Posts in Category: Florida
5/4/2012: Coquina Beach, Florida. Washington Oaks Gardens
One of the most striking features of the Atlantic Coast South of St. Augustine Florida is the Coquina rock and shell sand beaches of Washington Oaks Gardens State Park. Coquina is a sedimentary rock made of loosely bound shells and shell bits…very soft in its native state…and easily carved by the waves into fantastic shapes. It is also easily broken up by those same waves, so the “sand” on the beach is actually mostly broken shell fragments.
Coquina Stone is only exposed in half a dozen places along the coast from the Carolinas South. It can be used for construction and was a common building material along the coast during colonial times. It has to be cured by stacking it to sun dry until it gets hard enough to use.
It is attractive stone and never more attractive than as the natural sculptures the waves carve…especially as the clear sea light of the Florida coast plays with the forms.
Even in its final form, as sand, it holds its appeal.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and – 1 /3EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
5/3/2012: Motion and Grace, Great Egrets
You really have to see this one at full scale on your monitor. Click here to open in the viewer as wide as your monitor will allow.
I love the energy here, and the crisp detail of the spread wings. I think the energy is enhanced by the tight crop, though in this case it was a matter of necessity. This is the last shot in a sequence from the St. Augustine Alligator Rookery, and the bird leapt up so the top edge of the image as displayed is, in fact, the top edge of the frame. I find the shot graphically interesting as well, with the play of curves between the two birds in motion.
This is an earlier shot from the same sequence.
Also a strong shot with a lot of interest…less graphic…but with a more controlled energy. You have to love Egret wings! Full scale view is here.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 343mm equivalent field of view. f5 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
5/2/2012: Wildlife Wednesday: Mr? Coon
I was looking for the Barred Owl that frequents Vaill Point Park in St. Augustine Florida, checking every likely limb in that little patch of mixed forest along the creek, which is how I happened on this Raccoon, doing his or her best to look like a lump on the limb. Not good photographic conditions. Too far into the forest, too dark, and too backlit at that. Still, who could resist?
I used the full reach of the zoom on the Canon SX40HS, plus 2x digital tel-extender for the equivalent of 1680mm. Despite the ISO 800, that pushed the shutter speed to an impossible 1/80th of a second (impossible at that focal length). Still the Canon’s image stabilization pulled it off! f5.8.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity and sharpness.
5/1/2012: Roseate Spoonbill in Flight!
One of the joys, and challenges, of working the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, is the number of birds in flight during your average hour. That would be lots! The superzoom Point and Shoots which I favor are not the ideal camera for flight shots, but with patience, persistence, the right settings, and the right expectations, in a place like the Alligator Farm you can come away with some stunning images.
The key is managing your expectations. You are going to miss more shots than you get by a very large factor. It is essential that you just keep shooting, and not stress out over the shots you are not getting. That is why I do most of my flight shots at places like the Alligator Farm or Bosque del Apache where there will always, if you just wait a moment, be another bird in the air. And even when you think you got a shot, 2 out of 3 hopefuls will not be sharp when you get them on the computer. Just the way it is. Shoot a lot.
As for settings, I had success this last visit with the Tracking Auto Focus setting on the Canon SX40HS. This setting puts a target frame in the center of the view. You put the target frame on what you want to track and hold the shutter button down half way to keep your subject in focus. That combined with Continous Shooting Mode (3+ fps) allows for some DSLR-like shooting of birds in flight.
(So okay, lets face the issue head on. Why am I not using a DSLR and tel-lens for flight shots? 1) expense. My SX40HS is a very cost effective shooter. 2) Flexibility. To match the range of situations the superzoom P&S handles would require a DSLR body and at least 3 lenses…and then it could not reach the extreme telephoto ranges. 3) Portability. No contest, the superzoom P&S is all I am willing to carry at the moment.)
And sometimes persistence pays of better than you have any right to hope. This shot of a Roseate Spoonbill gliding pretty much right over head surprised me when I got to processing the day’s take. I cropped out some empty pace on the left, and I like the resulting tension in the frame. It really deserves a larger view: here.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. f5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 125. 400mm equivalent field of view.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
4/30/2012: Needham’s Skimmer, Washington Oaks Gardens, FL
I went to Washington Oaks Gardens State Park south of St. Augustine Florida three times on this trip to the Florida Birding and Photo Fest, looking primarily for the Great Horned Owl and chicks that are always seen this time of year around the Visitor’s Center. I saw the chick twice, but never could get a decent shot of it.
However, there were dragonflies! As you know if you follow these posts, about a year ago I got interested in Dragonflies and started taking pics of them when I encounter them. The Canon SX40HS works really well for this, as you can shoot at up to 1680mm equivalent from under 5 feet and get some excellent macro effects. This shot was taken using that combination. Considering the folds in the wings and the way this specimen was flying, I am thinking this might be a newly emerged dragon. I believe it is a Needham’s Skimmer.
Canon SX40HS as above. Program with iContrast and –1/3rd EV exposure compensation. f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 800. That is another thing about the SX40HS. I can let the ISO go as high as it needs too…and in the deep morning shade, light was a challenge here…without worrying that the image is going to be too noisy.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And a full body shot for reference.
4/29/2012: Happy Sunday! Sunflower in late sun. St. Augustine FL
The sun does not set in North Florida in late April until 8PM, so you have these long golden hours between supper and sun down. The light is at its best. There is often the first breeze of the day off the ocean. It is altogether an enchanted time of day.
This sunflower was along the boardwalk leading into Ocean Hummock Park in St. Augustine Beach. I could not resist the way the low sun was illuminating it. I did not see the passenger on the left petals until I got it back on the computer and was processing it. That is a tiny, tiny little fly or bee…one or the other. I especially like the detail maintained I the green back of the flower and the way the bright flower is framed against the dark background.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1240mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-extender). f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And for the Sunday thought. If I could stand this transparent, no more no less, so that the full character of me was revealed in the one light of all that is, I would be a happy man. And that is how I think it should work. We don’t loose our identity, our individual persons, when we stand in union with the light of creation…we are just completely illuminated, filled with light, and more completely ourselves than we can ever be elsewise.
I am not sure what the tine bee has to say in all this, but he is still there.
4/28/2012: 3rds on Arcata Marsh Wren
If Marsh Wrens are good for two helpings, certainly they will do for thirds! I never tire of watching their acrobatics in the reeds and there is nowhere better than Arcata Marsh in Arcata California.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1680mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 320. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, sharpness, and clarity.
4/27/2012: Spiderwort, Ft. Matanzas National Monument
Spiderwort is not an attractive plant, even in bloom, but the blossoms themselves are amazing. This specimen is at Fort Matanzas National Monument on Matanzas Inlet south of St. Augustine Florida. It is a super tel-macro, taken from about 5 feet at 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-extender).
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 200. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And, as a bonus, here is a wider shot with some kind of berry blossom.
4/25/2012: Waders on Wednesday / Wildlife on Wednesday
I am really late with my post today because I am at The FL Birding and Foto Fest where I lead a 7am Bird Walk at Vaill Point and then did The 7 Fold Path to Better Birding workshop.
Godwit Days is, of course, about Godwits, and and on a good year there can be hundreds of thousands in Humboldt Bay. This year was pretty good, though Godwits were outnumbered by Dowitchers. And of course there are other waders as well. This shot of a Godwit and a Wimbrel is a good comparison of two waders I don’t see enough of.
The second shot is a mixed flight of Godwits and Dowitchers.
And another comparison of a spread winged Godwit and the Wimbrel.
And finally “a smoke on the water” shot of small shorebirds.
Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent field of view. Program with iContrast and – 1 /3EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
3/12/2012: Hop, skip and jump. Snowy Egret’s, Merritt Island NWR
Late one afternoon at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, I found a pair of Snowy Egrets (well, maybe just two Snowys, I am not sure of their sexes) “hop and plunge” fishing. That is my term for it. From a standing stop, with a single flap of the wings, they were leaping into the air, somewhat horizontally, for several body lengths, and then plunging down on something in the water. I have seen a lot of different Egret and Heron feeding behavior but I had never seen anything quite like this. It was not, by the way, noticeably effective, as I never saw either Snowy catch anything, but it did look like fun.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 200. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.