outdoor photography

American Kestrel This morning I drove out to Canal Street looking for sparrows. But alas, my quest for Le Conte's and White-crowned Sparrows was a dismal failure this morning. I didn't even see a Savannah Sparrow. It was a "cold," windy morning, and I never have much luck with sparrows in these conditions. Of course, the American Kestrel hovering above where I was looking probably didn't help either. So I decided to adjust my attention from the hidden sparrows to the hovering American Kestrel. And as I was leaving, I found another kestrel perched on the top of a tree. American Kestrel American Kestrel American Kestrel

Trees at Lake Jesup Park Canon Powershot S100, Joby Gorillapod It's well known that Central Florida is so flat that it's hard to find picturesque landscapes to photograph.  There are some genuine hills along the central spine of the state, but that's about it.  It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that, within an hour's drive of my house, the tallest things that stick out of the ground are trees and landfills.  Last year, I decided to try to take more landscape and nature photos that do not include wildlife (basically that means photographing trees).  I rarely did that, though, largely because I didn't want to change lenses all the time or carry two cameras.  My solution this year is to use the Canon PowerShot S100.  So far, the solution has worked pretty well, as I'm taking many more landscapes than I did last year. Canon Powershot S100, Joby Gorillapod This is how I set up to take the first image above But there is a challenge I'm st...

Tricolored Heron Yesterday I drove out to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  I visited three areas: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Canaveral National Seashore, and East/West Gator Creek.  When I arrived on the island and drove toward Blackpoint Dr, I saw a man pulled over looking into the trees.  I decided to look at what he found, and it was a Peregrine Falcon!  It was pretty far away, but I took some pictures of him perched in a tree.  The drive itself was also enjoyable. All the usual birds were there, including 2 Gadwall, many American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Lesser Scaup, Blue-winged Teal, and Hooded Mergansers. Most highlights were mostly in the area near the first parking area.  There was a large flock of shorebirds there made up of Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlin, Least Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, Red Knots, Long-billed Dowitchers and Short-billed Dowitchers. Peregrine Falcon Long-billed Dowitchers (for the most part) Red Knot...

Live Oaks at Marl Bed Flats Yesterday at Marl Bed Flats most of the birds kept their distance, but thankfully trees can't move.  There were a couple of Live Oak trees that I found rather interesting, so I paused for a moment to pull out my point and shoot.  I think Live Oaks are some of the most beautiful trees in Florida. These are both HDR images. Live Oaks at Marl Bed Flats  

Marl Bed Flats HDR Canon Powershot S100 The other day I walked down the trails of Lake Jesup Park (Sanford Ave).  At one point the trail takes you along a row of palm trees which you can follow parallel to the lake.  But occasionally the land dips down and becomes extremely wet with several inches of standing water.  On this particular day, that was the end of the road for me. This little spot is a great place for Marsh Wrens, but they wanted to be heard not seen on this day.  I thought the sky was pretty, though, so I pulled out my point and shoot camera and took a few shots.  The above shot is an HDR image and the lower shot is is a single image from the middle exposure of the above image. Marl Bed Flats Canon Powershot S100

Tree at Sunset Geneva Wilderness Area Canon PowerShot S100 At Geneva Wilderness Area, this particular tree caught my attention.  The undergrowth was high enough that I had to hold the camera high above my head to get this angle.  This is a single-shot image.  I decided I liked it better than the HDR images I made.  Because I had to handhold the camera, Photomatix couldn't completely eliminate ghosting in all those branches, and the photo looked weird.  But this photo seemed to be interesting enough to post.

Trees of Geneva WA The other day I dropped by Geneva Wilderness Area, and I decided to photograph the trees.  The sun was setting, and I wanted to shoot into the sun. I didn't have my tripod, so I handheld three shots at different exposures.  I used Photomatix to combine them into the above HDR image.