Stuff
I was busy on Wednesday morning working on a few of my images and a really neat bee-eater image that I saw on BPN. I hope to share that image with you here at some point. Now that DB II is finished, it is possible that the LensAlign/FocusTune Micro-adjusting Tutorial will be available for purchase soon … My plan is to do some serious micro-adjusting on Thursday and Friday.
I continued to eat well and enjoyed my midday half-mile swim and an afternoon nap. The late afternoon was spent working on this blog post. That took about 3 1/2 hours. The best part? It does not seem like work to me.
Folks did a great job responding the the questions in yesterday’s Pelican Wingstretch Editing Help Needed blog post here. My answers and opinions here soon.
Mongoose M3.6 Heads Sold Out
For the first time in months, we had seven Mongoose M3.6 heads in stock last week. They are all gone. Your best bet is to call Jim at 863-692-0906 right now to order yours. We will not bill your card until we receive our next back-order and ship yours.
The Streak
Just in case you have not been counting, today makes 14 days in a row with a new educational blog post 🙂
Booking.Com
I could not secure the lodging that I needed for the UK Puffins and Gannets IPT in Dunbar, Scotland, so I went from Hotels.Com to Booking.Com and was pleasantly surprised. I found the rooms that I needed with ease at a hotel that was not even on Hotels.Com, and it was a nice hotel that I had seen in person. And the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward.
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.
Please Don’t Forget …
As always–and folks have been doing a really great job for a long time now–please remember to use the BAA B&H links for your major and minor 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.
If In Doubt …
If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.
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Obviously folks attending the IPT will be out in the field early and stay late to take advantage of sunrise and sunset colors. The good news is that the days are relatively short in October. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. |
The Fort DeSoto 2017 Fall IPT/September 22 (afternoon session) through the full day on September 25, 2017. 3 1/2 FULL DAYs: $1649. Limit 8.
Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds and terns in fall. There they join hundreds of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With luck, we may 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 almost guaranteed. 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 us on the ITF/MWS on the morning of Tuesday, September 26 as my guest. See below for details on that.
On the IPT 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 many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).
There will be a Photoshop/image review session after lunch (included) each day. That will be followed by Instructor Nap Time.
This IPT will run with only a single registrant (though that is not likely to happen). The best airport is Tampa (TPA). Though I have not decided on a hotel yet — I will as soon as there is one sign-up — do know that it is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel (rather than at home or at a friend’s place).
A $500 deposit is due when you sign up and is payable by credit card. Balances must be paid by check after you register. Your deposit is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with ten folks so please check your plans carefully before committing. You can register by calling Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand or by sending a check as follows: make the check out to: BIRDS AS ART and send it via US mail here: BIRDS AS ART, PO BOX 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions, gear advice, and instructions for meeting on the afternoon of Friday, September 22.
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Fort DeSoto in fall is rich 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 October. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. |
BIRDS AS ART In-the-Field/Meet-up Workshop Session (ITF/MWS): $99.
Join me on the morning of Tuesday September 26, 2017 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 afternoon workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on a BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tour. I hope to meet you there.
To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal non-refundable registration fee. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place at least two weeks before the event.
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BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. |
Fort DeSoto Site Guide
Can’t make the IPT? Get yourself a copy of the Fort DeSoto Site Guide. Learn the best spots, where to be when in what season in what weather. Learn the best wind directions for the various locations. BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. You can see all of them here.
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This is the DPP 4 screen capture for today’s featured image. |
The Mega-Underexposure …
As it was very late in the day and I was working at 1000mm. The tripod was on soft sand so I was reluctant to go to a shutter speed slower than 1/125 sec. and reluctant to go up to ISO 3200. The result? The huge under-exposure that you see above. I wound up moving the Brightness slider to +1.48. I cannot in recent history remember having to open up an image more than 5/6 of one stop (+.83).
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This image was created on the last afternoon of the 2106 Fort DeSoto Fall IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/125 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. Three AF points up from the center AF point/AI Servo/rear button focus on the bird’s eye and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Roseate Spoonbill in the last light of day |
The Story
We enjoyed several relatively tame spoonbills on the last DeSoto Fall IPT, but this very copacetic bird, standing in yellow water just before the sun disappeared behind a cloud that was just above the horizon, provided a memorable ending to a great IPT. My big mistake was not switching the 2X III TC for the 1.4X III TC.
I have been very lucky with spoonbills on the last few IPTs. 🙂
This is the before and after animated GIF. Please pardon the posterized colors in the background, a result of creating the animated GIF. |
Image Questions
Concentrating on the Before image in the animated GIF, take a shot at this question:
#1: Why should I have taken two big steps back or have switched the 2X III TC for the 1.4X III TC?
#2: Why did I expand canvas both in front of and below the bird. Note: the perfect answer will have two parts.
The Image Optimization
I loaded my saved 5D IV/ISO 1600 recipe and then brightened this image nearly 1 1/2 stops during the RAW conversion in DPP 4. Then I expanded canvas in front of and below the bird. I used John Haedo Content Aware Fill to fill in the added canvas. It did an admirable job but I needed to use the Clone Stamp Tool and a series of small Quick Masks to repair the shape of the added parts of the legs. I removed the line of debris by the feet using Divide and Conquer followed by several rounds of Content Aware Fill (after making my selections with the Patch Tool). I was surprised by how well that worked. I also used Content Aware Fill on the windblown covert feathers as they really bugged me. Again, that went better than expected. I selected the head and bill with the Quick Selection Tool (QST), applied my NIK 30-30 recipe, upped the Saturation, and applied a Contrast Mask (all on the same layer!) The last thing I did was to run NeatImage Noise Reduction on the whole image to eliminate the noise on the legs. Total time in Photoshop? Less than ten minutes.
Everything above plus tons more is detailed in the new BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Learn more and check out the free excerpt in the blog post here Juts so you know, the new e-Guide reflects my Macbook Pro/Photo Mechanic/DPP 4/Photoshop workflow.
You can learn how and why I and other discerning Canon shooters convert nearly all of their Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 using Canon Digital Photo Professional in the DPP 4 RAW conversion Guide here. And you can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair. Folks can learn sophisticated sharpening and (NeatImage) Noise Reduction techniques in the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly.
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 :).
Great shot Artie. Still your same style of simplicity and good compositional rules. I know the answers to your questions but don’t want to ruin the fun. 🙂
I did want to make a comment: IME opening up an image in post processing gives you, more or less, the equivalent amount of noise and reduction in image quality than if you had simply shot at a higher ISO to begin with, at the proper exposure. I only make this comment because you mentioned you did not want to lower your speed or raise your ISO – so you underexposed instead (if I read that right). IME when shooting at high ISO’s it is still (even more) important to NOT to under-expose. While today’s cameras are much more forgiving for under and over exposing IME adjusting your exposure via raising your ISO, or adjusting exposure in post processing should yield similar results in the end. So my advice is always try and avoid underexposure especially when you are pushing higher ISO values. Less work later.
Thanks again for sharing (as always) and for the prolific spewing of knowledge 😀
With Love,
Greg
Dear Gregory,
Well, look what the cat dragged in 🙂 Greg was one of several students who took several IPTs with me way back when and wound up making a full time living in photography. Many other students have been able to generate a decent amount of income through photography while keeping their day jobs. And still others have had images honored in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competitions, in the Nature’s Best contest, and in other prestigious photographic competitions.
re:
Still your same style of simplicity and good compositional rules.
Thanks Greg. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. My clean, tight, and graphic style has been working well for three decades so why change now?
I know the answers to your questions but don’t want to ruin the fun.
Much appreciated. Some of the boys and girls did quite well.
I did want to make a comment: IME (in my experience –I had to look that one up) opening up an image in post processing gives you, more or less, the equivalent amount of noise and reduction in image quality than if you had simply shot at a higher ISO to begin with, at the proper exposure.
I agree. You taught me that about 16 years ago when you kindly helped me get started with digital.
I only make this comment because you mentioned you did not want to lower your speed or raise your ISO – so you underexposed instead (if I read that right).
You did.
IME when shooting at high ISO’s it is still (even more) important NOT to under-expose. While today’s cameras are much more forgiving for under and over exposing IME adjusting your exposure via raising your ISO, or adjusting exposure in post processing should yield similar results in the end.
So my advice is always try and avoid underexposure especially when you are pushing higher ISO values. Less work later.
Perhaps, and as you ay the results are similar 🙂 IME I have found that with the amazing Dynamic Range of the 5D Mark IV you have lots of latitude even for underexposure. With today’s featured image I was not worried about noise in either the pink feathers or the light-toned BGKR. My only area of concern were the dark legs. They exhibited some noise that was easily taken care of with NeatImage. So I was quite pleased both with the optimized TIFF and the 1200 wide JPEG that is presented above. So not much work there.
Thanks again for sharing (as always) and for the prolific spewing of knowledge.
You are most welcome. I find it had to break those 30 year habits 🙂
with love back at you,
artie
Spoonbill photo caption has typo, f/89
Thanks and fixed.
with love, artie
Wouldn’t the 1.4 TC have solved two problems — the framing and an extra stop?
Hey Chuck, Pretty smart. Or not? Time will tell.
with love, artie
1. To give the bird more room in the frame.
2. Overall to give the bird more room, the bottom for the virtual feet.
Thanks John, Sometimes it easy to tell who has been on an IPT and who hangs out on BPN 🙂 with love, artie