The Vinoy Tower

I shot this image during the same meetup as the last photo I posted. Rather than showing the entire photo of The Renaissance Vinoy Hotel, I chose to show only the tower. People who have visited the area know this tower well, so there is no doubt where it was taken.

The beautiful cascading Bougainvilleas on the arbor was what initially attracted me to this site. It's the only place to find "Fall" color in this part of the country. I didn't want the scene to look tropical, but rather like the season. Hopefully, I've managed what I have envisioned. Fall in New England has always been my favorite time of year. From the photos my son sent me from CT the color this year was spectacular. It must be all the rain we've had all summer long.

This was made at around 10:00 am and the sun was pretty strong. I had to be careful of extreme contrasts while not blowing out the whites. I chose F11 to get plenty of Depth of Field (DOF) at 1/320th second because even though my lens is Image Stabilized (IS), I wanted to be sure there was no evident camera shake. I used Aperture Priority mode with pattern metering at ISO 200 and a 55mm focal length with my favorite walk-around lens, a Canon 55-250mm IS lens.

Since we really don't have fall color in St Petersburg, I thought the Bougainvillas on this arbor in Vinoy Park would suffice.

Actually on Sunday, I brought my Newbie group to downtown St Petersburg for their Travel and Vacation Workshop. After the lesson, we walked around Beach Dr, pretending to be tourists and making photos.

It's funny, but people think "Travel" photography means you have to "travel" to make these kind of photos. That's just not true. Anyone can make "travel" pictures right in their home town or at the very least the nearest city. Everyone travels somewhere, and there are always tourists in your city. Someone has to take those photos; why not you!

I know what you're all thinking, "you live in Florida and everyone travels there". Yes, that's true, but I travel to Tennessee, Connecticut and New York. I also travel around Florida and all the states between Florida and upstate New York. You don't have to be on vacation to travel. Try "traveling" in your own home town. Take your camera along and make like tourists. You'd be surprised how things look when you really look at them. Give it a try--I'd be interested in how it worked out for you.

Honey Bees and Nest

During a walk on one of the trails at Boca Ciega Millennium Park in Seminole, my friends and I came upon this bees' nest high up in a tree.

You can imagine this was shot with a very, long lens. I'm allergic to bee stings, so I didn't want to aggravate these little buggers. All I could think of was that movie, "My Girl", with McCauly Culkin (spelling probably wrong).

I've never seen a nest with the honey combs sticking out of it before and thought this was kind of interesting. There must be thousands of bees on this thing! It's definitely a bee keeper's dream.

Honey anyone?

Settings used for this shot were F7.1 (my sharpest aperture) at 1/30th and ISO 100. Because I was using partial metering, and the yellows and sky were blowing out (according to my histogram), I used a compensation adjustment of -1 1/3 stops. The focal length was 194mm with my 55-250mm lens.

Wattled Crane

This Wattled Crane from Africa was photographed at the Lowry Park Zoo. I love their bright red faces. This is a huge crane, standing up to 6 ft tall. This is the second largest crane in the species, second only to the Sarus Crane.

Settings used making this photo are 1/3200 at F7.1 in Aperture Priority mode with partial metering on the bird's face at ISO 400 with 235mm focal length with my 55-250mm lens.

Pilings

While I was at The Pier with my friend, Frank, a week-and-a-half ago, I spotted the reflections of these pilings in the water. I rarely shoot anything like this, but for some unexplainable reason, I just happened to like the way they looked.

It's not my usual style, but like I've mentioned in several blogs lately, I've been working on my creativity instead of just walking up to something that looks neat, snap it and quickly walk away. I have a name for that kind of shooting. I call it a "walk up shooter". It's just this type of shooting that I've been trying to work on for several months now. I'm doing a whole lot more thinking and planning a shot before I squeeze that shutter button. Does it work? I'm not sure, but I do like this one. How do you all feel? Let me know in your comments. It would be imteresting to hear someone else's opinion.

Settings used for this shot were handheld 1/2000 at F5.6, Aperture Priority in spot focusing mode (on the reflections), ISO 400 at 240mm with my 55-250mm lens and +1/3 exposure compensation, which I judged by my histogram which was a little to the left side.

It's sometimes difficult to judge your exposure in your viewfinder window. Always trust your histogram. It never lies.

Great Blue Skimmer

I brought my Newbie Group (Tampa Bay Newbie Photographers Workshops) to Sawgrass Lake Park in St Petersburg, FL yesterday for their bi-monthly lesson and shoot.

Right after my lesson, I spotted this Dragonfly landing on a leaf in this bush just outside of the picnic pavilion where we have our lessons. I grabbed my camera right away and captured this beauty. It was funny, because we were just talking about capturing Dragonflies and how hard it is to get them.

While this position is not the most desirable position to photograph them, I'm happy with the way this grab shot came out. I only had a chance for 3 shots before he flew off. I'm fascinated by Dragonflies because I love their faces; they always look like they're smiling. I also like how delicate they are. I've never been afraid of them and just recently found out that they bite. I never knew that. They just don't look that scary. It hasn't stopped me from photographing them, though.

This was a grab shot, so the settings used were my basic starting settings. I didn't have time to adjust. Whenever I'm done reading my media card after a shoot, the first thing I do is make sure my photos transferred correctly on my computer and are still there after I remove the card from my reader. Then I put it back in my camera, format it, and reset all my settings so it's ready for the next shoot. My normal settings are: ISO200, continuous drive, F7.1, Aperture Priority, Center-weighted metering, RAW, Cloudy White Balance.

St Petersburg Skyline

My friend, Frank, and I went to The Pier in St Petersburg last week to try to capture the sunset over the St Petersburg skyline. We didn't get a lot of clouds, but the color was awesome.

This is one of our favorite haunts. We go up to the 5th floor observation deck where Cha Cha Coconuts restaurant is and shoot to our hearts content. The best thing is the wait staff will serve us out on the deck.

This is one of my favorite images from the shoot. It was shot using my Canon 20D with an 18-55mm lens. I usually don't shoot this skyline wide angle, but for some reason, I decided to give it a try and I like the results. Settings were 1/40th at F4.5 aperture, -1/3 stop eV, in aperture priority mode and average metering at ISO 400 at the 18mm focal length. I chose these settings because they're a little different from my normal settings and was looking to shoot this differently than I usually do.

I've been striving to capture images differently than what I usually see looking for the creativity in my vision. I'm very happy with the results.

Nicobar Pigeon

This is another bird from the Asian Gardens at Lowry Park Zoo. It's a Nicobar Pigeon and in my opinion, she's one of the fanciest pigeons I've ever seen. I love her colors!

These birds are from Southeast Asia, Thailand, Cambodia, Nicobar India, etc. Currently, they are OK, but are considered a near threatened species due to logging and hunting for food as well as their gizzards being used for jewelry making.

This one is a female, since she has a knob on her beak and unfortunately, her pure white tail can hardly be seen due to her position.

Settings used for this shot in bright afternoon sunlight were 1/60th at F7.1 in aperture priority mode with spot metering off the bird so I wouldn't lose her colors. I used ISO 200 (only because I forgot it was set there). I should've used 400 to get more speed on my shutter and used my 55-250mm lens at 250mm.

Black-naped Oriole

Every now and then when my life gets too hectic and I get overwhelmed with all I have to do, I take a break from everything. I stay off the computer, my camera sits and I pretty much do nothing. If any of you have been wondering, that's what I've done this past week or so.

Today, one of my friends, Kathy, got me out to the zoo. At first I was excited, then I was on the verge of changing my mind about going at all, and finally, Kathy emailed me and said she didn't want to go alone. So, I went and I'm glad I did. I got some great shots, saw an old friend, Carol and met one of Kathy's friends, Mike, from her group.

It was one of the hottest days we've had this summer, but it was worth it. Maybe I'm finally out of that funk. I only edited a few shots from today, but this is one that I really like. He's a cute little bird, not much bigger than a Quaker Parrot, but so pretty.

I promise, I'll be back to my old self. I just had to slow down a bit. I just have too many things going on all at once.

Black Skimmer Landing

In keeping with the bird theme that seems to be very popular this week on our blogs due to a couple meetups that included bird shooting, here's just one more.

Just before sunset every night, the Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls and Terns gather on the beaches to roost. This one, a Black Skimmer is just coming in. It's a pretty amazing sight to see them all lined up--usually facing the same direction roosting on the beaches.

As a bonus, I'm attaching a second image showing more of the flock. There are probably 100 or more birds on this beach just like this.

I've seen them flying at night picking up food on my canal in my back yard. It's amazing to watch how they get their food. If you look closely, you'll notice that their lower beak is quite a bit longer than the upper beak. That's so they can fly (really fast) with their lower beak in the water scooping up food to eat. They have very long wings for their body size. I'll see if I can find a photo where I've caught them swimming for a post later on.

Settings used for these photos are as follows. The shooting mode is in continuous in case one of them or many of them take off, ISO is 200 because although it is nearing sunset, it's still quite bright. The exposure is 1/250 at 7.1, in aperture priority at 250mm with my 55-250mm lens. I used partial metering off the beach so as to not blow out the whites. The shadows were lightened slightly using Lightroom.

Tricolored Heron

This Tricolored Heron was sitting at the edge of this pond the same morning I was out with my friends looking for Deer. Although my trip was primarily to hunt and capture Deer photos, I'm not one to pass up a bird shot.

This fellow was very accommodating. He was so busy gazing out over the water, I don't think he noticed me, because I was able to fire off several shots from several angles before I made him nervous enough to fly to the other side of the water.

The trick to bird photography is pretty much the same as for all wild life. Don't run up on them, instead move slowly toward them. Take a few shots from far away so he sees what you're doing isn't hurting them. Crouch down, as low as possible, so you appear less threatening. As you move closer, go even slower. Try not to appear to be stalking them as a hunter or a predator would. If the bird looks at you, look away and pretend you're not watching them. They'll think you're probably stalking something else. Practice your panning technique before your big hunting day, so you'll capture him in flight should he fly off. Be patient and you'll get the shots you want.

Settings used for this image were: Aperture Priority mode with partial metering on the Heron at 400 ISO for speed in case he flew off, and continuous shooting mode. Shutter set at 1/40th at F7.1, the sweet spot on my lens and 0 exposure compensation at 250mm with my 55-250mm IS lens.

Doe

This is a little bit more unusual for me. A friend of mine has been going to John Chestnut Park in the very early mornings and seeing many Deer. So, we decided to make it ladies day out and six of us met at 7:00 am to see if we could find some Deer.

We sure did see Deer--everywhere! The Deer were right in the field in front of the parking lot; I'd say about 20 of them in all. At first they were OK with us making pictures as long as we didn't get too close. We stayed with them as they slowly moved on toward the picnic shelters and kept right on shooting. It's strange, we were all thinking that the thrill wasn't just the fact that we found and were capturing Deer with our cameras, but the hunt was just as thrilling.

I still haven't had time with working diligently on the Safety Harbor project to edit most of the photos I've been taking recently. This is only one from this shoot.

Settings for this image were: ISO 800, because it was still pretty dark, 1/40th at F5.6, +1/3 expsure compensation to allow more light. Partial metering off the Deer, and 250mm with my stablized 55-250mm lens.

Safety Harbor Marina

Monday nights at the Marina, my photography club has their weekly meetup. While some of us shoot photos, most of us don't; we just sit around trading tips and techniques.

This Monday night, I saw these amazing clouds and liked the way they formed a semi-circle with the reflections in the water. I knew this called for a wide-angle lens. I love the way this came out. Usually, I have to tweak stuff a little bit in Lightroom and/or Photoshop. I didn't touch this one, other than resizing.

Funny thing, I like it and it's not really my style at all. I hardly ever use a wide angle unless I have to. I'm beginning to think it's time to explore what I can do with this lens.

Settings used for this image were 1/250th at F10 using 200 ISO and +1/3 exposure compensation with partial metering off the water to be sure I'd capture the reflections of the clouds at 18mm with my 18-55mm lens. The shot was made at 5:15 pm.

Muscovy Chick

This little Muscovy chick was trying to keep up with his mother. He looked so cute with those huge feet, trying to run and waddling at the same time. It's amazing how big their feet are as soon as they're hatched. They grow into them rapidly, but they just look so clumsy at this stage.

This was taken during a project for the City of Safety Harbor. One of the places to see is the Safety Harbor Linear Greenway. I've gone by it so many times on my way to our meetups at the Marina. Every time I go by it, I think that I really need to stop there for pictures. This time I finally stopped and was happy I did. This photo, of course, is not one of the ones for the city. I just love to photograph birds and the babies are just so cute, I can never resist them.

The settings for this image were 1/30th of a second at F7.1 in aperture priority mode at ISO 200. I used partial metering off the duckling and opened up 1 stop to be sure I'd get detail in his eye and dark feathers. It was taken in the early evening at about 5:00 pm under a cloudy sky.

Safety Harbor Shoreline

This beautiful scene was shot the same morning as I shot the pier at sunrise. This little part of the shoreline is to the left of the pier. I've seen this many times, but during the day it looks kind of bland. It just goes to show you how the various qualities of light can affect a scene.

When you've found a beautiful landscape, you should always photograph it at different times of day. You'll never know what beauty you can find otherwise.

Settings for this scene were as follows: It was shot at 6:50 am, just 20 minutes before sunrise at ISO 200 for 13 seconds at F16. I chose ISO 200 so I'd get less digital noise (grain) and F16 for two reasons; I wanted to be sure everything was in focus from near to far and I wanted a slow shutter speed to blur the water and make it smooth. I used Aperture Priority mode so I could set the aperture, with 0 exposure compensation and partial metering on the grass (which is as close to 18% gray as I could get. Since the light was changing very fast, I set my White Balance to Auto; not that it makes a whole lot of difference when shooting RAW. The focal length was 18mm with my 18-55mm lens.

Muscovy Family

It's so sad when I see only one duckling left out of a clutch of 8-12. These two Muscovy's are fiercely protecting this little one. In this shot, they're running for cover beneath this Elderberry bush because three Red-shouldered Hawks are flying above them searching for food. I stayed around until the hawks left so they wouldn't grab the baby.

Nature is wonderful, but so cruel at times. I don't know how these birds grieve or even why they choose to have their clutches in a lake filled with 'gators and many hawks. Year after year I watch their broods disappear. It's no wonder their clutches are so large. That old cliche, "only the strong survive" must've come from the natural world. Sometimes I wish I could protect the little babies. At least I know that if I'm outside nothing will happen to them. The hawks and the 'gators take cover. Unfortunately, I can't be there all the time. On the other hand, the 'gators and the hawks have to eat, too. It must be tough being at the low end of the food chain.

If you've never encountered Muscovy ducks, you don't know how friendly and how gentle they are. Everytime they have a new clutch, they always bring them to our yards to "visit" and show off their young. They're so adorable.

Some of the people in my neighborhood complain because there are so many of them and they even tried to have an ordinance put in place to get rid of them and make it unlawful to offer them food. We don't live within city limits so our opinion will not be heard, but the ordinance didn't pass. I'm happy about that. They know they're safe in my yard and in my neighbors' yards.

Watching them communicate with one another is such a treat to me. Muscovies don't make very loud sounds. The males sort of blow wind through their mouth; I think it comes from their throats and wiggle their tails. The females have a very low whistling sound. When they're communicating with one another, they face each other wag their tails and bob their heads and necks. It's the cutest thing to watch.

Muscovy Ducks are always welcome in my yard.

Daybreak at the Safety Harbor Pier

You'll probably be seeing a lot of Safety Harbor through my blog in the coming weeks. I'm currently working on a project to update the Safety Harbor website and for their magazine.

This is the Safety Harbor Pier taken from the Safety Harbor Marina. I've probably taken thousands of photos at this site over the last 1 1/2 years of going there every week for our regular meetups. Of all of them, this one is definitely my favorite. It was worth the effort to get up early to capture something like this.

Speaking of getting up early, I was supposed to meet my friend, Jim, there this morning at "first light". I got up, looked at my watch before putting on my eye glasses, and took off out of the door and drove like a maniac to Safety Harbor so I wouldn't miss the sunrise. Just as I was rounding the corner to the marina, I noticed the clock in the car and it said, 5:50 am. I actually got up at 5:00 instead of 6:00! So, here I was an hour early. How funny.

The settings used to capture this image were at ISO 200 (to avoid noise and to ensure a long exposure to blur the water), F16 to maximize depth of field and sharpness, at 5 seconds. The area is very well lit, so without an ND filter, I couldn't get a longer exposure. I probably could have pushed the aperture to F22 or more, but I didn't want to have to deal with sensor dust, which would get magnified at that level.

Montage

For the last five days, I've been working on a challenge with my photography students to spend 5-15 minutes every day creating one photograph of something they've found in their back yards.

While I was looking for something to photograph, I remembered seeing something that I wanted to try. This is my result. I photographed subjects that looked like the letters in my first name, then created a montage. It only took me 15 minutes to find all the letters.

It was fun looking for these, and I'll tell you that it's quite a challenge to find a new photograph every day in your own back yard. The exercise is to help my students to develop their photographic eye. It also proves that you don't have to drive 50 miles to a "great" place to make a "great" photograph. A good photograph can be found right under your nose if you just look hard enough. The previous four posts in this blog are other things I found to photograph in my yard.

If you want to develop your photographic eye, this is a simple, yet very effective way to challenge yourself. Give it a try; you'll be surprised at what you might find that you've never seen before.

They're Back!

Every year these Mottled Ducks come here to breed and raise their chicks. Today is the first day I saw them and they are a pleasure to see.

They usually have 12-15 chicks or more per clutch, but unfortunately, they lose a lot of them to the 'gators. Most of the time only 3 or 4 from each clutch survive. It's so sad.

I look forward to seeing them because not only that they've come back, but it's a sign that the weather is cooling off. This is my favorite time of year. It's not too hot and not too cold. It's just perfect. Most of the vacationers have left with their children back in school, and the snow birds haven't arrived. The beaches have emptied out and we Floridians can now start to really enjoy our paradise.

Blue Dasher Dragonfly

My photography students haven't been posting a lot to the photo albums and haven't been very active on the board in the last couple weeks. So today I gave them an assignment for a week--and told them I'd do it with them to give them ideas about subject matter.

This Blue Dasher Dragonfly is my today's contribution to the assignment.

After explaining to them that the best way to learn photography is by making pictures, looking at others' pictures and critiquing pictures. I'm sure they feel intimidated because they are beginners and they don't know how to critique, but it's all about forcing them to look--I mean REALLY look at photos taken by others and their own. In order to critique a photo, they need to look at it long enough to decide what they like about it and what they don't like. By analyzing what they like, they're enforcing that concept in their brain and getting ideas which will eventually develop their own style. Be looking at what they don't like, will make them remember that, and they won't make the same mistake. Again, they'll be developing their own style.

Back to the assignment, just in case you want to try it for yourself. They were asked to spend 15 minutes in their front or back yard every day and make a photograph. The first thing that comes to mind is there's nothing out there except grass! That won't work because in the grass, they can find all kinds of critters to make photos of, there's all kinds of detail on the house, maybe a rusty spigot, a coiled hose, well you get the picture (no pun intended).

Everyone is busy these days, and there's very little time--so we think. However, 15 minutes or 5 minutes in your own back yard will definitely yield some very good photos. Once you've made the first one, they get easier to do. People think that they need more time to make a great picture, because they have to drive 50 miles to a great place. That's not true at all. We all need to see right under our noses. Sometimes the best photographs can be found right there. Today, I went out to make the first picture. I was out there 12 minutes, I took photos of 9 totally different subjects. I'll admit, some of them weren't great, some were pretty good, but I'm trying to prove a point here. They don't all have to be great. Although I'd like it if they were.

So, those of you who are wanting to better your photography. Why not give it a try?