Please Do Not Try This at Home Without Parental Supervision ... A New White Balance Tool/(Color) Temperature Tip. And another Canon Used Gear Fire-sale.

What’s Up

I spent Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday catching up on the NFL playoffs on TIVO. And doing three loads of laundry.

A Feel-Good Story

I have always been a Charles Barkley fan. Perhaps because like me he is not afraid to say exactly what’s on his mind. Younger daughter Alissa sent me a link to a wonderful feel-good story, My Dad’s Friendship With Charles Barkley. You can access it here.

Amazon

If like me you purchase lots of household stuff from Amazon every month, please consider getting in the habit of clicking on the logo link above the Help Support the Blog feature below or the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post. Doing so is a great way to help support my efforts here on the blog. This post took three hours to prepare. Thanks with love, artie

ps: There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on one of our Amazon links and log into your Prime account if it does not pop up immediately.

If …

If you missed Sunday’s My two very favorite images from the Falkland Land-based IPT: Scrambled Egg for Dinner and Yawning Albatross blog post here, please visit and let me know which of the two images is your favorite.

Very Interesting …

If you missed Rob Stambaugh’s comments and links regarding the very fine points of locking focus and recomposing, see his Comment in the Most Common Rear Button Focus/Focus Lock Technique Errors blog post here.

IPT Updates

I still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip and two more for the Spoonbill IPT. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. For the Galapagos trip, no reasonable offer will be turned down.

• 2019 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) SUN JAN 20, 2019 thru and including the morning session on THURS JAN 24: 4 1/2 days: $2099. (Limit: 10/Openings: 4) Introductory Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins: SAT DEC 19, 2019.
• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on most everything dSLR are dropping steadily. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

My Listing

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens (with a great and necessary extra)

Having quickly and completely fallen in love with my much more expensive Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens, I am offering my Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 lens in pretty close to near-mint condition for only 1299.00. The sale includes the original product box and everything that came in it, the crappy original tripod collar, the RRS Collar Foot Package for Nikon AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens (a $250 plus the shipping) value, and insured ground shipping via UPS.

Please contact me via e-mail or on my cell at 863-221-2372 (before next Wednesday, 19 DEC).

This is the lens that hooked me on Nikon and its great AF system. It is sharp and versatile and though AF is a bit sluggish away from the center AF point with a teleconverter, I made some great images with the TC-E14. As the lens sells new right now for $1,396.95 you can save you a cool $346.95 by grabbing my almost like-new lens today. artie

Another Canon Fire-Sale

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

John M Wright is offering a Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens in excellent to near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $6,950.00. Photos will be provided on request. The sale includes a 4th Generation Designs CRX-5L replacement foot, the original foot and screws, the tough front lens tough cover, the rear cap, the lens trunk, the lens strap, and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

The 500mm f/4 super telephoto lenses have long been the world’s most popular for birds,nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. Canon’s Series II version is light, fast, super-sharp, and produces amazing images with both the 1.4X and 2X III TCs. The 500 II is relatively small, easily hand holdable for some folks, and is much easier travel with, focuses closer than, and costs a lot less than the 600 II. Lastly, and you might find this amazing, the magnification for the 500 II is the same as it is for the 600 II: .15X. How is that possible? Magnification is calculated at the minimum focusing distance of the lens — 12.14 feet (3.7 meters) for the 500 II and 14.77 feet (4.5 meters) for the 600 II. Simply put, the 500 II focuses more than two feet closer than the 600 II. The seller for the last one that sold here had five calls the first day; the first four folks quibbled on price. The fifth one jumped right on it … Please do not tarry if you are seriously interested in Brian’s lens as it too should sell almost instantly. Or not 🙂 As the 500 II goes for $8999 new you will be getting a pretty much new lens while saving an incredible $2049.00! I loved my 500 II 🙂 artie

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II Lens

John M Wright is also offering a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of 1,299.00. The sale includes a Kirk LP-61 replacement foot, the original foot, the the front and rear lens caps, the original tough fabric case, the product box, and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

Y’all know how much I loved and now miss the sharpness and close focusing of this amazingly versatile lens. artie

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L Lens

John M Wright is also offering a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L lens in excellent condition for the BAA record-low price of $599.00. The sale includes the original lens foot, original front and rear cap, original soft case; and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

I put my old “toy lens” on the map back in the days of film. It is still a great flight photography lens and would make a great starter lens for anyone just starting out in nature photography. artie

Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS Lens

John M Wright is also offering a Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS lens in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $499.00. The sale includes the front and rear lens caps, the soft pouch, and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

The lightweight 16-35 f/4 is the Canon landscape photographer’s dream wide angle lens. artie

Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS Lens

John M Wright is also offering a Canon 24-70mm f/4L IS lens in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $488.00. The sale includes the front and rear caps, the soft pouch, and insured UPS ground shipping the within USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

If you are a landscape photographer looking to save weight this is the lens you are looking for. It sells new at B&H for $899.00. artie

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS Lens

John M Wright is also offering a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS lens in near mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $488.00. The sale includes the front and rear caps, the soft pouch, and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

I love this lightweight intermediate telephoto lens for photographing tame birds in flight at close range. I always had one on the gannet boat trips. It is also great for landscapes and Urbex photography. artie

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV dSLR

John M Wright is also offering a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR body in near-mint condition with 28,567 shutter actuations for $1999.00. The sale includes the original box, the front cap, one battery and the charger, the strap, and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

The 5D IV is my all-time favorite Canon dSLR. I used two as my workhorse bodies while my 1DX and my 1DX II largely sat on a shelf in the garage … artie

Canon EOS 5D Mark III dSLR

John M Wright is also offering a Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR body in excellent condition with 54,914 shutter actuations for the BAA record-low price of $949.00. The sale includes the front cap, one battery and charger, the strap, and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

I owned and used this superb, full frame, 22mp digital body for several years. It was always my first choice for scenic, Urbex (urban exploration), and flower photography until I fell in love for a while with the 5DS R (for a lot more money!). Then I switched to the 5D IV body. In addition, I loved my 5D III body for birds with my big lenses and both TCs. I used mine to create many dozens of high quality images. Then I switched to Nikon. John’s body can be yours for a bargain price. artie

Canon EOS 7D Mark II dSLR

John M Wright is also offering a Canon EOS 7D Mark II DSLR body in excellent plus condition with 17,778 shutter actuations for $799.00. The sale includes the front cap, one battery and charger, the strap, and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

Both Patrick Sparkman and I used and loved the 7D Mark II until we both committed to using full frame Canon bodies. We both made some truly great images with it. Two of my three 2016 Nature’s Best honored entries were created with the 7D II, one still, and one video. One thing is for sure: the 7D Mark II is the greatest value ever in a digital camera body. With a new one going for $1,099.95 you can save more than $300 by grabbing John’s camera body now … Not convinced? Do a search for “Cadieux” in the little white box at the top right of each blog post … Dan’s images, all made with the 7D Mark II, will amaze you.artie

Canon Canon Extender (teleconverter) EF 1.4X III

John M Wright is also offering a Canon Extender (teleconverter) EF 1.4X III in near-mint condition for $265.00. The sale includes the original front and rear caps, the soft pouch, and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

Regular readers know that when I shot Canon I relied extensively on both Series III teleconverters and always traveled with back-ups. artie

Canon Canon Extender (teleconverter) EF 2X III

John M Wright is also offering a Canon Extender (teleconverter) EF 2X III in near-mint condition for $265.00. The sale includes the original front and rear caps, the soft pouch, and insured UPS ground shipping within the USA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

Regular readers know that when I shot Canon I relied extensively on both Series III teleconverters and always traveled with back-ups. artie

Money Saving 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 and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

This image was created on December 23, 2018 at The Neck on Saunders Island, The Falklands. I used the hand Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens and my souped up Nikon D850. ISO 1250. Matrix metering plus about 1 1/3rd stops off the sky: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 NATURAL AUTO WB at 4:30pm on a cloudy afternoon. Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +3. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Center Group (grp) AF point/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. As seen in the Nikon Capture NX-D screen capture below the array was centered squarely on the bird’s (perfectly sharp) right eye; I could not have done any better than this. Black-browed Albatross in straight and level tight flight

Please Do Not Try This at Home Without Parental Supervision …

As you can see below, the image above represents the full frame capture. I tried to make images like this a thousand times with my Canon gear but rarely succeeded, almost always winding up with images of birds coming right at me that were sharp on the feet … Even with Nikon, these are difficult shots to pull off because as the bird gets closer and closer to you its speed relative to your position seems to increase making it difficult to properly frame the image. But with my confidence in D850 and D5 autofocus, I am now in a position to at least try and to succeed well more than once in a while.

The Nikon Capture NX-D screen capture for Black-browed Albatross in straight and level flight

The Nikon Capture NX-D Screen Capture

I use Nikon Capture NX-D only to see the AF points and to determine the AF Fine-tune value. I view my images and pick my keepers in Month/Day/Year folders in Photo Mechanic and do all of my post-processing in Photoshop CC. Do note the grey background and the perfect histogram along with the perfectly positioned Group AF array. (Note: you can learn more about Photo Mechanic here.)

Free-to-All BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II) Update

A New White Balance Tool/(Color) Temperature Tip

Please note: there are no updates for the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II). You do not, therefore, need to e-mail to enjoy this free-to-all tip. I mention Digital Basics II only to show folks the type of great tips and clear, easy to understand language in this e-Guide. To learn more about or purchase DB II click here.

When you open a RAW file in Adobe Camera RAW, note the As Shot (Color) Temperature and then hit the keyboard shortcut I or click on the White Balance Tool. You will find the White Balance Tool eyedropper icon in the upper left of the ACR window just to the right of the Zoom Tool and the Hand Tool icons. Then click on the spot that you eyeball as the brightest WHITEs in the image. If you are unsure as to the location of the brightest WHITEs, you can hold down the ALT key while moving the Whites slider to the right until all white speckles appear on the black screen. Then return the Whites slider to zero. Either way, left click on the brightest WHITEs in the image and note the change in the look of the image. Note also the new (Color) Temperature value. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the best color temperature will be somewhere between the As Shot color temperature and the new color temperature that appears once you have clicked on the brightest WHITEs with the White Balance Tool eyedropper. Once you have noted the two color temperatures you can simply move the Temperature slider between those two values and determine which one is best for a give image. On rare occasion, the two values will be identical. In that case your image will be perfectly color balanced.

As you click on the brightest WHITEs with the White Balance Tool eyedropper, get in the habit of noting the RGB values. After you click the RGB values will show either a perfect WHITE such as 245, 245, 245 of a very close to perfect WHITE such as 243, 243, 244. Whatever the RGB values show you are always free to adjust the Temperature slider to taste. Images made in the golden light of early morning or late afternoon rarely look best with perfectly balanced RGB numbers for the brightest WHITEs. With today’s featured image made on a cloudy day, a single click made the whole image a lot warmer and a lot more accurate. The As Shot Temperature was 4750K. After the click the Custom was 5600 with the RGB values on the top of the head reading R=250, G=250,B= 250. To learn what to do next to make your images look as good as possible, see the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II).

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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.

Facebook

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 :).