photoartflightGreat Egret Flying In
Posted on December 17, 2019
The featured image is a Great Egret flying in and landing on the branches that were in the water at a small nature area in Northern NJ. I used to photograph there years ago and since have moved from that area. I was going through images and decided to use these in my blog. As I was working on these images, I liked the reflections in the very still, calm water, giving a smooth mirror image without any small ripples or waves. All images were with a Canon 400mm DO lens.
Later that morning the water started to have a few waves. The Egret stayed for quite a while and seemed content to stay on the branches.
Small Pond Fall Images
Posted on November 7, 2018
Still working on images from our walks at the Davidson’s Mill Pond Park. I liked the colors in the water with the Fall colored subdued trees behind the pond. The featured image was shot @ 14mm on a m43 format camera. The blue sky seemed to really reflect in the pond water setting off the floating fallen leaves. Then I tried 2 additional shots, one @ 41mm and then one @ 32mm. I liked the wider view “featured” image best of the 3. But sometimes you don’t know until you compare them all at once and then you can see which you like best.
Reflections In Water Drops
Posted on March 18, 2018
The weather has not been cooperating to go look for photo subjects, so I was trying water drops inside. I had wanted to do this for a while so I had gathered some of what I needed at work to take home. I used a sheet of plexiglass, treated with Rain-Ex to make the water drops bead up more, (lessens the surface tension on the drop making a better round drop). I braced it a about 6-7 inches above a flat surface so I could position photo subjects underneath so I would get interesting images in the water drops. I had an 18 x 24″ plexi so my braces holding up the plexi would not be reflecting in the drops. I also used, to be safe, small bottles of water which were clear to also help. It takes some trial and error, but you learn as you go and towards the end of my session I have come up with better techniques for next time. The hardest part was to get an interesting pattern of drops. I put some glycerine in the water and used a syringe to apply a pattern of drops by hand on the plexi. I did not want to use a spray bottle because some of the drops would blend together and get an odd oblong shape. I also was shooting at a very slight angle, but shooting directly down might be better. But you might reflect in the plexi so I have to see how that works. I tried a 150mm macro, but I switched to a 100mm macro which seemed to work better. I was trying different apertures. It seems to be a balancing act to distance of drops to subject and f/stop used, but it is a trial and error as you go to see what works best for you. I might try a 50mm macro next time, but might have to have the plexi closer to the subject. I also tried a 2 image focus stack on some. One for the reflection in the drop and one for the base edge of the drops. I did not want to go above f/8 as I did not want my main subject for reflecting in the drop to be more in focus. I used a variety of subjects, but my favorite was a small US Flag I had on my desk. I tried different positions, f-stops. After my first session I have a few ideas to make it better next time. Just moving your main subject a little makes for different views in the drops.
Early Morning Reflections
Posted on February 24, 2018
I liked the early morning light and the reflections of the trees and sky in the water. I was traveling light and only had a long lens for birds, so I shot a series of images and combined them in Photoshop. In some ways it is confusing and busy looking, but I still liked it anyway and thought it was interesting. Only needed a few touch ups to fine tune the image. It was a quiet day for the birds, but I enjoyed being out in the fresh air and seeing what else I could find.
Egret Through The Grasses
Posted on June 15, 2017
I photographed this Snowy Egret as it walked by where I was photographing the Osprey nest. There was a batch of grasses in the way, so I waited until the Egret walked into an opening in the row of grasses to get a few shots before it moved along.
Self Portrait in Stream Bubbles
Posted on February 28, 2016
When I was going over a little bridge at a local Nature Area I noticed the water running under the bridge had a very slight waterfall which was generating lots of bubbles. I tried a few exposures but I thought the water was moving too fast for the shutter speed I could use because of the low light down below the bridge. They were bouncing around wildly so I did not think I would get any decent images so I moved on. When I was looking at them they were better looking than I thought they would be. I was shooting at 1/30 & 1/40 sec @ f/5.6 depending on the amount of light bubbles going by. I noticed my reflection in some of the larger bubbles and thought they were interesting.
Reflections in Frost
Posted on December 14, 2015
The Sun was coming up as I went to work the other day, lighting up the frost on my car. The Metasequoia, with its Autumn color was reflected in the frost. I thought it looked interesting. Here are a few from my iPhone. Not as sharp as I wanted, but still interesting. 
a few shots with my iPhone.
