What 500II? What 1D X? Your Last Chance is Nearly Here... Morro Bay is Smoking Hot!

Stuff

Monday morning was incredibly exciting and productive. With some heavy cloud cover, I took Monday afternoon off to relax. This blog post was published at 9:50pm on Monday night from my hotel room in Morro Bay, CA–just before 1am on the east coast.

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This image was created at Morro Bay on the morning of March 16, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/125 sec. at f/5.6. Color temperature: 9000K. One AF point up from the Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/shutter button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Western Gull in predawn

What 500II? What 1D X?

I have not taken the 500II out of the trunk since the first morning in Morro Bay. I have not even touched the single 1D X that I brought to California. The 100-400II/7D II combination is that deadly….

This image was created at Morro Bay on the morning of March 16, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 100mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/60 sec. at f/5.6. Pop-up flash at zero. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #2: Western Gull in flight/flash blur

Your Last Chance is Nearly Here…

It is not too late to join me here in Morro Bay for this coming Friday’s In-the-Field Workshop or to register for the Canon Live Learning Morro Bay Destination Workshop that follows on Saturday and Sunday. See below for details.

This image was created at Morro Bay the morning of March 16, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/5.6. AWB. One AF point to the right of the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The active AF point was on the edge of the top of the bird’s breast. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #3: Long-billed Curlew female

Morro Bay is Smoking Hot!

I have been blessed to come across a variety of great situations every day at Morro Bay. Monday afternoon was the first day with a blah sunset. On Monday morning I enjoyed some great pre-dawn color, a variety of birds chowing down on a seal carcass, and several displaying male turkeys along with the usual cast of Long-billed Curlews and Marble Godwits.

This image was created at Morro Bay at Morro Bay on the morning of March 16, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/640 sec. at f/8. AI Servo/Shutter Button/Zone AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The AF system selected an array of four sensors just above and to the right of the bird’s eye. Click on the image to see a larger version. AWB. Image #4: Western Gull/third winter scavenging pinniped

Coming Soon

I will sharing a series of images of gull scavenging the seal carcass here soon. In another upcoming post, I will be discussing the use of the 7D II pop-up flash to improve your bird photography.

This image was created at Morro Bay at Morro Bay on the morning of March 16, 2015 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 217mm) and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1/2 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6. One AF point to the right and one row above the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The active AF point was just behind the bird’s neck. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #5: Wild Turkey tom strutting display

Image Question

In what type of habitat was the turkey above photographed? In other words, where? Hint: it was not photographed atop a pool table.

Your Fave?

Please take a moment to let us know which of today’s five images was your favorite and why you liked it.

Morro Bay offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects in a variety of attractive settings. Do consider joining me there on the March 20-22, 2015 Canon Destination Workshop. Complete info and register here

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day

The Morro Bay Canon Destination Workshop March 20-22, 2015 now has only four slots open. To encourage folks to sign up I have planned the following:

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day. Friday March 20: $399.

This in-the-field workshop includes a 4-hour morning photo-session that begins in the pre-dawn, a 2 hour afternoon photo session (3-5pm or so), and a working lunch with image review and some Photoshop. We will finish up in time to attend the Friday evening program that opens the Destination Workshop. At present only two folks are signed up for the day so you will surely receive all of the one on one guidance that you can handle.

Though you not need to be registered for the Canon event to join me on Friday, doing so would make a lot of sense to me. The Friday evening program is of course open only to those who are signed up for the Destination Workshop. See immediately below for details on that.

BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay, CA Canon Live Learning EOS Destination Workshop
March 20-22, 2015: $1050

Borrow great Canon gear. Head home with a print or two. Learn from the best.

Click here for complete info or to register.

Click here to see the course agenda.

Join me in one of the most beautiful and scenic places on the planet to photograph a large variety of birds of the sea and shore. The star of the show will be the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. There will be lots of Marbled Godwits and Willets as well as lots of the smaller shorebird species. 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 great sunrise and sunset photography. There are lots of gulls including Western, California, and Mew. There is one good location where we should get to photograph Western, Clarke’s, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, and Common Loon–you will be able to borrow a long lens from Canon along with various camera bodies. We may get to photograph 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. And California Ground Squirrel. Sea Otters are also possible.

Folks who register after seeing this notice are asked to shoot me a copy of their BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay Registration Confirmation via e-mail.

See lots more Morro Bay images here.

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