Learn to improve your bird and nature photography with the best instructor on the planet; join a BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour. Learn more and see the schedule here.
The BAA Online Store
The current BAA Online Store has been down for much of the weekend. We hope to have the problem fixed this morning. In the meantime, folks can place their orders via telephone this morning by calling Jim at 863-692-0906. The best news is that we will soon be unveiling a brand new mostly problem-less store soon.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 136 days in a row with a new (educational?) blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a great job recently–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) that we would appreciate your business 🙂
artie with bloodied nose/courtesy of and copyright 2016 Patrick Sparkman
Patrick was so shaken by my fall and possible demise, that he forgot to focus the image above… But it still tells the story.
Cheating Death/Face Plant!
Patrick Sparkman, Chris Mayne–a distant cousin of ESPN’s Kenny, and I were having a great time photographing displaying Brandt’s Cormorant when I came up with a brilliant idea. Climb over the fence with the fish eye lens and create an image of the daisies with some cormorants along the rim of the cliff. So over the fence I went. I’m not sure how, but down I went, face first and hard into the cliffside daisies. I was pretty sure that I was not gonna go over the cliff to my death. Patrick, who was right there, was not so sure. It was about 50 feet down to the rocks and beach below. My face, which hit first as I pitched forward toward the Pacific, took the brunt of the fall. At first I thought that I might have broken my nose. And I was worried that I might have screwed up my Thursday surgery date. My right knee hit hard and wound up with a few scrapes. My right elbow hit too as I protected the lens and the 5DS R. Worst of all, my left knee, which had been bothering me that morning, was twisted pretty good.
To keep from going over the edge, I reached out with both arms so that I was spread-eagled, face down in the dirt. At that moment Patrick realized that I was not going to die. But I learned well later that he thought that I had been knocked out cold.
I sat up, rested for a minute, and realized that my nose was a bit bloody. When I stood up, I did not relish climbing back over the fence. Then I realized that there was no need to climb the fence. There was an unlocked gate just 30 feet away. “What an idiot” I said. “I could have used the gate in the first place!”
Photo courtesy of and copyright 2016: Chris Mayne.
Close up of the damaged nose.
What’s with the tongue?
Folks often ask, “What’s with the tongue sticking out?”
Early on in my career when folks photographed me photographing with a long lens, I would notice in their photos that invariably, my tongue was sticking out. I realized that I did that often when I was concentrating hard, sort of like Michael Jordan did when on his way to the rim for a big dunk. So now, whenever folks point a camera at me, out comes the tongue. Go figure.
i-Phone 6 image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Patrick Sparkman
artie searching for missing lens from his reading glasses. This image gives you a bit of an idea as to why Patrick was a bit worried when I fell and headed for the ocean.
Reading Glasses and Determination…
Early on in the trip, I lost the left lens from my prescription reading glasses while photographing at the low cliffs in La Jolla. No problema, I always travel with a back-up pair. After Patrick took the fish eye image that opened this post, I had a sick feeling as I looked down… Yup, the left lens was missing from my back-up pair of prescription readers. So through the gate I went to look for the lost lens. The vegetation was quite dense but try as I might, I could not find itns. So I did what I always do, I did not quit.
i-Phone 6 image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Patrick Sparkman
artie finds the missing lens!
artie finds the missing lens!
While I was happy that I did not go over the cliff to my death, and happy that I has not been seriously injured, I was really happy to find the missing lens.
Photo courtesy of and copyright 2016: Chris Mayne.
This image gives you a really good idea that I was not exaggerating the potential danger…
The potential danger…
I am not sure, but I think that I fell with one foot on the concrete base of the fence. You can see a pretty decent slope towards the ocean. At times, engaging the brain before acting can avoid lots of tsuris (informal Yiddish for trouble or distress).
The Aftermath as of Sunday Afternoon
Nose: healing nicely.
Right Elbow: just fine thank you.
Left knee: the bad one: hurting pretty good.
Right knee: hurting a bit, mostly bruised.
Ego: seriously bruised. 🙂
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Gitzo tripods, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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 we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. I just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.
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 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
Patrick and I had a pretty decent morning with the grebes and met new friend Chris Mayne in Coronado for godwits, gulls, and Surf Scoters.
IPT Updates
Learn to improve your bird and nature photography with the best instructor on the planet; join a BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour. Learn more and see the schedule here.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 135 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a great job recently–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) that we would appreciate your business 🙂
This image was created on March 14, 2016, a cloudy morning at La Jolla, CA. I used the the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the mega mega-pixel Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/250 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. Cloudy WB.
Brown Pelican stitched pano
25 Lessons
In the “Blog Post With No Words: What are the unspoken lessons?” here I wrote, “There are at least 25 lessons in today’s blog post. If you learned something or figured something out, please leave a comment to share with the gang.”
Below please find my take on that situation. Kudos to Den Bagwell for his excellent list and his correct follow-up on the most important point, #20.
#1: Your choice of perspective controls the appearance of the background.
#2: Choose an interesting, beautiful, pleasing (or venerable) subject.
#3: Do your best to parallel the subject or wait for the proper head turn toward you.
A + B = C
A + B = C
#4: Learn to think digitally in the field by being aware of stitched pano opportunities when a given subject is too big in the frame.
#5: You must be in Manual exposure so that the exposure does not change with the framing.
#6: You must set a White Balance other than AWB so that the WB does not change with the framing.
#7: In situations like this, you must use either rear focus of One-shot AF.
#8: First focus on the eye of the subject and make an image. Then release the rear button if you are using rear focus or keep the shutter button half pressed if you are using One-shot AF.
#9: Recompose allowing for at least 15% overlap. When re-composing for the 2nd frame it is imperative that you keep the lens as close to perfectly level as possible. See more below…
#10: Keeping the lens level is a lot easier when working on a tripod but that was not at all possible in this situation
Artie and friends. Image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Bryan Holliday
Artie and Friends
#11: By getting low and moving slowly it is possible to get ridiculously close to many free and wild birds.
#12: Hand holding allows for tremendous latitude as far as framing and background choices.
#13: Only by getting very low was I able to come up with a pleasing background.
#14: Good photographers are willing to get down and dirty in order to get the shot.
#15: Good photographers are willing to get dirt, sand, dust, mud or whatever on their cameras and lenses in order to get the shot.
#16: Folks who are passionate about photography are very likely to be good to go as far as #s 14 and 15 are concerned.
#17: Maintaining good overall health is a plus as far as photography and life are concerned.
#18: Knowing bird behavior is a huge plus for photography and included knowing which bird might be easily approached.
#19: Being willing to accept a bit of pain can help you get the shot. Here I struggled to get as left and as high up the mound as possible to better parallel the subject and get the background that I wanted. It was a pretty good test of core strength and it hurt in several places to do so.
Yours truly on the cliffs at La Jolla. iPhone 6s cell phone image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Bryan Holliday
#20: One of the two biggest keys to the success of this image was using the viewfinder level for both the first image and the second, re-composed image to keep both images fairly level. In the position that I was in your kinesthetic sense is hopelessly confused…
#21: The second was to maintain the same elevation when re-composing. As one of the commenters noted, I did not do real well with that and thus lost more than I would have liked from the bottom of the image of the face and the head.
#22: Wearing sun protective clothing is better than wearing sun block…
#23: Remove the foot and lens plate from the 100-400 II when handholding to lighten the load a bit.
#24: I stabilized my rig by plating my left elbow firmly on the ground.
#25: If you are not learning and having fun while you are at it you are missing a lot.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Gitzo tripods, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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 we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. I just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.
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 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Gitzo tripods, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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 we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. I just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.
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 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
After my ultra sound this morning I learned that I am good to go for green light laser surgery next Thursday, March 24. I spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon photographing displaying Brandt’s Cormorants, 777 images in all. What fun.
The Streak
Today’s blog post marks 134 days in a row with a new educational blog post. As always–and folks have been doing a great job recently–please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. Please remember that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) that we would appreciate your business 🙂
Price Reduced $2500
Japan In Winter IPT. February 9-24, 2017: $11,499 (was $13,999)/double occupancy.
Price Reduced $2,500 on 3-8-16!
Please e-mail for couple and IPT repeat customer discount information.
As I really, really want to make it back to Japan in winter one more time, I decided to lower the price of the world’s best Japan in Winter trip by $2,500. Yes my trip has three great leaders including the best bird photography instructor on the planet. That’s the guy who knows where to be when and why. And yes, it is now a bit more expensive than most. And yes, we stay at a fine hotel in Tokyo. And yes, we stay in a marvelous traditional hotel for our three nights at the Snow Monkey Park. And yes, we are perfectly located on Hokkaido, minutes from the premier Red-crowned Crane sanctuary and an easy drive to most of the other wondrous avian attractions. And yes, we enjoy home cooked breakfasts and dinners prepared by Shinobu, the wife of our local Japanese guide. She is an incredible chef. After three visits her meals are now traditional Japanese fine-tuned for the American palate. And yes, my tour is longer than the others, giving us many days with the cranes. I saw one trip with only two days of crane photography; what a bummer. End each day with a traditional onsen (hot springs mineral bath) to complete your immersion in Japanese culture.
Life is short. I hope that you can join me. Scroll down for details.
What is it? Hokkaido, Japan
What Is It?
What is the subject of the photograph? Was I in a plane? Was I in a spacecraft? (Remember, I did visit the Kennedy Space Center recently…) What focal length did I use?
Answers to Questions
In the Bliss… And Snow Monkey Business Image Questions blog post here, I asked the two questions below.
Easy Question and Answer
Why did I move the Shadow slider to +5? (Hint: take a look at the animated GIF below…)
The Shadow Slider was moved to +5 to open up the darker tones of the young Snow Monkey and to lighten the dark smudges upper right.
Hard Question and Answer
Why did I move the Highlight slider to +3?
The Highlight slider was moved to +3 to lighten the dark smudges upper right.
IPT Updates
Learn to improve you bird and nature photography with the best instructor on the planet; join an Instructional Photo-Tour. Learn more and see the schedule here.
Consider joining me in Japan in February, 2017, for the world’s best Japan in Winter workshop. Click on the card to enjoy the spectacular larger version.
Japan In Winter IPT. February 9-24, 2017: $11,499 (was $13,999)/double occupancy.Limit 8/Openings: 5
Price Reduced $2,500 on 3-8-16!
All lodging including the Tokyo hotel on 9 FEB, all breakfasts & dinners, ground transport and transfers including bus to the monkey park hotel, and all entrance fees and in-country flights are included. Not included: international flights, all lunches–most are on the run, and alcoholic beverages.
Please e-mail for couple and IPT repeat customer discount information.
This trip is one day longer than the great 2014 trip to allow for more flexibility, more time with the cranes, and most importantly, more time for landscape photography. Hokkaido is gorgeous. You will enjoy tons of pre-trip planning and gear advice, in-the-field instruction and guidance, at-the-lodge Photoshop and image review sessions in addition to short introductory slide programs for each of the amazing locations. Skilled photographer Paul McKenzie handles the logistics and we enjoy the services of Japan’s best wildlife photography guide whom I affectionately call “Hokkaido Bear.” His network of local contacts and his knowledge of the weather, the area, and the birds is unparalleled and enables him to have us in the best location every day.
Arrive Tokyo: 9 FEB 2017 the latest. 8 FEB is safer and gives you a day to get acclimated to the time change. Your hotel room for the night of the 9th is covered.
Bus Travel to Monkey Park Hotel: 10 FEB: A 1/2 DAY of monkey photography is likely depending on our travel time… This traditional hotel is first class all the way. Our stay includes three ten course Japanese dinners; these sumptuous meals will astound you and delight your taste buds. There are many traditional hot springs mineral baths (onsens) on site in this 150 year old hotel.
Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 11.
Full Day snow monkeys: FEB 12.
13 FEB: Full travel day to Hokkaido/arrive at our lodge in the late afternoon. The lodge is wonderful. All the rooms at the lodge have beds. Bring your warm pajamas. A local onsen (hot springs bath and tubs) is available for $5 each day before dinner–when you are cold, it is the best thing since sliced bread. The home-cooked Japanese styles meals at the lodge are to die for. What’s the best news? Only a small stand of woods separates us from the very best crane sanctuary. During one big snowstorm we were the only photo group to be able to get to Tsurui Ito; we had the whole place to ourselves in perfect conditions for crane photography!
FEB 14-23: Red-crowned Crane, raptors in flight, Whooper Swans, and scenic photography. Ural Owl possible. An overnight trip to Rausu for Steller’s Sea Eagle and White-tailed Eagle photography on the tourists boats is 100% dependent on the weather, road, and sea ice conditions. Only our trip offers complete flexibility in this area. It has saved us on more than once occasion. The cost of 2 eagle-boat trips is included. If the group would like to do more than two boat trips and we all agree, there will be an additional charge for the extra trip or trips. No matter the sea ice conditions, we will do two eagle boat trips (as long as we can make the drive to Rausu; it snows a lot up there). We have never been shut out.In 2016 there was no sea ice but our guide arranged for two amazingly productive boat trips.
Lodging notes: bring your long johns for sleeping in the lodge. At the Snow Monkey Park, and in Rausu, the hotel the rooms are Japanese-style. You sleep on comfortable mats on the floor. Wi-fi is available every day of the trip.
FEB 24. Fly back to Tokyo for transfer to your airport if you are flying home that night, or, to your hotel if you are overnighting. If you need to overnight, the cost of that room is on you.
Life is short. Hop on the merry-go-round.
To Sign Up
To save your spot, please send your $5,000 non-refundable deposit check made out to “Birds as Art” to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. I do hope that you can join me for this trip of a lifetime. Do e-mail with any questions or give me a buzz at 863-692-0906.
Purchasing travel insurance within 2 weeks of our cashing your deposit check is strongly recommended. On two fairly recent Galapagos cruises a total of 5 folks were forced to cancel less than one week prior to the trip. My family and I use Travel Insurance Services and strongly recommend that you do the same.
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
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 BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod heads, Gitzo tripods, Wimberley heads and plates, LensCoats and accessories, and the like. 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 we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. I just learned that my account was suspended during my absence; it should be up and running by Monday at the latest.
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 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 visiting the BAA 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 🙂
