Tag Archives: Deer

Picking a Print

July 4, 2021Cameras and Photographybird, black and white, Deer, flower, landscape, lightroom, monochrome, Mpix, print, stormEd Rosack

We’ve been slowly (Lynn thinks too slowly!) making prints for our family room. We like metal prints and have been pleased with ones we’ve ordered from MPix. When they sent us a 25% off coupon last week, it was time for another order.

Having images tagged and organized in Lightroom is a big help for something like this. Using its filtering capabilities helped me quickly come up with some (too many) candidates. It was also easy to choose images based on size. I needed enough pixels for a quality larger print.

I spent a few minutes converting some I thought would look good to monochrome. I sorted them based on which ones I liked the best and then asked Lynn to help. We narrowed our B&W choices down to the ones you see below. They’re in date order, along with info about each.

Stormy Shore; Casey Key, FL; June 2015, 8 frame panorama; 8863×6064

Anhinga – full length portrait; Gatorland, FL; March 2016; 5 frame panorama; 7665×11204

Field of Flowers; Advance, WI; August 2017; 3 frame panorama; 5167×4134

Cocoa Beach Pier before dawn; Cocoa, FL; October 2018; Single frame (Olympus Hi res mode); 10196×6797

Who are you lookin’ at? Viera Wetlands, FL; January 2020; 2 frame panorama; 8312×5541

In the end we liked the photo of the deer the best. I think we can appreciate looking at it for a while. Our print should get here next week – I hope it turns out as well as the others we’ve ordered from Mpix.

Do you make prints of your photos? Have you tried metal prints? How do you pick the ones you hang on your walls?

Header image: Lake Eola in downtown Orlando; January 2013; Single frame; 7348×5046

It looks like tropical storm Elsa is heading our way. If you’re in the projected path, stay up to date and stay safe.

And for those of you in the US, Happy Independence Day!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, make some prints!

Viera Wetlands – 1/15/20

January 19, 2020Viera WetlandsAnhinga, birds, Cormorant, Deer, landscape, Palm Warbler, panorama, red-winged blackbird, sunriseEd Rosack

The last time I visited Viera Wetlands was in March of 2019, so I’ve been wanting to go back. Each time I checked the road conditions hotline, it said they’re closed to vehicles. But the message hasn’t been updated since mid-November and I suspected (hoped?) it wasn’t accurate. This week I decided to go down anyway.

I started the morning with a pretty sunrise at the River Lakes Conservation Area Boat Ramp where the St. Johns crosses SR 520.

A very calm morning

Then I headed down to Viera. The hotline is correct – the wetlands roads are closed to vehicles and there’s some repair work going on. I haven’t found any info posted about when they expect to allow cars again. Anyway, I took off on foot with my camera and had a nice walk around the east half of the park closest to the parking area. Here are some of the things I saw.

“Who are you lookin’ at?” (3). These early morning deer were very alert and very suspicious of me and my long lens. I saw about a dozen of them and there were probably more. I liked the light on this group and how they were all staring right at me.

Redwing Blackbird launch. I managed to catch it just as it as it took off.

Cormorant in flight – There were a great many there that morning.

Sunning Anhinga. There were a large number of anhingas too, and this lady was enjoying the early morning light.

Palm Warbler

I heard lots of Sandhill Cranes but only saw them in the distance and there was one Spoonbill that was too far away for a photo, I didn’t see anything rare or exotic on my walk, but there were plenty of smaller birds, water birds, vultures and alligators. And I enjoyed my time out in nature and got some steps too!

You can look through my blog posts about Viera Wetlands (44 and counting!) at this link: https://edrosack.com/category/photo-ops-in-florida/viera-wetlands/. And I’ve collected over 300 photos from there in this album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157623223995224. Also please click on the photos in these blog posts to view them in higher resolution on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos -even if the road’s closed!

Viera Wetlands 2-6-19

February 10, 2019INSIDE FLORIDA, Viera WetlandsAmerican Robin, birds, black and white, Deer, flycatcher, landscape, Sandhill Crane, sunrise, web, wildlifeEd Rosack

Here are some photos from a trip to Viera Wetlands last week. There’s a lot to see there!

Dawn in the harbor – A sunrise stop at the Cocoa Riverfront Park on the way to Viera

Sandhill Crane and egg in nest – it’s fairly close to the berm. I think I’ll go back in a week or so and see if it’s hatched.

Deer – I’ve seen them several times hanging out at the east end of the park

Web – The spiders were busy and some of their work was catching the early morning sunlight

American Robin – Winter visitors / migrants are showing up in force

Eastern Phoebe. ~~Ash-throated Flycatcher(?)~~ I didn’t recognize this bird when I made the photo. ~~and I’m still not totally sure what it is~~. A Great crested Flycatcher was seen at Viera Wetlands in January, but this one seems too small for that. An Ash-throated Flycatcher was seen there in previous years. Many thanks to Wally Jones for the ID help!

So I had a very nice visit to a wonderful place – if you’ve never been, now is a good time to go!

You can see all my posts about Viera Wetlands at this link: https://edrosack.com/category/viera-wetlands/

And I have many more photos from Viera Wetlands in this album on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157623223995224

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Shenandoah wildlife

August 14, 2016VirginiaBear, Deer, rattle snake, shenandoah, travelEd Rosack

I wrote this on board the Amtrak Auto Train between Lorton, Virgina and Sanford, Florida. Lynn and I were returning from Ohio where we attended the annual PITCA convention and Virgina where we spent a week in Shenandoah National Park. We both enjoy riding this train and we’re grateful for the 900 miles of driving that it spares us.

I made a great many photographs on the trip and haven’t gotten through them yet, so I thought I’d post a few wildlife photos now as a teaser for one or more posts to come.

Stop and smell the flowers – The wild deer in Shenandoah are protected and the ones around Big Meadows are very tolerant of people. We saw this faun feeding with its mother in the field outside our room.

It’s exciting to spot and photograph animals in the wild, some more so than others! I was farther away from this next one than it looks (I used an 800mm equivalent lens).

Shenandoah Rattlesnake – Lynn spotted this and came and got me so I could photograph it. It was a surprise to see it moving through the grass outside the Big Meadows Lodge. Some folks called the ranger and he “escorted” it away from the cabins.

Lynn is a really excellent bear spotter too. She saw three and was always the first to notice them. This one caused a small “bear jam” along Skyline Drive.

Shenandoah Black Bear – This young bear was wandering near the road. It kept foraging while I made a photo from inside the car. Sorry for the motion blur – it was pretty dark back in the trees.

I’ll definitely post more about this trip. You can read one earlier post about Shenandoah here: https://edrosack.com/2015/09/20/vacation-part-2-shenandoah-national-park/

And you can see larger versions of the photos above by clicking on them. I’ll also be adding more from our trip in this album on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Epic Utah road trip – Chapter 1

July 17, 2016OUTSIDE FLORIDA, Utahbluebird, Deer, Flowers, landscape, Marmot, sunrise, travel, vacation, wildlifeEd Rosack

I have many “out of Florida” photos to share with you today from Utah. MK wanted to take a short sightseeing trip out there over the 4th of July weekend and asked me to be her travel buddy. Of course, I couldn’t turn that down! Last year on my trip out west , I passed up seeing Zion and Bryce Canyon because I wanted more time in Death Valley National Park. I’m glad I got to go back.

Flowers at daybreak – Cedar Breaks National Monument. We visited this beautiful place twice. The second time before dawn, when we were the only ones there.

Because this was my first time there and our visit was so short, I’m going to write more of a “travel log” instead of a “what and where they are and how to photograph them”. I wouldn’t try to write that until I was way more familiar with the area. I will say that it is spectacularly scenic and if you get a chance, just go. You’ll find all sorts of things to point your camera at.

The first place we visited was Cedar Breaks National Monument. It was a surprise to me – I hadn’t really heard of it before. It’s very scenic and has a lot of wildlife too. We saw many deer on the trip. Unfortunately, there were several on the side of the road – we watched carefully to make sure we didn’t hit any.

Morning deer

We actually went by Cedar Breaks twice. The second day, we left early to find a sunrise spot and ended up there. By ourselves – magnificent!

Sunrise at Point Supreme – Cedar Breaks

We were walking through the visitors area and I was looking around in the trees trying to find the bird making a very strange call I didn’t recognize. A nice German gentleman came up to me and pointed out the Marmot that was making the racket. A bit embarrassing – but I did get a photo.

Yellow Bellied Marmot

Our bird watching was casual, but I did record one new life bird.

Mountain Bluebird – These were quite common at Cedar Breaks National Monument

One other place we wandered to was Brian Head Peak – a very scenic ski town. You can tell from the first photo and this one that there were lots of wildflowers blooming – a beautiful bonus!

Flowers by the road to the top – On the way up to 11,000 feet at Brian Head Peak, Utah

Here’s a summary of our trip:

53 hours duration (Saturday morning – Monday evening)
1,091 miles driven
3 National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef)
3 National Monuments (Cedar Breaks, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Timpanagos)
1 All-American Scenic Byway (Route 12)
1 life bird (Mountain Bluebird)
1 Yellow-Bellied Singing Marmot
1 Elk
Lots of deer
14 stamps for MK’s National Park Service passport
700+ photos
1 epic father-daughter Utah road trip! We were so very tired when we got home!

What a terrific trip – thank you MK! I’m still going through the photos and adding favorites to my Utah album on Flickr. You can take a look there if you want to see more. And click on any of the photos in this post to see a larger version on Flickr.

I’ll work on a post with photos from the other spots next week. Until then, thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now, go make some photos!

Brevard Zoo

July 26, 2015Brevard Zoo, INSIDE FLORIDAblack and white, Deer, jaguar, Meerkat, peopleEd Rosack

I’ve heard nice things about the Brevard Zoo and I’ve wanted to visit for a long time. It’s just a coincidence that my first visit was this week – at the same time that TripAdvisor named it one of the nation’s best.

It’s a smaller zoo than either the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa or the Central Florida Zoo in Sanford, but it’s laid out nicely and the animals seem happy. Especially the Meerkats.

Muddy Meerkat says “Cheese”

Meerkats make wonderful subjects and these were active – digging burrows and keeping watch. This one even looked like it was trying to smile for my camera. I was able to frame this photo over the glass against a nice background.

One of the things mentioned by TripAdvisor is how friendly their staff is. We saw that too. A deer kept following this zookeeper around the enclosure and bumping into her. After she bent down and hugged it, the deer left her alone and wandered off for a while. The animals do seem well cared for.

Animal Care

Like at every zoo, I was somewhat conflicted. A few of the animals act a little too “caged”. The big cats for instance seem either restless or a little melancholy. Watching them can make me feel a bit low too. This Jaguar was resting in the shade and watching the watchers.

Jaguar

By the way, I knew that Jaguars once lived from Brazil up to much of the Southwest United States. I didn’t realize that they’ve been sighted as recently as 2013 in Arizona.

Brevard Zoo is very nice. One of the best smaller zoos I’ve ever been too. They have some unique attractions too – like a guided kayak tour around their African exhibit. If you like zoos or want to practice your animal photography, it’s a great place to visit.

You can see a few more of my photos here. For some hints on zoo photography, you can look at prior blog posts here, here, and here. And the Firefall Photography Blog has a write-up about the Brevard zoo with some good info and photos – well worth a look.

The zoo is in Melbourne, Florida at 8225 N. Wickham Road (Phone: 321-254-9453). It’s not too far from Viera Wetlands, so check that out too if you get down there. Admission is $15 for adults and the hours are 9:30 to 5.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Osceola Wander

May 17, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Osceola Countybirds, Deer, Eagle, Eastern Meadowlark, fog, Joe Overstreet Road, landscape, osceola county, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

Kevin M. organized a Photography Interest Group expedition yesterday. I went along with Kevin K., and Frank B. The four of us were up extremely early to beat the sun to this pasture in Osceola County along Canoe Creek Road.

The sky was kind of plain when we arrived, except for the very thin moon rising ahead of the sun, and the ground fog over the grass in the distance.

Sliver moon and mist

After photographing there we moved on to Joe Overstreet Road and then Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area to see what we could see.

There’s a photography joke:

Q: Why did the bird cross the road?

A: To get to the bad light.

I don’t know about you, but this often happens to me when I’m trying to make photos of birds. And if they don’t hurry into the bad light, then they usually turn away from the camera. The backs of birds are not as photogenic as the front. Yesterday the birds were a little slow and we managed to catch some of them in very good light and not facing away!

Into the light

I wish I hadn’t been framed so close on this Bald Eagle. I would have loved to catch it in full flight. They’re seen down there often, so I’ll have to try again.

The meadows along the roads were full of Eastern Meadowlarks. And when we couldn’t see them we could definitely hear them.

Morning song

There were signs posted at the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area with results from recent hunts. And the deer we saw were definitely very wary. These two stared at us for a while before running off into the trees.

Two wary deer

All in all, it was a good day for photography. And the banter in the car was quite entertaining too.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

The year in review: My favorite 2011 Photos

December 19, 2011VARIOUSAntiques, Arlington National Cemetery, Barred Owl, birds, black and white, Bobcat, BPWD, cemetery, Deer, Eastern Meadowlark, Florida Scrub Jay, infrared, landscape, macro, Mountain Goat, Mt. Evans, people, reviews, Scrub Ridge Trail, sunrise, watch, wildlifeEd Rosack

I hope that all of you, your families, and your friends have a joyful and happy holiday season!

Photographer Jim Goldstein has an annual tradition of organizing a “best photos of the year” listing. So it’s a good time to put together my own third annual “Favorite photos of the year” post. You can revisit 2009 here, and 2010 here.

Again in 2011, I’ve been blessed with a huge amount of photo opportunities. The 2011 folder on my hard drive takes up about 178 GB of space. Wow – good thing storage is so cheap now days! I’m still using the following system to rate my photos. The numbers in parentheses are the counts for 2011 .

1 star – The photo is interesting (262)
2 stars – The photo is worth showing to others (400)
3 stars – The photo is the best of (or one of the best of ) any given photo shoot (81)
4 stars – My favorite photo of a year (1)
5 stars – My favorite photo ever (none, I’m not done making photos yet!)

Photos without stars are seconds or not so good versions of other photos. I usually keep them, but they probably won’t get any more attention. I’ve been using this system consistently, and it seems to work for me. I’ve reviewed my 2011 photos and selected what I think are my best. Of course, this is all subjective and my opinion only. Feel free to disagree, but I hope you’ll enjoy looking at the ones I’ve picked.

You can click on each of these to go to Flickr and see a larger version. Or you can click this link to go to the set on Flickr.

Here we go. I have 3 mammals, 3 birds, 2 landscapes, and 3 miscellaneous subjects …

November: Bobcat in Tree, Circle B Bar Reserve. I’ve seen Bobcats in the wild before, but I’ve never been able to take a good photo of one. We saw this one resting up on a branch and it posed for a while. In this image, I think it was trying to figure out how to get through the crowd of humans at the base of the tree. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/11/24/landscapes-and-bobcat-at-the-circle-b-bar-reserve/

July: Baby mountain goat, Mt. Evans summit, Colorado. There were several families of mountain goats on the way up and at the summit. This little one posed for me so I could frame him against the out of focus mountains in the background. It’s amazing to watch them scramble from rock to rock and never slip. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/07/10/mount-evans-redux/

September: Young deer at Viera Wetlands. View large and check out the eyebrows and whiskers! More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/09/04/late-afternoon-at-viera-wetlands/

January: Barred Owl watches photographers. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/01/30/catching-up/

December: Eastern Meadowlark, Blackpoint Wild Life Drive. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/12/17/merritt-island-scouting-report-saturday-december-10/

June: Florida Scrub Jay watches us. One or two birds in this Scrub Jay family were real posers. And one of those was a “dive bomber”. It flew at our heads a few times trying to discourage us. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/06/19/a-summertime-visit-to-minwr-blackpoint-and-scrub-ridge-trail/

November: Sunrise at the Circle B Bar Reserve. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/11/24/landscapes-and-bobcat-at-the-circle-b-bar-reserve/

December: It was a little cloudy this morning. Blackpoint Wild Life Drive. I’ve enjoyed playing with an Infrared modified Olympus EPL-1 camera. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/12/17/merritt-island-scouting-report-saturday-december-10/

March: Tomb of the unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery. I’d never been to Arlington before this trip. As a US Navy Veteran and a patriot, I have to admit it made a huge impression on me. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/03/19/washington-dc/

December: Flavia, in color. American Photo Model Shoot, Orlando, 12/3/11. My first time photographing models was a real learning experience. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/12/09/orlando-american-photo-model-shoot-workshop-december-2011/

June: My Grandfather’s Pocket-watch. After the Orlando Watch Company repaired it, it’s working fine. This is a 1921 Elgin pocket-watch, marked Wadsworth Referee 20 year 5069868. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/06/25/grandfathers-pocket-watch/

Central Florida Photo Ops

What and where they are and how to photograph them.

Tag Archives: Deer

Picking a Print

Viera Wetlands – 1/15/20

Viera Wetlands 2-6-19

Shenandoah wildlife

Epic Utah road trip – Chapter 1

Brevard Zoo

Osceola Wander

The year in review: My favorite 2011 Photos