January 11th, 2018 Stuff
It poured all night but quit raining before I left for Gilbert at 6:05am. It was mostly cloudy dark with a bit of fog and about 30 seconds of light drizzle as I made my way to my favorite impoundments. I photographed several Desert Cottontails, a few songbirds, and a few ducks. I used the Godox flash a lot, mostly experimenting with it. I had my therapy appointment at 11. I continue to pound away on my exercises and balloon blowing. I am feeling a bit better each day, especially the problematic left knee. More of the same is in store for Thursday plus a bit of packing for my flight to San Diego on Friday afternoon.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred sixty-four days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour to prepare including the time spent optimizing the image. 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.
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.
List of recent Used Gear Page Sales
Sales of cameras and lenses have been through the roof recently with stuff selling at prices that thill the buyers and please the sellers.
Hisham A. sold a Canon EOS 5D Mark III in very good condition for the BAA record low price of $999 in mid January.
Hisham A. sold his Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens very good condition (with perfect glass and in perfect working order) for the BAA record low price of $999 and a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM lens in very good condition (with perfect glass and in perfect working order) for the BAA record low by far price of $549in early January.
Hisham A. sold a Canon Extender EF 1.4X III (teleconverter) in like-new good condition for $329 and the original Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens in like-new condition for $449 in late December.
BAA friend Jim Roetzel sold his Xtrahand Vest, green — size XL — for $275 in December.
Mike Rust sold his Canon 600mm f/4L IS II ISM lens in near-mint condition for $9396.00 and his Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM lens in like-new condition for $699.00. Both on the first day of listing.
Mike Rust also sold his Canon EOS-1DX Mark II like-new condition for a BAA record-low, shock-the-world price of $3997.00, his Canon 400mm f/4 IS II DO USM lens in like-new condition for the amazing low price of $5999.00, his Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM Lens in like-new condition for $1799.00, a 1.4X III and two 2X III TCs, all in like-new condition for $329 each, and a Wimberley V2 Tripod Head in excellent condition with extras for $399.
IPT veteran Carolyn Peterson sold her Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera body in excellent condition for $1399 in mid-December.
Pradip Thachile sold his Canon EF 400mm f/4 IS DO lens (the original version) in excellent condition for the BAA record low price of $2097.00 in late December.
Joel Williams sold his Fujifilm XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens in like-new condition for $1199 right after it was listed in mid-December.
Mike Newman sold his Canon EF 100mm f2.8/L IS USM macro lens in like-new condition for only $599 in mid-December, right after it was listed.
Joel Williams sold a Fujifilm XF 1.4x TC WR teleconverter in like-new condition for $299 in mid-December, 2017.
Mike Newman sold a Canon EF 600 F4/L USM IS II USA lens in like-new condition for the record-low BAA price of 9,398.00 within two days of listing it in early December.
New Listings
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Multiple IPT veteran Gil Moe is offering a Canon EOS 5D Mark III in like-new condition for $$1249. The sale includes the original box and all the packagings and software, the front cap, the manual, one Canon battery, the battery charger, the unused lens strap, the cables, and and insured ground shipping via UPS or FEDEX to U.S. Addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Gil via e-mail or by phone at 909-732-1456 (Pacific time).
I owned and used this superb, full frame, 22mp digital body for several years. It was always my first choice for scenic, Urbex (urban exploration), and flower photography until I fell in love for a while with the 5DS R (for a lot more money!). Then I switched to the 5D IV body. In addition, I loved my 5D III body for birds with my big lenses and both TCs. I used mine to create many hundreds of high quality images. In pristine condition, Gil’s 5D III is a great value.. artie
Canon BG-E20 Battery Grip for EOS 5D Mark IV
Multiple IPT veteran Gil Moe is also offering a brand new in the box Canon BG-E20 Battery Grip for EOS 5D Mark IV for $259.
The sale includes insured ground shipping via UPS or FEDEX to U.S. Addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Gil via e-mail or by phone at 909-732-1456 (Pacific time).
The BG-E20 Battery Grip gives your 5D IV a pro body feel and the convenient vertical controls. You’d be a fool to purchase yours from B&H for $50 more …. artie
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
BAA Record-low Price!
Jim Burns is offering an EOS-1D Mark4 Canon body in excellent plus for a BAA record low $998. The sale includes the front cap, two Canon LP-E4 batteries, the charger, the instructional manual, the two computer cords (video & download), 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 Jim via e-mail or by phone at 1-602-616-9431 Mountain time.
Two dependable, rugged 1D Mark IVs served as my workhorse professional bodies for several years; I really enjoyed their 1.3X crop factors, the fast frame rate, and the excellent image quality. artie
Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Karen Jordan is offering a Canon EOS 7D Mark II digital camera body in near mint condition for $949. The sale includes the front body cap, the strap, the instructional manual, everything that came with the camera, 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 Karen via e-mail or by phone at 206-437-8337 (Pacific time).
Both Patrick Sparkman and I used and loved the 7D Mark II until about two years ago when we both committed to using full frame Canon bodies. We both made some truly great images with it. Two of my three 2016 Nature’s Best honored entries were created with the 7D II, one still, and one video. One thing is for sure: the 7D Mark II is the greatest value ever in a digital camera body. With a new one going for $1499 you can save a cool $550 by grabbing Karen’s body. artie
Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS Zoom Lens (the original 1-4)
BAA Record-low Price!
Karen Jordan is offering a Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS Zoom Lens (the original 1-4) in excellent plus condition but for a single paint scratch for the BAA record low price of $528. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the front lens cap, the tough fabric zippered lens case, the original box and all that came in it, and insured Ground shipping via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Karen via e-mail or by phone at 206-437-8337 (Pacific time).
The older 100-400 is a versatile intermediate telephoto zoom lens with 1,000+ uses. It makes a great starter lens especially for folks who do general nature and wildlife in addition to birds. Over the years I’ve sold 100s of images made with this lens. And Denise Ippolito loved hers for many years forsaking it only recently.
ISO 4000 & Flash in the Fog
Ring-necked Duck is common as all get-out in Phoenix and the hens are relatively plain and drab as compared to the handsome, showy drakes. I experimented quite a bit with the flash in the fog and it seemed pretty clear that at fill flash levels that the flash did not so a whole lot, likely because the fog diffused the light from the flash. I have also been experimenting a lot with some very high ISOs with the 1DX II and have been impressed. You do lose quite a bit of image quality but the point is about finding out what the capabilities are when you have a great bird in a beautiful situation with no light …
The Wake?
Do you like the inclusion of the partial wake in the upper left hand corner of the image? It was of course from another duck swimming nearby. It would have been easy to remove in a variety of ways.
The Image Optimization
The image optimization was relatively straightforward. After converting the image in DPP 4. I executed a decent crop from below and from our left, darkened the pupil using Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, applied a 15% layer of Image > Auto Tone and a 10% layer of Image > Auto Contrast. These last two added at least some pop to a terribly flat image.
The Godox Flash/Save $300!
The Godox VING V860IIC TTL Li-Ion Flash Kit for Canon Cameras is simply amazing. Priced at exactly $300 less than the Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT, the Godox flash is a virtual replica of the top of the line Canon 600 EX II-RT. I will soon be publishing a simple guide to using the Godox flash for bird photography. In the meantime you can learn everything there is to know about using flash for bird photography in the Flash Simplified section of The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II: 916 pages, 900+ images on CD only): ETTL flash as fill, flash as main light techniques, high speed synch flash (available on the Godox flash) and manual flash. Plus tons more!
January 10th, 2018 Stuff
The thing about the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch is that yesterday’s hotspot is today’s too-flooded impoundment. The folks in charge move water around faster than I have ever seen. I am really excited with the results of my physical therapy …
I woke at 3:15am on Tuesday, finished editing all of my Phoenix photos, did my exercises, and then enjoyed a nice photo session. I left the Water Ranch just after 10:00am. I fly to San Diego on Friday afternoon.
Click on the logo-link above for great holiday savings!
$300 off on the Canon 100-400 II!
The Streak
Today makes one hundred sixty-three days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour to prepare including the time spent optimizing the image. 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 EOS 5D Mark III
Free 1.4X II Add-on: JAN 9, 2018.
Hisham A. is offering a Canon EOS 5D Mark III in very good condition (in perfect working order) for the BAA record low price of $999. The sale includes a 1.4X II teleconverter, an extra Watson battery, the front lens cap, and all the stuff that came in the box as well as insured ground shipping to US addresses via major courier. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made. Photos are available upon request.
Please contact Hisham via e-mail or by phone at 720 771 2693 (Eastern time).
I used my 5D Mark III to produce high quality image files for all of my landscape, flower, and Urbex photography. And I used it often for bird photography with my f/4 super-telephoto lenses with both the 1.4X and the 2X TCs. As long as you have firmware version 1.2.1 or higher you will have AF at f/8 with the center AF point (along with the four assist points). 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.
Th DPP 4 Screen Capture
So why did I pick an AF point that placed the bird on the wrong side of the frame looking out? The bird had been preening its back with its long bill; when it paused and posed so I pushed the shutter button knowing that moving the bird back in the frame using techniques from APTATS II would be a piece of cake.
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This is the optimized version of today’s featured image. It was made at the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch with the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 800. Evaluative metering about +2/3 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:47am on a cloudy morning.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5.
Four rows up and two to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Expand shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the side of the bird’s neck just below and slightly behind the bird’s eye.
Long-billed Dowitcher, first winter plumage posing
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Another Boring, Perfect Image Lacking both Drama and Creativity …
There’s no drama here. There was no creativity involved; heck, I put the bird on the wrong side of the frame. What could be more boring than a bird just standing in the water?
Would You Be Proud of this Image?
Would you be proud to have created this image? Why or why not?
More on Coming Soon
February 2018 Spoonbill Boat IPT: FEB 23-25, 2018/2 1/2 days with three morning spoonbill sessions on the boat.
Two Fort DeSoto IPTs (April and May, 2018).
Three Gatorland IPTs (March, April, and May, 2018 — including early entry and late stay — tentative).
Three Sandhill Crane chicks and colts Master Classes at Indian Lake Estates (March).
The Master Classes will likely be announced soon. They will be small groups — strictly limited to four photographers — with the first folks who register staying at my home and the others staying at a chain motel in Lake Wales. Live, think, and breathe photography from Friday afternoon through lunch on Monday morning; all meals included. We will enjoy three morning photography sessions with the main subjects being tame Sandhill Cranes almost surely with chicks or colts. Also vultures and Cattle Egrets and more. Limpkins possible. There will be three afternoon photo sessions with hopefully glorious sunsets like the ones you have been seeing on the blog recently. I will micro-adjust one of your lenses during a group instructional session and all will be welcome to practice what they have learned during the breaks using my lighting gear. We will sit together around my dining room table and pick everyone’s keepers, enjoy guided Photoshop sessions, and, on Monday before lunch, folks can make a single large print of their favorite image.
Folks who would like advance notice on any of the above are welcome to shoot me an e-mail. Right now there are two folks signed up for the spoonbill IPT with just four openings left. If you would like to join us, please do not tarry.
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 :).
January 9th, 2018 Stuff
I headed out early to Gilbert Water Ranch on Monday.The sunrise was spectacular but the night-heron was not home and the geese were swimming only in the dark water rather than in the fluorescent orange/pink water … Then I did Canada Goose flight blurs and bathing Mallard blurs. I was headed back to my lodgings early when I ran a across a pond fill with Great Egrets fishing and flying so I stayed another hour and made all sharp images 🙂
Then off to the physical therapist and now some free time before dinner. Thanks to all the folks who have been commenting so much recently.
Click on the logo-link above for great holiday savings!
$300 off on the Canon 100-400 II!
The Streak
Today makes one hundred sixty-two days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour to prepare including the time spent optimizing the image. 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.
Weather Forecast: Cloudy with a chance of blurs …
On cloudy days, necessity if often the mother of invention. In order to make sharp images at 1200mm I would have needed to use a crazy high ISO. Bathing birds require a very specific depth of water; that is why you will often see one bird after another bathe in a specific area. Sometimes the required depth is fairly consistent and allows several birds to bathe in close proximity to each other. On Monday morning I passed on many opportunities when there were too many Mallards in the frame. Working in Tv mode when trying to create pleasing blurs allows you complete control over shutter speed. At 1/60 sec. you can get often wind up with a pleasing degree of blurring and a passably sharp head and eye.
Like it or Hate It?
All are invited to leave a comment and let the group what they like or dot’t like about today’s featured image.
More on Coming Soon
February 2018 Spoonbill Boat IPT: FEB 23-25, 2018/2 1/2 days with three morning spoonbill sessions on the boat.
Two Fort DeSoto IPTs (April and May, 2018).
Three Gatorland IPTs (March, April, and May, 2018 — including early entry and late stay — tentative).
Three Sandhill Crane chicks and colts Master Classes at Indian Lake Estates (March).
The Master Classes will likely be announced soon. They will be small groups — strictly limited to four photographers — with the first folks who register staying at my home and the others staying at a chain motel in Lake Wales. Live, think, and breathe photography from Friday afternoon through lunch on Monday morning; all meals included. We will enjoy three morning photography sessions with the main subjects being tame Sandhill Cranes almost surely with chicks or colts. Also vultures and Cattle Egrets and more. Limpkins possible. There will be three afternoon photo sessions with hopefully glorious sunsets like the ones you have been seeing on the blog recently. I will micro-adjust one of your lenses during a group instructional session and all will be welcome to practice what they have learned during the breaks using my lighting gear. We will sit together around my dining room table and pick everyone’s keepers, enjoy guided Photoshop sessions, and, on Monday before lunch, folks can make a single large print of their favorite image.
Folks who would like advance notice on any of the above are welcome to shoot me an e-mail. Right now there are two folks signed up for the spoonbill IPT with just four openings left. If you would like to join us, please do not tarry.
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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