The Indian Shores Sky

The types of images above are best made with a tripod. But, as I indicated in yesterday's post, I didn't travel with a tripod. This limited me in certain ways. Particularly, it was next to, if not impossible to attempt catching the nice, smooth backwash effect as the water makes its way back the ocean from the beach. I am not sure if I am describing this in the best way. But many photogs find (or place) a shell in the foreground to anchor the scene and shoot a slow exposure of the water as it rushes back over the shell. It gives a nice silky look that I like. Also, crisp night scenes to include sunsets and cityscapes were pretty much out of the question. Like I indicated in another post, it was a family vacation and I would take what I could get from what time and gear I had.

Anyway, all the images here were handheld. There really isn't much, if any, camera movement noticeable in these. That's because I used a relatively open aperture. The types of images here are best exposed with a small aperture for greater depth of field. That's where the tripod (and remote shutter release) assists you.

The one with the beach in the extreme foreground was taken from the balcony of our condo. The other two were taken from somewhere on that beach.

More From The Shore

I travelled light on this vacation. For me, that means no tripod (sinful) and no 300mm f/2.8 lens. Everything else goes and is packed in a Lowe Pro Trekker backpack-style camera bag that I carry with me everywhere.

My tripod, while carbon fiber and fairly compact for its size, was an investment and I don't let it out of my sight. Meaning, I won't pack it in checked luggage and I am not sure if I would be allowed to hand-carry it on the plane. So, on trips made by plane I am sans tripod. Not the best of situations. I use Gitzo legs (tripod) with a Really Right Stuff BH-55 head. Tony Sweet recommended this combination to me some time ago while I was a student in one of the many classes he conducts every year.

At the time, I was lugging around a Bogen aluminum tripod with a center column and a 3-way tilt panhead. I'm not sure if everyone knows what I am referring to here, but that thing was a beast. Before Tony convinced me otherwise, I thought I had the best combination going. Don't get me wrong, the current combination that I use was a fairly expensive investment. But as Tony wisely told me, you will have a system that will never require replacement or upgrade. So true, unless it comes up missing which is why I don't take it on plane trips. Speaking of center columns on tripods, the Gitzo doesn't have one. The BH-55 mounts directly to the legs. That's the only way to roll. It creates a much more stable base. Another wise Tony Sweet comment, "Why put a monopod on top of a tripod?" Excellent point.

The image above was taken from a parking lot looking toward the shore. That's a beach umbrella in the background.

Indian Shores Florida - What's a Beach Without a Bucket?

Our trip to Indian Shores was a vacation. It wasn't a photo expedition, a photo surfari, or a photo trek. With that in mind and still wanting to make sure I did find some photo ops, I did a little research about the area and managed to get up early some mornings and venture out on my own. I don't know about you, but when I am out looking for scenes and shooting images, nobody wants to be around. I take too long. I take too many shots. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Vacations are always too short. You try and cram as much in as you can in a certain number of days and many times you go home exhausted. Exhausted from a trip that took you away from work and the routine of your daily life. A trip you took with the intent of relaxing and decompressing in order to get back to the real world feeling fresh and ready to take things head on. I know most, if not all, have felt this way at one time or another. It's funny. We joke about it. We accept it. And we do it again the next year.

We did lots of things on vacation, many of which I didn't document with a camera. I captured enough to personally remind us of the great time we spent in and around Indian Shores. And, I believe I managed to get a few keepers to satisfy my photography addiction.

*By the way, for those of you that believe I spelled "safari" wrong, it's a play on words, haha.

Vacation Indian Shores

As I have noted in recent posts, we vacationed in Florida. Indian Shores specifically. The plane ride from Virginia to Florida was a bit rough. More turbulence on a flight than I can recall in recent years (military flights excluded, haha). We never flew over water so I don't believe the seat cushion/flotation device was ever an issue.

Indian Shores is a barrier island on the west coast of Florida. It's a beautiful part of the State. Keep up with the blog for more images and notes from the trip. You can subscribe to the feed by clicking on the orange RSS icon.

Also, most images in this blog can be enlarged by left clicking on the image.

All images in this post were captured with an iPhone.

Great Egret

We recently took a trip to Indian Shores, Florida. It's on the Gulf side of Florida. The image above as well as the Blue Heron in the previous post were both made on the beach. It's home to lots of shore birds throughout the year. I am processing images from the trip and will post more images and information on the trip in future posts.

The Great Blue Heron

High Key Flower Image

Using a tabletop, I placed these three flowers on a white plate and used window lighting as well as artificial light and reflectors to make this image. I added texture in post processing. I have other images from this mini-session but have yet to process anything else.

Before and After Mirror Montage

The two images here show how a single image can be presented in different ways. The first is the original image (some texture added, of course). The second image is simply the first image using a mirror montage as mentioned in other posts.

If you work on this technique and decide to use textures as I did here, I recommend first creating the mirror montage then apply the texture. I first tried by simply making a mirror montage of the first processed image (after the texture was applied ~ lazy, I guess). But, it didn't work so well. Too much texture and not enough control of the texture. So, I went back to the files and used the original, pre-textured image, made a mirror montage, then applied the texture and adjusted it to my liking.

When it comes to techniques like this, the bottomline is its' all a matter of personal taste and satisfaction.

Differences

Here are two images depicting different tastes, different flavors and different attitude - literally and photographically.

PapayaScape and Andre Gallant website

A simple image of a sliced papaya and texture.

By the way, in a previous post I mentioned that Andre Gallant provided details on his website on how to do photo montages. Well, that was on his previous website edition. He has since changed the formatting and design of his website. Note that at this point, he hasn't included any instructional material.

I really enjoy his photography. It looks like he is in the process of populating galleries with newer images as well as some of his older work. Hopefully, he will archive lots of his older work. I never tire from going back and reveiwing all his work.

Mourning Dove from the Winter Window

Yet another image from the Winter Window. The doves seemed to stay close to the area over the winter. I guess they recognize a good, consistent food source when they see (or taste) one. The one in the image is taking a short winter break.

Key Lime Cupcakes and Zooborns

Above is another set from the Cupcake Campaign. This was a tasty cupcake. I like anything with Key Lime in the title. I love the Florida Keys, too. The entire system of keys is great, but I am partial to Marathon and points south. Everyone has their favorite.

Also, there is this neat website that shows images of newborn zoo animals from zoos all around the world. It's called Zooborns. All the babies are great, but I am partial to the otters, fennec foxes, ferrets and red pandas. Everyone has their favorite.

Textures and Flowers

This image was made using similar techniques discussed in the previous post. I tried it with and without a black border and it looked better to me without.

Some Fun With a Montage and Textures

I am getting some more mileage out of the tulip beds in D.C. The image above was made using a mirror technique. This involves taking the original image, duplicating it, flipping it and joining the two together. It's not a secret technique. Many photographers use the technique. But, Andre Gallant, one of my all-time favorite photographers is an absolute master at photo montages. He explains the technique on his website here . However, he not only explains the technique but also provides outstanding images that demonstrate the technique in his book, "Dreamscapes." See page 39 for the mirror technique. I caution you to not skip a single page of this book. It is full of incredible images using a variety of photo montage techniques. I digress.

Back to the image. I then applied a sandstone texture. On top of that I used a grunge-type texture and finished it off with a black border. The original image was captured with a LensBaby 2.0.

Winter Window Images

Here are two more images from my Winter Window. I want to preface this with I do not profess to be a bird expert or even a "birder." What I know about birds is only from what I have observed (mostly casual) and read (which is very little). I have a book sitting on the window sill of my Winter Window. As I see a bird I do not recognize, I use this book to help identify it and then read the facts about the bird. While this blog is mainly about photography (and our ferrets on occasion), I think it's a good thing to pass on a little info about the subject matter from time to time.

The first bird is a Dark-Eyed Junco. I was amazed to learn that this bird migrates from Canada to Virginia and parts further south. From what I have observed, it's mainly a ground feeder and they hang out in fairly large numbers. A very common sight around here in winter.

The second bird is an American Gold Finch. What a beautiful bird this is. The male takes on a bright color of yellow, however, during the winter it loses this color and looks much like the female does year round. Female birds, for the most part, lose out when it comes to color, don't they? This bird lives in Virginia all year. I counted 27 Gold Finches in my tree at one point. If you want to attract them, use Nyjer thistle seed. Wow. They devour this stuff. I put the seed in a "seed sock." Works great. Alas, they have all but disappeared from around the home. We did get to see quite a few males with the bright colors before they left. But, now that food is abundant, I suppose they have moved on to areas closer to open fields. Look for them in open areas hanging on thistle. I see them on golf courses quite a bit during the summer.

All B/W conversions done with Nik Software's Silver Efex Pro.

Cardinal In Winter

During the winter months, we spend quite a bit of time on weekend mornings watching birds through a window and from the comfort of our home.

I make it a point to keep several feeders and water (heated bird bath) available for the birds that continue to make Virginia their home during this time of the year. It's a dedicated task because it seems that the birds come to depend on the feeding "stations." I'm sure that they would find somewhere else to gather food if I stopped, but I like the idea that they know they can come to our yard, find food, eat and build energy to get them through the winter.

I started capturing shots of the different birds as they perched on the tree closest to our window. Grab shots, snap shots really. Through the window, no less. Most were captured with an 80-200mm f/2.8 lens and hand held.

I really have just started processing them. I filed them away in one of my external hard drives and have just begun to revisit them. Looking at them brings back those mornings in winter and, for me, I see personality in each one. They endured the winter and some have gone on to find food (and mates) elsewhere. Others stay close by and visit daily. I maintain the feeders and bath year round.

I add a hummingbird feeder starting in spring and we now have several that not only drain the feeder but also find the nectar (and insects) from the flowers I have planted around the home a part of their daily diet.

I will publish the Winter Window images periodically as I get to them.

More Tulips and Tungsten

The above image is the exact image from the last post except I brought it into ACR and changed the White Balance to 2800 (from 5250). Wow, I really, really like this one. The colors are magical. For me, the image from the last post is remarkable as well. I love the complementary colors of red and green. Both of these will make outstanding canvas gallery wraps.

Tulips, Texture and Tungsten from Spring

The first image was captured from one of many tulip beds planted around Washington, DC every year. This was taken at f/22 and a 1/2 second shutter. Slight movement up during the exposure qualifies this as a pan. I added a bit of texture and watercolor effect.

The second image is from the same tulip bed. However, the lens was at f/14 and the shutterspeed was 1/8 of a second. The camera movement was different as well. As you can see, during the exposure, I moved the camera in what could be described as a small "u." This is evident from the elongated white lines in the image.

It's likely you are saying this can't be the same tulip bed, the colors aren't even close to being the same as the image above. It's true, the colors aren't the same. But, it is from the same bed of tulips. During the initial processing of the image, in the Raw Converter, I changed the White Balance to Tungsten. This changed the color temperature from 5250 to 2850. Much cooler in more ways than one. I also added some film grain effect to the image via Nik Software Color Efex Pro 3.0.

The final image is a "mirror" of the Tungsten-converted image.

Some Ferret News

First, Bobby had successful surgery on Wednesday and he came home that evening. He is doing well. We have been keeping up with his medications. Amoxicilin and Pepto three times a day and pain medication once a day. Everything seems to be healing well. He has a good appetite. For now, we mostly let him out on his own so the other two ferrets down involve him in the rough-housing that usually goes on. He has a followup next Saturday.

Also, the Conservation and Research Center has verified that Tilly, the black-footed ferret, has been artificially inseminated and is due on June 23. Everyone keep your fingers crossed and your eyes glued to the FerretCam.

Bobby, The Surfer Dude Ferret

Last week we took two of our ferrets (Ariel and Bobby) in for their annual check-up and shots. Yes, we have a third ferret, Apache, but he is on a different annual schedule.

We suspected that Bobby may have some type of digestive issue so we mentioned that to the vet. He decided to run a battery of blood tests. While things concerning the digestive issue were negative, it was discovered that he has a very low glucose level. This can really only mean one thing, insulinoma. Essentially, tumors on the pancreas. It's an unfortunately common condition among domestic ferrets. He hasn't really exhibited any of the classical signs of insulinoma except maybe a bit less active than we are accustom to for him. He is our "surfer dude" ferret and has always been laid back so it's hard to say. Maybe some momentary staring into space, but he's just about completely blind so he stares around alot anyway.

He is scheduled for surgery this Wednesday. We hope and pray that everything will turn out well for Bobby. He has a great personality and we look forward to many more years of fun and entertainment from him.