes, there are just no birds to photograph. At these uncommon times folks should understand that there are a wealth of non-avian subjects at the refuge worthy of their time. Those include the young willows and stands of the invasive salt cedar that line the ditches. Both of these are ideal fodder for honing your vertical pan-blur techniques. The panning rate determines the degree of blurring but it is the timing of the shutter release that determines the image design. It takes practice to achieve the framing that you want but once you are in the field, digital is free so it is a good idea to experiment at length. It is likely that something like 1 out of every 10 images will look good on the back of your camera and for every 10 that look good on the back of your camera you might wind up with one very nice keeper, or better yet, a family jewel.

This image was created with the hand held Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens (at 98mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital camera body ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops as framed: 1/8 sec. at f/11 in Tv mode. Central sensor/Rear Focus AF on the photographer and pan vertically. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Blurring the Blurrer

On a rare not-so-great IPT morning Denise Ippolito and I stopped to teach the boys and girls how to create pleasing blurs. Everyone was working on vertical pan blurs of the young willows when BPN‘s Cheryl Slechta, a moderator in the Out-of-the Box Forum, where creativity reigns under Cheryl’s fine leadership, came by and shared her “Harold blur.” Everyone loved the image. .

We loved it so much that we got Bear Boat IPT veteran Harold Klein to pose for us. He was a great sport and his camouflage outfit was perfect. As always we encourage folks to create lots of images in hopes of getting one good one. I created about 25 Harold Blurs and kept only the one above….

This image was also created with the hand held Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens (at 98mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital camera body ISO 50. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop as framed: 1/2 sec. at f/14 in Tv mode. Central sensor/Rear Focus AF on the black stripe at the bottom and pan horizontally. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Bummin’ I

When the pre-dawn sky is spectacular but the birds are sleeping late creating pleasing blurs is always an option. Working on a tripod when creating pan blurs makes it easy to keep the straight lines straight and level. With the lower half of the frame here relatively dark (as compared to the sky) I did not add much light for fear of blowing out both the YELLOW and the RED channels. Again, the shutter speed and the panning rate determine the degree of blurring and the timing of the shutter release determines the framing.

This image was also created at Bosque del Apache NWR, this one with the Gitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal 1.4x Extender (at 386mm) and the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 5000. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/4 sec. at f/4 in in Tv Mode (with ISO Safety Shift). Central sensor/AI Servo/Surround–Rear Focus AF on the ridge and pan horizontally. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Bummin’ II

On some days there is beautiful color in the pre-dawn sky while it is still relatively pitch dark, far too early for the geese to fly out. Such was the case when I created the image above; note the ISO of 5000 with a shutter speed of only 1/4 second…. Bummin’ is a choice. 🙂 (The Work of Byron Katie.)

A Guide to Pleasing Blurs

If you would like to learn more about creating pleasing blurs check out our A Guide to Pleasing Blurs by Denise Ippolito and yours truly.

This 20,585 word, 271 page eGuide 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. The book is laid out in landscape format to make for easy viewing and easy reading on any decent computer monitor.

We 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. We teach you to recognize situations where subject movement can be used to your advantage to create pan blurs, wind blurs, and moving water blurs. We 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. Do know that over the past decade more and more prestigious contests that are looking away from traditional photography towards more out of the box stuff have chosen to honor a great many intentional blurs. 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 in-camera Art Vivid HDR image was created with the Gitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens (at 145mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III ISO 400. Evaluative metering +/- 2 stops around 1/60 sec. at f/8 in Av mode. Central sensor/Rear Focus AF on the nearest branch just above center and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Backlit Cottonwoods

Kudos and thanks again to the afore-mentioned Cheryl Slechta who has helped Denise and me out on several Bosque IPTs. On the 2012 IPT, most of the group was waiting for a big duck blast-off without much success. Cheryl went for a walk to see what she could see and came back to share some of her backlit cottonwood images. Several of us were really impressed. I advised folks with 5D Mark III bodies that using a tripod for creating any HDR images is the best plan as it assures accurate alignment of the images. As I usually do my favorites were Art Vivid captures and as usual, I brought the JPEG into Photoshop and reduced the Saturation about 10 points.

This Art Vivid in-camera HDR image was also created at Bosque del Apache NWR with the Gitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal 1.4x Extender (at 282mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III . ISO 400. Evaluative metering +/-2 stops around +1 2/3 stops: 1/200 sec. at f/7.1 in in Av Mode. Central sensor/AI Servo/Surround–Rear Focus AF on the large cottonwood on the left and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Long Lenses for Landscapes

I love using long glass for landscape and scenic photography. Doing so enables you to extract the most interesting parts of the scene in a way that I wide angle lens cannot do. In addition, long effective focal lengths compress the elements in a composition making them appear closer to each other than they actually are. As the 282mm focal length used here did to the cottonwoods and the low mountains. I loved using my 200-400 at Bosque for both landscapes and the pre-dawn and sunrise fly-ins and fly-outs.

This in-camera Natural HDR image was created with the Gitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens (at 110mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III ISO 400. Evaluative metering +/- 2 stops around +1 1/3 stops: 1/80 sec. at f/16 in Av mode. Central sensor/Rear Focus AF on the vegetation along the ditch 1/3 of the way into the frame and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Natural In-Camera HDRS

As regular readers know, I love and use the Art Vivid in-camera HDR style most of the time. But with the image above, it the JPEGs were looking way too YELLOW so I created a few with the Natural style and loved the results. My 50-50 NIK pre-set did wonders for this one as did the nice crop from the top and a 10-point increase in Saturation. I erased the 50-50 Tonal Contrast/Detail Extractor layer from the sky with a Regular Layer Mask.

5D Mark III User’s Guide

Learn everything that I know about my 5D Mark III in my 5D Mark III User’s Guide. Included are 5D III exposure fine points, handling the WHITEs, all top LCD and camera control buttons, the 5D Mark III drive modes, how to manually select an AF sensor, choosing an AF Area Selection Mode, Menu Item access, coverage of almost all Menu Items and Custom Functions including the following: Image Quality, Auto Lighting Optimizer, Highlight Tone Priority, AF Configuration Tool (includes details on the custom 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. In addition you will learn my settings for both the In-camera HDR and the Multiple Exposure features. The guide is–of course–written in my informal, easy-to-follow style.

Your Favorite?

Take a moment to leave a comment and let us know which of the images above is your favorite and why you chose it.

The 2014 Bosque Quick Start Guide/Current Conditions Update is available as a stand alone purchase. See below for details.

The 2014 Bosque Quick Start Guide/Current Conditions Update

The 2014 Bosque Quick Start Guide/Current Conditions Update was sent on Tuesday to all the folks who have previously purchased our Bosque Site Guide. In this new, stand-alone guide I will enlighten you as to what’s new at the refuge and what’s old that works. Where should you be at dawn with a north wind? Which crane pool is better? What’s with that new pond? Where are the two best spots to be at sunset? Where should you be at 7:30am on a cloudy morning?

All of those questions are answered in detail in the new Quick Start Guide/Update. The Quick Start Guide contains a basic synopsis of the complete guide including the best pre-dawn strategies, the best crane pool strategies, the best afternoon strategies, and the best sunset strategies. Heck, BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. This new e-Guide includes 41 images, all but one created in 2013. Most are spectacular and inspiring, all include an educational caption designed to teach you to be in the right place at the right time in the right weather. Take advantage of my 20 years of experience at Bosque by getting yourself a copy of this great new guide right now.

If you own the Bosque Site Guide and did not receive the update please cut and paste (or screen capture) the top of the first page of your Bosque Site Guide into an e-mail and shoot it to Jim via e-mail with the words “2014 Bosque Update” cut and pasted into the Subject Line.

If you purchase our Bosque Site Guide ($50) today, you will receive the complete Bosque Site Guide in one e-mail, and then you will receive the 2014 Bosque Quick Start Guide/Current Conditions Update at no charge to you.

Save $25 on the Stand Alone “Bosque Quick Start Guide”

We are, as we did last year, offering the 2014 Bosque Quick Start Guide/Current Conditions Update as a stand-alone purchase for only $25. You can order your copy right now in the BAA Online Store by clicking here. Your PDF will be sent via e-mail.

Join Denise Ippolito and me for four great days of photography and learning at one of our soul places. Please click on the card to enjoy a larger version.

Bosque del Apache 2014 BIRDS AS ART/A Creative Adventure Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT). NOV 29-DEC 3, 2014. Totaling 4 FULL-DAYS: $1449. Leaders: Arthur Morris and Denise Ippolito. Introductory Slide program: 7:00pm on Sunday 11/29.

Tens of thousand of Snow Geese, 10,000 Sandhill Cranes, ducks, amazing sunrises, sunsets, and blast-offs. Live, eat, and breathe photography with two of the world’s premier photographic educators at one of their very favorite photography locations on the planet. Top-notch in-the-field and Photoshop instruction. This will make 21 consecutive Novembers at Bosque for artie. This will be denise’s 6th workshop at the refuge. Nobody knows the place better than artie does. 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 being able to apply what you’ve learned on your home turf will prove to be invaluable.

This workshop includes 4 afternoon (11/29 through 12/2), 4 morning (11/30 to 12/3) photography sessions, an inspirational introductory slide program after dinner on your own on Saturday, 11/29, all lunches, and after-lunch digital workflow, Photoshop, and image critiquing sessions.

There is never a strict itinerary on a Bosque IPT as each day is tailored to the local conditions at the time and to the weather. We are totally flexible in order to maximize both the photographic and learning opportunities. We are up early each day leaving the hotel by 5:30 am to be in position for sunrise. We usually photograph until about 10:30am. Then it is back to Socorro for lunch and then a classroom session with the group most days. We head back to the refuge at about 3:30pm each day and photograph until sunset. We will be photographing lots of Snow Geese and lots of Sandhill Cranes with the emphasis on expanding both your technical skills and your creativity.

A $449 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 7/25/2014. 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.

Join Denise Ippolito and me for two great days of photography, fun, and learning at one of our soul places. We will surely be taking you out of the box on this workshop. Please click on the card to enjoy a larger version.

Bosque del Apache 2014 A Creative Adventure/BIRDS AS ART “Creative Photography Instructional Photo-Tour.” (IPT). NOV 24-25, 2014. 2-FULL DAYS: $729. Leaders: Denise Ippolito & Arthur Morris. Introductory Slide program: 7:00pm on Sunday 11/23.

Get Out of Your Box!

The Creative Bosque IPT is perfect for folks who want to learn to think outside the box, to create new and different images. This workshop is the perfect add-on for folks who are planning on attending the Festival of the Cranes. Learn to unleash your creative juices at the wondrous Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in San Antonio, New Mexico with two great leaders including the amazingly talented and creative Denise Ippolito. In-the-field instruction will include tips on gear set-up, on creating a variety of pleasing blurs, on getting the right exposure, and on designing pleasing images. And lots more. From vertical pan blurs to subject motion blurs to zoom blurs to multiple exposures we will cover it all. If conditions are perfect, we will not hesitate to take advantage of them to do some traditional bird photography. This workshop will include an inspirational introductory slide program on Sunday evening, 11/23, after dinner on your own, two morning and two afternoon photography sessions, all lunches, a digital workflow and Photoshop session after lunch on Monday, and an image critiquing session after lunch on Tuesday.

A $329 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 7/25/2014. 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.

Bosque 2013 Kudos

From Brent Schoenfeld who attended with his friend Claudia, via e-mail:

You and Denise are an amazing team and it was a treasured experience to learn from and photograph with you both. You have gifted me a new ‘exposure’ discipline, which has catapulted me up to the level I’ve wanted to be at. I had seen the value before, largely from following your blog, and had started to embrace it, but with the workshop I find myself solidly and confidently established in a new and photographically more powerful place. Thank you for your blog, as well. It is a great learning tool. I hope to do more workshops with you two! Thanks for everything. Ciao for now, B.

From Gretchen Cole in an e-mail to the group:

Hello All, I finally have images ready to share. I am still thinking of the trip to Bosque and am so glad I could get signed on late and meet all of you. What a fun, energetic, and talented group. This was my very first trip to Bosque, and I know I will be back. It has grabbed me and I am already formulating a plan to return. This also was my very first bird photography experience and it was fantastic to have such good leaders willing to help and share their knowledge. Enjoy the holidays and I hope we meet again. Thanks again to Denise and Artie for sharing your knowledge without restraint 🙂 Gretchen

From Dave Klein via e-mail:

I wanted you to know that both you and Denise are icons in my photographic journey. What I liked about the workshop was the blending of styles you two represent: technical, compositional and creative. Your vast experience with Bosque told us when to be patient with a situation and let the photographic opportunity present itself and when to quickly move on to another when the circumstances weren’t in our favor. Thanks so much Artie for your dedication to your workshop participants and your readership. I feel privileged to say that I am both. Kind regards, Dave

From Sue Eberhart’s e-mail to the group:

Happy Day After Thanksgiving to all, The experience at Bosque, for me, was a once-in-a-lifetime journey. Before leaving home, I knew that it would be special trip but upon arrival and experiencing just a few minutes with all of you, I knew I was into something extraoidinary. The group’s passion and talent was infectious. As we know, the setting was so very special and the birds outdid themselves.

I am always looking for inspiration and I found all of you inspiring in many ways. Denise and Artie were always patient and willing to share their knowledge, techniques and skills. What more could one ask for? Snow? Yep, even that was arranged for and delivered. Attached are 5 of my best images. I can hardly wait to get home and begin to practice with our shorebirds but nothing will replicate the Bosque experience with all of you. Happy Holidays to you all and I hope we will meet again someday. Sue

From Carl Meisel via e-mail:

Thanks so much for allowing us to experience a once in a lifetime event. I had a great learning experience and am going home with myriads of keepers. I think we lucked out with the days we chose as we saw numerous blastoffs and beautiful sunsets. Thanks again. Carl–from the old Brooklyn neighborhood