Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

What’s Up

Sunday was a hazy lazy day. I did a bit of mopping up on my 2015 taxes, worked on a few Soduko puzzles, and watched some golf and NBA playoff basketball. And again I enjoyed a great sunny day swim. Oh, and started and finished this blog post.

I took a rare Sunday evening ice bath end enjoyed my best night’s sleep since the surgery.

IPT Similarities

The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming. And we will surely get to photograph American Oystercatchers. With a bit of luck, they will be feeding chicks of various ages. Scroll down here for complete Nickerson details.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks an insane 199 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

All of the images in today’s blog post were created on the last morning of my Fort DeSoto busman’s holiday with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with a 64GB Card and Reader ISO 400. Evaluative metering at about +1/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/7.1. I selected on AF point above the center AF point/AI Servo Surround/Rear Focus AF as framed. AF was of course active at the moment of exposure as the bird was striding forward while calling. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. AF Micro-adjustment via LensAlign/Focus Tune: +4. Tutorial coming soon. Group I: Image #1:

The Situation and the Set-Up

I was sitting in about six inches of saltwater at my favorite early morning spot. I had lowered my Induro tripod and taken the time to level the bubble on the tripod platform (by shoving first this leg and then that leg into the wet sand) and then leveling the camera body; this ensured that no matter where I pointed the lens the image would be pretty darned close to perfectly level. I taught this lesson several times on the IPT. It works great whenever you will be working from the same spot for more than a few minutes. Sometimes you need to lengthen or shorten a leg to get the bubble centered in the circle. This technique also works well when you are standing for flight photography, and equally well when your tripod is on a solid surface such as a dirt road or a parking lot.

Group I: Image #2:

Displaying Oystercatcher Lands Right in my Wheelhouse

While I was photographing some feeding breeding plumage Dunlins this oystercatcher flew in and landed–right down my sun angle–right in front of me and began displaying. As I swung the lens to get on the bird I clicked the index finger wheel one click clockwise for the next faster shutter speed (to avoid burning the oystercatcher’s brighter whites) and moved the AF point up one row. Then I fired off about 20 frames. The extracted JPEGs from the best six are presented here today in two groups. In Group I, the bird is parallel to the back of the camera. In Group II, the bird is angling toward me.

Group I: Image #3:

You Get to Edit the Two Groups, i.e., pick the keepers

Your Chinese Food Menu Task

Please select the best image from Group I, and the best image from Group II. Feel free to comment on one or more images from each group, and please let us know why you made your choices. For me, the choice with Group II is crystal clear. With Group I, not so clear… I will be interested to see what y’all have to say.

Please note that you are viewing full frame extracted JPEGs cropped to 1200 pixels wide and sharpened with Unsharp Mask at 110/.3/0.

The Hardest Question

Which is the single strongest image? Why?

Group I: Image #4:

AF Comments

With the first four images, the selected AF point fell just forward of the white slash at the bird’s shoulder. With lots of contrast there, the 1DX II AF acquired instantly and tracked the subject perfectly. Once the bird turned to angle toward me, I kept the same AF point and Area Selection mode and the system again worked perfectly; with the last two images, those in Group II, the selected AF point was not even on the bird; it was in front of the bird well below the bill. But one or more of the upper left Surround assist points was on the bird’s neck and the system got every image sharp.

Group II: Image #5:

My Perspective on My Perspective

I could not have (without lying down in the water) chosen a better perspective. I was very happy that the bird’s head did not merge with the base of the background grasses. Lying flat down in 4-6 inches of water would have provided a wondrous perspective, but it is not a lot of fun> It can put a lot of stress on the muscles in your lower back and shoulders and, as I learned last year, put’s your gear at risk of saltwater damage.

As age 70 draws closer, sitting is fine for me 🙂

Group II: Image #6:

Head Angle Comments

In Image #1-4, the bird was kind enough to turn his head a perfect two degrees toward me. And the head angles in frames 5&6 are just fine as well.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.

Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 8.

Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.

The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.

Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.

The IPT Logistics

The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.

Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂

What’s Up

I spent most of Friday getting lots more done on my 2015 taxes. I enjoyed another nice swim.

A Big Loss

I learned on Friday that Michael Reichmann, founder of the highly respected Luminous Landscape website, passed away at age 71 on Wednesday past. I am sending love, strength, and energy to his family and many friends. Though I knew Micheal only through a few brief e-mails, we do have a bit in common. Age. And the fact that our work, our passion, and our very beings were closely connected to our business names: Luminous Landscape for him, BIRDS AS ART for me.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 197 days in a row with a new educational blog post. I have dozens of new topics to cover; here 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

This image was created on my last morning at DeSoto after the IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 200mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/160 sec. at f/11 in Tv mode. Color temperature: 8000K. AF Micro-adjustment via LensAlign/Focus Tune: -2. Tutorial coming soon. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the sandbar and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Sandbar at dawn

Getting Up Early…

Fortunately, I am a morning person. I am usually up and working (or on my way to photograph) between four and five am. The fact is, when I am afield early on some beautiful beach, I am almost always alone at dawn (unless I am leading an IPT group). And that is a big shame for sleep-late nature photographers. Heck, there are times when being in the right place 30 minutes before the time of sunrise is 15 minutes too late. Try getting to bed early and getting out to your favorite beach in time to enjoy the often spectacular sunrise colors.

This image was created at 6:38am, about twelve minutes before the official time of sunrise. When this image was made I was hurting for birds…

Image Question

So exactly where is the alleged Black-bellied Plover in Image #1?

This image was also created on my last morning at DeSoto after the IPT, this one with theInduro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/11 in Av mode. Color temperature: 8100K. AF Micro-adjustment via LensAlign/Focus Tune: +4. Tutorial coming soon. Image #2: Black-bellied Plover ruffling in almost blasting highlights: 6:49am. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus on the plover’s legs and re-compose. (Learn why below…) Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Tips for Photographing Blasting Highlights

I first wrote about creating glaring (blasting) highlights silhouettes in Chapter Six of The Art of Bird Photograph II, Exposure and Flash Simplified & Autofocus Essays. (I’m thinking now that I might have made two or three chapters there instead of one…) With most blasting highlights situations, you need from 1 to 3 stops (or more!) of under-exposure to keep from severely over-exposing the specular highlights. But in Image #2 the sun was just touching the horizon so the highlights were simply not that blasting.

Some folks mentioned diffraction with telephoto lenses in the recent post that dealt with depth-of-field with regards to the large Great Egret chick image. I have never seen diffraction at f/11 or f/13 or f/16. But I have seen diffraction with long effective focal lengths at tiny apertures, most recently, at f/57. Lesson? When working in really bright blasting highlight situations be sure to switch to a lower ISO and a very high shutter speed while striving not to go past f/11 or so.

Blasting Highlights AF Tip

While AF needs contrast to see, too much of a good thing blinds the AF system. If you are trying to focus on a bird in the blasting highlights swath, and AF cannot lock focus, try putting the sensor on the legs; it works extremely well pretty much all the time.

This image too was created on my last morning at DeSoto after the IPT, this one with theInduro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/11 in Av mode. Color temperature: 8100K. AF Micro-adjustment via LensAlign/Focus Tune: +4. Tutorial coming soon. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus on the plover’s head and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #3: Black-bellied Plover in soft backlight: 6:51am.

Blasting Highlights Too Bright?

Within a minute of creating Image #2, the sun had gotten much stronger and I could no longer control the over-exposure of the specular highlights. I simply moved a yard or two to my right to place the cooperative plover against a background of soft and sweet yellow water. Remember: the success of each and every image that you create has everything to do with the perspective that you choose, exactly where you place your lens.

Just Think…

Today’s three featured images were created in a span of about 13 minutes; what a great way to start my day.

Your Favorite?

Which of these three sunrise images is your favorite? Be sure to let us know why you made your choice. I do have a clear favorite…

IPT Similarities

The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.

Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 8.

Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.

The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.

Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.

The IPT Logistics

The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.

Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂

What’s Up

I spent most of the day on Wednesday watching re-runs of Chopped while working on my 2015 taxes. Lots more work for the IRS this week.

I enjoyed a nice swim and an early evening ice bath.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 195 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would 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, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, 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 left side of the lower menu bar above.

IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.
The sale of Les Greenberg’s Canon EOS Canon 5D Mark III Camera Body is pending.

Price Reductions!

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

Yet Another Lowest-ever BAA Price!
Price Reduced $700 on May 18, 2016.

KW McCulloch is offering a used Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS lens with Internal 1.4X Extender in excellent plus condition: was $8,994, now, $8294. The sale includes the lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, the rear lens cap, and insured shipping via UPS Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears or other arrangements are made.

Please contact KW by e-mail or by phone at 361/727-2652 (Central time).

This is the world’s best lens for a trip to Africa. It kills also in the Galapagos and in South Georgia, the Falklands, and Antarctica. And I use mine a lot at Bosque and other dusty places where the built-in TC helps to keep your sensor clean. And I love it in the Palouse for its versatility. The lens sells new at B&H right now for $10,999. You can save a slew of dollars by grabbing KW’s lens now. artie

Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II Lens

Yet Another Lowest-ever BAA Price!
Price Reduced $400 on May 18, 2016.

Moody McCall is offering a used Canon 300mm F/2.8L IS II in excellent condition: was $4599, now $4199. The sale includes the hard case and key, the nylon front lens cover, the rear cap, the lens strap, a LensCoat, and insured ground shipping via major carrier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Moody by e-mail or by phone at 904 635 4388 (Eastern time).

The 300mm f/2.8L IS II is astoundingly sharp both by itself and with either Series III teleconverter. It is relatively easy to hand hold for most folks and is a truly great flight lens. It makes an ideal everyday super-telephoto for folks who like to go light and those who usually work with tame birds. artie

New Listings

Canon EOS-1DX Professional Digital Camera Body

Multiple IPT veteran Larry Master is offering a near-mint condition Canon EOS-1DX for only $2899. The sale includes the LP-E4N battery, the battery charger, the front cap, the original box, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Interested folks may contact Larry on his cell phone at 518-645-1545 or via e-mail.

I used, depended on, and loved my two 1DX bodies since their release several years ago. artie

Canon EOS-1DX Professional Digital Camera Body

IPT veteran Billy Wingfield is offering a Canon EOS-1DX in excellent plus condition but for a 3/4″ scratch on the rear LCD for only $2799. The sale includes two LP-E4N batteries, the battery charger, the front cap, the Canon strap, the original box, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Interested folks may contact Billy by phone at 843-729-6670 or via e-mail.

I used, depended on, and loved my two 1DX bodies since their release several years ago. artie

This image was created by Machine-gun Mike Hankes on the next-to-last afternoon of the Fort DeSoto IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 560mm) and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with Premium Kit: 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 1000: 1/2500 sec. at f/8 (was a significant over-exposure; see the DPP 4 screen capture below to learn a ton about properly exposing for bright WHITEs in full sun…) 65-point Automatic selection)/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed framed was active at the moment of exposure. The system activated three AF points that fell perfectly on the bird’s face and the near wing. As you can see in the DPP 4 screen capture below, This is a very large crop.) Click on the image to see a larger version. AF Micro-adjustment via LensAlign/Focus Tune: +6. Tutorial coming soon. Sandwich Tern tossing tiny baitfish Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Mike Hankes

Machine-gun Mike’s Best Shot

Curious as to whether Mike was shooting blanks with his rapid-fire style I asked him to shoot me three of his best Sandwich Tern flight images. He did, while letting me know that he had had time only to scratch the surface of the thousands of images that he made. Today’s featured image was my favorite of the three. It was obvious that Mike’s image optimization skills were somewhat lacking and still curious, I asked him to shoot me the RAW file. He did. Though the JPEG that he had sent was a huge crop, the image quality had held up fairly well. I converted the image in DPP 4, executed a less drastic crop, and did lots of work on the face and bill. I eliminated a stack of specular highlights near the base of the bill, darkened the bill, and sharpened the face and bill. He loved what I did with his image.

Mike’s Post-IPT Comments Via e-mail

MGMH: I’ve been into photography for about 5 years now. I started with wildlife but moved to portraits for several years. I just got back into wildlife and birding primarily about 6 months ago. My Grandfather Randy has been on about the same timeline. I’m not sure how I’d describe myself, maybe intermediate. I really really enjoyed the IPT and definitely would like to join you on future trips. You’ve definitely helped me think different in how I approach bird photography.

AM: In what ways?

MGMH: Paying attention to light angle for sure is now stuck in my head in a good way. And making sure the histogram is well to the right. Though not as much as in the fish tossing image 🙂 Not being afraid to get down and dirty. I think some of my best photos come from crawling in the mud and approaching the birds slow and low. The angle of the bird’s body in relation to the sensor. And head angle. I am definitely paying more attention to those.

Thanks! Mike

The DPP 4 Screen Capture

Lessons from the DPP 4 Screen Capture

In this DPP 4 screen capture, you can see the large crop. And you can see how nicely 65-point Automatic Selection AF worked. What is misleading, however, is a quick peek at the histogram; it give the impression that the image is a pretty good exposure, if anything, perhaps a bit under-exposed. As it turns out, this is a great example of what I call “the lying histogram.”

Take a close look at the RGB values. With the eyedropper on the brightest WHITEs on the bird’s neck, the RGB values read R=255, G=255, B=255. Over-exposed. Still curious, I copied the RAW file to a card and put the card into my 1DX Mark II. The image showed blinkies (highlight alerts) on the whole side of the bird. The Luminosity histogram showed the clipping but the RGB histogram did not. Mystery solved: Mike blew the exposure.

To try and save the image I reduced the exposure one-half stop via the Brightness Slider and moved the highlight slider to -2. In Photoshop the flanks showed a severe lack of detail. And that was putting it mildly. I continued with some NIK Detail Extractor and a Linear Burn but the brightest WHITEs were still without detail. As a last resort, I painted those in with a 30% opacity brush using properly exposed WHITEs as the source. The resulting image was more than passable but less than ideal.

I often see the lying histogram in the field; the histogram looks fine but a close look at the image reveals blinkies. Regular readers know that I have long advised that they make sure that the right side of the Luminosity histogram not come anywhere near the right-hand axis; this will ensure that your brightest WHITEs come into Photoshop with RGB values in the mid-230s, just where I want them. Some prefer their WHITEs to have RGB values in the mid-240s. Either way, you do not need to jump through hoops to reveal the detail in the WHITEs. With WHITE RGB values in the 250s, you make your life very difficult.

The most important lessons: be sure to check for blinkies when working in changing light and always avoid blinkies on the subject.

And another: being more selective and waiting for subjects in flight to get closer will result in more pixels on the bird and much better image quality… That comes with experience.

The 1D X II

If what you read here on the blog today and recently inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.

IPT Similarities

The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.

Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 8.

Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.

The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.

Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.

The IPT Logistics

The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.

Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂

What’s Up

I spent most of the day on Tuesday catching up on e-mails and Used Gear stuff. I enjoyed a swim and an ice bath. And I started working on my 2015 tax return. Lots more of that today.

I learned yesterday that the sale of Paul Roscoe’s Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II lens in mint condition is pending. See more on Used Gear below.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 193 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would 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, the original 400mm IS DO lens, and most recently, the 200-400 with Internal Extender, 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 left side of the lower menu bar above.

IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.

New Listings

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens, the “new 300 2.8”

Les Greenberg is offering his Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens in mint condition for $4499. The sale includes a Wimberley lens plate, the lens trunk, the rear lens cap, the original leather front lens cover, and insured ground shipping to US addresses only in the original Canon cardboard shipping box. This lens was purchased on 04/03/12 and used less than a dozen times. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Interested folks can contact Les via e-mail or by phone as follows: 216-571-3636 (cell) or 216-292-7510 (home, after 6:00pm) Eastern time.

I own and use this super-sharp lens for flight and when I want to go light to the beach and hand hold. It is quite versatile as it pairs well with both the 1.4X III and 2X III teleconverters. The new 300 II would make a great super-telephoto lens for someone with a 7D Mark II body… artie

Canon EOS Canon 5D Mark III Camera Body

Les Greenberg is also offering a used Canon 5D Mark III body in excellent condition for $1649 with two great extras. The sale includes the front body cap, the original boxes, one LP-E6 battery, the battery charger, and all the cables and CDs that came in the box. The two big extras are the BG-E11 Battery Pack/Vertical Grip and a Kirk L-bracket. And insured ground shipping to US addresses only.

Interested folks can contact Les via e-mail or by phone as follows: 216-571-3636 (cell) or 216-292-7510 (home, after 6:00pm) 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

This image was created on the next-to-last afternoon of the Fort DeSoto IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 390mm) and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with Premium Kit: 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop off the light blue sky: 1/3200 sec. at f/8. AF Micro-adjustment via LensAlign/Focus Tune: +4. Tutorial coming soon. Center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was squarely on the center of the tern’s back. (This is a small crop for composition from the left and the top.) Click on the image to see a larger version. Sandwich Tern diving

Canon 100-400II + 1.4X III TC + 1DX Mark II for Hand Held Flight/Teacher Learns From Student: Machine Gun Mike Hankes…

The DeSoto IPT group was a pleasure. Mike Hankes, an earnest young man who was eager to learn, attended with his grandfather Randy Cleveland, about as smiling and pleasant a guy as you are likely to meet. Both had started photographing nature about five years ago as a shared common interest. They soon turned to portrait photography, and then–about 6 months ago–got back into wildlife and bird photography. Mike describes himself as an intermediate photographer. As far as bird photography goes, Grandpa Randy describes himself as a beginner. I agree.

We learned from good friend Tom Pfeifer of the huge pelican/Sandwich Tern feeding spree taking place every afternoon. As the group learned a ton and enjoyed the phenomenal action, I noted several things about Mike.

• He was using the hand held 100-400 II with the 1.4X III TC and the new 1DX Mark II.
• His hand-eye coordination were extraordinary; he was able to get focus on a bird and fire off ten shots to every one or none of mine. He photographed the terns hovering, the terns and pelicans diving, and the terns coming out of the water with a fish.

I had never even considered photographing flight and frantic action with the 1-4 and the 1.4TC, assuming that AF would not be able to acquire focus quickly enough. But that was before the remarkable EOS-1D X Mark II. Inspired by Machine Gun Mike, I tried the combo and was amazed at how quickly and accurately the AF system acquired focus.

Today’s featured image was my favorite from that first afternoon. I was much more selective than Mike, waiting for a tern to hover on sun angle at relatively close range. But even then this was extremely difficult photography as the Sandwich Terns rarely hover for more than a second or two. The fun starts when they stall and dive; tracking them in flight is quite a challenge. I wound up with many images with only a bird’s head or tail in the frame, and many that featured only blue sky. But as is usually the case, my persistence (rather than my skill) paid off handsomely.

Thanks a stack to Mike Hankes for opening my eyes to the gear possibilities. I will be sharing one of Mike’s tern images with you here on the blog soon.

Image Questions

What do you like about today’s featured image? What don’t you like? What is your favorite part of this image? What do you think is my favorite part?

The 1D X II

If what you read here on the blog today and recently inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.

IPT Similarities

The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.

Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 8.

Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.

The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.

Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.

The IPT Logistics

The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.

Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂

What’s Up

Saturday was a much appreciated lazy day. I was out early in the morning and enjoyed sitting behind my lowered tripod in six inches of water photographing a variety of shorebirds. It is Saturday afternoon as I type; I will head back out at about 4:30pm in hopes that the newly found spectacle will continue.

If you own the Fort DeSoto Site Guide–or if you purchase it on Monday–and send me an e-mail that includes a cut and paste of the first page of the guide, I will be glad to let you know the details of the currently hot location. It has been amazing but I am not sure how much longer the action will continue.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 191 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would 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.

IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera body in excellent condition for $1,549 in early May.

New Listing

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM Lens, the “old five”

Walt Novinger is offering a used Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in very good plus condition for $3,899. The glass and lens body are perfect with wear showing only on the lens foot. The sale includes the lens trunk, the front leather hood, the rear lens cap, and insured ground shipping within the continental US. Will deliver within 100 miles of San Diego, CA. The lens will be shipped only after your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Interested folks can contact Walt via e-mail or by phone at 442-222-4081. (Pacific Time Zone).

I owned and used this lens for well more than a decade before upgrading to the 500 II. Lenses of this versatile focal length have long been the world’s most popular super-telephoto lenses. artie

This image was created on the last afternoon of the Fort DeSoto IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 800. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/1600 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. Daylight WB. Two AF points below the Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version. AF Micro-adjustment: +4 Image #1: Laughing Gull screaming above head of adult Brown Pelican

How We Found the Feeding Aggregation

My good friend Tom Pfeifer from Long Island is staying in Clearwater with wife Carleen to attend a family wedding this weekend. I invited Tom to meet the IPT group and photograph with us on Thursday afternoon. I gave him perfect directions but fortunately, he got lost. When he had not showed up by 5:30pm, I called his cell. He had turned right too soon and wound up at a spot that I had rarely visited. But he found dozens of pelicans and Sandwich Terns diving on bait. Not too far from shore. I rounded up the group and we enjoyed three great afternoons of flight and action photography… Talk about serendipity.

The Biology of the Situation

The pelicans dive for small baitfish. When they come up, they squeeze the water out of their bill pouches. More than a few small fish escape with the expelled water. The Laughing Gulls routinely land on the pelican’s head so that they are in good position to snatch a free meal or two. And the terns will often dive within inches of the pelican’s heads to do the same. Kleptoparasitism at its finest. (Learn more here.)

This image was also created on the last afternoon of the Fort DeSoto IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. Daylight WB. AF Micro-adjustment: +4 Image #2: Laughing Gull on head of adult Brown Pelican One AF points below the Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version.

1200mm Flight and Action with the 1DX Mark II

While I was having fun photographing the Laughing Gulls landing atop the pelican’s heads I really did not expect any great results. But when I saw the images on my Apple 15.4″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display I was astounded. Most of the images were tack sharp. I had even messed around photographing single birds in flight and again I was shocked by how sharp some of those were.

Like the two images above, this image was created on the last afternoon of the Fort DeSoto IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. Daylight WB. AF Micro-adjustment: +4 One AF points below the Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #3: Laughing Gull tip-toeing on head of immature Brown Pelican

Why Flight and Action Success at 1200mm?

Three reasons:

#1: 1DX Mark II AF is far faster (in terms of initial focusing acquisition) and surer and more accurate by far than with any previous Canon camera body.

#2: At +4 micro-adjustemt, this combination–the 600 II, 2X III TC, & 1DX Mark II–has been perfectly LensAligned/FocusTuned.

#3: I used an advanced pro technique that involves the Lens Drive When AF impossible setting. This technique is covered in detail in all recent Camera User’s Guides including the 1DX AF Guide, the 5D Mark III User’s Guide, and the 7D Mark II User’s Guide. With all of the action at relatively consistent distances from the lens, this trick really helped. Note that the info on this feature in the Canon camera manuals and the info that is available on the camera itself is 100% confusing. Doubt me? Try to figure it out yourself.

Lens Drive When AF Impossible Guide Offer

If you are one of those rare photographers who shoots Canon and does not own one of the Camera User’s Guides mentioned above and would like to learn this very specialized technique, you can send us a Paypal for $10 to birdsasart@verizon.net with the words Lens Drive When AF Impossible Guide cut and pasted into the Subject Line and I promise to get you the info by Tuesday, May 31, 2016. Folks who do not use Paypal are invited to call Jim at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to order.

The 1D X II

If what you read today on the blog inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.

IPT Similarities

The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.

Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 8.

Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.

The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.

Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.

The IPT Logistics

The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.

Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂

What’s Up

Apologies. This blog post was published at 3:30am on the morning of Friday, May 13, 2016 with grievous errors in the image caption. As of 9:42am, those errors have been corrected. We have been enjoying consistently great afternoon sessions on the Fort Desoto IPT and finally had a great morning shoot today, Friday the 13th 🙂

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 189 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

This image was created on the Fort DeSoto IPT with the hand held Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with a 64GB Card and Reader ISO 1000. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6. 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). The system selected a single AF point the fell squarely on the bird, one row up and four to the left of the center AF point. Click on the image to see a larger version. Brown Pelican at sunrise

1DX II Automatic Selection AF at Sunrise…

Though it looked as if it were going to be a totally overcast morning, there was a small pink hole in the clouds in the predawn that got pretty red just after sunrise. And there were more than a few pelicans flying around in the eastern sky. I let the group know that the best images would contain the nice patch of colored sky and a pelican. And that the best way to come up with a pleasing composition would be to use the Automatic Selection AF mode on their Canon cameras or the Nikon equivalent. That would be 61- or 65-point on the newer Canon camera bodies. So I did as I said and it worked out quite nicely with the pelican positioned well off center and the color nicely framed.

Tripod Question

Can anyone figure out why I was hand holding the 600 II with the 1.4X III TC in relatively low light rather than working on my Induro tripod?

DPP 4 Screen Capture

DPP 4 Screen Capture

In the DPP 4 screen capture above, the illuminated red AF point shows that the system worked perfectly and in doing so, allowed me to put the pelican well to one side of the frame. As with the 5DS R, I have found that Automatic Selection AF performs superbly in all but very low contrast situations…

Neat Image Noise Reduction

Neat Image Noise Reduction

Because the RAW file was about a stop underexposed from ideal, the image showed a good deal of background noise. As noise on the jet-black subject was not a concern, I created a Neat Image noise profile for this specific image and was able to apply it to the entire photograph. The area inside the blue box above shows the noise completely eliminated. The area outside the blue box shows the original sky after conversion in DPP 4. As you can see, the improvement is huge.

The Professional Photographers’ Guide to Post-Processing by Arash Hazaghi with Arthur Morris You can order your copy here If you are ever at all concerned with noise in your optimized images this new e-guide will astound you.

The Professional Photographers’ Guide to Post-Processing: $48.
Your e-book (11mb) will be delivered either by e-mail or by Hightail (for download).

Arash’s Take on the guide…

In recent years, advances in CMOS image sensor technology have enabled DSLR cameras to capture detailed, high-quality images at very high ISO settings; this has taken low-light and action photography to a whole new level. To make the most out of your camera’s high ISO performance, proper post-processing, including advanced noise reduction and efficient sharpening, is essential. The first step in effective post-processing is executing an optimal RAW conversion that produces a TIFF file that is clean, free of artifacts, and detailed, without too much sharpening or strong noise reduction. For Canon users, we recommend converting your RAW images in Canon Digital Photo Professional 4 (DPP 4). We cover exactly how to do that in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide. This new supplemental guide deals with the post-RAW conversion processing of your TIFF files for final presentation.

In order to use this guide, you need Adobe Photoshop (CS4 or later) as well as the Neat Image noise reduction plugin for Photoshop. This plugin can be downloaded here. We recommend the pro version. You will need an up-to-date PC or Mac computer to process your files. A modern quad-core processor (Intel i7 or Xeon) with at least 16GB of RAM and a fast SSD drive for running Photoshop is recommended. It is best to do your image processing on a high quality IPS LCD panel capable of displaying Adobe RGB color gamut. We recommend calibrating your screen using a hardware color calibration solution such as Spyder or Xrite. The consumer LCD screens used in many laptops and low-end desktops suffer from poor contrast ratios and a limited color gamut. Images processed on inferior screens may appear noisy, too dark, too bright, or unsharp. And they will often show a color cast when viewed on a high quality monitor that has been properly calibrated.

Artie’s Take on the guide…

This guide is for serious photographers who wish to maximize the quality of their optimized, noise reduced files and who want to learn to sharpen their images after they are sized for a final usage. The emphasis is on sharpening for electronic presentation. The guide includes the brilliant techniques that Arash developed for applying just the right amount of NR to the subject (while retaining all the fine detail) and then applying a lot more NR to the background where it is almost always needed. His efforts were refined by Arthur Morris to ensure that the guide is clear, concise, easy-to-read, and easy to-easy-to-follow; artie’s great strength is his how-to writing. He has used Arash’s brilliant NR and sharpening techniques on his 15 inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display with great success.

You can order your copy here.

The first guides should be sent out on Monday, April 11, 2016.

Important Note

The entire guide is based on the remarkable Pro Version of NeatImage. Only the Pro Version supports 16-bit files. This Photoshop Plug-in requires a separate $79.95 purchase. Why NeatImage when there are so many other Noise Reduction programs available?

When someone asked about Topaz Denoise on the blog I got in touch with Arash. Here was his response:

It cannot calibrate the noise levels. I tried it. It was garbage.

Best
Arash Hazeghi Ph.D.

To which I added:

In the guide, we teach folks to calibrate noise levels for an image or series of images. As an option, also covered in the guide, we teach you to create a Noise Profile for each ISO with a given camera by photographing a NeatImage calibration target.

Arash continued the next day; this published here for the first time:

Here is a more elaborate answer. A preset is a “one size fit all” solution; it is not the same as a calibration. If you look carefully through your images you will find that the ISO value used and the amount of visible noise in the image aren’t always correlated. An image at ISO 400 can look noisier than an image taken at ISO 3200. Many factors other than the ISO determine the amount of visible noise in an image. Two images taken at the same ISO may require significantly different amounts of NR. Furthermore, different areas of the same image often require different amounts of noise reduction.

The presets are made by looking at the noise characteristics of a flat neutral or 18% grey target with no detail. They don’t include shadows, highlights, grain size, or the possibility of the effects of post-capture exposure boosts. (In other words, images made at a given ISO that are lightened during or after conversion will always exhibit more noise than properly exposed images.) The presets are often made using in-camera JPEGs that have been already noise-reduced, sharpened, and compressed thus smearing (destroying) the fine feather detail. Sometimes they are made from ACR RAW conversions that are vastly inferior as compared to properly executed DPP 4 RAW conversions.

A calibrated noise profile is created for each image in its present form independent of the ISO value, the exposure levels, or the RAW convertor. It makes no assumptions. NeatImage NR calibrations can be compared to purchasing a hand-crafted, custom-tailored suit versus buying a suit off the rack at WalMart. In engineering terms, NeatImage calculates the noise spectrum for each image and then with proper adjustment attenuates only the frequencies that don’t overlap with the detail. Other NR tools like Topaz, Nik etc. apply constant attenuation regardless of what the spectrum looks like. Try the guide and see for yourself.

You can learn more about NeatImage or purchase a copy here. NeatImage does offer a demo version.

IPT Similarities

The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.

Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 8.

Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.

The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.

Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.

The IPT Logistics

The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.

Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂

What’s Up

I met the Desoto group at 3pm sharp. Right now it is looking like nine happy campers, and Mike Ross’s wife Joanne is the most serious birder in the group so she too is having a great time.

After the introductory program we spent several hours at a high tide puddle photographing a very cooperative White Ibis, a nice variety of shorebirds–many in breeding plumage, and a lovely young of the year Great Egret. Then we made a wiggle and found a tame American Oystercatcher and some nice Laughing Gulls.

With the image optimizations, this blog post took well more than 2 hours to prepare. I finished and published it at 4:13am this morning.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 187 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

This image was created on my scouting morning at Fort DeSoto with the hand held Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 4000. Evaluative metering +3 stops off the gray sky: 1/1000 sec. at f/9. Shade WB. AF Micro-adjustment for the 400 DO II/2XIII TC/1DX: -5 Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected AF point was on the side of the breast right below the base of the bill. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Image #1: Sanderling in breeding plumage/ISO 4000.

It’s a Whole New 1DX Mark II World: Hand Holding 800mm & ISO 4000…

Necessity is often the mother of invention. Folks have been asking about 1DX II noise. I wanted to see how the 1DX II did with the 2X III and the new camera. I wanted the freedom to hand hold. And I needed a fast enough shutter speed to have a chance at freezing a running shorebird like the turnstone in Image #2 below.

So what was the answer? ISO 4000. Most important was to expose far to the right to minimize the noise. This +3 off the gray sky…

100% crop of the ISO 4000 Sanderling image. Unsharpened.

ISO 4000 1DX II Noise

As the RAW file did not look noisy at all, I started off by using Arash’s Chrominance and Luminance Noise Reduction settings for the original 1DX at ISO 1600. Otherwise I applied no noise reduction in post. No Neat Image.

What do you think of the noise levels in the tight crop of the Sanderling’s head in the image immediately above?

This image was also created on my scouting morning at Fort DeSoto with the hand held Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader. ISO 4000. Evaluative metering +3 stops off the gray sky: 1/1000 sec. at f/9. Shade WB. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). This was terrible technique as the active AF point was on the side of the bird, on the folded wing, well on this side of the plan of the bird’s eye. But I got lucky–in part because of the distance to the bird–as the eye and face are fairly sharp… Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. AF Micro-adjustment for the 400 DO II/2XIII TC/1DX: -5 Image #2: Ruddy Turnstone running in breeding plumage/ISO 4000.

1DX Mark II Autofocus With the 2X III TC

The speed of initial autofocus acquisition and AF tracking accuracy with the 1DX II and the 2X III teleconverter is unparalleled.

APTATS II to the Rescue

Here I did not pan fast enough to keep the subject back in the frame. So I used one of the many techniques detailed in APTATS II to move the bird back a bit in the frame.

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS I. Mention this blog post and apply a $5 discount to either with phone orders only. Buy both APTATS I and APTATS II and we will be glad to apply at $15 discount with phone orders. Please call Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-221-2372 to take advantage of this special offer. You can find the same deal in the BAA Online Store here.

Your Favorite?

Which of today’s two featured images do you like best, Image #1 or Image #2? Be sure to let us know why.

100% crop of the ISO 4000 turnstone image. Unsharpened.

ISO 4000 1DX II Noise

Again, as the RAW file did not look noisy at all, I started off by using Arash’s Chrominance and Luminance Noise Reduction settings for the original 1DX at ISO 1600. Otherwise I applied no noise reduction in post. No Neat Image.

What do you think of the noise levels in the tight crop of the Ruddy Turnstone’s head in the image immediately above?

The 1D X Mark II

If what you read or today or what you read on the blog inspires you to purchase a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR Camera Premium Kit with 64GB Card and Reader please use the active link or click on the logo-link above. Doing so will be greatly appreciated. Many who used our link right off the bat already have their 1DX Mark IIs.

IPT Similarities

The Fort DeSoto and the Nickerson Beach IPTs have a lot in common. Lots of birds, lots of sand, and lots of learning. The big difference is that there are lots more flight opportunities at Nickerson: hovering terns, birds landing at the nest, and with luck and the right morning winds, skimmers skimming.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.

Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 8.

Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.

The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.

Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.

The IPT Logistics

The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.

Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂

What’s Up?

I had lots more energy on Sunday than I did on Saturday. I took care of some Nature’s Best Contest business and micro-adjusted several lenses with my new 1D X. I have never seen such tight AF clusters… Overall I had one of my best days in recent memory.

I am heading over to Fort DeSoto a day early so that I can do some scouting for the IPT on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 185 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

This image was created at Gatorland last Thursday with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 360mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/3200 sec. at f/6.3. Daylight WB. The selected AF point was two to the right and one row up from the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). The selected point fell on the bottom part of the bird’s eye. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Great Egret large chick

Gatorland Report

As noted previously, I spent Thursday morning past at Gatorland with private clients Dixon and Carolyn Soracco. They were amazed by the birds and the nests and their proximity to the boardwalk. I did mention to them that as far as quality photographic opportunities for early May that the place was poor overall. We had a few very good opportunities, especially with the large chick shown in today’s featured image. Do note that for folks with long lenses afternoons may be better.

There were fewer than a dozen photographers present. In most years on this date there would be two or three dozen shooters. I took that to mean that the word is out: there are just not as many good situations as in a typical year. As is usual at Gatorland, most folks simply had no clue as to what a good situation is. Folks were working well off light angle and pointing their lenses at incredibly cluttered nests. All the while our single large chick posed for us for more than an hour with lovely distant backgrounds… The more things change, the more they stay the same.

100-400 II Versatility

To start the day I loaned my 100-400II to Carolyn. When our subject came into the sun I called her over and coached her to some great images. I was working with the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and the 2X III TC but the 100-400 II was much better for the job because of its one-meter close focus. After Carolyn made lots of good ones I borrowed my lens to create the image above. The 1-4II is unbeatable when working in close quarters.

Depth-of-Field Question…

With the bird’s eye super-sharp and the tip of the beak not in sharp focus, would I have been better off going to a small aperture like f/13? Why or why not? I did have lots of shutter speed to work with…

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmer head portrait, American Oystercatcher dining on surf clam flesh, Common Tern at sunset, Common Tern adult swallowing flatfish, Black Skimmer in flight, newborn Common Tern chick, American Oystercatcher with chick, fresh juvenile Common Tern (with fill flash), and Common Terns copulating.

Nickerson Beach Terns/Skimmers/Oystercatchers Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): July 18-22, 2016. 4 1/2 DAYS: $1899. Limit 10/Openings 8.

Meet and greet at 3pm on the afternoon of Monday, July 18. Limit 10.

The primary subject species of this IPT will be the nesting Common Terns. The trip is timed so that we will get to photograph tiny chicks as well as fledglings. There will be lots of flight photography including adults flying with baitfish. Creating great images of the chicks being fed is a huge challenge. In addition to the terns we will get to photograph lots of Black Skimmers courting, setting up their nesting territories, and in flight (both singles and large pre-dawn flocks blasting off). Midair battles are guaranteed on sunny afternoons. And with luck, we might even see a few tiny chicks toward the end of the trip. We will also get to photograph the life cycle of American Oystercatcher. This will likely include nests with eggs and tiny chicks, young being fed, and possibly a few fledglings.

Nesting Piping Plover is also possibly. There will be lots of gulls to photograph; most years I am able to find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls of varying ages in addition to the Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls. You will learn to identify and age the various gull species. There will likely be some Willets feeding along the surf and with luck we might get to photograph a handsome juvenile or two. In addition to the locally breeding shorebirds, we will likely get to see some southbound migrant arctic-and sub-arctic breeding shorebird species such as Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and maybe even Red Knot.

From upper left clockwise to center: Black Skimmers with tiny chick, Common Tern landing with baitfish for young, fledged Common Tern chick in dunes, American Oystercatchers/display flight, adult Common Tern with pipefish for chick, Common Tern fledgling in soft light, American Oystercatcher on nest with eggs, American Oystercatcher 3-egg clutch, battling Black Skimmers.

The IPT Logistics

The tour will begin with a meet and greet on the afternoon of Monday, July 18, 2016. That will be followed by our first shooting session at the beach. From Tuesday through and including all of Friday we will have two photography sessions daily. Our morning sessions will start very early so that we are on the beach well before sunrise. We usually photograph for about four hours. Then we will enjoy a group brunch. We will always have a midday break that will include a nap for me. That followed by our daily afternoon classroom sessions that will include image review, workflow and Photoshop, and a review/critique of five of your trip images. Folks are always invited to bring their laptops to brunch for image sharing. I always have mine with me but heck, I am a big show-off. Afternoon in-the-field sessions generally run from 5pm through sunset.

Breakfasts are grab what you can. Four brunches are included. Dinners (if at all) will be on your own as we will often get back to the hotel at about 9pm. There is a fridge in every room and a supermarket within walking distance of the hotel so nobody should starve. You will learn a ton during the nine shooting sessions, the four in-classroom sessions, and even at lunch. Early morning and late afternoon parking is free. If we want to head back to the beach early we will need to arrange tight carpools and share the $30/vehicle parking fee. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $450 for the whole IPT.

Save a space by calling Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 and arranging to leave your deposit of $599–credit cards are accepted for deposits only. Your balance will be due on April 18, 2016. I hope that you can join me for what will be an exciting and educational IPT.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Facebook

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Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂

What’s Up?

Friday was just another day at the office getting lots done. My 1D X Mark II comes today 🙂

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 183 days in a row with a new educational blog post, dozens of new topics to cover, and 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. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

This image was created at Dead Vlei, inside Namib Naukluft National Park, on the 2016 Namibia IPT. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/100 sec. at f/8. K8000. To ensure maximum sharpness I used my flower technique: Live View with 2-second timer. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the apex of the curve on the right hand dune and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Red Sossusvlei dunes at dawn

Namibia Scenic Dune Opportunities

What can I say? The dunes in Namibia are breathtakingly beautiful. And that goes for the red dunes at Sossusvlei (above) and the white/mocha-colored dunes (below) near the coast at Swakopmund. Each is beautiful in its own way.

Your Favorites?

Which color dunes would you like to photograph? Which of the two images do you like best. Be sure to let us know the reasons for your choices.

Namibia IPT Gear and Gear Bag Errors

On our first walk into Dead Vlei I opted to take the 70-200 II and TCs. Next year I will opt for the 100-400/; I did not need the speed of the 70-200 as I was always working on a tripod and I would have loved the extra reach of the 100-400 II plus the 2X III TC.

My biggest gear bag mistake by far was bringing the Singh-Ray 77mm 10-stop ND instead of the 5-Stop 77mm ND. Several times I wanted to create some pleasing blurs. Having had so much fun in San Diego with the 10-stop ND photographing the big waves at La Jolla, CA, I forgot that I was going to a desert! No waves there. The biggest problem with using the 10-stop ND with birds and wildlife is that you cannot see well enough through the viewfinder to either check AF or compose the image…

To make matters worse I borrowed a 5-stop ND from a friend and promptly lost it…

Lastly, leaving the 24-105mm at home was a mistake that I shall not repeat…

This image was created at Swakopmund on the 2016 Namibia IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 110mm and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops as framed: 1/500 sec. at f11 in Manual mode. Daylight WB. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF 1/3 of the way into the frame and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Mocha dunes in midday sea fog

Our Desert Experience

We enjoyed an amazing outing at the coastal dunes around Swakopmund. We got to photograph a variety of small critters including Desert Chameleon, Palmato Gecko, some scorpions and snakes, and two neat species of birds. (Lots of new images coming soon.) The day began clear and sunny making it too bright to photograph the gorgeous dunes but by mid-morning the usual sea fog rolled in so we were able to enjoy almost endless dune-scape opportunities. What a day that turned out to be!

A Levels Adjustment Saves the Day

This properly exposed image looked like blah after the RAW conversion in DPP 4. A simple Levels adjustment really brought it to life by revealing the various shades of tan, brown, gray, and yes, mocha.

Digital Basics

You can learn how to make perfect Levels Adjustments as I did for the Mocha Dunes image along with everything else that I do on a daily basis when optimizing my images. It is all covered in detail in my Digital Basics File–written in my easy-to-follow, easy-to-understand style. Are you tired of making your images look worse in Photoshop? Digital Basics File is an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. It includes my complete digital workflow, dozens of great Photoshop tips, details on using all of my image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro basics, the use of Contrast Masks, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, Gaussian Blurs, Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, how to create time-saving actions, the Surface Blur settings that I use at times to smooth background noise, and tons more.

You can order your copy of “The Photographers’ Guide to Canon Digital Photo Professional 4.0” (aka the DPP 4 Raw Conversion eGuide) by Arash Hazeghi and Arthur Morris by clicking here.

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)

The RAW file for today’s image was of course converted in DPP 4. Learn how and why I and many other discerning photographers choose and use only DPP 4 to convert their Canon RAW files in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly. The latest version supports all of the newer Canon camera bodies and several older models including the EOS-7D and the EOS-1D Mark IV. The DPP IV Guide is the ideal companion to the 7D Mark II User’s Guide, a runaway best seller.

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF) Updated for 1D Mark IV and the original 7D

The DPP 4 eGuide was recently updated to include the luminance and chrominance noise reduction values for both the 1D Mark IV and the original 7D. If you purchased your copy from BAA please e-mail Jim and request the DPP 4 1d IV/7D update. Please be sure to cut and paste page 1 into your e-mail as proof of purchase.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂

What’s Up?

Jim and I drove up to Gatorland early on Thursday morning. I worked with private clients Dixon and Carolyn Soracco of Portland, OR. Working with truly happy campers always makes me smile; I headed home with a big grin on my face after our working lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. More on Gatorland soon.

Thursday was another good post-surgery day…

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 182 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

A Common Weakness in Perceptual Vision Skills and Understanding Perspective Choices as They Relate to Photography

Many beginning and intermediate (and more than a few “advanced”) nature photographers have serious shortcomings when it comes to understanding how a change in perspective will affect the juxtaposition of the elements in their compositions. I see it often on IPTs when I ask, “What happens to the bird and the rock in the background if I move 2 feet to my right?” And I have seen it here on the blog, especially in these two recent posts:

My Favorite Namibia Image: Does It Get Any Better Than This?

and

Amazing Luck + A Venerable Animal + Surreal Light = A Wonderful Photographic Opportunity…

In each of those posts I asked what I thought was an easy peasy perspective question and was pretty much amazed when folks went off on seemingly inexplicable tangents. With the Gemsbok image, it seemed obvious to me that if you got lower, the out-of-focus ridge of sand in the foreground would cut off the animal’s feet. To me, that would have been a very big no-no. You can check out the more detailed explanation here.

The same thing happened in the surreal elephant post when I asked why getting lower and photographing from the window would not work. See below for the explanation…

This image was also created at on the same afternoon of the 2016 Namibia IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (at 160mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/8. Daylight WB. Center AF point/AI Servo/Expand/Rear Focus AF was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding).The selected AF point was on the elephant’s throat. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Royalty on a pedestal…

Is a Lower Perspective Always Better?

With regards to the image above, I wrote, “Once this pachyderm approached the vehicles and posed for us, I went from the top of the van to the open window below and made a very few frames. Why did I go back to standing and photographing from below the raised roof? In this and many other cases, lower was not better.”

I thought that the question was pretty straightforward (and still do) but several folks were confused so I followed up with this: “Why was it better to photograph from on high at from the roof than to go lower and photograph from the window?”

The image below, made from a lower perspective, the open window in my row, answers the question very clearly.

Mud elephant from the window, i.e, from a lower perspective…

It Seems So Simple To Me…

When looking at the “Royalty on a pedestal…” image that opens today’s blog post, it seems completely obvious that if you get a few feet lower that the horizon would intersect the elephant’s head… As shown in the image above, made from the open safari vehicle window….

But time after time, here and elsewhere, we see evidence that many folks have difficulty picturing how a change in their perspective will affect the image. Considering that the #1 factor to the success of any image is choosing exactly where to stand, where to put your lens, this is a serious problem for those who wish to improve their photography, birds, wildlife, flowers, nature, scenic, or otherwise.

While reviewing images at lunch on an IPT I can remember dozens of times where I arranged a salt shaker and a ketchup bottle on the table and asked, what happens to the juxtaposition if you move to right? Or left? Sometimes that helps, sometimes not so much 🙂

Suggestions On How to Improve

Whether hand holding or on a tripod, the next time that you peer through your camera’s viewfinder at two objects in the frame, ask yourself, what happens to the juxtaposition of these objects if I move left or right, or up or down. If hand holding, actually move left of right or up or down and see how the relationship of the two objects in the frame changes. If your lens is on a tripod, remove it and move left or right or up or down, and note the changes as above. If you make it a habit of doing this exercise, you will soon be able to visualize the results without having to move physically. Acquiring this skill over time will make you a much better photographer.

The next step in the process is to learn to consider the quality and direction of the light in the equation… By doing that, you will learn to know how moving left or right or up or down will affect not only the spatial arrangements of the various elements of composition but the all important effect of light on the image. This a much higher level of skill than simply learned to visualize spatial changes. But you first need to practice the basic skill before attempting the more advanced exercise of being able to see how the light will affect the image without actually having to move…

birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100 The companion e-book to the solo exhibit at TheNat, San Diego, California The new e-book on CD is available here.

birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100

My latest e-book, created on a wing and a prayer in less than two weeks–see Harebrained Scheme here–includes the 67 spectacular images that will hang in the Ordover Gallery at the San Diego Natural History Museum in a career-retrospective solo exhibition. In addition, there are an additional 33 images in the spectacular e-book that barely missed making the show.

This exhibition companion e-book makes it possible for everyone to “visit” TheNAT gallery and, in addition, to enjoy seeing my top one hundred bird photographs under one roof. Each image includes a title, the species name, the location, relevant EXIF data, and an anecdotal caption.

birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100: $23 for the professionally produced CD (includes shipping to US addresses only)

Please click here to purchase the physical CD. As above, your purchase price includes shipping to all US addresses. If you would like your CD signed on the inside cover with a black Sharpie, you will need to place your order by phone and request a signed copy: 863-692-0906. For our Canadian friends we are offering the CD for $28 with shipping to Canada via phone orders only: 863-692-0906.

Those who purchase the CD are advised to copy the file to their computers and then archive the CD.

The new e-book via is also available via convenient download for $20 by clicking here.

birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100: $20 via convenient download.

Overseas folks, and anyone else as well, can purchase the e-book via convenient download for $20 by clicking here.

Notate Bene

Please share this e-book only with your spouse or significant other. If a friend asks you to share a copy with them, please direct them either to this blog post or to the appropriate link in the BAA Online Store as above. All of the images and text are protected by international copyright law and may not be copied or printed without written permission from the photographer/author. Many thanks for honoring these requests.

You will–of course–need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF.

Sample page from birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100.

Adobe Acrobat Reader Tip

To maximize your viewing pleasure, click Command + L on a Mac, or Control + L on a PC to view the e-book full screen. And then press Esc to exit full screen.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Induro tripods and ballheads, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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, 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 visiting the BAA Online store as well.

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, 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂