What’s Up?
Our flight to Edinburg, Scotland was non-eventful. The group is great. Father and son Richard and Jonathon Lethbridge flew from Toronto but their checked bags did not 🙁 We had a totally amazing first day. More on that below.
If you are interested in joining me for the puffins and gannets in 2017 please scroll down.
Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 6.
Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18.
Please e-mail for repeat customer or couples discount info, or for info on a 3-day option.
With only four folks signed up, learning situations will abound. The primary subject species on this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns and Black Skimmers. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny tern 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 will be 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 skimmer 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.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, makes-no-sense, 234 days in a row with a new educational 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.
This image was created on the morning of Day 1 of the 2016 Puffins and Gannets IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 560mm), and the rugged, blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 3200. Evaluative metering +2 1/3 stops off the grey sky: 1/2000 sec. at f/9. AWB. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was on the middle of the leading edge of the bird’s right wing (yet the image was sharp on the eye.) Click on the image to see a larger version. Atlantic Puffin landing with fish near burrowYour browser does not support iFrame. |
Wow, What a Start!
What began as a bluebird sky day soon turned blessedly cloudy. The wind was perfect. In the morning we had perched puffins. Tons of puffin flight photography. We had a Lesser Black-backed Gull eating a baby puffin. Until it was challenged by a slightly larger Herring Gull. Big fight. When each of the birds had the carcass, they tried in vain to swallow it… No luck.
Both sessions offered Black-legged Kittiwakes with chicks and Shags with chicks and Common Murres with chicks. In the afternoon it was more puffins and murres and Razorbills. And more nesting Arctic Terns than I have ever seen before at the location before, with young of various ages. We are having a great dinner at the Links Hotel Restaurant as I type. It is well after 8pm and I need to get to sleep soon.
100-400 II/1.4X III/1D X Mark II ISO 3200 Winner…
AF with the relatively slow combination was superb when operator error did not intrude. ISO 3200 noise was quite visible even though I used Arash’s new numbers for chrominance and luminance noise. As expected, NeatImage cleaned it up beautifully without destroying the fine feather detail. All as detailed in the Professional Photographers Guide to Post Processing by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly. NeatImage really is amazing.
Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version. |
2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT
Monday July 3 through Monday July 10, 2017: $5999: Limit 10 photographers — Openings: 6). Two great leaders: Arthur Morris and BPN co-owner, BPN Photography Gear Forum Moderator, and long-time BAA Webmaster Peter Kes.
Here are the plans: take a red eye from the east coast of the US on July 2 and arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland on the morning of Monday July 3 no later than 10am (or simply meet us then at the Edinburgh Airport–EDI, or later in the day at our cottages if you are driving your own vehicle either from the UK or from somewhere in Europe). Stay 7 nights in one of three gorgeous modern country cottages.
There are five days of planned puffin/seabird trips and one morning of gannet photography, all weather permitting of course. In three years we have yet to miss an entire day because of weather… In addition, we will enjoy several sessions of photographing nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes at eye level.
Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version. |
The Details
We will get to photograph Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Razorbill, Shag, and Northern Gannet; Arctic, Sandwich, and Common Terns, the former with chicks of all sizes; Black-headed, Lesser-Black-backed, and Herring Gulls, many chasing puffins with fish; Black-legged Kittiwake with chicks. We will be staying in upscale country-side lodging that are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for the informal image sharing and Photoshop sessions. The shared rooms are decent-sized, each with a private bathroom. See the limited single supplement info below.
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners are included. All 5 puffins boat lunches will need to be prepared by you in advance, taken with, and consumed at your leisure. I usually eat mine on the short boat trip from one island to the other. Also included is a restaurant lunch on the gannet boat day.
If you wish to fly home on the morning of Monday July 10 we will get you to the airport. Please, however, consider the following tentative plans: enjoy a second Gannet boat trip on the afternoon of Monday July 10 and book your hotel room in Dunbar. If all goes as planned, those who stay on for the two extra days will make a morning landing at Bass Rock, one of the world’s largest gannetries. We will get everyone to the airport on the morning of Wednesday July 12. (We may opt to stay in Edinburgh on the night of July 11.) Price and details should be finalized at least six months before the trip but you will need to be a bit patient. It would be ideal if I can get all the work done by the end of September so that folks can arrange their flights then.
Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version. Scroll down to join us in the UK in 2016. |
Deposit Info
If you are good to go sharing a room–couples of course are more than welcome–please send your non-refundable $2,000/person deposit check now to save a spot. Please be sure to check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below. Your balance will be due on March 29, 2017. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. If your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.
Please shoot me an e-mail if you are good to go or if you have any questions.
Single Supplement Deposit Info
Single supplement rooms are available on a limited basis. To ensure yours, please register early. The single supplement fee is $1575. If you would like your own room, please request it when making your deposit and include payment in full for the single supplement; your single supplement deposit check should be for $3,575. As we will need to commit to renting the extra space, single supplement deposits are non-refundable so please be sure that check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below.
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance for big international trips is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check of running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance be sure to read the fine print careful even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.
This trip has sold out far in advance every year so do not tarry. I hope that you can join me.
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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 🙂
Kerry, Ted, and David. Many thanks.
artie
hi Artie, such a beautiful bird, beautiful shot!
The puffin’s face is so expressive. Love the shoulder feathers fluffed up too.
Looking forward to seeing lots more!
Art, can one successfully use a 2x on with the 100-400 v2 lens. As much as I would love a monster-mega-lens, the bank about says not now. Would this be a solid combination with a 5ds-r or is it a 5dr-s body?
No AF but it can be used quite well with the 2X III TC on a tripod with a Mongoose for static subjects. With either manual focus or focusing off contrast on the sensor while in Live View.
artie
ps: if you search you can find a killer Land Iguana image made with the above combo on my last Galapagos trip.
Great Image!!
The puffin shot is absolutely fantastic. LOVE it Artie!