Will the Similarities Never End?

What’s Up?

I spent all day at the Akan Crane Center and made a few very good ones on a somewhat tough day. We are leaving the lodge at 1:50am on Monday morning to do two last eagle boat trips in Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan; the first one leaves the dock at 5:30am. The drive is three hours 🙂 I will continue to have good internet acces. I get home late on 28 FEB.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of 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.

The Streak: 471

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, 471 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a really great for a long time now–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 BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

This image created on the 2017 San Diego IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and my very favorite bird photography camera, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops in low light: 1/800 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB. Two AF points above the center AF point/AI Servo/(Manual selection; single point)/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is almost always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was on the hairline just above the top LCD. Click on the image to see a larger version. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -1. Image #2: Lady photographer with Nikon gear

Will the Similarities Never End?

When I saw the red-headed lady photographer with the spiffy hair-do on the cliffs at La Jolla last February I wanted to get a decent photo and knew that if I did I wanted to find a matching bird photo. I showed the woman my image and let her know that it would likely appear on the blog some day. And I gave her my card. Who knows?

Your Fave?

Which hair-do do you like best?

These image was created in on Bleaker Island, The Falklands, with the hand held Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the rugged, blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/400 sec at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. One AF point to the right and three up from the center AF point/AI Servo/Manual selection; single point/Shutter Button AF as framed as is (almost) always best when hand holding. The selected AF point was squarely on the goose’s eye. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #2: Ruddy-headed Goose head and shoulders protrait

The Match

I photographed what I believe is a Ruddy-headed Goose on the cliff at the Rockhopper Penguin rookery on Bleaker Island. Each of the four times I have been on Bleaker what is likely the same bird makes its way down to the edge of the sea and hangs out for a few hours. In retrospect, I thought that it would be a pretty good match for the red-headed lady photographer’s hair-do.

Great Egrets in breeding plumage are a beautiful sight …

Gatorland Mini-IPT: 1 1/2 days: AM and PM shooting sessions on Saturday, March 4 and a morning session on Sunday, March 5: $749. Limit 6/Openings 4.

Join me in Kissimmee, FL in early March, prime time to to photograph Great Egrets in breeding plumage. We should get to make lots of head portraits with most any lens and to photograph them building nests, displaying, copulating, and flying. Eggs for sure. Tiny chicks likely. And most likely breeding Wood Storks as well. Learn to see, find, and make the shot in cluttered settings. Learn exposure and how to handle the WHITEs. Learn fill flash and flash as main light. Includes a working lunch on me on Saturday with image review and Photoshop. We may see and photograph some early Snowy Egrets and Tricolored Herons. And of course, we will see and photograph the captive American Alligators. All of the birds are free and wild.

To pay in full via credit card, call Jim or Jen in the office weekdays at 863-692-0906. You will be responsible for the cost of your Gatorland Photographer’s pass. Early entry both mornings and late stay on Saturday.

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 please remember that I am 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, 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 :).