Monthly Archives: December 2009
12/11/2009
Kiss Kiskadee Close
Another PhotoScoped image from Ester Llano Grande State Park and future World Birding Center…simply a world class place for watching and photographing birds, in the Rio Grande River Valley, near Weslaco, Texas. At about the equivalent of a 1600mm lens on a full frame DSLR, this is about as close to a Kiskadee as you will get unless you are manning a banding station where you have the birds in your hands.
The problem with photographing Kiskadees is the eye. That black mask too often totally obscures the eye. Catching it like this, with some definition, is rare…I’d like to take credit, but between the excellent auto exposure on the PhotoScope and taking a lot of images of any given bird…well…you do get a few with a visible eye.
Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL at 40x (1600mm equivalent field of view). 1/460th @ ISO 100. Metered at about f5.2.
Very little beyond basic increases in Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL.
12/10/2009
Tidal Snow: Early Light
Last pic for the First Snow set. This bend in the tidal mouth of Back Creek where it flows into the Mousam River behind Parson’s Beach in Kennebunk ME becomes a graphic element in the composition, drawing the eye past the curve back to the snow covered trees on the far side of the marsh. The low light just after sunrise just skims the marsh.
Sony DSC H50 at about 70mm equivalent for framing. F4.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Blackpoint slightly right. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From First Snow 12/09.
12/9/2009
Rose by Any Other Name
Rugosa Rose, beach rose, Japanese rose, Ramanas rose, introduced from Asia to North America many generations ago as an ornamental landscape rose, escaped, and now lives rampant on the dunes of New England. The hips are sometimes made into jelly. In this first snow of the season they certainly stand out, still only slightly shrunken from their fall glory, and still very red. The early light only emphasizes the color.
I took quite a few exposures of different clumps with snow cover. I shot in very close with wide-angle and macro, and I used the macro setting with full telephoto to isolate clusters of hips. Once more, the flip out LCD made shots like this one, where I had to hold the camera well below waist level to get the angle, possible…even easy. I look at the new entry level DSLRs and wonder…but until I see one with as flexible an LCD. I will have to stick with my little Sony P&S!
Sony DSC H50 at full tel (465mm equivalent) macro. F5.6 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Just your (my) basic added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Sharpen landscapes preset.
From First Snow 12/09.
12/8/2009
Breath of Snow
This has a look of frost to me, but it actually quite a heavy layer of snow, molded around every branch and twig. One good breath of wind and it is all gone! The low dawn light, just half behind picks out the detail.
Sony DSC H50 at about 400mm equivalent. F6.3 @ 1/200 @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Blackpoint to the right. Sharpen landscape preset.
From First Snow 12/09.
12/7/2009
Dressed for Winter Sunrise: never looked so good
Over-night snow, early sun, and this tree, though attractive at all times, really looks it best. This is, of course, an image all about shape, texture, and light. Very simple. Even more about the essentials than most photographs. I used the camera zoom to crop and frame for that effect.
Taken in the fields behind Parson’s Beach in Kennebunk ME, about 2 miles from home.
Sony DSC H50 at about 70mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
You might think that a snow scene like this would require some exposure compensation, or the sand and snow program at the very least. But the light was low…sun just cresting the clouds along the horizon on a day approaching the solstice in Maine…and the intensity of the light was easily handled by the regular Program on the camera.
Auto color balance, auto tone in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From First Snow 12/09.
And, from the same morning, a little video that maybe captures the winter wonderland effect.
12/6/2009
First Snow: Early Light
Happy Sunday!
This is really the first snow of December 2009, early this morning, just as the sun cleared the cloud line along the horizon to the east. It was a long slow night snow with little wind, even along the coast here, so it clung and weighed. This beauty will be gone in a very few hours.
Sony DSC H50 at about 180mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. Framing shots this morning, I was again thankful for the flexibility of my superzoom, articulated LCD, Sony H50. Nothing like it really.
Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Blackpoint slightly right. Sharpen Landscape preset. Auto white balance.
From First Snow 12/09.
12/5/2009
In honor of first snow of the season
We are predicted to have the first significant snow of the season tonight. So…I dug back in my archives to come up with a little something appropriate. This was taken at Laudholm Farms a few years back.
Sony DSC H9 at about 60mm equivalent. F5.,6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. Programmed Auto.
Added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen Landscapes in Lightroom. Today, if I were processing it, I would also slide the Blackpoint to the right slightly.
From Around Home Kennebunk ME.
12/4/2009
Little Blue Heron in the Reeds
Little Blues are, of course, easy enough to catch in the open, but I like this shot with the reeds, primarily because it seems to bring out the color of the bird, and provides some scale. Besides, I have a whole bunch of shots of LBs out of the reeds.
Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL at about 40x (1600mm equivalent). 1/220th @ ISO 50. Metered at about f5.6.
Cropped slightly in Lightroom for composition. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint just a little right. Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL.
12/3/2009
Green Kingfisher
The Green Kingfisher is, most days, my most favorite bird. It is so improbable. Not much bigger than a sparrow, with that massive beak, and that intense green. The rust breast on the male just adds to the beauty of the bird.
It has not been an easy bird for me to photograph. They only live right down along the Mexican border, and I only get down that way once, or twice at most, a year. They are common there, meaning that they occur at least in small numbers where there is appropriate habitat, and are regularly seen…but seeing one and getting close enough for a good shot are two different things.
This is a small bird. Worse, the feature structure, typical of a diving bird, is very fine (waterproof tight) so that getting real detail means you have to be very, very close and have very, very good light.
All of which is to say that this is one of my best shots of a male Green Kingfisher to date. I like the greens. I like the pose. I would have liked, even using what amounts to a 1600mm lens, to have been closer.
Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL at 40x (as above, about equivalent in field of view to a 1600mm lens on a full frame DSLR). 1/80th sec. @ ISO 100. Metered at about f5.6.
In Lightroom, I moved the Blackpoint considerably right, added Clarity and Vibrance (a little), and used the Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL.
12/2/2009
Immature Ruby-throated Hummer?
Back to birds for a few days…still working through my take from a few days in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. This is, I am pretty sure, an immature Ruby-throated Hummingbird. I prefer hummer shots anywhere but the feeder. Of course, I don’t ignore feeder shots. Often that is the only way to get a shot of a hummer. This bird was enjoying a mister set up near the feeder and kept returning to this same little perch, and then sitting there soaking up the spray. I had time to get well set up with the PhotoScope and took many different images of the same bird.
I like the off center composition of this one.
Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL at about 40x (1600mm equivalent field of view). 1/100 sec. @ ISO 100. Metered at about f5.6.
Added Clarity and Vibrance (very little) in Lightroom. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL.