What’s Up?
With the doom and gloom reports of no birds at DeSoto, John Johnson and I had an absolutely killer morning with gorgeous light, spectacularly beautiful Laughing Gulls in full breeding plumage, and a silly-tame flock of Red Knots. Curious as to how I would edit the morning’s 2433 image folder, I did that with John sitting next to me while recording the session with Camtasia. There is a ton to learn not only about editing so many images quickly, but about natural history and Photoshop, all the while seeing what makes one image better than 10 similars. Or not! The video should be available for sale in a day or three. We worked on several images in Photoshop including John’s two featured Stick Marsh images below.
At about 5:00pm, we headed back to the park to be greeted by a sky full of big black clouds and a big thunderstorm that dropped the temperature about 20 degrees in two minutes. We headed back home early in one long line of traffic.
Today is Sunday 11 April 2021. The forecast is for Armageddon: rain and thunderstorms all day. Time will tell. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you have a great day.
This blog post took more than an hour to prepare and makes 109 consecutive days with a new one. Please remember to use my B&H affiliate links or to save money at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout. Doing either often earns you free guides or discounts. And doing so always earns my great appreciation.
Please Remember
With income from IPTs now at 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, are invited to help out by clicking here to leave a blog thank you gift if they see fit.
New and Better Bedfords Discount Policy!
You can now save 3% on all of your Bedfords photo gear purchases by entering the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout. Your discount will be applied to your pre-tax total. In addition, by using the code you will get 2nd day air shipping via Fed Ex.
Grab a Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III and save $14.99. Purchase a Canon EOS R5 and your discount will be $116.97. Purchase a Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and save a remarkable $389.94! Your Bedford’s purchase no longer needs to be greater than $1,000.00 for you to receive a discount. The more you spend, the more you save.
Money Saving Reminder
Many have learned that if you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H and would enjoy free second-day air shipping, your best bet is to click here, place an order with Bedfords, and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If an item is out of stock, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592 (Central time). Be sure to mention the BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order to save 3% and enjoy free 2nd-day air shipping. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H and everywhere else. The wait lists at the big stores can be a year or longer for the hard to get items. Steve will surely get you your gear long before that. For the past year, he has been helping BAA Blog folks get their hands on items like the SONY a9 ii, the SONY 200-600 G OSS lens, the Canon EOS R5, the Canon RF 100-500mm lens, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is personable, helpful, and eager to please.
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs (remember those?) 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 by multiple IPT veteran John Johnson on 9 April 2021 at Stick Marsh during an In-the-Field Session. He used the hand held Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM lens (at 324mm) and the highly touted 45MP Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 800. Exposure determined via test image and blinkies evaluation: 1/2000 sec. at f/7.1 (wide open) in Manual (M) mode. AWB at 7:53am on a sunny morning. Zone AI Servo AF (as detailed in the R5 e-Guide) was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Image courtesy of and copyright 2021: John Johnson |
BTHS Grad with R5/RF 100-500 Kicks Ass at Stick Marsh
Like me, John Johnson, graduated Brooklyn Technical High School, he, several years ahead of me. John has been to Finland and the Galapagos with me, and on several North American IPTs as well. When he saw what was going on at Stick Marsh, he asked if we could do a morning there before the first DeSoto IPT. That worked out well and we enjoyed a morning of splendid weather with lots of incoming spoonies. The first thing that we did when he got to my home the evening before was to check that his R5 AF settings were correct (as per the R5 guide).
John, whose career was as a recruiter/head hunter in Cleveland, OH, has been married to his second-wife Jinny, for thirty-two years. They winter in Naples, FL. John has been photographing seriously for about two decades. His favorite genres are wildlife, travel, and his granddaughters’ sports teams.
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Cover Image courtesy of and Copyright 2021 Brian Sump (Sump scores!) The BIRDS AS ART Canon EOS R5 Camera User’s e-Guide |
The BIRDS AS ART Canon EOS R5 Camera User’s e-Guide: $75.00
The guide is 82 pages long: 21,458 words. More than 50 DPP 4 Autofocus-depicting screen captures. And a 31 minute 44 second educational video. This guide took three and a half months of hard work and a ton of help from at least seventeen very helpful and generous folks.
The guide covers — in great detail — all Menu Items that are relevant to bird, nature, and wildlife photography. It does not cover video. The section on AF methods and the AF Gallery has been expanded from the R5/R6 AF e-guide. It remains the one of the great strengths of this guide. I share my thoughts on what I am sure is the single best AF Method for photographing birds in flight. As most of you know, the guide includes a simple and easy way to change AF Methods that was introduced to me by Geoff Newhouse. In the AF Gallery you will see exactly how Face Detection plus Tracking AF works. In the Educational R5 Gallery video, I share my favorite R5 images along with dozens of bird photography tips and techniques.
In addition, I teach you how to get the best exposures with your R5. Detailed instructions on using the great In-camera HDR and Multiple Exposure features will be appreciated by creative folks who like to have fun. The three shutter modes are explained in detail as well. Bruce Dudek solved the can’t-get-to-Auto ISO problem that had stumped everyone at Canon. This information is of course shared in the guide. You will learn how to set up your EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) and Screen toggle options. Not to mention that the mysterious performance of the Q Button is revealed and simplified. Brian Sump’s images reveal how well you can do when using the R5 with EF lenses using one of the three Canon EF-EOS R Mount Adapters (as Donna did with Image #1 below). You will learn how I use Customize Dials to put either ISO or EC on the Thumb Dial and how to set up and save Custom Shooting Modes (C1-C3) that can remember both your Customize Dial and Customize Button settings! That is something that none of the SONY bodies do. 🙁 Near the end of the guide I share my all-important MY MENU items with you.
Like all BAA educational materials, the R5 guide is written in my informal, easy-to-follow style. I am quite proud of this guide and look forward to hearing your thoughts on our hard work.
You can purchase your copy of the BIRDS AS ART Canon EOS R5 Camera User’s e-Guide for $75.00 here in the BAA Online Store or by calling Jim in the office weekday afternoons at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand.
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This image was also created by multiple IPT veteran John Johnson on 9 April 2021 at Stick Marsh during an In-the-Field Session. He used the hand held Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM lens (at 186mm) and the highly touted 45MP Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Digital camera body. ISO 2500. Exposure determined via test image and blinkies evaluation: 1/2000 sec. at f/7.1 in Manual (M) mode. AWB at 7:34am on a sunny morning. Zone AI Servo AF (as detailed in the R5 e-Guide) was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Image courtesy of and copyright 2021: John Johnson |
Magically Wide Enough!
When I saw John’s original version of this image, I was astounded. Three birds, each holding onto the same long stick, with three perfect head angles, and all three positioned perfectly in the frame. Without cutting off the legs of the trio! Are you kidding me? As both of John’s images were processed on the bright side for my taste, I re-processed each of them on Saturday evening.
Note: the shadow in the center of frame was that of a carelessly standing photographer. In a perfect world, folks would notice where their shadows are falling and if need be, move or get lower …
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Image courtesy of and copyright 2021: John Johnson |
High-Stepping in Photoshop
As with many unique behavioral images, this one required a bit of work in Photoshop to maximize the impact. After converting the image in Capture One:
1- Level by eye: 1 degree clockwise.
2- Crop and Topaz DeNoise AI on a layer.
3- Extensive background clean-up including debris, spoonbill reflections, and telephone pole reflection.
4- Rock wall removal.
5- Foreground grass clean-up.
I am especially proud of the work that I did in the lower left corner leaving the tiny plant that had intersected the reflection of the telephone pole. That with a Quick Mask refined by a Regular Layer Mask.
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The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II).You can order your copy from the BAA Online Store here, by sending a PayPal for $40 here, or by calling Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand. Be sure to specify Digital Basics II. |
The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II)
The clean-up techniques mentioned above and tons more great Photoshop tips and techniques (with the exception of Capture One RAW Conversions) — along with all of my personalized Keyboard Shortcuts — are covered in detail in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Learn more and check out the free excerpt in the blog post here. While the new e-Guide reflects my MacBook Pro/Photo Mechanic/DPP 4/Photoshop workflow, folks using a PC and/or BreezeBrowser will also benefit greatly by studying the material on DB II. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.
Folks who learn well by following along rather than by reading can check out the complete collection of MP 4 Photoshop Tutorial Videos by clicking here. Note: all of the videos are now priced at an amazingly low $5.00 each.
You can learn how and why I converted all of my Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide here. More recently, I became proficient at converting my Nikon RAW (NEF) files in Adobe Camera Raw. About two years ago I began converting my Nikon and Sony RAW files in Capture One Pro 12 and continue to do so today.
To purchase Capture One, please use this link. Then you can learn more about Capture One in the Capture One Pro 12 Simplified MP4 Video here. The next step would be to get a copy of Arash Hazeghi’s “The Nikon Photographers’ Guide to Phase One Capture One Pro e-Guide” in the blog post here.
You can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair. Folks can learn sophisticated sharpening and (NeatImage) Noise Reduction techniques in The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi and edited by yours truly. Please use this link to purchase NeatImage.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Fabulous shot! Absolutely Love it! I did notice the shadow. Sent you a 5 minute repair on shadows.
Mike
Magnificent photo and magnificent PhotoShop work.