#itaintthecamera

Monday the 21st cannot come soon enough for me. The Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 is going to be amazing natural phenomena that most of us have never come close to experiencing. History will record this day.

Of course, we don't go crazy like they used to and thought the world was ending or the sun had burnt out. Amazingly the Mayans seem to have been able to predict eclipses accurately, both solar and lunar, and we still marvel at their precision. Their calendars and the predictions of eclipses seem to have been based on an amazingly complex calculation scheme that has been shown to be accurate to the day all the way back to the earliest eclipses from recorded history. Wow. No computers, heck not even a TI-81 calculator (if you are under 30, ask your older brother or sister.) 

I have been working for the past few days on trying to create a spreadsheet with formulas that will show the correct exposure in shutter speed based on the ISO, F-stop and the 'Brightness Exponent' (a value assigned for different events that occur during the eclipse.) Add in the fact that exposures before the start of the totality of the eclipse require solar film filters that block the majority of light so that you can look directly at the sun with a telephoto lens and not burn up your eyes or the sensor in the camera. Then at the start of the totality, you remove the filter, make a huge adjustment to the shutter speed on the camera, and for the next 156 seconds, you can look at the sun with no filter. As you can imagine, Tom 'I didn't learn my multiplication tables until I was 14' Benson has some fights with the math parts of this stuff. But after a while, I did manage to get a result out of the equation that I thought made some sense.

 t=f^2/(I x 2^Q)

(Where t= exposure time (seconds), F= F-stop of the camera, I = ISO (sensitivity setting on camera equivalent to using differing film speeds back in the pre-digital time) and Q = Brightness Exponent.)

The scary part of this is the part where you take off the filter. During that 156 seconds, I am going to try to shoot 35 different exposures, from 1/4000th of a second at the start and end, and a six-second exposure right in the center to capture 'earthshine.' And the other 32 shots I will make a 1/3 of an f-stop change in the shutter speed between each. But it will not just be 35 photos. Every 3 seconds or so I will hit the shutter button and take five separate images that span:

Four stops below the metered exposure, two stops below the metered exposure, the metered exposure, two stops above the metered exposure and lastly four stops above the metered exposure.

Fortunately, the camera will do the adjustments for those five exposures itself as I hold down the shutter release. Altogether, in 156 seconds, I hope to have the shutter click 180 times. Oh, did I mention that the sun will move close to 3 degrees across the sky during that 156 seconds? So I have to recenter the sun in the frame a few times to make sure I am catching as much of the prominences and chromosphere as I can. 

And that is just one camera. I will have a second camera that will be setup on a tripod that will be doing the whole '5 exposure bracket' thing automatically every 8 minutes for the 173 minutes from the start of the partial eclipse to the end. During the totality, with the filter off (yep, had to buy two. And they are not cheap.) I hope my lovely wife Nancie will press the shutter release on that camera every 3 seconds excepting the 6 seconds surrounding the mid point of totality. Then back on with the filter, and restart the 8-minute intervals until the end.  

One of the first articles I read on photographing a solar eclipse suggested that you make a sound recording that spans the 10 minutes surrounding the totality with you telling yourself what you should do at that time. And then during the eclipse play it over a loud speaker so you can follow all the instructions. I thought it was crazy. Then I realized... in that time frame, there will be over 230 separate steps to perform. ON TWO DIFFERENT CAMERAS!

Did I mention the travel? Oh yeah, we are going to be in Lexington, South Carolina. In the parking lot of a Lutheran church that is about 200 feet off the midpoint line of the eclipse path. I decided a church with a graveyard attached would be ideal because 1: Clear line of sight to the horizon 2: Unlikely to be crowded. 3: And I asked the minister if it was ok. So I have 'official permission' from the property owner if other folks decide to crowd us. Staying in an Airbnb about 11 minutes away. I looked first at locations around Santee, SC. The Super 8 motel wants $450 a night for the 19th through the 21st. THE FLIPPING SUPER 8!!! We are driving down early Sunday, like leave at 5 am, so we can get there through the traffic, scout out our location and a backup location, get some food and decamp to the Airbnb. Then back up at 5 am for weather checks and such. I am going to be working during the a.m., and then during the eclipse, I will be available for client emergencies. These are the sort of boneheaded things you have to do when you wait until the last moment to make plans. More hassles, more money, more chances for failure.

My advice for you, True Believer? Get some approved Eclipse viewing glasses. Do not cheap out on these. And look to make sure they are NASA approved or certified. Amazon had to refund an enormous amount of money to folks who had purchased glasses and filters that the supplier ultimately could not prove the materials providence. (Yeah, guess who had to track down TWO new filters one week before the eclipse. They arrived yesterday. Plus $50 for overnight shipping.) Get your kids, your partner, your parents, put on the glasses to watch the moon slowly eat the sun from the sky. (Even though they were sophisticated enough to calculate the exact day and time it would happen, most of the Mayans believed that is what occurred during the eclipse.)

 And at UTC 18:41 or so (that's 2:41 pm EDT), when the last of the little flares around the edge has stopped (those are called Baily's Beads), take the glasses off and marvel. Darkness. The shadow of the moon will travel across the surface of the earth at 1469 miles per hour. The temperature will drop 10 degrees or so. Animals and birds will silence. Some flowers will start to close like at dusk. And for 156 seconds you will see what is likely the most amazing thing you will ever see.

Until you see my photographs of it, that is. HA!

Oh, and if you think you might want to try to take a few photos yourself here are a few resources I found useful:

Observing and Photographing the 2017 Solar Eclipse

The Solar Eclipse of August 2017: A Photographer's Astronomical Dream

The CLDC is a Treasure Trove of Solar Eclipse Photography Information

but for a good reason.

I started this website with the intention of exposing the photographic side of my creativity with..well... you guys. The Facebook friends, the Twitter followers, the Instagram crowd. And it has been fun. I never thought Mugshot Makeovers would be popular. And I never really realized how many kind comments I would hear from friends and strangers alike about my work. But no matter how many likes a post got, there was one thing that did not happen.

No one said, Hey Tom, I would like to buy a print of that photo.

And why would they? I didn't make them available really. I briefly sort of setup a store here, but I saw the technical issues with it and turned it off. 

Do I want to make a million dollars from pictures of birds? Sure, would love to. Do I expect to? Nope. But I believe there is a market out there. So I started looking into ways to make it easy to buy a photo from me, in the size you want, in the style you want. 

I quickly discovered that there are few good options. Most are either, too much work to setup and maintain, too little of the money comes to the artist, or they just seem tacky.

But I did find one...and...well...it has potential. But like everything else, it takes some time to get setup and rolling. That is where I am now. The licenses are all paid for; the domain has been picked, the first batch of photos are on the site. I still have a lot to do. SEO configuration, email list integration, and setup. Not as fun as taking pictures. Or writing about the latest antics of the Barred Owls in my yard. But it will pay off.

Do I expect everyone who likes this page to buy a photo? Nope. I do hope when it is all finished you come by the site and look around. I will continue to have a blog. I hope to do Photo of the week. Mugshots???Ehh... not so much. It will still be the place you can see my pictures, my passion.

And It ain't the camera will still be the rule.

Hold on a while longer. I can't let it out yet. But I hope you will like it. And join the new Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds. 

Oh, the name is changing too. Timbersnake Studios was an off the cuff name that I sorta pulled out of a hat. 

The new name. Much more reflective of where I am. Both physically and creatively.

Talk to you again soon,

Once you learn how... 

I had taken a hiatus from this as I don't really do a lot of portraits, so I don't have a lot of need to keep my Photoshop skills up to date. But I realized that things like correcting white balance, setting tone curves and even just the small touchup work gets used in my photos often. Plus I got a new tool! Alien Skin Exposure 2. I love Alien Skin stuff as it is usually the slickest thing going for quick fixes to a shot that lacks 'oompfh'. Plus...they are in RALEIGH! Yes, cutting edge professional creative software is being developed here in NC. Good company, great support, unreal products. All good.

So this weeks model is just not having her best day it seems.

My primary tool for these is a piece of software called PortraitProfessionalStudio. Does some of the heavy lifting so to speak. Evens the skin tones, provides some face sculpting tools, and does a REALLY good job of making the eyes less tears and makeup smear. So a pass through that gives us this.

But here is where we put the real 'Cosmo inside the cover shot' stuff on it. 

In Exposure X 2, I fix the White Balance giving me what I am guessing would be a good approximation of this young woman's skin tone. Then into the Presets to the Color Focus section. I want to soften this some, but not make it all one tone, so 'Glamour Shot - Halation (-Saturation) is the choice. Soften the highlights a bit and....well...it is good. but there is nothing making it 'POP'. Think back to the rules. If you want to make something look interesting either don't light all of it, or don't make it all in focus. Add some 'mystery' and such. So I open up the Bokeh panel, select a two edged channel mask, and bring her eyes and lips to the edge of the focus region. So the rest of her face is softened and really makes her eyes and lips jump out of the image. OH...yeah. Here...

So you can sit here and monkey with these for hours. I really should have made a pass through Photoshop to clean up her lipstick and a smudge or two of makeup from around her eyes. But this took me less time to do than it did to type up this blog post about it. So not bad.

As always, want to learn how? Want me to do it to a photo of you? Or someone else? I am happy to do any of the above. And if you are looking for a tool to add to your Photoshop box, give Exposure X2 a look. 

So had a great time Saturday at the Carolina Raptor Center. Saw some old friends, and met some new ones. And learned a lesson. 

But I didn't want to just throw a bunch of shots up here that were all cropped and buffed and such. Here are a sampling of snaps just as they came out of the camera pretty much. I didn't identify the species on these. Challenge yourself to how many you can name.

Ok. Here is the lesson. They changed the 'flight area' from the last time I was there. Before it was just a cleared spot in the woods where they would set up a few perches. Now they have a large cleared, open area, adjacent to the main facility, with permanent perches and other features. Cool. But the perches are much further apart. So I decided to position myself near one of the perches thinking I would catch the most direct flight of the birds.

Also, this is Dumbledore.

A few years ago they did an 'Adopt a Raptor' for Valentines day promotion. I adopted Dumbledore for my Nancie since she loves Harry Potter and LOVES Owls! When they said that Dumbledore was to be the second flight demonstration bird, I was really enthused. How cool to get to see the bird we have a picture of on our coffee table!

Now, did the change in venue, decision on position and enthusiasm add up to a memory card full of killer flight images of a Great Horned Owl. Well...you tell me.

Not your imagination. No need to adjust the screen. There is NO bird in that photo.

I over thought it. What was the right answer? In retrospect, Get in the center on the other side of the field away from all the folks that would get in the way. Put the 600 mm on the D4, stick it on the gimbal head on the tripod (that is what gimbal heads are designed for) and bump the Follow Focus lock up to 5 out of 6. Let's just say...I didn't quite do any of that.

Not to say I didn't get a few nice shots...

So next weekend I am going to the Carolinas Raptor Center outside of Charlotte NC. Nearer to Huntsville actually. What do they do there? Glad you asked. From their site:

Carolina Raptor Center: Conserve. Educate. Inspire.

Mission Statement: Carolina Raptor Center is dedicated to the conservation of raptors. 

As a charitable 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, CRC relies on public financial support to fulfill our mission goals that include environmental education, the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned raptors, and environmental stewardship. Carolina Raptor Center is currently celebrating the 40th year since the first patient, a Broad-winged Hawk, was brought to Dr. Dick Brown in the basement of the biology building at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

So most of their focus is on rehabilitation of injured raptors (and there are a lot of birds in that category you wouldn't normally think of. ) to release back into the wild. Birds that cannot be released post injury are kept onsite and used in educational programs. Lots of environmental education for school kids. Plus they have really fun events there at the center where they bring out some of the birds and do lectures on habitat, food sources, and the like. A good place to spend some time with your kids.

But twice a year they close the center down for the morning on Saturday and Sunday and invite local photographers (and some folks who are just genuinely interested) to come and take pictures of some of the residents. They call it PhotoWILD

Owls and eagles and hawks, OH MY! These birds are ready for their close-up.

Amateur and professional photographers alike will enjoy this professional photo shoot featuring Carolina Raptor Center's resident raptors. Each day highlights over 20 different raptors in unique settings each day. The morning starts with an early-bird breakfast at 7:30 a.m., followed by six, thirty-minute sessions, including a free-flight rotation with some of our flight show superstars.

They place perches around two or three open areas and rotate a variety of the raptors around the perches on half-hour schedules. It makes for some interesting activity as some of the birds are just as docile and happy to be sitting around with a bunch of folks taking pictures and talking and some..well..

A beautiful example of the American Kestrel. Indigenous to NC, but I have never gotten anywhere NEAR as close to one as this guy. Wanna see why I was able to?

Because he was quite happily sitting on the glove of his handler. They are terribly skittish birds and this one took the better part of 30 minutes before he would sit on the perch, rather than on the glove, without just being as agitated and fidgety as all heck.

Notice what I did not do here. Edit out the jesses from his legs. Could I? Sure. I am fairly proficient with Photoshop (See Monday Mugshot Makeovers). But I don't want to try and pass this off as a 'wild' bird. I have shots of Kestrels in my portfolio from the wild. Just not this close up. And that is what produces the moral question.

I have talked before about how most of the INCREDIBLE shots of birds you see in magazines like Audubon, Bird Fancy, even titles like NAT GEO and such are shots that are taken over bait, drip water attractants, and even completely fabricated perches with fresh foliage and suet or seed added directly before photos to make sure they look 'just right'. There are folks out there that make big money, like $350k plus a year, doing workshops where they setup such and have 6-8 deep pocketed semi-pros (or straight up working professionals) come out and shoot dozens of species. One of my favorites is one where the ad states you walk 40 yards from the back porch of the luxurious bed and breakfast, to the blind they have setup over a small pond that had perches customized to the 3 or 4 types of birds they are hoping to shoot that morning. Of course they get the pictures, the birds are likely sitting on the porch going "HEY...where are the fat guys with the cameras? We are ready for breakfast damnit!"

Now these birds are a bit different. They litterally are tied to what they are sitting on. Most of them could not really fly away, but they could flap about and likely hurt themselves again. Or get far enough away they could not be recaptured and maybe starve or end up trying to eat something off the highway. Which is how a lot of these guys wound up here in the first place.

The first time I went I was amazed at how close we could get. I had my 300mm with me so could stay a good bit away and still frame in tight on the birds. But there was a younger guy there who actually complained to one of the staff because unlike years before, they were asking the photoghraphers to stay at least 8 feet from the birds at all times. Some, like the very skitterish Kestrel, even a bit more. He said that the was not made aware of these limitations and he did not bring adequate lenses to have to be so far away. WHAT?!?

When he moseyed off, I stopped the volunteer and told her that he was full of shit and that it was HIS responsibility to have the equipement he needed and moreover, the most important thing was the safety and comfort of the raptors. She thanked me and said that she had never had anyone complain before but that she would certainly mention his viewpoint to the head staffers.

I caught up with the 'pro' that had complained and asked him if he really felt that the staff should allow us closer, even if it made the bird uneasy. That is when he dropped his cards.

"I edit these slightly and sell them as wild captured images to stock companies. They don't want captive bird images and they want images that are as close as possible."

I have to admit, I started laughing. Why? Because I had spent the weekend before on Jordan Lake, in cold temps, shooting photo after photo of Bald Eagles that were FAR on the other side of what my 300mm f2.8 lens, even with a 2x Teleconverter, could adequately capture for what I would have even thought of putting on a blog. Much less selling to Stock. And this clown was going to sell his Photoshopped shots of jessed birds for stock images? And was COMPLAINING about it? After I saw that he sort of realized he was being an ass I asked him if he had longer glass (I recall his having a 80-200 mm zoom on his DX body so decent reach) why didn't he just bring it along incase and he admitted that he didn't own such, but rented when he needed it.  

I let it go. I wasn't going to change this kids mind. But hopefully I made him think a bit. 

Made me think though. Should I post these images? Should I put in big capital letters "CAPTIVE BIRD" so it is clear. Should I care? My favorite photo from the day was...

See that lil Hoot sitting there just as casual as can be. If he could talk, he would have the same voice as the Ant in the old Ant and the Aardvark cartoons.

This owl was shy and kept turning her back to us. When the handler talked to it and encouraged it to turn around and be pretty, it made a sound just like a cat when you are talking all silly to them. 'mewh' 

This is a mature Auger's Hawk. Or Auger's Buzzard. Depend on how you want to sell it. The next weekend after I took this, the Auger that the Seattle Seahawks football team uses for their mascot flew away from its handler and landed on a fans head in the stands. This one was making gouges in the telephone pole it was perched on as it tried to get the leash off. Saw at least a hundred stories about them after the football game event. Would a stock photo of this one with the jesses photoshopped out sold for a stock image. Maybe.

But here is the one that really is close. This is a Eurasian Eagle Owl. We don't have them here. But jeez, this is a huge bird and some of the shots of it in flight between the perches are incredible. Could I photoshop out the lead?

Sure. Light colored, mixed in with leaves and such. No problem. Did I? Nope. I did this instead.

Better angle on this Barn Owl. Colors were nicer and the bokeh of the background worked. So I removed the tether on this one instead. Wrong? Maybe. Have I sold a print of it? Nope. Wouldn't unless someone wanted one after I told them it was altered and then I would give the money to the Raptor Center. 

So, remember when I was coming back from Chincoteague in late Novemeber. And I had the weird experience of seeing a large Bald Eagle sitting in the middle of a cotton field.

http://timbersnakestudios.com/blog/2016/11/29/just-when-you-think

Yeah. So the last sentence...

"Remind me to show you the Hawk pics I took as soon as I turned around!"

Just ran across those shots looking for something else. Here is the best one. Nice Red Tail Hawk was sitting in an oak right across the road from where I stopped my car.

When you least expect a great subject, it will appear. While I cannot suggest you do as I do while driving to and from locations and keep a pair of bodies in the passenger seat with a 600mm f/4 and a 300mm f/2.8 attached, having a camera with fresh batteries and an empty memory card handy will pay off in spades some days. In these instances, it ain't the camera, it is having A camera that is what matters.

Really, how many times have you said, Boy I am glad I had my camera! NEVER! It is always...