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In many cases, I can help you save some serious dollars. And/or prevent you from purchasing the wrong gear.
Summer On Long Island
Take a peek at the previous blog post and check out the July and August Nickerson Beach (& JBWR) IPT offerings below and consider joining us to learn a ton, make lots of great images, and improve your image processing skills.
What’s Up?
Photography around eastern Colorado has been great. Today is Monday 24 June 2024. We are up early and headed to Rocky Mountain Grasslands NWR to check it out. Whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.
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I checked on renting a Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens for a week. The cost is only $122.00. LensCap: Damage Only coverage can be added for a very low $18.00. Going with LensCap: Damage & Theft would be $27.00. The shipping charge varies. They offer an interesting program called Lensrentals HD. By signing up for this shipping discount program ($99.00/year), you’ll get free Standard Shipping on all the orders you place.
Renting a Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens for a week will cost you $536.00. The two coverage options come in at $76.00 or $114.00. Less your 15% discount when you enter the BIRDSASART15 code into the Promo Code box at checkout and enter the BIRDSASART15 code in the Promo Code box at checkout to save 15%.
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B&H
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Bedfords Amazing BAA Discount Policy
Folks who have fallen in love with Bedfords can now use the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout to enjoy a post-purchase, 3% off-statement credit (excluding taxes and shipping charges) on orders paid with a credit card. The 3% credit will be refunded to the card you used for your purchase. Be sure, also, to check the box for free shipping to enjoy free Second Day Air Fed-Ex. This offer does not apply to purchases of Classes, Gift Cards, prior purchases.
Visit the Bedfords website here, shoot Steve Elkins an e-mail, or text him on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592.
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs 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. And the same is true in spades when ordering new camera bodies or lenses. My advice will often stave you some serious money and may help you avoid making a seriously bad choice. Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. If you are desperate, you can try me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please leave a message and shoot me a text if I do not pick up.
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This image was created on 22 June 2024 near Evergreen, CO. Seated on a rocky hillside at 8500 feet, I used the lowered Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 12800. 1/6400 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was determined to be dead-solid perfect. AWB at 4:41:22am on a blessedly cloudy afternoon. Upper Right Tracking: Zone/AF-C with Bird Face-eye AF enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: American Three-toed Woodpecker leaving nest hole |
American Three-toed Woodpecker
Though neither threatened nor endangered, American Three-toed Woodpecker, is a fairly rare bird in North America. Finding any woodpeckers nest usually requires lots of hard work and a bit of luck.
The Situation
We were on a steep hillside checking out the nest of an American Three-toed Woodpecker. Neither bird showed up for more than an hour so we worked a pair of Olive-sided Flycatchers using audio. Our understanding was that when the parent birds left the nest hole, they always flew down. As I moved around checking the backgrounds before putting my tripod in place, I dreamed of an image with the nest hole in the upper right of the frame. Then, I altered the side-to-side placement of the tripod so that there was a tree trunk on the left frame-edge. Though the chances of getting the shot I was dreaming of was 10,000 to one against, I chose my perspective carefully with my dream image in mind.
I knew that I needed a very fast shutter speed, so I chose 1/6400 second. Note the super-high ISO of 12,800. I knew that my two-step noise reduction, detailed in the Digital Basics III Video Series would enable me to create a clean image. As we were try8ing for flight shots, going with the a9 iii over the a-1 was a no brainer. The birds come to the nest hole and peek out for a while before bolting from the nest so I turned on Pre-capture at one full second. As my reflexes are slow, this image is surely one of the pre-capture images.
Always set up for the perfect image and see what develops. Sometimes dreams come true.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Your perseverance and skill have clearly paid off, and your capture beautifully illustrates that with patience and careful planning, even the most elusive moments can be captured. Well done Artie!
You are most kind! with love, artie