Stormy and Sunny 7D Mark II Fun & Important Festival of the Cranes Event Updates

The Streak Continues: 341

Yesterday included a challenging morning dealing with my new Apple 15.4″ MacBook Pro Notebook Computer with Retina Display (Mid-2014). I wanted to do something very simple. Copy two Powerpoint (Keynote on a Mac) files to a one of my brand new Western Digital Ultra External Hard Drives

I just purchased four of the 2tb HDs–lord, storage is getting cheaper by the day…. Anyhoo, I copied the files easily in Finder, but when I navigated to the HD the “Paste 2 items’ was greyed out. Three hours later after struggling with the instructions in the Apps folder on HD, I called Western Digital customer support and spoke to Christopher in the Dominican Republic. He was nice, competent, and helpful. He taught me how to format and partition the external HD so that it would work with both Mac and PC. Success. But I’d much prefer plug and play :). If you would like to learn how to do this, shoot us an e-mail with the words “Format External HD for Mac an PC” cut and pasted into the Subject line.

I will be sharing the tale of my transition to the top of the line Mac with y’all here soon.

I enjoyed another easy 3/4 mile swim and another nice nap. This blog post, the 341st in a row, took about two hours to prepare and was published from my home at Indian Lake Estates just after 5:30am.

Please Help Support My Work on the BAA Blog

Thanks a Stack! October was a Great Month.

Even without the numerous EOS-7D Mark II sales made with our BAA Affiliate links–pre-orders are not credited until the item ships–October was a very rewarding month. Thanks a stack to all who used our B&H links for purchases large and small.

To show your appreciation for my efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H Is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. 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, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what 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.

If what you learned here on my blog about the Canon EOS-7D Mark II has inspired you to purchase this great new camera body, please consider using the logo link above to support our efforts here in bringing you the latest, greatest educational materials on daily basis.

This 3-frame in-camera Art Vivid HDR image was created at 7:54am on the cold, windy, stormy morning of November 1, 2014 with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens (hand held at 38mm) and a beta version of the Canon EOS 7D Mark II . ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops +/-1 stop around a base exposure of 1/500 sec. at f/4 in Tv mode. AWB. Central sensor/AI Servo Surround/Rear Focus AF on the closest bird 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: Skimmer and shorebird flocks

Stormy HDR to the West

On my first morning at DeSoto last week with friend and private client Greg Gulbransen, Saturday dawned stormy and windy with a brisk NW wind with gusts close to 40mph. As you can see here, we were luck as there were some major clouds to the east. A NW wind on a clear morning is death on bird photography as all of the birds are landing, roosting, taking off, and usually even feeding into the wind….

To create this image I walked into the lagoon and worked back to the west.

Note the the 7D II does both in-camera HDRs and in-camera Multiple Exposures just like the more expensive EOS-5D Mark III. Note the big over-exposure here.

This 3-frame in-camera Art Vivid HDR image was created at 8:03am on the cold, windy, stormy morning of November 1, 2014 with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens (hand held at 24mm) and a beta version of the Canon EOS 7D Mark II . ISO 800. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop +/-1 stop around a base exposure of 1/800 sec. at f/11 in Tv mode. AWB. Central sensor/AI Servo Surround/Rear Focus AF on the closest bird 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 #2: Shorebird flocks

Stormy HDR to the East

Here, wanting to include the dramatic clouds mixed with sun to the east, I stayed on the spit and worked back to the east.

Exposure Question

Why a base exposure at +1 2/3 stops for image #1 but a base exposure of -1/3 stop for image #2?

This 5-frame multiple exposure was created at 10:18am on the cold clear morning of November 2, 2014 with the hand held Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, a Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and a beta version of the Canon EOS 7D Mark II . ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/11 in Av mode. AWB. Central sensor/AI Servo Surround/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of each exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #3: In-camera Multiple Exposure

Multiple Exposures (MEs)

Whenever you see repetitive patterns, you might consider creating a few multiple exposures, especially if your body offers and in-camera ME feature. Think large fields of flowers…. Both the HDR and ME features on the 7D II work exactly as they do on the 5D III so if you have our 5D III User’s Guide or if you have figured out the best settings on your own, you should be good to go.

What Is It?

If you think that you know what is depicted in the 3rd image, please leave a comment and let us know.

Festival of the Cranes Event Updates

For complete information on the stuff below, click here and scroll down. To register for one of more events, click here.

Important Info

We’ve learned that the Festival schedule may take a long time to load, even for some folks with high speed internet access. Please know that you can register by phone by calling 575-835-2077 from 9:00am-Noon Mountain Daylight Time.

ITF-Early Morning Workshops

The Thursday and Friday sessions are sold out. The Sunday session nearly so. There is still room for you on Saturday. Cheap!

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. Please see the registration information above.

Inexplicably, there are still more than a few spots open for this great event. Denise and I will be sharing all of our Bosque tips, techniques, and secrets. Cheap.

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.

It’s been a 20+ year love affair….

“Love Affair with Bosque.” Sponsored by Canon. Friday, NOV 21, 2014; 1:00 to 2:40pm. Free, at the Bodega Restaurant, Socorro.

A slide program by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Limit 200.

Though this is a free event you do need to register either online or by phone as noted above.

Arthur Morris first visited Bosque del Apache Refuge in December, 1992 while on sabbatical with his late-wife Elaine While leading his first Bosque del Apache photographic workshop in December, 1994, quite soon after Elaine’s death, he created two iconic Bosque images. His “Blizzard in Blue” was honored in the prestigious 1998 BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. “Fire in the Mist” was similarly honored in the 2001 BBC competition and soon thereafter was featured as wrap-around cover art on the coffee table book, Life on the Earth, a celebration of 30 years of the best images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competitions. Those two images laid the foundation for his more than two decade love affair with the refuge. He has returned every year since then at the Thanksgiving season while leading BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours. In addition, he has two February visits along with two September visits, the latter visits in conjunction with the Bosque del Apache Open Windows Volunteer Program that he founded. Join us for Artie’s photographic celebration of his “Love Affair with Bosque.”

Facebook

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, eh, 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 or errors. Just be right :).