Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

What’s Up?

Well, we made it to Oulu and learned quickly that with the late spring, everything frozen, north winds, and even colder weather predicted that there are very few Ruffs in town and that the chances of photographing them on the lek before we leave are somewhere between slim and none.

NATURE Photography

N A T U R E: not always the ultimate recreational experience … Sometimes we make long term plans based on decades of predictable migratory patterns and breeding bird behavior only to be thwarted when Mother Nature throw a big monkey wrench into the mix.

I finally made it to Cordova, Alaska in May, 2005. I was told that the peak of Western Sandpiper migration averaged from April 30 through May 8 so I arrived on April 28th. My friend/host/guide Milo Burcham promptly informed me that 350,000 birds had departed the mud flats on the evening of April 27. The best laid plans …

The result? A BBC-honored image created when Milo led me to a packed group of sandpipers on a small mud flat behind a local supermarket.

Will we get to photograph Ruff in Oulu? Who knows.

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.

Please Don’t Forget …

As always–and folks have been doing a really great job for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major and minor gear purchases. For best results, use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

This image was created at Gatorland on April 8, 2017. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 200. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/10 in Manual mode. WB: 7900K. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. Four AF points up and one from the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand rear focus AF on the bird’s head and release. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Backlit Anhinga preening

Not Your Everyday Gatorland Image …

There were some light clouds in front of the rising sun so the images with rich, golden, early morning rich light on the nesting Great Egrets were not there for the taking so I looked for something to photograph using the yellow backlight. I spotted this preening Anhinga in a tree with several Double-crested Cormorant nests across the gator moat. I created about 200 images and kept two. Today’s featured image was my favorite.

The lesson as always to look around, see what grabs you — in the this case, the yellow backlight, find a potential subject, and then choose your perspective carefully so that you might achieve the desired result, the vision that you have seen in your mind’s eye. Join me at Gatorland on the weekend of May 13-14, 2017 to learn to see and think like a pro and to fine tune the basics.

BIRDS AS ART May 13-14 Gatorland In-the Field Instructional Meet-Up Sessions

Join me in Kissimmee, FL for all or part of the weekend of May 13-14, 2017. We should get to photograph several species of nesting herons and egrets as well as Wood Stork, American Alligator (captive), and more. We should get to make lots of head portraits of all the bird species and to photograph chicks and fledged young. Learn to see, find, and make the shot in cluttered settings. Learn exposure and how to handle WHITEs. Learn fill flash and flash as main light. All of the birds are free and wild. These inexpensive sessions are designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to see you there.

May 13-14, 2017 Schedule

• Saturday May 13 Meet-up Morning (early entry): 7:30 till 10:30am: $99.
• Lunch and Image Review: $99.
• Saturday afternoon till closing (late stay): $99.
• Sunday May 14 Meet-up Morning, (early entry): 7:30 till 10am: $80.

Cheap Canon lens rentals available: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, or 200-400.

To pay for one or more sessions in full via credit card, call Jim or Jen in the office weekdays at 863-692-0906. You will be responsible for the cost of your Gatorland Photographer’s pass or passes. Please shoot me an e-mail with questions.

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.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

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 :).

What’s Up?

So, we get to the gate for the short flight to Kuusamo on a pretty good-sized Embrear jet. Anita North, who was at the gate early, gives us the bad news: we will need to gate check our Think Tank bags, not because they were too large for the overhead, but because they were all far too heavy. Mine was 44 1/2 pounds. The limit is 8kg, 17.6 pounds … Mike Gotthelf asked if he could board early with his camera gear and the gate agent said “Yes.” I asked Mike if he mentioned the weight of his rolling bag and somewhat sheepishly he answered, “No.”

So, following my own advice in the Air Travel With Big Lenses: Dealing With Puddle Jumpers blog post here, I approached the gate agent. “Good morning. We need your help. There are four of us traveling on holiday with lots of expensive camera gear. Our carry-ons are way above the legal weight limit. If we gate check the bags there is a chance that some or all of our gear might be badly damaged and if that happened our trip would be ruined. Some of the gear is quite expensive; the stuff in my bag alone costs close to $40,000 US.

He said, “I will take you for early boarding. I have spoken to the folks on board and they will see if they can get your photo gear in the closet (crew locker). “Wow, I said, that would be wonderful. Kiitos.”

Big smiles all around. He did what he said he would do and the flight crew was beyond helpful. More proof that the Universe is kind.

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.

Please Don’t Forget …

As always–and folks have been doing a really great job for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major and minor gear purchases. For best results, use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

Amazing Item #1

While working on the LensAlign Mark II/FocusTune Micro-adjusting tutorial before I left, I was having trouble producing really tight clusters working on the Mongoose with the Induro GIT 304L so I went to the Wimberley V2 head on the heavier duty Induro GIT 404L. I was able to lock down the Wimberley head much more securely than the Mongoose; play was greatly reduced so that it was much easier to keep the AF point right on the line on the skinny, vertical rectangular black and white target. I was able to produce much tighter clusters with the Wimberley than with my beloved Mongoose.

As we will be in blinds throughout the trip I brought both the Mongoose and the Wimberley head to Finland. As I do 98% of my photography in the field without locking down the tripod head, I will continue to use the Mongoose M3.6 as my main tripod head to enjoy its lighter weight. The Wimberley weighs in at 3 lbs. 3.5 ounces, the Mongoose M3.6 is 1 lb 9.2 ounces. That makes the Wimberley 1 lb 10.3 ounces heavier, just a bit more than twice as heavy as a Mongoose …

Amazing Item #2

I packed the following in my Airport Security™ V 2.0 Rolling Camera Bag:

600 II, 200-400 with internal 1.4X TC, 70-200mm f/4L IS, two 5D Mark IV bodies, one 1DX Mark II body, three 1.4X TCs, two 2X III TCs, three spare 5D IV batteries, and my Delkin flash card tote.

As I said, amazing. And only 44.5 pounds. I finished this blog post up in the Helsinki Airport where I am about to be forced to gate check my rolling bag for the flight to Kuusamo.

My Finland Lekking IPT Gear Bag: With One Surprising Omission …

What’s in the bag?

Two Canon 5D Mark IV Bodies

One of my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR bodies has a battery grip, the other does not. The one with the grip will serve as my primary body, the other as a back up. The 5D Mark IV offers large, high quality image files with mind-boggling dynamic range and its full frame sensor offers complete wide and super wide angle coverage.

One Canon EOS-1DX Mark II Body

I decided at the last moment to take the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II in case we get lucky with dancing and fighting Ruffs when its faster frame rate will likely pay big dividends.

Weapon of Mass Destruction: Canon 600m f/4L IS II Lens

The Canon Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens will serve as my workhorse telephoto lens on this trip. Often with either the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III or the Canon Extender EF 2X III. When you need a fast lens with maximum reach, the 600 II is the way to go.

Mr. Versatile: Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM lens with Internal 1.4x Extender

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM lens with Internal 1.4x Extender. I am bringing the 2-4 as my understanding is that in some of the blinds the grouse will be very close. Why not the amazing Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens that I love and use most every day? On this trip we will spend four nights sleeping in the blinds for at least part of the night. That means that we will be doing lots of low light photography in the early mornings. So the 1-stop faster 200-400 with Internal Extender was the obvious choice though it will — along with the 600 II — present some air travel challenges.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM Lens

I am taking the lightweight Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens and leaving the faster, heavier Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens at home. I have the tripod ring (extra purchase required) with me in case I need the lens for some scenics. The Wimberley P-20 plate is perfect for most intermediate telephoto lenses and works perfectly with all Arca-Swiss compatible tripod heads (and clamps).

I have three Canon Extenders EF 1.4X III and two Canon Extender EF 2X III in my Think Tank rolling bag. Teleconverters are an integral part of my approach to photography and I cannot afford to be without the ones I need due to accident or malfunction. All are micro-adjusted with each camera body/lens combo. That makes for a lot of work.

A while back I sold my 24-105 and purchased the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens but recently I sold the 24-70 II and got myself a new copy of the amazingly versatile Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM lens for several reasons:

1-it is image stabilized.
2-the 77mm filter size is much more convenient for me.
3-it is a perfect fit with the 11-24 and a pretty good fit with the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II lens. Note how perfectly the 70-200 meshes with the 200-400.

I have my beloved Mongoose M3.6 tripod head along for use with the 600 II, the 200-400, and the 70-200 f/4. Both big lenses are equipped with the CRX-5 Low Foot mounted so that the lens is centered right over the tripod. This prevents the lens torquing in the wind or when the tripod is set up slightly off kilter.

My Induro GIT 304L tripod is packed in one of my two checked bags. Those who are finally realizing that the Induro tripods are far superior to the more expensive Gitzo tripods are invited to contact me via e-mail; let me know how tall you are and I will let you know the perfect Induro tripod for you.

The Surprise Omission

My much loved Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens is completely counterfeited by the 200-400 with the internal TC. The latter gives me a stop more light and 784mm of full frame reach with an external TC added. That as compared to 560mm with the 1-4II and the 1.4X III TC.

Think Tank Rolling Bags

I will be using the larger of my two Think Tank rolling bags, the Airport Security™ V 2.0 Rolling Camera Bag. Everything above fit easily into my Airport Security™ V 2.0 Rolling Camera Bag on Saturday afternoon. It tipped the scales at 45 1/2 pounds for this trip; the legal limit for US flights is 40 pounds. Nearly all countries in the world give you slack as far as the 40 pounds goes on the way back to the US. As far as the extra 5 1/2 pounds, I have only been hassled for weight once in more than three decades of flying around the world. And never in Japan. I hope that I do not give myself a kine-ahora.

Please click on my Think Tank affiliate link here or on the Think Tank logo-link in the right column of each blog post page to earn a free gift when you purchase any Think Tank product.

Think Tank Urban Disguise Laptop Shoulder Bag

I love this amazing bag as it has tons of room and enables me to bring tons of extra stuff. If you are forced to gate check your roller you can get more than a few items in this bag, especially if you are not a diabetic.

Please click on my Think Tank affiliate link here or on the Think Tank logo-link in the right column of each blog post page to earn a free gift when you purchase any Think Tank product.

Delkin Flash Cards

As always, I will have a 128gb Delkin e-Film Pro Flash Card in each camera body so that I never have to change cards in the field thus reducing the risk of losing a card…. Please note the new lower prices here. I do have a few extra 32 and 64gb cards in a Delkin CF Memory Card Tote, mostly to protect against operator error.

Vested Interest Xtrahand Vest

Mu understanding is that John Storrie closed up shop … I have e-mailed him and report back on what I learn …

I use a custom-designed Vested Interest Xtrahand Magnum vest that John Storrie (of Vested Interest) knows as the BIRDS AS ART Big Lens Vest. It is based on their Magnum vest and then customized to fit my needs. In addition to carrying a ton of stuff comfortably in the field, it gives you a measure of protection should your roll aboard be gate-checked on a puddle jumper or on other flights.

If you do a search for “vest’ or “vested interest” on the blog it will take you to many mentions in both the blog and the Bulletins with lots of additional information. See especially here and here.

BIRDS AS ART May 13-14 Gatorland In-the Field Instructional Meet-Up Sessions

Join me in Kissimmee, FL for all or part of the weekend of May 13-14, 2017. We should get to photograph several species of nesting herons and egrets as well as Wood Stork, American Alligator (captive), and more. We should get to make lots of head portraits of all the bird species and to photograph chicks and fledged young. Learn to see, find, and make the shot in cluttered settings. Learn exposure and how to handle WHITEs. Learn fill flash and flash as main light. All of the birds are free and wild. These inexpensive sessions are designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to see you there.

May 13-14, 2017 Schedule

• Saturday May 13 Meet-up Morning (early entry): 7:30 till 10:30am: $99.
• Lunch and Image Review: $99.
• Saturday afternoon till closing (late stay): $99.
• Sunday May 14 Meet-up Morning, (early entry): 7:30 till 10am: $80.

Cheap Canon lens rentals available: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, or 200-400.

To pay for one or more sessions in full via credit card, call Jim or Jen in the office weekdays at 863-692-0906. You will be responsible for the cost of your Gatorland Photographer’s pass or passes. Please shoot me an e-mail with questions.

DeSoto in spring is rife with tame and attractive birds. From upper left clockwise to center: breeding plumage Dunlin, dark morph breeding plumage Reddish Egret displaying, breeding plumage Laughing Gull/front end vertical portrait, breeding plumage Laughing Gull with prey item, Laughing Gull on head of Brown Pelican, screaming Royal Tern in breeding plumage, Royal Terns/pre-copulatory stand, Laughing Gulls copulating, breeding plumage Laughing Gull/tight horizontal portrait, Sandwich Tern with fish, and a really rare one, White-rumped Sandpiper in breeding plumage, photographed at DeSoto in early May.

BIRDS AS ART May 20-21 Fort DeSoto In-the Field Instructional Meet-Up Sessions

Join me in Tierra Verde, FL for all or part of the weekend of May 20-21, 2017. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus. You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. These inexpensive sessions are designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

May 20-21, 2017 Schedule

• Saturday May 20 Meet-up Morning: 6:30 till 10:00am: $99.
• Lunch and Image Review: $99.
• Saturday afternoon: 4pm till sunset: $99.
• Sunday May 21 Meet-up Morning, Meet-up Morning: 6:30 till 10:00am: $99.

Cheap Canon lens rentals available: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, or 200-400.

To pay for one or more sessions in full via credit card, call Jim or Jen in the office weekdays at 863-692-0906. You will be responsible for the cost of your Gatorland Photographer’s pass or passes. Please shoot me an e-mail with questions.

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.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

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 :).

What’s Up?

My flight from Orlando to JFK is delayed 2 1/2 hours. If that is the end of it, I should still make the flight to Helsinki. Time will tell. With love to all and at peace, artie

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.

Please Don’t Forget …

As always–and folks have been doing a really great job for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major and minor gear purchases. For best results, use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

These two images were created down by the lake near my home on afternoon of April 17, 2017 with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 560mm) and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/400 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. WB: 7900K. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: 0. Left Large Zone/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. In image 6579 (on the left) the AF system activated a point on the bird’s neck, in 6580 (on the right) the AF system activated two AF points near the back of the bird’s head. For a better comparison of the two images, click on the composite to view a larger version. Sandhill Crane colt at sunset: two-frame sequence.

Your Call

Would you keep one, both, or neither? Image #6579 is the one on the left, #6580 is on the right. Be sure to click on the image to enlarge the two photos and be sure to state your reasons clearly. Do you see one or the other as sharper? Which image design is stronger?

100-400II, 1.4X III TC, 5D IV Combo …

I continue to be amazed by the versatility and usefulness of this combo for bird photography. On my Gatorland afternoon visits and during several Fort DeSoto IPT sessions, I left the big glass in the car and enjoyed a very relaxing and strain-free hand holding session. And that with a full frame camera body … I enjoy the freedom that hand holding brings, the great 280 to 560mm zoom range, the amazing 4-stop Image Stabilizer system, the incredible sharpness (even with the TC), and the fabulous close focus of less than one meter (about 39 inches).

Hey Arthur,

I had a great time at the DeSoto meet-up. Even though there was not as many birds as there were on most mornings, I still got some good images of the Great Blue Heron and the Laughing Gulls mating. I believe I learned more in those three hours than I have in a year. Thanks again for everything.
Sincerely, John

This flash as main light image was created a few years back with the old 400 DO, the 2X III TC, and the 1D Mark IV. We should have some good chances with chicks getting fed on the Gatorland weekend. The details follow immediately.

BIRDS AS ART May 13-14 Gatorland In-the Field Instructional Meet-Up Sessions

Join me in Kissimmee, FL for all or part of the weekend of May 13-14, 2017. We should get to photograph several species of nesting herons and egrets as well as Wood Stork, American Alligator (captive), and more. We should get to make lots of head portraits of all the bird species and to photograph chicks and fledged young. Learn to see, find, and make the shot in cluttered settings. Learn exposure and how to handle WHITEs. Learn fill flash and flash as main light. All of the birds are free and wild. These inexpensive sessions are designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to see you there.

May 13-14, 2017 Schedule

• Saturday May 13 Meet-up Morning (early entry): 7:30 till 10:30am: $99.
• Lunch and Image Review: $99.
• Saturday afternoon till closing (late stay): $99.
• Sunday May 14 Meet-up Morning, (early entry): 7:30 till 10am: $80.

Cheap Canon lens rentals available: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, or 200-400.

To pay for one or more sessions in full via credit card, call Jim or Jen in the office weekdays at 863-692-0906. You will be responsible for the cost of your Gatorland Photographer’s pass or passes. Please shoot me an e-mail with questions.

DeSoto in spring is rife with tame and attractive birds. From upper left clockwise to center: breeding plumage Dunlin, dark morph breeding plumage Reddish Egret displaying, breeding plumage Laughing Gull/front end vertical portrait, breeding plumage Laughing Gull with prey item, Laughing Gull on head of Brown Pelican, screaming Royal Tern in breeding plumage, Royal Terns/pre-copulatory stand, Laughing Gulls copulating, breeding plumage Laughing Gull/tight horizontal portrait, Sandwich Tern with fish, and a really rare one, White-rumped Sandpiper in breeding plumage, photographed at DeSoto in early May.

BIRDS AS ART May 20-21 Fort DeSoto In-the Field Instructional Meet-Up Sessions

Join me in Tierra Verde, FL for all or part of the weekend of May 20-21, 2017. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus. You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. These inexpensive sessions are designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

May 20-21, 2017 Schedule

• Saturday May 20 Meet-up Morning: 6:30 till 10:00am: $99.
• Lunch and Image Review: $99.
• Saturday afternoon: 4pm till sunset: $99.
• Sunday May 21 Meet-up Morning, Meet-up Morning: 6:30 till 10:00am: $99.

Cheap Canon lens rentals available: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, or 200-400.

To pay for one or more sessions in full via credit card, call Jim or Jen in the office weekdays at 863-692-0906. You will be responsible for the cost of your Gatorland Photographer’s pass or passes. Please shoot me an e-mail with questions.

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.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

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 :).

What’s Up?

A visit to chiropractor TJ McKeon in town on Thursday afternoon had my shoulder feeling well enough for a swim on FRI. I’ve been getting down to the lake most mornings and will spend SAT and SUN packing for Finland. I did finish my micro-adjust session on Friday, learned a ton, worked on the tutorial, and made one very interesting discovery. I fly JFK > Helsinki mid-morning on Monday.

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.

Please Don’t Forget …

As always–and folks have been doing a really great job for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major and minor gear purchases. For best results, use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

This image was created 7 miles from my home on State Road 60 on the morning of April 18, 2017 with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 230mm) and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -2/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/8 in Av mode. WB: 7900K. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: 0. Center AF point/AI Servo/Spot/Rear Button AF on the stand of trees on the left; release and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Pine trees at dawn on foggy morning

The Advantages of an Early Morning Blood Test Draw …

There are some really neat farm fields (aka cow pastures) on the way from my home in Indian Lake Estates to town, Lake Wales, FL (and back). And many of the fields are studded with attractive stands of pine trees. Oftentimes, there is some really neat ground fog but until ten days ago, these elements had never come together perfectly. I had blood drawn at 6:30am at the Quest Lab in town and headed home looking for a good spot. I found the location above just as the sun was peeking through the fog. I went to work at first with the tripod-mounted 100-400 II/1.4X III?5D IV combo. I like this one, the widest that I made, because the small tree on the right was just clear of the bushes …

This image was also created 7 miles from my home on State Road 60 on the morning of April 18, 2017, this one with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/640 sec. at f/14 in Manual mode. WB: 6500K. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: 5. Center AF point/AI Servo/Surround/Rear Button AF on the trunk of the tree: release and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Image #2: Pine tree at dawn on foggy morning

To The Big Lens …

As the sun got higher it got clear of the smaller tree on the right but I did not have enough focal length with the 1-4II so I crossed back over Highway 60 and grabbed the big gun with the TC still on the 5D IV. It was perfect once I move well to the west.

Your favorite? Which of today’s featured images is your favorite? Please let us know why?

Palouse 2016 Horizontals Card

Why Different?

Announcing the 2017 BIRDS AS ART Palouse Instructional Photo-Tour

In what ways will the 2017 BIRDS AS ART Palouse Instructional Photo-Tour be different from the most other Palouse workshops?

There are so many great locations that a seven-day IPT (as opposed to the typical three- or five-day workshops) will give the group time to visit (and revisit) many of the best spots while allowing you to maximize your air travel dollars. In addition, it will allow us to enjoy a slightly more relaxed pace.

You will be assured of being in the right location for the given weather and sky conditions.

You will learn and hone both basic and advanced compositional and image design skills.

You will learn to design powerful, graphic images.

You will visit all of the iconic locations and a few spectacular ones that are much less frequently visited.

You will learn long lens landscape techniques.

You will learn to master any exposure situation in one minute or less.

You will learn the fine points of Canon in-camera (5D Mark III, 5DS R, and 7D II) HDR techniques.

You will learn to create this look in Photoshop from a single image while winding up with a higher quality image file.

You will be able to share a variety of my exotic Canon lenses including the Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM lens and the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens, aka the “circle lens.”

You will learn to use your longest focal lengths to create rolling field and Urbex abstracts.

You will learn when and how to use a variety of neutral density filters to create pleasing blurs of the Palouse’s gorgeous rolling farmlands.

As always, you will learn to see like a pro. You will learn what makes one situation prime and another seemingly similar one a waste of your time.

You will learn to see the situation and to create a variety of top-notch images.

You will learn to use super-wide lenses both for big skies and building interiors.

You will learn when, why, and how to use infrared capture; if you do not own an infrared body, you will get to borrow mine.

You will learn to use both backlight and side-light to create powerful and dramatic landscape images.

You will learn to create the very popular detailed, slightly grungy, slightly over-saturated look in Photoshop.

Palouse 2016 Verticals Card

The 2017 BIRDS AS ART Palouse Instructional Photo-Tour
June 8-14, 2017. Seven full days of photography. Meet and greet at 7:30pm on Wednesday, June 7: $2,499. Limit 10/Openings: 7.

Rolling farmlands provide a magical patchwork of textures and colors, especially when viewed from the top of Steptoe Butte where we will enjoy spectacular sunrises and at least one nice sunset. We will photograph grand landscapes and mini-scenics of the rolling hills and farm fields. I will bring you to more than a few really neat old abandoned barns and farmhouses in idyllic settings. There is no better way to improve your compositional and image design skills and to develop your creativity than to join me for this trip. Photoshop and image sharing sessions when we have the time and energy…. We get up early and stay out late and the days are long.

Over the past three years, with the help of my friend Denise Ippolito, we found all the iconic locations and, in addition, lots of spectacular new old barns and breath-taking landforms and vistas. What’s included: In-the-field instruction, guidance, lessons, and inspiration, my extensive knowledge of the area, all lunches, motel lobby grab and go breakfasts, and Photoshop and image sharing sessions. As above, there will be a meet and greet at 7:30pm on the evening before the workshop begins.

To Sign Up

Your non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to hold your spot. Please let me know via e-mail that you will be joining this IPT. Then you can either call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 during business hours to arrange for the payment of your deposit; if by check, please make out to “BIRDS AS ART” and mail it to: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail: artie.

Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options. You can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check. Whenever purchasing travel insurance be sure to read the fine print carefully even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

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.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

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 :).

What’s Up?

The 2017 DeSoto IPT was fabulous with lots of birds and learning and all happy clients. The birds were a bit sparse at the start on the Sunday Morning DeSoto Meet-up but we wound up with two cooperative Great Blue Herons, some copulating Laughing Gulls, and tons of learning on the subjects of exposure, working in Manual mode, camera settings, and AF tips and techniques.

On Monday evening I took my daughter and her family along with friend/client Anita North and Jim Litzenberg, my right hand man to a nice Italian restaurant in Lake Wales (L’Incontro) to celebrate the fact that my home and all of the others in ILE were unscathed by the big fire. I ate too much. But it was very good.

I was glad to learn on Sunday that Christopher Loffredo has signed up for the 2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. There is likely less than a week left to pull the trigger on this great trip. See the details on that just below.

Just so you know, this blog post took about nine hours in all to prepare …

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.

Please Don’t Forget …

As always–and folks have been doing a really great job for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major and minor gear purchases. For best results, use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

Important Notice

2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Monday July 3 through Wednesday July 12, 2017: $5999 + $1499: Limit 10 photographers — Openings: 5). All who register will be required to join the (really cheap) two-day Gannet/Bass Rock Add-on. See below for details.

I will likely need to close registration for the 2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT/Bass Rock Add-on ($1499) on May 1 as I need to finalize the cottage reservations.

Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. Even the prices on the new 600 II and the 200-400 with Internal Extender have been plummeting. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right side of the yellow-orange menu bar above.

Unsolicited, via e-mail, from Gerry Keshka

Hi Artie, I wanted to share how much I appreciate your Used Gear “service.” You have posted how you help sellers, but the other side of the equations is how much this service helps buyers. I have purchased three lenses (Canon 200-400, 500 f4 II, and 70-200 F2.8) all lovely experiences and I saved almost $5K over retail. Each of the sellers was delightful, willing to help me assess if the purchase was right for me by sharing their experience with the lens. Each lens was in the condition advertised (or better), and typically included several “add-ons” that would have cost several hundred dollars.

Unsolicited, via e-mail, from Sandra Calderbank

Hi Artie, I wanted to take a few minutes to thank you. I have sold two camera bodies on your BAA used gear site. Your friendly expertise and knowledgeable, trustworthy buyers have made this an extremely satisfying experience. Selling on BAA Used Gear page is the best transaction experience I have ever encountered. Thank you for all you do for our photography community. Sincerely, Sandra

Recent Successful Used Gear Sales
Big Ticket Items Selling Like Hotcakes on the Used Gear Page in April!

• KW McCulloch sold his Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS lens with Internal 1.4X Extender in excellent plus condition for $8294 in mid-April.
• Stan Hoyt sold his Canon 500mm f4L IS USM Super Telephoto lens in like-new condition (with extras) for the great low price of $3899 soon after it was listed in mid-April.
• Leonard Malkin sold his Canon EF 70-200mm f2/.8 L IS lens excellent condition for $899 in mid-April, 2017.
• Paul Abravaya sold his Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II lens in excellent condition for $5,799 soon after it was re-listed in mid-April.
• David R. Gibson sold a Canon 300mm f/4 L IS USM lens in excellent plus condition for $749 in March, 2017.
• Good friend and multiple IPT veteran Indranil Sircar sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in near-mint condition along with the the Canon BG-11 battery grip for the great low price of $1,579 soon after it was listed in early April.
• Colin Haase sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens in like-new condition for a the BAA record-low price of $9,497 just minutes after I featured it in the blog under the heading “I Cannot Believe that this one has not sold yet …”
• Steve Traudt helped a friend sell her Canon 500mm f4L IS USM lens in near-mint condition for $3899 in late March, a week after it was listed.
• Mike Pace sold his Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II in excellent plus condition locally and is sending me a check for 2 1/2% of the original price.
• BAA friend John Armitage sold his Canon EOS 1D-X in excellent plus condition for $2348 the day it was listed.

New Listings

Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens
Sale Pending!

Larry Peavler is offering a Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens in near mint condition for the amazingly low price of $4199. Used once; would be mint but for a small paint chip on the bottom edge of the tripod ring. The sale includes the lens trunk with keys, the front lens cover, the rear lens cap, and insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Larry via e-mail by phone at 1-317-908-0729 (Eastern time.)

The 300 f/2.8 lenses have long been the first choice of the world’s best hawks in flight photographers and have become increasingly popular with bird photographers working either with crop factor cameras or those who live in areas with relatively tame birds. This lens, the latest version of Canon’s 300 f/2.8L IS, is incredibly sharp with either TC. It is easily hand holdable by most folks. You can add the 1.4X III or the 2X III teleconverter for even greater versatility. artie

Canon Extender EF 2X III

Larry Peavler is also offering a Canon Extender EF 2X III in like-new condition for $369. The sale includes the TC pouch, the front and rear caps, the original product box, and insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Larry via e-mail by phone at 1-317-908-0729 (Eastern time.)

The 2X III TC is a valuable accessory for folks who can use it to make sharp images with f/2.8 or f/4 telephoto lenses. artie

Canon EF 100-400 zoom f/4.5 – 5.6 L IS Telephoto Zoom Lens

Larry Peavler is also offering a Canon EF 100-400 zoom f/4.5 – 5.6 L IS Telephoto Zoom lens, the old 1-4, in excellent condition with some small scratches on the lens hood for $549. The sale includes the original box, the front and rear lens caps, the canvas carrying case & strap,the instruction book, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Larry via e-mail by phone at 1-317-908-0729 (Eastern time.)

The old 100-400 was and is a superb lens. I made hundreds of sale-able images with mine including the one used on the front cover of Scott Weidensaul’s “Return to Wild America”. Contrary to reports by the internet idiots the lens is -– in competent hands -– sharp at all focal lengths and it is sharp wide open. It is extremely versatile and would make a great starter lens for those interested in bird, wildlife, and general nature photography. artie

Questar Field Model 3.4 Telescope with Extras

Larry Peavler is also offering a Questar field model 3.4 telescope in excellent condition for $,1200 a fraction of the original cost. The sale includes all the caps, the 24 mm [53-80x] eyepiece, and a 15X finder, the case with the key, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Larry via e-mail by phone at 1-317-908-0729 (Eastern time.)

Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II USM Zoom Lens

John Beasley is offering a Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II USM Zoom lens in excellent condition for a BAA record-low price of $1498. The sale includes the rear lens cap, front lens cap, the zippered lens case & strap, the original product box, the manual and insured ground shipping via major courier to 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 1-917-374-7527 (EST).

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS Lens with Internal 1.4 Extender with Extras!

John Stuhlmuller is offering a Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS Lens with Internal 1.4 Extender in mint condition with lots of extras for a very low $8149. The sale includes the front lens cover, the rear cap, the wide lens strap, the lens trunk with two keys, a Black TravelCoat, two LensCoats (Forest Green and Digital Camo), a LensCoat RainCoat 2 Pro Camera Cover in Digital Camo, an Aqua Tech Soft Front Lens cover, and insured ground shipping (signature required) via major courier. The lens was recently serviced by Canon.

Contact John via e-mail or by phone at 520-730-6611 (AZ but effectively Pacific time zone).

This is the world’s best lens for a trip to Africa. It kills also in the Galapagos and in South Georgia, the Falklands, and Antarctica. And I use mine a lot at Bosque and other dusty places where the built-in TC helps to keep your sensor clean. And I love it in the Palouse for its versatility. Many nature photographers use it as their workhorse telephoto lens as it offers 884mm at f/8 with an external 1.4X TC added. The lens sells new at B&H right now for $10,999. You can save a slew of dollars by grabbing John’s lens (and all the extras) right now. artie

Canon EOS 5DS R with Extras

John Stuhlmuller is also offering a Canon EOS 5DS R digital camera body in like-new condition with lots of extras for an amazingly low $2799. Lens than 13,000 shutter actuations. The sale includes one Canon BG-E11 Battery Grip with one extra Canon LP-E6N Lithium-Ion battery (2 in all), one LC-E6 battery charger, the front cap, the original Wide Strap EW-EOS5DSR, all the cables and CDs and everything that came in the box, a Kirk L bracket for camera body alone, a Really Right Stuff L bracket for the body with the battery grip, and insured ground shipping (signature required) via major courier. The body was recently serviced by Canon.

Contact John via e-mail or by phone at 520-730-6611 (AZ but effectively Pacific time zone).

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; it’s image quality is unmatched. artie

This image was created by Sunday Morning DeSoto Meet-up Participant Louis Battaglia using the Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 DI VC USD lens for Canon cameras (at 24mm) and the Canon EOS-5D Mark II (now replaced by the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. Image #1: Most of the Sunday DeSoto Meet-up group and the Great Blue Herons Image courtesy of and copyright 2017: Louis Battaglia

The Situation

There were several young Great Blue Herons chasing each other around the beach on Sunday morning. When one of them landed on a sign, I saw a really good teaching situation; most in the group followed me. We talked about the fact that since the light had not changed the exposures we had set for the bird on the beach would still be perfect even though the analogue scale in the viewfinder would show more plus because the sky was lighter than the water in the Gulf. We talked about angle of inclination and about using longer focal lengths (with TCs) to eliminate the sign. When I saw a second GBH approaching I called it out to the group … Just as the second bird unseated the first bird, Louie made the neat image above. Note his great timing!

And note also which photographer has the sandiest butt … (It is very difficult for me to kneel so I sit instead.)

This image was created at Fort DeSoto Park on Sunday morning in cloudy bright conditions with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 140mm) and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at about +1 stop: 1/640 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: 0. A single AF point two to the left and one row down from the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure as framed above. That despite the fact that the active AF point was on the sky below the bird’s belly in front of the bird’s raised right foot. I have no clue as to why the AF point noted above was selected and no idea how the bird’s eye was rendered fairly sharp. Image #2: This is the original image capture

Zoom-stimating or Guess-ti-Zooming

I have covered this concept here before without naming it. The are many times with flight photography where you need to zoom out by anticipating how large in the frame the subject might be as it enters “The Zone,” the spot where it will be flying toward you, be 1/3 frame or larger, and be fairly close to sun angle. It is possible that zooming as you are pressing the shutter button might screw up AF accuracy so I generally avoid doing that. Usually this technique involves zooming from 400mm out to 300mm or so or from 560mm (with the TC) to 400mm or so. I was close to the sign working at 560mm when I noted the flight path of the incoming heron and thought immediately that I would be lucky to fit the bird in the frame when it got to light angle so I zoomed out all the way immediately. To 140mm, the shortest focal length available.

Zoom-stimating or Guess-ti-Zooming?

Which term do you like better to describe zooming out in anticipation of the correct focal length for a bird in flight, zoom-stimating or guess-ti-zooming. Please leave a comment stating your preference.

My Lack of Flight Photography Skills …

Notice above that I failed miserably in panning fast enough to have the bird centered in the frame … I try to make up for decreasing strength, hand eye coordination, and fine motor skills with determination and knowledge. Oh, and a bit of luck.

When Unexpected Action Occurs Press the Shutter Button!

This is another concept that I have been attempting to hammer home for years, even into my own brain. It would have been great to have had time to go to ISO 800 and 1/1600 sec. at f/9. It would have been great to have set the center AF point. But I did not see the approaching bird until it was almost upon us so I raised the lens and fired off two frames. If I had tried to make any changes to my settings I would have wound up with zero flight images.

Note: I am pretty sure that the bird in today’s featured image is the second bird. My memory is telling me that the approaching bird did not land on the sign but continued on to chase the original GBH.

This image was created a from the original image above that was created at Fort DeSoto Park on Sunday morning in cloudy bright conditions with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 140mm) and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at about +1 stop: 1/640 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: 0. A single AF point two to the left and one row down from the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure as framed above. That despite the fact that the active AF point was on the sky below the bird’s belly in front of the bird’s raised right foot. I have no clue as to why the AF point noted above was selected and no idea how the bird’s eye was rendered fairly sharp. Image #3: Great Blue Heron/Awkward Flight: the optimized image

The Optimized Image

After converting the RAW file in DPP 4 (see the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide) I brought the image into Photoshop and executed a relatively large crop. I carefully selected the bird using the Quick Selection Tool (QST) and feathered and saved the selection. Then I placed it on its own layer and applied my NIK 30/30 Detail Extractor/Tonal Contrast recipe. That was fine-tuned just a bit with a Regular Layer Mask. Next I loaded and inverted the selection and placed the sky on its own layer. First I ran Nik Color Efex Pro’s White Neutralizer to juice up the blues and then I pulled down the Curve (Command M) to darken the sky. Next I selected only the darker parts of the bird’s face including the eye and applied a Contrast Mask (Unsharp Mask at 15/65/0) to that layer only. Last was some Eye Doctor work; see the animated GIF immediately below for the details on that. I finished by re-loading the selection, placing it on a copy of the background copy layer, and following the techniques detailed in The Professional Post Processing Guide for applying a small degree of NeatImage Noise Reduction to the bird and more noise reduction to the background.

Pretty much everything that I did with this image is detailed in my Digital Basics File, an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. It includes my complete (former PC) digital workflow, dozens of great Photoshop tips, details on using all of my image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, the basics of using BreezeBrowser and Downloader Pro, Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Dodge and Burn, a variety of other ways of making selections, how to create time-saving actions, and tons more.

Learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair. You can learn to apply Neat Image noise reduction in The Professional Photographers Guide to Post Processing.

I am currently working on an all new BAA Current Workflow e-guide that will better reflect my Macbook Pro/Photo Mechanic/DPP 4/Photoshop workflow. It will include a section on ACR conversions and a simplified method of applying Neat Image noise reduction. Today’s image did not need any noise Reduction.

Your Opinion Needed

If you are on a quality, color corrected monitor, I would appreciate your honest opinion on the following before you take a look at the animated GIF below: in Image #3 immediately above, the optimized image, do you think that the bird looks over-done, that is, did I use too much Detail Extractor/Tonal Contrast? Does the sky look overdone to you, too dark and/or too blue?

Image #4: Great Blue Heron/Awkward Flight whole bird animated GIF

Sharpness, Shutter Speed, and Image Quality Issues …

As you can see by looking at the before images in the two animated GIFs here, this is not the world’s sharpest image. There is a bit of motion blur with a resulting loss of sharpness along with the loss of some fine feather detail. And while the image is not contest winner, it is more than presentable for electronic and web uses. What caused the motion blur? As I was not panning smoothly enough the shutter speed of only 1/640 second was somewhat problematic. And having an incorrect AF point selected did not help either.

Why did I go through hoops to improve the image? I love the awkward pose and the position of the legs along with the perfect head angle and the just soft-enough light.

Please realize that the posterization in the two animated GIFs is introduced during the creation of the animated GIF files and is no way, no how present in the optimized image, #3 above.

Image #5: Great Blue Heron/Awkward Flight head and neck animated GIF

Advanced Eye Doctor Technique

The advanced technique that I used here is actually quite simple. First I used the Clone Stamp Tool with the Align Box un-checked and the hardness set to 50% to brighten the iris. Next I used the Clone Stamp Tool this time with the hardness set to 100% to create sharp edges to the pupil. Again the Align Box was unchecked so that the cursor did not follow as I cloned; in both cases I wanted to be sure to grab my source material from the same spot. Be sure to set the hardness of the Clone Stamp Tool back to 50% when you are done with the pupil.

Photoshop Sessions

Probably no IPT offers as many opportunities for image sharing and Photoshop session as the UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Do not tarry if you would like to join me for this great trip.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Monday July 3 through Wednesday July 12, 2017: $5999 + $1499: Limit 10 photographers — Openings: 4).
All who register will be required to join the (really cheap) two-day Gannet/Bass Rock Add-on. See below for details. See below for details.

Here are the plans: take a red eye from the east coast of the US on July 2 and arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland on the morning of Monday July 3 no later than 10am (or simply meet us then at the Edinburgh Airport–EDI, or later in the day at our cottages if you are driving your own vehicle either from the UK or from somewhere in Europe). Stay 7 nights in one of three gorgeous modern country cottages.

There are five days of planned puffin/seabird trips and one morning of gannet photography, all weather permitting of course. In three years we have yet to miss an entire day because of weather… In addition, we will enjoy several sessions of photographing nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes at eye level.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

The Details

We will get to photograph Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Razorbill, Shag, and Northern Gannet; Arctic, Sandwich, and Common Terns, the former with chicks of all sizes; Black-headed, Lesser-Black-backed, and Herring Gulls, many chasing puffins with fish; Black-legged Kittiwake with chicks. We will be staying in upscale country-side lodging that are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for the informal image sharing and Photoshop sessions. The shared rooms are decent-sized, each with a private bathroom. See the limited single supplement info below.

All breakfasts, lunches and dinners are included. All 5 puffins boat lunches will need to be prepared by you in advance, taken with, and consumed at your leisure. I usually eat mine on the short boat trip from one island to the other. Also included is a restaurant lunch on the gannet boat day.

If you wish to fly home on the morning of Monday July 10 we will get you to the airport. Please, however, consider the following tentative plans: enjoy a second Gannet boat trip on the afternoon of Monday July 10 and book your hotel room in Dunbar. If all goes as planned, those who stay on for the two extra days will make a morning landing at Bass Rock, one of the world’s largest gannetries. We will get everyone to the airport on the morning of Wednesday July 12.

Great News on the UK Puffins and Gannets/Bass Rock Extension

On the morning of Jul 10, 2017, we will sleep late and head up to Dunbar Harbor for lunch and an afternoon Gannet boat chumming trip: flight photography until you cannot lift your camera. One gannet boat trip is included in the IPT but everyone always wants more.

Then, as a possible mega bonus — we are scheduled to make a Bass Rock landing on the morning of Tuesday July 12, 2017. I am hoping to go two for two! If not, we do another chumming trip for flying gannets.

Included will be two nights lodging at the wonderful Dunsmuir hotel, two fine dining meals there, any additional meals, all boat, guide, and landing fees, and all transportation including the early morning transfer to the Edinburg Airport on the morning of WED July 12.

So far all five sign-ups are maximizing their travel dollars by signing up for the extension in part because I priced it so cheaply at $1499 despite my greatly increased costs.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version. Scroll down to join us in the UK in 2016.

Deposit Info

If you are good to go sharing a room–couples of course are more than welcome–please send your non-refundable $2,000/person deposit check now to save a spot. Please be sure to check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below. Your balance will be due on March 29, 2017. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. If your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.

Please shoot me an e-mail if you are good to go or if you have any questions.

Single Supplement Deposit Info

Single supplement rooms are available on a limited basis. To ensure yours, please register early. The single supplement fee is $1575. If you would like your own room, please request it when making your deposit and include payment in full for the single supplement; your single supplement deposit check should be for $3,575. As we will need to commit to renting the extra space, single supplement deposits are non-refundable so please be sure that check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance for big international trips is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check of running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance be sure to read the fine print careful even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

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.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

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 :).

What’s Up?

The DeSoto IPT is going great guns. We have enjoyed great weather and great birds and great lunches at a nearby Applebees. Our ridiculously cooperative subjects have included Great Blue Heron, Reddish Egret, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Royal and Sandwich Terns, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls, and dozens of tame shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Short-billed Dowitcher, Dunlin, and Least Sandpiper.

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.

Please Don’t Forget …

As always–and folks have been doing a really great for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. Even the prices on the new 600 II and the 200-400 with Internal Extender have been plummeting. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right side of the yellow-orange menu bar above.

Unsolicited, via e-mail, from Gerry Keshka

Hi Artie, I wanted to share how much I appreciate your Used Gear “service.” You have posted how you help sellers, but the other side of the equations is how much this service helps buyers. I have purchased three lenses (Canon 200-400, 500 f4 II, and 70-200 F2.8) all lovely experiences and I saved almost $5K over retail. Each of the sellers was delightful, willing to help me assess if the purchase was right for me by sharing their experience with the lens. Each lens was in the condition advertised (or better), and typically included several “add-ons” that would have cost several hundred dollars.

Unsolicited, via e-mail, from Sandra Calderbank

Hi Artie, I wanted to take a few minutes to thank you. I have sold two camera bodies on your BAA used gear site. Your friendly expertise and knowledgeable, trustworthy buyers have made this an extremely satisfying experience. Selling on BAA Used Gear page is the best transaction experience I have ever encountered. Thank you for all you do for our photography community. Sincerely, Sandra

Recent Successful Used Gear Sales
Big Ticket Items Selling Like Hotcakes on the Used Gear Page in April!

• KW McCulloch sold his Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS lens with Internal 1.4X Extender in excellent plus condition for $8294 in mid-April.
• Stan Hoyt sold his Canon 500mm f4L IS USM Super Telephoto lens in like-new condition (with extras) for the great low price of $3899 soon after it was listed in mid-April.
• Leonard Malkin sold his Canon EF 70-200mm f2/.8 L IS lens excellent condition for $899 in mid-April, 2017.
• Paul Abravaya sold his Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II lens in excellent condition for $5,799 soon after it was re-listed in mid-April.
• David R. Gibson sold a Canon 300mm f/4 L IS USM lens in excellent plus condition for $749 in March, 2017.
• Good friend and multiple IPT veteran Indranil Sircar sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in near-mint condition along with the the Canon BG-11 battery grip for the great low price of $1,579 soon after it was listed in early April.
• Colin Haase sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens in like-new condition for a the BAA record-low price of $9,497 just minutes after I featured it in the blog under the heading “I Cannot Believe that this one has not sold yet …”
• Steve Traudt helped a friend sell her Canon 500mm f4L IS USM lens in near-mint condition for $3899 in late March, a week after it was listed.
• Mike Pace sold his Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II in excellent plus condition locally and is sending me a check for 2 1/2% of the original price.
• BAA friend John Armitage sold his Canon EOS 1D-X in excellent plus condition for $2348 the day it was listed.

New Listings

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Hisham A. is offering a Canon EOS 7D Mark II in excellent plus condition for the BAA record low price of $847. The sale includes all of the stuff that came in the box as well as insured ground shipping to US addresses via major courier.

Please contact Hisham via e-mail or by phone at 720 771 2693 (Eastern time).

Both Patrick Sparkman and I used and loved the 7D Mark II until about two years ago when we both committed to using full frame Canon bodies. We both made some truly great images with it. Two of my three 2016 Nature’s Best honored entries were created with the 7D II, one still, and one video. artie

Wimberley V-2 Tripod Head

Hisham A. is also offering a Wimberley WH-200 Tripod Head in excellent condition for $449. The sale includes insured ground shipping to US addresses via major courier.

Please contact Hisham via e-mail or by phone at 720 771 2693 (Eastern time).

Gitzo GT 4542LS

Hisham A. is also offering a Gitzo Series 4 Systematic 4 Section Long Tripod GT4542LS in excellent condition for $749. The sale includes insured ground shipping to US addresses via major courier.

Please contact Hisham via e-mail or by phone at 720 771 2693 (Eastern time).

This image was created on the first morning of the 2017 Desoto Spring IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my very favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. Upper Large Zone/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The system activated two AF points that fell on the bird’s chin, just below the base of the bill, right on the same plane as the bird’s eye. Royal Tern in mega-breeding plumage with crest raised

Mr. Snazzy

The bird in today’s featured image is surely the neatest, jazziest Royal Tern I have ever seen. The raised jet-blacker than black crest was the icing on a handsome cake.

Bill Clean-up?

What evidence do you see of bill clean up? Please be specific. If you spot evidence of any other Photoshop hanky panky, please leave a comment.

Was It Worth It?

For the past few weeks I have been using my 600 II pretty much with impunity. Things came to a head on Thursday morning. I spotted the tern flock a good ways down the beach. My Wheeleeze made traveling several yards down the beach a snap. But with the birds courting and copulating and moving about I was constantly moving left and right to get perfectly on sun angle. Up and down, left and right. The easiest way to get from A to B quickly is to throw the lens up on your right shoulder. So that is what I have been doing. When I woke early on Friday morning I quickly noticed that it was difficult to raise my right arm above my waist. I had trashed my right shoulder again. As a concession to old age I headed afield that morning with only the 500 II as my big lens. This afternoon, I plan on dropping down to the 400 DO II.

Was it worth it? Of course!

Wheeleez

This beach cart is so good that I have one in Florida and another on Long Island as you cannot travel by air with one of these. It allows you to bring a ton of gear and accessories to the beach and works great even in soft sand. Learn lots more here.

Add a Milk Plastic Crate

You will need to add a plastic milk crate.

Palouse 2016 Horizontals Card

Why Different?

Announcing the 2017 BIRDS AS ART Palouse Instructional Photo-Tour

In what ways will the 2017 BIRDS AS ART Palouse Instructional Photo-Tour be different from the most other Palouse workshops?

There are so many great locations that a seven-day IPT (as opposed to the typical three- or five-day workshops) will give the group time to visit (and revisit) many of the best spots while allowing you to maximize your air travel dollars. In addition, it will allow us to enjoy a slightly more relaxed pace.

You will be assured of being in the right location for the given weather and sky conditions.

You will learn and hone both basic and advanced compositional and image design skills.

You will learn to design powerful, graphic images.

You will visit all of the iconic locations and a few spectacular ones that are much less frequently visited.

You will learn long lens landscape techniques.

You will learn to master any exposure situation in one minute or less.

You will learn the fine points of Canon in-camera (5D Mark III, 5DS R, and 7D II) HDR techniques.

You will learn to create this look in Photoshop from a single image while winding up with a higher quality image file.

You will be able to share a variety of my exotic Canon lenses including the Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM lens and the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens, aka the “circle lens.”

You will learn to use your longest focal lengths to create rolling field and Urbex abstracts.

You will learn when and how to use a variety of neutral density filters to create pleasing blurs of the Palouse’s gorgeous rolling farmlands.

As always, you will learn to see like a pro. You will learn what makes one situation prime and another seemingly similar one a waste of your time.

You will learn to see the situation and to create a variety of top-notch images.

You will learn to use super-wide lenses both for big skies and building interiors.

You will learn when, why, and how to use infrared capture; if you do not own an infrared body, you will get to borrow mine.

You will learn to use both backlight and side-light to create powerful and dramatic landscape images.

You will learn to create the very popular detailed, slightly grungy, slightly over-saturated look in Photoshop.

Palouse 2016 Verticals Card

The 2017 BIRDS AS ART Palouse Instructional Photo-Tour
June 8-14, 2017. Seven full days of photography. Meet and greet at 7:30pm on Wednesday, June 7: $2,499. Limit 10/Openings: 7.

Rolling farmlands provide a magical patchwork of textures and colors, especially when viewed from the top of Steptoe Butte where we will enjoy spectacular sunrises and at least one nice sunset. We will photograph grand landscapes and mini-scenics of the rolling hills and farm fields. I will bring you to more than a few really neat old abandoned barns and farmhouses in idyllic settings. There is no better way to improve your compositional and image design skills and to develop your creativity than to join me for this trip. Photoshop and image sharing sessions when we have the time and energy…. We get up early and stay out late and the days are long.

Over the past three years, with the help of my friend Denise Ippolito, we found all the iconic locations and, in addition, lots of spectacular new old barns and breath-taking landforms and vistas. What’s included: In-the-field instruction, guidance, lessons, and inspiration, my extensive knowledge of the area, all lunches, motel lobby grab and go breakfasts, and Photoshop and image sharing sessions. As above, there will be a meet and greet at 7:30pm on the evening before the workshop begins.

To Sign Up

Your non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to hold your spot. Please let me know via e-mail that you will be joining this IPT. Then you can either call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 during business hours to arrange for the payment of your deposit; if by check, please make out to “BIRDS AS ART” and mail it to: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail: artie.

Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options. You can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check. Whenever purchasing travel insurance be sure to read the fine print carefully even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

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.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

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 :).

Big BAA Blog News

For the next few weeks, my plan is to publish a new, educational blog post every other day or thereabouts so that I will have some time to finish up two important projects that have been on the back burner for too, too long: the BAA Current Workflow Guide and the LensAlign/Focus Tune Micro-adjustment tutorial. If I forgot something else please leave a comment and remind me.

Please remember to use the BAA B&H affiliate link(s) on my days off 🙂

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.

The Current Streak Ends at 32!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 32 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a really great for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

Important Notice

2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Monday July 3 through Wednesday July 12, 2017: $5999 + $1499: Limit 10 photographers — Openings: 5). All who register will be required to join the (really cheap) two-day Gannet/Bass Rock Add-on. See below for details.

I will likely need to close registration for the 2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT/Bass Rock Add-on ($1499) on May 1 as I need to finalize the cottage reservations.

Lightroom Offer

As you may know by personal experience, many photographers have made a mess of their catalogs in Adobe Lightroom. (Please note: those are Tim Grey’s words not mine. 🙂 Tim Grey is offering a video course that can help! BAA blog folks can enjoy a 40% discount on his “Cleaning Up Your Mess in Lightroom” bundle of video training courses. There are more than five hours of content in the “Cleaning Up Your Mess in Lightroom” video course, plus more than four hours of additional video content in bonus courses that are included in the bundle. We are also producing a series of webinar presentations exclusively for those enrolled in this bundle. The normal price is $99 for the full bundle, but you can get the bundle for only $59 by clicking here or on the logo-link above.

With this course you’ll learn how to:

• Merge multiple catalogs into a single “master” catalog
• Locate (and reconnect) missing folders and photos
• Consolidate and reorganize your folders
• Resolve metadata mismatches

Learn my thoughts on Lightroom here. Be sure to read all the comments. As most of you know, I have never used Lightroom …

This image was created at Gatorland on March 26, 2017. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my very favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/10 in Manual mode. AWB. Manual fill flash at 1/8 power with the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT with a Better Beamer on the Mongoose Integrated Flash Arm via the Canon OC-E3 Off Camera Shoe Cord (2′). LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. Upper Large Zone/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The AF system activated a line of three AF points dead-centered on the bird’s eye; you cannot ask for better than that. Cattle Egret, breeding plumage, vertical front-end portrait

Why the Vertical Cattle Egret?

In the “Horizontal or Vertical From the Same Spot? And Black Crud or No Black Crud?” blog post here, I asked, Which of today’s featured images is your favorite? Be sure to let us know why as each image has its strong points.

My favorite was the vertical. It has a more evenly-toned background and it shows the complete tract of lovely, buff-colored breeding feathers on the breast. As you might have guessed, I am not a big fan of the black crud … Today’s featured image (above) is the cleaned-up vertical version.

The Vertical With the Black Crud MP4 Photoshop Clean-up Video

In the vertical original it might seem to many that the clean-up for this image would be a snap, but to do it well requires time, a bit of knowledge, and some practiced skills. In this just-released MP4 video, “The Vertical With the Black Crud MP4 Photoshop Clean-up Video,” I take you through the whole process from soup to nuts. Along the way, I learned something cool about Gaussian Blurs. You can work with me step by step as I use the Patch Tool, the Spot-healing Brush, the Clone Stamp Tool, the Divide and Conquer technique, several small Quick Masks refined by Regular Layer Masks, to clean up the black crud (and a bit more). You will learn about the Align Box as well as something new about using Gaussian Blur on a small area. You will see me use my NIK Color Efex Pro 30-30 filter to bring detail to the WHITEs and then add a Regular Layer Mask to reduce the effect in varying degrees as needed and to taste. Lastly I introduce the Simplified Neat Image v7 techniques to reduce the noise in the background. Lastly I take you through the steps of saving the optimized TIFF and creating and sharpening a JPEG for sharing on the web.

You can purchase your copy of the Black Crud MP4 Photoshop Clean-up Video for only $15 by clicking here.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Monday July 3 through Wednesday July 12, 2017: $5999 + $1499: Limit 10 photographers — Openings: 5).
All who register will be required to join the (really cheap) two-day Gannet/Bass Rock Add-on. See below for details. See below for details.

Here are the plans: take a red eye from the east coast of the US on July 2 and arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland on the morning of Monday July 3 no later than 10am (or simply meet us then at the Edinburgh Airport–EDI, or later in the day at our cottages if you are driving your own vehicle either from the UK or from somewhere in Europe). Stay 7 nights in one of three gorgeous modern country cottages.

There are five days of planned puffin/seabird trips and one morning of gannet photography, all weather permitting of course. In three years we have yet to miss an entire day because of weather… In addition, we will enjoy several sessions of photographing nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes at eye level.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

The Details

We will get to photograph Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Razorbill, Shag, and Northern Gannet; Arctic, Sandwich, and Common Terns, the former with chicks of all sizes; Black-headed, Lesser-Black-backed, and Herring Gulls, many chasing puffins with fish; Black-legged Kittiwake with chicks. We will be staying in upscale country-side lodging that are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for the informal image sharing and Photoshop sessions. The shared rooms are decent-sized, each with a private bathroom. See the limited single supplement info below.

All breakfasts, lunches and dinners are included. All 5 puffins boat lunches will need to be prepared by you in advance, taken with, and consumed at your leisure. I usually eat mine on the short boat trip from one island to the other. Also included is a restaurant lunch on the gannet boat day.

If you wish to fly home on the morning of Monday July 10 we will get you to the airport. Please, however, consider the following tentative plans: enjoy a second Gannet boat trip on the afternoon of Monday July 10 and book your hotel room in Dunbar. If all goes as planned, those who stay on for the two extra days will make a morning landing at Bass Rock, one of the world’s largest gannetries. We will get everyone to the airport on the morning of Wednesday July 12.

Great News on the UK Puffins and Gannets/Bass Rock Extension

On the morning of Jul 10, 2017, we will sleep late and head up to Dunbar Harbor for lunch and an afternoon Gannet boat chumming trip: flight photography until you cannot lift your camera. One gannet boat trip is included in the IPT but everyone always wants more.

Then, as a possible mega bonus — we are scheduled to make a Bass Rock landing on the morning of Tuesday July 12, 2017. I am hoping to go two for two! If not, we do another chumming trip for flying gannets.

Included will be two nights lodging at the wonderful Dunsmuir hotel, two fine dining meals there, any additional meals, all boat, guide, and landing fees, and all transportation including the early morning transfer to the Edinburg Airport on the morning of WED July 12.

So far all five sign-ups are maximizing their travel dollars by signing up for the extension in part because I priced it so cheaply at $1499 despite my greatly increased costs.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version. Scroll down to join us in the UK in 2016.

Deposit Info

If you are good to go sharing a room–couples of course are more than welcome–please send your non-refundable $2,000/person deposit check now to save a spot. Please be sure to check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below. Your balance will be due on March 29, 2017. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. If your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.

Please shoot me an e-mail if you are good to go or if you have any questions.

Single Supplement Deposit Info

Single supplement rooms are available on a limited basis. To ensure yours, please register early. The single supplement fee is $1575. If you would like your own room, please request it when making your deposit and include payment in full for the single supplement; your single supplement deposit check should be for $3,575. As we will need to commit to renting the extra space, single supplement deposits are non-refundable so please be sure that check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance for big international trips is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check of running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance be sure to read the fine print careful even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

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.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

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 :).

What’s Up?

Saturday morning at Gatorland was quite good. Client Ray Martinez, originally from Venezuela, brought along his friend – Alex Fuenmayor, also from Venezuela. They have been great friends since 5th grade. Ray is the sole staff photographer for Kansas State University. He does events, staff, sports, and the graduation photos. In short he photographs pretty much anything and everything that needs to be photographed. When he grows up he wants to be a professional nature photographer and tour leader 🙂 We had fun. Mazel tov to Ray who will be getting married in three weeks.

Saturday afternoon was very good as well.

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.

The Streak: 30!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 30 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a really great for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

This image was created down by the lake at ILE on the morning of April 13, 2017 at 07:48:07am with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 560mm) and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering at about +2/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: 1. Four AF points up from the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure as framed. The selected AF point was on the top of the bird’s neck just below and a bit behind the chin, right on the plane of the colt’s eye. Image #1: Sandhill Crane colt tight front end vertical

What a Difference the Light Makes, Only 12 Little Hours …

With apologies to Dinah Washington (What a Difference a Day Makes, 24 little hours …) the light for these two images –made within a minute or two of being exactly 12 hours apart — could hardly have been more different. For the first image, I had my shadow pointed right at the subject. For the second image, my shadow — not that there was much of one — was pointed directly away from the subject. In each case, the sun, the subject, and I were all on the same line, just in a different order. When creating frontlit images like Image #1, the order should be the sun (behind) me, then me, and then the subject, all on the same line. For backlit and silhouetted images, we want me, then the subject, and then the sun all on the same line. In image #2 here the sun was directly behind the bird’s body right at the horizon line, just as it should have been. When working with a backlit subject, the closer you come to a straight line, the stronger the backlight will be and the more intense the color will be. So frontlit or backlit, strive to get everything on the same straight line.

This image was created down by the lake at ILE on the late afternoon of April 13, 2017 at 19:46:22 (7:26:22)pm with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 437mm) and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering at about +2/3 stop: 1/640 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: 0. Upper Large Zone AF/AI Servo/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure as framed and produced a very sharp image. That despite the fact that the two active AF points were on the sky below the colt’s head and in front of the neck; the system was still tracking properly. Image #2: Sandhill Crane colt tight front end vertical sunset silhouette

Micro-adjustment Question

Same camera body, same TC, and same lens; why are the different micro-adjustment values for today’s two featured images?

Image #3: This is an unsharpened 100% crop of Image #1

Canon 100-400II/1.4XIII/5D IV Sharpness and Image Quality

Taking a look at the unsharpened 100% crop of Image #1 immediately above how would you judge the sharpness and image quality? I’d have to say that both were pretty darned good if not spectacular.

The Canon 100-400III/1.4XIII/5D IV Combo

I find the Canon 100-400II/1.4XIII/5D IV combo incredibly useful and incredibly versatile. I use it in two ways. At times, when working with subjects at close range and/or when I simply go light, it is the only rig I take into the field. Often it serves as my auxiliary intermediate telephoto lens when my main rig is the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted 500 II or the 600 II. Either way the lens is on my right shoulder supported by the new Black Rapid Curve Breathe Camera Strap. I have been using the Canon 100-400II/1.4XII/5D IV combo so much over the past few weeks that I am developing a nasty callous on the inside or my right thumb where it hits the grip …

DeSoto in spring is rife with tame and attractive birds. From upper left clockwise to center: breeding plumage Dunlin, dark morph breeding plumage Reddish Egret displaying, breeding plumage Laughing Gull/front end vertical portrait, breeding plumage Laughing Gull with prey item, Laughing Gull on head of Brown Pelican, screaming Royal Tern in breeding plumage, Royal Terns/pre-copulatory stand, Laughing Gulls copulating, breeding plumage Laughing Gull/tight horizontal portrait, Sandwich Tern with fish, and a really rare one, White-rumped Sandpiper in breeding plumage, photographed at DeSoto in early May.

Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/April 19-22, 2017. (Meet & greet at 2pm on Wednesday April 19 followed by an afternoon session) through the full day on Saturday April 22. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1599. Limit 10/Openings 2. To save your spot, please call and put down a non-refundable deposit of $499.00.

Call 863-692-0906 or e-mail for late registration discount e-mail.

Fort DeSoto is one of the rare locations that might offer great bird photography 365 days a year. It shines in spring. There will Lots of tame birds including breeding plumage Laughing Gull and Royal and Sandwich Terns. With luck, we will get to photograph all of these species courting and copulating. There will be American Oystercatcher and Marbled Godwit plus sandpipers and plovers, some in full breeding plumage. Black-bellied Plover and Red Knot in stunning breeding plumage are possible. There will be lots of wading birds including Great and Snowy Egrets, both color morphs of Reddish Egret, Great Blue, Tricolored and Little Blue Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and killer breeding plumage White Ibis. Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork are possible and likely. We should have lots of good flight photography with the gulls and terns and with Brown Pelican. Nesting Least Tern and nesting Wilson’s Plover are possible.

We will, weather permitting, enjoy 7 shooting sessions. As above, our first afternoon session will follow the meet and greet at 2pm on Wednesday April 19. For the next three days we will have two daily photo sessions. We will be on the beach early and usually be at lunch (included) by 11am. We will have three indoor sessions. At one we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me choose my keepers and deletes–why keep this one and delete that one? The second will be a review of your images so that I can quickly learn where you need help. For those who bring their laptops to lunch I’d be glad to take a peek at an image or three. Day three will be a Photoshop session during which we will review my complete workflow and process an image or two in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. Afternoon sessions will generally run from 4:30pm till sunset. We photograph until sunset on the last day, Saturday, April 22. Please note that this is a get-your-feet and get-your-butt wet and sandy IPT. And that you can actually do the whole IPT with a 300 f/2.8L IS, a 400 f/4 ID DO lens with both TCs, or the equivalent Nikon gear. I will surely be using my 500 II as my big glass and have my 100-400 II on my shoulder.

DeSoto in spring is rife with tame and attractive birds. From upper left clockwise to center: Laughing Gull in flight, adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, copulating Sandwich Terns, Roseate Spoonbill, Great Egret with reflection, Short-billed Dowitcher in breeding plumage, American Oystercatcher, breeding plumage Royal Tern, white morph Reddish Egret, and Snowy Egret marsh habitat shot.

What You Will Learn

You will learn to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to understand the effects of sky and wind conditions on bird photography, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you are scared of it).

The group will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express in St. Petersburg. (Write for a less expensive option). Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 to register. All will need to purchase an Annual Pass early on Tuesday afternoon so that we can enter the park at 6am and be in position for sunrise opportunities. The cost is $75, Seniors $55. Tight carpools will be needed and will reduce the per person Annual Pass costs. The cost of three lunches is included. Breakfasts are grab what you can on the go, and dinners are also on your own due to the fact that we will usually be getting back to the hotel at about 9pm. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $350 for the whole IPT.

BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99

Fort DeSoto Spring In-the-Field Cheap Meet-up Workshop (ITFW) on the morning of Sunday, April 23, 2017: $99

Join me on the morning of Sunday April 23, 2017 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.

You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.

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.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

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 :).

What’s Up?

Oh what a day. Had a nice photo session down by the lake on Thursday morning and an even better one at sunset. Limpkins and Sandhill Cranes with babies in the morning, backlit and silhouetted crane colts in the evening. Got some work done and signed up four folks for the upcoming Gatorland Meet-up weekend. After lunch Jim and I went shopping for a new garage AC to keep the mail order stock and my photo gear cool. Now we need to get it installed 🙂

Important Notice

2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Monday July 3 through Wednesday July 12, 2017: $5999 + $1499: Limit 10 photographers — Openings: 5). All who register will be required to join the (really cheap) two-day Gannet/Bass Rock Add-on. See below for details.

I will likely need to close registration for the 2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT/Bass Rock Add-on ($1499) on May 1 as I need to finalize the cottage reservations.

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.

The Streak: 28!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 28 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a really great for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

These images were created on the 2016 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III and the Canon 5DS R (now replaced for me by my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.) ISO 400: 1/500 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: 5. Various single AF points (Manual selection) AI Servo/Rear Focus AF. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Atlantic Puffin/four-frame editing quiz

Puffin Editing Practice

Which of these four images would you keep? Why? Which would you delete? Why? Which one is your very favorite? Why? Feel free to comment on the positives and negatives of each image.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Monday July 3 through Wednesday July 12, 2017: $5999 + $1499: Limit 10 photographers — Openings: 5).
All who register will be required to join the (really cheap) two-day Gannet/Bass Rock Add-on. See below for details. See below for details.

Here are the plans: take a red eye from the east coast of the US on July 2 and arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland on the morning of Monday July 3 no later than 10am (or simply meet us then at the Edinburgh Airport–EDI, or later in the day at our cottages if you are driving your own vehicle either from the UK or from somewhere in Europe). Stay 7 nights in one of three gorgeous modern country cottages.

There are five days of planned puffin/seabird trips and one morning of gannet photography, all weather permitting of course. In three years we have yet to miss an entire day because of weather… In addition, we will enjoy several sessions of photographing nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes at eye level.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

The Details

We will get to photograph Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Razorbill, Shag, and Northern Gannet; Arctic, Sandwich, and Common Terns, the former with chicks of all sizes; Black-headed, Lesser-Black-backed, and Herring Gulls, many chasing puffins with fish; Black-legged Kittiwake with chicks. We will be staying in upscale country-side lodging that are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for the informal image sharing and Photoshop sessions. The shared rooms are decent-sized, each with a private bathroom. See the limited single supplement info below.

All breakfasts, lunches and dinners are included. All 5 puffins boat lunches will need to be prepared by you in advance, taken with, and consumed at your leisure. I usually eat mine on the short boat trip from one island to the other. Also included is a restaurant lunch on the gannet boat day.

If you wish to fly home on the morning of Monday July 10 we will get you to the airport. Please, however, consider the following tentative plans: enjoy a second Gannet boat trip on the afternoon of Monday July 10 and book your hotel room in Dunbar. If all goes as planned, those who stay on for the two extra days will make a morning landing at Bass Rock, one of the world’s largest gannetries. We will get everyone to the airport on the morning of Wednesday July 12.

Great News on the UK Puffins and Gannets/Bass Rock Extension

On the morning of Jul 10, 2017, we will sleep late and head up to Dunbar Harbor for lunch and an afternoon Gannet boat chumming trip: flight photography until you cannot lift your camera. One gannet boat trip is included in the IPT but everyone always wants more.

Then, as a possible mega bonus — we are scheduled to make a Bass Rock landing on the morning of Tuesday July 12, 2017. I am hoping to go two for two! If not, we do another chumming trip for flying gannets.

Included will be two nights lodging at the wonderful Dunsmuir hotel, two fine dining meals there, any additional meals, all boat, guide, and landing fees, and all transportation including the early morning transfer to the Edinburg Airport on the morning of WED July 12.

So far all five sign-ups are maximizing their travel dollars by signing up for the extension in part because I priced it so cheaply at $1499 despite my greatly increased costs.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version. Scroll down to join us in the UK in 2016.

Deposit Info

If you are good to go sharing a room–couples of course are more than welcome–please send your non-refundable $2,000/person deposit check now to save a spot. Please be sure to check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below. Your balance will be due on March 29, 2017. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. If your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.

Please shoot me an e-mail if you are good to go or if you have any questions.

Single Supplement Deposit Info

Single supplement rooms are available on a limited basis. To ensure yours, please register early. The single supplement fee is $1575. If you would like your own room, please request it when making your deposit and include payment in full for the single supplement; your single supplement deposit check should be for $3,575. As we will need to commit to renting the extra space, single supplement deposits are non-refundable so please be sure that check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance for big international trips is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check of running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance be sure to read the fine print careful even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

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.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

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 :).

What’s Up?

I began the third of my four School for the Work 4-day aftercare sessions this morning on Skype with a loverly lady from the UP of Michigan. I took my walk and another late afternoon swim. Aside from that I was pretty much a lazy bum. I watched three hours of Jersey Boys and Kinky Boots stuff on You Tube and watched the last round of the Masters golf tournaments even though I knew who won. Congrats to Sergio Garcia who finally won a major after being 0 for his first 72 tries. Tomorrow, it is back to work for me!

Coming Tomorrow

In tomorrow’s blog post I will come clean as to the changes made with Great Egret bathing Image #2 in the “Which One is Phony?” blog post here. So far no one has figured out what I did and thus, there is no proof of anything. Several folks have offered proof of changes that were not made.

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.

The Streak: 26!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 26 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a really great for a long time now–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.

Gatorland In-the Field Instructional Meet-Up Sessions

Join me in Kissimmee, FL next weekend to photograph Great (with chicks in the nest) and Snowy Egrets in breeding plumage, Cattle Egret and Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage, Wood Stork, American Alligator (captive), and more. We should get to make lots of head portraits of all the bird species and to photograph them building nests, displaying, copulating, and flying. Learn to see, find, and make the shot in cluttered settings. Learn exposure and how to handle WHITEs. Learn fill flash and flash as main light techniques. All of the birds are free and wild.

Next Weekend’s Gatorland Schedule

• Saturday April 15, morning (early entry): 7:30 till 10:30am: $100. Lunch and Image Review: $75. Saturday afternoon till closing (late stay): $100.
• Sunday morning, April 16, (early entry): 7:30 till 10am: $75.

Cheap Canon lens rentals available: 600 II, 500 II, 400 DO II, or 200-400.

To pay for one or more sessions in full via credit card, call Jim or Jen in the office weekdays at 863-692-0906. You will be responsible for the cost of your Gatorland Photographer’s pass or passes. Please shoot me an e-mail if you have any questions.

This image was created down by the lake near my home on the morning of Friday, April 7, 2017. I use the BLUBB-supported Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my very favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB. LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5. Three AF points up and one to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point rested on the right side of the chick’s neck just below the eye (as originally framed). Sandhill Crane chick staring right down the lens barrel

Coulda Shoulda …

The original for today’s featured image was a bit wider than the as-presented version and the chick’s feet were cut off. At 1200mm I was simply too tight to fit the whole bird into the full vertical frame. I thought about pressing and holding the AF-On button, framing downward, and creating a source image for a stitched pano but I did not think that the original capture would be cute enough. How did that work out? I was wrong big-time and wound up with this somewhat awkward crop. But oh that face!

As I am now working with shutter button AF more than 95% of the time, I need to have a quick way to lock focus. I do that by setting the AF-On button to AF lock. All that I needed to do in this situation after making two images with the chick staring straight at me was to press and hold the AF-On button and point the lens down a bit to create an image of the bottom half of the crane chick with lots of room below the feet. Next would be to create a simple up and down stitched pano.

You can use the AF-On button to lock focus when working with a small-in-the-frame subject that you need to place in a corner of the frame outside the array covered by the AF array. It takes a bit of practice to learn this technique but is a lot faster and easier than having to switch to One Shot AF. For me at least.

DeSoto in spring is rife with tame and attractive birds. From upper left clockwise to center: breeding plumage Dunlin, dark morph breeding plumage Reddish Egret displaying, breeding plumage Laughing Gull/front end vertical portrait, breeding plumage Laughing Gull with prey item, Laughing Gull on head of Brown Pelican, screaming Royal Tern in breeding plumage, Royal Terns/pre-copulatory stand, Laughing Gulls copulating, breeding plumage Laughing Gull/tight horizontal portrait, Sandwich Tern with fish, and a really rare one, White-rumped Sandpiper in breeding plumage, photographed at DeSoto in early May.

Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/April 19-22, 2017. (Meet & greet at 2pm on Wednesday April 19 followed by an afternoon session) through the full day on Saturday April 22. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1599. Limit 10/Openings 2. To save your spot, please call and put down a non-refundable deposit of $499.00.

Call 863-692-0906 or e-mail for late registration discount e-mail.

Fort DeSoto is one of the rare locations that might offer great bird photography 365 days a year. It shines in spring. There will Lots of tame birds including breeding plumage Laughing Gull and Royal and Sandwich Terns. With luck, we will get to photograph all of these species courting and copulating. There will be American Oystercatcher and Marbled Godwit plus sandpipers and plovers, some in full breeding plumage. Black-bellied Plover and Red Knot in stunning breeding plumage are possible. There will be lots of wading birds including Great and Snowy Egrets, both color morphs of Reddish Egret, Great Blue, Tricolored and Little Blue Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and killer breeding plumage White Ibis. Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork are possible and likely. We should have lots of good flight photography with the gulls and terns and with Brown Pelican. Nesting Least Tern and nesting Wilson’s Plover are possible.

We will, weather permitting, enjoy 7 shooting sessions. As above, our first afternoon session will follow the meet and greet at 2pm on Wednesday April 19. For the next three days we will have two daily photo sessions. We will be on the beach early and usually be at lunch (included) by 11am. We will have three indoor sessions. At one we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me choose my keepers and deletes–why keep this one and delete that one? The second will be a review of your images so that I can quickly learn where you need help. For those who bring their laptops to lunch I’d be glad to take a peek at an image or three. Day three will be a Photoshop session during which we will review my complete workflow and process an image or two in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. Afternoon sessions will generally run from 4:30pm till sunset. We photograph until sunset on the last day, Saturday, April 22. Please note that this is a get-your-feet and get-your-butt wet and sandy IPT. And that you can actually do the whole IPT with a 300 f/2.8L IS, a 400 f/4 ID DO lens with both TCs, or the equivalent Nikon gear. I will surely be using my 500 II as my big glass and have my 100-400 II on my shoulder.

DeSoto in spring is rife with tame and attractive birds. From upper left clockwise to center: Laughing Gull in flight, adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, copulating Sandwich Terns, Roseate Spoonbill, Great Egret with reflection, Short-billed Dowitcher in breeding plumage, American Oystercatcher, breeding plumage Royal Tern, white morph Reddish Egret, and Snowy Egret marsh habitat shot.

What You Will Learn

You will learn to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to understand the effects of sky and wind conditions on bird photography, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you are scared of it).

The group will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express in St. Petersburg. (Write for a less expensive option). Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 to register. All will need to purchase an Annual Pass early on Tuesday afternoon so that we can enter the park at 6am and be in position for sunrise opportunities. The cost is $75, Seniors $55. Tight carpools will be needed and will reduce the per person Annual Pass costs. The cost of three lunches is included. Breakfasts are grab what you can on the go, and dinners are also on your own due to the fact that we will usually be getting back to the hotel at about 9pm. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $350 for the whole IPT.

BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99

Fort DeSoto Spring In-the-Field Cheap Meet-up Workshop (ITFW) on the morning of Sunday, April 23, 2017: $99

Join me on the morning of Sunday April 23, 2017 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.

You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.

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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