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 April 14, 2022
I was photographing this Bald Eagle as it was flying in to roost on this dead tree. It was making a loud squawking as it was flying in. Instead of using 3 images to show the Eagle flying in I put the 3 images into one image to show the Eagles flight path to the dead tree top. Images taken with a 400mm DO lens with a 1.4x Teleconverter on a Canon 1D mkIV.
Category: Bald Eagle in Flight, Bald Eagles, Birds, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Canon 1D MkIV, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Image Stacking, Stacked Images, Wildlife, wildlife drive Tagged: Bald Eagle, bald Eagle At Blackwater NWR, Bald Eagle in Flight, Bald Eagle landing, Bald Eagle landing sequence, blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blending 3 images into 1, Blending images in Photoshop, canon 1.4x teleconverter series III, Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens
Posted on April 6, 2022
When we are at National Wildlife Refuges you often see interesting subjects way off in the distance, but too far away to get good images. Adobe has an “Enhance” feature now that you can “enhance” to Double the size of the image but it only works for certain “Raw”types. But many times I want more enlargement than “Enhance” gives you. I almost always shoot “Raw” images because I can get more detail & adjust them somewhat before opening them in Photoshop. Using Camera Raw I can also “UpRez” my images when using Adobe Camera Raw Data. This way of super uprezzing seems to work quite well most of the time. All you have to do is enter larger amounts in the Image sizing window in the Camera Raw Size Panel. Give it a try! You can also add a “High Pass” Sharpening Technique layer over the final image to enhance the sharpness more. Just adjust the opacity of the sharpness layer to what you like. I have found that when you adjust this lessen the amount a little more for better results. There are other ways to upRez but this is what I use quite often plus it is in your Adobe Photoshop already. So it easily works in my Image Workflow. Also the images here are downsized to 1200 pixel size for WordPress posting so the Full image has much more detail.
Category: Birds, Birds, birdscapes, Blog, Brigantine Division, Brigantine NWR, Brigantine NWR, Oceanville NJ, Camera Raw Uprezzing images, Canon 1D MkIV, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Favorite Locations, Nature Still Lifes, Tips & Techniques, Up-rezzing images, Uprezzing Images in Adobe Camera Raw, Uprezzing images in Photoshop, Wildlife, wildlife drive Tagged: Black-Crowned Night-Heron, Brigantine birds, Brigantine Division, Brigantine Divison Edwin B Forsythe NWR, Brigantine Wildlife Drive, canon 1.4x teleconverter series III, Canon 1DmkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Great Egret, Uprezzing Images, Uprezzing Images in Adobe Camera Raw, Uprezzing images in Photoshop, wildlife drive
Posted on April 3, 2022
When photographing at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in NJ, you often see large groups of Cormorants swim by in the channels along the Wildlife Drive. This group had about 92+ Cormorants in the Group. It is hard to get an actual count because some are under water as you are counting the group. I counted 92 Cormorants in the image, but some more were not visible as I was counting.
Category: Birds, Birds, birdscapes, Blog, Brigantine Division, Brigantine NWR, Brigantine NWR, Oceanville NJ, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Oceanville NJ, Panorama & Stacked Images, Panoramas, Wildlife, wildlife drive Tagged: Brigantine Division, Brigantine Divison Edwin B Forsythe NWR, Brigantine Panorama, Brigantine Wildlife Drive, Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, Cormorant, Cormorants, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Drive, Large Groups of Cormorants
Posted on March 22, 2022
On one of our trips to Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge in Florida we saw quite a few Swallow-tailed Kites flying above us. They were fun to see soaring as we were walking the trails. Usually they were really high up in the sky or far off in the distance so we never got good images of them. But the images here are from one visit when they were soaring right above us near the parking lot. They were still really high above us but I thought they were still interesting images. All images were taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter on a Canon 1DmkIV.
Category: Birds, Birds, Blog, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Lake Woodruff NWR, Lake Woodruff, DeLand Fl, Swallow-Tailed Kites, Wildlife Tagged: Canon 1.4X Telconverter, canon 1D mk IV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Lake Woodruff National Wildlif Refuge, Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge, Lake Woodruff NWR, Lake Woodruff NWR Florida, Swallow-Tailed Kite, Swallow-Tailed Kites
Posted on March 9, 2022
This is an image taken years ago at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in Oceanville NJ. I was photographing other birds in the distance when this Great Egret flew close by me. I was able to get one image in focus as it passed by me before it changed course and flew away. It was so close I had to clip the one wingtip. I was using a Canon 20D with a 400mm DO lens.
Category: Birds, Birds, birdscapes, Blog, Brigantine Division, Brigantine NWR, Brigantine NWR, Oceanville NJ, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Wildlife, wildlife drive Tagged: Brigantine Division, Canon 20D, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Egret, Egrets, Great Egret, Great White Egret
Posted on December 23, 2021
I noticed this American White Ibis way up in a tree at J.N. Ding Darling NWR. The White Ibis really stood out against the bright blue sky. It is amazing such a large bird can hold on to such a thin branch. Itโs feet are really wrapped around the branch that it is holding on to. Images taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens on a Canon 1D mkIV.
American White Ibis – Horizontal Version,
Posted on November 4, 2021
Two images of Immature Black-Crowned Night Herons from 2 different National Wildlife Refuges. The Featured Image is from a trip to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division in Oceanville, NJ. That image was taken with a Sigma 300-800mm zoom lens @ 800mm. The image below was taken along the Wildlife Drive at the J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Florida with a Canon 400mm DO lens with a 1.4x Teleconverter.
Category: Birds, Birds, birdscapes, Blackwater NWR, Blog, Brigantine NWR, Brigantine NWR, Oceanville NJ, Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel FL, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Favorite Locations, J.N. Ding Darling NWR, Nature Still Lifes, Oceanville NJ, Wildlife, wildlife drive Tagged: Black-crowned Night-Herons, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Edwin B. Forsythe NWR, Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Drive, Immature Black-crowned Night-herons, J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, J.N. Ding Darling NWR, J.N. Ding Darling Wildlife Drive, Sigma 300-800mm DG Lens
Posted on October 16, 2021
This is from a visit years ago to the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale NJ. The Celery Farm is a 107-acre freshwater wetland with Lake Appert. It is open to the public during daylight hours every day of the year. The centerpiece is Lake Appert, a freshwater marsh that attracts waterfowl, herons, and rails. Even though it is smaller in size, it is Great for photography. Often times you will see birds & wildlife fairly closeup. But you will still need a long lens to get very Closeup Images. This Black-Crowned Night Heron was close to shore by one of the paths to the Lookout Platform. Earlier in the morning the wading birds are closer to the shoreline so you can get fairly close images. According to the Camera Raw Data this image was taken @ 5:16 AM with the early morning warm light warm giving a glow to the out of focus Lake behind the Heron. I found the best times there to be in the early morning. The Lake also attracts quite a few Ospreys and being a smaller lake you can usually get some interesting Osprey fishing images. Image here was taken @ f/5.6 for a smoother background with a Canon 400mm DO lens with a 1.4X teleconverter.
Category: Birds, Birds, birdscapes, Blog, Celery Farm, Equipment, Favorite Locations, The Celery Farm Natural Area, Wildlife Tagged: Black-crowned Night Heron, Black-crowned Night herons foraging, canon 1.4x teleconverter series III, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Lake Appert, Night heron, The Celery Farm Natural Area
Posted on October 12, 2021
Going through Backup Drives working on images that I did not have time to adjust or work on when I was still working. This is from a photo trip to the J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Florida 2 years ago. As we were walking along the Wildlife Drive I noticed this Great Egret working its way in the water channel along the Drive. It got to a sunlit section and I was able to get a couple of images before it flew off. Images taken with a Canon R with a Tamron 150-600mm with a 1.4X Teleconverter @ 840mm, f/16, 1/640 sec. Because it was in the bright sun I also set the Camera to a -2/3 exposure compensation to hold detail in the white Egret.
Category: Birds, Birds, birdscapes, Blog, canon R, Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel FL, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Wildlife, wildlife drive Tagged: canon 1.4x teleconverter series III, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, canon R camera, Ding Darling NWR, Great Egret, Great Egret @ J.N.Ding Darling, Great Egret Catching small fish, J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, J.N. Ding Darling NWR