1. The main thing I'd like to improve on is getting consistently sharp images with telephoto lenses, so I'd like to ask, What have you found to be the best technique or combination of techniques to get sharp images with long telephotos (without IS) and with slow shutter speeds? For example, using a 500mm +1.4x TC (700mm) and 100 speed film, I find myself at 1/45-1/80s a lot of times. Of course that's on a tripod, but still pretty hard to get great sharpness every time short of using MLU.

I, for one, have never had great success using mirror lock-up and I never use a cable release (though pal Tim Fitzharris uses one all the time when photographing static birds. The simplest and easiest tip that I can offer is to push your 100 speed film one or two stops to gain additional shutter speed. (I push nearly every roll of film that I shoot.) I push Velvia one stop to EI 100 and push Provia F 100 one stop (at EI 200) and two stops (at EI 320).

As for technique, I am a big believer in pressing your face to the back of the camera while holding the camera firmly with your right hand. Over the course of my career I have used my left hand in various ways to stabilize the big Canon lenses that I use (and do so today even with IS lenses). Long ago, I simply rested my left hand atop the lens barrel but do not use that technique any more. Now, I use the following technique: With the palm of your left hand pointing skyward, put that hand under the front of the lens plate and grab it with the last two or three fingers. (I've always loved extra-long lens plates.) With your thumb and index finger, push up forcefully on the lens barrel from below. (No matter how sturdy your tripod head and big lens are, there will always be some play here.) You may have to frame a bit low so that when you "take the play out" you wind up with the desired framing. Hold the camera firmly in your left hand and press your face against the camera back and you will be able to make sharper images at slower shutter speeds than ever before. This will be true even for users of Canon IS lenses, as good technique simply allows you to push the envelope further.

2. I am thinking of buying a macro lens for my Canon body. Have you used the 180 macro and is it really as sharp as it is reported to be? Is there a better Canon macro lens on the market?

I own and love the EF 180 macro lens. I never test lenses; I just use them and see how the images look. And guess what? Every single Canon lens that I have ever used has made sharp images when used with proper technique, but the 180 macro lens is particularly sharp. Additionally, I love the longer focal length macro lenses for the working distance that they provide. I often use either my 500mm or 600mm IS lenses with two 25mm and one 12mm extension tubes in combination for photographing large flowers and large insects. Back to the 180 macro, serious close-up photographers should check out Canon's macro twin light--it yields the most beautiful soft light imaginable--the images look as if they were made in soft, diffused sunlight.

3. Do you use Provia F100 or Velvia most often for your images of birds?

It is funny that you ask that now as I just returned from my annual pilgrimage to Bosque Del Apache NWR in New Mexico where I used my brand new EOS 1D digital body for most of my photography... In any case, the films that I use are Velvia pushed one stop to EI 100 and Provia F 100 pushed one stop (at EI 200) and two stops (at EI 320). I rarely use either film at normal (the rated ISO). On most trips in the past three years, I use them in about equal proportion, using more Velvia in sunny locations like Florida and more Provia in darker places like the Pribilofs.

Though the choice of which of these two great films to use is often a difficult one, here are my thoughts:

I use Velvia:

1. As much as possible. For my taste, its brilliant color palette is simply unsurpassed.
2. In low light and on dreary days when I am NOT using flash.
3. In warm light (when I have sufficient shutter speed, and subject movement is not an important consideration).
4. From 1/2 hour to roughly 1 1/2 or two hours after sunrise on clear mornings and from 1 1/2 to 2 hours before sunset on clear afternoons.
5. Right at sunrise, and then again right at sunset (again, when I have sufficient shutter speed, and subject movement is not an important consideration).

I use Provia F100 often pushed 1 stop to EI 200 or 2 stops at EI 320 (Yes! Rate the film at EI 320. Compensate as you normally would, then tell the lab to push the film 2 full stops (not 1 2/3 stops):

1. On dreary days when I am using flash. I have noticed over the past few months that many of my fill flash images made with this film are overexposed. (This happens when using fill flash exactly as I would when using Velvia: -2/3 stop for middle tones subjects, -1 or -1 1/3 for white, yellow, or light toned subjects, -1/3 stop for dark subjects, and 0 or even +1/3, for very dark or black subjects. I will begin experimenting with using less fill flash on my upcoming SW Florida IPT trip.)
2. In warm light when I need extra shutter speed and subject movement might be a consideration.
3. At normal (ISO 100) two hours after sunrise or before sunset on clear days. Provia F100 handles the contrast in bright scenes better than Velvia.
4. In extremely low EV situations where Velvia simply has no chance to even register a flock of birds in flight on the film.
5. Often, when I am using the 600 IS/2X TC combination, or when stacking teleconverters.

4. One of my nemeses has been trying to shoot birds that are both dark and bright white - trying to maintain detail in both has been virtually impossible. What would be the best way to approach these types of subjects? For example, a male Mallard which has the greens, blacks, browns and some whites - or a Black-necked Stilt with almost a true black and white coloration. Should I expose for the area with the most coloration, whether that be dark or white?

First tip here is to try to work in anything but harsh sunlight when contrast is high. Working on cloudy or cloudy bright days is ideal, and using fill flash in these situations helps to. Working in early morning or late afternoon on clear days can work equally well or better. Choosing a low contrast film like Provia F 100 helps, and digital captures have far greater latitude than film so going that route is another option. When using color slide film, most folks advise you (at all times) to "expose for the highlights" (to prevent overexposing them). I am just about the only one who teaches folks to "expose for the blacks (or darks) when the details in the blacks (or darks) are vitally important to the image and the white (or highlight) areas are small and the lack of detail there will not impact the image significantly. In these cases you are "giving away the whites" a bit in order to attain more detail in the blacks or darks. If there are significant areas of white or very light tones, then you must of course avoid over-exposing these highlight areas by choosing and exposure that is 2/3 to 1 full stop darker than the correct middle-toned exposure. Those who understand exposure theory know that the correct exposure for darks and blacks is 2/3 to one stop lighter than the correct middle-toned exposure. If you are interested in understanding exposure theory see the Exposure chapter in The Art of Bird Photography: The Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques (You can order a signed copy from the web site Birds as Art.

Thanks to all for the great questions! BTW, much of the information above has been excerpted from various BIRDS AS ART On-Line Bulletins (free). You can find the back issues archived here: Archives. To subscribe, click here: Subscribe.

Best and great picture making to all,

Arthur Morris

Note: Arthur Morris has been a Canon contract photographer since 1994 and continues in that role today.

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Arthur is a contributing photographer with VIREO (Visual Resources for Ornithology) at The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and The Corbis Stock Market, New York, New York. More than 120 photo-illustrated articles by and about him have appeared in natural history, birding, and photographic magazines. He is a contributing editor with Nature Photographer, a contributing photographer with Bird Watcher's Digest, a WildBird advisory board member, and an Outdoor Photographer columnist. Morris' cover credits include Audubon Field Notes, Birder's World, Birding, BirdWatching, Chicago Wilderness, Florida Wildlife & Nature, as well as numerous other publications.

As one of the original "55 Explorers of Light", he has been a Canon contract photographer for the past seven years, appearing for them on television in an EOS 1N commercial that aired worldwide and on seven episodes of the Canon Photo Safari. A traveling gallery exhibit of his work, sponsored by Canon USA and The Nature Conservancy, began its run at the prestigious Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, NY in Summer 1999. In April 2001, 64 of his framed images were featured in a yearlong educational exhibit titled "On a Wing and a Prayer; The Migratory Birds of the Americas" at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

Arthur has conducted more than 325 slide programs and seminars over the past 15 years. He currently travels, photographs, teaches, and speaks his way across North America while leading more than a dozen BIRDS AS ART/Instructional Photos Tours each year.