December 9th, 2011
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Northern Gannet landing with nesting material, Quebec, Canada. Created with the handheld Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D Mark III (since replaced by the EOS-1D Mark IV). ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2 1/3 stops off the grey sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/8 set manually.
Central Sensor AI Servo AF on the shutter button; this image was made before I switched to rear focus full time. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: +4. For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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For Your Critique: Image #20
The image is presented for your critique; feel free to praise it or rip it to shreds. Would you keep it or delete it? Is the clipped tail a deal breaker for you? Let us know why either way, what you like or what you hate. What would you have done differently?
This is the last in the 20-image series. In a few days I will post the two major revelations.
One of the very best ways to grow as a photographer is to look at as many good images as possible. I do that often in books, by checking out contest result web sites, by critiquing images on Bird Photographers.Net (BPN), by visiting the web sites of the world’s best photographers, and during image critiques and by encouraging image sharing on our BAA Instructional Photo-Tours (IPTs). More on this subject soon.
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear that James used to create the images in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens. This fantastic, relatively light 400mm f/4 lens that can be hand held is ideal for birds in flight and when photographing from all types of water craft.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
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Cropped to a square as suggested in various comments. I believe that the image is stronger this way. Thanks Patty et al.
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December 8th, 2011
Red-tailed Hawk, immature perched in cottonwood tree, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NM. From the recently concluded Bosque IPT.
The in the sun image was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV with the lens resting on the car window. (I did not have a BLUBB on the trip. :() ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/8 in Tv mode (to guarantee a minimum shutter speed of 1/400 sec. with the lens balanced somewhat precariously on the car window.)
The overcast image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/125 sec. at f/9 in Av Mode.
For each: Central Sensor (by necessity) Rear Focus/AI Servo AF and recompose. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: +4.
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Sun or No Sun: Which Red-tail Image Do You Prefer?
I can thank an upset stomach for this image. Heck, you gotta learn to love what is. (Byron Katie: TheWork.com–who would you be without your story?) I needed a porta-potti so I left Robert with the group and made my way around the Farm Loop Road. Several porta-potties were removed from their traditional locations at the Chupadera and Farm Decks this year…. In any case, as I headed back to the north end of the refuge I noticed some crows hassling a raptor, the young red-tail in the images above. I carefully positioned the car, raised the window a bit, positioned the lens, and made a few images. The bird seemed relaxed in spite of the crows so I got out of the vehicle and set the lens up on the 3530 LS tripod with the Mongoose M3.6 on it to reduce the angle of inclination just a bit. The bird sat for a while and then flew off for to look for an early lunch.
Do note the difference in exposure compensation settings in the two images. If you do not understand them, see the Exposure Simplified section in ABP II; remember, your meter is smarter when the sun is out than when the sun is in. Note also that I felt more comfortable stopping down a bit with the lens on the tripod then I did with the lens resting on the raised window. If the lens had been on the much more stable BLUBB I would have confidently stopped down for the sunny image.
Which Do You Prefer?
Which light do you prefer, the sun peeking through or the complete overcast? Please indicate “sunny” or “overcast.” And be sure to let us know what you like abou the light. Please remember that the JPEGs in the GIF represent the unprocessed images and that I am not asking which image you prefer, but which light you prefer. In the follow-up blog post I will share the optimized version of my favorite. Sorry, no clues. 🙂
BAA On-Line Store Issues Continue
The problems with the new server and the BAA On-Line Store continue today, 12/8/11. You can learn more here. (BTW, I arrived safely on Long Island just after noon thanks to the great folks at Southwest Airlines.) The store was up for a while this morning and then crashed again. Jim was able to get into the back end but was unable to process the orders. We are working hard to rectify the problem and apologize for any inconvenience. Obviously we too wish that we were not having these unavoidable problems. 🙂
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
If you have problems when you try to place an order you have the option of calling Jim at 863-692-0906 or trying again in a few hours. Thanks all for your patience.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
BLUBB. I personally designed the Big Lens Ultimate BeanBag and have it made in the good old US of A. This large beanbag is ideal when working with super-telephoto lenses from your vehicle. Beware of cheaper and much inferior copycat rip-offs; you get what you pay for just like your Daddy said.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
December 7th, 2011
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This Snow Goose pre-dawn fly-out image was created on the morning of 11/24/11 at 6:37 am on the recently concluded Bosque IPT with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens, the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 160mm) with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 100. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/13 sec. at f/13 set manually. Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: -8.
Central Sensor/Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. To enjoy viewing a larger sized image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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BAA ON-LINE STORE ISSUES
In an effort to provide even better service to our customers, that would be you thanks, we recently moved to an upgraded server. Things have not gone as smoothly as we had hoped. There are compatibility issues involving the check-out procedures and the new server. We have been working hard for three days to resolve these issues and do appreciate your patience. Many have been frustrated by being unable to check out. Others more recently have simply found the store inaccessible. We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused.
We would be more than glad to process your phone orders and to apply any BAA “On-Line Store only” discounts. If you would like to place a phone order, please call us at 863-692-0906. If the line is busy or if there is no answer, please leave your name, a call back number, and the best time to call. Thanks to the many who have called to place their orders for either the Nikon dSLR Guide or the Bosque Site Guide.
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This Snow Goose pre-dawn fly-in image was created on the morning of 11/23/11 at 6:34 am on the recently concluded Bosque IPT with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens, the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 110mm) with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/8 sec. at f/11 set manually. Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: -8.
Central Sensor/Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. To enjoy viewing a larger sized image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
December 6th, 2011
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Sandhill Crane in flight, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NM Image copyright 2010: Robert O’Toole Photography. This image was created with the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/4G ED VR lens, the Nikon TC-14E 1.4x II and the Nikon D300S. ISO 400. Manual metering at zero: 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode.
In Robert O’Toole’s Nikon DSLR User’s Guide for the D300s/D700/D3S/d3x he shares with you the AF and metering settings that he uses to create sharp, perfectly exposed images like the one above! In addition he details his entire camera set-up from soup to nuts. Learn to use your Nikon camera like a top professional.
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Nikon DSLR User’s Guide for the D300s/D700/D3S/d3x
(Note: Most of what is in the Guide applies also to the D80, the D90, and the D300.)
Well, it took long enough–at least two years from concept to the final PDF–but Robert O’Toole has out-done himself by creating a masterpiece user’s guide for Nikon dSLR cameras. When I took my first look at the finished document all that I could say was “Wow! Many Nikon folks show up on IPTs knowing little about properly setting up their cameras. “How do you see the histogram?’ “Don’t know….” “Can you set your camera so that we see the RGB histogram and blinkies in the same frame? “I once saw it done but don’t know how….” For me, it has long seemed that operating a Nikon camera required degrees in Physics, Language, and Logic. With Robert’s new guide those days are over.
You will learn when, how, and why to work in Manual mode and when, why, and how to work in one of the auto-modes (by setting exposure compensation). You will learn the various camera control options and custom settings so that you can fine-tune your camera to suit your shooting style. You will learn how and why many top pros works at higher ISOs than the regular Joes. And you will learn how Robert uses both Auto-ISO Control and Exposure Compensation while working in Manual Mode to routinely create perfectly exposed action photographs. He explains exactly how he sets the important camera controls. And why. Those include Release Mode, Focus Mode, and Rear Button Focus. You will learn how to set your camera and your flash to create flash blurs. You will learn which AF Mode Robert uses 90% of the time and how he sets it up using Menu/Custom Settings Menu.
He will teach you how and why to set a variety of buttons and dials. How and why to use Live View. About the only metering mode he uses. How, why, and when to switch AF points with the Multi-Selector. How and why to use the often-overlooked Info Button and the often over-looked My Menu feature. Then he takes you through the Camera Menus while dealing with the hows and whys of how he sets up the important items.
If you use Nikon gear then you simply cannot live without Robert’s great new guide. You owe it to yourself to make your life easier, to learn to make better images, and to learn exactly how a top professional does things. The Nikon DSLR User’s Guide is a comprehensive 45-page PDF that is sent by e-mail. There are dozens and dozens of diagrams and screen captures and even a few photos to illustrate key points. Your best bet is to save $2 by ordering your Nikon dSLR User’s Guide through the BAA On-line Store here for only $30. Or you can purchase your copy for $32 by calling BIRDS AS ART at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand, by sending a PayPal for $32 to us at birdsasart@att.net, or by sending a check for $32 made out to “Arthur Morris” to us at Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL. If by check be sure to include your e-mail address. (Please remember: no sharing digital files please :))
COMMENTS ON THE NIKON dSLR USER’S GUIDE
By e-mail from Andy Hays, Chicago, IL: Robert, Your Nikon treatise was a revelation to me. I am a life-long and fanatic birder, but a notoriously inept, point and shoot photographer; you have moved me to new plateau. Nikon should buy your work product. Not only that the company should make you a board member and a Japanese citizen! I could not have learned from their instruction manual what I learned from your Nikon dSLR Guide. Well done. Andy Hays
By e-mail from Edward Delaney, Ireland: Dear Robert, I can honestly say that I have learned more from your Nikon guide than from all of my other books on the Nikon system put together. Thanks for a wonderful guide. Edward
By e-mail from Yannick Bulicaut: Robert, Your Nikon dSLR Guide is truly useful; even though I’ve been using using SLR’s for almost 40 years–and probably because of that–I never took the time to check all the cool controls that Robert highlights with precision, the view finder focus for instance. The guide is well worth the 30 dollars since I know I could never have sat through the entire Nikon D3S camera body manual! Thanks, Yannick
By e-mail from Dennis Kirland: Hi Robert, I just finished going through your Nikon dSLR User’s Guide and wanted to thank you. It is very well written, clear and concise. I learned more than I thought I would. Excellent job! I mostly photograph static scenes, but I will try your suggestions on 51 point 3D Dynamic AF and see how I like it. I also changed the settings to activate the AF-ON button for AF instead of the shutter button. That’s going to take some getting used to!
Anyway, the guide has lots of great tips! Thanks, Dennis
By e-mail from Raleigh & Beret Harmon: Robert, Thank you for writing the “Nikon DSLR User’s Guide,” It is well written, clear and in a word… great! It has made me rethink my entire approach to my camera. I have long been an admirer of your colleagues Art Morris and recently Dennise Ippolito and have often thought, how great it would be to have someone like them who was a Nikon person and who would have a web site with great information focused on Nikon. Please send me the link to your site. Thank you again and keep up the great work. Raleigh & Beret Harmon
You can learn more about Robert here.
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Bald Eagle Striking, near Homer, AK. Image courtesy of and copyright 2010: Robert O’Toole Photography. Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO Autofocus Lens for Nikon handheld at 350mm with the Nikon D700. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/1600 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode.
Image copyright Robert O’Toole Photography. Purchasing Robert’s new Nikon DSLR User’s Guide will not guarantee that you will make images as good as the one above but you will learn how to get the most out of your gear for nature and action photography. (Sports photographers take note.) Or, purchase the guide and join us on most IPTs to get personal lessons from Robert!
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Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear mentioned in this blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/4G ED VR lensThis is Robert’s workhorse telephoto lens. It is rare that they are in stock anywhere….
Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO Autofocus Lens for Canon. This is the Canon version of one of Robert’s favorite Sigma lenses.
Nikon TC-14E 1.4x II A very sharp 1.4X teleconverter and again, an item that can be very hard to find in stock.
Nikon D700. Robert travels with both a D700 body and a D300S body. The D700 is Robert’s full frame format (FX) Nikon digital camera body.
Nikon D300S. Robert travels with both a D700 body and a D300S body. The D300S is Robert’s 1.5x crop factor (DX) Nikon digital camera body.
December 5th, 2011
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Sandhill Crane in flight, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NM. From the recently concluded Bosque IPT. This image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop off the grasses: 1/800 sec. at f/8 set manually.
Central Sensor (by necessity) Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: +4. For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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(Unusual?) Flight Photography Cropping Options
Most times when I clip off the end of a wing or wings so severely that repairing the missing primaries is impossible, I simply delete the images. But there are times when I think, “Jeez, that is so sharp with so much detail, there must be a way to do something with it.” So following the principles detailed in the Advanced Composition and Image Design section in The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP: 916 pages on CD only), and following my own advice from the same source: “cut don’t clip,” I hit C for the Crop Tool for all of the images presented in this post and went to work. For the image above a quasi pano-crop worked best. Note that rather than clipping the primaries I chose to cut them dramatically while cropping from the top and the bottom. Having the eye wind up in the upper right corner worked very well.
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Snow Goose, adult braking hard, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NM. From the recently concluded Bosque IPT. This image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop off the grasses: 1/1600 sec. at f/8 set manually.
Central Sensor (by necessity) Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: +4. For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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With the image above it would have been possible to repair the wing tips as I barely clipped the primaries top and left. That, however, would have been a lot of work and adding the needed canvas would have made the task that much more difficult and time consuming. So I opted to crop from all sides in order to wind up with a balanced image that showed more detail. Again, note that “cut don’t clip” was the best road to follow.
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Sandhill Crane, immature landing, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NW. From the recently concluded Bosque IPT. This image was created on the morning of 11/23/2011 with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop off the grasses: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3 set manually.
Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: +2. For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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With the legs well forward and the great sharpness in the image above there was no way I was deleting this one because of the clipped primaries on the far wing so I took a bit off the top, cropped from the bottom, and then Quick Masked out the backs of the two birds in the bottom of the frame.
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Snow Goose, immature landing, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NW. From the recently concluded Bosque IPT. This image was created on the morning of 11/18/2011 with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 640. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops off the low blue sky: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6 set manually.
Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: +2. For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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In the image above I loved the sharpness and the super detail afforded by the tight framing. By checking out the original capture below you can better understand the thought processes that go into making these unusual crops successfully.
Share Your Thoughts
I invite you to leave a comment and to share your thoughts on these unusual crops. Do they all work for you? Do you have a faveorite? Would you have done anything different? I do like all of them :).
BOSQUE del APACHE 2012 IPT DATES ANNOUNCED
BOSQUE del APACHE 2012 IPT: “The Complete Bosque Experience.” NOV 21-27, 2012. 7-FULL DAYS: $3299. Introductory Slide program: 6:30 pm on 11/20. Limit: 12/Openings: 10.
Tens of thousand of Snow Geese, 10,000 Sandhill Cranes, ducks including point-blank American Wigeon and Wood Duck, amazing sunrises, sunsets, and blast-offs. Live, eat, and breathe photography with one of (if not the) world’s premier photographic educators at one of his very favorite locations on the planet. Top-notch Photoshop instruction. Next year will make 18 consecutive Novembers at Bosque for me. Nobody knows the place better than I do. Join us to learn to think like a pro, to recognize situations and to anticipate them based on the weather, especially the light and the wind direction. Every time we make a move we will let you know why. When you head home applying what you learned will prove to be invaluable.
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the image in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
December 3rd, 2011
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Snow Goose landing, early morning light, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NW. From the recently concluded Bosque IPT. This image was created on the morning of 11/18/2011 with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 640. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops off the low blue sky: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6 set manually.
Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: +2. For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Photoshop CS 5 Twilight Zone?
About halfway through the Bosque IPT Photoshop CS-5 started acting strangely. The first thing that I noticed was that when I brought an image into CS-5 to convert it in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) it looked hazy, dull, and flat and the color looked way off. Some images looked so bad that I simply went started over and converted them in BreezeBrowser. With others I spent 10 minutes adjusting the sliders in an effort to get the image to look right…. That process (as described in detail in Digital Basics) usually takes 10 seconds…. I soon noticed that all of my keyboard shortcuts, both Tools and Applications, had disappeared. One by one I re-keyed each of them. But the problem with the ACR conversions persisted. Robert O’Toole took a crack at it on the IPT to no avail….
Mystery Solved!
Last night I called old friend and Photoshop expert Ellen Anon. She spent 30 minutes with me trying to solve the problem. Also without success. Finally she said, “CS-5 somehow became corrupted; you need to delete all of your preferences and start from scratch. Here’s how you do that:
- Hold three fingers of your left hand over the Shift, Ctrl, and Alt keys.
- Double left-click on the Photoshop CS-5 icon on your desktop; the instant the program starts to open push and hold down the Shift, Ctrl, and Alt keys with those same three fingers of your left hand; note: put one finger on each of the three keys.
- When the dialogue box below opens, click Yes.
- Now you have the fun task of re-keying all of your Photoshop preferences and keyboard shortcuts. That whole process took me all of three minutes (though I might have missed one or two.
Well, I guess that you have figured out by now that the fix worked! Each image that I open in ACR now looks great at my default settings. Tanks a stack Ellen! The next time that your copy of Photoshop starts acting strangely consider deleting your preferences and getting back to ground zero.
ELLEN ANON
Ellen Anon, a former BIRDS AS ART IPT co-leader, is an award winning photographer, an author, a Photoshop and digital imaging expert, and a good friend. She has co-authored a series of best selling books including Photoshop CS5 for Nature Photographers; A Workshop in a Book and Aperture3; Portable Genius along with several video series. She and her son Josh are very excited about being in the process of creating a new book (and workshops) that will help people develop their photographic eye via visual intensity.
You can learn more about Ellen and see lots of her great images here She asked me to let you know that she needs to update her workshop and public appearances pages as life sometimes gets in the way of photography and career.
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
December 1st, 2011
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This image was created with the Canon 24-105 IS L zoom lens (hand held at 60mm) and the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/50 sec. at f/22 in Av Mode.
This image was created in LaJolla, CA on the 2011 San Diego IPT. One-Shot AF and recompose. For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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For Your Critique: Image #19
The image is presented for your critique; feel free to praise it or rip it to shreds. Would you keep it or delete it? Let us know why either way, what you like or what you hate. What would you have done differently?
In a few days I will present one additional image for a total of twenty in all in this series. That will be followed by several revelations including two major ones.
One of the very best ways to grow as a photographer is to look at as many good images as possible. I do that often in books, by checking out contest result web sites, by critiquing images on Bird Photographers.Net (BPN), by visiting the web sites of the world’s best photographers, and during image critiques and by encouraging image sharing on our BAA Instructional Photo-Tours (IPTs).
BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #390
BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #390 is on line and can be accessed here in spectacular white on black format. Here are the features:
- BOSQUE END OF NOVEMBER REPORT
- CANON REBATES!
- THE BLOG IS THE BOMB
- NIK COLOR EFEX PRO 4.1
- IPT UPDATES
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the image in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 24-105 IS L zoom lens. This is my everyday B-roll lens. It is always in my vest for grab shots, birdscapes, scenic images, close ups, and 100 other types of images.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
A Guide to Pleasing Blurs. Denise Ippolito and yours truly share dozens of the techniques that they use to create pleasingly blurred images of a great variety of natural history subjects.
November 28th, 2011
All My Life’s a Circle
All My Life’s a Circle. One of my very favorite Harry Chapin songs. Hear it here. The song is also titled a more simple, “Circle.” And now circle is one of my very favorite lenses….
I knew that I would be heading to White Sands with Robert O’Toole for a day or two so I asked to borrow the relatively new (and amazing) Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM Fisheye Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens. Thanks a stack to the kindness of Yechiel Orgel of B&H for the loan. When you use this lens with a full frame camera (as I did above) you can zoom between true 8mm circle and a 15 mm fisheye focal lengths; be sure to zoom out to the 8mm setting and remove the lens hood to prevent vignetting. With a 1.6 crop factor camera like the Canon EOS-7D you get a full frame fish eye image at the 8mm setting.
Note: Click on the link for the circle lens to enjoy $50 instant savings (expires 11/31/2011).
In the image above I worked in the soft pre-dawn light to avoid problems with either the sun or my shadow. With the 180 degree view you need to tilt the tripod forward to avoid getting the tripod legs in the frame…. It takes a bit of practice to learn to use this lens, but wow, it is great fun and the results as you see above can be spectacular. If you enjoy landscape photography and like getting up early or staying in the field after sunset you will love this lens. Here are a few of the features:
- L-Series Optics
- 180° Diagonal Angle of View
- Produces Circular & Full Frame Images
- Fast Ultra-Sonic Motor (USM) Autofocus
- Ultra-Low Dispersion (UD) Glass
- Floating Focus System
- Close Focus – 6.2″ / 0.16 m
- Rear Gel Holder Up to 3 Pre-Cut Filters
- Subwavelength Structure Coating
- Protective Fluorine Lens Coating<
To learn more about this lens check out the customer reviews by clicking on the appropriate tab here.
If you purchase this lens using our B&H link: Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM Fisheye Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens you will earn a free contest entry and in addition, I would be glad to send you a short tutorial on how to crop your circle images to a perfect circle. (Please request the tutorial via e-mail along with a copy of your B&H receipt.
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Comments and Questions Welcome
Please feel free to leave a comment on either the image or Harry Chapin or ask a question about the lens.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the image in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM Fisheye Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens An amazing piece of lens technology that is both a challenge and great fun to use.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Camera. Canon’s lightweight full frame body is perfect for serious landscape photography.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders :). And you will love them in mega-cold weather….
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Giottos MH 1302-655 (Tiny) BallHead. I spin off my Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head and mount the tiny ballhead whenever I need to use a short lens on the tripod. The camera goes in the clamp via the Wimberley P-5 camera body plate.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
November 27th, 2011
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Snow Goose in flight, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NM. This image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop off the blue sky 30 degrees above the horizon: 1/1600 sec. at f/9 set manually.
Central Sensor (by necessity) Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: +4. For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Snow Goose Perfection?
As you can see by looking at the BreezeBrowser screen capture below, the image above is full frame. It was created on a very, very windy morning at 8:10 am. It was so windy that I cut the birds in half in more than a few images. Even though I expand the active AF point left and right as described in our Mark IV User’s Guide, only the central sensor is active when you add a 1.4X TC to the 800 (that only when using a pro body). In other words, despite the fact that the sensor was not anywhere near the subject at the moment of exposure, the image is critically sharp.
This wing position, the full downstroke, is my favorite; I just love the great look at the black primaries and the grey greater primary coverts and alula on the near wing. (See the great diagram here.) I love the composition right out of the box and I love the sharpness and the light and the head angle angle. And I like the tone of the blue sky.
I am not sure that I could have done any better. What do you think?
Is This a Perfect Image?
Do you think that the image above is perfect? Please let us know yes or no and why.
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the image in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
November 25th, 2011
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This image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens, the 2X III teleconverter (hand held at 160mm) with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 100. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/13 sec. at f/13 in Tv Mode.
Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: -13. Central Sensor/Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. To enjoy viewing a larger sized image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
Our Bosque Site Guide teaches you to read the wind and the light so that you can be in the very best position to photograph the spectacular flyouts every single morning (except when you encounter the dreaded dribs and drabs….)
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The EF Canon 140-400mm f/5.6 L IS II/III Lens
Wouldn’t it be great if such a lens existed, weighed only 4 pounds, came with a tripod collar as standard, and was easily hand-holdable? And what if it also covered 70-200mm as well as 98-280mm? Guess what? Such a lens exists in the form of the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS II with both series III teleconverters. And at Bosque I have been using it every day. All of the images here were created with the 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II, the 2X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. I use it handheld and on a tripod. (Note: 7D owners are advised that this lens does quite well with the 1.4X III TC–and that includes flight photography–but with the 2X TC AF is slowed and the use of a tripod is mandatory when working in anything other than bright sunlight.) Whenever using this or any other lens for flight photography be sure to have the IS Mode set to 2 and the limit range switch on the far setting: 2.5 meters to infinity for the 70-200/2X TC combo.
Thanks again to Patrick Sparkman who alerted me to the fact that the new 70-200 made a great flight lens with the 2X III TC. It was great seeing the Spark-man and wife Robin this week at Bosque.
The IPT group enjoyed a bit of fire in the mist conditions on the morning of 22 NOV.
When folks look at the technical details in the opening image here where the lens was zoomed back to 160mm they often asked, “Why did you have the 2X TC in place when the prime lens alone would have been just fine?” This image provides the answer: I have 400mm available when I need it. At Bosque, it can be a hard choice as to whether to mount the 2X TC or the 1.4X TC. Sometimes you win….
The Bosque Site Guide tells you exactly where to be on clear mornings with northwest winds.
The Bosque Site Guide not only directs you right to these cooperative subjects but tells you how to get them to flap!
The EF Canon 140-400mm f/5.6 L IS II/III Lens
Versatile, light in weight, perfect for creating birdscapes, and deadly for flight photography, the 70-200 f/2.8 L IS is one of my two favorite lenses. You can guess the other without too much difficulty.
Which Do You Like Best?
Please take a moment to let us know which of the six images here you like best, and why.
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
November 24th, 2011
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This image was created with the Canon 500mm f/4L IS, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400. Evaluative Metering +1/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/6.3 in Av mode. From my SUV with the lens supported by a BLUBB.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Happy Bird Day
All of use at BAA would like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving Day filled with fun, football, photography, and yes, turkey. I am sending out love, strength, and energy to all.
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This image was created with the Canon 500mm f/4L IS, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400. Evaluative Metering -1/3 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. From my SUV with the lens supported by a BLUBB.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Happy Bird Day Lesson
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This image was created with the Canon 500mm f/4L IS, the 2X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400. Evaluative Metering at zero: 1/400 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. From my SUV with the lens supported by a BLUBB.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Happy Bird Day Lesson
When you have a cooperative subject, get closer when you can and use your teleconverters to create a variety of images.
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This image was created with the Canon 500mm f/4L IS, the 2X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 400. Evaluative Metering -1/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. From my SUV with the lens supported by a BLUBB.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Which Do You Like Best?
Of the four Wild Turkey images, let us know which you like best, and why?
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
November 22nd, 2011
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This image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens (hand held at 200mm) and the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/4 sec. at f/14 in Tv Mode.
Amazingly, this fall color blur was created in the driveway of my home in central Florida where a single maple tree showed some nice reds and yellows in December of 2010. I panned diagonally downward while jiggling the camera to achieve the flame look. Denise Ippolito taught me this technique (and lots of otheres) while we were working on “A Guide to Pleasing Blurs.”
Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus and release. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: -10.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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For Your Critique: Image #18
The image is presented here for your critique; feel free to praise it or rip it to shreds. Would you keep it or delete it? Let us know why either way, what you like or what you hate. What would you have done differently?
Over the course of the next week or so I will present two additional images in this series for a total of twenty in all. The last will be followed by several revelations including two major ones.
One of the very best ways to grow as a photographer is to look at as many good images as possible. I do that often in books, by checking out contest result web sites, by critiquing images on Bird Photographers.Net (BPN), by visiting the web sites of the world’s best photographers, and during image critiques and by encouraging image sharing on our BAA Instructional Photo-Tours (IPTs).
BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #389
BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #389 is on line and can be accessed here in spectacular white on black format. Here are the features:
- BOSQUE MID-NOVEMBER REPORT
- REMEMBERING
- Colorada Urban Wildlife Photo Club
- LOTS OF e-MAILS
- IPT UPDATES
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the image in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
A Guide to Pleasing Blurs. Denise Ippolito and yours truly share dozens of the techniques that they use to create pleasingly blurred images of a great variety of natural history subjects.
November 20th, 2011
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You can visit my late wife Elaine Belsky Morris as you walk into the Visitor’s Center at Bosque. Her brick is located about three or four up and in from the lower left corner of the memorial wall on your left.
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REMEMBERING
Many years the anniversary of Elaine’s death goes by with me even realizing it. But not this year. It is hard to believe that it has been 17 years since her passing on November 20, 1994. She was my best friend and my biggest supported. Sometimes it seems that her smile was here just last week. But most often it seems several lifetimes ago. My second ever visit to Bosque and the very first Bosque IPT began only tens days after Elaine’s funeral. Within the week I created both “Blizzard in Blue,” my first BBC-honored image, and Fire in the Mist which wound up on the cover of “Life in the Earth.” This beautiful book is a compilation of twenty years of the best winning and commended images in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. I have always felt that Elaine had a lot to do with the creation of both of those images.
And this morning she helped out with the image below as well.
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Snow Geese cottonwood blast-off, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NW. This image was created on the morning of 11/20/2011 with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 100. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops as framed: 1/2 sec. at f/22 set manually. I panned with the birds. Histogram check via Live View.
Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: +2.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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After converting the RAW file in ACR I ran Details Extractor and Tonal Contrast from NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4.1 each on it’s own layer. I added a Hide-all Mask and painted in the effects only on the birds. Please remember that you can save 15% on all NIK products by clicking here and entering BAA in the Promo Code box at check-out. Then hit Apply to see your savings.
Whaddya think?
Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think of this image.
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
November 19th, 2011
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Snow Goose, adult, braking to land, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NW. This image was created on the morning of 11/18/2011 with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop off the low blue sky: 1/1250 sec. at f/6.3 set manually.
Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: +2.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Bosque Mid-November Report
Despite the dire forecasts, conditions at Bosque at this moment are quite good. The four images included here were made on the mornings of Novemeber 18 and 19th. A short but detailed report entitled “Bosque del Apache Site Guide Current Conditions Update 11/18/2011” will be sent to all those on the Site Guide purchasers list on Monday, 11/21. If you have previously purchased the Bosque Site Guide and do not receive your copy by 5pm eastern time on Monday, please e-mail Jim and request the Bosque Currents Conditions Update; do let Jim know how you purchased your guide. To learn more about the Bosque Site Guide click here and scroll down.
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Snow Geese sunrise blast-off blur, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NW. This image was created on the morning of 11/19/2011 with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens, the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 98mm) with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 320. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/15 sec. at f/4 in Tv Mode.
Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/TC/camera body Micro-adjustment: -8. Central Sensor/Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. To enjoy viewing a larger sized image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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The IPT began this morning and got off to a glorious start with a killer sunrise. The mega blast-off above occurred after the color had begun to fade. I thought that I had dialed in +1 stop of exposure compensation but got lucky and was able to recover the brightest parts of the sky during ACR conversion as detailed in Digital Basics. As with nearly all of my recent images this one was improved dramatically by applying Tonal Contrast from NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4.1 plug-in. Please remember that you can save 15% on all NIK products by clicking here and entering BAA in the Promo Code box at check-out. Then hit Apply to see your savings. If you doubt me (could that be possible :)?), you can download a trial copy that will work for 15 days and allow you to create full sized images. Bet you can’t eat just one!
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Sandhill Crane, adult wheeling in flight, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NW. This image was created on the morning of 11/18/2011 with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop off the grasses: 1/1000 sec. at f/6.3 set manually.
Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: +2.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Above I was able to keep the central sensor on the bird’s face as it turned unexpectedly in flight. The next frame was pretty good too.
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Blue Goose adult incoming wide body, Bosque del Apache NWR, San Antonio, NW. This image was created on the morning of 11/18/2011 with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop off the low blue sky in full sun: 1/1600 sec. at f/8 set manually.
Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: +2.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Blue Geese are dark morph Snow Geese; they come in an infinite variety of patterns.
Which is Your Favorite?
Take a moment to leave a comment and let us know which of the four Bosque images here is your favorite, and why. It’s OK if you love all four of them equally :).
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
November 18th, 2011
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Green Jay pair. Image copyright 2011 & courtesy of James Fuller. Created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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James Fuller Part I
In the Galapagos trip report (July 22, 2011) that appeared in BAA Bulletin #378 I wrote:
“James Fuller, a 28-year old from Victoria, Texas who works in the field of oil and gas exploration was on his first IPT. He has, however, been a BIRDS AS ART “student” since he began photographing six years ago having studied ABP, ABP II, and Digital Basics diligently, subscribed to BAA Bulletins, and been an ardent reader of the Blog since its inception. He is yet another of the incredibly skilled young bird, wildlife, and nature photographers who never have exposed a single roll of film. He placed fifth in the Coastal Bend Wildlife Photography Contest two years ago and is competing in this year’s event that will conclude at the end of July (2011). He shared a folder of images that he will be entering and blew everyone away with the quality and artistic design of his work. James’ brother is a helicopter pilot. James has done some pioneering work photographing small groups and even single birds in flight from the helicopter. While it is in the air. Understandably, his favorite lens for this work is the Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens. II will share some of his work with you soon.”
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Gadwalls and Ring-necked Ducks. From the helicopter! Image copyright 2011 & courtesy of James Fuller. Created with the handheld Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Well, soon has finally arrived. James recently finished in fourth place overall (one place up from last year) in the Coastal Bend Wildlife Photo Contest. You can visit the contest website and check out all the winning photographers and images here. Congrats to the very talented Rolf Nussbaumer who won yet another big Texas contest. As you are seeing here, James is a skilled photographer and in addition, is a helluva nice young man. In the Galapagos he was one of the many who took special interest in developing a nice friendship with my oldest grandson, Samuel Henry Egensteiner.
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Great Blue Heron laughing. Image copyright 2011 & courtesy of James Fuller. Created with the tripod-mounted Canon 600mm f/4L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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All of the images here as well as the text that follows immediately are copyright 2011 and courtesy of James Fuller.
Have you ever wanted to spend months photographing wildlife in Texas? If so, this contest may be just what you are looking for! The Coastal Bend Wildlife Photo Contest (CBWPC) is the sporting event of all photo contests. It pays out over $90,000 in prize money and takes place during odd-numbered years in 16 counties across South Texas. Each photographer is paired with a landowner and given several months to create their contest images. The contest is unique because it gives photographers access to private land in Texas. This deal is even sweeter once you realize that more than 90% of the land in Texas is privately owned. CBWPC is a non-profit organization helping to spread awareness of the importance of conservation and wildlife education for the next generation through their Kritters-4-Kids program that is now being taught in Texas schools.
This was the second time that I participated in the contest. Before the first contest, I considered myself a bird photographer. The contest, however, broadened my photographic horizons as it includes more than 50 categories from the smallest insects to the largest landscapes. And pretty much anything in between! If you are serious about creating a great portfolio of Texas images and winning some prize money (all while raising awareness for conservation of private lands), I would highly recommend this contest. For more information click here.
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Least Grebe with chicks. Image copyright 2011 & courtesy of James Fuller. Created with the tripod-mounted Canon 600mm f/4L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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You can see James Fuller’s complete contest portfolio here.
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Bullfrog in pond. Image copyright 2011 & courtesy of James Fuller. Created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Which Do You Like Best and Why?
It is fairly obvious that James knows how to use his gear quite well and has an excellent understanding of light, background, and image design. Take a moment to let us know which of the six images you like best. And why.
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Rabbit with Pixel Bender Oil Paint filter. Image copyright 2011 & courtesy of James Fuller. Created with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear that James used to create the images in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 600mm f/4L IS lens. The 600 f/4L IS was my first EF super-telephoto lens; I used it with great success with both the 1.4X and the 2X teleconverters for nearly a decade. I can’t wait to get my hands on the much lighter 600 f/4L IS II; when the new version is released there will be lots of the older 600 f/4 L IS lenses for sale used.
Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens. This fantastic, relatively light 400mm f/4 lens that can be hand held is ideal for birds in flight and when photographing from all types of water craft.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
CR-80 Replacement Foot for Canon 800. When using the 800 on a Mongoose as I do, replacing the lens foot with this accessory lets the lens sit like a dog whether pointed up or down and prevents wind-blown spinning of your lens on breezy days by centering the lens directly over the tripod.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Be sure to check out our camera body User’s Guides here.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
November 16th, 2011
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This image was created with the hand held Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/5 in tv mode. When working on a boat or in other situations that require a minimum shutter speed I will often choose to work in Tv Mode and dial in the required exposure compensation.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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For Your Critique: Image #17
The image above of Flightless Cormorants performing their aquatic courtship/mating dance was photographed from a panga (Zodiac) on the 2010 Galapagos Photo-Cruise of a Lifetime. It is presented here for your critique; feel free to praise it or rip it to shreds. Would you keep it or delete it? Let us know why either way, what you like or what you hate. What would you have done differently?
Over the course of the next two weeks I will present three additional images in this series for a total of twenty in all. The last will be followed by several revelations including two major ones.
One of the very best ways to grow as a photographer is to look at as many good images as possible. I do that often in books, by checking out contest result web sites, by critiquing images on Bird Photographers.Net (BPN), by visiting the web sites of the world’s best photographers, and during image critiques and by encouraging image sharing on our BAA Instructional Photo-Tours (IPTs).
The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT
Do consider joining us in July 2013 in the Galapagos; it may very well be my last trip down there….
The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience: 13 FULL and two 1/2 days of photography: $12,749. Limit 13/Openings: 5.
July 2-16, 2013 on the boat. Fly to Quito on June 30. Travel insurance day: July 1. Fly to the archipelago on July 2. Get off the boat on July 16. Spend that afternoon and evening in Puerto Ayora (lunch & dinner on your own). Fly to Quito on July 17. Fly home on the early morning of July 18. Non-refundable deposit: $5,000.
Briefly, my two-week trips are without equal. The world’s best guide, a killer itinerary, a great boat (the Samba), and the best leader with seven Galapagos cruises under his belt. The great spots include Tower Island (including Prince Phillips Steps and Darwin Bay), Hood Island (including Punta Suarez, the world’s only nesting site of Waved Albatross, and Gardner Bay)—each of the preceding are world class wildlife photography designations that rank right up there with Antarctica, Africa, and Midway), Fernandina, Peurto Ayora for the tortoises, Puerto Egas—James Bay, North Seymour, South Plaza, Black Turtle Cove, Floreana, Urbina Bay, and China Hat. Plus tons more. And lots of snorkeling for those who wish to partake. All park fees, meals except as noted above, guide fees, ground transportation, and the flights to and from the Galapagos are included.
Click here for information on all BAA IPTs.
BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #388
BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #388 is on line and can be accessed here in spectacular white on black type. Here are the features:
- THE HOMER BALD EAGLE IPT REPORT
- HOMER e-MAIL KUDOS
- IMAGE OPTIMIZATION MAGIC PART III
- BOSQUE THANKSGIVING BUFFET INVITE
- THE BLOG IS THE BOMB!
- The 2012 Southwest Florida Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT)
- IPT UDPATES
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens. I missed this versatile lens so much on last year’s trip that I will surely borrow one for my 2013 trip; it is unsurpassed for panga (Zodiac) photography.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
November 13th, 2011
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Visit the B&H super store and you get to try before you buy. Be sure to have fun when you visit but remember to use the BAA B&H link as a way of thanking us for all of the free educational info that we provide in the blog and in the Bulletins and to earn free BIRDS AS ART International Bird Photography Competition entries.
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The Super Super Store
I’m not sure exactly when, but I did visit the old B&H store. Late 1970s? Early 1980s? I am just not sure. What an experience. A single long counter, many, many dozens (or maybe well more than 100) customers stuffed into a small store on a hot August afternoon each vying for the attention of one of the only ten or so busy salesmen….. I am not sure what I bought but I do remember the thrill of getting waited on.
Before we get on to the visit lets take a peek at the history of B&H. It opened in 1973 as a storefront film shop on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The shop was run by Herman Schreiber and his wife, Blimie; the name B&H was derived from their initials. They quickly outgrew their humble beginnings and moved to a large loft on West 17th St. in the Photo District (the site of my first visit). The super store was born in 1997 and in 2007 a second sales floor was opened above the first: at 70,000+ square feet and with more than 1,500 employees B&H today is more of an attraction than anything else. On an average day more than 2,000 folks are served with many thousands more making purchases on line every day.
At first all of the store’s employees were observant Satmar Hasidic Jews. (The store is closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays and web site orders are not processed on the Sabbath–Shabbat–or the holidays). Only NYC’s Diamond District employs more Orthodox Jews. As the years rolled B&H hiring practices become all encompassing and today a melting pot of a sales staff is there to help. The change was not entirely voluntary as there were several lawsuits along the way. If you visit tomorrow you will surely encounter some of the staff dressed in their black coats or vests with a yarmulke (skull cap) perched on their heads and their beards and peyot (sidecurls) quite evident. The great majority of the employees that I encountered were happy to have their picture taken by this bird photographer.
On August 26th, 2011 Denise Ippolito and I were invited to the B&H super store at 420 Ninth Avenue, NY, NY (that’s Manhattan for you non-natives) for a behind the scenes executive tour. We met my affiliate Adviser Yechiel Orgel and he introduced us to our tour guide, Isaac Buchinger. Isaac was low key funny and quite knowledgeable. Our aamzing tour lasted more than two hours. When we were done, I realized that to call the recently expanded B&H a super store super was still a bit of an understatement; the store is pretty much a Disneyland of camera gear, professional lighting equipment, binoculars and scopes for the birders, computers, all types of electronics, portable and home entertainment products, and all types of video and audio gear from basic consumer stuff to the absolute top of the line equipment used by CNN, National Geographic, and by Hollywood film crews. You will be amazed not only by the range of products in each class, but by the complete line of accessories and by the knowledgeable salesmen who not only know how everything works and fits together but how to use it. Many of the salesmen are experts in a given field and there presence is augmented by manufacturer’s reps (including those from just about every major camera corporation).
As we made out way through the various departments on the first floor and then up to the photography section on the second floor we each found the range of products to be staggering. Simply put, B&H carries everything. Business was surprisingly brisk at the film counter! The frustration that you feel when you need help in a WalMarts is non-existent as there were several salespersons eager to help in most every department. The only exception was in the camera and lens department where customers queued up to await service from one of the dozens of sales folks behind the long counter. Whatever your wants or needs, chances are that you will be able to try before you buy, to handle the cameras, change lenses, and even create a few images.
Yikes, I almost forgot to mention the famed conveyor belt delivery system. The item that you wish to order is delivered in a green plastic box that rides on a moving belt. After you place your order it travels in the same manner to the checkout counter waiting for you to arrive with your order sheet. Once you pay it makes one last journey to the pick-up counter where it is yours for the ride home. Techies interested in learning about the system will surely enjoy visiting http://www.hoftronics.com/.
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A sampling of the smiling faces awaiting you at B&H.
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Here is an telling excerpt from a blog post written by Joel Spolsky. You can read the whole article here. Joel Spolsky is the co-founder and CEO of Fog Creek Software and the host of the popular blog Joel on Software.
B&H opened in 1973, and it’s an amazing place. If you are in Manhattan, you should visit the store, on Ninth Avenue at 34th Street. The first thing you will notice? The place is humming. Originally a camera store, B&H has grown to carry more than 250,000 items, including all kinds of pro audio, pro video, and computer gear. The company is closely held and somewhat press shy, so it’s hard to know how successful it is. “Our business remains strong, particularly considering the overall economic climate,” a spokesperson says. I suspect that’s an understatement. The store is always packed with customers, browsing through hundreds of varieties of camera bags with every possible combination of lens compartments; the room full of telescopes; and, of course, enough lenses to burn all the ants in the Sahara to a crisp. The electronic superstores in Tokyo’s Akihabara district are the only other places where I have seen so much gear under one roof.
And what a roof it is: The whole operation is a crazy Willy Wonka factory. If you want to check out a product that’s not on display, a salesperson orders it by computer terminal from a vast stockroom in the basement. Moments later, as if by magic, the product arrives at the retail counter, via an elaborate system of conveyor belts and dumbwaiters. You can try out the gear, see if you like it, and, if you do, the salesperson puts it in a green plastic box and places it on another conveyor belt, which runs, above your head, to the pickup counter. There, an employee bags your purchase. Meanwhile, your salesperson gives you a ticket, which you take to a payment counter. After you have paid, you get a different ticket that you take to the pickup counter to get your merchandise.
At first, this all seemed like incredible overkill to me. But then, as I thought about it more, I developed a theory as to why B&H operates this way. With all the expensive electronics and cameras and lenses and laptops floating around the store, the system creates a series of checks and balances — typically, five employees are involved in every purchase — in order to reduce shoplifting and employee theft. That it works at all is not the most amazing thing about B&H, however. The most amazing thing is that the prices are so low that I don’t even bother to comparison-shop anymore.
No, wait: The most amazing thing is that the salespeople at B&H really know their stuff. When I recently bought a portable digital recorder, the salesperson knew that some gear was not compatible with flash memory cards larger than 2GB and spent a few minutes surfing the Web to make sure that the 8GB card I wanted would work with it.
No, wait: The most amazing thing is that I have often gone into B&H to purchase a specific product, only to be talked into something cheaper. For example, once I went in to buy a field video monitor to use for some interviews I was conducting. I expected to pay $600 until the salesperson said, “Why don’t you just get one of these cheap consumer portable DVD players? They have video inputs, they work just as well, and they’re under $100.” This was no accident. “The entire premise of our store is based upon your ability to come in, touch, feel, experiment, ask, and discuss your needs without sales pressure,” B&H’s website says.
But wait: The conveyer belts, the prices, the smart salespeople, the fact that they recommend cheaper products almost as a rule — none of these is actually the most amazing thing about B&H. Really, the most amazing thing is that because the owners of B&H are Orthodox Jews — Hasidim, in fact — the store closes every Friday afternoon for the Jewish Sabbath, and on Jewish holidays. Moreover, B&H’s website, which reportedly accounts for 70 percent of sales, shuts down, too. Bhphotovideo.com is, to my knowledge, the only major online retailer that closes for 25 hours every weekend.
B&His frequented by large numbers of professional and amateur photographers and videographers, by large numbers of everyday consumers looking for the best prices,and by large numbers of tourists visiting this great New York institution. While we do hope that you get a chance to visit as I did, we hope that you do it just for fun and make your major purchases using our B&H link as a way of thanking us for all of the free educational info that we provide in the blog and in the Bulletins and to earn free BIRDS AS ART International Bird Photography Competition entries.
Don’t Screw Up 🙂
Recently, we have had more than a few folks making major purchases from B&H e-mailing for their free contest entries only to be denied because they either failed to use the preceding link or because they used the link to search and then ordered by phone…. Please avoid disappointment by using the BAA B&H link to start your online searches, by clicking on one of the many B&H logo-links on the blog or the web site, or by clicking on one of the many product-specific links that appear in both the Bulletins and the blog to purchase.
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The always smiling Yechiel Orgel is the BAA B&H affiliate adviser and hosted our visit to the super store.
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November 12th, 2011
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This image of an adult Bald Eagle beginning a dive was created on the recently concluded Homer, Alaska Instructional Photo-Tour with the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM zoom lens (hand held at 207mm) and the Canon EOS-7D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop off the blue sky 30 degrees up from the horizon: 1/2000 sec. at f/5. 19-Point Auto-Select Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial.
For a greater appreciation of the image, click on the photo. Then click on the enlarged version to close it.
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Image Optimization Magic Part II
I borrowed a 70-300 and a 7D from CPS (Canon Professional Services) to use on a sunny day in Homer. This rig is both lightweight and deadly. I used the lens in Norway along with one of my EOS-1D Mark IV bodies. AF was deadly accurate but the lightweight lens did not balance well with the pro body. (See the Parasitic Jaeger flight image and my comments here.) Thus I found myself in Homer with the rig in my hands on a sunny morning. I much prefer 7D images made in sunny conditions to those created in low light.
This image was made early in the trip–on the 2nd morning of the first IPT. During the ACR conversion I noted that the WHITEs were really bright with RGB values in the high 240s and with some even in the low 250s. I moved the Exposure slider a bit to the left and dialed in 40 points of recovery. Though the WHITEs on the TIFF showed nothing over 236 the bird’s white head appeared detail-less. I tried my usual bag of tricks (Select/Color Range with Linear Burn or Selective Color/adding BLACK to the WHITEs) but nothing really helped. I figured that the image could not be salvaged but luckily did keep the RAW file. (Do see “Capture and Beyond Workflow Lessons That You Cannot Afford to Miss” if you still need to learn why it was right to save that RAW file.
Toward the end of the trip I began playing around with NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4.1 plug-in and loving Tonal Contrast. (See here for an example.) Someone had mentioned that the Detail Extractor setting did a great job of restoring density and detail to bright WHITEs so I gave it a shot. And was amazed. Give the animated GIF immediately below a few seconds to play and you will see what I mean.
You can see that Detail Extractor in NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4.1 did a fantastic job of restoring detail and density to the eagle’s bright white head without graying it out. And that in a situation where my tried and true Photoshop techniques failed. I applied Detail Extractor to the entire image, created a Hide-all Mask, and then painted the effect back in only where I wanted it, on the bird’s head. Soon I will learn to use control points to make this simple operation even simpler.
After I mentioned using NIK Color Efex’s Detail Extractor for saving the WHITEs in a BPN post recently, crack Avian Forum moderator Randy Stout sent me an e-mail (Subject Line: Holy Cow Batman!) as follows:
Artie: I had tried Details Extractor previously, but not on any whites. After your response, I tried it on the blown out breast of a loon–I have a few of those. 🙂 It worked really well and didn’t seem give the slight brown effect that I sometimes see with a heavy linear burn. I also tried the Dark Contrast filter. On first blush this seemed way too dark, but if you tweak the defaults and use it judiciously, it can take the white recovery even further. I will explore more of the filters in Color Efex and do some more work with the ones that I mentioned, Detail Extractor and Dark Contrast Filter alone would make the whole package worth it to me! I really appreciate your tip!! I will have to stop deleting all the images with very bright whites until I have a chance to work on them with these filters. WOW! Cheers, Randy
My response: Hey Randy, Thanks and YAW. I can’t wait to try the Dark Contrast Filter; it sounds great. And heck, you forgot all about Tonal Contrast, the very best filter in Color Efex! Keep up the great work on BPN. I will see you in February. later and love, artie (For the third straight year Randy will be joining me as a co-leader on the SW FLA IPT.)
Thanks to Denise Ippolito who had been telling me for two years that Nik’s Tonal Contrast (in Color Efex Pro 4.1) was fantastic. And good luck to her this weekend; she is presenting her popular slide program, A Blend of Art and Nature at the 2011 Nature Visions Mid-Atlantic Photography Association Expo, November 11-13, 2011 in Manassas, Virginia (on the same bill as Art Wolfe!) You can learn more here.
You can save 15% on all NIK products by clicking here and entering BAA in the Promo Code box at check-out. Then hit Apply to see your savings. If you doubt me (could that be possible :)?), you can download a trial copy that will work for 15 days and allow you to create full sized images. Bet you can’t eat just one!
If you are confused by Regular and Hide-all Layer Masks (as I was for about eight years), check out Layer Masking for Dummies in the latest (free) update of Digital Basics, an e-mailable PDF that includes my complete Digital Workflow and dozens of great Photoshop tips, all written in my clear, easy to read, easy to follow style.
I will be sharing lots more examples of what Color Efex can do here over the next few months at least. In addition I will explore many of the other Color Efex filters, learn to use Control Points, and master Viveza. In my spare time. 🙂
Earn Free Contest Entries and Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.
More and more folks are earning multiple contest entries with their B & H purchases. See here for details on that. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here to visit the competition home page.
Shopper’s Guide
Below is a list of the gear mentioned in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM zoom lens. This lightweight mid-range zoom lens is sharp as all get-out and has focused like a dream with every camera that I have used it with.
Canon EOS-7D. This lightweight digital camera body is surely the great value ever in the history of photography. It is so good that the newly announced EOS-1D X, Canon’s new flagship professional digital camera body has borrowed lots of 7D features. If you have a 7D be sure to get yourself a copy of our 7D User’s Guide.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
November 11th, 2011
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