Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
January 23rd, 2016

Announcing the 2017 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT)

What’s Up?

After receiving several dire reports of “no birds at all at Bosque” from blog regular David Policansky last week, I scrapped my idea for a January 2017 Bosque IPT. Having had such a blast in San Diego and with the 2016 San Diego IPT having been such a huge success, I decided to put together another visit in January 2017. It is very possible that my 21-season streak at Bosque may come to an inglorious end…

I do hope that you can join me in San Diego next January for the pelicans and more. With my 30+ years experience photographing there it would be hard to find anyone who knows the birds, the locations, the tides, and the winds better than me.


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B&H

B&H was the primary exhibition sponsor of my solo, career retrospective, 67-image exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Thank them (and me, for the work I do on the blog) by clicking on the logo link above to shop.


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San Diego offers a wealth of very attractive natural history subjects. With annual visits spanning more than three decades I have lot of experience there….

2017 San Diego 4 1/2-DAY BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT) JAN 11 thru and including the morning session on JAN 15: 4 1/2 days: $1999.

(Limit: 10/openings 8)

Meet and Greet at 7:00pm on the evening before the IPT begins; Tuesday 1/10/17.

Join me in San Diego to photograph the spectacular breeding plumage Brown Pelicans with their fire-engine red and olive green bill pouches; Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants; breeding plumage Wood and Ring-necked Duck; other duck species possible including Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Surf Scoter; a variety of gulls including Western, California, and the gorgeous Heerman’s, all in full breeding plumage; shorebirds including Marbled Godwit, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover; many others possible including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Black and Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, and Surfbird; Harbor Seals (depending on the current regulations) and California Sea Lions; and Bird of Paradise flowers. And as you can see by studying the two IPT cards there are some nice bird-scape and landscape opportunities as well.

With gorgeous subjects just sitting there waiting to have their pictures taken, photographing the pelicans on the cliffs is about as easy as nature photography gets. With the winds from the east almost every morning there is usually some excellent flight photography. And the pelicans are almost always doing something interesting: preening, scratching, bill pouch cleaning, or squabbling. And then there are those crazy head throws that are thought to be a form of intra-flock communication.

Did I mention that there are wealth of great birds and natural history subjects in San Diego in winter?


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Though the pelicans will be the stars of the show on this IPT there will be many other handsome and captivating subjects in wonderful settings.

The San Diego Details

This IPT will include five 3 1/2 hour morning photo sessions, four 2 1/2 hour afternoon photo sessions, four lunches, and after-lunch image review and Photoshop sessions. To ensure early starts, breakfasts will be your responsibility.

A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. You can send a check (made out to “Arthur Morris) to us at BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855. Or call Jim or Jennifer at the office with a credit card at 863-692-0906. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 9/11//2016. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Please Remember to use 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 🙂

January 22nd, 2016

More New Used Photo Gear News and Listings!


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B&H

B&H was the primary exhibition sponsor of my solo, career retrospective 67-image exhibit. Thank them (and me, for the work I do on the blog) by clicking on the logo link above to shop.

What’s Up with Used Gear Info Requests?

I spent a good part of this past week catching up on Used Gear-related e-mails. I think that I am pretty much caught up now. If I missed yours, please shoot me an e-mail reminding me of what I missed, and do include a copy of your original e-mail.

Selling Your Used Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. Even the prices on the new 600 II and the 200-400 with Internal Extender have been plummeting. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right side of the yellow-orange menu bar above.

Douglas Bolt sold his Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD Zoom lens for Canon in like-new condition for $699, Diane Miller sold her 300mm f/2.8L IS lens, the old three, for $2899, and Roberta Olenick sold her Canon EOS-1D Mark IV camera body in excellent condition for $1279 USD, all within the last week. I learned on Wednesday that the sale of IPT veteran Brent Bridges’ 300mm f/2.8L IS lens for $4599 is pending. And I learned today that the sale of Mark Hodsgon’s 70-200mm f/4L IS lens became pending on the day that it was listed.

Crazy Multiple Price Reductions

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens

Another Lowest-ever-by-a-mile BAA Price!
Price Reduced another $150 on January 22, 2106.

Erik Hagstrom is offering a used Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens in excellent condition for a ridiculous $1275. The sale includes the lens hood (EW-88C), the front and rear Canon lens caps, the original lens case LP1219, the instruction manual, both US & Canada warranty cards, the original box (less the UPC code that was used for a rebate), and insured shipping via FED-EX Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Erik by e-mail or by phone at 206-999-1507 (Pacific time).

The new 24-70 II is a favorite of all serious landscape photographers. It is currently selling new for $1799. artie 

More New Listings!

Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM Lens

Bill Condon is offering a Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in like-new, near-mint condition for $4199. There are no scratches, chips, or other signs of wear. The date code is UX1133 and the Serial Number is 37206. The sale includes the lens trunk with keys, the manual, the original lens cover and hood, an AquaTech ASHM Soft Hood, an AquaTech Lens Cover, a Wimberly P-40 Lens Plate, and insured shipping via UPS Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Bill by e-mail or call him at 401.524.2454 (Eastern time).

The 500 f/4s have been the world’s most popular telephoto lenses for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. I owned and used and loved my “old five” for many years. We have sold more than a few recently for $3999 and even two for $3799. Bill’s lens is priced a bit higher as it is in pristine condition. If you don’t have the cash for the 500 II and can handle the additional 1 1/2 pounds (exactly) then this is your next best option. The 500 II goes for $8999 so you will be saving a cool $4,800 and getting a virtually brand new lens to boot. artie

Canon EOS 7D Camera Body

Robert Doster is offering a used Canon EOS 7D body in excellent condition for $469. The camera shows little wear and both LCDs have been protected by screen protectors since purchase and are thus pristine. The camera has a shutter count of 13,902 actuations. The sale includes a Really Right Stuff B7D-L B L-plate, the original product box, manuals (English and Spanish), CDs, the wide neck strap, Eyecup Eg, body cap, LP-E6 battery, LC-E6 battery charger, AV and USB cables, and insured ground shipping via FedEx. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Robert by e-mail or by phone at 505-270-7361 (Pacific time).

Canon 7D Mark II Camera Body

Gregg J. Hunt is offering a used 7D Mark II camera body (< 5,100 shutter count) in near-mint condition (except for a few tiny subtle scuffs/abrasions on the body and not on the 2 LCD screens) for $999. The sale includes a LP-E6 rechargeable battery pack and cover, the LC-E6E battery charger, USB cable, audio/video cable (packaged and unused), the neck strap (packaged and unused), various documents/manuals/CD (packaged and unused), Michael Andrew's 4.5-hour-long Canon 7D II and Photography School Training Video, Bert Sirkin's 7D II Cheat Sheet, packing/retail box, and insured ground shipping to a U.S. address only via a major courier. Your item will not ship until check clears, unless other arrangements are made. Please contact Gregg by e-mail.

I loved my 7D II from the get-go when I used it in sunny conditions. I have been saying for a while that it is the best value ever in a digital camera. As it is currently selling new at B&H for $1499 Gregg’s camera is a great buy. artie

Nikon D600 DSLR Camera Body

Saul Pleeter is offering a used Nikon D600 DSLR camera body in near-new condition (but for a scratch on the rear protective LCD cover–otherwise perfect and unblemished) for $650. The sale includes the battery, the charger, the body cap, the camera strap, the original box, and insured ground shipping via UPS.

Please contact Saul via e-mail.

Sony Alpha a7R Mirrorless Digital Camera

Saul Pleeter is also offering a used Sony Alpha a7R Mirrorless Digital Camera in near-new condition (but for a tiny surface scratch on a bottom corner–otherwise perfect and unblemished) for an incredibly low $799. The sale includes the battery, the body cap, the camera strap, the original product box, and insured ground shipping via UPS. This body sells new at B&H for $1898…

Please contact Saul via e-mail.

Truly Great Stuff for Sale Cheap!

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS Lens with Internal 1.4 Extender

Friend and multiple-IPT veteran Phil Frigon is offering a used Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS lens with Internal Extender in excellent condition for the record-low BAA price of $8995. The sale includes the lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, a RRS lens foot (installed), the original Canon foot with all the screws, and insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Phil via e-mail.

This is the world’s best lens for a trip to Africa. It kills also in the Galapagos and in South Georgia, the Falklands, and Antarctica. And I use mine a lot at Bosque and other dusty places where the built-in TC helps to keep your sensor clean. The lens sells new at B&H right now for $10,999. You can save $2004 by grabbing Phil’s lens. artie

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens

Friend and multiple-IPT veteran Phil Frigon is also offering a used Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II lens in excellent condition for the record-low-by-far BAA price of $7800. The sale includes the lens trunk, the original leather front lens cover, a RRS lens foot (installed), the original Canon foot with all the screws, and insured ground shipping via UPS to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Phil via e-mail.

This lens sells new for $9,999 so Phil’s is priced to sell and save you $2,199. If you do sports or large mammals this is the lens for you. I do know of a few competent photographers who do great on birds with this lens; it kills with either the 1.4X or the 2X III TC. artie

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II Lens

Donald Mullaney is offering his Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II lens in mint condition for the record-low BAA price of $9499. The sale includes an AquaTech Soft Cap, a black LensCoat, a Kirk lens plate, the lens trunk and the original leather front lens cover, the lens strap, and insured ground shipping to US addresses only. This lens was purchased on Bought 2/24/14 and used less then a dozen times. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Don via e-mail.

The 600 II is the world’s premier super-telephoto lens. It is super-sharp and features Canon’s amazing four-stop Image Stabilization system. This, the current version, weighs more than 3 pounds less than the previous model. When I am not weight-restricted, the 600 II is my first choice in super-telephoto lenses. I use it at Bosque, at Nickerson Beach, and from my car on a BLUBB when working down by the lake near my house. When you need maximum reach, the 600 II is the only way to go. As the lens currently sells new at B&H for $11,499, you can save $2,000 by grabbing Don’s lens right now. artie

Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS USM Lens

Andres Leon is offering a used Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens in Very Good Plus condition for the very low price of $7899. The lens has clean glass and is in perfect working order but has a few scratches on the finish. Feel free to request photos of the lens. The sale includes the lens trunk and keys, a LensCoat, the front leather cover, the rear cap, a Wimberley P-40 lens plate, and insured ground shipping via FED-EX Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made. Please contact Andres via e-mail or by phone at 1-954-621-6678 (eastern time).

I used this lens, often with a 1.4X TC, as my main super-telephoto lens for close to five years. It is a superb lens that offers lots of reach for those working with birds that are skittish. It is great from the car. I was astounded that about 15 of the 67 images in the exhibit were created with my 800. I often miss it terribly. As the lens sell new at B&H for $12,999 Andres’s lens is a superb buy; grab it now and save more than $5K! artie

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 🙂

January 22nd, 2016

The Elusive Head Throw and lots more...

What’s Up?

In addition to the usual work we enjoyed a bit of a homeowner’s challenge here yesterday. Early in the morning Jim let me know that the well pump in the garage was making strange sounds. Soon thereafter we had no water so we killed the circuit breaker and called Spivey Well Drilling in Lake Wales. They were here right after 1pm and spent more than two hours trying to repair the very old pump. When push came to shove, they let me know that they had installed a used pump that could be mine for $450 including the labor. Or opt for a new pump to be installed on Monday or Tuesday for $800-$1000. I went for the new pump. Aside from being unable to use the toilets, it is funny how many times we rely on running water without realizing it…

BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #480

BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #480 is online and can be accessed here.

  • Your Very Last Chance to join the 2017 Bear Boat Coastal Brown Bear Cubs IPTs
  • The Blog is the Bomb!
  • Used Photo Gear Sales Hot!
  • My latest e-book birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100
  • Your Help Needed and Appreciated/Affiliate Stuff

The 2017 Bear Boat Coastal Brown Bear Cubs IPTs

If you are interested in either of the 2017 Bear Boat Coastal Brown Bear Cubs IPTs I urge you to give item one in the Bulletins above a careful read.


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birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100
The companion e-book to the solo exhibit at TheNat, San Diego, California

The new e-book on CD is available for $23 here. And it is also available via convenient download for $20 by clicking here.

birds as art: The Avian Photography of Arthur Morris/The Top 100

If you missed the announcement of the new e-book click here for complete info that includes details on getting a signed copy.

From Multiple IPT Veteran Stephen Leimberg

Art, this is the most beautiful book on bird photography I’ve ever seen! What an inspiration! A visual feast! Bravo! Warmest, Steve

From Mike Moore

The top 100 collection is almost too overwhelming to absorb at once. I will be looking at it many, many times to be able to drink it all in. I will say I never really appreciated blurs, but Cottonwood Morning Wave is one of my favorite images. The colors and the composition are superb. There is a real feeling of being present at a live event that a sharp photo would not have conveyed, so maybe you won me over. You give a 100 great examples of something for us to strive for. I especially appreciated that you annotated every image to get a sense of what it took to capture it. Brilliant. Congratulations and thanks for sharing and making it so affordable to own this collection of some of the world’s greatest bird images.

From IPT Veteran Larry Master

I just downloaded your new collection of 100 images! Wow! I’ve seen many before in your posts but to view as one collection it is amazing. Larry

Additional Feedback Requested

If you ordered via download or have already received your CD, I would love to hear what you think. Please do leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail.


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B&H

B&H was the primary exhibition sponsor. Thank them (and me, for the work I do on the blog) by clicking on the logo link above to shop.


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This image was created at La Jolla, CA with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 234mm) and the rugged Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/320 sec. at f/6.3.

A single AF point that was three AF points up and one to the left of the center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure (as is always best when hand holding). I should have been in Surround or at least Expand… Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Brown Pelican head throw

The Elusive Head Throw Image…

I tried and tried to create a really good head throw image on the IPT. I taught others what to look for and how best to succeed. I had one really good chance and choked by failing to zoom out wide enough and cut off the tip of the bill. Don’t you hate when that happens? On my last Friday, the day before the exhibit opened, I was shooting at the cliffs with some friends. It was late in the morning and most of the pelicans had left so I made my way out to the end of the rocks and was able to shoot down on a few birds on a lower shelf. I like this one a lot. The key factor here is the fact that it was cloudy; had the sun been out this image would have been horribly side-lit.

An instant after I made this image a pelican photo-bombed the sequence by flying right through the frame in front of the subject; six good frames were ruined. Just think: with the 5DS R only three frames would have been lost. 🙂

Soon I will post an image showing how I wound up with a single AF point that was three AF points up and one to the left of the center AF point (Manual selection) and explaining why I was so lucky here and why Surround or at least Expand would likely have been better in this situation.


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The DDP 4 Screen Capture

The DDP 4 Screen Capture

Above, you have to strain your eyes a bit to see the active AF point that is illuminated in read. It is just forward of the eye. You might think me clairvoyant to have selected that single AF point but that was not the case. The explanation will follow in a blog post in a day or two.

It’s funny that with subjects with black and right white how often I wind up with the the Shadow slider set one to the right and the Highlight slider at -1. I do not hesitate to use higher values but for many such images I wind up as shown here.


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Another DDP 4 Screen Capture

Courtesy of and Copyright 2016: Vishwanath Bhagwat

DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide Kudos

Via e-mail from Vishwanath Bhagwat

Hi to Artie, Arash and the BAA team.

I had no problems in downloading the DPP 4 guide from the Hightail link in the e-mail.

I couldn’t wait to read it & was immediately able to apply what I was learning as I was using DPP 4 for the first time. My original attempt is on the right & the improved image on the left. Both are JPEG’s – processed, downsized for web & sharpened. I can’t believe the mess I made of the first one that was done before I got the guide. The culprits were “Auto Lighting Optimizer” checked on and using “Unsharp Mask” instead of “Sharpness.”

Thanks a lot for the well written guide. Regards, Vishwanath.

Comments and a question for Vishwanath

Vish-bhai, The improved version looks great. It looks as if you toned down the lights nicely with the Highlight slider (and brought the shadows up a bit as well). What other improvements did you note when you enlarged the view?

Lastly, it sure looks as if you did some Eye Doctor work on this image. Is that correct?


dpp-4-guide

You can order your copy of “The Photographers’ Guide to Canon Digital Photo Professional 4.0” (aka the DPP 4 Raw Conversion eGuide) by Arash Hazeghi and Arthur Morris by clicking here.

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF)

Learn how and why I and many other discerning photographers choose and use only DPP 4 to convert their Canon RAW files in the DPP 4 RAW Conversion Guide by Arash Hazeghi and yours truly. The latest version supports all of the newer Canon camera bodies and several older models including the EOS-7D and the EOS-1D Mark IV. The DPP IV Guide is the ideal companion to the 7D Mark II User’s Guide, a runaway best seller.

The DPP 4 eGuide (PDF) Updated for 1D Mark IV and the original 7D

The DPP 4 eGuide was recently updated to include the luminance and chrominance noise reduction values for both the 1D Mark IV and the original 7D. If you purchased your copy from BAA please e-mail Jim and request the DPP 4 1D IV/7D update. Please be sure to cut and paste page 1 of the guide into your e-mail as proof of purchase.

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 🙂