BIRDS AS ART
NOTES
Visit:
www.birdsasart.com
CHARLOTTE HARBOR KAYAK & WILDLIFE FESTIVAL APPEARANCE
SPOONBILLS
GUARANTEED/JAMES SHADLE
MICROSOFT VISTA WARNING
SELECTED
IPT UPDATES
Contact us
by phone at 863-692-0906 (Eastern Time Zone) or by e-mail at
birdsasart@att.net or
birdsasart@verizon.net. The att
e-mail
address is
best from overseas.
You can
use the Paypal links on the web site to order anything. Just type in the item(s)
and the amount. If using your own Paypal account, please send to either of the
e-mail addresses above.
Photographic
theme:
images created on my second James Shadle boat-trip, this one on the morning of
Wednesday, March 21, 2007. I can’t help it; I am addicted to spoonbills.
Roseate Spoonbill,
Tampa Bay, FL
Image copyright 2007:
Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
Canon 100-400mm IS L Zoom lens (handheld at
200mm) with the EOS 1D Mark IIN.
Evaluative Metering +2/3 stop: 1/1600 sec. at
f/5. AI Servo AF with
45-point AFPS.
At about 10:30 am we were packing up to
leave when suddenly there were 200 spoonbills in the air. Seeing that the birds
directly above us were backlit with the light coming through their pink wings, I
grabbed the 1-4 and went to work. This was the image that I had visualized.
With birds overhead the key is to make the image when they are gliding, not when
they are flapping; in these situations, AFPS performs superbly.
I will be doing
four programs this Saturday, March 24, 2007. My appearance is being generously
sponsored by Canon USA. I will have a selection of books (including ABP II) and
accessories for sale. If you are attending and have a specific request, please
let me know via e-mail. The four programs represent nearly a full Seminar day
and they are all free! Here is the schedule:
10:00am-11:00am **********Featured Presentation**********
Putting Art in
Your Nature Photography
11:15am-12:00pm **********Featured Presentation**********
Getting Close to
Free and Wild Subjects
1:00pm-2:15pm **********Featured Presentation**********
BIRDS AS ART
On The Road
2:30pm-4:00
pm **********Featured Presentation**********
The Digital
Workflow w/Arthur Morris
The festival location is
Port Charlotte Beach Park,
a county facility that is maintained and operated by the
Charlotte County
Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Resources Department. The park consists of white
sand beaches, a boardwalk, fishing pier, boat ramp, swimming pool, tennis
courts, picnic pavilions, and a recreation building with over 4,000 square feet
of flexible meeting space, and ample parking.
Directions:
Coming from the
North: Take I-75 south to Exit 179 (Toledo Blade Rd.). Go west on Toledo Blade
and turn left (south) onto US 41 (Tamiami Trail). Continue south approximately 5
miles until you reach Harbor Blvd. and turn right. Park is located at 4500
Harbor Blvd.
Coming from the South: Take I-75 north to Exit 170 (Kings Highway). Go west on
Kings Highway and turn right (north) on US 41 (Tamiami Trail). Continue north
until you reach Harbor Blvd. and turn left. Park is located at 4500 Harbor Blvd.
Organization's website:
http://www.charlotteharbortravel.com/
Event
website:
http://charlotteharbortravel.com/cms/index.php?id=155
Number expected to attend:
1,500/day to the event/150-200
at my programs
Roseate Spoonbill
against mangroves, Tampa Bay, FL
Image copyright 2007:
Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
Canon 600mm f/4 L IS lens with the 1.4XII TC
and the EOS 1Ds Mark II.
ISO 400. To determine the correct exposure
for the bird, I took a meter reading off the blue sky just above the mangroves
right down the sun angle and added 2/3 stop: 1/2000 sec. at f/8. AI Servo AF
with central sensor.
This bird took off right at us. Working in
manual mode is imperative when the background can change rapidly. At James
Shadle’s spot, there can be a sky background one second and a dark mangrove
background the next. If you work in Av Mode in situations like this, it would
be impossible set the exposure compensation quickly or accurately. The right
compensation here would have been close to -2 stops. (This image was cropped a
bit from the rear and the bottom.)
Below is the histogram for the image above:
I do not know for sure what the three spikes
represent and I do not care. Note that there are a few underexposed dark pixels
(the darks are slightly pegged on the left) but no overexposed white pixels
(there is no data climbing up the right-hand/highlight axis). I have exposed to
the right without clipping any of the bright whites; in short, it is a perfect
histogram. You can learn lots more about histograms (and lots more) in ABP II:
http://www.birdsasart.com/ABPII.htm
MICROSOFT VISTA
WARNING
Those using
VISTA, Microsoft’s new operating system, should note this warning (excerpt
below) which is posted on the Canon web site:
"...We have
discovered that the original image data of TIFF (RAW) images shot with an EOS-1D
or EOS-1Ds Digital SLR Camera, and rotated or edited using Windows Explorer or
Windows Gallery on a computer running Windows Vista, will disappear from the
computer's memory..."
Here' the link:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=PgComSmModDisplayAct&keycode=2112&fcategoryid=215&modelid=7474
It would seem
that folks not using Windows Explorer or Windows Gallery should be fine, with
the key words being “It would seem…) As most of you know, if you using a PC and
you are not using Breezebrowser, then you are nuts:
http://www.birdsasart.com/breezebrowser.htm
Roseate
Spoonbill/top shot, Tampa Bay, FL
Image copyright 2007:
Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
Canon 600mm f/4 L IS lens with the 1.4XII TC
and the EOS 1Ds Mark II.
ISO 400. Manual mode: 1/1600 sec. at f/8.
Exposure verified by histogram check. AI
Servo AF with central sensor.
I love images that show the dorsal surfaces
of the wings. I will be trying for some more this Sunday morning.
SPOONBILLS
GUARANTEED/JAMES SHADLE
If you live near
or will be visiting Tampa in the next six weeks and would like to make some
great Roseate Spoonbill images, contact James Shadle on his cell phone
at 813-363-2854 or via e-mail at
James@wildflorida.net. Jim takes out individuals or small groups by boat on
weekends and on selected weekdays. The flight photography opportunities (as you
can see by the accompanying images) are astounding.
Brown Pelican with
stick for nest, Spoonbill, Tampa Bay, FL
Image copyright 2007:
Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
Canon 600mm f/4 L IS lens with the 1.4XII TC
and the EOS 1Ds Mark II.
ISO 400. Manual Mode: 1/1600 sec. at f/8. AI
Servo AF with central sensor.
This was a most serendipitous capture. I
was tracking another pelican but it disappeared behind the mangroves when
suddenly this bird appeared in the viewfinder. So I pushed the shutter button.
There are lots of pelicans carrying nesting material.
SELECTED IPT
UPDATES
White Ibis, breeding
plumage, Tampa Bay, FL
Image copyright 2007:
Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
Canon 600mm f/4 L IS lens with the 1.4XII TC
and the EOS 1Ds Mark II.
ISO 320. Manual Mode: 1/2000 sec. at f/8. AI
Servo AF with central sensor.
There are hundreds of White Ibises flying
around Tampa Bay and many of them are in mega-breeding plumage.
Best and love and great picture-making to
all,