Lots of Lessons, Lots of Questions

What’s Up?

After some very early Thursday morning in-the-field frustration–story to follow at some point–it is a howler, I kissed the last few IPT folks goodbye and then slept and rested for a good part of the day. Gary McDavid, a kindly eager to learn gent who signed up for both IPTs, is heading north with us this afternoon to a spot that we have only visited once. Though it is thunder-storming we are leaving at three. Many of the best images are made in bad weather.

We meet the second Palouse IPT group on Thursday evening.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks a totally ridiculous 214 days in a row with a new educational (and fun) blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Selling Your Used 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. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, have been dropping steadily. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange tab on the left side of the lower menu bar above.

Recent Sales

• The sale of Les Greenberg’s Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens in mint condition for $4499 is pending.
• National Geographic photographer Tim Laman sold his Canon EOS-1DC in good-plus condition for $2100 in early June.
• Moody McCall sold his Canon 100-400L IS USA lens in excellent condition for $599 in early June and the sale of his 300mm f/2.8L IS II is pending.

New Listing

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM Lens

Jim Keener is offering his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in very good plus condition for a BAA record low price of $3699. The sale includes a long Arca-Swiss compatible plate, the rear cap, a second-party soft front lens cover, the original leather front lens cover, the lens trunk, and insured ground shipping to US addresses only. The lens shows a bit of wear in spots but is otherwise excellent; the glass is mint and the lens functions perfectly. The lens was cleaned and checked by Canon in March 2016. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Jim via e-mail or by phone at 310-741-7435 (Mountain time, 9-9).

I owned and used this very sharp lens for well more than a decade before upgrading to the 500 II. I used it often with both the 1.4X and the 2X TCs. Lenses of this versatile focal length have long been the world’s most popular super-telephoto lenses for birds and for wildlife. artie

This image was created in mid-July at Nickerson Beach with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the rugged Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/800 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB. Automatic selection/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. The AF system selected a single point at the spot where the near wing attaches to the body–right on the same plane as the bird’s face and eye. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Common Tern displaying in early morning light

Lots of Lessons, Lots of Questions

Why +1 1/3 stops with the sun out?

I state here and on IPTs often: When the sun is out at full strength, the meter is pretty smart–you rarely need more than 1/3 stop of over- or under-exposure. When it is cloudy or you are working in the shade and the tonality of the image averages to a light tone, the meter is stupid; you need to add lots of light.

Question #1: Considering that the sun was shining, why was it necessary to add 1 1/3 stops of light for today’s featured image?

Why not lie on the ground for this image?

Question #2: Why would getting flat down on the ground have spoiled this image?

Lesson 1

If you wish to include the bird’s shadow as part of the image design and the bird is facing to your right, position yourself with the sun coming over your left shoulder so that the shadow is in front of the bird.

The Image Clean-up

After converting the image in DPP 4 I brought the image into Photoshop and did my clean-up work on a separate layer. I used the Spot Healing Brush and the Patch Tool, the former for small annoying spots and the latter for larger blemishes. I did not use the Clone Stamp Tool even once. Learn all of my clean-up techniques, the basics of Quick Masking and Layer Masking, all of my keyboard shortcuts, my complete digital workflow, and tons of other great Photoshop tips in Digital Basics.

Question #3: Would you have eliminated the blade of grass that crosses the bird’s neck in the center of the frame?

Question #4: Would you have taken the blue out of the shadow (using the techniques detailed in the blog post here)?

Question #5: What did I eliminate in the final version that is present in the optimized version? (I only noticed it when I looked closely at the the optimized version in the animated GIF.)

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.

Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 7.

Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.

The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.

Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.

The IPT Logistics

The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.

Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, 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.

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, and for everything else in the new store, 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 those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

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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 🙂