photoartflightYellow-Shafted Northern Flicker
Posted on November 9, 2013
I was condensing files on my external hard disks and came across these files of Norther Flickers. I had found this Northern Flicker preening in a tree at the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale NJ. I liked the the Red on the nape of the neck with the yellow on the bottom side of the feathers and the sunlight on the eye and face of the Flicker and skimming across the yellow feathers. I only had time for the one photo before it flew down to a lower tree. So I was glad I got at least one in this light.
Colors of Fall Starting to Fade
Posted on November 7, 2013
Here in the Northeast the Fall colors are beginning to fade. I met my friend at the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale NJ one morning to see what we could find before the Fall colors turned into brown, dried out leaves. I thought we had a good chance to find bright subjects that would stand out against the fading or subdued foliage. I decided to travel light, taking my Canon 70-300mm DO lens on a EOS 1D MkIV body which gave me a good focal length range in a small, lightweight package. I also used a Canon Flash set at -1 stop just to help fill in my subjects in the early morning light and helped me shoot handheld instead of using a tripod. The Canon 70-300mm DO has a poor reputation because of its Diffraction Optics, but it is one of my favorite lenses. It is about an inch shorter , but wider than a normal 70-300mm lens. It also has Image Stabilization, but I believe it takes a second for it to kick in, so I take this into account also. Shooting Raw files and adjusting them in Adobe Camera Raw makes this lens shine and a winner. Getting back to photographing, I tried different crops, shooting angles, and combining bright or vibrant subjects with darker subjects or backgrounds. I was also trying to place my subjects on a pleasing softer backdrop, so I used an f/ stop of f/7.1 or f/8 to keep the backgrounds simpler. Hope you enjoy them.
Fall Photos
Posted on October 20, 2013
I spent the morning with a friend at the Greenway entrance to The Clery Farm Natural Area in Allendale, NJ. We were looking for Fall Still Life images in the fields. There had been a rain during the night so there were water droplets all around. All images were with the Canon 1D MkIV with the Sigma 150mm f/2.8 OS Macro. Because of the breeze I shot some images at f/4 to help stop the motion with a higher shutter speed and used a 2 shot image stack for the depth of field and also for exposure of the highlights.
Caterpiller Wreath
Posted on October 17, 2013
I found this rolled up caterpillar on a bench. I thought it was interesting with the spikes and colors. The caterpillar reminded me of a wreath. Canon 1D MkIV with the Sigma 150mm f/2.8 OS Macro. The caterpillar was in the shade so I used f/8 to get some depth of field for the spikes and tried to shoot straight down with the front of the lens parallel to the caterpillar to get as much in the plane of focus. I ended up with 1/30 of a second exposure at ISO 800 , handheld, so I shot a burst which enabled me to pick the sharpest exposure in the series. I believe it is a Smeared Dagger Moth Caterpillar, a stinging caterpillar. It uses poison filled bristles to defend itself.
Fall Spider Web
Posted on October 16, 2013
Here is my last photo from my walk at the Celery Farm Natural Area on Monday. I saw this spider web as I was going over the small bridge on the way to my car. I only had my 150mm macro, but took a few shots to try to get something. The web was about 20 to 25 feet away. Here is an extreme crop, but I still liked it.
Milkweed Pods
Posted on October 15, 2013
Took a walk around Lake Appert at the Celery Farm Natural Area and came across Milkweed Pods by the Butterfly Garden. I thought they looked interesting with side/backlighting. Used a Canon MkIV with the Sigma 150mm f/2.8 Macro lens.
Colors of Fall in the Northeast
Posted on October 14, 2013
I spent the last few days wandering around a few of my local shooting areas looking for local Fall Color. You do not have to go far, look around your own yard or local park, you might be surprised at what you find. Here are a few from my yard and The Celery Farm Natural Area, 107 acre fresh water wetland. All were taken with my Canon 1D MkIV and the Sigma 150 f/2.8 macro. The 150mm macro is a great lens and the right focal length for these. Most of the time I set an f/stop of f/2.8 if they were in the shade and increased to f/5.6 in brighter light. I wanted to keep a shallower depth of field to keep some backgrounds less obtrusive. I also tried to shoot straight in to my subjects (parallel) to maximize sharpness across the leaves. You do not have to travel far to get some Fall Color Images and it can also be a challenge to see what you can shoot.
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- Colors of Fall
Favorite Images from the Celery Farm Natural Area in Northern, NJ – Sunrises & Sunsets
Posted on October 9, 2013
The Celery Farm Natural Area in Northern NJ is a local wildlife area that is close to home so it is easy to get to and wander around with a camera for an hour or two. It has a little over 100 acres to explore. Over 240 species of birds have been spotted here along with a variety of mammals, insects, and reptiles. I used to often get there early for sunrises and see the birds flying through the warm colors. Sometimes I would go back in the evening to catch a sunset. Here are a few images from those early morning/evening photo treks.
Great Blue Herons at the Celery Farm
Posted on September 24, 2013
I was going through some of my old files and found this series taken with my then new Sigma 300 – 800mm DG f/5.6 zoom at a local Nature Area, The Celery Farm in Allendale, NJ. These were some of my first images with this lens and I was quite pleased with the results. It was a challenge to get shots of the Herons flying, especially close in with a 800mm lens. I found zooming out a little to find them in the viewfinder, then zooming in for the actual shot worked well. It also helped that the Great Blue Herons are a LARGE and fairly slow flying bird. It was a fun day watching them fly around the small lake and interacting with each other. A little bit about the Celery Farm. It is a Nature Area right in the middle of densely populated Northern New Jersey. It is a little over 100 acres with a small lake and a path around the lake. The path is a little over a mile long. a few years ago there was a large variety of birds present. The last few years it seems to have quieted down some, but is still a nice quiet area to photograph nature and wildlife.
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