The Seemingly Endless Battle!

Your Favorite?

Please leave a comment and let us know which of today’s three featured images you like best and why you made your choice. Enjoy this weekend’s NFL games. I was sad to learn yesterday of the death of Rock and Roll legend Michael Lee Aday, better known as Meat Loaf. The song above was his only #1 hit and resurrected his career in the early 1990s after a long drought. I saw him perform live with my late-wife Elaine in Orlando just months before her death from breast cancer in 1994.

What’s Up?

We had a stellar morning at Santee Lakes Preserve on Friday. We got there early and it was very cold. As I had hoped, we enjoyed fire-in-the mist conditions. Then it was on to the ducks. I discovered a great gold water background (with killer blue streaks as the birds disturbed the water) so we sat on that and had fun. We did well on the Wood Ducks. And the Ring-necked Ducks. And we had a gorgeous pair of Gadwall. And amazingly, four Cinnamon Teal! Yikes! I almost forgot the most exciting event. Keep reading to see what happened.

Carolyn and Marni headed home after brunch. Bill Schneider and I returned to La Jolla Cove and did the nesting Brandt’s Cormorants and then some really nice pelican stuff on the cliffs just up the hill. With the pelicans, we worked on shooting through openings in the green leaves of the bushes so that we could add some (suffused) green whenever possible. I kissed Bill and his wife Karen goodbye and then got to bed early. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about ninety minutes to prepare and makes 71 days in a row with a new one.

Inexpensive shared lodging is available for the San Diego Mini IPT (info below). Please contact me via e-mail to inquire about the late-registration discount. So far it is just me.

Today is Saturday 22 January 2022. The forecast for the next two mornings is for clear and sunny with a light NE breeze. I am torn between going back to Santee or heading for the cliffs at La Jolla. Both have been superb recently. I will make up my mind when I walk out the door of my AirBnB.

Please remember that you can find some great photo accessories (and necessities, like surf booties!) 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 earn 3% cash back 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.

Canon 600mm f4L IS II lens

John Flynn is offering a Canon 600mm f4L IS II lens in excellent condition for a BAA record-low $4899.00. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original tough front lens cover, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower-48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail or by phone at 1-860-944-7489 EST (CT area code, FL resident).

The 600mm f/4 lenses have been the state of the art super-telephotos for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports for many years. When I was using Canon and could get it to my location, my 600 II was always my go-to weapon. It is fast and sharp and deadly alone or with either TC. With a new 600 III going for $12,999 and used version IIs hard to find, you’d do well to grab John’s lens ASAP. artie

This image was created on 21 January 2022 at Santee Lakes Preserve in Santee, CA. Working off the flattened (no-longer-available) Induro GIT 304L tripod topped by a Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro, I used the Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 640. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/800 sec. at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 9:19:02am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Center Zone AF/C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed quite well. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1: American Coots battling

The Battling Begins

When we got seated on the bank of my favorite Santee Lake, I told the group that it was likely that we might get to photograph some serious coot fights. And that is exactly what happened at 9:19am. It seemed as if the fight went on forever. I guess when it comes to bird battles, ones lasting more than two minutes are both very rare and very exciting events.

This image was created on 21 January 2022 at Santee Lakes Preserve in Santee, CA. Working off the flattened (no-longer-available) Induro GIT 304L tripod topped by a Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro, I used the Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 800. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/1000 sec. at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 9:20:04am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Center Zone AF/C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed quite well. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #2: American Coots battling

My Less Than Ideal Set-up

To take full advantage of the gold and blue backgrounds ,I sat as close to the lake as possible with the tripod flattened. I leveled the silver ball of the Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro and worked off the tilted rear monitor. That worked fairly well with the swimming ducks but when the fighting began, it was difficult to see the Zebras through the action even though I did have my reading glasses on. RawDigger showed that the beaks of all of the coots were slightly over-exposed, but with the over-exposures all in the GREEN channel I was able to restore the detail using techniques from the Saving the Whites (and lots more!) Video.

When I go back, I will work seated so that I will be in better control of both Zebras and AF.

The Saving the WHITEs (and lots more!) Video image

The Saving the Whites (and lots more!) Video

My two biggest challenges when optimizing images are getting the BLUEs just right, and restoring detail to the WHITEs and highlights of properly exposed raw files. There are four things that I do to accomplish the latter. All are covered in detail in this 21+ minute video, along with a dirty trick to try if the first four do not work perfectly. Sit with me at my laptop as I teach you how to save the WHITEs. I begin with the raw conversions of two different raw files, first with the Snowy Owl image featured here, and then with Joe Usewicz’s spoonbill image that was featured in the Extraordinary Over-Exposed (?) Spoonbill/Saving the WHITEs Optimization blog post here.

In addition to learning how to save the WHITEs (in both images), you will learn how to expand canvas using the amazingly convenient Content-Aware Crop Tool, to set the White Balance (color temperature), to set the WHITE and BLACK points, see Digital Eye Doctor and RawDigger in action, learn to make a Color Range Selection, and lots more.

To purchase your copy of the Saving the Whites Video (and lots more!) video, you can send a PayPal for $37.00 to us at birdsasart@verizon.net, call Jim in the office at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand, or visit the item in the BAA Online store by clicking here.

This image was created on 21 January 2022 at Santee Lakes Preserve in Santee, CA. Working off the flattened (no-longer-available) Induro GIT 304L tripod topped by a Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro, I used the Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 640. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/1000 sec. at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 9:21:15am on a sunny morning. Tracking: Center Zone AF/C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed quite well. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #3: American Coots battling

Shutter Speeds for Action

When the battles began, I thought that I had been at 1/1000 sec. When I noticed that I had been at only 1/800 sec., I raised the shutter speed one click to better freeze the action. Most of the several hundred fight images were sharp enough in a really difficult situation for AF. Tracking Zone did just fine as most of the unsharp images were due to motion blur rather than missed focus. I kept only 17, those determined by wing and foot/feet positions, head angle, and the positioning of both combatants.

The Image Optimizations

Aside from restoring detail in all of the well-lit coot bills, I replaced the eye of the “other” coot in each image. Eye Doctor work was done on all three of the photos. Image #2 was cropped slightly while the other two are full frame.

San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects, including and especially the Pacific race of California Brown Pelican. With annual visits spanning more than four decades, I have lots of photographic experience there … Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

The 2022 San Diego Brown Pelicans (and more!) Mini IPT. Monday 24 January thru the morning session on Wednesday 26 January 2022. Three mornings and two afternoons: $1649.00. Deposit: $499.00. Limit: 6 photographers

Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s (nesting with eggs and possibly chicks) and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, Northern Shoveler and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heermann’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others are possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions. And as you can see by studying the IPT cards, there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well. Not to mention a ton of excellent flight photography opportunities and instruction.

Please note: where permitted and on occasion, ducks and gulls may be attracted (or re-located) with offerings of grains or healthy bread.

Learning Exposure, Whether You Like It Or Not

Whether you like it or not, we will be beating the subject of exposure like a dead horse. In every new situation, you will hear my thoughts on the exposure situation along with my thoughts on both Nikon and Canon histograms and SONY Zebras. Whether you like it or not, you will learn to work in manual mode and to get the right exposure every time as long as a bird gives you ten seconds with the light constant. (Or two seconds with SONY zebras…) And you will learn what to do when the light is changing constantly. What you learn about exposure is one of the great takeaways on every IPT.

Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT, there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

It Ain’t Just Pelicans

With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography as well, often with 70-200mm lenses! And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication. You will be guided as to how to make the best of all of those opportunities. And depending on the weather and local conditions and tides, there are a variety of other fabulous photo chances available in and around San Diego.

Did I mention that there are lots of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter? Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

The San Diego Details

This IPT will include five three hour morning photo sessions, four one and one-half afternoon photo sessions, four working brunches that will include image review and Photoshop sessions. On rare cloudy day occasions, we may — at my discretion, stay out in the morning for a long session and skip that afternoon. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility. And so that we can get some sleep, dinners will be on your own as well. In the extremely unlikely event that Goldfish Point is closed due to local ordinance (or whimsy) — that has never happened in the past fifty years, I will of course do my very best to maximize our photographic opportunities.

A $499 deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. Best would be to call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, is due immediately.

Variety is surely the spice of life in San Diego. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

Getting Up Early and Staying Out Late

On all BIRDS AS ART IPTS including and especially the San Diego IPT, we get into the field early to take advantage of unique and often spectacular lighting conditions and we stay out late to maximize the chances of killer light and glorious sunset silhouette situations. We often arrive at the cliffs a full hour before anyone else shows up to check out the landscape and seascape opportunities.

Typos

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