Stuff
It was another cloudy morning and photography was very slow a first. My last asp spot turned up some cooperative Pied-billed Grebes and American Avocets. I took a friend to the airport at 9am. After my last therapy session of this visit, I headed to Gilbert for my last duck-baiting session with only the 80400 VR. There had been too many folks feeding so the ducks were not eager to fly. Speaking of flying, I head home tomorrow on the 6:15am Southwest nonstop to Orlando.
Thanks again to all who commented on the duck feeding issue questions. Please remember that I am fine with folks disagreeing politely; snarky comments or replies will be deleted at my discretion. Please continue to play nicely.
Reminder
If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code. Patrick Sparkman saved $350 on a recent purchase!
The Streak
Today makes two hundred twenty-two days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about 30 minutes to prepare. With all of my upcoming free time (or not…), the plan right now is to try to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.
Learning from the Comments and Replies …
There is often a ton of learning available to those who make it a habit of reading the comments and the replies (at times including mine) 🙂
BAA friend Noel Heustis posted this as follows: March 9, 2018 at 7:14 am.
I replied:
Thanks Noel. Here is a great lesson for you and the gang; most folks do not grasp this concept: we are exposing for the WHITEs. That means that the middle tones will be one stop too dark and the dark tones will be 1 1 2/3 to 2 stops too dark … The solution is to do the Eye Doctor work using Tim Grey Dodge and burn as detailed in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II) here. Furthermore, serious students who want to learn the exposure theory mentioned above are directed to the section on Exposure Theory in the original The Art of Bird Photography here.
with love, artie
The Used Gear Page
Action on the Used Gear Page recently has been fantastic. You can see all current listings here.
Booking.Com
Several folks on the Spoonbill IPTs used the Booking.Com link below and got great rates and saved a handsome $25.00 in the process. If you too would like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and to earn a $25 reward on your first booking. 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 Gilbert Water Ranch Alafia Banks on the morning of Friday, March 9, 2018. The camera was the Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering at zero: 1/125 sec. at f/6.3. AUTO2 WB at 7:48am on a cloudy morning. Click on the image to see a larger version. Anna’s Hummingbird, male with gorget lit up |
Sharpness and Image Quality
How would you rate the image quality and sharpness of the image above? To me the image looks very sharp and the image quality is excellent.
Focal Length
What focal length do you think was used to create today’s featured image?
Cropping Quiz
Take a wild-ass guess: what percentage of the original pixels does the image above represent?
- a- 10.3%< (a huge crop)/li>
- b- 24.7% (a very large crop)
- c- 39.5% (a large crop)
- d- 53.1% (a very healthy crop)
Answers early next week; I will post a JPEG that represents the full frame original image capture.
Registering for an IPT
To register for any of the IPTs below call Jim or Jen in the office at 863-692-0906 from Monday morning through Friday lunch with your credit card in hand to leave your $500 non-refundable deposit. Balances may not be paid by credit card so you will be asked to send a check for your balance along with the signed paperwork that you will find here.
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Great Egrets in breeding plumage are quite beautiful |
Gatorland IPT #1. Sunrise: 7:25am, Sunset: 7:40pm
3 1/2 DAYs: THURS 22 March through and including the morning of SUN 25 MAR. $1599. Limit 5 photographers.
(2 1/2 DAY option) FRI 23 March through and including the morning of SUN 25 MAR. $1199.
Must purchase Gatorland Photographers Pass. Click here for details. All early entry. Late stays Friday and Saturday. Thursday late-stay is under discussion. Gatorland IPT #1 is best for killer breeding plumage Great Egrets. With chicks. Also Wood Stork and Cattle Egret. Surprisingly, there are already more than a few Snowy Egrets and Tricolored Herons in breeding plumage! Learn to get the right exposure, flight photography techniques, my secret Gatorland spots, how to see the best situations (nobody is better at that than me), and how to make great images in extremely cluttered situations.
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Tame birds in breeding plumage are great fun. |
Gatorland IPT #2. Sunrise: 6:48am. Sunset: 7:58pm.
3 1/2 DAYs: THURS 26 APR through and including the morning of SUN 29 APR. $1599. Limit 5 photographers.
(2 1/2 DAY option) FRI 27 APR through and including the morning of SUN 29 APR. $1199.
Must purchase Gatorland Photographers Pass. Click here for details. All early entry. Late stays Friday and Saturday. Thursday late-stay is under discussion. Gatorland IPT #2 should have lots of chicks, and lots of birds in breeding plumage. We will get to photograph Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, and Wood Stork. The Cattle Egrets in full breeding plumage will be present in good numbers. Learn my Gatorland strategy, to get the right exposure, flight photography techniques, my secret Gatorland spots, how to see the best situations (nobody is better at that than me), and how to make great images in extremely cluttered situations.
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Large Tricolored Heron chicks (lower left) are to die for! |
Gatorland #3. Sunrise: 6:33am. Sunset: 8:10pm.
3 1/2 DAYs: THURS 17 MAY through and including the morning of SUN 20 MAY. $1599. Limit 5 photographers.
(2 1/2 DAY option) FRI 18 MAY through and including the morning of SUN 20 MAY. $1199.
Must purchase Gatorland Photographers Pass. Click here for details. All early entry. Late stays Friday and Saturday. Thursday late-stay is under discussion. Gatorland IPT #3 is best for medium sized chicks of the following species: Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret, and Tricolored Heron. Head portraits of handsome fledged Great Egrets are pretty much guaranteed. Learn to get the right exposure, flight photography techniques, my secret Gatorland spots, how to see the best situations (nobody is better at that than me), and how to make great images in extremely cluttered situations.
Help 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
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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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 think you are showing off your new 80-400 at 400mm to demonstrate it’s capabilities. I think you got fairly close and cropped to c). If the birds are used to people you can get quite close even to small ones. I have been able to get good close shots of finches and tits (Parus genus) in bushes around feeders and they are probably a similar size to a hummingbird.
I’m going with the 600 + the 1.4x stopped down one click (to get 6.3). Crop could be a toss up. I’ll go with “B”. Those Annas are small and I’m not sure of the mfd of the current 600. Mine is the last “non-VR” model, and the MFD is quite long; most of the newer ones get quite a bit closer.
All the best.
MFD on the latest Nikon 600mm is a handsome 4.4 meters, 14 feet, 5.2 inches.
with love, artie
Hi, Artie. It is sharp and the IQ is fine. WAG guesses: 600 mm, 24.7% of the original pixels. Great image; Anna’s often have ratty plumage but this one is pristine.
You are right Adam, I just wasn’t sure of the minimal aperture with a 1.4x converter.
Hey Arthur, Looks tack sharp on the eye. Image quality also looks very good. I’m guessing 500mm. I’m guessing d. a vey healthy crop. Hummers are quite small and you are using high mega pixel bodies.
Hey Artie,
Considering I believe you are trying to demonstrate the capabilities of the D850, I am going to assume this a relatively large crop, say 39 or 53. Either way, pretty impressive. A little hard to compare to the gull from yesterday not knowing the crop factor on that image and the difference in ISO (400 vs. 800). But I still have to say the gull very impressive, as it the hummer. Focal length? I may be talking nonsense here, but considering you are at f/6.3, it could be the 200/500 zoom if you are using a 1.4 extender, But my guess is the 600 w/ a 1.4x. That would be closer to the demo of the DOII with 2X. The hummer is great, but I still prefer the detail demoed by the 400DOII plus 2X, and that on a lower resolution sensor. Just me. All fun, thanks again for the ongoing posts!
Frank
It couldn’t be the 200-500 f/5.6 with a 1.4x TC – that would make the minimal aperture 7.84 and the image was shot at f/6.3. So the only way it could be the 200-500 would be native at f/6.3.
Hey Frank, We’ll see what you have to say when you learn the answer to the Cropping Quiz …
with love, artie
Image quality and sharpness are very good.
With respect to the focal length all we know is that the aperture is f/6.3 and the DOF is very narrow (1/4-1/2 inch at most). Thus one would have to be very close to the bird with a shorter FL or relatively close with a long FL. I’m guessing the later and since you’re working with Nikon on this image it’s probably the 600mm f/4 with a 1.4 TC standing about 15-20′ away from the bird which would place it nearly at the MFD (14 ft or so). Alternatively, you could be closer around 9-10 ft. away with the 200-500 which has a MFD of around 7ft.
Now the next question is about cropping. Assuming that one is using a long lens and most hummingbirds are around 2.5″ or 60mm tall then for a full size image in a full frame camera then… 24mm (height FF) x 4572mm (distance away 15′) divided by 60 mm (height subject) = ~1800 mm. If you were using an effective FL of 840 then the crop would be around D (>50% of original). If you were using the 500 mm then the crop would be around B (>75% of original).
So, after all of that and since you are trying to showcase the lens, I suspect that you were shooting with your 200-500 at around 9-10 ft away and cropping around 75%. Am I in the ballpark?
Nope on the ballpark 🙂
with love, artie
The image looks sharp to me. I am guessing that it was made with the 600mm/2x extender combo (1200mm) and that the crop is 24.7%.
Hi Artie;
I know what the D850 is capable of when using premium glass, so my vote is (a) 10.3%. It would have appeared “sharper” if the ISO was below 400. Beautiful little hummer for sure…the only species we get in the north-east are ruby-throated…they get kinda boring after a while.
How can you get bored with ruby-throats?
LOL I love them but after shooting them for 10 years It would be nice for a little variety! ;o)
Hi Artie,
Incredible image. My wild-ass guess is b 24.7%.
Mark
Beautiful Image Art. Image quality & sharpness, I give 10/10.
The bird being very small, It looks like the DOF is under 2 inches. @ f6.3 I think your focal length would be around 1600mm. Crop I think C. Keep up the great work Art.
Thanks, Arnie
Hi Artie,
Since we are dealing with a very small bird, I guess you used the long end of the 80-400 and used a huge crop (a). If my guess is right, I would say that the image quality is amazingly good. This would be a great statement for the camera and lens. Overall, not considering the my guessed crop factor, the sharpness and image quality still is very good.
Dietmar
Hi Artie
What a stunning bird the Anna’s Hummingbird is, its a gift to a photographer like your good self Artie. Here in the UK we dont have anything to match such wonderful plumage. The only thing I can faulty it on is the tip of the bill is not sharp. Am I asking for to much?
Best and love
Ken
UK
Much too much and again your question shows a lack of basic understanding of the principles at play here.
with love, artie
Hi Artie,
I really like this image for the vibrancy of the hummingbird’s plumage and the simplicity of the background. By the small amount of noise in the shadows (assuming you got the exposure spot on) I would guess that this is a fairly large crop, perhaps c – 39.5%. If this was a large crop then because of the superbly clean background f/6.3 then I am guessing it was at a focal length of 400mm or more. On the other hand, the background could just be a long way away and as I have absolutely no experience photographing hummingbirds it is just a guess.
Enjoy the photography. Hope the travelling goes well,
Jake
Many thanks Jake.
with love, artie