Stuff
I had lots of action with the foraging Cattle Egrets and the almost alway present Black Vultures down by the lake in the morning. And there was another dime-a-dozen spectacular sunset on Saturday afternoon. Several times I had a great silhouette almost lined up perfectly when the bird flew. 🙂 The pool was up to 75 degree so I went back to my slow, 3/4 mile swim.
I did lots of work on the 5D Mark IV User’s Guide and am almost finished. Yesterday I inserted and captioned all of the images within the text. I need to finalize the internal reference page numbers, add a gallery, and add a cheat sheet — the latter a first for a BAA User’s Guide. Here is the best news: those who have used a BAA B&H affiliate link to purchase a 5D Mark IV (or other items totaling $3200 or more) are invited to send us a copy of their B&H receipt via e-mail and received a free copy of the guide. If you would like to review the document before it is published, please send your receipt now. This offer is valid for future purchases.
I was glad to learn that the sale of IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson’s Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera body in excellent condition for $1399 is pending.
Please consider getting in the habit of using the BAA Amazon link below or to the one to the right for your online shopping needs. If you click on one of the logo links and then log into your Prime account BAA will still get the credit. Many thanks. 🙂 ps: It will not cost you one penny more to get pretty much anything in short order.
Click on the logo-link above
Amazing 5D Mark IV Bundles and Deals
Amazing 5D Mark IV Bundles and Deals
Purchase now and receive a free copy of the 5D Mark IV User’s Guide (to be published soon; see the details above).
The Streak
Today makes one hundred forty-two days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about 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.
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.
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This image was created on the late afternoon of Tuesday, November 17 at Heckscher State Park, Long Island, NY with the BLUBB-supported Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my favorite gull head shot camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 stops as framed: 1/250 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB in cloudy conditions very late in the day. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. One AF point to the left and one row up from the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the lower left corner of the bird’s eye. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version. Image #1: Ring-billed Gull, preening neck |
The Situation
When it rains, there is a decent-sized puddle in one corner of the Field 7 lot at Heckscher State Park, at least in the summer and fall. It attracts good numbers of shorebirds and gulls looking for a drink, a bath, or a place to rest. As it is an active bathing beach in the summer and there is lots of traffic, many of the birds are quite tame. On my November visit to Long Island, I worked from car using it as a very effective blind. (You can learn more about this technique in the original The Art of Bird Photography.) I keep an extra BLUBB in my younger daughter’s garage.
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This image of the same bird was created on the late afternoon of Tuesday, November 17 at Heckscher State Park, Long Island, NY with the Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my favorite gull head shot camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 stops as framed: 1/250 sec. at f/10 in Manual mode. AWB in cloudy conditions. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. One AF point to the left and one row up from the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the bird’s forehead in front of and just below the eye. Click on the image to enjoy the larger version. Image #2: Ring-billed Gull, preening neck |
Your Call
Today’s two featured images were made 13 seconds apart. Though similar, they are distinctly different. One follows my stringent head angle guidelines. One does not. Please leave a comment comparing the two images. Let us know the strengths and weakness of each. Feel free to comment on the mood of each image. And let us know which of the two is your favorite. If you would delete either or both of these images, please let us know why.
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Please help support my (stupendous) efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. with love, artie
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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.
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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 :).
Thanks for the wondeful shots & good advice. I was a Minolta guy for years and then I went to Nikon. I have 3 film & 2 digital bodies. I just lately have decided to give Canon a try. Years ago in the film era I almost bought an A-1. What would you suggest for a used cheap starter for me? Digital I mean, although if I ever find an A-1 I might get it just to see what I missed.
Hi Rick, Smart man. (Only kidding :)) There is one 7D Mark II right now on the Used Gear page. Then add a used 100-400, the old one (let me know if you would like me to find you one), or the new 100-400mm II. I may have an A-1 in the closet — do you want me to check and see …
with love, artie
Hi, Artie. I will comment here before reading others’ comments. I love both images and would have an extremely hard time picking one over the other. I love the way the tip of the bill shows through the feathers in #2 and I love the pose in image #1, but again both are terrific. Perfect exposure, composition, subject matter, and background. Now I’ll go read the comments.2222
OK, now I’ve read the comments (sorry about the random “2222” in mine above). I wouldn’t change anything I wrote above.
I like number two best as the eye to me shows more emotion. The eye in the first image kind of sticks me in the face…almost too perfect. bp
I hear you. I hate when my images are too perfect 🙂
with love, artie
ps: Image #2 surely conveys a certain mood …
Image # 1 for sure. I probably would not even do any post on #2, it just doesn’t “grab” me like 1. Probably would eventually get rid of #2 (I still have trouble throwing marginal stuff away, thinking someday I will go back and find so something I like above image). As Jake said, head angle and fully exposed eye makes the image work for me.
Nice offer from you on the 5DIV users guide. I’ll go look for my reciept.
#2 for me because it is unique in seeing the delicate feathers over the bird’s bill. Am I right that the reason a slight head turn makes a perfect head angle is that it keeps eye and bill tip both in focus? Here in each photo the eye and bill tip are in the same plane so both are in focus. Therefore I think #2 is a perfect head angle as well. #2 just has more behavioral impact for me. (I would like to either take out or blur a lot, that small shadow behind the bird on the lower left.)
That’s great news on the 5D Mark IV User guide Artie, I’ll get my receipt in order.
By the way Artie, the 7D was my first Dslr. Getting your 7D User’s Guide really helped me in that initial learning curve, really helping to get to know my camera in a useful and inspiring way as a bird photographer.
I just bought a 5D Mark IV using your B&H affiliate not to long ago “and Loving it!”, (it’s the least I could do for the years of learning from the Grandfather of Bird Photography) I look forward to getting the Guide. Thank you.
Hi Artie. I much prefer image #1 to image #2 because of the head angle. The head angle in image #1 really opens up the bird’s eye and face allowing us to see it better than is possible in image #2. However I do prefer the feathers around the beak in image #2, in image #2 the beak is hidden amongst more feathers. I like image #1 as a portrait but did you consider cropping image #1 slightly to eliminate some of the negative space in the right and top of the frame? But looking at the amount of space at the top of the frame, you probably wouldn’t want to remove very much, I don’t know.
Jake
Thanks Jake. I am not seeing any negative space at all at the top of Image #1 …
with love, artie