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It is no secret that the world of photography is moving away from the DSLR and toward Mirrorless. Canon and Nikon could no longer sit back and watch companies like Sony and Fujifilm dominate the mirrorless market. Of note, Canon has had several mirrorless cameras over the years, including the EOS M, but, although a fine camera, it lacked features that series photographers needed.

Canon's latest response to the growing mirrorless market is the Canon EOS R. As promised, I got my hands on an EOS R, and ran it through my normal wildlife photography testing. Although this camera is not marketed toward the wildlife or sports photographer, I still wanted to see just how far I could take this body, and what the results would be.

Canon's EOS R Mirrorless Camera (photo courtesy of Canon)

Specifications

Lens Mount - Canon RF (EF with adapter)
Weight - 1.45 lbs / 660 g
Sensor - CMOS 30.3 Megapixel / Full Frame
File Formats - JPEG, RAW, MP4
ISO - 100 to 40,000 (Expansion possible to 102,400)
Shutter - Electronic and mechanical (30 seconds to 1/8000)
Bit Depth - 14 Bit
Memory Card Format - SD, SDHC, SDXC
Image Stabilization - NONE
Focus Modes - Continuous-Servo AF, Manual, Single Servo AF
Frames Per Second - up to 8 fps. Only 5 fps in AI Servo!
Viewfinder - LCD, 3,690,000 DPI
Viewfinder Coverage - 100%
GPS - Yes
Wi-Fi - Yes
Bluetooth - Yes
Price - $2,299 US

Build Quality/Ergonomics

Picking up the EOS R, I found it to feel smaller than my Canon EOS 7D Mark II, and I also found it slightly less comfortable, however, it does have a nice grip when comparing it to its other mirrorless competitors in this price range. The overall build quality seemed comparable to my 7D Mark II.

The EOS R lost ground with me on layout of the buttons. I found them difficult to find and in some cases operate when compared to the 7D Mark II. I particularly struggled to find the AF-ON button when using back button focus. I do feel confident, that with daily use, I could get much faster in the basic operation. If you are someone who has both a DSLR and want to guy the EOS R, you might find it difficult to switch back and forth. Perhaps the biggest loss to me was the thumb wheel which is normally located on the back of the Canon bodies. On this camera the "wheel" is really just a disc with arrows on it. It is very similar to how the Rebels operate. Canon really "cheaped" out here and I can't help but ask "Why?"

Photo showing the amazing fully articulating touch screen, but also the somewhat horrible disc shaped navigation control often found on cheaper Canon cameras.

The EOS R redeems much of what it lost with the odd positioning of its buttons with the use of a fully articulating touch screen. I found this to be a great "go-to" when I was having trouble with the manual buttons. Also, the articulating screen will make this attractive for videographers, vloggers and landscape photographers.

The menu system is exactly what you would expect from Canon, and I had no difficulty moving from tab to tab and selecting the correct options. Of course, being able to create your own custom menu tabs is a big help as it is with other Canon cameras.

While looking through the viewfinder, I could definitely tell I was looking at a screen. I am not saying it was terrible, but I could tell it wasn't real. The reason I mention this, is I have heard others say that the screens are so good now, you can't tell very well that you are not looking through a traditional viewfinder.

Also, related to the viewfinder, I noticed that there was some lag between shots and sometimes it would freeze for a moment before getting back to the correct live view of the scene. This caused some confusion as to what the subject was doing, and did I actually miss something? Perhaps this feature can be turned off?

Finally, I had a total failure of the camera right when I needed it most. It actually froze up, and I had to remove the battery and essentially reboot the camera. I chalked this up to it being a new design. I remember when my old 7D classic used to freeze up like this, and I had to remove the battery on it also.

Auto-focus
First, let me say that overall I was very pleased with the auto-focus system. I am not going to tell you that it was 1 Series fast, but it did a fine job, and would handle most of your normal photography needs.

As you may know, I am a wildlife photographer, who specializes in wild bird photography. So that was where I spent my testing time. The auto-focus did not let me down when paired with my Sigma 150-600 and the Canon EF to RF adapter. It quickly found focus but from time to time, it would focus to infinity and just stop. After fiddling with with the lens and placing it on different targets, it would slide in to where I wanted it to go. The latter is very important. This lens does not slam into focus like a 1 Series. It slides into focus and valuable time is lost. Although a useful feature for video, still photographers will find this a disadvantage.

I used the EOS R in Servo mode, which makes the lens continually focus when holding down the shutter button half way or using the AF-ON button. Note, when you switch to Servo, the 8 fps drops to about 5 fps. This made me laugh a bit, since AI Servo is where you need the 8 fps. I am sure that Canon knew that, and simply hit a hard wall on the engineering side.

Dark-eyed Junco - Canon EOS R, ISO 1000, 1/800, Sigma 150-600 C, f6.3

I did not have time to go somewhere to photograph birds in flight this time, but my gut feeling is that it would not be nearly as good at action as the Canon 7D Mark II or Canon 1DX Mark II. To be fair to Canon, that is really not who this camera is designed for.

Throughout my two days of shooting, I noticed a very strange thing happen while using servo. I held the AF-ON button down, it focused and then as I fired off a burst, it would go out of focus almost every time. During this time, I never moved my auto-focus point off the bird's head. My guess is that this is a bug in the firmware. Finally, the lag I experienced when firing bursts of 5 fps was pretty bad. It was almost like it was trying to preview while firing 5 fps.

My guess is there is a way to turn this off, but I did not find the setting for it. If there is a setting, this should be enabled by default when shooting in servo mode.

EF Mount Adapter
You can't talk about the EOS-R without talking about the amazing EF to RF mount adapter. This adapter will convert your existing EF mount lens to the RF mount. Since all I had were EF lenses, I used it extensively.

I found it to work quite well, but perhaps some of my early autofocus issues could be attributed to this adapter. Having said that, I was really amazed at how well the conversion worked. My particular adapter also had a ring which can be programmed to control whatever you want it to. It would make a great aperture ring, for example.

Canon EF to RF Adapter - $99 to $199 depending on the version of the adapter.

I have used the MC-11 with Sony cameras to adapt my Sigma 150-600 and they did not work at ALL! Good job Canon! You made it work to almost perfection!

Image Quality
In general, I found the image quality to be excellent, and not at all unexpected. The auto white balance seemed to achieve a very nature look, and I did not have to warm the scene up in post (in most cases). Canon seems to make auto white balance better on ever new camera model.

Northern Cardinal - Canon EOS R - ISO 1250, 1/1000, Sigma 150-600 f6.3, 468 mm (cropped in post)

I did shoot almost exclusively between 800 and 1600 ISO, just to get a feel for an ISO a little on the higher side of things. The results were good, but not great. I think this is due largely to the 30 megapixel sensor. It was better than my APS-C, but not as good as I would like to see. The shadows seemed particularly noisy, even in decent light. Cleaning up the noise in post was not difficult at ISO 1600.

Perhaps the greatest advantage of the 30 megapixel sensor in wildlife photography was in the cropping advantage. I could crop an image in half and still have a solid 15 megapixel image. In wildlife photography, this is a powerful feature.

Northern Cardinal - Canon EOS R - ISO 1250, 1/1000, Sigma 150-600 C, f6.3, 600mm

Conclusion and Wrap Up
First, I applaud Canon for taking their first step in making a serious mirrorless camera. This camera is not a camera to laugh at, and in many cases will be all the photographer would need. I particularly think this would make an amazing landscape and macro camera. The 30 megapixels delivers great detail, and having a fully articulating LCD display allows for low angle shots and vlogging.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room. The price of $2,299 dollars is a bit on the high side. I would like to see this camera come down to about $1,800. Although a really nice camera, it simply does not have the feature set to support this price point. Compared to my Canon 7D Mark II, it is a loser in my opinion in most respects. Yes, I am being tough here and of course it is just my opinion. Remember though, I am a wildlife photographer and not a landscape photographer. That is the perspective of this review.

As far as wildlife, I would not recommend this camera as a primary wildlife camera. Canon hasn't positioned this camera on the market as a fast action camera, so that should not come as a surprise to you. Having said that, It would fill in some of the cracks in my kit as a good static bird and wildlife camera. Having a viewfinder that simulates my exact exposure cannot be overlooked as an awesome feature. I could also see this camera as a good camera for use with a trigger trap. Since it can support higher ISOs which can help increase shutter-speed, it could be very useful in this role.

So, in general, I recommend this camera, IF you are the right audience for this model. I am looking forward to the more feature rich/professional version of this camera. Good job Canon and keep them coming! You are on the right track for sure.

Day after I day, sanded and sanded until I got the barrel to bare metal. It was not for the feint of heart I would say!

After getting the barrel sanded down and polished, I started working on the pitting on the receiver. This didn't take as long. I started with 80 grit to get the metal down quicker. Then switched to 120 grit to polish to an almost mirror finish. One thing I learned here is that as the sandpaper begins to wear out, it makes a nice polish/buffing tool.

Bluing the Gun Barrel and Receiver

For mostly economic reasons, and because, it is a relatively inexpensive firearm, I concluded that sending the barrel off to be hot blued was not really a good choice. I decided instead, to use the Birchwood and Casey cold bluing method. I used their Super Blue product because it requires less applications to get the look I wanted. I wanted the barrel to be a deep, almost black color.

You are going to watch a LOT of videos which tell you that you have to heat the gun metal before applying the bluing. This is not true and is a waste of time. Follow the directions on the bluing bottle or refer to Birchwood Casey's official documentation on their web site. If you want to perform a hot blue then send it off for bluing. Here is a summary of the process which worked for me.

Clean the barrel well using the Birchwood Casey Cleaner-Degreaser.
Remove all left over rust or bluing using the Birchwood Casey Rust and Blue Remover
Again, clean the barrel well using the Birchwood Casey Cleaner-Degreaser
Clean it again using the Birchwood Casey Cleaner-Degreaser (yes I meant to put it again)
Make sure the barrel is wiped clean and dry
Use a Birchwood Casey Swauber Applicator and dip it into the Super Blue
Begin applying it to the barrel. I blued the first half of the barrel first.
Let it dry for 30 to 60 seconds and NO MORE
Dip a different Swauber Applicator into clean water and go over the newly blued area with the water to stop the chemical reaction
Repeat steps 6 through 9 for the rest of the barrel or metal part
Apply the Birchwood Casey Barricade product to the barrel to begin the curing process.
Let the metal cure for 24 hours.

The Newly Blued Barrel

As you can see from the above photograph, the bluing turned out very well. I was very impressed with the Super Blue product and would recommend it to anyone. There are several videos which claim it isn't as good as others, but the internet is full of nay sayers.

I continued the process of bluing each of the other parts that needed bluing, and the results were equally impressive from the Super Blue.

A view of the finished rifle showing the sanded receiver(once full of pits) and bluing

Finishing the Gun Stock

It is always a tough call on whether to refinish a stock or not on an antique rifle. In the case of the Mosin, I think it is OK, since there were so many made. Also, if you are looking to make it into a "shooter" or for hunting purposes, I see no reason not to. In my case, as I had stated in an earlier post, I wanted to perform more of a restoration, and not any real modifications. That was tricky as I had to decide how far to take each process so the gun would not loose character.

The first step in refinishing this stock was to sand off the old finish. I did not use a stripper as this could strip away too much of the "character" of the gun. After a couple nights of sanding the gun was ready for finishing.

A section of the gun stock after sanding off the finish and some of the oily areas

In the above shot, note that I didn't sand down to bare wood. I left some of the character in the gun, including oily spots where the gun was handled and so forth.

After sanding it was time for the finish to be applied. I used "Red Mahogany" stain for this project, put the first coat on and let it rest for a day. The following day I came back and put the second coat on. At this time, I noticed the gun was too sticky. This is from putting on too much stain. If this happens to you, simply rub down the sticky areas with 0000 steel wool and blend together.

After putting the stain on and letting it dry for another 24 hours, I started putting on a coat of Birchwood Casey's Tru- Oil. This will seal and protect the wood. Note that you don't want to put on a heavy coat of the Tru-Oil. Dip your finger in and lightly apply to the entire gun. Wipe off any excess or it will drip down the gun and dry with an ugly drip stain.

After letting the finish dry for 12 hours, I put the second coat of Tru-Oil on. The following day, I put the final coat on. Below is an image showing the True-oiled stock.

In conclusion, I feel like this is mission accomplished. The finish is close enough to be of the period, and I lost none of the rifle's character by leaving dents, dings and some oil marks in the stock. All the metal is now nicely blued with most of the pitting removed. I didn't go into detail on this, but I also disassembled the bolt, cleaned it, sanded the major pitting off and re-positioned the firing pin per specifications.

In some ways, the Mosin Nagant restoration was a bit of a fool's errand. It ended up costing me $400 dollars to fix a $200 dollar gun, but I had a great time doing it, and I recommend that anyone who is up to challenge make this project a reality in their world. If you wanted to take the gun back to it's original, off the factory look, it would have taken more money and much more energy. Frankly, I am not sure it would be worth it both monetarily, and because you would lose all the gun's character.

Well, back to photographing wildlife life. Thanks for the interruption!

I don't always take photographs. Sometimes I like to take on a project that exercises the need to work with steel, wood and sweat. To me, it is something that is built into many people, and more often built into the male of the species.

Being someone who has always been interested in history, I decided to buy a Mosin Nagant 1891/30 rifle. The Mosin was manufactured by various countries between 1892 and the early 1970s., and was the primary field rifle used throughout WWII by the Russian military. Russian troops would have used the Mosin throughout the war and even had it when they entered Berlin to help crush the Nazis. These firearms can be obtained on the military surplus market nowadays for around $220 to $400. On the $200 dollar end, you will get a rifle that will work, but will need some tender loving care to get it back up to speed. On the $400 dollar side, you can get a rifle that is in great condition and won't need any work except for a decent cleaning. Sadly, we used to be able to buy these for less than $100, but the market is drying up.

I opted to get a fixer upper and purchased one for around $230 from Classic Firearms out of Monroe, NC. The rifle arrived at my dealer, and I immediately realized it would take some work to get this back to a semi-restored condition. My goal with this restoration is to not take it back to factory condition, but to take it back to the condition it would have been during the first year of use, as a war time gun. When the project is complete, it will have wear marks on the stock, and even some dings left on it. In short I want to preserve the character of the weapon as the original soldier might have seen and used the rifle.

Understanding Where this Rifle Has Been
After World War Two was over, the Mosin Nagant 91/30 and other variants, were sent to arsenals for repair, storage or sent back into the field for use with the now smaller army. When the rifle was sent back to the arsenal for a checkup, the stocks were often refinished, and any issues with rust were also addressed. Rifles that were stored long term were covered with a product called cosmoline. This sticky petroleum product was used to keep the rifle from rusting during long storage, and should be removed when buying a Mosin. It doesn't appear that the arsenal would take time to remove pitting though, as many Mosins have pitting issues.

Evaluating the Rifle
The first thing I did after getting the rifle home was to perform a detailed evaluation to determine what I need to do, to restore the rifle, and would it still be safe to fire. My rifle was not covered in cosmoline, but did have some on the bolt and dried cosmoline on the surface of the receiver and barrel.

Continuing the evaluation, I removed the two barrel bands and removed the barrel from the stock. This is were I ran into a huge amount of rust on the underside of the barrel and top of the barrel. It was a disappointment to see the rust, but I decided to press on. I also removed the magazine assembly and found pitting on the top portion of that. There was also pitting on the top of the receiver and pitting at the end of the barrel and stock.

Major rust and pitting found the Top of the Barrel after removing hand guard

Minor and major pitting here. You can also see the dried cosmoline.

The stock itself was in fairly good condition, with minor dings and some areas which need a good cleaning. This was particularly true on the inside of the stock were the barrel is bedded. The stock itself appeared to have no cracking.

Minor pitting on the receiver.

Rust and pitting shown on the band spring

Determining a Plan of Action

I need to first rescue the barrel. With that much rust and pitting, I would need to first remove all the surface rust.
After removing the rust from the barrel, I would need to address the pitting. The pitting will be removed using 80 grit and 120 grit sandpaper by hand sanding those areas. Leaving small pits on the hidden portion of the barrel is acceptable for this project.
After all rust and pitting has been dealt with, I will re-blue the barrel using a cold bluing process. This will give it a fair bluing job which will give it more of a used, historic look.
Next, individual parts will be re-blued or touched up to match the barrel.
Next, I will sand the stock down to remove the damaged finish, but will leave dings and oily hand marks on to give the rifle more character.
Next, I will apply a stain to the rifle
Finally, I will apply the Tru-Oil product by Birchwood Casey to give it a little shine and protection.

Well, that is all for now. Keep checking back for each post as I progress through this restoration process.

Macro photography has always been an interest for me, but being primarily a wildlife photographer specializing in birds, all my lenses are long telephotos. When I did need to utilize a macro setup, I used by nifty 50 with extension tubes.

Recently, however, I felt like a needed something which out of the box could shoot at a 1:1 (life size) without the use of extension tubes getting the way all the time. It was time for me to add a real macro lens to my line up. This led me to the Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM lens.

Build Quality
Manufacturing on the 100mm, began in 2000 and it is still being manufactured today. It has a solid feel with a rubberized focusing ring. In many ways it is like any other prime lens manufactured with the USM branding. It is decorated with a USM gold logo and a golden "pin stripe" around the end of the lens. The optics, manufactured in 8 groups and 12 elements, are solidly affixed to the housing. The font element neatly recessed to keep contrast up and scratching of the element unlikely. A lens hood (ET-67) is available to purchase separately. Third party ET-67s are also available.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM

One of the features I really like about this lens is the 58mm filter diameter. This means you can shoot with less expensive filters and not be stuck with the much larger 77mm filter we so often see.

Shooting
This lens is highly versatile with f-stops available from f2.8 to f32, although I found f2.8 to be a bit soft when compared to f5.6. This might be a turn off for those looking for a good 2.8 lens. Macro lenses are designed to be used for manual focus situations where you could potentially be shooting a 2:1 image size. Because of that this lens has a large, smooth focusing ring, which I found to be very effective. I felt like the dampening could have been a bit smoother, but that would really be splitting hairs.

In one of my tests, I photographed a Canada goose feather at 1:33:1 magnification. During this test, I had to zoom in with live view for critical focusing. Again, the dampening and smoothness could have been slightly better here.

Canda Goose Feather - 1.33:1 Image Size (used extension tube)

Sharpness
This lens is incredibly sharp and don't just take my word for it. The internet is littered with praise over the optical quality of this lens. I don't know if I would buy this if I was only going to be using it at the f2.8 aperture, but if your goal is macro work in the f4 to f22 range, you will be very happy indeed. Below is an enlarged crop at close to 100 percent showing sharpness and resolution with standard sharpening.

Cropped Image Showing Sharpness

Practical Uses
Without a doubt this lens is made for macro, and as such would be a prime candidate for close up product, insect and flower photography. However, I also think this lens could be highly useful as a landscape lens to pull out details in distant landscapes and used to frame tighter in intimate landscapes.

It should also come as no surprise that this lens has been favored by human portrait photographers. Because it is in the short telephoto range, it flattens the image slightly giving the person a more flattering appearance. The sharpness of the lens can pull out crisp details in the eyes and shooting at 2.8 could give the model a softer look which often is desirable in portraiture.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I recommend this lens with little to no reservations. I feel like you are getting some amazing glass for $599 MSRP. On the used market you can find them as low as $300.

Quick Points to Consider

Amazingly Sharp
Versatile f2.8 to f32
Good Build Quality
Small Diameter Filter (58mm)
True 1:1 Macro

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I need your help to keep producing content! Consider becoming a patron to my work. Funds received from your help, will go toward keeping the infrastructure in place to keep providing free content. As you know, web site hosting, microphones and recording gear are very costly. To find out more about being a patron and how this can benefit you, head out to my Patreon site : https://www.patreon.com/mattcuda
Individual training, and honest and useful portfolio critiques available. Email me at matt.cuda@mattcuda.com

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FORSYTH COUNTY, NC - This is a topic which has the potential to make some of you angry and others take action. It is a topic that gets to the very core of why we do what we do as nature photographers. Simply put, "are you putting your best foot forward?" Are you, as a photographer, showing the world your best work or are you so excited that you got a shot, and posting it as quickly as possible on social media?

I think to answer this question, you have to ask yourself what motivates you. Here are some possible motivations I have identified:

1. You want to show others where you have been, and what I have been doing.
2. You want to attract buyers to buy your photographs.
3. You want to impress your peers with your stunning photography.
4. You want a private documentary gallery of images so you can document your travels.

If you answered anything other than #4, you might want to pay particular attention to what I am going to tell you in this article.

As a more seasoned photographer, I have seen thousands upon thousands of photographs over the years. I have seen beautiful images by some of the best photographers, and I have seen poor images generated from the very beginner. I myself have made many many bad images right along side the good ones, but you will never see the failures posted on social media or sent to a potential client. These images, except for the few I keep for demonstration purposes, are sent to the trash.

I do not care if I got a great action shot of an anhinga spearing a fish or a bald eagle fighting in mid air. If it doesn't meet my standard guidelines for quality it goes into the trash. So here are my standard guidelines for culling my images.

1. Is the photograph sharp (essential)?
2. Is the photograph properly exposed (essential)?
3. Is the lighting in the photograph better than acceptable (mostly essential)?
4. Does the photograph tell a story or does it have gesture (mostly essential)?
5. Is this my best work, given the situation?

If I can answer yes to all five of the preceding questions then the photograph is not only a keeper, but is marketable or worthy of posting online. Now I want to address each of these five questions.

Is the Photograph Sharp?
Sharpness is not subjective. It can be defined and it is repeatable and is absolutely a must A sharp photograph is the culmination of focusing the lens and also making sure the shutter speed is set high enough to avoid camera shake (blur). You should be able to zoom into 100% on your editing software and see a sharp, detailed image. The only exception to this is when you are using creative blur (advanced technique).

The above image is not sharp at 100% magnification. It will be rejected by photo editors and stock agencies.

The above image is sharp at 100%. It has been accepted by publishers and agencies.

Is the Photograph Properly Exposed?
This is mostly subjective, but also takes some work to determine if your image is properly exposed. In short, the whites should be white, the blacks should be black and the highlights should not be blown out. You should be able to see detail in both the highlights and the shadows. Obviously, this is a much larger discussion than a simply blog post can provide, but make sure you have the exposure right!

The above image is underexposed by a full stop. Notice the muddy and lifeless appearance.

Is the Lighting in the Photograph better than Acceptable?
Taking photographs of nature when the sun is directly overhead does not normally flatter a subject. On animals it produces harsh shadows, making the eyes black holes. It basically increases the contrast to the point that it is hard to see details in the highlights and shadows. A general rule in wildlife photography is to have the sun at your back. Another way to look at this, is to point your shadow at the subject. To do this, shoot between sunrise and plus three hours. In the afternoon, shoot three hours before sunset to sunset. This will give you that golden look with flattering highlights in the eyes of animals. Not only wildlife, but landscapes also take on this beautiful golden glow.

The photo above has beautiful morning light being applied from right over my shoulder.

Does the Photograph Tell a Story or Have Gesture?
There are many times that I take a photograph which has neither gesture nor storytelling attributes and it is true that these kinds of images can sell and gather likes online. However, I am always looking for images that tell a story or have peak action. This can mean the difference between a boring portrait and an engaging and exciting photograph. You don't have to start here, but strive to make this happen. Strive to find the engaging shot. Perhaps it is a coyote pouncing on a mouse or a bird fighting with another bird. Maybe it's look deep into the eyes of a massive black bear that stops us in our tracks.

The above photo has action and gesture. The bird is running from a crashing wave which helps draw the user into the photograph and tell a story about this birds life.

Is this my Best Work Given the Situation?
This is a question we must all ask ourselves. If the answer is no, it doesn't necessarily mean the image is no good. It might just mean that you have to try harder next time. Look for better angles such as going low or going higher. Maybe you needed a longer lens to compress and blur the background. Maybe you need to gather inspiration from other photographers. Check out other photographers books, magazines and videos. This can all help inspire you to making better images.

In conclusion, I ask you to work hard, and get the best images you can. Do not be afraid to throw your image away. In a few months you will forget about it. Strive only for the best images and post those. I promise it will be much more rewarding both from a personal perspective and if you would like, from a business perspective.

I hope you enjoyed this months newsletter. There is much on the horizon at Matt Cuda Nature Photography. To be specific, the time has come for the continuation of the Hummingbird Project and the Bluebird projects. These two projects generally keep me busy from May through June, so expect to see some of those images in next months article.

Now get out there and enjoy nature!

God Bless,

Matt Cuda

Announcements:

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I need your help to keep producing content! Consider becoming a patron to my work. Funds received from your help, will go toward keeping the infrastructure in place to keep providing free content. As you know, web site hosting, microphones and recording gear are very costly. To find out more about being a patron and how this can benefit you, head out to my Patreon site : https://www.patreon.com/mattcuda
Individual training, and honest and useful portfolio critiques available. Email me at matt.cuda@mattcuda.com

______________________________________________________________________

My Website: http://www.mattcuda.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattcuda

Stock Images: https://www.artvisions.com/cuda/

For anyone not subscribed tho this newsletter because it is forwarded to you by others, you may sign up at the this link:
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Photography, in general, takes a lot of planning. Sometimes it is planning that big trip to Yellowstone and sometimes it is just planning to photograph some of the local flora and fauna in your own backyard. Whatever you choose to photograph, I think we can all agree that we need a plan to be successful.

About two months ago, I started preparing and planning for a particular shot to be added to my "Bluebird Project." I invested both time and equipment to try to get everything figured out beforehand. In particular, I was using a new IR triggering system to capture songbirds in flight. I had practiced on several occasions and I got fair enough results to apply them to actual project. I determined to use my newly acquired experience to capture flight shots of the bluebird as they traveled to and from their nest box.

I carefully monitored and waited for the bluebird eggs to hatch, as they always do. One day, while performing a normal check, I found that the nest had been raided. The eggs had been removed, thrown to the ground and mostly eaten. I determined it was not the normal suspects such as the raccoon or opossum since the nest was still fully intact, and the pole I use would not support the weight. At one point, I even blamed the neighborhood black snake. I believe, after quite a bit of examination, it was most likely done by a competing bird species.

The whole situation was completely out of my control, but none the less, my plans were ruined. There would be no flight shots. It was is at this point, that we all have a choice. We can "throw ourselves" and have a pity party. This might involve moping around, questioning why it happened , and what could have been done differently. I could beat myself up for weeks with the question "why?", but the results would have been the same. I would not have photographed any birds and not changed the situation at all.

Instead, mostly based on experience, I picked myself up and immediately started the next wave of plans. I knew that I could not get the flight shot I wanted, but I could improve the situation by starting back to feeding the birds. Generally I stop feeding birds once nesting starts as it upsets the bluebirds and could interfere with nesting.

Forsyth County, NC - Taken soon after the nest failure. Move on to the next plan!

So, I began feeding the birds and also setup my hummingbird feeder for the next project. This will start the creative energy and anticipation flowing again. There will be another time for the flight shots, but that can't stop you from shooting and planning. Sure, it is a big disappointment when plans don't come together and sometimes it can be really tough when several big plans fail in sequence. The latter, of course, being the reason many people quit.

The bottom line is that I many never convince you with mere words to hang in there and never quit. In the end, it is a matter of personal ambition that drives you to the next level. I see it in myself and others all the time. It is what sets all of us apart from the average quitter. Don't fall into the trap of expecting all of your plans to succeed, because they never will. Instead, focus on making the next plan successful.

Your photographic career will be filled with other quitters. They are the people who don't get what you are doing and try everything to make you unsuccessful. They could be your girlfriend, wife or even someone you thought was your best friend. You cannot listen to them, because they will drag you down and keep you from completing your plans. This goes for any area of your life. Quitters always hang out with other quitters! Don't let yourself be sucked into that world.

I will leave you with these steps to becoming successful in life as they were told to me many years ago by a wise man...