Posts in Category: evening light

Bonus: Giraffe in the late sun

On our way to Murchinson Falls National Park, on our third full day in Uganda, we drove to the top of Murchinson Falls on the Nile for the view, and then crossed the new bridge over the river on our way to our lodge for the night. That put us in the park in the soft light of late afternoon/early evening, as the wildlife was settling and taking care of last chores for the day. This was our first giraffe of the trip. Sony Rx10iv at 371mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Desert Sunset

Tucson Mountain Park, Tucson AZ

An early post for 8/11’s Pic for Today. First night in Tucson. Sunset form Grant’s Pass in Tucson Mountain Park. 

Sony RX10iii at 24mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode with six stop in-camera HDR. – 1 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom on an Android tablet. 

Late light of April

Mouth of the Mousam River, Kennebunk ME

It is amazing how fast the length of the day is progressing now that the clocks have been set ahead. We went out last night after supper to catch the last of the sun on the beach near our home at the mouth of the Mousam River. This is a sweep panorama showing Great Head and the river mouth, but mostly it is about the spreading cloud tree above…and the light.

Sweep panorama. Sony HX90V. Processed for HDR effect in Lightroom. This is as close to the natural look of the scene as I can make it.

Sanderlings in Reflection

Sanderlings. The Beach, Kennebunk ME

My wife and I took an after dinner walk long the local beach. The summer evening light was lovely, the sky was full of interesting clouds, and the waterline was littered with shore birds and gulls. I did not have my long lens with me, just the tiny Sony HX90V, as I was looking mostly at landscapes…but the zoom on the camera reached out far enough for these Sanderlings standing on their reflections. As I said, the light was lovely! I especially like the line of bubbles along the surf. 🙂

Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 89 @ f6.4. Processed and cropped for scale in Lightroom.

Evening Willet

Willet, Back Creek marsh, Kennebunk Maine

On my after supper visit to the local beach, with the sun about an hour from setting, but already warm with the evening light, there were several Willets feeding in the marsh grasses and along the edge of the tidal flow of Back Creek near where it meets the Mousam River. Our New England Willets are warmer in tone than western Willets anyway, but the early evening light really brings up the warm, almost rust, color of plumage.

Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 320 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.

Cranes against the Sunset. Happy Sunday!

Sandhill Cranes. Bosque del Apache NWR

  Sandhill Cranes. Bosque del Apache NWR

Yesterday promised to provide one of those amazing Bosque del Apache sunsets…there were just enough clouds along the horizon to light up as the sun sank behind the mountains. We set up at the ponds along Route 1 to watch the Sandhill Cranes fly in for the night, and to wait for the sky. Bosque performed as expected. This is a classic Bosque del Apache shot, with the Cranes framed against the flaming sky. There were probably 100 other photographers lined up along the dyke by the ponds trying for this, or a very similar, shot. And that was just yesterday. Hundreds of thousands of images of Sandhill Cranes against the sunset have been taken at Bosque over the years. I have taken quite a few myself 🙂 Still, that does not keep me from trying again every chance I get. There is a beauty and a wonder that persists…that is just as intense the 100th time you experience it as was the first. A beauty and a wonder so rich and rewarding that you are compelled to try to capture and share it every time. Or at least I am. Moments like these put us in touch with both who we really are, and, as I see it, with the loving creator of all that is (including us). They are bridge moments…open window moments…moments of profound connection with all that is and to the meaning…the message being written…the life being lived. Beauty, wonder, and meaning written large and bold in Cranes against the sunset at Bosque del Apache. Happy Sunday!

Sony HX400V in Sports Mode. Processed in Lightroom.

Another England

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I have been playing with Snapseed on Nexus 7 v2 these past few days, and seeing the potential with some recent Smart Camera HDRs, I had to go back and reprocess a few of my pics from England. This one is from the grounds of the Gretham Valley Golf Club and Conference Center where we stay while working the British Bird Fair.  Who could resist the purple weed in front of the pond under that English sky? I could not 🙂

Rich Tone mode on the Samsung WB250F. Processed with Ambiance, a touch of Saturation, Sharpness and Structure in Snapseed. Snapseed really does an excellent job of picking up an HDR without producing halo at the light/dark boundaries.

Decorated Leaf

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The light was lovely by the time I got to the little pond by the office on Tuesday after work and the dragonflies were out in Virginia numbers…lots of Amberwings and more Blue Dashers than you see at three such ponds in Maine. On the other hand that was about it. There were a couple of Slaty Skimmers, but no other “large” flies. Still we takes what we can gets 🙂

This Blue Dasher posed nicely and I love the light in the leaves…in especially like how the dasher is cupped by the light.

Canon SX50HS. 1800mm equivalent field of view. Program with my usual modifications. Processed in PicSay Pro on the 2013 Nexus 7.

Wet Rose

We are having another 24 hours of rain to end the week. This was taken near sunset on our last rainy day, when the storm finally moved out to sea and the sun broke through for a few moments. The sun was already gone by the time I got to the beach roses covered in rain water, but they still made a good study in the soft light of early evening. The colors are never richer than when wet, and the drops add interesting highlights. And, of course, Rosa rugosa petals always have that crushed silk texture that catches the eye.

Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Macro mode. 32mm equivalent (the Macro default). f3.4 @ 1/45th @ ISO 160. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. Auto Enhance by Google+.

Evening at Back Creek

Back Creek is a tidal creek that flows into the Mousam River a few hundred yards from its mouth in Kennebunk Maine. The beach homes you see are on Great Head, across the Mousam. It had been a day of rain, heavy at times, and the front was still moving off the coast…but the sun broke through just for an hour or so before setting. Great light. Great sky. Landscapes are never better, I think, than when the sun breaks through under a stormy sky. You have drama on the land and drama in the sky. What is not to like?

This is a sweep panorama from the Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. I really like the fact that you can hold the camera vertically and sweep it around horizontally…producing a panorama that is fully as wide as a conventional panorama (this one is about 200 degrees), but much taller…not nearly so “pinched”. These tall panoramas also fit computer displays much better…if you click the image above on any computer with a reasonably sized display, it should fill your screen.

As I say, Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Panorama mode. f4.6 @ ISO 100. I discovered a Panorama trick for these cameras that have sweep pano modes. You pick the part of the view that has either 1) average brightness for your planned sweep, or 2) the brightness you want for the whole sweep (you might, for instance, want to expose for the sky rather than the land), point the camera at that section of the sweep and half press the shutter release to lock in exposure, then swing the camera, holding the shutter half pressed, to the where you want your pano to begin, and fully press the shutter. That way the whole sweep has the exposure you intend, and not the exposure that happened to be at the start of the sweep. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.