BIRDS AS ART NOTES
July 8, 2007
Visit: www.birdsasart.com
JUNE 2008 BEAR BOAT TRIP PLUS SEA OTTERS, EAGLE CHICKS IN-THE-NEST, & GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL COLONY/LED BY ROBERT O’TOOLE
MARK III UG UPDATED
APTATS
liveBooks GALLERIES ADDED
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.
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JUNE 2008 BEAR BOAT TRIP PLUS SEA OTTERS, EAGLE CHICKS IN-THE-NEST, & GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL COLONY/LED BY ROBERT O’TOOLE
Important note: this trip will be led by Robert O’Toole. Experienced bear guide Chuck Keim will also be with you. (I will not be on this trip.)
Robert has been on the Bear Boat with Chuck. He is a Photoshop wiz and a superb Photoshop instructor. He figured out how to use Quick Masks to make your Photoshop sessions far more effective, efficient, and rewarding. He is the author of APTATS PDF. Robert is talented and extremely creative. I learn from him often. His vertical image of a Bald Eagle in flight was honored in the 2006 BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition (and I guarantee you that it will not be his last…) He has co-led more BAA IPTs than anyone but me <smile> There will be lots of time for Photoshop lessons and image-sharing around the galley table for those who wish to indulge. (There is electricity on the boat.) I wish I were going!
June 4-10, 2008 (Limit 6; this trip needs 4 to run.) Coastal Brown Bears, bears with cubs, bears clamming, bears courting, bears with foxes, foxes. Bald Eagle chicks in the nest (nearly guaranteed), Glaucous-winged Gull & Black-legged Kittiwake colonies, sea otters. Whales and endangered Steller’s Sea Lions possible. Scenics. Macro instruction; learn how Robert uses a spherical diffuser to create his incredible macro images. You can learn more about Robert here: www.robertotoole.com.
Five full and two half-days of photography (weather permitting). Halibut fishing optional. Fish can be shipped home from Kodiak.
Fly to Kodiak from Anchorage on the early morning of June 4. Pick-up by van and travel to Anton Larsen Bay to be picked up by skiff for transfer to the Coastal Explorer. Weather permitting: photograph the sea otters that afternoon. Cross the Shelikof Strait that afternoon/evening. If it is too windy to cross, will stay the night in Kodiak (anchored), do more of the Sea Otters, and then cross when feasible. (It rarely blows for more than 24 hours but we will be in Alaska…)
Once across the strait, it will be bears and birds. We should see lots of big boars in Hallo Bay and have some good chances to photograph bears clamming at close range. Courtship, copulation, spring cubs, bears feeding on grasses, and Arctic Fox are all likely possibilities. Bald Eagle chicks will be in the same nest nearly every year. (Chuck has several back-up nests.) On the same island as the usually-occupied eagle nests there should be nesting Black Oystercatchers and Glaucous-winged Gulls. Photograph a Black-legged Kittiwake colony from the boat at fairly close range. There will be lots of opps for flight photography.
Registrants MUST be in Anchorage by the afternoon of June 3, but it is highly recommended that you arrive on June 2nd so that you do not risk missing the boat due to a flight delay. (There will be some good stuff around Anchorage to photograph: nesting Mew Gulls and Red-necked Grebes are likely…) If you do come on the 2nd, that hotel room is on you.
Dinner in Anchorage and intro slide program early evening June 3rd.
$5999 includes flights to and from Kodiak, return float plane flight to Kodiak from the boat, a shared hotel room on the night of June 3rd (single supplement: $85 if available), van transport on Kodiak, shared (small) stateroom, and all meals on the boat. If Erik is back again, I can guarantee absolutely amazing food… If not, then just great food. Not included: your flight to and from Anchorage and the tip: $200 total per person tip recommended.
If you would like to join Robert for the experience of a lifetime, please let us know immediately via e-mail that you will be sending a deposit as I expect this trip to fill quickly. If there is anyone on the sold-out September trip who would like to switch to this trip, please e-mail me immediately. (The September trip has a long waiting list.)
Deposit: $1000. (Non-refundable unless the tour fills with 6.)
1st installment: $2500 due Oct. 4, 2007.
Final payment: $2499 due Feb. 4, 2008
MARK III UG UPDATED
After using my Mark III almost exclusively in Iceland for two weeks I learned tons more about my camera. After two full days of writing and crafting, I completed the first update yesterday. The MIII UG now totals 36 pages and 12,812 words. The update includes detailed instructions on setting microadjustments for each lens and each lens/teleconverter combination, a summary chart of the Custom Functions that I use for bird photography, my comments “The Great Mark III Autofocus Controversy,” and instructions on how I am using my Mark III to produce sharp images of birds in flight and in action. A focus-test-chart is—for your convenience—attached to the sending e-mail. Right now we are forwarding the guide to new subscribers as an MS Word file. We will be sending the updated guide in PDF form no later than Tuesday. If you have previously purchased the MIII UG and do not receive your update by Wednesday, please e-mail us (and let us know how you paid) so that we can add name the distribution list.
APATATS-1
The response to Robert O’Toole’s Advanced Photoshop Tips and Techniques Simplified-1 (APTATS-1) PDF (available only on CD) has been overwhelmingly positive.
John Lampkin, who pos
Robert’s Quick Mask techniques will let you work faster and more efficiently. If you regularly use either the Clone tool or the Patch tool, learning to use Quick Masks instead will totally change the way you do things and approach difficult problems. The five topics covered clearly and concisely in APTATS-1 are:
1: Quick Mask Object Removal
2: Eye realignment and Repair
3: Restoring Highlight Detail
4: Clipped Feather Tip Repair
5: Clipped Wing Repair (with Exposure Adjustment)
With a bit of practice, using the techniques will become second nature. The great beauty of using Quick Masks is that once you learn the basics, you will find yourself using them for many tasks that are not specifically covered in the PDF. The sky really is the limit with Quick Masks.
You can order
your APTATS-1 PDF (on CD only today for $20 plus $3 shipping and handling ($23
total) in the
As usual, Paypal
is quite convenient. Be sure to include your ship-to address. You can call us
at 863-692-0906 with credit card in hand, or send a check for the correct amount
made out to “Arthur Morris” to us as follows: Arthur Morris/
liveBooks GALLERIES ADDED
We recently announced the launch of a the BIRDS AS ART liveBooks Gallery Site so that folks can easily enjoy many of my favorite images. The gallery design is elegant. It is easy to navigate to the various galleries. The images are large and load quickly. You can check it out here: www.birdsasart.org. We recently added several galleries including Ducks and Coastal Brown Bears. Coming soon: Puffins, Raptors, Gull, and Terns. (Note: all BAA images are available as signed digital prints; click here for details: http://www.birdsasart.com/prints.html
liveBooks was started by photographers so that photographers could present the highest quality images possible on the web while making updating a simple, visually intuitive experience. Over the last few years, the emphasis at LiveBooks has been on image quality and intuitive navigation in a custom-designed site. The sophisticated back-end software enables easy updating; thousands of serious photographers have chosen liveBooks to display and market their photography online. (We will soon be adding individual captions to each image.)
All liveBooks websites are custom-designed to reflect the aesthetic preferences of the individual photographer; each offers a variety of flexible features so that your galleries meet your changing needs over time. Optional features allow you to add password-protected areas to your site, a shopping cart to allow your viewers to buy prints online, or slideshows and movies, all of which can help to make a liveBooks website more than just an online gallery; it can serve to propel your photographic career.
Coming in the near future will be an in-depth interview with Arthur Morris on livebooks.com along with a very special discount offer for everyone who receives Arthur's newsletter or attends his workshops. Meanwhile, please check out the new site. If you are interested in seeing additional LiveBooks nature photography (or other) sites, please email us at info@livebooks.com, visit http://livebooks.com, or call us at 1-800-253-2085.
Best and love and great picture-making to all,
artie
Note: Arthur Morris has been a Canon contract photographer since 1994 and continues in that role today. Hunt's Photo of Boston, MA is a BAA sponsor as it Delkin Devices. Back issues of all BAA Bulletins can be found in the Bulletin Archives which may be accessed from the home page at www.birdsasart.com