Archive for December, 2008
American White Pelicans
Each year Florida welcomes a certain winter visitor that is of particular interest to me: the American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos). The White Pelicans differ from our year around resident Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) in several ways – the color as the name indicates, but also in their feeding methods. Whilst we are used to see the Brown Pelican make a big splash diving for its food, the White Pelican instead floats on the surface of the water and submerges its head to scoop up fish. Quite often they work in groups in order to catch dinner.
The White Pelican is a treat to photograph and I hope to have more pictures to share with you this winter.
Website Updates
I just wanted to let everybody know that I made quite a few changes to my website tonight. I uploaded some new galleries and I added new photos to my existing galleries. Please take a look and let me know what you think of the changes.
My Photo Frames
Each year for Christmas I give some of my framed photos as gifts to my family. This year I decided to do something a little different to surprise my family. I built two types of custom frames and mounted the photos to the frames to give them a very unique look . For the river scene I used weathered pine which I felt the way I built the frame and the look of the wood complimented the picture very well. For the photos with birds I used Cedar and lined the frames with a rope border that made the photos just pop off the frames. I have had this idea for some time and I would like to offer my photos with this option for sale on my website in the future. Please let me know what you think of them. I would also like to thank Mike and Chris Hatcher of Counter Solutions, Inc for letting me build these in their shop.
A Lesson
Birds never cease to amaze me and I got a little lesson from this Tricolored Heron on Friday to reaffirm that. I was photographing this Heron and as you can see from the first photo they have a very unique way to herd the fish that they catch. They raise their wings up to help direct the fish in the direction they want them to go. The heron was using this technique and when he made his move he came up with two fish. As he was holding them in his beak I was thinking what is he going to do now. Well he had obviously learned his lesson before because he took both fish and ran to the shore and placed them on the ground and ate them one at a time. I thought for sure that he would try to eat both at the same time in the water. After watching this happen the heron taught me a lesson too never underestimate nature.
Merry Christmas
Last night I decided to take some photos of our Christmas tree and in the process I ended up doing a HDR photo of the tree. So this is my little gift to everyone I hope that you enjoy it. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope that you had a wonderful day.
Brown Pelican
I took this photo of a Brown Pelican in Ponce Inlet last Saturday. Pelicans are my favorite birds and I have always liked to take pictures of them. I have an entire gallery on my website featuring pelicans that I am constantly adding to please have a look. From time to time I will blog more about Pelicans and share more of the photos that I have of this wonderful bird.
In the field part two
Sorry it is has taken so long to follow up on my original mobile post in the field. In the original post I mentioned that Justin and I were taking HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos. HDR photos allow a greater dynamic range between the light and dark areas of a photo that normal digital imaging techniques can not capture. Generally you use 3 to 5 exposures of the same subject to create the desired look to your photo. After taking the photos you merge them together to make one composite image. In the above photos I have included samples of a finished image and the 3 exposures that were used to create the finial image. I personally love the look of HDR images and plan to do more in the future.
Scott
In the field
I am currently in the field (literally) taking HDR photos with my fellow photographer and friend Justin. I will post some photos later today.
Snowy Egret
This photo of a Snowy Egret (thanks for catching my mistake Rich) is a photo that I am always looking for. I love to take photos when there is no wind and perfect lighting to get the great reflections that this image has. I got this shot and many other great photos on this morning. If you would like to see more photos from this day they can found in my Herons and Egrets Gallery.
Ponce Inlet Lighthouse
I took this photo of the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse after almost a year of saying “that would make a great photo”. It is a angle of the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse that I have never seen before and I thought that the photo would look nice from this perspective.
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