Monthly Archives: January 2013

Beautiful instruments

INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWR, VARIOUS, , , ,

A camera is a photographer’s instrument to record beauty. A photographer is the universe’s instrument to record beauty. Be a worthy instrument. Don’t fail the universe.

Black Point Sunrise

Black Point Sunrise, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  This scene reminded me of a boundary of a set of points in a complex plane (See this Wikipedia Article)

You can click on the photo for a larger version on Flickr and you can see more photos from Black Point and Merritt Island in these sets:  Black Point;  Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

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

©2013, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Long exposure at Lake Eola

Downtown Orlando, INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Eola, Orlando, Technique, , , , , ,

Deborah Sandidge and Jason Odell led a sunset photo walk around Lake Eola in downtown Orland on Friday evening.  I’ve followed their work online and wanted to meet them, so I signed up.  Conditions weren’t the best for sunset photography, but I still had a good time.  I used a neutral density filter to make several long exposure photos and I thought I’d walk you through my process.  First of all, here’s the final version:

Lake Eola - Orlando, Florida
Lake Eola – Orlando, Florida.  Long exposure, cloudy, sunset. You can click on this image to see a larger version on Flickr.

And here’s the initial version of this photo:

-_D8C7377- Ed Rosack

f/8, 25 seconds; after initial adjustments in Lightroom.

Here are the steps I went through to get to the final version:  First, I corrected the distortion to make the buildings vertical in Lightroom.  Then I edited it in Photoshop.  I used content aware fill to finish the vertical distortion fix, then added a layer and masked out noise from darker areas.  Finally, I ran the single image through Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 to enhance color, contrast and details.  Back in Light room again, I finalized exposure, contrast and white balance and applied sharpening and a small amount of vignette.  I like how it came out.
For comparison purposes, here’s a 1/20 second exposure of the same scene.

-_D8C7376- Ed Rosack

f/8, 1/20th second; Same initial adjustments as the version above.

Looking at the long exposure version, the main differences I see are:  the smooth sheen on the water surface, the much more prominent tree shadow in the lower right, and the radial motion blurring in the clouds.  The tree shadow surprised me the most.  In the short exposure version, the water ripples break up the shadow.  They don’t in the long exposure version, which makes the shadow much more interesting.

There are lot of upsides to long exposure photography and a few downsides.  For instance, since the wind was blowing so hard on Friday, some of the smaller tree branches are a little blurry.  Also, when you use very dense neutral density filters, your camera probably won’t auto expose or auto focus correctly, so you’ll have to take care of those things on your own.  And some of these filters can also add a color cast to your photos, so you may need to be careful with your color balance.  But all in all, it’s a great technique to have in your bag of tricks.  Have you tried it yet?  Why not?

You can see more photos from Lake Eola in this set on Flickr.

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

©2013, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

The sun, the sea, the gull, and me

Cocoa Beach Pier, INSIDE FLORIDA, , , , , , ,

Kevin M. saw online posts reporting recent sightings of Razorbills and Common Eiders at Sebastian Inlet.  So we decided to twitch down there to see if we could see them.  Along the way, we stopped by the Cocoa Beach Pier for Sunrise.  Photographers are always looking for interesting foreground for our landscape photos.  This time, an obliging gull sat still for me very close to my tripod and added some interest.

The sun, the sea, the gull, and me
The sun, the sea, the gull, and me – The Cocoa Beach Pier at sunrise – My closeness didn’t concern the Ring Billed Gull in the foreground.

After the sun rose, we headed on down A1A and got to Sebastian Inlet around 8:30.  It was my first visit to this state park and all the activity impressed me .  In addition to the birders and photographers, there were many campers, fishermen, boaters, and people just out enjoying a very nice day.  We searched up and down the park for a couple of hours, and talked to the rangers and several other birders but had no luck finding a Razorbill.  Just as we were getting ready to leave, word spread that the Common Eider had been sighted, so we all hurried over to the place marked by a pod of photographers and spotted this bird:

Common Eider
Common Eider – iBird says these don’t get much south of New England, so they are rare in Florida. My second life bird of 2013.

I did make a few more photos that morning.  Here’s an IR of the beach, sand and glare:

The beach
The beach

And here’s a Magnificent Frigatebird.  These tend to soar far overhead and off shore.  This one was a bit closer and lower and this is my best photo of one so far.  There were 9 or more in the area that morning.

A Magnificent Frigatebird glides overhead
A Magnificent Frigatebird glides overhead – I don’t often see these on the east coast of Florida. There were several at Sebastian Inlet this weekend.

We didn’t find the Razorbill, but we saw plenty.  I’m always amazed by what you can see out in nature if you go look.  Give it a try!  Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

©2013, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

 

Photographic Perseverance, Providence, and Perspicacity

INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWR, Technique, , , , , ,

The scene below is not the one I thought I would photograph when we returned to Space View Park in Titusville, Florida last week.

Looking north at the Max Brewer Causeway before dawn
Looking north at the Max Brewer Causeway before dawn – This condo is right at the entrance to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I’d love to wake up there every morning!

You may remember this post from a few weeks ago.  That was a very foggy day and there were no real sunrise photo opportunities.  I wasn’t too happy with the landscape photos I made on that trip and wanted to try again.  This time, when we arrived before dawn, the first thing I noticed was the lighting on the Max Brewer Causeway leading to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  When I walked over to get a better look and perhaps make a photo, the reflection of the building in the water caught my eye.  I like how this turned out.

This photo illustrates why paying attention to the photographic application of three words could result in more photo ops for you:

  • Perseverance: Continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition; Keep trying until you can fulfill your vision;  Circumstances change and you may not get the photo you want on your first try (or your second …).  This was our second visit to Space View Park recently.  I still haven’t gotten a sunrise photo I’m truly happy with at this place.  I guess I’ll have to go back again!
  • Providence: Having foresight; care or preparation in advance; Try to anticipate conditions so you’re ready to take advantage of them.  Have the right equipment with you and know how to use it.  I had my tripod, cable release, and wide-angle lens ready for this shot.
  • Perspicacity:   The capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly and to draw sound conclusions; Be able to react when the situation you anticipated isn’t what happens.  Have an open mind and look for images that you didn’t consider in your planning.  I didn’t just concentrate on the sunrise to the east.  I also looked around for other photogenic scenes.

After sunrise we also saw a common loon fishing very close to the docks.

Common Loon
Common Loon

Later on, we came across a couple of Belted Kingfishers that were more cooperative than usual.

Belted Kingfisher lady poses
Belted Kingfisher lady poses – These usually fly away from me as soon as I point a lens at them. This one was lazy or tired and sat still for a portrait.

Another fine day with a camera on Merritt Island!

If you think about the three words above, maybe they’ll help you come away with some photos you wouldn’t other wise get. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

©2013, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.