I haven’t updated the blog recently (sorry!), but I have made a lot of photos. Here are a few of them with info about each in the captions. Several are from the wild bird rookery at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm – I hadn’t been there for many years.
Looking south along the St. Johns River at dawn. Along HW 50, March 26. (iPhone, ISO 60, 2.22mm wide angle, f/22, 1/45sec)Distant morning fog (B&W). Same scene / time as previous photo. (ISO 100, 35 mm, f/11, 3.2sec)Great Horned Owl on nest. Others had seen the owlet, but it wasn’t visible when we were there. Near the Black Point Wildlife Drive exit in Merritt Island NWR, February 21, (ISO 1200, 840mm, f/9, 1/1600sec).Post bath Spoonbill. Orlando Wetlands Park. It had just finished a vigorous bath and was drying its wings. February 26. (ISO 1250, 424mm, f/8, 1/2000sec)Inbound bumble bee. Orlando Wetlands Park, near the visitor center. Feb. 26. (ISO 1250, 749mm, f/9, 1/2000sec)Black Skimmer and minnow. Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island NWR, March 28, (ISO 640, 602mm, f/9, 1/1600sec)A sleepy, young Spoonbill. St. Augustine Alligator Farm bird rookery, April 22. (ISO 400, 200mm, f/4, 1/200sec)Great Egret with nesting material. St. Augustine Alligator Farm bird rookery, April 22. (ISO 400, 280mm, f/8, 1/1600sec)Two very young Great Egret chicks (B&W). St. Augustine Alligator Farm bird rookery, April 22. (ISO 400, 280mm, f/8, 1/1600sec)Wood Stork with nesting material. St. Augustine Alligator Farm bird rookery, April 22. (ISO 100, 126mm, f/4, 1/2000sec)Parent and young Barred Owls (in poor light). Mead Gardens, April 25. (ISO 10000, 535mm, f/9, 1/1600sec)
So, yes – Central Florida is still a very good place to make photos!
Blog note:
As of today (May 7, 2025, this blog has been on-line for 18 years, with 793 posts, and more than 2600 comments. That’s a good effort in blog land! It’s more than enough time to express just about everything I can think of to say about Central Florida Photo Ops. So I’ve decided to wind things down here sometime between May and September 2025 when my hosting plan expires. I’m doing some research and hope to archive a copy of the blog somewhere on line instead of completely shutting it down. I’ll let you know what I find out.
I won’t be totally off-line. Even though I’m not photographing as much as I used to, I’ll still be going out and making images as often as possible. If you want to see what I’m up to, you can stop by https://flickr.com/edrosack, where I’ll keep posting.
Until September (and after): Many thanks to everyone for stopping by and reading my blog. You’ve all always been supportive and kind. Stay that way!
Take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, make some photos!
The last time I was at Orlando Wetlands was February 10th. It was a nice walk but I didn’t get many photos I liked, so I didn’t post about it on the blog. Here’s one from that day that did turn out:
Spoonie!
I decided to go again last week to see what’s changed and I’m glad I did. There were many more photos there this time. Here are some of them.
I said hello as I walked by a couple of photographers and they were nice enough to point out this Barred Owl posing on a dead tree. It looks wet, like it’s drying off after plunging into water after prey.
“Who cooks for you?”
A Great Egret in the distance looked like it would head towards me so I followed it with my lens. It was nice to have several seconds to check my settings and adjust a few (especially exposure compensation). Things happen pretty fast and there’s usually no opportunity to do that. It touched down close by and I was able to capture a lot of detail in its feathers.
Graceful arrival
I spotted a single woodpecker staying very close to this hole in a dead palm tree. It was sticking its head into the hole like it might be feeding hatchlings, but I couldn’t see anything in the dark interior. I watched for several minutes and a second one landed on the same tree. After about a minute the first bird left and the second one took over with the same behaviors. Even though I couldn’t see inside, it seems clear they’re a pair and this is a nest. The male (with his red forehead) is on the left and the female’s on the right.
A Red-bellied Woodpecker couple
I got several images with both birds in the frame, but their poses hid one or the other’s face / eyes. In the image above I combined two frames in photoshop to best show both of them.
There’s a family of Sandhill Cranes there with two colts that are about three weeks old. I found them as I was getting ready to leave. The young ones took time off from following Mom around and learning how to forage to have a little friendly challenge match. It only lasted for a few seconds and all ended well.
Sibling Rivalry
The header photo is another view of one of the colts next to a parent.
I try to watch for possible landscape photos as I walk around. This scene near the entrance caught my eye and I photographed it with my iPhone. I shot in RAW mode and made two exposures (I’m still using this technique that I posted about a long time ago: https://edrosack.com/2011/01/21/two-image-pano-hdr-focus-stacking/). After processing and combining in photoshop, I’m pleased with how it turned out. iPhones are very capable cameras.
Wetland morning
Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Stay positive, be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, take a walk around a park close to you. And make some photos!
We were able to visit Gatorland for a few hours over the holiday break. The last time I was there was in May of 2017 to photograph birds during breeding season. It’s not breeding season now, but there were a few wild birds around that posed for me.
Great Egret
This next egret had a unique ‘ride’:
‘Uber’ Gator: It’s a good thing the Egret didn’t seem to be in a hurry – It looked like the gator ‘driver’ was asleep.
I think all the alligators are well fed but I imagine it’s still risky for birds to be so close. Standing on the gator probably protects it from other ones. It’d be easy for the gator to swish it’s tail and get rid of the bird, but maybe not worth the energy. Apparently it’s a habit. One of my Flickr friends says she sees this pair all the time.
Gators are the main attraction there and photo ops are everywhere. Here’s a huge friendly one enjoying the sunshine (thanks for pointing this out Sara!):
At rest
And here’s a small cuddly one watching me:
Baby gator
The light in the flamingo pond was lovely when we wandered by. I liked this view of the feathers on the back of a close one.
Flamingo feathers
And the vivid colors on this Iguana were impressive, even through glass.
Through the glass
In some areas, Gatorland was a little more crowded than I’d prefer, but it was all outdoors and I enjoyed my first visit after such a long time. Definitely enjoyable!
I hope you’re having a great start to the new year. Please be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And have a safe and prosperous 2022. And if you can, make some photos!
in·cred·i·ble, adjective: Very difficult or impossible to believe; extraordinary
There’s been a lot of buzz on the web recently about sky replacement – a genre of compositing. You take the sky from one photo and substitute it into a second photo. I first tried this way back in April of 2007. I wanted to make the Great Egret family in this nest at the St. Augustine Alligator farm stand out against the sky. You can compare the before and after in this slider:
Before on the left, after on the right – Use the slider to compare
The latest version of Skylum’s Luminar photo editor comes with a capability called “AI Sky Replacement. This “automagically” replaces the sky in your photos with a single click and will even adjust the rest of the lighting in the scene to better match the new sky. You can read more about it on their site: https://skylum.com/luminar.
Here’s another before / after slider showing my recent effort with their software. The original photo was made on Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. It was a very pretty morning, but the sky was a bit plain.
Before on the left, after on the right – Use the slider to compare
Here’s the whole completed image (click to see it in much higher resolution on Flickr).
Good Morning
I like how this one turned out too – the sun in the new sky is in the right place and the light direction, intensity, and color match the foreground nicely. It adds interest to the image. And it was easy – Luminar worked well in this case.
But it makes me a little uncomfortable. I guess because in this blog I want to tell you about what, where, and how to photograph. So I think you should expect to see things here that you can also see when you go to these places. This image is a composite, not a photo – you wouldn’t have seen this on that morning. I won’t say that I’ll never do compositing, but I do promise that I’ll disclose it if I do.
Now, am I going to criticize you if you replace skies in your photos? No, you can do whatever you want with your images. They’re your art. But in general, I do see folks on Flickr doing this a little too much. And if you do it you should disclose or tag it. And you should do it right – the results should look natural, not artificial. The light direction and color should match. The lens used in both photos should also match so scene elements are at the proper relative distance from each other. Go for the second definition of incredible (extraordinary), not the first (Very difficult or impossible to believe).
Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. And if you can – make some photos!
As for everything that’s going on in the USA and the world right now … I’ll try to keep politics and non-photo opinions out of this blog. But if you’re interested in what I think about things, feel free to take a look at my Twitter feed (link on the right). Peace out.
Twas the morning after Christmas, as I left the house – I tried to be quiet and not wake my spouse.
I drove to the refuge through the long winter’s night. To get there and catch the first morning light.
On the pier by the causeway, it was all blue and gold. Lovely start to the day with colors so bold.
Dawn by the causeway and the pier
To Black Point next – a wonderful place. Drive slow or you’ll miss things with too fast a pace.
Dawn on Black Point Wildlife Drive
Kingfishers dodged my camera with ease, not stopping for long even when I said please!
Male Belted Kingfisher
A lady Merganser was flapping her wings. Shaking off water and other things.
Female Hooded Merganser wing flap
An unblinking gator watched me draw nigh. I almost saw myself in his eye.
Eye of the gator
And what to my wondering eyes should appear? A pretty pink spoonbill wading quite near.
Roseate Spoonbill
Other birds to the refuge, they also came. It’s wonderful to see them and call them by name.
Now Ospreys, Shovelers, Pelicans and all,
Northern Shoveler
White Pelican Pod
Now egrets and herons, with all of your calls.
Great Egret in flight
Great Blue Heron portrait
Now Terns, teals, willets, eagles and more, so many birds along the shore.
Large birds, small birds, short birds and tall – stay for a while, don’t fly away all!
As I left the refuge and it left my sight, I thought “HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!”
Merritt Island morning
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I hope each and every one of you are having a wonderful holiday season. Cherish your time with friends and family and don’t forget to make some photos with them!
It seems like ages since I’ve been out amongst our natural Florida wonders. So I was eager to visit Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last week for a look ’round. I stopped first by the Indian River before dawn. The geometry of the pier, bridge and sun rays teamed up to form nice leading lines toward the pending sunrise.
A peaceful morning on the pier by the bridge – Veterans Memorial Fishing Pier by the Max Brewer Causeway in Titusville, Florida
East Gator Creek road was closed, so I drove up to Haulover Canal and the Mantee Observation Point – of course there were no manatees visible there! Then I circled back to Black Point Wildlife Drive.
Standing bird – Tri-colored Heron on a bush. It was so still that I had time to zoom in and make a three frame vertical panorama.
We’ve had lots of rain lately and there was plenty of water at Black Point. I saw fish schooling in several spots, although for some reason the birds weren’t interested. I think the highlight of the trip for me was watching two Reddish Egrets dancing over the water.
Running bird – a prancing Reddish Egret seems to walk on water
There were just a couple other people on the drive and I only saw them briefly. It’s a special privilege to have a place like this mostly to yourself – even at this time of the year when it’s so hot and the wildlife is a bit sparse.
Flying bird – a Great Egret glides above the water
What a delightful morning! I have many more MINWR photos here. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now, go enjoy nature – it’s good for you!
Howell Branch creek starts at Lake Maitland and flows into Lake Waumpi. From there it’s called Howell Creek as it goes through Lake Howell and then wanders east and north to empty into Lake Jessup. It passes within a half mile of our home in Winter Springs.
I’ve driven by this spot below in Maitland many times, but didn’t realize it’s on the same waterway:
Howell Creek – Where it crosses Lake Howell Road. A small dam there creates a lovely little waterfall / rapid. I’ve driven by it for years and finally made a photo.
I never stopped before because there’s no obvious parking nearby. But Lynn volunteered to drive me over, drop me off (and come back and pick me up too!). So off we went…
My plan was to make a few images from down near the water with a wide angle lens, maybe up close to the dam. But several “No Trespassing” signs scuttled that. I stayed up on the bridge by the road and made my images from there. I’m glad I brought my 24 – 200 mm (eq.) lens too – the reach came in handy!
Several people walked by while I was there and mentioned how pretty the view is. They talked about wading birds and the otter family they see there. I didn’t see any otters, but a Great Egret eventually wandered into my frame. I was lucky it stayed still while I made a long exposure to blur the water. When Lynn saw the photo, she thought it needed a dark colored bird – I should’ve waited for an anhinga!
Wind caused some blurring in the leaves and Spanish moss. I was also worried the vibration caused by trucks on the road behind me would shake my tripod and blur things. I made several frames just in case and this one came out pretty well.
Research indicates there was a water powered mill located just up stream from this dam in the mid 1800s. And I found an old article in the Orlando Sentinel, saying that the first dam in this spot was built around 1900. One story says residents blew up the dam during a hurricane and replaced it later. Apparently, a more durable one was built in the 1950s and was replaced by the current dam in 1979 when Orange County widened Howell Branch Road.
It doesn’t seem like I’ve used other photos of Howell Creek in the blog before, so I’ll end this post with two older images from closer to our home in Winter Springs.
Howell Creek infra red (October 2013)
Howell Creek bed and reflections (October 2013)
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – stop somewhere you’ve been passing by and make some photos!
When I go on a photo expedition I come home with many more images than I process, and I post even less. So every once in a while I go through the photos in my Lightroom catalog and look for ones that I passed over, to see if my current self thinks they’re good enough to show or include in a blog post.
Caught in a sunbeam, Gatorland, May 2017
Anyway, I was doing this last week and ended up with the group of images in this post. They made me realize once again how wonderful Central Florida is for bird watching and bird photography.
Handsome Anhinga, Gatorland, May 2016
We have an enormous variety of avian wildlife here (iBird says 366 species in the state of Florida, Wikipedia says 524!).
Spoonbill, Black Point Wildlife Drive, January 2018
At some locations the larger birds are tolerant of people – especially if you stay in your car and / or take care not to stress them. And nesting season provides opportunities that aren’t common elsewhere.
Hungry Herons, Viera Wetlands, March 2018
I’ve added info to the captions on when and where I made these images so you can get an idea of what you’ll see. The best time of year is probably January through May, but you can find opportunities year round – if you’re lucky and do your research.
Belted Kingfisher, Viera Wetlands, March 2018
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
Kevin K. and I went over to Black Point Wildlife Drive last Tuesday. The water levels were low and although we saw quite a few birds, many of them were far from the road and hard to photograph. Here are some images from the trip that I like.
Hunter’s Dance – A Reddish Egret stalks fish in the marsh
These Egrets have a distinctive dance they use to scare up fish. It seems to work for them!
Morning minnow meal
Green Herons use a different technique. This one was wading carefully through the mangrove roots on the side of a canal looking for a snack.
Stalking in the Mangroves
And finally, here’s a photo of a Great Egret taking off from a tree beside the trail.
Great Egret Launch
This one was a little slow – normally birds are gone by the time I get my camera ready!
Once in a while, conditions are just right. Low water levels force fish into small pools and birds flock to the spot to feed. When you can get close to a scene like this early in the morning, with soft golden light from the rising sun behind you – count your blessings!
Great Egret in flight
This happened to me at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge a week ago (2/9/18). I lucked into seeing a bird feeding frenzy along Black Point Wildlife Drive. It’s always a treat to watch and photograph these. I’ve written about them before (see this post from December of 2012). Here are some observations. / hints that may help you in a similar situation:
The birds all compete for food. Watch for interactions and squabbles – they can lead to great poses and action shots.
Since the birds are very focused on the fish they’re more tolerant of close photographers. Be quiet and move slowly so you don’t stress them.
They’ll be constantly coming and going and moving in the pond. Watch for good compositions as they shift around.
When they fly in, you can often track them as they get closer and land in the pools for some great images. After a while you’ll be able to anticipate their paths.
As the birds land, they’ll be low and close to you – great for eye level BIF photos (BIF = Birds in Flight)!
You’ll need to balance zoom level, composition, background, exposure, focus, etc. And conditions change rapidly. Set up your camera in advance and be nimble. I have a BIF preset programmed so I can quickly shift to it when needed. It shoots at 10 frames / second with continuous focus, large focus area, and higher ISO settings to keep my shutter speed high. You’ll need 1/1000 sec. exposures (or shorter!) to freeze wing motion.
A white bird against a dark background vs. a dark bird against the sky will require exposure compensation adjustments. I have EC mapped to the rear wheel control so I can easily vary it when needed.
Your “keeper” percentage may be lower than you’re used to. But there are so many photo opportunities at a feeding frenzy that you’ll likely come home with images you like. Practice when you can and you’ll get better.
Landing Ibis – I like the composition / background on this one. But my shutter was too slow to freeze the wings and I didn’t get the exposure compensation right either. I’m still practicing!
It’s not all about birds in flight. Interesting groups or poses on the shore or perched on nearby branches are also photogenic.
On the banks of the pond. I like compositions with multiple species in the frame.
That was a wonderful morning. I’m glad I was able to see all the action. Oh, and before the bird activity, I also made a couple of landscape photos:
Dawn at the dock on the Indian River. Olympus Hi-Res mode.
Florida clouds along Black Point Wildlife Drive. Monochrome infrared.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
Flamingo feathers
