All posts by Ed Rosack

Viera Wetlands Surprises Again

August 29, 2010INSIDE FLORIDAbirds, wildlifeEd Rosack

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Viera Wetlands, or actually since I’ve done any bird photography at all – so yesterday (8/28/10) I visited with the Photography Interest Group to see what’s going on.

Our hopes weren’t too high, since the nesting season is past and the migratory birds probably don’t arrive until next month. Our visit was mainly to scout a couple new areas nearby. We’ve had quit a bit of rain lately and when we got there right after sunrise, we expected to have to walk the dirt roads (they usually close the roads after heavy rains). Our first surprise was that the roads were in good shape and open – so we were able to drive through.

We noticed right away that the place is full of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks. Not only that, but (second surprise) there are also some whistling ducklings around. I would never have guessed that the young of this species would look so much different from the adults. Their coloring does seem to be very effective camouflage in the marsh.

Whistling Duck family

We also saw another species (third surprise) where the juveniles look completely different from the adults. This young bird seemed to be out on it’s own, hunting in the vegetation near shore.

Immature Black Crowned Night Heron

There were also many of the regular species we usually see there, including mottled ducks, several osprey’s hunting, and (fourth surprise) my first sighting of a river otter at Viera.

River Otter

We spent about two hours in the main Viera Wetlands area and then went in search of the two new places. The first one we visited was the “Click Ponds”. This is an area to the right of the treatment plant entrance. We saw little activity other than some Anhiga and Cormorants sunning themselves. The water looks to be much deeper here and we guessed that’s the reason it isn’t as attractive to the birds.

We then went a little further west to check out the Moccasin Island parking area. Once again there was very little going on, although I did make a photograph of a Sand Hill Crane. By this time it was getting hot and we were hungry so we left and headed out to Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast / early lunch.

If you journey to to Viera, will your trip be as surprising as ours was yesterday? It’s hard to say – it depends on you and the Wetlands. But I can say that if you don’t go, you won’t know. Visit and tell us how it turns out.

You can see other photos I’ve made here in my Viera Wetlands set on Flickr.

Reminders

August 21, 2010INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Jesup, VARIOUSFlowers, Marl Bed Flats, Sunflowers, sunriseEd Rosack

A short post today with two reminders.

1. I updated the blog’s table of contents again. If you haven’t looked at it, please do. In the TOC, I list the places I’ve blogged about along with links to the blog entry and the image gallery. It also has a collection of links to other resources on the web where you can find photo-op info. If you’re doing research on photogenic locations in Central Florida (and some other places too) this is a good start.

2. The Lake Jesup wildflower season is almost here. This photo-op is seasonal and usually starts in late September and is over by early October. If you want to photograph it, get ready. You can find info in two of my blog posts:
Here: https://edrosack.com/2007/10/07/storm-and-flowers/

and here: https://edrosack.com/2009/10/10/lake-jessup-conservation-area-wildflowers/

Lake Jesup Wildflowers at sunrise: September 30, 2007

Ponce Inlet, Florida – Lighthouse and night photos

August 14, 2010Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, Ponce Inletastronomy, panorama, sunsetEd Rosack

Imagine if you will, a perfect dusk scene with sunset colors drifting up from beyond the horizon. In the distance is a photogenic lighthouse that’s illuminated just enough to make it stand out against the bright sky. Beneath your feet, slow-moving Atlantic Ocean surf rolls up on rocks. You spot a bird in the surf and hope it will be still while your shutter remains open for the seconds necessary to record the image as your mind’s eye sees it – tack sharp from foreground rocks all the way to the distant lighthouse, with silky smooth water reflecting light from the dusk sky. Imagine coming home and seeing the image that you imagined on your computer screen in all it’s glory. This imaginary trip can be made real for you too if you venture over to Ponce Inlet, Florida and have a bit of luck, like we did.

Ponce Inlet lighthouse, sunset, & bird – (Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70mm lens @ 70mm, 5 second exposure @ f/11, ISO 200)

Once again my friends, the Photography Interest Group braved many hazards to bring you extraordinary photographic insight into another wonderful place for outstanding Central Florida Photo Ops. Three of us wanted to do something a little different from our normal photo excursions. We’ve been talking about night-time / low light photography so we decided to visit Ponce Inlet last Thursday night to try out some techniques. It was also an interesting day from an astronomical perspective, since there was a conjunction of Mars, Venus, Saturn and the Moon in the western sky after sunset, as well as the annual Perseid meteor shower to observe later in the evening. We planned this as a “scouting trip”, since we’d never been there (photographically at least), and our expectations for “wall hanger” images were pretty low. We figured we’d scout the place and come back another time armed with knowledge and hoping for good results.

The weather report wasn’t very good. Earlier in the week, heavy cloud cover and rain were predicted, and it was cloudy and rainy earlier that day. But by the time we arrived at Ponce inlet the clouds had parted and we were left with beautiful (but very hot) conditions.

We stopped first at the jetty and I made several photos including the one above and this one of a fisherman below the conjunction.

Ponce Inlet at dusk, fishing under the Moon and Venus – (Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70mm lens @ 32mm, 13 second exposure @ f/22, ISO 200)

Next, we ventured over to the lighthouse looking to pair it with the conjunction. We had a bit of trouble finding the right place to park. This photo is from the parking lot on the south side of the lighthouse. We didn’t get there in time, but it’s possible that the view would have been better from the lot on the north side – something to try next trip. I made this two shot panorama with a 70 – 200mm lens. You could use a wider angle lens as well.

Ponce Inlet light, Moon, Venus, Mars, Saturn – (Nikon D700, Nikkor 70 – 200mm lens @ 70mm, 6 second exposure @ f/8, ISO 200, 3 exposure composite panorama)

When we finished at the light house, there was time for a “Slurpee break” to cool off before moving down the beach. We found a good off beach parking area not far from the lighthouse and stopped to look for debris from comet Swift-Tuttle’s tail. Within the first few minutes (before our camera gear was set up), “Grasshopper” saw a large fireball meteor. But that was the only large one that night. Here’s a photo of “Donuts” and “Grasshopper” making star / meteor photos.

Grasshopper and Donuts perform photo-magic on the beach under the stars for an audience of three – (Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm lens, 4 second exposure @ f/1.8, ISO 1600, manual focus on Donuts’ white shirt with Liveview)

For the set up at this place, I combined my old 50mm f/1.8 lens with the high ISO capabilities of the Nikon D-700. I wanted to make my exposures short so that the stars didn’t trail. I shot in manual exposure mode and checked the results to make sure I was getting what I wanted. There were some high clouds and haze and coupled with the light pollution in the area that made exposure tricky. It was too easy to overexpose the haze / glare, leading to an incandescent glow that hid the stars and meteors. I also used manual focus. I started by using Liveview enlarged around what I wanted to focus on. But with the 50mm lens, it was just as simple to use the infinity mark on the scale. I did manage to catch a couple of meteors, and here is one photo I made.

Long, dim, green Perseid meteor – (Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm lens, 3 second exposure @ f/1.8, ISO 1600, manual focus on infinity mark)

All in all, this was a very fine expedition and we all had a lot of fun. It exceeded expectations and you should try it sometime!

If you do want to try this, make sure you have both wide-angle and telephoto lenses and a sturdy tripod with a cable release. You can also read my post on night time photography for some hints on technique.

Click on any of the photos above to see them larger on Flickr. You can go here to see my Ponce Inlet photo set. “Donuts'” photos are here, and “Grasshopper’s” are here.

Evansville, Indiana photo ops

August 12, 2010Cameras and PhotographyAntiques, Flowers, sunset, travel, Trivets, vacationEd Rosack

Sorry about not updating my Blog last weekend. We were on vacation and didn’t get back home until late on Sunday. Having to be at work all week, starting on Monday morning has really interfered with my photographic activities.

For our vacation this year, Lynn and I attended the Pressing Iron and Trivet Collectors of America (PITCA) 2010 Convention in Evansville, Indiana.

The convention was held and we stayed at the Aztar Casino Hotel in downtown Evansville – right on the Ohio River. I enjoyed the parts of the convention that I attended – it’s amazing how knowledgeable people are. But I also used some time while Lynn was busy with trivet things to explore the area looking for photo ops. Here’s a couple of views from the Casino area:

Sunset at the Aztar Casino, looking southwest over the Ohio River

Night time Ohio River at Evansville

Evansville has a very nice river walk and they’ve done quite a bit of flower gardening along the way. Here are some examples of what it looks like:

The Evansville, Indiana visitor’s center

Evansville also has a museum with a transportation center showcasing several rail cars and railroad equipment.

The USS LST-325 Ship Memorial in Evansville is the home of the only remaining operational Landing Ship Tank (LST) in the world. The LST-325 has quite a history and is a very lucky ship. She made 44 trips between England and France during the WW II invasion of Normandy. Here is an interesting account of how the ship was acquired, repaired and sailed across the Atlantic by a crew of US Navy Veterans in 2000.

By the way, all of the photos I made of the ship were with a Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR lens, combined with auto ISO on my D-700 DSLR. The lens VR combined with setting the minimum shutter speed to 1/15 sec and the ISO range of 200 – 1600 allowed me to shoot without flash in the dim interior of the ship. I also was able to make sharp hand held photos down to a shutter speed of 1/8 sec, when the light was even dimmer.

On the second day of the convention auction, I left the hotel early to visit the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, which is a little over 3 hours away from Evansville. It was worth the time, although I didn’t stay very long due to the heat.

The Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri

I’m sure there are many other photo ops in the area that I didn’t have time to explore. For instance there is a zoo and botanical gardens in the city, and several caves within driving distance. The PITCA convention will probably return to Evansville next year, so I may get a chance to continue my search.

I’ve posted more of my photos (and larger versions) from this trip in a gallery here: https://edrosack.com/Evansville/

Photo Location Block

August 1, 2010Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, St. Augustine, Techniquegraveyard, sunriseEd Rosack

This is a nice photo I made recently. I’d rate it a “2” meaning it’s good enough to show other people. But it’s not that good, and I keep thinking there was a better photo there and I just didn’t find it.

Crypts at dawn (click to view on Flickr)

I’ve been by this particular place several times. Each time I see it, I just know that there must be one or more great photographs lurking about. All I have to do is find them and push the shutter.

At many places it works out that way for me. I’m able to capture amazing images and come back with something special. Sometimes it doesn’t work. For some reason I can’t “find the photo”. I’m calling this “Location Block”. The location above has bothered me since I first saw it. I’ve tried several times and so far, I haven’t ever been really happy with any of the photos I’ve made there (including this one). Have you ever felt this way?

I’m still searching for a solution. Is it the time of day? Lighting? Clouds? Lens? Filters? Position? Random Luck? Am I mistaken in the first place and there really is no truly great photo there? I don’t know yet, but one of the very interesting things about photography is that there are rules of thumb and guide lines – but there’s no surefire formula. Sometimes you have to keep exploring. Each time you try something different you learn. And if you have to try a large number of things over a long time to get a great photo, it’s fun. You’ll learn a lot and when you finally do get the photo, the satisfaction will be immense.

At least that’s what I’m hoping.

Cleaning House

August 1, 2010Blogging, VARIOUSblog infoEd Rosack

This past week, I noticed a problem with my blog. I was looking at an older post and the photos weren’t showing up. I’ve been working to correct this all week and I almost have it done. What happened? Read on.

In early 2009, I wasn’t happy with the flexibility and customization provided by Google’s Blogger service, so I decided to move my blog to my own web server and use WordPress. I won’t get into a debate here about the relative merits of the two platforms – you can find too much info about that on the web. Suffice it to say that after more than a year of use, I’m very happy with WordPress, it’s useability, flexibility, and how easy it is to customize. I don’t regret my decision to move at all.

However, this particular problem has been a bear to fix. When I switched to WordPress, I used one of its features to import all of the posts from my old blog into my new one. This worked very well and made the switch mostly painless. I guess I should have known that was too good to be true.

The import process of course imported all of the links to photos within the existing posts. But the links point to the original location – on Blogspot. At the time, I realized this and since everything displayed correctly, I just accepted it and moved on. Over a year later, it turns out that the source of my problem with missing photos is that some of those links no longer work. So I only postponed the work – I didn’t avoid it.

What I’ve been doing intermittently over the past week is going back through all of my older posts and changing all of the links that point to Blogspot. For photos, I can point to copies on my server or on Flickr. But sometimes, I don’t have a photo anywhere but on Blogspot and in those cased I have to upload the photo as well as change the link. One thing that’s been really helpful is the search function within WordPress. I can easily search for “blogspot” in all of my posts and know which ones I still have to work on.

This is a fairly straightforward problem and solution. It just takes some time to fix. And it also points out that having control of web content used in your blog posts is important. If you’re switching to WordPress, it’s something to be aware of.

I apologize if this has been a problem for you. I should have everything corrected later today, and if you notice any lingering issues in the future, please let me know.

There's more than birds in St. Augustine

July 25, 2010INSIDE FLORIDA, St. Augustineblack and white, boat, church, fort, Fort Matanzas, landscape, sunrise, travelEd Rosack

I have many entries in this blog about the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and it is a great place for bird photography.

But you shouldn’t visit St. Augustine just to watch the birds – it has many other photogenic settings. In this post, I’ll show you a few that you should consider seeing. Make sure you click the links that I’ve inserted into the captions below for more information. You can also visit my St. Augustine set on Flickr to see these and other photos I’ve made there.

Interior of the Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, Florida

Mission of Nombre De Dios: This cross marks the spot of the first mass offered in the new world’s first settlement.

Chapel and candles: The interior of the Our Lady of La Leche Shrine, at the Mission of Nombre De Dios

Quiet bay near the Mission de Nombre de Dios

A view of the Fort Matanzas southern rampart. Also, see my previous post for a view of the Castillo de San Marcos.

Make use of wide angle lens perspective

July 18, 2010Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, St. Augustine, TechniqueCastillo de San Marco, equipment, fort, sunriseEd Rosack

In photography, wide angle lenses typically have a focal length that is much shorter than the diagonal dimension of the image sensor (or film). For a full frame 35mm digital camera, the diagonal measure of the sensor is about 50mm, and this is considered a “normal” focal length. Wide angle lenses have a focal length shorter than this (typically 12 – 35mm). It’s important to understand the characteristics of shorter focal length lenses so that you know how to use them in your photography.

Of course, wide angle lenses take in a wide field of view. They also have a larger depth of field when compared to normal or telephoto lenses. And they are also very good at helping you vary the perspective of your image. What’s perspective? It’s the relative scale of nearby and distant features. This is what I want to discuss today.

Take a look at the two photos below. Both have the same subject matter. They were both shot with similar focal lengths, but the perspective differs greatly. In the first photo, the nearest tree is only about 1/3 of the length of the fort in the distance. In the second, the same tree is almost as tall as the fort is long. This is a huge change in the relative size of the image elements.

How can you achieve a similar effect? Wide angle lenses exaggerate the size of things that are close, and make things farther away look smaller. The wider the lens, the greater this effect is. When you have a wide angle lens on your camera, you can move closer or farther away from things so that you can control the relative size of close image elements and those that are farther away.

I wasn’t happy with the composition of the first image. I made the second by moving in closer to the trees. Since they were nearby, and the fort was in the distance, the trees were enlarged much more than the fort. Simply adjusting where I placed the camera allowed me to vary the relative size of the trees and fort.

Castillo de San Marco at sunrise, 17mm focal length, f/4.0 @ 1/800 sec, ISO 200

Sunrise at Castillo de San Marcos #4, 16mm focal length, f/11 @ 1/13 sec, ISO 200

Now that you understand this basic principle of photography, you too can use it to control the relative size of the elements in your composition. I will leave a discussion of why wide angle lenses aren’t used for portrait photography very often as an exercise for the reader.

Gaylord Palms, Orlando

July 11, 2010Gaylord Palms, INSIDE FLORIDA, OrlandoCastillo de San Marco, Fish, reviews, vacation, waterfallEd Rosack

Intro / Description

Lynn and I spent a couple of nights at the Gaylord Palms Resort last weekend. This very nice hotel is located in the Kissimmee area, near the Disney parks. It has several great restaurants and a huge atrium divided into four sections modeled after different areas of Florida. There are also two outdoor swimming pools, one for kids and one that’s adults only. It made for a nice weekend and also provided quite a bit of photographic interest.

One of my favorite photos from the trip. It’s called “One second Koi” or “One second, Koi”, or “One second Koi?”

Info for Photographers

You’ll find photo opportunities just about everywhere you point your camera – so make sure you do bring one!

A small waterfall in the Everglades portion of the Atrium, just outside of the Old Hickory Steakhouse

Photo hints: Light can be a bit on the low side, so be prepared: Higher ISOs, wide apertures, image stabilization and camera supports will all help. I used some pretty slow shutter speeds. If you look at any of these images on Flickr (just click on the photos) and then click on the “More properties” link, you can see the exposures I used for each and use that as a guide for the conditions you can expect.

Tripod/Monopod: Would come in handy, and shouldn’t be a problem. I didn’t see anyone with a tripod, although I didn’t see any signs saying they weren’t allowed. In most areas there should be room for one – just be courteous and don’t block the pathways. I didn’t bring my tripod and ended up sometimes bracing my camera on various objects.

Lenses: The wider the aperture the more flexibility you’ll have, and image stabilization will be a plus. You might especially enjoy using a wide angle zoom and a macro.

Best time to visit: Anytime.

Other: Check Priceline.com for potentially lower room rates. Be prepared to pay for parking. And bring plenty of money for the restaurants.

Interior of the resort’s version of Castillo de San Marco

Summary

My Gallery / Flickr photo set:	http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/sets/72157624473721270/
Website:	http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-palms/
Address / Phone:	6000 W Osceola Parkway Kissimmee, FL 34746 Hotel Operator: 407-586-0000 View in Google Maps
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating:	Make some nice photos while you relax

Alligator Farm Spoonbill Chicks Take Off!

July 6, 2010Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, Must do list, St. Augustine, St. Augustine Alligator Farmbirds, Spoonbill, wildlifeEd Rosack

I’ve found that one of the pleasures of bird photography and bird watching in general is the repeated observation of locations over the course of a nesting season. When you return to a place regularly, you can watch the behavior of the parents over time as well as the young birds as they develop.

I’m fortunate to live relatively close to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Bird Rookery and I was able to visit four times recently. This was the first year that Roseate Spoonbills have nested there and the farthest north that they’ve been recorded nesting. In this post, I’ll show you a sequence of photographs made over about six weeks of the two easily seen Spoonbill nests at the Rookery. Nest 1 is on the right side of the boardwalk closest to the entrance. Nest 2 is the one you can see from the far end of the boardwalk close to the large tree.

This first photo was taken at the end of May and shows one Spoonbill above and to the right of nest 2. At the bottom left you can barely make out one of the very young and small Spoonbills. This is the first photo I managed to make of the chicks. Sorry about the quality. The chicks didn’t come out in the open at all when I was there that time.

Mother Spoonbill keeps an eye on chick, nest 2. May 30th, 2010

Here is the same nest (#2) two weeks later. The chicks have grown a bit, have some beginning feathers, and are more active.

Roseate Spoonbill Mom and chicks in nest 2, June 13th, 2010

And this photo shows how large the chicks had grown yesterday when I visited – quite a difference in only 16 days!

Roseate Spoonbill Mom and chicks near nest 1, July 5th, 2010

Several of the young Spoonbills have fledged and I was able to capture this photo of one of them trying its wings:

Juvenille Spoonbill tests its wings, July 5th, 2010

So you can see how fast these Spoonbills develop. From just hatched and barely moving to flying in about 6 weeks. I’ve enjoyed following their progress this year. What a wonderful opportunity!

The bad news for those of you that haven’t yet visited the Alligator Farm is that you’ve missed most of the nesting season. Make your plans for next year!