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.
Bald Eagle Close-Up Flyby
Posted on December 12, 2019
I am going through my array of backup hard drives to cleanup and remove unnecessary files and make more room to add files. Also to go through and see what sessions I my not have worked on. I was surprised to find this image of a Bald Eagle from many years ago from a trip to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge Maryland. It flew out of a tree along the Wildlife Drive. I was photographing a different view when I noticed this Eagle fly out of a tree on my side. So I quickly tried to get a shot but just managed to lock on to get this image in focus. I was shooting verticals so I did not have time to change orientation before it changed direction. I have learned that photographing Eagles tail views are not my favorite images. Eagle image shot with a Canon 400mm Canon DO lens with 1.4x Teleconverter on a Canon 1D MkIII Camera body.
Ospreys In Flight
Posted on November 25, 2019
One of my favorite photo subjects are Ospreys in flight. Over the years I have enjoyed photographing them in many different locations. Quite often you can see in the photos their eyes keeping an eye on you. The featured image was taken at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland. Featured image was taken with a 400mm DO lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter. Other photo locations for the images here were the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Briganine Division and The Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale, NJ.
Osprey In Flight
Posted on September 11, 2019
I was going through some older backup drives and found these files I never worked on from a Blackwater NWR trip about 8 years ago. I remember them now because these were taken on the Wildlife Drive when there used to be an Osprey platform close to the Wildlife Drive. This Osprey Platform was near the last turn before the straight way to the exit. This Osprey put on quite an aerial show. It was so close I clipped its wings a few times. I did not want to stay too long in case I was bothering the nest. But it was so close to the busy Wildlife Drive I would think it was used to cars. Maybe that is why it is now gone.
Bald Eagle In Flight
Posted on August 29, 2019
I was going through some old Raw images from Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and found this image of a Bald Eagle that I never worked on. Sometimes it is fun to go over old Raw files to see if the newer software can pull more details or colors out of the Raw files. Usually, Yes you can get more from your old files. This Eagle flew out of a group of trees on the bend in the Wildlife Drive before the middle exit. I liked the blue sky background with the soft clouds. I was using a 500mm lens on an older Canon 1D MkIII body. Blackwater NWR is one of my favorite locations to photograph – Especially for the Bald Eagles.
I was asked about the lower wingtip being cut off. It did not bother me when I posted it in the beginning as that is how it was photographed. But I added it in and viewers can choose / decide which one they like better.
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 Bald Eagles
Posted on January 20, 2019
On our photo trip to Blackwater NWR we were hoping to see a lot of Eagles. Winter is when they have the largest concentrations of Bald Eagles, so we were hoping for the best. We saw quite a few in the distance but not many close by. I saw one on the ground across from pool 3a, looking around with some feathers around so I assume it had a meal. This Eagle then flew into a nearby tree. Then, I believe the mate, joined him. This Eagle was on a snag in the water, on the other side of the Wildlife Drive. They were now a little closer, but I still needed to change my 1.4x teleconverter to a 2x to get even closer. Then I got my tripod and stacked the 1.4x teleconverter with the 2x teleconverter to try to get even closer. I was using a Canon 1D MkIV with a 1.3x crop factor (from full frame DSLRs) so with this combination I had a field of view equivalent to 1120mm @ f/11 wide open, so I stopped down to f/16 & f /22 for a series of shots to see what I could get sharpness wise. Luckily my subjects cooperated and were fairly static movement wise. It was a somewhat dull day so I had to up my ISO more than I like to use. They cooperated for quite a while and they attracted quite a few other photographers, so we moved on.
Tundra Swans Fly-By
Posted on January 18, 2019
Getting around to working on more of my images from Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Here are some of the Tundra Swans we saw at the refuge. Most of the time they were far out in pools along the Wildlife Drive. But occasionally we saw some fly by giving us an opportunity for some flight shots. These were on an overcast grayish blue sky day. The higher up the Swans were flying seemed to be a little bluer sky. Because of the gray day I had to raise my ISO higher than I usually use to get a shutter speed fast enough to stop the wing movement.
Pair of Tundra Swans in Flight – 400mm, 1.4x teleconverter
Higher Flight of Tundra Swans – 400mm, 1.4x teleconverter
High Flight Of Snow Geese At Blackwater NWR
Posted on January 2, 2019
We went for 2 days to photograph at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland. Early in the morning, along the Wildlife Drive on the second day we saw a huge flock of Snow Geese flying out under a heavy cloud cover. They were quite high and took a few minutes for the waves of them to pass by. Probably 500 to 700 (or more) passed by in multiple waves.
14-140mm lens @ 14mm with Olympus OMD Mk1
