February 9th, 2018 Stuff
All in all we had a great first day on Cayman Brac. Photography was difficult. We traversed jagged limestone cliffs with treacherous footing. It was so windy when I created today’s featured image that I was lucky to get one centered in the frame. The coast ran east/west so getting on perfect sun angle was close to impossible. Photographing the dark brown and gleaming white birds in bright, usually off-angled light was a huge challenge. And most of the nest sites were in sheltered or cluttered locations. But heck, it was only the first day and yet, we all made some great images. The birds, especially the males in breeding plumage, are gorgeous.
As often happens, a major screw-up led to some really good photographs and a ton of learning on my part. I will share some of that with you here today and some more in future blog posts. Exhausted from the previous day’s travel I took a long midday nap. After visiting the cliffs in the morning we visited some beach-nesting boobies with chicks in the afternoon. The beach was paved with small limestone boulders and big chunks of coral but still, the going was easier than it had been in the morning. At the last spot we visited there was a bird with a large chick and a nest-building pair that provided lots of action. Both of these situations were pretty much wide open.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred ninety-three days in a row with a new educational blog post! I started work on this blog post on Thursday afternoon and finished and published it just before 4:45am on Friday. In all, this one took about 75 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.
Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM Lens (the “old five”)
Sold Instantly!
Gary Meyer is offering a Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in near-mint condition for the really great and lowest ever BAA price of $3458.00. The sale includes the original box, the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the tough front lens cover, a Canon EF Extender 1.4X III, a Canon EF Extender 2X III (both with the original boxes and pouches and both in mint condition) and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Gary via e-mail or by phone or text at 1-612-221-0150 (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 bundle by grabbing Gary’s nearly perfect lens at a great low price along with two almost brand new Series III TCs! It is the condition of all the gear and the extras that makes this offering special. artie
Booking.Com
Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. 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 my first morning on Cayman Brac with the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens (at 500mm) with the mega mega-pixel Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering at about +1.3 stops off the blue sky: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 was a big over-exposure … Learn why below.
D-25 shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure.
AF micro-adjustment: -1.
Brown Booby, breeding plumage male
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Screwing Up (and then learning a ton) in a Very Challenging Situation …
I risked life and limb just to get anywhere near sun angle. Had I moved one more inch to the right to get the sun directly behind me, I would have been in the ocean and on the rocks about 150 feet below. And try as I might, I could not get tall enough to eliminate the few scraggly branches at the bottom of the frame. But still, it was a gorgeous bird.
After my test frame, the image looked very bright on my rear LCD but there were no blinkies. This same situation persisted throughout the morning, but i trusted the blinkies. When I started reviewing my images in Photo Mechanic, I saw tons of blasting blinkies. I was baffled as I had previously set up the camera so that highlight alert was working on the small JPEG in the view with both the luminosity and the three RGB histograms. So I put the card back in the camera and found that blinkies on the small JPEG had been mysteriously turned off. Heck, I do not even know how to turn them off. So, I turned them back on as Krishna Prasad Kotti had previously taught me to do: as long as you have highlight alert turned on, you can turn the blinkies on in the small JPEG as described above by pressing the minus magnify button and then pressing the right arrow. I did that and the blinkies re-appeared. Lots of big blinkies.
Krishna: the only thing done differently was that I added the grip to get to 9fps. Do you have any idea how blinkies on the small JPEG might have gotten turned off? (I forgot to note that they were working during our pre-dawn landscape session so it could not have been the grip …)
In any case, that screw-up enabled me to learn that the D-850 has tremendous dynamic range. With today’s featured image I was easily able to restore the blown highlights by first moving the Exposure slider to the left and then doing the same with the Highlight slider (all in ACR). With my best flight image, the WHITEs were so badly blown that that approach did not work. But I did come up with a new solution, one that I will share with you here soon.
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.
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 :).
February 8th, 2018 Stuff
After waking at 2:55am on Wednesday– I had the alarm set for 3:45am — I made it out of the house only six minutes late … We were delayed slightly when I could not find my favorite and only belt … I was at the gate in Orlando early. I got to Miami early and continued to work on this blog post on the flight to Grand Cayman. We had a three hour layover on Grand Cayman before our flight to Cayman Brac. I continued to work on this blog post both during the layover and on that last flight. Obviously I was not doing a very good job of concentrating 🙂 I tried conch for dinner and got to bed early. I checked over and published today’s blog post at 4:02am from Cayman Brac.
Thanks to those who commented on yesterday’s leaf pattern image. As far as the need for depth of field, yes, I was close. But everyone is forgetting one important thing about the large leaf …
with love, artie
The Streak
Today makes one hundred ninety-two days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about two hours 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
Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. 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 a scouting session for the San Diego IPTs on the morning of Wednesday, January 14, 2018 at La Jolla, CA. I used the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted
Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens and my all time favorite Canon camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 2500. Evaluative metering +2 2/3 stops off the gray sky: 1/1000 sec. at f/4 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:26am on a cloudy morning.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: +5.
AI Servo/Shutter button AF as originally framed. The AF information including and especially the AF Area selection mode and the Case settings for this image are classified.
Brown Pelican, Pacific race, steaming right at the lens barrel
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New Canon AF Settings for Birds in Flight
As I mentioned previously here, it is somewhat ironic that right before I switched to Nikon a third of the way into my San Diego trip I started getting my best-ever results with birds in flight with my Canon gear. That included images made with the 1DX II and the 5D Mark IV. I made one major change in the settings and for the first time, it made a world of difference (as you can see in the sharp-on-the-eyes image above, that with the bird flying right at me). Not bad either for ISO 2500 on the 5D IV with no post conversion noise reduction. The new settings worked great with both the my 500 II and the 100-400 II and as mentioned above, with both of my Canon camera bodies.
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An Unsharpened 100% Crop of Today’s Featured Image
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Canon AF Settings for Birds in Flight … an illustrated e-mail: $10. Free with proof of purchase for any BAA Camera Users Guide.
If you previously purchased a camera User’s Guide from BIRDS AS ART, you can get your free copy of the new Canon AF Settings for Birds in Flight e-mail by following these simple directions: Click here. This will open an e-mail to Jim with the subject line filled in. Now simply cut and paste a copy either the receipt you got when you purchased a camera User’s Guide from BAA or cut and paste the cover or the first page of your User’s Guide. Then hit send.
Those who have never purchased a camera User’s Guide from us (could it be?) can click here to order the new information from the BAA Online store for $10.00. Or, you can call Jim or Jen at 863-692-0906 to order. Or, you can send us a Paypal for $10.00 to birdsasart@verizon.net.
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.
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 :).
February 7th, 2018 Stuff
Thanks for all the kind words and condolences on the loss of my younger sister, Arna Lee Morris. (My Mom saw the name “Arna Lee” on a HS girls jacket in Marine Park in Brooklyn many decades ago …) I finally got around to packing for my trip to Cayman Brac on Tuesday afternoon and finished that chore at 4:15am on Wednesday, 7 FEB. Again I enjoyed a cold 1/2 mile plus swim late in the day. There are still two openings on the spoonbill IPT. Click here for complete info. If anyone would like to join me shooting spoonbills for 1 1/2 days, February 19 (full day) and February 20 (morning session only), please get in touch via e-mail.
Today I fly to Miami, Grand Cayman, and Cayman Brac for a week of photographing nesting Brown Boobies.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred ninety-one days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about three hours 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
Booking.Com came through for me twice again recently with both the DeSoto Fall IPT and next July’s UK Puffins, Gannets, and Bempton Pre-trip room reservations. And all the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward. 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 next to last day of my three week San Diego visit. I used the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens (at 120mm) and the mega mega-pixel Nikon D850.
Matrix metering at zero: 1/60 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. AWB in the shade at 10:32am.
f-9 shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure.
Please click on the image to enjoy a larger version.
underside of leaf of ornamental plant
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Called By a Big Leaf … But only for three weeks!
I first walked through the breezeway on the way to my room at my San Diego hotel room on the afternoon of January 12th. I noted a big ornamental plant with really cool leaves and thought, “There is one leaf that is really pretty; I should photograph it.” Every time I walked past the plant I thought the same thing. On the afternoon of the last full day of my trip Lee Sommie and I got back to the room early after our morning session but we were both dead tired. None-the-less, I knew that if I did not grab my D-850 and my 24-120 that I would never make any images of that single leaf. So I did. I had been mentioning the leaf to Lee for a week; when he learned that I had summoned the energy to actually make some images he was amazed. I actually spent about 30 minutes experimenting. I photographed the top of the leaf, somewhat front lit, and then sat in wet dirt to photograph the underside of the leaf, somewhat backlit.
For the most part, I worked hard at creating complete pattern images by filling the frame with the leaf. With no borders and nothing distracting on the edges. In other words, nothing but the leaf. I created about 80 images in all and kept only two. One top shot where the leaf filled the frame completely, and today’s featured image of the underside of the leaf. Note: all of the images included some sort of diagonal.
The Questions of the Day
- 1- Do you like the inclusion of the tiny triangular shape in the upper left corner? Why or why not?
- 2- Why did I opt to work at 1/60 sec. at f/11 while hand holding, i.e., why did I need extra depth of field?
Initial Thoughts on the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Lens
This Nikon 24-120mm replaces my beloved Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens. Either way, don’t leave home without it! Short zooms like these can be used to create a great variety of B-roll images. Bird-scapes, scenics, Urbex, detailed mini-landscapes, people and photographers, and quasi-macros like today’s featured image. And tons more. My initial impression is that the Nikon 24-120 is a lot sharper than my old Canon 24-105mm.
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.
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 :).
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