photoartflightLittle Green Heron & Black-crowned Night-Heron Foraging
Posted on March 13, 2020
We found this Green Heron foraging for a meal early in the morning at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel, Florida. It was very focused on something in the water and hardly moved for quite a while. I guess what it was staring at disappeared and then it relaxed it’s stance and moved on. Also nearby was an immature Black-crowned Night-Heron. It was fun to see the 2 small herons close to each other. Because of the wide range of smaller photo subjects and the distance to them at J.N. Ding Darling, I usually use here a 400mm D.O. lens, with a 1.4x teleconverter on a Canon 7D. (Full Frame field of view equivalent ~896mm)
Red-shouldered Hawk Take-Off Series
Posted on March 8, 2020
I am still going through files from past photo trips. Now that I am retired I have time to go back and work on images I had not gotten to adjust before. Work always seemed to get in the way. This is a series of images of a Red-shouldered Hawk take-off from a small branch at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel, Florida. I was using a 400mm DO lens with a 1.4x Teleconverter on a Canon 7D (for an effective Full Frame Camera equivalent field of view of ~896mm). Many times at Ding Darling you see interesting photo opportunities but the subjects are quite far away. So it is fun to try different ways to photograph distant subjects. The more you try different techniques, the better your results and are more predictable. With a 1.4x teleconverter I would stop the lens down 1 more stop than I would usually use. For a 2x teleconverter I would stop the lens down 2 stops more. With a 1.7x teleconverter I would also stop down 2 more stops than usual. Yes I actually found a 1.7x teleconverter for Canon lenses.
I was surprised it kept focus on the hawk and not on the branches as I was tracking the hawk.
Incoming Roseate Spoonbill
Posted on February 25, 2020
I am going through backup Hard Drives cleaning up and removing unneeded files. Sometimes you find interesting images you have not used before or you want to try different ways to adjust the file and bring out more details on already worked on files. The more you adjust files you find different ways or techniques to improve the image. This image was taken years ago at Ding Darling NWR with a Canon 7D with a 400mm f/4 DO lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter ( ~ 896mm effective Full Frame FOV)
Anhinga Fishing – Diving In
Posted on January 4, 2020
While I was photographing Pelicans at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, I noticed this Anhinga flying in and diving into the water going after a fish. They must have great eyesight! The featured image is out of sequence in the series showing when it first started to hit the water. The series below was when the Anhinga was flying in to get its meal.
Black Skimmers FlyBy
Posted on September 6, 2018
A group of Black Skimmers flying by, heading to another area at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville NJ. They were working an area farther out in the water when they changed direction and flew by me. They are fun to photograph when they go back and forth fishing an area, with their lower mandible streaking through the water. But this small group was just moving on to fish further out.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail On Butterfly Bush
Posted on July 19, 2018
I was going through older images to look for some colorful images to post on the blog. These were from my old home by my pond. This was on the other side of the pond probably 20 feet from my camera. Even with a 400mm lens the image would not have filled the frame like I wanted, so I started experimenting with different ways to get closer. So by adding a short extension tube, then a 1.4x teleconverter, then another extension tube I was able actually starting to get what I wanted in the frame. It took hours of experimenting with different sized extension tubes, teleconverters and teleconverter and extension tube placement for different results resulting in a large image on the camera’s sensor.
Blue Dasher Dragonflies Showing Signs Of Wear
Posted on July 17, 2018
These Blue Dasher Dragonflies (males & females) are showing signs of wear already this season. Their wings have tears and missing areas.
