Victory at Sea? A Story in Pictures ...

What’s Up?

We had a second great morning on Saturday, Day 2 of the Fort DeSoto COVID-conscious IPT. We headed straight to a spot on Outback Key where the Brown Pelicans gather to roost and then feed in the rip at the point on early morning low tides. After a few so-so blast-offs Donna Bourdon decided to stay with the pelicans and continue doing blurs. Anita opted to get in the water with the pelicans …

Mukesh Patel and I headed back south to do diving pelicans and eventually some shorebirds and terns while we were sitting or lying on the beach. Later on when I hooked back up with Donna she said, “Anita got blasted by a rogue wave!”

Today is Sunday 18 October 2020; we will be headed back to North Beach the morning for the start of Day 3.

I was glad to learn yesterday of the sale of Art Leyenberger’s Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM lens in excellent condition and both series I teleconverters for the very low price of $650.00. His Canon 100mm macro lens with the Kenko Extension Tube Set is a great buy an is still available. See that listing and lots more on the Used Gear Page.

Wanted to Buy

I have someone interested in a used Canon 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens. If you have one that you would like to part with, please contact me via e-mail.

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

Great Topaz News!

Folks who use the BAA Topaz link to purchase Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, or the Utility Bundle (or any other Topaz plugins) will receive a 15% discount by entering the ARTHUR15 code at checkout. To get the discount you must use my link and you must enter the discount code. Be sure to start with this link.

Topaz Stuff

As I said on Sunday and have said often many times before, I should have listened sooner. If you, like me, are new to the Topaz party, please use this link to purchase. Right now I can wholeheartedly recommend both Topaz Sharpen AI and Topaz DeNoise AI. Though I have not yet worked with JPEGtoRAW AI or Gigapixel AI, I have installed both of these plug-ins and look forward to trying them on some I-Phone 11 images fairly soon. If you are thinking like me, consider the Utility Bundle that includes all four plug-ins mentioned above at a money-saving price.

Again, those who purchase Sharpen AI or DeNoise AI using my link, can e-mail to request a short Getting Started with Topaz e-Guide. I had a bit of trouble getting the two plug-ins installed and having them appear in the Photoshop Filter Menu. In addition, I will explain how to best learn about the two plug-ins by applying them on a Layer (in Photoshop). I amazed myself yesterday by completing this guide in the car on the way to and from Sebastian. Huge thanks to Anita for doing the driving. Please include a copy of your Topaz order when requesting the guide.

This image was created by multiple IPT veteran Donna Bourdon on the Fort DeSoto COVID-conscious IPT on the morning of 17 OCT 2020. She used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 312mm) and the blazingly fast AF King, the Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital camera body. Exposure was determined via Zebra evaluation with Exposure Compensation on the rear dial as detailed in The Sony Camera User’s e-Guide and One Camera Set-up Video. Shutter Priority mode +2.7 stops. Auto ISO > 100. 1/15 sec. at f/8. ABW at 8:03am on a then cloudy morning. Lower Right Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure. Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Donna Bourdon Image #1: Anita kneeling in the water to photograph pelicans …

Kneeling in the Water on an Incoming Tide …

As noted above, Anita ventured into the Gulf near the point in an effort to get close to the diving and feeding pelicans. She kneeled to get as low as possible so that she could create images with a very intimate perspective. Donna created this image of Anita kneeling in the surf while she was working at creating impressionistic images of the diving pelicans.

Donna, an award-winning photographer in her Chattanooga, TN photo club, is a long time Canon shooter. She joined this IPT to learn more about her a9ii/200-600 SONY rig and is doing just that.

This image was created by many-multiple IPT veteran and BAA friend Anita North on the Fort DeSoto COVID-conscious IPT on the morning of 17 OCT 2020. She used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 404mm) and the blazingly fast AF King, the Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital camera body. Exposure was determined via Zebra evaluation with Exposure Compensation on the rear dial as detailed in The Sony Camera User’s e-Guide and One Camera Set-up Video. ISO 6400: 1/1250 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. ABW at 7:59am on a then cloudy morning. Center Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure. Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Anita North Image #2: A developing Brown Pelican feeding spree

Water Level Photography

Obviously, being almost at water level can create some really powerful and intimate images. Anita described being thrilled as the pelicans approached her while feeding on schools of baitfish being herded by the Brown Pelicans. At one point, she was surrounded by pelicans.

Click on the image to view a larger version and note the superb noise reduction on this ISO 6400 image. Image #2a: Topaz DeNoise AI on the developing Brown Pelican feeding spree image at 400%.

Topaz DeNoise AI

Be sure to click on the screen capture above to view the larger version and note the superb noise reduction on this ISO 6400 image. Notice in addition that DeNoise on Auto provides just the right amount of sharpening to most images. Anita converted the RAW file for this image last night and Air Dropped it to me. Therefore, I did the color correction to eliminate the BLUE cast after running DeNoise AI on Auto.

This image was created by many-multiple IPT veteran and BAA friend Anita North on the Fort DeSoto COVID-conscious IPT on the morning of 17 OCT 2020. She used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and the blazingly fast AF King, the Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital camera body. Exposure was determined via Zebra evaluation with Exposure Compensation on the rear dial as detailed in The Sony Camera User’s e-Guide and One Camera Set-up Video. ISO 6400: 1/1250 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. ABW at 8:08am on a then cloudy morning. Lower Right Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure. Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Anita North Image #3: Brown Pelican fishing/Victory at Sea?

Victory at Sea!

Anita was ecstatic as the big birds — all juveniles — got closer and closer to her. As soon as I saw this one, I named it “Victory at Sea.” It reminded me of a head-on shot of a WW II naval flotilla! It is unusual for Brown Pelicans to dip feed on the surface as the much larger White Pelicans always do. The whites never dive for fish, opting instead — often in very large groups — to herd the fish while scooping them up.

Congrats to Anita for being nuts enough to create this quite powerful image.

This image was created by multiple IPT veteran Donna Bourdon on the Fort DeSoto COVID-conscious IPT on the morning of 17 OCT 2020. She used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 452mm) and the blazingly fast AF King, the Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital camera body. Exposure was determined via Zebra evaluation with Exposure Compensation on the rear dial as detailed in The Sony Camera User’s e-Guide and One Camera Set-up Video. Shutter Priority mode +2.3 stops. Auto ISO > 100. 1/15 sec. at f/8. ABW at 8:09am on a then cloudy morning. Center Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and worked well. Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Donna Bourdon Image #4: Anita in the water to photograph pelicans …

Oops!

Just moments after Anita created Image #3, she got slammed by a rogue wave. Donna created this image of Anita with water pouring off of her as she attempted to save her gear. Both her a9 ii and her 200-600 got soaked by saltwater; both survived with flying colors (knock on wood …) On rare occasion, saltwater damage to a camera does not surface (pardon the pun) until sometime after the bath. The good news is that Anita’s a9 ii was doused but never submerged. As noted here previously, the a9 ii and the a7r iv are well sealed; both of my SONY bodies were slammed by waves while photographing at Sebastian Inlet this fall.

Was It Worth It?

Please leave a comment in answer to the question above. I think that the punctuation mark here: Victory at Sea!, clearly answers that question for me.

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 :).