MORE ON THE
DIGITAL BASICS PDF
BREEZEBROWSER AND
PHOTOSHOP CS
Photo theme:
images made on my
recent Southern
California trip.
King Vulture
(captive), LA
Zoo.
Image
copyright
2003 Arthur
Morris/BIRDS
AS ART
Canon 500mm
f/4 L IS
lens with
1.4X II TC,
25mm
extension
tube, and
EOS 1Ds
camera.
ISO 250.
Evaluative
metering-2/3
stop: 1/250
at f/18.
Fill flash
at -2/3
stop.
The LA
Zoo day was a
fun gig,
especially
with great
subjects to
choose from.
Thanks to
Delkin and
Canon USA for
having me, and
to Mark Comon
of Paul's
Photo who put
the whole
thing
together.
We got down
low, and had
the keeper
place the bird
in a spot
where the
background was
quite a ways
back, thus the
soft o-o-f
background
even at f/18.
GO FIGURE...
No
Bulletins for
nearly a month,
and then two in
two days. Such is
the life of a
nature
photographer on
the run.
Consider my
upcoming travel
schedule:
November
21-December 4:
Bosque Del Apache
NWR, New Mexico.
Remember, all are
invited to both
the Thanksgiving
Buffet at the
historic Val Verde
Steak House(11-27
at 12:30), and the
Saturday evening
joint BAA IPT/naturescapes.net
dinner. There
will be
short slide
programs by Ellen
Anon, Greg
Downing, Heather
Forcier, Ned
Harris, and
myself. I am not
sure if
E.J.
Peiker will
bringing some
stuff to show...
December
12-18, 2003: I
have been invited
to photograph on
several private
ranches in the Rio
Grande Valley of
Texas!
December
27-30, 2003: I'll
be in Fort Myers,
FL for the sold
out post X-Mas SW
FLA IPT.
January
6-13, 2004: A week
in San Diego
to teach the JAN
9-11 3-DAY IPT (1
slot left).
January
27-February 13,
2004: Co-lead a
(sold-out) safari
to Tanzania (sold
out) with my pal
Todd Gustafson of
Chicago.
February
24-29, 2004. I'll
be back in Ft.
Myers for the
5-DAY SW FLA IPT
(The 6 openings
are sure to go
quickly as this is
prime time at Ding
Darling...)
In other words, I
will be on the
road for 68 days
between now and
the end of
February and at
home for 33 days
at most... So you
wanna be a full
time professional
photographer?
Brown Pelican at
Sunrise, Bolsa
Chica Lagoon,
Huntington Beach,
CA
Image copyright
2003 Arthur
Morris/BIRDS AS
ART
Canon 500mm
f/4 L IS lens with
1.4X II TC and EOS
1Ds camera body. ISO
250.
Evaluative metering
-1/3 stop: 1/5000 sec.
at f/5.6.
I made
this image on the
first LA
In-The-Field
Workshop... I
alerted the group
to the fact that
if we ran 50 yards
and moved off the
foot-bridge we
might have a
chance of
capturing the
pelicans in the
swath of the
rising sun; I must
have put my tripod
down in exactly
the right spot.
Thanks to Robert
Ludwick for his
Photoshop help
with this image.
I will share his
technique when I
fully understand
what he did!
.....
MORE ON
THE DIGITAL BASICS
PDF FILE
I should have
mentioned that I
know of no other
source where the
info needed to get
started in digital
photography is
presented so simply
and clearly--and in
one place to boot!
(I've always said
that teaching long
division to fourth
graders who are
three years behind
helps one to realize
the importance of
explaining things
clearly in
step-by-step
fashion.) For those
who missed the
information, here is
a revised plug:
I learned the basics
of digital by
helping a friend who
had just bought a
Canon EOS D-60.
Even with this
"head-start," I can
remember being
terribly frustrated
by having to learn
simple tasks
like downloading and
converting
images, managing
files, and
optimizing images
in Photoshop. Along
the way, I learned
by asking those more
knowledgeable than
I: Ellen Anon, Tim
Grey, Juan Pons,
Gregory Georges,
Matt Haggadorn, E.J.
Peiker, and Greg
Downing among
others. I
have now written
more than 30,000
words for "The Art
of Bird Photography
II," which I hope to
self-publish in
about 15 months.
One of the strengths
of the book will be
the chapter on
Digital Basics.
Both the book and
this chapter in
particular, will
detail the way that
I do things. With
digital that means
Canon cameras, a
Toshiba PC,
Breezebrowser, and
Photoshop.
The publication of
the book is at
least 15 months in
the future,
and--considering
my upcoming travel
plans--quite
possibly well more
than that. The
info in the
Digital Basics
file will
save beginning and
even intermediate
digital
photographers,
especially
Canon/PC/Breezebrowser
users, that we are
now offering a PDF
file of the
Digital Basics
chapter for $20
(on-line delivery
via e-mail
only). About the
only other way
that I know to
learn all of this
stuff (and lots
more for sure!) is
to sign up for one
of the digital
workshops offered
by George Lepp and
Tim Grey (http://www.leppinstitute.com/) or
those offered by
Joe and Mary Ann
McDonald (http://www.hoothollow.com/DIGITAL%20Course%20schedule%202004.html).
At present, the
Digital
Basics file covers the
following topics:
The advantages
of digital
photography,
compact flash
cards and
re-formatting,
downloading images
to your laptop,
file management
(including
creating folders
and sub-folders
and, the filing
systems that we
use here at BIRDS
AS ART), viewing
and editing images
in Breezebrowser
(two methods for
editing quickly),
the digital
workflow including
opening
Breezebrowser
images
automatically in
Photoshop,
converting images
from raw to tiff
in Breezebrowser,
cropping and
cloning, Levels
and Hue/Saturation
adjustments in
layers, correcting
a colorcast,
saving images,
sharpening images,
saving for web
use, and sizing
horizontal and
vertical images in
one step.
In addition,
free updated PDF
files will be sent
you as the chapter
is further
developed. To
order your copy,
send a check (made
out to "Arthur
Morris") or,
better yet, send
us a Paypal (visit
the web site and
click on any
Paypal link) for
$20 and specify
"Digital Basics
PDF." You
must include an
e-mail address if
paying by check.
For those just
getting started in
digital
photography this
chapter will save
you months of
struggling; it
will be the best
$20 that you ever
spent. On-line
delivery will be
made within three
days as only
Jennifer is
handling these
orders.
Brown Pelican,
immature. LaJolla, CA
Image copyright
2003 Arthur
Morris/BIRDS AS
ART
Canon
1D with 100-400mm
L IS lens. ISO
250. Evaluative
metering plus two
stops off of the
white sky set
manually: 1/800 at
f/6.3 (No
flash!) I
manually selected
the two focusing
points below the
central sensor in AI
Servo AF mode.)
LaJolla is one of
my favorite spots
on the planet.
(There is just one
spot left on the
San Diego
IPT...) I just
love digital for
flight photography
on white sky
days... I do not
believe that
results like this
are possible with
film as the
underwing detail
here is amazing.
BREEZEBROWSER AND
PHOTOSHOP CS
We ordered our
upgrade to Photoshop
CS today. Photoshop
CS will have the
capability of
converting the Raw
Images from Canon
digital cameras.
Folks are asking,
"Will you continue
to use Breezebrowser?"
From what I know so
far, the answer is a
resounding yes as it
seems that editing
the images will
still be far easier
in BB. Why? I make
my images in Raw
plus J-peg mode
and--to the best of
my knowledge--only
Breezebrowser allows
you to edit your
images as if they
were one. The next
question is, "Will
you convert in
Breezebrowser of in
Photoshop CS?" The
answer at present
is, "I do not
know." I need to
compare the speed
(CS is reputed to be
much faster) and the
image quality--I
have heard mixed
reviews as to the
quality of the CS
conversion although
my understanding is
that two big
time digital
heavy-hitters, Tim
Grey and Michael
Reichmann (luminouslandscape.com),
both are more than
happy with the
quality of the CS
conversions.
FYI, here is an
excerpt from an
e-mail that I
received yesterday
from Chris Breeze:
"To be honest raw
converters like
CaptureOne and
PhotoShop's ACR
and PhotoShop CS
haven't made much
difference to my
sales. They killed
off some of my
competition (e.g
YarcPlus) but
BreezeBrowser has
not only survived
but sales continue
to grow because it
offers much more
than just Canon
raw conversion.
There are many
people using it as
a fast browser,
for batch
renaming, IPTC
editing, contact
sheet printing,
proofs generation
and HTML pages. If
you shoot in
raw+JPEG
BreezeBrowser
treats the images
as a pair so that
you get a fast,
large preview
image and
operations like
rotate, move,
copy, delete, IPTC
editing etc. are
applied to both
images.
I've only had a
few reports back
from users with
PhotoShop CS and
they all say that
PSCS is much
faster than the
Canon raw
conversion
routines used in
BreezeBrowser but
the results aren't
as good. Some
people are
prepared to trade
the drop in
quality for the
faster processing
but still use
BreezeBrowser for
browsing their
images."
Best,
Chris
Best
and great picture
making to all,
Artie
