I kiss the IPT group goodbye in a few minutes and fly from Bleaker to Saunders for five days in bird photography heaven. Then back to Bleaker for three night, then Santiago, Chile, and then home late on 25 DEC 🙂
Selling Your Used Photo 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 charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer pricing advice to those who agree to my terms, usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, 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 and that big, heavy Nikon super-telephotos have been nearly impossible to sell.
Used Gear Cautions
Though I am not in a position to post images of gear for sale here or elsewhere, prospective buyers are encouraged to request for photos of the gear that they are interested in purchasing via e-mail. Doing so will help to avoid any misunderstandings as to the condition of the gear. Sellers are advised to photograph their used gear with care against clean backgrounds so that the stuff is represented accurately and in the best light; please pardon the pun :).
Recent Sales
William B Ellison, Jr.sold his a used Canon EOS 5D Mark III in near mint condition for the then BAA record-low price of $1497 in early December.
Ron Ozuna sold his Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens in near-mint condition for $2699 in early December.
IPT veteran and good friend Mark Hardymon sold his used Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR lens in excellent condition for the by far BAA record low price of $5700 in late November.
IPT veteran Mark Overgaard sold his Canon EF600 f/4L IS II USM lens in excellent plus condition for $9,295 in mid-November.
IPT veteran Larry Master sold his Canon EF600 f/4L IS II USM lens in excellent plus condition for $9,295 in mid-November.
Bill Hill sold his like-new Canon EOS 5DS R for an incredibly low $2599 five minute after it was listed in early November.
Bob Serling sold his Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens in near-mint condition for $4449 and his older, Canon EF300mm f/2.8L IS lens in excellent plus condition for the shock-the-world price of $2399 within a day or three of listing them here. Why? He wanted to sell them and listened to my pricing advice.
Multiple IPT veteran Larry Master sold his Canon EOS 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens in excellent condition for $549 to a private buyer.
NIKKOR AF-S 70-200 f2.8G ED VRII Lens
IPT veteran Dick Evans is offering a NIKKOR AF-S 70-200 f2.8G ED VRII Lens in like-new condition for $1399. The sale includes a 77mm SnapOn lens cap, the F4 Rear Lens Cap, the HB48 Bayonet Lens Hood, the CLM2 Lens Case, the Removable tripod collar, the original box, and insured ground shipping (via UPS) to US addresses only. The item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Dick via e-mail or by phone at 1-907-854-1321 (Alaska time-please leave a message).
The Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR II lens is every bit as versatile as the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens. You can use a 70-200 for tame birds, bird-scapes, scenics, Urbex, flower-scapes, and just about anything else you want to photograph. With Nikon you can add the 1.4 or the 1.7 TCE for even greater versatility. artie
Canon EOS-1D X Body
Ramona Boone is offering a Canon EOS-1D X in excellent condition with 144,000 shutter actuations for the BAA record-low price of $2359. Recently cleaned and checked by Canon USA. The sale includes the original box, the strap, all cables, manuals, the blank registration form, the single battery, the front cap, and insured ground shipping via major courier.
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 398!
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, 398 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. The active AF point fell on the side of the duck’s neck. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version.
Wood Duck drinking
Exposure Question
This image was created just after 8am at the metered exposure, that is, with zero Exposure Compensation (EC). If it had been taken in full sun an hour later what would the correct EC have been? And why?
Drinking Birds
I think that there are only a very few bird families that can drink water with their bills pointing down. Most, like this Wood Duck, need to tilt their heads back in order to swallow water. If you know of any birds that can actually drink water without have to tilt their heads back, please leave a comment and educate us.
Wood Ducks in San Diego
Wood Ducks is a highly desirable species for most folks. In most years, it is easy to photograph them easily at their preferred location. In 2016, for unknown reasons, Wood Ducks were scarce and slow to respond even to the scratch that is sold in the campground stores. Still, we managed to photograph some beautiful drake woodies in gorgeous light. As 2016 was the first and only time that Wood Ducks played hard to get, I fully expect that things will return to normal in 2017.
NIK Color EFEX Pro 50/50 Recipe
Regular readers know that I use my NIK Color EFEX Pro 25/25 Recipe with most images. But on occasion, an image–like the Wood Duck photo featured in today’s blog post–with really dark tones, calls out for the 50/50 recipe.
The Red Eye Ring …
While working on this post in Ushuaia, I realized that I should have selected the red eye ring and added 75 points of CYAN to the REDs in Selective Color. Why?
The San Diego Site Guide
If you would love to learn all the great spots in and around San Diego and La Jolla, get yourself a copy of the BAA San Diego Site guide here. It is the next best thing to being on an IPT.
San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there….
2017 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) JAN 11 thru and including the morning session on JAN 15: 4 1/2 days: $1999.
(Limit: 10/openings 6)
Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins; Tuesday 1/10/17.
Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well.
With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography. And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication.
Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?
Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings.
The San Diego Details
This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, four lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.
A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 9/11//2016. 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. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
Everything is going great on the Falklands Land-based IPT. The group–all BAA IPT repeat customers, are all very happy. And well fed. We have enjoyed great weather throughout and great photography on a daily basis. We have an afternoon and a morning more on Bleaker Island. Patrick and Robbin Sparkman along with Indranil Sircar and Carolyn Peterson fly back to Stanley tomorrow and will enjoy a final day of rockhopper photography on Friday. They all fly back to Santiago, Chile on Saturday and continue home on Sunday. Many multiple IPT veterans Alan and Pat Lillich added a third week to their Falklands adventure with two nights on Carcass Island, two nights on Pebble Island, and two days and a night at Volunteer Point. They fly back to Santiago on the 24th and then back to California the following day.
Tomorrow, I fly Figas back to the amazing Saunders Island for five nights–three at Rookery and two at The Neck. Then it’s back to Bleaker for me for three nights. If all goes well I will be on the plane to Santiago on the 24th with the Lillichs and then to Miami and Orlando on 25 DEC.
As my 10 1/2 week journey draws to an end I am feeling and doing well. I have however, been eating way too much. It will be good to get home, get back to eating well, and get back in the pool (at least for a bit). I head to San Diego on 4 JAN. Yikes!
Urgent Stuff …
It looks as if there will be several openings on the Japan trip, one likely due to a medical cancellation. If you are at all interested in joining me and saving some money to boot, please shoot me an e-mail immediately. I need to have the group finalized no later than the end of the year.
Internet Access
I will be on line on WED and then again on the morning of THURS DEC 14. After that I will have no internet access until I get back to Bleaker Island on 20 DEC. From then until I get back home I will have intermittent internet access and e-mail.
Happy Holiday!
Jim and Jennifer and I would like to wish all a wonderfully happy holiday season and a productive and satisfying 2017 filled with great images and magical travel experiences.
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 397!
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, 397 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
One AF point to the left of and three rows up from the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. The active AF point was near the base of the pelican’s lower mandible.
Odd-plumaged Pacific race Brown Pelican
Odd-plumaged Pacific Race Brown Pelicans
Having visited San Diego to photograph pelicans for more than 30 years I am always amazed when I see a pelican wearing a set of feathers unlike any I have ever seen before. Over the years I have published several strange looking pelicans from California. I would imagine that this bird is somewhere near two years old as there seems to be some remnants of juvenile plumage while the bright red bill pouch is much like that of a breeding adult. And the light grey “carpet-necked” look is usually seen on birds much further along on their molt to breeding plumage. Whenever I see a strange one, I do my best to create a decent image.
White Neutralizer
Recently, I have been experimenting more and more with NIK Color Efex Pro’s White Neutralizer (WN) filter, often using the Add Filter command to my 25/25 or my 50/50 recipe. The converted TIFF for this image (as seen in the animated GIF above) was lacking in contrast and had a somewhat sickly yellowish/green color cast. My 25/25 NIK Color Efex Pro recipe (25% Detail Extractor and 25% Tonal Contrast) gave the image some pop. While still in Color Efex Pro I clicked on Add Filter and selected White Neutralizer (as noted above). Then I reduced the opacity of the White Neutralizer filter to 80% (using the slider hidden under Control Points).
The San Diego Site Guide
If you would love to learn all the great spots in and around San Diego and La Jolla, get yourself a copy of the BAA San Diego Site guide here. It is the next best thing to being on an IPT.
San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there….
2017 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) JAN 11 thru and including the morning session on JAN 15: 4 1/2 days: $1999.
(Limit: 10/openings 6)
Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins; Tuesday 1/10/17.
Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well.
With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography. And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication.
Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?
Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings.
The San Diego Details
This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, four lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.
A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 9/11//2016. 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. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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.
Selling Your Used Photo 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 charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer pricing advice to those who agree to my terms, usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, 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 and that big, heavy Nikon super-telephotos have been nearly impossible to sell.
Recent Sales
William B Ellison, Jr.sold his a used Canon EOS 5D Mark III in near mint condition for the then BAA record-low price of $1497 in early December.
Ron Ozuna sold his Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens in near-mint condition for $2699 in early December.
IPT veteran and good friend Mark Hardymon sold his used Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR lens in excellent condition for the by far BAA record low price of $5700 in late November.
IPT veteran Mark Overgaard sold his Canon EF600 f/4L IS II USM lens in excellent plus condition for $9,295 in mid-November.
IPT veteran Larry Master sold his Canon EF600 f/4L IS II USM lens in excellent plus condition for $9,295 in mid-November.
Bill Hill sold his like-new Canon EOS 5DS R for an incredibly low $2599 five minute after it was listed in early November.
Bob Serling sold his Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens in near-mint condition for $4449 and his older, Canon EF300mm f/2.8L IS lens in excellent plus condition for the shock-the-world price of $2399 within a day or three of listing them here. Why? He wanted to sell them and listened to my pricing advice.
Multiple IPT veteran Larry Master sold his Canon EOS 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens in excellent condition for $549 to a private buyer.
Used Gear Sales/New Listings
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Richard Goldman is offering a used Canon EOS 5D Mark III in excellent condition for the BAA record-low price of $1399. It has been maintained by Canon Professional Services with their routine clean and checks after photo trips (and includes a very recent clean and check). The shutter count is 46,644. The sale includes the original box, the manuals, the strap, the front body cap, the cable, one Canon battery, the battery charger, and insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only. You camera will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
I have used the 5D III for birds on occasion with excellent results, even with the 2X III TC and the 600 II. It was my go-to dSLR for flowers, landscapes, and Urbex photography for many years until I replaced it first with the 5DS R and then with the 5D Mark IV. In my experience, the quality of the image files is superb. . artie
Canon 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 Telephoto Zoom Lens
Richard Goldman is also offering a used Canon 100-400mm L IS Zoom lens, the old 1-4, in excellent condition for the BAA record-low price of $529. Please contact Richard via e-mail. The sale includes the original lens case and strap, the front lens cap, the rear lens cap, the lens hood, the removable tripod collar, and insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only.
Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
The 100-400 is a versatile intermediate telephoto zoom lens with 1,000+ uses. It makes a great starter lens especially for folks who do general nature and wildlife in addition to birds. I’ve sold 100s of images made with the old 1-4. Richard’s 100-400 is priced to sell. artie
Canon EOS 24-105mm f/4 L IS Lens
Richard Goldman is also offering a Canon EOS 24-105mm f/4 L IS Zoom lens, the original model, in excellent condition, for the BAA record-low price of $519. The focusing motor was replaced several years ago by Canon Professional Services. The sale includes the front and rear lens caps, the lens hood, the lens pouch, and insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only.
The 24-105 is my go to B-roll lens. I use it for scenics, bird-scapes, Urbex, images of people, and tons more. It makes a pretty good quasi macro lens at 105mm. Whenever I leave this amazingly versatile lens at home or in the vehicle, I wish that I hadn’t. As the early word on the street is that the version II is not any better optically than the original version, Richard’s lens is priced to sell. artie
The Streak: 396!
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, 396 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
This image was created on our last South Georgia landing at Right Whale Bay with the hand held Canon 24-105mm zoom lens (at 28mm) now replaced by the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6.
Manual selection center AF point/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF one-third of the way into the frame and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
King Penguins/mostly Oakum Boys in the Salisbury Plain colony
A Mid-Trip Summary and My Very Favorite South Georgia Image
It is the morning of Sunday, November 6, 2016 as I type in the library of the Sea Spirit as it sits at the dock in Ushuaia, Argentina. I will be staying in a very nice hotel for five days of R & R before heading to Peru for a 2 ½ week photo adventure.
My big concern on what is now scheduled to be a 10 ½ week journey was and is my health. I realized that I might be forced to cancel the remainder of the trip at any time if things went seriously south. So far, so good. After my first six-day cold I fought off a second cold in only two days and am in the process of beating cold #3 after only four days. I hope. The last cold has been the nastiest. In between the colds, I have felt amazingly good. It is pretty obvious that the surgery, the anesthesia, and the antibiotics left my immune system compromised.
The South Georgia portion of the CES expedition went quite well after we lost a full day to high winds in Stanley, The Falklands. We tried twice to land at Elsehul—once at the beginning and one at the end–but were blown out each time. The landings the King Penguin colonies at Salisbury Plain, Fortuna Bay, Gold Harbor, and St. Andrews Bay were spectacular as always. Some folks made the icy climb up the hill to the Macaroni Penguins but most, including me, chose a safer zodiac cruise and did quite well especially with a nice raft of Black-browed Albatross on the water.
Our very best South Georgia landing, however, was saved for last. On the morning of October 30 we departed the zodiacs to find six inches of fresh snow on the ground at Right Whale Bay; it was a photographer’s paradise. I had not been in a rush that morning so I was on the fifth zodiac to land. When I saw the group of penguins featured in today’s image walking toward the landing site I quickly grabbed a camera body and my 24-105mm lens so that I could get to the right of the approaching birds before the railroad crossing would be closed until the whole flock went by.
If I had remained beachside, I would have more than a few folks in my image. In addition, getting by the birds let me include the line of the beach and the distant mountain range in the image. Note that I got close and tall enough so that the penguin’s heads did not merge with the shoreline. Though I was unable to get the rest of my gear for more than 30 minutes, I was glad that I had seen the developing situation and made the image that turned out to be my favorite of the trip.
I was ready to make the Sea Lion Island landing but the landing was called off when it was determined that it was too rough to land. One zodiac of staff was flipped but all were rescued and all were safe. I skipped the next two Falkland landings—Steeple Jason and New Island—as my third cold developed. The Steeple Jason landing at the world’s largest Black-browed Albatross colony was especially incredible. In retrospect, I know that staying on the ship to rest was the right decision for me.
Speaking of the ship, the Sea Spirit served as a wonderful and luxurious home for our 2 ½ week journey. The food was fine dining at sea, the dining room was spacious and quiet, the staterooms were large and well appointed (with a small fridge for my insulin), and the Sea Spirit handled the rough seas beautifully. The ship’s staff was great as expected. If you ever have a chance to sail to some magical location on this great ship, do not miss it.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 395!
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, 395 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
This image was created from atop the hill at Salisbury Plain, South Georgia with the hand held Canon 24-105mm zoom lens (at 28mm) now replaced by the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6.
Manual selection center AF point/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF one-third of the way into the frame and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
King Penguins/mostly Oakum Boys in the Salisbury Plain colony
The Hike!
I climbed to the top of the 700-foot hill above the Salisbury Plain King Penguin colony on January 10, 2007. We took an ill-advised route that began with a long, brutal trek through tall tussock grasses. Old folks littered the deep mud puddles on their backs. I made the mistake of bringing too much gear and not enough water. The old 500mm lens was way overkill. Once we began the ascent, I fell far behind the group. Once we got halfway up, I remember having to take ten steps at a time and then rest for a full two minutes. I stopped only briefly at the top to make a few images.
Before the 2016 Cheesemans’ expedition I thought that I might give the climb a go again even though I had not attempted it on three previous trips. And though I am not sure why, the thought persisted even after my gall bladder surgery. And then—before I knew it–the day was at hand, two weeks and six days after my inflamed, sludge-filled gall bladder had been surgically removed. The venerable Tim Carr thought that I could make it. So I set off with my gear–the 100-400 II, the 24-105, and one 5D IV body–stowed in my Xtrahand vest along with two bottles of water. I hand-carried my Induro GIT 304L tripod with—as always—a Mongoose atop it.
As we headed out I asked Tim to point out our destination. It seemed so far away and so high up that I was sure that I would never make it. And I thought that if I made it up there is no way that I would ever make it down …
As we headed out and up I asked Tim to point out our destination. It seemed so far away and so high up that I was sure that I would never make it. And I thought that if I made it up there is no way that I would ever make it down … I struggled from the get-go. CES staff member Greg LaHaie kindly offered to swap a lightweight walking stick for my tripod. That lightened my load considerably and gave me hope. We walked an extra ½ mile to get around groups of loafing, molting King Penguins. And then we began the climb. Loose rocks and soft tundra made things difficult and we crossed several snowfields.
Once we were well above the colony—we had gained 700 feet in elevation–I learned that we needed to descend 250 feet along a tussock covered knife-edge ridge to reach the prime photographic overlook. That alone took me another 30 minutes. Once I reached the top of the bluff, the scene below was both spectacular and disappointing. Very few adults had yet made it into the colony that was populated almost entirely by Oakum Boys, the brown young King Penguins from the previous breeding season. Lacking were the beautiful patterns and bands of color formed when there are many thousands of adults and young filling the breeding areas.
After creating only a few images I knew that I needed to head back up the ridge and then down the hill. So I did. Greg loaned me a second walking stick, Kiwi blog-buddy David Peake kindly grabbed my tripod, and another Kiwi, IPT veteran Kent Downing, agreed to wear my vest down the hill. Just as I had on the way up, I moved slowly on the way down carefully considering the consequences of each step.
At one point we faced a fairly large snowfield. Someone asked if is would be OK to slide down on our butts. One of the ship’s staff members took us to a point above the snowfield so that we would avoid hitting any rocks on our way down. I leaned back, lifted my legs, and glissaded quickly down; what great fun!
Before I knew it I had made it down to the flats. We had just a few gentle rises to traverse before we made it back to the landing beach. As I walked over a muddy spot I slipped. For a moment it seemed that my left foot would become trapped beneath me, hyper-flexing my bad left knee as I had done in Alaska a decade earlier. On the way down I freed that foot before crashing ingloriously into the mud and slamming the right side of my head into the earth. But I was so happy not to have trashed my left knee and put the rest of the trip in jeopardy that I got right back up and told everyone that I was fine. Which I pretty much was.
Was It Worth It?
So that brings us to my always favorite question: was the 3 1/2 mile climb worth it? Photographically? Definitely not. But psyche-wise, it was great for me. Making the hike left me feeling that I was not quite ready to pack things in, that I could tackle pretty much anything that the Southern Ocean or the rest of the expedition had to offer. It was a good feeling.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 394!
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, 394 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
Large Zone Center AF/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The two AF points activated by the system on the bird’s shoulder as shown in the DPP 4 screen capture below. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #1: Heerman’s Gull Posing A
Subject to Imaging Sensor Orientation Question
Q1: The body of the bird in both images is:
a-perfectly parallel to the imaging sensor.
b-turned slightly away from parallel.
c-turned lightly toward this side of parallel.
Tip: do not be fooled by the two different head angles. The multiple choice question above has to do with the subject to imaging sensor plane orientation.
Large Zone Center AF/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). In this one a single AF point that fell on the lower neck just above the bend of the wing. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #2: Heerman’s Gull Posing B
Head Angle Questions
Q2: In Image #1 the bird’s head is:
a-turned about 2 degrees towards us.
b-perfectly parallel to the imaging sensor.
c-turned about 1 degree away from us.
Q3: In Image #2 the bird’s head is:
a-turned about 2 degrees towards us.
b-perfectly parallel to the imaging sensor.
c-turned about 1 degree away from us.
This is the DPP 4 Screen Capture for Image #1
The DPP 4 Screen Capture for Image #1
Another Lying Histogram
A quick glance at the DPP 4 RGB histogram above shows what seems to be a significantly underexposed image with no R, G, or B values more than 1/3 of the way into the right-most box of the histogram. But the RGB values themselves show that the brightest WHITEs are pretty much perfect at 241, 240, 242. I call histograms like this “Lying Histograms” because it is easy to wind up with WHITEs that are either totally blown out at 255, 255, 255 or with RGB values in the mid-250s where it is extremely difficult to tease any detail at all out of the white feathers.
Tip: don’t always rely on the histogram. If you want to push the exposure, lower the shutter speed until you see blinkies in the whites and then go to a 1/3 stop faster shutter speed.
The San Diego Site Guide
If you can’t make the IPT below, be sure to get yourself a copy of the San Diego Site Guide here. The Site Guides are the closest thing to joining an IPT that you can experience without actually joining one. And they cost only fifty bucks–a lot less than an IPT! I share everything that I know about the five killer photography spots within 20 minutes of downtown San Diego. Learn where and how and when to photograph the amazing California race of Brown Pelican; Marbled Godwits against bright buff backgrounds; Wood Ducks, Lesser Scaup, and Ring-necked Duck at point blank range; and a variety of stunning gulls (including Heerman’s, Western, and California) both perched and in flight. You will learn where to go on what wind and what tides are best for each coastal location. As usual, I have held nothing back. Both the Fort DeSoto and Bosque Site Guides have received nothing but praise from the more than 500 photographers who were able to visit these sites for the first time as if they had been photographing them for a decade. The San Diego Site Guide consists of 8936 words and 38 color photographs. It will prove most useful to folks visiting in the colder months, but many of the locations are productive in other seasons as well, especially spring. Note: The Brown Pelicans, which are the big attraction in San Diego, have their bright red bill pouches only in winter, so this guide–though useful at other times of year–is most valuable to those visiting at that season.
San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there….
2017 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) JAN 11 thru and including the morning session on JAN 15: 4 1/2 days: $1999.
(Limit: 10/openings 6)
Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins; Tuesday 1/10/17.
Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well.
With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography. And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication.
Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?
Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings.
The San Diego Details
This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, four lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.
A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 9/11//2016. 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. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
We are now having fun on Sea Lion Island. Our four night stay at The Neck was indeed surreal. We witnessed life and death on a daily basis and the weather changed every few minutes. The worst of it was ten minutes of hail and flying dirt with 65 knot winds followed by a full rainbow over a Gentoo Penguin colony. As often, the worst weather provided the best photography. Images to follow.
I should have very limited (and expensive) internet access from now until I get back to Santiago Chile on the afternoon of 24 DEC. And then home late on 25 DEC.
I hope that you are well and enjoying the holiday season with you and yours.
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have very intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
William B Ellison, Jr. is offering a used Canon EOS 5D Mark III in near mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $1497.
The sale includes the original box, the computer disks, the unused camera body strap, the front cap, and all the cables. The body has less than 10,000 actuations. The sale includes ground shipping to all US addresses by major courier. You camera will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact William via e-mail or by phone at 1-843-884-9595 (Eastern time zone).
I have used the 5D III for birds on occasion with excellent results, even with the 2X III TC and the 600 II. It was my go-to dSLR for flowers, landscapes, and Urbex photography for many years until I replaced it first with the 5DS R and then with the 5D Mark IV. In my experience, the quality of the image files is superb. . artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 393!
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, 393 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business. target=blank>here
Two AF points to the fight of the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was just forward of the bird’s eye. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Black-browed Albatross with bill open
Taming the Whites
Even though the brightest WHITEs came in with RGB values of 235, 235, 231, the WHITEs in the bright sun were sorely lacking detail. To tame the WHITEs in the image I tried and failed with both a Levels and a Curves adjustment. Then I succeeded with a combination of my NIK Color Efex Pro 25/25 recipe and a Linear Burn reduced to 20% opacity.
Shutter Speed and Depth of Field Considerations
Working at close to point blank range and having lots of light, I went with a relatively small aperture while being able to maintain a relatively high shutter speed. A small aperture is somewhat of an advantage when you are close to minimum focusing distance but the gains in depth of field are actually small. But every little bit helps. When the black-browed are courting their head movements are fast and unpredictable. Though the head angle here is less than ideal, I love that you can see the bird’s pink “lips.” And the extra bit of depth of field did help sharpen up the bill that was angled away from us.
A New MP4 Image Optimization Video: $20
See the complete process described above as well as the complete image optimization of the Rockhopper Penguin in early morning light image featured in the recent “Light, Subject, and Background to Die For” blog post in the wide-ranging, one hour three minute Rockhopper and Black-browed Albatross Image Optimization MP4 Instructional Video. Topics covered in the two sections include moving the subject back in the frame, saving the WHITEs, NeatImage noise reduction, a variety of image clean-up on a layer techniques, creating and refining Quick Masks, removing specular highlights, understanding why you might have background noise in an ISO 400 image, using my NIK Color EFEX Pro 25/25 and 50/50 recipes, comparing one of those recipes with the results from a Linear Burn, Keyboard Shortcuts, creating and sharpening JPEGs for electronic use, and amazingly, lots more.
You can purchase your copy of the great new Black-browed Albatross Image Optimization MP4 Instructional Video in the BAA Online Store by clicking here.
And you can see the complete MP4 video collection here.
Falklands Cheap Land-based IPT DEC 22, 2018 thru JAN 5, 2019: Limit 7 photographers/Openings 5: $7499
I will be leading an innovative land-based Falklands IPT leaving from Stanley, The Falklands on SAT 22 DEC 2018 and flying back to Santiago, Chile on SAT JAN 5, 2019. Why innovative? We will be spending six nights at The Neck on Saunders Island, one of the premier wildlife photography destinations on the planet. We will be ending up on the amazing Bleaker Island. I will let you know in January when the trip will be formally announced as to we will be spending seven nights on Bleaker or 3 nights on Sea Lion Island and 4 on Bleaker. I will make that decision after visiting Sea Lion on the DEC 2016 land-based Falklands IPT that I am leading.
What else is innovative? Most two-week land-based photo trips have you visiting four or five islands hopping on a FIGAS plane every two days or so. As you are at the mercy of the flight operations you may miss several mornings or afternoons of photography. Why not stay in two or three of the best locations, locations that offer the best photo opps without any long walks. Saunders and Bleaker will get you close-up to the great species with ease. At The Neck we will be staying in rustic cabins right in the heart of the action. On Bleaker we will be enjoying near-luxury accommodations and great home-cooked meals. We will have two vehicles at our disposal.
What else? The first Black-browed Albatross chicks hatch every year on or about 12 DEC. If you visit in early January you will miss most of the tiny chicks. And worse yet, the Rockhopper Penguin chicks are leaving by the second week of January. This trip if timed to get you tons of chances on tiny fluffy white albatross chicks, some of the larger fluffy white chicks, and the rockhopper chicks as well.
With several years of experience on the Falklands, more than six in fact, nobody knows how to read the sky conditions, the wind, and the light better than me and have the group in the best possible spot at all times. With lots of strong west winds, you will need someone who knows how to put you in position to make good images on near impossible mornings.
If you are seriously interested, please shoot me an e-mail and I will get back to you during the second week of November.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 392!
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, 392 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
One AF point below the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Learn more below. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Double-crested Cormorants in pine trees backlit in the pre-dawn
Pre-dawn Japanese Painting
As the weather in San Diego is usually lovely in January and February these types of images are there for the taking on most mornings for those who do not mind getting up early. The trick is to be lucky enough to find a somewhat pleasing arrangement of the birds and to know exactly where to stand.
The Importance of Head Angle …
Do understand that even when the birds are small in the frame, even tiny in the frame, head angle is still of paramount importance. When you have two birds in the frame, getting two good head angles as in today’s image is four times harder than it is when there is only a single bird in the frame. And each time that you add another bird the difficulty of getting three or four or more good head angles increases exponentially. A strong
More 100-400 II La Jolla Versatility
Though at times you might miss having a longer focal length lens available on the cliffs of La Jolla the breadth and variety of images that you can make there with the 100-400mm L IS II is truly astounding. And as we have seen here before, adding the 1.4X III TC will give you additional reach, up to 560mm with a full frame camera body and as much as 896mm of effective focal length with a Canon crop body like the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II.
AF Magic?
Neither the selected AF point nor any of the assist points fell on the bird or the branches, yet AF held nicely and produced a sharp image. In part this was due in part to the fact that with the clean sky background AF did not have much to search for and in part as a result of my Custom Case AF settings as detailed in all of the recent Camera User’s Guides. IAC, there are many situations, especially with flight photography, where none of the active AF points are anywhere near the subject and yet the image is sharp. When that happens, enjoy the results.
The San Diego Site Guide
If you can’t make the IPT below, be sure to get yourself a copy of the San Diego Site Guide here. The Site Guides are the closest thing to joining an IPT that you can experience without actually joining one. And they cost only fifty bucks–a lot less than an IPT! I share everything that I know about the five killer photography spots within 20 minutes of downtown San Diego. Learn where and how and when to photograph the amazing California race of Brown Pelican; Marbled Godwits against bright buff backgrounds; Wood Ducks, Lesser Scaup, and Ring-necked Duck at point blank range; and a variety of stunning gulls (including Heerman’s, Western, and California) both perched and in flight. You will learn where to go on what wind and what tides are best for each coastal location. As usual, I have held nothing back. Both the Fort DeSoto and Bosque Site Guides have received nothing but praise from the more than 500 photographers who were able to visit these sites for the first time as if they had been photographing them for a decade. The San Diego Site Guide consists of 8936 words and 38 color photographs. It will prove most useful to folks visiting in the colder months, but many of the locations are productive in other seasons as well, especially spring. Note: The Brown Pelicans, which are the big attraction in San Diego, have their bright red bill pouches only in winter, so this guide–though useful at other times of year–is most valuable to those visiting at that season.
San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there….
2017 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) JAN 11 thru and including the morning session on JAN 15: 4 1/2 days: $1999.
(Limit: 10/openings 6)
Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins; Tuesday 1/10/17.
Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well.
With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography. And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication.
Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?
Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings.
The San Diego Details
This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, four lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.
A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 9/11//2016. 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. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 391!
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, 391 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the sea lion pup’s head and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
California Sea Lion pup on cliff
Setting the Stage for Learning with an Image Design Question
Why didn’t I move closer and replace the 1.4X III TC with the 2X III TC?
How Image Design Can Affect the Mood and Message of an Image …
I place the tiny sea lion pup in the very corner of the image in an attempt to create a forlorn mood and to portray a feeling of helplessness. Do you think that I succeeded? Why or why not?
Does the rock under the pup’s right flipper affect the mood and message of the image? If yes, in what way?
AF Question
Why did I need to use Rear Focus to create this image? (Note: if I had been using Shutter Button AF as I often do I would have needed either to switch to One-Shot AF or to use my AF-On button set to AF Off button trick to lock the focus.)
Your Call?
Would you have designed this image differently? If yes, how? Note that getting much closer physically was not an option.
One Last Image Design Question
Do you like the inclusion and placement of the large shape in the upper left corner? Why or why not?
San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there….
2017 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) JAN 11 thru and including the morning session on JAN 15: 4 1/2 days: $1999.
(Limit: 10/openings 6)
Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins; Tuesday 1/10/17.
Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well.
With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography. And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication.
Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?
Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings.
The San Diego Details
This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, four lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.
A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 9/11//2016. 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. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 390!
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, 390 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was on the left side of the monkey’s nose.
Snow Monkey: Mr. Spiky
Lessons from Mr. Spiky
#1: Photographing a Snow Monkey or any bird or animal that has just gotten out of the water can add interest to your images. Birds that have just finished bathing will often spend more than a few minutes preening and often offer a great variety of neat poses while doing so. In addition, as they are pre-occupied, they are often easily approached.
#2: The incredible versatility of the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens can be expanded with the addition of a Canon Extender EF 1.4X III. You will then be able to cover from 100 to 560mm, all exceedingly sharp. When you LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjust (MA) your 100-400 II you will need to do one MA at “W”, the wide setting (100mm) and one at “T,” the tight setting (400mm). And then you will need to do the same thing with the TC in place at at “W”, the wide setting (140mm) and one at “T,” the tight setting (560mm).
#3: With the great 4-stop Image Stabilization system in the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens you can make sharp images hand held at some pretty low shutter speeds. With today’s featured image–1/160 sec. at 560mm–I was using only about two stops of IS. The old rule was that you needed a shutter speed of at least 1/focal length to make sharp images. For this photo that would have meant 1/560 sec. Half of that would be 1/280 sec. And half of that would be 1/140 sec. So at 1/160 second I was just short of being two stops slower than the old standby recommended shutter speed.
#4: In nearly all low light situations you will need to be using at least some plus exposure compensation. Remember that when the sun is not out at full strength the meters in all of your cameras are dumb: the closer the scene averages to a light or white tone, the dumber the meter will be. Learn more in Exposure Simplified section of The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II, 916 pages, 900+ images on CD only, the best $40 you will ever spend on learning to become a better nature photographer.)
Consider joining me in Japan in February, 2017, for the world’s best Japan in Winter workshop. Click on the card to enjoy the spectacular larger version.
Japan In Winter IPT. February 9-24, 2017: $11,499 (was $13,999)/double occupancy. Limit 8/Openings: 3.
Price Reduced $2,500 on 3-8-16!
All lodging including the Tokyo hotel on 9 FEB, all breakfasts & dinners, ground transport and transfers including bus to the monkey park hotel, and all entrance fees and in-country flights are included. Not included: international flights, all lunches–most are on the run, and alcoholic beverages.
Please e-mail for couple and IPT repeat customer discount information.
This trip is one day longer than the great 2014 trip to allow for more flexibility, more time with the cranes, and most importantly, more time for landscape photography. Hokkaido is gorgeous. You will enjoy tons of pre-trip planning and gear advice, in-the-field instruction and guidance, at-the-lodge Photoshop and image review sessions in addition to short introductory slide programs for each of the amazing locations. Skilled photographer Paul McKenzie handles the logistics and we enjoy the services of Japan’s best wildlife photography guide whom I affectionately call “Hokkaido Bear.” His network of local contacts and his knowledge of the weather, the area, and the birds is unparalleled and enables him to have us in the best location every day.
Arrive Tokyo: 9 FEB 2017 the latest. 8 FEB is safer and gives you a day to get acclimated to the time change. Your hotel room for the night of the 9th is covered.
Bus Travel to Monkey Park Hotel: 10 FEB: A 1/2 DAY of monkey photography is likely depending on our travel time… This traditional hotel is first class all the way. Our stay includes three ten course Japanese dinners; these sumptuous meals will astound you and delight your taste buds. There are many traditional hot springs mineral baths (onsens) on site in this 150 year old hotel.
Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 11.
Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 12.
13 FEB: Full travel day to Hokkaido/arrive at our lodge in the late afternoon. The lodge is wonderful. All the rooms at the lodge have beds. Bring your warm pajamas. A local onsen (hot springs bath and tubs) is available for $5 each day before dinner–when you are cold, it is the best thing since sliced bread. The home-cooked Japanese styles meals at the lodge are to die for. What’s the best news? Only a small stand of woods separates us from the very best crane sanctuary. During one big snowstorm we were the only photo group to be able to get to Tsurui Ito; we had the whole place to ourselves in perfect conditions for crane photography!
FEB 14-23: Red-crowned Crane, raptors in flight, Whooper Swans, and scenic photography. Ural Owl possible. An overnight trip to Rausu for Steller’s Sea Eagle and White-tailed Eagle photography on the tourists boats is 100% dependent on the weather, road, and sea ice conditions. Only our trip offers complete flexibility in this area. It has saved us on more than once occasion. The cost of 2 eagle-boat trips is included. If the group would like to do more than two boat trips and we all agree, there will be an additional charge for the extra trip or trips. No matter the sea ice conditions, we will do two eagle boat trips (as long as we can make the drive to Rausu; it snows a lot up there). We have never been shut out.In 2016 there was no sea ice but our guide arranged for two amazingly productive boat trips.
Lodging notes: bring your long johns for sleeping in the lodge. At the Snow Monkey Park, and in Rausu, the hotel the rooms are Japanese-style. You sleep on comfortable mats on the floor. Wi-fi is available every day of the trip.
FEB 24. Fly back to Tokyo for transfer to your airport if you are flying home that night, or, to your hotel if you are overnighting. If you need to overnight, the cost of that room is on you.
Life is short. Hop on the merry-go-round.
To Sign Up
To save your spot, please send your $5,000 non-refundable deposit check made out to “Birds as Art” to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. I do hope that you can join me for this trip of a lifetime. Do e-mail with any questions or give me a buzz at 863-692-0906.
Purchasing travel insurance within 2 weeks of our cashing your deposit check is strongly recommended. On two fairly recent Galapagos cruises a total of 5 folks were forced to cancel less than one week prior to the trip. My family and I use Travel Insurance Services and strongly recommend that you do the same.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 389!
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, 389 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
One AF point below the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the upper corner of the bird’s eye.
Rockhopper Penguin in early morning light
Light, Subject, and Background to Die For …
We woke early and hiked from the secluded Rookery cabin on Saunders to the rockhopper rookery. With the colony in the shade of a big hill I created a stitched pano of one segment of the colony with the tripod-mounted 100-400 II. When the sun crested the hill I worked the edges of the lower colony picking off single birds at the edges. This strategy works well in a great variety of bird photography situations including working a flock of birds at the beach; working the edges makes it easier to isolate. By pulling out the leg tab on the forward facing leg I was easily able to get about a foot lower and wind up with a background that was a combination of yellow lichens and green grass. For me, the early morning light and the open bill make this one special.
Whaddaya think?
Please leave a comment and let us know what you like or don’t like about this image.
Depth of Field and Distance to the Background Lesson
Notice that with the background probably 60 yards behind the rockhopper’s head that even with the relatively small aperture of f/13 the background is beautifully blurred. With backgrounds more proximal to the subject such small apertures can get you in trouble by bringing up unwanted background detail. And if the background is very close to the subject not even apertures of f/2.8 or f/4 will yield a soft, pleasingly out of focus background.
A New MP4 Image Optimization Video: $20
See the complete image optimization of the Rockhopper Penguin in early morning light image featured above as well as the image optimization for the Taming the Whites Black-browed Albatross in the wide-ranging, one hour three minute Rockhopper and Black-browed Albatross Image Optimization MP4 Instructional Video. The latter will be published on the blog in a few days. Topics covered in the two sections include moving the subject back in the frame, saving the WHITEs, NeatImage noise reduction, a variety of image clean-up on a layer techniques, creating and refining Quick Masks, removing specular highlights, understanding why you might have background noise in an ISO 400 image, using my NIK Color EFEX Pro 25/25 and 50/50 recipes, comparing one of those recipes with the results from a Linear Burn, Keyboard Shortcuts, creating and sharpening JPEGs for electronic use, and amazingly, lots more.
You can purchase your copy of the great new Black-browed Albatross Image Optimization MP4 Instructional Video in the BAA Online Store by clicking here.
And you can see the complete MP4 video collection here.
Falklands Cheap Land-based IPT DEC 22, 2018 thru JAN 5, 2019: Limit 7 photographers/Openings 6: $7499
I will be leading an innovative land-based Falklands IPT leaving from Stanley, The Falklands on SAT 22 DEC 2018 and flying back to Santiago, Chile on SAT JAN 5, 2019. Why innovative? We will be spending six nights at The Neck on Saunders Island, one of the premier wildlife photography destinations on the planet. We will be ending up on the amazing Bleaker Island. I will let you know in January when the trip will be formally announced as to we will be spending seven nights on Bleaker or 3 nights on Sea Lion Island and 4 on Bleaker. I will make that decision after visiting Sea Lion on the DEC 2016 land-based Falklands IPT that I am leading.
What else is innovative? Most two-week land-based photo trips have you visiting four or five islands hopping on a FIGAS plane every two days or so. As you are at the mercy of the flight operations you may miss several mornings or afternoons of photography. Why not stay in two or three of the best locations, locations that offer the best photo opps without any long walks. Saunders and Bleaker will get you close-up to the great species with ease. At The Neck we will be staying in rustic cabins right in the heart of the action. On Bleaker we will be enjoying near-luxury accommodations and great home-cooked meals. We will have two vehicles at our disposal.
What else? The first Black-browed Albatross chicks hatch every year on or about 12 DEC. If you visit in early January you will miss most of the tiny chicks. And worse yet, the Rockhopper Penguin chicks are leaving by the second week of January. This trip if timed to get you tons of chances on tiny fluffy white albatross chicks, some of the larger fluffy white chicks, and the rockhopper chicks as well.
With several years of experience on the Falklands, more than six in fact, nobody knows how to read the sky conditions, the wind, and the light better than me and have the group in the best possible spot at all times. With lots of strong west winds, you will need someone who knows how to put you in position to make good images on near impossible mornings.
If you are seriously interested, please shoot me an e-mail and I will get back to you during the second week of November.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂
My SW Visa card showed up on Sunday. I had given it to a friend who was attempting to settle a dispute with Latam Airlines … Neither of us remembered that minor detail until she accidentally came across the missing card in her purse. The card is now unblocked. All’s well that end’s well.
And More
We all flew successfully to Stanley on Sunday, 4 DEC. By the time you read this, the entire group should be at fabled The Neck on Saunders Island. If all goes well, flash cards should be filling quickly.
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 388!
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, 388 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
Living A Dream: Life as a Freelance Nature Photographer/Then…
The text below, written in 1996, is cut and pasted verbatim from the closing page of The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II: 916 pages, 900+ images on CD only).
Many people think that life as a professional nature photographer is a romantic one, and many dream of pursuing that existence themselves. As far as I am concerned, their dreams are justified. Since I walked away from my job as a 23-year veteran elementary school teacher in the New York City school system in 1992, I have been living a dream. I travel North America and the world photographing my favorite subjects, free and wild birds. Being out on a beautiful beach at dawn on a still morning with a big telephoto lens is heaven on earth to me. In recent years, I have made several trips to Alaska to photograph Coastal Brown Bear and to Kenya and Tanzania where I have grown to love photographing all manner of wildlife.
I have the respect of many thousands of folks, including many of my peers. John Shaw and Jim Brandenburg, two of my idols, are my friends. At times I am even recognized in an airport! My work is published regularly in a variety of media around the world. I meet many wonderful folks on my BIRDS AS ART/Instructional Photo-Tours and at weekend seminars and many of them have become close and dear friends. I have taught hundreds of folks to make better images and many of them have gone on to be published nationally. I am invited to speak at various events in the U.S. and more recently have been invited to speak at prestigious photographic conferences in Germany and Finland. In 2005 I keynoted at the NANPA Summit in Charlotte,
NC; the standing ovation that I received after my program was one of the great highlights of my life.
Since 1997 I have been a Canon contract photographer, one of the fifty-five original “Explorers of Light.” I did seven episodes of the Canon Photo Safari television program and was featured in an ad for the EOS-1n camera body that aired worldwide in several languages.
My fifty best friends are photographers. I love being outdoors and I love making great images. Heck, five of my images have been honored in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, and one of those was recently featured on the cover of “Light on the Earth,” a collection of the best images from the last 20 years of this prestigious contest. In recent years I have been invited to lead trips to some of the world’s great wildlife destinations, Galapagos and Antarctica. My travel and expenses are paid in full. What’s not to like?
I have an efficient, hard-working, well-paid staff of two. They make my life simple and easy. Because of their efforts, I get to spend more than 250 days a year on the road or in the field photographing. I am under no stress at all from my job. Oh, did I forget to mention that I am making more money than I could ever have dreamed of?
Yes, when I am home I put in long hours answering e-mails, writing, working on images, and planning new trips and projects. I often work 14 or more hours a day, but I totally love what I do. When I am teaching I work just as long and even harder. I have lunch and dinner with my groups in an effort to immerse them totally in the photographic experience, editing images at lunch and answering questions virtually non-stop. Evenings are consumed by educational slide programs and critiquing sessions. Many liken my IPTs to photographic boot camps. I do, however, take great pride in sending folks home happy and smarter with lots of great images.
Fact: 99% of the images that I send out for consideration are rejected. That’s what is. Accept it. Fact: image sales are down well more than 50% since 9-11. Photographers who used to be able to get by just selling images are having trouble unless they have expanded their business horizons. BIRDS AS ART has flourished by expanding our electronic publishing and mail order line and by doing more seminars, IPTs, and international Photo-Safaris and Cruises. The bottom line is that I love my job and would not trade it for any other. I am truly blessed.
Living A Dream: Life as a Freelance Nature Photographer/Now…
The text below is an updated version of the text that appeared originally in The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II: 916 pages, 900+ images on CD only). All changes are indicated in bold face.
Many people think that life as a professional nature photographer is a romantic one, and many dream of pursuing that existence themselves. As far as I am concerned, their dreams are justified. Since I walked away from my job as a 23-year veteran elementary school teacher in the New York City school system in 1992, I have been living a dream, traveling North America and the world photographing my favorite subjects, free and wild birds along with flowers and old buildings and bears and lots more. Heck, today enjoyment comes from photographing just about anything that catches my eye. Being out on a beautiful beach at dawn on a still morning with a big telephoto lens is heaven on earth to me. In recent years, I have made several trips to Alaska to photograph Coastal Brown Bear and to Kenya and Tanzania and Namibia where I have grown to love photographing all manner of wildlife.
I have the respect of many thousands of folks, including many of my peers. John Shaw and Jim Brandenburg, two of my idols, are my friends. At times I am even recognized in an airport! My work is now rarely published in a variety of media around the world as too many good photographers simply give their work away for free or for pennies. Many of the wonderful folks on my BIRDS AS ART/Instructional Photo-Tours and at weekend seminars have become close and dear friends. Through my books and the blog and BPNthousands of folks have learned to make better images and many of them have gone on to be published nationally and several have been honored in the world’s most prestigious international photographic competitions. In 2005 I keynoted at the NANPA Summit in Charlotte, NC; the standing ovation that followed was one of the great highlights of my life. Shortly after being named a NANPA Fellow about eight years ago (primarily because of my work with the high school and college scholarship students) I mysteriously became personna non grata at NANPA and remain a member today only to take advantage of the equipment insurance program.
Since 1997 I have been a Canon contract photographer, one of the fifty-five original “Explorers of Light.” I did seven episodes of the Canon Photo Safari television program and was featured in an ad for the EOS-1n camera body that aired worldwide in several languages. About three years ago I became a Canon Explorer of Light Emeritus…
Nearly all of my hundred best friends are photographers. I love being outdoors and I love making great images. Heck, eight of my images have been honored in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, and one of those was featured on the cover of “Light on the Earth,” a collection of the best images from the last 20 years of this prestigious contest. In most years during the past decade I have had one or two images honored in the now-prestigious Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice International Photography Awards Competition. And “Gannets in Love” won the Art in Nature category. A while back I was invited to lead trips to some of the world’s great wildlife destinations including the Galapagos and Antarctica. My travel and expenses were paid in full. I have now been leading my own trips to the Galapagos for about seven years. In two weeks I will be making my fifth trip to the Southern Oceans and spending 9+ weeks in South America, three of those doing land-based trips in The Falklands. What’s not to like?
BAA has an efficient, hard-working, well-paid staff of two. They make my life simple and easy. Because of their efforts, I get to spend more than 250 days a year on the road or in the field photographing. I am under no stress at all from my job. Oh, did I forget to mention that I am making more money than I could ever have dreamed of?
Yes, when I am home I put in long hours answering e-mails, writing, working on images, and planning new trips and projects. I often work 16 or more hours a day, but I totally love what I do. When I am teaching I work just as long and even harder. I have lunch and dinner with my groups in an effort to immerse them totally in the photographic experience, editing images at lunch and answering questions virtually non-stop. Afternoons are consumed by educational slide programs and critiquing sessions. Many liken my IPTs to photographic boot camps. I do, however, take great pride in sending folks home happy and smarter with lots of great images.
Fact: 99% of the images that I send out for consideration are rejected, and these days we do not send out many images at all; as above, stock sales are down across the board. That’s what is. Accept it. Fact: image sales are down well more than 90% here at BAA since 9-11. Photographers who used to be able to get by just selling images are having trouble unless they have expanded their business horizons. BIRDS AS ART has flourished by expanding our electronic publishing and mail order line and by doing more seminars, IPTs, and international Photo-Safaris and Cruises. The B&H affiliate program and the Used Photo Gear Page sales have helped immensely to keep us more than afloat. The bottom line is that I still love my job and would not trade it for any other. I am truly blessed.
Questions Welcome
If you have a question about the changes that have occurred over the past ten years, please leave it in the form of a comment below.
Images and card copyright Arthur Morris/BEARS AS ART 🙂
2017 Bear Boat Coastal Brown Bear Cubs IPTs: July 18-24, 2017 from Kodiak, AK: 5 FULL & 2 Half DAYS: $6699. Happy campers only! Maximum 8/Openings 3.
Join me in spectacular Katmai National Park, AK for six days of photographing Coastal Brown Bears. Mid-July is prime time for making images of small, football-sized cubs. The cubs, and these dates, are so popular that I had to reserve them three years in advance to secure them. There are lots of bears each year in June, but the mothers only rarely risk bringing their tiny cubs out in the open in fear of predation by rival bears. In addition to making portraits of both adults and cubs, we hope to photograph frolicking and squabbling youngsters and tender nursing scenes. At this time of year, the bears are either grazing in luxuriant grass or clamming. There will also be some two- and three-year old cubs to add to the fun. And we will get to photograph it all.
We will live on our tour operator’s luxurious new boat. At 78 feet long its 24 foot beam makes it quite spacious as well. And the food is great. We will likely spend most of our time at famed Geographic Harbor as that is where the bears are generally concentrated in summer. On the odd chance that we do need to relocate to another location we can do so quickly and easily without having to venture into any potentially rough seas. We land via a 25 foot skiff that has lots of room for as much gear as we can carry.
Aside from the bears we should get to photograph Horned and Tufted Puffin and should get nice stuff on Mew Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Harbor Seal, and Steller’s Sea Lion as well. A variety of tundra-nesting shorebirds including Western Sandpiper and both yellowlegs are also possible. Halibut fishing (license required/not included) is optional.
It is mandatory that you be in Kodiak no later than the late afternoon of July 17 to avoid missing the float planes to the boat on the morning of July 18. Again, with air travel in Alaska (or anywhere else for that matter) subject to possible delays, being on Kodiak on July 16 is a much better plan.
Barring any delays, we will get to photograph bears on our first afternoon and then again every day for the next five days after that, all weather permitting of course. On our last morning on the boat, July 24, those who would like to enjoy one last photo session will have the opportunity to do so. The group will return to Kodiak via float plane from late morning through midday. Most folks will then fly to Anchorage and to continue on red-eye flights to their home cities.
What’s included? 7 DAYS/6 NIGHTS on the boat as above. All meals on the boat. National Park and guide fees. In-the-field photo tips, instruction, and guidance. An insight into the mind of two top professionals; we will constantly let you know what we are thinking, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Small group image review, image sharing, and informal Photoshop instruction on the boat.
What’s not included: Your round trip airfare to and from Kodiak, AK (almost surely through Anchorage). Your lodging and meals on Kodiak. The cost of the round-trip float plane to the boat and then back to Kodiak as above. The cost of a round trip last year was $550. The suggested crew tip of $200.
Have you ever walked with the bears?
Is this an expensive trip? Yes, of course. But with 5 full and two half days, a wealth of great subjects, and the fact that you will be walking with the bears just yards away (or less….), it will be one of the great natural history experiences of your life. Most folks who take part in a Bear Boat IPT wind up coming back for more.
A $2,000 per person non-refundable deposit by check only made out to “BIRDS AS ART” is required to hold your spot. Please click here to read our cancellation policies. Then please print, read, and sign the necessary paperwork here and send it to us by mail to PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855.
Your deposit is due when you sign up. That leaves a balance of $4699. The next payment of $2699 will be due on September 15, 2016. The final payment of $2000 is due on February 15, 2017. We hope that you can join us for what will be a wondrously exciting trip.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂
We hope to be flying to The Falklands today and to Saunders Island tomorrow. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I hope that you enjoy this bonus blog post. I was able to put a hold on my Southwest Visa card until 28 DEC. I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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.
Center AF point only/AI Servo/Manual selection/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. The center AF point missed the bird totally yet the image is razor sharp. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Imperial Cormorant
Never Give Up Bonus Bird Photo!
After our flight to The Falklands was cancelled, we were fortunate to get our checked bags, four hotel rooms, and a van to the hotel. After getting settled and having lunch, one of the participants was eager to get out and do some photography. So I hired a van and we headed to a local marsh recommended by my friend Walter Baliero Carluccio of Santiago. It sucked. Refusing to give up, we headed back towards town to the northernmost Imperial Cormorant nesting pier. The wind was strong and the direction almost perfect. Five of us stood on the beach for two hours and had a ton of fun.
It is remarkable on IPTs how often it pays to never give up …
The JPEG here represents the converted TIFF file; as you can see, the nesting pier was quite evident in the original capture.
Clone Stamp Clean-up Tip
After a fairly healthy crop that eliminated the two wooden pilings, I used the Clone Stamp Tool to eliminate the birds along the bottom frame edge. The Clone Stamp Tool often leaves a few lumps in its wake. Try this fix:
1-Duplicate the entire layer by hitting Control + J.
2- Apply a 50-80 pixel Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to the layer.
3- Add a Hide-All (Inverse or Black) Mask to the layer by holding down the Alt key and then hitting the Add layer mask icon. (It is the third from the left on the Layers palette.)
4- Hit B + D to paint in the effect where you need to smooth out the faint lumps, in this case, along the bottom from frame edge.
More 1DX II …
I have been using my 1DX Mark II more and more on the trip, especially in low light/high ISO situations and almost always for flight photography. It is hard to argue with the blazingly fast frame rate for flying birds and birds in action. Here you see that the image quality stood up just fine to a healthy crop. I will be using my two Canon EOS 5D Mark IV bodies much more on The Falklands.
Images and card copyright Arthur Morris/BEARS AS ART 🙂
2017 Bear Boat Coastal Brown Bear Cubs IPTs: July 18-24, 2017 from Kodiak, AK: 5 FULL & 2 Half DAYS: $6699. Happy campers only! Maximum 8/Openings 3.
Join me in spectacular Katmai National Park, AK for six days of photographing Coastal Brown Bears. Mid-July is prime time for making images of small, football-sized cubs. The cubs, and these dates, are so popular that I had to reserve them three years in advance to secure them. There are lots of bears each year in June, but the mothers only rarely risk bringing their tiny cubs out in the open in fear of predation by rival bears. In addition to making portraits of both adults and cubs, we hope to photograph frolicking and squabbling youngsters and tender nursing scenes. At this time of year, the bears are either grazing in luxuriant grass or clamming. There will also be some two- and three-year old cubs to add to the fun. And we will get to photograph it all.
We will live on our tour operator’s luxurious new boat. At 78 feet long its 24 foot beam makes it quite spacious as well. And the food is great. We will likely spend most of our time at famed Geographic Harbor as that is where the bears are generally concentrated in summer. On the odd chance that we do need to relocate to another location we can do so quickly and easily without having to venture into any potentially rough seas. We land via a 25 foot skiff that has lots of room for as much gear as we can carry.
Aside from the bears we should get to photograph Horned and Tufted Puffin and should get nice stuff on Mew Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Harbor Seal, and Steller’s Sea Lion as well. A variety of tundra-nesting shorebirds including Western Sandpiper and both yellowlegs are also possible. Halibut fishing (license required/not included) is optional.
It is mandatory that you be in Kodiak no later than the late afternoon of July 17 to avoid missing the float planes to the boat on the morning of July 18. Again, with air travel in Alaska (or anywhere else for that matter) subject to possible delays, being on Kodiak on July 16 is a much better plan.
Barring any delays, we will get to photograph bears on our first afternoon and then again every day for the next five days after that, all weather permitting of course. On our last morning on the boat, July 24, those who would like to enjoy one last photo session will have the opportunity to do so. The group will return to Kodiak via float plane from late morning through midday. Most folks will then fly to Anchorage and to continue on red-eye flights to their home cities.
What’s included? 7 DAYS/6 NIGHTS on the boat as above. All meals on the boat. National Park and guide fees. In-the-field photo tips, instruction, and guidance. An insight into the mind of two top professionals; we will constantly let you know what we are thinking, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Small group image review, image sharing, and informal Photoshop instruction on the boat.
What’s not included: Your round trip airfare to and from Kodiak, AK (almost surely through Anchorage). Your lodging and meals on Kodiak. The cost of the round-trip float plane to the boat and then back to Kodiak as above. The cost of a round trip last year was $550. The suggested crew tip of $200.
Have you ever walked with the bears?
Is this an expensive trip? Yes, of course. But with 5 full and two half days, a wealth of great subjects, and the fact that you will be walking with the bears just yards away (or less….), it will be one of the great natural history experiences of your life. Most folks who take part in a Bear Boat IPT wind up coming back for more.
A $2,000 per person non-refundable deposit by check only made out to “BIRDS AS ART” is required to hold your spot. Please click here to read our cancellation policies. Then please print, read, and sign the necessary paperwork here and send it to us by mail to PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855.
Your deposit is due when you sign up. That leaves a balance of $4699. The next payment of $2699 will be due on September 15, 2016. The final payment of $2000 is due on February 15, 2017. We hope that you can join me for what will be a wondrously exciting trip.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
I got out for some photography on Friday, October 14, mostly Peruvian Pelicans on the coast west of Santiago. It is Friday afternoon and I feel great. I fly with my group of three to the Falklands tomorrow for a week in land-based bird photography heaven. I did get a rain jacket and a pair of rain pants with a zipper fly! Talk about a big step up.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 387!
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, 387 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.
This image was created at Vina del Mar, Chile on Friday, October 14, my first photo outing after the gall bladder surgery. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stops as framed: 1/640 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB. Converted with Click WB on the neck.
I selected the AF point that was two rows above the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed and that AF point was of course active at the moment of exposure; see the DPP 4 Screen Capture below for more on the active AF point.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5.
Peruvian Pelican landing
Square Landing Peruvian Pelican AF Miracle …
As I swung the lens to get on this incoming bird I realized the my chances for success were between slim and none and a lot closer to the latter. But hell, it’s digital so what the heck. Why likely failure?
1-Shutter speed too low.
2-Near impossible to get the AF point on the on the bird’s face.
3-Bird too big in the frame.
4-Proper framing would be next to impossible.
Anyway, like I said it’s digital and if you do not try in near-impossible situations, one thing is for sure: you’ll wind up with nothing.
Back at the Holiday Inn Airport Hotel I was pleasantly surprised when I viewed the image carefully: with some Eye Doctor Work on that very grey iris and a bit of juicing up, I thought that the image had potential. Note: I like the image for it sharpness and it humorous mood. The blurred and cut but not clipped wings do not bug me one iota.
Whaddya You Think?
Like it or hate it? What and why? I am fine either way, just be nice.
The DPP 4 Screen Capture for today’s featured image
The DPP 4 Screen Capture
Converted the image in DPP 4 (as always). First thing that I did in Photoshop was the Eye Doctor work using Tim Grey Dodge and Burn at opacities of from 20-30%. Then applied my NIK 25/25 recipe to the whole image, applied a Hide-All Mask, and painted the effect back in on the bird. And then on the same layer I added some NeatImage NR on the bird only. Then a Contrast Mask on the face only and I was good to go.
In the screen capture note the almost perfect WHITE RGB values: 223, 223, 224 (on the neck). They ran a bit higher on the top of the head. Note also the near-square crop and the care taken to include only the upper part of the reflection (bottom center).
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂
After a great 203 keeper day with the Inca Terns, Kelp Gulls, and Peruvian Pelicans yesterday, we flew from Santiago, Chile to Punta Arenas only to learn that the once a week Saturday flight to Stanley in The Falklands was cancelled due to high winds. Latam told everyone that they needed to fly back to Santiago, stay in a hotel at their cost, and fly back tomorrow. Never mind. We were able to grab our bags and are now having lunch in the very nice Los Navigantes Hotel in Punta Arenas. We are hoping that the flight to Stanley goes tomorrow …
Second Glitch
At best, I have misplaced my Southwest credit card. I paid for lunch with it in Vina del Mar yesterday but it was not in my wallet when we got to Punta Arenas. I am hoping that it might be in the pocket of the pants that I wore yesterday. But they are in the bag that I left in the Holiday Inn Santiago Airport … I am still up in the air on what to do. Suggestions welcome.
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 386!
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, 386 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.japan” width=800 />
This image was created at La Jolla, CA on my extended early spring 2016 visit with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 500 (tells you that is was dark!). Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/4 sec. at f/5 in Tv (Shutter priority) mode. Daylight WB (though do not ask me why).
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the Heerman’s Gull in the middle and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial.
Brand’t Cormorants zoom blur
Necessity is the mother of invention, and of zoom blurs …
On the late afternoon that Patrick Sparkman ran into the “studio surfbirds,” we hung around the bridge club until after dark. Not sure why as it was too dark to photograph (at least in the traditional sense). But one of the things I love most about digital photography is that you are free to screw around and experiment. So when I saw the cormorants on the sandstone shelf, lit by the street lamps, I knew that creating a nice zoom blur or too just might be in the cards. Following the techniques for creating zoom blurs in A Guide to Pleasing Blurs to a tee, I got set up in Tv mode at a relatively low ISO (considering that it was already dark) and went to work. Patrick tried a few and had fun too.
As is often the case with blurs, I created lots of them and kept few, actually just one in this case. I like the relatively sharp Heerman’s Gull in the center, the degree of blurring, the greens of the seaweed, and the CYAN of the ocean. For this one I zoomed out from 400mm to 114mm during the 1/4 second exposure.
Et Vous?
Please leave a comment and let us know what you think of this image. Blur-haters are welcome 🙂
San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there….
2017 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) JAN 11 thru and including the morning session on JAN 15: 4 1/2 days: $1999.
(Limit: 10/openings 6)
Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins; Tuesday 1/10/17.
Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well.
With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography. And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication.
Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?
Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings.
The San Diego Details
This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, four lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.
A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 9/11//2016. 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. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
I am somewhere in South America. I hope that you are well. Jim and Jen are at the office most days to help you with your mail order needs and Instructional Photo-Tour sign-ups. I still need folks for San Diego, Japan, Galapagos, the Palouse, and the Bear Boat (Grizzly Cubs) trips. Among others 🙂 Please e-mail for couples and discount info for all of the above. Click here for complete IPT info.
I will have intermittent internet access for the rest of my South American adventure. I get back home late on December 25, 2016. Best and great picture making, artie
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the 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: 385!
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, 385 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-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 new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.japan” width=800 />
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF exactly as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Backlit Icicle
Relentless …
We arrived at the Monkey Park right on the button at 8:55am only to be told that the opening would be delayed a bit due to the fact that the Snow Monkeys were having too much fun higher up on the hill. Rather than sit around bitching at the bad luck, co-leader Paul McKenzie and I spotted some really neat icicles hanging from the eaves of the building right by the bathrooms and went to work. I added the 1.4X TC to help me isolate what I liked. It was a difficult situation as we were too low to get a decent background. So we moved a heavy bench and stood on it to get some extra height. As I remember it, Paul, much younger than I, stood atop the railing for a better angle. I was not going there but was still happy with today’s featured image.
What is the point of photographic relentlessness?
The point of the little tale above is that you should do your very best to make the best image possible in all situations. Some in the group took a few haphazard images without getting any higher (even though we offered to lend a hand in support). You do not want to tell me, “It was just a grab shot.” To me, that is disrespecting the process of photography. If an image is worth making, put your heart and soul and mind into it.
Whadda You Think?
Was the image worth it?
Consider joining me in Japan in February, 2017, for the world’s best Japan in Winter workshop. Click on the card to enjoy the spectacular larger version.
Japan In Winter IPT. February 9-24, 2017: $11,499 (was $13,999)/double occupancy. Limit 8/Openings: 3.
Price Reduced $2,500 on 3-8-16!
All lodging including the Tokyo hotel on 9 FEB, all breakfasts & dinners, ground transport and transfers including bus to the monkey park hotel, and all entrance fees and in-country flights are included. Not included: international flights, all lunches–most are on the run, and alcoholic beverages.
Please e-mail for couple and IPT repeat customer discount information.
This trip is one day longer than the great 2014 trip to allow for more flexibility, more time with the cranes, and most importantly, more time for landscape photography. Hokkaido is gorgeous. You will enjoy tons of pre-trip planning and gear advice, in-the-field instruction and guidance, at-the-lodge Photoshop and image review sessions in addition to short introductory slide programs for each of the amazing locations. Skilled photographer Paul McKenzie handles the logistics and we enjoy the services of Japan’s best wildlife photography guide whom I affectionately call “Hokkaido Bear.” His network of local contacts and his knowledge of the weather, the area, and the birds is unparalleled and enables him to have us in the best location every day.
Arrive Tokyo: 9 FEB 2017 the latest. 8 FEB is safer and gives you a day to get acclimated to the time change. Your hotel room for the night of the 9th is covered.
Bus Travel to Monkey Park Hotel: 10 FEB: A 1/2 DAY of monkey photography is likely depending on our travel time… This traditional hotel is first class all the way. Our stay includes three ten course Japanese dinners; these sumptuous meals will astound you and delight your taste buds. There are many traditional hot springs mineral baths (onsens) on site in this 150 year old hotel.
Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 11.
Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 12.
13 FEB: Full travel day to Hokkaido/arrive at our lodge in the late afternoon. The lodge is wonderful. All the rooms at the lodge have beds. Bring your warm pajamas. A local onsen (hot springs bath and tubs) is available for $5 each day before dinner–when you are cold, it is the best thing since sliced bread. The home-cooked Japanese styles meals at the lodge are to die for. What’s the best news? Only a small stand of woods separates us from the very best crane sanctuary. During one big snowstorm we were the only photo group to be able to get to Tsurui Ito; we had the whole place to ourselves in perfect conditions for crane photography!
FEB 14-23: Red-crowned Crane, raptors in flight, Whooper Swans, and scenic photography. Ural Owl possible. An overnight trip to Rausu for Steller’s Sea Eagle and White-tailed Eagle photography on the tourists boats is 100% dependent on the weather, road, and sea ice conditions. Only our trip offers complete flexibility in this area. It has saved us on more than once occasion. The cost of 2 eagle-boat trips is included. If the group would like to do more than two boat trips and we all agree, there will be an additional charge for the extra trip or trips. No matter the sea ice conditions, we will do two eagle boat trips (as long as we can make the drive to Rausu; it snows a lot up there). We have never been shut out.In 2016 there was no sea ice but our guide arranged for two amazingly productive boat trips.
Lodging notes: bring your long johns for sleeping in the lodge. At the Snow Monkey Park, and in Rausu, the hotel the rooms are Japanese-style. You sleep on comfortable mats on the floor. Wi-fi is available every day of the trip.
FEB 24. Fly back to Tokyo for transfer to your airport if you are flying home that night, or, to your hotel if you are overnighting. If you need to overnight, the cost of that room is on you.
Life is short. Hop on the merry-go-round.
To Sign Up
To save your spot, please send your $5,000 non-refundable deposit check made out to “Birds as Art” to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. I do hope that you can join me for this trip of a lifetime. Do e-mail with any questions or give me a buzz at 863-692-0906.
Purchasing travel insurance within 2 weeks of our cashing your deposit check is strongly recommended. On two fairly recent Galapagos cruises a total of 5 folks were forced to cancel less than one week prior to the trip. My family and I use Travel Insurance Services and strongly recommend that you do the same.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 we are 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 we, 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 🙂
