Willet on Captiva Island Beach
This is my attempt to breathe some subtle life into a very ordinary photo (with a little help from Photoshop's texturizer functionality).
Little Blue Heron Portrait
Linda captured this Little Blue Heron greeting the sunrise at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
And here it is again in black and white.
And here it is again in black and white.
Another Little Blue Heron at Sanibel
Backlighting is tough for me (I'm not a big fan), but there is still quite a bit of detail in this photo.
Red Shoulder Hawk at Sanibel Island Florida
Near the end of a morning wildlife drive at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge I spotted this beautiful red shoulder hawk content to pose for pictures.
Ibis at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
This photo was taken just before sunset on Sanibel Island. This was one of 16 different species we saw on Saturday.Heron at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
We spent the weekend at Sanibel Island. This photo was taken on the wildlife drive at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. There were some manatees playing near the shoreline and out of the corner of my eye I noticed this white colored heron looking for an "easy" breakfast meal.
Hibiscus Close-ups
These pictures are a little fuzzy because they are hand held and they were taken in windy conditions, but I like them anyway.
Photoshop Experimenting
Linda took some photos last weekend of birds eating at our backyard bird feeder. The subject was in shade and there was quite a bit of glare from the plastic on the feeder itself.
Here is the original:
Here is the original:
After 7 minutes of fine tuning in Photoshop using the manual tools:
Here's another attempt using several of the automated one-click features:
Egret in Flight
This is the same photo I posted earlier today (see below). As promised, I processed it in Photoshop to sharpen it a little, crop it, and adjust the color slightly. Better? I think so. You be the judge. If you double click the photo, you can see it in a larger size. You might be surprised.
Egret
This is an untouched photo of an egret in flight as we sat parked at the edge of Tampa Bay near St. Petersburg. (I'll clean this up a little when I have time and repost it.)
This is not the egret in flight from above. This was another one sitting very near our parking spot.
It always amazes me how many birds and other wildlife that you see in Florida around most any body of water. We've lived in Florida 6 1/2 years and definitely don't take it for granted, but I'm surprised how many who've been here many more years that do.You can't see it from this photo, but there was a big pile of trash very near this spot. It amazes me how some people have not appreciation or consideration for others or our nature friends.
White Ibis
I'm not crazy about the shadows in these pictures, but as Linda often says, wildlife doesn't always care about the wants and wishes of their photographers.I had double knee surgery several weeks back and after three weeks in a wheel chair and two days on crutches, I just had to get out of the house this morning. I took these pictures out of the passenger side window.
Florida Sandhill Crane
This morning we saw a pair of sandhill cranes out for a morning stroll. The ground was soft from all the rain we've been getting. We watched them for several minutes and I snapped this picture out of the passenger window. They were pretty successful finding worms for breakfast.
Rain - At Last
Our desert rose's love the sub-tropical climate of the Tampa Bay area. They like it dry, but seem to take massive amounts of rain without too much trouble. This one sits on the front porch and took the full brunt of 2 1/4 inches one recent afternoon and evening.
We hadn't had rain for 5 or 6 weeks at our house, but when it rains in Florida, it REALLY rains. We got 5 1/2 inches in a week. The beds in the front of the house appreciated it. The crown of thorns and coleus plants appreciated it.
Why Sony A700?
All pictures on this photo blog were taken with my Sony A700 ($1,100 retail). Most of them were also taken with the Tamron 300 mm zoom lens ($175.00 retail through Dell.com).
Occasionally, I receive questions about why I chose to purchase a Sony A700 instead of a similar Nikon or Canon DSLR. Anyone that knows me understands that I am not one to blindly follow the crowd. The last thing I would do is purchase a particular brand because it's what everyone else expects me to do. But, the single biggest reason I purchased a Sony...the stabilized lenses for Nikon and Canon cost an arm and a leg.
I originally planned to purchase the entry level Olympus DSLR, but after holding one in my hands at the camera shop a few times, I ruled it out. Some of the Zuiko lenses made for the Olympus are class leaders, but the Olympus felt tiny in my hands. I found it uncomfortable to operate the controls on the Olympus E510.
After holding the Sony A300 and A350 in my hands, I had my answer. Plus, all the Sony's have in camera stablization, which makes the lenses less expensive. (I don't own any yet, but some of the popular Minolta lenses will fit the Sony as well.) I chose the A700 over the A300 and A350 based on reviews I read on several camera discussion boards and reviews of the products by other camera owners.
I recently upgraded the Firmware from version 1.0 to 4.0 and the results are even better. Version 4.0 allows me to take better advantage of the Photoshop editing capabilities for RAW image files.
I'm also very happy with the photos taken with the Tamron zoom lens. For $175, it does a great job. I'm not sure $5,000 for a Canon or Nikon stablized lens would make the same amount of difference in my end results.
Based on this CNET article, it looks like I made a pretty good choice.
Occasionally, I receive questions about why I chose to purchase a Sony A700 instead of a similar Nikon or Canon DSLR. Anyone that knows me understands that I am not one to blindly follow the crowd. The last thing I would do is purchase a particular brand because it's what everyone else expects me to do. But, the single biggest reason I purchased a Sony...the stabilized lenses for Nikon and Canon cost an arm and a leg.
I originally planned to purchase the entry level Olympus DSLR, but after holding one in my hands at the camera shop a few times, I ruled it out. Some of the Zuiko lenses made for the Olympus are class leaders, but the Olympus felt tiny in my hands. I found it uncomfortable to operate the controls on the Olympus E510.
After holding the Sony A300 and A350 in my hands, I had my answer. Plus, all the Sony's have in camera stablization, which makes the lenses less expensive. (I don't own any yet, but some of the popular Minolta lenses will fit the Sony as well.) I chose the A700 over the A300 and A350 based on reviews I read on several camera discussion boards and reviews of the products by other camera owners.
I recently upgraded the Firmware from version 1.0 to 4.0 and the results are even better. Version 4.0 allows me to take better advantage of the Photoshop editing capabilities for RAW image files.
I'm also very happy with the photos taken with the Tamron zoom lens. For $175, it does a great job. I'm not sure $5,000 for a Canon or Nikon stablized lens would make the same amount of difference in my end results.
Based on this CNET article, it looks like I made a pretty good choice.
Phalaeonopsis Orchid
I purchased this orchid for $7. I know nothing about orchids, but for a few dollars I figured I could learn.
Herrmann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions
The Herrmann Family in Myakka City, FL has been training Lipizzan stallions for many, many decades. We recently visited the ranch and enjoyed one of the winter training sessions. The courbette, levade, and capriole are traditional Airs Above the Ground maneuvers that date back to ancient times. You can lead a bird to water....
I think this is a warbler of some kind. It's hard for me to tell, but perhaps this is a pine warbler?
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