The other day it was time to escape. We knew it would be the heat of the day when we were out in the marshes, it didn’t matter.
Most everything was hiding out of the sun but the colors were great and the shorter lenses were in the car.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
Given I’ve been publishing Yellow-crowns lately thought I would give equal time to their close cousin the Black-crowned Night Heron.
Just about everything you can say about one Night Heron, you can say about the other. Maybe these birds are a little less fond of dark swamps. Both Night Herons chicks look almost identical for the first year or so.
These birds were photographed in a rookery also. They nest on the exact opposite side of the big ponds in the Port Royal rookeries.
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Unheard of !
No people walking through the center of the shot. And the lawn mowers weren’t out.
The lawn mowers are OK, they’re sheep.
Middleton Plantation, circa 1730.
Specs; OM-1 (1), OM 12-100, Lightroom, DxO Filmpack.
These flowers here don’t react very well to sun light.
The white flower will be gone, wilted away, within the hour. The conical blossom will just sit, covered in a thin layer of plant. Come dark it opens to be a huge flower.
This may be the only image I’ve taken in sun light 😐.
Specs; OM-1 (1), OM 12-100, ON1 PR.
As the summer goes on (it’s still summer here) these vines are growing taller and thicker. Most mornings now find the blooms high up, maybe 7-8 feet. The angles are certainly different.
I have gone back to testing/learning ON1 PW with version 2026.5. They seem to have the integration issues settled back down and working. That was my biggest complaint.
Below was finished completely in ON1. A simple edit, but I did drop a mask to make all colors soft. I didn’t need a mask, except to see if it worked and had no issues. It was fine… and again fast. Adobe Lightroom owns the market because it has advanced features and they usually work just fine. ON1 is here because it does the same work flow, including with other software, and it does not hit the wall and make me sit and stare waiting for it to catch up.
Specs; OM-1 (1), OM 12-100, ON1 PR 2026
I haven’t used any flash units in years. Shoot a wedding, you need flash. Shoot a Heron, no flash. However over time I’ve seen people I know using flash for macro photography. Ellen likes different styles of photography so having seen a video on the GODOX iT32 (new design methods) I gifted her one for a birthday.
Turns out they are a great idea and great fun. And of course I had to have one too 😆.
When the sunlight is gone, and as long as you can see to focus, is a good time to shoot random ‘stuff’. I’m also not against trying in camera custom filters. Some shots are interesting, others not so much.
Specs; OM-1 (1), OM 12-100, GODOX iT32 flash, in camera custom mode, Lightroom.
All the photographs below were shot over a two day period. The camera is always on hand, usually I just pick it up when I walk out the back door. This just means the gear may change, software / method used for post could be different. In general absolutely no structure whatsoever. 😁😁
Many thanks to Ellen who has created an incredible environment right outside the back door. I’m sure the little critters that live there thank her too.
Below there is a tiny ‘crab spider’ hidden on a petal. So far I only notice them long after the photograph is taken. I would love to get a good clear closeup of one.
Specs; OM-1 (1), OM 12-100, OM 12-200, GODOX iT32 flash, Lightroom, ON1 PR, Topaz, DxO Color Efex.
The rumor here was all of last years Morning Glories were not coming back. Our resident expert (there are two of us and it’s obviously not me) has always grown them no matter what climate we lived in. While there may be fewer this year the colors are amazing.
Best viewed large.
Update;
Who knew… Moon Flowers are a member of the Morning Glory family. She did it again 😊.
