The Final Nail in the Coffin and DOF at f/2.8

Which is Your Favorite Image?

Why?

What’s Up?

Clemens and I had a spectacular sunrise at Lake Blue Cypress. The morning, however, bore no resemblance to the weather forecast All things considered, we enjoyed a great, cloudy-bright morning with many Ospreys. We did lots of scenics; the Cypress Trees are gorgeous. I did lots of blurs of single trees. And the 400mm f/2.8 shined for flying Ospreys in the cloudy-bright conditions. I created 3029 yet un-culled images. On the way home, Clemens’ boat trailer had a flat tire on the driver’s side. Actually, it was more of a mini-blow-out. Miraculously, the tire blew as Clemens stared at it while we were stopped for coffee at the Yeehaw Junction Pilot truck stop. Had it occurred earlier or later, we would have been changing the tire on SR 60 with traffic whizzing by us five feet away at 65mph. Yikes.

Today is Saturday 4 June 2022. The forecast for dark and dreary with drizzle followed by rain. I will be heading down to the lake just because. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about two hours to prepare and makes eighty-one 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! Shoot me an e-mail for Jacksonville IPT #1 late registration details.

Induro GIT 304L Price Drop

Amazingly, we have two, brand-new-in-the-box Induro GIT 304L tripods in stock. They are $749.00 (was $799.00) and the price now includes the insured ground shipping to the lower 48 states. Weekday phone orders only: 863-692-0906.

Wanted to Buy

If you have any Canon Series III teleconverters (the 1.4X III or the 2X III) that you’d like to get rid of, please shoot me an e-mail if you are interested in turning them into cash. I have an interested buyer.

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 24 February at Kachemak Bay, across from Homer, AK. Standing on an open deck work boat, I used the handheld Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 400. 1/8000 sec. at f/2.8 (wide-open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file exposure was determined to be perfect. AWB at 9:28:37am on cloudy-bright morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed to perfection. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Glaucous-winged Gull taking flight

The Beginning of the End

The day after Harry Lerner loaned me his Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM lens for the first time, he offered it to me again. So anxious was I to give it a second go-round, I photographed the first thing that flew by. Even though it was “just a gull.” Not to mention that I love gulls. Close to three decades ago, I wrote an article entitled “Go for the Gulls” for the then-prestigious Birder’s World magazine. Gulls make great subjects for bird photographers striving to improve their skills. When you point your lens at a gull, it will often do something interesting quite soon.

This image was created on 24 February at Kachemak Bay, across from Homer, AK. Standing on an open deck work boat, I used the handheld Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 400. 1/8000 sec. at f/2.8 (wide-open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file exposure was determined to be dead-solid perfect. AWB at 9:30:00am on partly cloudy/very bright morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed to perfection. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Bald Eagle flat flight

Autofocus Needs Light to See

Just as we do, autofocus needs light to see. The more light, the better AF sees (and performs). With the ultra-wide for-a-super-telephoto-lens aperture of f/2.8, the performance with AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection is improved considerably. You get to see the tiny green box indicating Eye tracking more often than you do when working with slower lenses. That was quite evident yesterday when photographing Ospreys in flight.

This image was created on 24 February at Kachemak Bay, across from Homer, AK. Standing on an open deck work boat, I used the handheld Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 400. 1/2000 sec. at f/2.8 (wide-open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file exposure was determined to be dead-solid perfect. AWB at 9:30:00am on then cloudy bright morning. Tracking: Spot S AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed to perfection. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #3: China Poot scenic

Good Photographs are Where You See Them

For as long as I have been photographing birds, I have seen the world in small, 2X3 frames (or boxes if you would).

When I looked up at the mountainside and saw the tree, the ridge, and the snow-covered peaks topped by a small fog bank, I thought, “There just might be a nice image there that fits into a 400mm box. I switched to Tracking: Spot S AF-C, focused on the tree, and recomposed right. Since there is no Tree/Eye AF I stuck with Bird/Eye AF. It stuck like glue and tracked the tree as I pointed the lens to my right. I was glad to see that I was right about the image design.

This image was created on 24 February at Kachemak Bay, across from Homer, AK. Standing on an open deck work boat, I used the handheld Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 400. 1/3200 sec. at f/2.8 (wide-open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file exposure was determined to be perfect. AWB at 9:59:16am on then cloudy bright morning. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed to perfection. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #4: Bald Eagle tight flight

The Final Nail in the Coffin

When I saw the raw file for this point-blank flight shot, I thought, “I just might purchase a 400 2.8.” Though it took me more than three months to pull the trigger, I am thrilled with the performance of Fat Boy. And I am finding new uses for the lens every day, and discovering the many previously un-realized advantages of the f/2.8 aperture. After three hours of photographing Ospreys in flight yesterday, however, I would admit that my right shoulder was a bit sore.

The Huge Lesson Repeated

First, note that all of today’s featured images were created at the wide-open aperture, f/2.8. Then note that the birds in Images #1 &2 are sharp from wing tip to wing tip. And note that in the mountain-top scenic, everything is sharp. It is all about the distance to the subject. For example, the eagle in Image #2 was 35.07 meters from the camera (according to the EXIF as displayed by A7INFO). The depth of field with a full frame camera body is .63 meters on either side of the point of focus. That is more than deep enough to cover the whole bird.

In Image #4, there is a slight fall-off of sharpness at the talons, the tips of the tail feathers, and the trailing edges of the wings. That is because the eagle is a large bird and because the total depth of field at 19.3 meters is .39 meters, about 1.3 feet. But with the eye sharp, who cares? Not me for sure.

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.