Stuff
The last time that I asked for an image title the group as a whole pretty much came up empty. Put your thinking caps on and see what you can come up with for today’s unusually lovely and graceful featured image.
Tuesday morning was the worst of the trip so far. It was so windy when we got to the lighthouse cliffs that we decided to head back to the beach. After a short walk there I attempted to photograph a bird in flight but my D-850 would not fire. I decided that we should go back to the cliffs as things were not looking too good. On the drive back I tried to get the camera to work. At some point I was in the menu and I saw this: “no card in camera.” With Canon digital, if you have set the idiot proofing on your camera and press the shutter button it lights up in big letters “No CF card.” I am not sure why Nikon never figured that out …. Advantage Canon.
In any case, once I put the card in my pocket into the camera it worked just fine. I am not sure why but — unlike the last four mornings — we had very few good flight chances. That said we both got some killer flight images.
We went back to several of our favorite beach nests late in the afternoon and made a very few nice images.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred ninety-eight days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about 45 minutes to prepare. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.
Booking.Com
Several folks on the Spoonbill IPTs used the Booking.Com link below and 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 folks 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 morning of February 12 on Cayman Brac with the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens (at 290mm) and the Nikon D850. ISO 400: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:44am on a sunny morning with just slight edge off the sun. Center Group (grp)/Shutter Button AF. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Brown Booby in flight with wings raised looking at cliff
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Save-able?
Is the image above save-able?
Exposure Stuff
I learned very quickly when photographing the Brown Boobies in flight that I could always get the perfect exposure by creating a test image of the super-bright limestone on the promontory in the lower left corner. I work in Manual mode so all that I would do was adjust the shutter speed as the sun came in and out so that my test image showed some blinkies on the rocks (as seen by the red highlight alert splotches above in the Photo Mechanic screen capture). It did not matter if the sun was blasting bright or if a nice cloud covered the sun.
Photo Mechanic
Most everyone who attends an IPT winds up purchasing Photo Mechanic after they see me picking my keepers using this lightning fast program. If you purchase a Photo Mechanic license, please remember that you can save a few bucks and help support the blog with phone orders only by calling Jim in the office on weekdays at 863-692-0906. Learn all that you need to know about Photo Mechanic by scrolling down here
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This image was created on the morning of February 12 on Cayman Brac with the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens (at 290mm) and the Nikon D850. ISO 400: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:44am on a sunny morning with just slight edge off the sun. Center Group (grp)/Shutter Button AF. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Brown Booby in flight with wings raised looking at cliff |
Got a Title?
If you can think of neat, clever, or catchy title for this image, please leave a comment.
The Optimized Image
After converting the image in ACR that first thing that I did was level it. Then it was the usual stuff: fill in the big empty triangles using with John Heado Content Aware Fill, use a large flopped Quick Mask — refined by the addition of a Regular Layer Mask as per APTATS– to cover the limestone rock, Eye Doctor work, my NIK 40/40 recipe on the bird only, and a Contrast Mask on to quasi-sharpen the face.
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The BIRDS AS ART Current Workflow e-Guide (Digital Basics II) will teach you an efficient Mac or PC/Photo Mechanic/Photoshop workflow that will make it easy for you to make your images better in Photoshop (rather than worse). That true whether you convert your images in DPP 4 or ACR. See the blog post here to learn lots more and to read a free excerpt. 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 and other discerning Canon shooters convert nearly all of their Canon digital RAW files in DPP 4 using Canon Digital Photo Professional in the DPP 4 RAW conversion Guide here. Yes, I still have many Canon images to work on. 🙂 And 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.
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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 :).
