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Acadia National Park, Maine

Maine, Must do list, OUTSIDE FLORIDA, , , , , , , , , , ,

Sometimes, you can arrive at a “bucket list” location and it’s disappointing when it doesn’t live up to your expectations.   So let’s get that out-of-the-way now:  That won’t happen at Acadia National Park.  It’s an utterly awesome place.   If you haven’t been there yet, make sure it’s on your own bucket list.

Jordan Pond and "The Bubbles"
“The Bubbles” mountains from the southern end of Jordan Pond.  I used a polarizing filter for this and I like the way it renders the nearby rocks through the water and the trees on the left.  ISO 100, f/16, 1/10 second, at 16mm.

This place on the south shore of Jordan Pond is one of the most iconic views in the park.  I looked and was surprised there weren’t any holes worn in the rock from all the tripods over the years.  But I didn’t let the fact that everyone takes a photo here stop me – I couldn’t resist making one of my own.

I’ve wanted to go to Acadia for a long time.  My friend Kevin M. went last year and raved about it.  When Mary Kate suggested I go up with her, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

It’s a landscape photographer’s paradise.  I spent almost 6 full days there.  I met MK and her coworker Ryan on Friday evening and they left Sunday afternoon.  Fellow Photography Interest Group member Tom M. arrived Monday afternoon and we stayed until Thursday morning.  It’s brimming with photo ops:  rugged shorelines, sandy beaches, granite mountains, calm mirror like ponds, beautiful forests, gnarled trees, lighthouses, fishing villages, whales, birds, and more.  It felt like there were photos everywhere I looked.

Acadia is small for a national park (at least compared to some of those out west) but it still covers a very large area.  And getting from the Bass Harbor Head Light all the way to the Schoodic Peninsula can take some time, especially with traffic during the peak summer season.  This map shows where I made my photos.

Acadia National Park Photo Locations

You can see I made it to much of the park, but I missed an even larger part of it.  Not to mention that I mostly stayed close to the car.  I didn’t explore any of the hiking trails and carriage roads.  I guess I’ll have to keep it on my bucket list and go back!

I visited several places more than once and the changing light and weather made them look very different.  Bubble Pond, Schoodic Point, and Cadillac Mountain were my favorites.

Looking west from Otter Creek Drive
Looking north-west from Otter Creek Drive, with Cadillac Mountain in the distance.    A 5 frame panorama, captured in infrared and converted to B&W.  ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/160 sec, at 28mm (equivalent focal length).

I found the spot above just driving around, not from a guidebook.  The fog in the distance and the lily pads in the nearby pond called out for a photograph.

Schoodic Peninsula is in all the guidebooks and you must go there.  We spent hours looking for compositions hidden in the rocks, cliffs and waves.  Just make sure you’re careful.  The rocks can be slippery and unexpected waves have washed people into the water.

Schoodic Point Waves
Schoodic Point Waves.  I used a Hoya ND400 filter on this to slow my shutter speed.  Even though the sun had been up for a while, I could expose at ISO 100, f/16, 4.2 seconds, at 16mm.

Sieur de Monts is in all the guide books too and when I saw photos of the birch forests I knew I had to stop there.  Tom and I initially made a wrong turn, but finally found it.  And what a wonderful place it was – well worth the walk!

Paper Birch and sedge grass forest
Paper Birch and sedge grass forest, along Jessup’s Path.    This is a 6 frame panorama, captured in infrared and converted to B&W.  ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/100 sec at 28mm (equivalent focal length).

We saw wildlife too.  On Saturday morning, MK and I took the Puffin / Whale tour offered by Bar Harbor Whale Watching.  It was a bit foggy, but nice enough and the captain managed to find both Atlantic Puffins and Humpback Whales for us.  We also saw several lighthouses that we wouldn’t have spotted otherwise.  In addition to the puffins, I photographed four other new life birds:  Arctic Terns, Black Guillemots, Great Shearwaters, and Great Black-backed Gulls.  And there may have been a few others that I didn’t recognize / identify.  Back on land we saw deer a couple of times, and (heard about) a bear.  But sadly, no moose.

Two Humpback whales show their tails after surfacing.
Two Humpback whales show their tails on the way back down after surfacing.  We watched a group of three feeding together.  As the boat idled they often came close.  Researchers keep track of the  whales and ID them from the patterns on their tails and backs.  The whale on the left is “Bottleneck.” (HWC #8807) and was first sighted there in 2004. The other whale is “Vee” (HWC # 0372) and it was first sighted there in 1983 and has also been seen in Puerto Rico.
ISO 400, f/8, 1/1000 sec, at 155mm.

After the boat tour, MK and I drove up to Prospect Harbor to visit Janet M.  She was Mary’s music teacher in Orlando and retired to Maine.  She and her husband Arnold are outstanding tour guides – they drove us around the Schoodic area and showed us many sites from a local’s perspective.  And then they shared a delightfully delicious dinner of Maine Lobster Mac and Cheese, salad, and Maine Blueberry pie for desert.  What wonderful hosts!

There’s a lot of information available about this area, so I won’t try to write an exhaustive how-to guide,  Instead, here are some of the references I used.  I bought and read these two books and I’d recommend either one (or both):

If you search the web, you’ll find a great many Acadia sites.  Here are a couple I looked at:

And you can also find out a lot on Flickr:

Finally, I’ll offer these hints that may help when you go:

  • I brought a full (and heavy) photo backpack and used a lot of the gear.  We flew into Bangor on smaller planes so be careful that your photo luggage meets the carry on restrictions.  I was very glad I had a wide-angle lens, my IR modified camera, a tripod, and polarizing and ND400 filters.  Kevin M. loaned me his 70 – 300mm lens and I used that for whales and puffins.
  • I filled up my camera memory cards for the first time in a long while.  Bring extra, or some way to back them up so you can safely erase them.
  • Atlantic Puffins are small – and far away from the boat!  There’s one tour that actually puts you on the island where they nest inside blinds close to the birds.  But I heard that the waiting list is over a year long.
  • Whales on the other hand are large and sometimes close to the boat.  You can get some good photos even with a phone.
  • Make sure you practice your photography skills before you go.  And know your equipment – no new gear right before the trip.  You want to know what to do when you get there, not figure it out in real-time.
  • Guidebooks and research are helpful, but don’t get too focused in on what others have photographed.  Photo ops are easy to find and I enjoyed trying to put my spin on some of the well-known locations.
  • It’s crowded in July and August.  Especially Bar Harbor and the main park visitor center.  But you can avoid those areas and find places / times where there’s no one else around.
  • The food (especially seafood) is wonderful – arrive hungry!
  • I’m from Florida, but the weather was hotter than I thought it would be (highs in the 80s) and the biting bugs were worse than I thought they would be.
  • The weather varied too.  There was some fog / mist and drizzle.  I was actually glad, because the coast of Maine is known for that, and it gave us some distinct looks.  Bubble Pond looked very different depending on the time of day and the wind and visibility.  But fog did spoil one sunrise (after getting up at 3:30 am!) and Tom’s offshore lighthouse tour.  So plan on some reduced visibility and stay a few days longer if you can so you can go back to some locations.
  • Finally, enjoy yourself.  Relax – don’t get overwhelmed.  Create a lot of memories, not a lot of stress.

Bar Harbor Blue
Bar Harbor Blue – The town lights at night from Cadillac Mountain.   ISO 200, f/8, 25 sec, at 120mm

 I thoroughly enjoyed myself and came home exhausted.   I took too many photos and spent too much time going through them after I got home.  But I like how they turned out – please take a look at the other ones in my Flickr album when you get a chance.

I’ll leave you with a short conversation I overheard on the top of Cadillac Mountain while Tom and I were photographing Bar Harbor after dark.

A little girl, pointing at Tom and I: “What are they doing Daddy?“.
Her father:  “Taking pictures with really big cameras.”
Girl:  “Do we have one?”
Dad:  “No, but Mommy wants one.”
Girl:  “Why don’t they use their phones?”
Dad:  no answer

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now, go make some photos! And use the biggest camera you can!

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Let's go fishing – how I made the image

Cocoa, INSIDE FLORIDA, St. Johns River, Technique, , , , , ,

Here’s another photo from my last trip to Viera Wetlands.

Let's go fishing!
Let’s go fishing! Two fishermen head out before dawn.

I’ve made this kind of photo before – you can see some examples in this set on Flickr.  I think this one turned out better than my earlier tries.  I used a different approach and because it’s been a while since I’ve written a “behind the scenes / how-to post”, I thought I’d fill you in on how I made this.

The boat ramp at this little park where SR 520 crosses the St. Johns River is pretty busy around dawn.  It seems to be a popular place for fishermen to put in.  I  waited several times while they cleared my frame and the water calmed down before I could make my next exposure.  So I decided to make an image that included a boat.

It’s a challenging shot.  I wanted to capture the intense sunrise colors so I had to be careful not to over expose and blow out the sky.  I also wanted some detail in the boat, so I needed to over expose there a bit, but still minimize motion blur.  At sunrise, I normally use a low ISO for the best quality image, and a small aperture for good depth of field.  This results in a long shutter speed, which is bad for photographing moving boats.  And if I want to bracket and use multiple frame HDR to capture the huge contrast range in the scene – that’s even worse for moving boat photography.  So how did I make this image?  Glad you asked!

The secret is to carefully capture two frames and blend them together by hand.  The first frame is exposed for the boat:  I used a high ISO and a wide open  aperture to get my shutter speed as fast as possible, and I overexposed slightly to capture a little shadow detail in the boat and in the vegetation on the shore.  With my camera set and on a tripod, I composed and waited for the next boat to get to the right point in the frame.  Here’s that RAW file:

1-the boat Screen Shot 2014-07-22 at 12.49.58 PM
First frame, exposed for the boat, ISO 1000, f/4, 1/20 second

The second frame was my main exposure and I wanted it to be the best quality possible.  I also wanted to slightly under expose to capture color and detail in the sky.  I waited until the boat was gone and the water was calm again and then made this exposure:

2- the sky Screen Shot 2014-07-22 at 12.49.51 PM
Second frame, exposed for the sky, ISO 100, f/11, 0.8 sec

When I got home, I preprocessed the two raw files using identical color balance and paying careful attention to noise reduction (especially on the higher ISO frame with the boat).  I’ve used DxO Optics Pro lately when I want the best RAW conversion.  It does a wonderful job on both lens corrections and noise reduction for supported equipment.  After a few tweaks to exposure in each file, I brought them into Photoshop on separate layers.

The next thing to deal with was the boat.  Even though I’d pushed my shutter speed as high as I thought I could, 1/20 second still left a little  motion blur visible.  The “Filters / Sharpen / Smart Sharpen” command in Photoshop has a “Remove Motion Blur” option and I’ve found that it works well in situations like this where the direction of motion is known.  I used it selectively on a duplicate layer to enhance detail in the boat.   Here are before and after crops at 200%.  I think it’s a nice improvement:

3-motion blur boat Screen Shot 2014-07-22 at 12.45.59 PM
Motion blur (before using the filter)
4-sharper boat Screen Shot 2014-07-22 at 12.45.43 PM
After the motion blur processing

Next I used layer masks to blend the multiple frames together.  I worked carefully around the boat and painted it into the main / second frame.  I like a little detail in my shadows instead of a straight silhouette.  Since I’d slightly overexposed the first frame (and was careful with noise reduction) I painted some of that into the vegetation.  Here’s the first merged result:

6-Initial merge Screen Shot 2014-07-22 at 12.48.18 PM
Initial merged frames

The only filter I used on this was Topaz Clarity – I like the way it increases mid-tone contrast without adding halos.

7-Adding clarity Screen Shot 2014-07-22 at 12.48.29 PM
After Topaz Clarity

After selective sharpening on a separate layer, I returned to Lightroom for final adjustments (black and white points, vignette, etc) to get the first image in this post.

I struggled some with the cropping. I tried a 16×9 aspect ratio, but because I wanted to keep all the sky, I thought the horizon ended up too close to the center. I decided to keep the original composition since the dark water at the bottom holds my eye in the frame. I might play with it some more.

I like how it turned out and I hope you do too.  I also hope the info helps with your photography.  If you have any questions on details or other photography related things, let me know in the comments.

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

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Lake Louisa Follow up – 5 Mile Road

INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Louisa State Park, , , , ,

When I wrote about Lake Louisa State Park a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t know about 5 Mile Road.  It’s just  across US 27 from the Park. When I did hear about it, I drove back over to take a look.

It’s a dirt road, and although a bit narrow it’s well maintained.  I didn’t have any problems with my car.  There are some interesting landscape views:

Views from 5 Mile Road #2
Views from 5 Mile Road #2

And some interesting wildlife views too:

Guarding the burrow
Guarding the burrow

I made these photos on May 21st.  One of my Flickr friends told me he visited the Burrowing Owl nest on the 26th and it looked abandoned.  That’s sad.  I’m not sure what happened.  Maybe the chicks fledged and flew off.  That’s what I want to believe anyway.

If you visit Lake Louisa, 5 Mile Road is worth checking out too.  You can find more photos from there in in this set on Flickr.

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

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Lake Louisa State Park

INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Louisa State Park, Must do list, , , , , , , , , ,

Update (5/30/14):  See this related post on 5 Mile Road.

Intro / Description

Lynn, Mary, and I spent the first weekend in May at Lake Louisa State Park (LLSP).  It’s located just southwest of Orlando in Clermont, Florida.   LLSP is 4500 acres of rolling hills including six lakes with 105 acres of shoreline.  There’s a range of camping options and 20 very nice, two bedroom, furnished cabins that you can stay in.  Activities include fishing, canoeing and kayaking, biking, swimming, hiking, and horseback riding.

This is another case of me wondering why it took so long to visit somewhere.  My friend Kevin M has mentioned it several times, but I never seemed to get over there – until now.  It’s truly scenic and I’ve included more images than normal in this post – I apologize if it loads slowly.

Info for Photographers

There’s a lot to photograph there and the variety of landscapes is greater than many places in the area.  Hills are rare around here, but this park has them, some over 100 feet high. I made this photo on the hillside above the road by the cabin where we stayed.

Wildflowers and dewey grass at dawn
 Wildflowers and dewey grass at dawn

May 5-11 is national wildflower week and LLSP was doing its part.  Several wildflowers were blooming, including Prickly-pear Cactus, Passion Flowers, Lantana, and others.  I think we were lucky to see such a variety in bloom.  The Passion Flower blooms are supposed to last for only one day.

All of the lakes in the park are great habitats for Cypress Trees and Spanish Moss – very scenic and a classic Florida landscape look.

Lake Dixie shore
Lake Dixie shore – From the fishing dock in the campground on the south side of the lake

The Cypress tree trunks can also be very interesting.

Nature's sculpture
Nature’s sculpture – The older, weathered cypress tree shapes can be very unusual

There’s a variety of wildlife at LLSP, although not as much as some other locations in Central Florida.  For instance, eBird lists 112 species at LLSP vs 293 in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  We spotted nesting Ospreys (with chicks / juveniles), Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Black Vultures, Wild Turkeys, Nighthawks, a Swallow-tailed Kite, wading birds, vultures, Gopher Tortoises, Alligators, Deer, Crayfish,  grackles and a few other species.

Osprey returning to nest
An Osprey returning to her nest to check on her chick

Photo hints:

Most state parks in Florida seem to open at 8am, which makes early morning photography a challenge.  Since we were staying there, we could photograph whenever we wanted.  This one is on the western shore of Lake Louisa.

Cypress dawn

Cypress dawn – by Lake Louisa.

Tripod/Monopod:  Yes – take yours and use it when needed.

Lenses:  There are so many photo ops here that you could probably make use of every one of your lenses.  Macro for flowers, wide-angle for landscapes, long telephoto for wildlife, etc.  You’ll have to decide how much to carry and what to concentrate on.

Best time to visit:  Any time, but of course winter months will be cooler.  Late April and early May will be better for wildflowers and nesting Ospreys too.  We often heard Ospreys calling.  It was fun to watch the parents bringing food back to their very demanding offspring!

Other:

There’s a nice beach and picnic area on Lake Louisa.  If you swim there be careful though, there’s no life guard and there are alligators.

The park also is a popular place to bicycle, so bring yours if you have room.

The Florida Rambler website has a nice writeup on Lake Louisa and the cabins there.

The kayak launch at Lake Dixie across from the cabins is an easy put in.  The one at Lake Louisa requires a long carry, so bring a friend or a kayak trolley if you plan to paddle there.  You can also put in at the Crooked River Preserve just to the north of Lake Louisa and paddle down to the lake.

I didn’t get a chance (yet) to hike the many trails in the park.  There are 9 main ones ranging from 1/2 to 5.5 miles and some of these lead to smaller lakes which might be very scenic.

The Citrus Tower is close to the park.  It was built as a tribute to the citrus industry in the area.   There’s a great view from 226 feet up, but a lot fewer orange trees visible now than there were in 1956 when it opened.

Cloudy in Clermont
Cloudy in Clermont – View from the top of the Citrus Tower, looking south along HW27.

There are also many restaurants within a short drive from the park if you don’t want to cook in your cabin.

Summary

Lake Louisa State Park is a relaxing and scenic destination.  It seems a world away from busy downtown Orlando.   It’s perfect for a weekend get away.  If you haven’t been there yet, you should go.  I’m very glad we did.

Be sure to visit my Lake Louisa set on Flickr to see these and more photos.

My Gallery /  Flickr photo set:  Lake Louisa set on Flickr.
Website:  http://www.floridastateparks.org/lakelouisa/
Address / Phone: 7305 U.S. Highway 27 Clermont, Florida 34714
(352) 394-3969
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating: A CFL Photo Op must do!

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

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Monochromatic HDR Photography

Maitland, Technique, , , ,

If you’ve looked through this blog or my Flickr stream, you know I like Black and White photography.

B&W with film used to be simple.  Get some Tri-X film, put it in your camera, and make exposures. Take the film to the drug store and wait to get your prints back.

OK, it’s never been all that simple. If you’re really hardcore, you get out your chemicals, develop the film yourself and print your best ones.  And if you were really, really hardcore – you could dodge and burn while printing to decrease and increase exposure in specific parts of the print.

You can still do all that.  But many people today use digital cameras for B&W photography.  And things are still as complicated as you want to make them.  You set your camera to color mode (yes color, unless you have a Leica M Monochrom camera) and RAW format and make exposures. You load the resulting files into your favorite processing software and adjust / convert the color images to B&W.  Then you print carefully to maintain and display all the tonality present in your carefully crafted image.

Along the way, you’ve got to make many decisions on what software to use and how to use it.  It’s very easy to get lost and see only trees, no forest.  And if you want the best results, you need to know what tools are available and how to use them.

Composing

Composing – A recent photo I made and converted to B&W

I purchased and read Monochromatic HDR Photography by Harold Davis.  I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and I admire his photographic expertise and creativity.  It’s a real treat to read this book and follow along as he makes some absolutely lovely B&W images.  He covers info that will help beginners as well as experienced photographers and it’s not just post-processing technique.  He also talks about the reasons behind choices and creative aspects.

I won’t give away the whole book.  It’s a good one and covers the subject well, with a tremendous amount of information that everyone could use.  If you’re interested in B&W, you should buy and read it.  Basically, Harold’s work flow consists of:

  • Capturing the image as a set of bracketed exposures to make sure you preserve all the tonality that’s present in the scene
  • Converting the bracketed sequence into the best quality, color, high dynamic range image possible
  • Making multiple passes of B&W conversion on the color HDR file and saving them.  With each pass you can vary tonality, contrast, detail, etc. to enhance parts of the image.
  • Using layers to blend the different B&W versions into a single “magical” result

I’ve been trying out his ideas and the photo in this post is a recent example.  Below are some intermediate steps so you can get an idea of how this works.

pass 1Step 1:  I like the general look, but thought the trees should be darker

pass 2Step 2: I like the tree in this version, but the fern, photographer, and parts of the canopy are too dark 

pass 3Step 3:  Fixing the exposure / contrast of the photographer

finalFinal:  All layers blended together to create the version I posted on Flickr.  I like the sky and canopy glow, the dark tree, the bright ferns and the photographer’s appearance compared to the background.

Although I have a long way to go to even get close to Harold’s level, I really like his approach.  There are a great many advantages and the only disadvantage I can think of is that it takes time.  But if you have a scene that you want to render into the best B&W image possible, this is a great way to do it.  And Monochromatic HDR Photography by Harold Davis is a wonderful guide to “Shooting and processing Black & White High Dynamic Range Photos”.

Central Florida Photo Ops Book Review Rating:  5 star, must read!

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

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Get Your National Park Service Senior Pass

INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWR, VARIOUS, , , , , , ,

I drove over to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last Friday to scout for new places to launch my kayak. I’d never been to the Beacon 42, boat ramp before, so I stopped there first.

Beacon 42 boat ramp
Beacon 42 boat ramp, before dawn.  Venus in the upper right, reflecting in the lower right.

It looks like a great place to launch from, with easy access to Mosquito Lagoon in the distance to the east.

I also went by the Visitor’s Center since I needed to renew my MINWR annual pass.  The very nice man at the desk asked me how old I am.  When I told him I’d be 62 next month, he told me to come back then and get a senior pass.  I’d heard about this before but didn’t know it started at age 62.  And that it’s a lifetime (not annual) pass!  And that it gets you in to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites including national parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests, and areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation!  It’s quite a deal –  I’ll be back there next month to get mine.

I did make a few more photos that day.  Here’s one more:

Reflecting mangroves
Reflecting mangroves: Something about mangroves always seems photogenic to me. Especially in mirror like water.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.  Now – if you’re a US citizen age 62 or older – get your pass.  Then go make some photos!

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Exploring Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area

INSIDE FLORIDA, Tosohatchee WMA, , , , ,

Florida’s blessed with many places where you can see Nature and / or animal life.  There are captive animals in zoos /  parks / attractions.  There are anthropogenic places like Orlando Wetlands and Viera Wetlands, where human activities and management can greatly enhance opportunities for animals.  And then there are places like Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area (lets call it TWMA for short) where large areas with little human intervention can approach true wilderness.

If you’ve driven the Beachline toll road (528) from Orlando to Cocoa, you’ve passed through TWMA.  It’s spread out over 30,000 acres along 19 miles of the St. Johns River in east Orange County.  It has a variety of natural communities including  rivers / streams / lakes; freshwater marsh;  Cypress swamps; Wet Flatwoods; Forested Wetlands; and Pine Flatwoods.

Grassy Trail

Grassy Trail – In addition to dirt roads running throughout TWMA, there are lots of trails to walk or bike.

Activities at TWMA include hunting, fishing, hiking, bicycle riding, horseback riding, canoeing and kayaking, camping, and scenic driving.  There’s a daily entry fee and hours are 8am to sunset.  As long as it hasn’t rained too much, the dirt roads are passable – even with a two-wheel drive car.  So everyone can see much of the area.  Hiking trails lead off from parking areas on the roads so you can get even further out into the wilderness.

Lonesome lifeless pine
Lonesome lifeless pine – Pine Flatwoods at TWMA

eBird lists 162 species seen in TWMA, vs. 293 in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, so there aren’t as many kinds of birds there.  And they’re spread out over a larger area, making them harder to see.  During my visit, I found Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons, Osprey, Yellow Rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers, Red-winged Black Birds, Anhingas, Belted Kingfishers, Red-shouldered Hawks, an American Kestrel, Black Vultures, an Armadillo, and a deer.

Embrace the chaos
Embrace the chaos – Cypress Swamp at TWMA

I hadn’t explored TWMA until recently.  I’m glad I finally got down there.  Although you may not see as many animals as you do in some other spots, the types of terrain are more varied and the animals are there if you’re patient.  It’s a great place to catch a hint of wild Florida out along the St. Johns River.  Definitely worth a visit!

TWMA is about 25 miles east of Orlando, near Christmas.  From Orlando, take S.R. 50 east to Taylor Creek Road. Turn south on Taylor Creek Road and the entrance will be on the east.

Sure, it'll hold - you go first...
“Sure, it’ll hold: you go first” – A sturdy and well maintained bridge across a stream at the southern end of TWMA

You can click on the photos above to get to larger versions on Flickr, and this set has a few more images from Tosohatchee.

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

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

The Senator Saga – another update

Big Tree Park, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, VARIOUS, , ,
“The Senator” is the nickname of what was a 3500 year old Cypress Tree in Big Tree Park in Longwood Florida.  Sadly, it burned down in January of 2012 when a drug addict lit a fire in the hollow at the base of the tree because “it was dark and she wanted light to see the drugs she was using.”.  The culprit confessed and is expected to be sentenced shortly to either probation or a few months in prison.
I’ve written several blog articles about this and I hope you’ll forgive me for writing one more:
The latest chapter in this story is even more personal and began in December of last year when someone posted a comment on this  photo of the Senator on Flickr asking if I’d be willing to sell a copy of the image.  Tony Seifred and I exchanged a few emails, and to make a long story short we also ended up exchanging gifts.  I gave Tony copies of two photographs of the Senator and he gave me a piece of the tree itself!  I’ll let Tony tell his side of the story:
“Back when the tree burned, NPR covered the story the following morning.  Within an hour I was cold calling county personnel and getting passed from one person to another.  I was trying to encourage them to make offerings to school systems for educational purposes.
After many months I received an email that the decision had been made to take applications for remains.  I contacted my local schools and museum trying to get them to apply.  I even provided the applications.  No one applied.
So I decided to try on my own.  Eventually I did receive a piece of the outer part of the tree, but pick-up had to be in person.  The story after that is long and convoluted but eventually did find someone there to accept payment to collect and ship the piece. Upon arrival the box was open and the piece had clearly been out.
Despite the rather expensive UPS store packing.  Some pieces were broken off and still inside the wrapping. I am gifting you the largest of those pieces.”
Kudos to Tony for pursuing this and making it happen.  I had the piece mounted together with the photo I made before it burned.  Here’s how it looks:
A shadowbox display of a photo of the 3500 year old Cypress tree in September of 2011 before it burned along with a small piece of the remains from after it burned down in January of 2012.
A shadow box display of a photo of the 3500 year old Senator Cypress tree in September of 2011 along with a small piece of the remains from after it burned down in January of 2012.
This means a great deal to me and I’ll treasure it as a reminder of visits to the Senator before the tragedy.  I’m exceptionally grateful to Tony for his generosity in sharing with me.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.
©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Infrared updates

Infrared processing, INSIDE FLORIDA, Jacksonville Area, Merritt Island NWR, Technique, , , ,

These two posts on infrared photography seem to get a lot of hits:

Since they’re from a while back, I thought I’d update you on a couple of things.

Ebbing tideEbbing tide – The outgoing current cuts a temporary channel through the beach (Little Talbot Island State Park).  IR, B&W.

I’d been using an Olympus E-PL1 camera, modified for IR by  http://www.lifepixel.com/ and I’ve been pleased with the output.  But it uses a first generation 12 MP, micro 4/3 sensor and requires care to minimize noise.  I also have an Olympus E-PL5 with a 16MP current generation sensor.  It has much better noise characteristics and additional resolution, so I decided to have it modified to upgrade my infrared capabilities.

I was very happy with the service from LifePixel, but this time, I chose Precision Camera to do the mod.  They also did a fine job, were very prompt and even a few dollars cheaper.

One change I made was to select a 665 nm filter instead of 720 nm.  What this does is pass a bit more of the visual spectrum along with the IR light.  This gives you more flexibility in post processing.  You can still process for the IR B&W look, but with the extra visible spectrum light, false color post processing is easier. 

At restAt rest – Driftwood on the beach (Little Talbot Island State Park).  IR, false color.

When I process RAW files from the E-PL1, I can easily adjust white balance in Lightroom.  With the 665 nm filter on the E-PL5, I couldn’t get to a neutral white balance until I created a custom camera calibration profile for it using Adobe’s DNG Profile Editor.  You can read more about this here (link no longer available).

The Road Under the Red Cedar Tree
The Road Under the Red Cedar Tree (Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge).  IR, B&W.

I made the photos in this post with the newer camera.  There’s less noise, the 665nm filter is more flexible in post, and the extra pixels are nice to have.  I like how it’s working so far!

You can see larger versions of these and other examples of my infrared photography in this set on Flickr.

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

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Ponce Inlet and Bulow Creek – changing light

Bulow Plantation, INSIDE FLORIDA, Ponce Inlet, , , , , , ,

Tom M. suggested we meet at Ponce Inlet for sunrise a week ago.  I readily agreed, since the last time I was there was August 2010.  We met at the park entrance just after it opened and were set up well before sunrise.  Here’s one of my first photos.  It was very nice of them to put up red and green buoy lights for Christmas.  🙂

Sunrise at the inlet
Sunrise at the inlet – I thought the Christmas colored buoy lights added a nice holiday touch

I’m always amazed by how much light can change over a short time.  Here’s an example.

Daybreak departure
Daybreak departure – A fishing boat heads out to sea at sunrise

The physical distance between these first two photos was only a few paces, but the time change made a huge difference.  The first was at 6:32am, f/8, 30 seconds, and ISO 125.  The second was at 7:22am, f/16, 1/60 seconds, and ISO 100.  The amount and quality of light shifted dramatically over 50 minutes (and the sun rays came in for a short time too).

Moral of the story:  If you’re going to get up for a sunrise photo, you may as well get going a bit early – so you can see and photograph the entire show.  I try to arrive at least 30 minutes before sunrise.

I’d been watching large numbers of mostly resting Pelicans, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers down on the beach.  After sunrise, I moved off the jetty and photographed them for a few minutes.  I was able to get close to this one without disturbing it, and I thought the low, warm light and the shadow behind the bird made an interesting scene.

Caspian Tern and shadow
Caspian Tern and shadow – The bird wasn’t really alone, there were many others close by

When we visited Bulow Plantation several weeks ago, Tom and I were a little disappointed in the light.  Rain and clouds that day made photography a challenge.  Since it was early when we finished at Ponce Inlet, and the weather was so much better – we decided to go back to Bulow.  The light had changed a lot here too.  But over a few weeks instead of 50 minutes.

Bulow Plantation Ruins
Bulow Plantation Ruins – I merged three images with  focus stack in Photoshop to increase depth of field.  The light this time was much better than our last visit.  And our cameras didn’t get wet!

So that was a very fine, final photo op for 2013.  Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.  Now – go make some photos!

And since this is my last post of the year, Happy New Year!  See you again in 2014!

©2013, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved