December 6th, 2015 What’s Up?
I did lots of work on the San Diego exhibit labels and answered lots of e-mails on the Cheeseman’s 2016 South Georgia/Falklands Expedition; we have already signed up three or four folks for the BIRDS AS ART group. Do consider joining us for the trip of a lifetime, my last ship-based trip to the Southern Ocean. If you are interested, see yesterday’s blog post here or shoot me an e-mail with the words “Cheesemans’ Last South Georgia Expedition” cut and pasted into the Subject Line.
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. You can see all current listings by clicking here or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the yellow-orange tab on the right side of the menu bar above.
After a month long lull, there have been more than a few sales over the past few weeks.
- David Bell sold his Canon 400mm f/5.6L lens yesterday for the full asking price, $699, on the day it was listed!
- Alan and Sara Levine sold several of the many items they listed and the sale of their old 300 f/2.8 is pending.
- Two Canon 500mm f/4L IS lenses (two) were sold by Pat & Stokes Fishburne for $3799 each in late November, 2015.
- A Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Camera Body was sold by Alice Garland for $1350 in mid-November, 2015.
- The sale of Brent Bridges’s 600 II is pending.
New Listings
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR Lens
IPT veteran and super-nice guy Bruce Gauger is offering a brand new in the box Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR lens (USA),in the factory-sealed box for $7,999. Bruce had a mountain biking accident right after he purchased the lens about 5 years ago….
The sale includes all of the original accessories and paperwork in the unopened box including the USA warranty cards, the front lens lens cover, the LF-4 rear lens cap, the HK-35 lens hood, the CT-607 trunk (hard carrying case), the LN-1 lens Strap, and insured shipping via UPS Ground to continental US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Bruce by e-mail or by phone at 1-949-892-8590 (Pacific time).
The 600 f/4 lenses are ideal for those who do birds and wildlife. This older version of the Nikon 600 weighs 11.16 lbs. It is still in production and sells new at B&H for $9,394.00. The newer lighter version, the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens (designated by “E” rather than “G” after the f/4) weighs 8.4 pounds but costs $12,296.95. Thus, Bruce’s lens is a great buy for someone young and relatively strong who would like to save either $1,395.00 or $4297.95, depending on how you look at it. artie
Canon 100-400mm L IS Zoom Lens
Stephen Zarate is offering a used Canon 100-400mm L IS Zoom lens (the old 100-400) in excellent condition (the lens hood shows minor signs of wear) for the BAA record-low price of $650. The sale includes the front and rear lens caps, the tough fabric case, the tripod collar, the original box, and insured ground shipping via UPS ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Stephen by e-mail or by phone at 949-697-8194 (Pacific time).
The old 100-400 was and is superb. I made hundreds of sale-able images with mine including the front cover of Scott Weidensaul’s Return to Wild America. Contrary to reports by the internet idiots the lens is–in competent hands–sharp at all focal lengths. It is extremely versatile and would make a great starter lens for those interested in bird, wildlife, and general nature photography. artie
Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO Lens
Stephen Zarate is also offering a used Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens (the old 400 do) in very good plus condition the record-low BAA price of $2899.00. The lens is covered by a well-worn “digital camo” LensCoat and the tripod ring shows minor signs of wear.
The sale includes the lens trunk, the front and rear lens caps, the leather front lens cover, the aforementioned LensCoat, and insured ground shipping via UPS ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.
Please contact Stephen by e-mail or by phone at 949-697-8194 (Pacific time).
I used this lens for several years with great success, especially for birds in flight and while working from various type of water craft. In addition, it would make a great prime super-telephoto lens for folks with a 7D II. Gannets in Love was created with the 400 DO. You can see that one and 13 other killer images that I made with my old 400 DO here. The title of that blog post is “The Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO Lens: Fourteen Images that Prove that the Internet Experts are Idiots.” Tom’s lens is priced to sell. artie
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This image was created on the last morning of the second Bosque IPT with the hand held Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and the rugged Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop off the light blue sky: 1/1000 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode.
Center AF point (by necessity) Expand/AI Servo shutter button AF was active at the moment of exposure as is always best when hand holding. The active AF point fell on the bird’s upper back just where it meets the raised wings, nicely on the same plane as the eye. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version.
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Going Light for Flight with the 400 DO II, the 2X III TC, and the EOS-1D X
I had packed my 600 II to be shipped back to ILE that night before so I grabbed the 400 DO II, the 2X III TC, and the 1D X. 800mm is a great focal length for the cranes taking off to the north at the standard location. And I actually find hand holding the 400 DO II for flight easier than working with the 600 II off my Induro GIT 304L tripod topped by the Mongoose M3.6. I made lots of sharp images on that last morning.
Do notice the slight look-back-at-me head angle and the fact that I was working almost perfectly on sun-angle….
Running in Place in Flight
I actually saw the bird “running in place” and made two images as I called it out to the group. One had the pancake wing position that I do not like at all but I love the one above with the wings raised a bit. I believe that the bird had both legs tucked into it belly feathers for warmth and decided to let its far leg trail in the normal position, thus the appearance of running in place.
The Bosque Site Guide
If you can’t make or afford a Bosque IPT, or if the holidays preclude your joining one, be sure to get yourself a copy of my Bosque Site Guide. All BAA Site Guides are designed so that with a bit of study you can show up at a great place and know exactly where to be at what time on what wind and in what lighting conditions. And on what wind. With a Site Guide on your laptop you will feel like a 22-year veteran on your first visit. Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. If you plan on visiting Bosque it would be foolish to make the trip without having this guide in hand. Why spend money on gear and travel and then spend days stumbling around in the wrong spot? If you have visited previously, and are still unsure of where you should be at this time of day with that wind, this guide will prove invaluable to you as well. Even folks visiting Bosque for the tenth time will learn a ton as I share my secrets and hold nothing back….
In the next week or so, I will be working on a 2015 Bosque Current Conditions Guide; it will be send for free to all who have previously purchased the Bosque Site Guide and will also be available as a separate, stand-alone purchase.
Bosque Site Guide Kudos
By e-mail from Paul Shilling
After planning my first trip to Bosque earlier this year, I bought your excellent Bosque site guide. Read through it a couple of times. It is well worth the $50. It helped me get a good feel for the refuge before arriving. Many thanks. I was there last week for a morning and an afternoon. After disappointingly finding almost no birds before and just after sunrise at your suggested location, I enjoyed the cranes flying out at the spot you mention in the guide. Then I went straight to the farm fields in the north loop; they did not disappoint. Your guide led me to each of these spots. Without your guide would have had to guess at my next move. Best, Paul
Please Remember to use our Affiliate Links 🙂
To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you use our the B&H and Amazon affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your purchases. B&H is recommended for you major photography gear purchases, Amazon for your household, entertainment, and general purpose stuff. 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 🙂
December 5th, 2015 What’s Up?
I enjoyed a long day of hard work and enjoyed sleeping in my own bed. I still have my cold. Yesterday I did something that I should have done weeks ago: on the advice of Dr. Cliff Oliver I purchased a steam inhaler and inhalant pads (at CVS) and enjoyed three 15 minutes sessions of breathing steam. I am feeling much better already.
Today I am working on image labels for the San Diego exhibit at the Natural History Museum.
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All images on the card were created on the 2015 Cheesemans’ South Georgia Expedition. From top left clockwise to center: King Penguin resting on Snow, Fortuna Bay; Macaroni Penguin in snow, Cooper Island; Grey-headed Albatross, Elsehul; King Penguin neck abstract, Godthul; Northern Giant Petrel, Undine Harbor; adult Wandering Albatross, Prion Island; Elephant Seal, Undine Harbor; South Georgia Pipit fledgling/thanks Joe Kaplan! Fortuna Bay; high key King Penguins in snow, Fortuna Bay.
Card design and all images copyright 2015: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
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Hard to Believe: An End to the Best…
I have been to the Southern Ocean five times, the last four with Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris (CES). It is common knowledge that they offer the finest ship-based photographic expeditions to South Georgia and the Falklands. Nobody else is close. They will make landings in tough conditions. Always. Their experienced staff and crew of zodiac drivers will get you on and off safely. You will enjoy so much time on a given landing that you will often want to head back to the ship early! Sorry, not me (though I did go back to the ship an hour early on our 2015 St. Andrews Bay landing. I quit after only 12 1/2 hours to go back to the ship on the 5pm zodiac when I could have stayed till 6pm…. My excuse? I could not raise my lens anymore.)
I learned recently that their October 22-November 6 (on the Sea Spirit) will be their last trip down to wildlife heaven on earth. Here is what Ted Cheeseman had to say:
The 2016 October/November expedition will be our last to South Georgia. Market changes, regulation changes, and as big of a part of our lives as it has been, we realize this next will indeed be the last.
When I asked him if he was sure that the 2016 trip would be the last, he replied:
To be honest, we have been known to go back on our statement of ‘last trip ever’. But for South Georgia, I don’t see how we could do it in the future. We want to continue but the costs are skyrocketing, regulation is threatening in a way that I think after 2016 may very well make it impossible to have free roaming folks ashore, i.e. possibly guided groups only – no thank you. So though I am loathe to say it, the Oct/Nov 2016 trip will be our last. If we do another before the end of 2018, I’ll see to it that you get free passage aboard. How’s that for a commitment?
BIRDS AS ART and the 2016 Cheesemans’ South Georgia/Falklands Expedition
When I got off the Ortelius at Stanley and told Ted that the just concluded voyage would be my last to the Southern Ocean, I meant it. But once I heard that the 2016 trip would be their last, I realized that I had to make the trip. As soon as I sign up a single participant for the expedition’s BAA group, I will be sending my deposit check.
If you would like to join me on what will be an amazing trip to a wondrous place, please shoot me an e-mail with the words “Cheesemans’ Last South Georgia Expedition” cut and pasted into the Subject Line.
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All of the images on this card were created in the Falklands on the 2014 Cheesemans’ Southern Oceans Expedition. From top left clockwise to center: Black-browed Albatross tending chick, Steeple Jason Island; Black-browed Albatross courting pair, New Island; the Black-browed Albatross colony at Steeple Jason Island; Black-browed Albatross landing, New Island; King Cormorant head portrait, New Island; hull detail/derelict minesweeper, New Island; Rockhopper Penguin head portrait in bright sun, New Island; Striated Caracara, Steeple Jason Island; Magellanic Snipe chick, Sea Lion Island.
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An Expedition Overview
Experience the vibrant spring of South Georgia, a true Antarctic wildlife paradise. Observe and photograph wildlife behaviors seldom seen beneath the towering, snow blanketed mountains (see image below) that dominate the island’s landscape. Southern Elephant Seal bulls fight for breeding rights while females nurse young, overlook vast colonies of loafing King Penguins, watch Macaroni Penguins cavort in the snow, photograph handsome Gray-headed Albatrosses in flight or attending to their cliffside nests and awkward Wandering Albatrosses attempting first flight. The itinerary includes six landing days on South Georgia and three landing days in the Falklands to observe too cute Rockhopper Penguins, Magellanic Penguins standing watch at their nesting burrows, and more Black-browed Albatrosses than you could ever imagine. To commemorate Shackleton’s famous self-rescue crossing South Georgia, CES also offers an optional trek retracing his steps. With Cheesemans’ twenty years of experience in the Antarctic region, they commit to an in-depth exploration of one of the densest wildlife spectacles found anywhere in the world, and with only 100 passengers, they routinely give you the opportunity to completely immerse yourself on each landing.
Two of the scheduled Falklands landings, New Island and especially Steeple Jason Island, rival the best locations on South Georgia. Those will likely include Salisbury Plain, St. Andrews Bay, Elsehul, Fortuna Bay, and either Cooper Island or Hercules Bay (for Macaroni Penguins).
Why Sign Up Through BIRDS AS ART?
If you have been thinking and dreaming of finally visiting South Georgia, this is the trip for you. There will likely never be another trip like this as the best outfit in the Southern Oceans business will not be returning after 2016…. Quit dreaming and act now. Though I will not be an expedition staff member on this trip, those who have traveled with me know that I cannot help but teach. And I will be doing a introductory photography program for the entire ship on our crossing to South Georgia. All who sign up via BAA will receive a free copy the new Southern Ocean Photography Guide (a $100 value) that I am currently working on. It will include pre-trip gear and clothing recommendations and a ton of info that you will find to be invaluable.
I will hold informal pre-landing briefings aboard ship so that when you land you know exactly what to expect and where to go. I will be available on the ship to review your images, answer your questions, and conduct informal over-the shoulder Photoshop sessions. And best of all, everyone who signs up under the auspices of BAA are invited to tag along with me on the landings where I will be glad to offer invaluable in-the-field advice. And the same goes for the shipboard birds in flight and marine mammal photographic sessions.
Again, if you would like to join me on what will truly be a once in a lifetime opportunity to a wondrous place, please shoot me an e-mail with the words “Cheesemans’ Last South Georgia Expedition,” cut and pasted into the Subject Line.
You can learn more about the trip here. If you sign up on your own be sure to mention that you would like to be part of the BAA Group. I’d be glad to answer any and all question via e-mail or by phone at 863-692-0906.
Important Notes
#1: If you fail to e-mail me as noted directly above, and register directly with CES you MUST let them know that you would like to be part of the BIRDS AS ART group.
#2: Joining the BIRDS AS ART group as above will not cost you one penny.
The Sea Spirit
The Sea Spirit is an “all suite” luxury vessel built for sailing in ice with an ice-strengthened hull and retractable fin stabilizers, the latter deliver smooth sailing to make your polar expedition enjoyable and safe. All cabins have a private, en-suite bathroom, a lounge area, and ample storage. The cabins have unobstructed exterior views via portholes, picture windows, or a private balcony. The ship is outfitted with a presentation room for on-board lectures as well as a gym, library, game room, lounge, bar with bartender, and dining lounge with chef-prepared meals. The Sea Spirit provides warm and comfortable accommodation for 100 passengers, the expedition staff, and the ship’s crew. The Sea Spirit carries a fleet of ten Zodiacs. The Zodiac loading area, located at the rear of the ship, provides a safe and relatively sheltered place from which to embark on our adventures.
Best of all, the Sea Spirit does 14 knots, a huge step above the other ships that I have been on; each crawled along at 11 knots…
Going Light
On recent trips I found myself going with shorter lenses and lighter gear than on my previous Southern Ocean Expedition. It is completely conceivable that you could do the entire trip with either the new Canon EF 100-400mm L IS II lens or a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens with both teleconverters. Nikon folks could go with the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm G ED VR lens or the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens and the Nikon TC-14E II 1.4x Teleconverter for D-AF-S & AF-I lenses ONLY. We do not recommend the Nikon 2X TCE.
A good crop factor camera body like the Canon EOS-7D Mark II makes makes life (and landings!) much easier.
Cheesemans’ Well Deserved Kudos
I know from personal experience that if you are a photographer who is going to invest in Southern Ocean voyage, you will want to put your money on Cheesemans’. No other tour company goes as far out of their way to ensure making every possible safe landing. And no other tour company will have you spending more time on land. Michael Viljeon from South Africa was aboard the Ortelius on a Southern Oceans voyage that preceded the Cheesemans’ trip that we were both on. As we headed back to Ushuaia, he said, “The folks that ran that first trip were pathetic. Too rough. No landing today. Surf too high today. No landing. Wind wrong direction. No landing. Cheesemans’ routinely and safely gets folks on land in conditions where the leaders of other tour companies do not even bother getting out of their bunks.”
Here, from the” Way to Go CES! (Cheeseman’s Ecology Safaris)” blog post here, is one of my favorite Cheesemans’ stories:
The landing at Bailey Head, Antarctica, was especially rewarding to me as I had been sitting in a zodiac 100 yards off shore on my 2007 trip when the zodiac in front of mine swamped and the captain of the ship called off the landing…. Early that day it looked as if my weather Karma might not be working. Ted’s “Good morning shipmates” was followed by the news that we would not be able to land at Bailey Head that morning as the swell was too big. The beach there is sloped tremendously and the sea strives to pull the zodiacs back into the ocean before folks have gotten off with their gear. Tom Murphy had said to me several days before, “We will get you on the beach at Bailey Head.” Ted concluded his morning greetings by saying, “We are sending out a scout team to see if landing is possible.”
After breakfast I was thrilled to hear Ted’s voice again on the PA, “We will be landing at 8am.” Afterwards folks noted that it was the calmest landing ever at this amazingly beautiful spot. My good weather Karma (courtesy of late-wife Elaine) had come through one last time. Along with St. Andrews Bay, it was one of my two favorite super-great once-in-a-lifetime days of the trip. And we even got to enjoy three additional hours at Hannah Point, Antarctica before calling it a wrap and heading for the feared Drake Passage. All thanks to Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris.
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This image was created at St. Andrews Bay, South Georgia, with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 100mm) and the rugged Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/10 in Manual mode. AWB.
Center AF point/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the front row of penguins and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.
King Penguin colony in early morning light
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Hard to Believe Beauty…
When we landed at St. Andrews Bay just after 4am on November 9, 2015 the skies were clear and blue. I quickly realized that with the sun offshore it would be difficult to impossible to photograph the King Penguin colony while on shore. I found Ted and asked him if it would be possible to do a zodiac cruise in front of the colony so that we could get on sun angle. He said that there was a good chance that he could make that happen. I rounded up all the BAA group folks that I could and advised them on what to bring. Five minutes later six of us climbed back into a zodiac and enjoyed the time of our lives. Assistant expedition leader Hugh Rose did an excellent job at the helm.
Photographing the colony in early morning light from a zodiac was a huge challenge in part because of the extreme contrast and in part because a zodiac is always rocking gently even in calm water. After an hour we were sated and returned to shore just as it began to cloud up; I pray for clouds both in the Southern Ocean and on my Galapagos trips. Thanks to my idea dozens of other guests got to do zodiac cruising in front of the vast assemblage of King Penguins throughout the long day. But only the BAA group got to enjoy the incredible early morning light. Thanks to Ted Cheeseman for being open to my suggestion and for making it happen.
If you would like to join us on the OCT/NOV 2016 expedition to South Georgia and the Falklands, please shoot me an e-mail with the words “Cheesemans’ Last South Georgia Expedition” cut and pasted into the Subject Line. But much better to call CES directly as I will be offline until April 28 or 29th.
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 🙂
December 4th, 2015 What’s Up?
Actually me, at 3am on Thursday. My 6:05am flight to Houston was a piece of cake. My flight to Orlando was delayed for an hour (maintenance) and then for another hour when Southwest realized that our new aircraft had too much fuel loaded. I was on the ground at MCO at about 3:30 and was met by my right hand man, Jim Litzenburg. With lots of rain, traffic, and shopping stops on the way home we did not make it to ILE until nearly 7pm.
The Bosque Site Guide
If you can’t make or afford a Bosque IPT, or if the holidays preclude your joining one, be sure to get yourself a copy of my Bosque Site Guide. All BAA Site Guides are designed so that with a bit of study you can show up at a great place and know exactly where to be at what time on what wind and in what lighting conditions. And on what wind. With a Site Guide on your laptop you will feel like a 22-year veteran on your first visit. Site Guides are the next best thing to being on an IPT. If you plan on visiting Bosque it would be foolish to make the trip without having this guide in hand. Why spend money on gear and travel and then spend days stumbling around in the wrong spot? If you have visited previously, and are still unsure of where you should be at this time of day with that wind, this guide will prove invaluable to you as well. Even folks visiting Bosque for the tenth time will learn a ton as I share my secrets and hold nothing back….
In the next week or so, I will be working on a 2015 Bosque Current Conditions Guide; it will be send for free to all who have previously purchased the Bosque Site Guide and will also be available as a separate, stand-alone purchase.
Bosque Site Guide Kudos
By e-mail from Paul Shilling
After planning my first trip to Bosque earlier this year, I bought your excellent Bosque site guide. Read through it a couple of times. It is well worth the $50. It helped me get a good feel for the refuge before arriving. Many thanks. I was there last week for a morning and an afternoon. After disappointingly finding almost no birds before and just after sunrise at your suggested location, I enjoyed the cranes flying out at the spot you mention in the guide. Then I went straight to the farm fields in the north loop; they did not disappoint. Your guide led me to each of these spots. Without your guide would have had to guess at my next move. Best, Paul
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.
After a month long lull, there have been more than a few sales while I was at Bosque:
Alan and Sara Levine sold several items.
Two Canon 500mm f/4L IS lenses (two) were sold by Pat & Stokes Fishburne for $3799 each in late November, 2015.
A Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Camera Body was sold by Alice Garland for $1350 in mid-November, 2015.
And the sale of Brent Bridges’s 600 II is pending.
New Listing
Canon 400mm f/5.6L Lens
David Bell is offering a used Canon 400mm f/5.6L lens in excellent condition for only $699, another lowest-ever BAA price. The sale includes both caps, the tough fabric case, the tripod collar, the original box, and insured ground shipping via UPS ground. Payment by money order, or by Paypal plus 3% = $719.97. Please contact David by e-mail or by phone at 416 671 8106. (Eastern time zone.)
I put my then beloved “toy lens” on the map more than 20 years ago by pioneering its use for photographing birds in flight. Wow, did I love that lens along with the Canon A2 camera body and Fuji Velvia pushed one stop to ISO 100! Though I sold mine a few years back it is still a great lens for flight for those who do not depend on IS and it makes a great starter lens as well. Put it on a tripod with the 1.4X III TC, a 7D II, and the Mongoose M3.6 and you will enjoy 896mm of effective reach. This lens is priced to sell quickly. artie
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This image was created on the morning of Day 3 of the second 2015 Bosque IPT with the Induro tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS 5DS R. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/5.6 in Tv mode. Color temperature: AWB.
Center AF point//AI Servo Surround (should have been Expand…)/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure; the active AF point was on the crane’s back just in front of the rear wing, on the same plane as the bird’s face. This optimized image is a very small crop: 135.8 mbs out of the original 144mb size of the converted TIF file. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Sandhill Crane in flight/wings up
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The EOS 5DS R is no good for photographing birds in flight! Or is it?
I have seen more than a few items from the internet experts stating that the EOS 5DS R is not a good choice for photographing birds because of its relatively slow frame rate of 5 frames per second and because of its allegedly inferior frame rate. As you might expect, I beg to differ. In fact, the slower frame rate–and I know that this might seem strange to many folks–actually allows me to more easily keep a flying subject framed properly than when working with the 1D X and its blazing 12 frames per second. Just so you know: whatever the frame rate getting a perfect wings up (as here) or wings down pose is somewhat a matter of luck. Of course, the more sharp frames that you make when the bird is “in the zone,” the greater your chances of coming up with a pleasing flight pose.
What is “in the zone” for flight photography? In the zone means that the bird is flying towards you and towards the light and fills more than half the frame. When the bird’s tail or feet are the closest thing to you quit pushing the shutter button; you are not impressing anyone 🙂
Is every flight image sharp on the eye? Of course not. My percentage of very sharp on the eye images is pretty much the same as with the 1D X or the 7D II. When an image is not sharp I do not look at my gear, I look in the mirror….
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This is an unsharpened 100% crop of the cranes’s head.
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A 100% Crop
Again I am quite impressed by a 5DS R 100% crop. On the second Bosque IPT, Nikon shooter Warren Hatch was amazed by the feather detail about the face as compared to a similar image made with his 600mm lens. I am not sure what the grey fuzz on the forehead is but I cloned it out in the optimized image file. Any clues? Note that 1/800 sec. is a bit less then ideal for flight photography; many folks recommend at least 1/1600 sec.
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This is a DPP 4 screen capture for today’s featured image.
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The DPP 4 Screen Capture
One of the nice things about DPP 4 is that the current version supports 5DS R RAW files. Note the placement of the selected AF point that is illuminated in red. Note that I set the color temperature slider to K6000.
If you have any idea why the RGB numbers for the WHITEs on the neck show as R=252, G=226, B=144 please leave a comment.
The Image Optimization
After converting this image in DPP I brought it into Photoshop and did lots. First I applied a layer of NIK Color EFEX Pro White Neutralizer to the whole image; this turned the sickly cyan-blue sky to a perfect light blue. Then I applied a layer of my NIK 50/50 Detail Extractor/Tonal Contrast recipe to the bird only (after making the selection with the Quick Selection Tool) and reduced the opacity of the layer to 33%. Next I worked on the whites of the neck after selecting those in the same manner. I used Selective Color to take some BLACK out of the WHITEs and then reduced the RED saturation considerably. That left me with much cleaner looking WHITEs. Then I reduced the RED saturation for the whole image.
To eliminate the BLUE cast to the shadowed area of the far wing I selected that and then reduced the saturation of both the BLUEs and the CYANS.
Next came some Eye Doctor work. I painted a Quick Mask of the pupil and darkened it by pulling the curve down (Control M). Next I selected the whole face, bill, and neck with the Quick Selection Tool and applied a Contrast Mask (Unsharp Mask at 15/65/0). This sharpened up the face a bit and rendered the white neck a bit brighter.
Volia. Even outstanding RAW files can be improved in Photoshop.
Digital Basics
Are you tired of making your images look worse in Photoshop? Everything that I did to optimize today’s image and tons more is covered in detail in my Digital Basics File, an instructional PDF that is sent via e-mail. It includes my complete digital workflow, setting up BreezeBrowser and Downloader Pro, dozens of great Photoshop tips, the use of Contrast Masks, several different ways of expanding canvas, all of my time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts, the basics of Quick Masking, Layer Masking, and NIK Color Efex Pro, my killer image clean-up techniques, Digital Eye Doctor, creating time-saving actions, and lots more.
APTATS I & II
Learn the details of advanced Quick Masking techniques in APTATS I. Learn Advanced Layer Masking Techniques in APTATS I. Mention this blog post and apply a $5 discount to either with phone orders only. Buy both APTATS I and APTATS II and we will be glad to apply at $15 discount with phone orders only. Please call Jim or Jennifer weekdays at 863-221-2372 to take advantage of this offer. I am pretty sure that we have extended that offer to the BAA Online Store as well… No time to check right now. 🙂
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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.
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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 as well including the EOS-7D and the EOS-1D Mark IV. DPP is fast and produces extremely accurate colors.
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Typos
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