Finally: The 2018 B&H/BAA Bird Photography Holiday Contest Finalists! The Story Behind Each Image. Along with my comments ...

What’s Up?

Our second shipment of twenty FlexShooter Pro heads finally arrived late on Friday. We will be shipping to those who ordered by phone on Tuesday as Monday is a holiday. I will check out the new Nikon 600 VR Bigfoot on Tuesday and let you know what I have learned. We have been enjoying perfect weather every day along with some decent morning photography and my daily swims.

The 2018 B&H/BAA Bird Photography Holiday Contest Finalists!

Thanks to the generosity of the great folks at B&H, I am proud to announce the final four for the first-ever B&H/BAA Bird Photography Holiday Contest below. Please rate the four contest finalist images as noted below. The final placement of the winning and honored images will be announced soon.

Important, to me at least …

I learned yesterday that a guy who has visited and learned from the blog for years had recently purchased the Nikon 800mm VR lens with the dedicated 1.25X teleconverter. This gentleman has never been on an IPT. He often sends me photos for my comment and usually asks a few questions. I have always answered politely and in a timely fashion. When he began sending many images in a single e-mail, I suggested that he take advantage of the image critiquing service that I offer. He never took me up on that.

He told me that he had purchased the lens from B&H so I asked if he had used my affiliate link. The answer was “No.” I let him know that had he used my link as a way to thank me for the blog and the times that I spend answering e-mails like his it would not have cost him one penny more, that it was just a great way to say “Thank you.” I also let him know that my commission on a $16,296.95 sale would have been a tidy $570.39.

If you are purchasing new photo gear from B&H or Bedford’s, I would truly appreciate your writing for advice and using my affiliate links or discount codes. Again, doing so would not cost you one cent.

Huge thanks and gobs of appreciation to those who regularly use the BAA affiliate links and discount codes. With lots of love as well.

Please note: Today’s blog post took about five months and five hours to prepare 🙂

Huge Late-registration BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour Discounts

I an effort to fill a very few remaining slots, I am offering a $3,000 late registration discount on the UK Puffins, Gannets, and Red Kite IPT (one slot) and a $4,000 late registration discount on the Galapagos Photo Cruise of a lifetime (one slot) — the world’s very best Galapagos photo trip. We do the three world-class landings twice each: North Seymour, Hood, and Tower … Join us. Click here and scroll down for the trip details. Please e-mail with questions.

BIRDS AS ART

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

Contest-Related Used Gear Sales

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM Lens
This is NOT Joe Sobelefsky’s lens 🙂

Eric Chen is offering a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens in like-new condition for the BAA record-low price of $6998.00. The sale includes everything that came in the orignal box including the lens trunk, the lens strap, the front lens cover, the warranty card, a Realtree Max 4 LensCoat, a RRS replacement foot, the 52mm drop-in polarizer (a $229.00 value), a LensCoat Hoodie, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your lens will not ship until your check clears unless another payment method is used.

Please contact Eric via e-mail or by phone at 1-413-210-3636 (Eastern time).

The 600 II has been the state of the art super-telephoto lens for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports for many years. When I was using Canon and could get it to my location, it was always my go-to weapon. It is fast and sharp and deadly alone or with either TC. With a new one going for $9,499, you can save a cool $2501.00 by grabbing Eric’s lens now. The lighter 600 III goes for $12,999.00! artie

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/4E FL ED VR Lens
This is the very lens used to create the Painted Bunting image below

Chris Tricou is offering a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/4E FL ED VR lens in excellent condition for $8296.95. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original Nikon neoprene tough front lens cover that goes over the hood, a camo LensCoat, a black hoodie (neoprene front cover), the lens strap, the original product box, the low profile Nikon tripod foot, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Chris via e-mail or by phone at 225-445-6777 (Central time).

The 500 f/4 super telephoto lenses have been the world’s most popular for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. This is Nikon’s latest/greatest version. It is super-sharp with the TC-14E III (the 1.4X teleconverter). This lens is relatively small and can be easily hand held by some folks. It is much easier to travel with, focuses closer than, and costs a lot less than the current Nikon 600 VR. This lens sells for $10,296.95. Grab Chris’s lens asap while $2000.00 for a pretty much new lens with extras. I loved my Canon 500 II. artie

Learn the secrets of creating contest-worthy images in “A Guide to Pleasing Blurs.”

Contest-Related Advertisement

A Guide to Pleasing Blurs

In A Guide to Pleasing Blurs by Denise Ippolito and yours truly, we discuss just about every technique ever used to create pleasingly blurred images. Ninety-nine point nine percent of pleasing blurs are not happy accidents. You can learn pretty much everything that there is to know about creating them in this instructive, well-written, easy to follow, beautifully illustrated e-Guide.

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 by BPN member Paul Burdett. He used the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) with theC Canon crop factor body, the EOS 7D Mark II dSLR. ISO 640: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6. Image #1: New Holland Honeyeater, Tasmania Image courtesy of and copyright 2019: Paul Burdett Click on the image to enjoy a larger version

The New Holland Honeyeater Story

This bird was photographed on Bruny Island, Tasmania. The island is separated from the Tasmanian mainland by the D’Entrecasteaux Channel; its east coast abuts the Tasman Sea. The island is noted for various birds that are endemic to Tasmania, some of which are endangered. My wife and I stayed at Inala, an amazing private nature reserve on the island, where I was able to see and photograph the Forty-spotted Pardalote as well as a number of other endemic birds. This New Holland Honeyeater was spotted a few minutes after photographing the Pardalote, and posed quite nicely for me.

You can see what others (including me) thought of this image in Paul’s BPN post here.

My Thoughts and Comments

I fell in love with this bird and this image the moment I saw it on BPN. It reminded me of some sort of breeding plumage Yellow-rumped Warbler hybrid on steroids! Thanks, Paul for entering this one.

This image was created by IPT veteran and BPN member Krishna Prasad Kotti. He used the Induro ballhead-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR lens with the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III and the mega mega-pixel Nikon D850 dSLR.. ISO 100: 1/5 sec. at f/22. Image #2: Snow Goose blast-off, Bosque del Apache NWR, NM Image courtesy of and copyright 2019: Krishna Prasad Kotti Click on the image to enjoy a larger version

The Snow Geese Blast-off at Bosque Story

This image was taken at the main pond in Bosque Del Apache NM during my trip at the end of 2018. It was early evening and I was photographing Snow Geese on the road. After a while, they took off and landed far away in the pond. All the folks who had been photographing the birds on the road left. I stood there contemplating whether I should leave for crane pools or wait to see if the flock would blast off. With a muted sun behind me and overcast conditions, I stood waiting for more than 30 minutes. I composed the image, using the distant mountains as an anchor and waited for the birds to take off. I was just about to give up when the birds blasted off.

I learned a lot on your Gatorland IPT two years ago. I study your blog religiously and have also learned a ton in the Avian Forum; I joined BPN almost 3 years ago.

My Thoughts and Comments

As many of you know, I love blurs, especially ones that are well done. And I love that Krishna incorporated many of the things he has learned on BPN and in various BAA guides as well to come up with this fine image. His story reminds me in part of the story behind Blizzard in Blue — same place, same time of year, and lots of other photographers sitting in their cars because of the cold drizzle … Blizzard in Blue was runner-up in Composition and Form in a late-1990s vintage Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. Who’d a thunk it? Creative blurs before digital!

In A Guide to Pleasing Blurs (and elsewhere), I have written, The slower your shutter speed the less chance you have a creating a successful image but the more chance you have of creating a contest-winning image …

This image was created by IPT veteran (and former BPN member) Joe Sobelefsky. He used the tripod-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens with my favorite Canon body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV dSLR.. ISO 2000: 1/1000 sec. at f/4.5. Processed in DPP4. Image #3: Wood Duck pair courting Image courtesy of and copyright 2019: Joe Sobelefsky Click on the image to enjoy a larger version

The Courting Wood Ducks Story

Each winter, during the freeze, I spend time prepping a location in Harford County, Maryland for Wood Ducks. The frozen mud in the marsh makes this the only time that you can move limbs, drop stumps, clean and reposition the nest boxes, perform needed maintenance, and build blinds. The arrival of my favorite waterfowl species is a time of pure bliss for me; I spend every spare moment for about three months in my blind photographing these beautiful ducks. Watching these elusive waterfowl interact, pair up, defend boxes, lay eggs, incubate and finally fledge their ducklings brings me to a place of inner peace that I have not experienced anywhere else on earth. Even though these are wild ducks, I feel as if I know them personally by the time that move on for the year.

My Thoughts and Comments

With Joe’s image, I love the soft light and the intimacy of the image. Note that there was plenty of depth-of-field even at the nearly wide open aperture of f/4.5. Why? The distance to the birds was relatively large.

This image was created by Chris Tricou with the mono-pod mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/4E FL ED VR lens with the Nikon crop factor body, the D500 dSLR. ISO 320: 1/2000 sec. at f/5. Image #4: Painted Bunting displaying male Image courtesy of and copyright 2019: Chris Tricou Click on the image to enjoy a larger version

The Painted Bunting Story

I had been exploring a piece of private property that I had been granted access to near Baton Rouge on the banks of the Mississippi River between the levee and the river itself. It is only accessible when the river is low. As I hiked I was blown away by the amazing diversity of wildlife as well as the density. I heard the calls of Painted and Indigo Buntings. I located a spot where the territories of three male painteds overlapped. I went back the next day and the light was perfect in the late afternoon. I was out of sight down by the waterline. I reached a massive excavator that I was able to hide behind and waited patiently. The birds came. This image shows one male displaying against another. I could not photograph them fighting as they were inside of the lens’s minimum focusing distance.

It was amazing to watch such beautiful birds behave as if I were not there.

My Thoughts and Comments

I love the soft light and have always loved male Painted Buntings. Heck, the ladies are not bad either. IAC, add in the spectacular naturally occurring behavior and your image will pretty much make everyone smile.

Please Rate the Four Contest Finalist Images

First off, apologies for being so tardy with the contest results. At one point I feared that I had lost all of the images and would have to re-run the contest. But once the hard drive from my first and now very defunct MacBook Pro was rescued, it was just a matter of time …

I have already made up my mind as to the contest winners and the distribution of the generous prizes from B&H but I did want to give everyone here a chance to voice their opinions. Please do so by rating the four finalist images with a numbered list from 1 to 4 with one being your contest winner. In addition, your thoughts on why you made your choices are of course welcome.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. All of the images on this card were created on the 2018 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT

The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Seahouses, Bempton Cliffs, and the Dunbar, Scotland Gannet boat to Bass Rock! Thursday, June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday, July 10.): $9,999. Limit 5 photographers/Openings: 1

Please e-mail to learn about the very large late-registration discount

Join me in the UK in late June and early July 2019 to photograph Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Razorbill, Shag, and Northern Gannet, Red Kite, and more both in flight and at close range. We will also have great chances with Arctic and Sandwich Terns, both with chicks of all sizes; Black-headed, Lesser-Black-backed, and Herring Gulls, many of those chasing puffins with fish; Black-legged Kittiwake with chicks; plus Grey Seal. There will be tons of great flight photography. As on all IPTs, if you pay attention, you will learn a ton, especially about sky conditions and the relationship between light angle and wind direction and their effects on flight photography.

Why go all the way to Machias Seal Island off the coast of Maine, endure a two-hour boat ride, and have to photograph Atlantic Puffins from a cramped blind usually in bright sun (and well off sun angle) when you can hop a red-eye flight from Newark, NJ and be in Edinburgh, Scotland early the next morning. First we drive down to Bridlington for easy access to Bempton Cliffs where our primary targets will be Northern Gannet in flight. We will also get to photograph Razorbill, Northern Fulmar, Herring Gull, and Black-legged Kittiwake. While in Bridlington we will spend one afternoon visiting a Red Kite feeding station that should provide lots of flight photography action.

While in Bridlington we will staying at the White Horse Inn in Cranswick, about twenty minutes from Bempton Cliffs. After 3 1/2 days of photography there, we drive down to Seahouses in Northumberland to the two lodges that will be our home base for a week. After a short boat ride each day we will have hundreds of puffins posing at close range all day, every day — usually in ideal cloudy-bright conditions. While we are in Seahouses we will do six puffin/seabird trips, all weather permitting of course; last year we did not miss a single landing. In five years we have averaged losing less than one half day per year to bad weather. We land at Staple Island in the mornings and then sail over to Inner Farnes for our afternoon sessions. In addition, we may enjoy a session or two photographing nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes at eye level from a rocky beach in Seahouses.

In Seahouses, we stay 7 nights in gorgeous, modern, upscale lodges with Wi-fi. They are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for the informal image sharing and Photoshop sessions. The bedrooms are decent-sized. Each lodge has one double bedroom and two twin bedrooms. (See the single supplement info below.) At the lodges we cook our own breakfasts each morning and prepare our own lunches to be brought on the six puffin boat trips. For dinners we will alternate cooking in the lodges with fine dining at several excellent local restaurants. We stay two nights at the Marston’s Inn in Dunbar. We will enjoy a fine-dining Thank You dinner at the Dunbar Hotel on the Tuesday evening before we fly home.

On the morning of Monday, July 8, 2019, the plan is to sleep late, pack, and head up to Dunbar Harbor, Scotland for lunch and an afternoon gannet boat chumming trip: flight photography until you cannot lift your camera. The next morning, Tuesday July 9, we will enjoy our second gannet boat chumming trip (both weather permitting). On both trips we will enjoy great views of the huge gannetry at Bass Rock. Included will be two nights lodging at the Pine Martin by Marston’s Inn in Dunbar. Very early on the morning of Wednesday, July 10, we will drive up to Edinburgh Airport so that everyone can make their flights home. No moaning please. You will need a flight that leaves at 8:30am or later. Not too much later is generally best.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. All images were created on the 2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT

The Details

This IPT is all-inclusive except for your airfare and alcoholic beverages. All ground transportation, lodging costs, meals, your National Trust membership, and all boat, entry, and landing fees are included. Weather permitting, we will enjoy three and one-half days (at least six sessions in all) at Bempton Cliffs, an afternoon with the Red Kites, six full days on the puffin boats, one amazing afternoon gannet chumming trip, and one spectacular morning gannet chumming trip.

IPT Details

If you are good to go sharing a room–couples, of course, are more than welcome, heck, we actually need two couples — please send your non-refundable $2,000/person deposit check now to save a spot. Please be sure to check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below. Your balance will be due on February 28, 2019. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855.

Please shoot me an e-mail if you are good to go or if you have any questions.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance for big international trips is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check or running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance, be sure to read the fine print carefully even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

I truly hope that you can join me on this exciting venture.

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 :).