photoartflightCommon 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.
Golden-winged Skimmer Dragonfly – 4 Image Panorama
Posted on July 24, 2021
I was going through Backup Drives and came across this series of images of a Golden-Winged Skimmer Dragonfly (Male). This is a handheld 4 shot panorama taken with a 400mm Canon DO lens on a Canon 1D mk IV @ f/8 (for a smoother looking background). The panorama was aligned & assembled in Photoshop.
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.
More Blue Dasher Dragonflies
Posted on July 13, 2021
Another series of images of one of my favorite dragonflies, the Blue Dasher Dragonfly. These were taken over quite a few years and lots of locations. Almost all were taken with a Canon 1D mkIV with a 400mm DO lens. Some with 1.4x or 2X Teleconverters for added reach since they were out a ways in a pond or stream.
Eastern Pondhawks At Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
Posted on July 6, 2021
We usually like going to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge outside of Cambridge Maryland for photographing Bald Eagles. It usually has one of the largest amounts of Bald Eagles in the Northeast. But in the Summer I also like it for the large amounts & different types of Dragonflies you can find. Here I am posting some images of Eastern Pondhawk Dragonflies. Blackwater has a long Wildlife Drive so you can find a large variety of Dragonflies because of the different varieties of habitats along the Drive. Some of the best areas are by the Observation Platform that goes out above the grasses over the water & along the Wildlife Drive where there is standing water on both sides of the Drive.
Distant Dragonfly Closeups
Posted on June 30, 2021
A closeup uncropped image of a Female Blue Dasher Dragonfly. It was in a small pond but off in the distance in the middle of the pond. It was about 8 feet from the edge of the pond. To get this close to Dragonflies that I can not get close to I have come up with a method to get detail images of them. I was using a 400mm f/4 DO lens with multiple stacked extension tubes between multiple teleconverters. With this setup I had to use an on-camera flash with a “Better Beamer” Flash Extender to light the dragonfly because of all the light loss with multiple extension tubes & teleconverters . This dragonfly was about 8 ft out in the water. You can see the flash hotspot on the eye. Changing the order of the extension tubes and different sizes of the teleconverters gives you different zones of manual focus. Also you have to try different exposures because Auto Exposure does not work with all the extension tubes & teleconverters. After trying this for a while you can get nice closeups of distant Dragonflies. Also you usually get nice “clean” & smooth backgrounds. It takes some practice but you can get some interesting images of distant Dragonflies.
Ospreys On Osprey Platform
Posted on March 18, 2021
A photo of an Osprey bringing nesting materials to the nest on an Osprey Platform along the Wildlife Drive at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville NJ. This was from a few years ago in May. But can not wait to photograph the Ospreys in the upcoming months along the Wildlife Drive. There are quite a few Osprey Platforms along the Wildlife Drive giving many opportunities to photograph them. You need a fairly long lens unless you want to severely crop your images. These images was taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens with a 2X Teleconverter.
Blackwater NWR Sunrise Panoramas
Posted on February 20, 2021
These images are a series of multi-image panoramas of a Blackwater NWR Sunrise on a visit there in July 2018. Blackwater NWR is a great place to visit for sunrise & sunsets. We were trying to get there for the sunrise and we just made it before the sunrise started. Most images were taken with a Canon 1D mkIV with a 24-105mm lens at various focal lengths. The featured image is made from 12 horizontal images taken @ 85mm to show less foreground and more height to the distant tree line. The full final size pano is 118″ long x ~20″ high.
Blackwater NWR Sunsets
Posted on January 29, 2021
Here are some Colorful Sunsets from a few different visits over the years to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge, Maryland. Besides photographing Eagles & other birds it is a Great place to photograph colorful sunrises & sunsets. The featured image was taken along the Wildlife Drive with a Canon 24-105mm lens @40mm, Canon 1Ds mkII.
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