Health Basics Follow-Up, Lots of New Used Gear Listings, and an Important Perspective Diagram Question...

The Streak Continues: 296

Yesterday was mostly NFL on the big LCD screen. The NY football Giants finally won a game. Whoohoo! This blog post, the 296th in a row, took me about 3 hours to prepare. It was published at about 8:00am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL.

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. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂 Please remember also that all are invited to e-mail for gear advice.

Important Bosque Festival of the Cranes Event Registration Notice

Registration for all Festival of the Cranes workshops, seminars and programs is open. Please click here and read carefully to avoid missing out on several wonderful and inexpensive educational opportunities. Please do not tarry as we expect all of the BAA/A Creative Adventure sessions to sell out quickly, especially the early morning In-the-Field Workshops. You can click here to register.

There is still lots of room in the seminar and the free program. The Thursday In-the-Field Workshop (ITF-W) is sold out. Friday and Sunday are filling nicely. For some strange reason Saturday has only 4 folks signed up…. Both the seminar (below) and the ITF-Workshops represent a chance to learn a ton cheap.

Bosque del Apache Photography Two-Part Seminar

Bosque del Apache Photography Two-Part Seminar. Thursday, NOV 20, 2014. 2:00-4:30 pm at the refuge visitor center with Arthur Morris and Denise Ippolito: $50.00. Click here to register.

Part I: Bosque del Apache Photography Basics

Artie and Denise will cover the basics of lens selection, tripod and head selection, image design, getting the right exposure, autofocus options, and the relationship between light direction and wind direction, and will give an overview of the best photographic opportunities at the refuge. Artie and Denise have more than 26 years of experience photographing Bosque and count it high on their list of soul places.

Part II: Creative Photography at Bosque del Apache

Artie and Denise will teach you to think outside the box when photographing at the refuge (and elsewhere!). You will learn to create a variety of pleasingly blurred images by using slow shutter speeds, by photographing moving subjects, and by zooming or by panning with the lens during the exposure. They will teach you to take advantage of spectacular lighting and weather conditions. They will also cover post processing creative techniques.

Health Basics Follow-Up

I have offered to send folks the Health Basics File before and always received only a handful of requests. For whatever reason or reasons–perhaps the title, “Stress, High Blood Pressure, and Breathing,” the response to the September 20, 2014 blog post was overwhelming with more than 50 folks requesting that I forward my Health Basics File. Heck, I got three more requests late on Sunday night. (You can see the original blog post here.) Even more amazing is that many of the requests included personal tales of health problems, obesity, disease, and falling off the wagon of good health. I responded to each with a personal, encouraging, often frank reply. I am thinking that if a single person is inspired to make changes, the way Dr. Cliff Oliver inspired me nearly two decades ago to make major changes in my lifestyle, that my efforts will have been well worth it.

I covered several major themes in my personal responses, all are covered in detail in the Health Basics File.

#1: Everyone says that change is hard. That is true only if you believe your own story that change is hard–The Work of Byron Katie. If you give up your own story, change is actually easy. One meal at a time.

#2: If you think in terms of going on a diet you are doomed to a life of losing and gaining large amounts of weight. The trick is to think, “I want to live. This will be my new lifestyle, my new way of eating.

#3: A healthy eating plan is simple: protein and vegetables. No bread, no wheat, no pasta, no cookies, cakes, ice cream, or candies. Eat nothing in a can, nothing that comes in a package. In other words, no processed food. “That’s hard” you say. Yes, if you continue to believe your own story that change is difficult or impossible. Learn to question your own stories, to put them up to inquiry, by visiting The Work of Byron Katie.

#4: For most of us, living a relatively healthy life or dying is a choice. Sometimes however, God’s business–in the form of reality, gets in the way. Whatever, you gotta love it.

Thanks and good luck to all wrote. If you would like a copy of my Health Basics File, please shoot me an e-mail with the words “Health Basics File” cut and pasted into the Subject line.

It Never Fails

You can please most of the people most of the time…. I received this e-mail from Richard Nelson on Sunday:

Please stick to the birds and the gear. People don’t give a damn about others’ health except for their own and those close to them. Dick Nelson

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20% plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Click here to see all the current listings.

Used Gear Cautions

Though I am not in a position to post images of gear for sale here or elsewhere, prospective buyers are encouraged to request for photos of the gear that they are interested in purchasing via e-mail. Doing so will help to avoid any misunderstandings as to the condition of the gear. Sellers are advised to take care to photograph their used gear with care against clean backgrounds so that the stuff is represented accurately and in the best light; please pardon the pun :).

New Listings

Used Canon EF 400mm f/4 IS DO UMS Lens

Multiple IPT veteran Shelly Goldstein is giving away a Canon EF 400mm f/4 IS DO UMS lens in very good + condition for $4100. The lens has been protected by a LensCoat since day one thus there are only a few small blemishes on the tripod collar. There are several extras. The sale includes a Really Right Stuff quick release lens plate (MAPR-1b), a LensCoat, the original lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, the rear dust cap, and insured shipping via Fed Ex Ground to US addresses only. The lens was cleaned and checked by Canon in September 2014.

You can contact Shelly via e-mail or by phone at 646-423-0392 (EST). Your lens will be shipped only after your check clears.

I owned and used and loved my 400 DO for about five years. If you missed my comments on this lightweight–hand holdable for most–telephoto lens (and 14 great images) please see this blog post: The Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO Lens: Fourteen Images that Prove that the Internet Experts are (As Usual) Idiots.

Used Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM Lens

Multiple IPT veteran Shelly Goldstein is also offering a Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens, this one in excellent condition for a very low $799. The lens sells new for $1,399.00. The sale includes the front lens cap, the lens shade, the rear dust cap, and insured shipping via Fed Ex Ground to US addresses only. The lens was cleaned and checked by Canon in September 2014.

You can contact Shelly via e-mail or by phone at 646-423-0392 (EST). Your lens will be shipped only after your check clears.

The lightweight, relatively tiny, but optically excellent 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS is a great one-lens-fits-all walk-around or travel lens. And it would do well on your shoulder at places like Bosque as well.

Used Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 Tilt-Shift Manual Focus Lens

Multiple IPT veteran Shelly Goldstein is offering a used Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 Tilt-Shift Manual Focus lens in excellent condition for a very low $899. The lens sells new for $1,399.00. The sale includes the front lens cap, the lens shade, the rear dust cap, and insured shipping via Fed Ex Ground to US addresses only. The lens was cleaned and checked by Canon in September 2014.

You can contact Shelly via e-mail or by phone at 646-423-0392 (EST). Your lens will be shipped only after your check clears.

The 90 Tilt Shift is a specialized lens that enable precise control of depth of field along with perspective control. It is useful for portrait, product, and landscape photography. George Lepp loves it for flower field and macro photography, using it often with the 2X III teleconverter.

Used Canon Wide Angle Tilt Shift TS-E 24mm f/3.5L Manual Focus Lens

Multiple IPT veteran Shelly Goldstein is offering a used Canon Wide Angle Tilt Shift TS-E 24mm f/3.5L Manual Focus Lens in excellent condition for a very low $849. The sale includes the front lens cap, the lens shade, the rear dust cap, and insured shipping via Fed Ex Ground to US addresses only. The lens was cleaned and checked by Canon in September 2014.

You can contact Shelly via e-mail or by phone at 646-423-0392 (EST). Your lens will be shipped only after your check clears.

This specialized lens provides tilt-shift functions to control perspective and correct convergence of lines. It is especially useful in architecture, landscape, and product photography. The optical tilt mechanisms enable precise control of depth of field along with perspective control.

Used Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS (Image Stabilizer) USM Lens

IPT veteran Stuart Hahn is offering a used original owner Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS (Image Stabilizer) USM lens in excellent condition with clean glass for $5250. B&H is offering a virtually identical used “old 500” for $6,299.95; you can save more than $1000 by grabbing Stu’s lens asap. The sale includes the front leather lens the rear dust cap, a used RRS B-91 Flash Bracket, the original case with keys, and insured shipping via UPS Ground to US addresses only. Your lens will be shipped only after your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Stu via e-mail or by phone (after October 3) at 916-485-1630 (Pacific time). Please note that Stu will be in Brazil beginning 9/22 and returning on October 3. He will try to answer e-mails if possible.

Canon 400mm EF f/5.6L USM Lens

Bob Bass is offering a used Canon 400mm EF f/5.6L USM lens in excellent condition for $999. The sale includes the original box, the tough fabric case, the front and rear lens caps, the instruction CD, and insured shipping via UPS Ground to US addresses only. Your new gear will be shipped only after your check clears unless other arrangements are made. You can contact Bob via e-mail or by phone at 781-275-5230 EST.

Original owner. The lens was purchased in 2012 and used infrequently. It was recently returned from Canon Professional Services where it received a clean and check. Images of the lens are available upon request as are images made with the lens.

The 400 f/5.6, my old “toy lens” is an ideal flight or starter lens for younger folks with a steady hand. It will AF with a 1.4X TC with the new 7D II….

A Screw-up

For most of yesterday, the Allow Comments box was inadvertently un-checked. I rectified that situation late yesterday afternoon. If you wanted to leave a comment but were unable to or if you missed yesterday’s post, you can click here.

The Perspective Diagram

A Question

A dear friend (whom shall remain un-named) told me that she didn’t understand the diagram, that it is confusing, and that it did not clearly show the way the background would look from a different perspective.

I thought that it was well done, cleverly conceived, and that it got my point across clearly. In short, I was quite proud of it.

Did you understand the diagram? (You can click here and scroll down to read the explanatory text.)

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