27 February 2022 Homer/Kachemak Bay Potpourri: Part III

Which is Your Favorite Image?

Why?

Two Viveza 3 Questions

1- How do you group multiple Control Points in Nik’s Viveza 3?

2- How do you see the masking effect?

What’s Up?

I headed down to the lake on Friday morning for the first time since I went to the GNPA EXPO and arrived home with COVID. Friend Anita North had told me that one chick from the 2-egg crane nest I had been watching hatched on 4 April 2022 just after I left. The second egg had disappeared from the nest. I saw and photographed the healthy 18-day old chick yesterday. I also had some good chances on a singing meadowlark from my SUV using the BLUBB. The two adult eagles were at the nest tree, but junior was nowhere to be seen. I checked both the South Peninsula and the South Field and saw no sign of the two-colt family. I’d be surprised if I do not see them again.

I spent an hour on the phone with Warren Hatch working on the Z9 Camera User’s Guide. Then I took and early nap, awoke, and did my bursts. And then I ran out of energy. Rather than swim, I took a second nap.

Today is Saturday 23 April and I will again be heading down to the lake for a short photo session. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about 45-minutes to prepare and makes forty-three days in a row with a new one.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

BIRDS AS ART Image Optimization Service (BAA IOS)

Send a PayPal for $62.00 to birdsasart@verizon.net or call Jim at 863-692-0906 and put $62.00 on your credit card. Pick one of your best images and upload the raw file using a large file sending service like Hightail or DropBox and then send me the link via e-mail. I will download and save your raw file, evaluate the exposure and sharpness, and optimize the image as if it were my own after converting the raw file in Adobe Camera Raw. Best of all, I will make a screen recording of the entire process and send you a link to the video to download, save and study.

This image was created on 27 February 2022 at Kachemak Bay, AK. I used the hand held Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera. ISO 3200. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/1000 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was perfect. AWB at 9:25:23am on foggy overcast morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird/Face-Eye detection enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1: Barrow’s Goldeneye pair in flight

Difficult Subjects #1

There are big flocks of Barrow’s Goldeneye in most of the bays around Homer in winter. It is, however, very difficult to get anywhere near them. Our captain carefully maneuvered the boat towards this pair as it swam slowly along the cliff edge. When they took flight, I raised the big lens and fired off a few frames. Image #1 is a large crop that held up fairly well. Because AF grabbed the hen, she is sharper than the drake (that is covered to some degree by the depth of field). I was really pushing the lower limits of shutter speed for flight at only 1/1000 second; I got lucky.

This image also was created on 27 February 2022 at Kachemak Bay, AK. I used the hand held Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera. ISO 1600. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/1250 sec. at f/4 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was dead-solid perfect. AWB at 10:14:47am on foggy overcast morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird/Face-Eye detection enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #2: Common Murres swimming

Difficult Subjects #2

Though Common Murre in basic plumage is a relatively common species around Homer in winter, getting anywhere near them in a work boat is a challenge. This decent image required another healthy crop as the front and last birds were looking away. The super-accurate AF system and the superb image quality of the Sony a1 files open up new worlds of crop-ability.

This image was created on 27 February 2022 at Kachemak Bay, AK. I used the hand held Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 4000. The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was dead-solid perfect. AWB at 10:29:26am on a now very cloudy morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed very well. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #3: tree growing out of corner of rock

Adding the TC

After chasing ducks, seabirds, and Sea Otters around the small, historic bay for an hour, it had gotten a bit brighter, so we decided to go for eagles. As we headed for the frozen waterfalls, I spotted this neat rock on a narrow strip of beach. I asked the captain to slow down a bit, quickly added the 1.4XTC, and made a very few images.

Note that in the three very different situations here that having Zebras set correctly on the camera and having ISO on the thumb (rear) dial, I was able to come up with a perfect or a dead-solid perfect raw file brightness for each image, all as determined by RawDigger. While other mirrorless camera bodies are catching up with the AF system of The Sony a1 (to some degree), the ease of getting the right exposure with Zebra’s puts the a1 light years ahead of the competition.

Homer 2022 Bald Eagle Highlights and Handholding Compositional Tips by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Enjoy and be inspired by just a few Homer Bald Eagle highlight images. Hand holding intermediate telephoto lens will always yield slightly different compositions. Learn more about that topic in this short (3:14) video.

All images from Homer or Kachemak Bay, AK

2023 Homer/Kachemak Bay Bald Eagle IPTs

IPT #1: MON 20 FEB 2023 through the full day on FRI 24 FEB 2023. Five full days/20 hours on the boat: $5500.00. Limit 5 photographers

IPT #2: SAT 25 FEB 2023 through the full day on THURS 2 MAR 2023. Six full days/24 hours on the boat: $6600.00. Limit 5 photographers/Openings: 4.

IPT #3: FRI 3 MAR 2023 through the full day on TUES 7 MAR 2023. Five full days/20 hours on the boat: $5500.00. Limit 5 photographers. Openings: 4.

Save $1,000.00 by doing back-to-back trips. Save $1500.00 by doing all three.

These trips feature non-stop flight photography as well as many opportunities to create both environmental and point-blank portraits of one of North America’s most sought-after avian subjects: Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Other reliable subjects will include Sea Otter, Glaucous-winged and Short-billed (formerly Mew) Gulls.

In addition, we should see Common Murre, Black Guillemot, Pelagic Cormorant, two or three species of loons, and a smattering of ducks including two species of merganser, all three scoters, Common and Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Bufflehead, Harlequin, and Long-tailed Ducks. Close-range photographic chances for these species will require a ton of good luck. Some of these species, especially when in flocks, can, however, often be used effectively when pleasing creating bird-scapes.

If we need to be out early, we will be the first boat out. If conditions are great, we will stay out. And when there is a chance for sunset silhouettes, we will be in the right spot.

We will be traveling through gorgeous wilderness country; landscape and scenic opportunities abound.

Also featured is a professional leader, often referred to as the world’s most knowledgeable bird photography trip leader, who is conversant in Canon, Nikon, and Sony. You will learn practical and creative solutions to everyday photographic problems. You will learn to see the shot, to create dynamic images by fine-tuning your compositions, to best utilize your camera’s AF system, and how to analyze the wind, the sky conditions, and the direction and quality of the light. This is one of the very few Homer trips available where you will not be simply put on the birds and told to have fun. You will learn to be a better photographer.

You will learn to get the right exposure when it is sunny, when it cloudy-bright, when it is cloudy, when it is cloudy-dark, or when it is foggy. Not to mention getting the right exposure when creating silhouettes.

You will learn to make pleasing blurs working in manual mode and to create silhouettes working in Shutter Priority mode.

Most importantly you will learn to pick your best flight images from tens of thousands of images.

You will enjoy working with the two best and most creative boat captains on their sturdy, photography-spacious, seaworthy, open-deck crafts.

The second and third IPTs are the only Bald Eagle workshops that feature an incredibly helpful first mate.

Only five photographers (not the usual six), plus the leader.

Small group Photoshop, Image Review, and Image Critiquing sessions.

All images from Homer or Kachemak Bay, AK

What’s Included

One four hour or two two-hour boat trips every day (weather permitting), all boat fees and boat-related expenses (excluding tips), ground transportation to and from the dock and back to the hotel each day, in-the-field instruction and guidance, pre-trip gear advice, small group post-processing and image review sessions, and a thank you dinner for all well-behaved participants.

What’s Not Included

Your airfare to and from Homer, AK (via Anchorage), the cost of your room at Land’s End Resort, all personal items, all meals and beverages, and tips for the boat captain and/or the first mate.

Please Note

On great days, the group may wish to photograph for more than four hours. If the total time on the boat exceeds 20 hours for the five-day trips, or 24 hours for the second trip, the group will share the additional expense at a rate of $225/hour.

Some folks may wish to rent their own vehicle to take advantage of local photographic opportunities around Homer.

Deposit Information

A $3000 non-refundable deposit/trip is required. You may pay your deposit with credit card or by personal check (made out to BIRDS AS ART) and sent via US mail only to Arthur Morris. PO Box 7245. Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. Your balance, due 90 days before the date of departure, is payable only by check as above.

In Closing

I have been going to Homer off and on for close to two decades. Every trip has been nothing short of fantastic. Many folks go in mid-March. The earlier you go, the better the chances for snow. The only way to assure that you are on the best of the three trips is to sign up for all of them. Can you keep up with me? If you have any questions, or are good to go for one, two, or all three trips, please let me know via e-mail or give me a call on my cell phone at 863-221-2372.

Typos

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