Why Pleasing Blurs on Bright Sunny Days? And How!

What’s Up?

I spent most of Saturday watching last weekend’s NFL games on Tivo, working on the new Used Gear listings below (and others), preparing and distributing e-mail #24 for the SONY a1 Info and Updates group, editing (picking my keepers) from the last two days of Fort DeSoto IPT 5000 or so images, and doing lots of image optimizations. Friday morning turned out to be the slowest of the four IPT mornings, but again we had many great chances with the shorebirds. Those included a spectacular action sequence as a Black-bellied Plover flew in and stole a large, just-captured lugworm from a Marbled Godwit that was not very happy about being unceremoniously relieved of his prized catch. Images soon.

With the supply pipeline opening up, bird photographers are flocking to the SONY Alpha a1/200-600 G lens combo. Seven new folks joined the SONY a1 Info and Updates group in the last four days! The word is out …

If you order any Singh-Ray filters after learning from today’s blog post, be sure to enter the ARTIE10 discount code at check-out to save 10% on your order.

Today is Sunday 24 October 2021. It is cloudy-dark here at ILE so I will again be spending most of the day at the computer. While watching today’s NFL games. (I have NFL Season Ticket with Direct TV …) Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about two and a half hours to prepare.

Remember that you can find some great photo accessories (and necessities, like surf booties!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks who, like me, spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to save 3% at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

Important Note

As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small percentage from when you purchase from Amazon after using any of the links on the blog (including the logo-link immediately above. Huge thanks, BTW 🙂

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $1000 (or less for a $50 flat-fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

As used gear sales have slowed just a bit in recent months — especially with dSLR bodies, there are lots of great buys right now both below and on the Used Gear Page.

New Listings

SONY a9 II Mirrorless Digital Camera Body

BAA Record Low By Far Price

BAA-friend Bill Hill is offering a Sony a9 II in excellent plus condition for a BAA record-low (by far) $2398.00. The camera would be near-mint but for two blemishes, one on each side of the camera body. The rear LCD screen is perfect. The sale includes the original box, the front body cap, one battery, the charger, the unused strap, the computer cable, the manual, 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 Bill via e-mail or by phone at 1-831-601-4066 (Pacific time).

As things worked out, the a9, and then the a9 ii, turned out to be life-changers for me. From the moment I tracked that first incoming Brandt’s Cormorant at LaJolla, I knew that at that time, the SONY a9 series bodies featured the world’ best AF. I upgraded to the a9 ii as soon as it was released for the slightly larger body size. At one point I owned two a9 ii bodies. A new a9 ii sells for $4,498.00 so you can save a very nice $2100.00 by grabbing Bill’s a9 ii today. Not to mention that the new Sony A1 sells for $6498.00 … artie

Canon EF 100-400mm 1:4-5.6 L IS II USM

BAA Record-Low-By-Far Price

IPT veteran Matt Schramer is offering a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM zoom lens in very good condition for a BAA record-low by far $1199.00. The lens would be rated excellent but for multiple chips on the lens foot caused by the mounting swivel. Photo available on request. The sale includes the front and rear caps, the lens hood, a LensCoat (on the lens from day 1), the soft carry case, the manual, the original box, and insured ground shipping via major carrier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Matt via e-mail or by phone at 360-801-1891 (Pacific time.)

This incredibly versatile zoom lens — with its amazing .98 meter close focus — was my favorite Canon telephoto zoom lens ever. By far. It is easy to hand hold, great for tight portraits, birds in flight, quasi-macro stuff, and lots more. For flight, it is even better with an R5! The lens sells new for $2399.00 so you can save a very nice $1200 grabbing Matt’s lens now. artie

Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II USM Zoom Lens

BAA Record-Low Price

IPT veteran Matt Schramer is offering a Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II USM zoom lens in near-mint condition for a BAA record-low $748.00. The sale includes the front and rear caps, the lens hood, LensCoat cover (from day 1), the soft carry case, manual and original box. Insured ground shipping via major carrier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

The 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses have long been the very versatile favorites for nature photographers. They are great for landscapes especially with fall color peaking in many areas. I have used this lens with Canon and Nikon and SONY. I used my Canon version to photograph granddaughter Maya’s dance recitals and to create bird-scapes and pre-dawn blast-off blurs at Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico. They are fast and sharp and have 1000 uses. The 70-200 f/2.8 lenses are a specialty lens for bird photographers. Like the bad little child, when they are good, they are really, really good! I’ve used mine mostly for flight photography at point blank range where their performance is unmatched, especially in low light. I’ve killed with these lenses on the gannet boat in the UK, in Homer for eagles, pre-dawn and blizzard blast-offs at Bosque, and at Merritt Island on huge feeding sprees right next to the road.
artie

ps: see the blog post here for sample 70-200 images.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Zoom Lens

IPT veteran Matt Schramer is offering a Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM zoom lens in near mint condition, for $599.00. The sale includes the front and rear caps, the EW 83E lens hood, the manual, and insured ground shipping via major carrier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Matt via e-mail or by phone at 360-801-1891 (Pacific time.)

This versatile wide-angle lens is a great lens for serious landscape folks. It features a constant f/4 maximum aperture along with a sophisticated optical design and durable construction. One Super UD element is featured, along with three aspherical elements, which help to reduce both chromatic and spherical aberrations in order to realize high sharpness, clarity, and color accuracy. A Super Spectra coating has also been applied to suppress flare and ghosting for improved contrast in difficult lighting conditions. Complementing the imaging capabilities, this wide-angle zoom also features a ring-type USM and internal focusing mechanism to afford quick, quiet, and accurate autofocus performance, as well as full-time manual focus override. Additionally, this lens is weather-sealed for use in trying environmental conditions. It will perform well with any of the EF or APS-C bodies, and, with an adapter, with the RF bodies. artie and Canon

Canon EF 1.4X III Extender

IPT veteran Matt Schramer is offering a Canon EF 1.4X III Extender in near mint condition, for $239.00. The sale includes the front and rear caps, the soft pouch, the manual, and insured ground shipping via major carrier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Matt via e-mail or by phone at 360-801-1891 (Pacific time.)

As regular readers know, I depended so much on TCs when I shot Canon that I always traveled with two spare 1.4X-s and one spare 2X TC. The Series III TCs perform well with all Canon EF and RF lenses. This item sells new for $429.99. artie

Canon EF 2X III Extender

IPT veteran Matt Schramer is offering a Canon EF 2.0X III Extender in near-mint condition, for $239.00. The sale includes the front and rear caps, the soft pouch, the manual, the original box, and insured ground shipping via major carrier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Matt via e-mail or by phone at 360-801-1891 (Pacific time.)

As regular readers know, I depended so much on TCs when I shot Canon that I always traveled with two spare 1.4X-s and one spare 2X TC. The Series III TCs perform well with all Canon EF and RF lenses. This item sells new for $429.99. artie

I created this image on 22 October 2021 on the last (very late!) morning of the third DeSoto Fall IPT. While standing in a foot of cool water, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 318mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. A Singh-Ray George Lepp 3-stop Solid Neutral Density Filter was screwed on to the front of the 200-600 G — more on that below. ISO 80. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/13 sec. at f/13 (stopped down 2 stops) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that this exposure was dead-solid perfect. AWB at 12:15:24pm on variably sunny day. Tracking: Zone/AF-C Bird/Eye Detection AF was active at the moment exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to view a hi-res version. Image #1: Laughing Gull bright sun flock blast-off blur (with three Royal Terns)

Why the 3-stop Solid Neutral Density Filter?

With all of today’s featured images, the light levels were so high that getting down to the low shutter speeds that I used would have been impossible. Even getting down to 1/30 second — still too fast for me in this situation, would have necessitated the use of a tiny aperture such as f/20 or f/22. Any sensor dust would become highly problematic at that point; dozens of microscopic dust spots would require lots of time and lots of effort to remove. To avoid that, I screwed the 95mm 3-stop ND filter to the front of the lens so that I could work at slow shutter speeds such as 1/13 and 1/15th second at ISO 50. I own both the 3-stop George Lepp ND filter and the Singh Ray 95mm Mor-Slo ND 5-stop filter and would have preferred to use the 5-stop, but could not find it in the back of my SUV 🙁 While doing the research for this blog post, I discovered the 5-stop in one of the upper pockets of my vest.

I have a variety of 77mm ND filters for my SONY 100-400 lens along with a Singh-Ray 77mm Circular Polarizer. They are all left over from my Canon 100-400 II days. But the front element of the SONY 200-600 G requires a 95mm thread. You get to choose from the 3-, 4-, and 5-stop filters. The 5-stop is best on bright sunny days as you can work very close to wide open while still at very low ISO settings. The 3-stop is better on cloudy bright days as you will always be able to maintain a low ISO. If you opt to own two of the 95mm ND filters, the 3-stop and the 5-stop are the perfect pair. If you opt to own only one, the 4-stop would like be the best choice.

If you own the 200-600 and enjoy doing pleasing blurs, a good ND filter is a valuable tool.

I created this image on 22 October 2021 on the last (very late!) morning of the third DeSoto Fall IPT. While standing in a foot of cool water, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 295mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. A Singh-Ray George Lepp 3-stop Solid Neutral Density Filter was screwed on to the front of the 200-600 G — more on that below. ISO 80. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/15 sec. at f/13 (stopped down 2 stops) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that this exposure was perfect. AWB at 12:15:26pm on variably sunny day. Tracking: Zone/AF-C Bird/Eye Detection AF was active at the moment exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to view a hi-res version. Image #2: Laughing Gull bright sun flock blast-off blur (with several Black Skimmers)

Why Pleasing Blurs on Bright Sunny Days?

I’ve taken thousands if not tens of thousands of high shutter speed/sharp images of large flocks of white birds blasting off in bright sunny conditions. The next one I keep will be the first. Such images made on sunny days are too contrasty and feature lots of dark shadows. To my eye, they are anything but pleasing. Slowing down the shutter speeds via the use of various ND filters reduces contrast due to something I call highlight blur blending. Looking at today’s featured images might lead you to ask, “Was it really sunny?”

Fine Points and the Backstory

On Tuesday a flock of 150 White Pelicans flew in at about 11:30am. They showed up again on Wednesday at about the same time. On Thursday, they never showed up so we worked the Laughing Gull flocks with some success. The flocks were blasting off every ten minutes, often prompted by a fly-by Turkey Vulture. So on Friday I grabbed my 3-stop ND filter to photograph the expected blast-offs. I waited an hour for the first blast-off and made Images #1 and #2 two seconds apart. Then I waited another 45 minutes for a second blast off — Image #3 was the best of that lot. Even though I was standing in a foot of cool Gulf water, it was still and very hot. Very, very hot. More than two hours in the heat for only two blast-offs, again with no White Pelicans 🙂

I created this image on 22 October 2021 on the last (very late!) morning of the third DeSoto Fall IPT. While standing in a foot of cool water, I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 200mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. A Singh-Ray George Lepp 3-stop Solid Neutral Density Filter was screwed on to the front of the 200-600 G — more on that below. A Singh-Ray George Lepp 3-stop Solid Neutral Density Filter was screwed on to the front of the 200-600 G — more on that below. ISO 50. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/15 sec. at f/11 (stopped down 1 2/3 stops) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that this exposure was perfect. AWB at 1:02:36pm on variably sunny day. Tracking: Zone/AF-C Bird/Eye Detection AF was active at the moment exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to view a hi-res version. Image #3: Laughing Gull bright sun flock blast-off blur (with several Black Skimmers and a line of Marbled Godwits)

Multiple Choice/Fill-in Quiz

A- I like Image #1 best because …
B- I like Image #2 best because …
C- I like Image #3 best because …
D- I like all of today’s pleasing blurs because …
E- I do not like any of today’s pleasing blurs because …

Order a Singh-Ray 3-stop ND filter for your SONY 200-600

To Order a Singh-Ray 3- or 4-stop ND filter for your SONY 200-600

To order a Singh-Ray 3-stop ND filter for your SONY 200-600, click here and then make your selections as shown in the screen capture above. Be sure to enter the ARTIE10 discount code at check-out to save 10% on your Singh-Ray order.

To order any Singh Ray filter, including the Singh Ray 95mm Mor-Slo ND 5-stop filter, click here and then click on the Camera Filters tab and see the options on the dropdown menu. Again, be sure to enter the ARTIE10 discount code at check-out to save 10% on your Singh-Ray order.

A Guide to Pleasing Blurs

Learn everything there is to know about creating pleasingly blurred images in A Guide to Pleasing Blurs by Denise Ippolito and yours truly. This 20,585 word, 271 page PDF is illustrated with 144 different, exciting, and artistic images. The guide covers the basics of creating pleasingly blurred images, the factors that influence the degree of blurring, the use of filters in creating pleasing blurs, and a great variety of both in-the-field and Photoshop techniques that can be used to create pleasingly blurred images.

Artie and Denise teach you many different ways to move your lens during the exposure to create a variety of pleasingly blurred images of flowers and trees and water and landscapes. They will teach you to recognize situations where subject movement can be used to your advantage to create pan blurs, wind blurs, and moving water blurs. They will teach you to create zoom-blurs both in the field and during post-processing. Artie shares the techniques that he has used and developed for making blurred images of flocks of geese in flight at his beloved Bosque del Apache and Denise shares her flower blur magic as well as a variety of creative Photoshop techniques that she has developed.

With the advent of digital capture creating blurred images has become a great and inexpensive way to go out with your camera and have fun. And while many folks think that making successful blurred images is the result of being a sloppy photographer, nothing could be further from the truth. In “A Guide to Pleasing Blurs” Artie and Denise will help you to unleash your creative self.

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 :).