Stuff
I tried for the Hudsonian Godwit on Monday morning and Monday afternoon; the bird was nowhere to be seen. The morning was a total bust with strong northwest winds and clear skies so I headed back to daughter Alissa’s home where I am staying till my flight home early next Saturday morning. I visited Arna just before lunch and then did a podcast by Skype with old friend Paul Parisi of Boston for Savior Labs. Thanks to Pete Daniels for the invitation. Click on the Savior Labs link to enjoy a wide variety of eclectic business and technological podcasts. I will of course provide links once the podcasts are published.
Do consider joining me on the Early Winter DeSoto IPT. Details below.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred sixteen days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took less than an hour 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.
Used Gear Sales
Things have been picking up on the Used Gear Page recently after a two-month downturn, especially with long glass. You can see the complete updated listings here.
Recent Sales
- Chesley Swann sold a Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS Zoom lens (the original 1-4) in excellent condition for the very low price of $529 in mid-November.
- Mike Lawie sold his Canon EOS 7D Mark II body in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $923 and his Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM zoom lens in excellent condition also for a BAA record low price: $448. Both in mid-November.
- Gary Wade sold his Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens in near-mint condition for the record-low BAA price of $7449 in mid-November.
- Multiple IPT veteran Shelly Goldstein sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM Super Telephoto Lens (the “old five”) in excellent condition for the $3899 a week after it was listed.
- Peter Noyes sold his Nikon D-810 Digital SLR Camera Body in excellent condition for $1499 two hours after it was listed.
- Multiple IPT veteran Shelly Goldstein sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM Super Telephoto lens in like-new condition for $9,399 in early November before it was even listed …
- IPT veteran Duncan Douglas sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM Super Telephoto Lens (the “old five”) in early November for #3699.
Canon EOS-1DX Mark II
Insanely low shock the world price!
Like me,Robert Blanke is going all 5D mark IV. He is also offering a barely used Canon EOS-1DX Mark II professional digital camera body in like-new condition for the BAA record low/shock the world price of $3999 with less than 250 shutter actuations! The sale includes the the original packaging, the manuals, the strap, the software, the front body cap, the charger, two LP-E19 batteries, two 64 GB CFast cards, a CFast card reader, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your new body will not ship until PayPal confirms the payment or your check clears.
Please contact Robert via e-mail or by phone/text at (813) 417-8967 (Eastern time).
The 1DX Mark II is Canon’s rugged, blazingly fast professional digital camera body. It features an amazing AF system and high quality image files with great dynamic range. It is the choice of Arash Hazeghi, one of the world’s premier birds in flight photographers. artie
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. Those might include system, camera body, accessory, and lens choices and decisions.
|
|
This image was created from my vehicle at the big rain puddle at Parking Field 7 at Heckscher State Park on Long Island, NY with the engine turned off 🙂 I rested the Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens with the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III and my favorite gull photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop as framed: 1/1000 sec. at f/6.3 in Tv mode. AWB in very late afternoon sunlight. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -2. Two AF points up and one to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was just in front of the bird’s eye (as originally framed.) Ring-billed Gull, winter plumage adultBe sure to enjoy an enlarged version by clicking on the image. |
Late Light Puddle Portrait
Whether you live by the coast or inland, you can often find gulls in rain puddles or tidal pools. Ring-billed, the common species that is seen here today, occurs widely from coast to coast in temperate North America. They often make for reliable and cooperative subjects that can provide countless opportunities for bird photographers to practice and improve their skills. When the species you were hoping for do not show up, a variety of gulls can often save the session as they did for me at Heckscher State Park on the afternoon of November 17, 2017.
|
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. You can see a composite of more recent images in the DeSoto Sucked This Past Weekend blog post here. |
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.
Amazon.com
Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use the logo link above.
Amazon Canada
Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here.
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 :).
Speaking of going all 5d4…. I’ve been applying Arash’s 1DX2 DPP IOS recepies to my 5d4 images. I quite like the results, but when can we see your 5d4 recipies?
The 5D IV ingredients should be in the guide … LMK.
a
Hi Artie,
I photograph gulls often, and most are Ring-billed Gulls. They are agile fliers and tolerant of photographers. As you mentioned, they are excellent subjects for practice and for trying new settings or techniques.
My favourite images occur when a gull is approaching for a gentle landing. It broadens and lowers its tail which projects a very elegant look especially against a soft background of clouds.
Some gulls approach their landings much more aggressively as though they are demonstrating their skills to others. These approaches include sharp turns, intense dives and barrel rolls. These situations are more challenging to capture.
In my area, some gulls are banded as part of a research study. The added bonus of photographing these gulls is that you can submit the band number and learn the history of the bird. A few weeks ago, I reported a sighting and learned the gull was banded in 2008. It had been sighted multiple times in Quebec and New York State.
Thanks Don. I should have mentioned that about 25 years ago I did an article for Birder’s World magazine entitled, “Go for the Gulls!”
with love, arite