Safety Harbor Marina Sunset

This shot is for my friend, Margo. I know she misses her second home, so I'm posting this one for her.

Every Monday night, my friends and I go to the Safety Harbor Marina for our regular Meetup. With it being so hot in Florida this time of year, we've changed our regular times so we meet at the Marina, then leave for the Safety Harbor Grille a few blocks away, then go back to the Marina or walk around downtown for our regular shoot.

This photo was made 2 weeks ago tonight when we decided to change our regular times. We're rarely at the Marina for photographs around sunset except in the Winter (if you can call it a Winter in Florida) months.

I'm really enjoying the new times. Tonight, everyone chose to walk around Safety Harbor downtown for some street shots. I begged off because I'm just 2 weeks out of my Cam Boot and cast on my foot and since I have a wedding to shoot on Saturday, I don't want to chance walking around unnecessarily. A new foot injury is not what I need right now. Although, when I injured my foot, I shot a wedding on a Golf Course. It hurt like the dickens, but I made a commitment and I had to show up; broken foot or not.

Blue Hour Safety Harbor

Monday night as usual, I went to my Monday Night Meetup with my friends. Since it's been so hot lately, we've been going to the restaurant and eating first, then going back down to the Marina to shoot.

We waited through the sunset for the blue hour. That's when I got this shot. I processed it 3 ways; the first way was using my normal post processing, then I tried the Orton Effect, which is a technique I used to use a couple of years ago. I didn't like that effect at all. I liked my normal processing, except the shadows were blocked under the docks and I wanted to bring them out.

So, I turned to HDR, which stands for High Dynamic Range processing. Our eyes can see an infinite amount of levels of light, while cameras can only see about 5 levels. What that means is that there's always a give and take situation. Either you expose for the highlights, which results in shadows that are pitch black with no detail, or you expose for the shadows and the highlights are pure white with no detail. It's up to the photographer to decide what's more important in his/her shot. With HDR, a photographer can have it all.

After viewing all three processes, I chose the HDR version to be the best. Anyway, at least that's my opinion. With art, it's all in what the viewer likes. It's subjective to interpretation based on one's personal preferences. There is no right or wrong.

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.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

This Yellow-crowned Heron was wading in the shallows looking for food when I spotted him during low tide in the Safety Harbor Marina in Safety Harbor, FL.

Yellow-crowned Herons are not nearly as common as Black-crowned Herons in this area. Yet, I've seen many more Yellow-crowned than Black-crowned Herons. It is pretty easy to tell the difference between the two. The Yellow-crowned Heron has a white or yellow crown with a white stripe just under his eye. The Black-crowned Heron has a black crown, but the rest of his face is white. They are about the same size and their feeding habits are similar. They are both active during the evening and night hours as their name suggests. Both are resident in Florida.

Since they both are active during the night, it's always a treat to see them during the day. This one was spotted just after sunset. Unlike the Black-crowned Heron, this species preys mainly on crabs and crayfish and they tend to be loners, not nesting with other Herons.

Flock of Ibis

These sacred and beautiful birds were flying over the bay at the Safety Harbor Marina today just before sunset. I love how the light was hitting them as they flew overhead.

Ibis (Eudocimus albus) were considered sacred and an object of veneration in ancient Egypt. They were even mummified along with Falcons and other sacred animals.

The Ibis is also the last wildlife to take shelter before a hurricane and the first to surface after the storm has hit.

Reflections

Last night was our monthly meetup at the Safety Harbor Marina. I think since April our group has photographed every blade of grass in that city. It's so much of a challenge to come up with different photo everytime we go there.

When I got to the marina, I couldn't help but notice these reflections. Other than this one spot, the water was a calm and quiet as glass. The only thing I could see was these reflections.

I can only hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed capturing them.