The 200-400 w/Internal TC at the Beach/Bug-eyed But Not Bushy-tailed/7D II Pretty Darned Good...

What’s Up?

I made some more 5D IV images on my morning outing down to the lake. I will share my favorite here tomorrow. I worked on a few more blog posts including this one. I started my core exercises at 12:15 and swam at 1pm. Then I was a lazy bum for a few hours. And enjoyed it. It is now 6:30pm and I am back at work with renewed vigor. I plan on heading down to the lake in the morning.

Most everyone thinks that my first 5D Mark IV image in yesterday’s blog post here was pretty darned sharp. I will reveal what lens and focal length I used to make it in tomorrow’s blog post. Right now the guesses are all over the lot…

Join the DeSoto IPT and get to use my 5D Mark IV for one hour. And consider renting my 200-400 cheap! Scroll down for details.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending IPTs and dozens of the folks whom I see in the field, and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear, especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender

I learned via e-mail at 12:53am last night that this lens sold and is being shipped today!

Eric Karl is offering a Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender in excellent condition for a very low $8,099. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original tough front lens cover, the lens strap, the original product box, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Eric via e-mail or by phone at 1-503-272-1055 (Pacific time).

This is the world’s best lens for a trip to Africa. It kills also in the Galapagos and in South Georgia, the Falklands, and Antarctica. And I use mine a lot at Bosque and other dusty places where the built-in TC helps to keep your sensor clean. And I love it in the Palouse for its versatility. The lens sells new at B&H right now for $10,999. You can save a slew of dollars by grabbing Eric’s lens now. artie

The Streak: 310!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 310 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

This image was created in the fall at Fort DeSoto with the hand held Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal 1.4x Extender (at 560mm with the extender engaged) and the best-ever digital camera body value, the Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/9. AWB. Three AF points to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo Surround/Rear Focus AF as originally framed (see the DPP 4 screen capture below) was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Yellow-crowned Night Heron sidelit

Canon EOS 7D Mark II Pretty Good

With today’s featured photograph, the superb image quality of this 7D II file allowed for a decent crop. Sharpness and feather detail are outstanding. Though I have forsaken my two 7D IIs, I firmly believe that the 7D Mark II represents the best ever value in a Canon digital camera body.

Canon 200-400 w/Internal TC at the Beach

I write often, The 200-400 with Internal Extender is is the world’s best lens for a trip to Africa. It kills also in the Galapagos and in South Georgia, the Falklands, and Antarctica. And I use mine a lot at Bosque and other dusty places where the built-in TC helps to keep your sensor clean. And I love it in the Palouse for its versatility.

As today’s featured image shows, the 2-4 can be a great bird photography lens for folks who routinely work with silly tame birds as in some part of Florida and California. Though I am able to hand hold it only for short periods of time I am able to work with it all day using the knee pod technique: while seated with your left hand under the front of the lens and with your left knee bent, place the back of your left forearm on your left knee to support the lens. This is the next best thing to a tripod.

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender

Save almost $3,000!

Eric Karl is offering a Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal Extender in excellent condition for a very low $8,099. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original tough front lens cover, the lens strap, the original product box, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Eric via e-mail or by phone at 1-503-272-1055 (Pacific time).

The DPP 4 screen capture for today’s featured image

The DPP 4 Screen Capture

Note the selected AF point illuminated in red. The 7D II suffered from what I call the AF Grid Void. Once you cross the boundary between the central AF array and either side AF array, the AF system losses contact with the AF points across the void. When I created this image, Surround offered only five AF assist points, not the usual eight. Learn more about the AF Grid Void here. This problem, that exists only on the 7D II, can hamper your image design efforts.

Another Lying Histogram

Note that with the RGB values for brightest whites below the bird’s right eye at 238, 234, 220, that we should see at least some data very close to the right axis of the histogram… When there are small patches of bright white be sure to check for blinkies, especially on sunny days.

A Rare BAA Sidelit Image

By comparing the optimized image with the screen capture, you can see that I opened up the shadowed side of the night-heron’s head; I used my NIK Color Efex Pro 50-50 Recipe. I hid the effect with a Hide-all, Black, or Inverse Layer Mask and painted the effect in (B, D) as desired with brushes of varying opacities.

Fort DeSoto in fall is rife with tame birds. All of the images in this card were created at Fort DeSoto in either late September or early October. I hope that you can join me there this fall one way or another. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99

Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.

You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.

Folks attending the IPT will be in the field early and stay out late to take advantage of sunrise and sunset colors. The good news is that the days are relatively short in early fall. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet at 2pm followed by our afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10/Openings: 5. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.

Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.

On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).

At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one? If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.

As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.

Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can 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.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above we, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

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Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂