Completing the Flopped Reflection in Photoshop

What’s Up?

Wednesday morning was mega-foggy. My morning session was uneventful. I got some work done on the BAA Canon EOS R5 Camera User’s e-Guide and will be working on the update of the BAA R5/R6 AF e-Guide later today. The latter should be completed in a very few days.

As there was lots of clouds around early last night I headed down to the lake for an early sunset. I began with side-by-side Boat-tailed Grackles singing on the (recently-repaired) Perch. The western sky looked promising but the clouds took over and the sunset session fizzled to grey.

Today is Thursday 11 February 2021. The forecast for this morning is again calling for partly cloudy skies with gentle winds from the southeast. I will be heading down to the lake early with the refrigerated armadillo in the cooler. It is not as foggy as it has been …

Good friend Clemens Van der Werf is driving up from South Florida this afternoon. I will be meeting him at Lake Blue Cypress at about 3pm. We hope to be photographing lots of Ospreys. The plan is to photograph from his boat on Friday morning and afternoon and on Saturday morning while dining on some fine fish on the pool deck during our down time.

This post took about 1 1/2 hours to prepare and makes fifty-four days in a row with a new one. Please remember …

Please Remember

With income from IPTs now at zero, please, if you enjoy and learn from the blog, remember to use one of my two affiliate programs when purchasing new gear. Doing so just might make it possible for me to avoid having to try to get a job as a Walmart greeter and will not cost you a single penny more. And if you use Bedfords and remember to enter the BIRDSASART code at checkout, you will save 3% on every order and enjoy free second-day air shipping. In these crazy times — I am out at least forty to sixty thousand dollars so far due to COVID 19 (with lots more to come) — remembering to use my B&H link or to shop at Bedfords will help me out a ton and be greatly appreciated. Overseas folks who cannot order from the US because of import fees, duties, and taxes, are invited to help out by clicking here to leave a blog thank you gift if they see fit.

Wanted to Buy

If you have a Canon EOS 7D Mark II sitting on the shelf I may have an interested buyer. Please contact me via e-mail.

The BAA Used Gear Page

The Used Gear page continues to be very active. The BAA Used Gear Page is the place to sell your used photographic equipment. We will help you to get your gear sold quickly for 20 to 60% or more than what the big guys are offering … Doubt me? Check out the Recent Sales list for the past eleven months at the bottom of the page.

Sony Alpha a7r IV Mirrorless Digital Camera Body

Price Reduced $250 on 11 FEB 2021

BAA-friend Robert Kimbrell is offering a Sony a7r IV Mirrorless Digital camera body in like-new condition for the ridiculously low price of $1948.00 (was $2198.00). The sale includes the original box and everything that came in it and insured UPS ground shipping to lower-48 US addresses. Your new camera will not ship until payment clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Robert via e-mail or by phone at 1-239 848-0451 after 5pm Eastern time on weekdays only please.

For the past two years you have seen the incredible detail in my a7r IV images made with a variety of SONY lenses and both teleconverters. I’ve typically used my 7r IV for about 50% of my bird photography and my a9 II in pure flight situations. As the 7r IV sells new right now for $2998.00, you can save a cool $1050.00 by grabbing Robert’s pretty much new a7r iv. Though this 61-MP body is especially attractive to landscape and macro photographers, it is great for birds as well as you can pretty much crop to your heart’s content. artie

Sony Alpha a7r IV Mirrorless Digital Camera Body

Price Reduced $200 on 2 FEB 2021
Price Reduced $150 on 11 FEB 2021

BAA-friend Craig Elson is offering a Sony a7r IV Mirrorless Digital camera body in like-new condition for the very low price of $2048.00 (was $2398.00). The body had a glass LCD protector on it from the moment it was taken out of the box. The sale includes the original box and everything that came in it and insured UPS ground shipping to lower-48 US addresses. Your new camera will not ship until payment clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Craig via e-mail or by phone at 1-704.904.7953 (Pacific time zone).

For the past two years you have seen the incredible detail in my a7r IV images made with a variety of SONY lenses and both teleconverters. I’ve typically used my 7r IV for about 50% of my bird photography and my a9 II in pure flight situations. As the 7r IV sells new right now for $2998.00, you can save a cool $950.00 by grabbing Craig’s pretty much new a7r iv. Though this 61-MP body is especially attractive to landscape and macro photographers, it is great for birds as well as you can pretty much crop to your heart’s content. artie

Sony Alpha a7r IV Mirrorless Digital Camera Body

Price Reduced $200 on 5 FEB 2021

Craig Mossey is offering a SONY a7r iv in near-mint condition with 3049 shutter actuations for the BAA record-low price of $2198.00 (was $2398.00). The sale includes the original box, one battery, the battery charger, the USB wall plug and charging cord, the original documentation, the front cap, the camera strap, and insured FEDEX ground shipping to lower US addresses only.

Please contact Craig via e-mail or by phone at 1-561.447.2911 Eastern time zone.

For the past two years you have seen the incredible detail in my a7r IV images made with a variety of SONY lenses and both teleconverters. I’ve typically used my 7r IV for about 50% of my bird photography and my a9 II in pure flight situations. As the 7r IV sells new right now for $2998.00, you can save a cool $800.00 by grabbing Craig’s practically new a7r iv. Though this 61-MP body is especially attractive to landscape and macro photographers, it is great for birds as well as you can pretty much crop to your heart’s content. artie

The RawDigger e-Guide

The RawDigger e-Guide with Two Videos

by Arthur Morris with Patrick Sparkman

The RawDigger e-Guide was created only for serious photographers who wish to get the absolute most out of their raw files.

Patrick and I began work on the guide in July 2020! At first we struggled. We asked questions. We learned about Max-G values. We puzzled as to why the Max G values for different cameras were different. IPT veteran Bart Deamer asked lots of questions that we could not answer. We got help from RawDigger creator Iliah Borg. We learned. In December, Patrick came up with an Adapted Histogram that allows us to evaluate the exposures and raw file brightness for all images created with all digital camera bodies from the last two decades. What we learned each time prompted three head-to-toe re-writes of the guide.

The point of the guide is to teach you to truly expose to the mega-Expose-to-the-Right so that you will minimize noise, maximize image quality, best utilize your camera’s dynamic range, and attain the highest possible level of shadow detail in your RAW files in every situation. In addition, your properly exposed RAW files will contain more tonal information and feature the smoothest possible transitions between tones. And your optimized images will feature rich, accurate color.

We teach you why the GREEN channel is almost always the first to over-expose. We save you money by advising you which version of RawDigger you need. We teach you how to interpret the Max G values for your Canon, Nikon, and SONY camera bodies. It is very likely that the Shock-your-World section will shock you. And lastly — thanks to the technical and practical brilliance of Patrick Sparkman — we teach you a simple way to quickly and easily evaluate your exposures and raw file brightness using an Adapted RawDigger histogram.

The flower video takes you through a session where artie edits a folder of images in Capture One while checking the exposures and Max-G values in RawDigger. The Adapted Histogram video examines a series of recent images with the pink histograms and covers lots of fine points including and especially how to deal with specular highlights. The directions for setting up the Adapted Histogram are in the text.

If we priced this guide based on how much effort we put into it, it would sell it for $999.00. But as this guide will be purchased only by a limited number of serious photographers, we have priced it at $51.00. You can order yours here in the BAA Online Store.

134 sold to rave reviews. The SONY e-Guide by Patrick Sparkman and Arthur Morris

The Sony Camera User’s e-Guide (and Videos)

Click here to purchase the guide with one Camera Set-up Video. Be sure to e-mail us by clicking here to specify your camera body so that we can send you a link for the correct video.

Click here to purchase the guide with two Camera Set-up Videos. Be sure to e-mail us by clicking here to specify your two camera bodies so that we can send you links for the correct videos.

Click here to learn more about the SONY e-Guide.

Folks who have used my B&H affiliate links or purchased their SONY gear are invited to e-mail for discount information.

New and Better Bedfords Discount Policy!

You can now save 3% on all of your Bedfords photo gear purchases by entering the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout. Your discount will be applied to your pre-tax total. In addition, by using the code you will get 2nd day air shipping via Fed Ex.

Grab a Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III and save $14.99. Purchase a Canon EOS R5 and your discount will be $116.97. Purchase a Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and save a remarkable $389.94! Your Bedford’s purchase no longer needs to be greater than $1,000.00 for you to receive a discount. The more you spend, the more you save.

Money Saving Reminder

Many have learned that if you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H and would enjoy free overnight shipping, your best bet is to click here, place an order with Bedfords, and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If an item is out of stock, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592 (Central time). Be sure to mention the BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order to save 3% and enjoy free 2nd-day air shipping. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H and everywhere else. The wait lists at the big stores can be a year or longer for the hard to get items. Steve will surely get you your gear long before that. For the past year, he has been helping BAA Blog folks get their hands on items like the SONY a9 ii, the SONY 200-600 G OSS lens, the Canon EOS R5, the Canon RF 100-500mm lens, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is personable, helpful, and eager to please.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs (remember those?) and dozens of photographers 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. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices.

This image was created late on 31 January 2021 at Black Point Drive, Merritt Island NWR, FL. Working from the crushed-limestone road, I used the Induro GIT 404L/Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, Sony FE 1.4x teleconverter, and the blazingly fast AF King, the Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital Camera Body. ISO 500. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/2000 sec at f/5.6 in Manual mode. RawDigger (see below) showed this one to be perfect. AWB at 7:27am on as the sun struggled to break through the clouds. Tracking Expand Flexible Spot/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed to perfection. Click the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Tricolored Heron ruffling sunset silhouette

Completing the Flopped Reflection in Photoshop

Today’s featured image was actually made on the Pewter Visions morning when the sun was just breaking through the clouds. As we saw in yesterday’s blog post, I mis-framed the image and cut off part of the reflection. After converting the image in Capture One, I brought the image in Photoshop, expanded canvas below using the Crop Tool method and Content-Aware Fill. The reflection of the bird’s back was a mess. I resorted to a series of Quick Masks to make the repairs. Most important was a vertically flopped, Gaussian-blurred Quick Mask of the bird’s back. All of the Quick Masks were first transformed and then refined by Regular Layer Masks. All (but the Capture One conversion) are detailed in Digital Basics II and APTATS I & II.

The job would have been a lot easier if I knew how to use gradients in Photoshop as the background was darker on the left as the sun was just out of frame on our right of the frame. I will learn to use gradients soon.

Image #1A: The RawDigger Adapted (pink) Histogram for the Tricolored Heron ruffling sunset silhouette. image

The RawDigger Adapted (pink) Histogram

Thanks to the Zebra technology, making perfect exposures with SONY is far easier than it is with the Canon R5 even in difficult situations (as was the case with today’s featured image.

In the RawDigger e-Guide, Patrick and I teach you how to set up and evaluate the Adapted (pink) Histogram. The adapted histogram was completely Patrick’s creation, and works with raw files from pretty much any digital camera now in use. It greatly simplifies all things RawDigger. In the guide you will — of course — learn why the exposure for this raw file is 100% dead-solid perfect.

On an un-related note, the R5 does much better with sensor dust than the SONY bodies. It took me quite a while to clean all the dust posts in today’s SONY image.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.