Your Call: BIRDS AS ART 2nd International Bird Photography Competition/Portrait Category

The Streak Continues: 150

The knee is again feeling somewhat better this morning. I fell asleep on the couch last night at about 6:00pm, woke briefly just before 9:00pm, and then slept well till 2:15am. Been working since then. I am still on Holland time….

This post marks 150 straight days with a new educational blog post. With so many folks getting in the habit of using our B&H links and our Amazon logo-links why quit now? To show your appreciation for my efforts here, we do ask that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially Gitzo tripods, Wimberley tripod heads, and the like. We sell only what I used, tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know the tools that you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

You can find the following items in the store: Gitzo tripods, Mongoose M3.6 and Wimberley heads, plates, low feet, and accessories, flash brackets, , Delkin e-film Pro Compact Flash Cards, LensCoat products, and our unique line-up of educational materials including ABP I & II, Digital Basics, Site and Set-up e-Guides, Canon and Nikon Camera Users and AF e-Guides, and MP-4 Photoshop video tutorials among others.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and visiting the BAA Online store as well.

This seemingly simple post took well more than 2 1/2 hours to create. Enjoy!

Join me at Gatorland next Saturday for a ton of learning. If you want to learn to use your flash and to make great photos in cluttered rookeries, you will not want to miss this one. Click on the composite image to enjoy a larger version. Click on the composite to enjoy the larger size.

Another Gatorland Short Notice Saturday Full-Day In-the-Field Workshop

Saturday May 3, 2014. 7:15am till 10:15am & 4:00pm till dusk. Lunch, image review, and Photoshop session included. Limit 6. A very small group is again likely: $399.

Late Registration Discount

One Signed Up: Join the Party!

Call us at 863-692-0906 for info on the late registration discount for the May 3 I-T-F Workshop.

The cost of your Gatorland Photographer’s Pass is not included.

Small and large chicks in the nest. Breeding plumage Cattle and Snowy Egrets. And tons more. You will learn to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. A big part of the above is that you will learn how and why you must work in Manual mode 90% of the time at Gatorland.

At lunch we will review my images, take a look at five of your best images from the morning session (for those who opt to bring their laptops), and process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time. Last Saturday all 3 folks had a great time and learned a ton. The long-range weather forecast for next Saturday is looking good with just a chance for afternoon thunderstorms.

Payment in full via credit card is due upon registering. Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 to register. bald

Great Horned Owlets

BIRDS AS ART 2nd International Bird Photography Competition

The judging of the BIRDS AS ART 2nd International Bird Photography Competition is now complete. Thanks a stack to our panel of judges: Sandesh Kadur, Scott Elowitz, Lou Coetzer, Mary Ann McDonald, Michael Frye, Peter Kes, Denise Ippolito, and yours truly. You can learn more about the guest judges here.

From 5 to 18 images in the 8 categories were selected to be sent to the judges’ panel. Each judge voted on each image on a 0-5 scale. The votes were tallied and the results are now final. They will be announced category by category in the coming weeks.

Your Call

The images that were presented to the panel of judges in the Portrait Category are presented to you today here. Do understand that many very strong images were eliminated in the early rounds because of poor image processing, technical issues including over- or under-exposure, image sharpness, and the failure of folks to take advantage of our lenient digital guidelines that allow for removing distracting elements from an image.

We ask that each of you pick your five favorite images and vote them 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 with 5 being the strongest, 4 being your second favorite, and so on down to 1. You can click on each image to view a larger size. Additional comments are welcome as long as they appear below your selections that should look something like this:

King Vulture: 5
Australian Emu: 4
Chinstrap Penguin preening: 3
Great Horned Owlets: 2
Chickadee: 1

The colors on that King Vulture image are amazing and I love the green background.

The selections above are of course arbitrary and should not at all influence your votes. Please read the directions carefully as comments that do not follow the format above exactly will be deleted without notice. The three winning images in this category along with the 5 runner up images and the names of the photographers will be announced here on Wednesday morning along with a tally of the public vote.

The Grand Prize winning image, the image that secured the highest total of judge’s votes, will be revealed when the results of the final category are announced.

Australian Emu

Australian Emu

Black-footed Albatross chick

Black-footed Albatross chick

White-backed Woodpecker

White-backed Woodpecker

Chickadee

Chickadee

Bald Eagle pair

Bald Eagle pair

Snowy Owl in flight

Snowy Owl in flight

Sharp-tailed Grouse displaying

Sharp-tailed Grouse displaying

King Vulture

King Vulture

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Chinstrap Penguin chicks at nest

Chinstrap Penguin chicks at nest

Chinstrap Penguin preening

Chinstrap Penguin preening

Adelie Penguin

Adelie Penguin

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

….. …..

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂