Category Archives: INSIDE FLORIDA

Black Swan

INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Eola, Orlando, ,

The Black Swan is an interesting bird. Not only from an avian perspective, but also from a philosophy and ideas perspective. Wikipedia introduces the Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) as “a large water bird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia.”

Black Swan
Black Swan at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando

Australia? Then what is a photo of a Black Swan doing on the Central Florida Photo Ops blog?

All known swans were white until Black Swans were discovered in Australia. People would never expect to find a black Swan (even in Orlando). So this bird is often used as a metaphor for an unexpected event.

Nicholas Taleb wrote a book called The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. His theory is that outlier events (which are essentially unpredictable) have an outsized impact, especially due to the human tendency to settle for simple solutions. This is called the Black Swan Theory.

If no one told, you’d never expect to find a Black Swan in Central Florida. But you can – at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando. So seeing a Black Swan there is a black swan event – highly unexpected. Or it was, until I just told you.

There are other Swan species there too. I saw Whooper Swans, Mute Swans, and Black Necked Swans last weekend.

You can see other photo’s I’ve made at Lake Eola in this set on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some unexpected photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Digital Infrared Photography – a post processing example

Infrared processing, INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Jesup, Technique, , , ,

Introduction

If you’ve read through my blog or looked at my photostream on Flickr, you’ll already know that I enjoy black and white photography and occasionally post B&W images. Removing color from a scene abstracts reality – and emphasizes shapes, composition, and texture. The image becomes a bit unreal, but since we’re used to B&W  – not too unreal.  This makes B&W a great way to make your images stand out.

Another way to make your images stand out is by using infrared (IR) film or an IR modified camera:

  • IR captures a portion of the spectrum of light that’s different from what your eyes can see.
  • The spectral response makes blue sky look dark and foliage bright.  This reverses a normal daylight scene’s brightness values, helps tame contrast, and allows you to shoot even when the sun is high in the sky.
  • You can interpret this alternate version of reality by processing your IR photo as B&W or various types of false color images.
  • IR can sometimes also capture details that aren’t seen with visible light.
  • If you use a modified digital camera, you may see improved detail in your photos, since the conversion process removes the anti-aliasing filter that most digital cameras use to slightly blur the image during capture (and remove Moire patterns and other aliasing artifacts).

I’ve gotten some questions about my infra-red images.  And I haven’t written anything about technique recently, so in this post, I’ll go into detail about a recent IR image I made.  I’m relatively inexperienced at this, but as a IR n00b I’ve learned a few things that may come in handy if you want to try it.

Messy knees

Messy knees:  Cypress trees on the south shore of Lake Jesup.  Cypress trees and their roots are good subjects, especially along the water where they’re usually found. The light hitting these tree trunks and the Spanish Moss also caught my eye.  I’m still playing around with infra-red. There’s a range of post processing options available. I was hoping that this false color version looks just alien enough to make people take a second look.  Click here to view a larger version of this photo on Flickr.

Camera

I use an Olympus E-PL1 modified for IR by http://www.lifepixel.com/ and I’m very pleased with the result.

Using a micro 4/3 camera has advantages for IR:

  • Older models like the E-PL1 are relatively inexpensive;
  • They have a large sensor (compared with compact cameras) which helps image quality;
  • They use the sensor for contrast type focusing so there are no focus calibration issues that can occur in a DSLR
  • Most have RAW format capture available

Settings

I shoot in RAW, not jpeg.  For IR, it would be tough to get all the settings perfect in camera.  Plus, there are a lot of post processing options which you’d give up if you only capture jpeg.

White balance is one thing that you should set.  If you shoot in RAW, white balance can be adjusted in post processing.  But setting a white balance in camera is important since it lets you judge your shots on the LCD screen as you take them.  Unless you set a custom (preset) white balance all IR images would look very red. On my E-PL1 I use a temperature setting of 2000K which is as low as it will go.  This camera has no tint adjustment, so photos still look blue, but it’s good enough for judging exposure.

Workflow

Here are 7 versions of this photo that show the processing steps I went through along the way.  Don’t be alarmed – this is quicker and easier than it sounds.

This is the RAW photo straight out of the camera. My custom white balance adjustment isn’t able to completely correct the IR spectrum so there’s a pronounced bluish tint.
This is the image after white balance and levels adjustment in Photoshop. Other initial adjustments in LR or Photoshop may include a bit of noise reduction, lens corrections (if available), cropping / straightening, and spot removal.
In this version, I’ve used several copies of the same scene (shot from a tripod) to smooth the water’s surface and make the trees / knees stand out more.
This version has a Channel Mixer preset adjustment layer (red and blue colors swapped).  Debra Sandige’s IR page (listed in the references below) has  detailed steps on how to do this in Photoshop.
A Hue / Saturation / Brightness adjustment layer was used to modify the Hue in the cyan and blue channels so it looks a bit more natural.
This is after final adjustments in Lightroom: clarity(+47), vibrance (+24), medium contrast tone curve, sharpening with edge mask.  (note: this is the same image as at top of post).
For comparison, a black and white conversion of the final false color image.  I like the false color version better.

References

You can find out more about Infrared photography at these places:

  1. This Wikipedia article has some background information on infrared photography – especially film techniques.
  2. I had my camera converted by LifePixel and was extremely pleased with the result.  They have a huge amount of IR information including tutorials, FAQs, and a blog on their website.
  3. I read and enjoyed Debra Sandige’s recent book about IR photography. She’s very creative and presents a lot of good information.  She has a page on her website with IR information.
  4. Lloyd Chambers also has an intro to infra-red on his site and offers a paid site with more info.
  5. The Khromagery website has several good articles on IR cameras and processing.  They also offer an IR Photoshop action as a free download.

Conclusions?

So, is IR an infatuation? Will I use it for a while and then let it fade away? Will I only bring it out for special photo ops as inspiration? Will it take over my photo life to the exclusion of all other approaches? Who can say? You’ll just have to keep reading my blog and see what happens. Along with me.

You can visit my IR set on Flickr to see more examples of what I’ve done.  What do you think?  Is IR photography something you’d like to explore?

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some IR photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

[Additional info, added 1/24/2014]:

Three photos

INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando Wetlands, , , ,

Five of us from the Photography Interest Group had a pleasant walk at Orlando Wetlands Park this morning.  Here are three photos I made.

Orlando Wetlands black and white
Water, trees and sky – made with my Infra Red modified Olympus E-PL1 and converted to black and white.

Sunrise at Orlando Wetlands
The view looking east at dawn this morning.  The city did a lot of work last winter in this area.  There’s more clear water now than there used to be and I think it’s much more scenic.

Palm Warbler at Orlando Wetlands
Palm Warbler – another life bird for me.  I’ve seen these before, but this is my best photo of one and the first time I’ve actually identified the bird.

You can see other photos I’ve made at OWP in these sets on Flickr:  set 1, set 2, set 3.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

The Falcon and the Redheads

INSIDE FLORIDA, Jetty Park, Merritt Island NWR, , , , , , ,

Another trip yesterday to the east central coast of Florida:  Jetty Park in Cocoa and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (Black Point Wildlife Drive) in Titusville.  Wow – it was a poor day for sunrise photos, an OK day for bird photography, and a great day for birding!

Dawn yesterday was nothing to get up for – cloudy, dim, no color.  But we were up and out, so I made a photograph anyway.

Danger
Danger

That taken care of, I switched cameras and used the Sigma 150-500mm to scout shorebirds.  There were many Gulls (Laughing, Ring-Billed, Herring), Pelicans and Black Vultures, a few Royal Terns, Black Skimmers, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Northern Mockingbirds, and Ospreys, and a Reddish Egret, and Snowy Egret.  I also saw a couple of Hawks and was puzzled by the look of this one that flew over the jetty and out into the inlet until I got home and did some research.  I’ve never seen a Peregrine Falcon in the wild before yesterday!

Peregrine Falcon
Peregrine Falcon

Reddish Egret
Reddish Egret in the surf – quite a “do”

By the time we moved up the coast to MINWR, it was a bit brighter and the conditions were better for photography.  We’d heard about a sighting of a Redhead duck and wanted to see if we could find it.  We came across it about half way round the drive on the right hand side swimming with several other ducks.  I think it’s amazing how a few bits of data over the internet can lead to sighting a semi-rare (for Florida) bird.  With so much information available it’s a great time to enjoy this kind of thing.

Redhead duck
Redhead duck

Other birds we saw on BPWD:  American Avocets, Common Snipe, Lesser Yellowlegs, American Robins, Roseate Spoonbills, Gulls, Belted Kingfishers, Northern Harrier, Northern Shovelers, Coots, Greebes, Green Wing Teals, Great Blue Herons,  Little Blue Herons, Tri-colored Herons, Snowy Egrets, Reddish Egrets, Great Egrets, and others.

Once again, a wonderful day outside in our natural Florida paradise.

I’ve posted a few more of my photos on Flickr.  You can see them in this Jetty Park set and this MINWR set.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Jetty Park and Merritt Island – 12 Feb 2012

INSIDE FLORIDA, Jetty Park, Merritt Island NWR, , , , , , ,

We had another very nice photo outing last weekend.  We stopped first at Jetty Park in Cocoa for sunrise and to check out the shore birds.  It was quite cold (for Florida) – about 32 degrees F with a 15 – 20 mph wind – brisk!  We saw Brown Pelicans, Northern Gannets, Ruddy Turnstones, Royal Terns, and several types of gulls.

Dawn at Jetty Park
Dawn at Jetty Park: There wasn’t a lot of color in the sky, but I still like how this turned out

Next we went by the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (East Gator Road, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Scrub Ridge Trail, and the visitor’s center).  MINWR continues to have large numbers and many types of birds.  We saw several unusual ones (a Sora, Clapper Rail, Eastern Meadowlark) and many of the regular visitors (Redwing Blackbirds, Norther Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Ring Neck Ducks, Blue Wing Teals, Redish Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Tri-color Herons, Little Blue Herons, Little Egrets, Great Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Coots, Morehens, etc.).

Male Northern Pintail
Male Northern Pintail

Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Meadowlark

There were disappointments at a few of the normal spots:  The Great Horned Owl wasn’t on its nest, the Painted Buntings weren’t at the Visitor Center, and there weren’t any Florida Scrub Jays on Scrub Ridge Trail.  But there weren’t any mosquitoes there either!

Jetty Park and MINWR are fantastic places to visit and very active now.  If you haven’t been recently, go!  You can see more photos I’ve made at these places here, here, and here.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Orlando Magic fall to the Atlanta Hawks

Downtown Orlando, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando,

The Orlando Magic lost a tough game to the Atlanta Hawks last night by two points in overtime.  The Hawks always seem to have our number even though they were missing some starters for this game.  It also didn’t help that the Magic were a bit slow and sloppy in the first 3 quarters.

Dwight Howard dunks
Dwight Howard dunks in traffic

We had very nice seats, which made for a good photo-op.  I used a Micro 4/3 camera and had plenty of reach with a 40 – 150mm (80 – 300mm equivalent) lens.  I did suffer a bit from the small aperture.  I had to set the ISO as high as 1600 to stop action at around 1/500 sec and f/5.6.  The Amway arena seems to have a pretty consistent lighting –  I set the white balance to tungsten for these.

Jameer Nelson shoots a 3 over Jeff Teague
Jameer Nelson shoots a 3 over Jeff Teague

It was a nice night and Lynn and I had a good time, even though our team lost.

The Magic Dancers perform
The Magic Dancers dance

You can see the other photos I made last night in this set on Flickr. And I have two other sets from previous games here and here.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Orlando Wetlands Park, 5 February 2012

INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, Orlando Wetlands, , , , , ,

Orlando Wetlands Park has re-opened, and three of us from the Photography Interest Group met there before dawn last Sunday.  I was hoping for a sunrise photo, but fog and lack of color in the sky made those efforts a challenge.  Luckily I had my IR converted camera with me and made this 4 image panorama of the marsh.  I think the colors in the scene are interesting so I left it as an IR false color image instead of converting to black and white.  The IR sensor really brought out detail in the clouds that couldn’t be seen in visible light.

Misty swamp at dawn

Misty marsh at dawn – Orlando Wetlands Park, just before dawn. False color IR image.

If you haven’t been to OWP lately, you’ll be surprised at the changes.  There’s been extensive reclamation in cells 16A and 17, resulting in much more scenic views.  Check it out!

While we were there, we ran into a tour led by the Friends of Orlando Wetlands group.  Vermilion Flycatchers are rarely found in Florida, but two or more are being sighted regularly at OWP.  The group let us know about these birds and even led us right to them.

Vermilion Flycatcher
Vermilion Flycatcher – not a great photo, but another life bird for me.

We also ran across a very pretty Purple Gallinule – my second life bird of the day.

Purple Gallinule
Purple Gallinule

It was a good outing.  Birds we sighted included various Herons, Egrets, Sand Hill Cranes, Limpkins, Coots, Moorhens, huge numbers of Black Vultures, and others.

You can see other photos I’ve made at Orlando Wetlands Park here on Flickr, and you can use the blog category pull down to locate other articles I’ve written that mention OWP.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Keb’ Mo’ at the Plaza

INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, Plaza Theatre, ,

Another wonderful concert at Orlando’s Plaza Theater last night!  Keb’ Mo’ was in town – if you like the blues you probably already know about him.  If not, you should.

Lynn and I had excellent seats which made for great listening as well as a great photo vantage point.

Keb' Mo'
Keb’ Mo’

He and his band seemed to really enjoy themselves.   They played a combination of older tunes and some off of his new album (The Reflection).  The audience enjoyed it too.

Keb' Mo'
… And the band

If you live in or near Orlando, pay attention to the Plaza.  There might be some shows you’d be interested in.  It’s a great venue.  If you go and want to take a camera, bring a smaller one.  They don’t allow “professional cameras or flash photography”.  I’ve posted a couple other photos from last night in this set on Flickr.  And you can read a blog entry I wrote about Hot Tuna at the Plaza here.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Year of the Dragon

INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, Orlando Wetlands, Theme Parks, , ,

Today is the Chinese New Year, also known as the “Spring Festival”.  2012 is the Year of the Dragon.

The dragon is the most powerful of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac, and is associated with high energy and prosperity. It’s also the only mythological beast in the Chinese astrological stable that also includes the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

I don’t have a photo of a mythological dragon.  But I do have this image:

22. Komodo dragon
Komodo Dragon

Komodo Dragons are found in Indonesia and can grow to about 10 feet in size.  They’re carnivores and dominate the ecosystem where they’re found.  This particular one lives at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

This year is considered especially auspicious because it is the year of the water dragon, something that only happens once every 60 years.  I don’t have a photo of a mythological water dragon either.  Perhaps this one will do?

Rising gator
Rising Gator at Orlando Wetlands Park: Is this a Water Dragon?

So happy Chinese New Year! Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos.
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

"The Senator" is destroyed by fire

Big Tree Park, INSIDE FLORIDA, ,

Note:  This post was updated on 2/29/12 after the arrest of a woman who has confessed to starting the fire.  And on 3/18/19 to remove dead links.

Today is a sad day.

“The Senator“, one of the oldest cypress trees in the world, caught fire, burned and collapsed this morning in Longwood Florida.  It burned from the inside out and local firefighters spent several hours trying to put out the fire and save the tree.  Efforts even included dumping water on the flames from a Sheriff’s helicopter.  The fire was apparently caused by a woman inside the hollow tree who started the fire so she could see the illegal drugs she was using.  These Orlando Sentinel links (used to) have more details (but they’ve all been removed now in 2023):

  • http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/os-senator-cypress-tree-fire-20120116,0,6171920.story
  • http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/os-the-senator-pictures-011612,0,1977825.photogallery
  • http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-michael-sacasas-tree-myword-011912-20120118,0,2070404.story
  • http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-senator-tree-fire-arrest-20120228,0,4902574.story
  • http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-beth-kassab-senator-fire-030112-20120229,0,3475224.column

The tree was an estimated 3500 years old.  A 20 – 25 feet section of the base is still standing and it’s all that remains of the 125 foot tall tree that was there only yesterday.  It was even taller before the top section was lost to a hurricane in 1925.  “Lady Liberty”, a nearby companion tree thought to be 2000 years old was not damaged in this fire.  Seminole county is now planning to spend $30,000 for fencing at the site to protect the remains of the Senator as well as Lady Liberty.

It is a big shame that Seminole County did not adequately protect this site.  I’m so very glad I went by Big Tree Park last September to photograph the tree and write it up for Central Florida Photo Ops.  I hope you visited too.

The SenatorThe Senator:  Prior to the January 16, 2012 fire that destroyed it.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos.  Sometimes you don’t get a second chance.
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved