In among an invading flock of White Ibis was a single youngster.
I never realized how rusty brown some juveniles were. He fit right in with the old cemetery wrought iron.
These White Ibis are brown for the first 18 months.
Rust Ibis
Tag Archives: birds
Summer Marsh Scene
A nice peaceful scene in the ACE Basin. A large marsh here, several hummocks of tall grass between the dikes.
A Great Egret in flight in the foreground, a bonus background. I hadn’t notice the Wood Storks off behind the grass.
I survived the heat and bugs in the swamps this morning, so maybe another field trip, head to the marshes tomorrow morning.
Black And White – Updated Silver Efex
Recently DxO updated their NIK software collection. NIK is multiple programs that are either run as a plug-in for editors or a standalone application. Silver Efex is a system dedicated to Monochrome / B&W photography. It’s become the default program used by most B&W photographers.
This update to version 7.0 includes several new methods, masking options, that I have been wanting for a while. Below are a few photos recently taken worked with some of the new options.
First image is of a trail on county property that snakes through some woods and swamp areas. Sunlight was hitting the back of the bridge through the overhead canopy, however the beginning of the walkway was in deep shadow. I used some masking and contrasts to make the foot bridge visible and display the boards textures. I could do this in Lightroom, however I would be bouncing around between software.
Next two photographs needed work on the backgrounds. The borders along the bird feathers are usually a problem area. Basically ‘feathers are fuzzy’. Silver Efex has a different masking concept that works well this type of image.
Last is contrast and texture. B&W is all about Light/Dark values. Efex includes presets based on 35 MM film and/or filters. I pick my favorite film (Ilford or Kodak) and modify anything needed.
I grew up and learned photography using B&W film. Silver Efex allows me to work with monochrome, and no smelly chemicals.
Spoonbill Family Portrait
Well, this is not something you see every day.
Roseate Spoonbill nest, Mom and three chicks.
One of the chicks is down inside the nest.
Do you think Mom looks a little frazzled?
B&W – Monochrome Great Egrets Nesting
Great Egrets building a nest. The background, and of course pure white birds made this a good fit for the format.
Best viewed large.
Snowy Upset At Nothing
Nothing happening but this Snowy (of course) had to make a fuss. We watched waiting for something but finally I grabbed a few shots and moved on.
Snowy Egret in a Palm.
I Feel Eyes
I struggled with how to finish this shot. There was glare, the background was just dark mud, in general there were many reason to push the ‘delete’.
One reason to publish… all these Wood Storks seemingly staring back at the camera.
There’s a lot going on here, but worth a post.
Boat-tailed Grackle
They are a permanent resident on the coasts of the Southeastern United States.
In theory they prefer marshes. I see them all along the shore. Personally I think they prefer outdoor seafood restaurants.
These shots were taken on a dike (lately that’s a pretty safe bet), sitting on the top of a water gate – Trunk.
Above the wider tail shows the difference between them and the Common Grackle. Also the female is a chocolate brown.