photoartflightImmature Little Blue Heron
Posted on May 13, 2017
We noticed this Immature Little Blue Heron working the shoreline looking for a meal at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. I was able to get a couple of images before it disappeared into the grasses. I was using a Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens with a Canon 1.4x Series III Teleconverter.
Then we found another Immature Little Blue Heron along the Wildlife Drive out in the open near the end of the Wildlife Drive. It had a cluttered looking background, but it was unusual for us to see Little Blue Herons there, especially Immature ones.
Early Morning Cloudscape Panorama
Posted on April 1, 2017
I liked the colors and shapes of these early morning clouds. I did not want to use a wide angle lens because I did not want a lot of foreground and darker sky above the clouds. I used a 400mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter with a series of 7 overlapping handheld images combined in Photoshop CC2017. This way I can also print it quite large if I wanted.
Bald Eagle With Fish Head & Tail
Posted on March 26, 2017
I saw this Bald Eagle flying towards me. As the Eagle got somewhat closer, I noticed it was carrying a fish, but the fish was torn in half. The head & body were in it’s claws and the tail was grasped in its beak. It just seemed strange to see the Eagle with a fish torn in half, flying by me. I have seen them carrying parts of a fish before, but not two separate pieces.
Immature Mute Swan Fly By
Posted on March 18, 2017
A flyby of this Immature Mute Swan. I was watching this Immature Mute Swan swimming across this small lake. It took off and flew towards me so I was able to get some closer flight photos. Usually they fly away from where I am setup, so the Swan cooperated with me.
Tundra Swans Flying Off at BWR
Posted on March 9, 2017
A group of Tundra Swans flying off after a large group of Snow Geese took off in mass, disturbing the Swans that were off to the side of the Snow Geese at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The Swans took off and flew to an area farther away from the Snow Geese where it was quieter.
Mute Swan Landscape
Posted on March 5, 2017
I was following, with my camera, this Mute Swan as it was swimming around the lake. It was in a “displaying” posture which is usually when a mate is nearby or a rival male is near, before it chases it away. I saw neither of those two choices. It just kept swimming around the small lake.
3 Image 400mm Weathered Tree Trunk
Posted on March 1, 2017
I liked the textures, lines, lighting and colors in this weathered tree trunk. We were walking on one of the trails at the Plainsboro Preserve in NJ and I was only carrying my camera with a 400mm lens. I shot 3 overlapping images to assemble when I got home. If you are careful when shooting the 3 image sequence they go together easily. I like these kind of images either for a background for other images in one of my ebook pages (full strength or slightly ghosted) or even wall art at home or in the studio.
Red- Throated Loon Diving
Posted on February 26, 2017
As we were watching the Loon, that was now close to us, suddenly dive and go hunting for a meal. It was under for a little while and when it came up, it seemed to settle down and take a nap.
Plainsboro Preserve 400mm Landscape
Posted on February 26, 2017
While I was waiting for the Loon to work its way down the shoreline, I decided to work on this landscape panorama. I liked how the green evergreen trees stood out among the bare leafless trees with the nice blue water as a solid base element. I was setup with a 400mm lens, so I shot 2 rows of 4 images, handheld, for a top series and a bottom series. Combined in Photoshop CC2017. The new Photoshops do a nice job for handheld panos. Every now and then I might need to touch up an area here or there, but usually Photoshop does fine and no other work needed.
Red-Throated Loon with Winter Plumage
Posted on February 25, 2017
We found a new area to explore close to our new home. It is a nature preserve in Middlesex County, NJ. It is over 1000 acres with diverse open spaces including mature beech woods, wetlands, meadows and shoreline of Lake McCormack (the lake is over 50 acres). The area has a wide variety of plant and animal life including native and migrant songbirds, waterfowl, Bald Eagles, foxes and beavers. It has many trails to explore and lots of subjects for photo opportunities.
On our first visit we had a good time starting to discover areas for photography and the general layout of the preserve. On our first visit we spotted this Red-throated Loon. It was in Winter Plumage and was not to close, out on the lake. We went back the next day and I took a longer lens with me hoping to find the loon again. We spotted it going down one channel on the far side so we worked our way over where we thought it would return on the far side working along the shoreline.
We got there before it made the turn around and were waiting for the Loon to get closer.
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