Monthly Archives: October 2021
Another of the Alwive Red Squirrel
Red Squirrel: Alwive Pond Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Another shot of the Red Squirrel I encountered on my way out from Alwive Pond the other day. In processing this one I noticed that he has all four paws off the tree…so mid leap. I really like the out of focus branch in the background of this series. Also notice the back patch in his tail. Red Squirrel are highly variable in color and color pattern, but i have not seen this back spot in the tail before. A very handsome squirrel. Sony Rx10iv at 400mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Another low light shot. ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/400th.
Entertaining Red
Red Squirrel: Alwive Pond Preserve, Kennebunk Land Trust, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — When I visit Alwive Pond I am always hoping for a moose. I saw on there in early 90s. 🙂 Now days I have to be mostly satisfied with a Red Squirrel, and some visits I don’t even see one of those. I caught this one gathering leaves, probably as nest lining, and, as Red Squirrels will, he decided to contest the trail with me, facing off a daring me to come any closer. Very entertaining. He was all over the tree trunk, striking aggressive poses in hopes that I would back away. I particularly like this apparent handstand on the twiggy branch. It was overcast by the time I was headed out, October mid-afternoon, but there was not a lot of light under the heavy canopy of pines, so this shot is testing the image quality limits of the Sony Rx10iv at high ISO. 400mm equivalent (that’s how close I was). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr using my Sony High ISO preset, so some noise suppression involved, and finished off in Apple Photos. ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/400th.
Vesper Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow: Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Most range maps for Vesper Sparrow do not show it as present in Southern Maine, but we do have a population on the Kennebunk Plains not far from me. It is a grassland bird, and the Plains are as close to grasslands as we have in Maine. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr, Pixelmator Pro Photo, and Apple Photos. Assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th.
Autumn at Laudholm Farms, pano plus
Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at…), Wells, Maine, USA — I am often at a loss as to how to display or use a panoramic shot. This is something new for me…a three in one view, with the pano at the top and closer views at the bottom. This is made possible by my compulsion to take multiple views when I see something worth capturing. 🙂 I certainly did not envision this in the field. iPhone SE with Sirui 18mm ultra-wide. The bottom two images are crops for the detail, but not from the pano. Apple Camera app with Smart HDR. Processed in Apple Photos and assembled in FrameMagic.
The ledges…
Another celebration of autumn in Southern Maine. The ledges on the Batson River at Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport. The low flow of water has the leaves to contend with as well as gravity. iPhone SE with the Sirui 18mm ultra-wide lens. Apple Camera app with Smart HDR. Processed in Apple Photos.
Batson River autumn panorama
This is one of the upper pools on the Batson River at Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport, Maine, USA. Nothing spectacular but an interesting place for a panorama with the fall foliage. iPhone SE with the Sirui 18mm ultra-wide lens, held in portrait position and swept from left to right through only a portion of its 360 degree reach. Smart HDR was on in the Apple Camera app, but I have no idea if it works with sweep panorama. Processed in Apple Photos.
Bluebird in the fall
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — We have Bluebirds coming for mealworms pretty much year round now. Even during periods when the the adults are mysteriously absent, the young will still be there almost every day. And now that fall is coloring the backyard trees, the subtle blues, in this case on one of the immature males from the first brood of this summer, have something to contrast nicely with. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker: Emmon’s Preserve, Kennebunkport, Maine, USA — I am always delighted when we have a Red-bellied Woodpecker at our feeders, which we do several times a year, so imagine my delight when I caught one “in the wild.” I was photographing the foliage along the Batson River at Emmon’s Preserve when I heard the raucous call of the RBW up the hill from me. And there it was. A bit too far away, of course, even for my 600mm equivalent lens, but needs-must. I gave the shots the Pixelmator Pro Photo machine learning maximum resolution treatment and cropped to fill the frame. The orange foliage behind makes for an attractive setting. Sony Rx10iv, as above, at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr, Pixelmator Pro Photo, and Apple Photos. Assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Looking into Autumn
Looking into Autumn, and into the sun, down another long alley of marsh, this time just over the hill from the Kennebunk town line on Rt. 9. I really like the perspective of the Sirui 18mm ultra-wide for this kind of of shot, especially since it is wide both ways…vertically as well as horizontally. It gives the scene a very natural look. At least to my eye. The high contrast light picks out every detail, and the Apple Camera app’s Smart HDR renders the range of light effectively, producing another memorable image of fall. Or that is what I think. Processed in Apple Photos.
Best of autumn in Kennebunk
Of course, this time of year, I have my eye out for great autumn shots…places where the color is at its best and well displayed. I was in the passenger seat of our car (a rare position for me to be) when we crossed the marsh at the edge of Kennebunk Lower Village, in leaf-peeper traffic at its best (or worst), and glimpsed this scene out the widow as we passed. It was overcast with a dull grey sky, so I could let the scene pass, but I would remember. I immediately began to plot how to get there safely on Indigenous People/Columbus Day Monday, when better skies were predicted, on my eTrike, without getting myself run over by a leaf peeper. By 11am the next morning the sky was promising and I got the trike out and took my chances…going the long way around to approach from the right side of the road, and avoid as much traffic as I could…as well as the stretch of horrible trike road on Rt. 9 coming into Lower Village. When I got there I found that there was enough of a shoulder on the bridge over the marsh so I could safely park my trike for the photos. I took many views of this with slightly different compositions, and picked this one as the best of the non-panoramic set. I might post the panorama another day. Anyway. This is a classic southern Maine autumn landscape. iPhone SE with Sirui 18mm ultra-wide lens. Apple Camera app with Smart HDR engaged. Processed in Apple Photos.