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Stuff
I urge everyone to pick their three favorites below and leave a comment. The blog is designed to be interactive. As always, the more folks who play, the more everyone will learn. And yes, that includes me 🙂
I did lots of work on the 5D IV Guide on Wednesday. Swam 3/4 mile. Did lots of positional exercises and cardio stuff. Answered lots of e-mails, and commented a lot in the Avian Gallery at BirdPhotographer’s.Net.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred four days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took more than two hours to prepare. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections willing.
More Cheap Weekend Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Instruction
Sign up for the full day Saturday 11 NOV and the Friday afternoon session (4:30pm till sunset) on 10 NOV is free!
Saturday, November 11, 2017: Morning session — 6:45am for 3 1/2 hours: $149. Add lunch, image review, and Photoshop session: $249 (total).
Saturday, November 11, 2017: Afternoon session — 4:30pm for 3 hours: $99.
Saturday, November 11, 2017, both sessions including lunch: $329. Sign up for the full day Saturday and enjoy a Friday afternoon session for free.
Sunday, November 12, 2017: Morning session — 6:45am for 3 1/2 hours: $149.
Learn to get the right exposure every time, to approach free and wild (and often tame!) birds, and to design a pleasing image. And learn the location of my new Fort DeSoto hotspot along with my favorite sunset location (sky conditions permitting). To register call Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 or shoot me an e-mail.
Canon lens rentals are available on a limited basis: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, and 200-400 f/4 with Internal TC.
Cheap but great instruction.
Booking.Com
Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.
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.
Marbled Godwit Straightforward Image Optimization Challenge
In the Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT & RAW File/Image Optimization Challenge #2 blog post here, folks were invited to download the Marbled Godwit RAW file, convert and optimize it, and send me a sharpened 1200 pixel wide JPEG via e-mail. The good news is that everyone sized their JPEGs properly. Next time I will teach you to Optimize to File Size while saving your JPEG 🙂 Below are the fruits of everyone’s labor.
To begin, this exercise was designed to be a test of your basic RAW conversion and image optimization skills. There is an absolute ton of learning going on here for those who wish to soak it all in, and there will be a lot more learning in the follow-up to this post; I will critique each of the images that were submitted. Notice the huge variety in cropping choices and the great range of color balances. Almost every image looks quite different. Some are over-sharpened; some are over-Nikked (too funky); some are too YELLOW; some are too CYAN; and some are cropped too tightly for my tastes. As the learning continues, your assignment for today is to list your top three picks in order of preference with the best conversion and optimization job at the top of the list. Be sure to click on each image to enlarge it because the larger versions appear sharper than the smaller ones.
Those who wish to do so may take a crack at these:
- 1-In general, do you prefer the cropped or the un-cropped versions?
- 2-Do you think that the image needed to be leveled?
- 3-Which image is a big overexposure?
- 4-Which image or images have the best beach clean-up?
- 5-Which image is presented too dark?
In a few days, days, I will critique each of the submitted images.
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Image #7 |
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Image #10 |
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Image #11 |
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Image #12 |
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Image #14 |
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Recent Fort DeSoto ImagesFrom bottom left clockwise back to center: Great Egret, blasting sunrise highlights; Black Skimmer, winter plumage in pre-dawn light; Roseate Spoonbill foraging; Brown Pelican, juvenile landing; hybrid heron X egret; American Oystercatcher feeding; Royal Tern, worn juvenile; Great Blue Heron from below. |
Fort DeSoto Early Winter IPT. 3 1/2 days: $1599
Saturday DEC 2 (afternoon session) through the full day on Tuesday DEC 5, 2017. Meet and Greet Introduction on SAT DEC 2, 2017
With no water in Estero Lagoon, Corkscrew Swamp and Anhinga Trail total busts for many years, and Ding Darling NWR managed into oblivion, Fort DeSoto has emerged as the premier bird photography location in the state. Join me in early winter to escape the cold weather and photograph lots of tame terns, gulls, herons, egrets (including Reddish Egret), shorebirds (including and especially Marbled Godwit), Osprey, and Brown Pelican. Long-billed Curlew, Wood Stork, and Roseate Spoonbill all range somewhere between likely and possible.
Learn to get the right exposure every time, to approach free and wild (and often tame!) birds, and to design a pleasing image. And learn the location of my new Fort DeSoto hotspot along with my favorite sunset location (sky conditions permitting). To register call Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 or shoot me an e-mail.
DeSoto IPT Details
This IPT will include four 3 hour afternoon sessions, three 3 1/2 hour morning sessions, three lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility. Dinners are on your own so that we can get some sleep.
Because of the narrow time frame, your $499 non-refundable deposit can be paid not by credit card. Call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906 to register. Your balance must be paid by check once you sign up. The balance check (made out to “BIRDS AS ART) should me mailed to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your balance check. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
Canon lens rentals are available on a limited basis: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, and 200-400 f/4 with Internal TC.
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. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.
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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Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.
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 :).
Maybe a small crop but I like uncropped because of a little more environment.
2. No some that leveled it looked like the Godwit would fall on it’s face.(tilted forward)
3. #9
4. 2,9,12
5. 18
Favs:10,12,4
Hooray for you 🙂
with love, artie
I like #2, #11 and #14. Definitely prefer the cropped version. Some are too yellow for me as well.
Favor my own, so will abstain from ranking.
1. Prefer with sand to without
2. Some clockwise correction might help, now that you mention it.
3. 9
4. 2, 12, and 13
5. 18
#2 #12 are my picks.
My 3 picks: 12, 10, 18
1. uncropped
2. no
3. #5
4. #9 & #11
5. maybe mine #18
Thanks Mike! artie
I like #14 1st #12 2nd and #7 3rd, #7 would have been maybe first but for the color. It seems a bit too yellow for my taste.
Thanks.
#’s 2, 10 & 12 are my favourite versions, with #16 a close runner-up (I think it’s a bit too bright). Probably #2 is my top-pick overall, although it seems overly sharp. #10 is too “cool” (blue) and the contrast looks a bit odd on #12’s neck. This is all based on my screen & viewing conditions of course. Is your version in the mix Art?
Best wishes,
MR
#12 for me.
Light is right on, not too dark or too bright.
Like crop..bird is focus not water, but still has bird leading into the photo.
Like crunch of feathers…not too dark.
I feel like I’m on the beach looking at the bird.
Artie: I really agree with Jack D Waller. My head spins and my eyes glaze by the time I get to image 18 (still mislabeled as 17). Some answers to your questions despite the above.
1-In general, do you prefer the cropped or the un-cropped versions? I think I agree with Jack D Waller here; the beach is real life but not real(ly) interesting, so crop it out. My favorite crop is 14; 15 is too tight for my taste.
2-Do you think that the image needed to be leveled? No.
3-Which image is a big overexposure? Well, three of them–9, 11, and 16–looked overexposed to me, probably mostly 9 and 16.
4-Which image or images have the best beach clean-up? 2, 3, 4, 10, 16, and 18 seemed decent to me; I can’t really choose among those.
5-Which image is presented too dark? 18.
In addition, 3 seems too yellow and 13 way too yellow for my taste.
1- In general, I prefer the uncropped versions.
2- I think I originally wanted to level the edge of the wave a degree or two clockwise, but that brings the bird’s head lower in the frame. Waves don’t break evenly or level on the beach so I think it would be the lesser of two evils to have the subject’s head higher (original version).
3- I think 9 is the most overexposed followed by mine at 16.
4- I think the best beach clean ups are 2, 10, 12, and 13.
5- The darkest image seems to be 18.
Aside from the direct questions, I think that 2 had the best tip of the bill and raised foot clean up. The best one overall for me was 2. I really liked the color in 17…I’d like to see 17 with the tip of the bill, raised foot, and beach cleaned up. I have no idea how most of the other people got so much detail on the breast and neck compared to mine (well aside from overexposure).This is a great learning experience. I’m excited to see how others got to their versions.
12
14
2
I don’t think your imaged needed leveling and I prefer the tighter cropped images w/o the beach. Both 9 and 16 are overexposed. Number 10 has the nicest beach cleanup followed by 2 and 13. Number 18 is too dark for my taste; images 1, 7 and 13 are a bit too yellow.
In answer to your questions:
1 – prefer the uncropped version – places the subject in context, and provides a foreground that doesn’t detract from overall image
2 – yes, slightly
3 – maybe 9 and 11 seem to be blown out – no detail
4 – image 2 is pretty clean, but too clean might detract from the image by standing out and being unnatural
5 – images 5 and 18 are pretty dark
I would add a sixth question concerning beak cleanup – the specular highlight on the bird’s beak is distracting – image #6 removes it well (even though that’s my image)
I would rank the images as follows: #2, #6, and #12
Thanks for doing this – it must add significant time and effort to your day, but we appreciate the learning opportunity.
I like #7 best. Color balance seems good. I like the sand cropped off. Bird is placed well (left side) in the composition. Wish I had time to say more about the other photos. But Time Machine backup deleted some or all photos from folders so I have to deal with that. Only thing I know of to do now is to use Image Rescue on my flash cards to try to find missing photos. Anyone have any info on this?
I like #2 the best, but I would take a little of the purple out.
Mike
Under image #18 Yellow Title Says – Image #17- 🙂
Thanks and fixed.
a
Artie: This still is not fixed.
Image #14 (without the beach) and Image #16 (with the beach) look really good and well processed.
Wow, that’s a lot of “homework”. Off hand, image #1 strikes a positive with me. When there is little in the background to add interest I prefer the tighter crop. While the beach is real life it doesn’t add to the photos. Beyond that, it’s pretty challenging viewing 18 photos for detailed comparisons but it is an interesting/useful activity that I’ll tackle. Thanks.
Jack