Marsh Edge Trail Panoramas At Blackwater NWR

We have been to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge dozens of times but for some reason we never went and explored the Marsh Edge Trail section. You basically pass the Marsh Edge parking area as you enter the Wildlife Drive. It was a Great Area to wander through and photograph. In some seasons I guess it could be very buggy but on this trip there were no insects except Dragonflies. But the Dragonflies were constantly moving so I did not get any good dragonfly images here. All images here were taken with my iPhone 11 Pro and panoramas blended in Photoshop. The Featured Image was 28 images, 2 rows of 14 images taken with the 1.5mm lens (Full Frame Equivalent of 13mm).

Marsh Edge Trail, Blackwater NWR, 17 Image Panorama, iP11 Pro, 4.3mm Lens (4.3mm lens has Full Frame Field of View ~26mm)
Marsh Edge Trail, Blackwater NWR, 5 Image Panorama, iP11 Pro, 1.5mm Lens (1.5mm lens has Full Frame Field of View ~13mm)
Marsh Edge Trail, Blackwater NWR, 9 Image Panorama, iP11 Pro, 1.5mm Lens (1.5mm lens has Full Frame Field of View ~13mm)
Marsh Edge Trail, Blackwater NWR, 11 Image Panorama, iP11 Pro, 1.5mm Lens (1.5mm lens has Full Frame Field of View ~13mm)
Marsh Edge Trail, Blackwater NWR, 11 Image Panorama, iP11 Pro, 4.3mm Lens (4.3mm lens has Full Frame Field of View ~26mm)
Marsh Edge Trail Map

Distant Eagles At Blackwater NWR

We finally got a chance to go back to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland to see if we could find some Bald Eagles to photograph. It is about a 4 hour trip from where we live. After getting there we were surprised to see 2 Bald Eagles in a tree right after entering the Refuge. One was on one side and the other was on the other side of the same tree. But those will be in a different post. The images here were taken near the end of the 3.6 mile Wildlife Drive across the water near the exit. There usually are Bald Eagle and Osprey nests in the trees because they can fish right below. The only problem is it is pretty far from where we are on the Wildlife Drive.

View of the trees across from the Wildlife Drive. There are usually many nests in the trees here because the Eagles & Ospreys can fish close to their nests. 17 Vertical Images Panorama, Tamron 150-600mm @ 150mm
2 Bald Eagles in Tree across from Wildlife Drive Exit. Tamron 150-600mm @ 600mm, Canon R
2 Bald Eagles in Tree across from Wildlife Drive Exit. Tamron 150-600mm @ 600mm, Sigma 2X Teleconverter for 1200mm, Canon R

Winter Sunrises & Sunsets At Blackwater NWR

The images here are from Winter visits to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge over a few years. The Featured colorful ice image was taken at sunrise with a Sigma 300-800mm lens @ 300mm on a Canon 20D .

Blackwater NWR, early morning, Canon 1D mkIII, 17-40mm @ 17mm
Blackwater NWR Sunset, Canon 7D, 100-400mm @ 170mm
Blackwater NWR, Sunset, Canon 400mm DO lens, Canon 7D

Blackwater NWR Wildlife Drive Exit At Sunset

I was going through Backup Drives to cleanup duplicate files & unneeded images and I found a folder with sunset images from Blackwater NWR. The sunsets at Blackwater NWR can be very colorful and dramatic. The Featured Image was taken with a Canon 15mm Fisheye lens on a Canon 1DmkIII and was taken a little closer to the exit than the image below. The images taken with the 15mm Fisheye were adjusted in Photoshop to remove the “Fisheye” Look & Effect but maintain the wide view.

Blackwater End of Wildlife Drive Staightaway to Exit. Farther away to exit than Featured Image. 5img Pano, 15mm Fisheye Canon Lens, Canon 1D mk III
End of Wildlife Drive. Left side view on Staightaway to Exit. 24-105mm Canon Lens @ 32mm, Canon 1D mk III
Side View Before the Straightaway to Exit. 2 image pano with Canon 28-135mm lens @ 28mm, Canon 1dmk III
Setting Sun on other side of Straight away before turning to the exit. Canon 28-135 lens @ 41mm, Canon 1dmkiii

Sunrise & Sunset At Blackwater NWR

A series of sunrise and sunset images from a previous trip to Blackwater NWR near Cambridge, Maryland. The Featured Image was taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter.

2 Image vertical stack of a Blackwater NWR Sunrise, Canon 24-105mm lens @ 105mm
Blackwater Sunset, 7 Images, 400mm DO lens, Canon 1.4X Teleconverter, 1D mkIV

Blackwater NWR Clouds At Sunset

I was working on files from previous photo trips. Now that I am retired I can go through my backup drives to post images that I did not have time to post before. This is a Sunset taken at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland a few years ago. Dramatic or interesting sunsets are quite often seen at Blackwater NWR. Some have told me that dramatic sunsets at Blackwater are because it is somewhat close to the coast. I am not sure on that, but Blackwater NWR does deliver on interesting sunrises & sunsets! Image taken with a 14-140mm lens @ 48mm on an Olympus body. I was going retouch out the aircraft contrails, but decided to leave them in.

Blackwater NWR Sunrise Panoramas

These images are a series of multi-image panoramas of a Blackwater NWR Sunrise on a visit there in July 2018. Blackwater NWR is a great place to visit for sunrise & sunsets. We were trying to get there for the sunrise and we just made it before the sunrise started. Most images were taken with a Canon 1D mkIV with a 24-105mm lens at various focal lengths. The featured image is made from 12 horizontal images taken @ 85mm to show less foreground and more height to the distant tree line. The full final size pano is 118″ long x ~20″ high.

Pre-Sunrise when arriving at Wildlife Drive entrance, Little Blackwater River, Canon 1D mkIV, 12-24mm lens @ 24mm
Pre-Sunrise, Wildlife Drive entrance, Little Blackwater River, single image, @75mm, 24-105mm, 1D mkIV
Sunrise along Wildlife Drive entrance, Little Blackwater River, 24-105mm @ 24mm, 8 image pano, 1D mkIV
Sunrise along Wildlife Drive, Little Blackwater River, 24-105mm @ 24mm, 10 image pano, 1D mkIV
Sunrise along Wildlife Drive, Little Blackwater River, 24-105mm @ 24mm, 1D mkIV
Sunrise along Wildlife Drive, Little Blackwater River, 24-105mm @ 24mm, 8 image pano, 1D mkIV
Sunrise along Wildlife Drive, Little Blackwater River, 24-105mm @ 85mm, 12 image pano, 1D mkIV
Sunrise along Wildlife Drive, Little Blackwater River, 24-105mm @ 105mm, 2 horizontal images, stacked, 1D mkIV

Blackwater NWR Mergansers

On our visit to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland, I was looking for some different photo subjects than the usual ones we see. I did find some Mergansers in different areas along the Wildlife Drive. The Featured Image is a Hooded Merganser. It was swimming in a small water channel under a bunch of trees so I hardly could make it out in the shadows. It was just one black blob moving in the water so I adjusted my exposure in the camera to +1 stop hoping that would be enough to get some detail. Then when working on the image in Adobe Camera Raw, adjust the shadows in the Raw file to bring out more detail in the shadows and reduce the noise in the image. So it seemed to work out ok. This was taken with a Canon R with a 150-600mm lens @ 600mm. Then near the end of the Wildlife Drive I found a pair (male & female) of Common Mergansers swimming in the channel.

Female & Male Common Mergansers, Canon R, Tamron 150-600mm, @600mm, heavy crop to image

Blackwater NWR iPhone Multi-Image Panoramas

On our visit to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge I was traveling light thinking only of Birds & Wildlife images. I only was using a Canon R with a Tamron 150-600mm lens. But when we got there the clouds with the landscapes were amazing. So I tried shooting quite a few multi-image panoramas with a variety of the iPhone lenses. The featured image is 10 vertical images (4:3 format iPhone format) assembled and blended in Photoshop.

BWR landscape, iPhone 11 Pro, 4img, 1.5mm lens (Full Frame Camera field of view ~ 13mm)
BWR Landscape, iPhone 11 Pro, 4.3mm lens, Panorama mode (“bowing” Horizon Distortion from iPhone pano mode corrected in Photoshop)
View from Visitor Center – 9 image, iPhone 11 Pro, 6mm lens (Full Frame Camera Field of View ~52mm)
BWR Visitor Center, 1.5mm lens, iPhone 11 Pro, (Full Frame Camera field of view ~ 13mm)
BWR Wildlife Drive, 10 vertical images, 1.5mm lens, iPhone 11 Pro
BWR Observation Platform, 1.5mm lens, 6 Horizontal images panorama
BWR Observation Platform, iPhone 11 Pro, 4.3mm lens, 4 vertical image panorama

Blackwater NWR Snow Geese In-Flight Panoramas

On our visit to Blackwater NWR we saw quite a few large groups of Tundra Swans & Canada Geese, but I was looking for large groups of Snow Geese. There was one large group way out in the Blackwater River, but none close to photograph. Also saw one large group in the distance behind the Visitor Center but could not get a clear image of them from the Wildlife Drive. After driving one loop of the Wildlife Drive we stopped by the Visitor Center to photograph a large group of Canada Geese in the fields by the Center. Then off to the left of the Visitor Center I noticed a large group of Snow Geese flying in. It was still early so I liked the color of the sky behind them. When photographing multi-image panoramas of flying birds I tend to photograph them from the far end of the direction they are flying and shoot my series as quickly as I can. So if the group is flying to the right, I start my series on the far left and shoot quickly going along with them to the right to capture the whole group. If you go the opposite way you get more uneven spacing and more spacing between the birds in the group. Which is harder to touch up for the final image. The featured image is 5 images shot with a Tamron 150-600mm @600mm on a Canon R. These are about 80 – 122 inches for the original file, so making them so small in length for the post I loose some detail in the image.

Snow Geese Panorama, 19 Image Panorama, Tamron 150-600mm @ 600mm, Canon R
Snow Geese Panorama, 15 Image Panorama, Tamron 150-600mm @ 309mm, Canon R (final image 122 inches)
Snow Geese Panorama, 8 Image Panorama, Tamron 150-600mm @ 600mm, Canon R

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