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This Wild Turkey tom bird-scape image was created near my home at Indian Lake Estates way back when, on February 16, 2008 with the Canon 500mm f/4L IS lens (now replaced by the much lighter Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens), the 1.4X II TC (now replaced by the Canon 1.4x EF Extender III (Teleconverter), and the EOS-1D Mark III (now replaced by the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/6.3. I added a bit of light in the early morning light at risk of burning the highlights in order to obtain maximum detail in the dark feathers. The few blinkies were easily recoverable. Audio was used. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a larger version. |
Happy Bird Day
I, my right-hand man Jim Litzenberg, and BAA Executive Director and my daughter, Jennifer Morris, would like to wish each and every one of you and your friends and families a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with food, friends, football, and hopefully, a few hours to get out and photograph birds. (It seems that there is a Snowy Owl invasion in the northeast, especially on Long Island and coastal New Jersey.)
I am celebrating my 19th straight Thanksgiving at Bosque del Apache NWR in San Antonio, NM. I am thankful for so much including and especially the fact that the new management team is so willing to improve the refuge for both the general public and for photographers.
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This tight head and neck portrait of a Wild Turkey tom was created near my home at Indian Lake Estates way back when, on February 16, 2008 with the Canon 500mm f/4L IS lens (now replaced by the much lighter Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens), the 2X II YC (now replaced by the Canon 2x EF Extender III (Teleconverter), and the EOS-1D Mark III (now replaced by the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/11. It had gotten just a bit brighter. Again, the very few blinkies were easily recoverable. Audio was used. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a larger version. |
Image Questions
Which of the two images above is the stronger image? Which do you like best? Be sure to let us know why. What are the strong points and weak points of each image? Is there anything that you love? Anything that bugs you?
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Last Year’s Grand Prize winning image by Lou Coetzer
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BIRDS AS ART 2nd International Bird Photography Competition
The December 21, 2013 closing deadline is fast approaching.
Learn more and enter the BIRDS AS ART 2nd International Bird Photography Competition here. Twenty-five great prizes including the $1000 Grand Prize and intense competition. Bring your best.
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These stunning images are as good as the current ones (if not better).
This reinforces the universal statement “it’s not the gear-system that creates great images; it’s the photographer.”
I’m sure Artie would have created the same images then with a Canon EOS 400D and a Canon EF-s 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS.
Thanks for your kind words. artie
Happy holidays to you too Art and I too can’t really favourite one over the other both are striking in different ways.
Cheers
Gordon
Happy thanksgiving to you, all the family and the BAA team.
For me the stronger image is image 1.
Image 1 is my favourite because it has the whole package, clean background, nice feather detail, nice light, nice composition and a sense of the birds environment.
(I can just picture this bird walking around strutting its stuff)
I love the purple flowers and believe they make it a stronger picture.
I also love the iridescent colours of the feathers.
I don’t see any weak points in either of the two pictures and nothing that bugs me.
The 2nd image is a great portrait shot, amazing detail and colours.
Take care.
Hi Artie,
Happy Thanksgiving [even it is not part of my religion or culture]!
So, how can you tell me about that 1.4x and 2x extenders of MKIII over MKII? Is it worthy?
I am not planning yet to replace my MKIII for MKIII if the difference or improvement is not that much huge between both, i heard many said that 1.4x will not have that much IQ difference, but with 2x it will be a better more improvement of mkIII over mkII, but i may use 1.4x more than 2x, so what do you think?
Tareq,
I will do a blog post on this subject soon. artie
Happy Thanksgiving Art, love the images!!!!
Artie,
Best wishes for a fun and safe Holiday to you and your family also. Incredible photos!
Wayne
Greetings all. As a vegetarian, I especially appreciate the images of live turkeys. Both images are terrific and different, so choosing a fav isn’t needed. Love the blue in the head and the blue flowers (borages?). Thank you Artie!
Art, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, from an old IPT hand in the Great White North.
That’s a truly difficult decision. I love the technical sophistication in the second. But the colour and position of the first is amazing. Not sure I have ever seen a Wild Turkey photographed this well in such shining array of feathers. Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans from a Canadian long ago stuffed with turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Under the second bird, you noted that audio was used. Perchance this is a rather dumb question, but, what does that mean? Also, how does it help?
I liked both images; I like the first image bird placement. I am glad for the information also about exposing for dark feather detail. Thanks!!!
I saw the bird and photographed it. Then I played the call of Wild Turkey. The bird froze in place and I was able to drive right up to it for the head portrait. Many folks use audio playback to attract songbirds and other types of birds into photographic range.
Hi! Thanks for the reply! I was looking online for bird calls, but cannot seem to find them. Where do people get them?
Try a search for “bird song recordings.” a
Happy Turkey Day to you and all. I’m so thankful for all you do to help us become better photographers and all the knowledge you share. I like both of the shots for different reasons – the tight headshot and the pleasing environmental shot. Both bring to light the wild turkey.
Everyone enjoy – I need to start cooking. Happy Thanksgiving.