Stuff
I finally finished my San Diego article for Nature Photographer Magazine. I sent the text and the images with captions to Helen Longest Saccone, the editor and founder on Friday afternoon. Next I need to get my ad with a photo to her.
This blog post, the 121st in a row, took about 1 1/4 hours to prepare. It is scheduled to be published automatically at 5am on Saturday morning.
Used Photography Gear/New Listing
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Michael Zajac is offering a used Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens excellent condition for $949.99. The sale includes the original box, the front and rear lenses caps, the original box, and free insured shipping to US addresses. You can call Michael at 732-979-6644 (eastern time zone) or shoot him an e-mail.
I owned and used this great lens for well more than a decade and created hundreds of published images with it. Denise Ippolito owned and loved hers for years. Best news? Michael takes a lot better care of his gear than I do….
Huge Price Reduction
Used EOS-1D Mark IV Digital Camera Body
Price reduced an additional $900 on 5/9/2015!
Marc Lombardi is offering a used EOS-1D Mark IV digital camera body in excellent condition with 57800 actuations for $1300. The body has one minor cosmetic scratch on top. The sale includes the charger and two batteries, a RRS plate, and insured ground shipping to US addresses only. Your camera will be shipped only after your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Marc via e-mail or by phone at 610-585-3500 (Eastern time).
Two Mark IVs served as my workhorse bodies for more than three years. artie
You can see the complete Used Photography Gear For Sale listings here.
Canon’s Huge Megapixel Bodies
Many of you have read about the two new Canon 50+ megapixel bodies, the Canon EOS 5DS DSLR and the Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR. The two cameras look, sound, and pretty much are quite similar. I have withheld commenting until now because I did not have a good–heck, I did not have any–understanding of the single difference between the two bodies, that being the Low-Pass Filter Effect Cancellation.
If you missed the hugely popular “Canon’s Two New 50+ Megapixel Camera Bodies/You Must Read This Before You Buy,” you can click here to catch up and learn a ton to boot.
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This image was created on May 5 on the recently concluded IPT with the hand held Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens and the Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +3 stops off the sky: 1/3200 sec. at f/2.8 in Manual mode. Cloudy WB. Center AF point/AI Servo-Surround/Expand Button AF (on the bird’s neck) as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure as is always best for flight photography and is always best when hand holding. Click on the image to see a larger version. Great Egret landing with sprig for nest |
f/2.8 for Flight…
Working wide open when doing flight photography lets you go with a low ISO and achieve the fastest possible shutter speed while adding enough light in low light situations to come up with a perfect histogram. This image is un-cropped. Note that there was enough depth-of-field to cover the subject from wingtip to wingtip.
For complete coverage of this subject see the “An Important But Basic Bird Photography Principle: Use Wide Apertures in Low Light…” blog post here.
Exposure Question
I metered the light sky, added 3 full stops, and set that exposure (1/3200 sec. at f/2.8) manually. As framed, the meter would have indicated about +2 stops. Why?
Whaddya Think?
What is the single negative in the image above?
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This JPEG represents the TIFF after conversion in DPP 4. I added the red square in Photoshop with the Pencil Tool. Tip: hold down the Shift key to keep your lines dead straight while creating the box. |
The Image Optimization
After converting the image in DPP 4, I brought the image into Photoshop. First, I moved the bird up and back in the frame using techniques detailed in APTATS II. I selected the bird using the Quick Selection Tool and placed the selection on its own layer. Next I applied my NIK Color Efex Pro 50-50 recipe and reduced the opacity to 66%. Next I selected the bill, the lores, and the eye, again with the Quick Selection Tool and applied a Contrast Mask (Unsharp Mask at 15/65/0). Lastly I painted a Quick Mask of the leaves in the lower right and applied a 50 pixel Gaussian Blur to soften them up.
Digital Basics
Everything that I did to optimize today’s image is covered in detail in my Digital Basics File–written in my easy-to-follow, easy-to-understand style. Are you tired of making your images look worse in Photoshop? Digital Basics File is an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. It includes my complete digital workflow, dozens of great Photoshop tips, details on using all of my image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro basics, Contrast Masks, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, how to create time-saving actions, the Surface Blur (background noise reduction) settings, and tons more.
APTATS I & II
Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. Mention this blog post and apply a $5 discount to either with phone orders only. Buy both APTATS I and APTATS II and we will be glad to apply at $15 discount either with phone orders or here in the BAA Online Store. For phone orders, call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays.
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You can order your copy of “The Photographers’ Guide to Canon Digital Photo Professional 4.0” (aka the DPP 4 Raw Conversion eGuide) by Arash Hazeghi and Arthur Morris by clicking here. |
The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)
The Ideal Companion to the 7D Mark II User’s Guide
Learn how and why I and many other discerning photographers choose and use only DPP 4 to convert their Canon RAW files in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly. The latest version supports all of the newer Canon camera bodies and several older models including the EOS-7D and the EOS-1D Mark IV. A free update that will cover most of the newly added cameras will be sent as soon as I get it from Arash.
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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 :).
The rectangle tool with the outline preset would be quicker than using the pencil. Adjust the stroke to taste (colour and size) in the layer palette.
Thanks for the great tip. How do I get to the Rectangle Tool? artie
On my install of Photoshop it is two icons below the text tool in the tool palette.
I’m betting we see this image win a prize somewhere, someday—-many “Wows”.
Thanks Bob. artie
Hi Artie,
Title, ‘ flawed or perfect’
Exposure question.
With the bird in the frame evaluative metering gives +2 because overall the frame is now a stop darker than just the plain bright sky.
I would be thrilled with an image this good. Foliage stays because it gives just a tiny bit of context. The bird in total isolation would I think be less strong.
Are the branch and the bush the same plant?
I prefer the foliage softened.
A really beautiful image. Maybe just a tiny bit of sky between the wing and the neck. No biggie.
I like stuff slightly flawed. Seems more real to me.
As always
Love
D
Bingo. The more time that you spend here the smarter you get 🙂
love to you and Karen, a
ps: not sure on the bush and the sprig. Odds are not the same….
Is the single negative the wing appearing as touching the heron’s neck?
I like both the sharp foliage (as it relates exactly to the sprig the heron is carrying) and the blurred foliage (as doesn’t take away from the heron).
Meter showed +2 because all of the heron, which takes up more than half of the center is darker than the sky.
The meter would read +2 stops because it is metering off the bird now and
Meter is not so smart. Adding one stop now gives the bird proper exposure for its
White color.
That’s my thought
Craig
Hey Craig, You are correct in part but others here have expressed the correct answer more succinctly 🙂 I am glad that everyone is straining there brains and thinking out loud. Later and love and hi to Lisa, artie
Another try: why is the meter showing +2 stops with the bird in the frame but +3 with only the sky in the frame? It is not because the meter is dumb….. a
I really can’t think of anything negative to say about the original capture but I did want to say that I love this image of the egret especially because the shading and feathers make it look as though you can also see the bird’s skeleton–very prehistoric-looking. I love it.
Many thanks. One thing does bug me. later and love, artie
Hi, Artie. I love the image, congratulations and thanks for sharing. When the bird was in the frame, the meter read +2 instead of +3 against the sky because the bird is darker than the sky. I don’t think I can do better than “A Lighter Shade of Pale” for the blog name, because that’s really what it’s about. Single negative? I agree about the bird’s left wing but c’mon, perfection? I would be so happy with the image as it is if it were mine.
All good. artie
Why meter drop to 2 stops from 3? Well, the bird is darker than the bright white sky and takes up a good amount of the metered scene – which leads me to ask you, why do you mostly (it seems) use Evaluative metering? I typically use Partial or Center-weighted Average, unless shooting Landscape.
Perfect. It does not matter how you meter as long as you wind up with a good histogram and the exposure that you want. I use Evaluative because it works for me and I have been using and teaching it for years. Understanding exposure is what is needed to come up with the correct exposure not this or that metering system. Competent folks–including and especially me–can use any metering pattern and meter off any tonality and come up with a perfect histogram and a perfect exposure every time as long as they have ten seconds. And most of the time even when the have one second :0
artie
It’s beautiful. The thing that bugs me is that the left wing is touching the neck, in the photo. If there was a tiny bit of sky in between, I think it would be stronger. I would of course be more than thrilled with the image as is.
The +3 compensation is to allow enough light from the bird to reach the camera so you don’t end up with a semi-silhouette white bird against a relatively over exposed sky. If the bird had been a Great-blue, or a Sh Crane, the compensation could have been +2. I like the image both before or after the post processing.
There’s no question you’re the master of the “bird-on-a-stick” style bird photography, but I swear, if I felt I had to do as much post processing on every photo as you do, I’d never take another photo. To me, all the nit-piking clean up takes away from the authenticity of the bird. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just not my preferred style. That said, looking at avian photography forums, you have created a whole generation of like minded photographers. Folks that have no idea of the name of the birds they are seeing post pictures and get comments about head angle, dark spots in the background, size of the crop, complaints about miscellaneous branches or twigs, bad clouds, waves, etc., etc., etc. It’s no longer about the birds as part of the environment, it’s “birds as art”. I’ve picked up a lot of tips from your blogs and I have all your books and a number of your site guides and camera guides. I’m not criticizing, just stating an opinion that has been developing, but really struck me this morning. Anyway, keep up the posts, hopefully, it will help more folks appreciate the birds, one way or the other.
Gary Palmer
Hi Gary,
re:
The +3 compensation is to allow enough light from the bird to reach the camera so you don’t end up with a semi-silhouette white bird against a relatively over exposed sky.
That is correct in part (the sky in this image was not blown out) but does not answer the question that I posed.
If the bird had been a Great Blue Heron or a Sandhill Crane, the compensation could have been +2.
It could have been but that is 100% wrong. You need more light for a bird of darker tonality not less light….
I like the image both before or after the post processing.
They are quite similar.
There’s no question you’re the master of the “bird-on-a-stick” style bird photography
I am quite confused. Please post a link to the last image that I posted here on the blog that fit the bird-on-a-stick genre.
But I swear, if I felt I had to do as much post processing on every photo as you do, I’d never take another photo.
Again I am confused, as today’s image took all of two minutes to optimize.
To me, all the nit-piking clean up takes away from the authenticity of the bird.
To you. Great.
There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just not my preferred style.
Enjoy it. Obviously of the 3000+ folks who visit here daily disagree with you.
That said, looking at avian photography forums, you have created a whole generation of like-minded photographers.
Thanks. Yes, many have chosen to emulate my style. My goal has always been to create images that make me happy, to teach others to do the same, to promote my trips, and to sell a variety of guides so that I can avoid having to get a job as a greeter in WalMart or a burger flipper in McDonalds.
Folks that have no idea of the name of the birds they are seeing post pictures
I have always encouraged folks to study their subjects and learn as much about them as possible so what really does that have to do with me?
… and get comments about head angle, dark spots in the background, size of the crop, complaints about miscellaneous branches or twigs, bad clouds, waves, etc., etc., etc. It’s no longer about the birds as part of the environment, it’s “birds as art”.
Well, thanks for that very nice compliment. If you like to create ugly images with tons of distracting crap in them I am just fine with that.
I’ve picked up a lot of tips from your blogs and I have all your books and a number of your site guides and camera guides.
That is great. Did I miss your “thank you”?
I’m not criticizing, just stating an opinion that has been developing, but really struck me this morning.
Please Gary, get one thing straight: you are criticizing, not just me but all of my disciples.
Anyway, keep up the posts, hopefully: it will help more folks appreciate the birds, one way or the other.
Hope so. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. artie
ps: Overall, I found the tone of your comments as a whole to be quite snarky.
I would be happy with this image.
Me too.
I do see some clone stamp issues near the bird’s right leg. Seems like toenails were copied.
Yes, but the result of sloppy work on a Regular Layer Mask; failed to see and erase 🙂 See my reply to Gary Axten below.
Further, the head angle could have been slightly more towards you to make the shot even better.
About 1/3 of one degree more toward us would have been perfect 🙂 But I can live with it due to the overall elegance of the image.
Foliage I would have removed, it adds little to the image imo.
IYO but not IMO 🙂
As for exposure, adding an additional +1 is to compensate for the white sky ensuring the bird is properly exposed.
I think that you are skirting around the right answer while not answering the question that I asked. See what I wrote in my reply to Gary Axten below and see if you can get to the right place…. later and love, artie
Aah, I should read more carefully. With the bird being darker than the white sky, less light coming in resulted in +2 rather than white sky alone at +3.
If this were my blog I would call it white on white, always tough to meter.
Good name. Always easy to meter 🙂 Plus 2 2/3 or plus 3 off the sky and check the histogram….
Since it is yours I’m leaning toward white on white, easy peasy. I’m thinking you added +3 over the meter +2 to have a lighter sky which would add more contrast between light sky and white bird.
You too are confused. See my comment to Gary Axten below.
A negative could be the foliage in the corner, some will like it some will not. I would remove it so the bird would present a simplistic elegance.
Put me in the like it camp. artie
I’d be really happy with that image. Maybe a little happier if the wing tip was more separated from the neck.
Thanks. I am happy. But after several IPTs you are too smart 🙂 later and love, artie
Blog post title: A lighter shade of pale? 🙂
Nice.
Negative: There is a tiny spec of something below the right foot, I spent a while trying to scrape it off my screen before I realised. If not that then maybe the head angle.
Good eyes. I carelessly left remnants of two toenails when I moved the bird up and right. I have repaired the master file. Many thanks.
Why did the meter say +2 or why did you add +3?
To reiterate: the meter reading off the sky (1/3200 sec. at f/8) showed +3 stops but when the bird was in the frame it showed only +2 stops. My question is “why?”
I can’t decide whether I prefer it without the foliage or with the foliage sharper. I’m edging towards no foliage.
I like it with the soft foliage. But a version without it would work nicely
artie