Tag Archives: people

Chicago, Ill. Sept. 2013

November 2, 2013Chicago, OUTSIDE FLORIDAarchitecture, black and white, buildings, city, people, river, sculpture, sunsetEd Rosack

I’ve always wanted to see Chicago. It’s my birthplace – but we moved away shortly after I was born. For some reason, I never made it back until this year. I spent a few days exploring at the end of September. My daughter had a business trip there and some spare frequent flyer points, so she gave me a ticket. Thanks, MK!!!

Chicago and Lake Michigan from the air – my first photo of the trip. It was wonderfully clear as we approached the city. You can really see how large Lake Michigan is.

Mary was busy, so I booked a hotel downtown and spent the first afternoon and evening wandering around by the lake shore. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bit of a problem. I wasn’t used to all that walking and ended up with sore feet and blisters. Which didn’t help me to walk around on the following days – but I still managed to get a few photos.

I did some research online and asked a few questions about places to photograph. One of my Flickr contacts (Brian Koprowski) lives in the area and gave me several good hints. Thanks to him, I ended up at the Adler Planetarium on the first evening. The sunset wasn’t that exciting, but I thought the city across the water at twilight was pretty.

City at twilight

I also liked this fisheye view of the Field Museum that I made on my way back to the hotel. It reminded me of the movie “Night at the Museum“, although that wasn’t filmed here.

Night at the museum – Field Museum

The next day I again walked the city (and made my feet worse). My first stop was the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), where there’s a view from the glass balcony observation deck on the 103rd floor. A wonderful place for a fisheye lens!

From the top of Chicago – Another fisheye view. This one is from the Willis Tower observation deck, 1353 feet above the city

There’s a lot to see around the city including a great deal of sculpture and artwork. And glass on the buildings creates many compositional opportunities. In this image, I waited for the photographer on the near right to get into place so I could finish my photo – I had hoped she’d move a bit more to the left, but oh well.

Flamingo – This artwork by Alexander Calder is in the Federal Plaza

Here’s another rather strange piece of street art. I couldn’t resist adding a little “digital makeup” in Photoshop.

Planter head

Later that evening I ended up in Millennium Park where the Cloud Gate sculpture is located. I liked the scene – with all the people contrasting with the buildings and sculpture.

Cloud Gate (AKA “the bean”)

My son Mike drove down to meet us and we spent the next morning riding the “L” train, bicycling along the lake shore, and visiting Portillo’s Delli for a Chicago Dog. When Mary joined us that afternoon we took a boat tour on the Chicago River and ate some very good Chicago deep dish pizza for dinner. The final morning before our flight back to Orlando we toured the Museum of Science and Technology and drove by Mercy Hospital where I was born. I was only a little disappointed that there was no “Welcome Back Ed!” banner above the hospital entrance.

I enjoyed my short visit and definitely felt a kinship with this wonderful city. I want to go back again and see more. It’s so diverse that no trip as short as this could possible do it justice.

You can see larger versions of these photos and some others from our Chicago trip in this set on Flickr.

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

St. Augustine, Florida and vicinity – photo hints

August 10, 2013INSIDE FLORIDA, Marineland Beach, Must do list, St. Augustinebeach, boat, cloud, coquina, door, fort, landscape, lighthouse, long exposure, panorama, people, street, sunrise, sunsetEd Rosack

Lynn was out-of-town last week at the Pressing Iron & Trivet Collectors of America Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. I talked her into letting me out of my spousal support services subcontract, so I had a chance to sneak in a few days of photography while she was away. I spent the time in St. Augustine, Florida, which is “the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement and port in the continental United States”. I’ve written about it many times (see this link) and it’s one of my favorite places to photograph. Photo ops abound and include landscapes, architecture, street scenes, beaches, historic landmarks, wildlife, and much more. It’s hard to go anywhere in the area and not come back with a photo! Here are some of mine along with hints on how I made them.
There are some wonderful sunrise and sunset spots. Friends told me about Marineland Beach (thanks Kevin M. and JT) which is just a little south of St. Augustine. It’s now one of my new favorites. The coquina rocks there worked really well as foreground objects in my photos.

Long exposure sunrise – Marineland Beach, Florida

This is a single exposure, made through a Hoya ND400 filter right after sunrise. The waves were coming in around me, but I stood my tripod on one of the rocks to keep us dry. I used my lowest ISO setting (50) and even with the sun in the frame, the 8 2/3 stop ND filter gave me a 14 second exposure at f/8 . The long shutter speed makes the water surface contrast nicely with the rock texture.

One thing you’ll run into in Florida on summer mornings is condensation. It’s so humid that if you take your camera gear directly from your air-conditioned room or car out into the moist air, you can expect 15 to 30 minutes of fog before they clear. You can decrease this by not running your car’s AC on the way. You can also seal your camera and lens in a plastic bag with as much air removed as possible until it warms up. And it’s a good idea to bring along a micro-fiber cloth to remove condensation if needed. The larger your camera / lens is, the longer it will take to warm up. This is one time that good glass works against you – at least until the temperature equalizes. One more point: try not to change lenses under these conditions. If water condenses on your sensor, it can be hard to remove and may cause dust to adhere to the surface.

The harbor and fort (Castillo de San Marcos) also provide interesting detail for sunrise or sunset and landscapes in general.

A calm morning in the St. Augustine harbor: Clouds to the north over the Castillo de San Marcos and the quarter Moon above the Bridge of Lions add interesting detail to this image.

This photo and the next were both multi-shot panoramas made with the techniques I described last week. Images like the harbor scene can be tough to blend due to smooth gradients in the sky and water. Be sure you check carefully and correct any glitches.

Another thing about summer in Florida: We have awesome afternoon thunderstorms. Clouds add a lot of drama to photos, but the storms were so bad on two of the days I was there that I couldn’t go out for sunset. Plan accordingly.

St. Augustine Sunset behind the Castillo de San Marcos

On this evening at the fort, there was a large thunder-storm to the west. The sky wasn’t colorful at all until the sun moved down below the thunder head, resulting in these shadows and rays. One big advantage of sunset photography vs. sunrise is that you can wait to see what develops. At sunrise, you need to be in place extremely early to see all the variations happen.

I had a great time walking around the fort at sunset with my large tripod and big DSLR camera. Most people were oblivious and walked right through my photos (I don’t blame them – I don’t own the place). I’d wait for a clear spot in the traffic and make another exposure. Other folks stood next to me since they thought wherever someone with a big camera is has to be a good spot. At one point, a tour guide in a pirate costume leading a group of 20 or so people saw me and stopped his group from walking in front of me until I finished my exposure. It turned out he’s a photographer too.

I wanted to try a night photo of the lighthouse. I also wanted to capture the look of the beam coming out of the light. This turned out to be a tough assignment. The contrast range is huge and there’s a lot of glare from the lights in the scene.

St. Augustine Light Station

I ended up merging two exposures. The first one was long (f/4 @ 3 seconds) at a low ISO (400) to decrease noise. The slow shutter blurred the light beam, so I made a second exposure (ISO 3200, f/4 @ 0.4 seconds) and this stopped the beam enough to highlight it. The second exposure had some noise, but was fine with a bit of post processing before I blended the two manually in Photoshop. I made this photo about an hour before sunrise. It was dark and there was no one around. One of my contacts on Flickr commented that spooky things happen in this area. I’m glad I didn’t notice any when I was there.

Tom M. met me up there on one of the days and we spent several hours just walking around. There were many interesting scenes, and I never saw any two doors alike.

Red door #33

We were walking down one street and saw someone in the distance photographing this house with his iPhone. He was really working it, making multiple photos / compositions and was still there when we arrived several minutes later. We waited for him to finish and when he looked up and noticed us he asked what kind of cameras we had. It turned out he’s a photographer too and was there on vacation, but forgot his Nikon D3S DSLR. He said using the iPhone was “very liberating”. Photo hint 101: If someone’s taking a picture, look at what he’s photographing – it might be interesting. Photo hint 102: Don’t forget your camera.

A little later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this waiter zipping through traffic on the way to work. On a skate board. I managed to make a quick photo.

Morning commute – very eco-friendly

We also noticed this person reading on the bench. I really liked the symmetry of the columns and how they led my eye towards the subject. ~~Tom posted a different composition~~ (sorry – no longer available) that I think is really good too.

Reading.

By the way, if you have Lightroom 5, try out the “Upright” settings in the Lens Corrections panel on photos like the one above. It does a great job squaring things up.

Like I said, there’s a tremendous amount of photo-ops in the area. I didn’t make it by the St. Augustine Alligator Farm on this visit, but from March to June, it’s one of the best places in Florida to photograph a variety of wild birds nesting in the rookery there. I also didn’t get to Fort Matanzas. It’s a little south of the city and makes a nice side excursion. The Nombre de Dios Mission in the northern part of the city has a beautiful chapel and grounds as well as a view into the harbor. And I’m sure that there are a great many more photo ops that I still have to discover in this beautiful place.

You can see these photos larger if you click on them and I have many others from St. Augustine in this set on Flickr.

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

Keb Mo at the Plaza, February 28, 2013

March 1, 2013Downtown Orlando, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, Plaza Theatreconcert, guitar, Keb Mo, music, peopleEd Rosack

Keb Mo (Kevin Moore) made a return visit to the Plaza Theatre in downtown Orlando last night. This time he left the band home and performed solo.

Keb Mo

The man has a lot of talent. I enjoyed this show every bit as much as his last one here. He sang and played four different instruments – including three guitars and a harmonica. The place was full of his fans and they obviously enjoyed the show too. He interacted quite a bit with the audience and most of the songs he played were based on requests. There was even one funny part where he played a montage of several cover tunes while waiting for an audience member to return – since she had requested the next song.

Once again Lynn and I had excellent seats (this time on the left) and I was able to get a couple nice photos of him.

Keb Mo

I highly recommend both Keb Mo’s music and the Plaza. If you get a chance, check ’em out.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos (and listen to some music)!
©2013, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Daytona International Speedway

February 17, 2013Daytona, INSIDE FLORIDACars, Daytona International Speedway, people, racing, reviews, Richard PettyEd Rosack

Intro / Description

The Photography Interest Group was well represented at the Daytona International Speedway last Saturday. Kevin M., Kevin K., Lutfi E., and I went for the day and covered most of the events from practice to racing and activities in between.

The Speedway in Daytona is the home of the Daytona 500 and opened in 1959. In addition to NASCAR events, the track also hosts ARCA and other races. It’s a 2.5 mile high-speed tri-oval, and has sports car, motorcycle, and karting courses.

Saturday was part of Speedweeks which culminate next weekend with the Daytona 500. There were two practice sessions, the Lucas Oil 200 race, the Sprint Unlimited Exhibition race, and other things to see and do.

Pit Road and the grandstands from the Fanzone

Kevin K’s son, Evan scored a package deal for us that included general admission, infield parking, and Sprint Fanzone entry for a very low price. Sometimes being part of a prestigious organization like the Photography Interest Group can really pay off. 😉

Info for Photographers

Photo hints:

This was the first time I’ve actually photographed an automobile race and it took a while to settle on a shutter speed. Luckily, Kevin M. was along – he’s a big race fan and advised us on settings. He suggested using 1/1250th sec. and at this shutter speed the car body was relatively sharp while the wheels were a bit blurry – which is what I wanted to help imply motion.

These cars run over 190 mph and if you can get to the stands in the infield, they pass by very close. So it’s a great situation to practice your panning technique. I got the best results when I picked up the car in the viewfinder well before I pressed the shutter, concentrated on smoothly following as it approached, and continued to follow through after the shot. I also had better luck when I used a focus point on the side the car was coming from and selected continuous focus. Previous experience with bird photography and keeping the focus point on target will pay off here too.

You may want to try turning off your camera / lens image stabilization to see if it works better without it at high-speed. With fast shutters, you probably don’t need it, and depending on your equipment it might actually degrade the image.

I normally shoot in aperture priority but for this, the most critical part of the exposure triangle is the shutter speed – so I switched to shutter priority. I set 1/1250th, and then controlled ISO manually to move the aperture to 1/f8. It was cloudy most of the day, so my ISO ranged between 400 to 1000.

I also found myself using some positive exposure compensation at times to bring out detail inside the cars.

It’s fun to try to catch each driver at practice, but photographing single cars can quickly get monotonous. We were fortunate to have access to several locations which helped us vary positions / light direction, and avoid back lighting most of the day. Be on the lookout for unusual / different compositions. There was a checkered flag in the foreground near turn two and it was fun to try to catch cars as they passed underneath.

Juan Pablo Montoya – car #42; Passing underneath a Daytona International Speedway checkered flag during practice

You should also watch for interesting people. Be quick, since they don’t seem to stick around very long.

Richard Petty during the Dollar General Car (Matt Kenseth, #20) inspection

Tripod/Monopod:

Allowed, but not recommended. With all the panning you’ll be doing, a tripod would get in the way. And when crowds get dense, you’ll have trouble finding space to set yours up.

Lenses:

This depends on where you are at the track. We were using various camera systems with a number of zoom lenses (70-200, 70-300, 150-500, 200-600 mm – full frame equivalent). From the infield grandstands, the 600mm was a bit too long. From the main grandstands, something that long might be useful.

It’d be helpful to have a shorter zoom available too for non-racing situations in the garage and Fanzone areas. And a wide-angle or even a fisheye lens are useful for car close-ups.

Best time to visit:

Consult the speedway website for race schedules. I found that last Saturday was a wonderful day there. We got to see all the big name stars, but the crowds were very reasonable. The traffic and number of people at the track can get crazy for big events like the Daytona 500. Of course, if you’re a race fan, you probably don’t mind putting up with crowds to see that one.

Here are a couple more photos from the races:

Julian Jousse in car #94 has trouble in the Lucas Oil 200 race

The Big One (photo by tkmckinn) – A crash after dark in the season opening Sprint Unlimited exhibition race later on Saturday night

Other:

Check the weather before you go. It can be a bit warm or even a bit cold in Daytona in February. Dress appropriately, and bring sun block.

Food and drinks are a little expensive. Consider bringing in some of your own in a small cooler. Check the Speedway website for their rules on what you can bring in.

The Speedway has a phone app that might come in handy. It’ll show you the day’s schedule, maps, and other info. It also has a mode that allows you to find friends (although it didn’t work all that well for us – everyone needs to have it open and on the GPS map screen).

Entry to the Fanzone is worth doing. There are a lot of photo ops there that you won’t be able to get close to from the grandstands. The infield parking was also nice, since it allowed us to move around for better vantage points. Separate fees for admission, parking, Fanzone, etc. add up though. Do a little research, and you might be able to find a special deal like we did.

Summary

Even though I’m not a huge race fan, I had a good time. I wish I hadn’t waited this long to visit the speedway.

My Gallery / Flickr photo set:	http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/sets/72157632780891033/
more photos	Kevin M’s / Flickr photo set
more photos	Kevin K’s / Flickr photo set
more photos	Lutfi E’s / Flickr photo set
Website:	http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com
Address / Phone:	1801 W International Speedway Blvd Daytona Beach, FL 32114 (386) 254-2700
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating:	A Central Florida Photo Ops “should do”

You can click the photos above to see larger versions on Flickr. And you can see many more photos from yesterday at the links in the table above.

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

The year in review – My favorite photos from 2012

December 15, 2012VARIOUSAnimal Kingdom, beach, birds, black and white, boat, cloud, Cypress, Gorilla, infrared, jetty, landscape, music, panorama, Pelican, people, submarine, sunrise, travel, vacationEd Rosack

Happy Holidays! Once again the season has snuck up on us. I hope that all of you, your families, and your friends have a joyful and happy season!

Photographer Jim Goldstein has an annual tradition of organizing a “best photos of the year” listing. I’m very glad he started this, since it’s a good reminder for each of us to take time to review results and contemplate how to improve our photography. And also to put together an annual “Favorite photos of the year” post.

2012 was another good year for me photographically. The 2012 folder on my hard drive takes up about 284 GB of space – almost double 2011. There are 80 folders, and each one represents a separate “photo-op”, with a total of over 6200 photos, so it does look like I’m trying! I had a lot of opportunity to make good images this year, and I’m pleased with the results I achieved. But it doesn’t seem like my ability and skills have grown as much this year as in the past. Perhaps I’ve plateaued. Maybe I don’t know what I don’t know about getting better. Maybe I’m just getting more picky and critical. Regardless, I think I need to make a stronger effort in 2013.

I’m still using the following system to rate my photos. The numbers in parentheses are the counts for 2012.

1 star – The photo is interesting (174)
2 stars – The photo is worth showing to others (396)
3 stars – The photo is the best of (or one of the best of ) any given photo shoot (68)
4 stars – My favorite photo of a year (1)
5 stars – My favorite photo ever (still none, I’m not finished making photos yet!)

The rest of the photos don’t have stars and are seconds or not so good versions. I usually keep them, but they probably won’t get any more attention. This system seems to work for me and I’ve reviewed my 2012 photos and selected my favorites. This is a hard process for any photographer. It’s difficult to separate my opinion about a photograph from any emotional connections that I might have with the scene or situation. But making this effort is important and part of the learning process. Still, at the end of the day, I don’t claim to be objective about my photography. These photos are the ones that I like best, so feel free to disagree – but I hope you’ll enjoy looking at the ones I’ve picked.

You can click on each of these to go to Flickr and see a larger version. Or you can click on this link to go to the complete set on Flickr.

I have 1 miscellaneous subject, 1 mammal, 1 bird, 3 people photos, 7 landscapes, 3 sunrises, 0 sunsets, 6 color, 4 Black and White, and 4 Infra-Red photos. Definitely a trend away from wildlife and toward landscapes and infra-red. Here we go…

My number 1 favorite photo of 2012:

Many cypress trees, Blue Cypress Lake, near Vero Beach, Florida, June.

I have a thing for Cypress trees anyway and when I made my first and only visit to Blue Cypress Lake this year, the natural beauty of this place overwhelmed me. I’m planning to return early next year when I can also see many nesting Ospreys and other birds. See this post for more info.

My number 2 favorite photo of 2012:

Pre-dawn Jetty, Jetty Park, Cocoa, Florida, October.

When I saw this scene, I really liked the way the light on the walk drew my eye to the bottom left and then the rail and the jetty lead to the sun rays coming up from below the horizon. So I straddled the rail with my tripod and made this photo. See this post for more info.

My number 3 favorite photo of 2012:

Keb’ Mo’ in concert, Plaza Theatre, Orlando, Florida, February.

I like The Plaza and they often bring in acts that I like too. We were lucky to get seats up front and when the spotlights lit up the smoke, I made this photo. See this post for more info.

My number 4 favorite photo of 2012:

Water Dragon Sunrise, on board the Carnival Paridise in the Gulf of Mexico, April.

I stalked this sunrise for about 45 minutes before this scene developed. I’m happy I waited for it – sometimes patience pays off! See this post for more info.

My number 5 favorite photo of 2012:

Submarine sunrise: The British Trident ballistic missile submarine HMS Vigilant leaving Port Canaveral, Florida just after dawn, October.

This was a bonus photo when the sub turned south after leaving the inlet and posed for us under the rising sun. See this post for more info.

My number 6 favorite photo of 2012:

Cocoa Sunrise, North of the Hubert Humphrey Causeway in Cocoa, Florida, August.

This is an infra-red, fish-eye photo (an “IRFE”). It’s a really good combination to shake up your photography and inspire some creativity.

My number 7 favorite photo of 2012:

Play time at Union Station, Cincinnati, Ohio, December 2011

This photo missed the deadline for last year’s favorites – so I included it here. I usually wait for people to clear out when I’m trying to make a photo. This time I went ahead and made it while these two girls played around the fountain. Since this is a stitched panorama, they show up multiple times, which I think adds to the image. See this post for more info.

My number 8 favorite photo of 2012:

Cruising White Pelican, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, December.

White Pelicans are winter migrants to our area, so we don’t get to see them very often. This one cruised right in and posed in the middle of my viewfinder. I couldn’t have arranged it better! See this post for more info.

My number 9 favorite photo of 2012:

On the beach, Venice Beach, Florida, September.

We were wandering around exploring the area near the Venice Pier. Since it was close to mid-day, I didn’t expect the light to be good, but I took my IR camera in case something came up. I think the IR characteristics add a lot of interest to the photo. And it makes a great example of how “playing around” can lead to good things. See this post for more info.

My number 10 favorite photo of 2012:

Late night?, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Orlando, Florida, May.

This photo was difficult to make since the lighting was challenging and I had to photograph the Gorilla through glass. But it’s a great pose and expression and I was able to clean the image up considerably in post processing. He looks like I’ve felt a few times. See this post for more info.

And here is one last photo that I care a lot about:

The “Senator” – a 3500 year old Bald Cypress tree, Big Tree Park, Longwood, Florida.

I made this image in September of 2011, so it doesn’t officially qualify for a 2012 favorite. The reason I put it in this post is because in January of 2012, the tree caught fire, burned and collapsed. The fire was at first thought to have been caused by lightning, but later was determined to have been started by a woman inside the hollow tree so she could see the illegal drugs she was using. Now no one else will ever make a photo of this, so it became a lot more important to me in 2012. What a crazy, sad event. For more info see this post and this post.

If you’d like to see my favorite photos from earlier years, you can click on these links: 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Cracker Christmas at Fort Christmas, Florida

December 3, 2012Cameras and Photography, Fort Christmas, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, VARIOUSblack and white, Civil War, Fort Christmas, people, view cameraEd Rosack

Sorry this week’s post is a little late – we were pretty busy all weekend. So just a short entry this morning. Yesterday I went over to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge with Lynn, Mary, and Mary’s friend Monette. Lots and lots of birds (a story for another day).

On the way home, we stopped by the Fort Christmas Historical Park in Christmas, Florida. They were having their 35th annual “Cracker Christmas” event. Along with tours of the permanent structures at the park, there were demonstrations of early settler life in Florida and many booths selling crafts. There were also some Civil War reenactments going on. When I saw this group posing in front of an old view camera, I just had to make a photo.

Civil War group portrait: A group of Civil War reenactors pose in front of a view camera during the 2012 annual “Cracker Christmas” event at the Fort Christmas Historical Park and Museum.

It was quite crowded, but definitely worth the time to stop by. To satisfy your photographic curiosity, here’s the “before” version of this photo:

Civil War group portrait: Straight out of the camera, before a few tweaks in Lightroom and Photoshop

I cloned out some distractions, leveled and cropped, tweaked the color, contrast, sharpening, and then converted to a sepia toned B&W. I like the “after” version better. How about you?

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

Dealing with poor weather – Circle B Bar Reserve, 10-6-12

October 7, 2012Circle B Bar Reserve, INSIDE FLORIDA, Techniquebirds, Flowers, fog, infrared, landscape, limpkin, mist, people, Spider, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

The Photography Interest Group decided to organize an expedition to the Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland, Florida yesterday. It’s about an hour and twenty-minute drive for us and since we wanted to try a new place a bit further out for sunrise, Frank, Kevin M., Lutfi, and I met at 5:30 to carpool over. Talk about getting out of bed at “O-dark thirty”! But I was excited, since I haven’t been to the Circle B Bar since last November – way too long to stay away from such a beautiful place.

It was getting foggy as we approached the parking area, but I wasn’t too worried – sometimes fog can add to a scene. We arrived in plenty of time, and walked out to Wading Bird Way (see this link for a .pdf map of the Circle B Bar trails). The closer we got, the foggier it became – and it looked like this right at dawn.

Frank, Lutfi, and Kevin M. in the fog at the Circle B Bar Reserve

To make a long story short – the fog was dense and dawn brought no color at all to the sky. There was no sunrise. We didn’t even see the sun until about an hour and a half later. Regular readers will know that I really like landscape photography and around dawn and dusk are the best times to photograph. With yesterday’s conditions, it just wasn’t meant to be. So what should you do in a situation like this?

First, enjoy the walk. Being out in nature is a wonderful experience and doesn’t have to include photography.

From a photographic perspective, what else can you do? For landscapes, try infrared – it can help cut though the fog, especially if you can include some foreground elements.

Foggy lake

If you can get close, fog and mist can be a great background to isolate your subject.

Posing Limpkin

And focus on details. Find some smaller things that you can zoom in on. Look for subjects enhanced by the mist.

Spider and misty web

Yes, not every photo expedition goes as planned. Yesterday’s sunrise was disappointing (non-existent?). But we saw and photographed many things: birds (Sand Hill Cranes, Egrets, Herons, Ibis, Osprey, Whistling Ducks, Hawks, Coots, Moorhens, a Purple Gallinule, Woodpeckers, and others), alligators, dragonflies, spiders, butterflies, and flowers while we were there. All in all, a great day. You can see more photos from the Circle B Bar in this set on Flickr, and check out Frank‘s, Kevin M.‘s, and Lutfi‘s too.

What do you do in situations like this? I’d love to hear your suggestions. Send me an email or add a comment to the blog.

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

Get ready for the Lake Jesup flowers

September 22, 2012INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Jesup, Lake Jesup SunflowersFlowers, landscape, Marl Bed Flats, people, SunflowersEd Rosack

If you live in the Central Florida area and want to photograph an endless field of flowers, get ready to head over to the Marl Bed Flats in the Lake Jesup Conservation Area where Swamp Sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius, also called Narrow Leaf Sunflowers) bloom from horizon to horizon during the last week in September and the first week of October.

Kevin M. in the flowers at the Lake Jesup Wilderness Area

I drove by on highway 417 this afternoon to see what’s going on, and there are already a few flowers out. My guess is that they’ll start peaking next weekend. Check out these links for info and maybe I’ll see you out there!

You can see more photos of the area in this set on Flickr.

If you do go out there and make some images, please add a comment to this post or drop me an email. I’d love to see how your photos come out.

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

Three more from the beach

September 8, 2012Casey Key, INSIDE FLORIDAbeach, infrared, landscape, mermaid, people, pier, shell, statue, sunset, Venice FloridaEd Rosack

We’re busy this weekend with computer and roof problems, so not much time for photography. Here’s a few more photos from our beach trip last week.

Venice Pier at Sunset

The mermaid in the garden by the sea – From the patio behind the hotel.

Morning shell-scape – Casey Key is a prime spot for shell and shark’s teeth collectors. Hurricane Issac passed off shore and stirred things up, resulting in lots of shells on the beach.

You can see some other photos from Casey Key in this set on Flickr.

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

Happy Labor Day!

September 3, 2012Casey Key, INSIDE FLORIDAbeach, birds, black and white, boat, infrared, jetty, landscape, people, sunset, vacation, Venice Florida, WilletEd Rosack

Like many people in the US, Lynn and I headed to the beach for Labor Day. We really like Casey Key on the Gulf Coast of Florida just north of Venice. Like always, it was very relaxing. We swam, shelled, ate, walked the beach, and got plenty of sun. I also had a little time for some photography.

The north jetty at the inlet in Casey Key Florida is full of people fishing and watching the sunset. I watched from the south jetty in Venice. The sail boat was a nice bonus.

Willet on the beach – This bird was very cooperative. When not fishing in the surf, it would occasionally come close.

On the beach – We were wandering around exploring the area near the Venice Pier. Since it was close to mid-day, I didn’t expect any good light but I took my IR camera in case something came up. I think the IR characteristics add a lot of interest to the photo.

You can see some other photos from Casey Key in this set on Flickr.

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