I finished this blog post on Saturday morning. I leave with daughter Alissa and husband Ajiniyaz for lunch in the city followed by Jersey Boys on Broadway (the second time for me). I am excited. On Friday I got lots more work done my B&H Event Space programs… See the details below.
Only Bob DeCroce, who was with me on the Nickerson Beach IPT, has signed up for the DeSoto IPT so it is looking like more very intimate small group instruction.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 269 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
The center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point fell just below 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.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment = 0.
Black Skimmer, nearly fledged young
What I Was Thinking
I stood, as I have been doing every morning when approaching the large numbers of skimmers with chicks (well outside the colony ropes) right after sunrise. I move very slowly looking for good situations before getting my butt on the ground. As there were only a few of the larger, nearly fledged young around, I concentrated on them. But I still wound up creating hundreds of images of the smaller, fluffier, whiter chicks.
I chose to work well off sun angle to create today’s featured image in part because the light is not as harsh at 6:15am as it is at 7:15am. In addition, if I had moved all the way to sun angle, I would have been shooting “up the bird’s butt,” that is, with the bird’s tail closer to me than it’s head. The main reason that I chose the perspective that I did was to frame the young bird with the head of one adult and the tail of the other.
Do note that the blue line on the bird’s chest is not a sharpening halo. If you think that you know what caused it, do leave a comment and share your thoughts with the group.
The RAW Conversion
This image was taken so early in the morning that it was actually too yellow and too red, in short, too warm. During the RAW conversion in DPP 4 I tried a few things with the White Balance and wound up converting it at K 4700. In addition, I moved the color Fine Tune dot about 1/4 of the way to the upper left corner, towards CYAN. This cooled the image down nicely while still keeping the early morning light look. Learn why and how Arash Hazeghi and I use DPP 4 for all of our RAW conversions in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide here.
Once I Started I Couldn’t Stop!
I knew that the two shadows on the left frame-edge had to go, along with the small piece of straw on the sand in front of the bird. After a while, I decided that the o-o-f stuff below the base of the birds bill also had to go. For that I used cloning on a layer in case I painted outside of the lines 🙂 When I started the bill clean-up I was sure that I would just do a bit. Each time I viewed the image full frame I’d see one more little bit that had to go. Before I knew it the fledgling’s bill was so clean that it looked as if he had just gotten back from an ocean bath. What can I say? I could’t help myself.
As far as clean-up, what would you have done with this image if it were yours?
You can learn about all of my clean-up tools, techniques, and shortcuts in Digital Basics which also includes dozens other great Photoshop tips.
B&H August 11, 2016 Event Space Programs
On Thursday, August 11, 2016, I will be presenting two free programs at the B&H Event Space as below. If you would like to attend, it would be best to register asap as both programs have begun filling nicely.
Using Teleconverters with Intermediate and Super Telephotos Lenses: 1:00 to 2:30pm
The word on the street is that you simply cannot make sharp images with teleconverters (TCs) especially with the doublers. Nothing could be further from the truth. With some practice and good sharpness techniques you can learn to use TCs effectively to photograph small, distant, or shy subjects.
Teleconverters or multipliers come in a variety of strengths, most usually 1.4X and 2X. Nikon also offers a 1.7X TCE. Each will multiply your effective focal length by the factor in its name. A 1.4X TC will make your 400mm lens into a 640mm lens. A doubler, aka a 2X TC, will enable your 600mm lens to give you 1200mm of reach.
In this program, Arthur Morris, internationally noted bird photographer and educator, will share the tips, techniques, and secrets that he has developed and used for more than three decades so that you too can use teleconverters to improve your photography. This program will be illustrated with Artie’s spectacular images of birds, wildlife, flowers, and even a few unexpected subjects.
Putting Art into Your Nature Photography: 3:00 to 4:30pm
With today’s amazing photographic gear that includes camera bodies with surreal autofocus that can routinely produce superb image files in the right hands and fast, sharp lenses (including and especially the amazing super-telephotos) creating images of various birds, animals, flowers, and landscapes, is pretty much child’s play. Anyone can do it. In this program, Arthur Morris, internationally noted bird photographer and educator, will teach you to take your images to the next level. You will learn to identify good situations, to create pleasing backgrounds, to photograph action and behavior, to choose the best perspective, to read and use the light, when and how to create pleasing blurs, and how to consistently create dramatic, evocative images with contest-winning potential.
This program will be illustrated with several hundred of Artie’s spectacular images, many published around the world above his most fitting credit line: BIRDS AS ART.
Fort DeSoto in fall is rife with tame birds. All of the images in this card were created at Fort DeSoto in either late September or early October. I hope that you can join me there this fall one way or another. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99
Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.
You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.
To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.
Folks attending the IPT will be in the field early and stay out late to take advantage of sunrise and sunset colors. The good news is that the days are relatively short in early fall. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet and afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.
Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.
Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.
On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).
At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one. If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.
As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.
Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.
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 🙂
Friday was a day of rest (that means no early morning photography…) with lots of work done on my B&H Event Space programs… See the details below.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 268 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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 originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best with moving subjects). The active AF point fell on the spot where the wing attaches to the bird’s body, right on the same plane as the eye. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Black Skimmer skimming in still water in early morning light
Thursday Morning…
After taking note of the (ridiculous) new bird protection area at Nickerson I decided that I had had enough of the chicks so I headed down the beach to see what I could find. Again, it was fun hanging with good buddy Tom Pfeifer. We both had the same thoughts as to where we might find some skimmers skimming. We thought that it would be a slaughter but it turned out to be a very slow pick. But for me, my determination is always a huge factor in any success that I might achieve. The crazy thing is that though the wind was from the northeast most of the skimmers were skimming to the west, albeit with perfect mirror-like reflections.
My Critique
In an ideal world, the bird would have had the near wing fully raised to offer a better view of the underwing detail. Otherwise, perfect. What do you think?
This is an unsharpened 100% crop of the head and bill of the bird in today’s featured image
The First 100% Crop
I think that this 100% crop is pretty sick. What do you think?
This is an unsharpened 100% crop of the feet and toes of the bird in today’s featured image
The Second 100% Crop
I think that this 100% crop is even sicker. What do you think?
B&H August 11, 2016 Event Space Programs
On Thursday, August 11, 2016, I will be presenting two free programs at the B&H Event Space as below. If you would like to attend, it would be best to register asap as both programs have begun filling nicely.
Using Teleconverters with Intermediate and Super Telephotos Lenses: 1:00 to 2:30pm
The word on the street is that you simply cannot make sharp images with teleconverters (TCs) especially with the doublers. Nothing could be further from the truth. With some practice and good sharpness techniques you can learn to use TCs effectively to photograph small, distant, or shy subjects.
Teleconverters or multipliers come in a variety of strengths, most usually 1.4X and 2X. Nikon also offers a 1.7X TCE. Each will multiply your effective focal length by the factor in its name. A 1.4X TC will make your 400mm lens into a 560mm lens. A doubler, aka a 2X TC, will enable your 600mm lens to give you 1200mm of reach.
In this program, Arthur Morris, internationally noted bird photographer and educator, will share the tips, techniques, and secrets that he has developed and used for more than three decades so that you too can use teleconverters to improve your photography. This program will be illustrated with Artie’s spectacular images of birds, wildlife, flowers, and even a few unexpected subjects.
Putting Art into Your Nature Photography: 3:00 to 4:30pm
With today’s amazing photographic gear that includes camera bodies with surreal autofocus that can routinely produce superb image files in the right hands and fast, sharp lenses (including and especially the amazing super-telephotos) creating images of various birds, animals, flowers, and landscapes, is pretty much child’s play. Anyone can do it. In this program, Arthur Morris, internationally noted bird photographer and educator, will teach you to take your images to the next level. You will learn to identify good situations, to create pleasing backgrounds, to photograph action and behavior, to choose the best perspective, to read and use the light, when and how to create pleasing blurs, and how to consistently create dramatic, evocative images with contest-winning potential.
This program will be illustrated with several hundred of Artie’s spectacular images, many published around the world above his most fitting credit line: BIRDS AS ART.
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 🙂
Here’s a good one. After watching a group of perfectly behaved photographers–heck, many were set up in beach chairs–photographing Black Skimmers and chicks on Wednesday afternoon, someone on beach patrol remarked that it was too bad that the birds did not stay where they belong, behind the colony ropes. The birds had been resting peacefully and undisturbed with their chicks and almost fledged young in the same spot for about ten days.
When I arrived on Thursday morning I saw that the authorities–whoever they are–roped off about two more acres, right where the birds and photographers were having a photo party yesterday. One of the signs says, “Danger; Keep Back!” I guess that skimmers are now considered dangerous.
In any case, it is obvious that the birds cannot read or if the can, that they could care less. They were roosting with all of their chicks to the south of the newly roped off area. I suspect that they did not care for Wednesday afternoon’s construction project… It is very possible that they felt threatened by the changes.
The above is a first. I suggest that wherever they see a skimmer that they put up ropes and barrier around each bird to protect them from photographers.
I got so many great images on Wednesday morning that I skipped the chicks on Thursday and went off in search of skimmers skimming. Some days are diamonds, some days are stone…
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 267 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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 my eyes and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Yours truly in his favorite tee-shirt. Photo courtesy of and copyright 2016: Tom Pfeifer
Fits Me to a Tee…
My Mom and my sister Arna got me three shirts for my birthday. I love all of them but the one above is my favorite. One of the others says, “I am not arguing; I am just explaining why I am right.” The third ones says “I may be wrong but it is highly unlikely.” All three are pretty much perfect for me.
I joked to my Mom that as far as the sarcasm, it is not my fault, it’s genetic. If my Dad had a similar shirt it would read “Zero Minutes Without Sarcasm.” I am surely my father’s son.
This Just In!
Lots of folks want to buy the Zero Days Without Sarcasm t-shirt for a loved one. My Mom got mine from a catalogue–she gets dozens each month, but you can get the shirt here.
Fort DeSoto in fall is rife with tame birds. All of the images in this card were created at Fort DeSoto in either late September or early October. I hope that you can join me there this fall one way or another. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99
Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.
You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.
To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.
Folks attending the IPT will be in the field early and stay out late to take advantage of sunrise and sunset colors. The good news is that the days are relatively short in early fall. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet and afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.
Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.
Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.
On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).
At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one. If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.
As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.
Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.
BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT.
The Fort DeSoto Site Guide
Can’t make the IPT or the ITFW? Get yourself a copy of the Fort DeSoto Site Guide. Learn the best spots, where to be when in what season in what weather. Learn the best wind directions for the various locations. BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. You can see all of them here.
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 met up with pal Tom Pfeifer at Nickerson early on Wednesday morning. Actually, I beat him to the beach by about an hour. Just in time to get hassled by either a cop or a park patrol officer. I may share that exciting story here at some point. In any case, with the northeast wind, we had one of the greatest-ever mornings with dozens of skimmer chicks right in front of us until we left at about 8:30am. Photos soon.
We had the pleasure of meeting BirdPhotographers.Net members Bill Dix and Geoffrey Montagu. I’ve know Bill for many years but until Wednesday morning, only online. Bill is one of many whose photography has improved by leaps and bounds since he first showed up at BPN.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 266 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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. The selected AF point fell on the side of the neck just behind and well below the eye. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment = 0.
Least Tern at nest with 2-egg clutch
Morning Saved…
After getting sort of flooded out on Tuesday morning I headed to Jones Beach where I found this bird on eggs just below the colony ropes. One bird saved the day for me. Note that at +1/3 stop the RGB values for the WHITEs came in at 234, 234, 234 after click White Balance in DPP 4.
Unsharpened 100% crop of today’s featured image
EOS-1DX Mark II Not So Bad at 1200mm???
Looking at the 100% crop above I would have to rate the sharpness and image quality as exceptional. What do you think?
Question
Would you have eliminated the single out-of-focus blade of grass coming out of the top of the bird’s head? Why or why not? If yes, how?
Fort DeSoto in fall is rife with tame birds. All of the images in this card were created at Fort DeSoto in either late September or early October. I hope that you can join me there this fall one way or another. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99
Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.
You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.
To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.
Folks attending the IPT will be in the field early and stay out late to take advantage of sunrise and sunset colors. The good news is that the days are relatively short in early fall. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet and afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.
Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.
Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.
On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).
At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one. If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.
As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.
Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.
BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT.
The Fort DeSoto Site Guide
Can’t make the IPT or the ITFW? Get yourself a copy of the Fort DeSoto Site Guide. Learn the best spots, where to be when in what season in what weather. Learn the best wind directions for the various locations. BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. You can see all of them here.
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 totally amazing Wednesday morning (> 1,000 images yielded 126 keepers) and with the weather supposed to be identical, I am offering a private or small group morning of instruction–Thursday, August 4, 2016 for the usual on-site rate: $350 for the morning session plus brunch and image review (included). 500 or 600mm lenses with TCs for best results. If you are up to getting better quickly shoot me an e-mail or try me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please leave a message if I do not pick up.
I woke 11 minutes before the 4:30am alarm on my cell phone went off. I had some gluten free oatmeal and headed to Jamaica Bay WR at 5:08am. With stormy looking skies, I stopped at the McDonald’s on Cross Bay Blvd for a large decaf. I travel with my own heavy cream. I checked e-mails and then headed to the East Pond.
Conditions were horrific, the water levels much too high for anything due to the recent rains. I saw four Least and one Semipalmated Sandpiper before decided not to make the trek to the Raunt through the mud and the muck and the probably knee high or deeper water in some spots.
I debated as to whether I should head to Nickerson Beach, check things out at Jones Beach, or head to my Mom’s to get some work done. I chose B and was glad that I did as I quickly located a single, quite photographable Least Tern nest with two eggs and a very cooperative adult. An image will follow soon.
I have a second session with Dr. Dan this afternoon. That followed with a visit to Dr. Steven Puopolo, the hand surgeon who saved my post-surgery-infected trigger finger–left middle–several years ago via successful debridement surgery. My latest of too many trigger fingers–left ring–has been acting up a lot recently so I am gonna get a shot. If you hear loud screaming at about 3pm on eastern Long Island you will know that its me.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 265 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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 (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure; the selected AF point fell on the side of the bird’s neck just rear of the base of its bill. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Double-crested Cormorant with white crests raised
The Question
In the How Sharp is Sharp Enough??? blog post here, I asked, referring to the image above, Can you judge critical sharpness from this JPEG? I would love to hear your thoughts? As presented, it looks pretty good to me.
The Consensus
Every single person who commented felt that the eye was sharp and that the fine feather detail was at least adequate. Some commented that the bill tip was a bit soft and I agree, in part because of a lack of d-o-f and in part because of lens shake… See the truth about the actual sharpness of this image in The First Revelation below.
Damn the Iceplant!
I saw the killer bird and climbed the relatively low fence as fast as possible in hopes of photographing it before it quit displaying. I got the angle that I wanted and put the tripod down. The two rear legs were firmly seated on solid dirt, but the front leg, the one pointed at the subject, came down on a bed of ice plant. As Ice Plant is a succulent, its leaves are soft and fleshy. Not wanting to risk coming up empty, I aimed, focused, and fired off a few frames knowing that the resulting images would like be a bit soft at only 1/125 sec. This one was the sharpest of the lot. A shutter speed of 1/125 second would have been more than fast enough to create a sharp image if I had had the time to firmly seat the front leg of the tripod. But as it turned out, it was a good thing that I opted to get something. Why? The moment I tried to firm up the forward-facing leg of the tripod, the bird quit displaying…
A 100% crop of the unsharpened, converted TIFF
The First Revelation
#1: As you can see by the 100% crop the image was not close to being critically sharp. If it had been, each of the little blue jewels around the eye would look sharply etched. Heck, it was not even what I would call sharp.
In the comments to the original post IPT veteran Doug West asked, “Do you judge the sharpness from what you see in your RAW file, or what it could possibly look like after some post-processing?”
I responded, What you might be missing is that there are degrees of sharpness ranging from “totally out of focus” to “a bit soft” to “almost sharp” to “sharp” to “amazingly sharp…” Depending on the content and impact of an image, I might optimize an image from any of those groups but the first one (but only rarely from the “a bit soft” category).
Looking at the 100% crop of the RAW file, I would judge the sharpness of the image in question as somewhere between “a bit soft” and “almost sharp.”
The Second Revelation and How It Can Help You…
The second revelation is that many images that are less than critically sharp can be sharpened during post processing so that they are great for web and other electronic presentation and more than fine for making small and even medium-sized (or larger) prints. Heck, in the BirdPhotographer’s.Net post here, I even fooled fine feather detail fanatic Arash Hazheghi!
How do I do this routinely?
#1: Eye Doctor work.
#2: By applying a contrast mask to the bird’s head.
Learn the details of the above in my Digital Basics File, the best $25 you will ever spend on photography. Learn how make your images better in Photoshop rather than ruining them! It includes dozens of great Photoshop tips.
#3: I sharpen my JPEGs using Unsharp Mask at from 110-150/0.3/0. This sharpening is applied to the whole image not just to the subject.
Fort DeSoto in fall is rife with tame birds. All of the images in this card were created at Fort DeSoto in either late September or early October. I hope that you can join me there this fall one way or another. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99
Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.
You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.
To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.
Folks attending the IPT will be in the field early and stay out late to take advantage of sunrise and sunset colors. The good news is that the days are relatively short in early fall. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet and afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.
Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.
Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.
On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).
At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one. If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.
As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.
Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.
BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT.
The Fort DeSoto Site Guide
Can’t make the IPT or the ITFW? Get yourself a copy of the Fort DeSoto Site Guide. Learn the best spots, where to be when in what season in what weather. Learn the best wind directions for the various locations. BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. You can see all of them here.
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 rested and got a lot accomplished on Monday. I worked on this post early on Monday morning. I am heading into the community pool at my Mom’s place as soon as I finish this one.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 264 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART
Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange tab on the right side of the menu bar above.
Used Gear Sales Continue to be Brisk
Tom Mast sold his Canon 300mm f/4L IS USM lens in excellent condition for $625 in late July.
Henry Raymundo sold his Gitzo 1325 tripod and a Wimberley V-2 head both in very good plus condition for the very low price of $699 and two used Canon 100-400mm IS L Zoom lenses, one in excellent condition for $599, the other in very good plus condition for $549–all in late July.
Jonathan Ward sold his Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II USM lens in excellent condition for $2,000 CAD in early July.
Long ago multiple IPT veteran Charles McRae sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS lens in good to very good condition in early July for a record low $4,199.
Jeffrey Fredberg sold his EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM L series lens in like-new condition for the record-low BAA price of $749 in late June.
Jim Burns sold his Canon 200-400mm F/4L IS zoom lens with Internal 1.4X Extender in brand new condition for the insane BAA record-low price of $8499 in late June.
Moody McCall sold his Canon 300mm F/2.8L IS II in excellent condition for $4199 in mid-June.
Long-ago IPT veteran Charles Sleicher sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in very good plus condition for $3400 in mid-June.
Top BAA Used Gear seller Jim Keener sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in absolute mint condition for $1599 in mid-June.
KW McCulloch sold his Canon EOS-1D X in excellent condition for $2459 in mid-June.
Top BAA Used Gear seller Jim Keener sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens (the old five) in very good plus condition for a BAA record low price of $3699 in mid-June.
New Listing
Canon EOS-5D Mark III
Multiple IPT-veteran and all around nice guy Sheldon Goldstein is offering a Canon EOS-5D Mark III in excellent plus condition but for a few scuffs on the bottom of the camera for the great price of $1479. The body was just cleaned and checked by Canon; it has only about 16,500 actuations. The sale includes the camera strap, the battery, the battery charger, and the manual.
Please contact Shelly via e-mail or by phone at 1-646-423-0392 (eastern time).
I have owned and used this superb, full frame, 22mp digital body for several years. It was always my first choice for scenic, Urbex, and flower photography until I fell in love with the 5DS R (for a lot more money!). artie
Center AF point (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. The active AF point fell just below the side of the bird’s neck just a bit behind the eye. See the illuminated red square 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.
Common Tern chick begging. Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Will Schilling
Well Done Will
Amateur Nailed It!
I knew that Will had rocked this one the moment that I saw it on the back of his camera. He had been sitting about 10 feet to my right. This was the session where we chose to sit up sun angle from a patch of really clean sand and wait for the action to come to us. (See the A Different Approach to Bird Photography blog post here if you missed it.)
Will was using my back-up 5DS R. He rented it for the IPT before his previously saltwater damaged 1D X bit the bullet and failed completely. He did not use it much until after his 1D X went down the tubes.
Camera Thoughts from Will via e-mail
I’m so glad that I rented one of your 5DS R bodies for this trip. Not only because my primary camera crapped out on me, but because it was good getting some experience with the 5DS R first hand. The image quality is obviously incredible. I had gotten used to the large/high quality files on my Nikon D810 before my recent switch to Canon. I think that because of my familiarity with the D810’s high resolution, I was already used to having to keep the camera/lens really still to get sharp pictures, so this wasn’t an issue for me. The 5DS R AF system really impressed me though. Even with the 2X tele-converter on it was really quick and accurate.
When I left the IPT, I was pretty sure I was going to immediately replace my dead 1D X with a 5DS R, but now I’m leaning more towards the EOS-1DX Mark II. I am thinking that I will either pick up a 5DS R or the eventual (rumoured) 5D Mark IV as a second camera. Looking back, I didn’t really get to use the 5DS R much for flight photography, so that’s why I’m leaning towards the 1DX-II first. It seems that it may be the best camera body for me until I get a second body. I’ve been trying to go back through your old blog posts and Arash’s comments on BPN to help me decide. I think I know your thoughts on this, but welcome any additional comments you may have.
I was about to reply to Will that he might be making an expensive mistake, but before I had a chance to answer him he sent this via e-mail:
FYI, I used your B&H affiliate link to purchase a new 1DX Mark II, an extra LPE 19 battery, a second CFast memory card, and an extra LPE6N battery for my 5DS R. I was able to pick up factory reconditioned 5DS R from Canon; sorry, but it saved me $700. I couldn’t make up my mind to get one or the other and I knew that I need two bodies anyway…
I am officially broke now!
Will
I wrote back forgiving Will and telling him that I was curious as to how often he would use each body for bird photography. On the recent IPT I used the 5DS R a lot and my 1D X II infrequently after the first afternoon… And yes, I thanked him profusely for using my B&H links for his $6442.94 purchase!
My best effort…
My Best Effort…
Pro: Failed!
Using the same gear as Will, I failed miserably several times to photograph the same chick that Will nailed when creating today’s featured image. I write often that with advancing age my fine motor skills, strength, and hand-eye coordination are not what they used to be. But the DPP 4 AF point screen capture above shows that maybe folks should start believing me… Note that I failed to get the selected AF point on an area of contrast as Will did. Even when the chick stopped to beg in one spot I fanned on it…
I still am not sure if the 1D X Mark II would offer better AF than the 5DS R with the 600 II/2X III combo. I did go to the 1D X II/600 II/2X III during my Saturday session with Jake Levin. I did pretty well but have not made a final decision. I will be running lots more on the 1DX II vs. 5DS R comparison in the next few weeks.
The DPP 4 screen capture for Will’s image
The DPP 4 Screen Capture for Will’s Image
Note that Will created a fine exposure with some data well into the fifth histogram box as seen in the RGB histogram. Note his white RBG values in the high 220s and the low 230s. And Will did a great job getting the AF point on an area with at least some contrast and doing that quickly enough so that the system had a chance to acquire focus and lock on. The latter was something that I failed to do so consistently, at least with this subject.
The Image Optimization
When I optimized Will’s image, note that I cleaned some poop off of the fine feathers near the rear of the bird. I addition, I used a flopped Quick Mask to move the o-o-f green vegetation from the right side of the frame to the left–with Will’s permission–for better compositional balance. Note that the sand was pretty much pristine…
APTATS I & II
Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. Save $15 by ordering both here.
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 brought the Mets some needed good luck. And the threatening weather held. The Mets beat the Rockies 6-4 on Neil Walker’s three run bomb in the bottom of the seventh inning to the delight of three generations of Morrises.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 263 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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 (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. The active AF point fell on the side of the bird’s upper back just above the dark mark on the folded wing. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5.
Common Tern fledgling posing perfectly in late afternoon light
Today’s Featured Image
What makes today’s featured image so special? Is it the sweet late afternoon light. The soft, splendid, de-focused background that came with getting down on the ground? The beautiful young Common Tern? The alert posture? (Perhaps the bird thought that it heard mom coming with a fish…) The fact that the shadow adds so nicely to the image design? Or the out of focus beach vegetation in the ULC? Or all of the above?
Yeah, the above is a set of rhetorical questions…
DPP 4 Screen Capture showing active AF point
The Active AF Point
I placed the AF point on a spot that I thought would approximate the plane of the bird’s eye. I think that i did quite well. See more below.
Tight crop of feet, toes, and sand grains…
Understanding Depth of Field and Plane of Sharp Focus Issues
The black grain of sand to the right of A is in very sharp focus.
The black grain of sand to the left of B is not quite in sharp focus.
The dark grain of sand to the left of C is completely out of focus.
The two long toes, the one on the right foot (nearest us) and the one on the left foot (farthest from us), are both pretty well focused. If push came to shove, I’d say that the near long toe is a bit sharper than the far long toe. This makes sense as A, the sharpest grain of sand, looks to be on the same plane as the near long toe, the one below the letter D.
Thus, with the slight head turn toward us, the bird’s razor sharp eye must be pretty much on the same plane as the long toe of the near foot.
At f/10 at 1200mm with a full frame camera body and estimating the distance at 25 feet, my favorite online depth of field calculator, DOF Master.Com, states that depth of field in front of and behind the plane of focus would be more than .4 inches with a total depth of field of more than .8 inches. A quick glance at the tight crop of the feet, toes, and sand grains shows that that is at least a 50% over-estimate…
The fact is that at 1200mm with the subject 20-30 feet from the back of the camera, depth of field is measured in small fractions of an inch. Thus, if your gear or the bird moves even a fraction of an inch you will not produce an image that is sharp on the eye. That is the great challenge of working with extremely long focal lengths.
Ramifications
Yes, creating razor sharp on the eye images at 1200mm is a big challenge. It is almost always better to have AF active at the moment of exposure (even when you are limited to the center AF point) than it is to use rear focus (or One Shot AF) and re-compose (even when you are on a tripod). Why? It the bird shifts position even slightly, you are toast as far as sharpness is concerned. There is of course a big advantage with the 1DX Mark II in these situations as you would have all AF points available.
On a related matter, try to get the active AF point on an area with at least some pattern and contrast. Placing the active AF point on a featureless white breast might work on occasion but much better to give the AF system a fair chance. And that goes double in low light situations…
A Question
Are you better off working at the same distance with the 600 II and the 1.4X III TC, enjoying more d-o-f, producing sharper images with more fine feather detail, and then cropping than you are with the 600 II/2X III TC combo?
My answer? I honestly don’t know. What do you think? Does anyone know the theoretically correct answer?
Fort DeSoto in fall is rife with tame birds. All of the images in this card were created at Fort DeSoto in either late September or early October. I hope that you can join me there this fall one way or another. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99
Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.
You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.
To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.
Folks attending the IPT will be in the field early and stay out late to take advantage of sunrise and sunset colors. The good news is that the days are relatively short in early fall. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet and afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.
Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.
Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.
On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).
At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one. If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.
As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.
Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.
BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT.
The Fort DeSoto Site Guide
Can’t make the IPT or the ITFW? Get yourself a copy of the Fort DeSoto Site Guide. Learn the best spots, where to be when in what season in what weather. Learn the best wind directions for the various locations. BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. You can see all of them here.
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 🙂
Jake Levin and I had a pretty good morning at Nickerson on Saturday despite the gentle west wind and clear skies. After brunch at Bagel Plaza in Merrick he head back to New Hampshire to the family property and I headed back to Mom’s. Tomorrow–weather permitting, I will attend a Mets game with younger daughter Alissa, granddaughter Maya Egensteiner (daughter of my older daughter Jennifer) and the younger of my two autistic grandson’s, Idris. Unfortunately the Mets have been stranding runners in scoring position at record levels; they lead the league in runs not batted in…
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 263 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
What They Had to Say: Canon
From multiple IPT veteran Will Schilling after the Nickerson Beach IPT via e-mail:
All is well back here in Houston. Made it back late Sunday. Excited to see my image on your blog soon; it will be such an honor…
#1.) Thanks again for a wonderful 4 1/2 days at Nickerson last week. As discussed on the last day, I’m very glad I was able to come back for a second IPT. I learned a lot last year on the Bosque IPT In fact, maybe too much to take in all in one session, so having a second go to re-emphasize the key points was very beneficial. I feel I was able to take away a lot of the technical points in the first IPT, such as long lens handling techniques, manual exposure and the all important sun angle business but one of my favorite things to see you do is react to the situation at hand. This is really where the more time spent with you the better. I really appreciate how you vocalize your thoughts during the in the field decision-making process. As you’ve shared on the blog recently, we had a lot of challenging situations with wind against sun, rain and even the wind/sand storm. It would be easy for you to just move us to another spot and put us on a different subject, but I really appreciate how you involve us in the decision-making process and share your field knowledge with us as weather conditions and the subjects change. This is extremely helpful when we go back home, head out on our home turf, and are left to make decisions on our own.
I also think that the other IPT members make these trips so much fun. Now that I’ve been on two, I can say that you seem to draw an excellent group of photographers/students and all-around nice folks. Everyone is obviously there for the same general purpose, but all are at slightly development levels. This is good as we can all learn from each other in addition to you. The Nickerson IPT was a smaller group than in New Mexico; this was very nice for the logistics and learning, but even in a larger group such as the Bosque trip all we had to do was stay close to you and ask lots of questions.
Thanks again and hoping to be able to see you on the San Diego IPT next year!
What They Had to Say: Nikon
From first timer Bob DeCroce after the Nickerson Beach IPT via e-mail:
I have to tell you, I have followed and admired you for many years, but getting to know you in person has really been the best.
On another bright note, or two, or more…
I have purchased, installed, and become slightly proficient in using PhotoMechanic. I have been using your workflow and liking it! I can really see the difference in the quality of my images made by exposing for “a bit shy” of the right edge of the histogram. I have made many notes throughout the week and continue to capture the “why” things are working and not working as to ensure some decent level of retention of the things that you taught me this week. And many, many, more
Thank you again for everything. I am really glad that I have finally gotten to learn from you in person.
Please don’t forget to include me when you have a date for Fort DeSoto in the fall.
Bob.
I asked Bob via return e-mail if he would share his notes with us. He agreed to do just that:
These are the notes and key take-aways that I made in the field, during the breaks between shooting sessions, and while reviewing my images:
The importance of being on sun angle; sun at your back; when you point at the subject, you should be shooting directly in line with your own shadow. Never exceed +/- 15 degrees off sun angle for best results. Step left or right to ensure that you are on sun angle.
Make sure that the subject is parallel to the sensor plane for sharpness. For birds, their bodies should be in line with their heads and/or 2 degrees from that towards the camera.
It is critical to expose to the right and with few if any blinkies and no significant blinkies on the subject to maximize image quality and reduce noise.
Relationship of Sun position and wind direction (on sunny days): birds will turn to face the wind; if the sun and wind are not from the same direction they will not be facing the sun; having the wind 90 degrees to the sun is great for portraits of birds on the beach as they will be square to the back of the camera.
Backgrounds: make sure that there are not any stark lines of color or tonalities passing through the birds head. Water on the shore should either envelop the birds legs or not touch the bird in any way; beware of breaking waves cutting through the bird. Shoot birds on the shore on berms or rises to help isolate them from the backgrounds. Alway include feet in the image if possible.
If going vertical or if you must crop the bird in the image, do so just past natural feather tract end points; cut don’t clip. If cropping bird mid-body, always do so at least 1″ parallel to and past the bird’s legs.
If a bird is captured flying from the left to right (or vice versa), the wings should either be up fully–close to 12 o’clock–or fully down near 6 o”clock for the best shots. Anything else will usually not look as good. If a bird is flying directly towards you the wing position is not as critical as it is when it is flying from side to side as above.
Pleasing blurs: make test shots for exposure settings. Shutter priority mode: 1/15th second. Auto-ISO or safety shift.
Exposure tests for flight photos: meter the sky and depending on the strength and quality of the light and the tonality of the bird, add or subtract light as needed. Then make a test exposure. Check the histogram and adjust plus or minus until histogram is just to the left of the right edge of the graph. Keep the RGB values for the whites in the mid-230’s. Make sure that there is a little gap on the right side of the histogram, the highlight side. When converting the image, use the eye dropper to check the RGB values of the brightest whites.
Exposure on sunny days; always use ISO 400. Go up from there as required on days with less light. Always test shoot the neutral sky and adjust plus or minus from there. Remember that when the sun is out, the meter is pretty smart but when it is cloudy or overcast the meter is pretty stupid; you will need to add as much as two to three stops of light to come up with a good exposure on cloudy and overcast days.
AF stuff for flight or when hand holding. It is important that the camera be locked on the eye, the bird’s head, or the face if possible when the shutter is released. Use a single AF point or a small cluster for flight photography; if you use an AF array the system might lock onto a near wing… Consider switching to shutter button focus for flight photography. You need to have AF active at the moment of exposure when hand holding for a static subject. Simply breathing (and other bodily movements) after you set rear button focus and before making the image can cause you to miss focus.
Sunrises and Sunsets: Set WB to K8,000. Start by setting the exposure compensation to zero if the sun is in the frame and then adjust after looking at the histogram. Expose for the highlights and check the histogram for blinkies; no blinkies means exposing correctly for the bright sun. If you look away from the sun and see purple quit it—the sun is too bright to photograph and you risk retina damage. It is better to wait until the sun is somewhat muted by thin clouds or fog…
While reviewing final day’s shots. It can be very difficult to see the right edge of the histogram while in the field especially on sunny days. I need to do a better job of this as had the histograms touching the right axis or with not enough of a gap off the right edge; image quality and WHITEs suffered as a result.
I began to find many that had a bigger gap on the right, not a lot, but exactly what Artie had said. Those images have much better quality and more detailed WHITEs. They did not require pulling down highlights, and the detail is all there!
As I work through my images I cannot believe the difference of the quality of the images with the correct histogram! Wow!!! Much better.
Don’t forget that best composition is head angle in line with the angle of the body with 2 degree turn of head/bill/beak towards me. Also head angle can be at least parallel to the camera’s sensor.
There were no problems with me being the only Nikon shooter relative to everyone (including you) on Canon. You shared with me how Nikon compensation would be different. Once the compensation issue while shooting manual was revealed, it was clear why I was struggling to follow you as you called out the compensations and exposures. That was a really big deal, and as you said, I have no idea why this (exposure compensation in Manual mode) could or should work like that…
I was out this morning shooting a Great Egret locally and am just going through my images when you e-mailed. One thing I wanted to try and practice was holding the AF-On while releasing the shutter and then checking during image review for sharpness.
Hope this helps!
Best regards, Bob
Questions?
If you have a question about any of the points that Bob made or about anything else above, please feel free to leave your question or questions in a comment below.
Fort DeSoto in fall is rife with tame birds. All of the images in this card were created at Fort DeSoto in either late September or early October. I hope that you can join me there this fall one way or another. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
BIRDS AS ART Fort DeSoto In-the-Field Meet-up Workshop (ITFW): $99
Join me on the morning of October 2, 2016 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.
You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive morning workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.
To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place one week before the event.
Folks attending the IPT will be in the field early and stay out late to take advantage of sunrise and sunset colors. The good news is that the days are relatively short in early fall. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.
Fort DeSoto Short Notice Fall IPT/September 28 (meet & greet and afternoon session) through the full day on October 1, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYs: $1549. Limit 10. Sunday morning ITFW free to IPT registrants.
Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join dozens of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.
Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join me as my guest on the ITFW on the Sunday morning following the workshop. See above for details on that.
On this and all other IPTs you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify and age many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, to, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. And you will learn learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).
At brunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one. If you opt to bring your laptop, we can take a look at a few of your images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.
As I already have one signed up for this workshop, it is a go. Hotel info will be e-mailed when you register. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as soon as you hear from us. We can, however, coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.
Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register. Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions and gear & clothing advice a fairly soon.
BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT.
The Fort DeSoto Site Guide
Can’t make the IPT or the ITFW? Get yourself a copy of the Fort DeSoto Site Guide. Learn the best spots, where to be when in what season in what weather. Learn the best wind directions for the various locations. BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. You can see all of them here.
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 headed to Nickerson early to work with the northeast wind while the clouds from Friday morning’s storm were still around. It worked, Jake Levin, who lives in Montreal, drove down from New Hampshire and arrived at about 2pm just when the sun came out. With the east wind, that spelled death for bird photography. But by 3:30 the wind had swung to the south, southwest and we had a great rest of the day with the skimmers, terns, and oystercatchers.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 262 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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/ExpandRear Focus AF on the dead fledgling’s eye re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: +5.
Common Tern fledgling run over by large beach vehicle
Death By Large Beach Truck…
Every day, all manner of beach vehicles make their way east and west along Lido Beach. Garbage trucks, beach raking vehicles, lifeguard and patrol vehicles, and lots more. Sometimes there are casualties. Tiny Piping Plover chicks are often killed by beach vehicles (including all of the above plus the the beach trucks of fisherman) when they are unable to climb out of a deep tire track; they are so well camouflaged as to be practically invisible.
This Just In…
Texting While Driving
My understanding is that the drivers of all beach vehicles are educated as to the danger of running over helpless chicks and fledglings. On Saturday morning, Jake Levin and Chris Billman were stunned when we saw a fairly young guy driving a big yellow bulldozer. Why were we stunned. As he drove by us–fairly slowly–he was texting while driving!!! Many, you gotta love it.
This image was created on the last morning of the of the recently concluded Nickerson Beach IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R.. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops as framed: 1/200 sec. at f/10. Daylight WB.
A single AF point (Manual selection) that was three rows down and one to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure; the selected AF point fell on the dying chick’s eye. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -2.
Common Tern chick dying, probably of exposure
Death by Sandstorm Exposure
The afternoon before our eyes had been scoured by the sand with south winds gusting to 30mph. We know that one adult lost two small chicks. We found this larger chick in the same area near death. By the time we left, it was a goner. As noted here previously, beach nesting birds have it tough…
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 got lots of work done on Thursday when this blog post was prepared. I enjoyed a nice swim in the community pool at my Mom’s place and got back to doing my core exercises, at least some of them 🙂
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 261 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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 (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure; the selected AF point fell on the side of the bird’s neck just rear of the base of its bill. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Double-crested Cormorant with white crests raised
Those White Crests
Eastern birds of this species have crests in breeding plumage, but they are–for the most part–black. Each year when I visit San Diego we manage to find a killer bird or two in full breeding plumage with the white crests.
Can You Do It?
Can you judge critical sharpness from this JPEG? How about the exposure? I would love to hear your thoughts? As presented, it looks pretty good to me.
How Sharp is Sharp Enough???
If you are into making huge prints, say 60 inches wide by 40 inches tall, critical sharpness and impeccable fine feather detail are critically important. For many other usages, it is not…
The Pen Test for Sharpness…
Back in the day when it was possible to actually sell a few images, I often spoke about the “Pen Test” for sharpness. If the guy buying the image signed the check, it was sharp enough.
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 8)
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 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 got lots of work done on Tuesday when this blog post was prepared; I am getting ready to spend ten weeks in South America this fall. If any new folks would like details on joining the last Cheesemans’ South Georgia expedition (October 20-November 7, 2016) and become part of the BA group please shoot me an e-mail as that great trip is getting really close. Not only are there several openings but they are offering some really substantial late registration discounts. Ah, I just learned that this trip is now sold out with a waiting list…
Wind and weather are looking good for FRI and SAT mornings at Nickerson. If anyone is interested in cheap ($350/person) private or small group instruction (limit 3) please shoot me an e-mail. The session includes a working brunch and image review. More dates to follow. Inquiries welcome. Multiple IPT veteran Jake Levin is joining me for both sessions.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 260 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART
Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange tab on the right side of the menu bar above.
Used Gear Sales Continue to be More Than Brisk
Tom Mast sold his Canon 300mm f/4L IS USM lens in excellent condition for $625 in late July.
Henry Raymundo sold his Gitzo 1325 tripod and a Wimberley V-2 head both in very good plus condition for the very low price of $699 and two used Canon 100-400mm IS L Zoom lenses, one in excellent condition for $599, the other in very good plus condition for $549–all in late July.
Jonathan Ward sold his Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II USM lens in excellent condition for $2,000 CAD in early July.
Long ago multiple IPT veteran Charles McRae sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS lens in good to very good condition in early July for a record low $4,199.
Jeffrey Fredberg sold his EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM L series lens in like-new condition for the record-low BAA price of $749 in late June.
Jim Burns sold his Canon 200-400mm F/4L IS zoom lens with Internal 1.4X Extender in brand new condition for the insane BAA record-low price of $8499 in late June.
Moody McCall sold his Canon 300mm F/2.8L IS II in excellent condition for $4199 in mid-June.
Long-ago IPT veteran Charles Sleicher sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in very good plus condition for $3400 in mid-June.
Top BAA Used Gear seller Jim Keener sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in absolute mint condition for $1599 in mid-June.
KW McCulloch sold his Canon EOS-1D X in excellent condition for $2459 in mid-June.
Top BAA Used Gear seller Jim Keener sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens (the old five) in very good plus condition for a BAA record low price of $3699 in mid-June.
New Listing
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM Lens
Ron Ozuna is offering a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens in near-mint condition for $2975. The sale includes the original lens front lens cover, the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original Canon product box, and insured Ground Shipping via FedEx Ground to US addresses only. This lens was recently cleaned and checked at the Canon Service Center in Costa Mesa, CA. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Ron via e-mail or by phone at 1-626-799-7616 (Pacific time).
The older version of the Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS is a super sharp lens that is great for hand held flight and action photography and great with both teleconverters. It has long been the favorite focal length of the world’s best hawk photographers. artie
A single AF point that was two to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/ExpandRear Focus AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure; see 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.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: +5.
American Oystercatcher chick dining on sand crab just presented by the adult
I Can’t Do Much Better Than This…
Everything pretty much came together perfectly and resulted in the creation of today’s featured image. All are invited to leave a comment and note the strengths (at least five) and weaknesses (if any) of the image. You can check out the minimal beach clean-up and the small crop by comparing the optimized image above with the original in the DPP 4 Screen Capture below.
DPP 4 Screen Capture
The DPP 4 Screen Capture
With the cursor on the brightest WHITEs the RBG values were and are 246, 235, 197 the image is a bit on the warm side. As the image was created at 6:04am, I like the warm tones and would not want to change the color balance.
Note that there appears to be very little data in the right-most box of the histogram. #1: Would you have increased the exposure at all by moving the Brightness slider to the right? Why or why not?
The illuminated red AF point notes that AF was active at the moment of exposure. #2:As things turned out, could I have selected a better AF point? Why or why not?
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 🙂
Had a great visit with Dr. Dan Holland at True Sports care in Nesconset on Tuesday afternoon. The guy is a magician. My shoulder is feeling 500% better and I plan on getting back in the pool on Wednesday.
Wind and weather are looking good for FRI and SAT mornings at Nickerson. If anyone is interested in cheap ($350) private or small group instruction (limit 3) please shoot me an e-mail. The session includes a working brunch and image review. More dates to follow. Inquiries welcome.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 259 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
There is no way around it: having your images critiqued and critiquing the work of others is the best way to improve as a nature photographer.
This image was created at Costa Vicentina, Porto Covo, Portugal by BPN member Luis Patacão. He used a tripod-mounted Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom Lens For Nikon Cameras and the Nikon D7000 (now replaced by the Nikon D7100. A 2-stop soft-edge neutral density filter was used to help achieve a slow shutter speed.
Sea of Colors. Image courtesy of and copyright 2016 Luis Patacão
A image in one of my favorite coastal peaces of Portugal (Costa Vicentina, Porto Covo). Here I was almost completely in the water playing with the shutter and motion of the sea.
To me the most important word is playing. Digital has given all of us the ability to experiment, often with slow shutter speeds, the ability to play. To play with light, to play with motion, to play with color, and to play with photography. That is the single thing that I love most about digital.
After reading the thread here and leaving a comment, I asked a few questions and learned that Luis took his camera gear into the waves with his tripod and positioned it so that his camera was just inches from the surface of the water.
I was curious as to whether Luis owned a more expensive camera and took his backup D7000 into the ocean to reduce risk. But as it turns out, his D7000 is the only camera that he owns. Thus, he was risking pretty much everything to create today’s image.
From Luis via e-mail: I own a budget setup.
What’s the Big Lesson?
You do not need a $6,000+ camera body and the best lenses to create truly memorable images. Desire, heart, brains, skill, determination, and imagination and creative vision always trump (sorry about that, but I am apolitical…) the most expensive gear.
Related Questions
What’s the craziest thing that you have ever done with your expensive camera gear?
What are your thoughts on Luis’s image?
Thanks!
Big time thanks to Luis for allowing me to share his image with y’all here. And for his BPN membership support. I am proud to say that the BPN community includes extremely talented photographers from every corner of the globe.
Learn the secrets of creating contest winning images in our “A Guide to Pleasing Blurs.”
A Guide to Pleasing Blurs
In A Guide to Pleasing Blurs the authors discuss just about every technique ever used by mankind to create pleasingly blurred images. Ninety-nine point nine percent of pleasing blurs are not happy accidents. You can learn pretty much everything that there is to know about creating them in this instructive, well written, easy to follow guide.
Palouse 2016 Horizontals Card
Why Different?
Announcing the 2017 BIRDS AS ART Palouse Instructional Photo-Tour
In what ways will the 2017 BIRDS AS ART Palouse Instructional Photo-Tour be different from the most other Palouse workshops?
There are so many great locations that a seven-day IPT (as opposed to the typical three- or five-day workshops) will give the group time to visit (and revisit) many of the best spots while allowing you to maximize your air travel dollars. In addition, it will allow us to enjoy a slightly more relaxed pace.
You will be assured of being in the right location for the given weather and sky conditions.
You will learn and hone both basic and advanced compositional and image design skills.
You will learn to design powerful, graphic images.
You will visit all of the iconic locations and a few spectacular ones that are much less frequently visited.
You will learn long lens landscape techniques.
You will learn to master any exposure situation in one minute or less.
You will learn the fine points of Canon in-camera (5D Mark III, 5DS R, and 7D II) HDR techniques.
You will learn to use your longest focal lengths to create rolling field and Urbex abstracts.
You will learn when and how to use a variety of neutral density filters to create pleasing blurs of the Palouse’s gorgeous rolling farmlands.
As always, you will learn to see like a pro. You will learn what makes one situation prime and another seemingly similar one a waste of your time. You will learn to see the situation and to create a variety of top-notch images.
You will learn to use super-wide lenses both for big skies and building interiors.
You will learn when, why, and how to use infrared capture; if you do not own an infrared body, you will get to borrow mine.
You will learn to use both backlight and side-light to create powerful and dramatic landscape images.
This trip will run with one participant.
Palouse 2016 Verticals Card
The 2017 BIRDS AS ART Palouse Instructional Photo-Tour
June 8-14, 2017. Seven full days of photography. Meet and greet at 7:30pm on Wednesday, June 7: $2,499
Rolling farmlands provide a magical patchwork of textures and colors, especially when viewed from the top of Steptoe Butte where we will enjoy spectacular sunrises and at least one nice sunset. We will photograph grand landscapes and mini-scenics of the rolling hills and farm fields. I will bring you to more than a few really neat old abandoned barns and farmhouses in idyllic settings. There is no better way to improve your compositional and image design skills and to develop your creativity than to join me for this trip. Photoshop and image sharing sessions when we have the time and energy…. We get up early and stay out late and the days are long.
Over the past three years, with the help of a friend, we found all the iconic locations and, in addition, lots of spectacular new old barns and breath-taking landforms and vistas. What’s included: In-the-field instruction, guidance, lessons, and inspiration, my extensive knowledge of the area, all lunches, motel lobby grab and go breakfasts, and Photoshop and image sharing sessions. As above, there will be a meet and greet at 7:30pm on the evening before the workshop begins.
To Sign Up
Your non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to hold your spot. Please let me know via e-mail that you will be joining this IPT. Then you can either call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 during business hours to arrange for the payment of your deposit; if by check, please make out to “BIRDS AS ART” and mail it to: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail: artie.
Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options. You can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check. Whenever purchasing travel insurance be sure to read the fine print carefully even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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 🙂
More R&R and more Chopped re-runs were on the menu on Monday.
Wind and weather are looking good for FRI and SAT mornings at Nickerson. If anyone is interested in cheap ($350) private or small group instruction (limit 3) please shoot me an e-mail. The session includes a working brunch and image review. More dates to follow. Inquiries welcome.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 258 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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 the first morning of the recently concluded Nickerson Beach IPT with the hand held Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens (at 257mm) with the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering as framed: 1/13 sec. at f/8 in Tv mode. Color temperature: 8000K.
65-point Automatic selection/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). Click on the image to see a larger version.
Image #1: Common Terns above the colony in pre-dawn color
Getting Up Early…
Except for our last morning–we had been at Tony Cuban enjoying some fine dining until after 11pm the night before–we had left the IPT hotel at 4:30am everyday and been in place for pre-dawn silhouettes and blurs with all our gear no later than 5:15am. In addition to the pre-dawn stuff, some clouds on the eastern horizon allowed us some extra times shooting back to the east before the skies cleared.
How Bad Was It?
The group was amazed many times as we encountered photographers arriving as we were packing up to head to brunch… I was not as I have seen it all too many times before. Arriving very early in the morning is always important but becomes even more important when the weather calls for clear skies and west/southwest winds.
Bad Wind/Good Wind…
Many folks do not realize that if the forecast calls for bad winds for clear sky flight photography, i.e., west winds in the morning or east winds in the afternoons, that those conditions are perfect for creating backlit images at dawn or dusk. With some color in the sky and things can be just ducky.
We were able to put this concept into practice on the morning that I made Image #1; with a SW wind the terns were all facing us.
Center Large Zone AF/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The AF system performed perfectly activating two AF points that fell on the bill and the head.
Image #2: Black Skimmer in flight with fish blur
Experimenting with the AF System
Experimenting with your camera’s AF system can pay big dividends. With today’s Image #1, I went with 65-point knowing that it would hold focus once I acquired it. When some skimmers started leaving the group to my leaf to fly to the northwest (into the wind of course) i.e., to my right, they were fairly large in the frame so I tried center Large Zone AF; it worked to perfection. I kept four interesting frames from the short-lived situation.
While AF Expand is my go-to AF Area Selection mode, I do not hesitate to try others that I think might be better in a given situation.
Your Favorite?
Please help to keep the blog interactive–it maximizes the learning opportunities–by leaving a comment and letting us know which of today’s featured images you like best. And please, of course, let us know why. If you hate all blurs as a matter of course, you can let us know why.
Learn the secrets of creating contest winning images in our “A Guide to Pleasing Blurs.”
A Guide to Pleasing Blurs
In A Guide to Pleasing Blurs the authors discuss just about every technique ever used by mankind to create pleasingly blurred images. Ninety-nine point nine percent of pleasing blurs are not happy accidents. You can learn pretty much everything that there is to know about creating them in this instructive, well written, easy to follow guide.
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 rested up a lot on Saturday and watched lots of back episodes of Chopped on my sister Arna’s TV.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 257 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
A single AF point that was two rows down and three AF points to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Spot AF (don’t ask me why…)/Shutter button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure; see the DPP 4 screen capture below. Click on the image to see a larger version.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: +5.
Common Tern adult scolding (?) chick
Tough Love?
As noted in the A Different Approach to Bird Photography blog post here, on wind against sun mornings you need to find a situation where the birds are not committed to facing into the wind and away from you and the light. I took the group to a spot that is somewhat protected from the west wind and usually has a few Common Tern nests. It was bingo again. We all spent two hours photographing a tern nest with two tiny chicks, two to three days old at most. For the most part the chicks stayed in the scrape where they were fed and tended by the adults.
Fairly late in the session, one of the adults flew in with a sand eel and landed a few feet to the left of the nest. The tiny chicks went running and one of them grabbed and swallowed brunch. The other adult did not like that the two chicks were now isolated and well away from the nest scrape. As seen in today’s featured image she let one wayward chick know that it needed to get back to the scrape. She actually struck it rather forcefully with her bill. We had a ton of fun trying to understand the various behaviors that we witnessed. And I think that we got this one right as within minutes both chicks were back in the scrape under the bird that we assigned the role of momma. That bird could of course very well have been the male.
Yup
Yup, it would have been nice if the tiny chick had been facing us…
DPP 4 Screen Capture
The DPP 4 Screen Capture
The RGB histogram here qualifies as a Lying Histogram. Why? It does not look as if there is very much data in the right-most box of the histogram. Note, however, that the RGB values for the brightest WHITEs come in a 234, 235, 227, just where I want them. Some folks advocate that perfect WHITEs are 254, 254, 254. For me, that is nuts as you will spend the rest of your life trying to get come detail in the highlights. I can live with those who suggest that you bring your WHITEs into Photoshop with the RGB values in the mid-240s. As stated here, my preference is to have them in the mid-240s.
Saved by f/10
With the active AF point on the tern’s wing behind the legs, it is a good thing that I was at f/10 as the extra depth-of-field–remember that wide open is f/5.6–was enough to cover the adult tern’s face and eye. At 25 feet, the depth of field for this combo in front of and behind the plane of focus is about 1 inch, just enough to cover the adult’s face and the eye. In a perfect world, I think that focusing somewhere between the plane of the eye and the plane of the bend of the wing would have been ideal.
Pano By Removal
To get to the desired pano look without losing the green along the upper frame edge I painted a large Quick Mask of the out-of-focus greenery with some sand below it. I place that on its own layer and then used the Move Tool (V) to drag the layer down. With the sand so out of focus there was no seam. I finished things off with the pano crop.
Death by Sandstorm
When we returned on Friday morning the group was eager to photograph the two small chicks again. On our walk in, I cautioned that there was a chance that the nest would be gone. Beach nesting birds face numerous threat with storms and flooding and ground predators like raccoons and feral cats leading the league. We met a photographer who had been with us the day before. “One chick is gone and the other is dead. The dead chick is being brooded by one of the adults…” Thursday evening had been super windy with the wind at a steady 20+ mph from the south and gusts of up to 30; death by sandstorm was the likely cause of the demise of the two small chicks.
APTATS I & II
Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. Save $15 by ordering both here.
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 8)
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 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 Nickerson IPT I am back in Holbrook. It was very hot on Long Island on Saturday. On the IPT we were blessed not only with great birds and situations, but with lots of atypically cool July weather as well. I really enjoyed the small group size: 4 2/3 photographers. And so did the participants.
We had dinner on Friday night at the fantastic Tony Cuban in Freeport. The food was so good that we did not mind that it was the loudest restaurant that any of us had ever been in. I had the lobster/crab ravioli in seafood cream sauce topped with sautéed shrimp. It was so delicious that I was forced to use my left index finger to enjoy the left-over cream sauce.
As we did not get back from dinner until after 11pm I did not even think of going out on Saturday morning. And when I got to my Mom’s I took a 2 1/2 hour nap. I hurt my left shoulder on the IPT rolling around on the ground with the big lens. I see Dr. Dan Holland at True Sports Care in Nesconset for some active release therapy chiropractic on Tuesday. I am 100% sure that he will fix me right up.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 256 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART
Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange tab on the right side of the menu bar above.
Used Gear Sales Testimonial
Unsolicited, via e-mail, from top BAA Used Gear seller Jim Keener
The BAA Used Gear Page is the best place I’ve found for selling my used cameras and lenses.
I used eBay and Craigslist until I began checking in at BIRDS AS ART. I saw the gear listed for sale at BAA and it struck me that the people who visit the site are like me in some important ways. We own high quality, often expensive gear. It’s important to us, and we likely take care of it. In other words, a good market exists. And I noticed how Artie marketed each item. Informative, without too big a push. That’s why I decided to try BAA.
The process was easy. I clearly accepted the terms of sale, fully and fairly described what I was selling and the good and bad. I listed he stuff to be included with in the sale. Then Artie came back with what he thought was a fair price, leaving it to me to determine the balance between urgency of the sale and receiving a high price. I’ve followed his lead.
The responses I’ve received from potential buyers have been reassuring. Each has been well informed and courteous. They have not expected perfection, but have fully expected fairness and clarity. I’ve found that providing many photographs of what I’m selling is very helpful in the completing the various transactions.
I’m writing this because of how glad I am to find a place where there is a good market for what I want to sell and what I want to buy — I just tried to buy a 300mm f/2.8 II, but it has sold. The buyers and sellers are informed and fair-minded. And artie offers friendly and experienced advice. I’ve enjoyed the process. The BAA Used Gear page is the best experience I’ve had buying and selling gear.
Used Gear Sales Continue to be More Than Brisk
Tom Mast sold his Canon 300mm f/4L IS USM lens in excellent condition for $625 in late July.
Henry Raymundo sold his Gitzo 1325 tripod and a Wimberley V-2 head both in very good plus condition for the very low price of $699 and two used Canon 100-400mm IS L Zoom lenses, one in excellent condition for $599, the other in very good plus condition for $549–all in late July.
Jonathan Ward sold his Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II USM lens in excellent condition for $2,000 CAD in early July.
Long ago multiple IPT veteran Charles McRae sold his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS lens in good to very good condition in early July for a record low $4,199.
Jeffrey Fredberg sold his EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM L series lens in like-new condition for the record-low BAA price of $749 in late June.
Jim Burns sold his Canon 200-400mm F/4L IS zoom lens with Internal 1.4X Extender in brand new condition for the insane BAA record-low price of $8499 in late June.
Moody McCall sold his Canon 300mm F/2.8L IS II in excellent condition for $4199 in mid-June.
Long-ago IPT veteran Charles Sleicher sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in very good plus condition for $3400 in mid-June.
Top BAA Used Gear seller Jim Keener sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III in absolute mint condition for $1599 in mid-June.
KW McCulloch sold his Canon EOS-1D X in excellent condition for $2459 in mid-June.
Top BAA Used Gear seller Jim Keener sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens (the old five) in very good plus condition for a BAA record low price of $3699 in mid-June.
New Listing
AF-S Nikon 80-400 1:4.5-5.6G ED Lens
Sue Jarrett is offering a AF-S Nikon 80-400 1:4.5-5.6G ED lens (the newer version) in excellent condition for the record-low BAA price of $1649.95. The sale includes front and rear lens caps, the lens hood, a padded lens bag with strap, and insured ground shipping to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made. Please contact Sue via e-mail or by phone at 1-843-252-2082 (afternoons Eastern time).
The newer version of the very versatile Nikon 80-400mm VR lens is supposed to be a lot sharper than the original model. artie
This image was created on DAY 5 of the 2016 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R.. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at about +1 stop: as originally framed: 1/400 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. AWB.
One AF point up and two rows to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Spot AF (don’t ask me why…)/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
In the original Same Subject/Different Backgrounds; It’s All a Matter of Changing Your Perspective. And an Exposure Multiple Choice Quiz–How Easy Can It Get? blog post here, we let you know that we instructed the group on how to choose a perspective that would yield a dark background.
This image–of the same bird–was also created on DAY 5 of the 2016 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R.. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at about -2/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. AWB.
One AF point to the right and two rows up from the center AF point/AI Servo/Spot AF (don’t ask me why…)/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
To achieve the water background I simply walked to my right about 10 meters and photographed the bird from a bit head on. As the subject was smaller in the frame, I placed the bird more in the lower left corner. The huge 5DS R image files permitted me to crop to taste without sacrificing image quality.
Next Came the Exposure Multiple Choice Quiz
The exposure for the two featured images was the same, 1/400 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. Why?
A-the light was constant so the exposure on the bird was both correct and the same for each image.
B-when you are in Manual mode you do not have to worry about the effect of a light or dark background on the meter.
C-in heavy overcast conditions you do not have to worry about exposure changes due to working off angle to the light.
D-a, b, and c are all correct.
E-it was just a coincidence.
The Correct Answer
Only Warren and IPT veteran Wtlloyd (Bill Lloyd) came up with the right answer: D-a, b, and c are all correct.
Bill summed things up nicely when he commented, It was nothing less than an epiphany to me when I finally “got” cloudy-bright direction-less lighting.
More Important Learning…
Tony Zielinski left a comment that proved to be most valuable as many folks are as confused as he was.
Artie,
I’m a little confused about the exposure compensation here. If you’re shooting in manual mode and setting the ISO, F-stop and shutter speed manually (to 400, F/8, 1/400 sec.), then I don’t understand how adding an exposure compensation would affect the photo. I thought that the EC works when you are in Av or Tv mode but should not affect your exposure when you’re in full manual. In light of my lack of understanding, I’m not sure why you set EC differently for those two photos. I would assume that if your setting is correct for the bird in the first photo that you would leave the settings as-is when you reframed with a different background, since it’s correct for the bird in both photos.
Tony
I responded as follows:
Hi Tony,
You are missing a big point about working in Manual mode as I was in both situations. There is no EC that can be dialed in when working in Manual. But, and this is a huge but, you note the exposure that you have set relative to the exposure suggested by the camera by looking at the analog scale on the side or the bottom of the viewfinder of the camera body depending on which body you are using.
The camera does not record this info (though it could and should with a firmware update); that is why it says in each of the captions: “at about this or that EC.” 95% of the time I note and remember these values; the other 5% of the time I guess-timate them quite accurately.
As I recall, you asked about the Galapagos IPT; you should join me on that or another–you would be amazed by how much you could learn.
artie
Related Exposure Questions
1- Why did the first image need about +1 stop Exposure Compensation (EC)?
2-Why did the second image require about -2/3 stop of EC?
As for the related Exposure Questions, Bill Lloyd first noted that I had mixed up the two situations, and then nailed the answers when he wrote:
The 1st photo needs +1 because of the bright background that would influence the meter and leave the subject underexposed.
The 2nd photo needs -2/3 because the camera’s meter would want to compensate by opening up for the dark background thus blowing out the whites on the puffin.
Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.
2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT
Monday July 3 through Monday July 10, 2017: $5999: Limit 10 photographers — Openings: 6). Two great leaders: Arthur Morris and BPN co-owner, BPN Photography Gear Forum Moderator, and long-time BAA Webmaster Peter Kes.
Here are the plans: take a red eye from the east coast of the US on July 2 and arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland on the morning of Monday July 3 no later than 10am (or simply meet us then at the Edinburgh Airport–EDI, or later in the day at our cottages if you are driving your own vehicle either from the UK or from somewhere in Europe). Stay 7 nights in one of three gorgeous modern country cottages.
There are five days of planned puffin/seabird trips and one morning of gannet photography, all weather permitting of course. In three years we have yet to miss an entire day because of weather… In addition, we will enjoy several sessions of photographing nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes at eye level.
Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.
The Details
We will get to photograph Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Razorbill, Shag, and Northern Gannet; Arctic, Sandwich, and Common Terns, the former with chicks of all sizes; Black-headed, Lesser-Black-backed, and Herring Gulls, many chasing puffins with fish; Black-legged Kittiwake with chicks. We will be staying in upscale country-side lodging that are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for the informal image sharing and Photoshop sessions. The shared rooms are decent-sized, each with a private bathroom. See the limited single supplement info below.
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners are included. All 5 puffins boat lunches will need to be prepared by you in advance, taken with, and consumed at your leisure. I usually eat mine on the short boat trip from one island to the other. Also included is a restaurant lunch on the gannet boat day.
If you wish to fly home on the morning of Monday July 10 we will get you to the airport. Please, however, consider the following tentative plans: enjoy a second Gannet boat trip on the afternoon of Monday July 10 and book your hotel room in Dunbar. If all goes as planned, those who stay on for the two extra days will make a morning landing at Bass Rock, one of the world’s largest gannetries. We will get everyone to the airport on the morning of Wednesday July 12. (We may opt to stay in Edinburgh on the night of July 11.) Price and details should be finalized at least six months before the trip but you will need to be a bit patient. It would be ideal if I can get all the work done by the end of September so that folks can arrange their flights then.
Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version. Scroll down to join us in the UK in 2016.
Deposit Info
If you are good to go sharing a room–couples of course are more than welcome–please send your non-refundable $2,000/person deposit check now to save a spot. Please be sure to check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below. Your balance will be due on March 29, 2017. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. If your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.
Please shoot me an e-mail if you are good to go or if you have any questions.
Single Supplement Deposit Info
Single supplement rooms are available on a limited basis. To ensure yours, please register early. The single supplement fee is $1575. If you would like your own room, please request it when making your deposit and include payment in full for the single supplement; your single supplement deposit check should be for $3,575. As we will need to commit to renting the extra space, single supplement deposits are non-refundable so please be sure that check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below.
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance for big international trips is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check of running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance be sure to read the fine print careful even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.
This trip has sold out far in advance every year so do not tarry. I hope that you can join me.
Please Remember to use our 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 🙂
On Thursday afternoon Izzy Flamm–B&H Senior Marketing Campaign Manager, and his sidekick, Yosef Brown–Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Affiliate Partners, Content Partners, & Industry Influencers, drove from Manhattan to Nickerson Beach to cool off, enjoy the birds, and meet my IPT group. They generously offered to take everyone out for dinner. We drove about 25 minutes to Prime Bistro, a kosher French Steakhouse, Brasserie & Butchery in Lawrence, Long Island, NY. The food was amazing and we had a blast. Melody Goetz–the restaurant manager who took our orders, was so funny that within a minute of her stand-up routine, I asked her if she had here own TV show. Her humor was strong and in your face, a blend of Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers with short dark hair. Best of all, the food was superb. Huge thanks to Izzy and Yosef and the rest of the gang at B&H.
From left to right: Will Schilling, Izzy Flamm, yours truly, Joef Brown, Michael DeRosa, Elizabeth MacSwan, and Kerry Morris. Photo by Melody Goetz with Josef Brown’s cell phone….
The IPT group and our hosts having huge fun at Prime Bistro
We did not get back to the IPT hotel until after 11pm so we moved back our start time an hour. With early morning clouds but no sunrise color we did just fine (as seen below by today’s featured image).
Getting Lazy
Please remember that the blog is a better place to be when it is interactive. Folks have gotten very lazy recently. Please consider going back to yesterday’s blog post and let us know which of the three chick images was your favorite. And why. I do honestly want to hear your opinions. The more folks participate the more learning takes place…
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 255 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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 (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5.
Common Tern with pipefish for young
A Different Approach to Bird Photography
My basic approach to bird photography has long been walk and stalk.
Dear friends (the late) Max and Nellie Larsen used to bird the East Pond at my beloved Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge by heading out with two small folding chairs, parking themselves in one spot, and never moving. They used to say, “Stay in one spot and all the birds will come to you.” Max, who has been gone for five years, made it to 93. Nellie will be 95 in November; she is living in the hills of Pennsylvania. The Larsens were very kind to me when I began birding in 1977 and I cherish the memories of the time I spent in the field with them.
On Friday morning we had wind against sun once again. Sun in the east, the wind at 15 from the southwest. Doomsday for bird photography with all the birds facing away from us. As there were no oystercatchers feeding in the surf, our best chance for success was to photograph the Common Tern chicks waiting to be fed. We had the sun behind us and the wind in our faces. The adults with fish would fly in over our heads facing away. But the eager chicks would be facing right at us as they awaited the incoming parents: the eager chicks wanted to be able to see to the west to check for momma or poppa and they would often wind up square to the light and square to the backs of our cameras.
So how did I pick the spot for us to sit and wait? There was a snow fence and several chicks from two nests were hanging out by it. The area to the right of the fence was a bit overgrown. To the left there was lots of clean sand with only a few small beach plants. Farther to the left the beach was littered with small bits of shell. So we sat about five yards south of the snow fencing and simply waited for the action to come to us. It was not non-stop but we had lots of great chances. Including the adult with a pipefish that is today’s featured image. IPT veteran Will (The Thrill) Schilling nailed a begging chick with his 600 II, his 2X III TC, and the 5DS R that he rented from me for the workshop. That image will be featured here soon.
Sometimes You Just Gotta Pull the Trigger…
While it is ideal to have the active sensor on the bird’s eye or face, or have enough time to rear focus and re-compose, there are times-especially when restricted to the center AF point–that you cannot afford such luxury. You often need to focus and fire. When the tern landed just behind the sand ridge I acquired focus near the rear of the bird and created a single image with the bird too far forward in the frame. I pointed the camera right with the sensor on the bird above the bend of the wing. But the tern’s headed was turned away from me a bit: poor head angle. Frame three, today’s featured image was bingo. In frame four the bird was centered and the position of the pipefish was less than ideal. With frame five, the bird’s head was turned too much toward me; with the sun from my right the right side of the bird’s face was in shadow and the shadow of the pipefish fell unpleasingly on the bird’s breast.
Sometimes you just gotta pull the trigger and hope for the best…
Critique
Critique today’s featured image if you like. Note: good critiques include positives, negatives, and suggestions.
Tame birds and wildlife. Incredible diversity. You only live once…
GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. August 8-22, 2017 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $12,499. Limit: 13 photographers plus the leader: yours truly. Openings: 4.
Same great trip; no price increase!
This trip needs nine to run; in the unlikely event that it does not, all payments to BAA will be refunded in full.
My two-week Galapagos Photo-Cruises are without equal. The world’s best guide, a killer itinerary, a great boat (the Samba), and two great leaders with ten Galapagos cruises under their belts. Pre-trip and pre-landing location-specific gear advice. In-the-field photo instruction and guidance. Jeez, I almost forgot: fine dining at sea!
The great spots that we will visit include Tower Island (including Prince Phillips Steps and Darwin Bay), Hood Island (including Punta Suarez, the world’s only nesting site of Waved Albatross, and Gardner Bay)—each of the preceding are world class wildlife photography designations that rank right up there with Antarctica, Africa, and Midway. We will also visit Fernandina, Puerto Ayora for the tortoises, Puerto Egas—James Bay, and North Seymour for nesting Blue-footed Boobies in most years, South Plaza for Land Iguanas, Floreana for Greater Flamingoes, and Urbina Bay, all spectacular in their own right. We visit every great spot on a single trip. Plus tons more. And there will be lots of opportunities to snorkel on sunny mid-days for those like me who wish to partake.
It is extremely likely that we will visit the incredible Darwin Bay and the equally incredible Hood Island, world home of Waved Albatross twice on our voyage. The National Park Service takes its sweet time in approving such schedule changes.
We will be the first boat on each island in the morning and the last boat to leave each island every afternoon. If we are blessed with overcast skies, we will often spend 5-6 hours at the best sites. And as noted above, mid-day snorkeling is an option on most sunny days depending on location and conditions. On the 2015 trip most snorkeled with a mega-pod of dolphins. I eased off the zodiac to find hundreds of dolphins swimming just below me. Note: some of the walks are a bit difficult but can be made by anyone if half way decent shape. Great images are possible on all landings with either a hand held 70-200mm lens and a 1.4X teleconverter or an 80- or 100-400. I sometimes bring a longer lens ashore depending on the landing. In 2017 I will be bring the Canon 400mm IS DO II lens. In the past I have brought either the 300mm f/2.8L IS II or the 200-400mm f/4 L IS with Internal Extender.
Do consider joining me for this once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos archipelago. There simply is no finer Galapagos photography trip. Learn why above.
An Amazing Value…
Do know that there are one week Galapagos trips for $8500! Thus, our trip represents a tremendous value; why go all that way and miss half of the great photographic locations?
The Logistics
August 6, 2017: We arrive in Guayaquil, Ecuador a day early to ensure that we do not miss the boat in case of a travel delay.
August 7, 2017: There will be an introductory Galapagos Photography session and a hands on exposure session at our hotel.
August 8, 2017: We fly to the archipelago and board the Samba. Heck, on the 2015 trip some people made great images at the dock in Baltra while our luggage was being loaded!
August 22, 2017: We disembark late morning and fly back to Guayaquil midday; most will overnight there.
Most will fly home on the early morning of July 23 unless they are staying on or going elsewhere (or catching a red-eye flight on the evening of the 22nd).
$12,499 includes just about everything: all transfers, guide and park fees, all food on the boat, transfers and ground transportation, your flights to the archipelago, and three nights (double occupancy) in a top notch hotel in Guayaquil. If you are good to go, a non-refundable deposit of $5,000 per person is due immediately. The second payment of $4,000 is not due until 11/1/16. The final payment of $3449 per person will be due on 2/1/17. A $200 discount will be applied to each of the balances for couples or friends who register at the same time.
Purchasing travel insurance within 2 weeks of our cashing your deposit check is strongly recommended. On two fairly recent 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.
Not included: your round trip airfare from your home to and from Guayaquil, beverages on the boat, phone calls, your meals in Guayaquil, personal items, and a $600/person cash tip for the crew and the guide—this works out to roughly $40/day to be shared by the 7 folks who will be waiting on us hand and foot every day for two weeks. The service is so wonderful that many folks choose to tip extra.
Please e-mail for the tentative itinerary or with questions. Please cut and paste “Galapagos 2017 Tentative Itinerary Please” into the Subject line.
Please Remember to use our 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 suffered from wind against sun conditions again on Thursday morning but yours truly found the only stellar situation for miles and put the whole group on a Common Tern nest with two tiny chicks. Boy, did we have fun. Images and the whole story coming soon.
I almost blew the streak as I thought that I had scheduled Thursday’s blog post in advance, but had not. I published it at about 10:30am to keep the streak alive.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 254 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
Photoshop World 2016 Conference Specials
Be sure to check out the B&H Photoshop World 2016 Conference specials here.
Center AF point (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The active AF point fell on the center of the chick’s breast. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5.
Image #1: Black Skimmer chick staring/6:21am
An Early Morning to Remember/17 Good Minutes
Southwest winds are common on the Long Island beaches in mid-summer. On clear mornings, they present a big problem for bird photographers: wind against sun conditions with the birds flying, landing, and facing into the wind and away from you and the light. On Wednesday morning, July 20, my wonderful IPT group and I were blessed with a gentle east wind and clear skies.
Week old Black Skimmer chicks will often run off if approached carelessly. I instructed the group to move slowly and get low and within minutes everyone was well within range. Folks with shorter focal lengths capture some wonderful images of the chicks interacting with one of the parent birds.
Why Hand Hold at 1200mm?
I quickly realized that I could get a lot closer to the chicks without having to lug around my cumbersome tripod. I knew that by getting flat on the ground I might have a chance to create a few sharp images that featured the gorgeous low perspective that always adds intimacy to your images. In addition, it would be easier to maneuver left or right as needed to stay on sun angle should a chick relocate or should I wish to photograph a different bird.
Dangerous Shutter Speed
In the low light of very early morning I did not get many sharp images when working at 1/200 second even though the lens hood was resting firmly on the ground. Why? Some were soft due to the fact that I was elevating the camera body a bit with my right hand; the rig was not as stable as it would have been on a tripod. And some were soft due to motion blur caused by the subject (rather than the lens) moving.
Center AF point (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The active AF point fell just below and behind the base of the chick’s open bill. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5.
Image #2: Black Skimmer chick begging/6:35am
Big Lens on the Ground Tips
To gain just a bit of elevation I built a small sand pile with my left hand. Then I rested the back of my left hand on the sand pile as it supported the lens. I had previously rotated the tripod collar so that the CR-X 5 Low Foot was on the bottom of the lens. This fave me an additional inch or so of elevation. As you can see by comparing Image #1 with Images #s 2 & 3 the 2 inches of extra height made a big difference in the look of the images. Why go for the extra height? To ensure getting over small mounds of sand that might be between you and the subject.
A Much Better Shutter Speed
As it got a bit brighter I dropped down from f/13 to f/11 and was able to get my shutter speed up to 1/500 sec. Even though I was still hand holding, my percentage of sharp images rose dramatically. Working at 1200mm while hand holding at 1/200 second is not an ideal situation.
Center AF point (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The active AF point fell on the bend of the wing stub. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5.
Image #3: Black Skimmer chick large in the frame/6:38am
Your Favorite?
Which of today’s three featured images is your favorite? Be sure to let us know why you made your choice. Do you like the lower perspective in Image #1 or the slightly higher perspective in Images #s 2 & 3? Do you think that Image #3 is too large in the frame?
Tame birds and wildlife. Incredible diversity. You only live once…
GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. August 8-22, 2017 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $12,499. Limit: 13 photographers plus the leader: yours truly. Openings: 4.
Same great trip; no price increase!
This trip needs nine to run; in the unlikely event that it does not, all payments to BAA will be refunded in full.
My two-week Galapagos Photo-Cruises are without equal. The world’s best guide, a killer itinerary, a great boat (the Samba), and two great leaders with ten Galapagos cruises under their belts. Pre-trip and pre-landing location-specific gear advice. In-the-field photo instruction and guidance. Jeez, I almost forgot: fine dining at sea!
The great spots that we will visit include Tower Island (including Prince Phillips Steps and Darwin Bay), Hood Island (including Punta Suarez, the world’s only nesting site of Waved Albatross, and Gardner Bay)—each of the preceding are world class wildlife photography designations that rank right up there with Antarctica, Africa, and Midway. We will also visit Fernandina, Puerto Ayora for the tortoises, Puerto Egas—James Bay, and North Seymour for nesting Blue-footed Boobies in most years, South Plaza for Land Iguanas, Floreana for Greater Flamingoes, and Urbina Bay, all spectacular in their own right. We visit every great spot on a single trip. Plus tons more. And there will be lots of opportunities to snorkel on sunny mid-days for those like me who wish to partake.
It is extremely likely that we will visit the incredible Darwin Bay and the equally incredible Hood Island, world home of Waved Albatross twice on our voyage. The National Park Service takes its sweet time in approving such schedule changes.
We will be the first boat on each island in the morning and the last boat to leave each island every afternoon. If we are blessed with overcast skies, we will often spend 5-6 hours at the best sites. And as noted above, mid-day snorkeling is an option on most sunny days depending on location and conditions. On the 2015 trip most snorkeled with a mega-pod of dolphins. I eased off the zodiac to find hundreds of dolphins swimming just below me. Note: some of the walks are a bit difficult but can be made by anyone if half way decent shape. Great images are possible on all landings with either a hand held 70-200mm lens and a 1.4X teleconverter or an 80- or 100-400. I sometimes bring a longer lens ashore depending on the landing. In 2017 I will be bring the Canon 400mm IS DO II lens. In the past I have brought either the 300mm f/2.8L IS II or the 200-400mm f/4 L IS with Internal Extender.
Do consider joining me for this once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos archipelago. There simply is no finer Galapagos photography trip. Learn why above.
An Amazing Value…
Do know that there are one week Galapagos trips for $8500! Thus, our trip represents a tremendous value; why go all that way and miss half of the great photographic locations?
The Logistics
August 6, 2017: We arrive in Guayaquil, Ecuador a day early to ensure that we do not miss the boat in case of a travel delay.
August 7, 2017: There will be an introductory Galapagos Photography session and a hands on exposure session at our hotel.
August 8, 2017: We fly to the archipelago and board the Samba. Heck, on the 2015 trip some people made great images at the dock in Baltra while our luggage was being loaded!
August 22, 2017: We disembark late morning and fly back to Guayaquil midday; most will overnight there.
Most will fly home on the early morning of July 23 unless they are staying on or going elsewhere (or catching a red-eye flight on the evening of the 22nd).
$12,499 includes just about everything: all transfers, guide and park fees, all food on the boat, transfers and ground transportation, your flights to the archipelago, and three nights (double occupancy) in a top notch hotel in Guayaquil. If you are good to go, a non-refundable deposit of $5,000 per person is due immediately. The second payment of $4,000 is not due until 11/1/16. The final payment of $3449 per person will be due on 2/1/17. A $200 discount will be applied to each of the balances for couples or friends who register at the same time.
Purchasing travel insurance within 2 weeks of our cashing your deposit check is strongly recommended. On two fairly recent 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.
Not included: your round trip airfare from your home to and from Guayaquil, beverages on the boat, phone calls, your meals in Guayaquil, personal items, and a $600/person cash tip for the crew and the guide—this works out to roughly $40/day to be shared by the 7 folks who will be waiting on us hand and foot every day for two weeks. The service is so wonderful that many folks choose to tip extra.
Please e-mail for the tentative itinerary or with questions. Please cut and paste “Galapagos 2017 Tentative Itinerary Please” into the Subject line.
Please Remember to use our 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 🙂
Until Wednesday, we had been fighting west winds against sun every morning. But on July 20, we had the best of the best possible conditions–an east wind with clear skies. We did not get what I expected, but we enjoyed one of the best Nickerson mornings ever. Stay tuned for the whole story…
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 253 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
Photoshop World 2016 Conference Specials
Be sure to check out the B&H Photoshop World 2016 Conference specials here.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding).
Black Skimmers/midair squabble (vertical crop from a horizontal original + tiny clipped feather repair)
400 DO II/1.4X III/1D X Mark II Hand Held Flight Photography–How Did the Old Man Do? Well, I’d Say…
Contrary to the popular opinion held by some, it is much easier to photograph most birds in flight, especially in erratic flight, with a hand held intermediate telephoto lens than it is with a tripod-mounted super-telephoto lens. It is easier to track the birds and easier to swing the lens, provided that you can comfortably hold the lens for extended periods without straining from the weight of the outfit. For me the 400 DO II/1.4X III/1D X Mark II is right on the borderline as far as weight is concerned. Using some of the tips that I learned from Jim Neiger’s Flight Plan: How to Photograph Birds in Flight have made the chore of hand holding borderline heavy rigs a bit easier.
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 us 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 we 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 for 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 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 you 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 our 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 should 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 our 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’ve been blessed with a wonderful group of five easy-going photographers, all willing and eager and wanting to learn. As you will learn below, our first afternoon proved to be quite exciting. Tuesday morning was excellent as we worked on Black Skimmer chicks of various ages and fledged Common Tern chicks. We arrived at the beach very early, so early in fact that when we were done after 3 1/2 hours of pretty good photography, there were still photographers arriving… NG for them.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 252 days in a row with a new educational blog post. And I still have dozens of new topics to cover; there should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. 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.
Photoshop World 2016 Conference Specials
Be sure to check out the B&H Photoshop World 2016 Conference specials here.
This image was created on the first afternoon of the Nickerson Beach IPT by Elizabeth MacSwan (at risk of life and limb) with the hand held Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens (at 24mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/200 sec. at f/5.6. It was dark! AWB.
Fast moving thunderclouds
Image courtesy of and copyright 2016 Elizabeth MacSwan
If I’ve Said It Once, I’ve Said It a Thousand Times…
“If you opt to leave your 24-105mm lens in the car you will usually not get far before you are kicking yourself.”
The Nickerson Beach BAA IPT Gets Off With a Bang!
We had just gotten out to the beach when it became obvious that we were gonna get creamed by a big thunderstorm approaching rapidly from the west. Even though it had started to rain a bit, we tried to photograph some oystercatcher chicks. Within minutes however, we were rousted by one of the local beach police guys: “There is lightning in the area; everyone must get off the beach now!” As we headed north, I realized that we needed to get to shelter quickly so I led the group to the nearby beach club. Before we made it the wind was howling and it was pouring. We even enjoyed a bit of sleet. Everyone got soaked.
Once we got to safety, Bob DeCroce peeked around the end of the row of cabanas and noted that there was clearing to the west and that it was likely that the storm would pass us in short order. In the meantime, many in the group started to photograph this and that from under the sheltering roof of the row of cabanas. Elizabeth MacSwan, whose image is featured here, climbed up on a picnic table with her tripod-mounted 500 to photograph the gulls on the roof of the next row of little beach cabins. Will Shilling being quite a bit taller did the same simply by raising his tripod. Girl-Kerry Morris (no relation) photographed a neat looking wooden plaque that was painted like a US flag. And I photographed a tattered and wind-whipped stars and stripes at 1/30 second until it wrapped around the flagpole it hung from. Mike DeRosa, always thirsty for exposure lessons, did the same.
Within 15 minutes we were headed back to the beach where we had a good afternoon with skimmers in flight, some young Great Black-backed Gulls, and baby oystercatchers. We topped off our adventurous afternoon with a glorious sunset that was well photographed by the group with a variety of intermediate telephoto lenses with TCs.
It goes without saying, BTW, that my 24-105 was in the trunk of my car 🙁 Sometimes a guy never learns…
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 us 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 we 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 for 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 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 you 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 our 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 should 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 our 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 🙂
