Posted on March 17, 2022
Many times when I am out walking in a Wildlife Refuge to photograph birds I either cannot get close because they are high up in the trees or there are other things in the way to get close. Or they are flying some what in the distance. So if you are shooting “RAW” camera files such as Canon CR3 Raw files you can use “Enhance” in Photoshop to nicely uprez your images for severe cropping. Or if you want to really Print Large images. Works well for both applications. It also helps to run a noise reducing software after uprezzing. I had made my own Photoshop actions to uprez images but using “Enhance” in Photoshop is easier to use. The Featured Image is severely cropped from my “Enhanced” File. Sometimes I also use Nik Define software to remove some “noise” in the image if I am using a high ISO.
Category: Birds, Birds, birdscapes, Blog, canon R, Equipment, Lake Woodruff NWR, Lake Woodruff, DeLand Fl, Photo Tips, Tips & Techniques, Wildlife Tagged: "Enhance" feature in Photoshop, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon 300mm f/4 lens, canon R, Lake Woodruff NWR, Lake Woodruff NWR Florida, Photographing birds in the distance, Photoshop Enhance, Photoshop Enhance for severe cropping images, Uprezzing images in Photoshop
Posted on December 29, 2021
I am still going through Sandhill Crane images that were shot for making panoramas since they were so close to me as I was photographing them. Usually it is a reverse problem where your subjects are too far away as you are photographing them. All images in this post are taken with a 300mm lens on a Canon R. The Featured Image is a 2 horizontal image panorama combined in Photoshop.
Category: Birds, Birds, birdscapes, Blog, canon R, Favorite Locations, Image Stacking, Lake Woodruff NWR, Lake Woodruff, DeLand Fl, Nature Still Lifes, Panorama & Stacked Images, Panoramas, Sandhill Cranes, Stacked Images, Wildlife Tagged: canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon R camera, Lake Woodruff National Wildlif Refuge, Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge, Lake Woodruff NWR, Lake Woodruff NWR Florida, Lake Woodruff NWR Panoramas, Sandhill Crane Panoramas, Sandhill Cranes
Posted on October 7, 2021
This is from a previous trip a couple of years ago to Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge in DeLand Florida. We saw quite a few female Anhingas, but we only saw this one male Anhinga preening on a branch and just hanging out there. Usually there are lots of them, but not on this visit.
Category: Birds, Birds, Blog, canon R, Favorite Locations, Lake Woodruff, DeLand Fl, Wildlife Tagged: 300mm, Anhinga, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon R camera, Lake Woodruff NWR, Male Anhinga
Posted on September 26, 2021
I am going through images to post and found this image of a Common Buckeye Butterfly. This was from a trip to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division in Galloway, New Jersey. We were traveling light and I was using a Canon 300mm lens with a 1.4X Canon Teleconverter on a Canon 1D mkIV. The Canon 300mm f/4 lens has fairly close focusing especially with the 1.4X Teleconverter. But to get even closer I used a Canon 25mm extension tube behind the teleconverter. Image taken @ f/11, 1/400 sec, ISO 400.
Category: Blog, Brigantine NWR, Oceanville NJ, Bugs, Butterfly, Butterflys, Common Buckeye Butterfly, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Equipment, Favorite Locations, wildlife drive Tagged: Brigantine Division, Brigantine Divison Edwin B Forsythe NWR, Butterfly, canon 1.4x teleconverter series III, Canon 1D MkIV, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, Canon extension tubes, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, Canon Teleconverter with Canon Extension Tubes, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye Butterfly
Posted on September 7, 2021
Here in NJ Dragonfly season will be ending soon. I am seeing fewer Dragonflies & Damselflies at our local parks, Wildlife Refuges and even our yard. Here is a collection of Blue Dasher Dragonfly images from a variety of local Parks & Wildlife Refuges. The Featured Image was taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens, Canon 2X Teleconverter, Canon 1D mkIV @ f11 & with Fill Flash. Dragonfly distance from camera ~15 feet. Some images were also taken with Extension Tubes on the lens, but Extension Tubes do not show in the RAW Data in Adobe Bridge so I did not list them in the image info on each image.
Category: Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Brigantine NWR, Oceanville NJ, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Oceanville NJ, Plainsboro Preserve Tagged: Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher Closeups, blue Dasher Dragonflies, Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Blue Dasher Face, Blue Dasher Female, blue dasher Female dragonfly, Blue Dashers, Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 2X teleconverter, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon 400mm f/4 DO, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon 7D, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter
Posted on August 7, 2021
I was looking for a Praying Mantis in our gardens to photograph when this male Blue Dasher dragonfly landed on a branch by our carport. Not a great background but decided to photograph it anyway since I did not see any other interesting bugs. To minimize detail in the background carport siding I chose f/8 to minimize the carport detail. Since I was @ f/8 I shot a handheld series of images to retain detail on the dragonfly. I shot 3 images to focus stack on the dragonfly from wingtip to wingtip, then a 3 image series head to tail. After the main image stack, I moved in closer & closer for a few different closer versions since it seemed to be tolerating my being there.
Category: Blog, canon R, Closeup Photography, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Tips & Techniques Tagged: Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher Dragonfly, canon 1.4x teleconverter series III, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon R camera, Focus Stacking, Focus stacking for more depth of field, Focus stacking for smoother cleaner backgrounds, Focus stacking for specific detail & sharpness, focus stacking in Photoshop, Male Blue Dasher Dragonfly
Posted on July 27, 2021
I was looking for interesting bugs in our gardens to photograph and I found this Praying Mantis in the shade under some of the flowers. It was very dark but that made the Mantis stand out more. I was using a 300mm lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter @ f/11 with a Canon R. I wanted to make sure I got detail on the head and antennae only so I did a handheld 13 image focus stack to make sure I had detail on it’s head & 2 antennae or feelers. I purposely only wanted detail on the head and antennae and let the body go soft.
Category: Blog, canon R, Closeup Photography, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Focus Stacking, Image Stacking, Insects, Nature Still Lifes, Panorama & Stacked Images, photoshop tips, Stacked Images, Tips & Techniques Tagged: canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon R camera, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, Focus stacking for specific detail & sharpness, Praying Mantis, Praying Mantis Closeups, Praying Mantis Focus stack
Posted on July 15, 2021
I was going through my backup hard drives cleaning out unneeded files when I found this image of a male Painted Skimmer Dragonfly. This was taken at my pond years ago with a 300mm f/4 lens on a Canon 7D. Image taken @ f/11 to try to get a little more detail in the far wingtips.
Category: Blog, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Insects, yard & pond Tagged: canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, Canon 7D, Dragonflies, dragonfly, painted Skimmer dragonfly, Pond
Posted on July 9, 2021
A couple of images of Blue Dasher Dragonflies. The Featured Image of the male Blue Dasher was taken with a 400mm DO lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter @ f/8 on a Canon 1D mkIV. To get the smoother background I wanted I only stopped down 1 more f/stop to f/8 since I already lost 1 stop with the 1.4X Teleconverter attached. My usual workflow when (on bright days) using teleconverters for a little more sharpness is to stop down at least 1 additional stop when using a 1.4X and at least 2 stops when using a 2X teleconverter. If I am using a 3X Teleconverter I would stop down 1 or 2 more stops than when using a 2X Teleconverter if I could. But then again a 3X Teleconverter usually is so bad I would just stack a 1.4X & 2X teleconverter. If using an extension tube on Telephoto lenses to get closer focusing I would also stop down at least 1 or 2 more stops for more depth of field.
Category: Blog, Closeup Photography, Dragonflies, Equipment, Tips & Techniques Tagged: Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Canon 2X teleconverter, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, Canon 400mm DO lens, Canon extension tubes, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, Canon Teleconverters Canon Extension Tubes, Closer up images with filters & extension tubes, extension tubes, Female Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Male Blue Dasher Dragonfly
Posted on June 21, 2021
We had gone to the Audubon Plainsboro Preserve to see if we could find a few interesting dragonflies to photograph for the blog. The Preserve was still overloaded with Cicadas but there were quite a few Dragonflies flying around on the paths. It was fun to find this Immature Great Blue Skimmer Dragonfly along the main path. The featured image was taken with a Canon 300mm lens with a 1.4x Teleconverter @ f/6.3 for a smoother background. Below are other views at various f/stops.
Category: Blog, canon R, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Favorite Locations, Immature Dragonfly, Insects, Nature Still Lifes, Plainsboro Preserve Tagged: canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon R camera, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, Dragonflies, dragonfly, dragonfly photography, Great Blue Skimmer Dragonfly, Immature Dragonfly, Immature Great Blue Skimmer, Male Immature Great Blue Skimmer Dragonfly