What’s Up?

I spent an hour down by the lake on a foggy Sunday morning. And photographed only vultures.

Today is Sunday 27 November 2022. As I have five tons of work to do, I may not have time to head down to the lake. This blog post took about 90 minutes to prepare and makes two hundred forty-five days in a row with a new, educational post just for you. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

You can find some great photo accessories (and necessities, like surf booties!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks who, like me, spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

Photoshop Ethics and Morality Discussion & Answers

What should you do or not do in Photoshop? As far as I am concerned, you can do whatever you like to create an image that makes you happy. You are the artist and there are no rules or laws governing what you do with your images. Period.

That’s about it for the discussion segment. Now I will address several of the comments in the Eliminating the Orange Bill Blur. And More Eye Doctor Work blog post here.

Bob Eastman/November 25, 2022 at 2:07pm

BE: While it is a nice improvement in my mind, I ask myself how in the world does one get to be sharp on the eye and face and the beak area and with the the rest of the bird all blurred out as shown without some sort of Photoshop skills.

AM/BAA: On rare occasion, really skilled folks can get the head and eye sharp with shutter speeds as slow as 1/15 second. I’ve done it on occasion. To accomplish that, you need to match the speed of the bird in flight with your panning speed. That done, you need a bit of luck. In the Western Gull flight blur, the eye was relatively sharp but the bill and the hind neck were blurred significantly. As there are no laws on the books that prohibit repairing such blurs, I opted to eliminate the orange blur above the bill and re-shape the back of the head. Not to mention re-crafting the eye skin and then adding back the color. Why did I go that route? Because the final image was much stronger and made me happy. Several folks agreed strongly that the final REDO was a big improvement. As you know, I would never enter this image in most of the major contests where such image clean-up is prohibited.

In addition, you do need some Photoshop skills to process your images. And that is equally true for those who consider themselves purists.

BE: It’s like a composite or doctored photo.

AM/BAA: It surely is a doctored image. But it is not a composite. You create a composite by adding a part of one image to another. And again, there are no laws that prohibit either doctoring and image of creating a composite. By the way, I prefer to use the work “optimizing” rather than “doctoring.”

BE: One could say that about every photo shot in raw in a way as you need to move the sliders to create what you saw in your mind and to please you. (All sic).

Still love ya Artie, Always with love b

AM/BAA: Remember that when creating raw files you want to expose well to the right and thus, many of your raw files will appear washed out. Thus, even purists need to move the sliders in order to create a decent looking image. The major contests all permit adjustments to brightness, contrast, and color as long as they are done globally (to the whole image) rather than selectively (to part or parts of the image). Personally, I think that the “global only” restrictions are ridiculous. Folks who truly understand exposure theory as detailed in the Art of Bird Photography would agree. They understand that WHITEs require one stop less light than Middle-tones and that BLACKs and Dark tones need 2/3- to 1-stop more light than Middle-tones (to be properly exposed).

Thanks as always for leaving a comment. See you in Anchorage!

with love, a

Jeff Walters/November 25, 2022 at 2:35pm

JW: I like your corrected version much better and now enjoy this blur.

AM/BAA: Thanks, Jeff. I agree.

JW: I totally agree with Bob’s observations about the blur shot and his overall comments. The “where do you draw the line?” Should we capture nature/life unaltered? How much technical stuff is fair game? And, who sets those rules or guidelines? To each his own, I suppose.

AM/BAA: You hit the nail on the head when you wrote, To each his own, I suppose.. As noted above there are no laws and there are no rules except when you enter a contest.

Here is a good spot for my comments on purists. Purist nature photographers state that they never change anything in their photographs, that they are depicting exactly what they saw in nature. Purists shooting properly exposed raw files that look good right out of the camera are usually under-exposing their images by 1/3 to two or more full stops. Purists shooting JPEGs, however, can achieve their goal.

But here is the rub: once you remove even a speck of a cigarette butt from your grand landscape you are no longer a purist. The line there is very sharp, once you remove anything you are on the slippery slope and I do not want to hear a peep from you. It’s like being pregnant, either you are or you aren’t.

Furthermore, when considering the blurred Western Gull image, I would say that the raw file depicts a pleasingly blurred image of a Western Gull in flight, and that the optimized image epicts a pleasingly blurred image of a Western Gull in flight. The optimized image is just that much prettier.

JW: I know Art you usually point out your touch ups, but I’d guess not always, as your are loving (and we are too) your pursuit of art in your pictures and cleaning up an image or background, etc., makes an image more visually appealing to us all.

AM/BAA: Thanks, Jef. And you are correct. When image clean-up is minimal I will rarely mention it.

JW: If I had all the tools and your technical skills I’m positive I’d be doing the same and probably wondering just how far I could move the pyramids to make a striking shot.

AM/BAA: Understood Jeff. As far as moving the pyramids, I am guessing you are referring to a long ago National Geographic cover. I my memory is correct, the magazine got in trouble for actually moving the pyramids in a film image so that the image design would work as a cover. Many decades ago I had a film image of Canada Geese and the Twin Towers with pink sunset skies that was being considered as NG cover art to accompany an article on nature in NYC. It was rejected because it did not work as a cover vertical. 🙁

JW: Your standards are appreciated and well noted by almost all of your admirers.

AM/BAA: Many thanks and much love, Jeff.

JW: Artie — Happy Day after Thanksgiving. May His Blessings never cease to be poured out over you and all of the BAA community. Much love from the Walters family.

AM/BAA: Thanks, Jeff, and back at you. a

This image was created on 8 January 2022 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing at full height, I used the no-longer available Induro GIT 304L tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with Exposure Compensation on the thumb dial. Shutter Priority +1.7 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 400: 1/2500 sec. at f/8 (wide open). When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file exposure was determined to be dad-solid perfect. AWB at 5:28:11pm with a clear sunset. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed perfectly even at 1200mm. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: the Camera Raw screen capture at the default setting for the Great Egret silhouette flaring in flight image

The Original

Image #1 accurately represents the unprocessed raw file. Sony Tracking Zone AF is quite remarkable even at 1200mm — it allowed me to create the composition that I wanted with the bird perfectly placed in the right side of the frame headed to our left. And the bird is as sharp as the proverbial tack.

The few sharp reeds in the lower right were distracting to me because distinctly sharp elements drag the viewer’s eye from the subject. The reeds were accidentally sharp as they were right on the same plane as the subject and the fast shutter speed prevented them from being blurred. In addition, I did not like the too-bright areas in the lake in the center of the image above the lower frame edge.

This image was created on 8 January 2022 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Standing at full height, I used the no-longer available Induro GIT 304L tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera). The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with Exposure Compensation on the thumb dial. Shutter Priority +1.7 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 400: 1/2500 sec. at f/8 (wide open). When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file exposure was determined to be dad-solid perfect. AWB at 5:28:11pm with a clear sunset. Tracking: Zone AF-C with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed perfectly even at 1200mm. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1A: Great Egret silhouette flaring in flight

The Optimized Image

The colors and tones in the optimized image are pretty much identical to the colors and tones of the original. I used both the Patch Tool and Content-Aware Fill to eliminate the sharp reeds and and all of the blurred reeds that I felt were distracting. I used Tim Grey Dodge and Burn to darken the bright areas of water in the middle of the frame.

As most if not all prestigious photography contests prohibit removing anything from the original frame, I would never even think of entering the the optimized image in one of those. Not to mention that I gave up entering such contests many years ago.

Summing up what I wrote above, the raw file depicts a Great Egret flaring in flight at sunset, and the optimized image depicts a Great Egret flaring in flight at sunset. In almost all cases, I strive to maintain the natural history of an image no matter how much clean-up was done. And when I don’t, I make sure to let everyone know.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II). You can order your copy from the BAA Online Store here, by sending a PayPal for $40 here, or by calling Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand. Be sure to specify Digital Basics II.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II)

The techniques mentioned above and tons more great Photoshop tips and techniques — along with my complete digital workflow, Digital Eye Doctor Techniques, and all my personalized Keyboard Shortcuts — are covered in detail in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.

Folks who learn well by following along rather than by reading can check out the complete collection of MP 4 Photoshop Tutorial Videos by clicking here. Note: most of the videos are now priced at an amazingly low $5.00 each.

You can learn how and why I converted all of my Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide here. More recently, I became proficient at converting my Nikon RAW (NEF) files in Adobe Camera Raw. About three years ago I began converting my Nikon and Sony RAW files in Capture One and did that for two years. You can learn more about Capture One in the Capture One Pro 12 Simplified MP4 Video here. The next step would be to get a copy of Arash Hazeghi’s “The Nikon Photographers’ Guide to Phase One Capture One Pro e-Guide” in the blog post here. Today, I convert my Sony raw files in Photoshop with Adobe Camera Raw.

You can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.

This all-new card includes images created on my JAN 2022 visit to San Diego. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

The 2022/23 San Diego Brown Pelicans (and more!) IPTs

San Diego IPT #1. 3 1/2 DAYS: WED 21 DEC thru the morning session on Saturday 24 DEC 2022. $2099.00. Deposit: $699.00. Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 5.

San Diego IPT #2. 4 1/2 DAYS: SAT 7 JAN thru the morning session on WED 11 JAN 2023: $2699.00. Deposit: $699.00. Limit: 6 photographers/Sold Out.

San Diego IPT #3: 4 1/2 DAYS: THURS 19 JAN thru the morning session on MON 23 JAN 2023: $2699.00. Deposit: $699.00. Limit: 6 photographers.

Please e-mail for information on personalized pre- and post-IPT and In-the-Field Sessions.

Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s (nesting) and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Ducks; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, Northern Shoveler and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heermann’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others are possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals and California Sea Lions (both depending on the current regulations and restrictions). And as you can see by studying the IPT cards, there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well. Not to mention a ton of excellent flight photography opportunities and instruction.

Please note: where permitted and on occasion, ducks and gulls may be attracted (or re-located) with offerings of grains or healthy bread.

San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects, including and especially the Pacific race of California Brown Pelican. With annual visits spanning more than four decades, I have lots of photographic experience there … Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

Learning Exposure, Whether You Like It Or Not

Whether you like it or not, we will be beating the subject of exposure like a dead horse. In every new situation, you will hear my thoughts on exposure along with my thoughts on both Nikon and Canon histograms and SONY Zebras. Whether you like it or not, you will learn to work in manual mode so that you can get the right exposure every time (as long as a bird gives you ten seconds with the light constant). Or two seconds with SONY zebras … And you will learn what to do when the light is changing constantly. What you learn about exposure will be one of the great takeaways on every IPT.

Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT, there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

It Ain’t Just Pelicans

With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography as well, often with 70-200mm lenses! And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication. You will be guided as to how to make the best of those opportunities. Depending on the weather, the local conditions, and the tides, there are a variety of other fabulous photo chances available in and around San Diego.

Did I mention that there are lots of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter? Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

The San Diego Details

These IPTs will include four or five 3-hour morning photo sessions, three or four 1 1/2-hour afternoon photo sessions, and three or four working brunches that will include image review and Photoshop sessions. On rare cloudy days, we may — at the leader’s discretion, stay out in the morning for a long session and skip that afternoon. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility. And so that we can get some sleep, dinners will be on your own as well. In the extremely unlikely event that Goldfish Point is closed due to local ordinance (or whimsy) — that has never happened in the past fifty years, I will of course do my very best to maximize our photographic opportunities.

San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects, including and especially the Pacific race of California Brown Pelican. With annual visits spanning more than four decades, I have lots of photographic experience there … Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

Deposit Info

A $699 deposit is required to hold your slot for one of the 2022/23 San Diego IPTs. You can send a check (made out to “BIRDS AS ART”) to us here: BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855, or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, is due three months before the trip.

Variety is surely the spice of life in San Diego. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

Getting Up Early and Staying Out Late

On all BIRDS AS ART IPTS including and especially the San Diego IPT, we get into the field early to take advantage of unique and often spectacular lighting conditions and we stay out late to maximize the chances of killer light and glorious sunset silhouette situations. We often arrive at the cliffs a full hour before anyone else shows up to check out the landscape and seascape opportunities.

What’s Up?

I got back down to the lake on a foggy Thursday morning, but for birds, it was not as good as Wednesday had been. I found and photographed two different species of wildflowers. Once in a flower mood, I photographed a perfectly gorgeous orchid blossom. The plant had been wired to a magnolia branch by the nice lady who lives in the in the “vulture house.” The vulture house is the last one on Banyan Drive, right before the canal. I had fun and made some very nice images.

The Giants put up a good fight in the first half but wound up as the Dallas Cowboys/ Thanksgiving Turkeys. Bummer, but the Cowboys are simply a much better team.

Today is Friday 25 November 2022. It is foggy again and I will be headed down to the lake at about 7:30am. This blog post took about an hour to prepare and makes two hundred forty-three days in a row with a new, educational post just for you. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

You can find some great photo accessories (and necessities, like surf booties!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks who, like me, spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

This image was created on 18 January 2018 on a San Diego IPT. I used the handheld Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 241mm) and the EOS-1DX Mark II. Shutter Priority +1.3 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 400: 1/15 sec. at f/9 (stopped down 1 1/3 stops). AWB at 7:03:15am on a cloudy morning well before the sun came of the hill. AF Method unknown. Click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1 — the first optimized version of the Western Gull in-flight blur image

I Almost Deleted This One

In the Almost Deleted This One. And the Mother of Invention blog post here, I wrote:

What Bugged Me?

From the start, one thing bugged me about today’s image. It could have been eliminated during the post processing. If you think that you know what it is, please leave a comment.

The first to nail the answer:

Joel Eade/November 23, 2022 at 9:14 am

I think perhaps the thing that bugs you a bit is the yellow patch on top of the bird’s head created by the blurring of it’s bill.

Jim Amato and David Pugsley mentioned the dark area on the (secondary coverts) of the near wing, just in front of the gull’s feet.

The second and third folks to come up smelling roses:

Anthony Ardito/November 23, 2022 at 5:37pm

The bill blur above the bill bugged you. I think the image is beautiful!

Elinor Osborn/November 23, 2022 at 2:17 pm

I agree with Joel. Anyway that blur from the beak does bug me. Otherwise it’s a very beautiful image.

This image was created on 18 January 2018 on a San Diego IPT. I used the handheld Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 241mm) and the EOS-1DX Mark II. Shutter Priority +1.3 stops. AUTO ISO set ISO 400: 1/15 sec. at f/9 (stopped down 1 1/3 stops). AWB at 7:03:15am on a cloudy morning well before the sun came of the hill. AF Method unknown. Click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Western Gull in-flight blur REDO

The REDO

I had barely noticed the the dark area on the near wing; it was eliminated in two seconds using the Patch Tool. The orange blur above the bill was fixed with a large Quick Mask refined by a Regular Layer Mask. The edges were touched with the Clone Stamp Tool at 60% Opacity. That done, the white blur above the hind neck looked unnatural; that was eliminated in the same manner. Next came additional Eye Doctor — sharpening the eye selectively with Topaz Sharpen AI at reduced Opacity and restoring the red color of the eye skin. Working large, the eye skin was selected with the Quick Selection Tool and the color was restored with the Paint Bucket Tool. Last was some work on the dark streaks in front of the bird done with the Patch Tool, Content-Aware Fill, and smoothed a bit with a Gaussian Blur.

What do you think?

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II). You can order your copy from the BAA Online Store here, by sending a PayPal for $40 here, or by calling Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand. Be sure to specify Digital Basics II.

The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II)

The techniques mentioned above and tons more great Photoshop tips and techniques — along with my complete digital workflow, Digital Eye Doctor Techniques, and all my personalized Keyboard Shortcuts — are covered in detail in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.

Folks who learn well by following along rather than by reading can check out the complete collection of MP 4 Photoshop Tutorial Videos by clicking here. Note: most of the videos are now priced at an amazingly low $5.00 each.

You can learn how and why I converted all of my Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide here. More recently, I became proficient at converting my Nikon RAW (NEF) files in Adobe Camera Raw. About three years ago I began converting my Nikon and Sony RAW files in Capture One and did that for two years. You can learn more about Capture One in the Capture One Pro 12 Simplified MP4 Video here. The next step would be to get a copy of Arash Hazeghi’s “The Nikon Photographers’ Guide to Phase One Capture One Pro e-Guide” in the blog post here. Today, I convert my Sony raw files in Photoshop with Adobe Camera Raw.

You can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.