Photo Theme: Mark II images from Lake Martin, La

 

 

 

 

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron with crawfish, Lake Martin, La 

Image copyright 2004 Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

 

Canon EOS 1D Mark II digital camera with 500mm f/4 L IS lens and 1.4X II TC.    

ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6.

 

Patti made a huge pot of delicious crawfish etouffe for us on my last night.  The next morning we came across several yellow-crowneds catching one crawfish after another...  I manually selected a left upper sensor so that I could (using AI SERVO AF) focus accurately on the back of the bird's neck. 

 

BON VOYAGE

 

I fly to Anchorage early this Thursday morning.  I will be in Alaska for 26 days.  I will be back in the office during the first week of July.  I will, therefore, be unable to answer photo-related questions until that time.  Jim and Jennifer will be here to help fill your mail-order needs.  First, I am leading a spectacular boat trip for Alaska Photo Tours.  With luck, we will get to photograph grizzly bears with cubs and Bald Eagle chicks in the nest...  We will be living on a boat for five days eating only halibut and king crab...  Next is the Nome IPT, and that will be followed up by 8 days photographing Barrow.  I am blessed.  

 

 

Roseate Spoonbill chicks, Lake Martin, La 

Image copyright 2004 Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

 

Canon EOS 1D Mark II digital camera with 500mm f/4 L IS lens and 1.4X II TC.    

ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/125 sec. at f/8.

Fill flash at -1 1/3 stops with Better Beamer

 

Even though the spoonbill chicks were large, they were still cute. 

 

 

MY LOUISIANA TRIP

 

I first met Patti Ardoin at a BIRDS AS ART Full Day Seminar in Baton Rouge, La.  Two years later we met again under similar circumstances.  Patti helped me heal two damaged shoulders and when her husband Wes, an orthodontist, attended the Saturday lecture he was hooked on nature photography.  Wes and Patti are now IPT veterans and are joining for both the bear/boat trip and the Nome IPT.  Last week, on the spur of the moment, I flew to Lafayette, La and spent five wonderful days photographing with the Ardoins.  I did make some nice images of Roseate Spoonbill chicks, but they were all fairly large and many of the nests and young had been destroyed by several weeks of heavy rain.   Wes and Patti treated me like royalty and I thank them for that, and for their friendship.  Every time we are together, Wes cracks me up by telling folks, "We made great pictures before we met Artie..."  He finishes up by explaining, "Then, we found out that they were not as great as we thought." 

 

The spoonbill rookery is only twenty minutes from the Ardoin's home; next year I hope to schedule two IPTS to Lake Martin, one in March or very early April to photograph the spoonbills in bright breeding plumage courting and building nests, and another later on to try and make some images of the younger chicks.  If you are interested in joining me next year at Lake Martin for either or both IPTs, please let us know via e-mail.  (You will need a 500 or 600 mm lens plus the 2X TCs to make images of the baby spoonbills.)

 

Here is one of Patti's images from this year:

 

 

Image Copyright 2004 Patti Ardoin

 

WHAT TO BUY? BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY GEAR BAGS...

 

We are often asked, what lenses should I buy for bird photography.  Here are three suggested Canon Gear Bags for Bird Photography (with options) .  Folks interested in landscape photography will wish to add a wide angle zoom lens.  Items in olive can be purchased from BIRDS AS ART.

 

ARTHUR MORRIS/BIRDS AS ART GEAR BAG:

 

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS lens w/JRF lens cover & Wimberley P-50 plate

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS lens (two) w/JRF lens covers & Wimberley P-40 plates

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L lens w/Wimberly P-20 plate

Canon EF 100-400mm L IS zoom lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate

Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate

Canon EF 180mm f/3.5 Macro Lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS zoom lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate

Canon 28-135mm IS zoom lens

 

Canon EOS 1Ds digital camera body w/Really Right Stuff camera body plate

Canon EOS 1D Mark II digital camera body (two)

Canon EOS 10D digital camera body

 

Canon EF 1.4X II teleconverter (two)

Canon EF 2X II teleconverter (two)

Canon EF 12mm extension tube

Canon EF 25mm extension tube (two)

 

Canon 550 EX flash (two)

Canon Macro Twin light

Quantum Turbo Z (two)

Quantum Turbo Z to 550 EX cord (two)

Canon Off-shoe Remote Cord 2 (two)

Better Beamer FX-2

 

Gitzo Carbon Fiber 1548 tripod

Gitzo Carbon Fiber 1325 tripod (two)

Wimberley head with clamp (three)

Linhoff Prohpy III ballhead w/Wimberley C-10 clamp

Mongoose M-262 Tripod Head

Wimberley Head Flash Bracket

Wimberley Arca-Swiss Flash Bracket

 

 

Black-crowned Night-Heron hunting, Lake Martin, La 

Image copyright 2004 Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

 

Canon EOS 1D Mark II digital camera with 600mm f/4 L IS lens.     

ISO 250. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/200 sec. at f/5.6.

 

There were several tame Black-crowned Night-Herons for us to photograph.  The two breeding plumes blown forward by the wind add interest to this image.

 

 

Serious Bird Photographer GEAR BAG

 

Choose one of two:

 

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS lens (highly recommended for most folks) or Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS lens (for the young and strong...) either w/JRF lens cover

 

Choose one or more:

 

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate (best flight photography lens)

Canon EF 100-400mm L IS zoom lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate (most versatile---great for general photography).

Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate (great for flowers, big bugs, and working in a kayak; hand-holdable if excellent sharpness techniques are employed).  

 

Canon 28-135mm IS zoom lens

 

Canon EOS 1D Mark II digital camera body (two) or one Mark II with a Canon EOS 10D as back-up

 

Canon EF 1.4X II teleconverter

Canon EF 2X II teleconverter

Canon EF 12mm extension tube

Canon EF 25mm extension tube 

 

Canon 550 EX flash (two)

Quantum Turbo Z

Quantum Turbo Z to 550 EX cord (two)

Canon Off-shoe Remote Cord 2 (two)

Better Beamer FX-2

Wimberley Arca-Swiss Flash Bracket

 

Gitzo Carbon Fiber 1325 tripod (or Gitzo Carbon Fiber 1548 tripod--optional for 600mm f.4L IS lens)

Wimberley head with clamp

Linhoff Prophy II ballhead w/Wimberley C-10 clamp

Canon 550 EX flash

Better Beamer FX-2

 

 

Mississippi Kite, Atchafalaya Basin, La 

Image copyright 2004 Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

 

Canon EOS 1D Mark II digital camera with 600mm f/4 L IS lens and the 2X II TC.    

ISO 250. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/11 w/high speed synch flash.

Fill flash at -1 stops with Better Beamer 

 

I treated Patti to a wonderful swamp-boat tour (e-mail Kim Voorhies at boisdchene@aol.com for info).  We photographed Bald Eagle, Mississippi Kite, nesting Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. 

Image Stabilization is a huge plus when working from a rocking boat. 

 

 

Getting Started Bird Photographer GEAR BAG

 

Choose one of the following three: 

 

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate (if you want to do birds in flight and realize the importance of working on a tripod especially when using the 1.4X teleconverter).

Canon EF 100-400mm L IS zoom lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate (most versatile, ideal for those who like general photography also, hand-holdable if excellent sharpness techniques are employed).  

Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate (close-focus makes this ideal for flowers, big bugs, and kayak work, hand-holdable if excellent sharpness techniques are employed, the only lens in its class that offers AF with the 10D and the 1.4X teleconverter).  

 

For more information on the intermediate telephoto lenses listed above see: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn117.htm

 

Getting Started photographers with money to spend might also consider either of the following as their prime lenses:

 

Canon EF 400mm f/4 IS DOE lens w/Wimberley P-20 plate (great for folks with limited physical capabilities)

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS lens w/JRF lens cover & Wimberley P-20 plate

 

Canon 28-135mm IS zoom lens

 

Canon EOS 10D digital camera body

 

Canon 550 EX flash

Better Beamer FX-2

 

Canon EF 1.4X II teleconverter

Canon EF 25mm extension tube 

 

Gitzo Carbon Fiber 1325 tripod

Mongoose M-262 tripod head

 

 

 

 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron chicks in the nest, Atchafalaya Basin, La 

Image copyright 2004 Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

 

Canon EOS 1D Mark II digital camera 28-135mm IS zoom lens (handheld) at 135mm.    

ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/50 sec. at f/9.

 

More from the swamp-boat tour.  To make this image, I stood on the bow rail of the small boat, held onto the nest-tree with my left arm (which was crossed in front of my body), and rested the camera on that same left arm for support, all the while trying not to fall into the drink.  The three chicks were totally unconcerned with my antics...

 

 

CONVERTING MARK II RAW IMAGES WITH THE CANON DIGITAL PHOTO PROFESSIONAL (DPP) SOFTWARE

 

When I first started converting Mark II raw files with the Adobe Converter Raw patch for Photoshop CS, I was happy with the results.  With some images, however, I noted that small areas of the image became severely degraded, often exhibiting patches of detail-less or posterized pixels.  Greg Downing stated that he had encountered similar problems especially when working on the darker portions of an image.  As a result of these problems, I began doing my conversions with the Canon Digital Professional Software (the black CD that came with your Mark II). Downloading the program is straightforward (at least with Windows XP Home). I still do all of my editing in Breezebrowser, but do the conversions in DPP.   I have been thrilled with the results because there is no degradation of the image during the optimization process and because DPP offers some great white balance options.  Tips and detailed instructions on converting Mark II images with DPP are included in the updated Digital Basics File (see same below).

 

THE DIGITAL BASICS PDF FILE/NEW UPDATE NOW AVAILABLE

 

I have now completed the third draft of the Digital Basics file (6,378 words).  (It was sent to the list yesterday; if you have ordered previously and did not receive your copy, please contact us via e-mail as some ISPs block attachments.  The 4993 additional words cover several new topics.  The DB File now includes a concise outline of our digital workflow and detailed instructions for making Shadow/Highlight adjustments in Photoshop CS and a clear explanation of H/Sh which is CS's most valuable improvement (all thanks Ellen Anon, my very own "Tim Grey!")  Also included are tips and detailed instructions on converting Mark II images with Canon's Digital Photo Professional software. The text of the DB File will become a chapter in "The Art of Bird Photography II."  For new readers here, other covered topics include Understanding Histograms (if you own a digital camera and do not know how to read a histogram and adjust your exposure to create the ideal histogram, you are missing out on digital's greatest benefit...  Many of the digital photographers that I run into on IPTs have no clue as to interpret a histogram, at least until they leave!), sections on Breezebrowser and on Converting Raw Images,   A Quickie Levels/Color Balance Trick (from Lewis Kemper as relayed by Ellen Anon), and detailed instructions on how to use Actions and Batch Processing to save hours and hours of work.  (Heck, before I learned to use Batch Processing it took me 80 hours to prepare my first Digital Slide program.  Now I can do the whole thing in less than an hour thanks to Actions and Batches.

 

One thing that I have never mentioned before is that although there are lots of great Photoshop books, most folks getting started in digital photography are simply overwhelmed when they try to read and learn from these books; they cover too many complex techniques.  The Digital Basics File covers only the basics, and it covers them in a clear, concise, easy-to-read, -follow and -understand style.  Even the most computer-fearful person just beginning digital photography will be up and running in short order after working their way through the DBF...  We have had one single complaint stating that at $20, the DBF is too expensive, but that was from someone who had not ordered it!

 

Thanks to all who have ordered so far; somewhat astonishingly, we now have 449 happy DBF customers.    Below are some of the comments that we have received.

 

From Joyce Egyes:

 

Although many have tried to explain the histogram to me, not one has explained it in writing with such clarity and detail as you have, and your examples made things even easier to understand!  

 

From Kurt Nelson:

 

I have finished reading the first draft of the Digital Basics PDF that will become part of your new book.  It is quickly becoming an important resource for me.

 

From Ken Maher:

 

I am most grateful for the Photoshop instructions, as I have never had time to work through the more cumbersome instructions or tutorials I have seen.  Your instructions are easy to read and follow and are exactly what I need!  

 

From Alfred Forns:

 

Just got your digital primer and it is GREAT.   It is a must for a anyone starting out  and even for more experienced Photoshop users.

 

From John Sturtevant:

 

 I have done a lot of photoshop in the last two or three years, but still found the PDF to contain new information that I can immediately put to good use.  Well worth the $20.00.