Murphy's Law at Work in the Fog

The Streak Continues: 234

This post was published at 4:55am from my Mom’s home in Holbrook, NY. I am headed out at 5:15am for the beach. Was in bed early again last night.

This post, which took me 1 1/2 hours to prepare, marks 234 consecutive days with a new enjoyable and 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? April, May, June, and July have been fantastic as lots of folks are getting the message; using my affiliate links does not cost you a penny and helps support my efforts here. To show your appreciation, I do ask that you use our 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 have used and tested, and know that you 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.

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This Just In: 12:15 pm ET: Used Mint 500 II for Sale

Aubrey Blalock is offering a used Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II lens in like new, near-mint condition–used only once, for $9,199. Includes the original leather front lens cap, the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, a LensCoat, and an Arca-Swiss compatible Really Right Stuff Low Foot. Seller pays insured shipping to continental US addresses. The lens will not ship until your check clears.

Please contact Aubrey via e-mail or by phone at 1-409-767-3155. As the last two 300 IIs did, this one should sell instantly.

The Rusty Nail in an Old Section of 2X4

Murphy’s Law at Work in the Fog Part I

At some point in the early morning I walked back to my new fat wheel beach cart for some reason or another. And got a big surprise. I felt a stabbing pain in my left foot, shifted my weight back to my right foot, bent over, and pulled the board and the nail that you see above out of my foot. It had punctured my surf bootie and gone about 3/8″ into the ball of my left foot. I immediately consulted the doctor. The doctor being Dr. Greg Gulbransen, a pediatrician whom you have read about on the blog before here.

He asked me if I had had a tetanus shot in the last 10 years and I said that I probably had had one but was not positive. He kindly volunteered to give me a tetanus shot the next morning before we hit the beach. Denise suggested that I wash the foot with in the ocean as the saltwater would cleanse the wound. Greg agreed. So I walked into the shallow surf without removing my surf booties and sloshed my foot around. A lifeguard came running up to me from afar and told me that because of the reduced visibility that I needed to get out of the water. He was actually nice about it. The foot hurt pretty good but only for about 30 minutes….

This large Common Tern chick habitat image was created with the Gitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III . ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2 1/3 stops off the grey sand: 1/800 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. Central sensor (by necessity)/AI Servo/Expand Rear Focus on the bird’s eye and re-compose. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

The 5D III vs. the 1D X

I have long argued that if you are not photographing birds in flight or in action or wildlife in action where the super-fast frame rate of the 1D X offers a huge advantage over the EOS-5D Mark III, that the 5D III is as good or better a camera body than the 1D X as it offers a lot more pixels on the subject at the cost of slightly slower initial focusing acquisition (due to the 5D III’s less powerful battery). Simply pre-focusing the lens manually pretty much eliminates that minor problem.

Murphy’s Law at Work in the Fog Part II

As there was not much going on that morning in terms of flight or action I decided to switch from my 1D X to the 5D III and create some images for a future blog post on the subject. After a very few frames Mr. Murphy struck again; the LCD screen on the back of my much-used 5D III flickered and then crapped out. I could see the info in the viewfinder and I could see the top LCD screen but there was no image playback and thus no histogram and no blinkies. I was so confident in my ability to get a good exposure even when flying in the dark that I continued to the 5D III. The image above was created without the benefits of playback, a histogram, or blinkies. As I have long espoused, getting a good digital exposure is easy for those who study and practice just a bit.

The Image Design

Note my careful choice of perspective here that resulted in the bird being placed in the opening between the two bunches of grass…. Things like that do not happen by accident.

A Sticky Situation

The Moment of Truth

Above, Dr. Greg gives me the often quite painful and sometimes dreaded tetanus injection. The truth be told, I did not feel a thing. Once I knew that Greg was done, I asked, “When are you going to give me the shot?” Dr. Greg had heard that one before…. Denise Ippolito observed with apparent glee. Though we could find no entry wound I am feeling fine and so is my left foot.

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