Sandpiper Photography Tips. And Very Glad That I Micro-adjusted/Part II: Eye-skin Lashes!

Stuff

Early on Tuesday morning I prepared this blog post and spent a good part of the day working on the 5D Mark IV User’s Guide. The pool is down four degrees since last week so my swims have been especially enjoyable. I did 50 lengths on Tuesday afternoon along with lots of stretching and exercise.

I decided to move the Cheap Weekend Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Instruction back one week. See the details immediately below.

More Cheap Weekend Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Instruction

Moved back one week

Sign up for the full day Saturday 11 NOV and the Friday afternoon on 10 NOV (4:30pm till sunset) session is free!

Saturday, November 11, 2017: Morning session — 6:45am for 3 1/2 hours: $149. Add lunch, image review, and Photoshop session: $249 (total).

Saturday, November 11, 2017: Afternoon session — 4:30pm for 3 hours: $99.

Saturday, November 11, 2017, both sessions including lunch: $329. Sign up for the full day Saturday and enjoy a Friday afternoon session for free.

Sunday, November 12, 2017: Morning session — 6:45am for 3 1/2 hours: $149.

Learn to get the right exposure every time, to approach free and wild (and often tame!) birds, and to design a pleasing image. And learn the location of my new Fort DeSoto hotspot along with my favorite sunset location (sky conditions permitting). To register call Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 or shoot me an e-mail.

Canon lens rentals are available on a limited basis: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, and 200-400 f/4 with Internal TC.

Cheap but great instruction.

The Streak

Today makes ninety-seven days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took two hours to prepare. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections willing.

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

Mansoor Assadi is offering a used Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body in excellent condition (with slight scratches on top of camera) for a very low and fair $1199. The sale includes the front body cap, a RRS L-plate, the original box with everything that came in it, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Mansoor via e-mail or by phone at 415-559-8027 (Pacific time).

Two dependable, rugged 1D Mark IVs served as my workhorse professional bodies for several years; I really enjoyed their 1.3X crop factors, the fast frame rate, and the excellent image quality. artie

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Mansoor Assadi is also offering a used Canon EOS 5D Mark III digital camera body in excellent condition (with slight scratches on top of camera) for a very low $1299 (recently cleaned and checked by Canon). The sale includes the front body cap, the original box with everything that came in it, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Mansoor via e-mail or by phone at 415-559-8027 (Pacific time).

I have used the 5D III for birds on occasion with excellent results, even with the 2X III TC and the 600 II. For man years it was my go-to dSLR for flowers, landscapes, and Urbex photography until I replaced it first with the 5DS R and then with the 5D Mark IV. In my experience, the quality of the image files is superb. artie

Canon EOS 5DS R

Mansoor Assadi is also offering a used Canon EOS 5DS R digital camera body in like-new condition for only $2649. The sale includes the front body cap, a RRS L-plate, a LensCoat BodyBag, the Canon batter grip (with only one battery), the original box with everything that came in it, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Mansoor via e-mail or by phone at 415-559-8027 (Pacific time).

The 5DS R is the premier dSLR for landscape photography and as Patrick Sparkman and I proved, it is a great body for bird, wildlife, and nature photographers who have good sharpness techniques, especially those who make large prints; its image quality is unmatched. artie

Canon EOS-1DX Mark II

Mansoor Assadi is also offering a used Canon EOS-1DX Mark II professional digital camera body in like-new condition for only $4899 with only 23,000 shutter actuations.The camera was recently cleaned and checked by Canon. The sale includes the front body cap, a RRS L-plate, a LensCoat BodyBag, the original box with everything that came in it, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Mansoor via e-mail or by phone at 415-559-8027 (Pacific time).

The 1DX Mark II is Canon’s rugged, blazingly fast professional digital camera body. It features an amazing AF system and high quality image files with great dynamic range. It is the choice of Arash Hazeghi, one of the world’s premier birds in flight photographers. artie

Booking.Com

Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of folks whom I see in the field, and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

This image was created on the morning of the October 28, 2017 Saturday In-the-Field Instructional session with the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and my favorite shorebird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero as framed: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. AWB in late afternoon light (at 5:49pm on a clear day). LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -1. One AF point above the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was placed jus behind (and right on the same plane) as the bird’s eye; see the illuminated AF point in the DPP 4 screen capture below. Sanderling in winter plumage Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version.

Sandpiper Photography Tips

• 1-If the birds are actively feeding sit behind your lowered tripod; do not lie down flat. It is much easier to follow the birds as they are foraging and much easier to place the AF point where you need it, on the bird’s face or neck or upper breast. Though you will not get lowest possible perspective, the views while seated behind a long lens are still quite intimate. In addition, sitting rather than lying down often eliminates other birds feeding in the background.
• 2-Use AF Expand and move it up or down or left or right as dictated by the bird’s proximity and the position of its body and head while keeping your desired composition in mind. When a bird gets really close, be sure to avoid clipping the tail by moving the AF point in the direction the bird is headed.
• 3-Wait for the pause! If is exceedingly difficult to follow a walking or running shorebird and keep the selected AF point on the bird’s face or neck or upper breast. Wait for the bird to pause. They do so often but usually just for a second or two. If the birds are not particularly skittish you can often freeze them for a moment by making a squeak through pursed lips of kweek noise with your throat. Try relatively soft sounds at first to avoid flushing the whole flock.
• 4-The more you know about your subjects the better your images will be. To that end, get yourself a copy of my Shorebirds; Beautiful Beachcombers and start studying. You will learn to age and identify them and learn about their amazing migrations, their feeding and breeding strategies, and their habitat preferences.

Post Processing Suggestions?

If you would you have done anything more with the post processing, please feel free to leave your suggestion in the form of a comment below. I guess that that is the same as asking if anything about the image bugs you …

Very Glad That I Micro-adjusted/Part II

As noted yesterday, I spent several hours last week micro-adjusting my 600 II alone, the 600 II with my 1.4X III i TC, and then with my 2X III i TC. All with my #1 5D Mark IV body. It was time well-spent. Today’s image shows the remarkable sharpness possible with the 600 II/1.4X III TC/5D Mark IV combo. The AFA with this combo was only -1, relatively insignificant. For me, knowing that I will consistently in the zone of sharpest focus makes the time well spent. And as we say yesterday, some of your AFA values — like -10 with the 600 II and the 2X TC — can make huge differences in sharpness.

Folks interested in getting the greatest across the board sharpness from their expensive telephoto lenses and camera bodies while enjoying peace of mind can click here to learn more about the amazing LensAlign/FocusTune package and here to learn about the LensAlign/FocusTune Micro-adjusting Tutorial e-Guide.

This is an unsharpened 100% crop of today’s featured image

Unsharpened 100% Crop

How does this look to you in terms of sharpness on the eye and fine feather and bill detail? It is rare to see the lashes of a bird’s eye-skin so sharply etched.

The DPP 4 Screen Capture for today’s featured image

The DPP 4 Screen Capture for Today’s Featured Image

First I loaded my 5DIV ISO 400 recipe as always; what a time-saver. Notice that even though I moved the Color fine tune dot towards BLUE,, I did not go for completely neutral WHITEs; R=237, G=234, B=227. Before converting the RAW image I moved the Highlight slider to -.5 as -1.0 made the WHITEs to grey.

Once I brought the converted TIF into Photoshop I did a good amount of beach cleanup and in addition, I eliminated the worst of the specular highlights on the Sanderling’s black legs. Those using the Patch Tool (P), the Clone Stamp Tool (S), the Spot Healing Brush (J), and Content Aware Fill (Shift + Delete). Then I used Select > Color Range to select only the brightest WHITEs. I feathered the selection .7 pixels and saved it after naming it “whites.” Then I put the selection on its own Layer (Command + J), changed the Blending Mode to Linear Burn, and reduced the opacity to 10%. After merging that layer I loaded the selection, applied a 100% layer of NIK Color Efex Pro Detail Extractor, and painted away about 75% of the effect after adding a Regular Layer Mask.

Then I named and saved the master TIF file and created the 1200 pixel wide JPEG that opened this blog post after sharpening it with Unsharp Mask at 80/.3/0.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II) will teach you an efficient Mac/Photo Mechanic/Photoshop workflow that will make it easy for you to make your images better in Photoshop (rather than worse). That true whether you convert your images in DPP 4 or ACR. See the blog post here to learn lots more and to read a free excerpt. You can order your copy from the BAA Online Store here, by sending a Paypal for $40 here, or by calling Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II)

Everything mentioned above is covered in detail in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Learn more and check out the free excerpt in the blog post here. The new e-Guide reflects my Macbook Pro/Photo Mechanic/DPP 4/Photoshop workflow. Do note that you will find the RGB Curves Adjustment Color Balancing tutorial only in the new e-guide. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.

The two most recent and many of the older MP4 Photoshop Tutorial videos releases go hand and hand with the information in DB II):

• The Wingtip Repairs MP4 Video here.
• The MP4 Crow Cleanup Video here.

Folks who learn well by following along rather than by reading can check out the complete collection of MP 4 Photoshop Tutorial Videos by clicking here.

You can learn how and why I and other discerning Canon shooters convert nearly all of their Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 using Canon Digital Photo Professional in the DPP 4 RAW conversion Guide here. And you can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair. Folks can learn sophisticated sharpening and (NeatImage) Noise Reduction techniques in the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly.

If In Doubt …

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Please Remember to use my 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 please remember that I am 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, 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 :).