March 21st, 2012

BIRDS AS ART BULLETIN #403

  • THE CONTEST HEATS UP!
  • CANON 500mm f/4 L IS LENS FOR SALE USED
  • NIK Color Efex Pro: IMPORTANT NOTICE
  • B&H Newsletter: Tuesday March 20, 2012
  • The Canon EOS-5D Mark III
  • IPT UPDATES

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This image is a Judge’s Favorite. Image copyright 2012 in the name of the creating photographer. This spectacular Scissor-tailed Flycatcher image was entered in the Flight category. The Judge’s Favorite images were selected by me. They may or may not earn prizes as there are five judges in all. They are published here to create additional interest in the BIRDS AS ART 1st International Bird Photography Competition.

To learn more about the judges themselves, click here. Click on the image to see a larger version.

THE CONTEST HEATS UP!

Last night, while Skyping with my web man Peter Kes in Switzerland–he stays up very late most nights, I had a look at the contest entries for the first time in many, many months. My overall reaction? In a word, wow! As you can see by viewing the Judges Picks there are some killer entries. That said, there are to say the least still some wide open categories. There are no entries in the Youth Category–young photographers born after March 31, 1994. Zero. The Bird Portraits, and Flight categories are the two strongest. The Hand of Man entries are weak overall. Where are your best images of snipe on fenceposts, backyard birds on feeders, raptors on wire, and songbirds sipping from dripping fountains or pipes? The same could be said of the Captive entries; I often see some excellent ones on BPN and during IPT critique sessions….

Tight Portraits and Body Parts has some very strong images but there is still room for improvement. The Small in the Frame/Environmental (images of birds or flocks of birds in their natural habitats) and Pleasing Blur categories are overall disappointing. Lastly, Digital Creations (anything goes including the use of filters and effects as long as there is a bird or birds in the image) has a few very creative images, but I have seen lots of stronger stuff in BPN’s Out-of-the-Box forum. There are ten days left. Get cracking!

Over the past few weeks, dozens of folks have been entering daily, cashing in their B&H receipts for free contest entries, and uploading their images. Please remember, only B&H purchases made using a product-specific BAA B&H affiliate link or the more general link here qualify. See the details by scrolling down to item 2 here or make your camera and lens purchases by starting here: BAA B&H Affiliate Link. To learn everything that you need to know about the contest click here. While I am thrilled with the quality and impact of many entered images, we are hoping to see even more great stuff as the entry period draws to a close on March 31st.

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Here is another Judge’s Favorite; image copyright 2012 in the name of the creating photographer. This displaying prairie chicken photo was entered in the Bird Portraits category; it may very well wind up being moved to the Behavior category. The Judge’s Favorite images were selected by me. They may or may not wind up earning prizes as there are five judges in all. They are published here to create additional interest in the BIRDS AS ART 1st International Bird Photography Competition.

To learn more about the judges, click here. To learn more about the judges, click here. Click on the image to see a larger version.

CANON 500mm f/4 L IS LENS FOR SALE USED

Bill Moore is offering a used Canon 500 f/4L IS USM lens in like-new condition for $5900/buyer pays insured shipping. The sale includes the lens trunk, the leather hood, and the instructions. But there are lots of extras: the lens plate, a LensCoat Hoodie, and the LensCoat that has protected the lens since day one.

Please contact Bill via e-mail or by cell phone: 702-596-2545. With the old 500 discontinued and the new 500mm f/4L IS II due to ship in the not-too-distant future with a price tag of $10,499 Bill’s lens in immaculate condition with all the extras should sell before this Bulletin even finishes sending.

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Here is a third Judge’s Favorite; the image, which was entered in the Bird Portraits category, is copyright 2012 in the name of the creating photographer. The photograph is published here to create additional interest in the BIRDS AS ART 1st International Bird Photography Competition.

To learn more about the judges, click here. Click on the image to see a larger version.

NIK Color Efex Pro: IMPORTANT NOTICE

For several months we had been advertising the Creative Efex Collection Boxed Set. Many folks wisely e-mailed for the additional details and purchased the set. I learned yesterday that all 400 of the boxed sets had been sold. Right now the best way to get into the whole NIK scene is by purchasing either the Complete Collection for Photoshop/Ultimate Edition ($499.95 less the 15% BAA discount) or for the Complete Collection for Lightroom & Aperture ($299.95 less the 15% BAA discount). Each includes the entire NIK suite: Dfine® 2.0, Viveza® 2, HDR Efex Pro™, Color Efex Pro™ 4, Silver Efex Pro™ 2, and Sharpener Pro™ 3.0.

You can learn more about the two Complete Collections here. If you work in Lightroom or Aperture you will be fine with the Complete Collection for Lightroom & Aperture. If you do not own Lightroom or Aperture and work only in Photoshop as I do you will want to purchase the Complete Collection for Photoshop/Ultimate Edition.

Here is some great news. For the Photoshop only folks the cost of the six individual programs in the collection comes to $799.70. By purchasing the collection and remembering to get the 15% BAA discount the Complete Collection for Photoshop/Ultimate Edition will cost you only $424.96. This represents a savings of $374.74.

My very favorite NIK plug-in at present is of course Color Efex Pro™. Right now I own and use Viveza® 2, HDR Efex Pro™, and Silver Efex Pro™ 2. And I have heard great things about both Dfine® 2.0 and Sharpener Pro™ 3.0. You can order separate NIK plug-ins and access some great online tutorials here. The cost of the current version of Color Efex Pro™ is $99.95. Saving 15% with the BAA code brings the cost of my favorite and most valuable NIK plug-in down to only $84.96.

Whichever way you go, don’t forget to enter BAA in the Coupon Code box At checkout and then hit Apply to save 15%.

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Here is another Judge’s Favorite; this striking Blue Jay image is copyright 2012 in the name of the creating photographer. It was entered in the Bird Portraits category and may or may not earn prizes as there are five judges in all. The photograph is published here to create additional interest in the BIRDS AS ART 1st International Bird Photography Competition.

To learn more about the judges, click here. Click on the image to see a larger version.

B&H Newsletter: Tuesday March 20, 2012

B&H is a generous sponsor of BIRDS AS ART and the principle sponsor of the BIRDS AS ART 1st International Bird Photography Competition. If you would like to receive the current B&H specials please shoot me an e-mail with the words B&H Newsletter: Tuesday March 20, 2012 cut and pasted into the Subject line.

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This image of a portion of the Black-browed Albatross colony on Steeple Jason Island in the Falklands was made on my Cheesemans’ Ecology Safari Southern Oceans trip this past January. It is an example of the superb image quality offered by the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Click on the image to see a larger, even more spectacular version.

To learn more about the Cheesemans’ DEC 30, 2012 to January 17, 2013 Antarctica trip, click here.

The dramatic sky is courtesy of NIK Color Efex Pro’s Detail Extractor.

The Canon EOS-5D Mark III

This feature is adapted from the original publication of this item on the blog here and contains lots of new information on the 5D MIII; see the great new links below.

With the superb image quality of the EOS-5D MII folks can only be drooling over Canon’s announcement of the release of the much-anticipated EOS-5D Mark III on March 2, 2012. You can find complete details here. The new camera is expected to deliver superb image quality thanks to a new 22.3-megapixel full-frame Canon CMOS sensor and the high-performance DIGIC 5+ Imaging Processor. It incorporates a new 61-point High Density Reticular Autofocus (AF) System from Canon’s next professional digital camera body, the EOS-1DX (scheduled to be released later in 2012). And with the 5D III’s six frames-per-second continuous shooting speed it will be great for photographing birds in flight and in action. And it goes without saying that the 5DIII will be a landscape photographer’s dream. Please see the press release for info on the new camera’s video capabilities.

Arash Harzeghi is one of BPN’s technical geniuses. He is also a superb photographer who specializes in flight and action. You can learn a ton about the 5D III in Arash’s interview of Chuck Westfall here. Chuck is a technical advisor at the Professional Engineering & Solutions Division, Canon U.S.A. Inc. In the interview he explains the major technical features of the new EOS 5D Mark III, the latest full-frame Digital SLR from Canon with a 23 Million-pixel CMOS image sensor.

I am most excited by the 5DIII’s light weight and by the new AF system. While I loved, loved, loved the image quality of my 5D II photos from the Antarctica trip–the 5DII pretty much saved that trip for me after my two Mark IV bodies went down for the most part due to operator induced rain damage, my biggest gripe was with the limited number of AF points available. This made hand held nature photography with intermediate telephoto zoom lenses difficult; can you say Snow Monkeys? It was often difficult to come up with a sensor on the subject’s eye. The 5D MIII will improve on that in spades with 61 AF points covering the largest area of any Canon camera ever.

Friend and top BAA student Clemens van der Werf sent me a link to Rudy Winston’s detailed article on the AF system of the new camera. You can find it on the Canon Digital Learning Center here. Rudy works with Chuck Westfall. He has more than 14 years experience with Canon USA’s Pro Products team and has been responsible during that time for training Canon’s staff on new products, for creating presentations for customers and dealers, for numerous writing projects, and for providing technical assistance to professional and amateur photographers (including me!)

For the past week I have been studying the info on the new AF system as I should be getting my 5D MIII this week. I have to say that I am very excited. While I love my Mark IV bodies for flight photography–heck, see all the great flight and action images from Japan on the blog–I have said and written often: “For birds flying right at me I’d rather have a 7D or a 5D Mark II in my hands than one of my dependable Mark IV pro bodies.” The 5D III will surely be the best ever for that chore and for birds in flight and in action.

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This Whooper Swan coming in for a landing was photographed at the Akan Crane Center (where they are treated like pests and scared away by snowmobile and shotgun blasts). I used the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops off the snow: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode.

Central Sensor/Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. For a greater appreciation of the image, left-click on the photo.

According to the internet experts the AF system of the 5D MII is not good enough or fast enough for flight photography. I disagree…. Every time that I have used it I have some up with some stellar stuff. If the AF system of the 5D MII is good enough to produce images like this one, imagine what the 5D MIII will be capable of.

I consider the Battery Grip BG-E11 (available end of April 2012) as a mandatory accessory for nature photographers not because of the extra battery it holds but because it allows you to hold the camera vertically with a complete set of extra controls. In addition it gives the lighter cameras more of a pro body feel. It accepts either one or two LP-E6 lithium-ion battery packs (or a set of six AA-size batteries–the latter not recommended for environmental reasons). The battery grip has a multicontroller and a multifunction (M.Fn) button together a with a full set of controls for easy operation when working in vertical format. You can pre-order yours here.

B&H & THE 5D III

B&H continues to accepting pre-orders for the EOS-5D Mark III; folks who pre-ordered last week should be getting cameras from the first delivery within a week. Earn free BAA contest entries by using this link to order yours right now: Canon EOS-5D Mark III. Or package your new 5D MIII with my favorite B-roll lens, the 24-105mm IS L zoom lens by clicking here.

Speedlite 600EX-RT

In addition to the EOS 5D Mark III, Canon also announced its new flagship model flash, the Speedlite 600EX-RT. You can order yours with this B&H link now: Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT

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This running Red-Crowned Crane was chasing another at the Akan Crane Center, Hokkaido, Japan with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops off the snow: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode.

Central Sensor/Rear Focus/AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. For a greater appreciation of the image, left-click on the photo.

According to the internet experts the AF system of the 5D MII is not good enough or fast enough for avian action photography, especially in low light. Again, I disagree…. If the AF system of the 5D MII is good enough to produce images like this one, imagine what the 5D MIII will be capable of.

Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.

Remember: you can earn free contest entries with your B & H purchases. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here for details.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear used to create the images in this blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Autofocus Lens. This is Canon’s top of the line wide angle zoom lens.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens. Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Camera. Canon’s lightweight full frame body is perfect for serious landscape photography and worked out great for wildlife on my Southern Oceans voyage.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

LensCoats. I have a LensCoat on each of my big lenses to protect them from nicks and thus increase their re-sales value. All my big lens LensCoat stuff is in Hardwood Snow pattern.
LegCoat Tripod Leg Covers. I have four tripods active and each has a Hardwood Snow LegCoat on it to help prevent further damage to my tender shoulders 🙂 And you will love them in mega-cold weather….
Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod. This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head. Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
Double Bubble Level. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine. Also available for the 7D and the Mark III here.
BreezeBrowser. I do not see how any digital photographer can exist without this program.

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