So, when was the last time a bald headed five foot bird threw water at you ??
He had just combed out of the water, closer to us than expected, and flapped all about for a while.
Flapping Wood Stork
Category Archives: A Watering Hole
Marsh Scene
A scene with something for everyone.
There’s tall grass, palms, and pines. The foreground has Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, Great Egrets.
A busy spot.
A Surprise Shot, Alligators
When out we shoot a lot. It’s not unusual for me to have 1,200 shots a day. That does take a lot of time to go through them all. Some folders just get missed.
It would have been a shame if I hadn’t stumbled on this one LOL.
Why I Shoot Monochrome JPG
It’s fun, like shooting a long while ago, but no chemicals or waiting a week for the prints.
I read that you have to learn to see in black and white, plan the contrasts. OK, but I have a perfectly good electronic view finder, much better than back in the day (like there were none).
The OM Systems OM-1 is very customizable, and easy, so I have taken advantage of it for monochrome shots.
I have my C1 dial set for ;
- Monochrome (red filter, extra-sharp, high contrast)
- Single shot mechanical (electronic shutter scans data to the sensor, mechanical hits the sensor in a single pass maybe sharper)
- Half shutter focus
- RAW + JPG (just in case I want color too)
- Shutter 320 sec, not slow or fast, a good start
Editors can still work very well with JPG files. For years I made the mistake of believing an image was cast in stone unless in RAW. Certainly you can do less, but a good editor works fine. RAW editors (like DxO Photolab) only do RAW, but Lightroom, ON1, NIK, Topaz, all work with other file formats too.
So, yeah it’s just fun.
Balancing Act, Turtle
Somehow they get themselves into odd positions. These are swamp turtles, there’s no tide changes in water levels. No stranding on a ‘bump’ by mistake. These critters climb there with purpose.
Below you can see him balancing, legs out straight. BTW, look at those claws!!
They manage to get out of trouble, but not sure how.
I spotted this one in a local swamp, but not sure what type of turtle it is. What little I see doesn’t look yellow enough for our usual sliders. Not a snapper either.
Passing By, Wild Pony
John; ‘Do you want to go shoot the wild ponies?’
Me; ‘Sure. What wild ponies?’.
Three years later…
Me; ‘Do you want to go shoot the Puffins’?
John; ‘Sure. What Puffins?’
To be continued……
Wild Horse Photographed From A Boat
While on our trip to Chincoteague Island we were able to photograph the herds from both land and boat.
We had been told the best way to find them was by boat. The better vantage point did turn out to be from a boat, however we did get a good (lucky) afternoon from land in the Federal park too.
This is a mare from the islands south herd. We did get to shoot the north herd also, but they kept their distance for the most part.
Wild Horse, Monochrome Monday
Wild ponies on the Chincoteague barrier island along the Virginia coastline. The original horses were left behind during shipwrecks by Spanish explorers in the late 1500’s.
The original breed are thought to have been short work horses from the Mediterranean islands.
Today there are numerous small herds living on federal land/parks on several islands.
Photographed using OM-1 mk2, OM 100-400 II, DxO Silver Efex.