Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

The Streak Continues: 294

I finally finished editing/re-writing Arash Hazeghi’s first draft the new DPP 4.0 RAW Conversion e-Guide that we are doing together. We have another phone conference scheduled for this morning. This blog post, the 294th in a row, was published just before 7:30am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL.

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂 Please remember also that all are invited to e-mail for gear advice.

EOS-7D Mark II Thanks!

Thanks a stack to the 22 folks who pre-ordered their EOS 7D Mark II bodies (and lots of accessories) using a BAA affiliate link.

If you are ready to order, please click on the logo-link immediately below to pre-order. This will be one hot-ticket item; the sooner you get your name on the pre-order list, the sooner you will have a 7D II in your hands.

Breathing Your Way to Better Health

As my 60-year old younger sister Arna had two TIAs (mini strokes) fairly recently, my health guru, Dr. Cliff Oliver of The Center for Balance in San Diego, CA, suggested that I have a carotid artery ultrasound done. Nearly 20 years ago, Cliff saved me from killing myself with food, mainly more than half a million Oreo cookies dunked two at a time in cold milk. Today when Cliff says “Jump” I do not ask “Why?,” I ask “How high?”

I first met Cliff Oliver on a Bosque IPT nearly two decades ago. Thank God for that. For the complete story of how I went from a 240 pound 50 year old with uncontrolled diabetes, an ulcer, atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease (on every heart medication known to mankind) to a relatively healthy 184 pound 68 year old on zero heart meds with an A1C that hovers around 5.0, shoot me an e-mail with the words “Health Basics File” cut and pasted into the Subject line.

When I arrived at the church in Plant City, FL for the ultrasound test, the nice lady at reception talked me into a battery or four tests rather than just the carotid artery scan. I should be getting the results by mail in another week or so. In the meantime they took my blood pressure. It was high, something like 170 over 98. For the past ten years my blood pressure in the doctor’s office has routinely averaged about 135 over 75 so I was of course a bit concerned.

On the way back to ILE, I stopped in Lake Wales and purchased an Omron Blood Pressure Monitor, model BP 742N. I had had one years ago but after using it for ages it bit the dust.

I figured that I had been a bit nervous about the ultrasound test, that my pressure had been high because of cuff psychosis, and that when I took my BP at home it would be back to normal. That did not happen. My blood pressure that first day ranged from about 170-180 over 95-98. In a word, high.

After some thought I realized that though I have always salted my food, I had really been overdoing it lately. Secondly, I realized that about four months ago, when my blood pressure had been normal, that I had quit taking OXY A+ drops as I was thinking that they were negatively affecting my stomach in a rather unpleasant way.

So I called Cliff. He suggested that by getting some empty gel caps and putting the drops in those that my stomach would not be affected. And of course he agreed on eliminating salt.

Most importantly he said that I should resume doing the 4-7-8 breathing that had once been a part of my daily regimen. It is recommended that you do the 4-7-8 breathing twice a day, once in the early morning and once when you get into bed at night. As my Mom said when I was a kid, “This child does not know the meaning of the word moderation.” Little has changed. I’ve been doing the 4-7-8 breathing ten or fifteen times each day. My blood pressure readings began dropping immediately. After just four days my blood pressure is nearly back to normal: the last reading was 140 over 82. Amazing.

BTW, yesterday was my Mom’s 92nd birthday. Happy Bird-day Mom.

With all due respect to the many Western Medicine folks out their, there is a lot to be said for alternative medicine.

While Doctor Oliver recommended the 4-7-8 breathing to lower my blood pressure–he swears that it works every time, here is what Dr. Andrew Weil has to say about it:

Once you develop this breathing technique by practicing it every day, twice a day, it will be a very useful tool that you will always have with you. Use it whenever anything upsetting happens – before you react. Use it whenever you are aware of internal tension. Use it to help you fall asleep. Use it to deal with food cravings. Great for mild to moderate anxiety, this exercise cannot be recommended too highly. Everyone can benefit from it. The relationship between feeling at peace and lowered blood pressure seems pretty direct.

I should have mentioned that one round of 4-7-8 breathing takes less than two minutes. And you can learn to do it in just a few minutes at most. To learn how, and for a better explanation of the many benefits, click here and then click on the big white triangle.

The guy on the stool is Dr. Andrew Weil. Twice on the cover of TIME magazine and author of 10 books, Dr. Weil.M.D., is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, a healing oriented approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Though many in traditional Western medicine would point to him as a quack, he is an American medical doctor, naturopath, and a teacher and writer on holistic health. He is founder, professor, and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. He received his medical degree, and an undergraduate degree in biology, from Harvard University. Weil is widely known for establishing the field of integrative medicine which aims to combine alternative and conventional medicine. Weil suggests that patients take the Western medicine prescribed to them by doctors and then incorporate a variety of alternative therapies including and especially nutritional therapies. .

To be sure, a quick internet search will reveal hosts of harsh criticism of Dr. Weil. I am not at all qualified to judge either him or the articles that trash him, but I can say that 4-7-8 breathing can help you reduce stress and help you lower your blood pressure.

Shedding Some Light on 7D II Battery Misconceptions

After reading that the 7D II battery life would be approximately 800 images at 73°F while the 7D battery life would be approximately 1000 images at 73°F, I assumed that the 7D II’s new battery was not as powerful as the old battery in the 7D. So I wrote Rudy Winston as follows:

Hey Again Rudy, Do you have any clues as to why the new 7D II battery is less powerful than the older battery in the 7D? thanks, artie

Rudy kindly replied via e-mail:

Hi Artie,

Hope that this is helpful to you and to those who follow your blog. Rudy Winston, Canon USA

IPT Updates

Several IPTs including the Fall Fort DeSoto and San Diego are filling nicely. We had a cancellation on the Bosque 4-DAY but that was filled immediately from the Waiting List. We may have another cancellation; if you are interested please shoot me an e-mail. There is room on the Bosque Creative IPT. Click here and scroll down for the IPT schedule and dates, rates, and info.

Coming soon:

The Hooptie Deux Breeding Plumage Roseate Spoonbill IPT. 4 1/2 DAYs/9 pontoon boat trips. SUN FEB 22 thru lunch on THUR FEB 26, 2015/Strict Limit: 6 photographers. Meet and greet on the evening of SAT 21 FEB. Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Emeritus Arthur Morris.

Please e-mail if you would like to receive early notice.

Festival of the Cranes in-the field instruction, programs, and events

For information on the great (cheap) in-the field instruction, programs, and events that I and Denise Ippolito are doing in conjunction with this year’s Festival of the Cranes, please click 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, ay, 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, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂

The Streak Continues: 292

I am almost finished with the first edit of the DPP 4.0 RAW Conversion eGuide that I am doing with Arash Hazeghi. We spoke on the phone yesterday for a bit so I have some re-writing to do today. We will spend an hour or two on the phone on Saturday morning; I should be sending Arash the MS Word file that afternoon. The price of this extensive guide will be $40. The PDF will be sent via e-mail or via Hightail.

The rest of my day was made up of meditating and breathing exercises, a nice easy swim, healthy eating, a short nap, a 44 minute ice bath, and answering about a zillion e-mails. All that followed by another good night’s sleep.This blog post, the 292nd in a row, was published at about 6:45am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL.

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂

EOS-7D Mark II Thanks!

Thanks a stack to the 18 folks who pre-ordered their EOS 7D Mark II bodies (and lots of accessories) using a BAA affiliate link. If you missed all of yesterday’s excitement, click here. And best of luck to Geoffrey Cuff of the Cayman Islands with the Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM Lens that he ordered in similar fashion.

Convinced? Click on the logo-link immediately below to pre-order yours. This will be one hot-ticket item; the sooner you get your name on the pre-order list, the sooner you will have a 7D II in your hands.

Canon EOS-7D Mark II AF at f/8 Info

Though it seemed likely from the 7D II info on several websites that the new camera would focus to f/8, it was great to have that confirmed via e-mail by Canon USA’s top tech guru, Chuck Westfall, Advisor, Technical Information, ITCG Prof Bus Strategy Plan Division, Canon U.S.A., Inc.

He wrote:

The 7D Mark II is the same as 1D X re: autofocus at f/8. Central point is fully supported for cross-type focusing, and focusing point expansion around the central point is also supported.

My Comments on the 7D II AF

I responded to a 7D AF question as follows:

I am sure that the 7D II will focus better than the 7D on any lens. I am sure that the 7D II will AF just fine with the older EF lenses. And I am sure that it will AF faster and more accurately with the Series II super-telephotos than with the older lenses. Not because of anything to do with the camera, simply because the Series II lenses feature better AF than the older lenses.

To be sure that I was not stepping out of bounds with the statement above, I ran it by Chuck Westfall. He responded by e-mail: “Looks good to me.”

EOS-7D Mark II Mode Dial Info

Here is another 7D II plus,adapted from a Ken Shelton e-mail:

A Mode dial that can be locked is now standard; you have to push the center lock button to be able to rotate the dial. As the original 7D came out of the box, it was easy to inadvertently rotate the Mode dial. Fixing the problem was a $125 factory add-on. This change is important to me.

Ken surely got is money’s worth with his original EOS-7D; the shutter failed 638,444 actuations!

Great Blue Heron with Small Pipefish

Sometimes we simply screw up the exposure. It happens to me on occasion when I am in too much of a hurry. When we do, dealing with the noise caused by underexposure has always been a problem. As you can see by taking a close look at the optimized image below, DPP 4.0 does a great job with handling the noise caused by underexposures, even relatively severe underexposures. Arash spent many days and countless hours coming up with his suggested values for both luminance and chrominance noise reduction. The two charts in the new eGuide–coming fairly soon, include his recommended values for the 5D Mark III/6D and for the 1D X for each ISO from 400 to 6400. In every case that I have encountered Arash’s values out-performed the values that were automatically suggested by DPP 4.0 in terms of reducing noise while maintaining fine feather detail.

DPP 4.0 Before and After Magic

After opening this image in DPP 4.0 the first thing that I did was move the Brightness slider one full stop to the right to 1.00. Then I moved the Shadow slider to the right to +2.2 to bring up the darker tones a bit more. Then I increased both the Contrast and the Saturation one click to 1.0. Next, on the Adjust image detail tab, I applied Arash’s brilliant noise reduction values for the 1D X at ISO 800 as described above. In the new guide we teach you how to easily compare before and after magnified views. Unfortunately the Lens data for the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens is not and never has been available for any version of DPP. As a result, I had to deal with the vignetting in Photoshop after the RAW file was converted. I used both the Crop Tool and the Clone Stamp Tool (that latter at 80%). That was followed by a bit of water surface clean-up, NIK 50-50 on the face and neck, dust spotting, and selective sharpening of the face and neck via a Contrast Mask. Then I saved my master file, duplicated the image for safety, cropped the copy to 1200 pixels wide, sharpened it, and used Save for Web optimized to < 395kb for both the blog and for posting on BPN. Done deal.

The DPP RAW Conversion Guide

To learn why I use Canon’s Digital Photo Professional (DPP) to convert every image that I work on, click here. Coming soon: The DPP 4.0 RAW Conversion Guide by Arash Hazeghi and Arthur Morris. The more that I use DPP 4.0 for my RAW conversions the more I am impressed with it. Today, I will be finishing up my edit of our new DPP RAW Conversion eGuide. Note: at present, DPP 4.0 supports only 1D X, 5D Mark III, and 6D images.

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 killer image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro basics, Digital Eye Doctor, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, how to create time-saving actions, and tons more.

First-ever BIRDS AS ART In-the-Field/Meetup Workshop Session (ITF/MWS): $50

Join me on the afternoon of October 10, 2014 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.

You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive afternoon workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place at least two weeks before the event.

Fort DeSoto Fall IPT/October 11-13, 2014. 3 FULL DAYs: $1099. Limit 8/Openings 5.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join hundreds of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.

Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join us on the ITF/MWS on Friday afternoon as my guest. See above for details on that.

On the IPT you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and 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, to, 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.

If you decide to register and are traveling to attend this IPT, please make your reservations at the Beachcomber Beach Resort, 6200 Gulf Blvd, St. Petersburg (St. Pete Beach), FL 33706 (727-367-1902) as soon as possible as rooms for the weekend days are scarce: ARR: 10 OCT/DEP 14 OCT. I stayed there on my last DeSoto visit and was quite happy with it. Lodging is tough in Florida at this season…. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as well. We can, however, coordinate easily with local folks who opt to stay at home either by cell phone or e-mail.

Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register . Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions, gear advice, and first morning meeting place about one month before this IPT.

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.

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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, ay, 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, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂

The Streak Continues: 290

I was excused early from jury duty yesterday. Then it was back to work. I woke before 4am, did 45 minutes of meditation, and then got to work on this blog post. This post, published at about 6:45am, took me about 1 3/4 hours to prepare and makes 290 in a row.

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂

Thanks a stack to all who pre-ordered there EOS 7D Mark II bodies using a BAA affiliate link. See lots more below.

The 7D II/7D Specs Comparison

What Jumps Out At Me?

First off, let’s not forget that the 7D II is a 1.6 crop factor camera that increases the effective focal length of you lens by 60%….

Is it likely that the Dual Digic 6 processors will yield higher quality images with less noise at the higher ISOs? Probably. To know for sure we need to get our hands on a 7D II, get out, create some images, and see how they look on a good monitor. To that end B&H ordered a loaner for me so I should have my hands on one of the first 7D II bodies. Today, I will try to arrange to borrow one from Canon for testing soon but success there for whatever ridiculous reasons is not likely. Some folks including me were not huge fans of the original 7D’s tiny pixels, especially at the higher ISOs and in cloudy or overcast conditions. That said, some folks, like BPN Avian Forum Moderator Dan Cadieux have done just fine with the 7D. If you are a non-believer, click here.

The addition of an SD card slot should make some folks happy. I never use them in fear of losing the tiny SD cards….

The top continuous shooting (frame) rate of 10 fps should make all bird and wildlife photographers happy. Be sure to read the fine print when it becomes available as the maximum frame rate often drops considerably when you go from One-Shot or Manual focus to AI Servo AF.

The new metering system sounds impressive but getting the right exposure will always be more about the photographer’s understanding of exposure theory and their camera’s metering system than about the camera’s metering system….

The expanded ISO Sensitivity (expandable to ISO 25,600 and ISO 51,200) is not likely to be of interest to most nature photographers.

The improved autofocus system sounds great but as always, the proof will be in the pudding. But the My T Fine Pudding is not yet on the shelves.

The improved low light AF sensitivity sounds great as well.

It’s been so long since I have used a 7D that I had forgotten that it has a Built-in Flash. That feature has been continued in the 7D II. I always enjoyed having a pop up flash available for both indoor shooting and for a very few nature photography applications.

I am not qualified to comment on the improvements in the movie capabilities of the new camera but they too sound exciting.

AF at f/8

Thanks to Nick and Geoff who left comments with links on the first 7D II blog post that indicate that the 7D II will AF to f/8. I followed the Canon Europe link and found this:

AF System/ Points: 65 cross-type AF points (Centre point is an extra sensitive dual-cross-type point at f/2.8, cross-type at f/8, and sensitive to -3EV).

This is a huge plus as folks will be able to AF with f/5.6 lenses and a 1.4X TC and will be able to AF with f/4 lenses and a 2X TC…. This is so huge that I will try to confirm it with Canon USA’s top technical representative Chuck Westfall today.

More Neat Stuff

A built-in intervalometer permits the creation of time-lapse imagery and supports recording 1-99 consecutive frames in pre-selected intervals. This sounds like a great feature that will make it easy for folks to experiment with time-lapse photography.

Your Call

If you feel that I missed something important, or if you have any questions on the comparative specifications chart, please leave a comment.

The info that follows was adapted from yesterday afternoon’s emergency blog post.

The Canon EOS-7D Mark II

I know that many of you who use a Canon 1.6 crop factor camera have been waiting too long for the rumored replacement for the EOS-7D. The Canon EOS 7D Mark II DSLR camera (body only) is now available for pre-order. If you are good to go, please use our B&H affiliate logo-link above to place your order. The sooner you order the sooner you will have your new camera in your hands. Right now I believe that they are looking at some time in November 2014. When this body hits the stores it is likely that it will be one of the hottest tickets ever; remember that some folks waited as long as six months to get their hands on a Series II super-telephoto lens or a 1D X…. If you order now and shoot me your B&H receipt via e-mail I will do my very best to have your order expedited.

Most will surely want to add the new Canon EOS 7D Mark II DSLR Camera (Body Only). To order yours simply continue shopping after ordering your 7D Mark II and do a search for “Canon BG-E16 Battery Grip for the EOS 7D Mark II.” It will pop right up.

There will be lots more on the 7D Mark II and on the new Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM Lens as well on the blog in the very near future.

7D Mark II Video

You can see an exclusive 7D Mark II B&H video by clicking here.

Big Time Thanks/Only Two?

Big time thanks to Doug Schurman and Scott Mobley who each ordered two Canon EOS 7D Mark II bodies within minutes of seeing this blog notice. Each sent me their B&H receipts via e-mail; I will do my best to have their orders expedited when the shipments start arriving but as they will be on the top of the list they will likely not need my help. Scott also ordered two of the new battery grips and four of the new batteries, the Canon LP-E6N Lithium-Ion Battery Packs for EOS 7D Mark II.

Much appreciated guys!

This Just In!

Huge thanks to the following BAA Friends who pre-ordered their 7D IIs using our link and sent me their B&&H receipts so that I can follow up if need be:

David Policansky, Kirk Stitt, Bruce Finocchio, Walt Thomas, Bill Griswold, Steve Zarate, Ted Keltz, and Pam Higginbotham. Their support of my efforts here on the blog and elsewhere is greatly appreciated.

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, ay, 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, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂

The Streak Continues: 289

I totally couch-potatoed it yesterday afternoon with the Fed-Ex golf and NFL on the big screen. In a zombie-like state, I fell asleep several times until I finally got into bed at about eleven. I woke at 3:45am and was trying to decide whether to try to go back to sleep or get up and finish this blog post when I remembered that I had to leave home at 6:30am this morning to head to the Polk County courthouse in Bartow to report for jury duty. Yikes!

This post, published at about 5:15am, took me about 1 3/4 hours to prepare and makes 289 in a row.

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂

You can find the following items in the Store: Gitzo tripods, Mongoose M3.6 and Wimberley heads, plates, low feet, and accessories, flash brackets, , Delkin e-film Pro Compact Flash Cards, LensCoat products, and our unique line-up of educational materials including ABP I & II, Digital Basics, Site and Set-up e-Guides, Canon and Nikon Camera Users and AF e-Guides, and MP-4 Photoshop video tutorials among others.

For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Purchasing the items listed above from B&H actually hurts us :). 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.

Used Photography Gear Sales Updates

Mike Gotthelf’s 800mm f/5.6L IS and Walt Anderson’s EOS-1D Mark IV both sold this week. And amazingly, Brent Bridges sold his old 500 within two hours of publication of the blog. And then he sold his two Series II TCs that afternoon. Talk about effective….

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20% plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Click here to see all the current listings.

Exposure Quiz Answers and Explanations

In the blog post of September 8, 2014 here, I posted this:

Exposure Quiz

OK boys and girls, here is your chance to shine and show how much you have learned here. List the images by number like this:

#1:
#2:
#3:
#4:
#5:
#6: +1 1/3 stops.

and then type in what you think is the correct exposure compensation for each image. I have given you my best guess for #6. Nikon folks will on average need to add 2/3 stop to their Nikon exposure compensations. When we follow up I will share my thoughts on each exposure and we will have Clemens chime in with his best recollections.

Eight folks took a crack at it and most did fairly well.

I had Clemens e-mail me the exposure compensation that he thought had likely been used for each image. Prior to that, I sent myself an e-mail with the ECs that I though would be best.

Image #1

Image #1 was the most difficult of the six. Here’s how it looked to us: Clemens: +1/3. artie: +1. Even though the meter is smarter when the sun is out at full strength (as it was here) than it is in cloudy or overcast conditions, we both realized that at least some light needed to be added to bring up he detail on the black rain gear. I went with more plus than Clemens because the meter would be seeing lots of bright white in the center of the frame after re-composing. Ideally in this situation you would want a very few blinkies on the snow. Why? To make sure that you maximize detail on the black rain suit.

With image #1 we were 2/3 stop apart. For the next five we were either right-on or 1/3 stop apart. We hope that you are impressed :).

Image #2

Clemens suggested +1 for this pink/purple/blue moonscape. I went with +1 1/3 stop. The key here is to realize that without the full moon in the frame you would want to add at least 2 stops of light to this image. But. And this is the important but. You want to make sure to avoid blinkies on the moon itself. Having faced this situation before, I would–in retrospect–agree that +1 would be safer than +1 1/3.

Image #3

For this whimsical image we both suggested an exposure compensation of +2 1/3 stops. How did we get so smart? In very soft light on cloudy days the camera’s meters are stupid; the lighter the overall tonality of the image, the stupider they are. Here the scene averages almost to pure white, thus a large positive EC is called for. Only the relatively tiny amounts of black on the penguin’s heads influence the meter to open up (albeit fractionally). +2 2/3 would likely not have hurt you here.

Image #4

This one was another close call with the choice being between +1 (my suggested EC) and Clemen’s +2/3. With the very soft light and the close to but slightly lighter than a middle-toned background the trick here is to wind up with bright whites on the penguins belly and thus as much light as possible on the dark tones of the bird’s upperparts. Which exposure would have been perfect here? Whichever one would have avoided significant blinkies on the penguin’s white feathers.

Image #5

This was another very close call. I hemmed and hawed when trying to decide between Clemens’ +2 1/3 stops and the +2 2/3 stops that I eventually went with. Why so much plus compensation? The light is soft and the scene averages nearly to pure white. Note that at point-blank range Clemens went with a small aperture to ensure that the feet were sharp from front to back.

Image #6

Both Clemens and I knew that +1 1/3 stop would be perfect here. Why not +2 or more stops here? Because the dark rock formation that occupied a good portion of the frame would influence the meter toward over-exposure.

Kudos to Tom Lamb whose suggested Exposure Compensations matched either Clemens’ or mine in five of the six cases. His sixth one (Image #3) missed by only 1/3 stop. Art Buesing was a close second.

First-ever BIRDS AS ART In-the-Field/Meetup Workshop Session (ITF/MWS): $50

Join me on the afternoon of October 10, 2014 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.

You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive afternoon workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place at least two weeks before the event.

Fort DeSoto Fall IPT/October 11-13, 2014. 3 FULL DAYs: $1099. Limit 8.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join hundreds of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.

Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join us on the ITF/MWS on Friday afternoon as my guest. See above for details on that.

On the IPT you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and 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, to, 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.

If you decide to register and are traveling to attend this IPT, please make your reservations at the Beachcomber Beach Resort, 6200 Gulf Blvd, St. Petersburg (St. Pete Beach), FL 33706 (727-367-1902) as soon as possible as rooms for the weekend days are scarce: ARR: 10 OCT/DEP 14 OCT. I stayed there on my last DeSoto visit and was quite happy with it. Lodging is tough in Florida at this season…. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as well. We can, however, coordinate easily with local folks who opt to stay at home either by cell phone or e-mail.

Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register . Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions, gear advice, and first morning meeting place about one month before this IPT.

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.

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Amazon.com

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Amazon Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, ay, 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, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂

The Streak Continues: 287

After spending lots of time on Friday working on the DPP 4.0 RAW Conversion eGuide,I got inspired at about 4:00pm and just about finished Saturday morning’s blog post. A rare occurrence. After a great night’s sleep of more than 8 hours, today’s offering was published at 5:45am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL; it took me about 2 1/2 hours to prepare and makes 287 in a row. 365 is well within reach….

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂

You can find the following items in the Store: Gitzo tripods, Mongoose M3.6 and Wimberley heads, plates, low feet, and accessories, flash brackets, , Delkin e-film Pro Compact Flash Cards, LensCoat products, and our unique line-up of educational materials including ABP I & II, Digital Basics, Site and Set-up e-Guides, Canon and Nikon Camera Users and AF e-Guides, and MP-4 Photoshop video tutorials among others.

For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Purchasing the items listed above from B&H actually hurts us :). 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.

Rare Bird in NJ

A Whiskered Tern was present on and off at Bunker Pond in Cape May State Park on Friday, September 12, 2014. Click here for details.

Getting Close

I am a pretty big guy. Was 6 foot, 264 pounds once. Now 5 10 1/2 inches, 186, up from a low of 170 about 4 years ago but down from a recent high of 190 1/2. My balance is nowhere what it was a decade or two or three ago. Many would describe me as bull-in-a-china-shop clumsy. I am often my own worst enemy, cracking my elbow on a door frame or opening my scalp after having left the laundry-detergent, hanging cabinet door open and not realizing it as I loaded the washing machine :).

There is however one thing that requires some degree of maneuverability and stealth that I can do better than most folks: get very close to free and wild birds without disturbing them. I know how to move around birds; usually low, slow, and aware. Many folks enjoy shooting with me just to watch me in action on silly close approaches. I am sure that at times there are folks on the scene who do not know me who are wondering, “What the heck is that idiot doing trying to get so close? He’s going to scare all the birds.” Ten minutes later they are almost always amazed when I back out of the situation with the bird or birds exactly where they were when I approached. Though there is not a lot of physical skill involved, not everyone can learn to get really close. You need to learn their signs and signals that tell you “stay away,” “slow down” or “I am cool with you;” the huge advantage that I have over most folks is 37 years of closely observing birds.

Join us in San Diego and I will surely help you develop the skills that you need to get ridiculously close to fee and wild birds.

Texture City

At the “Head Throw Photography & Word Association” blog post here (and see image next), Gary Axten left a comment on September 10, 2014 at 9:46am and wrote, “The patterns of the skin folds are very interesting. Do you have a close up taken with a longer lens?”

The image above is for Gary.

Depth-of-field Question

Today’s image was created at f/22. How is it that the depth-of-field and therefore the sharpness of the bill pouch falls off so drastically as it approaches the lower right corner of the frame?

Word Association

Thanks to the few who chimed in. They had some good ones that I missed, like “pitcher plant.” You can see the comments here.

This is my list:

Patterned, corrugated, rough, abstract, diagonal, pelican, feathers, soft parts, brown, yellow, cliffs, red, La Jolla, head throw, intra-flock communication, Pacific, colorful, pointy, stretching, scoop, bill, bill pouch, bill tip, mandibles, yawn, yakking, wide open, breeding plumage, bottom, hormones, and yes, texture.

Feel free to suggest a few more here by leaving a comment.

2015 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): FEB 1 thru the morning of FEB 5, 2015: $1799 (Limit: 8/Openings: 4)

Meet and Greet after dinner on your own at 7:00pm on JAN 31

Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants in breeding plumage with their amazing crests; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other species possible inluding Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semiplamated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions likely; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice landscape opportunities as well.

Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?

This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, five lunches, after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions, and two fine dinners. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.

A $499 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to use at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 12/1//2014. If 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. If your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

San Diego Natural History Museum Program & The Birds of the World Exhibit

On Saturday morning, February 7, 2015 I will be presenting “A Bird Photographer’s Story” at the San Diego Natural History Museum to kick off the Birds of the World photographic exhibit that will feature the images of about a dozen of the world’s top avian photographers. This program,which is being generously sponsored by the Canon Explorers of Light program, will be free and open to the public. I am proud to say that both Denise Ippolito and I will have images hanging in the show. The exhibit opening is scheduled for later that same day, February 7, 2015. (Times TBA).

Folks on the IPT who wish to stay over and attend the program and the exhibit opening on Saturday are invited to join me for a photo session on Friday morning as follows:

Friday Morning Add-on Photo Session: February 6, 2015: $299.

This workshop includes 3 hours of in-the-field pelican photography instruction and brunch with image review and Photoshop instruction. For now, this session is open only to folks attending the IPT.

The San Diego Site Guide

The San Diego Site Guide is, as all of our Site Guides are, the next best thing to being on an IPT. I share all the hard-earned secrets learned over three decades of birding and bird photography in and around America’s Finest City. Learn more or purchase 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, ay, 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, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂

The Streak Continues: 285

This blog was published just before 7:00am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL. Yesterday I enjoyed another long, easy swim of just under a mile and another short nap. I spent another four solid hours working on the DPP 4.0 RAW Conversion eGuide, learning a ton as I go. This post, which took me about 4 hours to prepare, makes 285 in a row. 365 is well within sight….

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂

You can find the following items in the Store: Gitzo tripods, Mongoose M3.6 and Wimberley heads, plates, low feet, and accessories, flash brackets, , Delkin e-film Pro Compact Flash Cards, LensCoat products, and our unique line-up of educational materials including ABP I & II, Digital Basics, Site and Set-up e-Guides, Canon and Nikon Camera Users and AF e-Guides, and MP-4 Photoshop video tutorials among others.

For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Purchasing the items listed above from B&H actually hurts us :). 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.

Great Used Photography Gear for Sale News

Mike Gotthelf’s 800mm f/5.6L IS and Walt Anderson’s EOS-1D Mark IV both sold this week. See more on selling your used photo gear through BAA below.

Blower Brush Sensor Cleaning Tip Before Position

A powerful blower brush like the Giottos Rocket-Air Super Blower Brush that we carry (in the BAA Online Store) and that I use on a regular basis can often be used to remove loose visible dust from the sensor. You are always better off removing as much dust as possible with a blower brush than you are having to use your Lens Pen Mini Pro. Most visible dust can by eliminated with a good blower brush and good technique. Note: small blower brushes that are 4-5 inches long are not powerful enough to be effective. My Delkin Sensor Scope is an integral part of my sensor cleaning ritual; it allows me to see all but the microscopic dust on the sensors of my two 1D-X and my just-repaired 5D Mark III camera bodies.

Once you have raised the mirror, steady the camera by holding gripping it as you normally would and firmly pressing the left side of the body firmly against the lower part of your sternum (as in the image above). Note: with perfect technique the camera will be facing straight down, with the camera body pretty much parallel to the floor. Now insert the tip of the blower brush well into the mirror box being careful not to touch anything. You are now good to go.

Giottos Rocket-Air SuperBlower Brush

After last week’s onslaught of Lens Pen Mini Pro orders, the Giottos Rocket-Air SuperBlower Brush are currently out of stock. We expect a large shipment very soon. To beat the coming $2.00 price increase, order yours now here. Once we take delivery we will fill all orders and then raise the price.

The Blower Brush Sensor Cleaning Tip

Here is the tip that was taught to me by sensor cleaning expert Curt Fargo on last year’s Bosque del Apache Canon Destination Workshop (led by yours truly). Rather than simply holding the tip of the blower brush near the exposed sensor and squeezing the bulb firmly and repeatedly, perfect technique involves squeezing the bulb forcefully while violently pulling the blower brush down and away from the sensor. This action–it takes a bit of practice for some folks to get it down pat, actually sucks the dust off the sensor and out of the mirror box. That is much better option than simply blowing the dust around on the sensor…. I will usually execute this action 3-4 times before examining the sensor again with my sensor scope. Repeat as needed.

If, after several attempts, there is still a particle or two of visible dust stuck to the sensor (actually to the anti-aliasing filter that protects the sensor), then and only then do I go to my Lens Pen Mini Pro. You can learn more about the return of the Lens Pen by clicking here and scrolling down.

Please note that the purchase of a Lens Pen Mini Pro or one of our two Sensor Cleaning Bundles includes a detailed sensor cleaning tutorial that is sent via e-mail. You will learn to safely clean your camera’s sensor just as I have done thousands of times for the last decade.

First-ever BIRDS AS ART In-the-Field/Meetup Workshop Session (ITF/MWS): $50

Join me on the afternoon of October 10, 2014 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus. Scroll down here for complete info.

Fort DeSoto Fall IPT/October 11-13, 2014. 3 FULL DAYs: $1099. Limit 8.

Tame shorebirds, herons, egrets, night-herons, terns and gulls plus tons of great instruction. Scroll down here for complete info. With one registrant, this trip is now a go. Join us.

Important Bosque Festival of the Cranes Event Registration Notice

Registration for all Festival of the Cranes workshops, seminars and programs is open. Please click here and read carefully to avoid missing out on several wonderful and inexpensive educational opportunities. Please do not tarry as we expect all of the BAA/A Creative Adventure sessions to sell out quickly, especially the early morning In-the-Field Workshops. You can click http://www.festivalofthecranes.com“>here to register.

There is still lots of room in the seminar and the free program. With just a single opening the Thursday In-the-Field Workshop (ITF-W) is almost sold out. Friday and Sunday are close to a sell-out. Somewhat inexplicably Saturday has only 2 folks signed up…. The seminar and the ITF-Workshops represent a chance to learn a ton cheap.

2015 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): FEB 1 thru the morning of FEB 5, 2015: $1799 (Limit: 8/Openings: 4)

Meet and Greet after dinner on your own at 7:00pm on JAN 31

Just 4 slots left on this great IPT. Old friend, oft-published, and skilled hawk-in-flight photographer Ned Harris will be joining us.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20% plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight.

Used Gear Caution

Though I am not in a position to post images of gear for sale here or elsewhere, prospective buyers are encouraged to request for photos of the gear that they are interested in purchasing via e-mail. Doing so will help to avoid any misunderstandings as to the condition of the gear.

New Listings

Used Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS Lens

This Lens Sold in Two Hours!

BAA friend and multiple IPT veteran Brent Bridges is offering a used Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS lens in very good to excellent condition for $4900. The sale includes: the original lens trunk, the lens hood, carrying case, the front lens cover, the rear dust cap, the lens instructions, the original Canon USA Warranty Card, the original foot, a Mongoose 3.6-compatible low foot, a LensCoat, and insured shipping via UPS Ground to US addresses only. Your gear will be shipped only after your check clears.

Please contact Brent via e-mail or by phone at 1-770-565-5012.

The 500 f/4s have long been the world’s most popular super-telephotos for folks who photograph birds and wildlife. Brent recently upgraded to the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM /Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM combo.

Used Canon EF 1.4XII and 2XII Teleconverters

BAA friend and multiple IPT veteran Brent Bridges is also offering, no, actually he is practically giving away a used Canon EF 1.4XII Teleconverter and a used 2XII Teleconverter, both in excellent condition with original box for $100 each. Nuf said. The sale includes both the front and rear dust caps and insured shipping via UPS Ground to US addresses only. Your gear will be shipped only after your check clears.

Please contact Brent via e-mail or by phone at 1-770-565-5012.

The 1.4XII TC is optically identical to the 1.4X III TC. The 2X II TC is slightly less sharp in the corners than the 2X III TC. I used both my 1.4X II and my 2X II TCs for years to produce hundreds of professionally sharp, saleable images.

Used Gitzo GT3450XLS 6X Carbon Fiber Tripod

Erik Hagstrom is offering a Gitzo GT3450XLS 6X carbon tripod (without adjustable center column as artie recommends) for $549. The tripod is in good condition, very clean with no major gouges or chips. There are as expected some normal use marks on the rubber feet. The sale includes a security plate, the fabric tripod sack, and the original box. Shipping terms: the buyer pays for shipping. Calculated at time of sale. Shipping weight is 6lbs. The tripod will ship in the original Gitzo box (6x6x29″).

Please contact Erik via e-mail or by phone at 1-206-999-1507 (9am – 5pm Pacific time).

The Gitzo GT3450XLS 6X Carbon Fiber Tripod is ideal for tall folks. It has been replaced by the virtually identical Gitzo GT3542XLS Tripod that sells new for $999.

Existing Listings

Used Canon EF 100-400 f 4.5-5.6 L IS Lens

Bruce Boswell is offering a used Canon EF 100-400 f 4.5-5.6 L IS lens in very good condition for $999 plus insured shipping via UPS Ground to US Continental addresses only. The tripod and zoom rings have a few minor blemishes. The sale includes: the original case, the front and rear caps, the lens hood, and the lens manual. Your gear will be shipped only after your check clears.

Please contact Bruce via e-mail or by phone at (309) 451-1506 or (309) 530-8493 (cell) (Central).

The 100-400 is a versatile intermediate telephoto zoom lens with 1,000+ uses. It makes a great starter lens especially for folks who do general nature and wildlife in addition to birds. I’ve sold 100s of images made with a 1-4 and denise loved hers for many years forsaking it only recently for the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. Bruce’s 100-400 is priced to sell.

Used Canon 300mm f/4L IS USM Lens

Chris Callahan is offering a used Canon 300mm f/4L IS USM Lens in good to very good condition for $900. There is some wear on the finish. The sale includes the heavy duty fabric carrying case that is moderately worn, the tripod ring (tripod collar), and the rear cap. The seller will pay insured UPS shipping within continental US. The lens will ship after the check clears.

Please contact Chris via e-mail or by phone at 1-850-516-7155 (eastern time).

The Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM lens is still in production; it sells for $1449 new from B&H; buy Chris’s lens today and save $549! I have long recommended this lens as the best Canon bird photography starter lens, a clear choice over my old “toy lens,” the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L. Why? It is faster at f/4. It has IS. And it autofocuses with a 7D (or other pro-sumer body) and a 1.4X teleconverter. The 300 f/4 L IS offers a minimum focusing distance of only 1.5 meters (less than 5 feet). This makes it a great lens for for frogs, butterflies, medium-sized and large flowers, and large insects like dragonflies. It is a great flight lens either alone or with the 1.4X TC. It is deadly sharp and great on a tripod with the Mongoose M3.6.

Used Canon EOS-1D Mark III

Michael Zajac is offering a Canon EOS-1D Mark III professional digital camera body in Excellent condition for $1250. The sale includes the battery charger, one battery, the original paperwork, the camera strap, the original box, and shipping to the continental US.

Please contact Michael via e-mail or by phone at 732-979 -6644. Photos are available upon request.

Some EOS-1D Mark III bodies originally had AF problems. Michael’s did not. I have seen his great flight images made with this camera. This body features a 1.3X crop factor sensor and is a great step-up for someone who wants to take a big step up from a 7D. It’s powerful battery drives AF much faster than the pro-sumer bodies especially with either a 1.4X or 2X teleconverter in place.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. And please do send a Friend Request. 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 Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, ay, 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, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂

The Streak Continues: 283

This blog was published just after 7:15am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL. Yesterday I enjoyed another long, easy swim of just under a mile and another too-long nap. This post, which took me about 2 1/2 hours to prepare, makes 283 in a row. 365 is well within sight….

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂

2015 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): FEB 1 thru the morning of FEB 5, 2015: $1799 (Limit: 8/Openings: 5)

Meet and Greet after dinner on your own at 7:00pm on JAN 31

Just 5 slots left on this great IPT. Click here and scroll down for complete details.

Important Bosque Festival of the Cranes Event Registration Notice

Registration for all Festival of the Cranes workshops, seminars and programs is open. Please click here and read carefully to avoid missing out on several wonderful and inexpensive educational opportunities. Please do not tarry as we expect all of the BAA/A Creative Adventure sessions to sell out quickly, especially the early morning In-the-Field Workshops. You can click http://www.festivalofthecranes.com to register.

First-ever BIRDS AS ART In-the-Field/Meetup Workshop Session (ITF/MWS): $50

Join me on the afternoon of October 10, 2014 for 3-hours of photographic instruction at Fort DeSoto Park. Beginners are welcome. Lenses of 300mm or longer are recommended but even those with 70-200s should get to make some nice images. Teleconverters are always a plus.

You will learn the basics of digital exposure and image design, autofocus basics, and how to get close to free and wild birds. We should get to photograph a variety of wading birds, shorebirds, terns, and gulls. This inexpensive afternoon workshop is designed to give folks a taste of the level and the quality of instruction that is provided on BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-tours. I hope to meet you there.

To register please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours with a credit card in hand to pay the nominal registration fee. Your registration fee is non-refundable. You will receive a short e-mail with instructions, gear advice, and meeting place at least two weeks before the event.

Fort DeSoto Fall IPT/October 11-13, 2014. 3 FULL DAYs: $1099. Limit 8.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for migrant shorebirds in fall. There they join hundreds of egrets, herons, night-herons, gulls, and terns who winter on the T-shaped peninsula that serves as their wintering grounds. With any luck, we should get to photograph two of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit and the spectacular Long-billed Curlew. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher likely. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron are easy as well and we will almost surely come up with a tame Yellow-crowned Night-Heron or two. We should get to do some Brown Pelican flight photography. And Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork would not be unexpected.

Folks who sign up for the IPT are welcome to join us on the ITF/MWS on Friday afternoon as my guest. See above for details on that.

On the IPT you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and 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, to, 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.

As soon as I have a single sign-up for the IPT–as always I will go with one–I will make my reservations at the Beachcomber Beach Resort, 6200 Gulf Blvd, St. Petersburg (St. Pete Beach), FL 33706 (727-367-1902). I stayed at the Beachcomber Beach Resort on my last DeSoto visit and was quite happy with it. Lodging is tough in Florida at this season…. The best airport is Tampa (TPA). It is always best if IPT folks stay in the same hotel so if you are interested it would be a good idea to register now and make your hotel reservations as well. We can easily coordinate with local folks who opt to stay at home.

Because of the relatively late date, payment is full is due upon registration either by check or credit card. If the former, please e-mail us immediately so that we can save you a spot. If the latter, please call Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand to register . Your registration fee is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight so please check your plans carefully before committing. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions, gear advice, and first morning meeting place about one month before this IPT.

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.

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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, ay, 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, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂

The Streak Continues: 281

This blog was published at about 6:30am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL after a strange night’s sleep. I was in bed by 10:00pm, a bit on the late side for me. I awoke at midnight to persistent but strong dull aches in both my right shoulder and my left knee, surely the body’s response to Wednesday’s stem cell/PRP/Prolozone injections. PRP stands for platelet rich plasma. My understanding is the the injections, especially the PRP, inflame the joint tissue which then heals by re-growing new tissue, the end result being a stronger pain-free joint. Thus last night’s pain–a small price to pay for healing.

I slept well for more than five hours until I woke from a traveler’s nightmare. I got to the airport for a bit photo trip aghast to see only my tripod and my hiking boots in the trunk. Zero checked bags. I do not know if I made it home and back in time to make my flight as I awoke feeling quite unsettled :).

This post, which took me about 2 1/2 hours to prepare, makes 281 in a row. 365 is well within sight….

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂

Worth a Second Look…

While looking through various trip folders on Saturday evening in search of an image or two for Sunday’s blog post I came across the image above and thought, “How did I miss this one?”

I remember the situation. I was walking back from the Beatrix Pavilion towards the car park in search of a lost couple from the group. I learned later that they had inadvertently walked across the whole of the gardens following signs to the wrong exit. 🙂 When I saw this single tulip I added the 2X TC to the tripod-mounted 70-200 to take advantage of the isolating power of the 400mm focal length and set up the gorgeous red background. I never shy away from adding the 2X III TC to any of my L series Canon lenses; many folks do over concerns with image sharpness….

In retrospect it is possible that the late afternoon back light is what steered me away from optimizing this image long ago.

There is a section on using long lenses for flower photography in The Art of Flower Photography eGuide; scroll down for details. And of course folks who join us in Holland will get daily doses of the same. And tons more. Again, scroll down here for dates, rates, and details. You only live once 🙂

Speaking of the Image Optimization…

The key to the success of this image was managing the incredible REDs while at the same time controlling noise during the RAW conversion. DPP 4.0 to the rescue. I made lots of small changes to Hue, Saturation, and Luminance in the RED, YELLOW, and ORANGE channels on the Adjust image colors tab. I used the incredible Chromiance and Luminance Noise Reduction tables that Arash painstakingly developed for our new DPP RAW Conversion Guide. His suggested values worked like a charm.

The New DPP RAW Conversion Guide

To learn why I use Canon’s Digital Photo Professional (DPP) to convert every image that I work on, click here. Coming soon: The DPP 4.0 RAW Conversion Guide by Arash Hazeghi and Arthur Morris. The more that I use DPP 4.0 for my RAW conversions the more I am impressed with it. I put in several more hours of work on the guide on Saturday editing and adding to the new eGuide and augmented that with two lengthy phone sessions with Arash. My time-consuming, meticulous work on the guide has proven to be a great way to master DPP 4.0. We hope to have the guide finished before the end of the month if not sooner.

Note: at present, DPP 4.0 works only with 1D X, 5D III, and 6D images.

Lens Pen News

Lens Pen offers several types of small pens that can be used effectively to clean the sensors of digital cameras safely and efficiently. For almost a decade we offered the Lens Pen combo kit for $20 recommending that folks use the smaller of the two Lens Pens to clean their sensors and keep the larger one in their photo vests or fanny packs to clean the front and rear elements of their teleconverters and to remove troublesome thumbprints or spots of unidentified gunk from the front elements of their lenses.

About a year ago I learned that the Lens Pen combo kit had been discontinued and that the manufacturing of the small Lens Pens had been discontinued as well. I told Jim to take the Combo Kit out of the store and save the last 20 kits for my personal use. One of the two major Camera manufacturers purchases 30,000 Lens Pens each year to be used by their repair centers to clean the sensors of folks who send their cameras in for service….

About two months ago I was working with the Lens Pen rep to see if I could come up with an adequate replacement to the small Lens Pens that I loved, valued, and depended on for a decade. I do not like the Lens Pens with the tiny triangular cleaning surfaces. The next thing that I know Gary tells me that his brother-in-law recently discovered that he had 5,000 small Lens Pens in stock. We ordered 1,000 of them immediately. Jim has been after me for several weeks to mention this in the blog….

If you visit the BAA Online Store you can purchase one or more of my favorite Lens Pen Mini Pros here for $9.99 today only, Sunday, September 7, 2014. There will be a price increase of $2.00 as soon as Jim gets to work on Monday morning.

The Lens Pen Mini Pro

• Will not scratch or damage your sensor.
• Outperforms all other sensor cleaning devices.
• The unique LENS PEN tip is self-replenishing.
• The cleaning compound will not spill or dry.
• It is safe for all optical lens surfaces including multi-coated ones.
• NOTE: You will need more than one Lens Pen if you plan to use one on your lenses and teleconverters; you must set aside one Lens Pen for sensor cleaning only.
• Your purchase includes a detailed Sensor Cleaning tutorial that will be sent via e-mail.
• For best results, use in conjunction with the Delkin Sensor Scope.

Click here to learn about all of our sensor cleaning supplies.

Coming Tomorrow

In tomorrow’s blog post I will share a great new Giottos Rocket-Air Super AIR Blower sensor cleaning tip.

Your Help Is Needed

Sales for the August, 2014 via our BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links have been microscopically abysmal at best. If you need to purchase some new camera gear, please remember to use either our B&H logo link below or one of the product-specific links in the blog or the Bulletins. All should feel free to write me via e-mail for gear advice.

The Art of Flower Photography

Click here if you missed the recent eBook announcement.

Ken Kovak: I have been working my way through the “Art of Flower Photography” and it is both a feast for the eyes and quite informative.

Art Buesing: Artie and Denise have outdone themselves with “The Art of Flower Photography.” Gorgeous photos with careful explanations of the production techniques for camera and computer. A valuable addition to my photography library!

Join Denise Ippolito, the author of “Bloomin’ Ideas,” and Arthur Morris, Canon Explorer of Light Emeritus, for a great trip to Holland in mid-April 2015. Day 1 of the IPT will be April 9, 2015. We will have a short afternoon get-together and then our first photographic session at the justly-famed Keukenhof. Our last day, Day 8, April 16 will be a full day of photography.

The primary subjects will be tulips and orchids at Keukenhof and the spectacularly amazing tulip, hyacinth, and daffodil bulb fields around Lisse and points north. We will spend one full day in Amsterdam. There will be optional visits to the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House and/or the Rijk’s Museum. Street photography and sightseeing will be other options. We will spend a half day at Kinderdijk where we will be photographing the windmills and doing some creative photography. We will spend an afternoon in the lovely Dutch town of Delft where we will do some street photography and shopping. There is an optional church tower tour/climb. We will also enjoy a superb fine dining experience in a traditional restaurant.

Other than the arrival date: April 9, Day 1, and the date of our last day of photography on April 16, Day 8, there is no set itinerary. We will check the weather and play everything by ear to maximize the photographic opportunities. We will try to do Amsterdam, Delft, and especially Kinderdijik, on cloudy days.

There are several huge pluses to this trip. First off, denise is an amazingly skilled and caring instructor. Both her creativity and her willingness to share and to help beginning and intermediate photographers are unmatched. And though artie has learned a ton about flower photography from denise, their styles and techniques do vary considerably. You will have a chance to be counseled by and to learn from both of them. While denise will hunt you down to help you, artie’s teaching style is more “the closer you stay to me, the more you will learn.” Both leaders consistently inspire the participants. And each other. The sky, of course, is the limit.

You will learn to create tight abstracts, how best to use depth-of-field (or the lack thereof) to improve your flower photography, how to get the right exposure and make sharp images every time, how to see the best shot, and how to choose the best perspective for a given situation. And you will of course learn to create a variety of pleasingly blurred flower images. If you bring a long lens, you will learn to use it effectively for flower photography. Denise’s two favorite flower lenses are the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens and the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. Mine are the Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS macro , the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens ,and the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, all almost always on a tripod. Often with extension tubes and/or either the 1.4X or the 2X (with the 300 II) teleconverters. Denise hand holds a great deal of the time. For flower field blurs denise uses the same lenses mentioned above along with her new 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III lens. Artie’s favorite is that same 70-200 often with a 1.4X TC but he uses both the new Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens and the 300 II as well. Both of us use and love the Canon EOS 5D Mark III for all of our flower photography. The in-camera HDR and Multiple Exposure features are a blast.

One of the great advantages of our trip is that we will be staying in a single, strategically located hotel that is quite excellent. Do note that all ground transfers to and from Schipol Airport will be via the free hotel shuttle bus.

What’s included: Eight hotel nights. All ground transportation except for airport transfers as noted above. In-the-field instruction and small group image review and Photoshop sessions. All meals from dinner on Day 1 through dinner on Day 8. There is good food at the hotel and we will be dining there on occasion; whenever you order off the menu be it at the hotel or at another restaurant only the cost of your main course is included. On these occasions the cost of soups, appetizers, salads, sodas and other beverages, alcoholic drinks and wine, bottled water, and desserts are not included. Snacks, personal items, phone calls, etc. are also not included. The cost of bus or train transportation to and from Amsterdam (about $20 US), museum entry, and tower and church entry fees (optional) are likewise not included.

Beware of seemingly longer, slightly less expensive tours that include travel days and days sitting in the hotel doing nothing as part of the tour. In addition, other similar trips have you changing hotels often and needlessly. One final note on other similar trips: the instructors on this trip actually instruct. On other similar trips the instructors, though usually imminently qualified, serve for the most part as van drivers and van door openers.

A non-refundable deposit of $1,000 per person is required to hold your spot. The second payment of $2,000 due by October 30, 2014. The balance is due on January 15, 2015. Payments in full are of course welcome at any time. All payments including the deposit must be by check made out to “Arthur Morris.” As life has a way of throwing an occasional curve ball our way, you are urged to purchase travel insurance within 15 days of our cashing your check. Artie uses and recommends Travel Insurance Services. All payments are non-refundable unless the trip fills to capacity. In that case, all payments but your deposit will be refunded. If the trip does not run every penny will of course be refunded. Again, please do not purchase your air tickets until you hear from us that the trip is a go. We are very confident that it will.

All checks should be made out to “Arthur Morris” and sent to: Arthur Morris, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. Call Jim or Jen in the BAA office with any additional registration questions: 863-692-0906.

For couples or friends signing up at the same time for the tulip trip, a $200/duo discount will be applied to the final payment.

When you send your deposit check, please print, sign, and include the paperwork here.

If you have any questions on the trip please contact artie by e-mail or denise by e-mail.

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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, ay, 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, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂

The Streak Continues: 279

This blog was published at 7:45am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL after another good night’s sleep. I enjoyed an easy swim yesterday; only time will reveal the effects of the stem cell/PRP/Prolozine injections in my right shoulder (the 2nd set) and left knee. Healing takes time. This post, which took me about 3 hours to prepare, makes 279 in a row.

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂

You can find the following items in the store: Gitzo tripods, Mongoose M3.6 and Wimberley heads, plates, low feet, and accessories, flash brackets, , Delkin e-film Pro Compact Flash Cards, LensCoat products, and our unique line-up of educational materials including ABP I & II, Digital Basics, Site and Set-up e-Guides, Canon and Nikon Camera Users and AF e-Guides, and MP-4 Photoshop video tutorials among others.

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.

Ah, The Insanity Of It…

Once the mate began tossing fish and the gannets came, it was pure chaos. Within the hour, folks began taking extended rests, too exhausted even to lift their 70-200s. Once in a while I would take short “break” by going for some wide stuff with the 24-70. It is a lot lighter than the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II.

As you might surmise, the big key to creating pleasing images of single birds like the one immediately below is being able to isolate your chosen subject. Going to a longer focal length, a tactic that usually works well when you have problems isolating a single bird in a flock, did not help on the gannet boat because the birds were simply too close. In fact, pretty much everyone in the group removed their 1.4X teleconverters from their 70-200s….

So how do you go about isolating a single gannet? Study and anticipation. I urged the group to simply quit photographing the birds for a minute, to see how they were flying, to note the direction of the wind and the quality and direction of the light. Bird behavior tends to be repetitive.

In the situation pictured above, I might have counseled the group in my loudest voice something like this, “Watch for the birds coming in from our left. Get on one that looks to be in a bit of relatively clear sky and wait until it turns to its right and starts to dive. Then push and hold the shutter button. Be sure to follow through.”

Isolating a Single Bird

In addition to figuring out the flight and diving patterns, isolating a single gannet in the mayhem takes a great deal of determination and some degree of stamina. I still have probably 200 very good images of single gannets in flight to process….

The Image Optimization

First off, I will say that I realize that there are a few of you out there who prefer the original chaotic image to the cleaner more balanced look of the optimized image. I am fine with that but much prefer the optimized version.

Here is an easy multiple choice question: How much time did I spend on the image optimization?

a-about 30 minutes
b-about one hour
c-about 90 minutes
d-very close to two hours

After the conversion in DPP 4.0, the clean-up–as always–was done with a combination of the Clone Stamp Tool, the Spot Healing Brush, the Patch Tool, and many small Quick Masks that were refined via the addition of a Regular Layer Mask. I used both the “Divide and Conquer” and the “Denise Ippolito Protective Cloning on a Layer” techniques. And I used them often. I applied a heavy layer of Image> Blur> Surface Blur and painted that onto the sky via an Inverse or Hide-All Layer Mask to smooth out the bird removal and bird relocation repairs. Near the end I move the whole flock a bit back in the frame using techniques from APTATS II. Lastly I noticed that the image needed to be leveled; that resulted in the need for a small crop.

The DPP RAW Conversion Guide

To learn why I use Canon’s Digital Photo Professional (DPP) to convert every image that I work on, click here. Coming soon: The DPP 4.0 RAW Conversion Guide by Arash Hazeghi and Arthur Morris. The more that I use DPP 4.0 for my RAW conversions the more I am impressed with it. I will be putting in several more hours of work today editing and adding to our new eGuide. Note: at present, DPP 4.0 will work only with 1D X and 5D III images.

Digital Basics

Everything that I did to optimize today’s image is detailed 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 killer image clean-up tools, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding and filling in canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro basics, Digital Eye Doctor, Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, how to create time-saving actions, and tons more.

APTATS I & II

Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS I. Mention this blog post and apply a $5 discount to either with phone orders only. Buy both APTATS I and APTATS II and we will be glad to apply at $15 discount with phone orders only. Please call Jim or Jennifer at 863-692-0906 weekdays to order.

The 2015 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT

June 29 through July 5, 2015: $5499: Limit 10 photographers/Openings 2. Two great leaders: Denise Ippolito and Arthur Morris.

Here are the plans for next year: 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. (More info below.)

The Rest of the Fine Details

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.

We are planning this as double-occupancy only but we should be able to arrange for singles by renting a 3rd cottage. We would need to know well in advance, i.e., soon, and it would be pricey and would need to be paid with your non-refundable deposit of $2,000. The shared rooms are decent-sized, each with two roomy single beds and a private bathroom. There are two king rooms available for couples. The upscale country-side cottages are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for image sharing and Photoshop lessons.

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. We do expect this workshop to sell out very quickly as we have already sold 2 slots even though the trip has not yet been formally announced till right now. Not to mention that everyone loves puffins. 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.

We do hope that you can join us.

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 Canada

Many kind folks from north of the border, ay, 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, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂

Important “CBS This Morning” News Flash Update

Helen Hayes/Great Island Feature Re-scheduled.

8:51am EDT. The feature just aired. It was wonderful and I laughed a lot. And they used some of my images. I hope that each of you got it on tape or Tivo or got to watch it. It is not too late for those in time zones to the west.

A Wonderful and Moving Tribute to Helen Hays

September 2, 2014 at 4:13 pm

Artie, Thank you for this photo and head-up regarding the CBS interview with Helen Hayes. I first came acquainted with Helen in 1957, at the American Ornithologists Union meeting in Regina, SK. when I was a 14yr old budding ornithologist. I remember distinctly the cheers and wolf whistles that went up as Helen, then a newly-minted waterfowl biologist crossed the stage to present her paper, and the extended applause she received after her presentation from all her male contemporaries. You see, Helen was a pioneer, and one of the very first female wildlife biologists of her day. Later, in the early 1970s, we worked together editing my manuscript on Common Terns based on my graduate thesis. Helen was then the editor of The Wilson’s Bulletin, and with her help, that manuscript won a prize as the best paper to be published in that journal that year. Later, when I was a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, we corresponded on deformities in fish-eating birds. Helen Hays has been a mentor and source of encouragement to hundreds of young people as she was to your Jennifer and her husband Erik. Her extensive data set on Common and Roseate Terns collected over the past 47 years will be a goldmine of information. Rarely do studies last more than 10 years, let alone 47! Hats off to the 80-something year old wonder lady with the yellow flowers in her straw hat. She is still a classy act and an inspiration to us all.. Yeah Helen!

On September 2, 2014 at 4:35 pm I responded:

Glen, Thanks for sharing your powerful and moving tribute to Helen with us here.

I wrote an article about Helen for the now defunct “Birder’s World Magazine” about 20 years ago. It was entitled “One Good Tern Lady.” At one point I had several hard copies but have lost track of those. I have been trying without success to find one so that I could scan the article…. Perhaps you or someone else has a copy…. best and thanks again, artie

Important Bosque Festival of the Cranes Event Registration Notice

Registration for all Festival of the Cranes workshops, seminars and programs will be open for all today at 9:00am MDT (11:00am EDT). Please click here and read carefully to avoid missing out on several wonderful and inexpensive educational opportunities. Please do not tarry as we expect all of the BAA/A Creative Adventure sessions to sell out quickly, especially the early morning In-the-Field Workshops.

The Streak Continues: 277

This blog was published just after 6:00am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL after another good night’s sleep. We head to Tampa today for another stem cell/PRP/Prolozine injection treatment for my right shoulder and the first one for my left knee. This post, which took me about two hours to prepare, makes 277 in a row.

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Catching Up on Photography Fine Points

From time to time–but probably not often enough–I like to go back and take a look at the answers to the questions that are sprinkled throughout various blog posts.

Mommy, Why are Their Bills So Red?

In yesterday’s Mommy, Why are Their Bills So Red? blog post, I asked:

#1: Why didn’t I simply point my lens to the right to eliminate the out-of-focus pelican behind the subject and have more room in front of the bird?

Nobody came close on this one…. At 1/4000 sec. at f/4.5 with central sensor AI Servo Surround set some might surmise that I had been concentrating on flight photography. They would have been correct. When I saw the pelican scratching, I got as low as I could to eliminate the rocks right behind the bird. I was not able to get low enough to separate the pelican’s bill from the rock. I knew that there was too much room behind the bird and not enough room in front but I did not want to miss the scratching action. The problem stemmed from the fact that central sensor Surround AF was active; if I pointed the lens to the right for better framing the active sensor would have been on the distant ocean. I remember being reluctant to move the active AF sensor as I was not sure of what would have been the best choice.

Knowing now what I did not know then about 61-Point AF, I would have realized that 61-Point Automatic selection would have been perfect for this situation as I was almost parallel to the bird…. Once I acquired focus I would have been able to re-compose right without losing focus….

#2: Had I been able to get lower, how would that have helped the image?

As noted above, had I been able to get lower I could have eliminated the merge of the tip of the bill with the rock. Kudos to David Policansky for leaving a comment and nailing that one.

Important CBS This Morning News Flash for Tuesday, September 2, 2014

In the “Important CBS This Morning News Flash for Tuesday, September 2, 2014” blog post here, I asked, referring to the image created in the GGI kitchen, why I should have gone with an HDR (High Dynamic Range) series. When you are photographing indoors with a window to the outside world going HDR is often the best and only solution. Note that both windows as well as the blue & white checkerboard oilcloth at the far end of the table were mega-over-exposed.

I followed the standard advice of going “high and wide for people” and was standing on one of the bench seats. Being indoors I was at a necessarily slow shutter speed despite having set a high ISO so in order to create a usable HDR series I would have needed to have my rig on a tripod. But that was not possible with me standing on the bench seat. You get the picture. So I went with a straight image capture and lived with the toasted windows and tablecloth.

Had my EOS-5D Mark III not been on the fritz I would have gone with in-camera HDR Natural with Auto Align set and hoped for the best….

The Importance of Being Early III

In The Importance of Being Early III I posted with regards to the image above:

Image Question

What other elements of composition–though quite small and seemingly insignificant to many, add to the success of this image?

The two tiny blades of grass right behind the behind the chick and the pair of legs of an adult skimmer on the upper right frame-edge both added interest to the image as both were perfectly positioned. If I were painting this chick on a plain sand beach I would have placed these two elements in exactly the same spots….

Just for the record book, the item that the chick is holding in its bill is a small, likely windblown twig.

AF Question

With the active and the eight surrounding sensors squarely on the chick’s face why did I take my thumb off the rear focus button before creating the image? Note: I did not re-compose….

AF sometimes has problems in extreme low contrast situations. AF often has problems in backlit situations. For those reasons I released the rear focus button once I had acquired focus. Here’s a tip for similar situations: there is a small, round, green AF indicator light. If that light is flickering when you are in AI Servo AF it means that AF is having trouble locking on. If the light is steady, it indicates that accurate focus has been achieved….

Exposure Questions

With regards to the skimmer silhouette image I wrote:

1-Why would +2 stops as framed have been very close to +3 stops off the sky?

+2 stops as framed would have been very close to the meter reading that you got at +3 stops off the sky because the bird is darker than the sky and would have influenced the meter. Remember that if you are (properly) working in Manual mode that you would need to look at the analogue scale in the viewfinder to note these differences.

2-Assuming that I went to Manual mode what would the correct shutter speed have been at f/5.6?

The image was created at zero in Av mode at 1/8000 sec. at f/5.6. To get two stops lighter in Manual mode I would have needed to halve the shutter speed twice as halving the shutter speed once gets you one stop lighter. Another way to think of it would be to go six counterclockwise clicks with the index finger wheel with each click representing 1/3 stop lighter. Either way you would wind up at 1/2000 sec. at f/5.6.

All photographers need to be familiar with the relationships that deal with ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and exposure compensation. In other words, you need to be able to do the math. Those who have trouble doing the math are referred to “Measuring Light in Stop”s section on page 54 of the original The Art of Bird Photography (160 pages in soft cover).

2015 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT): FEB 1 thru the morning of FEB 5, 2015: $1799 (Limit: 8/Openings: 7)

Meet and Greet after dinner on your own at 7:00pm on JAN 31

Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants in breeding plumage with their amazing crests; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other species possible inluding Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semiplamated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions likely; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice landscape opportunities as well.

Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?

This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, five lunches, after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions, and two fine dinners. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.

A $499 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to use at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 12/1//2014. If 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. If your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

San Diego Natural History Museum Program & The Birds of the World Exhibit

On Saturday morning, February 7, 2015 I will be presenting “A Bird Photographer’s Story” at the San Diego Natural History Museum to kick off the Birds of the World photographic exhibit that will feature the images of about a dozen of the world’s top avian photographers. This program,which is being generously sponsored by the Canon Explorers of Light program, will be free and open to the public. I am proud to say that both Denise Ippolito and I will have images hanging in the show. The exhibit opening is scheduled for later that same day, February 7, 2015. (Times TBA).

Folks on the IPT who wish to stay over and attend the program and the exhibit opening on Saturday are invited to join me for a photo session on Friday morning as follows:

Friday Morning Add-on Photo Session: February 6, 2015: $299.

This workshop includes 3 hours of in-the-field pelican photography instruction and brunch with image review and Photoshop instruction. For now, this session is open only to folks attending the IPT.

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Typos

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