January 29th, 2018 Stuff
We had better luck with the pelicans on the first official day of the second San Diego IPT especially with some decent chances on flying birds. Then we had some excellent opportunities with the California Sea Lions. Lunch at Rubio’s, a nap, a Photoshop session, and a late afternoon with the gulls and Willets and too many people at Coronado. The relationship between this group and me could best be described as a love fest; lots of sweet folks who are interested in becoming better photographers and who ask lots of questions.
It looks as if I will get to bed before 9pm this evening, Sunday 28 JAN. Good night!
Nikon Part Help Needed
If you can find me one of these in stock anywhere: Nikon BL-5 Battery Chamber Cover for MB-D12 Battery Pack, please contact me via e-mail immediately.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred eighty-two days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour 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.
Is the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens a Piece of Crap?
Is the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens a piece of crap? Many internet experts would answer yes And many folks who have actually shot with the lens would say yes. Ans many who use it with the 45-mega pixel beast, the Nikon D-850 would say yes. And most who have used it with the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III would say yes. I have been using my 200-500 for less and a week and I would say that it is a versatile, relatively lightweight, superbly sharp photographic tool with either the D5 or the D-850. With or without the TC-14E III. Take a close look at today’s two featured images and you be the judge.
Yes, I know that the images made with my soon-to-arrive Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens will be considerably sharper. That said both of today’s images are more than professionally sharp, sharp enough to sell, and sharp enough to make large, gorgeous prints
A Bit of Bad Luck …
I spent a full 30 minutes doing head portraits of this handsome adult Western Gull. I was working against a variety of background tones from deep blue to brilliant white and everything in between as the waves crested and broke. It was, therefore, mandatory to work in Manual mode so that the changing background tonalities would not throw off the meter as would have happened had I been in an Automatic mode such as Av or Tv(S). The bird was amazingly cooperative so when I was sure that I had what I wanted I got up and walked over to Lee Sommie who had been photographing a Spotted Sandpiper. I happened to glance up just as my good gull friend let go a huge yawn. I love image #2 (that was a vertical crop of a horizontal original) but could not help but think of the image I might have gotten had I been a bit more patient. The large high quality of the original D-850 image file left me with a more than respectable 57.8mb flattened 8-bit master file.
Which Is Your Favorite?
Do you like the tight head portrait or the vertical yawn? Please let us know why.
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 :).
January 28th, 2018 Stuff
I met the second IPT group of seven for the free morning session early on Saturday morning. A half hour after sunrise things were shaping up to be as bad as Friday. Then a gorgeous pelican landed right in front of us but it was down a bit in a crevice. After ten minutes it popped up on a nice rock and posed for a long time. Then a second gorgeous bird landed down below to our right. I got everyone in position and we had another half hour of fun. Then a third gorgeous bird landed on perfect sandstone perch to the left of the first bird. I move everyone to sun angle and we enjoyed another great session. There were only about five birds total, but three of them very quite beautiful in excellent situations.
I am putting the finishing touches on this blog post while waiting for the group to arrive for our introductory program at 7pm on Saturday night.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred eighty-one days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour 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 January 26 at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens (at 500mm) and the mega mega-pixel Nikon D850 DSLR.. ISO 800. Matrix metering probably at +2/3 stop off the blue sky: 1/3200 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. AWB at 4:05pm on a clear sunny afternoon.
Group/Shutter Button AF. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version.
Brown Pelican, Pacific race, face-flight image
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The First Nikon D-850 Image
Both Patrick Sparkman and I are head over heels in love with the D-850 image files. The colors, especially the Pacific BLUEs, are stunningly vibrant. The image quality is as good at it was with the Canon 5DS R. With the absence of an anti-aliasing filter, both produce incredibly sharp images with the megapixel edge going to the 5DS R (50 to 45). But the dynamic range of the D-850 is the better of the two as is high ISO noise control. And, as previously noted, when it comes to birds in flight, the AF system of the D-850 (and the D5) blow away anything Canon has ever produced. Note: in some simpler AF situations, both Nikon bodies run into occasional problems. As others have reported, I have not encountered and pixel shake/pixel smear problems with the D-850 that I had with the 5DS R (with birds and wildlife).
I chose to share today’s pelican face-flight shot with you first to illustrate the great crop-ability of the D-850 images. The converted TIF file here was 130 mb. After leveling and cropping, today’s featured image weighed in at 30mb. That works out to a paltry 23% of the original file size yet with 77% of the image cropped away, the optimized file is sharp, shows zero degradation, and features amazingly vibrant colors. I have actually varied my shooting style as a result of the crop-ability of the D-850, often working looser than usual while knowing the IQ will stand up to a healthy crop.
During this morning’s free session I was helping a client with their 5D Mark IV. I zoomed the wrong way and my brain could not remember how to change the ISO. I must be making ergonomic progress with my Nikon gear. 🙂
Nikon D-850 AF and Frame Rate
At this point in time, I have a bit more confidence in the AF system of the Nikon D5 DLSR than I do in the AF system of the D-850 . That even though the AF systems are identical. I hope to get over those feelings because the file size and image quality if the D-850 are stupendous. The frame-rate of the D5 is an impressive 12 fps. With the D-850 out of the box it is 7 fps. But, you can add the Nikon MB-D18 Multi-Power Battery Pack and the Nikon EN-EL18b Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery and BL-5 Cover Kit from B&H and the Nikon MH-21 Quick Charger for Nikon EN-EL4 & EN-EL4a Battery from Bedford Camera to boost that to 9fps.
Alternatively, you can purchase the whole kit and kaboodle: Nikon MB-D18 Multi-Power Battery Pack with EN-EL18b Battery Kit. The latter option is perfect for those who do not own a Nikon D5 and/or those who will wind up with two D-850 bodies (for the price of one Nikon D5).
My immediate problem is that I am not sure if I will keep the D5 or return the loaner body and go with two D-850s. As yet I have not been able to get a BL-5 (battery) Cover for the Nikon MB-D18 Multi-Power Battery Pack so I have not been able to get the D-850 (7 fps) up to 9fps. This has made my decision more difficult … My gut feeling is that I will wind up with two D-850s. Note: Everything D-850 is in huge, huge demand, as in “pre-order only.”
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The full frame original capture
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The Full Frame Original Capture
I included the full frame image to depict the 77% crop. The image quality of the optimized version speaks for itself.
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 :).
January 27th, 2018 Stuff
Friday morning at the cliffs was the worst morning since I arrived in San Diego. With the lower tide levels and the lack of big surf all of the pelicans were roosting in a spot where it was impossible to get on sun angle. That did not stop lots of folks … Lee Sommie and I got out of there pretty quickly and did well with some cormorants and pelicans in flight in a new morning location. In addition we had fun with a tribe of California Sea Lions. A herd? A ??? In the evening we Patrick, Lee, and I, worked the pelicans again and finished with some Brandt’s Cormorant blurs.
I am doing much better with the D-850/200-500 combo. I created some amazing images and a sharp 45-mega-pixel D-850 file offers incredible cropping options. I have pretty much solved the AF problem when using the TCE 14 at close range. Lots of lessons and photos coming soon.
The Streak
Today makes one hundred eighty days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about an hour 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.
Same Photographer, Same Lens. Hard to Believe … Answers
In the Same Photographer, Same Lens. Hard to Believe … blog post here, I asked lots of questions. Here they are along with the images, and my answers and explanations.
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This image was created on morning of Thursday, January 18 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 420mm), and the blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/640 sec. at f/10 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:29am on a clear morning.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: +5.
Upper Large Zone/AI Servo/Shutter button AF as framed; the system performed perfectly by activating an array of five AF points on the left side of the bill half way down.
Brown Pelican, Pacific race in pre-breeding plumage, preening individual feather
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Super-Tight
This gorgeous pelican was quite comfortable with our presence; there were at least five of us from the group photographing it from close range for close to an hour. I was the lowest and this enabled me to be the closest; others were standing and shooting over me. I created lots of head and bill vertical portraits with lovely Pacific-blue backgrounds. Then I decided to get even closer and try some abstract and quasi-abstract stuff. Why did I go super-tight? The bird had a chunk of feathers missing on one side of its forehead. Note that I went with just a bit of extra depth of field: f/10 instead of the wide open f/9. But at point-blank range, this did not make any real difference at all. Note als0 that I am zoomed out a bit here; from 560 to 420mm.
The JPEG here represents the full frame image capture.
Question #1
Does this image need to show the bird’s eye to be successful? Why or why not?
Artie Says
I do not think that all images need to show the bird’s eye to be successful and that includes the image above. In fact, as someone commented, this one might not have been as powerful if it had included the pelican’s eye. As present it is clean, tight, graphic, angular, a bit abstract, and to my mind, quite effective.
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This image was created on late afternoon of Wednesday, January 17 at La Jolla Shores Beach, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 176mm) and my favorite bird-scape photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 stops: 1/200 sec. at f/5.6 in Av mode. K7500 at 5:11pm with light clouds and fog on the horizon.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: extrapolated to -2.
Five AF points to the right of and two rows down from the center AF point/AI Servo/Surround/Shutter button AF as seen in the DPP 4 screen capture below.
Willet foraging in the surf at sunset
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Willet Foraging in the Surf at Sunset
When we got to the beach it was 100% foggy. We played around with the gulls and made some nice images. Just as it seemed that the sun might break through two folks left. Those who stayed were rewarded with a pretty decent soft salmon-toned sunset.
Question #2
Which of the two images above do you like best? Why?
Artie Says
As another comment noted, comparing the two images above is like comparing apples and oranges; the mood and feel of each is totally different. While I like both images, if I had to chose only one it would be the pelican abstract. Why? I love the Pacific race pelicans in breeding plumage.
Question #3
How would you attempt to level this image?
Artie Says
This question generated lots of interest. Take a peek at the screen capture below and read my explanation below that.
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a close-up look at the horizon
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A Close-up look at the Horizon
Above you can see the upper right portion of the image. I have darkened the image to make the horizon line more discernable. Once you recognize that as the horizon it is a simple matter of using the Ruler Tool (my keyboard shortcut R) to draw a line along the horizon, hitting Image > Rotate > Arbitrary (or use my keyboard shortcut (Command + /), and then hitting OK. On very rare occasion I will disregard the leveling results so that the image appears more “normal.” That was not the case with this image; as I was shooting at an angle to the waves it is natural that the waves would appear askew and for the same reason, that the Willet’s wake would look slightly askew.
In short, if the horizon is made level the image will in fact be level.
Kudos to PhilA who left this comment:
#3 From the horizon it looks level. The waves at an angle look like perspective. Yes?
DPP 4 Screen Capture
Question #4
What was I attempting to do by moving the Shadow slider to -5?
Artie Says
I was trying to blacken the silhouetted bird. That helped only a little.
Question #5
Why should I have used Single Point/Manual Selection AF instead of AF (Expand) Surround?
Artie Says
It is likely that AF would have been more accurate and that the Willet would have been rendered sharper.
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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