photoartflightGreat Egret Landing
Posted on December 8, 2016
I was going through images from earlier in the year and found some that I forgot I had. Great Egrets are fun to photograph, especially on landing. You can get some interesting wing and leg positions as they flare for a landing. You just have to be careful in exposing for the whites, especially in bright sunlight.
Duckweed Covered Turtle
Posted on November 27, 2016
As I was walking down the path at a local nature area,this turtle crawled up on this rock and was sunning himself. I liked the colorful green duckweed that stuck to him. He seemed very content to stay on the rock and keep warm. Taken earlier in the beginning of Fall.
Pair of Mute Swans
Posted on August 14, 2016
This pair of Mute Swans was slowly swimming by where I was setup. I liked the closeness of the two Swan heads and how they stayed very close together. I had a 400mm lens setup on a tripod, which was a little close to get them all in the frame, so I went for a portrait of their heads. Then I quickly shot a series of shots of their bodies to stack into the head shot get a final image.
Pair of Mute Swans Portrait
Posted on March 26, 2016
This pair of Mute Swans arrived at the small lake where the Immature Mute Swan from one of the earlier blogs. They do not seem to like having the immature Mute Swan on the same lake as they are territorial and seem to keep chasing him around. Which does give many opportunities for photos. I made this vertical portrait of the new pair as they were swimming together close by me. I also shot quite a few horizontal shots but had to shoot 2 shot handheld panoramas because they were too close to fit them both in the frame at one time.
Great Blue Heron Wing Patterns
Posted on March 19, 2016
Last week when I was at a local Nature Area with a friend, it was overcast and a dull day. We got a few photo subjects, but one series was a flyby of two Great Blue Herons.They flew in from the right and went off to the side, then flew off into the distance. It was overcast and gray skies above us, so I did not think much of this series. I concentrated on one of the Great Blues as it went by and shot a quick series as it flew by. About 1-2 seconds @ 10 frames a second. Did not even look at them because a gray large bird against a gray sky did not look interesting to me. Looking at them later, I thought it would make an interesting montage showing the wing beats of a Great Blue and the bland background accented the gray bird’s wing positions. I made a montage of the images to show the flow and wing positions the slow flyby.
Here they go way off in the distance. We were hoping they would make a circuit around the lake, but they flew to the left of the lake and then off into the distance.
Duck Flyby
Posted on January 1, 2016
These ducks took off from the far end of the lake as I was photographing ones closer by. They made two circuits around the lake and then landed on the far side.
Canada Geese Landing
Posted on December 28, 2015
While I was photographing various ducks passing by me, I saw this small tight group of Canada Geese coming in for a landing. I liked the warm background color and the tight grouping of the geese along with the reflections in the water. So I shot a few images but liked this one the best. Usually I ignore the Canada Geese but was glad I shot a series on these. Next I want to practice panning along with them, just have to wait for more geese to come by.
Duck Box In Fall Vertical Panorama
Posted on December 19, 2015
Sometimes when it is a quiet day where I am photographing I try different techniques just for the fun of it and to see how it comes out. I liked the Duck Box off in the distance with the fall colors and the browning grasses on the shoreline. I shot 7 horizontal shots going from the water to the sky. Loaded all the layers into Photoshop and then did an auto align, then an auto blend. I guess I see it as a challenge plus gives me practice for when I really need to use this technique.
Sky & Cloud Reflections In Water
Posted on November 22, 2015
When it is a slow day for Wildlife images I look for other interesting subjects. Usually I look for macro shots or still life subjects. On this day I thought the cloud and sky reflections in the water looked interesting. On some images I included the tree reflections from the other side of the lake.
Usually for an image like this I would do a 2 to 3 image stack. Focusing on the sky reflections, then midway in the frame and finally on the green duckweed in the foreground. On this day I just shot the one overall image, so the duckweed was a little soft in focus, especially since I was zoomed in somewhat.
The view across the lake from the observation platform.
photoartflight 