Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Stuff

The DeSoto IPT ended with lone participant Ed Dow and I sitting in six inches of warm saltwater photographing some tame spoonbills in still blue water … More on Ed in a future blog post.

Help Needed With an AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 PF Lens

If you know of a camera store that has one of these lenses in stock please do not leave a comment. Please call my cell phone at 863-221-2372 or shoot me an e-mail. More on this new lens later today.

Some insightful comments, questions, and answers …

Yesterday’s Red Tide Blessings #s 2, 3, 4, & 5. D5/200-500mm Flight. Mr. Dickhead. And Using Diagonals to Strengthen Your Image blog post here, prompted some excellent comments. Below are two along with my responses.

I did of course receive a long e-mail from Mr. Dickead who said in part:

Well, well, Artie

What a nasty post. What did I do or say in our last exchange of emails that warrants you using an insulting epithet like ‘Mr Dickhead’ to address me? My name is Richie. You could have used that surely? How ungracious, how ignorant and how ungrateful after the help I freely offered. We are adults after all, not ill mannered louts. That you feel the need to do this speaks volumes about your character – or lack of one. You seem desperately insecure, small minded and vindictive to lash out at someone who although disagreeing with you, nevertheless sat down and spent some considerable time to help you when asked. With respect, you still have a way to go in The Work.

You don’t have to agree with accepted, verified scientific truth – that’s a choice – even though it makes you wrong and as stupid as your meter on a dull day.

Then he went on to share some excellent information on digital resolution and ppi, two areas that have always baffled me. I will be sharing some of that info with you in the future while crediting it to an anonymous source. I did not bother responding to Mr. Dickhead but I am saving his e-mail both to study the knowledge he shared with me and to consider his criticisms. I will do The Work on the latter.

John Broadwell/September 28, 2018 at 6:06 am

Artie, I have asked an expert digital imaging friend of mine about this and he says that there is something in it. It doesn’t seem to be just someone’s idea. It seems to be based on science. Could you please explain the idea behind it and why it doesn’t work?

I responded:

Hi John, Welcome and thanks for posting our question. In short, as I have explained here often and in detail Digital Basics II as well, bring your RAW files with the RGB values for the WHITEs at 254, 254, 254 is theoretically correct. So why don’t I do that ? Doing so requires a great deal of extra work in order to get the WHITEs to look good while restoring or bring back the detail. I found that for me, bringing my Canon files into Photoshop with the RGB values for the WHITEs in the mid-230s worked perfectly. Please remember that there I converted my RAW files in DPP and that I enabled Highlight Tone Priority. Once I started using Nikon and converting with ACR I found that bringing my WHITEs into Photoshop with the RGB values in the low to mid-240s was just what I needed to produce nice clean, bright WHITEs with lots of detail.

I call my approach practically correct. 🙂

with love, artie

John Broadwell/September 28, 2018 at 9:16 am

Artie, yes, that is my understanding too. Using ETTR, one should push the RAW histogram as far as practically possible to the right (254 254 254 in ACR), pull those values back to 230-240 in ACR and then open the image in Photoshop at 230-240? However, the camera histogram only shows a JPEG histogram which could be compressed by as much as 3EV compared to the RAW, so surely it must be a poor guide for judging correct exposure?

I responded:

Hi John,

As noted above, pulling the WHITEs down from the 250s just does not work well for me. That based on 17 years of digital experience with both Canon and Nikon. If it works well for you, then stick with it.

Yes, the histogram and blinkies are based on the embedded JPEG. I find it a great guide for getting the exposure that I want and then creating images that look great to my eye and make me happy.

with love, artie

Jim Howell/September 27, 2018 at 12:15 pm

Change of subject: Because of your images, I’ve begun using auto ISO. I’m shooting with the Canon 7D II, 1/2000, no exposure adjustment, in high speed mode. Two different birds in deep shade flying out into bright light. The images shot in the shade were better than past attempts so I was quite happy. However, in each case the images taken in bright light were totally blown out. I’m sure it was due to operator error, though I would like to blame the camera. Was this not a good approach to take under these conditions?

Hey Jim, The situation you describe in a virtually impossible one. Using Auto ISO with EC is no panacea unless you have a complete understanding of exposure theory and you are working with constant light with consistently similar backgrounds. (Be sure to see the upcoming blog post on creating pleasing pre-dawn blurs using S or Tv mode, Auto ISO, and the correct EC.) No automatic mode can handle a situation with two birds of different tonalities in the shade one moment and in the sun the next. It can be done with limited success if you are super fast with the exposure compensation dial, if you have completely mastered exposure theory, and if you get lucky … To learn Exposure Theory I have long directed folks to study the section on Applied Exposure Theory on pages 58 to 63 in the original The Art of Bird Photography.

The Snowy Egret is beautiful!

Many thanks with love, artie

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

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

Stuff

We lucked out on Sunday afternoon as the wind switched from east to west. We enjoyed two hours of flat calm silky blue water background bird photography. Ed Dow did great getting low and approaching the birds slowly. We photographed lots of shorebirds including Short-billed Dowitcher, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Wilson’s and Semipalmated Plovers, Least Sandpiper, and Willet. We had tame great blues and Great Egrets along with Snowy and Tricolored Herons, all in great light. The terns included Sandwich, Royal, Forster’s, and best of all, several Caspians.

Our luck ran out on Monday morning as the unprecedented mega-feeding sprees and the accompanying flight photography that we had enjoyed over the weekend never materialized. We did well at my back-up morning spot with point blank opportunities with Reddish, Great, and Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Ruddy Turnstone, and Double-crested Cormorant (among others). On Monday afternoon we enjoyed a second consecutive fabulous pre-thunderstorm session with the species mentioned in the first paragraph.

News on the Galapagos Front/Limit 12/Openings: 3

Right now I have nine folks committed to the 2019 Galapagos Photo Cruise. A friend who had committed to the trip learned that he and his wife might not be able to attend. Thus, I have room for a couple or for two same-sex roommates, and for a male single. If the archipelago is on your bucket list, please get in touch via e-mail asap with questions. If you might be registering with a friend or a spouse do ask about the two at a time discount. See the complete details here.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the 5Ds and 5Ds R, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, the Canon 200-400 with internal extender, and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 II. You can always see the current listings by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

September Sales

Ron Gates sold a Canon EOS 7D in near-mint condition for $350 in mid-September.
Will Craig sold a Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM lens in excellent condition for $674.00and a Canon EF Extender 1.4X III in near-mint condition for $329.00 about one week after they were listed in mid-September.
Will Craig sold an original Canon EOS 7D camera body in excellent condition (with fewer than 26,000 actuations) for $299.00 soon after it was listed in September, 2018.
Anthony Ardito sold a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV body in like-new condition (with extras) for $2,499.00 in early September, 2018.
Anthony Ardito also sold a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens in like-new condition (with extras including a 2X III TC) for $8,500.00 in early September, 2018.
I sold my Canon 1.4X III teleconverter for $329.00 in early September before listing it.
Amy Novotny’s Nikon TC-E-20 (teleconverter) sold the first day it was listed in early September for $249.00.
Richard Gollar sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4 L IS (the original IS model, the “old five”) in near-mint condition for $3399.00 in early September.

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Price Reduced $1,000 on September 25, 2018.

Ramona Boone is offering a Canon 600mm IS II in like-new condition for $7,699.00 (was $8,699.00). The sale includes the lens trunk, the front lens cover (R 185B), the rear cap, a RRS LCF 53 foot (installed), the original foot, a Real Tree LensCoat, the lens strap, an AquaTech ASCC-6 Soft Cap, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Ramona via e-mail or by phone at 1-719 231 5874 (Mountain time).

The 600 II has been the state of the art super-telephoto for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports for many years. When I was using Canon and could get it to my location, it was always my go-to weapon. It is fast and sharp and deadly alone or with either TC. With a new one going for $11,499, you can save a cool $3,800.00 by grabbing Ramona’s pristine lens now. artie

Airbnb

For the past few months, I have been hearing folks use the word Airbnb, most notably, Amy Novotny. Out of curiosity I asked a few questions. What I learned amazed me. Join Airbnb and become part of a community that connects global travelers with local hosts across the world. Find a place to stay and discover things to do. Airbnb lists more than 4.5 million homes across 200 countries; you’ll find spacious, affordable options for every occasion. With Airbnb you will travel with confidence as reviews from past guests help you find the right fit. Once you do, our secure messaging makes it easy to coordinate with your host. And Airbnb support teams are available 24/7. Last night I made a reservation for an Airbnb apartment for my upcoming January San Diego visit: 13 nights with a full kitchen and two bedrooms.

Yikes. I almost forgot the best part: Airbnb rates average less than half of even the least expensive chain hotels and motels. If you would like to save $40 on your first booking sign up by using this link: Airbnb. Airbnb does charge clean-up and service fees that make short stays less attractive bargains than long stays.

Those who prefer to stay in a motel or hotel are invited to use the Booking.com link below to save $25.00.

Booking.Com

Several folks on the UK IPT used the Booking.Com link below for their Edinburgh hotels, got great rates, and saved a handsome $25.00 in the process. If you too would like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and to earn a $25 reward on your first booking. Thanks to the many who have already tried and used this great service.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body as well as for the Canon 600 IIi. He already has two BAA blog orders for the new Canon six.

This image was created at Fort DeSoto Park on the morning of September 24, 2018. I used the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens (at 34mm) and the mega mega-pixel Nikon D850. ISO 1600. Matrix metering -1/3 stop: 1/50 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. AWB before the sun hit the mud. Two below the center AF point f-9 shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. Image #1: Red tide fish kill

Learning About Red Tide and Dust From Africa …

The first e-mail that I received after requesting red tide information was from BPN Avian Forum regular, Joe Przybyla. He referred me to a fine newspaper article in the Tampa Bay Times by Craig Pittman: Why is Red Tide so bad this year? Could dust from the Sahara be to blame? The piece is well-written and informative.

Next I received an e-mail from multiple IPT veteran John Johnson who will be joining us in the Galapagos next summer. Here it is in its entirety:

Artie,

I don’t think global warming is the issue with red tide. Red tide has been around for ever. The following article paints a good picture of why it has been so bad this year.

John

Red Tide Info

One reason Florida’s Red Tide is so bad this year: Dust From Africa

From the excellent Craig Pittman/Tampa Bay Times article here.

Red Tide hits Florida on a regular basis, but rarely is one of the algae blooms as deadly as this year’s. Already declared the worst in a decade, it’s killed a dozen dolphins, scores of manatees, hundreds of sea turtles and untold thousands of fish. Why is this year’s bloom so bad? The Sahara Desert may be to blame. “It’s possible,” said research scientist Kate Hubbard of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, which is the agency in charge of monitoring the bloom. “It is a nutrient source.” Bolstering the dust theory is the fact that, according to Hubbard, markers showing the dust’s presence have been detected near shore this summer.

The explanation for how this works demonstrates what an incredibly complicated mechanism the Earth’s weather can be.Every year, over about 100 days from spring through the fall, winds in Africa will pick up tiny dust particles from the desert and carry them thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean. The tiny bits float along on the wind, soaring up to 3 miles above the surface of the water. Sometimes they clump together into a hazy configuration as large as the continental United States. Then they land at last in and around the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Usually the dust particles feed phytoplankton, build Caribbean beaches and fertilize the Amazonian rain forest. Sometimes the dust creates beautiful sunsets. Sometimes it causes a thick haze to hang in the air over Texas. Sometimes, according to a Texas A&M study, it suppresses hurricanes from developing in the Gulf.

And sometimes it feeds a Red Tide bloom.

This image was created at Fort DeSoto Park on the morning of September 24, 2018. I used the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens (at 34mm) and the mega mega-pixel Nikon D850. ISO 1600. Matrix metering -1/3 stop: 1/50 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. AWB before the sun hit the mud. Two below the center AF point f-9 shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. Image #2: Red tide fish kill

Another reason Florida’s Red Tide is so bad this year: Pollution from the Mississippi River

From another excellent Craig Pittman/Tampa Bay Times article here.

The Red Tide algae bloom now tossing tons of dead fish on Pinellas County’s beaches has been fueled for months by many things — runoff from over-fertilized lawns, leaking septic tanks and sewage lines, even dust from the Sahara Desert. (Note: this links to the same article that Joe sent me.) Now add another ingredient to the mix making this the worst Red Tide bloom in a decade: pollution flowing from the Mississippi River. A 2007 federal study concluded that the extremely large amount of nutrients flowing from the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico can stimulate Red Tide blooms growing on the continental shelf off the west coast of Florida.
The lead author of that paper, oceanographer Richard Stumpf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in an interview this week that that’s exactly what happened this year — and it’s why this Red Tide resembles the horrific one from 2005. The nutrients are not what spark the Red Tide algae to suddenly multiply by the thousands and become a bloom, he said. But they do feed the bloom and make it larger.

“Every possible source of nutrients is feeding it,” Stumpf said, noting the same thing happened in 2005. That bloom, deemed one of the worst Red Tide outbreaks in Florida history, spent more than a year killing fish and shutting down beach tourism from the Alabama border to the Florida Keys. The impact on sea life was so catastrophic that it created a dead zone — an area of the Gulf devoid of oxygen and sea life — that stretched from New Port Richey south to Sarasota. “There was just no oxygen on the Florida continental shelf,” Stumpf said.

The Mississippi River connection to the two Red Tide blooms is another sign of what an incredibly complex mechanism the Earth is — and also the unintended consequences of pollution. As the Mississippi rushes southward toward the Gulf, the river picks up a lot of passengers. That includes more than 900,000 metric tons of nutrient pollution from the farms and homes along its banks that use fertilizer to grow crops and keep lawns green. Most fertilizer in the United States comes from phosphate mined in Florida and shipped through the Port of Tampa. Most of the time the river flows south, and so the pollution feeds a type of plankton that dies and creates a massive “dead zone” near the mouth of the river. But sometimes currents in the Gulf push the flow eastward, toward Florida. That’s been happening for months on end this year, according to Robert Arnone, a University of Southern Mississippi professor who analyzes the river’s flow into and through the Gulf.

“It’s not just one plume,” he said, “but it’s like all the waters (from the river) are moving to the east.” The Gulf’s loop current “is pushing all the waters to the east.” The nutrients settle into deeper water, where the Red Tide algae first begin feeding off the bounty, the study found. As the blooms grow on the continental shelf, they’re then pushed toward shore and concentrated by the prevailing wind patterns of late summer and fall. The current Red Tide bloom was first detected last November and appeared to move offshore around February. Usually, Stumpf said, Red Tide fades away around March, but that didn’t happen this year. Instead, “it came back inshore in the spring,” he said. And that time of year, there are no other types of algae around that might compete with Red Tide for the nutrients in the water, he said.

“That’s why it’s such a bad problem” this year, he said. “Everybody thought it was gone, but it wasn’t.” Harmful algal blooms such as Red Tide occur in the waters of almost every U.S. coastal state, caused by numerous species. The direct economic effect in the United States is estimated to average $75 million annually, and scientists predict climate change will lead to more blooms that are more intense. No one knows what starts a Red Tide bloom, and no one can predict how it will end. In the case of the 2005 bloom, Stumpf said, it took another major natural disaster to stop it. “It was broken up by Hurricane Katrina,” he said. “That’s the only good thing we got out of Katrina.”

This image was created at Fort DeSoto Park on the morning of September 24, 2018. I used the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens (at 34mm) and the mega mega-pixel Nikon D850. ISO 1600. Matrix metering -1/3 stop: 1/100 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. AWB before the sun hit the mud. Three below and three to the right of the center AF point f-9 shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. Image #3: Laughing Gull carcass in wrack; dead from red tide?

My Red Tide Questions

If you know or have a link to exactly how red tide kills fish, mammals, or reptiles — I am trying to understand the mechanism — please leave a comment and/or a link. Is it the toxins? If yes, how do they kill. Does oxygen depletion add to the death toll?

Your Red Tide Questions Answered

Read yet another excellent Joe Pittman article here.

Video

I learned a lot in the short video here.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

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

Typos

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