What’s Up?

I got out of bed at 3:45am on Sunday, more than 75 minutes later than on Saturday. The best news it that I have not yet felt like a jet-lagged Zombie and am getting lots of work done. On Sunday I enjoyed another swim and will be taking another ice bath in the late afternoon.

I continue catching up on e-mails and have began work on the LensAlign/FocusTune Simplified Tutorial.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 178 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.

This image was created on the 2016 Namibia IPT at the renowned waterhole at Okaukuejo Camp inside of Etosha National Park. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 1600: 1/100 sec. at f/4. Color temperature: AWB. 9:38pm in the dark. Miles off camera flash as main light at 1:1 with Better Beamer, Pocket Wizards, and cables. Center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF on the rhino’s face 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: Endangered Black Rhinoceros at waterhole

The Original

The image above is the original capture. As you might imagine, the flash was positioned about 100 feet to the right of the camera.

This image was created on the 2016 Namibia IPT at the renowned waterhole at Okaukuejo Camp inside of Etosha National Park. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 1600: 1/100 sec. at f/4. Color temperature: AWB. 9:38pm in the dark. Miles off camera flash as main light at 1:1 with Better Beamer, Pocket Wizards, and cables. Center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF on the rhino’s face 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 #2: Endangered Black Rhinoceros at waterhole

The All-Black Background Version

I created this version from the converted TIFF above using the Clone Stamp Tool, the Patch Tool, Content Aware Fill, and the Spot Healing Brush. All as detailed in Digital Basics plus tons more.

This image was created on the 2016 Namibia IPT at the renowned waterhole at Okaukuejo Camp inside of Etosha National Park. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 1600: 1/100 sec. at f/4. Color temperature: AWB. 9:38pm in the dark. Miles off camera flash as main light at 1:1 with Better Beamer, Pocket Wizards, and cables. Center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF on the rhino’s face 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: Endangered Black Rhinoceros at waterhole

Subdued Version

To create this more subdued version, I put the converted TIFF on a layer above the All-Black version, added a Hide-All (Black or Inverse) Layer Mask, and painted in the rocks that were lit by the flash using brushes of varying opacities ranging from 33 to 100% to give those rocks a well muted look.

Your Favorite?

Which of the three images above do you like best? Be sure to let us know why you made your choice.

Thanks a Stack!

Thanks a stack to co-leaders/trip organizers Wim den Heever and Ben Cranke for going above and beyond the call of duty to teach everyone who had brought the suggested gear the night flash techniques. In addition, they had lots of extra Pocket Wizards. I always love learning something new in photography; this trip was rife with such opportunities.

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.

Only Two…

Right now there are only two folks registered for the Nickerson IPT. You can call the office on Monday to sign up and enjoy practically private instruction at a great location with tons of birds and tons of flight photography.

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 possible. 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?

After another long travel experience–details below, I arrived at my office home in Indian Lake Estates, FL at 2:30pm on the afternoon of Friday, April 19, 2016.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 176 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.

This 2-frame stitched pano was created at the camp waterhole at Etosha National Park on the last evening of the 2016 Namibia IPT with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/5.6. Color temperature: 8000K. Center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF and recompose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Clouds as sunset stitched pano

The Namibia Trip Report

The most surprising thing about the Namibia trip for me was the absolutely astounding variety of beautiful and interesting subject matter and situations that we enjoyed. Off the top of my head:

The desert urbex photography at Kolmanskop.
The red dunes of Sossusvlei inside Namib Naukluft National Park. With Oryx (Gemsbok). And helicopter rides. And star trail photography. The 900-year old Camelthorn Acacia tree skeletons of Dead Vlei.
The traditional, sunset and Milky Way & light painting night photography at the The Quiver Tree forest.
Both Lesser and Greater Flamingos at Walvis Bay. Along with Kelp and Hartlaub’s Gulls. White-fronted Plover and a variety of shorebirds.
The desert reptiles, scorpions, and white dunes at Swakopmund. Also Tractrac Chat and Dune Lark.
The incredible Great White Pelican boat trip.
Great sunset colors almost every night.
The animals, birds, and waterholes at the Halali and Okaukuejo camps inside Etosha National Park including the following easily photographed species: African Bush Elephant, the endangered Southwestern Black Rhinoceros, African Lion, Leopard, Black-backed Jackal, Honey Badger, Springbok, Black-faced Impala, Red Hartebeest, Blue Wildebeest, Greater Kudu, Oryx (Gemsbok), Plains (Burchell’s) Zebra, and Angolan Giraffe. At the Okaukuejo camp waterhole we learned to do pitch-black nighttime waterhole flash photography of giraffe and rhino.

Bird species–some easy to photograph–include Ostrich, Sociable Weaver, Kori Bustard, Black-shouldered Kite, Lanner Falcon, Pale Chanting Goshawk, Tawny Eagle, Grey Heron, Namaqua Sandgrouse, Blacksmith Plover, Crowned Lapwing, Pied Crow, Red-billed and Cape Teal, Northern Black Korhaan, and a variety of vultures (coming into kills) among others. We even got to see two rare Burchell’s Coursers.

The Grand Finale (Not!)

After enjoying a perfect two week run of rewarding morning, afternoon, evening, and even most-of-the-night photo sessions, our last game drive of the IPT was pretty much a flop. We did find five sleeping lions but both of the dependable waterholes including our very favorite were pretty much barren. Two of the vehicles opted to stick it out with the lions and a few zebra. I took most of the group with me to try for some sunset silhouettes a the Okaukuejo camp waterhole. We struck out there too but for a few sunset clouds as seen in today’s featured image.

The Trip Home

We left the lodge at Okaukuejo after an early breakfast and arrived at Windhoek Hosea airport in plenty of time to check in for the 3pm flight to Johannesburg. We said our goodbyes to our hosts/organizers, Wim and Ben. Wim said, “We’re off. We’ve got to move the vehicles. Then minutes later I realized that my insulin was in the fridge in his land rover. I left my stuff and bolted out of the terminal tweaking my left knee in the process–it had been pain free for the entire trip, the best it had felt in years. IAC, I caught Wim and grabbed the plastic bag with the insulins and two large frozen gelpaks.

Several of us upgraded to first class for just a few bucks. I was uncharacteristically late to the gate. As I approached the jetway the gate agent informed me that I would have to give up one of my three carry-ons: my Xtrahand Vest, my Think Tank Rolling bag, or my Think Tank Urban Disguise Rolling bag. I took the insulin bag from the vest and handed the vest to her saying “please gate check this.” “No she said, you need to give up one of the two larger bags. The flight is full and there is no room in the overheads.” After an extended verbal discussion she spoke to the head steward who agreed with her and came down the jetway. After another extended discussion it was agreed that they would check the overheads for space.

Then I was waved up the jet way with my three items. The steward took my rolling bag and placed it in the crew locker. Once I got onto the plane I was stunned to see that most of the overhead bins on the A310 Airbus were pretty much empty…

With the hour time change from Namibia to South Africa, several of us on the flight to JFK did not have a whole lot of time to wait. With the headwinds and having to hold over JFK for 30 minutes, we arrived one hour late. The total time in the air was just under 17 hours. The ride up front was not too bad but I am positive that I made a record number of pit stops. Please do not ask me for an estimate. I did sleep off and on for about ten of those hours so I was feeling pretty refreshed when I got to JFK.

I was a bit concerned about making my connecting flight to Orlando but my checked bags were waiting for me on the carousel once I got through customs. There was a small delay at customs as all of the computers, including the Global Entry computers, were down. When push came to shove I made it to the gate for my Jet Blue flight to MCO with ten minutes to spare. I arrived in Orlando a bit early at 12:25pm. My right hand man Jim Litzenberg was right on time to greet me and we had all of my bags packed and were rolling towards ILE at 1:00pm sharp. I arrived home at 2:30. It feels good to be home.

My Health

I made the Namibia trip against the advice of my trusted friend, Dr. Cliff Oliver. He was glad to learn yesterday afternoon that I made the trip without any post-surgical complications. The healing from the green light laser surgery is, however, taking longer than expected. Though there are no guarantees, I am still hoping for a great outcome. I felt strong for the entire trip and took part in all the late-night photography sessions (though I did not stay up as late as some). Best of all, I avoided the nasty cold/flu bug that got about half the folks on the trip to varying degrees.

I took a short nap at about 4pm and fell asleep on the couch at eight. I woke at 2:00 am (7am Namibia time) and finished this blog post just before 4:00am. I will try to get back to sleep now.

Subject and focal lengths clockwise from upper left around to center. Palouse Falls: 11mm; homemade kiddie race car: 105mm; barn siding pan blur: 798mm; Rolling fields diorama: 110mm; Crayola drums: 343 mm; Hay barn interior: 19mm; vintage gas station: 40mm; Dilapidated farm building: 13mm; Denise’s tree Infrared: 20mm. Images and card design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

The Palouse ~ A Creative Adventure/BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT)/Eastern Washington State. June 3-7, 2016/5 Full Days: $1699/Limit 12/Openings: 5

The Palouse ~ A Creative Adventure/BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT)/Eastern Washington State. June 10-14, 2016/5 Full Days: $1699/Limit 12/Openings: 1

Double Header!

Maximize both your travel dollars and your learning experience by signing up for both IPTs.

Images and card design by Denise Ippolito/A Creative Adventure.

The Palouse IPTs

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

After 6 days of back-breaking scouting work in early June 2014 we found all of the iconic locations and, in addition, lots of spectacular new old barns and breath-taking landforms and views. On three additional scouting days in 2015 we discovered several more truly amazing locations. We will teach you what makes one situation prime and another seemingly similar one a waste of your time.

What’s included: In-the-field instruction, guidance, lessons, and inspiration, our newfound but very extensive knowledge of the area, all lunches, motel lobby grab and go breakfasts, and Photoshop and image sharing sessions when possible. There will be a meet and greet at 7:30pm on the evening before each workshop begins.

You will learn and hone both basic and advanced compositional and image design skills. You will learn to get the right exposure every time. You will learn to develop your creative eye. You will learn the basics of HDR (high dynamic range) photography. You will learn a variety of in-camera creative techniques. Most importantly you will learn to see the situation and to create a variety of top-notch images. Do see both of our blogs for lots more on that in the coming weeks. You will learn how the quality and direction of light combine to determine the success of your images. And–please don’t gasp–we will be working quite a bit with sidelight when creating landscapes. Lastly, we will be doing some infrared photography.

To Sign Up

A non-refundable $699 deposit is due now. The balance will be due on February 15, 2016. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. Whether or not your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.

Please let me know via e-mail that you will be joining us. Then you can either call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 during business hours or send us a check to leave a deposit; the latter is preferred. If by check, please make out to “Arthur Morris” and mail it to: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via e-mail: artie or denise.

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

Please Remember to use 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 should be well on my way home if everything had gone according to plan. I hope to be visiting with y’all on again soon. I will be back in the office late on the afternoon of Friday, April 29.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 174 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.

Price Reduced $2500

Japan In Winter IPT. February 9-24, 2017: $11,499 (was $13,999)/double occupancy.

Price Reduced $2,500 on 3-8-16!

Please e-mail for couple and IPT repeat customer discount information.

As I really, really want to make it back to Japan in winter one more time, I decided to lower the price of the world’s best Japan in Winter trip by $2,500. Yes my trip has three great leaders including the best bird photography instructor on the planet. That’s the guy who knows where to be when and why. And yes, it is now a bit more expensive than most. And yes, we stay at a fine hotel in Tokyo. And yes, we stay in a marvelous traditional hotel for our three nights at the Snow Monkey Park. And yes, we are perfectly located on Hokkaido, minutes from the premier Red-crowned Crane sanctuary and an easy drive to most of the other wondrous avian attractions. And yes, we enjoy home cooked breakfasts and dinners prepared by Shinobu, the wife of our local Japanese guide. She is an incredible chef. After three visits her meals are now traditional Japanese fine-tuned for the American palate. And yes, my tour is longer than the others, giving us many days with the cranes. I saw one trip with only two days of crane photography; what a bummer. End each day with a traditional onsen (hot springs mineral bath) to complete your immersion in Japanese culture.

Life is short. I hope that you can join me. Scroll down for details.

This image was created on the 2015 Japan in Winter IPT with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 100mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops as framed: 1/400 sec. at f/6.3. AWB. I selected a single AF point one to the right and two rows down from the center AF Point/AI Servo Spot Focus/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). This was a small crop from above, left, and below. The selected AF point was on the side of the upper breast of the male. Click on the image to see a larger version. Snow Monkeys grooming

Still More 100-400 II Versatility

On my San Diego surgery trip, Patrick Sparkman and I began calling the 100-400 II the La Jolla lens as it proved very useful in a great variety of situations. As it is the only lens that I bring up the hill to the Monkey Park, I will need to start calling it the Snow Monkey Park lens as well. For today’s featured image–the first keeper from the 2106 trip, I backed up a step or to and zoomed out to 100mm to get the framing that I wanted. Two minutes later I was photographing the single hand of the monkey on our right. The new 1-4II is both amazing and amazingly versatile.

Photo Mechanic screen capture

Exposure Question: How Far to the Right?

As with today’s featured image, there are times when it is the right strategy to expose so far to the right that certain background elements are over-exposed with tons of blinkies. Why? To make sure to get all the detail that you can in the monkey’s fur. Do note that snow in soft light contains little if any detail so we are really not hurting anything with this strategy. Additionally, With the huge 5DS R files, I was easily able to minimize the amount of snow in the image by cropping from our right and from above.

Photo Mechanic

More and more folks are going to Photo Mechanic as their image browser. I use PM to pick my keepers and delete my rejects just about ever day of the year. You can save a few bucks on your purchase by calling Jim at the office at 863-692-0906 weekdays.

Consider joining me in Japan in February, 2017, for the world’s best Japan in Winter workshop. Click on the card to enjoy the spectacular larger version.

Japan In Winter IPT. February 9-24, 2017: $11,499 (was $13,999)/double occupancy.

Price Reduced $2,500 on 3-8-16!

All lodging including the Tokyo hotel on 9 FEB, all breakfasts & dinners, ground transport and transfers including bus to the monkey park hotel, and all entrance fees and in-country flights are included. Not included: international flights, all lunches–most are on the run, and alcoholic beverages.

Please e-mail for couple and IPT repeat customer discount information.

This trip is one day longer than the great 2014 trip to allow for more flexibility, more time with the cranes, and most importantly, more time for landscape photography. Hokkaido is gorgeous. You will enjoy tons of pre-trip planning and gear advice, in-the-field instruction and guidance, at-the-lodge Photoshop and image review sessions in addition to short introductory slide programs for each of the amazing locations. Skilled photographer Paul McKenzie handles the logistics and we enjoy the services of Japan’s best wildlife photography guide whom I affectionately call “Hokkaido Bear.” His network of local contacts and his knowledge of the weather, the area, and the birds is unparalleled and enables him to have us in the best location every day.

Amazing subjects. Beautiful settings. Nonstop action and unlimited opportunities. Join me.

The Logistics

Arrive Tokyo: 9 FEB 2017 the latest. 8 FEB is safer and gives you a day to get acclimated to the time change. Your hotel room for the night of the 9th is covered.

Bus Travel to Monkey Park Hotel: 10 FEB: A 1/2 DAY of monkey photography is likely depending on our travel time… This traditional hotel is first class all the way. Our stay includes three ten course Japanese dinners; these sumptuous meals will astound you and delight your taste buds. There are many traditional hot springs mineral baths (onsens) on site in this 150 year old hotel.

Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 11.

Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 12.

13 FEB: Full travel day to Hokkaido/arrive at our lodge in the late afternoon. The lodge is wonderful. All the rooms at the lodge have beds. Bring your warm pajamas. A local onsen (hot springs bath and tubs) is available for $5 each day before dinner–when you are cold, it is the best thing since sliced bread. The home-cooked Japanese styles meals at the lodge are to die for. What’s the best news? Only a small stand of woods separates us from the very best crane sanctuary. During one big snowstorm we were the only photo group to be able to get to Tsurui Ito; we had the whole place to ourselves in perfect conditions for crane photography!

FEB 14-23: Red-crowned Crane, raptors in flight, Whooper Swans, and scenic photography. Ural Owl possible. An overnight trip to Rausu for Steller’s Sea Eagle and White-tailed Eagle photography on the tourists boats is 100% dependent on the weather, road, and sea ice conditions. Only our trip offers complete flexibility in this area. It has saved us on more than once occasion. The cost of 2 eagle-boat trips is included. If the group would like to do more than two boat trips and we all agree, there will be an additional charge for the extra trip or trips. No matter the sea ice conditions, we will do two eagle boat trips (as long as we can make the drive to Rausu; it snows a lot up there). We have never been shut out.In 2016 there was no sea ice but our guide arranged for two amazingly productive boat trips.

Lodging notes: bring your long johns for sleeping in the lodge. At the Snow Monkey Park, and in Rausu, the hotel the rooms are Japanese-style. You sleep on comfortable mats on the floor. Wi-fi is available every day of the trip.

FEB 24. Fly back to Tokyo for transfer to your airport if you are flying home that night, or, to your hotel if you are overnighting. If you need to overnight, the cost of that room is on you.

Life is short. Hop on the merry-go-round.

To Sign Up

To save your spot, please send your $5,000 non-refundable deposit check made out to “Birds as Art” to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. I do hope that you can join me for this trip of a lifetime. Do e-mail with any questions or give me a buzz at 863-692-0906.

Purchasing travel insurance within 2 weeks of our cashing your deposit check is strongly recommended. On two fairly recent Galapagos cruises a total of 5 folks were forced to cancel less than one week prior to the trip. My family and I use Travel Insurance Services and strongly recommend that you do the same.

Please Remember to use 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 hope that I am doing well somewhere in Namibia. If all goes well and I stay out of trouble, I will be back in the office late on the afternoon of Friday, April 29.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 172 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.

This image was created at Fort DeSoto in late April with the the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the fast, rugged Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/1250 sec. at f/4. A single AF point two to the right of the center AF point fell on the neck of the bird on our right and was active at the moment of exposure. AI Servo/Surround/Rear Focus AF. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Sandwich Terns/mated pair hanging out

Love is in the Air

Love is in the air at Fort DeSoto in spring. Note the pink tinge on the breasts of these two Sandwich Terns. I went with a high ISO and a relatively fast shutter speeds in hopes that they would either take off or copulate.

Too Much, Not Enough, Or Just Right?

What do you think of the beach clean-up? I used my usual cadre of tools including the Clone Stamp Tool, the Patch Tool, and the Spot Healing Brush. A small, warped Quick Mask refined with a regular Layer Mask was used to cover the mess by the right hand bird’s feet.

Digital Basics

Everything that I did to optimize today’s featured image is 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, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using 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 to smooth background noise, Divide and Conquer, protective cloning on a layer, and tons more.

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.

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.

DPP 4 Kudos

From Richard Gollard via e-mail:

I have been doing tons of studying the books and PDFs that I have purchased from BIRDS AS ART. And I have to say that after reading the DPP 4 conversion guide that you did with Arash Hazeghi I tried DPP 4 and was blown away with the difference from the conversions that I made with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Thanks for the consistently great information.

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

Fort DeSoto IPT: May 10-13, 2016. 3 1/2 DAYS: $1399. Limit: 10/Openings: 1.

Meet and Greet at 3pm on Tuesday May 10.

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

We will, weather permitting, enjoy 7 shooting sessions. Our first afternoon session will follow the meet and greet on Tuesday May 10. For the next three days we will have two daily photo sessions. We will be on the beach early and be at lunch (included) by 11am. At lunch we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me choose my keepers and deletes–why keep this one and delete that one? If you opt to bring your laptop, we will be glad take a look at a few of your best images from the morning session. We will process an image or two in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. Our lunch learning session will be followed by a break that for me will include Instructor Nap Time. Afternoon sessions will generally run from 4:30pm till sunset. We photograph until sunset on the last day, Friday the 13th… Please note that this is a get-your-feet and get-your-butt wet and sandy IPT. And that you can actually do the whole IPT with a 300 f/2.8L IS, a 400 f/4 ID DO lens with both TCs, or the equivalent Nikon gear. I will likely be using my new 500 II as my big glass and have my 100-400 II on my shoulder.

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

What You Will Learn

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

The group will be staying at the Magnuson Hotel/Marina Cove, 6800 Sunshine Skyway Lane South, St. Petersburg, FL, 33711. Tel: 727-867-1151. I use Hotels.com. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). A deposit of $499 is required to hold your spot. Your balance will be due on March 10, 2016. Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 to register. The $5 park entry fee is on you. Tight carpools are recommended. The cost of three lunches is included. Breakfasts are grab what you can on the go, and dinners are also on your own due to the fact that we will usually be getting back to the hotel at about 9pm. Non-photographer spouses, friends, or companions are welcome for $100/day, $350 for the whole IPT.

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, Gitzo tripods, 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 hope that I am doing well somewhere in Namibia. If all goes well and I stay out of trouble, I will be back in the office late on the afternoon of Friday, April 29.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 170 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.

Why You Should Never Use AWB Again…

On my San Diego visit, I had several of those “Duh, how did I not know that before moments?”…

I have long been mystified as to why images in a series can exhibit vastly different color tones when they were created at the same exposure settings.

While sitting in Patrick Sparkman’s personal easy chair–I told you that Robin and Patrick treated me well–editing my March 20th images, I expressed consternation at the dramatically different color tones in the two images in the animated GIF above. They were taken only moments apart. With all the same settings. Hearing me grumble Pat who was looking over my shoulder supplied the answer: “The wave breaking in the background the white water changes the Auto White Balance.”

Duh!

Note that in the breaking wave background image that the bird’s feathers were much warmer leaning towards brown tones, while with the sand background the bird’s feathers were much cooler, i.e., blue. The best WB was likely somewhere in between the two.

While old habits die hard, I did remembered to set a specific WB for most of the rest of the trip I. Most often, and always when it was sunny, I went with Daylight. My number two go to WB was Cloudy. If you pick a specific WB, you will get much more consistent color. Yes, you can always change the WB settings after the fact but why do extra work? Working in DPP 4 I can adjust the WB on a given image in a series, copy the recipe, and paste it to all the ret of the images in the series. In about five seconds tops.

Kudos to new blog regular Kerry (girl) Morris (no relation) who was the only one to notice/ask about my using Daylight WB frequently in the past few weeks. Observe, ask, and learn. Now she knows.

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?

We headed to Etosha early this morning and should be photographing at the fabled water holes this afternoon and evening. I will be offline until April 28 or 29th and hope to be home on the later afternoon of April 29, 2016. The streak will be intact when I get home.

Fifteen Percent Late Registration Discount on the October 22-November 6 South Georgia/Falklands Expedition

Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris announced yesterday that they are offering a 15% discount on the few remaining cabins for the October 22-November 6 South Georgia/Falklands Expedition. As most of you know, this will be their last trip focused on South Georgia Island for the foreseeable future due to market changes and spiraling costs. Proposed regulations may also decrease time and flexibility ashore on future trips, making it difficult to continue offering an expedition that meets their sky-high standards.

Don’t put it off any longer: take advantage of their late sign-up discount for new reservations and join this 19-day expedition to the Antarctic spending 6 days on South Georgia and 3 on the Falklands led by an unprecedented 17 polar specialists on the well-appointed Sea Spirit. Call now before the cabin you want fills (800) 527-5330 and be sure to let them know that you wish to be part of the BIRDS AS ART GROUP. See the additional details below. If you would like to join the OCT/NOV 2016 expedition, be sure to shoot me an e-mail.

All images on the card were created on the 2015 Cheesemans’ South Georgia Expedition. From top left clockwise to center: King Penguin resting on Snow, Fortuna Bay; Macaroni Penguin in snow, Cooper Island; Grey-headed Albatross, Elsehul; King Penguin neck abstract, Godthul; Northern Giant Petrel, Undine Harbor; adult Wandering Albatross, Prion Island; Elephant Seal, Undine Harbor; South Georgia Pipit fledgling/thanks Joe Kaplan! Fortuna Bay; high key King Penguins in snow, Fortuna Bay. Card design and all images copyright 2015: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Hard to Believe: An End to the Best…

I have been to the Southern Ocean five times, the last four with Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris (CES). It is common knowledge that they offer the finest ship-based photographic expeditions to South Georgia and the Falklands. Nobody else is close. They will make landings in tough conditions. Always. Their experienced staff and crew of zodiac drivers will get you on and off safely. You will enjoy so much time on a given landing that you will often want to head back to the ship early! Sorry, not me (though I did go back to the ship an hour early on our 2015 St. Andrews Bay landing. I quit after only 12 1/2 hours to go back to the ship on the 5pm zodiac when I could have stayed till 6pm…. My excuse? I could not raise my lens anymore.)

I learned recently that their October 22-November 6 (on the Sea Spirit) will be their last trip down to wildlife heaven on earth. Here is what Ted Cheeseman had to say:

The 2016 October/November expedition will be our last to South Georgia. Market changes, regulation changes, and as big of a part of our lives as it has been, we realize this next will indeed be the last.

When I asked him if he was sure that the 2016 trip would be the last, he replied:

To be honest, we have been known to go back on our statement of ‘last trip ever’. But for South Georgia, I don’t see how we could do it in the future. We want to continue but the costs are skyrocketing, regulation is threatening in a way that I think after 2016 may very well make it impossible to have free roaming folks ashore, i.e. possibly guided groups only – no thank you. So though I am loathe to say it, the Oct/Nov 2016 trip will be our last. If we do another before the end of 2018, I’ll see to it that you get free passage aboard. How’s that for a commitment?

BIRDS AS ART and the 2016 Cheesemans’ South Georgia/Falklands Expedition

When I got off the Ortelius at Stanley and told Ted that the just concluded voyage would be my last to the Southern Ocean, I meant it. But once I heard that the 2016 trip would be their last, I realized that I had to make the trip. As soon as I sign up a single participant for the expedition’s BAA group, I will be sending my deposit check.

If you would like to join me on what will be an amazing trip to a wondrous place, please shoot me an e-mail with the words “Cheesemans’ Last South Georgia Expedition” cut and pasted into the Subject Line.

All of the images on this card were created in the Falklands on the 2014 Cheesemans’ Southern Oceans Expedition. From top left clockwise to center: Black-browed Albatross tending chick, Steeple Jason Island; Black-browed Albatross courting pair, New Island; the Black-browed Albatross colony at Steeple Jason Island; Black-browed Albatross landing, New Island; King Cormorant head portrait, New Island; hull detail/derelict minesweeper, New Island; Rockhopper Penguin head portrait in bright sun, New Island; Striated Caracara, Steeple Jason Island; Magellanic Snipe chick, Sea Lion Island.

An Expedition Overview

Experience the vibrant spring of South Georgia, a true Antarctic wildlife paradise. Observe and photograph wildlife behaviors seldom seen beneath the towering, snow blanketed mountains (see image below) that dominate the island’s landscape. Southern Elephant Seal bulls fight for breeding rights while females nurse young, overlook vast colonies of loafing King Penguins, watch Macaroni Penguins cavort in the snow, photograph handsome Gray-headed Albatrosses in flight or attending to their cliffside nests and awkward Wandering Albatrosses attempting first flight. The itinerary includes six landing days on South Georgia and three landing days in the Falklands to observe too cute Rockhopper Penguins, Magellanic Penguins standing watch at their nesting burrows, and more Black-browed Albatrosses than you could ever imagine. To commemorate Shackleton’s famous self-rescue crossing South Georgia, CES also offers an optional trek retracing his steps. With Cheesemans’ twenty years of experience in the Antarctic region, they commit to an in-depth exploration of one of the densest wildlife spectacles found anywhere in the world, and with only 100 passengers, they routinely give you the opportunity to completely immerse yourself on each landing.

Two of the scheduled Falklands landings, New Island and especially Steeple Jason Island, rival the best locations on South Georgia. Those will likely include Salisbury Plain, St. Andrews Bay, Elsehul, Fortuna Bay, and either Cooper Island or Hercules Bay (for Macaroni Penguins).

Why Sign Up Through BIRDS AS ART?

If you have been thinking and dreaming of finally visiting South Georgia, this is the trip for you. There will likely never be another trip like this as the best outfit in the Southern Oceans business will not be returning after 2016…. Quit dreaming and act now. Though I will not be an expedition staff member on this trip, those who have traveled with me know that I cannot help but teach. And I will be doing a introductory photography program for the entire ship on our crossing to South Georgia. All who sign up via BAA will receive a free copy the new Southern Ocean Photography Guide (a $100 value) that I am currently working on. It will include pre-trip gear and clothing recommendations and a ton of info that you will find to be invaluable.

I will hold informal pre-landing briefings aboard ship so that when you land you know exactly what to expect and where to go. I will be available on the ship to review your images, answer your questions, and conduct informal over-the shoulder Photoshop sessions. And best of all, everyone who signs up under the auspices of BAA are invited to tag along with me on the landings where I will be glad to offer invaluable in-the-field advice. And the same goes for the shipboard birds in flight and marine mammal photographic sessions.

Again, if you would like to join me on what will truly be a once in a lifetime opportunity to a wondrous place, please shoot me an e-mail with the words “Cheesemans’ Last South Georgia Expedition,” cut and pasted into the Subject Line.

You can learn more about the trip here. If you sign up on your own be sure to mention that you would like to be part of the BAA Group. I’d be glad to answer any and all question via e-mail or by phone at 863-692-0906.

Important Notes

#1: If you fail to e-mail me as noted directly above, and register directly with CES you MUST let them know that you would like to be part of the BIRDS AS ART group.

#2: Joining the BIRDS AS ART group as above will not cost you one penny.

The Sea Spirit

The Sea Spirit is an “all suite” luxury vessel built for sailing in ice with an ice-strengthened hull and retractable fin stabilizers, the latter deliver smooth sailing to make your polar expedition enjoyable and safe. All cabins have a private, en-suite bathroom, a lounge area, and ample storage. The cabins have unobstructed exterior views via portholes, picture windows, or a private balcony. The ship is outfitted with a presentation room for on-board lectures as well as a gym, library, game room, lounge, bar with bartender, and dining lounge with chef-prepared meals. The Sea Spirit provides warm and comfortable accommodation for 100 passengers, the expedition staff, and the ship’s crew. The Sea Spirit carries a fleet of ten Zodiacs. The Zodiac loading area, located at the rear of the ship, provides a safe and relatively sheltered place from which to embark on our adventures.

Best of all, the Sea Spirit does 14 knots, a huge step above the other ships that I have been on; each crawled along at 11 knots…

Going Light

On recent trips I found myself going with shorter lenses and lighter gear than on my previous Southern Ocean Expedition. It is completely conceivable that you could do the entire trip with either the new Canon EF 100-400mm L IS II lens or a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens with both teleconverters. Nikon folks could go with the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm G ED VR lens or the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens and the Nikon TC-14E II 1.4x Teleconverter for D-AF-S & AF-I lenses ONLY. We do not recommend the Nikon 2X TCE.

Cheesemans’ Well Deserved Kudos

I know from personal experience that if you are a photographer who is going to invest in Southern Ocean voyage, you will want to put your money on Cheesemans’. No other tour company goes as far out of their way to ensure making every possible safe landing. And no other tour company will have you spending more time on land. Michael Viljeon from South Africa was aboard the Ortelius on a Southern Oceans voyage that preceded the Cheesemans’ trip that we were both on. As we headed back to Ushuaia, he said, “The folks that ran that first trip were pathetic. Too rough. No landing today. Surf too high today. No landing. Wind wrong direction. No landing. Cheesemans’ routinely and safely gets folks on land in conditions where the leaders of other tour companies do not even bother getting out of their bunks.”

Here, from the” Way to Go CES! (Cheeseman’s Ecology Safaris)” blog post here, is one of my favorite Cheesemans’ stories:

The landing at Bailey Head, Antarctica, was especially rewarding to me as I had been sitting in a zodiac 100 yards off shore on my 2007 trip when the zodiac in front of mine swamped and the captain of the ship called off the landing…. Early that day it looked as if my weather Karma might not be working. Ted’s “Good morning shipmates” was followed by the news that we would not be able to land at Bailey Head that morning as the swell was too big. The beach there is sloped tremendously and the sea strives to pull the zodiacs back into the ocean before folks have gotten off with their gear. Tom Murphy had said to me several days before, “We will get you on the beach at Bailey Head.” Ted concluded his morning greetings by saying, “We are sending out a scout team to see if landing is possible.”

After breakfast I was thrilled to hear Ted’s voice again on the PA, “We will be landing at 8am.” Afterwards folks noted that it was the calmest landing ever at this amazingly beautiful spot. My good weather Karma (courtesy of late-wife Elaine) had come through one last time. Along with St. Andrews Bay, it was one of my two favorite super-great once-in-a-lifetime days of the trip. And we even got to enjoy three additional hours at Hannah Point, Antarctica before calling it a wrap and heading for the feared Drake Passage. All thanks to Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

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?

Hopefully, I am somewhere in Namibia feeling well and having fun.

The Streak Lives!

Today’s blog post marks 167 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.

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This Bald Eagle juxtaposition image was created from a rocking boat in Alaska with the Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the long-ago Canon EOS-1D Mark IV (now replaced by the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 400: 1/1250 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. In the above situation with a large black and white bird occupying a good portion of the frame it is imperative to figure out the correct exposure in advance by doing a histogram check: make sure that you have data well into the rightmost box of the histogram without any blinkies on the bird’s head. Work in manual mode and go darker or lighter as needed by adjust either the shutter speed or the aperture. Once you determine the correct exposure set it and forget it until the light changes. You do not need to worry about how much black and how much white occupies the frame. You do not need to worry about the background tonality. You have determined the correct exposure for the bright whites and that exposure will remains correct as long as the light does not change. Your exposure will not be thrown off if there is more black in the frame one moment and more white the next. To learn exposure theory study the chapter on exposure in the original The Art of Bird Photography; it is the great strength of a book that has sold more than 35,000 copies and laid the foundation for many of today’s great bird photographers.

Working in Manual Mode Re-visited: April, 2016

Though I still work in other exposure modes on occasion, and made 100% of my Kolmanskop images in Av mode, I have, for the past few years, been working in Manual Mode most of the time. Today I’d say that I work in Manual mode about 85% of the time, Av mode about 10% of the time, Tv about 4% of the time (when creating pleasing blurs), and Program mode (when working a family party with flash, and very rarely when using fill flash for songbirds) about 1% of the time.

If you are scared of working in Manual mode–many folks are for no reason at all–you need to study the info below and learn to become competent in it.

Here is an excerpt adapted from from The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II: 916 pages on CD only) for those who need help with working in Manual mode.

Working in Manual Mode

Many professional and serious amateur photographers work in Manual mode most of the time. I occasionally work in Av mode with exposure compensation in situations were the subject size and the background tonality are relatively constant. When the background tonality is changing from moment to moment but the light is constant, it is always best to work in Manual mode. In either case, I rely 100% on Evaluative Metering. Here are some examples of rapidly changing backgrounds: a shorebird on a rock along the edge of the ocean with waves breaking behind it. Birds flying against a blue sky with occasional white clouds. Cranes flying by in front of a variety of backgrounds that might include sky, mountains, yellowed grasses, or water.
As many folks are confused as to how to work in or set exposure compensation when working in Manual mode, I offer the following basic tutorial.

#1: When you work in Manual mode you select and set the shutter speed and you select and set the aperture. With my Canon cameras the default has you changing the shutter speed with your index finger dial and the aperture with the thumb wheel. Please note: there is no exposure compensation per say when you are working in Manual mode. You determine the exposure level (+1 stop or -1/3 stop, for example), by looking at the analog exposure scale in the viewfinder as detailed below.

#2: After selecting Manual mode, point your camera at a scene or stationary subject and lock your tripod head so the framing remains constant. Next select and set the desired aperture. Then adjust the shutter speed until the analog scale in the viewfinder nulls out to zero. With Canon pro bodies this scale is laid out vertically along the right side of the viewfinder display (when you are working in horizontal format). With many of the pro-sumer bodies the analog scale is laid out horizontally at the bottom of the viewfinder display. The zero or null indicator is at the center of the analog scale. The three full stops above the null symbol (marked in 1/3-stop increments) indicate overexposure. The three full stops below the null symbol (also marked in 1/3-stop increments) indicate underexposure. If you change the aperture and you do not see the small square moving, check either the top or the bottom of the analog scale. You will note a small triangle at the top (or right) if you are way overexposed or a small triangle at the bottom (or the left) if you are way underexposed. If the former, rotate the dial and choose faster shutter speeds, if the latter, choose slower shutter speeds. In either case, you will soon see the small square moving up or down the analog scale. At first, you will simply want to practice nulling the meter, that is, getting the small square to rest on the null symbol. This indicates that you have now set the metered exposure (as determined by the camera’s Evaluative Metering system.

#3: As above, when you work in Manual mode it is not possible to set exposure compensation. To come up with the exposure that you want, simply change the aperture or shutter speed as above until the small square indicates the amount of over- or under-exposure that you desire. If you wish to work at +2 stops, you need adjust either the shutter speed or the aperture until the small square rests on the symbol that is two full stops above the null symbol. If you wish to underexpose by 1/3 stop, you need adjust either the shutter speed or the aperture until the small square rests on the symbol that lies just below the null symbol.

With a bit of practice you should quickly become comfortable whenever the need to work in Manual mode arises. Do note that with lots of Black Skimmers that the Nickerson Beach IPT is a great place to learn how to work in Manual mode. See below for details

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

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, Gitzo tripods, 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 just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.

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?

I wrote this blog post on the morning of Friday, April 15, 2016. We leave Luderitz this morning to meet the group this afternoon at the Quiver Tree forest for afternoon and late night shooting sessions. We will not have internet for about four days.

Please remember that folks sending new inquiries about selling new gear are best advised to get in touch with me at the end of this month.

Don’t Look Now!

Today’s blog post marks 165 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.

This image was created morning 2 of Denise Ippolito and my busman’s holiday at Kolmanskop Ghost Town, Namibia. I used the Induro GIT 304L tripod/Induro BHM1/-mounted Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 151mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops/in-camera Art Vivid HDR +/- 1 stop around a base exposure of .4 sec at f/16. I set the color temperature to K4000 to offset the too saturated Art Vivid colors. See below for focusing details on the two images used to create today’s featured image. Doorway Triangles

Focus Stacking 101 Primer

While reviewing my images at dinner Denise Ippolito mentioned that with my going often to the 100-400II for more reach, that even the tiniest apertures, f/22 and f/32 did not provide enough depth-of field to cover the back walls when shooting through open doorways and windows. She suggested creating a second image focusing on the back wall, stacking and aligning the two images, and then painting in the extra detail on the back wall with a Black, Inverse, or Hide-All Mask. That is exactly what I did for today’s image.

For the first image I used the center AF point (Manual selection)/Rear Focus/AI Servo AF and recompose to focus on the closest part of the door frame. For the second image I simply moved the AF point so that it hit the back wall. Then I had my the two images that I needed for my simple focus stacking exercise.

To learn Quick Masking and Layer Masking I recommend that you get both APTATS I and APTATS II. You can save some bucks by purchasing the set here.

Desert Urbex Photography

The three of us, Denise, Wim den Heever, and I, had more fun than a barrel of monkeys at Kolmanskop. On night two, I had the seafood curry and shared a bit with Denise and Wim. On our third night, it was seafood curry all around… We are all looking forward to meeting our nine clients this afternoon.

Both Denise and I felt that much of what we learned and discovered doing the old barns and farm buildings on the Palouse IPTs was a great help to us at the old diamond mining ghost town. Join us this summer to learn a ton. Details immediately below.

Subject and focal lengths clockwise from upper left around to center. Palouse Falls: 11mm; homemade kiddie race car: 105mm; barn siding pan blur: 798mm; Rolling fields diorama: 110mm; Crayola drums: 343 mm; Hay barn interior: 19mm; vintage gas station: 40mm; Dilapidated farm building: 13mm; Denise’s tree Infrared: 20mm. Images and card design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

The Palouse ~ A Creative Adventure/BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT)/Eastern Washington State. June 3-7, 2016/5 Full Days: $1699/Limit 12/Openings: 6

The Palouse ~ A Creative Adventure/BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT)/Eastern Washington State. June 10-14, 2016/5 Full Days: $1699/Limit 12/Openings: 1

Double Header!

Maximize both your travel dollars and your learning experience by signing up for both IPTs.

Images and card design by Denise Ippolito/A Creative Adventure.

The Palouse IPTs

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

After 6 days of back-breaking scouting work in early June 2014 we found all of the iconic locations and, in addition, lots of spectacular new old barns and breath-taking landforms and views. On three additional scouting days in 2015 we discovered several more truly amazing locations. We will teach you what makes one situation prime and another seemingly similar one a waste of your time.

What’s included: In-the-field instruction, guidance, lessons, and inspiration, our newfound but very extensive knowledge of the area, all lunches, motel lobby grab and go breakfasts, and Photoshop and image sharing sessions when possible. There will be a meet and greet at 7:30pm on the evening before each workshop begins.

You will learn and hone both basic and advanced compositional and image design skills. You will learn to get the right exposure every time. You will learn to develop your creative eye. You will learn the basics of HDR (high dynamic range) photography. You will learn a variety of in-camera creative techniques. Most importantly you will learn to see the situation and to create a variety of top-notch images. Do see both of our blogs for lots more on that in the coming weeks. You will learn how the quality and direction of light combine to determine the success of your images. And–please don’t gasp–we will be working quite a bit with sidelight when creating landscapes. Lastly, we will be doing some infrared photography.

To Sign Up

A non-refundable $699 deposit is due now. The balance will be due on February 15, 2016. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. Whether or not your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.

Please let me know via e-mail that you will be joining us. Then you can either call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 during business hours or send us a check to leave a deposit; the latter is preferred. If by check, please make out to “Arthur Morris” and mail it to: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via e-mail: artie or denise.

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

Please Remember to use 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, Gitzo tripods, 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 just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.

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 been thinking of taking out the 70-200II on our first afternoon session at Kolmenskop but decided at the last moment to go with the 1-4II. I was glad that I made that choice.

Please remember that folks sending new inquiries about selling new gear are best advised to get in touch with me at the end of this month.

Don’t Look Now!

Today’s blog post marks 164 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.

This image was also created on the first day of Denise Ippolito and my busman’s holiday at Kolmanskop Ghost Town, Namibia. I used the Induro GIT 304L tripod/Induro BHM1/-mounted Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 100mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop in-camera Art Vivid HDR +/- 1 stop around a base exposure of .5 sec at f/32. I set the color temperature to K4500 to offset the too saturated Art Vivid colors. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the door frame on our right door frame and re-compose slightly. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Nile Green

Nile Green

In the afternoon, I learned that many of the images that I had envisioned making that morning with an intermediate telephoto lens needed to be made in the morning. They simply did not work with afternoon sunlight. But we found tons of great images there for the making. So we made them. Wim van den Heever taught me and Denise. We taught Wim. We shared images and finds. And Denise Ippolito and I traded inspiration and lenses. It was a win-win-win day all around. You might even say it was a Wim-Wim-Wim situation all around as he was the one who brung us!

Will will be getting there earlier tomorrow morning than we did on Wednesday morning…

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, Gitzo tripods, 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 just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.

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?

We are here on having fun. The internet is in and out but promises to be our most reliable of the trip…

Folks sending new inquiries and selling new gear are best advised to get in touch with me at the end of the month.

Don’t Look Now!

Today’s blog post marks 162 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As I will be making the trip to Namibia on April 11, this streak will likely come to an end soon. 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 first day of Denise Ippolito and my busman’s holiday at Kolmanskop Ghost Town, Namibia. I used the Induro GIT 304L tripod/Induro BHM1/-mounted Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM lens (at 18mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop in-camera Art Vivid HDR +/- 1 stop around a base exposure of .6 sec at f/16. Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the center of the right hand door frame and release/re-compose slightly. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Doorway & stairway in derelict building

5DS R In-Camera Art Vivid HDR Draws First Blood

We were late on the scene lamenting the usual first morning of the trip blues tune. For the first 20 minutes I could not see an image as we muddled around through two buildings. I hated the zillion footprints in the sand and I am not a fan of the 20 stop range of some of the in the building through the window to sunlit desert scenes. When I found this room with no sand on the floor and not a window to the outside world in sight, I was off and running as my creative juices began to flow.

I did find myself wishing for the 100-400II for more than a few images. I am bringing it along with the 11-24mm on our afternoon photo session. You should be seeing some close-up detail oriented and/or abstract type images if I can get back online successfully again.

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, Gitzo tripods, 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 just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.

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 🙂