From imagination to image
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On the beach at Captiva Island. When Mikes Dad and step-Mom came to visit while we were in Fort Myers we took them there, Pat loves to collect shells and this is a paradise of shells. People were actually using what looked like mesh panniers to scoop them out at shoreline looking for that special one.
Tags: Canon 100-400L f/4.5-5.6, Canon 50D, Captiva Island, Florida, Seashells, Vacation
The Great Blue Heron just enjoying the last rays of the sun in Ding Darling NWR
Tags: Canon 100-400L f/4.5-5.6, Canon 50D, Ding Darling NWR, Florida, Great Blue Heron, Sunset
Reddish Egrets hunt fish by doing an elaborate dance that includes shuffling their feet, twisting their bodies and extending their wings to various degrees, all in order to fool the fish into thinking they aren’t there. By spreading their wings they create a shadow on the water that the fish may think is just a cloud covering the sun and not see the egret waiting to pounce.
Canon 50D, Canon 100-400L f/4.5-5.6 1/1600 sec at f/6.3 +1/3EV ISO400
Tags: Avian, Bird, Canon 100-400L f/4.5-5.6, Canon 50D, Ding Darling NWR, Florida, Nik Plugins, Photoshop CS4, Reddish Egret, Sanibel Island, Tony Kuyper Actions, Vacation
Great Blue Heron doing some early evening grooming before flying off to roost. I loved the way the warm last rays of light illuminated it.
Canon 50D, Canon 100-400L f/4.5-5.6, finished in LR2 and CS4 with Nik plugins and Tony Kuyper’s actions.
Tags: Avian, Birds, Canon 100-400L f/4.5-5.6, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Nik Plugins, Photography, Tony Kuyper Actions
Where not habituated to people Snowy Egrets are very hard to get close to, and probably with good reason. At the end of the 19th century the plumes of the Snowy Egret were so prized as decorations for women’s hats that they were selling for over $32.00 per ounce, over twice the price of gold. It took the effort of a great many conservationists and the near extinction of the species to get laws passed to prevent the hunting of these and other egrets. They are still covered by the migratory species act which has helped their populations to rebound to close to what they used to be. An interesting fact about Snowy Egrets is that they apparently can not recognize their mates outside of the nest, and then when the bird returns it must perform an elaborate dance to prevent it’s mate from attacking it.
Tags: Breeding Plumage, Canon 100-400L f/4.5-5.6, Canon 50D, Ding Darling NWR, Florida, Nik Filters, Snowy Egret, Tony Kuyper Sharpening Action, Vacation
This Brown Anole was out sunning itself on the limb of a mangrove tree on the short boardwalk along Wildlife Drive in Ding Darling NWR. Brown Anole’s are an introduced species and are causing loss of the native,Green Anole, by being more aggressive for food and territory. Unlike the Green Anole, Brown Anole can not change their color
Canon 50D, Canon 100-400L f/4.5-5.6. Finished in LR2 and CS4 with Nik Plugins, Topaz Adjust4, and Tony Kuyper’s web sharpening action
Tags: Brown Anole, Canon 100-400L f/4.5-5.6, Canon 50D, Ding Darling NWR, Florida, Nik Plugins, Tony Kuyper Sharpening Action, Topaz Adjust 4, Vacation
I was working on some images today and feeling cold but instead of pushing up the heat I looked back at some images that I took when Mike and I made a not so triumphant attempt at hiking to the summit of Mount Jefferson on the Caps Ridge Trail. Mike and I got married on the “first cap” of the Caps Ridge Trail twelve and a half years ago with two very good friends as attendants and for the first few years we would go up, stay at the ever wonderful Notchland Inn and hike the trail. We did this until I tore my (replacement) ACL (I’ve now had 4 surgeries on that knee – but that’s a different type of post for a different type of blog) and moved onto to less arduous hikes. But this summer we wanted to give it a try again, and although we didn’t summit we got over 3/4 the way there and it wasn’t my knee that made me ask to turn back, which is a good step (groan).
We got a fairly early start, we thought until we saw the dozens of cars in the tiny parking lot at the trailhead. This summer was very wet and the first weekend in August was the first dry weekend that we had in New England and it seemed like everyone was out for a hike. But it was a beautiful morning, the greens were unbelievably green from all the rain and there was a mist rising off the ground. As we came around a corner of the trail I saw this:
I wanted to make an HDR of the image because the tonal range was just too great for a single shot and I’m not overly fond of tonemapped single images, they never look natural to me. I’d brought the 50D with me because I wanted to keep the weight in my pack down and at that moment regretted it dearly. The 50D is not a bad camera as long as you keep your ISO low, once you go above 400 ISO the noise is very noticeable and the process of making an hdr enhances that. Of course since I was keeping the weight down I had no tripod so I did the best I could I got 6 images taken before the light shafts disappeared but the last 2 in each series (+2 exposure) were very blurry – no way I’m holding anything still at 1/6 sec. (f/4.0 ISO 400). So this was a 2 exposure hdr combined in photomatix, adjusted with Nik Software in LR2 and then adjusted and sharpened with Tony Kuypers actions in PSCS4
Happy Holidays to everyone and I hope next year is as full of love and happiness and fun as can be!
Tags: Anniversary, Canon 50D, Caps Ridge Trail, HDR, Hike, Mike, NH, Nik Software, Photomatix, Tony Kuyper
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A trio of Convict Tang’s (Convict Surgeonfish) working the rocks off Po’ipu beach. About a year and a half ago I bought a Ewa-Marine housing for my camera, I’d only used it once before and that time I almost broke my nose (don’t ask) with it. It was indispensible this trip, although it did take some getting used to. I used my Canon 50D in the housing with the 24-105L f/4 lens and the 580EX flash. The problem with the flash was that there was often lots of particulate matter in the water and the directly above the lens mounting of the flash reflected a lot of the light right back into the camera. On later days snorkeling I often left it turned off.
Tags: Canon 24-105L f/4, Canon 50D, Convict Tang, Ewa Marine U-BXP, Snorkeling