Stuff
The thing about the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch is that yesterday’s hotspot is today’s too-flooded impoundment. The folks in charge move water around faster than I have ever seen. I am really excited with the results of my physical therapy …
I woke at 3:15am on Tuesday, finished editing all of my Phoenix photos, did my exercises, and then enjoyed a nice photo session. I left the Water Ranch just after 10:00am. I fly to San Diego on Friday afternoon.
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$300 off on the Canon 100-400 II!
$300 off on the Canon 100-400 II!
The Streak
Today makes one hundred sixty-three days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour to prepare including the time spent optimizing the image. 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 and my continuing insanity willing.
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Free 1.4X II Add-on: JAN 9, 2018.
Hisham A. is offering a Canon EOS 5D Mark III in very good condition (in perfect working order) for the BAA record low price of $999. The sale includes a 1.4X II teleconverter, an extra Watson battery, the front lens cap, and all the stuff that came in the box as well as insured ground shipping to US addresses via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made. Photos are available upon request.
Please contact Hisham via e-mail or by phone at 720 771 2693 (Eastern time).
I used my 5D Mark III to produce high quality image files for all of my landscape, flower, and Urbex photography. And I used it often for bird photography with my f/4 super-telephoto lenses with both the 1.4X and the 2X TCs. As long as you have firmware version 1.2.1 or higher you will have AF at f/8 with the center AF point (along with the four assist points). 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 questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.
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This image was created at the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch, in Phoenix, AZ on the very still morning of Sunday, January 7. I used the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering about +2/3 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:47am on a cloudy morning. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. Four rows up and two to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the side of the bird’s neck just below and slightly behind the bird’s eye. DPP 4 Screen Capture |
Th DPP 4 Screen Capture
So why did I pick an AF point that placed the bird on the wrong side of the frame looking out? The bird had been preening its back with its long bill; when it paused and posed so I pushed the shutter button knowing that moving the bird back in the frame using techniques from APTATS II would be a piece of cake.
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This is the optimized version of today’s featured image. It was made at the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch with the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering about +2/3 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:47am on a cloudy morning. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. Four rows up and two to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the side of the bird’s neck just below and slightly behind the bird’s eye. Long-billed Dowitcher, first winter plumage posing |
Another Boring, Perfect Image Lacking both Drama and Creativity …
There’s no drama here. There was no creativity involved; heck, I put the bird on the wrong side of the frame. What could be more boring than a bird just standing in the water?
Would You Be Proud of this Image?
Would you be proud to have created this image? Why or why not?
More on Coming Soon
February 2018 Spoonbill Boat IPT: FEB 23-25, 2018/2 1/2 days with three morning spoonbill sessions on the boat.
Two Fort DeSoto IPTs (April and May, 2018).
Three Gatorland IPTs (March, April, and May, 2018 — including early entry and late stay — tentative).
Three Sandhill Crane chicks and colts Master Classes at Indian Lake Estates (March).
The Master Classes will likely be announced soon. They will be small groups — strictly limited to four photographers — with the first folks who register staying at my home and the others staying at a chain motel in Lake Wales. Live, think, and breathe photography from Friday afternoon through lunch on Monday morning; all meals included. We will enjoy three morning photography sessions with the main subjects being tame Sandhill Cranes almost surely with chicks or colts. Also vultures and Cattle Egrets and more. Limpkins possible. There will be three afternoon photo sessions with hopefully glorious sunsets like the ones you have been seeing on the blog recently. I will micro-adjust one of your lenses during a group instructional session and all will be welcome to practice what they have learned during the breaks using my lighting gear. We will sit together around my dining room table and pick everyone’s keepers, enjoy guided Photoshop sessions, and, on Monday before lunch, folks can make a single large print of their favorite image.
Folks who would like advance notice on any of the above are welcome to shoot me an e-mail. Right now there are two folks signed up for the spoonbill IPT with just four openings left. If you would like to join us, please do not tarry.
Support the Blog
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. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie
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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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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 :).
I’d be proud. The entire bird is in focus, it’s illuminated perfectly, it has some pop (almost like flash was used…look at the legs), and there’s a nice reflection.
Then…the “behind the scenes” reasons I’d be proud: (i.e. the reasons that viewers of the picture would have no idea about). 1) It’s at 1200mm!!, 2) It was framed wrong and fixed perfectly in post.
Hey Arthur, A bird in dirty water would be more boring than this. This is not boring. Nice reflection and light on the bird.
To frame it perfectly with a third behind the tail and two thirds in front of the bill you would have needed a few more focusing points to the left of the one used – which is spot on. Recognising an easy fix in post is a valuable lesson. TA!
I love portraits! It’s simple but pleasing to look at. I’d be happy with that shot, especially since it’s a bird we don’t get here.
I like the image with the reflection. Why not flip the canvas in PS to have the bird facing the other way?
Why flip it ?
🙂
a
Hi Artie, a stunning image. I would most definitely be proud of this image despite the lack of action. It is a beautiful portrait; a perfect pose and lighting, the reflection is just the icing on the cake.
Jake
For a bird person, you nailed it. Maybe a lightning bolt for the rest of the folks for interest.
Hi Artie. I think it’s a great portrait and helpful for identification. Would you please keep putting the identity of the birds in your posts, it seems like the last couple have not identified the bird species. Thanks and keep up the great posts. Glad your therapy is working!
Hi Wayne, That was a cut and paste brain typo; it has been repaired. Please e-mail me a link to any post where I have neglected to name the species.
thanks with love, artie
Yes, i’d be delighted to have made this lovely image.
What an image Guru! So, nicely done.
Hi Artie
As you probably no that am a a professional Wildlife Photographer myself , but I turn my images into canvas prints greetings cards etc to sell to the retail sector , I think that your image would sell here in the UK, you are a perfectionist Artie and in my book you are the top jockey.
Kel
UK
I get bored … we all do. As a bird lover, I’m ever so thankful we have hundreds upon hundreds of species we can photograph. No given area of the world has all of them so we can always be on the lookout for something different than our distant neighbor routinely sees. I envy those living in Florida! OTOH my Pileated woodpeckers visit daily and that’s a thrill others may wish for.
Jack
Good morning Artie…
I would be proud to hang this photo on my wall… you said it “perfectly”… Another Boring, “Perfect Image” Lacking both Drama and Creativity … It’s OK…
Enjoy your day’s Blessings…
Joe
Boring? To some maybe….. I think it is beautiful, but would probably crop a bit off the top!
I would be proud and am proud of many similar images but I’m a nature lover. For the image to have significant broader appeal it needs something more like some nice multi-shades tree reflections in the waters, perhaps some hint of action, maybe a fish smiling at it or whatever. That’s if you want to garner the attention of today’s “have access to it all” generation. Boring will be defined by the various general viewers saying “ho-hum” not by your fan-base. (:>)
Then again, do we care about appealing to that group of folk who would find a walk in the Falkland islands boring and have their fingers on their smart phone, assuming there is WiFi!
Jack
Thanks Jack. Not me on the latter 🙂
with love, artie
ps: more of my thoughts on this one and the Canvasback image soon 🙂