Category Archives: Must do list

Orlando American Photo Model Shoot Workshop, December 2011

December 9, 2011INSIDE FLORIDA, Must do list, Techniqueequipment, people, reviewsEd Rosack

Intro / Description

Well this is a bit different from what I normally photograph and post about. But to keep learning, it’s good to occasionally stretch your skills, move outside your comfort zone, and try something you haven’t done before. And as your intrepid Central Florida Photo Ops reporter, I have an obligation to report on more than just the landscape and wildlife opportunities in the Central Florida Area. Right?

Flavia, in color

So last Saturday, I found myself at the American Photo Magazine Model Shoot Workshop at the Marriott World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The magazine organizes the event, hires models, brings lighting equipment and sets everything up for you. You just need to show up with your camera and plenty of memory cards.

They also bring in an instructor for the day. For this session it was New York Photographer Lindsay Adler. She provided some very good information on lens choice, lighting, posing, and creativity in two different sessions during the day. She and the other instructors also circulated and offered advice and help while we were shooting. It’s a great opportunity to learn, especially if you’re not familiar with this kind of photography.

There were 15 different models there. I’ve included four photos of three of them in this post. You can see more photos I made (including the other models) in this gallery. You can also look at other photographers’ images at this link.

Tiffany, in fur

Since I’m normally a Nature & Wildlife photographer, I found it quite fascinating to think about the differences between those genres and Fashion and Model photography:

Nature and Wildlife Photography	Fashion and Model Photography
The light is what it is. You may be able to change it a bit with flash for fill and catch lights.	You control the light. Indoors, you control it completely.
High Dynamic Range is common for landscape photos to control large contrast levels.	Since you control the lights, you control the contrast. HDR isn’t required.
You rarely interact with the subject. And if you do, you usually scare it off.	You must interact with the subject. Building a rapport and directing the pose is critical.
Very wide (landscape) or very long (wildlife) lenses are favored.	Large aperture lenses are favored: 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4, 70 – 200mm f/2.8
It’s all on you – a one person show.	You’ll require a team: models, make up artist, costumes, sets, etc.
Knowledge / experience and persistence are necessary to find good subjects.	Portfolio, reputation, and relationships are necessary to find good subjects.
You go to where the subject is.	The subject comes to you in a set or studio.
Post processing: Color adjustments, HDR (landscapes), Selective sharpening	Post processing: Color adjustments, Retouching, Selective sharpening

I’m sure I must have missed something. What else is different about these two types of photography?

Info for Photographers

Photo hints:

At this type of event, everything except you and your camera are provided: backdrops, lighting (hot lights and soft boxes), sets, models, costumes, makeup, etc. The instructors will help with light adjustments and offer advice if you’re having any problems. Flash isn’t recommended, since the lighting is provided and flash will interfere. It will also be a lot harsher than the large soft box hot lights that are used.

You do need to use a higher ISO setting. I used ISO 800 almost all day. I shot with my lens wide open and my exposures ranged around f/2.8 between 1/60 of a second and ~1/320. A capable high ISO camera will come in very handy as well as a large aperture lens with VR. The Nikon D700 and 70 – 200 f/2.8 VRII combination worked well for me. I did have some issues with overexposure. I don’t know why these scenes were fooling my meter (maybe the dark backgrounds?), but I sometimes had to dial in some negative exposure compensation. Make sure to check your histogram often.

Flavia, in black and white

White balance was tungsten on some sets and daylight on others. I shot in RAW mode, so I didn’t worry too much about it. I just set my camera in auto white balance and then corrected it (if needed) in post. If you shoot in JPG mode, pay attention to the changing white balance. I overheard a lot of discussion that day from different people about “degrees Kelvin”.

The overall experience sometimes resembled a paparazzi shoot out on a red carpet. Popular models would attract a crowd of photographers. Courtesy is very important. Take your turn and let others have theirs – there was plenty of time for everyone. It was also fascinating to be one of the photographers in the crowd and hear shutter clicks sync up when a model changed position or where they were looking.

Tripod/Monopod: Not recommended – it’s too crowded and would definitely be in everyone’s way – including yours. It would also slow you down. The models do move around, so you need to react quickly to get the compositions you want.

Lenses:

One of the event sponsors was Sigma. They brought a couple crates of lenses and would let you borrow one for a session. This is a great chance to try glass that you haven’t used before. I checked out an 85mm f/1.4 for the first session, but ended up not using it very much. I wasn’t getting many sharp images even when I stopped it down. I didn’t have time to diagnose the issue but I think my problem was a combination of very shallow depth of field and blur caused by slower shutter speeds with no VR. I switched to my 70 – 200 f/2.8 and used it the rest of the day. It was occasionally a bit long at the 70mm length, but I compensated when needed by taking multiple shots.

Jennifer, in close

Best time to visit:

You’ve missed your chance for this year. To see when they’re coming back to Orlando, you’ll have to check the American Photo Website. They told us they’d be posting the 2012 schedule soon.

Other: I had a great time, but it was a long day. You’ll be on your feet a great deal of the time, and you’ll be shifting positions often to get a good vantage point. I was quite tired at the end of the day.

Summary

You can view a higher resolution gallery of other photos I made at the link in the table below.

My Gallery:	https://edrosack.com/APMS
Their Website:	http://www.americanphotomag.com/modelshoot/
Their Contact Info:	apmodelshoot@bonniercorp.com
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating:	A different kind of CFL Photo Op must do!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2011, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

The National Mall in Washington D.C.

November 19, 2011Must do list, Washington D.C.black and white, infrared, landscape, travelEd Rosack

I had another opportunity to fly up to Reagan Airport early last Sunday for a business trip, and spend a few hours in downtown Washington D.C. on the National Mall.

The Washington Monument in infrared

I brought my Olympus cameras, including my IR modified E-PL1. I’m really enjoying the way it lets me see things differently. So much so that I have to be careful not to over use it.

I also brought an app I discovered for my iPhone: The NPS National Mall and Memorial Parks app is very useful – I highly recommend it if you travel to Washington D.C. And it’s free! (Update, October 2020: Doesn’t seem to be available now.)

Using the app, I followed the “4 hour tour” and saw several memorials that I haven’t been to, including the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. I also went by the Jefferson, Lincoln, and Vietnam War Memorials and of course – the Washington Monument.

Breadline and fall color, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial – Washington, DC. The inscription reads:

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

I was talking about my visit with my friend Patrick and he said something that really resonated with me: These memorials are named in honor of our famous founding fathers, or events from our history. But when you visit them, one thing you notice is that at each there are words / thoughts written in the stones that make up each monument. And it’s really these ideas that we should remember. Maybe a periodic tour of the monuments along with a test on every inscription should be required for members of congress.

I was also surprised by how much color remained in the foliage – quite pretty. And I was grateful that the weather was so different from my last visit. This time it was partly cloudy and cool – very good walking weather.

And just because I can’t resist, here’s one more IR photo. This one’s a false color image of a small Japanese Pagoda located near the Roosevelt Memorial.

Japanese pagoda on the west side of the Tidal Basin, Washington, DC. Given to Washington DC city commissioner Renah Camalier by Yokohama Mayor Ryozo Hiranuma in 1957 and subsequently donated to the city. This pagoda may be from the Kamakura period (1192–1333).

You can see other photos I’ve made in Washington D.C. in this set on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2011, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

The Lake Jesup Flowers are back!

October 5, 2011INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Jesup, Lake Jesup Sunflowers, Must do listFlowers, landscape, Marl Bed Flats, Sanford Florida, Sunflowers, sunsetEd Rosack

We may not get much Autumn color on our trees in Central Florida, but we do have one wonderful sign that fall is here – the sudden appearance of huge fields of Swamp Sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius, also called Narrow Leaf Sunflowers) covering the Marl Bed Flats in the Lake Jesup Conservation Area.

If you haven’t driven over Lake Jesup on the 417 toll road to see this year’s flower extravaganza on the north shore, now’s the time . They started blooming last weekend and the peak will probably last through this coming weekend. You can see my earlier posts for more info:

Here’s a photo I made last Sunday evening near sunset:

Marl Bed Flats Sunflowers: They bloom in late September / early October and cover a large part of the Lake Jesup Conservation area.

You can look at other photos I’ve made here in this set on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/sets/72157622430520287/

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2011, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Big Tree Park – Home of the Senator

September 18, 2011Big Tree Park, INSIDE FLORIDA, Must do listlandscapeEd Rosack

January 16, 2012 update: A fire has destroyed The Senator. See this post for more details. –Edro

Intro / Description

What if you could visit one of the oldest living things in the world, something that’s been alive since 1500 BC, when the Hittites were storming Babylon, and the Mayans were just getting started? What if you didn’t have to travel across the country or the world to do so?

Well, you can do this in Central Florida. The Senator is the largest bald cypress tree in the United States, and is thought to be the oldest of its species (~3500 years old). It’s also the fifth oldest living tree and most likely the largest tree east of the Mississippi River. The tree’s size is particularly impressive because it’s survived many hurricanes, including one in 1925 which destroyed the top 40 feet.

The Senator: 3500 year old Bald Cyprus tree in Big Tree Park, Longwood, Florida

Info for Photographers

The Senator is located in Big Tree Park in Longwood, Florida. A wooden boardwalk leads from the small parking area through the swamp to the two large trees. The second tree is “Lady Liberty” and is about 2000 years old.

Lady Liberty: 2000 year old Bald Cyprus tree

Photo hints:

The two large cyprus trees aren’t the only things in the park. Keep your eyes open for other vegetation and occasional wildlife such as Owls, and Turtles. The tree canopy can also be quite interesting, so look up too.

Tree canopy: That’s a very tall palm tree!

Tripod/Monopod:

Bring your tripod so you can bracket your images. You’ll be shooting up and the contrast between the sky and the dark foliage is a perfect application for HDR techniques.

Lenses:

To me, this place cries out for a wide-angle lens and the wider the better. I made the photos in this post with a Sigma 8 – 16mm zoom on a crop body camera.

Best time to visit:

If you haven’t seen this yet, then by all means go whenever you get a chance. It’s a quick trip and you can visit just about any time of the day or year. Cyprus trees do change color in the fall, so an autumn view might be interesting. You’ll want to avoid bugs and heat, so plan accordingly.

Other:

There’s a small playground for the kids, and it’s right on the cross Seminole bicycle trail.

Summary

My Gallery / Flickr photo set:	http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/sets/72157627576645761/
Website:	http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/guide/parks/park1.aspx
Address / Phone:	761 General Hutchinson Pkwy Longwood, FL 32750 (407) 321-1693
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating:	Another CFL Photo Op must do!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2011, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Mount Evans Redux

July 10, 2011Colorado, Must do listBristlecone Pine, landscape, Marmot, Mountain Goat, Mt. Evans, people, travel, tree, vacation, wildlifeEd Rosack

I’ve been to Mount Evans before and written about it here. I got a chance to go back this week and my second visit was as good as the first. Maybe even better, since I showed this wonderful place off to Sara, Mike, and Julie.

The highest paved road in North America starts in Idaho Springs, Colorado and winds for 28 miles around tight switchbacks to an altitude of just over 14,100 feet. There’s a small parking lot near the summit, and a short (but vertical) hike to the very top at 14,270 feet. The road is quite narrow in spots, and is exciting or scary depending on your attitude and its altitude / slope. There are many places to pull over that offer outstanding views of the surrounding landscapes and wildlife.

Bristlecone pine: This species of tree is the longest lived single organism on earth

Take I-70 west from Denver and exit at County Road 103. The first half of the drive from there is pretty but not too out of the ordinary. The fee station is around the halfway point, and this is where most of the excitement begins. Pick up a brochure so you’ll have a map and information about the park.

Both times I’ve gone have been in early July so I can’t say much about the rest of the year. Try to visit on a weekday to avoid crowds, and if you can’t go on a weekday – leave early. The only day we could drive up was the 4th, so we left around 7am. When we asked the ranger at the fee station, he said it wasn’t crowded yet but would be, and recommended we go up to the top and stop at places on the way down. If you don’t, you might not get a parking spot – they get very limited at the top as the day goes on. We saw lots of cars headed up as we were leaving.

Wildflowers are abundant in July. Even above 14,000 feet where the terrain seems barren – you can see flowers in between the rocks. July is also a great time to view wildlife. On this trip we saw a Deer, Chipmunks, Elk, Mountain Goats, Marmots, and a Pika.

Baby mountain goat – There were several families of mountain goats near 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.

Pair of Marmots

At the summit, the average summer temperature is ~44 degrees (F) and the average wind is ~30 mph, so we were particularly blessed with a low temp of 55 and very calm winds. The winds were so calm that on the way down we decided to stop and hike to a couple of pools of water, hoping for a photo of the clouds reflecting in the ice melt. It seemed like a really short hike downhill from the road to this pool. When we turned around to go back uphill, the car looked really, really tiny and far, far away.

Catch pool reflection and Mike admiring the view

If you’re ever in the Denver area, you just have to visit Mount Evans. It’s spectacular and very accessible. Flatlanders like me shouldn’t do the trip on their first day at altitude. I’m not in the best of shape and at 14,000 feet I found I was out of breath even after short walks. A few days to acclimate at around 5000 feet may have helped.

Click on any of the photos above to go to Flickr where you can see a larger version. You can see the rest of my Mount Evans photos from this trip here, and you can see photos from my earlier trip here.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2011, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Washington DC

March 19, 2011Must do list, Washington D.C.Arlington National Cemetery, cemetery, landscape, Lincoln Memorial, panorama, Potomac River, sunrise, travelEd Rosack

I’ve written about photography on business trips before (for instance here). If you’re willing to put up with the hassle of carrying your photo equipment (or you can travel “photo light”), and if you have an opportunity to leave early or stay late, then you may be able to enjoy some of the photo ops at your destination.

The pre-dawn Potomac River, Georgetown, and Washington DC from the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Rosslyn, Virgina: Getting up at 5:30am and leaving my warm, cozy room to walk down to the river with my tripod and camera in the cold and dark wasn’t easy. Timing the 4 – 8 second exposures between vibrations from passing cars was also a bit difficult. But I like the result.

I had a business trip to Washington DC this week and needed to be there first thing on Monday. Instead of flying in Sunday night, I made arrangements to get out on the first flight Sunday morning (whew, that was an early alarm!). This gave me few hours in DC to act like a tourist. The weather was cloudy with some rain, but that actually turned out to be an advantage for some of the things I photographed and I did manage to make some images that I like in two or three different places while I was there. Washington is a target rich environment for photo ops – where to start?

At the first place, birds sang as I walked paths through the area. Looking up and searching for them, I could see trees beginning to bud out with leaves and flowers, signaling the start of Spring and triggering many thoughts about nature. As I continued, my eyes were drawn back to earth where the sight of graves triggered thoughts about sacrifice by many brave people. I also thought about predictions of the decline of the USA, and it occurred to me that these don’t take into account the power of our belief system. Our economy is large, and we are creative — but our true strength is that so many believe in our rights and freedoms and are willing to defend them with their lives.

Tomb of the unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery: I’d never been to Arlington before last Sunday. As a US Navy Veteran and a patriot, I have to admit it made a huge impression on me.

Arlington National Cemetery is located on a hill across the Potomac from Washington DC. It’s the former home of Robert E. Lee and was taken over by the Union when the Lee family failed to pay taxes. Arlington house (his former manor) is surrounded by grave sites of union soldiers so that if he ever tried to return, he’d have to cross that line of soldiers to enter his home. [4/16 update: Here is a good article about Arlington house: http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2011/04/arlington-house-home-robert-e-lee7966]There’s a good view of downtown DC and the country’s power base from up there. I hope that Congress glances up at Arlington occasionally before it makes decisions that may result in more grave sites. Arlington is only a few minutes from downtown Washington, and close to Reagan airport. There’s plenty of info on their web site for visitors.

After Arlington, I drove into downtown DC. Since it was Sunday and raining, there weren’t many people around and I was able to park about two blocks from the Lincoln Memorial and walk over for a few photos. Unfortunately, there is a lot of construction going on right now – the reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument was drained, and this limited the compositions available.

The Lincoln Memorial and me: Last Sunday in Washington DC was cloudy with a bit of rain, so there weren’t too many people out and about in the city. I circled around to the south west side and set up my tripod for this shot. I think it’s pretty rare that you get a chance to capture an image of the Lincoln Memorial without people in the photo.

The view of the Lincoln Memorial above is a multi-shot panorama / HDR using 27 individual photos. The full resolution result is about 45 Mega-pixels in size. The power of the software we have available today always amazes me.

Take advantage of your travel opportunities. Turn them into photo ops. You might like the result.

If you click on the photos above you can see larger versions on Flickr. You can also see these photos and a few others from this trip in this set on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by, now go make some photos!

Circle B Bar Reserve – Lakeland, Florida

November 26, 2010Circle B Bar Reserve, INSIDE FLORIDA, Must do listbirds, Cormorant, Flowers, landscape, reviewsEd Rosack

Intro / Description

This nature wonderland in Lakeland, Florida is named after a cattle ranch that used to exist on the property. It was purchased by Polk County and the SW Florida Water Management District in late 2000. The area is 1,267 acres total and starting in 2005, 400 acres have undergone a marsh reclamation to recreate a natural habitat and food source for many kinds of resident and migrating birds and wildlife. The Circle B is also home to the Polk County Nature Discovery Center.

The western shore of Lake Hancock (from the Alligator Alley trail)

Circle B has a tremendous variety and number of birds. Alligators also inhabit Lake Hancock and can be seen from the trails in several places. There are a variety of different areas on the property including Oak hammock, freshwater marsh, hardwood swamp and the lake shore.

The Circle B has over 7 miles of marked trails for walking or biking. If you go, make sure you see at least the Alligator Alley and Marsh Rabbit Run trails. We hiked these as well as the Shady Oak, Windmill Whisper and portions of Wading Bird Way and Eagle Roost trails when we were there for a total hike of more than 5 miles.

Marsh Rabbit Run trail

In our one visit we saw Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Ibises, Cattle Egrets, Ospreys, Red Shoulder Hawks, Cormorants, Anhingas, Limpkins, Whistling Ducks, Alligators, Turtles, a very brave rabbit and some other things as well. One local photographer we spoke with told us about a Barred Owl in the area as well as some otters, but we never saw them. Next time!

Cormorant – These birds have been posing for me lately.

In addition to the wildlife, the scenery is quite beautiful and different from our normal areas near the coast. There were many types of trees and flowers, including this sunflower variety that was very abundant all over the property.

These sunflowers (?) were all over the Circle B Bar Reserve – very pretty. I wonder if they bloom all the time or if we just happened to be there when they’re in season?

Info for Photographers

Photo hints:

I’ve only been to the Circle B once, and need to go several more times to get an idea of how consistent the photo ops there are. If you have the kind of experience we did, you’ll have lots of opportunity for photos of still as well as in-flight birds. If you’re quiet as you walk, you can avoid scaring off the nearby birds and get some better shots. They are somewhat used to people here, but not overly tolerant. Make sure you look all around as you hike (especially up) and take an occasional glance behind to see if you’ve missed anything.

In addition to my photo set from the Circle B, visit the Circle B bar group on Flickr to see what others are photographing there and to read up on discussions about the reserve.

Tripod/Monopod:

Allowed, of course. Tripods would be very handy for landscape photos or (with a gimbal head) for birds. You’ll have to decide how much gear you’re willing to carry on your hike. Since this was a scouting trip, we traveled light and I wished several times that I’d brought my tripod.

Lenses:

Telephoto for birds / wildlife and and wide-angle for landscapes. You’ll need a good range of lenses to cover everything here, but you’ll be able to get some good photos no matter which lens you have with you.

Best time to visit:

As for any place when looking for birds and wildlife, early in the day (or late) is best. I’m not yet sure what times of year are the best here, but mid to late November is definitely worth a visit.

Other:

You’ll be walking a good bit. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes and bring some water with you.

Summary

You can click on any of the photos above to view them on Flickr, where you can also see a larger version.

My Gallery / Flickr photo set:	http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/sets/72157625343566505/
Website:	http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/areas/circlebbarreserve.html
Address / Phone:	4399 Winter Lake Road (SR 540) Lakeland, FL 33803 (View in Google maps)
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating:	Another CFl Photo Op must do!

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!

Viera Wetlands – a birder's paradise?

January 17, 2010INSIDE FLORIDA, Must do list, Viera WetlandsAmerican Coot, birds, Caracara, Great Blue Heron, Ibis, landscape, reviewsEd Rosack

Intro / Description

OK, so maybe you don’t look at the top of my blog very often, where it says “Central Florida Photo Ops – What & Where they are, and tips on how to photograph them”. That’s the main purpose here – to let others know about all the great places to make photographs in the Central Florida area. So I feel like I owe an apology to all my loyal readers and the wildlife / nature / bird photographers that have visited my blog in the past without finding any mention of the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera, also known as Viera Wetlands. I’m sorry and I’ll try to do better – but I do have a day job! And there are so many fabulous places to photograph around here!

Note: you can click on any of these photos to go to my Flickr photo stream and view a larger version (click on the magnifying glass icon at the top). There’s also links at the end of this entry to the my entire set, my slide show version of the photos, and some links to other photos of Viera Wetlands.

Viera Wetlands

Our Phototgraphy Interest Group traveled to Viera Wetlands yesterday. Located at the west end of Wickham Road, in Melbourne, Florida (behind the water treatment plant), the Viera Wetlands offers birders and photographers a close encounter with many species from the comfort of their automobiles. Since cars are such a good blind to photograph from, you can often get quite close to the wildlife without disturbing them. I’ve only been there one time (so far!), but if my visit with the Photography Interest Group yesterday was any indication, this is a very nice place to watch and photograph birds. I should have checked it out ages ago.

Un-cropped photo of Great Blue Heron. I did get out of the car for this one!

Info for Photographers

Photo hints: You can get photos of many of the species right from your car. The dirt roads are fairly narrow – so if you do exit your vehicle to get a “down low” perspective, or whenever you stop to get a shot – be courteous and make sure you pull over as far as possible to one side.

The roads are one way. The perimeter road runs counter clockwise and so most of the photo ops will be on the driver’s side, although the roads through the center of the Wetlands do have some scenery and birds out of the passenger side.

The Viera Wetlands official site has a visitor’s checklist brochure you can download that lists all the species that have been sighted in the area, along with a map and some other information. The brochure is here: http://www.brevardcounty.us/environmental_management/documents/VieraWetlandsChecklistV3WEB.pdf. It’s well worth looking at before you go and gives you an indication of how common each species is in the Wetlands.

An American Coot (the bird – not the author)

A Crested Caracara in flight. (Photo by Kevin McKinney)

Tripod/Monopod : Definitely allowed – you can bring all the gear that will fit in your car. You may also want to bring a bean bag so you can rest your camera on your car’s window sill.

Lenses: Some of the birds get quite close to the side of the road. I probably don’t have to tell you that for birds, longer lenses are better. But you can get by with a not so long lens here. I used my 70 – 300 on my D90 (1.5 crop factor = 450mm equivalent). I also got some good frames with my 70 – 200 on the full frame D700.

Best time to visit : Now is a great time. There’s lots of activity and the weather is what Florida is famous for. Many of the birds are getting their breeding plumage. In general, early February through June (nesting season) should continue to be a good time to go. Go early in the day when the light is good and the animals are active.

Breeding colors are starting to show in this Glossy Ibis.

Other : Normal hours are Monday through Sunday, Sunrise to Sunset. The dirt roads through the wetlands are sometimes closed due to heavy rains. If this is the case, you can still walk in. You can also call ahead to make sure the roads are open (see below).

Summary

The photos I’ve posted here are just a few of the ones we made on Saturday, and this was just some of what there is to see. This is a place worth going to multiple times. Check out the links below for more images of different species. You could also visit the Photography Interest Group on Flickr to see the photos that the others made yesterday.

Also, there’s a group on Flickr that appears to be pretty active and has many photos and discussions about Viera Wetlands. If you’re interested, you may want to visit there to learn more and even join. Here’s the link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1224030@N24/

My Gatorland photo set on Flickr:	The set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/sets/72157623223995224/ A slide show version: http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/sets/72157623223995224/show/
Website:	http://www.brevardcounty.us/environmental_management/VieraWetlands-Home.cfm
Address / Phone:	10001 Wickham Road Melbourne, FL 32940 Information: 321-637-5521 Current Road Conditions: 321-255-4329
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating:	Bird fan bonanza – shoulda gone sooner!

Our vacation – Ch. 3: Other Alaskan and Seattle photos

October 5, 2009Must do list, Techniqueastronomy, panorama, sunrise, travel, vacationEd Rosack

This is the third installment of our vacation adventure, where I’ll show you the some of the other things we saw, both in Alaska and Seattle. Chapter One is here and describes the wildlife we encountered on our trip. Chapter Two is here and is about the glaciers we visited.

I’ve finally gotten through the rest of the photos that I made. The only ones left to process are the “people pics”. When I finish these, the final part of my post processing will be to go through everything and then selecting a “best of all set” to try making into a photo book.

Before we get started, please note that the photos in this post are linked to my Flickr account and you can click on them to go to Flickr where you can see a higer res version.

First of all, here’s my favorite photo of me from the trip. It’s a picture of Lynn and I that Sully made. We spent a lot of time sightseeing from our balcony, and looking at this really brings back memories.

Ed on vacation with three cameras. Lynn on vacation with two glasses of wine.; Canon PowerShot A700,11.546 mm,1/80 sec at f / 3.5,, Dimensions are 2816 x 2112, Photo by Marin Sullivan

There were quite a few impressive sunrise and sunset opportunities. I often shot in “panorama mode”. Most of these I took hand held and they seem to have worked out quite well. I was careful to line up the horizon or another feature in the terrain with one of the marks in the viewfinder, and this really helps when you stitch. I’ve also found that running Nikon images through CaptureNX before I stitch them in Photoshop really improves the final image quality. The key is to use the CaptureNX function that corrects lens distortion. Here’s a sunrise from our final morning on the ship. It’s composed of 4 images stitched together vertically. In the full res version, you can see the planet Mars (if my astronomy software is correct) underneath the moon!

Seattle sunrise panorama with moon and Mars(?); NIKON D700,48 mm,1/50 sec at f / 2.8,ISO 800, Dimensions are 4312 x 7619

Here’s another one I really like. I took this in Juneau, when Lynn and I went gold panning. I had just my Canon G9 with me (in a pocket most of the time – it was raining), and I used a flat rock in the creek as a tripod. By the way, Lynn and I both found flakes of gold in this creek!

Juneau, Alaska – gold panning creek; Canon PowerShot G9,7.4 mm,1.0 sec at f / 8.0,ISO 80, Dimensions are 4000 x 3000

And here’s one last photo for the blog of some trees at the Lake Washington Ship Canal. I’m not sure what this tree was and whether it was turning already for fall, but I really liked the color contrasts.

Trees; NIKON D90,19 mm,1/50 sec at f / 3.8,ISO 100, Dimensions are 2848 x 4288

As before, I’ve posted the rest of the photos for this blog entry in two ways. I added a set of “other” photos here to my photo galleries. You can also look at our Alaska photos together in a single time ordered set of 72 photographs here on Flickr. Clicking on one of the photos above will also take you to Flickr, where if you click on the “all sizes” button, you can see the photo in a higher res version.