Posted on September 23, 2022
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).
Category: Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Equipment, Favorite Locations, iP11 Pro, iPhone, iPhone photos, Landscapes, Marsh Edge Trail, Multi-Row & Multi-layer stacked panoramas, Panoramas, Stacked Images Tagged: Blackwater landscapes, Blackwater Marsh Edge Trail, Blackwater multi-image iP11 panoramas, blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, iP11 multi-image landscapes, iP11 Panoramas, iP11 Pro Panoramas, iPhone 11 Pro Panoramas, iphone image panoramas, iphone image panoramas in Photoshop, iPhone multi-image panoramas, Marsh Edge Trail, Marsh Edge Trail @ Blackwater NWR, Marsh Edge Trail Landscapes, Marsh Edge Trail Panoramas
Posted on July 14, 2022
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.
Category: Bald Eagles, Birds, Birds, birdscapes, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Cambridge MD, canon R, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Panorama & Stacked Images, Panoramas, Wildlife, wildlife drive Tagged: Bald Eagle, bald Eagle At Blackwater NWR, Bald Eagle Nest, Bald Eagle on branch, Bald Eagles, Bald Eagles at Blackwater NWR, blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Wildlife Drive, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR Bald Eagles, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, blackwater NWR panoramas, Blackwater Wildlife Drive, canon R camera, Tamron 150-600mm lens
Posted on April 14, 2022
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 .
Category: Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Cambridge MD, Cloudscapes, Favorite Locations, Landscapes, Skies and Clouds, skyscapes, Skyscapes & Clouds, sunrise, sunrise panoramas, wildlife drive Tagged: Blackwater Colorful Clouds, Blackwater landscapes, blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Wildlife Drive, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, Blackwater NWR sunrises, Blackwater sunset., Blackwater Sunsets, Blackwater Wildlife Drive, Canon 1D MkIII, Canon 1D mkIII1D, Canon 20D, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon 7D, Sigma 300-800mm DG Lens
Posted on January 6, 2022
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.
Category: Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Cambridge MD, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Fisheye Lens, Image Stacking, Landscapes, Panorama & Stacked Images, Panoramas, Skies and Clouds, Skyscapes & Clouds, wildlife drive Tagged: Blackwater fisheye images, Blackwater landscapes, blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Wildlife Drive, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, blackwater NWR panoramas, Blackwater sunset Panoramas, Blackwater sunset., Blackwater Sunsets, Blackwater Wildlife Drive, Canon 15mm EF Fisheye lens, Canon 15mm Fisheye lens, Canon 1D MkIII, canon 24-105mm f/4 lens, Canon 28-135mm lens, Correcting Fidheye Images
Posted on November 23, 2021
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.
Category: Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Equipment, Image Stacking, Landscapes, Panorama & Stacked Images, Panoramas, Skyscapes & Clouds, Stacked Images, sunrise, sunrise panoramas, sunsets Tagged: Blackwater landscapes, blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, blackwater NWR panoramas, Blackwater sunset., canon 1D mk IV, Canon 1D MkIV, canon 24-105mm f/4 lens, panoramas
Posted on September 23, 2021
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.
Category: Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Cloudscapes, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Landscapes, Nature Still Lifes, Skies and Clouds, Skyscapes & Clouds, sunsets, wildlife drive Tagged: Blackwater Colorful Clouds, Blackwater landscapes, blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Wildlife Drive, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, Blackwater sunset., Blackwater Sunsets, Blackwater Wildlife Drive, Olympus OM D Mk I, Panasonic 14-140mm lens
Posted on February 20, 2021
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.
Category: Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Favorite Locations, Image Stacking, Panorama & Stacked Images, Panoramas, Skies and Clouds, Skyscapes & Clouds, wildlife drive Tagged: Blackwater landscapes, blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, bwr, bwr cloudscapes, BWR landscapes, BWR Panoramas, BWR Wildlife Drive, Canon 1D MkIV, canon 24-105mm f/4 lens, Multi-image panoramas, MultiImage Panoramas, panoramas
Posted on February 13, 2021
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.
Category: Birds, birdscapes, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Favorite Locations, Wildlife, wildlife drive Tagged: blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, Blackwater Wildlife Drive, canon R camera, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Tamron 150-600mm lens
Posted on February 12, 2021
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.
Category: Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Favorite Locations, iPhone, iPhone photography, Landscapes, Panorama & Stacked Images, Panoramas, Skies and Clouds, Skyscapes & Clouds, wildlife drive Tagged: Blackwater iPhone multi Image landscapes, blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, iP11 multi-image landscapes, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro landscapes, iPhone 11 Pro Panoramas, iphone image panoramas, iphone image panoramas in Photoshop, iPhone landscapes, iPhone photography
Posted on February 12, 2021
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.
Category: Birds, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Landscapes, Nature Still Lifes, Panorama & Stacked Images, Panoramas, Wildlife, wildlife drive Tagged: blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater NWR Landscapes, Blackwater Snow Geese, canon R camera, Snow Geese, snow Geese flying, Snow Geese in flight, Snow Geese Panoramas, Tamron 150-600mm lens