photoartflightSlaty Skimmer Wing Detail
Posted on July 17, 2017
We saw many types of Dragonflies while we were at the Davidson Mill Pond Park. Here are images of a Slaty Skimmer Dragonfly. The featured image shows the wing detail where the 4 wings attach to the Thorax. These dragonflies are usually a little under 2 inches long. This is 2 stacked images, focused on the head and then on the thorax. Combined in Photoshop for more depth of field. 300mm f/4 lens with a 1.6x Canon cropped body and 1.4x teleconverter (approx 672mm in full frame equivalence).
Same Dragonfly as above, three images, photographed at three different focus points along the Dragonfly. Head, thorax and tip of tail. Assembled in Photoshop for more sharpness on the dragonfly, but trying to keep the background softer since it was quite close behind the dragon.
Now I have to find something with feathers to post!
Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly
Posted on July 16, 2017
Closeup image of an Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly. It almost seems like it is smiling at you. It seems many of the dragonflies at this location are showing signs of “wear & tear” on their wings already. It seems early in the season for that. Usually you see this in late Summer. If you stay in an area for a while it seems like they get used to you and are not as skiddish or wary of you so you can get closer.
Eastern Pondhawk at a distance. Three shot focus stacked image.
Female Monarch Butterfly
Posted on July 2, 2017
We went to the Davidsons Mill Park to look for dragonflies by the water. On Sundays the Butterfly House is open between 10 and 12 noon. So we decided to take a look. A lot of caterpillars munching their way through leaves and a few butterflies flying around. I usually like to photograph butterflies out in the fields but it was fun to take a look. Also outside the exhibit they have lots of plantings to attract butterflies. It was extremely hot and humid morning, so we only stayed for a few minutes and went back outside to see what we could find. To be able to get close to some of these small subjects, I used a 300mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter on a Canon 1.3 crop body, so it was about 546mm. So the backgrounds get “softer” and not distracting in the overall image.
Milkweed Bug Eggs On Leaf
Posted on June 17, 2017
When we were looking for dragonflies at the Davidson Mill Pond Park, I found these Milkweed Bug eggs on a plant next to a batch of Milkweed Plants in the fields. I thought they looked interesting, almost a formation of very tiny shiny eggs. I was using a Canon 300mm f/4 lens which has an extremely close focusing ability, which renders backgrounds nice and clean for close detail photos. And you do not have to get right on top of your subjects for closeup details. It is also fairly lightweight to carry around. If I need to get closer I can add extension tubes, which I usually do not need to use with this lens. It is one of Canon’s older telephoto lenses but still works well and it is fun to use and light to carry for long times.
Leaf Still Life -300mm
Bluet Damselfly – 300mm
Bluet Damselfly with Damaged Wing
Mushroom Still Life – 300mm
Watchful Tree Swallow
Posted on June 12, 2017
When I was photographing the clouds at Davidson Mill Pond, in one section I was by some of the bird boxes. This Tree Swallow was keeping an eye on me as I was somewhat near this Blue Bird box. I thought it would fly off, but it just seemed interested in keeping an eye on me, maybe seeing if I would get too close. I moved on before it flew off.
More Cloudscapes From Davidson Mill Pond
Posted on June 11, 2017
Here are a few more panoramas from our outing to Davidsons Mill Pond Park. Some are regular panoramas, and some are stacked multi-row panoramas, like the featured image.
5 image panorama, 14mm, m43 camera
4 image stacked pano, 2 img x 2 img
6 img multi stack pano @14mm, m43 camera
4 img multi stack pano, horizontal, combined in 2 rows of 2 @14mm, m43 camera
4 img pano @14mm, m43 camera
3 images, horizontal, stacked vertically, @14mm, m43 camera
2 images, horizontal format, stacked vertically, 14mm, m43 camera
2 images, horizontal format, stacked vertically, 14mm, m43 camera
Seven Feathers In A 5 Shot Panorama
Posted on March 13, 2017
Some more feathers I found at the Davidson Mill Pond Park in New Jersey. While taking a walk, we found a few bunches of feathers. I liked the colors, textures and position of the main group of feathers. The featured image was 5 shots, handheld, overlapped and assembled in Photoshop. Taken with a 300mm f/4 lens. Photoshop usually does a pretty good job assembling handheld image series, with maybe a few manual touch ups.
Lone Treescape
Posted on March 11, 2017
We were walking around Davidson Mill Pond Park. I saw this tree in a field that I thought looked interesting. I liked the colors and that being still Winter, it was bare of leaves. I was using a m43 camera with a 14-140mm lens. The featured image was at 48mm. Then I shot a 6 shot series at 14mm to combine in Photoshop. I liked the clouds and the farm look in the distance and the wider view of 3 images in 2 rows for the pano.
Feather In The Wind
Posted on March 10, 2017
We went to Davidson Mill Pond Park Earth Center in New Jersey to walk around and get some sun. I found this feather, stuck on a twig, blowing in the wind. I liked textures of the feather. But it was moving back and forth violently in the wind, so I used a shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second to try to get a sharp image. I also used a 300mm lens to get a smoother & cleaner looking background.
Lady Bug Working A Leaf
Posted on October 18, 2016
I found this Lady Bug wandering all over this plant at Davidsons Mill Pond. A lot of the time it was partially hidden under leaves of the plant. Waiting for it to work towards the top of the plant, I was able to get a few shots before it disappeared .
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