Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

What’s Up?

Epcot parking: $20.
Epcot entry: $436.
Hibachi lunch at Japanese Restaurant: $136.
An afternoon with family: Priceless.

Despite the sticker shock, I spent the better part of the day with younger daughter Alissa, one of her two autistic sons, Idris–whom you met the other day, and Jen’s Maya (now 14), at Epcot. Maya is great with Idris. Mission Space (orange) was way better than the Space Shuttle simulation ride at the Kennedy Space Center but Test Track was everyone’s favorite. How do you describe a day filled with Idris saying constantly, “This is the best day of my life!”?

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 125 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a 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.

Everybody’s Doing It…

Everybody’s buying and selling used gear on the BAA Used Gear Page. Sales recently have been through the roof. The sale of three of the twelve items that I posted to the Used Gear Page this morning are pending after only four hours.

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They recently folded. And eBay fees are now in the 13% range. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. Even the prices on the new 600 II and the 200-400 with Internal Extender have been plummeting. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab now on the the left side of the second yellow-orange menu bar at the top of each blog post.

Insane Price Reduction

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

Yet Another Lowest-ever BAA Price!
Price Reduced an insane $400 on 3-6-15.

Thomas Kokta is offering a used Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS lens with Internal Extender in excellent plus condition for the insanely record-low BAA price of $8,050 (was $8,450). The lens has only been used twice. The only blemish are (very) tiny marks where the lens plate was attached. The sale includes the lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, the original box and packing stuff, and insured ground shipping via FED-EX Ground to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Thomas via e-mail or by phone at 425-369-9775 (Central time).

This is the world’s best lens for a trip to Africa. It kills also in the Galapagos and in South Georgia, the Falklands, and Antarctica. And I use mine a lot at Bosque and other dusty places where the built-in TC helps to keep your sensor clean. The lens sells new at B&H right now for $10,999. You can save $2549 by grabbing Thomas’s lens now. artie

Exquisite in the Snow

Beautiful birds + soft light + a serendipitous musical arrangement of the three cranes + 3 pretty much perfect head juxtapositions = exquisite in the snow.

5DS R Frame Rate

When the stars, in the form of these three cranes, lined up perfectly I held the shutter button down for 7 frames. This one was perfect…

5DS R 61-Point Automatic Selection AF

In the A Fitting Finale/5DS R Strategy Pays Off & 61-Point Automatic Selection AF Revelation blog post here I wrote: “I have never been thrilled by the performance of 61- or 65-point automatic selection AF with previous Canon camera models. As noted in our Camera User’s Guides, there are situations where Automatic Selection AF can perform well. With the dancing or squabbling cranes you will often have one bird on each side of the frame. In the past, I tried Automatic Selection AF in these situations only to be disappointed. I tried again yesterday and noted that the performance of 61-point Automatic Selection AF was vastly improved with the 5DS R as compared to all previous Canon camera bodies. I was quite impressed watching the AF points jump around almost always to good places. And once I acquired focus in the center, it held pretty darn well even when I moved the bird to one side of the frame or the other. I wound up using it for most every image and even tried it for flight with pretty good results. All that in a relatively low light/low contrast situation.”

61-point performed superbly that whole afternoon. When I got home, I wrote Canon’s Chuck Westfall as follows:

I learned on the Japan trip that the 61-point Automatic Selection AF system with the 5DS R is far better than with any previous camera. Does that make any sense???

Chuck wrote back:

Yes, because the RGB exposure meter on the 5DS & SR has approximately 150,000 pixels compared to approximately 100,000 pixels for the similar component on the 1D X. This gives the 5DS & SR models slightly better performance when it comes to subject recognition. The 5DS & SR models also have a newer version of the subject tracking algorithm than the 1D X did. But moving forward, the new 1D X Mark II has them all beat (on paper at least) because its exposure meter has approximately 350,000 pixels and it is sensitive to IR (Infrared) in addition to RGB. And it has the latest AI Servo focusing algorithms. I look forward to getting your feedback on this aspect of the 1D X Mark II after you’ve had a chance to compare.

Conclusions

My perception that 5DS R 61-Point Automatic Selection AF out-performed all previous cameras did indeed have a basis in fact. And better yet, the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II promises what will surely be the best-ever AF system by far. I have ordered mine and cannot wait to get my hands on it. In addition to the improved AF system, noise control at the higher ISOs is anticipated to be hugely improved as compared to all previous Canon dSLRs many of which were pretty darned good.

Super High Key Funky Exquisite

To create this version I simply made a Levels adjustment. I moved the Highlight slider to the left until the white feathers of the birds blended totally with the now bright whites of the snow. Then I moved the Shadow slider to the right while holding down the Alt key to blacken the blacks. Lastly I adjusted the middle tone slider to taste. Voila.

Your Fave?

Please take a moment to let us know which is your favorite of today’s two images. And please let us know why you made your pick. Please remember that the more interactive you make the blog the more folks learn.

Japan In Winter IPT. February 9-24, 2017: $13,999/double occupancy.

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.

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.

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, 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 am finishing up this blog post in the car on the way to the Kennedy Space Center with older daughter Jennifer and her two kids, Sam and Maya, and younger daughter Alissa-visiting from Long Island with her youngest, Idris.

Bill Moore’s near-mint 600 II sold to KW McCulloch for the full asking price of $9499 before it was even listed.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 123 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a 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.

Everybody’s Doing It…

Everybody’s buying and selling used gear on the BAA Used Gear Page. Sales recently have been through the roof. The sale of three of the twelve items that I posted to the Used Gear Page this morning are pending after only four hours.

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They recently folded. And eBay fees are now in the 13% range. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. Even the prices on the new 600 II and the 200-400 with Internal Extender have been plummeting. You can see all current listings by clicking < here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab now on the the left side of the second yellow-orange menu bar at the top of each blog post.

Brand New Listings

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II Lens

New Record Low BAA Price

Bryan Holliday is offering a used Canon 600mm f4L IS II lens in near-mint condition for the record low BAA price of $9,498. The sale includes the Really Right Stuff replacement foot LCF-53, both original Canon feet, a Forest Green LensCoat, the tough nylon front lens cover, the rear cap, the lens trunk with keys, the lens strap, the manual, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Local pickup in Phoenix, AZ is an option. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Bryan via e-mail or by phone at 623-326-3920 (Mountain time).

The 600 II is the state of the art super-telephoto for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports. If I can get it to a location, it is my go-to weapon. It is fast and sharp and deadly either alone or with either TC. artie

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

KW McCulloch is offering a used Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS lens with Internal 1.4X Extender in excellent plus condition for the record low BAA price of $8994. The sale includes the lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, the rear lens cap, and insured shipping via UPS Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears or other arrangements are made.

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

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

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS Lens

Another New Record Low BAA Price
Price Reduced $300 on 3-4-16!

KW McCulloch is also offering a used Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS lens in very good plus condition for the record low BAA price of $4499 (was $4799). Cosmetically the lens shows that it has been well used; it it is functionally perfect. The lens was cleaned and checked by Canon in 2015. The sale includes a LensCoat, the lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, two soft front lens covers, the rear lens cap, and insured shipping via UPS Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears or other arrangements are made.

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

The old six was my go-to super-telephoto lens for well more than a decade, heck, probably for two decades if you include the monstrously heavy original version. Today I use and depend on the newer, lighter version, the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens. Note, the new six sells for a hefty $11,499. The old six is super sharp, works great with both TCs, and offers near-maximum reach along with three focal lengths: 600, 840, and 1200… artie

It MUST be Genetic…

On the afternoon of Saturday May 4, 2016 I headed down to the lake by my home to photograph cranes with my grandson Idris. Idris is seven years old. He is autistic, and grandfatherly pride aside, he is at the brilliant end of the scale. Before Aspergers was eliminated from the terminology of autism, Idris would have fit the classic pattern: brilliant but easily frustrated when things do not go as planned. I set up the 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens with a 7D on it and, in the safety of my office, showed Idris how to hold the rig: left hand half way out on the lens barrel on the zoom ring with your palm to the sky, the last three fingers and the thumb of the right hand on the grip, and the right index finger on the shutter button.

At first he had a bit of difficulty simply holding the lens to his eye but got the hang of it fairly quickly. I figured the 65-point Automatic Selection/Shutter Button AF might be easiest for him so I set that up. I taught him to press the shutter button half way to acquire focus. At times he got it right and at times not. Likewise he sometimes got the hang of zooming in and out and sometimes not.
We tried vertical but he could not handle that quite yet.

Once we were in the field he liked to try to figure out what zoom setting he should be at before raising the camera.

I was hoping that he might make one nice image of a crane feeding with the bird sharp and fairly large in the frame. He came close but that did not happen. He often wound up zooming out much too much so that there were houses in the distant background included in his frame. As there was a halfway decent sunset shaping up I sort of ignored him to concentrate on making a nice head portrait or two of a calling crane with a nice orange sky background. When we were ready to head back to my house, Idris showed me what looked like a few nice silhouettes on the rear LCD of the 7D II but alas, when we got back to the house and downloaded the photos, those were not sharp.

I continued going through his images when I came across a sharp series of four images of silhouetted dancing cranes. Today’s featured image is the best of the lot. What amazed me was that when I had tried to get him create the type of image that I though he should make, the results were pretty bad. But when left to his own devices, the results were quite spectacular, especially when you consider that simply holding the rig to his eye was a challenge.

The next lesson will be learning to use the in-viewfinder level. Or not. Perhaps I should just leave him free to play and explore. In any case, I am quite proud of him. I should have mentioned that he was tremendously excited by the process. He showed me lots of what were to him, really good images…

Idris and Grandpa Arthur

Less than an hour after first picking up the 70-200/7D II combo, Idris was showing pretty darned good form. And within 20 minutes of when this image was taken, he created his first masterpiece.

Idris learned a lot, and so did I. I hope that we both have many more opportunities in the future to do the same.

If anyone wishes to leave a message for Idris I will make sure that he sees it.

Nothing

The tile of today’s blog post, “Maybe it’s genetic,” reminded me of a great song from A Chorus Line; I saw it four times, three on Broadway and once in Fort Lauderdale. It is one of my favorite songs ever. You can hear a version sung by Natalie Cortes from the final performance of the show by clicking here and then clicking on the fourth YouTube video logo. The words are below. (“It must be genetic” at the 1:41 mark.) The ending of the song is quite just..

I’m so excited because I’m gonna go
to the High School of Performing Arts!
I mean, I was dying to be a serious actress.
Anyway, it’s the first day acting class-
and we’re in the auditorium and the teacher,
Mr. Karp… Oh, Mr. Karp…
Anyway, he puts us up on the stage with
our legs around each other,
one in back of the other and he says:
“Okay… we’re going to do improvisations.
Now, you’re on a bobsled. It’s snowing out.
And it’s cold…Okay…GO!”

Six months later I heard that Karp had died.
And I dug right down to the bottom of my soul…
And cried.
‘Cause I felt… nothing.

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?

Me very early again… I prepared this blog post in exactly one hour, finishing up just before 4am on Thursday morning. Jet lag has gotten the best of me; yesterday was the first time that my afternoon jet lag nap (4 hours) was longer than my evening sleep (3 1/2 hours). Right now my plan is to load up the car and head to Gatorland for a few hours to see how the nesting Great Egrets are doing.

600 II

I still have a Canon 600 II in excellent plus condition for a Canadian buyer at a ridiculously low price. Please contact me via e-mail if you live in Canada and are interested.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 121 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a 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.

Pink Possible 365 or 366

I have written often over the years that Fort DeSoto is about the only spot that I know of that has the potential to offer great bird photography 365 day a year, or 366 days in a leap year like 2016. Not to say that it will be great every day, but the potential for greatness exists no matter the season. In the same vein, it is also possible to photograph Roseate Spoonbill on any given day at any season. The trick to maximize these opportunities is to be in the right spots and to arrive very early and stay very late.

7D II ISO 3200

I converted the RAW file for today’s featured image in DPP 4 with Click White Balance and used Arash Hazeghi’s Luminance and Chrominance values from our DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide. Regular readers know that since I expose well to the right that I am rarely concerned with noise. I am currently editing Arash’s latest effort, the Post Processing Guide. The main thrust of the book deals with Arash’s high level noise reduction techniques using NeatImage. Arash recommends and uses only the NeatImage plug-in for advanced noise reduction to maintain maximum fine detail in his images. Both artie and Arash recommend only the Proversion as the Homeversion does not work on 16-bit images.

While Arash is a brilliant scientist and a brilliant photographer, writing clear and easy to understand how-to is not his forte; that is why we team up on these e-books. For the past few days I have been working hard at re-crafting his section on noise reduction. I am almost there. I did feel comfortable enough with what I have learned about the NeatImage plug-in so far to run it on today’s image. Though my efforts were surely crude, I was quite impressed with the results on this 7D II ISO 3200 image. We hope to be finished with the guide within about two weeks.

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 updated a while back 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 by the differences in the conversions that I made with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Thanks for the consistently great information.

Photographing at the Beach?

Check out the new Beach Stuff page by clicking on the tab in the middle of the upper yellow/orange menu bar at the top of each blog page. You can learn about both surf booties and Wheeleeze. Do note that the link for the Used Photo Gear page has moved to the left end of the second line of the menu bar.

Fort DeSoto Site Guide

Whether you are soon going to be a first time visitor or you live just up the block you will learn a ton by getting yourself a copy of the Fort DeSoto Site Guide. Learn the best spots, where to be when in what season in what weather. Learn the best wind directions for the various locations. BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. You can see all of them here.

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

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.

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.

Why Join an IPT?

For many folks, hands-on, in-the-field instruction is the very best way for them to learn to improve their skills… To see some more early spring DeSoto images, click here.

Shorebirds/Beautiful Beachcombers

If shorebirds give you pause, get yourself a copy of my Shorebirds/Beautiful Beachcombers. Includes ID tips, shorebird biology, migration, and tons more. All in my simple-to-read easy-to-understand style.

From Rod Anton via e-mail

Dear Artie, Beyond the superlatives you have received for your beautiful presentation, all of which I agree with whole heartedly, I would like to add my thoughts about your exhibition. I see the dedication, the determination, the passion and the tenacity that drives you, as well as your love of the birds and of your love of photography. Congratulations. The exhibit-companion CD deserves a shout out. Sincerely, Rod Anton

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 took another 4 hour jet lag nap late on Monday afternoon. I got into bed at 1am and was wide awake at 2am. I read for a bit, dropped the book, and slept like a baby until just before 7am. Not bad. On Tuesday afternoon I took yet another 4 hour jet lag nap… I am up and working feeling great and then wham, just gotta sleep. If I set an alarm for 30 minutes I wake up feeling like a zombie and get right back to sleep.

Eight of the ten items that were listed in the Everybody’s Doing It blog post here sold within two days; the Used Photo Gear page is on fire! We need some Nikon folks to take advantage of some of the great buys on Nikkor bodies and lenses. There are still lots of great buys available; you can see all of the listings here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow/orange menu bar at the top of each blog post page.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 119 days in a row with a new educational blog post. This post took me about 90 minutes to assemble including the time spent on the image optimization. As always–and folks have been doing a 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.

Home Sweet Home

Indian Lake Estates can be mighty fine for bird photography in late winter and early spring. I got down to the lake for the first time this year on February 28 only to be greeted by two very cooperative Sandhill Crane chicks that were well less than a week old. I photographed them again the next morning. Other subjects included Great and Cattle Egrets and Limpkin. What fun.

The BLUBB

BLUBB is an acronym for Big Lens Ultimate BeanBag. There are lots of similar knock-off beanbag-type supports that cost half as much as the BLUBB but as all things BIRDS AS ART, you get exactly what you pay for. Only the BLUBB offers the support and stability that you need to work at 1200mm from your vehicle. Only the BLUBB has a layer of heavy duty cotton duck fabric sewn on top to eliminate scratchy nylon noise. And only with the BLUBB are the inner surfaces of the bag, the surfaces that are placed over the door-frame or car window, covered with a large piece of Toughtek non-slip fabric sewn in place to help keep the bag from slipping, especially in vehicles where the driver’s window angles downward to the right. Learn more about the only beanbag to use with your big lens by clicking here.

Worth a Try…

Confronted with the mess in the lower right corner I circled it with a Patch Tool selection and then hit Edit > FIll > Content Aware. For the most part it did a very good job. At times, as with today’s featured image, Content Aware fill works just fine. At other times, the results can be horrific. But when confronted with a rather complex repair job as in the lower right corner of this image, it is always worth a try.

Careful folks might note that after I created the animated GIF I noted that there was a pretty ugly horizontal line left by Content Aware Fill. I re-worked the original with a few swipes of the Patch Tool. The improved optimized image is represented by the JPEG that opens this blog post; the “original” version in the animated GIF features the ugly lower right corner. I opted not to re-do the animated GIF so that folks could see the improvement.

The Image Optimization

The lower right corner clean-up and some of the bill clean-up was via Content Aware Fill. The rest of the clean-up was with the Patch Tool and the Spot Healing Brush. I got so tired of reducing the opacity of a layer of my NIK Color EFEX Pro 50/50 recipe that I created a 25/25 recipe. I applied that to today’s image and reduced the opacity by about 50 %. I finished the image off with a Contrast Mask of the face; with mega mega-pixel 5DS R images I have upped my traditional settings from 15/65/0 to 20/80/0 with excellent results.

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, Content Aware Fill, 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.

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.

With the spectacular success that we enjoyed in 2015 it seems quite likely that both of these will fill up soon. 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 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?

My jet lag is abating slowly. I enjoyed a nice swim in a cold pool on Saturday followed by a 54 degree ice bath. I started and finished this blog post very early on Sunday morning.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 117 days in a row with a new educational blog post. This post took me about 90 minutes to assemble including the time spent on the image optimization. As always–and folks have been doing a great job recently–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated.

The Great (Sea-Eagle) Wall of Japan

Imagine yourself on an eagle feeding boat in broken clouds with the wind pretty much from the same direction as the light. Then imagine the boat tying up to a breakwater with many dozens of Steller’s Sea-eagles and White-tailed Eagles perched at the far end of the wall on a foot of fresh snow atop the wall. Now imagine the mate tossing frozen fish onto the snow and having dozens of eagles flying right at you at eye level one or two at a time.

The first 20 minutes were as exciting as anything that I have experienced in my 32+ years of doing bird and nature photography. The image above was made just as we were getting into position to tie up to the bulkhead wall.

Consider joining me in Japan next year to share in the excitement: 3 of the 8 spots are already filled.

100-400II/5DS R Versatility and Flight

I used the 400 DO II/5DS R combo for most of the morning. When we pulled up to the breakwater I quickly switched the 400 DO II for the 100-400 II knowing that the birds would be much closer on average. I created today’s opening bird-scape as the tour boat slowly approached the wall. Thereafter I was able to zoom out as needed. My focal lengths at the wall ranged from 248mm to 400mm. (Note: DPP 4 allows you to sort by focal length.) Compare today’s two images with the image of the frost-covered leaf in the BIG SECRET to becoming a better nature photographer revealed… blog post here and you will get a better idea of the amazing versatility of the 100-400 II.

The DPP 4 Screen Capture and the Image Optimization

Note the perfect histogram with the RGB values for the tail averaging about 240 and the dark tones well off the left-hand axis of the histogram. After converting the image in DPP 4 I brought the image into Photoshop where I used a series of Quick Masks to cover the parts of the three birds that intruded into the frame. The Quick Mask layers were refined with both the Transform Tool and with Regular Layer Masks. Under the current rules this image could not be entered into any of the major photographic competitions, but it makes me very happy. I selected the bird using the Quick Selection Tool and then applied my NIK Color EFEX Pro 25/25 recipe to that layer only. Then I added a Regular Layer Mask and painted away the effect where it had grayed up some of the whites. Next I selected the face and the bill and the talons, again with the Quick Selection Tool, put it on its own layer, and applied a Contrast Mask to that layer only: Unsharp Mask at 20/80/0. I have increased my starting-point Contrast Mask settings from the old 15/65/0 to make up for the huge pixel count of the 5DS R images.

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.

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.

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 enjoyed my first swim in a while yesterday at 1pm. I fell asleep on the couch at about 5pm for two hours. Woke for an ice bath and a salad. Fell back asleep on the couch at about 8:30. Crawled into bed at about 10:30pm, and woke at 6am. All in all I slept quite a bit. Can you say jet-lagged? I am, however glad that I am sleeping at night and up for the most part during the day.

After six inquiries on the first day I learned that the sale of Dean Newman’s old five is pending. There are still many great buys on the board; you can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right side of the yellow-orange menu bar above.

This Just In!

At 9:42am I added 12 brand new listings–both Canon and Nikon–to the Used Gear page; these include six lowest ever BAA prices. You can see them all by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right side of the yellow-orange menu bar above.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 117 days in a row with a new educational blog post. This post took me about 90 minutes to assemble including the time spent on the image optimization. As always–and folks have been doing a great job recently–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated.

The JPEG Mystery

I was aghast when I went to convert my favorite 18-FEB image in DPP 4 and saw the dialogue box below pop up when I went to cut and paste the 1DX ISO 400 recipe.

.JPG?

Dot JPG? You gotta be kidding. I went back to my day folder in Photo Mechanic and saw that all of the images that I created on the eagle boat that day were indeed JPEGs. How did that happen?

The most common reason that you wind up shooting JPEGs is that you forget to re-set to RAW capture after sending your camera body to an authorized Canon repair center. For whatever reason, they delete all of your settings and switch to JPEG capture. (Note: with the pro bodies, you can–if you remember–save your settings to a card and reload them to the camera when you get it back.) But that was not the case here as I had been creating RAW files for the entire trip with the same camera. That meant that I had inadvertently set my 1D X to JPEG capture.

The next step was to note the size of the JPEGs that I had made inadvertently. Oops: Small JPEG. Not good at all: 2592 pixels wide X 1728 pixels high at 200 pixels/inch = only 12.8 M. The TIFF file from a converted 1D X RAW file would be in the neighborhood of 51+ M.

I had this problem often when I used 1D Mark IVs as my workhorse bodies; there were a series of buttons below the LCD screen and I used one of those routinely–I do not remember why–and would accidentally switch from large RAW to small JPEg on occasion. But that had never happened in the three or so years that I have been using 1D X bodies as my workhorse cameras… So I wrote Chuck Westfall at Canon. Below is his reply.

Chuck Westfall e-Mail

Hi, Artie:

It sounds like you may have inadvertently pressed the image quality setting button on the back of the camera (the button directly to the left of the rear small LCD data panel) and then turned the quick control dial one click counterclockwise. This will change the image quality setting from RAW to Small JPEG in one click. The only way to prevent that from happening is to shut off the camera’s power.

None of the EOS bodies other than the 1D-1Ds series have rear LCD data panels, so this issue (inadvertent change of the image quality setting) never comes up with them.

Chuck

Chuck Westfall
Product Planning Advisor
ITCG Image Communication Products
Business Planning Division

Mystery Solved…

Chuck is surely correct. I must have inadvertently hit the Card/Image size selection button and then rotated the Thumb Wheel one click counter-clockwise… The Card/Image size selection button lies just below the Playback button and is just to the left of the Rear LCD panel. With gloves on, it would be easy to mistakenly hit the Card/Image size selection button when you meant to press the Playback button… After you hit the Playback button you would often turn the Thumb Wheel to scroll through the images. (Note: the larger of the two LCD screens on the back is called the LCD Monitor, the smaller one at the bottom of the camera is correctly called the Rear LCD panel.)

To prevent such an accident you would need to get in the habit of glancing at the Rear LCD panel every now and then to make sure that it shows RAW. As I never had this problem in three years of using 1D X bodies it is not likely that I will develop that habit soon. In addition I have gone to my two 5DS R bodies almost full time at present. But there is always the 1D X Mark II. While e-mailing with Chuck I learned something new about the 1D X Mark II. I will share it with y’all here soon.

When You Screw Up With JPEGs, You’re Screwed

On our first Ruasu boat trip, the sun was going in and out, often just as your raised your lens. With today’s featured image that is exactly what happened. With full sun the I would have been at least at 1/4000 sec. at f/5.6, possibly at 1/5000 sec. The latter is the equivalent of my oft-mentioned full sun exposure for bright whites: 1/2500 sec. at f/8 with ISO 400. So when the sun popped out I was about one full stop over-exposed.

Had I been shooting RAW as I thought I was, recovering the WHITEs from a one-stop over-exposure during the RAW conversion in DPP 4 would have been a piece of cake. But with JPEGs, when you screw up and over-expose the highlights you are screwed…

More On Why Mid-230s RGB Values???

The Strange Thing About the JPEG

The strangest thing about the JPEG was that there were no blnkies on the LCD monitor. There are no blinkies when the image is viewed in Photo Mechanic. But when viewed in DPP 4, the WHITEs on both the far wing and the near leggings showed as mega-over-exposed.

When I bring the JPEG into Photoshop, the RGB values for the brightest WHITEs show from the high 240s to 253 and 254 with only a very few 255s to be seen. Theoretically, the WHITEs should be fine. But in reality, there is simply no detail at all in those bright WHITEs. I have long advised that folks strive to bring their images into Photoshop with the RGB values in the brightest highlights in the mid-230s. At times, I am fine with the low-240s. But as today’s JPEG shows, if your WHITEs are in the 250s, they will be detail-less.

Note: I tried every trick in the books to restore detail to the brightest WHITEs in today’s JPEG: Linear Burn and Detail Extractor, but all that that did was to gray out the WHITEs. My efforts were a total failure.

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

The group flew from Hokkaido to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport arriving a bit late at 12:25. That left Donna Bourdon, Bev Still, and me with a neat 12 hour layover. With Denise Ipolito we enjoyed yet another great meal; I need to face the tale of the scale soon and it will not be pleasant. After Denise headed for her flights to Toronto and Newark we hung out in the restaurant for several hours. I was plugged in and working on this blog post. As dinner time approached we left and walked and sat. I was feeling really tired and slept like a log on a flat wooden bench for two hours. I would be sleeping still if Donna had not awakened me. It is now 8:42pm in Japan on Wednesday, February 24. We are currently first on line to check in for our fight to LAX.

We are all checked in and will spend the next two hours in the Tiat Lounge before boarding for the 11+ hour flight to LA. I am scheduled to arrive in Orlando around 5am on Thursday the 25th.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 115 days in a row with a new educational blog post. This post took me about 90 minutes to assemble including the time spent on the image optimization. As always–and folks have been doing a great job recently–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated.

Used Photo Gear Stuff

Several old Canon 500mm f/4L IS lenses have sold in the past few days. I just listed another one for sale by Dean Newman for a BAA record low $3775. See also Thomas Kotka’s Canon 200-400mm f/4L IS Lens with Internal 1.4 Extender for the insanely record-low BAA price of $8,450. There are many other great buys on the board; you can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right side of the yellow-orange menu bar above.

A Fitting Finale

Tuesday February 23 began with a wonderful session with the cranes in a river by the secret bridge. After some early morning clouds on the eastern horizon it turned into another blue sky day; we were planning lunch at a nearby sushi/tempura place. But by 11am it turned cloudy so we headed to the nearby sanctuary. We enjoyed our last photography session with Red-crowned Cranes dancing in the snow. Most headed back to the lodge at about 4:30pm but Sam Hogue, Kevin Dowie (from Down Under), and one of the co-leaders, Paul Mckenzie, and I stuck it out till the end when the last cranes left the field. I did make a few nice blurs including a cool zoom blur or two and a few Japanese painting-like vertical pan blurs.

61-Point Automatic Selection AF 5DS R Revelation

DPP 4 Screen Capture for today’s featured image

Note above that 61-Point Automatic Selection AF did a fine job of creating a sharp image through the snowflakes. I have never been thrilled by the performance of 61- or 65-point automatic selection AF with previous Canon camera models. As noted in our Camera User’s Guides, there are situations where Automatic Selection AF can perform well. With the dancing or squabbling cranes we often have one bird on each side of the frame. In the past, I tried Automatic Selection AF in these situations only to be disappointed. I tried again yesterday and noted that the performance of 61-point Automatic Selection AF was vastly improved with the 5DS R as compared to all previous Canon camera bodies. I was quite impressed watching the AF points jump around almost always to good places. And once I acquired focus in the center it held pretty darn well even when I moved the bird to one side of the frame or the other. I wound up using it for most every image and even tried it for flight with pretty good results. All that in a relatively low light/low contrast situation.

5DS R Strategy Pays Off

I am enjoying the whole new 5DS R world. Work wide. Clip fewer wings and enjoy more depth-of-field with the increased camera-to-subject distances. Crop the relatively small in the frame images and wind up with large, high quality image files. Even after the substantial crop the optimized TIFF for today’s featured image came in at 71.9M: 6028 pixels wide by 4171 pixels tall at 300 pixels/inch.

And when you can get closer image quality is off the charts.

If…

If what you have been reading here about the 5DS R inspires you to purchase a 5DS R, please remember to use a BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate link like this one: Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR. It is the best way to thank me for my efforts here on the blog.

Please Remember This

Please remember that purchasing the latest great camera body or the best lens money can buy will not make you a better photographer. To improve as a nature photographer you need to study hard, practice a lot, and look at as many good images as possible. As detailed above there are lots of advantages to having a mega mega-pixel camera body but you need to have honed your sharpness skills to the nth degree to take advantage of the huge files and you need to know how and why to crop to create pleasingly designed images…

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?

As I typed this blog post it was just before 5am in Hokkaido on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 which is just before 3pm on Tuesday February 23 on the east coast. The whole group flies this morning from Hokkaido to Tokyo’s Haneda. After a 12-hour layover I fly with Donna Bourdon and Bev Still to Los Angles on a flight that leaves at 12:05am just after midnight on Thursday February 25th and gets into LAX the day before on Wednesday, February 24! After my 4-hour layover I take a red eye flight to Orlando arriving at 5am on Thursday morning, February 25. Whew. As on the way over, I will take things one breath at a time.

It looks as if two of the eight available slots for Japan 2017 are filled. Please shoot me an e-mail if you are interested or if you wish to learn about couple and IPT repeat customer discount information. I learned this morning that the sale of Phil Frigon’s Canon 200-400 with Internal Extender was finalized. You can see all of the current listings here.

Bird Photography Tips for the Serious Photographer Video

B&H Event Space: Arthur Morris and Denise Ippolito

Some folks have been having trouble accessing the full 1 hour, 38 minute, 19 second version both here and on Facebook and Twitter. The link here seems to work. If you have a problem, please leave a comment.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 114 days in a row with a new educational blog post. This post took me about 60 minutes to assemble including the time spent on the image optimization. As always–and folks have been doing a great job recently–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated.

Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They recently folded. And eBay fees are now in the 14% range. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. Even the prices on the new 600 II and the 200-400 with Internal Extender have been plummeting. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right side of the yellow-orange menu bar above.

New Listings

Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II Lens

South Georgia BAA group veteran Aravind Krishnaswamy is offering a Canon 300mm f/2.8 IS II lens in like-new condition for $4,749. The sale includes the front leather cap, the rear cap, the lens trunk and insured shipping via FedEx priority. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Aravind by e-mail or by phone at 408-341-9332 (Pacific time).

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

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

Thomas Kokta is offering a used Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS lens with Internal Extender in excellent plus condition for the insanely record-low BAA price of $8,450. The lens has only been used twice. The only blemish are (very) tiny marks where the lens plate was attached. The sale includes the lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, the original box and packing stuff, and insured ground shipping via FED-EX Ground to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Thomas via e-mail or by phone at 425-369-9775 (central time).

This is the world’s best lens for a trip to Africa. It kills also in the Galapagos and in South Georgia, the Falklands, and Antarctica. And I use mine a lot at Bosque and other dusty places where the built-in TC helps to keep your sensor clean. The lens sells new at B&H right now for $10,999. You can save $2549 by grabbing Thomas’s lens now. artie

Canon 500mm f/4L IS & 1.4X II TC

BPN Moderator Steve Maxson is offering a used Canon 500 mm f/4L IS USM lens (the old 500) and an EF Extender 1.4XII for a crazy low $3,875. Both are in excellent condition. The lens was recently cleaned and serviced by Canon and has a new focusing motor. There are some cosmetic chips in the paint around the tripod mount and some cosmetic wear in the paint where the lens hood attaches. This sale includes the lens trunk, the carrying strap, the front leather cover, the rear lens cap, a LensCoat, a Really Right Stuff lens plate, the soft case plus the front and rear caps for the TC, and insured shipping (USA only) via UPS Ground.

Please contact Steve via e-mail or phone 218 586-3414 (Central time).

The 500 f/4 lenses have long been the most popular focal length for bird, wildlife, and nature photography. I have owned various iterations of this lens for more than 15 years. I loved my old five. With the TC Steve’s lens is an astounding value. Grab it now or it will be gone. artie

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM Lens

BPN Moderator Steve Maxson is offering a used Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM Lens in excellent condition for $775. There is some cosmetic wear in the paint where the tripod collar attaches; the glass is perfect. This sale includes the front and rear lens caps, a third party tripod collar, a Really Right Stuff lens plate, the soft case, manual, original box, and insured shipping (USA only) via UPS Ground. The lens will not ship until your check clears or other arrangements are made.

Please contact Steve via e-mail or phone 218 586-3414 (Central time).

I used this lightweight intermediate telephoto lens in Norway for birds and for B-roll stuff. It is superbly sharp and extremely versatile. It would be a great buy either for a travel photographer or a beginning to intermediate bird photographer (who cannot at present afford the 100-400 II). artie

Detail Shots: its all in the details…

Many factors went into creating a successful image here:

• I chose my perspective so as to yield a distant background of frosty marsh and to maximize the backlight.
• I opted to angle the camera to introduce a strong diagonal.
• I selected an AF point that would make the leaf sharpest where I wanted it to be.
• I made sure that AF was active at the moment of exposure so that the image would be accurately focused whether a small breeze came up or I shifted position slightly.
• I chose an aperture that would get both the leaf and the frost on the edge of the leaf sharp. If I had it to do again, I would have gone with f/16 at 1/250 second…
• I went to -1/3 stop to eliminate blinkies in the backlit frost.

More Fine Points

• I moved the Shadow Slider to the right to +2 to open up the backlit leaf
• I opted to execute an Original Ratio crop in Photoshop to eliminate the small dark smudge that crept into the upper left corner of the frame.

Learn why I used DPP 4 for all of my RAW conversions here.

A Philosophical Photography Question

Ask yourself, “How careful am I each time that I push the shutter button?”

The Big Secret to Becoming a Better Nature Photographer

The big secret to becoming a better nature photographer is learning to pay attention to small details…

Japan In Winter IPT. February 9-24, 2017: $13,999/double occupancy.

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 enables him to have us in the best location every day.

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. Out stay includes three ten course Japanese dinners these sumptuous meals will astound you and delight your taste buds. There are many traditional hot 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. One 2-night trip to Rausu for Steller’s and White Tailed Sea Eagles on the tourists boats is 100% dependent weather, road, and sea ice conditions. Only our trip offers complete flexibility in this area. It has saved us on more than once occasion. An afternoon of duck photography in the harbor at Rausu is a strong possibility. The cost of 3 eagle-boat trips is included. If the group would like to do more than three boat trips and we all agree, there will be an additional charge for the extra trip or trips. Do understand that few if any tours offer at least one afternoon boat trip….

Lodging notes: bring your long johns for sleeping in the lodge. In Rausu and at the Snow Monkey Park, 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.

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, 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 🙂

Bird Photography Tips for the Serious Photographer B&H Video

B&H just posted the video of the Bird Photography Tips for the Serious Photographer program that Denise Ippolito and I did a while back. There is tons of great info for those who would like to learn. You can access the video here. This should be the first of three. Enjoy and learn.

What’s Up?

On the morning of February 21, 2016 our prayers were answered as we awoke to a foot of fresh snow, our first of the trip. On previous trips it had snowed an average of every day or three. We did quite well that afternoon with the cranes flying and dancing in the field just below our lodge. As always, most everyone in the group including and especially me, enjoyed the hot springs onsen followed by yet another great meal prepared by Shinobu.

Please shoot me an e-mail if you would like to join me in Japan next year, if you have any questions on the trip, or if you would like to learn about either the repeat customer or the couples’ discounts.

The Streak

Today’s blog post marks 111 days in a row with a new educational blog post. This post took me about four hours to assemble including the time spent on the image optimizations. As always–and folks have been doing a great job recently–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated.

Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

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

600 II/5DS R Flight

As first reasoned by Patrick Sparkman, when working with the 5DS R you can work smaller in the frame, have lots of depth of field, not worry about clipping wings, and enjoy fast AF without a TC and wind up with superbly sharp, high quality images that can be cropped to outshine images made with any other Canon dSLR.

If you are not sure you are buying that, study the six full frame RAW files above, note the optimized image crops in #s 1-6 below, and note the detail and image quality on the seven crazy crops: #s 1A to 6A and 2B. Frame rate be damned, I have never seen anything like the images that I produced on February 19. When I shared images the raptors in flight images from that folder with multiple IPT veteran Alejandro Furman on my MacBook Pro with Retina Display, he gasped each and every time I enlarged an image in Photo Mechanic.

Comment and Questions

All comments and questions are of course welcome.

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 🙂