photoartflightDragonfly Reflection
Posted on July 15, 2014
I was at the Celery Farm Natural Area on Sunday, but there was not a lot going on. I did see this Dragonfly with its reflection in the distance. It was a gray day, so I just opened up the shadows and added some vibrance to bring the water up from a dull gray. I liked the reflection of the reddish-orange large dragonfly in the water.
Wood Duck Family In A Row
Posted on July 14, 2014
This family of young Wood Ducks was crossing the Lake on the far side, close to shore. Mom was in the background to the right of the Great Blue Heron. There was not enough light for stopping down to get everything in focus, so I merged 2 shots. One I focused on the Wood Ducks strung out in a row, then I refocused on Mom and the Great Blue Heron. I blended the 2 images in Photoshop with a soft edge mask for the final image.
Mallard Family Meets Snapping Turtle
Posted on July 6, 2014
This family of Mallard ducks were swimming past me this morning, heading towards the glare in the water from the rising sun. As they got off to one side, it seemed like the mother Mallard swam into a Large snapping turtle and quickly jumped upwards, spraying water all around. We saw a large number of quite large snapping turtles all around us in the water. Luckily they escaped and swam on, at least for now.
Mallard family moving on regrouping heading toward the shore. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO IS f/4 lens, Canon Series II 2X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/640 sec, +.067 exp compensation, Flash + 2 stops w/ Better Beamer Flash Extender, ISO 400
Mallard family Moving in front of me as they were heading into the glare of the sun rising. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO IS f/4 lens, Canon Series II 2X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/1000 sec, Flash + 2 stops w/ Better Beamer Flash Extender, ISO 400
Great Egret Catching Breakfast
Posted on July 5, 2014
This is the same Great Egret as the blog before. He was very good at catching fish and just kept working the area in front of me. Some of his meals were small and some seemed very small, then he managed to get a few larger fish. This is one of the larger meals he caught.
Great Egret with Breakfast. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO IS f/4 lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/800 sec, -0.67 exposure compensation, IDO 400
Great Egret with Breakfast. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm DO IS f/4 lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/800 sec, -0.67 exposure compensation, IDO 400
Great Egret Landing Sequence
Posted on July 4, 2014
Last week at the Celery Farm Natural Area, a Great Egret was fishing close by. He was good at catching fish and seemed very intent on what he was doing. Suddenly he just took off almost straight up, then landed almost immediately a little to one side. I think maybe a snapping turtle got too close. I thought the sequence with the different Great Egret wing positions was interesting so I setup a 7 image septych file for a print (7 images either related or separate, to tell a story or convey a final image). When finished it is 125 inches wide. I was setup for a vertical image, so I did not have time to change to a horizontal, but I still liked the Egret’s classic wing positions in a row of images.
Great Egret Fishing. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Semi-backlighting, f/8, 1/400 sec, ISO 400, Open shadows in Adobe Camera Raw
Great Egret Shaking Head w/ water droplet pattern. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Semi-backlighting, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 400, Open shadows in Adobe Camera Raw
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Posted on June 30, 2014
I was at the Celery Farm Natural Area on Sunday and saw about a dozen Northern Rough-winged Swallows. They were quite active darting in and out, grabbing insects, but usually returned to the same branches. The photo above is a juvenile swallow which was staying by itself. I had not seen them before, so it was fun to watch. Because of all the branches and leaves it was hard to get clear photos of them, but sometimes when they flew off and returned, they landed in a less cluttered area on the branches. The Feature photo on top I added some fill light with an on-camera flash with a Better Beamer Flash Extender, the others I just opened up the shadows in Photoshop CS6.
Tree Swallow mixed in with the Northern Rough-winged Swallows. All the swallows were busy chasing bugs. but hey kept returning to the same branches. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon Series II 2X Teleconverter, @ f/8, 1/1250 sec, ISO 640.
A juvenile Northern Rough-winged Swallow, keeping an eye on the swallows on other branches. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, f/8, 1/1250 sec, ISO 640
An adult Northern Rough-winged Swallow, on a branch by itself. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 640
Same Northern Rough-winged Swallow as above, on a branch. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 640
Great Blue Heron Coming In!
Posted on June 29, 2014
This Great Blue Heron was way across the lake and was not far from the opposite shoreline. After hearing a loud bang, probably a firecracker, it flew right into us. I thought it was an interesting landing series of photos.I just selected a few out of the 30 or so in the series.
Great Blue Heron Landing. #12 in the sequence. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon 2X Series II Teleconverter, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO 640
Great Blue Heron Landing. #13 in the sequence. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon Series II 2X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO 640
Summer Reflections
Posted on February 4, 2014
I found these files from the Summer on my laptop. I had gone to the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale, NJ to look for macro subjects, but the first subject I found was this Great Blue Heron. I liked the reflections of the Great Blue Heron in the water. I was using a 150mm macro, but for the Heron I added a 2X teleconverter for a 300mm f/5.6. After watching and photographing the Great Blue for about a half an hour I moved on and went for a walk to find other subjects.
Who’s Looking at Me!
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro, Sigma 2X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/100 sec, ISO 800
Looking for Breakfast
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro, Sigma 2X Teleconverter, handheld, f/8, 1/100 sec, ISO 800
Closeup
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro, f/8, 1/50 sec, +0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Feather on Path
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro,handheld, f/8, 1/30 sec.
Closeup
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro, handheld, f/8, 1/60 sec, +0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
One of the Last to Leave
Posted on December 10, 2013
I took a walk around the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale NJ, early Sunday morning. The lake and streams were pretty much frozen over. It was 27˚ and was very quiet around the frozen lake. I came upon this Great Blue Heron along this little stream of moving water. It was one of the only unfrozen sections with open water. I think he was looking for a meal and seemed totally unconcerned with me being close by. I took a few shots and then moved on so I did not disturb or stress him. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, 70-300mm DO IS f/4-5.6 @ 200mm, f/8 , @ 1/50 sec, ISO 1250, -0.67 exposure compensation.
This Great Blue Heron had a couple of friends keeping him company in this small section of open water.
800mm Fly By
Posted on December 4, 2013
Again from the archives, This Osprey had just hit the water, missed his catch and flew across in front of me. I was tracking him hoping he would come up with a fish, but I liked the small water droplets in his wake and the wing position even without his catch. I was using a Sigma 300-800mm zoom at 800mm, with a Canon EOS 1Ds MkII on a Wimberly Gimbel head. The Sigma is a non stabilized lens so you have to be careful and use long lens techniques, especially at 800mm, to get sharp images. I have a series of images, but was my favorite.
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