Beauty is Obviously in the Eye of the Beholder. Used SONY a7r iv for sale! Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Instruction. And a 1200mm a7r iv Roseate Spoonbill Family Jewel

What’s Up?

It is 8:30am on Sunday 17 January 2021. I am sitting in my SUV working on today’s blog post. Conditions are perfect for vulture flight: cloudy bright skies with the wind from the east. Both eagles flew over the fish heads and smoked salmon skins that I put out even before I got back to my vehicle. Since then, a few Ring-billed Gulls have flown by, but I have not seen a single vulture. Time will tell.

I spent 1 1/2 hours with Patrick Sparkman yesterday in a Zoom meeting; he kindly clarified a few important points that will enable me to finish the RawDigger e-Guide this week.

Be sure to read all the way down to learn of the free RawDigger screen capture offer.

This blog past makes twenty-eight days in a row with a new blog post. This one took about 2 1/2 hours to prepare (including the time spent on the post-processing and on assembling the two a7r iv composites). Please remember …

Please Remember

With income from IPTs approaching zero, please, if you enjoy and learn from the blog, remember to use one of my two affiliate programs when purchasing new gear. Doing so just might make it possible for me to avoid having to try to get a job as a Walmart greeter and will not cost you a single penny more. And if you use Bedfords and remember to enter the BIRDSASART code at checkout, you will save 3% on every order and enjoy free second-day air shipping. In these crazy times — I am out at least forty to sixty thousand dollars so far due to COVID 19 (with lots more to come) — remembering to use my B&H link or to shop at Bedfords will help me out a ton and be greatly appreciated. Overseas folks who cannot order from the US because of import fees, duties, and taxes can always help out by clicking here if they see fit.

Beauty is Obviously in the Eye of the Beholder

In yesterday’s ILE GBH-Scape: Color or Black and White? blog post here, I was astounded by the number (21) of folks who left a comment sharing their opinion of the two images, and even more astounded by folk’s reactions. In effect, those ranged from “delete both of them as soon as possible” to “one or both is a true work of art.” As I said in the post, while realizing that neither image is a family jewel, I sorta liked each version. If I had to choose, I’d go with the color image but as several did, I found the mood of the B&W to be quite interesting. In any case, it was amazing to see such huge differences of opinion; and I am glad that I kept the image and shared the two versions.

RawDigger e-Guide and Video Advance Copy Available

Save $10 Now

The RawDigger e-Guide and Video is almost finished. It will sell for $51.00. If you are anxious to get started with RawDigger, learn to mega-Expose to the Right, and wind up with the highest quality image files, you can save $10.00 and have a chance to review a pre-publication copy of the guide by sending a PayPal for $41.00 to birdsasart@verizon.net with the words RawDigger e-Guide and Video Pre-publication Copy cut and pasted into the Subject line. The recent delay is the result of my recent conversations with Iliah Borg, the brains behind RawDigger. It is very likely that the Shock-your-World section will shock you.

In the new guide, we teach you why the GREEN channel is almost always the first to over-expose. We teach you how to interpret the Max G values. And most recently, we teach you a simple way to evaluate your exposures using an adapted RawDigger histogram. And tons more, of course. I am planning on having the RawDigger guide ready for sale by next Monday. Folks who saved $10.00 by pre-ordering will of course receive a link to the final PDF.

Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. SONY a7r iv Fort DeSoto Composite

SONY a7r iv (for sale below) Fort DeSoto Composite

All of the images in the composite above were created at Fort DeSoto Park with the SONY a7r iv. Contrary to popular opinion, the a7r iv is quite excellent for flight when used with all GM lenses including and especially the 600mm f/4 GM and the 400mm f/2.8 GM. It does not do well for flight with the SONY 200-600 GM (at least in my hands). With decent technique, competent users can create super-sharp images with either of the SONY super-telephoto lenses when used with either teleconverter.

If you are a landscape or macro shooter who uses SONY, the a7r iv was made for you.

DeSoto In-the-Field Instruction

Anyone who might be interested in COVID-Aware in-the-field instruction at the end of this week is invited to shoot me an e-mail to learn the low rates and to work out a schedule.

Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. SONY a7r iv San Diego Composite

SONY a7r iv (for sale below) San Diego Composite

All of the images in the composite above were created at San Diego, CA. Of all the cancelled IPT destinations, I have missed going to San Diego the most. I had visited this great town every year since 1970. Back then I did not know what a bird or a camera was, but I was playing lots of golf. Younger daughter Jennifer was one when she first visited her grandma and grandpa in San Diego.

New Listing

Sony Alpha a7r IV Mirrorless Digital Camera Body

BAA Record-Low Price

Arthur Morris is offering a Sony a7r IV Mirrorless Digital camera body in excellent-plus condition for the BAA record-low price of $2498.00. Many might call this one near mint, but I like to be conservative when selling my own gear. The body has only 38,497 shutter actuations on it. The sale includes the original box and everything that came in it and insured UPS ground shipping to lower-48 US addresses. In addition, I will throw in a copy of The Sony Camera User’s e-Guide and One Camera Set-up Video (a $100.00 value). Your new camera will not ship until payment clears unless other arrangements are made. PayPal +4% will guarantee same day shipping.

Please contact artie via e-mail or by phone (or text) at 1-863-221-2372 (Eastern time zone).

For the past two years (and also below), you have seen the incredible detail in my a7r IV images made with a variety of SONY lenses and both teleconverters. I’ve typically used my 7r IV for about 50% of my bird photography and my a9 II in pure flight situations. As the 7r IV sells new right now for $3498.00, you can save a cool $1000.00 by grabbing this great SONY mirrorless body ASAP. artie

This image was created on 22 September 2020 at Fort DeSoto Park, Tierra Verde, FL. I used the Induro GIT 304l/Induro GIT 304L/FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and the 61-MP Monster, the Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO: 400. Exposure determined by Zebras with exposure compensation on the rear wheel: 1/1000 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. In bright sun, I went for just a smattering of Zebras. AWB at 8:31am on a clear sunny morning. Tracking Flexible Spot (M) AF-C worked to perfection. Click on the image to see a larger, sharper version. Roseate Spoonbill with water droplets falling off bill

A 1200mm Family Jewel

I loved this image from the minute I pushed the shutter button. I did that when I saw the water dripping off the bird’s bill. And I loved it even more when I saw it on the laptop for the first time. I just never got around to processing it and publishing it on the blog. I thought of it when I realized that I wanted to sell my SONY a7r iv. And don’t get excited, that has nothing to do with my recent purchase of the Canon EOS R5. Zero in fact.

Because this bird was just beginning to blink at the moment of exposure, I replaced the forward portion of the iris with the that from an adjacent frame. I used a small Quick Mask that was transformed and then refined with a Regular Layer Mask.

An unsharpened 100% crop from Roseate Spoonbill with water droplets falling off bill

SONY a7r iv Detail

Simply put, and as seen above, the incredible detail in sharp a7r iv image files is unparalleled when compared to sharp image files from any dSLR or mirrorless camera bodies.

Sometimes you have to ask yourself, “When was the last time I saw a bird’s ear?”

Image #2A: Topaz DeNoise AI screen capture

Topaz DeNoise AI on the Roseate Spoonbill with water droplets falling off bill image

After converting the raw file in Capture One, I created a new layer and — after checking out all three options using the Comparison View, opted for DeNoise AI on Auto. Be sure to click one the image to see the larger version and note the complete elimination of small-pixel noise on the background. Remember that as I properly exposed for the WHITEs, the middle-tones were about one full stop under-exposed. That despite this exposure being confirmed as dead-solid perfect by RawDigger There were 1,205 OvExp pixels out of 61,000,000. All of those were present only in various specular highlights. In the guide, we teach you to ignore the specular highlights so that you can come up with a perfect exposure (or with the perfect raw file brightness) for a given subject. If you would like to see a RawDigger screen capture that shows this, please click on this link.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.