Stuff
The Streak
Today makes two hundred sixty-eight days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took several hours to prepare including the time spent on the all-new San Diego IPT card. With all of my upcoming free time (or not…), the plan right now is to try to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.
Thanks to the Patient
With the injured shoulder, the recently concluded DeSoto IPT, and the hernia surgery, I have gotten more than a bit behind on e-mails, especially some Used Gear Sales business. Many thanks for your patience. I’ve had lots of time to rest lately and am almost caught up.
Dark-siders: Please Do Not Take This Personally
I have been saying this for a while: after many years in the business of brokering used gear sales, one pattern that I have seen is that most Nikon folks think that their stuff is worth a lot more than it actually is. That especially with the potential sales of the older 600mm lenses, most of which weigh in the 12-14 pound range. If you can shed any light as to why this might be the case, I’d love to hear from you.
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 dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. 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.
New Listings
Canon EF 500mm f/4 L IS USM Lens (the old five) plus LensCoat
Allen Dale is offering a Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens (the original version) in very good to excellent condition for the BAA record-low price of $3399.00. The sales includes the lens trunk, the front leather cover, the rear lens cap, a Camo LensCoat®, and insured ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Allen via e-mail or by phone at 956.961.4140 (Central time.)
The 500mm f/4 lenses have been the world’s most popular telephoto lenses for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. I owned and used and loved my “old five” for many years. If you don’t have the cash for the 500 II and can handle the additional 1 1/2 pounds, then this is your best super-telephoto option. Most everyone can produce sharp images with this lens and a 1.4X TC. Folks with good to excellent sharpness techniques can do the same with a 2X TC. With the new 500 II selling for $8,999 you can save a neat $5600 by grabbing Allen’s copy of the “old five” right now. artie
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
David Ramirez is offering a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM in excellent plus condition for the BAA record low price of $796.00. The only sign of wear is where the lens hood (included) mounts to the front of the lens. The lens was cleaned and checked by CPS in 2016. The sale includes front and rear lens caps, the lens pouch, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Photos available on request. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact David via e-mail or by phone at 1-541-892-3726 (Pacific Time).
The 16-35 II is a superb landscape lens that can be used on occasion to create some stunning bird-scapes as well. The practically identical version III of this lens sells for $1999 new; purchase David’s s lens and save $1204.00 on the cost of a new Series III model. artie
BIRDS AS ART
BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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. Patrick Sparkman saved $350 on a recent purchase!
Booking.Com
Several folks on the DeSoto IPT used the Booking.Com link below, 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.
Gear Questions and Advice
Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.
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This image was created on the 1st San Diego IPT on the morning of January 18, 2018 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III — at 437mmm — and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/250 sec. at f/8. AWB at at 8:11am on a slightly overcast morning. Center Large Zone/AI Servo AF(Continuous with Nikon)/Shutter Button/ (AI Servo in Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the gull’s forehead just above and slightly forward of the bird’s eye. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Heermann’s Gull, adult wing stretch/with the ACR defaults settings |
Exposing to the Washed Out Right …
Above are the ACR default settings for today’s featured; note the RGB values for the brightest WHITEs on the top of the bird’s head: 252, 252, 253. I usually like to keep my WHITEs in the mid-240s with Nikon but in soft light I am fine going a bit higher. Note also that white feathers in soft light rarely if ever show any detail. Take a look also at the left side of the histogram, the side where the dark tones live. There is no data at all on the left side of the histogram. That tells us that we have done an excellent job of exposing to the right so that the image looks washed out and faded on the back of he camera (as is proper). It is also telling us that our dark tones are too light. Scroll down to see what happens on the left side of the histogram once we set the black point.
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This image was created on the 1st San Diego IPT on the morning of January 14, 2018 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III — at 437mmm — and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 1250. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/250 sec. at f/8. AWB at 10:20am on a foggy, overcast morning at 7:56am. One AF point up and one to the left of the center AF point/Shutter Button/Continuos (AI Servo in Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the gull’s forehead just above and slightly forward of the bird’s eye. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Heermann’s Gull, adult wing stretch/with my ACR adjustments |
The ACR Settings for Today’s Featured Image
Here I moved the Black slider to left while holding down the Alt key until some splotches began to appear. Then I backed off just a bit (to -43) while still holding down the Alt key. When the splotches disappeared I knew that I had a good value for the Black point. If you click on the screen capture above to enlarge it, you can clearly see that the dark tones go much farther to the left side of the histogram than they did with the default settings. Note that I increased the contrast in the image without touching the Contrast slider …
I no longer move the Clarity slider to +20 by rote. Instead, I move the slider to the right slowly to taste. I usually wind up between +5 and +10. In this screen capture you get a better look at the the distracting streak.
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This image was created on the 1st San Diego IPT on the morning of January 14, 2018 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III — at 437mmm — and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 1250. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/250 sec. at f/8. AWB at 10:20am on a foggy, overcast morning at 7:56am. One AF point up and one to the left of the center AF point/Shutter Button/Continuos (AI Servo in Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the gull’s forehead just above and slightly forward of the bird’s eye. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Heermann’s Gull, adult wing stretch/Optimized |
The Optimized Image
Most of the important work here was done during the RAW conversion. I did execute a 3X2 crop from the right and above to tighten things up. A flopped Quick Mask refined by a Regular Layer Mask was used to to cover the distracting streak. Then I put the whole thing on a layer, ran a 65-pixel Gaussian Blur on that, added an Inverse (Black or Hide-all) Mask, and painted in the blur where needed to smooth out the background. I reduced the MAGENTA saturation to eliminate the slight color cast in the grey feathers and lightened the iris just a bit to finish things off.
I love the soft light and all the angles in this image. Heermann’s Gulls are quite beautiful and are common in San Diego in January.
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The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II).You can order your copy from the BAA Online Store here, by sending a Paypal for $40 here, or by calling Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-692-0906 with your credit card in hand. |
The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II)
Your guessed it, everything mentioned above and tons more is covered in detail in the BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II), an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. Learn more and check out the free excerpt in the blog post here. While the new e-Guide reflects my Macbook Pro/Photo Mechanic/DPP 4/Photoshop workflow, folks using a PC and/or BreezeBrowser will also benefit greatly by studying the material on DB II. Do note that you will find the RGB Curves Adjustment Color Balancing tutorial only in the new e-guide. Note: folks working on a PC and/or those who do not want to miss anything Photoshop may wish to purchase the original Digital Basics along with DB II while saving $15 by clicking here to buy the DB Bundle.
The two most recent and many of the older MP4 Photoshop Tutorial videos releases go hand and hand with the information in DB II):
Folks who learn well by following along rather than by reading can check out the complete collection of MP 4 Photoshop Tutorial Videos by clicking here.
You can learn how and why I converted nearly all of my Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 using Canon Digital Photo Professional in the DPP 4 RAW conversion Guide here. And, yes, I still have many Canon images to work on. 🙂 You can learn advanced Quick Masking and advanced Layer Masking techniques in APTATS I & II. You can save $15 by purchasing the pair. Folks can learn sophisticated sharpening and (NeatImage) Noise Reduction techniques in the The Professional Post Processing Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly.
Help Support the Blog
Please help support my (stupendous) 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.
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 :).
