photoartflightYellow-Crowned Night-Heron Fly-By
Posted on October 15, 2021
As we were walking along the Wildlife Drive at J.N. Ding Darling NWR early in the morning this Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron flew right by us. I was not expecting a photo subject would fly by us but I was able to get this shot before it flew behind the trees. I guess I should be more aware of what was going around me as I was concentrating to get closer to a photo subject in the tree in front of us. Image taken @f/8, 1/4000, ISO 1250, 400mm DO lens, 1.4X Teleconverter, Canon 1D mkIV. I usually do not have my ISO that high but raised it because of the dim early morning light.
Little Egret Panorama
Posted on October 13, 2021
A Little Egret 2 image Panorama from a previous visit to J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Florida. The Featured Image is a cropped version to fit better in the Featured Image area. Below is the full 2 vertical images panorama showing the Egret & the Egret’s reflection in the water. Images taken handheld with a Canon 1D mkIV with a 400mm DO lens & 1.4x Teleconverter @ f/8, ISO 3200. I upped the ISO to 3200 because it was early in the morning and the Egret was in the shadows. So it was pretty dark under the trees and I was shooting handheld.
Roseate Spoonbill Flyby
Posted on October 3, 2021
Roseate Spoonbills are one of my favorite Florida birds to photograph! Plus they are a large colorful bird that fills the frame & stands out in photos. In this image I really liked the outstretched wings showing the feather detail and the size of the wingspan. Their wingspan on average is 47 to 52 inches. Image taken at J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Florida a few years ago with a 300mm lens, 1.4X teleconverter on a Canon 7D.
Osprey Landing At Nest
Posted on September 30, 2021
These are from a previous visit to the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR, Brigantine Division in Oceanville NJ. There are many Osprey Platforms with nests scattered along the Wildlife Drive. So if you are patient and wait for the Ospreys to return you can get some interesting flight & landing images. If there are young Ospreys in the nests there is usually more activity with the adult birds bringing food and feeding the young. These are images are of a landing sequence. Images were taken with a Canon 1D mkIV with a Canon 400mm DO lens with a 1.4x Canon Teleconverter. Looking at the Camera Raw Data the nest was 154 feet from the Wildlife Drive .
Blue Dasher 3 Image Panorama
Posted on September 27, 2021
I found this male Blue Dasher Dragonfly on a small branch at a local park. I was using a 400mm DO lens on a Canon 1D mkIV thinking I would be photographing birds. But I had a set of extension tubes in my photo vest which enabled me to get a series of very closeup images to make a 3 horizontal image pano Portrait of the Blue Dasher. Images taken @ f/13 with fill flash (Canon 550 EX with a Better Beamer Flash Extender).
Common Buckeye Butterfly From Brigantine
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.
A Series Of Blue Dasher Dragonfly Images
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.
Great Blue Heron In The Grasses
Posted on September 4, 2021
As we were driving along the Brigantine Wildlife Drive looking for photo subjects we came upon this Great Blue Heron standing in the Grasses. It was quite far out so I put a 2X Teleconverter on my 150-600mm lens to get a closer image. It came out fairly well considering the Tamron 150-600mm lens @ 600mm with a 2X teleconverter (1200mm) is somewhat pushing the sharpness of the lens & image. Stopping down more to f/16 helped quite a bit plus using more Sharpening in Camera Raw when adjusting my images also helped. Usually when using a Teleconverter, I stop down more than I usually do when not using a Teleconverter. For example – when using a 1.4X teleconverter I stop down 1 more f/stop than usual. When using a 1.7X or 2X Teleconverter I stop down 2 stops more than usual. I flattened my layers & duplicated the final layer to have a duplicate layer above my final layer. Using Filter > Other>High Pass Sharpening I had a Grayscale duplicate image above my final color layer. The Grayscale layer was then changed from Normal to Overlay in the layers palette and I lowered the opacity of the High Pass layer to about 40 percent opacity. This just adds a little more Crispness or Sharpness (on the image edges) since I was using a 2X Teleconverter on the Tamron 150-600mm Lens. When using a Grayscale High Pass layer technique it is best to not go too “heavy” on the opacity of High Pass layer. Usually I only go to 20% or 30% opacity on the High Pass layer, but really depends on the image you are working on. This technique can also help sharpness when printing images on an Ink Jet Printer which is basically spraying the ink. But for Inkjet printing I would lower the High Pass layer even a little more. It takes some practice but helps. In my old commercial photo studio before I retired we also did a lot of Wide Format printing for our Corporate & Advertising Agency clients. I had 2- 60″ wide HP Printers for indoor display & fine art graphics & 44″ & 63″ Epson Printers for outdoor graphics or indoor specialty medias. Give this technique a try, but do not overdo the opacity of the High Pass layer. Again it takes some practice, but comes in handy.
Praying Mantis Portrait
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.
3 Ospreys On Osprey Platform
Posted on July 22, 2021
I photographed these 3 Ospreys along the Wildlife Drive at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in Oceanville, NJ. In the Spring & Summer months there is a lot of activity at the Osprey Platforms along the Wildlife Drive. Some Platforms are fairly close to the Drive, where others are a little more distant from the Wildlife Drive. Usually the closer ones are crowded with cars lined up so I tend to like the ones further away and shoot with longer lenses. Usually I am photographing them in-flight coming & going from the Platforms but here I liked the 3 lined up in a row looking like a family Portrait.
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