Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

What’s Up?

What’s up? Lots.

Sunday and Monday were the two worst pelican mornings I have ever experienced in La Jolla. But we did well both days with the Brandt’s Cormorants and had a ton of fun at the Crevice with a small flock of Royal Terns. Sunday afternoon was a bust at my #2 favorite beach as the tide was too high but we did get some Lesser Scaups late in the day. Monday afternoon was loaded with pelicans everywhere. I am getting better each day with the SONY gear as I get used to handling it and zooming in and out. I am in the process of figuring out why I am underexposing so much with the A9 … I have ordered an A9, the 100-400, and both teleconverters. You will be learning why every other day on the blog starting with today’s post …

IPT Updates

Unsolicited via e-mail from multiple IPT veteran Donna Bourdon

Thank you Artie for another amazing trip! The setting and the access to such spectacular wildlife was more than we could have hoped for. And you, yourself are remarkable. I am always touched by your selflessness in sharing your professional talent and knowledge. Not many working pros would be willing to share their intellectual property as you do. And the group experience was such fun. It was good to make new friends and enjoy food, fun and fellowship together! I hope to meet up with everyone again soon for another “over the top” adventure. with love, Donna

Unsolicited via e-mail from IPT veteran Eugen Dolan

Arthur, Thank you very much for your overwhelming infectious enthusiasm that helped get me up on some mornings. Also, your ability to express yourself- and explain in great detail why you like or may not like an image – was very helpful in allowing me to better analyze my images. Eugen

I have room for two folks on the spoonbill boat and still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail; no reasonable offer will be refused.

• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Bedford’s Special

Purchase a NIKKOR 180-400 super-telephoto zoom lens and choose either a GITZO GT2542LS SYSTEMATIC TRIPOD (a $930 value) or the WIMBERLEY GIMBAL/WH-200 w/ custom plate (a $694 value) at no charge when you purchase the 180-400!

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

This image was created on January 26, my first day using the SONY gear. I used the hand held Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x teleconverter (at 560mm), and the beyond remarkable Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless Digital Camera. ISO 1600: 1/2000 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. AWB at 7:31am on a clear day. Pacific race Brown Pelican/classic head and shoulders portrait

SONY Gear Does Just Fine in San Diego

As I said here in the last blog post, the SONY rig is pretty darned good. I am not sure why I was at ISO 1600 and f/11 for the image above. I should have been at ISO 800 at f/8 at 1/1000 sec. or even ISO 400 at f/8 at 1/500 sec. But the truth is, SONY’s ISO 1600 is about at good as ISO 400 with most dSLRs …

My Initial Thoughts on the SONY Stuff

The Good

1- The camera is very easy to operate and is comfortable in my hands without the grip. That said, Patrick Sparkman did a great job of setting up the MENU items that needed to be set. Thank you Patrick. I was able to learn to adjust the settings in less than two minutes.

2- AF performance blows away Nikon by a greater degree than Nikon blows away Canon. At least for me. And for Patrick. The incoming Brand’t Cormorants are as difficult a flight subject as I have ever encountered. Canon was hopeless. Nikon did OK at times but many of the images were unsharp. Once you are tracking with the SONY stuff every image is surreally sharp. See Wednesday’s blog post. Initial focusing acquisition seems to be instantaneous.

3- AF performance with both teleconverters is beyond astounding.

4- There is never a need to micro-adjust. AF covers virtually the entire frame and there is no drop-off even when you pick an AF point on the edge of the frame … And that is true with either TC in place!

5- The viewfinder is blindingly bright.

6- The A9 is super fast, about 15 fps with tracking AF (AF-C) with compressed RAWs, and 13 fps with uncompressed RAWs. It is difficult to take fewer than four images once you press the shutter button.

7- The zoom power ratio is great; you can zoom from 100 to 400 with about a 90 degree rotation.. There is no need to re-adjust your grip when you zoom all the way in or all the way out.

8- The controls are easier to use than with Nikon (especially when changing the Focus Area).

9- Moving the AF patterns or points around is fast and easy with the small joystick.

10- I went through a battery only once.

11- High ISO performance is outstanding. See Image #2 below.

12- OSS (Optical Steady Shot) is at least the equal of Canon’s IS and Nikon’s VR technology.

13- There is no mirror black out. When shooting flight, the first image flickers for a milli-second and the you see the bird the whole time. In just three days this has helped me to improve my panning skills by light years as I able to simply follow the bird while keeping it in the frame …

14- The dynamic range and the exposure latitude are fantastic. You can under-expose almost with impunity and then open the image up during post-processing without paying much of a price. affect.

15- Despite the 24mp file size, fine feather detail (FFD) borders on the unbelievable …

16- The minimum focusing distance is the same as the MFD of the Canon 100-400 II, .98 meters.

The Bad

1- The thumb wheel should be larger.

2- It is not possible to pre-focus manually … If you know how to do that, please leave a comment.

3- You have to snap the latch on the battery cover shut after putting in a battery. It should be spring-loaded …

4- With some static subjects AF is blind and the camera does not even attempt to focus. When that happens, I point the lens down at a rock and all is well. That likely happens when the last focusing distance is hugely different from the distance to the subject.

5- With no mirror, sensor dust can be a serious problem …

This image was also created on January 26, my first day using the SONY gear. I used the hand held Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens (at 400mm) and the beyond remarkable Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless Digital Camera. ISO 5000: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. AWB at 5:13pm in total shade. Image #2: Pacific race Brown Pelican/young bird in a squabble

ISO 5000

As noted above, the high ISO performance, the dynamic range, and the exposure latitude of the A9 are fabulous. The original for Image #2 was at least 1 1/2 stops under-exposed. NeatImage cleans up the high ISO images very nicely. The RAW file for this image was a full two stops under-exposed out of the camera.

Your Favorite

Which of todays’ featured images is your favorite? Please let us know why. Folks have been very lazy recently 🙂

Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, many in full breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull landing on head of Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull in flight, Reddish Egret sunrise silhouette, Great Blue Heron with needlefish, Yellow-crowned Night Heron with ghost crab, Roseate Spoonbill, Sanderling in breeding plumage, and white morph Reddish Egret in glorious breeding plumage.

The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 5. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for a great variety of migrant shorebirds, gulls, terns, and passerines in Spring. Many of the gulls and terns will be courting and copulating. There the migrants join hundreds of Florida resident egrets, herons, night-herons, and pelicans on the T-shaped peninsula. We should get to photograph one of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher almost guaranteed. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, and White Ibis are easy as well and many of those will be in their spectacular breeding plumages. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron is a strong possibility. We may get to see and photograph the amazing heron/egret hybrid that has been present for three years. And we should enjoy some great Brown Pelican flight photography. In addition, Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork might well be expected. And we will be on the lookout for a migrant passerine fallout in the event of a thunderstorm or two. Yikes, I almost forgot to mention that nearly all of the birds are ridiculously tame!

Yes, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: breeding plumage Dunlin, dark morph Reddish Egret displaying, Laughing Gull vertical front-end portrait, Laughing Gull with prey item, landing on head of Brown Pelican, breeding plumage Royal Tern displaying, Royal Terns — pre-copulatory stance, Laughing Gulls copulating, Laughing Gull head portrait, breeding plumage Sandwich Tern with fish, and a rare treat, a breeding plumage White-rumped Sandpiper.

Just some of the stuff you will learn …

On the IPT you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. Most importantly you will surely learn to evaluate wind and sky conditions and understand how they affect bird photography. And you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).

Again, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull in flight, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Sandwich Terns copulating, Roseate Spoonbill, Great Egret with reflection, breeding plumage Short-billed Dowitcher, American Oystercatcher, Royal Tern, white morph Reddish Egret, and Snowy Egret in marsh.

What we do

There will be seven shooting sessions in all: four 3+ hours morning session and three 2 1/2 hour afternoon sessions. There will be a Photoshop/image review session during or after lunch (lunch is included) on each of the three full days. That will be followed by Instructor Nap Time.

The best airport is Tampa (TPA). Once you register, you will receive an e-mail with the hotel/lodging information.

You got it, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Roseate Spoonbill, immature Brown Pelican in flight, the heron/egret hybrid, American Oystercatcher feeding, immature Royal Tern on railing, Great Egret morning silhouette, Black Skimmer in surf, and underside head portrait of Great Blue Heron.

Signing Up

A $500 deposit is due when you sign up and is payable by credit card. Balances must be paid by check after you register. Your deposit is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight folks so please check your plans carefully before committing. You can register by calling Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand or by sending a check as follows: make the check out to: BIRDS AS ART and send it via US mail here: BIRDS AS ART, PO BOX 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions, clothing, and gear advice. Please remember that the meet and greet will take place on the evening of WED 17 APRIL. Please shoot me an e-mail if you plan to register or if you have any questions.

Early and Late

Getting up early and staying out late is pretty much a staple on all BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours; on this particular trip we will get lots of sleep as the days are short. Being in the field well before the sun comes up and staying out until sunset will often present unique photographic opportunities, opportunities that will be missed by those who need their beauty rest. I really love it when I am leaving the beach on a sunny morning after a great session just as a carful or two of well-rested photographers arrive.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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

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Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

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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 :).

Stuff

We got kicked off the cliffs at 7:30am just when things were getting good when a team from the city came to spray the cliffs with soap to reduce the smell of the pelican roosting cliff … I mentioned to the biologist that since the pelicans leave the cliffs between 10 and 11 am every day in winter that they might schedule the spraying for after 11am. She said, “My boss makes the schedule.” I believe that all of the above is per the order of the San Diego City Council to placate the residents of La Jolla who do not like the alleged smell. To me, the cliffs smelled exactly the same before and after the spraying 🙂 I will say, however, that the sea lion spot stinks really badly.

Anyhoo, we headed down the hill, worked the Brandt’s Cormorants for a while, and then headed down the coast to the low cliffs where we again found the tame Black Oystercatcher and a nice variety of gulls including Heerman’s and California. Then I kissed everyone goodbye 🙂 Ken Cook is joining me early this morning, Friday, January 25, to try for the dancing grebes …

The Higher Answer

In the Two What’s blog post here, the Pacific race Brown Pelican — dorsal view in pre-dawn light image was created with AUTO ISO at 10,000. Please note that I neglected to mention that I was in Shutter Priority mode (S with Nikon, Tv in Canon); the caption has been corrected. Blog regular Guido Bee nailed the ISO question when he wrote: A guess on the ISO, given pre-dawn; I’d go with around 10K, maybe a bit more. Just a guess. Nice shot, regardless. Well done Guido. Guy, right?

IPT Updates

I have room for two folks on the spoonbill boat and still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. No reasonable offers will be refused.

• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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 here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

This image was created on the fourth morning of the San Diego IPT, January 24, 2019. I used the hand Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens (at 180mm) and my souped up Nikon D850. ISO 7200. Matrix metering +1 2/3 stops as framed: 1/2000 sec. at f/5.3 in Shutter Priority mode (S with Nikon, Tv in Canon). NATURAL AUTO WB at 7.19am in pre-dawn light (it takes a while for the sun to get over the big hill in La Jolla). Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +5. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Center Group (grp) AF point/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The array was centered to the left of the pelican’s neck; the rightmost point of the array was on the center of the pelican’s bill. Not ideal, but with Group the eye is razor sharp. Pacific race Brown Pelican — incoming in pre-dawn light/strong

High

I find that working in TV mode with Auto ISO and the correct exposure compensation (EC) in pre-dawn and dusk light saves a ton of time as compared to working in Manual mode. It allows you to go from creating pleasing blurs at shutter speeds in the 1/4 to 1/60 second range to sharp with shutter speeds in the 1/500 at a minimum to the 1/2000 second range by turning a single dial. I wind up teaching this technique on virtually all IPTs. Whether you are in Manual Mode os an automatic mode like S, you always need to set the correct EC … Shutter Priority mode simply allows you to work much faster. When the sun comes over the hill I turn off AUTO ISO, set the ISO to 400, and get to work with the sweet light.

On Getting Over a Fear of High ISOs …

More and more with both my D850s and my D5 I have been using and loving the higher ISO, those typically ranging from ISO 3200 to as high as ISO 10,000 and even higher on occasion. What has brought about this change? #1 would simply be trying the higher ISO. #2 is the amazing NeatImage (NI) noise reduction software. For both the ISO 7000 image in today’s blog post and the ISO 10,000 image mentioned above, I ran quick and dirty noise reduction on a Layer with varying Y values. With today’s image, I added a Regular Layer Mask and painted away the NR on the bird’s face only at 50%. To learn the quick and dirty noise NI reduction techniques see Digital Basics II here. To learn the much more sophisticated NI NR techniques that allow you to apply more NR to the backgrounds and less NR to the subject, see the two Professional Post Processing Guides here.

Important note: the original Professional Photographers’ Guide to Post Processing was based on NeatImage v7.6. Late in 2016, NeatImage released a new version, v8.2, that is a bit more complicated than v7.6. I continue to use v7.6 which is simpler and easier to use. Arash switched to the newer version, v8.2, and we worked together to create a second guide based on v8.2. As far as the quality of the results, v7.6 and v8.2 are indistinguishable.

New purchasers need to decide if they want to purchase the Pro Version of NeatImage v7.6 or the Pro Version of NeatImage v8.2. Once you have decided, click here to purchase the The Professional Post Processing Guide Based on NeatImage v7.6. Or click here to purchase the The Professional Post Processing Guide Based on NeatImage v8.2

This image was created on the third morning of the San Diego IPT, January 23, 2019. I used the hand Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens (at 180mm) and my souped up Nikon D850. ISO 400. Matrix metering at about zero as framed: 1/4000 sec. at f/7.1 in Manual Mode. NATURAL AUTO WB at 9:40am on a dead-clear day. Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +5. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Center Group (grp) AF point/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The rightmost and bottom AF points just caught the base of the near wing yet the image is sharp on the eye. Western Gull (baited) starting to dive

The Low ISO

Once the sun is out at full strength, there is generally only one ISO for me: ISO 400. Even when using the 500 PF with the 1.4X teleconverter I have more than enough light to work at f/9 with fast enough shutter speeds to create sharp images. It is only very, very, very rarely that I will switch to ISO 200 or 100 or lower when the sun is out. I see no difference in the noise at ISO 400, ISO 200, and ISO 100 …

A Really Bright Exposure

Regular readers know that my suggested starting point for bright WHITE/ISO 400 images made in full sun is 1/2500 second at f/8 (which is the same as 1/3200 second at f/7.1 or 1/4000 second at f//6.3). The exposure for today’s Western Gull image was 1/4000 sec. at f/7.1, one-third stop (one click) darker than the suggest book value. Why? With the super-bright California light I was getting significant blinkies on the bird’s breast at 1/3200 second at f/7.1.

Your Favorite

Which of todays’ featured images is your favorite? Please let us know why. Folks have been very lazy recently 🙂

Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, many in full breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull landing on head of Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull in flight, Reddish Egret sunrise silhouette, Great Blue Heron with needlefish, Yellow-crowned Night Heron with ghost crab, Roseate Spoonbill, Sanderling in breeding plumage, and white morph Reddish Egret in glorious breeding plumage.

The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 5. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for a great variety of migrant shorebirds, gulls, terns, and passerines in Spring. Many of the gulls and terns will be courting and copulating. There the migrants join hundreds of Florida resident egrets, herons, night-herons, and pelicans on the T-shaped peninsula. We should get to photograph one of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher almost guaranteed. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, and White Ibis are easy as well and many of those will be in their spectacular breeding plumages. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron is a strong possibility. We may get to see and photograph the amazing heron/egret hybrid that has been present for three years. And we should enjoy some great Brown Pelican flight photography. In addition, Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork might well be expected. And we will be on the lookout for a migrant passerine fallout in the event of a thunderstorm or two. Yikes, I almost forgot to mention that nearly all of the birds are ridiculously tame!

Yes, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: breeding plumage Dunlin, dark morph Reddish Egret displaying, Laughing Gull vertical front-end portrait, Laughing Gull with prey item, landing on head of Brown Pelican, breeding plumage Royal Tern displaying, Royal Terns — pre-copulatory stance, Laughing Gulls copulating, Laughing Gull head portrait, breeding plumage Sandwich Tern with fish, and a rare treat, a breeding plumage White-rumped Sandpiper.

Just some of the stuff you will learn …

On the IPT you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. Most importantly you will surely learn to evaluate wind and sky conditions and understand how they affect bird photography. And you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).

Again, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull in flight, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Sandwich Terns copulating, Roseate Spoonbill, Great Egret with reflection, breeding plumage Short-billed Dowitcher, American Oystercatcher, Royal Tern, white morph Reddish Egret, and Snowy Egret in marsh.

What we do

There will be seven shooting sessions in all: four 3+ hours morning session and three 2 1/2 hour afternoon sessions. There will be a Photoshop/image review session during or after lunch (lunch is included) on each of the three full days. That will be followed by Instructor Nap Time.

The best airport is Tampa (TPA). Once you register, you will receive an e-mail with the hotel/lodging information.

You got it, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Roseate Spoonbill, immature Brown Pelican in flight, the heron/egret hybrid, American Oystercatcher feeding, immature Royal Tern on railing, Great Egret morning silhouette, Black Skimmer in surf, and underside head portrait of Great Blue Heron.

Signing Up

A $500 deposit is due when you sign up and is payable by credit card. Balances must be paid by check after you register. Your deposit is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight folks so please check your plans carefully before committing. You can register by calling Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand or by sending a check as follows: make the check out to: BIRDS AS ART and send it via US mail here: BIRDS AS ART, PO BOX 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions, clothing, and gear advice. Please remember that the meet and greet will take place on the evening of WED 17 APRIL. Please shoot me an e-mail if you plan to register or if you have any questions.

Early and Late

Getting up early and staying out late is pretty much a staple on all BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours; on this particular trip we will get lots of sleep as the days are short. Being in the field well before the sun comes up and staying out until sunset will often present unique photographic opportunities, opportunities that will be missed by those who need their beauty rest. I really love it when I am leaving the beach on a sunny morning after a great session just as a carful or two of well-rested photographers arrive.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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 :).

What’s Up?

Monday dawned cold and blustery with strong northwest winds. The traditional pelican spot was a guaranteed waste of time so we made a wiggle and with one large cloud to the east made hay for an hour and a half while the sun did not shine. Once the skies cleared we had brutal wind against sun so headed over to the sea lions and did quite well. Patrick found us a tame Black Oystercatcher that pose and pose for us but with the west wind it took some persistence to create some good images. When it comes to shorebirds I can be very persistent.

On Monday afternoon we headed to my #2 favorite beach and did some nice gulls in flight and on wet sand. I was amazed to see a flock of about 150 completely tame Red Knots feeding in the shallow surf. Several of us managed to successfully isolate single birds. I was bummed that I left my 80-400 in the car as there were some nice flock shots to be had. We finished off with some Marbled Godwit silhouettes.

Tuesday morning it was back to business as usual on the pelican cliffs with lots of gorgeous tame birds. With an early northeast wind we had some good flight photography. That afternoon we visited my #1 favorite beach, came up empty on Marbled Godwit, but worked a cooperative Whimbrel. We also enjoyed several species of gulls including Heerman’s set against gorgeous buff reflections and finished off with gull silhouettes and wide angle i-phone sunset photos.

I was glad to learn that most of John Wright’s Canon stuff sold quickly; the sale of one TC is pending.

Cafe Vahik

Thanks to Dr. Cliff Oliver for turning us on to Cafe Vahik (6780 La Jolla Boulevard, La Jolla, CA). The place is open from 6:00 am to 4:30 pm everyday. The food is great and we have enough room to do our daily in-classroom (aka in-cafe) learning sessions. I had the Playa Del Norte salad the first day — Fresh Spring Mix, Blue Cheese, Cranberry, Caramelized Pecans and Pomegranate Balsamic Vinaigrette — and totally fell in love. I have had it every day since adding various proteins; today was yellowtail tuna! Learn more about this great spot on their website here. The service is fast and the hospitality is wonderful. And it is so, so nice to be able to grab and early lunch rather than having to wait until 11:30 for some taco joint to open …

IPT Updates

I have room for two folks on the spoonbill boat and still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. No reasonable offers will be refused.

• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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 here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

This image was created on the first morning of the San Diego IPT on January 20, 2019. I used the hand Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens (at 290mm) and my souped up Nikon D850. AUTO ISO at ? Matrix metering +1 2/3 stops off the ocean: 1/1000 sec. at f/6.3 in Shutter Priority mode (S with Nikon, Tv in Canon). NATURAL AUTO WB at 6:54am in pre-dawn light. Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +5. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Center Group (grp) AF point/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The array was centered on the pelican’s neck. Pacific race Brown Pelican — dorsal view in pre-dawn light/strong>

What’s the ISO?

Click on the image to see a larger version and then leave a comment letting us know what you think the capture ISO was for today’s featured image.

What’s a 600mm f/4 Lens?

In the Falklands I used my Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens once or perhaps twice. I have not even thought of using my 600 in San Diego. The combination of the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens (often with the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III to get to 700mm) and the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens has been amazingly effective and versatile on both trips. Together — with the TC-E14, they cover most focal lengths from 80 to 700mm. The light weight and relatively small size of these two lenses makes the eminently hand holdable and hand holding makes it far easier to get into position when you wish to work from new and unusual perspectives, something that is close to impossible to do with any tripod-mounted lens. Participant Anita North has been killing the incoming Brandt’s Cormorants with her D850 and the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR lens. I plan to try my lightweight Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/4G ED VR in that situation (albeit at one stop higher ISO).

An as noted yesterday, weekend quasi-co-leader Patrick Sparkman has done all of his photography with the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens and the Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless Digital Camera, at times adding the Sony FE 1.4x teleconverter. To say that he has been amazed is a big understatement …

So, are 600mm f/4 lenses now defunct when it comes to bird photography? Absolutely not. I will be using my 600mm f/4VR lens most often with the TC-E14 when I am out of the boat on the Spoonbill IPT (see below for details on that). And there are dozens of additional times that I will be using and depending on that very beloved 600mm focal length. It’s just that as 73 gets closer and closer every day the 600 gets heavier and heavier … That said, those 600mm f/4 lenses will be making great images of birds and wildlife for longer than I will be around.

From left to to right clockwise back to the center: Brown Pelican, Roseate Spoonbill downstroke, Brown Pelican sunrise silhouette, Double-crested Cormorant pre-dawn blur, Roseate Spoonbill flapping after bath, Brown Pelican taking flight, Roseate Spoonbill taking flight, Reddish Egret white morph breeding plumage in flight, and Reddish Egret dark morph breeding plumage in flight. All images on this card were created by me on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks on the February 2018 trip. You can click on each card to enjoy a larger version.

We will be leaving the dock very early for the morning sessions (weather permitting) in hopes of photographing the pre-dawn American Crow and White Ibis blast-offs. All sessions are planned for the Alafia Banks Roseate Spoonbill Rookery. We might consider other options in the unlikely event of horrific weather. There will be lots of opportunities for flight photography of several species including and especially Roseate Spoonbill. Also likely for flight photography are nesting Brown Pelican, both morphs of Reddish Egret, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, White and Glossy Ibises, and Double Crested Cormorant. We should have some good chances with birds carrying nesting material. This IPT includes all boat and guide fees, in the field instruction, chest waders (feel free to bring your own of course to assure a perfect fit), and three working lunches on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. For the most part we will be standing in mid-calf to knee high water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with mobility or balance problems. Note however that some folks opt to stay on the boat to photograph. They usually have lots of chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

All images on this card were created by me on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks

The Timing and Tides are Perfect!

I recently saw a similar trip advertised two months too late for breeding plumage spoonbills … The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT represents an incredible opportunity to photograph Florida’s most wanted species. I do hope that you can join us. There will be a meet and greet at 7:00pm sharp on the evening of Friday February 15, 2019. All of the images on the card were made on the Hooptie Duex during the last two weeks of February, prime time for the spoonies in mega-breeding plumage. Many folks have written expressing interest so please do not tarry.

Please e-mail to hold your spot. Then you may either secure your spot by calling Jim or Jennifer at the office at 863-692-0906 and leaving the $500 deposit on credit card or sending your check for payment in full to us as follows with the check made out to:

BIRDS AS ART and sent here via US mail:

BIRDS AS ART
PO BOX 7245
Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855

If you call to leave your deposit you will be asked to mail your check for the balance asap.

Everybody Loves Spoonbills!

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in mid-February is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage…. with long telephoto lenses. A 500 or 600 with a 1.4X TC is perfect for this trip.

Mornings to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography often with the birds likely carrying nesting material), Double-crested Cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White) in breeding plumage. Some of the White Ibises may be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we may get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. Afternoon trips will most likely be back to Alafia Banks for the spoonbills with an option to visit a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an extensive image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes lunches on the full days with small group image sharing and review and some over-the-shoulder Photoshop instruction.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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 :).

What’s Up

I am on my way to the airport for my nonstop Southwest flight to San Diego for the IPT and more. I hope that I did not forget anything important 🙂

Contest News

As below, the deadline for contest entries has been extended until February 7, 2019.

The 2018 B&H/BAA Bird Photography Holiday Contest!

Thanks to the generosity of the great folks at B&H, I am proud to announce the first-ever B&H/BAA Bird Photography Holiday Contest. The rules are simple:

1-Anyone can enter one or two of their favorite avian images that were created in 2018. As below, each image must be sent in a separate e-mail.
2-Image clean-up and repair is permitted.
3-Send you JPEGs in two separate e-mails only by clicking on this link: Contest Entry e-mail.
4-Please size your properly sharpened JPEGs as follows: 1200 high or wide less than 600 kb.
5-If you do not follow the instructions above to the letter your images will not be judged and you will not receive any notification.
6-There is one judge and you can guess who it is.
7-Here are the five prizes:

1st place: a $100 B&H gift certificate
2nd through 4th place: a $50 B&H gift certificate

All prizes will be awarded.

8- Entries my be submitted from now until February 7, 2019. Please remember to do your holiday shopping at B&H using a BAA affiliate link or by clicking here or on any B&H affiliate banner here on the blog.

Amazon

If like me you purchase lots of household stuff from Amazon every month, please consider getting in the habit of clicking on the logo link above the Help Support the Blog feature below or the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post. Doing so is a great way to help support my efforts here on the blog. This post took three hours to prepare. Thanks with love, artie

ps: There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on one of our Amazon links and log into your Prime account if it does not pop up immediately.

IPT Updates

I still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip and two more for the Spoonbill IPT. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. For the Galapagos trip, no reasonable offer will be turned down.

• 2019 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) SUN JAN 20, 2019 thru and including the morning session on THURS JAN 24: 4 1/2 days: $2099. (Limit: 10/Openings: 4) Introductory Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins: SAT DEC 19, 2019.
• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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 most everything dSLR are dropping steadily. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

My Listing

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens (with a great and necessary extra)

Price Reduced $100 on January 18, 2019.

Having quickly and completely fallen in love with my much more expensive Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens, I am offering my Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 lens in pretty close to near-mint condition for only $1199.00 (was $1299.00). The sale includes the original product box and everything that came in it, the crappy original tripod collar, the RRS Collar Foot Package for Nikon AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens (a $250 plus the shipping) value, and insured ground shipping via UPS.

Please contact me via e-mail or on my cell at 863-221-2372 (before next Wednesday, 19 DEC).

This is the lens that hooked me on Nikon and its great AF system. It is sharp and versatile and though AF is a bit sluggish away from the center AF point with a teleconverter, I made some great images with the TC-E14. As the lens sells new right now for $1,396.95 you can save you a cool $346.95 by grabbing my almost like-new lens today. artie

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

This image was created on January 11, 2019 at Volunteer Point, the Falklands. I used the Induro GIT 204/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens and my souped up Nikon D850. ISO 400. Matrix metering plus about 1/3rd stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/6.3 NATURAL AUTO WB at 5:13am with some light clouds on the horizon. Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +3. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. One up and one to the right of the center Group (grp) AF point/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The array was on the penguin’s upper body. The trick here to to focus in such a manner that you have included the complete reflection. Gentoo Penguin heading into the surf at dawn

On Getting Up Early

I am glad that I am a morning person. I often wake at 4:00am or so and usually put in almost a full day of work while most folks are just getting to work. When I am photographing, nothing changes. On the recently concluded Falklands land-based IPT we all woke very early almost every day. There are several advantages of getting into the field early:

• 1-You can often find situations where you can put yourself in position to take advantage of nice sky color.
• 2-Birds and wildlife are often more active at dawn than at any other time of day.
• Crowds of bird photographers are usually not a problem early in the day. This is never a problem in the Falklands unless you land by zodiac from a big cruise ship 🙂

On some of the islands we got out really early, came back to be served breakfast at a “normal” hour, and, if it was not full sun, headed back out for a few more hours. At some point we had time for long naps, image review sessions, Photoshop sessions, and even a formal instructional program or two. The it was back out between 3:30 and 5pm depending on the sky conditions. Sometimes we made it back in time for dinner, and sometimes we ate cold food. On our two visits to Saunders Island we self-catered and were thus free to set our own schedules and eat whenever we wanted to.

All in all the days were long and we would put in eight to ten hours of more in the field and still have lots of time for napping and the rest. Of our close to forty photo sessions I opted to stay in on only twice. We walked more at Volunteer Point than at any other location as it was more than a mile to get to the King Penguin colony. I almost always took the longer beach route because I love beaches so much. On the morning of January 11th, getting out early and heading down to the beach paid off handsomely.

I am look forward to getting out early and staying out late on the San Diego IPT.

Are you an early riser or do you like to sleep late?

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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 :).

What’s Up

I spent most of Sunday cooped up in my hotel room at the Santiago airport catching up in the Avian forum at BPN. The flight was scheduled to leave until 11:30pm but was delayed 30 minutes. I did not sleep much or comfortably on that red-eye flight … I had several hours to make my connection to Orlando and Jim picked me up at about 10:15am. After a stop in Publix, I was back to my home in ILE by 12:15. It felt good to be home. Did I mention that I fly to San Diego for the IPT this Friday? Yikes!

If …

If you missed Sunday’s My two very favorite images from the Falkland Land-based IPT: Scrambled Egg for Dinner and Yawning Albatross blog post here, please visit and let me know which of the two images is your favorite.

Very Interesting …

If you would like to read an interesting discussion that I had with my friend, BPN Avian moderator Isaac Grant, about the Nikon 80-400 VR check out panes 11, 15, and 18 in the BPN Avian post here.

IPT Updates

If you are interested in learning about the last-second San Diego late registration discount, please get in touch immediately via e-mail. I still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. No reasonable offer will be turned down.

• 2019 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) SUN JAN 20, 2019 thru and including the morning session on THURS JAN 24: 4 1/2 days: $2099. (Limit: 10/Openings: 4) Introductory Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins: SAT DEC 19, 2019.
• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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 here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

This image was created on December 29, 2018 on Bleaker Island, The Falklands. I used the hand Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens and my souped up Nikon D850. ISO 1000. Matrix metering plus about 1 1/3rd stops off the sky: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 NATURAL AUTO WB at 4:44pm on a fortunately cloudy afternoon. Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +3. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Center Group (grp) AF point/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The array was centered just to our left of the bird’s head; that is about as good as I can do. The image is perfectly sharp on the eye. Image #1: Imperial (King or Blue-eyed) Shag (or Cormorant) braking to land

Are You Loving Sun for Flight Photography?

There a 8,000 pairs of this species nesting in a single large colony just four minutes by truck from the lodge on Bleaker Island. Afternoons with the wind out of the west always provide non-stop flight photography action — shoot till your neck muscles ache and you can no longer raise your lens. After the introductory briefing, everyone in the group was really anticipating some excellent flight photography. On our first afternoon, the skies were pretty much clear and the wind was only about 20 degrees from lining up precisely with the sun. On the surface, conditions seemed ideal. But they were not. With a bird flying directly at us and the sun from over our right shoulders, the right side of the bird’s face was always in shadow. Evening out the exposure in these situations is always a challenge and creating a satisfactory master file is often impossible. Working with the 500 PF and the D5 I had a zillion super-sharp images but kept only a very few. Most or all of those will never be processed.

On our second afternoon, we enjoyed cloudy-bright conditions. We needed higher ISOs than we did the previous day, but the light was simply not strong enough to cause any shadows on the bird’s faces. I am not sure why I went to the D850 that afternoon but I was surely happy with the results. I kept dozens and dozens of very sharp on the eyes images. What a pleasure it is to hit Command Z in Photo Mechanic to enlarge each flight image and see that crisp purple eye ring.

The Lesson

Cloudy-bright conditions are often far better for flight photography than full sun …

This image was created also on December 29, 2018 on Bleaker Island, The Falklands and again I used the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens and my souped up Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering plus about 1 stop off the sky: 1/2500 sec. at f/6.3 NATURAL AUTO WB at 4:10pm on a fortunately cloudy afternoon. Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: +3. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. One up from center Group (grp)/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The array was centered on the base of the bid’s neck, again about as good as I can do. The image was perfectly sharp on the eye. Image #2: Imperial (King or Blue-eyed) Shag (or Cormorant) incoming display pose

The Incoming Display Pose

I have seen the incoming display pose in more than a few bird families including the cormorants (as seen in Image #2), terns, skimmers, and gannets. I am 100% positive that when the birds land with their wings swept back (and often with their tails pulled forward) that they are displaying to their mates. That even though some gannet researchers told me that I was wrong …

The Bird With at Least Six Names

The bird pictured in both of today’s featured images may go by any of the following common names: Imperial Cormorant, Imperial Shag, King Cormorant, King Shag, Blue-eyed Cormorant, or Blue-eyed Shag (all possibly Phalacrocorax atriceps). While you are at it you can throw in Antarctic Shag (Leucocarbo bransfieldensis) and South Georgia Shag (Leucocarbo georgianus). I think that the correct name for the species you are looking at is often determined by which side of the bed a given research or ornithologist got out of the bed on or what they had for breakfast. The species (???) mentioned here are often lumped and or split. They all pretty much look the same.

The 500 PF

The hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens is by far the best lens for photographing birds in flight that I have ever used. As noted previously I used it a ton in the Falklands, sometimes with the D5 for flight, usually with the D850, and often with the TC-E14, the latter two for general bird and nature photography. Though I had the TC-E17 with me, I did not use it once on the trip.

Was every one of the thousands of cormorant flight images that I created razor sharp on the eye? No, of course not. Most of the time unsharpness is caused by either of these:

• 1-Operator error. Either I failed to get AF tracking properly because of poor hand eye coordination and/or declining fine motor skills or I simply did not have the Group array on the bird’s face, neck, or upper breast. Note: Fine motor skill (or dexterity) is the coordination of small muscles, in movements — usually involving the synchronization of hands and fingers with the eyes.
• 2-The bird was much too large in the frame. In these cases, the Nikon AF system often picks up a part of the bird that is not on the same plane as the face and the eye.

Getting a 500 PF. Or not.

Right now it is close to impossible to get your hands on a 500 PF as the demand is huge and the supply is miniscule. BAA blog subscriber Gloria Matyszyk was able to secure one as a present for her husband from Steve Elkins at Bedford Camera. She originally made contact with him through the blog as detailed in most blog posts in the Money Saving Reminder feature (see above).

She wrote via e-mail:

I did receive the Nikon 500mm PF from Bedford just after Christmas for my hubby Dick Caldwell. We both loved it so much that we ordered another one for me! And yes, once again I entered the BIRDSASART coupon code on my online order. Thanks for putting me in touch with Bedford Camera. And welcome home in a few days! Gloria

Your chances of getting a 500 PF are greatly increased if you are an NPS member; if you are, please e-mail me for more info on getting yourself a 500 PF. If not, please order yours asap either through Bedford or by using my B&H affiliate link:

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens

From left to to right clockwise back to the center: Brown Pelican, Roseate Spoonbill downstroke, Brown Pelican sunrise silhouette, Double-crested Cormorant pre-dawn blur, Roseate Spoonbill flapping after bath, Brown Pelican taking flight, Roseate Spoonbill taking flight, Reddish Egret white morph breeding plumage in flight, and Reddish Egret dark morph breeding plumage in flight. All images on this card were created by me on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks on the February 2018 trip. You can click on each card to enjoy a larger version.

We will be leaving the dock very early for the morning sessions (weather permitting) in hopes of photographing the pre-dawn American Crow and White Ibis blast-offs. All sessions are planned for the Alafia Banks Roseate Spoonbill Rookery. We might consider other options in the unlikely event of horrific weather. There will be lots of opportunities for flight photography of several species including and especially Roseate Spoonbill. Also likely for flight photography are nesting Brown Pelican, both morphs of Reddish Egret, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, White and Glossy Ibises, and Double Crested Cormorant. We should have some good chances with birds carrying nesting material. This IPT includes all boat and guide fees, in the field instruction, chest waders (feel free to bring your own of course to assure a perfect fit), and three working lunches on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. For the most part we will be standing in mid-calf to knee high water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with mobility or balance problems. Note however that some folks opt to stay on the boat to photograph. They usually have lots of chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

All images on this card were created by me on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks

The Timing and Tides are Perfect!

I recently saw a similar trip advertised two months too late for breeding plumage spoonbills … The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT represents an incredible opportunity to photograph Florida’s most wanted species. I do hope that you can join us. There will be a meet and greet at 7:00pm sharp on the evening of Friday February 15, 2019. All of the images on the card were made on the Hooptie Duex during the last two weeks of February, prime time for the spoonies in mega-breeding plumage. Many folks have written expressing interest so please do not tarry.

Please e-mail to hold your spot. Then you may either secure your spot by calling Jim or Jennifer at the office at 863-692-0906 and leaving the $500 deposit on credit card or sending your check for payment in full to us as follows with the check made out to:

BIRDS AS ART and sent here via US mail:

BIRDS AS ART
PO BOX 7245
Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855

If you call to leave your deposit you will be asked to mail your check for the balance no later than December 15, 2018.

Everybody Loves Spoonbills!

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in mid-February is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage…. with long telephoto lenses. A 500 or 600 with a 1.4X TC is perfect for this trip.

Mornings to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography often with the birds likely carrying nesting material), Double-crested Cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White) in breeding plumage. Some of the White Ibises may be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we may get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. Afternoon trips will most likely be back to Alafia Banks for the spoonbills with an option to visit a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an extensive image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes lunches on the full days with small group image sharing and review and some over-the-shoulder Photoshop instruction.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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 :).

Stuff

I will be away for almost a month while leading the 2018/2019 Falklands land-based IPT. I should be back in the office (and back in the pool) on the afternoon of Monday, January 14, 2019. Happy new year! I should have good internet access until Friday December 21 and then again on the weekend of January 12/13. I will surely not be online from December 23-27 and then again from January 4-7. I may or may not have limited internet access at other times.

Jim and Jen will be in the office weekdays to help you with your online orders and with IPT registrations.

I was thrilled recently to learn that first-timer Shonagh Adelman of Chattanooga, TN signed up for the 2019 Puffins and Gannets and Red Kites IPT. As he is the first registrant, we need three more for the trip to go. I am counting on it and hope for a sellout with ten plus the two leaders; there are lots of puffins and gannets. 🙂

I still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. No reasonable offer will be turned down.

• 2019 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) SUN JAN 20, 2019 thru and including the morning session on THURS JAN 24: 4 1/2 days: $2099. (Limit: 10/Openings: 4) Introductory Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins: THURS, 6 DEC.
• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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 here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

This image was created on my last morning at Snow Hill Island, Antarctica, October 27, 2018, on the Emperor Penguin expedition. I used the Induro GIT 204/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III, and my souped up Nikon D850. ISO 500. Matrix metering at about +1 1/3 stops: 1/1250 sec. at f/13. NATURAL AUTO WB at 10:55 am on a sunny morning with just a wisp of clouds in front of the sun. It was bright down there! Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: -2. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Center AF point/Single AF Area Mode/AI Servo AF was locked by holding down the AF-On button after focusing on the eye of the closest chick. Emperor Penguin adult grooming chick

The Situation

I moved right as much as I could to get close to sun angle. But as the rope protecting the colony angled away from us behind and to our right it was not possible to get right on sun angle. What do you think about the shadows of the two chicks?

Focus Lock with Nikon

I have the AF-On button set to AE/AF lock on my D5. As the D850 does not offer that option, I have the AF-On button set to AF lock on both my D850 bodies. I much prefer the former. Above I wrote, Center AF point/Single AF Area Mode/AI Servo AF was locked by holding down the AF-On button after focusing on the eye of the closest chick. To make that point clear, I first focused on the eye of the lower chick and then pressed and held the AF-On button down to lock the focus. In effect, I was using rear button focus but for the fact that I needed to hold the AF-On button down. When I wanted to make an image, I simply pressed the shutter button. Everything was fine as long as the lower chick did not change its position.

A Common Error

Whether you are using focus lock, or more commonly rear button focus, it is absolutely imperative that the camera not move after the focus is set. If you are hand holding without the lens completely braced, the movement of your body, even the movement caused when you breathe, is more than enough to throw off accurate focus. Best is to be on a tripod working with static subjects (as I was doing when I created today’s featured image). Being on a monopod does not really offer much help as your body moving even ever-so-slightly will move the monopod and the lens and throw off the focus. If you are not on a tripod and are using rear button focus or focus lock, the next best option is to be seated and using the knee-pod technique with your right 100% braced against movement. If you are free standing it is much better to select an AF point that will give you a sharp photo and keep AF active at the moment of exposure. If you opt not to do that as when you wish to create an image where the subject is way off center, you had better do your best to remain stock still. As insurance, re-focus after each frame while trying to remain still.

The Lesson

It is best to avoid using rear button focus or focus lock when hand holding. Working off a solid tripod is best. If you must focus and recompose while hand-holding, do your best to hold the lens completely still and in place to avoid throwing off accurate focus. And do take multiple images re-focusing and re-composing each time.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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 :).

Stuff

I will be away for almost a month while leading the 2018/2019 Falklands land-based IPT. I should be back in the office (and back in the pool) on the afternoon of Monday, January 14, 2019. Happy new year! I should have good internet access until Friday December 21 and then again on the weekend of January 12/13. I will surely not be online from December 23-27 and then again from January 4-7. I may or may not have limited internet access at other times.

Jim and Jen will be in the office weekdays to help you with your online orders and with IPT registrations.

I was thrilled recently to learn that first-timer Shonagh Adelman of Chattanooga, TN signed up for the 2019 Puffins and Gannets and Red Kites IPT. As he is the first registrant, we need three more for the trip to go. I am counting on it and hope for a sellout with ten plus the two leaders; there are lots of puffins and gannets. 🙂

I still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. No reasonable offer will be turned down.

BIRDS AS ART B&H Essential Gear Bags

BIRDS AS ART B&H Essential Gear Bags

Click here or on the logo-link above to check out some great B&H year-end deals in the category that best suits you and your photography.

The iPhone Photography e-Guide If you missed the long-awaited announcement yesterday, click here to learn about Cliff Oliver’s great new iPhone e-Guide. To order your copy of the The iPhone Photography e-Guide, please click here. The PDF is sent link by e-mail for downloading: the file is relatively huge at 216 MB.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

BPN Mods

Among the BirdPhotographers.Net Avian moderators are some of the very best bird photographers in the world. In today’s blog post, enjoy some of their best work. And let us know which of the three featured images would win your bird photography contest. In addition, be sure to check out the fine work of some of our other Avian mods including David Salem and Randy Stout.

If you click on the links to each of today’s featured images and read the comments you will realize two things:

1- More than anything, BPN is a community of friends with similar interests.

2- BPN is a place to get honest critiques done gently.

If you surf around a bit you might enjoy some of the other Forums and the same sense of community that is present in each of them. My BPN streak is still alive: I have commented on every image posted in the Avian Forum since August 8, 2018. That despite being away for three weeks on the Emperor Penguin expedition. It did take me a while to catch up on those images!

This image was created by BPN Avian moderator Stu Bowie. He used the hand held Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the EOS 1D Mark IV (now replaced by the rugged, blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II.) ISO 800. 1/2500 sec. at f/6.3. Incoming Grey Heron/Photo courtesy of and copyright 2018: Stu Bowie This is my reposed version of the image that Stu posted on BPN — link below Click on the image to see a larger version.

Stu Bowie/Grey Heron

You can check out Stu’s original post (and image) in the BPN thread here. Which version do you like best? Stu lives in Centurion, South Africa.

This image was created by BPN Avian moderator Isaac Grant. He used a tripod-mounted Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the rugged, blazingly fast Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. See the BPN post here. for additional details and the comments of others. First-winter Dunlin Photo courtesy of and copyright 2018: Isaac Grant Click on the image to see the larger version.

Isaac Grant/First-winter Dunlin

Here is what I had to say about this wonderful image:

Killer, killer bird and image; everything is perfect. Ditto all other positive comments here. Can you age it?

What can I say? I love shorebirds. I love soft light. I love low perspectives. I love perfect poses, head angles, and image designs.

You can see what others had to say here.

This image was created by BPN Avian super-moderator Dan Cadieux. He used the hand held Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the often maligned Canon EOS 7D Mark II. See the BPN post here. for additional details and comments from the peanut gallery. Female Pine Grosbeak Photo courtesy of and copyright 2018: Daniel Cadieux Click on the image to see the larger version.

Dan Cadieux/female Pine Grosbeak eating crab apples

Here is what I had to say about this wonderful image:

Though the males rock and the male that you posted was outstanding, this one is beyond the beyond amazing. Too bad that ISO 1600 and the 7D Mark II suck. Not in your hands!

I’d add that the soft light and the impeccable framing put this one way over the top for me.

You can read the rest of the accolades here.

This image was created by long-time BPN Avian moderator with the hand held (yes, hand held) Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR AF lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III, and the Nikon D850. See the BPN post here. for additional details and comments by BPN members and some of our other great Avian Mods. White-tailed Kite midair interaction Photo courtesy of and copyright 2018: Arash Hazeghi Click on the image to see the larger version.

Arash Hazeghi/White-tailed Kite midair interaction

Here is what I had to say about this wonderful image on BPN:

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Center Group (grp) AF Area Mode?

(The answer to my question was “yes, and then a crop.” That is what I figgered. 🙂

Arash swears that the Nikon D5 is better than the D850 for Af and flight photography but when he posts images like this made with the D850 I like to bust him on that. See what the rest of the gang had to say here.

You Be the Contest Judge

Which of today’s four featured images would you put in first place?

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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 :).

Stuff

I will be away for almost a month while leading the 2018/2019 Falklands land-based IPT. I should be back in the office (and back in the pool) on the afternoon of Monday, January 14, 2019. Happy new year! I should have good internet access until Friday December 21 and then again on the weekend of January 12/13. I will surely not be online from December 23-27 and then again from January 4-7. I may or may not have limited internet access at other times.

Jim and Jen will be in the office weekdays to help you with your online orders and with IPT registrations.

I was thrilled recently to learn that first-timer Shonagh Adelman of Chattanooga, TN signed up for the 2019 Puffins and Gannets and Red Kites IPT. As he is the first registrant, we need three more for the trip to go. I am counting on it and hope for a sellout with ten plus the two leaders; there are lots of puffins and gannets. 🙂

I still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. No reasonable offer will be turned down.

• 2019 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) SUN JAN 20, 2019 thru and including the morning session on THURS JAN 24: 4 1/2 days: $2099. (Limit: 10/Openings: 4) Introductory Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins: THURS, 6 DEC.
• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The iPhone Photography e-Guide If you missed the long-awaited announcement recently, click here to learn about Cliff Oliver’s great new iPhone e-Guide. To order your copy of the The iPhone Photography e-Guide, please click here. The PDF is sent link by e-mail for downloading: the file is relatively huge at 216 MB.

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 here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

This image was created on the Fort DeSoto Fall IPT. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III, and the 9fps mega mega-pixel Nikon D850. ISO 400. Matrix metering +2/3 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/11. AUOT2 WB at 10:53am on a pretty much sunny morning. One up and to the right of the center/Group (grp)Shutter Button C (AI Servo in Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The array was centered on the base of the black crest. AF Focus Peaking Fine-tune -5. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. Royal Tern crest

Nikon TC-E20

Here I am working on this blog post in the Holiday Inn Airport Hotel. And I just realized that I left the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III at home on the shelf in the garage. As this image looks more than fine in terms of sharpness and image quality and ever fine feather detail I think that I need to re-consider my position with regards to the Nikon 2X III …

You Always Have to See the Bird’s Eye

You Always Have to See the Bird’s Eye. Not! While it is a general guideline that we need to be able to have a good, clean look a bird’s eye if we wish to create a successful avian image. And that is generally even more true if the eye is fully open. But as today’s featured image shows, all rules are meant to be broken. The crest of a Royal Tern is a thing of beauty — that is what caught my eye and prompted me to push the shutter button and created this somewhat out-of-the-box rear view with neither of the bird;s eyes anywhere in sight. What do you think?

The Lesson: I

If you frame up something out of the ordinary do not be afraid to push the shutter button just because it does not fit into any conventional boxes. You just might come up with something quite different and quite extraordinary.

The Lesson: II

When the light is relatively harsh think long focal lengths along with clean, tight, and graphic. And be absolutely sure to work right on sun angle for best results.

Dust Detector Levels Adjustment

Dust Detector Levels Adjustment

With this image, stopped down one full stop to f/11, there were some fairly large visible dust spots. I figured that there might very well be lots of smaller dust spots that needed to be dealt with. To reveal all the dust spots in cases like this or when you will be making a large print, open a Levels layer and pull the Highlight slider to the left to about the center. This will move the mid-tone slider to the left. Now move the mid-tone slider back to the right without making the overall image too dark. Voila! You will easily be able to see all the dust spots. Now click on the background copy and get to work removing the dust spots. If there are not too many, you can use the Spot Healing Brush. If there are lots, try this:

1- Using the Lasso Tool (set to Add to Selection), circle each dust spot.
2-Then hit Shift Delete (Content Aware Fill) and hit Enter. No more dust spots.
3-Drag the Levels layer into the trash. You are done.

If you know a similar way to reveal dust spots, feel free to share it by leaving a comment.

From left to to right clockwise back to the center: Brown Pelican, Roseate Spoonbill downstroke, Brown Pelican sunrise silhouette, Double-crested Cormorant pre-dawn blur, Roseate Spoonbill flapping after bath, Brown Pelican taking flight, Roseate Spoonbill taking flight, Reddish Egret white morph breeding plumage in flight, and Reddish Egret dark morph breeding plumage in flight. All images on this card were created by me on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks on the February 2018 trip. You can click on each card to enjoy a larger version.

We will be leaving the dock very early for the morning sessions (weather permitting) in hopes of photographing the pre-dawn American Crow and White Ibis blast-offs. All sessions are planned for the Alafia Banks Roseate Spoonbill Rookery. We might consider other options in the unlikely event of horrific weather. There will be lots of opportunities for flight photography of several species including and especially Roseate Spoonbill. Also likely for flight photography are nesting Brown Pelican, both morphs of Reddish Egret, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, White and Glossy Ibises, and Double Crested Cormorant. We should have some good chances with birds carrying nesting material. This IPT includes all boat and guide fees, in the field instruction, chest waders (feel free to bring your own of course to assure a perfect fit), and three working lunches on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. For the most part we will be standing in mid-calf to knee high water behind our tripods. We help you get in and out of the boat with your gear. This is likely not the best trip for folks with mobility or balance problems. Note however that some folks opt to stay on the boat to photograph. They usually have lots of chances for flight photography of spoonbills and other species but are almost always pretty far away from the spoonbills that land.

All images on this card were created by me on the Hooptie Deux at Alafia Banks

The Timing and Tides are Perfect!

I recently saw a similar trip advertised two months too late for breeding plumage spoonbills … The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT represents an incredible opportunity to photograph Florida’s most wanted species. I do hope that you can join us. There will be a meet and greet at 7:00pm sharp on the evening of Friday February 15, 2019. All of the images on the card were made on the Hooptie Duex during the last two weeks of February, prime time for the spoonies in mega-breeding plumage. Many folks have written expressing interest so please do not tarry.

Please e-mail to hold your spot. Then you may either secure your spot by calling Jim or Jennifer at the office at 863-692-0906 and leaving the $500 deposit on credit card or sending your check for payment in full to us as follows with the check made out to:

BIRDS AS ART and sent here via US mail:

BIRDS AS ART
PO BOX 7245
Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855

If you call to leave your deposit you will be asked to mail your check for the balance no later than December 15, 2018.

Everybody Loves Spoonbills!

Roseate Spoonbill is one of if not the most sought after avian photographic subjects in Florida. They are generally hard to find and somewhat difficult to approach. They are relatively easy to find at Alafia Banks—heck, you can’t miss seeing them, but even there they can on some days be somewhat difficult to approach. On some days we may be able to get ridiculously close to them. The huge incentive to get out to Alafia Banks in mid-February is the chance to photograph this species at the height of its spectacular breeding plumage…. with long telephoto lenses. A 500 or 600 with a 1.4X TC is perfect for this trip.

Mornings to Alafia Banks for spoonbills and Brown Pelicans (with lots of flight photography often with the birds likely carrying nesting material), Double-crested Cormorants, ibises (both Glossy and White) in breeding plumage. Some of the White Ibises may be sporting their spectacular, distended, red, naked (un-feathered) throat pouches—typically larger in the females. In addition we may get to photograph egrets including Great and Reddish, both in full breeding plumage, shorebirds, and more. There will be lots of flight photography opportunities. Afternoon trips will most likely be back to Alafia Banks for the spoonbills with an option to visit a more sheltered inland rookery location for a variety of nesting birds. In the event of horrific weather artie will either take the group to Fort DeSoto or will conduct an extensive image review/Photoshop session. This IPT includes lunches on the full days with small group image sharing and review and some over-the-shoulder Photoshop instruction.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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 :).

Stuff

I will be away for almost a month while leading the 2018/2019 Falklands land-based IPT. I should be back in the office (and back in the pool) on the afternoon of Monday, January 14, 2019. Happy new year! I should have good internet access until Friday December 21 and then again on the weekend of January 12/13. I will surely not be online from December 23-27 and then again from January 4-7. I may or may not have limited internet access at other times.

Jim and Jen will be in the office weekdays to help you with your online orders and with IPT registrations.

I was thrilled recently to learn that first-timer Shonagh Adelman of Chattanooga, TN signed up for the 2019 Puffins and Gannets and Red Kites IPT. As he is the first registrant, we need three more for the trip to go. I am counting on it and hope for a sellout with ten plus the two leaders; there are lots of puffins and gannets. 🙂

I still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. No reasonable offer will be turned down.

• 2019 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) SUN JAN 20, 2019 thru and including the morning session on THURS JAN 24: 4 1/2 days: $2099. (Limit: 10/Openings: 4) Introductory Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins: THURS, 6 DEC.
• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

BIRDS AS ART B&H Essential Gear Bags

BIRDS AS ART B&H Essential Gear Bags

Click here or on the logo-link above to check out some great B&H year-end deals in the category that best suits you and your photography.

The iPhone Photography e-Guide If you missed the long-awaited announcement yesterday, click here to learn about Cliff Oliver’s great new iPhone e-Guide. To order your copy of the The iPhone Photography e-Guide, please click here. The PDF is sent link by e-mail for downloading: the file is relatively huge at 216 MB.

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 here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

Sunset Silhouette Shorebird Tips and Opportunities …

If you are in the habit of staying at the beach until the sun sets do consider the following:

• 1-The more gentle the surf the more good opportunities you will have. You are more likely to lose the bird’s head against dark parts of the image if there are lots of waves.
• 2-Light clouds or fog on the western horizon usually bode well for sunset color …
• 3-Low tide usually leaves long stretches of smooth clean sand the will reflect the sunset colors.
• 4-Those colors will almost always be richest if you are directly opposite the sun or the spot where the sun went down.
• 5-Be patient: the best colors may occur 20-30 minutes after the time of sunset.

On most San Diego IPTs we usually enjoy at least two evenings of shorebird and gull sunset silhouette opportunities.

DPP 4 Willet sunset silhouette Screen Capture

The brightest highlights when I opened the RAW file in DPP 4 to convert it were on the right side of the image where the sun hit the water. The original RGB #s there were 255, 255, 227. By underexposing the image one full stop by moving the Brightness slider to the left to -1, I got those down to 254, 244, 194. Next I moved the Highlight slider to -2 I got down to 254, 240, 184. Note that the image overall is much too dark. But I wanted to try to control the brightest highlights.

Once I brought the image into Photoshop, I used a Curves Adjustment to lighten the middle tones by pinning the curve by putting three points along the top right (the highlights) and three points along the bottom left (the dark tones) and then pulling up the curve in the middle. Then a small pano crop from the bottom and the image was good to go.

Canon 7D Mark II

There are still lots of folks around making great images with the 7D II — can you say Daniel Cadeux? New folks here should know about the 7D Mark II User’s Guide and Canon AF Settings for Birds in Flight. You can check out all of our camera user’s guides here. If I live long enough I will publish a D5/D850 guide …

The San Diego Site Guide

If you would like to learn all the great spots in and around San Diego and La Jolla, get yourself a copy of the BAA San Diego Site guide here. It is the next best thing to being on an IPT.

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. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version.

It Ain’t Just Pelicans

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 as well. 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 will be guided as to how to make the best of all of those opportunities. And depending on the weather and local conditions and tides, there are a variety of fabulous photo chances available in and around San Diego.

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. An so that we can get some sleep, dinners will be on your own.

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, 3385, 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 10/11//2018. 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.

Getting Up Early and Staying Out Late

On all BIRDS AS ART IPTS including and especially the San Diego IPT, we get into the field early to take advantage of unique and often spectacular lighting conditions and we stay out late to maximize the chances of killer light and glorious sunset silhouette situations. We often arrive at the cliffs a full hour before anyone else shows up to check out the land/sea-scape opportunities.

The Dancing Grebes Add-On. FRI JAN 25, 2019: $399.

Those registering for the 2019 San Diego IPT might wish to join me for the Dancing Grebe Add-On Morning as above. Please read the details carefully. You will need to wade at least mid-thigh deep with your tripod over an uneven bottom. Lightweight chest waders are advised. Long lenses are needed; a 100-400 will not cut it at this spot, even with a TC. Chances at this location (easily accessible from the IPT hotel), vary from day to day so there will be no guarantees. But when those grebes dance, it can be an amazing rush. We may also enjoy chances to photograph both species, Western and Clarke’s Grebes, at fairly close range.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my 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 :).

Stuff

I will be away for almost a month while leading the 2018/2019 Falklands land-based IPT. I should be back in the office (and back in the pool) on the afternoon of Monday, January 14, 2019. Happy new year! I should have good internet access until Friday December 21 and then again on the weekend of January 12/13. I will surely not be online from December 23-27 and then again from January 4-7. I may or may not have limited internet access at other times.

Jim and Jen will be in the office weekdays to help you with your online orders and with IPT registrations.

I was thrilled recently to learn that first-timer Shonagh Adelman of Chattanooga, TN signed up for the 2019 Puffins and Gannets and Red Kites IPT. As he is the first registrant, we need three more for the trip to go. I am counting on it and hope for a sellout with ten plus the two leaders; there are lots of puffins and gannets. 🙂

I still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please get in touch via e-mail. No reasonable offer will be turned down.

• 2019 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) SUN JAN 20, 2019 thru and including the morning session on THURS JAN 24: 4 1/2 days: $2099. (Limit: 10/Openings: 4) Introductory Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins: THURS, 6 DEC.
• The 2019 Hooptie Deux/Roseate Spoonbill Boat 3 1/2 DAY IPT — FEB 16 thru 19, 2019: $2599.00. Limit: 5 photographers/Openings: 2.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The iPhone Photography e-Guide If you missed the long-awaited announcement recently, click here to learn about Cliff Oliver’s great new iPhone e-Guide. To order your copy of the The iPhone Photography e-Guide, please click here. The PDF is sent link by e-mail for downloading: the file is relatively huge at 216 MB.

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 here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers 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.

This image was created by BPN member Alex Becker with the tripod-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens and the Nikon D500. ISO 800: 1/2000 second at f/7.1. Image #1: Chickadee species Image courtesy of and copyright 2018: Alex Becker

Alex Becker/Small in the frame chickadee

Alex is a relatively new BPN member who is very active in the Avian Forum. His small-in–the-frame chickadee image is beautifully done. Alex does a lot of his photography at feeder set-ups. BPN members are asked to let folks know when they are working around feeders, otherwise baiting their subjects, or attracting them with water or audio. I have long believed in truth in posting lest begging photographers think “How does this guy get so lucky so often?” You can see all the comments on this image here.

This image was created by BPN member Dorian Anderson with the hand held Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800: 1/3200 second at f/5.6. Image #2: Tricolored Heron sunset silhouette Image courtesy of and copyright 2018: Dorian Anderson

Dorian Anderson/Tricolored Heron silhouette

Dorian is another relatively new member who is mega-skilled at both birding and bird photography. To create his tricolored silhouette he was lying down in the water while handholding his 400 DO II. That’s committed. You can see what others thought of this image in the BPN thread here.

This image was created by BPN member Gail Bisson with the hand held Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and Canon EOS-1D X (now replaced by the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II.) ISO 640: 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1. Image #3: Piping Plover fledgling: double overhead wing stretch Image courtesy of and copyright 2018: Gail Bisson

Gail Bisson/Piping Plover fledgling wingstretch

Gail is a long-time member who is very active in the Avian Forum. She is both an excellent photographer and is skilled at critiquing the images of others. She is pretty much addicted to Piping Plovers and works very hard every year to feed here addition. You can see the complete thread here.

This image was created by BPN member Ann Pacheco with the hand held Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and Canon EOS-1D X (now replaced by the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II.) ISO 640: 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1. Image #4: Sandhill Crane in flight Image courtesy of and copyright 2018: Ann M. Pacheco

Ann Pacheco/Sandhill Crane in flight

During the time that Ann has been a member she has continued to improve her skills both in the field and at the computer. She learns by posting a lot and by asking lots of questions. You can see all the comments on her fine Bosque image here. She is great friends with Gail Bisson and they often travel together and do some quality bird photography.

This image was created by BPN member Ivan Sjogren, a 22-year old nature photographer from Sweden. He used the Canon 400mm f/5.6 L lens and the EOS 70D. ISO 640: 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1. Image #5: Grey Heron in snowstorm Image courtesy of and copyright 2018: Ivan Sjogren

Ivan Sjogren/Grey Heron in snowstorm

You can see the comments and two reposts on Ivan’s image here on BPN. BPN members can post various versions of their originally posted image based on suggestions from other members and Mods. And other members and Mods often offer reposts as well. This is just another way that learning is accelerated on BPN.

This image was created by my friend, BPN member Joe Joe Przybyla. He used the monopod-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens and the Nikon D500. Image #6: Anhinga yawning (?) Image courtesy of and copyright 2018: Joe Pryzbyla

Anhinga yawning/Joe Pryzbyla

For the past few years Joe has worked very hard to improve his field and photographic skills and his post-processing skills as well. He spends lots of time at the Circle Bar B Ranch in Lakeland, FL See what the rest of the boys and girls had to say about this one in Joe’s BPN post here.

This image was created by BPN member John Mack. He used the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens for Canon EF and the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. Image #7: Pine Siskin in snow Image courtesy of and copyright 2018: John Mack

Pine Siskin/John Mack

Joe has been a prolific poster in Avian for the past year or two. Like Joe above, his skills all-around have improved. You can see his Pine Siskin post here.

You Be the Contest Judge

Which of today’s featured images would you put in first place?

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