Yaupon Holly

I thought by now you're all getting sick of my birds, so I'd post something a little more in season.

This is Yaupon Holly. Although the leaves don't have the traditional points that you'd expect to see, it is definitely in the Holly family. It's also one of the more seasonal-looking plants that one would find in nature. I found this during my meetup at Lake Seminole last Sunday. The bush was pretty full, so I got under the branch and shot up at the sky. This way, it eliminated the busy background, and it helped to make the plant stand out more. Yaupon Holly can be found in Florida growing in upland woods, streamsides, pondsides, dunes and pine flatwoods.

Settings used for this shot were, Aperture priority, with partial metering on the plant, ISO 400, 1/80th @ F5.6, -1/3 exposure compensation. I chose ISO 400 because it was very cloudy and their wasn't much light as you can tell by the settings used. The -1/3 exposure compensation was to keep the sky from blowing out.

This is another shot with a loss due to jpg compression for the site. This is much brighter not compressed.

Great Egret

I don't think I've posted any birds in a little while. This one was shot at Lake Seminole Park yesterday while I was teaching a class.

He was so funny, he just came up to the picnic table where I was speaking to my group about exposure, and he was just begging to be photographed. I could see everyone getting a bit edgy, wanting to shoot him. He was posing so nice. Finally, I relented, since they weren't listening anyway. As soon as I said, "Well, what are you all waiting for? He's posing just for you". You could hear all the shutters being released. While they were shooting, I answered any quick exposure questions about shooting all white birds. Of course, all the while wanting to shoot him as well. I just couldn't help myself, I had to shoot him, too!

Settings used for this shot; ISO 400 because it was a cloudy day, and I needed more light. F5.6 at 1/250 in case he moved and because I was handholding the lens, +2/3 exposure compensation to capture detail in the whites without them going too gray, Aperture Priority Mode with partial metering on the bird. My focal length was 250mm with my 55-250mm lens.

Lake Seminole in HDR

Today I took my students to Lake Seminole Park for a lesson on exposure. This is one of the original images I made with the class. This image looked like it would make an excellent HDR study, so I tried it with this one. When I downloaded my photos to my computer, I noticed that I deleted the -2 stop exposure by mistake, so I made a pseudo HDR. I'm surprised it came out so well from one image.

The second image is the HDR image. As you can see, this one is much, much better. I don't like HDR when it's done over the top. It seems to present unnatural colors and a lot of noise, and I'm very happy with the way this one turned out. It's much brighter, the colors are more saturated and vibrant, and it's natural and believable.

Settings used for the original image are, ISO 200 because it is a cloudy day and the sensor needs more light for a proper exposure, Aperture Priority mode, which I use for about 95% of all my photography. The shutter speed was 1/100 at F7.1, which is the sharpest or sweet spot of my lens, 0 exposure compensation, with partial metering off the trees, which was the most important part of the scene (actually the greenery and reflections), 36mm with my 18-55mm lens.

Winding Brook

Shooting landscapes isn't really my strong point, but every now and them I come up with one I like.

This one was taken the other day while I was out shooting with my friends at Lake Seminole Park in Seminole, FL.

Florida (at least this part) doesn't have its own rock, so we either have to truck it in or make it. These "rocks" appear to be man made; but I like the way their placed on the edges of this brook.

Double-crested Cormorant

My friends and I were on our way to Boca Ciega Millennium Park today when we spotted Lake Seminole Park on the way. We decided to stop there first and check it out and found it's a great place to shoot.

This is one of many shots I took today. I always have trouble with the exposure with these black birds, but I like the way this one turned out. I rarely can catch those beautiful green eyes, but this time it came out perfect. A little something got lost in the jpg conversion, but the full shot is one of my best (if I must admit it).

These Cormorants are usually pretty skittish, but this guy let us get fairly close--to my surprise.

I plan on going back to that park often--it's a super place for wild life, birds and beautiful scenery. It just doesn't get any better than that.