Slow Shutter Speed Prothonotary Warbler and Central Park Barred Owl Re-do, Images by Anke Frohlich

Greenwich Village Restaurant Recommendation

Three of Cups

I enjoyed a superb meal at a new restaurant in Greenwich Village, Three of Cups. My rare hangar steak was perfectly complemented by roasted potatoes and charred Brussels sprouts. I had the pleasure of being waited on by the owner, Michael Polesny, the former owner of both Doma and Doma Na Rohu, the much-loved West Village Bohemian-inspired bistros. Michael recently set his sights on SoHo as the home of his next venture, Three of Cups. A native New Yorker by way of the Czech Republic, Mike’s cafe concepts simultaneously embrace his European heritage and create a NYC home away from home for anyone seeking good food and good company. The best was saved for last as I was treated to a scrumptious dessert — Strawberry Bublanina, fresh-baked my Michael’s mother!

If you are in Manhattan on business or pleasure, you might very well enjoy a fine dinner at Three of Cups.

What’s Up?

I prepared this blog post on Thursday evening as the Auto Train sped southward through North Carolina. Today is Friday 17 September 2021. I should be arriving in Sanford, FL at about 9am and then home around noon or so. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have/had a great day. This blog post took about two hours to prepare including the time spent on the image optimizations.

Thanks to Anke for sharing today’s two featured images. You can see more of her work here on Instagram.

Remember that you can find some great photo accessories (and necessities!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks who, like me, spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to save 3% at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Please know that the longer you wait to sell your used gear, the less you will get for it …

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Right now, there are lots of excellent buys on the Used Gear Page.

Please Remember

With income from IPTs now close to 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.

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 second-day air 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.

This image was created by Anke Frohlich in Central Park in NYC on 19 August 2021. She used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 2000. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/200 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the raw file brightness was perfect. AWB at 9:08am on a partly cloudy morning. Tracking: Center Zone/AF-C Bird/Eye Detection AF was active at the moment exposure and created a sharp-on-the-eye image. Click on the image to view a larger version. Image #2: Image #1: Prothonotary Warbler, male, Central Park, NY Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Anke Frohlich Photography/Crop, raw conversion, and cleanup by BIRDS AS ART.

Sharp at 600mm hand held at 1/200 second!

Anke was inspired by a Central Park friend to work at slower and slower shutter speeds in low light situations. Doing so, can save you quite a bit on ISO. As I mentioned here recently, photographing warblers in Central Park in the fall is beyond challenging. Creating a sharp image at 600mm with a shutter speed of only 1/200 second, requires excellent hand-holding technique. Had Anke worked at 1/1600 second, she would have needed three stops more of ISO: 16000.

This image was created by Anke Frohlich in Central Park in NYC on October 11, 2020. While resting the lens on a railing for support, she used the hand held Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens (at 400mm) with the super-high megapixel Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital camera body. Exposure data: 1/800 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 1:27pm in the shade on a dark, cloudy afternoon. Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Anke Frohlich Photography/Crop, raw conversion, and cleanup by BIRDS AS ART. You can see more of Anke’s bird photography here. Image #2: Barry, the beloved Central Park Barred Owl: Re-Do

Barred Owl Re-do

In the Barred Owl Tragedy in NYC’s Central Park …blog post here, I posted an Anke Frohlich Barred Owl image and wrote, All are invited to leave a comment and take a stab at the ISO.

The guesses were between 1600 and 3200. The actual ISO was 12800. Thanks to Topaz DeNoise ISO for the great job of noise reduction. In the originally posted image (Image #2A below), some felt that I used too much Gaussian Blur on the rock and that that give the image too much of a painterly look. I lined up a layer of the original, converted, noise-reduced TIF file, added an Inverse (Black, or Hide-all) Mask, and painted the detail on the rock back in in 33% increments. Last was to make a selection of the bird, feather it, and increase the contrast to make the owl pop a bit more.

This image was created by Anke Frohlich in Central Park in NYC on October 11, 2020. While resting the lens on a railing for support, she used the hand held Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens (at 400mm) with the super-high megapixel Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital camera body. Exposure data: 1/800 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 1:27pm in the shade on a dark, cloudy afternoon. Image courtesy of and copyright 2020: Anke Frohlich Photography/Crop, raw conversion, and cleanup by BIRDS AS ART. You can see more of Anke’s bird photography here. Image #2A: Barry, the beloved Central Park Barred Owl, the first version

The Original

Above is the JPEG that appeared in the Barred Owl Tragedy in NYC’s Central Park …blog post here. It is not uncommon to go back to the raw file and re-process an image. Especially with older images made before Topaz DeNoise AI and Topaz Sharpen AI. I will be sharing some of those older, re-processed photos with you here at some point. The differences can be astounding.

Great Topaz News!

Folks who use the BAA Topaz link to purchase Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, or the Utility Bundle (or any other Topaz plug-ins), will receive a 15% discount by entering the ARTHUR15 code at checkout. If the stuff is on sale (as it usually is), you save 15% off of the sale price! To get the discount you must use my link and you must enter the discount code. Be sure to start with this link.

Those who purchase Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, or any other Topaz plug-ins using my link and then entering the ARTHUR15 code at checkout can e-mail to request a short Getting Started with Topaz e-Guide. Please include a copy of your Topaz receipt that shows the discount. Aside from the basics, the guide explains how to install the plug-ins so that they appear in the Photoshop Filter Menu.

Typos

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