Fisheye, fog, and Flower

March 7, 2015Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDAfisheye, Flowers, fogEd Rosack

Wow – it’s been over a year since I’ve posted any fisheye photos on the blog. So one day last week, I mounted my Rokinon 7.5mm Micro Four Thirds lens and went out looking for some photos. I ended up at Central Winds Park in Winter Springs. It was very foggy and the light was a bit dim – it was a good thing I brought a tripod with me. I noticed several kinds of wildflowers blooming and decided they might be good subjects..

Fog and mist can blur detail unless you get close. Fog in the background can also help isolate your subject. Getting close with a wide-angle lens (especially a fisheye) will emphasize close in objects and make them stand out. So I got close to this flower. It was off to the side of the path and I was able to frame it against the dead leaves so colors also helped it stand out.

Flowers in the forest by the footpath in the fog

Using an approach like this can give your image an almost 3d look. I stopped down to f/8 which made my depth of field large enough to cover the flower, but shallow enough to blur the background a little. At base ISO (200) my exposure was 1/50 second. I used -1 stop of exposure compensation so the sky in the background didn’t blow out, and this also helped with saturation. The Rokinon is manual focus. Since focus was critical, I carefully used magnified live view to get it just right. I like how this turned out, but looking at it now maybe I should have gotten even closer.

You can see more of my fisheye photos in this set on Flickr.

A note about the blog: I’m working to add Gallery / Portfolio pages to my site. I’ve posted two so far. You can get to them from the pull down menu at the top of the page, or by clicking these links: Florida Landscapes, Florida Wildlife. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

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

One way to improve your photography

March 1, 2015Cameras and Photography, VARIOUSAntiques, black and white, Keb Mo, music, people, reflection, still life, telephoneEd Rosack

If you want to get better at photography, you can find a lot of free advice on the inter webs. Buy a new camera or lens, use new software, travel to an exotic location, take a workshop or a course, read books, study the masters, etc.

My free advice isn’t any of the above and it won’t cost you as much money as some of those things will. And I don’t see it come up very often on-line. Take my advice and not only will you learn new things – you’ll be exposed to different genres of photography, and you’ll be able to practice what you’ve been exposed to. What’s the secret?

Join your local camera club.

The weather’s been gloomy around Central Florida recently. solid grey clouds, rain and drizzle, and not much light to make photographs with. So I was happy that there was a Still Life Event at the Orlando Camera Club meeting last Monday. They brought in interesting items to photograph and had tables, lighting, and backdrops to use for set up. I brought a camera, tripod and flash (although with my tripod, I ended up not needing the flash). It was a lot of fun to choose items and arrange compositions. It’s something I don’t usually do – but that’s a good thing. Here are three photos from that evening.

Telephone

Keb Mo blues – Playing around with compositing: I made the foreground shot of the guitar & Blues sign at the Still Life event. I added the background photo of Keb Mo that I made at his concert in the Plaza Theater in Orlando on Feb. 1 2012.

Wrench, bolt, and lock

I belong to the Orlando Camera Club (http://orlandocameraclub.com). I’ve also attended meetings at the Port Orange Camera Club and the Oviedo Photo Club. Membership in any of these will benefit your photography. Some things most clubs offer:

Photo competitions in different genres with feedback
Events (like the still life one I went to)
Guest speakers on many related topics
Workshops (free or inexpensive) about many subjects
Field trips to local photo ops
Libraries of photo books that you can borrow for free
And other people with similar (and diverse) interests to share your passion with

I’m sure that wherever you are, there’s a camera club that you can join too.

Here’s one other post I’ve written on still life photography, and you can see some of my other still life photographs in this set on Flickr

Update on the blog hosting change: It does look like the transition’s been successful. The email subscriptions seemed to go out ok last week and I haven’t received any problem reports. One issue I’m aware of is that the move appears to have broken RSS subscriptions. So If you’ve come here directly to find out why your Central Florida Photo Ops RSS feed isn’t working – I’m sorry. I don’t think I can do anything about it. You’ll have to re-subscribe.

And finally, I’m sure you heard that Leonard Nimoy passed away on Friday and will be buried today. Of course I didn’t know him, but I felt I knew his famous Mr. Spock character that saved the day (and even the universe) so many times over the years. May he rest in peace.

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

Two birds, a selfie, and the blog

February 22, 2015Gatorland, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, VARIOUSAlligator, birds, Black Crowned Night Heron, Great Egret, reflection, wildlifeEd Rosack

I met Tom M., and Lee A. at Gatorland again last Thursday. During breeding season I like to go at least once a month to keep up with the activity there. It’s a very nice experience over time to see different species nesting, eggs hatching, and young birds growing and fledging. It was our coldest morning of the season so far, with temperatures a few degrees below freezing. I know all of you that are suffering in colder climates are thinking that’s not cold – but down here we think it’s pretty chilly.

Anyway, the Great Egrets are wearing their fancy plumes and colors and looking for mates. One of the advantages of the photographer’s early entry program at Gatorland is that the light can be very nice in the morning. It certainly was on this bird and it was displaying a bit too. I waited for the right moment, and made this image.

Displaying Egret

A while ago, one of my friends on Flickr asked me about this photo of a Black-crowned Night Heron. Here’s the question and my answer:

Vicki: “I was wondering about the heron you posted. It has only one leg. Was it missing a leg or is it the way they hold them? I spotted one near me last week and when I got the photos on the computer, I discovered it was only using one leg…even after it moved around in the tree. So I was wondering if you know if it is a normal pose for them to do that.”

Ed: “I can’t be 100% sure since I didn’t see this heron’s other leg, but it is a typical pose to tuck one leg up against their body.”

In this new image, also of a Black Crowned Night Heron, you can see the other leg, since it’s not quite hidden in the feathers.

Black-crowned Night-Heron Juvenile

This last photo is my latest selfie. For several years I’ve been looking for situations like this where the geometry is right to see my reflection in the Alligator’s eye and get close enough to photograph it. This one is a tight crop, but I think it’s my best so far!

Gator eye selfie – Not photoshop – that’s the actual reflection in its eye of me standing on the boardwalk.

And now about the blog. I’ve been a bit aggravated for some time with the performance of my hosting service – the load times seemed slow and I’ve also had intermittent, unexplained outages So finally last week I decide to move to a managed WordPress hosting service. It seems to be working very well so far. This is my first post on the new system and I hope that everything works well – including the email subscription function. I’m only telling you this in case you notice any issues. If so, please let me know so I can work on them.

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

Around Central Florida

February 15, 2015Cocoa, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando Wetlands, Viera WetlandsAmerican Bittern, birds, black and white, cloud, infrared, landscape, panorama, reflection, sunrise, tree, wildlifeEd Rosack

Here are three photos from last week that I made in and around Central Florida. First up is the Cocoa Waterfront. I liked the early morning look of the clouds and water at River Front Park.

Calm morning on the riverfront. (Two frame vertical panorama, Infrared, B&W, 34mm eq. fl, 1/40 sec @f/5.6, ISO 200)

The morning light was also nice at Viera Wetlands, and this American Bittern posed for us in the reeds. I’ve been lucky enough to see them there several times over the years. I’m sure they’re in spots like Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge too, but I’ve never spotted one there.

American Bittern. (600mm, f/8, 1/640 sec, ISO 320)

Orlando Wetlands Park opened again February 1st. It’s one of my favorite places for sunrise. Our walk on Friday morning was brisk and breezy, but I like the wind’s effect on the water in this photo.

Wee hour winds whisk water and reeds in the wetlands. (Two frame vertical panorama; 120mm; I shot the bottom frame at f/22 and ISO 50 to extend the shutter speed to 8 seconds and maximize depth of field. I made the upper frame at f/8, .5 sec, ISO 100 to maximize sharpness)

So that’s some of what I photographed last week. What did you shoot? Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Merritt Island – 1/31/15

February 7, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWRbirds, BPWD, landscape, Painted Bunting, reflection, Snowy Egret, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

Kevin M. organized a quick trip over to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last weekend and invited me to go with him and Kevin K. We started at Space View Park, where we watched a lovely sunrise.

Dawn from Space View Park

Next we drove around Black Point Wildlife Drive where there were lots of birds, some wild hogs, some alligators, and lots of photographers! Two different ponds had concentrations of fish attracting swarms of birds (mostly Snowy Egrets). They were flying low over the water and snatching their meals “to – go”. This one seemed full – it stood watching the action.

Fluffy Egret

The Great Horned Owl nest was empty this time. We scanned the surrounding trees trying to spot the owls (like Jim Boland did on his visit) but we weren’t able to find them.

At least three Painted Buntings were hanging around near the feeder at the visitor’s center. The light’s usually difficult there for me, but this time I managed to get a good photo of this colorful bird. It’s exciting to see something like this in the wild. Now’s the best time – they migrate through here in the winter.

In the bushes – Painted Bunting

MINWR is a wonderful place and there’s almost always something there worth seeing. Check it out for yourself!

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

Gatorland Photographer’s Pass

February 1, 2015Gatorland, INSIDE FLORIDA, OrlandoAlligator, Anhinga, birds, Great Blue Heron, wildlifeEd Rosack

During bird nesting season (February – mid June in Central Florida), Gatorland’s Photographer’s Pass program allows early entry to the park at 7:30 am Thursday – Sunday and lets you stay until dusk on Saturday. It’s great if you want to photograph wild birds in good light outside of normal business hours when there’s not many tourists around. ~~You can find out a lot more detail on their website at this link~~ (No longer online).

This season started last Thursday and I met Tom M., Zvia S., and Lee A. there. It’s early in the year so there’s not too much nesting activity yet, but there’s plenty to photograph. We saw many Great Egrets in breeding colors and plumage, and a few have started building nests. We also saw Anhingas, Cormorants, Black Vultures, and some Snowy Egrets, Wood Storks, and Great Blue Herons. I even sighted a Belted Kingfisher and a Black-crowned Night Heron.

The boardwalk along the breeding marsh offers close up looks at wild birds that are used to photographers and cameras.

Anhinga portrait – These birds are very pretty in the right light

Gatorland is also a great place to practice flight photography. The birds often fly over the boardwalk, many times along the same routes. With a little study, you can anticipate their path and get some good shots.

Great Blue Heron in flight

And of course, there are lots of alligators to photograph too.

Sunbathing gargantuan gator – I was about 15 feet away with my long lens zoomed out and had to make a 3 frame panorama to fit it all in.

We had a great time at Gatorland. If you want to get some really good photos of typical Florida wading birds, this is a wonderful place to do it. You can view many other Gatorland photos in this set on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I hope I’ll see you at Gatorland one morning making photos!

Orlando – Downtown in the Dark

January 24, 2015Downtown Orlando, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlandoarchitecture, black and white, buildingsEd Rosack

People probably don’t think of Orlando as a metropolis or street photography mecca like New York or Chicago, but it does have a photogenic downtown. I wrote about a daytime stroll there in this post back in October of last year. I suspected that it might be even more photogenic at night. Last Wednesday evening I went back with Keith H. and Tom M.

The new Dr. P. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts was finished after our last trip and I was looking forward to seeing it at night. It’s an impressive building and the architecture and lighting make it an attractive photo subject. Here are two views of the main entrance:

Dr. Phillips Center 1 – The new performing arts center in downtown Orlando

Dr. Phillips Center 2

City hall is just west of the Performing Arts Center. This view is looking up at the front doors from the base of the steps:

Orlando City Hall

Church Street Station is even further west and a bit north. This sidewalk next to the SunRail tracks passing through caught my eye:

Down by the tracks – Near Church Street Station

You can see other photos from this trip and many more from downtown Orlando in this set on Flickr. I’m sure you can find many images of your own when you wander around downtown.

If you go:

Street parking is hard to find. There are convenient parking garages – we used the one on South Orange Avenue at the Plaza Cinema Cafe. I’d like to find a garage with access to the roof and a good panoramic view. If you find one, please let me know!
The area by the Dr. Phillips Center / City Hall is well-lit and photogenic. Lake Eola is also very popular with photographers.
There are a lot of people around early in the evening so the areas seem relatively safe, but be careful.
A wide-angle lens and tripod will help your architectural photos. A high ISO capability and bright lens would be good if you want to try hand-held street photos.

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

Chasing light

January 18, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Tampabeach, birds, black and white, cloud, infrared, Lake Apopka, landscape, panoramaEd Rosack

So I went to two different places last week. Kevin M. took me to the Lake Apopka Restoration Area to look for the Groove Billed Ani that’s been hanging around. I’d never been there and was glad he invited me, not only for a chance at a life bird, but also to scout the area. I’ve also driven around Lake Lawsona in downtown Orlando and thought there might be some photos lurking there, but couldn’t find any place to park. Then I discovered that Mayor Carl T. Langford Park isn’t far away so I left my car there and walked over.

To make a long (and photographically humbling) story short, I photographed both places, but didn’t like any of the images enough to post. And we didn’t see the Ani either.

I did chase the light – I just didn’t catch it.

Since I’m a little stuck for material this week, I went back into my archives and found a four photo panorama that I’d never processed from a trip to Tampa in 2013. After stitching it together, I like the light in this image well enough.

Looking north toward Piney Point from Fred Howard Park in Tampa, August 2013

Like any creative activity, photography is difficult at times. I struggled last week, but I try not to get discouraged – this happens to everyone. I keep trying and enjoy the effort. As Florida Nature Photographer John Moran says in his book Journal of Light:

“Nature photography isn’t always about the picture, it’s about the experience of just being there, chasing the light, alive and awake and aware.”

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go chase the light!
©2013 and 2015, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge – 1/7/2015

January 11, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWRbirds, Black Skimmer, BPWD, Great Horned Owl, Otter, Spoonbill, wildlifeEd Rosack

My friend Tom M. wanted to go out photographing last week. And I was ready – I hadn’t clicked the shutter since last year! When he mentioned that he wasn’t very familiar with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, I jumped at the chance to show him around.

Our first stop was along the causeway to watch the gulls and Black Skimmers that often gather there.

Black Skimmer – Along the causeway headed into the Refuge

Then we drove through Gator Creek Road and Black Point Wildlife Drive.

Roseate Spoonbill (BPWD)- This bird was foraging near the shore and ignored me as I crouched down and framed my shot. When it heard the shutter clicking, it stopped and stared right at me for a few seconds and then continued feeding.

River Otter (BPWD) – I stopped the car when I spotted two Otters in the water next to the road. They swam by and kept going as we got out to try to make a photo. We followed for a bit – but they were going quicker than our fast walk. One of them surprised me when it crossed the road and of course I was too slow to get a good photo of that. This is the best image I managed.

We also stopped by the Bairs Cove Boat ramp at Haulover Canal to visit the manatees there and then drove by the Great Horned Owl nest (near 402 and SR 3). Our last stop was the visitor center to see if the painted buntings were around ( no, but they had been).

Great Horned Owl on nest – The platform and nest have been there for a long time. My first sighting was 3 years ago.

Whether you’re familiar with the area or not, this would be a very good half day route to see the highlights at MINWR. And this is a wonderful time to go – there’s a lot of birds and other wildlife around, and the weather’s great. Maybe I’ll see you over there!

My favorite 2014 photos

January 1, 2015VARIOUSbirds, black and white, favorite, Flowers, infrared, landscape, reflection, sunrise, tree, wildlifeEd Rosack

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

The beginning of the year is a good time to review results and contemplate how to improve any endeavor and photography is no exception. I’ve put together these “Favorite photos of the year” posts since 2009. This is a hard process for any photographer. For me, it’s difficult to separate my opinion about a photograph from the emotional connections that I have with the subject, scene, or situation. But making the effort is important and part of the learning process. I don’t claim to be objective – these are simply the photos that I like best. Feel free to disagree, but I hope you’ll enjoy looking at the ones I’ve picked.

This year, all of my favorites were made in Florida. I’ve listed the date and place for each and included a link to the blog post where you can find out more about the image. You can click on the photos to go to Flickr where you can see a larger version. Or you can click on this link to view the complete set on Flickr.

February 2, 2014 – Cocoa Beach

Let’s wait a bit to set sail

More info: edrosack.com/2014/02/08/viera-wetlands-222014/

March 8, 2014 – Viera Wetlands

Black Skimmer in flight

More info: edrosack.com/2014/03/09/universal-set-up/

April 6, 2014 – Marineland Beach

99 seconds in the dark

More info: edrosack.com/2014/04/12/lessons-from-a-photogen…

May 17, 2014 – Viera Wetlands

Marsh Moon

More info: edrosack.com/2014/02/08/viera-wetlands-222014/

May 31, 2014 – Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Preening Spoonbills

More info: edrosack.com/2014/06/07/merritt-island-may-31-2…

June 18 2014 – Fort Christmas

Wild Orchids

More info: edrosack.com/2014/12/13/modern-monochrome-homew…

July 19, 2014 – St. Johns River, Near Cocoa

Let’s go fishing!

More info: edrosack.com/2014/08/01/lets-go-fishing-how-i-m…

July 19, 2014 – Viera Wetlands

Wet wings and itchy back

More info: edrosack.com/2014/07/25/viera-wetlands-on-7-19-…

November 2, 2014 – Lake Louisa State Park

Morning mist

More info: edrosack.com/2014/11/09/lake-louisa-state-park-…

November 19, 2014 – Barberville Pioneer Settlement

The Schoolroom

More info: edrosack.com/2014/11/30/pioneer-settlement-at-b…

These links will take you to Flickr where you can view sets of my favorite photos from earlier years: 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, and 2013.

I hope you’ve had a great photo 2014 too. If you send me a link or leave one in the comments, I’ll be sure to take a look at your favorites. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some more favorites of your own!
©2011 – 2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved