Why Not? You’ve Come All This Way: Al-BLUR-tross Lesson…

What’s Up?

Please note that I originally worked on this blog post just after dinner on Friday, October 30, 2015 in Stanley, The Falklands.

We have a day trip to a Rockhopper Penguin colony and board the Ortelius tomorrow afternoon. Our visits to Bleaker–where today’s featured image was created–and to The Rookery on Saunders Island, were great. We flew back to Stanley, capital of the Falklands, this morning. The internet is not bad at the Malvina house so I am hoping that this and several other new blog posts will be published from the cloud during my time aboard ship.

While traveling in the Southern Ocean I will be 100% without internet from 1-14 NOV. Jim will be in the office doing his usually stellar job of minding the store and Jen will be here to help with with all things IPT related. You can reach either of them by phone at 863-693-0906. You can reach Jim by e-mail or Jen at e-mail (the latter with Attn. JEN in the Subject line).

Please refrain from e-mailing me from 23 OCT through 15 NOV. Fat chance on that. 🙂

What’s Up Update!

Denise and I were back in Stanley on Friday. We fly to Santiago, Chile on Saturday afternoon for our nearly full day layover there… If everything goes smoothly, I should be in Orlando just before lunch on Monday, 16 NOV. Our three week trip was amazing but I was feeling quite knackered on Friday evening. I was feeling quite well on Saturday.

If you missed yesterday’s blog post, be sure to check it out here.

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Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily.

You can see the complete listings by clicking here or always by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right end of the navigation bar at the top of each blog post page.

After a lull in September, things have really heated up lately:

Alan Walther sold his 500mm f/4L IS for $3900 in mid-October.
IPT veteran Larry Master sold his 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens for $4750 on October 22, 2015.
Canon 500mm f/4L IS (the “old five”) was sold by Glen Shellhammer for $4250 in mid-October, 2015.
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens was sold instantly by Walt Anderson for $4750 in mid-October, 2015.
Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens (the “old five”) was sold by Dane Johnson for $4150 in early October 2015.
Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 zoom lens (Canon mount) was sold by Beth Starr for $4,999 in early October 2015.
Canon EOS-1D X in excellent condition was sold by Patrick Sparkman for $3650 in early October, 2014.
Canon EF 100-400 f 4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens was sold for $699 by Sean Traynor on October 7, 2015.
Canon 100-400 L IS zoom lens (the old 1-4) was sold by Susan Carnahan for $675 in mid-October, 2015.

You can find the complete listings here.

This image was created on Saunders Islands, The Falklands with the tripod-mounted Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 200mm) and the rugged and the rugged professional body, the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/60 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. Cloudy WB. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the bird’s eye and recompose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Black-browed Albatross wing flap blur

Why Not? You’ve Come All This Way: Al-BLUR-tross Lesson…?

You travel many thousands of miles to a great location. It is cloudy dark and the wind in the Falklands is howling. You set up on a nice Black-browed Albatross nest and figure the exposure, being sure to work in Manual mode so that the amount of black or the amount of white will not affect the meter as it would if you were in an automatic exposure mode.

ISO 1600 gets you to a decent shutter speed for static portraits: 1/60 sec. When the big bird starts flapping many folks might think: “I cannot make a sharp image so why bother?”

Here is what I say: “It’s digital. It won’t cost you a penny. Your gear likely costs a minimum of $3,000 and possibly as much as $15,000, that for a single rig. Get over the old film mind set and, as I stated in The Art of Bird Photography II, When unexpected action occurs, push the shutter button. Do not worry about the shutter speed or the exposure. Just push the button.”

I did that and created today’s featured image.

The Image Optimization

While I love the degree of blurring in today’s image, the eye showed a good deal of motion blur. I painted a small Quick Mask of the much sharper eye from another image in the series, brought it into the featured image, and moved and rotated it slightly into place. Then I added a Regular Layer Mask to paint away most everything but the sharper eye. Bingo. Most bird and wildlife blurs work better with at least the eye sharp.

Tame birds and wildlife. Incredible diversity. You only live once….

GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. August 8-22, 2017 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $12,499. Limit: 12 photographers plus the two leaders: Denise Ippolito and yours truly. Openings: 8.

Same great trip; no price increase!
Four slots filled already; this trip needs nine to run; in the unlikely event that it does not, all payments to BAA will be refunded in full.

My two-week Galapagos Photo-Cruises are without equal. The world’s best guide, a killer itinerary, a great boat (the Samba), and two great leaders with ten Galapagos cruises under their belts. Pre-trip and pre-landing location-specific gear advice. In-the-field photo instruction and guidance. Jeez, I almost forgot: fine dining at sea!

The great spots that we will visit include Tower Island (including Prince Phillips Steps and Darwin Bay), Hood Island (including Punta Suarez, the world’s only nesting site of Waved Albatross, and Gardner Bay)—each of the preceding are world class wildlife photography designations that rank right up there with Antarctica, Africa, and Midway. We will also visit Fernandina, Puerto Ayora for the tortoises, Puerto Egas—James Bay, and North Seymour for nesting Blue-footed Boobies in most years, South Plaza for Land Iguanas, Floreana for Greater Flamingoes, and Urbina Bay, all spectacular in their own right. We visit every great spot on a single trip. Plus tons more. And there will be lots of opportunities to snorkel on sunny mid-days for those like me who wish to partake.

It is extremely likely that we will visit the incredible Darwin Bay and the equally incredible Hood Island, world home of Waved Albatross twice on our voyage. The National Park Service takes its sweet time in approving such schedule changes.

We will be the first boat on each island in the morning and the last boat to leave each island every afternoon. If we are blessed with overcast skies, we will often spend 5-6 hours at the best sites. And as noted above, mid-day snorkeling is an option on most sunny days depending on location and conditions. On the 2015 trip most snorkeled with a mega-pod of dolphins. I eased off the zodiac to find hundreds of dolphins swimming just below me. Note: some of the walks are a bit difficult but can be made by anyone if half way decent shape. Great images are possible on all landings with either a hand held 70-200mm lens and a 1.4X teleconverter or an 80- or 100-400. I bring a longer lens ashore on most landings as they better fit my style. I generally bring only one of these as my big lens: the Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS, the new Canon 400mm DO lens, or the Canon 200-400mm f/4 L IS with Internal Extender.

Do consider joining denise and me for this once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos archipelago. There simply is no finer Galapagos photography trip. Learn why above.

An Amazing Value…

Do know that there are one week Galapagos trips for $8500! Thus, our trip represents a tremendous value; why go all that way and miss half of the great photographic locations?

The Logistics

August 6, 2017: We arrive a day early to ensure that we do not miss the boat.

August 7, 2017: There will be an introductory Galapagos Photography session and a hands on exposure session at our hotel.

August 8, 2017: We fly to the archipelago and board the Samba. Heck, on the 2015 trip some people made great images at the dock in Baltra while our luggage was being loaded!

August 22, 2017: We disembark late morning and fly back to Guayaquil midday; most will overnight there.

Most will fly home on the early morning of July 23 unless they are staying on or going elsewhere (or catching a red-eye flight on the evening of the 22nd).

$12,499 includes just about everything: all transfers, guide and park fees, all food on the boat, transfers and ground transportation, your flights to the archipelago, and three nights (double occupancy) in a top notch hotel in Guayaquil. If you are good to go, a non-refundable deposit of $5,000 per person is due immediately. The second payment of $4,000 is not due until 11/1/16. The final payment of $3449 per person will be due on 2/1/17. A $200 discount will be applied to each of the balances for couples or friends who register at the same time.

Purchasing travel insurance within 2 weeks of our cashing your deposit check is strongly recommended. On two fairly recent cruises a total of 5 folks were forced to cancel less than one week prior to the trip. My family and I use Travel Insurance Services and strongly recommend that you do the same.

Not included: your round trip airfare from your home to and from Guayaquil, beverages on the boat, phone calls, your meals in Guayaquil, personal items, and a $600/person cash tip for the crew and the guide—this works out to roughly $40/day to be shared by the 7 folks who will be waiting on us hand and foot every day for two weeks. The service is so wonderful that many folks choose to tip extra.

Please e-mail for the tentative itinerary or with questions. Please cut and paste “Galapagos 2017 Tentative Itinerary Please” into the Subject line.

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