The Streak Continues: 274
This blog was published just after 8:00am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL after a great night’s sleep. I will be here for the better part of the next ten weeks with no plane flights on the horizon until I fly to ABQ for a long stretch at Bosque. Then home for four days before heading to the Southern Ocean for a month on another great Cheeseman’s Expedition. Click here for info on this great trip and learn about joining the BAA group. This post, which took me more than 2 1/2 hours to prepare, makes 274 in a row.
As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well.
Your Help Is Needed
Sales for the August, 2014 via our BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links have been microscopically abysmal at best. If you need to purchase some new camera gear, please remember to use either our B&H logo link below or one of the product-specific links in the blog or the Bulletins. All should feel free to write me via e-mail for gear advice.
|
|
|
This image was created on a mostly sunny morning on last spring’s Tulips and a Touch of Holland IPT near the famed Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, Holland (The Netherlands) with the Gitzo GT1542T Tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops as framed: 1/8 sec. at f/45 in Tv Mode. Color temperature: 5000K. Central sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF 1/3 of the way into the frame before the pano crop and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Daffodil Field Wind Blur |
What to Do When the Wind Blows Hard?
When it is really blowing hard make soup from a stone by thinking slow shutter speeds and wind blurs. With daffodils being far less substantial structurally than tulips they were an obvious choice for blowin’ in the wind images. In addition to the wind blur I added a bit of Denise Ippolito’s shiver technique to create the image above.
On Learning to Be More Creative
If you missed the guest blog post by Mike Gotthelf, be sure to click here.
|
|
|
This image was created on the cloudy bright morning of April 20, 2014 on last spring’s Tulips and a Touch of Holland IPT in tulip fields near the famed Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, Holland (The Netherlands) with the Gitzo GT1542T Tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +1 stop as framed: .6 sec. at f/64 in Tv Mode. Color temperature: AWB. Central sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF 1/3 of the way into the frame before the small crop from the top, re-compose left, and then panned horizontally. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #2: Tulip Field Horizontal Pan Blur |
Eye Candy
With access to so many multi-colored tulip fields each featuring row upon row of tulips in full bloom in an astounding variety of bright colors, creative folks immediately think of creating horizontal pan blurs with intermediate and long focal length lenses. Set your lowest ISO and a small aperture so that you come up with a slow shutter speed, check the exposure by via the RGB histogram, set the focus, and then pan the lens horizontally. Make lots of images while varying both your panning speeds and your framing.
|
|
|
This image was created a cloudy afternoon on a failed scouting trip for Purple Heron before the start of last spring’s Tulips and a Touch of Holland IPT with the Gitzo GT1542T Tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +1 stop as framed: .6 sec. at f/64 in Tv Mode. Color temperature: AWB. Central sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF on the base of the trees, recomposed up, and then panned down vertically. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #3: Marsh and Distant Trees/Vertical Pan Blur |
The Trick to Creating Successful Vertical Pan Blurs
In most instances, creating successful vertical pan blurs is a lot more difficult and requires a lot more practice than creating horizontal pan blurs. Why the difference? With vertical pan blurs the panning rate and the timing of the shutter release have a much greater influence on the framing of the vertical elements in the image. You are looking for a clean strip above the vertical elements and a clean strip below. Horizontal pan blurs are usually pure pattern blurs; the panning rate determines only the degree of blurring and usually has nothing to do with the framing and image design. Likewise when you are dealing with pure patterns the shutter release has little to do with the framing and image design.
For a spectacular example of a vertical pan blur with a clean lower edge, click here.
|
|
|
Learn the secrets of creating contest winning images in our “A Gulide to Pleasing Blurs.” |
A Guide to Pleasing Blurs
Pleasing Blurs are not accidents. Learn pretty much everything that there is about creating them in our A Guide to Pleasing Blurs by Denise Ippolito and yours truly.
|
|
|
The Art of Flower Photography, a 203 page eBook/a link to the PDF will be sent via e-mail: $29.00. |
The Art of Flower Photography
Click here if you missed the recent eBook announcement.
Ken Kovak: I have been working my way through the “Art of Flower Photography” and it is both a feast for the eyes and quite informative.
Art Buesing: Artie and Denise have outdone themselves with “The Art of Flower Photography.” Gorgeous photos with careful explanations of the production techniques for camera and computer. A valuable addition to my photography library!
|
|
|
Denise and artie hope that you can join them next spring in Holland and learn to improve both the technical and creative aspects of your flower (and street) photography. |
7 1/2-Day/8-Night: A Creative Adventure/BIRDS AS ART/Tulips & A Touch of Holland Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT)
Keukenhof—Delft—Amsterdam–Flower Fields—Kinderdijk
April 9 -April 16, 2015: $4995. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings 10. Four more to make the trip a go.
This trip needs 6 registrants to run so please do not purchase your plane tickets until you hear from us that the trip is a go.
Join Denise Ippolito, the author of “Bloomin’ Ideas,” and Arthur Morris, Canon Explorer of Light Emeritus, for a great trip to Holland in mid-April 2015. Day 1 of the IPT will be April 9, 2015. We will have a short afternoon get-together and then our first photographic session at the justly-famed Keukenhof. Our last day, Day 8, April 16 will be a full day of photography.
The primary subjects will be tulips and orchids at Keukenhof and the spectacularly amazing tulip, hyacinth, and daffodil bulb fields around Lisse and points north. We will spend one full day in Amsterdam. There will be optional visits to the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House and/or the Rijk’s Museum. Street photography and sightseeing will be other options. We will spend a half day at Kinderdijk where we will be photographing the windmills and doing some creative photography. We will spend an afternoon in the lovely Dutch town of Delft where we will do some street photography and shopping. There is an optional church tower tour/climb. We will also enjoy a superb fine dining experience in a traditional restaurant.
Other than the arrival date: April 9, Day 1, and the date of our last day of photography on April 16, Day 8, there is no set itinerary. We will check the weather and play everything by ear to maximize the photographic opportunities. We will try to do Amsterdam, Delft, and especially Kinderdijik, on cloudy days.
There are several huge pluses to this trip. First off, denise is an amazingly skilled and caring instructor. Both her creativity and her willingness to share and to help beginning and intermediate photographers are unmatched. And though artie has learned a ton about flower photography from denise, their styles and techniques do vary considerably. You will have a chance to be counseled by and to learn from both of them. While denise will hunt you down to help you, artie’s teaching style is more “the closer you stay to me, the more you will learn.” Both leaders consistently inspire the participants. And each other. The sky, of course, is the limit.
You will learn to create tight abstracts, how best to use depth-of-field (or the lack thereof) to improve your flower photography, how to get the right exposure and make sharp images every time, how to see the best shot, and how to choose the best perspective for a given situation. And you will of course learn to create a variety of pleasingly blurred flower images. If you bring a long lens, you will learn to use it effectively for flower photography. Denise’s two favorite flower lenses are the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens and the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. Mine are the Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS macro , the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens ,and the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, all almost always on a tripod. Often with extension tubes and/or either the 1.4X or the 2X (with the 300 II) teleconverters. Denise hand holds a great deal of the time. For flower field blurs denise uses the same lenses mentioned above along with her new 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III lens. Artie’s favorite is that same 70-200 often with a 1.4X TC but he uses both the new Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens and the 300 II as well. Both of us use and love the Canon EOS 5D Mark III for all of our flower photography. The in-camera HDR and Multiple Exposure features are a blast.
One of the great advantages of our trip is that we will be staying in a single, strategically located hotel that is quite excellent. Do note that all ground transfers to and from Schipol Airport will be via the free hotel shuttle bus.
What’s included: Eight hotel nights. All ground transportation except for airport transfers as noted above. In-the-field instruction and small group image review and Photoshop sessions. All meals from dinner on Day 1 through dinner on Day 8. There is good food at the hotel and we will be dining there on occasion; whenever you order off the menu be it at the hotel or at another restaurant only the cost of your main course is included. On these occasions the cost of soups, appetizers, salads, sodas and other beverages, alcoholic drinks and wine, bottled water, and desserts are not included. Snacks, personal items, phone calls, etc. are also not included. The cost of bus or train transportation to and from Amsterdam (about $20 US), museum entry, and tower and church entry fees (optional) are likewise not included.
Beware of seemingly longer, slightly less expensive tours that include travel days and days sitting in the hotel doing nothing as part of the tour. In addition, other similar trips have you changing hotels often and needlessly. One final note on other similar trips: the instructors on this trip actually instruct. On other similar trips the instructors, though usually imminently qualified, serve for the most part as van drivers and van door openers.
A non-refundable deposit of $1,000 per person is required to hold your spot. The second payment of $2,000 due by October 30, 2014. The balance is due on January 15, 2015. Payments in full are of course welcome at any time. All payments including the deposit must be by check made out to “Arthur Morris.” As life has a way of throwing an occasional curve ball our way, you are urged to purchase travel insurance within 15 days of our cashing your check. Artie uses and recommends Travel Insurance Services. All payments are non-refundable unless the trip fills to capacity. In that case, all payments but your deposit will be refunded. If the trip does not run every penny will of course be refunded. Again, please do not purchase your air tickets until you hear from us that the trip is a go. We are very confident that it will.
All checks should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and sent to: Arthur Morris, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. Call Jim or Jen in the BAA office with any additional registration questions: 863-692-0906.
For couples or friends signing up at the same time for the tulip trip, a $200/duo discount will be applied to the final payment.
When you send your deposit check, please print, sign, and include the paperwork here.
If you have any questions on the trip please contact artie by e-mail or denise by e-mail.
Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack!
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!
Amazon.com
Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:
Amazon Canada
Many kind folks from north of the border, ay, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.
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. 🙂
I LOVE the Daffodil blur!