What’s Up?
I spent Saturday morning photographing a St. John’s-Wort species and a nice Spanish Needles blossom in neighbor-friend Ralph’s yard. He kindly showed me two blocks worth of Hooded Pitcherplants about two miles from home. In return, I shared my Grassleaf Barbara’s Buttons spot with him. It was a great morning all around. I spent most of Sunday morning photographing the pitcherplants and then headed down to the lake for a short crane-fix.
Today’s questions are designed to make you think. They are scattered throughout the post. Feel free to answer one or all of them by leaving a much-appreciated comment. Extra points will be awarded for both the quality and the quantity of your answers 🙂
This blog post took more than four hours to create.
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Via e-Mail from Multiple IPT veteran and good friend, Donna Bourdon
Donna is a long-time Canon shooter who is dipping her toes into the SONY waters. After purchasing her a9 ii and 200-600 from Steve Elkins at Bedfords, she enjoyed a healthy discount on the SONY guide. She sent me this last night:
I never could have set my new a9 ii without the video. It is amazing that you and Patrick were able to figure out this complex camera so quickly and then develop and shar the guide and the videos with us. Donna
SONY e-Guide Discount Program
Purchase a (new) qualifying SONY camera body (a7r iii, a7r iv, a9, a9 ii) from Bedfords or using a BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate link, and you will receive a $40 discount on the SONY e-guide. Purchase a (new) SONY 200-600mm G lens from Bedfords or using a BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate link, and you will receive a $25 discount on the SONY e-guide. Purchase a (new) SONY 600mm f/4 GM lens from Bedfords or using a BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate link, and you will receive a free SONY e-guide with one or two videos.
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104 sold to rave reviews. The SONY e-Guide by Patrick Sparkman and Arthur Morris |
The Sony Camera User’s e-Guide (and Videos)
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The BAA Used Gear Page is the place to sell your used photographic equipment. We will help you to get your gear sold quickly for 20 to 60% more than what the big guys are offering … Doubt me? Check out the Past Sales list at the bottom of the page.
Nikon D5 dSLR (XQD version) with extras!
BAA Record-low Price!
Dennis Westover is also offering a Nikon D5 dSLR (XQD version) in excellent-plus condition for a BAA record-low $3696.95. The body has only 22,208 shutter actuations. (NIKON rates the d5 shutter for 400,000 actuations). The camera was recently cleaned and check by Glazer’s Camera in Seattle. The sale includes the one EN-EL18 battery (the original battery), the NIKON dual battery charger, one Lexar 64GB 2933x XQD card, the Really Right Stuff L bracket, 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 Dennis via e-mail.
The D5 is Nikon’s vaunted professional digital camera body. It is fast and features Nikon’s best AF system. I used mine with success with all of my Nikon lenses including and especially the 80-400, thee 200-500, the 500 PF, and the 600 f/4 VR. The D5 sells for $5,496.95 new right now so you can save a handsome $1800 on this bargain-priced dSLR. With extras! artie
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Lens
Sale pending first day of listing …
Dennis Westover is also offering a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens in excellent-plus condition for a BAA record-low $944.95. The glass is pristine. The lens hood has several very small scratches on the back edge of the hood, and as with all zoom lenses, there are a few tiny dust specs inside front element that don’t affect anything. The sale includes the front and rear lens caps, the lens hood, the manual, the Cordura carrying case, the original box, Kirk replacement lens collar and Arca Swiss-compatible lens foot, the original lens foot and collar, 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 Dennis via e-mail.
This was my workhorse lens on the memorable Emperor Penguin trip in October 2018. It is amazingly sharp and versatile. And it does well with the TC-E14 when the sun is out. As this one sells new for $2,096.95 you can save an incredible $1,202.00 by being the first to grab Dennis’s lens. 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 over $1000.00, 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 has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H. Those include the SONY a7r IV, the SONY 200-600, the SONY 600mm f/4 GM, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is eager to please.
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.
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This image was created on 21 JULY 2020 at Indian Lake Estates. Working from my dearly departed Sequoia, I used the Induro GIT 204/FlexShooter Mini-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 1.4xteleconverter, and the 61-MP Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital Camera Body. ISO 400. Exposure determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/500 sec. at f/7.1 in Manual was confirmed as perfect by RawDigger. AWB at 7:42:46am on a sunny morning. Tracking Flexible Spot (M) AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed to perfection. Click the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Sandhill Crane adult head portrait with the bird’s head perfectly parallel to the imaging sensor. |
Is Perfectly Parallel Best?
In the Head Angle Questions: a Matter of Degree … blog post here, we discussed some head angle fine points. We will continue that discussion here today.
In Image #1, the bird’s head is very close to being perfectly parallel to the imaging sensor. You may note that the tip of the bird’s bill does not look as sharp as the base of the bird’s bill. The main reason for that is that the distal end of the bill is worn from being jabbed into the earth about 5,000 times/day. In addition, the tip of the bill is a bit farther away than the plane of the eye and the near end of the bill and thus slightly beyond the very narrow d-o-f.
Before I became capitán de la policĂa de ángulo de cabeza (captain of the head angle police) about 15 years ago, folks thought that perfectly parallel for a head portrait like this was the best head angle …
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This image was also and obviously created (in the same hundredth of second as the image above) on 21 JULY 2020 at Indian Lake Estates. Working from my dearly departed Sequoia, I used the Induro GIT 204/FlexShooter Mini-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 1.4xteleconverter, and the 61-MP Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital Camera Body. ISO 400. Exposure determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/500 sec. at f/7.1 in Manual was confirmed as perfect by RawDigger. AWB at 7:42:46am on a sunny morning. Tracking Flexible Spot (M) AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed to perfection. Click the image to see a larger version. Image #2: Sandhill Crane adult head portrait with the bird’s head turned two degrees toward us. |
Two to Three Degrees Towards …
In Image #2, the bird’s head is angled about two to three degrees toward us. The bill tip to me looks only marginally softer than the bill tip in Image #1. But again, to me, the bird seems more engaged with the viewer. Note that as the bill in this image does not look as long as the bill in the first image as it is somewhat foreshortened.
Q#1: Which head angle do you prefer, Image #1 or Image #2?
Q#2: What takes away from the artistic merit of both Image #1 and Image #2?
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This image was also created on 21 JULY 2020 at Indian Lake Estates. Working from my dearly departed Sequoia, I used the Induro GIT 204/FlexShooter Mini-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 1.4xteleconverter, and the 61-MP Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital Camera Body. ISO 500. Exposure determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/400 sec. at f/7.1 in Manual was confirmed as perfect by RawDigger. AWB at 7:31:39am. Tracking Flexible Spot (M) AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed to perfection. Click the image to see a larger version. Image #3: Sandhill Crane 10-week old colt head portrait with the bird’s head turned two degrees toward us. |
The Colt
The colt’s head angle is also about two to three towards us.
Q#3: Which of today’s three featured images is your favorite? Why?
Q#4: One of today’s three featured images was cropped just a bit from above and the left. Which one? How do you know for sure?
Q#5: Because the bird was blinking, I needed to replace the eye of the bird in one of the three images. Can you tell which one? How did you know?
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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 :).
Typo under “Is perfectly parallel best?”:
>> You may note that the base of the bird’s bill does not look quite as sharp as the base of the bird’s bill. <<
Thanks and fixed.
a
I would say image 1 had the eye replaced and you used the eye from image 2. The eyes look very similar, which would not be unexpected since they were taken so close in time. But the eye “shape” in #2 looks to match the shape of the eye lid a little better.
I could be way off, as it is hard to tell. As you say, if you didn’t tell us something was changed, we would never have known.
1) I like #2 best because of the shorter beak, but if you hadn’t told me I wouldn’t have noticed it.
2) Have no idea. I have been seeing some backgrounds that are a solid color and I like them better than splotchy ones.
3) I like #2 best, I think it’s the red head and red eye that catches my gaze.
4) #1 may have been cropped, although I have no idea how you can tell if something has been cropped.
5) My guess is the colt had it’s eye replaced. They were shot only 10 minutes apart and the catch light in the colt’s eye is placed quite a bit away from the other two for that short of a time. I’m thinking the sun didn’t move that much in 10 min.
If the head angle in image #2 is as you describe, the catch light in the crane’s eye should be slightly farther to the viewer’s left (toward the tip of the bill) than its position in image #1, but the catch light is in the same position in both images. Therefore, I believe that the eye was replaced in image #2.
Hi Gary,
You did get the correct answer but I am not buying your reasoning …
with love, artie