If …

If you learn a lot by reading today’s blog post and studying the images, think how much you could learn on a BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour. Check out the schedule here, and then give Jim a call to leave your deposit. Remember, we only live once.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM (with two great extras!)

BAA Record-low Price!

IPT veteran Dane Johnson is offering a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM zoom lens in near-mint condition for a BAA record-low $1,247.00. There are no scratches, dings, or blemishes on the lens body or front/rear lens. The sale includes the original box, the front and rear lens caps, the carrying case with strap, a LensCoat Realtree Snow lens cover (which has been on the lens since it was taken out of the box), an Arca-Swiss compatible Really Right Stuff replacement lens foot LCF-54 (a $110 value), 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 Dane via e-mail or by phone at 559-593-0989.

This incredibly versatile zoom lens — with its amazing .98-meter close focus — was my favorite Canon telephoto zoom lens ever. By far. It is easy to hand hold, great for tight portraits, for birds in flight, for quasi-macro stuff, and lots more. For flight, it is fabulous with an EOS R, R5, R6, or R7! This lens sells new for $2399.00 so you can save a handsome $1152.00 by grabbing Dane’s lens (with two great extras!) right now. artie

What’s Up?

Sunday dawned cloudy but much brighter than Saturday had. I enjoyed an hour-long session at the Vulture Trees. With the soft light, I worked wide and utilized the shapes and colors of the perches and the dead pine trees to full advantage. I had always preferred early morning sun when working the vultures, but after yesterday, I need to re-consider.

I got in two swims, my bursts, and an early 2.1-mile rope flow walk. With NFL Package, I TIVO all the good NFL games each Sunday and then speed-watch them via fast forward. There was a slew of great games yesterday, but none more exciting than the Miami Dolphins comeback victory over the Baltimore Ravens. The Fins trailed by three touchdowns, 35-14 going into the fourth quarter. Led by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Miami raced past the stunned Ravens with a stirring fourth-quarter comeback. Tua threw for 469 yards and six touchdowns, four of which came during the final period. A 7-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle with 14 seconds left put Miami ahead for good after Baltimore had re-taken the lead on a field goal. Whew! (Yes, I was rooting for the Dolphins.)

Today is Monday 19 September and I will be heading down to the lake soon. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took more than two hours to prepare and makes one hundred seventy-eight days in a row with a new one.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

Image #1: Car stuck in muck at ILE/September 18

It Could’ve Been Me

This car, not mine, was stuck in the muck near the pier bathroom. Another was stuck at the north end of the north field. One lady I talked to said that she had seen two other cars towed in the past few days. I had been very lucky on Friday.

Click on the image to enlarge. Image #2: Vulture Trees pano/September 16

Vulture Trees Pano

Number two above is a crop of an iPhone image. The Candelabra tree is on our right. The first tree to the left of that one is another dead pine with lots of perch branches and lots of vultures. Despite all the birds, there are not many good chances as most of the perches offered cluttered backgrounds. With a long lens and careful choice of perspective, you can create some clean images of birds resting or stretching its wings, usually on a horizontal branch. Though we cannot see its trunk, there is a live tree right behind that one. Can you prove that there are five (not four) trees in the main grouping? If yes, please leave a comment.

Far to our left, you can see a single vulture perched atop what was the original Vulture Tree. As mentioned recently, most of the perch branches have rotted and fallen to the ground. When a vulture is perched at the base of the vee of the left-most perch — like the bird in Image #2, I opt not photograph it as I cannot come up with a pleasing image design.

Birds in Trees As Art

This image was created on 18 September 2022 down by the lake near my home at ILE. Standing at full height, I used the no-longer available (except from BAA) Induro GIT 304L tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 840mm), and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 500. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/1600 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was perfect plus. AWB at 8:19:59am on sunny morning with just a bit of haze in the air. Tracking: Spot S/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #3: Turkey Vulture — adult stretching wings, perch-scape

Bingo!

When I saw the bird in Image #3 perched in the clear on the left prong of the vee perch, I walked about sixty yards to my left through the wet grass to get the sensor parallel to the plane of the vulture’s spread wings. I made a few horizontal images before realizing that a vertical would be much better. Note that I went far enough left so that there would be some space between the bird’s left wing and the taller prong on the right. If you wish to create artistic images, just getting the bird in the frame and pushing the shutter button is nowhere near enough, even if the subject is razor sharp. A lot of thought needs to go into the creation of pleasing images.

This image was also created on 13 September 2022 down by the lake near my home at ILE. Standing at full height, I used the no-longer available (except from BAA) Induro GIT 304L tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 840mm), and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 500. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/1600 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was perfect plus. AWB at 8:19:59am on sunny morning with just a bit of haze in the air. Tracking: Spot S/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #4: Turkey Vulture preening/trunk-scape

Trunk-scape

A lot of thought also went into the creation of this image. I made some with the bird in the lower right third before making some with the bird in the upper right third. The latter placement let me include lots of the gorgeous Spanish moss. In addition, the pattern and colors of the bark are a big plus. The orange on the trunk where the bark has fallen off picks up the bit of orange near the end of the perch. You can see this perch bottom right on the Candelabra tree as seen in the pano, Image #2.

Strategy/Image Design Question

The vultures feel safe in the trees; it is child’s play to approach them closely. Why is it better to add the teleconverter and move back rather than to simply move closer to get the same framing? Note that for both of today’s featured images, I did move back to get the beautiful framing that I wanted.

The Stronger Image?

Which of today’s two featured images, #3 and #4, do you like best? All are invited to leave a comment and let us know why they made their choice. Or not. Life is about choices.

Typos

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