Nothing too exciting on Friday. I worked on blog posts, sent Jim home early, spent lots of time waiting for the Fed-Ex Ground and UPS guys — both came eventually, enjoyed a nice, easy 1/2 mile swim, a short nap, and continued eating well. And I did start a new section in the current workflow guide. My plan is to put a few good hours of work in there on Saturday …
Mongoose M3.6 Heads in Stock
For the first time in months, we have Mongoose M3.6 heads in stock. We got our hands on six the other day; three were already accounted for and we sold another two this week … Call Jim at 863-692-0906 weekdays to order yours.
The Streak
Just in case you have not been counting, today makes 11 days in a row with a new educational blog post 🙂
Booking.Com
I could not secure the lodging that I needed for the UK Puffins and Gannets IPT in Dunbar, Scotland, so I went from Hotels.Com to Booking.Com and was pleasantly surprised. I found the rooms that I needed with ease at a hotel that was not even on Hotels.Com, and it was a nice hotel that I had seen in person. And the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward.
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.
Please Don’t Forget …
As always–and folks have been doing a really great job for a long time now–please remember to use the BAA B&H links for your major and minor gear purchases. For best results, use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.
Upper Large Zone/AI Servo/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The system brilliantly selected an AF point that fell on the bird’s upper back as seen in the DPP 4 screen capture below, right on the same plane as the bird’s eye.
Common Crane, Kuusamo, Finland
Excited By Common Cranes …
I love photographing cranes. Sandhill Cranes by my home. Sandhill Cranes on migration in the the western and central US. And best of all, the Red-crowned Cranes in Japan. So when our guide in Finland suggested on our first afternoon that we might have a chance to photograph Common Cranes from a blind at a nearby lake, I was excited. Until we got there. There were lots of distant cranes on the shore of the lake. The best blinds appeared to be the ones on the right, near the snow-covered shore. So I got into the cramped blind all the way on the left. A few cranes approached the shore well to my right and I made a few long-range snaps. There were lots of Whooper Swans to photograph but I was pretty much sated on them as I have been to Japan many times. And the settings for the swans in Japan were a lot nicer than in Finland.
I wanted Common Cranes. But for much of the afternoon, that seemed only a dream. The sun peeked through late in the day and then, as if in a dream, several cranes flew in to my left, landed, and walked into the sweet sunlight. Some even posed for a few moments. The frame above is my favorite from that afternoon, though I did create a few nice flight images in nearly impossible conditions (due to the blind).
The DPP 4 screen capture for today’s featured image
Killing It With the Creative Use of Upper Large Zone AF
As regular readers know, I have been using and loving Upper Large Zone AF for tall vertical birds for months. At times, you might give up just a bit of AF accuracy but you gain amazing flexibility in framing. With the crane relatively close, the bird was borderline too-large-in-the-frame at 1200mm. I was considered switching to the 1.4X III TC but knew that the bird would likely shift position, and worse yet, the shaft of sunlight on the water was quite narrow. If it moved at all, the magical light would be gone. Just then the bird struck a gorgeous over-the-shoulder pose. Thinking fast, I was able to get the the bottom left AF point in the Upper Large Zone array to focus on the crane’s upper back as seen by the illuminated red AF point in the DPP 4 screen capture immediately above. I created six images in the series and one was sharper than the next.
By sticking with it and thinking creatively about the AF system, I was able to turn a near-impossible situation into a series of very fine images.
Another Lying Histogram
Note in the DPP 4 screen capture that though there is no data at all in the rightmost box of the histogram, that the RGB values for the brightest WHITEs on the bird’s neck are R = 243, G = 235, B = 212. I would not want to go any brighter with the WHITEs. Strangely — and I have no explanation for this — the BLUE histogram is farther to the right of the GREEN histogram. Understand though, that the high value for RED reflects the warm light of late afternoon.
So what’s the lesson? In situations where middle and dark tones prevail but where there are small areas of WHITE in an image, there may be no data at all in the rightmost box of the histogram even when the exposure is pretty much correct.
2017 in San Diego was a very good year ….
2018 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART IPT: Monday, JAN 15 thru and including the morning session on Friday, JAN 19, 2018: 4 1/2 days: $2099.
Limit: 10: Openings: 4
Meet and Greet at 6:30pm on the evening before the IPT begins; Sunday, Jan 14, 2018.
Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s (usually nesting and displaying) and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, Wood Duck and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Whimbrel, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seal (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lion; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well. Please note: formerly dependable, both Wood Duck and Marbled Godwit have been declining at their usual locations for the past two years …
San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there….
With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography. And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication. You can do most of your photography with an 80- or 100-400 lens …
Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?
Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings.
The San Diego Details
This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, four lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility. Dinners are on your own so that we can get some sleep.
A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 9/11//2016. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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.
Amazon.com
Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use the logo link above.
Amazon Canada
Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here.
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 :).
Nothing too exciting on Thursday. I worked on blog posts, got some lodging work done for the Bear Boat IPT, enjoyed a nice, easy 1/2 mile swim, and had my chiropractor TJ McKeon work on both shoulders for a bit. Shopped and did my meditation walk at Publix. And again I ate well.
Mongoose M3.6 Heads in Stock
For the first time in months, we have Mongoose M3.6 heads in stock. We got our hands on six the other day; three were already accounted for and we sold another one yesterday. Call Jim at 863-692-0906 to order yours.
The Streak
Just in case you have not been counting, today makes 10 days in a row with a new educational blog post 🙂
Booking.Com
I could not secure the lodging that I needed for the UK Puffins and Gannets IPT in Dunbar so I went from Hotels.Com to Booking.Com and was pleasantly surprised. I found the rooms that I needed with ease at a hotel that was not even on Hotels.Com, and it was a nice hotel that I had seen in person. And the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward.
Canon EOS 80D Questions
Is anyone out there using a Canon EOS 80D? I never heard of it until five minutes ago. If you are using one or know anything about this camera body, I would love for you to leave a comment sharing what you know. How does it compare to the 7D II? How is the AF system for birds in flight? It seems to have a lot of fancy features that I would never use …
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.
Please Don’t Forget …
As always–and folks have been doing a really great job for a long time now–please remember to use the BAA B&H links for your major and minor gear purchases. For best results, use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.
New Used Gear Listing
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Skilled photographer and BirdPhotographer.Net Avian Forum moderator Marina Scarr is offering a well-used (208,000 actuations) Canon EOS-1D Mark IV in excellent plus condition for the record-low-by-far BAA bargain price of $749. Having been covered by a protector screen, the rear LCD is in perfect shape as is the exterior of the body. There is a scratch on the focusing screen that does not affect the images or the performance of the camera. The sale includes the original box and everything that came in it as well as insured ground shipping via major courier to U.S. addresses. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Marina via e-mail or by phone at 813-263-4040 (Eastern 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. Note: both of my 1D IV bodies had in excess of 300,000 clicks when I sold them years ago. artie
This image was created on the first morning of the Finland IPT from a small blind with the Wimberley V2 Tripod Head-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and my favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +3 1/3 stops off the snow: 1/320 sec. at f/4.5 in Manual mode. AWB.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -3.
Center AF Point/AI Servo/Expand/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was on the top of the folded wing below the upper back, right on the same plane as the bird’s eye.
Black Grouse displaying
Plus 3 1/3 Stops Off the Snow?
Yes sir. Yes ma’am. That’s what we needed to get a decent amount of data into the rightmost box of the histogram. Without blowing out any of the white feathers. At times, that yielded a very few blinkies on the snow: perfect. And here is a Manual mode reminder: the huge advantage of working in Manual mode in this situation, with the constant soft light, is that the size of the nearly all blue-black subject in the frame did not matter. If you were in an automatic mode like Av or Tv the size of the subject in the frame would have a huge impact on the exposure reading. When working in Manual mode you can just set it and forget it.
Advantage Wimberley
Some might remember that I decided at the last minute to bring the Wimberley head to Finland along with my beloved Mongoose. What a good call that turned out to be. I knew that in many of the blinds that we would be mounting our tripod heads onto bolts set into the framework of the structures. I could not have imagined the advantage that the Wimberley would provide. With the Mongoose M3.6, the clamp is at a given height and it cannot be moved. For photography on a tripod this is of no concern. After screwing the Wimberley onto the bolt, I was able to raise or lower the clamp — best done without having the lens mounted — to optimize the position of the lens in the blind window. I sacrificed a bit of balance when doing this, but everyone using a Mongoose was envious. At times I was able to raise or lower the clamp in order to improve an image design.
Black and Blue and Black and White and a Splash of Red Yield a Spectacular Image …
While the coldest spring in forever resulted in no Ruff photography, the accompanying snow provided fabulous conditions for photographing the displaying Black Grouse, at least for those who knew how to get the right exposure with the black birds on the pure white snow. Despite editing so stringently I wound up keeping more than 100 male Black Grouse images. I will be sharing a few more of those with you here over time. Remember that in a normal year the snow on the Black Grouse lekking grounds would have been long gone …
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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.
Amazon.com
Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use the logo link above.
Amazon Canada
Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here.
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 :).
Nothing exciting on Wednesday. I worked on blog posts, got lots of advance work done for the UK and Galapagos trips, worked a bit on the current workflow eGuide, and enjoyed a nice swim. And ate well. If you are considering this year’s Bear Boat Cubs IPT, my last Bear Boat IPT, you will need to contact me today at the latest. By phone at 863-692-2806 is fine. Scroll down for details.
Mongoose M3.6 Heads in Stock
For the first time in months, we have Mongoose M3.6 heads in stock. We got our hands on six the other day; three were already accounted for and we sold another one yesterday. Call Jim at 863-692-0906 to order yours.
The Streak
Just in case you have not been counting, today makes 9 days in a row with a new educational blog post 🙂
Booking.Com
I could not secure the lodging that I needed for the UK Puffins and Gannets IPT in Dunbar so I went from Hotels.Com to Booking.Com and was pleasantly surprised. I found the rooms that I needed with ease at a hotel that was not even on Hotels.Com, and it was a nice hotel that I had seen in person. And the rates were great. If you’d like to give Booking.Com a shot, click here and you will earn a $25 reward.
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.
Please Don’t Forget …
As always–and folks have been doing a really great job for a long time now–please remember to use the BAA B&H links for your major and minor gear purchases. For best results, use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would of course appreciate your business.
New Used Gear Listing
Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens for Canon EF
Erik Hagstrom is offering a used Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemprary lens for Canon EF in excellent plus condition for only $699. The sale includes the front and rear lens caps, the lens hood, a black LensCoat (currently a $90 value), the lens case, all the original accessories – [two straps, a rubber ring & manual], the original lens box and USA warranty cards, and insured ground shipping by major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
A single AF point four to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The single AF point was on the right eye of the lower bird.
Image #1: Great Horned Owl fledged twins
Owls and Farms …
It is not uncommon to see Great Horned Owls when visiting the Palouse. Though I have seen many over the years, some in really cool settings, these young owls were the only ones tame enough for me to get at least a decent image or two.
Why 1000mm in the Palouse?
I took both the Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM lens with Internal 1.4x Extender and the 500 II to the Palouse. (Actually, the 2-4 was sent via UPS Ground.) The 2-4 was my most valuable landscape lens but I went to the 500II/2X III TC only rarely. The 500 II however, was in the back of our SUV in case I needed it …
On Being Prepared and Getting Set Up Quickly
We had been photographing a more than century hold prairie home and made a short wiggle to a really neat series of red barns. As we got right up on the first barn, I screamed to Fern who was driving, “Oh my God. There is a great horned owl perched right on the barn.” If only I had had my 200-400 on my lap … In any case, we saw the owl flying toward a tree well ahead of us so we drove on a bit. What I saw excited me. I got out of the car quickly, grabbed my tripod, grabbed my 500 II, grabbed the 2X III TC, and grabbed my 5D IV. Once I got everything mounted on the tripod I turned the camera on and instinctively set ISO 1600 as I knew that the soil nearby was not firm. I moved slowly and set the rig up. I dialed the shutter speed to show zero EC on the analogue scale, and selected an appropriate AF point as noted in the image captions. It was all over in less than a minute. During that time I created only about 8 images. My two faves are posted in today’s blog post.
A single AF point four to the left of the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter button AF was active at the moment. The single AF point was on the right eye of the lower bird.
Image #2: Great Horned Owl fledged young
Image Questions
Which of today’s two featured images was created first? There is no need to guess or try to figure it out. There are definitive clues in the image captions.
Which of today’s two featured images is your favorite? Please let us know why you made your choice. Additional comments on either or both images are welcome.
What do you think of the hemlock setting?
Was It Worth It?
Was it worth it for me to have taken two big lenses, the 2-4 and the 500 II? By all means yes. The 2-4 was my most valuable lens on the trip and the 500 II with its potential 1000mm of reach was there when I needed it. Photographing the owls with a long lens was a blast, but only because I had a big lens with me and only because I was able to get set up quickly and create a very few sharp images.
Images and card copyright Arthur Morris/BEARS AS ART 🙂
2017 Bear Boat Coastal Brown Bear Cubs IPTs: July 18-24, 2017 from Kodiak, AK: 5 FULL & 2 Half DAYS: $6699. Happy campers only! Maximum 8/Openings 3.
Join me in spectacular Katmai National Park, AK for six days of photographing Coastal Brown Bears. Mid-July is prime time for making images of small, football-sized cubs. The cubs, and these dates, are so popular that I had to reserve them three years in advance to secure them. There are lots of bears each year in June, but the mothers only rarely risk bringing their tiny cubs out in the open in fear of predation by rival bears. In addition to making portraits of both adults and cubs, we hope to photograph frolicking and squabbling youngsters and tender nursing scenes. At this time of year, the bears are either grazing in luxuriant grass or clamming. There will also be some two- and three-year old cubs to add to the fun. And we will get to photograph it all.
We will live on our tour operator’s luxurious new boat. At 78 feet long its 24 foot beam makes it quite spacious as well. And the food is great. We will likely spend most of our time at famed Geographic Harbor as that is where the bears are generally concentrated in summer. On the odd chance that we do need to relocate to another location we can do so quickly and easily without having to venture into any potentially rough seas. We land via a 25 foot skiff that has lots of room for as much gear as we can carry.
Aside from the bears we should get to photograph Horned and Tufted Puffin and should get nice stuff on Mew Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Harbor Seal, and Steller’s Sea Lion as well. A variety of tundra-nesting shorebirds including Western Sandpiper and both yellowlegs are also possible. Halibut fishing (license required/not included) is optional.
It is mandatory that you be in Kodiak no later than the late afternoon of July 17 to avoid missing the float planes to the boat on the morning of July 18. Again, with air travel in Alaska (or anywhere else for that matter) subject to possible delays, being on Kodiak on July 16 is a much better plan.
Barring any delays, we will get to photograph bears on our first afternoon and then again every day for the next five days after that, all weather permitting of course. On our last morning on the boat, July 24, those who would like to enjoy one last photo session will have the opportunity to do so. The group will return to Kodiak via float plane from late morning through midday. Most folks will then fly to Anchorage and to continue on red-eye flights to their home cities.
What’s included? 7 DAYS/6 NIGHTS on the boat as above. All meals on the boat. National Park and guide fees. In-the-field photo tips, instruction, and guidance. An insight into the mind of a top professional nature photographer; I will constantly let you know what I am thinking, what I am doing, and why I am doing it. Small group image review, image sharing, and informal Photoshop instruction on the boat.
What’s not included: Your round trip airfare to and from Kodiak, AK (almost surely through Anchorage). Your lodging and meals on Kodiak. The cost of the round-trip float plane to the boat and then back to Kodiak as above. The cost of a round trip last year was $550. The suggested crew tip of $200.
Have you ever walked with the bears?
Is this an expensive trip? Yes, of course. But with 5 full and two half days, a wealth of great subjects, and the fact that you will be walking with the bears just yards away (or less….), it will be one of the great natural history experiences of your life. Most folks who take part in a Bear Boat IPT wind up coming back for more.
A $2,000 per person non-refundable deposit by check only made out to “BIRDS AS ART” is required to hold your spot. Please click here to read our cancellation policies. Then please print, read, and sign the necessary paperwork here and send it to us by mail to PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855.
You can pay your $2,000 deposit via credit card when you sign up and then put a check in the mail for your balance. I hope that you can join me for what will be a wondrously exciting trip.
Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂
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.
Amazon.com
Those who prefer to support BAA by shopping with Amazon may use the logo link above.
Amazon Canada
Many kind folks from north of the border, eh, have e-mailed stating that they would love to help us out by using one of our affiliate links but that living in Canada and doing so presents numerous problems. Now, they can help us out by using our Amazon Canada affiliate link by starting their searches by clicking here.
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 :).
