Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

What’s Up?

I had begged John Dupps and Peter Peter Hawrylyshyn who had signed up for the full day on Saturday to stay on for the next morning of the Hooptie Mini IPT. I explained that extending for another session would greatly improve their chances of having one of those very special days. As it turned out, we did pretty good on Saturday but Sunday did in fact turn out to to be one of those very special days…

We were back at the dock before noon and I drove directly home. I enjoyed a swim, had lunch, and got to work editing the 1251 images that I had created on Sunday morning. It seemed that half of those images were of bathing spoonbills…. Continue reading for the rest of the story.

This blog post took about 3 hours to prepare and was published from my home at ILE, FL at 8:26am.

YouTube NHL Feel Good Stuff

Tired of gun toting, wife and child beating, crack smoking NFL and NBA stars? Thanks to older daughter Jennifer for sending me links to some Chicago Blackhawks promotional YouTube videos. The series is entitled “My Goal.”

If the video here does not leave you in tears, you need a new heart. Or a new soul. The one here is pretty special too. As often happens with YouTube stuff, you may become addicted to the related videos. Big kudos to the CME group for developing both the “What’s Your Goal” and the “I am” series.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. 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.

This image was created at 9:45am at Alafia Banks on the partly cloudy morning of March 8, 2015 with the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the amazing Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/800 sec. at f/10. I thought that I was at f/9. AWB. Center AF point (by necessity)/AI Servo/Rear Focus/Expand AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. The active AF point was on the middle of the bird’s bill. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version. Roseate Spoonbill bathing

Oh What a Great 7D II Only Day!

Top student multiple-award winning Clemens van der Werf drove up from West Palm and Donna Bourdon, both who had signed up for the full 1 1/2 days, were aboard. Donna, whose skills are increasing with leaps and bounds on every IPT, had wisely flown down from Chattanooga, TN just for the spoonbills. I hope to share some of her images with you in a blog post here soon. James Shadle and I were joined also by David Snyder from Jupiter, Florida.

We arrived in the dark but the hoped for huge blast-offs of Fish Crows and/or White Ibises never materialized. None-the-less we reviewed the pre-dawn blur techniques and made some nice pan blurs of single birds and small groups. James was able to help David with his Nikon AF settings. Clouds in the east had materialized so we did not get to enjoy any early morning light. But those turned out to be a big blessing later on in the morning. On the way out I had discussed 7D II AF with Clemens. He stated that he felt that the AF was as consistently as good as with the 1D X. Were there times that he did everything right and would wind up with a not-so-sharp-on-the-eye image/ Yes. But he felt that the same thing often happened with one of his two 1D X bodies. In both of those instances he would look in the mirror rather than complain about the camera. I had been having some doubts about consistent AF accuracy with my 7D II bodies but inspired by Clemen’s comments I decided to go 7D II all the way.

Once we got in the water I began trying to create some sharp flight images at f/4, first at ISO 1600 and then at ISO 800. I concentrated hard on keeping the active AF point on the bird’s eye, face, or neck and on panning smoothly while matching the speed of the bird in flight. In other words, back to the basics. We had lots of incoming flight chances. I checked sharpness every few frames and was happy with my decision to go with the 7D II only. I will be posting an image or two from that situation here soon. After a while the action slowed a bit; I went back to the boat and began doing in-camera 7d II HDR images with the 72mm 16-35mm and the Singh-Ray warming circular polarizer. What was I photographing? The amazing cloud formations.

In a bit we decided to make a wiggle and move the boat a bit to west.

Right after we re-anchored the Hooptie and got set up in the water, I spotted a Brown Pelican swooping down to pick up a large piece of brush for its nest. I called it out as it turned into the east wind and flew just to our right. You will see the best one from that series here soon. Everyone decided to stay put but I opted to head back east to check out the Great Blue Heron nest. But several spoonbills flew in just to my left so I decided to give them my attention. I was soon joined by everyone and we enjoyed a solid hour of spoonbills flying in, feeding, bathing, and flapping. I have a wonderful problem: with 91 bathing spoonie keeper images it is nearly impossible to select a few favorites.

I had gone to the 600 II/2X III so as to work as tightly as possible as the backgrounds were less than ideal: black rocks and algae interspersed with patches of sand…. At cloudy bright the light was perfect. While looking for good situations I noticed that a beautiful spoonbill had appeared from nowhere and started to bathe right in front of me, facing of course, right into the east wind. On more than one occasion I buried the 7D II’s most impressive buffer at about 26 frames. In a second or two at most, however, I was back in business. Holding the hammer down, or the pedal to the metal if you would, is something that I do only rarely. As far as yesterday’s “petal to the metal” brain typo, I was really, really tired when I wrote that 🙂 Either that or I was dreaming of flower photography.

Picking Your Keepers

Here are my suggestions for picking your keepers. On the first round of editing, if you are not sure, keep it. On the second round of editing, if you are not sure, delete it. On the third round, if you do not love it, delete it. Yes, that is ruthless.

It Goes Without Saying

If what you read here on the blog inspires you to purchase some new gear, perhaps a 600 II and a 7D II, please remember to use our B&H affiliate links. And please remember, web orders only. Please feel free to send us your gear-related questions via e-mail.

Morro Bay offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects in a variety of attractive settings. Do consider joining me there on the March 20-22, 2015 Canon Destination Workshop. Complete info and register here

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day

The Morro Bay Canon Destination Workshop March 20-22, 2015 has five slots open. To encourage folks to sign up I have planned the following:

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day. Friday March 20: $399.

This in-the-field workshop includes a 4-hour morning photo-session that begins in the pre-dawn, a 2 hour afternoon photo session (3-5pm or so), and a working lunch with image review and some Photoshop. We will finish up in time to attend the Friday evening program that opens the Destination Workshop.

Though you not need to be registered for the Canon event, that would make a lot of sense to me. The Friday evening program is of course open only to those who are signed up for the Destination Workshop. See immediately below for details on that.

BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay, CA Canon Live Learning EOS Destination Workshop
March 20-22, 2015: $1050

Borrow great Canon gear. Head home with a print or two. Learn from the best.

Click here for complete info or to register.

Click here to see the course agenda.

Join me in one of the most beautiful and scenic places on the planet to photograph a large variety of birds of the sea and shore. The star of the show will be the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. There will be lots of Marbled Godwits and Willets as well as lots of the smaller shorebird species. Black Oystercatcher is likely and we should get to photograph large flocks of Western Sandpipers in flight over the bay; with any luck we should enjoy some great sunrise and sunset photography. There are lots of gulls including Western, California, and Mew. There is one good location where we should get to photograph Western, Clarke’s, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, and Common Loon–you will be able to borrow a long lens from Canon along with various camera bodies. We may get to photograph some passerines including Anna’s Hummingbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and White-crowned Sparrow. And we have a chance for several species of raptors. Yikes, I almost forgot California Poppy. And California Ground Squirrel. Sea Otters are also possible.

Folks who register after seeing this notice are asked to shoot me a copy of their BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay Registration Confirmation via e-mail.

See lots more Morro Bay images here.

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We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

…..

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.

Typos

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

What’s Up?

After waking yesterday at 2:41am, before the 3:15am alarm, I drove through thick fog in Polk County but as I got closer to the coast and Fort DeSoto visibility improved a bit. I stopped on the way at my secret spot on Tierra Verde and the Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were there as advertised; see in the Fort DeSoto Site Guide). I shot some 7DII ISO 1600 stuff that I will share with you here soon. DeSoto was great. See more below.

I met part of tomorrow’s group in Brandon and we enjoyed two great hours at a local rookery. This morning is spoonbills and more on the Hooptie Deux with James Shadle.

This blog post took a bit more than an hour to prepare and was published from my hotel room in Brandon, FL at 5:01am.

Store Down

As I type, the BAA Online Store is down. We apologize for any inconvenience and we are of course working on the problem.

This image was created in cloudy bright conditions at 12:18pm on March 6, 2015 at Fort DeSoto. I used the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens (at 400mm) and the Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops as framed: 1/1600 sec. at f/8. Cloudy WB. Center AF point/Shutter Button/AI Servo Expand AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click on the image to see a larger version.

I Could’a Been Famous II

DeSoto was so good on Friday morning that I did not get over to the gull spot until nearly noon. I sat for an hour with a quarter loaf of bread between my legs had a ton of fun concentrating as I had planned on the handsome breeding plumage Ring-billed Gulls. I tried in vain to create some time head portraits of the screaming bossy birds but as you can see above, their movements are so fast and unpredictable as they incorporate a variety of head throws…. Heck, I tried.

Morro Bay offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects in a variety of attractive settings. Do consider joining me there on the March 20-22, 2015 Canon Destination Workshop. Complete info and register here

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day

The Morro Bay Canon Destination Workshop March 20-22, 2015 has five slots open. To encourage folks to sign up I have planned the following:

Morro Bay Pre-Canon Destination Workshop In-the-field Day. Friday March 20: $399.

This in-the-field workshop includes a 4-hour morning photo-session that begins in the pre-dawn, a 2 hour afternoon photo session (3-5pm or so), and a working lunch with image review and some Photoshop. We will finish up in time to attend the Friday evening program that opens the Destination Workshop.

Though you not need to be registered for the Canon event, that would make a lot of sense to me. The Friday evening program is of course open only to those who are signed up for the Destination Workshop. See immediately below for details on that.

BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay, CA Canon Live Learning EOS Destination Workshop
March 20-22, 2015: $1050

Borrow great Canon gear. Head home with a print or two. Learn from the best.

Click here for complete info or to register.

Click here to see the course agenda.

Join me in one of the most beautiful and scenic places on the planet to photograph a large variety of birds of the sea and shore. The star of the show will be the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. There will be lots of Marbled Godwits and Willets as well as lots of the smaller shorebird species. Black Oystercatcher is likely and we should get to photograph large flocks of Western Sandpipers in flight over the bay; with any luck we should enjoy some great sunrise and sunset photography. There are lots of gulls including Western, California, and Mew. There is one good location where we should get to photograph Western, Clarke’s, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, and Common Loon–you will be able to borrow a long lens from Canon along with various camera bodies. We may get to photograph some passerines including Anna’s Hummingbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and White-crowned Sparrow. And we have a chance for several species of raptors. Yikes, I almost forgot California Poppy. And California Ground Squirrel. Sea Otters are also possible.

Folks who register after seeing this notice are asked to shoot me a copy of their BIRDS AS ART Morro Bay Registration Confirmation via e-mail.

See lots more Morro Bay images here.

Fort DeSoto Site Guide

Can’t make the IPT? Get yourself a copy of the Fort DeSoto Site Guide. Learn the best spots, where to be when in what season in what weather. Learn the best wind directions for the various locations. BAA Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. You can see all of them here.

Facebook

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Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

…..

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.

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 :).

Stuff

Everything came together yesterday and somewhat surprisingly I was able to finish the 7D II User’s Guide by mid-morning. I have even begun trying to catch up on e-mails…. And I did have time for a longer than usual swim, my core exercises, and an ice bath.

This blog post took about 1 1/2 hours to prepare if you do not include the hundreds of hours that I spent working on the 7D II Guide. It was published at 4:40am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL.

The 7D Mark II User’s Guide is now available. You can purchase your copy right now in the BAA Online Store here for $59.

7D Mark II User’s Guide Now Available

BIRDS AS ART is proud to announce the publication of the long-awaited 7D Mark II User’s Guide. You can purchase your copy right now in the BAA Online Store here for $59. This is the highest priced user’s guide ever, surpassing the 5D II User’s Guide that is priced at $50. Why? I did twice as much work preparing the 7D II Guide. It required many days of writing, many dozens of hours of study and research, not to mention hundreds of hours in the field trying to figure out the best 7D II setting while doing what I love to do best, photographing birds and nature. The camera is quite complex. Many thanks to both Rudy Winston and Chuck Westfall of Canon USA for their help in getting me through the stickiest parts.

The guide contains 23,196 words in 516 paragraphs. There are 24 photos and screen captures interspersed in the main body of the text and a gallery of 23 additional 7D II images that show what the camera is capable of with a variety of lens and lens/TC combinations. We would love your feedback.

The Great Strength of the 7D Mark II User’s Guide

The very great strength of the 7D Mark II User’s Guide is the coverage of the autofocus system. I review in detail all of the items on the five pink AF Menus. Most important of these is the Custom Case setting (at AF 1) that I have developed over time and currently use for all of my bird photography. On the recently concluded Hooptie Deux Spoonbills and more IPT John Johnson of Naples, FL mentioned that he was having trouble producing sharp flight images. I set up my Custom Case on his camera, and within minutes he was amazed at the sharp results that he was getting…. While skill, strength, fine motor control, and superior hand eye coordination are all factors that will influence your success as a flight photographer, you can have all of the preceding in spades but if your camera is not set up properly much of your effort will be in vain….

What Else is in the Guide?

In the 7D Mark II User’s Guide you will learn everything that I know about the important topics listed below, and better yet, I explain the options for each along with my reasons for choosing a specific setting in a specific situation.

Handling the WHITEs
The top LCD and all camera control buttons
7D Mark II drive modes
How to manually select an AF sensor
Choosing an AF Area Selection Mode; how and why (includes extensive detail)
Moving the AF point or Zone
The creation of in-camera Multiple Exposures and in-camera HDR images (includes extensive detail)
Live View Shooting and AF choices (all new in the 7D II)
Menu Item Access
Coverage of almost all Menu Items and Custom Functions including the following: Image Quality, Auto Lighting Optimizer, Lens aberration corrections settings, Highlight Tone Priority, AF Configuration Tool (as above, this includes details on the custom setting that I use), Acceleration/deceleration tracking, Tracking sensitivity, Lens drive when AF impossible, Orientation linked AF point (I love this feature), Highlight alert, Histogram display–do you know how to access both histograms at once?, Auto rotate, Image Jump, LCD Brightness, Info button display options, Custom Shooting Modes set-up, ISO Safety shift, using the Q button, setting up rear focus, and setting up your My Menu feature (among others).

The guide is–of course–written in my informal, easy-to-follow style.

Please note: Some Menu items are not covered in this guide for one of several reasons:

They deal only with the creation of movies (not covered)
They are irrelevant to nature photography.
After spending hours studying the 7D II Instruction Manual and consulting others I have no clue as to the purpose or the reason for the existence of a given feature.

Though I recommend that the irrelevant and confusing items be left at the default settings, I do, in most cases, I refer you to the relevant page in the 7D II Instruction Manual. If you follow up, it just might turn out that you are a lot smarter than me. In those cases I would love to hear from you via e-mail. So far none of the above have prevented me from creating many spectacular images with my 7D II.

Please note that this guide does not contain a table of contents or an index. To search the document for a given topic simply hit Control F to search. When the Find box pops up, simply type the term that you are looking for into the field and hit Next. This will allow you to find what you are looking for quickly and efficiently.

If you purchase the 7D II UG and it helps you to create better images, please feel free to send no more than two 1200 pixel wide or 900 pixel tall sharpened JPEGs to me via e-mail along with your comments. I will be glad to do a short critique if so requested.

Otherwise, feedback via e-mail or blog comment is always appreciated.

7D Mark II User’s Guide Free Excerpt

The free excerpt below was adapted from the published version of the 7D Mark II User’s Guide. It gives you an idea of the depth of coverage you can expect. From page 48 of the guide under On “AF1: AF config. Tool,” the first pink Menu (with the camera set to P, Tv, Av, or M):

AF point auto switching

Setting this one to 2 allows the camera to switch AF points more quickly if the subject moves dramatically left or right or up or down. Setting it to 0 might be best for highly skilled flight photographers who are able to consistently keep the center AF point on the bird’s face. Though that is not me I have been experimenting here by setting 0, 1, or 2. Note: this setting has no effect if you are using single point—manual selection. I set Case 3 (with my custom settings) for pretty much all of my flight and action photography, heck, for all of my bird photography. Remember: AF point auto switching settings will have no effect when you are in either Single Point or Spot AF.
My custom settings for Case 3, and, in fact, all of my AF settings, have worked beautifully for birds in flight with the EOS-1D X, the 5D Mark III, and most recently, with the 7D Mark II.

Please note that the above does not mean that every flight shot will be razor sharp on the bird’s eye. While many folks will look to blame the camera’s AF system, the problem often lies with the operator. Did you get the AF point on the bird soon enough so that it had time to track? Were you panning smoothly? Did you jerk the lens at some point? There are times when the active AF point is right on the birds’ eye, face, or neck and the image is not sharp for one of the reason’s mentioned immediately above. And at times, there is simply not enough contrast for the system to acquire and track successfully. The white breast or neck of a Snow Goose, especially in soft light is a perfect example of when that problem might pop up. Lastly, as a sort of payback there are many times when the active AF point is nowhere near the subject but the image is razor sharp….

My custom settings for Case 3, and, in fact, all of my AF settings, have worked beautifully for birds in flight with the EOS-1D X, the 5D Mark III, and most recently, with the 7D Mark II.

Please note that the above does not mean that every flight shot will be razor sharp on the bird’s eye. While many folks will look to blame the camera’s AF system, the problem often lies with the operator. Did you get the AF point on the bird soon enough so that it had time to track? Were you panning smoothly? Did you jerk the lens at some point? There are times when the active AF point is right on the birds’ eye, face, or neck and the image is not sharp for one of the reason’s mentioned immediately above. And at times, there is simply not enough contrast for the system to acquire and track successfully. The white breast or neck of a Snow Goose, especially in soft light is a perfect example of when that problem might pop up. Lastly, as a sort of payback there are many times when the active AF point is nowhere near the subject but the image is razor sharp….

Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT

There is not much time left! Please call us at 863-692-0906 for late registration discount info.

The Hooptie Roseate Spoonbill Mini-IPT announced on Wednesday past has two full slots left. Please call us at 863-692-0906 or e-mail with questions or to check on availability. See yesterday’s blog post here and scroll down for complete details and rates and for the skinny on our morning and Saturday-only rates.

E-mail from Wilfred (Willy) Marissen, the smiling Dutchman

Hi Artie, I just wanted to drop you a note and say thanks. I had a great time on the DeSoto In-the-Field Add-on and it was very nice to meet you after all these years of following your bulletins and blog stories! The Photoshop session was also very valuable. It was great to see the words of the Digital Basics File in action. Thanks again and perhaps we’ll meet each other again in the future. Cheers, Willy

Comment by Cris Hamilton

Cris was a participant on the recently concluded Hooptie Spoonbill IPT:

I was fortunate enough to be a participant in the Hooptie Deux/DeSoto class, which ended on Friday past. It was so much fun and I learned TONS!!! Thank you, thank you, Artie!!!!! And thank you to James Shadle, the master boat commander. James is a vital and fun part of this duo. Super great guy. And, thanks to the other participants for putting up with all my questions!!! 🙂 We had a great group and a super time.

Facebook

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

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

…..

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.

Typos

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

What’s Up?

I spent most of yesterday hard at work on the 7D Mark II Users Guide that so many are clamoring for. I got a ton done and will continue my efforts today. I did have time for a nice swim and an ice bath.

This blog post, which took about 2 hours to prepare, was published at 7:29am from my home in Indian Lake Estates on yet another foggy morning.

Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT

Not much time left!

The Hooptie Roseate Spoonbill Mini-IPT announced on Wednesday past has two full slots left. Please call us at 863-692-0906 or e-mail with questions or to check on availability. Scroll down here for details and prices and for the skinny on our morning and Saturday-only rates.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. 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.

Canon’s Two New 50+ Megapixel Camera Bodies

Many of you have read about the two new Canon 50+ megapixel bodies, the Canon EOS 5DS DSLR and the Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR. The two cameras look, sound, and pretty much are quite similar. I have withheld commenting until now because I did not have a good–heck, I did not have any–understanding of the single difference between the two bodies, that being the Low-Pass Filter Effect Cancellation.

If you missed the hugely popular “Canon’s Two New 50+ Megapixel Camera Bodies/You Must Read This Before You Buy,” you can click here to catch up and learn a ton to boot.

This image was created in cloudy conditions on February 23, 2105 on the Hoopite Deux SPoonbills and More IPT with the tripod-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 2/3 stops off the light grey sky worked out to -2 1/3 stops as framed: 1/1250 sec. at f/4. A quick histogram check showed a perfect exposure. Four AF points above the center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Some who click on the image may enjoy a larger version.

Teleconverter in the Waders Pouch

I had been working with the 600II/1.4X II/7D II rig doing large-in-the-frame verticals of Roseate Spoonbills. But when I saw the long line of pink reflections in the mangrove dark green water I knew that I needed to work wider. So I turned off the camera (to reduce the chance of attracting sensor dust), removed the TC, carefully placed it in the pouch of my neoprene waders, re-mounted the camera, and even remembered to turn the camera back on, something I rarely do…. I metered off the sky as above and was good to go. I had made only a very few frames when the relatively distant bird took flight bound for who-knows-where.

I moved around quite a bit in an effort to find different perspectives on other birds. Note: good photographers are almost constantly moving around in the field. At one point I noticed that I was in water almost to the top of my waders. Ooops. The pouch that the 1.4X III TC was in, along with a 25mm extension tube, was anything but waterproof. I looked down to see the two important items floating in the saltwater that had of course filled the pouch. I went back to the boat, rinsed them both in the fresh water in the cooler, and set them on a towel in the sun to dry. When I got back to the hotel, I placed both items in the far end of a pillowcase placed on a counter, put the hotel hair dryer in the open end of the pillowcase, put it on the low setting, and left it on for 30 minutes.

The end result: the extension tube is fine, the 1.4X III TC is toasted. As TCs are such an important part of what I do, I always travel with three 1.4X III TCs and two 2X III TCs. Thus, I was able to reach into my Think Tank Rolling Bag (click on the link in the right hand column of each blog post for details on those) and grab another 1.4X III. I will be replacing the toasted one today.

Is the Image Above Art? Or Not?

All are invited to share their thoughts either way.

Images courtesy of and copyright Captain James Shadle (aka Froggie). All of the images here were created at Alafia Banks. Card creation and design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

The Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Mini IPT. 1 1/2 DAYs: $1250. SAT MAR 7 (full day) and SUN Morning MAR 8, 2015. Working lunch on Saturday included. Strict Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 2

Either morning photo session only: $475. Saturday morning photo session plus working lunch: $525. Saturday Full Day: $775.

Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Arthur Morris.

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in early March is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage….

Weather permitting there will be three boat trips: 2 mornings and 1 afternoons. Mornings at Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography with the birds likely carrying nesting material), cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we will get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. The afternoon trip will be either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes one working lunch.

Important Notes

We stay in Brandon, FL for this IPT. From our hotel it is only about 20 minutes to the dock. The plan is for all sessions to be by boat. For the Alafia Banks segments, Captain Shadle provides light weight chest waders as much of the photography will be done while we are standing in fairly shallow water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with balance problems. Note however that some folks may opt to stay on the boat. They always have lots of good chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

This mini Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity. It may fill quickly. We hope that you can join us. Scroll down for registration info.

All of the images here were created at Alafia Banks early in the season. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Card creation and design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

Hooptie Mini-IPT Registration Info

Payment in full for this short notice trip is of course due upon registration. Call the office at 863-692-0906 to arrange to send us a check for payment in full (preferred) or to put the whole thing on a credit card. If by check, it should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and be mailed to BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee.

However you arrange for payment, please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with the paperwork. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Facebook

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

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

…..

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.

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?

On yet another dark, dingy morning I left the hotel at 7:00am and headed to DeSoto. Though rain in the area was forecast for about 9am it began drizzling pretty hard as I got near the turn to the park so I just kept on driving. With no traffic I arrived home in one hour 50 minutes, pretty much a record. Spent the day working on e-mails and images. And this blog post. This one took close to five hours to prepare and was published from my home at Indian Lake Estates, Florida at 7:09am.

After breakfast I will spend some serious time working on the 7D Mark II User’s Guide.

Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT

The Hooptie Roseate Spoonbill Mini-IPT announced on Wednesday now has only two slots left. See our morning and Saturday-only rates below. Scroll down for additional details. Please e-mail me to check on availability. See yesterday’s blog post for prices and details.

Comment from Cris Hamilton

Cris was a participant on the recently concluded Hooptie Spoonbill IPT:

I was fortunate enough to be a participant in the Hooptie Deux/DeSoto class, which ends, sadly, tomorrow (Fri 27th). It’s been so much fun and I have learned TONS!!! Thank you, thank you, Artie!!!!! And thank you to James Shadle, the master boat commander. James is a vital and fun part of this duo. Super great guy. And, thanks to all the other participants for putting up with all my questions!!! 🙂 We had a great group and a super time.

Estero Help Needed

I have heard from several folks that Little Estero Lagoon on Fort Myers Beach is very poor at best this year, that the lagoon has been cut off from the Gulf, is mostly dry, and that there are very few if any birds present. If you have visited recently I would appreciate your leaving a comment and sharing your experience with us.

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. Click here for complete details.

This image was created on a foggy morning in LaJolla CA on February’s San Diego IPT with the hand held Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens (at 160mm) and the Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 stops off the distant green water background: 1/800 sec. at f/2.8 in Manual mode. Cloudy WB. Center AF point (manual selection)/AI Servo Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure (as is mandatory with flying birds). The active AF point fell on the bird’s right eye as originally framed. Click on the image to see a larger version. Incoming Brandt’s Cormorant Notice how the bird is concentrating intently on its chosen landing site. Having the bird perfectly framed by the base of the cliffs in the background was serendipitous.

Canon 7D II Low Light Questions…

In the “Canon 600 II/1.4X III/7D II Wings Raised, Early Morning Light Roseate Spoonbill Image” blog post here, I wrote, “I have come to realize that the 7D II is at its best when the sun is out. With the fog and clouds I have turned most often to my 1D X bodies.”

The First Question

Max Warner asked a good question in the Comments section:

The first question

The Follow-up Question

Then Don Thompson asked a follow-up question; the interesting exchange below followed.

The follow-up conversation

The First 7D II Low Light Image/Many More to Come

Yes. AF accuracy with the 1D X is a bit more consistent than with the 7D II. And noise is a bit lower with the 1D X. And the colors in dreary light are a bit more vibrant with the 1D X. But there are many rejoinders…. Wouldn’t you expect AF to be a bit better with a camera that costs $4200 more? Noise is easily dealt with during the RAW conversion in DPP and the color just as easily juiced up (without overdoing it) in post processing. The latter for me is in Photoshop.

And most importantly for me, operator error or the lack thereof is a far greater factor in the success or failure of my flight photography attempts than the small differences in AF tracking accuracy. In other words, with either camera when I get the AF point on the bird’s eye, face, or neck and acquire focus at just the right time so that the system tracks properly, the resulting images will be sharp regardless of which camera I am using. Or lens.

The Answer

Today’s image shows unequivocally that the 7D II in dismal light can create sharp, high quality images with nice color, even of birds in flight. Note: Except if referring to the eye, I would never use the word “vibrant” when referring to a winter plumage Brandt’s Cormorant 🙂

Stay tuned as I will be sharing many more 7D II low light images to bolster the case that I make above.

Announced today: Perfect timing for Dave. Save $300 on the 5D Mark II/24-105 kit by clicking here. Or save $300 on my favorite landscape/in-camera HDR/Palouse camera body alone by clicking here.

Canon 100-400mm IS II and/or a Canon 70-200mm L IS Lens?

Long-time BIRDS AS ART/A Creative Adventure friend and client Dave Klein e-mailed recently:

I believe I will make my first foray away from the the dark side and order the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens/Canon EOS 5D Mark III combo. I will wait till after my Florida trip to move everything else along but I am wondering, with the release of the new 100-400 II, would I need or miss having a 70-200 2.8? I have had Nikon’s latest version of the 70-200 for quite a while, but since acquiring the 80-400 VR II two years ago, I have almost never used it…. What are your thoughts? Just wondering; all of my purchases will be made using your B&H links. Thanks. Dave

Note: Dave who has been using Nikon gear since Day One is 99.9% committed to making the switch to Canon.

Several others who own the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens have asked about the 70-200s….

Here are my thoughts.

Those who own a 100-400 II along with the venerable 24-105mm as their all-purpose short zoom lens will of course enjoy complete focal length coverage from 24-400mm. Those like me who own the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens will have a focal length gap from 70-100mm. That would likely affect landscape folks a lot more than bird photographers. For folks who own both lenses, the new 100-400 and one of the 70-200 f/2.8s, complete focal length coverage is not the only consideration: the elephant in the room here of course is lens speed. The 100-400II is relatively slow with a maximum aperture of f/5.6 at the longer focal lengths. That gives any of the Canon 70-200 f/2.8s a huge edge with their larger maximum apertures.

Note: the focal length gap for Nikon folks who one the 80-200mm VR II is much smaller: 10mm is as close to insignificant as you can get.

Folks might also miss their 70-200s in a few specific situations at Bosque (or in similar situations elsewhere). First, they might miss the extra 30mm of wide end overage when attempting to frame either blast offs or bird-scapes. In addition, they might miss the speed of their 70-200 f/2.8 lenses on days with very early pre-dawn color.

As noted in the paragraph above, there are times when fast lenses earn their keep; today’s featured image is a perfect example. It was foggy and dark with lots of cormorants flying right at us and landing at close range. Realizing that before leaving my rental vehicle I put the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens in the large rear pouch of my X-trahand vest. In addition to the 70-200 I also had my new 100-400 II with me on the cliffs that morning. With the dismal light and the birds at close range, the 70-200 f/2.8 was the obvious best tool for the job. I went with the 7D II in part for the extra reach and in part to experiment.

Why was the 70-200 the best choice in this situation? In order to get the same shutter speed (a marginal 1/800 sec.) at f/5.6 ,I would have needed to go to ISO 3200…. That is not something that I would be quick to do with the 7D II. As I am fine working at the wide open aperture for flight photography, I set the lens opening to f/2.8 and work at a relatively safe ISO 800.

The Other Canon 70-200mm

With the availability of the Canon 100-400mm II zoom lens, an older version of the 70-200 comes boldly into the conversation. The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens just might be the perfect complement to those owning the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. The f/4 version of the 70-200 is 1.61 pounds lighter than the f/2.8 version. In terms of size and bulk it is relatively tiny when compared to its faster, heftier cousin. It is far easier to travel with and far easier to hand hold during extended flight photography sessions. On last year’s UK Puffins & Gannets IPT most folks could barely raise their 70-200mm f/2.8s after the first hour. The 70-200mm f/4L IS is only a stop slower. A drawback for folks doing landscapes and bird-scapes is that a tripod collar is not included with your purchase. The Canon Tripod Mount Ring A-2 for 70-200mm f/4L is an optional accessory.

Whether or not I sell my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, I will surely have the lighter, smaller f/4 version in my hands on the gannet boat next July.

Please Support the Blog

If what you learned here today helped you decide which camera or lens would be best for you, please consider using our B&H affiliate links to make your purchases. Doing so will not cost you one cent more and is a great way to thank me for my efforts here on the blog.

Images and card design copyright 2014: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

The 2015 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT
June 29 through July 5, 2015: $5499: Limit 10 photographers/One opening due to a recent cancellation. Two great leaders: Denise Ippolito and Arthur Morris.

Here are the plans: take a red eye from the east coast of the US on 28 June arriving in Edinburgh, Scotland on the morning of Monday 29 June (or simply meet us then either at the Edinburgh Airport (EDI) or later in the day at our cottages if you are driving your own vehicle either from the UK or from somewhere in Europe. Stay 7 nights in two gorgeous modern country cottages.

There are 5 days of planned puffin/seabird trips—weather permitting, and 1 full day of gannet photography with 2 sessions on the boat.

Images and card design copyright 2014: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version.

The Details

We will be staying in upscale country-side cottages that are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for image sharing and Photoshop lessons. The shared rooms are decent-sized, each with two roomy single beds and a private bathroom. See the single supplement info below.

All breakfasts, lunches and dinners are included. All 5 puffins boat lunches will need to be prepared in advance, taken with, and consumed at your leisure. I usually eat mine on the short boat trip from one island to the other. Also included is a restaurant lunch on the gannet boat day and a farewell fine dining thank you dinner. The cost of your National Heritage Trust is also included; that covers the twice a day landing fees.

Plan to fly home on the early morning of Monday 6 July or to continue your stay or travels.

Images and card design copyright 2014: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Click on the card to enjoy a spectacular larger version. Scroll down to join us in the UK in 2015.

Single Supplement Info

The single supplement is $1475. As we will be renting a third cottage the $1475 is due with your deposit and is also non-refundable.

If you are good to go please send your $2,000 deposit check now to save a spot. The balance will be due on March 29, 2015. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee. 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.

We do hope that you can join us.

Used Photography Gear

You can see the complete list by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photography Gear for Sale tab on the second gold tool bar at the top of each blog page.

Today’s Relevant Featured Items

Used Canon EOS-1D X

Sold immediately as predicted!

Gary Meyer is offering a used Canon EOS-1D X in mint condition for only $4,450.00. The shutter count is only 5335. The sale includes an extra battery, the front cap, the original box and packaging along with all manuals, cords and CDs. Also included is insured shipping via UPS Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made. Paypal OK.

Please contact Gary by e-mail or by phone at 612-221-0150 (8am to 10pm Central time).

As a new 1D X sells for $5999, this one should sell instantly with the price drop. I currently own two EOS-1D X bodies and will not be selling either one soon. Super-fast frame rate, full frame body, rugged construction, vibrant, accurate colors, high quality image files, very good high ISO performance, and the world’s best AF system. The world’s best flight photographers choose and use the 1D X. artie

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Mk II Lens

Price reduced $51 on 1/27/2015!

Muir Robertson is offering a used Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Mk II lens in like-new condition for $1799. The sale includes the original box and accessories and includes a Really Right Stuff lens foot and insured ground shipping to lower 48 US addresses.

Interested folks please contact Muir first by e-mail and then by phone at 513-314-2471.

As regular readers know the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II lens is with me every time I head into the field. It is amazingly versatile. I use mine often alone and with either TC. artie

I currently own two EOS-1D X bodies and will not be selling either one soon. Super-fast frame rate, full frame body, high quality image files, high ISO performance, and the world’s best AF system. The world’s best flight photographers choose and use the 1D X. artie

Facebook

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

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

…..

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.

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 Hooptie IPT lucked out on our last morning… I awoke early on Thursday, even for me. I peeked out the window of my hotel room to see torrential rain with the palm trees whipping in the wind. The Tampa TV weather noted that it would be “a rainy morning with thunderstorms followed by a front bringing cold northwest winds…. “Looks and sounds like a Photoshop morning,” I thought. James called me at 5:25am and said, “The weather looks to be improving. Let’s hold for one hour. As James knew just where to put us with the NW wind we enjoyed some great spoonbill photography with lots of landing flight opportunities.

The first afternoon of the DeSoto Add-On IPT was a big success. This time it was my turn to know just where to be and we were rewarded with about a dozen species of tame shorebirds, some tame gulls and terns, and some tame herons and egrets.

This blog post took 2 hours to prepare and was published at 4:39am from my hotel room in St. Petersburg Beach, FL.

Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT

The Hooptie Roseate Spoonbill Mini-IPT announced on Wednesday now has just three slots left. See our morning and Saturday-only rates below. Scroll down for additional details.

Comment from Cris Hamiltion

Cris was a participant on the recently concluded Hooptie Spoonbill IPT:

I was fortunate enough to be a participant in the Hooptie Deux/DeSoto class, which ends, sadly, tomorrow (Fri 27th). It’s been so much fun and I have learned TONS!!! Thank you, thank you, Artie!!!!! And thank you to James Shadle, the master boat commander. James is a vital and fun part of this duo. Super great guy. And, thanks to all the other participants for putting up with all my questions!!! 🙂 We had a great group and a super time.

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. Click here for complete details.

Save $242

Register before the end of the month for the South Georgia trip and receive a $242 discount on your return airfare. Please e-mail for details.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. 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.

This image was created at 7:48am at Alafia Banks on the clear morning of February 22, 2015 with the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop off the light blue sky 30 degrees above the horizon: 1/1250 sec. at f/6.3. AWB. Three AF points to the right of the center AF point/AI Servo/Rear Focus/Expand AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Canon 600 II/1.4X III/7D II Wings Raised, Early Morning Light Roseate Spoonbill Image

I have come to realize that the 7D II is at its best when the sun is out. With the fog and clouds I have turned most often to my 1D X bodies.

With today’s featured image the 7D II shined in early morning light.

The Image Optimization

I went without a nap on Wednesday so that I could share my optimization and clean-up techniques with the group. What would usually take me about 30 minutes took nearly an hour with the teaching and explanations added in.

For the clean-up work seen in the before and after animated GIF above I used several Quick Masks that were refined with Layer Masks and several Denise Ippolito Protective Cloning on a Layer layers. In addition I used my own Divide and Conquer technique (Clone Stamp Tool to divide and Patch Tool to conquer). Note also that I was able to control the hot WHITEs, first during conversion in DPP and then in Photoshop with NIK Detail Extractor and finally with a bit of Patch Tool work. Last was a bit of Eye Doctor work and a Contrast Mask on the bird’s face and bill.

Digital Basics

Everything that I did to optimize today’s 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, Contrast Masks, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, how to create time-saving actions, the Surface Blur (background noise reduction) settings as taught to me by Denise Ippolito, and tons more.

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. 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 only. Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays to order.

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

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)

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.

Images courtesy of and copyright Captain James Shadle (aka Froggie). All of the images here were created at Alafia Banks. Card creation and design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

The Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Mini IPT. 1 1/2 DAYs: $1250. SAT MAR 7 (full day) and SUN Morning MAR 8, 2015. Working lunch on Saturday included. Strict Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 3

Either morning photo session only: $475. Saturday morning photo session plus working lunch: $525. Saturday Full Day: $775.

Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Arthur Morris.

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in early March is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage….

Weather permitting there will be three boat trips: 2 mornings and 1 afternoons. Mornings at Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography with the birds likely carrying nesting material), cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we will get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. The afternoon trip will be either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes one working lunch.

Important Notes

We stay in Brandon, FL for this IPT. From our hotel it is only about 20 minutes to the dock. The plan is for all sessions to be by boat. For the Alafia Banks segments, Captain Shadle provides light weight chest waders as much of the photography will be done while we are standing in fairly shallow water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with balance problems. Note however that some folks may opt to stay on the boat. They always have lots of good chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

This mini Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity. It may fill quickly. We hope that you can join us. Scroll down for registration info.

All of the images here were created at Alafia Banks early in the season. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Card creation and design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

Hooptie Mini-IPT Registration Info

Payment in full for this short notice trip is of course due upon registration. Call the office at 863-692-0906 to arrange to send us a check for payment in full (preferred) or to put the whole thing on a credit card. If by check, it should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and be mailed to BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee.

However you arrange for payment, please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with the paperwork. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Super Price Drops

B&H is offering huge discounts on the original EOS-7D. Have you discounted this camera? Before you quit on it, be sure to check out the images created by Dan Cadiuex here and by Sally Sue South here. Both used the 7D and “only” the original 100-400…. Click here for details or to purchase.

EOS-7D Kit with the 28-135 Zoom Lens

Same great camera body plus the versatile 28-135mm zoom lens. Click here for details or to purchase.

Facebook

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

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

…..

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.

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?

More spoonbills. Tons of pelican flight. Tons of fog. Tons of learning about exposure. Lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s. A great Photoshop session. And an hour of fine land-based photography at a local rookery.

This blog post took 2 hours to prepare and was published at 3:50am from my hotel room in Brandon, FL.

Not Too Late!

It’s not too late to join us for some great in-the-field instruction at Fort DeSoto: 2 photo sessions and a working lunch. This coming Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Scroll down for details.

Hooptie Spoonbill Mini-IPT

The Hooptie Roseate Spoonbill Mini-IPT announced yesterday signed up two folks. There are just four slots left. Scroll down for details.

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. Click here for complete details.

Save $242

Register before the end of the month for the South Georgia trip and receive a $242 discount on your return airfare. Please e-mail for details.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. 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.

This image was created on the foggy morning of February 24, 2015 at Alafia Banks, FL with the tripod-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 1/3 stops off the white sky: 1/2500 sec. at f/4. Central AF point (manual selection)/AI Servo Shutter Button AF as originally framed fell on the diamond on the bird’s neck and was of course active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

The Situation: Lucky, Lucky!

It began as a warm, still, foggy morning so I wore my lightweight waders, my surf booties, and a lightweight sun protection blouse. After a few hours, some sea fog rolled in on a southwest wind and I became chilled. I kept threatening to switch to my thick neoprene waders and finally did. After I changed and got back off the Hooptie Deux to join the group in the water I picked a spot, planted my tripod in the bottom, and set my exposure to 2 1/3 stops off the white sky. A moment after being ready a pelican flew in from right to left. Just as I acquired focus the bird extended its neck, raised its head, and shook it. I fired off two frames. The first frame, today’s featured image, had the most pleasing wing position and the sharpest face. so violently did the pelican shake its head that even at 1/2500 the second image in the series suffered from motion blur.

I knew that I had nailed the focus and knew that the exposure was right so I was elated even before I looked at the two images on the rear LCD.

Talk about lucky. Step up to the plate and hit a grand slam on the first pitch. You gotta love it. I had seen this behavior before many times but had never photographed it. It is good to know that an old, slow dog can find a bone once in a while….

This JPEG represents the RAW file as it came out of the camera.

The Image Optimization

After converting the image in DPP 4, I brought it into Photoshop and did a Levels adjustment. That alone resulted in a dramatic improvement. Next I used a Quick Mask refined with a Layer Mask to eliminate the bits of sky from the upper right corner. Then I moved the bird down in the frame a bit, cropped from the bottom, ran my NIK 50-50 recipe on the bird only, applied a contrast mask to the bird’s face, and replaced the closed eye using a refined Quick Mask. The eye was borrowed from another pelican image. Learn advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Layer Masking and how to move a bird in the frame I used a technique from APTATS II. The rest is detailed in Digital Basics.

Digital Basics

Everything that I did to optimize both of today’s images 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, Contrast Masks, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, how to create time-saving actions, the Surface Blur (background noise reduction) settings as taught to me by Denise Ippolito, and tons more.

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. 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 only. Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays to order.

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

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)

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 Fort DeSoto Add-on Mini IPT will give us lots of chances to photograph a wide variety of species. Many of the birds at DeSoto are silly-tame.

Fort DeSoto Add-on Mini IPT: $349. Two shooting sessions: the afternoon of THUR FEB 26 and the morning of Friday FEB 27, 2015. Limit 12 photographers. One great leader: Arthur Morris.

Shorebirds, wading birds, terns, pelicans, gulls and more. Includes lunch on Friday and a small group image sharing and Photoshop session on Friday. Payment in full with a credit card for this one-day IPT is due upon registration. Or bring cash. You must call Jim or Jen at the office at 863-692-0906 to sign up.

Images courtesy of and copyright Captain James Shadle (aka Froggie). All of the images here were created at Alafia Banks. Card creation and design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

The Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Mini IPT. 1 1/2 DAYs: $1250. SAT MAR 7 (full day) and SUN Morning MAR 8, 2015. Working lunch on Saturday included. Strict Limit: 6 photographers/Openings: 4

Meet and greet on the evening of FRI MAR 6. Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Arthur Morris.

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in early March is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage….

Weather permitting there will be three boat trips: 2 mornings and 1 afternoons. Mornings at Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography with the birds likely carrying nesting material), cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we will get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. The afternoon trip will be either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes one working lunch.

Important Notes

We stay in Brandon, FL for this IPT. From our hotel it is only about 20 minutes to the dock. The plan is for all sessions to be by boat. For the Alafia Banks segments, Captain Shadle provides light weight chest waders as much of the photography will be done while we are standing in fairly shallow water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with balance problems. Note however that some folks may opt to stay on the boat. They always have lots of good chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

This mini Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity. It may fill quickly. We hope that you can join us. Scroll down for registration info.

All of the images here were created at Alafia Banks early in the season. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Card creation and design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

Hooptie Mini-IPT Registration Info

Payment in full for this short notice trip is of course due upon registration. Call the office at 863-692-0906 to arrange to send us a check for payment in full (preferred) or to put the whole thing on a credit card. If by check, it should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and be mailed to BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee.

However you arrange for payment, please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with the paperwork. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Facebook

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

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

…..

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.

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?

Great group. Four recidivists (repeat clients), two new folks. Lots of spoonbills. Lots of flight photography. Core exercises. No swim even though there is a large pool at the hotel. This blog post took 1 1/2 hours to prepare and was published at 4:45am.

What the ???

What the ??? answer tomorrow.

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. Click here for complete details.

Save $242

Register before the end of the month for the South Georgia trip and receive a $242 discount on your return airfare. Please e-mail for details.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. 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.

Canon’s Two New 50+ Megapixel Camera Bodies

Many of you have read about the two new Canon 50+ megapixel bodies, the Canon EOS 5DS DSLR and the Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR. The two cameras look, sound, and pretty much are quite similar. I have withheld commenting until now because I did not have a good–heck, I did not have any–understanding of the single difference between the two bodies, that being the Low-Pass Filter Effect Cancellation.

If you missed the hugely popular “Canon’s Two New 50+ Megapixel Camera Bodies/You Must Read This Before You Buy,” you can click here to catch up and learn a ton to boot.

This image was created early on the mostly clear morning of Sunday February 22, 2015 at Alafia Banks with the tripod-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the Canon EOS 7D Mark II. ISO 400. One stop off the blue sky above the mangroves set manually: 1/2500 sec. at f/4.5 with Highlight Tone Priority enabled. Center AF Point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter Button AF as originally framed was squarely on the base of the bill just forward of the bird’s eye and was of course active at the moment of exposure. This image was cropped a bit from behind and below. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

I was Nervous….

It had been very cold for several weeks. I knew that James was going out to Alafia on Saturday morning. As his cell phone rang, I was a bit nervous. What if the season was late? What if there were no birds? It is hard to hold a spoonbill IPT if there are no spoonbills.

I was–therefore–very nervous when Captain Froggie picked up the phone. “How was it?” I asked. “Great!” James said. On our first day we did indeed enjoy some excellent spoonbill photography. In addition we got to photograph nesting Great Blue Heron, nesting Double-crested Cormorant, Brown and White Pelican, Turkey and Black Vulture, Great Egret, Reddish Egret, White Ibis, American Oystercatcher, Long-billed Curlew, and Whimbrel.

Whew!

Images courtesy of and copyright Captain James Shadle (aka Froggie). All of the images here were created at Alafia Banks. Card creation and design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

The Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Mini IPT. 1 1/2 DAYs: $1250. SAT MAR 7 (full day) and SUN Morning MAR 8, 2015. Working lunch on Saturday included. Strict Limit: 6 photographers

Meet and greet on the evening of FRI MAR 6. Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Arthur Morris.

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in early March is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage….

Weather permitting there will be three boat trips: 2 mornings and 1 afternoons. Mornings at Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography with the birds likely carrying nesting material), cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White in breeding plumage. Many of the White Ibises will be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we will get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. The afternoon trip will be either to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and more or to a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes one working lunch.

Important Notes

We stay in Brandon, FL for this IPT. From our hotel there it is is only about 20 minutes to the dock. The plan is for all sessions to be by boat. For the Alafia Banks segments, Captain Shadle provides light weight chest waders as much of the photography will be done while we are standing in fairly shallow water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with balance problems. Note however that some folks may opt to stay on the boat. They always have lots of good chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

This mini Hooptie IPT represents an incredible opportunity. It may fill quickly. We hope that you can join us. Scroll down for registration info.

All of the images here were created at Alafia Banks early in the season. Images copyright Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. Card creation and design by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART.

Hooptie Mini-IPT Registration Info

Payment in full for this short notice trip is of course due upon registration. Call the office at 863-692-0906 to arrange to send us a check for payment in full (preferred) or to put the whole thing on a credit card. If by check, it should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and be mailed to BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee.

However you arrange for payment, please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with the paperwork. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Facebook

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

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

…..

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.

Typos

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

What’s Up?

After yet another cold, clear night the pool was at 67 1/2 degrees. I swam. Core exercises. Catching up on e-mails. Thinking about packing for my trip over to Brandon and the Hooptie Deux Roseate Spoonbill IPT. But I put that off until tomorrow. I will probably leave just after lunch. I want to pick up some stuff at Whole Foods on the edge of Tampa. When I mentioned that to Jennifer she said that most folks call it “Whole Paycheck.” She cracked me up.

This blog post took less than two hours to prepare (including research time) and was published from my home at ILE, FL at 5:30am.

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. Click here for complete details.

Save $242

Register before the end of the month for the South Georgia trip and receive a $242 discount on your return airfare. Please e-mail for details.

Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. 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.

New Listing

Click on the Used Photography Gear for Sale tab on the lower gold toolbar above to see the complete listings.

Used Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO Lens

Multiple IPT veteran Peter Hawrylyshyn is offering a used Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens in like-new condition for $3899. This is another lowest price ever. The sale includes everything that came in the original box—manual, the lens strap, the rear dust cap, the original front lens cover, etc, as well as the box itself, a hardwood snow LensCoat, a Lens Coat Hoodie, and insured ground shipping. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Peter via e-mail ­­­­­or by phone at 760-689-2434 (eastern time zone).

I used this lens for several years with great success, especially for birds in flight and while working from various type of water craft. Gannets in Love was created with the 400 DO. You can that one and 13 other killer images that I made with my 400 DO here. The title of that blog post is “The Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO Lens: Fourteen Images that Prove that the Internet Experts are Idiots.”

Canon’s Two New 50+ Megapixel Camera Bodies

Many of you have read about the two new Canon 50+ megapixel bodies, the Canon EOS 5DS DSLR and the Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR. The two cameras look, sound, and pretty much are quite similar. I have withheld commenting until now because I did not have a good–heck, I did not have any–understanding of the single difference between the two bodies, that being the Low-Pass Filter Effect Cancellation.

From the 5DS R Overview

Low-Pass Filter Effect Cancellation

Low-pass filter effect cancellation takes full advantage of the 50.6MP sensor, delivering greater detail and even higher resolution images than those of the 5DS.

As that is the elephant in the closet and because I was unable to find anything definitive anywhere online, I wrote the always brilliant Rudy Winston. Below I share his e-mail with you. My brief comments follow.

By e-mail from Canon’s Rudy Winston:

Hi Artie,

The basics are as follows…

1. Canon’s engineers believe strongly that a low-pass filter is an important aid, IN GENERAL, to image quality with digital SLRs. We’ve had one in-place immediately in front of the image sensor on all previous EOS D-SLRs to date.

2. Low-pass filters basically attack problems with false colors and especially occasional moire patterns that can arise when fine, repeating patterns (think of the weave in some fabrics, for instance) begin to line-up with and approach the size/frequency of the patterns of pixels on an image sensor. Low-pass filters work by spreading the incoming light by the width of approximately ONE PIXEL horizontally (left and right), and a second low-pass filter layer does the same vertically, splitting it up and down.

3. This scattering of light in effect produces a slight blurring effect (usually easy to correct with slight Unsharp Mask-type sharpening in the computer, after the fact, or judicious use of the in-camera sharpening via Picture Style control). But the by-product is far less tendency to give psychedelic-looking moire patterns with certain subjects, in certain conditions (and of course, you never see these moire patterns in the viewfinder, before the fact).

(Note: To learn more about moiré and see two good example photos, click here. Moiré is rarely a problem for nature photographers. There are many pronunciations: “mwahr” is the most common and the most widely accepted.)

4. The filter array that includes the two different low-pass filters mentioned above is a part of the optical system, even though it’s sandwiched right up against the front of the imaging sensor. The total filter array includes at least one layer of IR-absorbing glass, a dichroic mirror layer to reflect infrared and UV illumination, and what they call a phase plate, which changes the polarization of incoming light into circular polarization. In other words, it’s a pretty sophisticated optical sandwich, even though to the naked eye it appears as a super-thin layer of glass in front of the sensor.

5. All that said, it is true that if we were to remove the low-pass filter component, in theory, we’d have the potential of greater initial, out-of-the-camera sharpness in many situations. And, it’s definitely true that the moire pattern risk mentioned above won’t occur in the majority of images, unless you were shooting things like fabrics or products with very fine, repeating line patterns on a regular basis. (For the type of bird imaging you normally do, or most landscape applications, I’d guess the risk of moire is pretty much nil most of the time.)

6. As a parenthetical note, these moire patterns, IF they do occur, can usually be moderated or even eliminated in some cases with various image-editing techniques… Photoshop gurus have a multitude of them, and some RAW file processing software now contains anti-moire tools for these occasions. Still, it’s an extra step — sometimes a fairly sophisticated set of them — to reduce or remove moire completely from an image, if it does occur.

7. Because the afore-mentioned low-pass filter array is a part of the optical path, you can’t just remove it — you’d change the effective length of the optical axis, and have to re-design the entire camera body slightly, including the AF system’s optical path, to accommodate such a change. Since Canon made the strategic decision to offer TWO high-resolution cameras, a different technique was needed to achieve removal of the low-pass filter effect, without upsetting the optical system within the camera body. And, without the expense of (in effect) having to design an entirely new camera from scratch, with slightly altered internal dimensions.

8. All that said, here’s what Canon has done: they need two low-pass filter layers in-place to preserve the same optical length within the body. The traditional EOS 5DS of course does just that, with Canon’s typical low-pass filter approach. With the EOS 5DS R, they also have two low-pass filter layers in-place. The first scatters the incoming light by spreading it vertically, similarly to how it’s done in the standard 5DS camera. But the next low-pass filter layer bends the incoming light VERTICALLY again, in the reverse direction — back to ONE single ray path, so the scattered light is effectively “un-scattered” and re-focused into a single optical beam. Thus, the low-pass filter effect is “cancelled.”

9. The result of this cancellation of the low-pass filter effect in the EOS 5DS R is a slight — but noticeable, in many instances — increase in the overall contrast and sharpness of fine detail, lines, and texture in subjects. Canon is clear that photographers need to understand that a by-product of this is a risk of moire patterns appearing occasionally, and that it’s up to the shooter to work with post-processing to limit this effect if and when it happens. But I have no doubt that there would be a bit more detail and texture in things like feather detail in birds, for example. I don’t want to over-state the improvement in sharpness in the EOS 5DS R vs. the standard 5DS model… you can see it when you start magnifying images and look for it, but it’s not an “in-your-face” type of obvious difference that my Mom would immediately spot when viewing on-screen at 100%.

10. Bottom line: we anticipate that the majority of sales of our 50.6 million pixel camera will be the standard 5DS camera, and that in the eyes of most users, the 5DS R will be seen as something of a specialty version. Buy the latter for the right reasons, and it’ll delight you. We just want all potential buyers, and dealer staff, to understand that along with its added initial image sharpness does come a risk of occasional optical imperfections in certain shooting situations. I’ll finish where I started: overall, Canon’s engineers remain very firm that in their opinion, OVERALL digital image quality is enhanced by the use of traditional low-pass filter design in digital SLRs. We’ll let the market be the ultimate judge!

Let me know if you have any other questions, or if any of this is not perfectly clear. Good questions you ask, and it’s up to us here at Canon to make sure every potential customer understands the answers to them! Be well, stay warm!

— Rudy Winston
Canon USA

Thanks!

Thanks a huge stack to Rudy for sharing his almost infinite knowledge of all things Canon with us.

The Overview and the Specs

You can learn all about the Canon EOS 5DS DSLR by clicking here , scrolling down, and then clicking on the Overview tab or on the Specs tab.

You can learn all about the Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR by clicking here, scrolling down, and then clicking on the Overview tab or on the Specs tab.

My Comments

I will not have any idea as to whether I would want either of these bodies for nature photography until I see some RAW files from each one. I can understand that serious landscape folks and those who make large prints as a matter of course are salivating over the thought of getting their hands on whichever of these bodies they deem to be best.

There are some great features that many might love; each features the new 50.6 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor that will deliver ultra-high resolution images for large-scale printing and extensive, creative cropping, fine detail mode in Picture Style (I wonder if Arash will like that….), 1.3x and 1.6x crop shooting (I need to learn a bit more about that and will share what I learn with you here at some point), full HD 30p movie capability, a built-In intervalometer and bulb timer, and lots more.

High-speed continuous shooting at up to 5 fps might leave those accustomed to the blazing frame rates of the 1D X and the 7D Mark II feeling a bit sluggish.

Questions and Your Comments

If you have any knowledge of the two new cameras or of any of the related issues, or any questions on the same topics, please do leave a comment. If you ask a question that I cannot answer perhaps other can chime in. And I will reach out to Rudy or to Chuck Westfall and share what I learn with you here.

Facebook

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

Support the BAA Blog. Support the BAA Bulletins: Shop B&H here!

We want and need to keep providing you with the latest free information, photography and Photoshop lessons, and all manner of related information. Show your appreciation by making your purchases immediately after clicking on any of our B&H or Amazon Affiliate links in this blog post. Remember, B&H ain’t just photography!

…..

Amazon.com

Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use this link:

Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here. Many thanks to those who have written.

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?

Another good swim, a session of core exercises, and lots of catching up on unanswered e-mails. More of the same today.

This post took close to 3 hours to put together and was published from my home at ILE, FL at 7:46am.

Red Letter Day at BAA

Yesterday we signed up two folks for Palouse #1. Both Palouse IPTs are now sold out. We signed up a couple for the UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. One slot open now on that one. I signed up one more for the Spring Fort DeSoto IPT. And, most amazingly, I signed up three folks for the Galapagos Photo-Cruise IPT. Room now only for a single female roommate. I will be formally announcing the AUG Nickerson Beach Black Skimmers/JBWR and More IPT soon. Best advice: join denise and me at Bosque in November. 🙂

South Georgia October 2015

Do consider joining me in South Georgia next October for the trip of a lifetime. See here for the complete details.

Save $242

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This image was created on the recently concluded San Diego IPT at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the Canon EOS-1D X . ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop off the cloudy very bright sky: 1/2000 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual Mode. Rig on the Black Rapid RS-7 Strap. Center AF point (manual selection)/AI Servo/shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best for flight photography). The active AF point just missed the tip of the bird’s bill but AF held with the sky background and because of my Custom Case 3 AF settings as detailed in our 1D X Autofocus Guide. This is the original image capture.

I Coulda Been Famous…

Whenever I just miss a shot, I often say in jest, “I coulda been famous….”

I have said the following on IPTs so many times that I was sure I had written the words in The Art of Bird Photography II. A quick search of the PDF reveals that I had not. (ABP II: 916 pages, 900+ images on CD only.)

“If you are photographing birds in flight and the birds are banking (turning) and you find yourself clipping the wings top or bottom or both, simply turn the camera on end to vertical and strive to create an original vertical bank shot.”

Why? You can zoom in (if you are using a zoom lens), wind up with far more pixels, and greatly reduce the chance of clipping the wings. The technique does, however, require considerable practice and perhaps a bit of skill. Most vertical bank shots that you see have been created by cropping horizontal originals.

The problem here was that there was little wind and few flying pelicans on this year’s IPT. So there was no pattern of banking flight.

Had I been clairvoyant, I coulda been famous.

Coulda…

On the correct use of “coulda.”

From “On the Waterfront” on the IMBd website here:

Charlie: Look, kid, I – how much you weigh, son? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.

Terry: It wasn’t him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, “Kid, this ain’t your night. We’re going for the price on Wilson.” You remember that? “This ain’t your night”! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn’t have to take them dives for the short-end money.

Charlie: Oh I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.

Terry: You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Charley.

This JPEG represents the optimized image that was created from the original image that opened this blog post.

The Image Optimization

I began working on this image during my Sunday Photoshop session at the CNPA event. The RAW conversion was of course done in DPP 4. As detailed in APTATS II it is often possible to repair complete sets of clipped wingtips with a single layer. I realized that that would not be possible to do that with this image because the feathers were arranged so differently on the upper wing and the lower wing. I knew right off the bat that I would need to repair each primary individually. At CNPA I replaced only the first primary. Then I saved the image “In Progress.”

I finished the repair/wingtip replacement work last night. All in all that took well more than an hour. Was it worth it for me? Surely.

I painted a Quick Mask of the distal end of each missing primary and put that on its own layer. Then that layer was flopped vertically and moved roughly into position with the Move Tool (V). Next it was rotated as needed with Transform Tool, Warped via the Transform Command, and fine-tuned with the addition of a Regular Layer Mask. Tonality was matched fairly well with a Curves on a Layer adjustment (Control + M). Some individual feathers were sculpted or altered internally using the Clone Stamp Tool at varying opacities. I angled the bird more vertically in the frame using the Transform Tool. Throughout the process I added canvas as needed and filled it in using a variety of techniques.

I ran my NIK 50-50 recipe on the bird only after selecting it with the Quick Selection Tool. That was followed by a Contrast Mask to selectively sharpen the head, face and bill (but for the WHITEs on the bird’s head).

Digital Basics

Pretty much everything that I did to optimize today’s 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, Contrast Masks, Digital Eye Doctor techniques, using Gaussian Blurs, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, a variety of ways to make selections, creating time-saving actions, the Surface Blur (background noise reduction) settings as taught to me by Denise Ippolito, and tons more.

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS II. 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 only. Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays to order.

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

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)

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 Fort DeSoto Add-on Mini IPT will give us lots of chances to photograph a wide variety of species. Many of the birds at DeSoto are silly-tame.

Fort DeSoto Mini IPT: $349. Two shooting sessions: the afternoon of THUR FEB 26 and the morning of Friday FEB 27, 2015. Limit 12 photographers. One great leader: Arthur Morris.

It is not too late to join us!

Shorebirds, wading birds, terns, pelicans, gulls and more. Includes lunch,image sharing, and Photoshop session on Friday. Payment in full for this one-day IPT is due upon registration either by check or credit card. Call Jim or Jennifer at the office at 863-692-0906 to register.

Fort DeSoto in spring can be bird photographer’s heaven. And most of the birds are stupid tame.

Fort DeSoto in Spring/Breeding Plumage IPT: April 24-26, 2015. 3 FULL DAYs: $1099. Limit 8/Openings: 3.

Meet and Greet at 8pm on Thursday, April 23.

Join me at Fort DeSoto at the height of the breeding season for many of our target species: Laughing Gull, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, dark and light morph Reddish Egret, Great Egret, Tricolored Heron, and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. In addition, we will have a good shot at photographing a variety of arctic-bound shorebird species in breeding plumage. We should have good chances with a variety of courtship behaviors including courtship feeding, courtship displays, pre-copulatory stands, and copulation.

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

At lunch (included) we will review my images–folks learn a ton watching me edit–why keep this one and delete that one. If you opt to bring your laptop, we will take a look at five of your best images from the morning session. We will process a few of my images in Photoshop after converting them in DPP. That followed by Instructor Nap Time.

A $499 non-refundable deposit is required to hold you spot. The balance, $600 will be due on February 7, 2015. Please click here to read our cancellation policy. Then please print, read, and sign the necessary paperwork here and send it to us.

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Typos

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