It was chilly and beyond breezy on Thursday morning. Despite the 20mph NW wind, I had fun and made a few good images. Many dozens of Great Egrets were flying from south to north past the pier, so I took a walk with the handheld 600 f/4, the 1.4X TC, and an a1. I must say, I am getting much better at handheld flight photography with the big lens. The more that I practice, the easier it becomes. Go figure …
I will be listing a Canon 500mm f/4L IS II lens on the Used Gear Page soon. If you are seriously interested, please contact me by e-mail.
Today is Friday 13 May 2022. Uh-oh! The morning forecast is for partly sunny to partly cloudy with a gentle NE breeze. It will be down to the lake for me. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about an hour to prepare and makes sixty-three days in a row with a new one.
Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!
Last Two Gatorland In-the-Field Sessions
Saturday 14 May & Saturday 21 May 2022. 7:00 to 9:00am: $200.00/person
Two hours of intensive instruction. Cheap! You need to have a season photo pass or purchase one for that date to enter. If you are interested, please contact me ASAP via e-mail.
2022 Gatorland Photographer’s Pass Program
Though the 2022 Gatorland Photographer’s Pass Program (GPPP) is much improved from last year’s program, it falls well short of the great program that was in effect BC (Before Covid). I am hoping that the program will be restored to its former greatness next year. This year’s program included ten scheduled days. There are two remaining. With a pass, you can get into the park at 7:00 am instead of the normal 10:00 am entry time.
You can make reservations here on the Gatorland website, or by calling 407-855-5496 ext. 226 during business hours with your credit card in hand. There is no late stay option this year. The price is $25.00 + tax per visit and includes early entry at 7:00 AM at the SOUTH ENTRANCE. All tickets are date specific and non-transferable. You will not be able to leave until 10:00am when Gatorland opens.
Choose from the remaining 2022 dates:
May 14, 2022
May 21, 2022
This image was created on 8 May 2022 at Gatorland in Kissimmee, FL. I used the hand held Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter (at 400mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the thumb dial. ISO 5000: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 8:22:45am in the shade on a sunny morning.
Tracking: Spot/S with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy a high-res version.
Image #1: Snowy Egret feeding chick
Shooting Through and Around the Greenery
Take a close look at the heads of the two birds and you will see that each is partially blocked by out-of-focus vegetation. None-the-less, both eyes are in the clear. And we have a good look at the action. Crouching down, I could not get any lower as my left forearm rested on the boardwalk railing. Had I moved either left or right, the obstructions would have been fatal. Many of the images in the feeding sequence were ruined because vegetation blocked the eyes.
Learn more at the Finding the Clear Slot blog post here.
Why 1/1000 Second
Why did I choose such a high shutter speed?
Once I was at 1/1000 second, I simply dialed up the ISO until Zebras appeared on the brightest whites of the adult. Topaz DeNoise — see below, is so good that I do not concern myself with high ISO noise.
Topaz DeNoise
Be sure to let the animated GIF play to see how effective DeNoise AI and Sharpen AI was on today’s featured image. I remember how thrilled we were when we learned that we could push Fuji Velvia (film) one stop to ISO 100!
As regular readers know, I run DeNoise on virtually every image that I process as the very first step in my Photoshop workflow. For images made in sunny conditions, I used Standard. For images made in low light, I use Low Light. You can check all four methods by using the Comparison View, but I rarely do that anymore as I am confident as noted above. After that was done, I selected the eyes and eyeskins of the two birds, put them on a layer, and applied Sharpen AI with both AUTO buttons activated. Then I reduced the Opacity of that layer to 80%. The results as you can see above were totally amazing.
Great Topaz News!
Folks who use the BAA Topaz link to purchase Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, or the Utility Bundle (or any other Topaz plug-ins), will receive a 15% discount by entering the ARTHUR15 code at checkout. If the stuff is on sale (as it usually is), you save 15% off the sale price! To get the discount you must use my link and you must enter the discount code. Be sure to start with this link.
Those who purchase Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, or any other Topaz plug-ins using my link and then entering the ARTHUR15 code at checkout can e-mail to request a short Getting Started with Topaz e-Guide. Please include a copy of your Topaz receipt that shows the discount. Aside from the basics, the guide explains how to install the plug-ins so that they appear in the Photoshop Filter Menu.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Early on Wednesday I was working hard on the final edit of Warren Hatch’s Z9 guide, so I did not get down to the lake until 7:45am. I was home to get back to work by 8:15! In about twenty minutes of photography with a bad wind (NW), I made some very good images and kept 21 including my best-ever adult crane feeding young image. I was stoked by that one and will share it with you here soon. Or you can check it out on Facebook now.
Today is Thursday 12 May 2022. The forecast for this morning is the same as it was yesterday: clear with the breeze from the NW. I will head down to the lake early to check things out. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about three hours and two months (of working on the guide) to prepare and makes sixty-two days in a row with a new one.
Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!
Wanting a Nikon Z9?
The best way to get your hands on a Z9 is to join NPS (Nikon Professional Services) and then send your member number to Steve Elkins at Bedford via e-mail. Nikon insists that Z9s (and other hard to get stuff) go to NPS members. You can get one from B&H but they have a huge wait list …
Brand-New and As-Good-As-Ever Bedfords BAA Discount Policy
Folks who have fallen in love with Bedfords can now use the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout to enjoy a post-purchase, 3% off-statement credit (excluding taxes and shipping charges) on orders paid with a credit card. The 3% credit will be refunded to the card you used for your purchase. Be sure, also, to check the box for free shipping to enjoy free Second Day Air Fed-Ex. This offer does not apply to purchases of Classes, Gift Cards, or to any prior purchases.
Money Saving Reminder
Many have learned that if you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H and would like to enjoy getting 3% back on your credit card along with free 2nd Day Air Fed-Ex Air shipping, your best bet is to click here, place an order with Bedfords, and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If an item is out of stock, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592 (Central time). Be sure to mention the BIRDSASART coupon code and check the box for Free Shipping. That will automatically upgrade to free 2nd Day Air Fed-Ex. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H and everywhere else. The waitlists at the big stores can be a year or longer for the hard-to-get items. Steve will surely get you your gear long before that. For the past year, he has been helping BAA Blog folks get their hands on items like the SONY a 1, the SONY 200-600 G OSS lens, the Canon EOS R5, the Canon RF 100-500mm lens, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is personable, helpful, and eager to please.
You can purchase your copy here in the BAA Online Store for $69.00. Or Call Jim weekdays at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand.
The Nikon Z9 Guide for Wildlife Photographers
The Nikon Z9 Guide for Wildlife Photographers/by Warren Hatch
Editorial Consultant: Arthur Morris
In this downloadable e-book (you will receive a link by e-mail), you’ll learn everything a wildlife photographer needs to know about the Nikon Z9. The Z9 is one of the most complex camera bodies ever made. In this guide, the brilliant Warren Hatch will teach you exactly how to set up your Z9 for bird, wildlife, and nature photography. The camera offers hundreds of settings and options. Selecting the right combination of these is essential in order to effectively use the Z9 in the field.
1- Extensive information on the autofocus system and the optimal settings for the various shooting situations that wildlife photographers encounter including and especially for birds in flight.
2- The camera controls – what they do and how to customize them for your shooting style and varying conditions.
3- Configuring the camera so that you never need to take your eye from the viewfinder when the action unfolds.
5- Insights and details on using legacy F-mount lenses on the Z-9.
6- Practical advice about the camera batteries and chargers.
7- How to take advantage of the new capabilities introduced with firmware v2.00.
8- The AF-area Modes you should use and those you should avoid.
Order yours here in the BAA Online Store for $69.00. Or Call Jim weekdays at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand.
I was excited to learn that Warren had written a guide to the Nikon Z9 as I have been learning so much about the camera from him. I’ve had the Z9 for several months. Whenever I was puzzled by my new mirrorless camera body, I’d call Warren. He always had the answer. Now, everything that he knows about this great camera body — it continues to amaze me, is available to everyone. Warren’s Z9 guide is great asset for Nikon shooters.
Image #2: Bald Eagle juvenile turning in flight/cropped from a horizontal original
The Backstory
I’d been thinking about trying to find someone competent to write a Z9 for BIRDS AS ART ever since I heard that Nikon had released a mirrorless camera that was great for bird photography. Warren Hatch attended an IPT several decades ago, learned the basics, and was inspired by the original The Art of Bird Photography. When a participant on the last 2022 Homer IPT had to leave early, Warren joined the IPT for several days. He raved about his Z9. After he told me about the work he had done extracting metadata for the last ten years of Nikon camera bodies for ExifTool, I was pretty sure that I had found the author I needed for a Z9 guide …
When I broached the subject of doing a Z9 guide for BIRDS AS ART, he did not seem too thrilled. But I talked him into it. We sent him a few of my Camera User’s Guides for reference. I was shocked when he sent me a link to his first draft in what seemed like only a week. Even better, the layout and design of the document was beyond impressive. I was busy getting ready for the GNPA EXPO (and then came home with COVID) so it took me a while to get into it. As the editorial consultant, my job was to bust Warren’s b____s when it came to clarity and readability. So I did. We exchanged three or four edited versions, each one a great improvement from the previous version. When we were almost done, Warren enlisted the help of Kaitlin Marks-Dubbs who did a professional job of copy editing the document. The last step was to send the final draft to the esteemed and talented lifelong Nikon shooter Alan Murphy who gave the project his blessings. That brings us to the publication of The Nikon Z9 Guide for Wildlife Photographers by Warren Hatch. 🙂
Image #4: Coyote with magnificent winter coat in snow
So Who the Heck is Warren Hatch?
When it comes to Nikon camera bodies and nature photography, Warren Hatch is not chopped liver.
Warren retired from the information technology field eight years ago. He began as a computer programmer and retired as the Chief Information Officer of a multibillion-dollar consulting firm. He has been photographing full-time since then. His images have been honored by Audubon, Nature’s Best, and other international photo contests. Like me, photography is both his profession and his passion. For decades, Warren has made a concerted effort to understand what each and every camera body feature does and believes that his in-depth knowledge of his cameras’ buttons, dials, and capabilities has improved his photography.
Because of his close ties to Nikon, Warren was one of the first in the US to get his hands on a Z9. Not to mention a Nikon NIKKOR Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S lens!
For the past ten years, Warren has extracted the encrypted metadata from the Nikon NEF (raw) files for all Nikon professional camera bodies. The metadata contains the camera settings that include detailed autofocus information that is not available in Nikon’s NX Studio. He shares the extracted metadata with Phil Harvey who uses it in his hugely popular ExifTool software.
Homer 2022 Bald Eagle Highlights and Handholding Compositional Tips by Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
Enjoy and be inspired by just a few Homer Bald Eagle highlight images. Hand holding intermediate telephoto lens will always yield slightly different compositions. Learn more about that topic in this short (3:14) video.
All images from Homer or Kachemak Bay, AK
2023 Homer/Kachemak Bay Bald Eagle IPTs
IPT #1: MON 20 FEB 2023 through the full day on FRI 24 FEB 2023. Five full days/20 hours on the boat: $5500.00. Limit 5 photographers
IPT #2: SAT 25 FEB 2023 through the full day on THURS 2 MAR 2023. Six full days/24 hours on the boat: $6600.00. Limit 5 photographers/Openings: 4.
IPT #3: FRI 3 MAR 2023 through the full day on TUES 7 MAR 2023. Five full days/20 hours on the boat: $5500.00. Limit 5 photographers.Openings: 4.
Save $1,000.00 by doing back-to-back trips. Save $1500.00 by doing all three.
These trips feature non-stop flight photography as well as many opportunities to create both environmental and point-blank portraits of one of North America’s most sought-after avian subjects: Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Other reliable subjects will include Sea Otter, Glaucous-winged and Short-billed (formerly Mew) Gulls.
In addition, we should see Common Murre, Black Guillemot, Pelagic Cormorant, two or three species of loons, and a smattering of ducks including two species of merganser, all three scoters, Common and Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Bufflehead, Harlequin, and Long-tailed Ducks. Close-range photographic chances for these species will require a ton of good luck. Some of these species, especially when in flocks, can, however, often be used effectively when pleasing creating bird-scapes.
If we need to be out early, we will be the first boat out. If conditions are great, we will stay out. And when there is a chance for sunset silhouettes, we will be in the right spot.
We will be traveling through gorgeous wilderness country; landscape and scenic opportunities abound.
Also featured is a professional leader, often referred to as the world’s most knowledgeable bird photography trip leader, who is conversant in Canon, Nikon, and Sony. You will learn practical and creative solutions to everyday photographic problems. You will learn to see the shot, to create dynamic images by fine-tuning your compositions, to best utilize your camera’s AF system, and how to analyze the wind, the sky conditions, and the direction and quality of the light. This is one of the very few trips Homer trips available where you will not be simply put on the birds and told to have fun. You will learn to be a better photographer. But only if that is what you want.
You will learn to get the right exposure when it is sunny, when it cloudy-bright, when it is cloudy, when it is cloudy-dark, or when it is foggy. Not to mention getting the right exposure when creating silhouettes.
You will learn to make pleasing blurs working in manual mode and to create silhouettes working in Shutter Priority mode.
Most importantly you will learn to pick your best flight images from tens of thousands of images.
You will enjoy working with the two best and most creative boat captains on their sturdy, photography-spacious, seaworthy, open-deck crafts.
The second and third IPTs are the only Bald Eagle workshops that feature an incredibly helpful first mate.
Only five photographers (not the usual six), plus the leader.
Small group Photoshop, Image Review, and Image Critiquing sessions.
All images from Homer or Kachemak Bay, AK
What’s Included
One four hour or two two-hour boat trips every day (weather permitting), all boat fees and boat-related expenses (excluding tips), ground transportation to and from the dock and back to the hotel each day, in-the-field instruction and guidance, pre-trip gear advice, small group post-processing and image review sessions, and a thank you dinner for all well-behaved participants.
What’s Not Included
Your airfare to and from Homer, AK (via Anchorage), the cost of your room at Land’s End Resort, all personal items, all meals and beverages, and tips for the boat captain and/or the first mate.
Please Note
On great days, the group may wish to photograph for more than four hours. If the total time on the boat exceeds 20 hours for the five-day trips, or 24 hours for the second trip, the group will share the additional expense at a rate of $225/hour.
Some folks may wish to rent their own vehicle to take advantage of local photographic opportunities around Homer.
Deposit Information
A $3000 non-refundable deposit/trip is required. You may pay your deposit with credit card or by personal check (made out to BIRDS AS ART) and sent via US mail only to Arthur Morris. PO Box 7245. Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. Your balance, due 90 days before the date of departure, is payable only by check as above.
In Closing
I have been going to Homer off and on for close to two decades. Every trip has been nothing short of fantastic. Many folks go in mid-March. The earlier you go, the better the chances for snow. The only way to assure that you are on the best of the three trips is to sign up for all of them. Can you keep up with me? If you have any questions, or are good to go for one, two, or all three trips, please let me know via e-mail or give me a call on my cell phone at 863-221-2372.
Jim and I left early on Tuesday morning for Stick Marsh and arrived at 6:15am. The forecast NE wind was replaced by a west wind. With clear skies, that is the kiss of death for bird photography. But it did not matter. I only saw four spoonbills, a few Anhingas, and a single Great Egret in flight. Even the vultures were not flying. It quickly became obvious that it was going to be a tough morning. I took a walk with the 200-600 G lens and came up with today’s two featured images.
Today is Wednesday 11 May 2022. The forecast for this morning at ILE is for sunny with an 8mph wind from the NW. In other words, pretty bad. I will likely head down to the lake just because. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about 90 minutes to prepare and makes sixty-one days in a row with a new one.
BAA will be announcing the publication of Warren Hatch’s Nikon Z9 Camera User’s Guide this week. Edited for clarity and readability by yours truly.
Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!
This image was created on 10 May 2022 at Stick Marsh, Fellsmere, FL. I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 200mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 64: 1/8 second at f/8 (stopped down 2/3 stop) in Manual Mode. AWB at 6:56:26am on a clear morning. RawDigger showed the exposure to be dead-solid perfect.
Tracking: Spot S and then locked focus by pressing and holding the AF-ON button. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version.
Image #1: Cabbage Palm stand: vertical pan blur
Why Pleasing Blurs?
1- Necessity is often the mother of design. When the light levels are so low that making sharp images would require ridiculous high ISOs, going the blur route is often the obvious (and only choice).
2- That was not the case with Image #2. But the strong vertical lines of the Cabbage Palms lining a canal caught my eye and the light levels were still low. The trick with images like this is the top-to-bottom framing. It is really difficult to judge when to press the shutter button so that you have a border of green on the bottom and a strip of sky at the top. So what’s the answer? Make lots of frames and replay the images occasionally to see how you are doing. I saw on the back of the camera that the framing for this one was perfect and it looked to me like a Monet X Picasso hybrid.
3- In many situations when the sun is shining and there is lots of light, sharp images of big flocks of birds have little appeal to me. Such images are often ruined by shadows. My answer is to add a 3- to 5-stop ND into the equation and create pleasing blurs.
4- Pleasing blurs that are well done can be quite artistic while implying a sense of motion. They often do quite well in international and other photo contests.
5- I have fun doing them and often love the results.
A Guide to Pleasing Blurs
Learn everything there is to know about creating pleasingly blurred images in A Guide to Pleasing Blurs by Denise Ippolito and yours truly. This 20,585-word, 271-page PDF is illustrated with 144 different, exciting, and artistic images. The guide covers the basics of creating pleasingly blurred images, the factors that influence the degree of blurring, the use of filters in creating pleasing blurs, and a great variety of both in-the-field and Photoshop techniques that can be used to create pleasingly blurred images.
Artie and Denise teach you many ways to move your lens during the exposure to create a variety of pleasingly blurred images of flowers and trees and water and landscapes. They will teach you to recognize situations where subject movement can be used to your advantage to create pan blurs, wind blurs, and moving water blurs. They will teach you to create zoom-blurs both in the field and during post-processing. Artie shares the techniques that he has used and developed for making blurred images of flocks of geese in flight at his (formerly) beloved Bosque del Apache and Denise shares her flower blur magic as well as a variety of creative Photoshop techniques that she has developed.
With the advent of digital capture creating blurred images has become a great and inexpensive way to go out with your camera and have fun, especially when there is not much light. And while many folks think that making successful blurred images is the result of being a sloppy photographer, nothing could be further from the truth. In “A Guide to Pleasing Blurs” Artie and Denise will help you to unleash your creative self.
Click on the image to better read the fine print.
Image #1A: RawDigger screen capture for the Cabbage Palm stand: vertical pan blur image
Can an Image with 1,903,000 OverExposed Pixels be a Perfect Exposure?
In a word, yes. There are many instances where you need to completely blow out the sky to avoid under-exposing the subject, be it a row of trees (as above) or a dark-toned bird in flight or perched against a light sky. The key to exposure success here was to adjust the exposure parameters so that I had a few Zebras on the light-toned trunks of the cabbage palms (and forget about the over-exposed sky). RawDigger rocks. See more below.
This image was also created on 10 May 2022 at Stick Marsh, Fellsmere, FL. Seated on the damp grass, I used the knee-pod technique with the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ) The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 2000: 1/250 second at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual Mode. AWB at 7:03:23am in the shade of a raised roadway on a clear morning. RawDigger showed the exposure to be dead-solid perfect.
Tracking: Spot S AF-C with Bird Face//Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version.
Image #2: Limpkin recently-fledged juvenile
Getting the Right Exposure with Sony
It is so easy that it is almost funny. You set the aperture — with the 200-600 that is almost always f/6.3. Then you set the shutter speed. Knowing that I would be trying for a head portrait at 600mm, I went with 1/250 sec. I could have pushed that to 1/125 as I was using the knee pod technique. But Topaz DeNoise is so effective at ISO 2000 that it really did not matter. Once you have set the aperture and the shutter speed you raise the shutter speed with the thumb dial. When you start to see Zebras on the highlights — in this case the whitish chin and feather centers, you know that you have a perfect exposure (as long as you have your camera set up correctly). It’s that simple — dial up the ISO till you see and few blinkies and you are good to go. Perfect exposures every time with little effort.
The Limpkin Family
I had seen the Limpkin family with four large young on my previous visit to Stick Marsh. I found them early on Tuesday along the edge of a canal. Thought they were tame, they were not cooperative subjects. I was lucky to have this juvenile stand still in the marsh grasses for a few seconds. Topaz DeNoise is so effective that I have no concerns while raising the ISO to get perfect exposures. The combination of Zebra’s and RawDigger has made my exposure life a lot easier.
Click on the image to better read the fine print.
Image #2A: RawDigger screen capture for the Limpkin recently-fledged juvenile image
RawDigger
It would be impossible to over-state how much I have learned by studying RawDigger and how much better my exposures have become since I started with the program almost two years ago. The raw file brightness for Image #2 is dead solid perfect with the G channel just inside the 16000 line. The 2 OvExp pixels out of 51,000,000 are not exactly going to hurt the image. In other words, the raw file brightness is perfect.
RawDigger — not for the faint of heart …
Nothing has ever helped me learn to create perfect exposures to the degree that RawDigger has. I think that many folks are reluctant to learn that most of their images are underexposed by one or more full stops and that highlight warnings in Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One, and your in-camera histogram are bogus as they are based on the embedded JPEGs. Only your raw files tell the truth all the time. Heck, I resisted RawDigger for several years … Once you get over that feeling, RawDigger can become your very best exposure friend no matter what system you are using. On the recent IPTs and In-the-Field sessions, we have demonstrated that fact. Convincingly.
The RawDigger (pink) Adapted Histogram
In the RawDigger e-Guide, you will learn exactly how to set up the Adapted “pink” RawDigger Histogram and how to use it to quickly and easily evaluate the exposure or raw file brightness of images from all digital cameras currently in use. RawDigger was especially helpful to me as I have struggled with R5 exposures and learned my new camera body, the Sony Alpha a1.
RawDigger e-Guide with Two Videos
The RawDigger e-Guide with Two Videos
by Arthur Morris with Patrick Sparkman
The RawDigger e-Guide was created only for serious photographers who wish to get the absolute most out of their raw files.
Patrick and I began work on the guide in July 2020. At first, we struggled. We asked questions. We learned about Max-G values. We puzzled as to why the Max G values for different cameras were different. IPT veteran Bart Deamer asked lots of questions that we could not answer. We got help from RawDigger creator Iliah Borg. We learned. In December, Patrick came up with an Adapted Histogram that allows us to evaluate the exposures and raw file brightness for all images created with all digital camera bodies from the last two decades. What we learned each time prompted three complete beginning to end re-writes.
The point of the guide is to teach you to truly expose to the mega-Expose-to-the-Right so that you will minimize noise, maximize image quality, best utilize your camera’s dynamic range, and attain the highest possible level of shadow detail in your RAW files in every situation. In addition, your properly exposed RAW files will contain more tonal information and feature the smoothest possible transitions between tones. And your optimized images will feature rich, accurate color.
We teach you why the GREEN channel is almost always the first to over-expose. We save you money by advising you which version of RawDigger you need. We teach you how to interpret the Max G values for your Canon, Nikon, and SONY camera bodies. It is very likely that the Shock-your-World section will shock you. And lastly — thanks to the technical and practical brilliance of Patrick Sparkman — we teach you a simple way to evaluate your exposures and the raw file brightness quickly and easily the Adapted RawDigger histogram.
The flower video takes you through a session where artie edits a folder of images in Capture One while checking the exposures and Max-G values in RawDigger. The Adapted Histogram video examines a series of recent images with the pink histograms and covers lots of fine points including and especially how to deal with specular highlights. The directions for setting up the Adapted Histogram are in the text.
If we priced this guide based on how much effort we put into it, it would sell it for $999.00. But as this guide will be purchased only by a limited number of serious photographers, we have priced it at $51.00. You can order yours here in the BAA Online Store.
Click on the composite image to enjoy the incredible quality of the hi-res JPEG.
Clockwise from upper left clockwise and back around to the center: Royal Tern in flight with squid for chick; Royal Tern chick on beach; Royal Tern in flight with shrimp for young; Royal Tern chick — double overhead wing stretch; Royal Tern landing with greenback for chick; Royal Tern in flight with juvenile mahi mahi for chick; Brown Pelican — large chick preening; Laughing Gull in fresh juvenal plumage; Royal Tern chick begging; Many Royal Terns with many chicks on face of dune.
Jacksonville IPT: #1: 4 FULL DAYS — the afternoon of 16 June thru the morning of MON 20 June 2022: $2,099.00. (Limit 6 photographers)
Jacksonville IPT #2: the afternoon of FRI 1 JULY thru the morning of TUES 5 July 2022: $2099.00 (Limit 6 photographers)
Jacksonville IPT #3: the afternoon of FRI 15 JULY thru the morning of TUES 19 July 2022: $2099.00 (Limit 6 photographers)
Ride with me: add $200.00. I do not like to disappoint: each trip will run with one participant. If necessary.
I first visited the breeding bird colony at Jacksonville in late June 2021. I was astounded. There were many thousands of pairs of Royal Terns nesting along with about 10,000 pairs of Laughing Gulls. In addition to the royals, there were some Sandwich Terns nesting. And there are several dozen pairs of Brown Pelicans nesting on the ground. Flight photography was non-stop astounding. And photographing the tern chicks was relatively easy. Folks could do the whole trip with the Sony 200-600, the Canon 100-500 RF, or the Nikon 500 PF or 200-500 VR. With a TC in your pocket for use on sunny days. Most of the action is within 100 yards of where we park (on the beach). As with all bird photography, there are times when a super-telephoto lens with either TC is the best tool for the job.
Morning sessions will average about three hours, afternoon sessions about 1 1/2 hours. On cloudy mornings with favorable winds, we may opt to stay out for one long session and skip the afternoon, especially when the afternoon forecast is poor. Lunch is included on the first three days of the IPT and will be served at my AirBnB. After the first lunch there will be an introductory program. On days two and three we will do image review and Photoshop after lunch.
We will be based somewhere west and a bit north of Jacksonville where there are many AirBnB possibilities. The deposit is $599.00. Call Jim at the office any weekday at 863-692-0906 to pay by credit card. Balances must be paid by check.
What You Will Learn on a Jacksonville IPT
1- First and foremast you will learn to become a better flight photographer. Much better.
2-You will learn the basics and fine points of digital exposure. Nikon and Canon folks will learn to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, and SONY folks will learn to use Zebras so that they can be sure of making excellent exposures before pressing the shutter button.
3- You will learn to work in Manual exposure mode even if you fear it.
4- You will learn to evaluate wind and sky conditions and understand how they affect bird photography, especially the photography of birds in flight.
5- You will learn several pro secrets (for each system) that will help you to become a better flight photographer.
6- You will learn to zoom out in advance (because the birds are so close!) 🙂
7- You will learn how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them.
8- You will learn to spot the good and the great situations.
9- You will learn to understand and predict bird behavior.
10- You will learn to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system.
11- You will learn to choose the best perspective.
12- You will learn to see and control your backgrounds.
13- You will learn to see and understand the light.
14- You will learn to see and create pleasing blurs in pre-dawn situations.
15- You will learn to be ready for the most likely event.
And the best news is that you will be able to take everything you learn home with you so that you will be a better photographer wherever you are and whenever you photograph.
Typos
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