photoartflightBlackwater NWR Sunrise
Posted on May 23, 2020
This image is from a previous trip to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland. We arrived as the sun was coming up, so I stopped near the entrance to take a few shots of the trees along the entrance with the warm glow of the rising sun behind the trees. This was my favorite of the series, shot with a Canon 17-40mm lens @ 17mm. This is a lens I hardly ever use and is not my favorite lens for landscapes, but it was in my bag so I gave it a try anyway. In the end I liked the image. I usually use a 24-105mm and shoot multiple images @24mm for a slight panorama view.
Blackwater NWR Landscape
Posted on February 24, 2020
I was going through old files and found this Blackwater NWR Landscape from a few years ago. I liked the clouds accenting the tree line on the right side. This was taken with a 17-40mm lens @ 17mm. I was surprised because it was a lens I hardly ever used preferring a 12-24mm instead. Landscapes at Blackwater NWR can be spectacular, especially in the early morning or late afternoon. This image was taken in late afternoon before sundown.
Blackwater NWR – Trees In Light Fog
Posted on December 22, 2019
On one of our trips to the Blackwater NWR, there was a light fog at the Refuge when we arrived. Along the Wildlife Drive in the wooded area, I thought the fog looked interesting. It seemed to make the trees near to us stand out more against the hazy softer trees in the distance. I was using a 24-105mm lens @ 90mm to concentrate on the closer trees near the Wildlife Drive, adding depth to the image.
Blackwater NWR Panoramas
Posted on August 23, 2019
Here are a few panoramas from the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland. The featured Sunrise image is a panorama image made with 5 horizontal overlapping images, each shot at 24mm and assembled in Photoshop. This is an image of the Little Blackwater River along the entrance to the Wildlife Drive. The final size for the featured sunrise image is 95 inches long x 18 inches high @ 300ppi. Sunrises & Sunsets are usually very colorful at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge which is one of my favorite photo destinations.
Blackwater NWR Sunrise across from the lookout platform along the Wildlife Drive. ( 2 image Pano)
Image below is a multi-image vertical panorama. Sometimes it is fun to try different format orientations instead of ones you usually see. Most panoramas are Horizontal.
2 vertical images blended for vertical Sunrise panorama shoot @ 24mm
Single 12mm Sunrise Image
Dusk Panorama Further Down The Wildlife Drive. 10 vertical images @ 24mm combined for panorama
Dusk Panorama Along Wildlife Drive. 6 vertical images @ 12mm for panorama.
Early Morning Landscapes Along BWR Wildlife Drive
Posted on February 13, 2019
Here is a series of early morning landscapes from the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge along the Wildlife Drive. The clouds this day were amazing in a dark kind of way. Blackwater NWR is one of my favorite places to photograph. It is great for birds & Wildlife, but also fun for landscapes! On this morning the clouds and sky were amazing. These were all shot with an Olympus m43 Camera with a 14-140mm lens at 14mm (full frame FOV equivalent 28mm). Some are 2 image panoramas to add height or length to the image.
2 image panorama to include more height for showing clouds @ 14mm
Early Morning Landscape from Wildlife Drive @ 14mm
Early Morning Landscape Concentrating On Clouds @ 14mm
2 Horizonal images (Panorama) to Add Vertical Height for Showing More Clouds – 14mm
Another Panorama with 2 Horizontal Images @14mm to Add Height for Showing Clouds. (Eagle flying in top left corner)
Last Image in my Early Morning Clouds Series showing the clorful clouds we saw on this session along the Blackwater Wildlife Drive. 14mm
Blackwater Sunset Multi-image Panorama
Posted on January 10, 2019
I am still going through all the images I shot at Blackwater NWR. The featured image is another sunset panorama from our trip. This is a 3 image panorama shot @ 14mm with an Olympus m43 Camera (FOV 28mm full frame format equivalent). The panorama was blended in Photoshop.
BWR Sunset @ 14mm m43 format (single image)
More Blackwater NWR Landscapes and Panoramas
Posted on January 5, 2019
Some more panoramas & landscapes from our visit to Blackwater NWR. Featured image is a 3 image panorama, shot @ 48mm with a m43 Olympus and a 14-140mm lens. Assembled in Photoshop. Below are more assorted landscapes and panoramas from along the Wildlife Drive as the sun was setting.
Sunset setting @24mm Olympus OMD mk-1
Sun Setting along Wildlife Drive @14mm Olympus OMD mk-1
BWR Sunset Along Wildlife Drive @32mm. Eagles roosting on first tall snag and forth tall snag. The nest is in a tree further down to the right. Olympus OMD mk-1
BWR 3 img panorama before sunset @ 14mm, m43 Olympus OMD mk-1
BWR Sunset @ 14mm m43, Olympus OMD mk-1
BWR Sunset 14mm, 2 img stacked pano, @14mm, Olympus OMD mk-1
Blackwater NWR Sunrise
Posted on August 13, 2018
The featured Sunrise image is a series of horizontal images stacked vertically to get more of the colorful clouds and sky at sunrise. Five images shot at 12mm, aligned and blended together manually in Photoshop with soft edge masks. This view is not far from the entrance on the Wildlife Drive looking out over The Little Blackwater River.
6 images, horizontal, overlapping & combined manually in Photoshop for final image
The image below is around the corner from the featured & above image, by the Observation Platform, looking out at the Blackwater River.
Blackwater NWR Early Morning Landscape
Posted on March 28, 2018
Going through my old files looking for images to post. This was taken at the Blackwater NWR in Maryland early in the morning along the Wildlife Drive. I used my small Panasonic Pocket Camera. I usually keep a small pocket camera or a m43 camera with a 14-140mm lens with me for Photo Subjects that require a wider view, since my main camera usually here has a 400mm lens with a 1.4X teleconverter. I have tried my iPhone for this but I feel it is not quite as good as I would want it to be. I have used the iPhone, but that is usually when I do not have any other camera with me.
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Sunsets
Posted on March 25, 2018
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge has some amazing sunsets. Being somewhat close to the coast it seems like the sunsets are more colorful than usual. Sunrises are also very colorful if you can get there that early. We live about 4 hours from Blackwater so we do not get there as often as I would like. If you position yourself near the end of the Wildlife Drive at sunset, you can stay for a short while after the theoretical closing time to enjoy the sunsets. They used to drive through to make sure everyone leaves, but are usually cooperative. Quite often you see flocks of birds flying through the colorful skies which adds some interest to the colorful skies. For the featured image I was using a Canon 15mm Fisheye f/2.8 lens. I corrected some distortion in Camera Raw.
The above image was shot with a Panasonic LX Pocket camera. This is along the Wildlife Drive right before the final turn in the road to the straight away to the exit, where the featured photo was taken.
Multi-Image FlyOut Panorama at Sunset – Panned during a burst of images, assembled in Photoshop. Also along the last straight away to the exit.
