Tag Archives: bird

Picking a Print

July 4, 2021Cameras and Photographybird, black and white, Deer, flower, landscape, lightroom, monochrome, Mpix, print, stormEd Rosack

We’ve been slowly (Lynn thinks too slowly!) making prints for our family room. We like metal prints and have been pleased with ones we’ve ordered from MPix. When they sent us a 25% off coupon last week, it was time for another order.

Having images tagged and organized in Lightroom is a big help for something like this. Using its filtering capabilities helped me quickly come up with some (too many) candidates. It was also easy to choose images based on size. I needed enough pixels for a quality larger print.

I spent a few minutes converting some I thought would look good to monochrome. I sorted them based on which ones I liked the best and then asked Lynn to help. We narrowed our B&W choices down to the ones you see below. They’re in date order, along with info about each.

Stormy Shore; Casey Key, FL; June 2015, 8 frame panorama; 8863×6064

Anhinga – full length portrait; Gatorland, FL; March 2016; 5 frame panorama; 7665×11204

Field of Flowers; Advance, WI; August 2017; 3 frame panorama; 5167×4134

Cocoa Beach Pier before dawn; Cocoa, FL; October 2018; Single frame (Olympus Hi res mode); 10196×6797

Who are you lookin’ at? Viera Wetlands, FL; January 2020; 2 frame panorama; 8312×5541

In the end we liked the photo of the deer the best. I think we can appreciate looking at it for a while. Our print should get here next week – I hope it turns out as well as the others we’ve ordered from Mpix.

Do you make prints of your photos? Have you tried metal prints? How do you pick the ones you hang on your walls?

Header image: Lake Eola in downtown Orlando; January 2013; Single frame; 7348×5046

It looks like tropical storm Elsa is heading our way. If you’re in the projected path, stay up to date and stay safe.

And for those of you in the US, Happy Independence Day!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, make some prints!

A Marvelous Morning After All

June 20, 2021Haulover Canal, Merritt Island NWRbird, flower, Green Heron, landscape, Little Blue Heron, panorama, sunriseEd Rosack

Have you ever had one of those photography outings? The kind where you’re not sure any of the photos will be worth the effort? Where it feels like you’re just going through the motions?

Hindsight: Perception of the significance and nature of events after they have occurred.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/hindsight

I hadn’t been to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge since March. The weather forecast when I got up at zero-dark-thirty last Thursday wasn’t good: Overcast, hot, and probably buggy because of the rain we’ve had recently. I went anyway and on the drive over, the clouds were pretty thick. I stopped at a favorite spot and made a few photos. The light was mostly dull, but there was a minute or so when the clouds lit up.

A marvelous morning after all: Gator Creek Road panorama

There wasn’t much wildlife along Gator Creek Road, but the sun was back-lighting some flowers along the water. I tried a few photos, hoping to catch the early morning colors in the background. The shadows of the stamen and stigma on the flower petal were a nice bonus!

Wild flower 1: Morning-Glory(?)

The hot summer months aren’t the best time to see wildlife here in Central Florida and I didn’t spot much on Black Point Wildlife Drive, either. But I made a few photos of our colorful residents. The clouds made for diffuse light and soft shadows, although to get a good exposure, my ISO settings were running between 3200 and 6400. A little noise / grain in an image is better than no image, right?

Green Heron

Blue Heron

There were lovely patches of wild flowers on Black Point too:

Wild Flower 2

I normally see several Manatees at the Bairs Cove boat ramp. On Thursday I only got a brief glimpse of a single one. There’ve been reports of a lot of Manatee deaths this year. I wonder if that’s why. Anyway, while looking for them I found this place by the canal that I’d never noticed before. I liked the viewpoint.

By the boat ramp

Driving home Thursday morning my thoughts were mixed. I’d enjoyed getting out and seeing the refuge again, but I wasn’t sure I’d gotten any good photos. Most of what I remembered seeing in the view finder didn’t seem that great. When I started looking at them on the computer, I was happy with how they turned out. There’s something about the light that morning that appeals to me.

So:

You can’t know how a photo trip will turn out before you go. You can’t even be sure how much you’ll like the photos before you go through them.
If it feels like you’re just going through the motions, go ahead and do your best. You might be surprised by the results.
Hindsight could be another name for photography. Your photos let you perceive the significance and nature of a trip after it’s over.
In hindsight, my morning was marvelous after all.

Header image: A panorama of the wetland across the road from the Black Point exit.

By the way, Happy Father’s Day to all Dad’s out there! Many thanks for everything you do to make the world a better place.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Take care of yourselves and each other. And when you can, make some photos!

Nesting Eagles

January 5, 2020Osceola Countybald eagle, bird, birds in flight, nestEd Rosack

I returned late last Thursday from a quick trip to Wisconsin (more about that another time). So when Kevin M. asked me if I wanted to go down to Osceola County with him on Saturday morning I almost said no. I was a little tired and the weather forecast wasn’t good.

Saturday morning weather forecast

But I enjoy photography (you do know that, don’t you?) and hadn’t seen Kevin for a bit or Joe Overstreet Road for even longer, so I decided to go. When I got ready to leave, the sky was completely overcast. But this is the “Sunshine State” – there’s always a chance the sun will break through for a little bit, isn’t there?

Kevin called while I was on the way and asked if we should cancel. I voted to press on – we could always come home early if it was too bad. It was still a little dark when we got there, but we could see some promising thin spots in the clouds. We’d driven most of the way to the lake when a Bald Eagle swooped by at the same time the clouds were parting.

Eagle in flight with nesting material 3

It was gathering and carrying nesting material. As it flew back to its mate, the sun lit it just perfectly. I’m pretty sure this is the same pair of birds that our friend JT posted on Flickr last week.

Eagle pair and nest

My photo problems quickly changed from no sun to shooting into the sun when it landed next to its mate. You can’t believe I’m complaining about that, can you?

Nesting birds are a wonderful way to practice birds in flight photo skills because you know where the bird is going and you can position yourself in the right spot and anticipate its flight path. I wrote about this once before and I think these tips are still good: https://edrosack.com/2010/04/18/birds-on-the-wing-flight-photo-tips/.

Eagle in flight with nesting material 2

I have other photos from this trip that I’ll share in the future, but I wanted to show these now in case you were considering a trip down to Joe Overstreet Road. Go. Even if the forecast is iffy!

You can look through my Osceola County blog posts at this link: https://edrosack.com/category/photo-ops-in-florida/osceola-county/. I’ve collected images from there in this album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157670869688025, and birds in flight images in this one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157626306397920. Also, I think these eagle photos are worth a closer look – please click on them to view them in higher resolution on Flickr.

Lynn and I had a busy (and wonderful!) holiday season. I hope that all of you enjoyed spending time with your friends and family as much as we did. And I hope that you have a wonderful new year and new decade!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos -even when the weather forecast is dreary!

Killer (Whale) Trip to Alaska!

September 23, 2018Alaskabird, glacier, Gull, killer whale, Orca, WhaleMaryKate

Editors note: Today we have another awesome report from our roving correspondent MaryKate. She’s back in Alaska, this time in Seward. Just looking at this gives me some relief from our still hot Central Florida weather – enjoy!

Thanks for having me for my 10th blog post at CFPO, and for a recap of my 6th visit to the majestic state of Alaska! Over Labor Day weekend, I visited Monette for Emergency Birthday Seven (our annual tradition of a last-minute birthday adventure, almost always involving a road trip, wildlife, eating and shopping). We met in Anchorage, and road tripped down to Seward and Homer.

In Seward, we went on a 6-hour wildlife watching boat tour. This time we opted for a smaller boat instead of going with one of the larger companies like we had in the past, and we were really luck that we found Bix from Seward Ocean Excursions to take us out on Missing Lynx!

Orca in front of Bear Glacier

We headed out on the tour, but about an hour out, Captain Bix received word that a pod of Orcas was nearby, so we turned around to hopefully sneak a glimpse of these magical creatures. That’s the great thing about being on a boat with only six passengers – the Captain is flexible and takes you where you want to go to see what you want to see. Sure enough, we found the Orcas!

Orca Coming to Check Us Out

Captain Bix was careful to follow the Whale Sense responsible whale watching guidelines, so we approached the pod slowly and stopped 100 yards away. We observed a pod of 2-3 adults and a baby. The Orcas were very curious, and every time they noticed a new boat, they would swim over to check it out – including ours! It was surreal watching these giant mammals swim towards us, underneath, and around the boat, getting so close that they made eye contact!

Up-close Orca Encounter

The baby in the pod was a bit of a show off, and not quite coordinated yet. It was in a playful mood, practicing fluke slaps and exploring. I did manage to get a fluke photo, but unfortunately missed a shot of one of his elders breaching!

Baby Fluke Slap

The Orca Whale pod we observed were residents, meaning they eat mostly fish (likely salmon here) vs. transient Orca Whales that feast on mammals like seals, sea lions, and even baby whales (i.e. Humpbacks and Greys). Resident and transient Orcas look the same though, so it wasn’t surprising that while the Orcas were out, we didn’t see any seals or sea lions in their normal resting spots. But these seagulls were very interested in piggybacking on the Orca fishing party!

Resident Orca Fishing with Seagulls

Interested in learning more about whales? I recommend a book I got for my birthday: Spying on Whales. It’s a very quick read for a science book, and talks about the past, present and future of these captivating cetaceans in a digestible way.

After observing the Orca pod, we moved on and enjoyed Alaska’s beauty for the rest of the tour, seeing plenty of Puffins, some Harbor Seals, and a Sea Lion. More photos can be found in the album here.

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

In the Back Garden…

July 23, 2017INSIDE FLORIDA, VARIOUSbee, bird, FlowersEd Rosack

Lynn’s been busy in our back garden and suddenly it’s even more photogenic. Lots of new plantings / flowers and they’ve attracted some interesting visitors. I’ve been keeping a camera at the ready so I can go out quickly and see what’s happening.

The Bird of Paradise plants are a new treat. They’re blooming and I couldn’t resist making some photos.

Bird of Paradise (partial)

This blue bit is the stamen – I like this composition more than one I made of the entire flower. I left a small piece of the rest of the bloom in the bottom left of the frame for context.

Bees and Butterflies seem as happy with the new garden as I am.

Bumblebee in flight (BIF) (Olympus E-M1 II Pro Capture mode)

Gulf Fritillary butterfly

I briefly spotted some Ruby-throated Hummingbirds too. But in my excitement to let Lynn know, I let go of the screen door too quickly and the noise was enough to drive them off. I’ll be more careful next time and hopefully get some photos of them as well.

I’m very lucky that Lynn has set up such nice photo ops for me! I can’t wait to see what else she arranges in front of my lens.

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

Viera Wetlands – 1/13/16

January 15, 2017INSIDE FLORIDA, Viera Wetlandsbird, black and white, Hooded Merganser, infrared, landscape, life bird, limpkinEd Rosack

Kevin M. offered to help me scout for the Smooth-billed Ani that’s been seen at Viera Wetlands. I’ve wanted to get over there – so I readily agreed to meet him Friday Morning.

It was the first Friday the 13th of the new year, but our luck wasn’t completely bad. The day started early with some challenging light and fog at sunrise. I’m glad I brought my IR modified camera and used it to cut through the limited visibility. I did get one or two pleasing photos, including this one. But it’s a B&W sunrise! What’s up with that?

The boardwalk by the boat ramp in the fog – at SR 520 and the St. Johns River

Kevin led us right to the Smooth-billed Ani (thanks Kevin!). The light was still poor and we ended up coming back later for a better look / image. These aren’t normally found this far north in Florida and they’re unusual looking with a very large beak – fun to see. People have also reported a close relative (Groove-billed Ani) on Apopka Wildlife Drive.

Smooth-billed Ani

We saw Scaups, Mottled Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Limpkins, White Pelicans, a Wilsons Snipe, a Great Horned Owl, Coots, Moorehens, Roseate Spoonbills, and Osprey among other things.

Hooded Merganser pair

Mom and juvenile Limpkin about to enjoy escargot

The light was spotty all morning with periods of rain. There were a couple of images I tried that didn’t work out. I’m going back soon to try again. NOTE: Their website says that Viera Wetlands is closed January 16 – 20. Plan accordingly.

Based on this post and my previous one, I think you can see that the bird activity has picked up here in Central Florida. It’s time to get out and enjoy our natural wonders.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Now, go make some photos!

Flowers and Flyers

August 28, 2016Virginiabee, bird, black and white, Butterfly, Flowers, shenandoah, travel, virginiaEd Rosack

I hope you don’t mind a few more photos from Virginia. The wildflowers and butterflies were beautiful, and the birds varied from what we normally see in Central Florida.

Chicory bud wildflower. Thanks Charlotte Norton for identifying this for me!

There were butterflies everywhere, probably because wildflowers were everywhere. We had a marvelous little meadow under the balcony behind our room. It was fun and relaxing to sit there and watch all the activity.

Swallowtail

Bees and birds were busy too.

Wildflower and Bee B&W

We stood in line for the dining room at the lodge one night and the woman in front of us was carrying a large DSLR camera and lens. She lived close by and had come up to photograph butterflies in Big Meadows. I said we were enjoying them too, and then we started talking about birds. I was all excited about the Indigo Buntings and American Goldfinches we’d sighted, since we don’t often see them in Florida. She didn’t seem to care about such common birds – and was much more interested in getting to Florida to see some Spoonbills. To each their own!

Eastern Towhee (life bird!) – Thanks Kevin McKinney for the bird ID help!

And one more image to wrap up. I made all the photos in this post with a micro four-thirds camera and 100 – 400 mm lens (200 – 800 mm equivalent). I found it very useful for close up photography and even though I had a macro lens with me, I never used it.

Wildflower 3

You can see larger versions of the photos above by clicking on them and more photos from Shenandoah in this album on Flickr.

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

Lake Apopka wildlife Drive

January 10, 2016Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake ApopkaAnhinga, bird, black and white, building, Fish, Hawk, infrared, landscape, micro four thirds, panorama, wildlifeEd Rosack

My friend Tom M. wanted to go out shooting last week and hadn’t ever been to the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. The drive itself is only open to cars from Friday through Sunday, so we met on Friday morning and went over. It was raining when I got up and still cloudy on the way over, which made for interesting skies in my infrared photos.

Lake Apopka Pump House – 2 frame panorama, infrared, black and white.

We did have a bit of good light while we were there. We saw this bird struggling to swallow a fish and stopped to watch for a few minutes. It was on the side of a canal with the clouds reflecting in the water behind it and flowers blooming in front. I stayed in the car so I wouldn’t bother it and shot a series of single frames while we watched. This one was the best one of the series.

Nice catch! – an Anhiga tosses a fish it caught along a canal on the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive.

On this trip, I brought my micro four thirds cameras. I’ve used the system for about four years and they’ve worked very well. The dynamic range and noise performance are not as good as larger sensor cameras, but it’s “good enough”. And the noise is not an issue for me. DxO Optics Pro does an outstanding job processing the RAW files. The focusing capabilities have been fast for static subjects – but I’ve never been able to do very well with continuous focus. Well, I recently traded up to a used Olympus E-M1, which has phase detect sensors built into the image sensor and it’s been doing a great job with continuous focus. So much so that even for birds in flight it’s working “good enough” too. Here’s an example from Friday:

Checking me out – A hawk in flight looking at the camera

You can view other photos I’ve made with the micro four thirds system in this album on Flickr.

Lake Apopka is an awesome place, I’ll definitely go back. I’m collecting photos from there in this folder on Flickr, and you can also read an earlier article I wrote about it here on the blog.

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

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, 15 March 2014

March 15, 2014INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWRbird, BPWD, Chipping Sparrow, fog, White PelicanEd Rosack

I had cataract surgery last Thursday and didn’t think I’d be able to go photographing this weekend. But I could see remarkably well this morning, so I rode over to MINWR with Kevin M. and Kevin K.

It turned out to be a lovely day. There was more color in the sunrise than I expected, and after dawn we found some photogenic fog / mist.

White Pelicans in the mist on Black Point Wildlife Drive

In addition to the White Pelicans, watching a skimming Black Skimmer was another highlight. Kevin K. even managed to photograph it with a fish in its mouth. The Visitors Center bird feeder was active too. We saw Catbirds, several Painted Buntings (both male and female) and a ~~White-throated~~ Chipping Sparrow (a life bird for me!).

~~White Throated~~ Chipping Sparrow

I enjoyed trying out my refurbished eyes today. It’s amazing what modern medicine can do!

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

Universal set-up

March 9, 2014INSIDE FLORIDA, Viera Wetlandsbird, Black SkimmerEd Rosack

Photography is challenging and wildlife especially may be difficult to photograph well. Poor light, bad weather, a distant animal far away or facing away from you, or in front of a busy or too bright background: These all make capturing beautiful wildlife images tough. Overcoming challenges like these makes photography a rewarding pursuit.

On the other hand, sometimes it’s not as challenging. It’s almost like the universe sets up a photo-op to make things easy for you. Like it wants you to show how pretty the animal is. And the wildlife cooperates too! We came across one of these gifts yesterday at Viera Wetlands.

We were driving south along one of the berms and saw a small group of Black Skimmers land on the road in the distance. These aren’t rare birds in Florida, but I hadn’t seen them at Viera before (they’re more common at MINWR). They’re unusual enough to make me take notice and they’re a bit difficult to expose well because of their coloring (white and black with very dark eyes) so I’m always looking for better photos.

We got out of the car and slowly walked towards them and I noticed several things. The birds were up on the road, so we could approach from low on the side of the berm and get them at eye level with the sun behind us. The wind was coming from the same direction as the sun, so the birds were facing into it and toward us (they like to face into the wind so they can more easily take off). The water behind the birds provided a nice clean background. And as we crept closer, the birds stayed calm and didn’t seem to mind us at all.

Black Skimmer (Settings: 1/1000, ƒ/9, ISO 400, 500 mm)

We got close, enjoyed watching them, and photographed for a while. We had time to make sure all our settings were correct. I carefully braced my camera and lowered the ISO to get the best quality image. I checked my exposure / histogram to make sure the bird’s eyes were visible (difficult on this species) and the white feathers weren’t blown out. This went on for a bit until another car came down the road. It stopped for a minute so I had time to adjust my settings to get ready for the birds to fly. Then it drove on, and they flew up, circled around and landed back on the road in front of us and over some wild flowers. A perfect flight shot opportunity!

Black Skimmer in flight (Settings: 1/2500, ƒ/7.1, ISO 800, 290 mm)

Be on the lookout for situations like this. They’re truly a gift and not as common as we’d like. Be ready. Know your camera’s capabilities and limitations. Think through your settings and double-check your results. Make sure you take advantage of these opportunities – when the universe sets you up and the animals cooperate.

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

Central Florida Photo Ops

What and where they are and how to photograph them.

Tag Archives: bird

Picking a Print

A Marvelous Morning After All

Nesting Eagles

Killer (Whale) Trip to Alaska!

In the Back Garden…

Viera Wetlands – 1/13/16

Flowers and Flyers

Lake Apopka wildlife Drive

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, 15 March 2014

Universal set-up