Chincoteague

Went to Chincoteague, Va this week with Manassas Warrenton Camera Club friend Mike Crosby.  Weather was great and the sunrise was beautiful.  I've been there many times before and was looking for something different.  This time we were there in mid-summer, we usually go in the fall, for peak waterfowl migration.  But the birds were plentiful this morning and we both got some great shots.

This guy was pretty happy with his breakfast, but the competition was stiff to say the least.

We has some skimmers too, but they were not cooperating with us this time.  We also took a boat ride to get up close to the Chincoteague ponies.

Chincoteague Lighthouse and ponies.

So pretty much a great couple of days.  Can't wait to go back.  Next week is the pony roundup, which draws quite a crowd.  Ponies are rounded up and have to swim across the channel to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.  Sometimes prices range upwards to $10,000 for the prize ponies.

Summit Point Raceway Safari

We had our first racecar photo safari yesterday to Summit Point Raceway near Charles Town, WV.  My friend Mike Harrigan got us permission to do a safari there and arranged to get us SCCA membership passes for the weekend.  We also had media passes so we could shoot anywhere.  The attached photo is one of the open wheel racers using an umbrella to keep cool while waiting for his race to start.  Over 90 degrees in the shade with a slight breeze, but the drivers were in fireproof suits and sweating like dogs by time the race was over.  They had practice runs during the morning and then races in the afternoon.  See link for more photos.  We had a great time and also got some nice action shots.

Once in a Lifetime

I've been photographing birds ever since my father took me out to see large flocks of snow geese, when I was just a kid, in Brigantine, NJ.  Once I had my own house, I put up a bird feeder which attracted lots of birds and the love affair with bird photography started in earnest.  Since starting The Virginia Photo Safari business in 2006, my business partner, Alan DeFelice and I have been taking people out to photograph birds in some of the best locations on the east coast.  2009 was no difference.  I had rented a Canon 400 2.8 lens for the safari to Conowingo Dam on the Md/Pa border, to photograph the large number of bald eagles that congregate there every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  But the following day I still had the lens and thought Blackwater NWR would be another good place to try it out.  My long time friend Stephen Vogel went with me to Cambridge, Md to give the lens another workout.  Driving through the refuge, we had seen some eagles, mostly too far away to get a good shot, but when approaching the refuge's osprey platform, we notice a bald eagle that was fairly close.  As we drove up, another eagle landed beside the eagle that was on the platform, now we're cooking two eagles on the same perch!  After debating whether to get out of the car, we decided to slowly get out and see if they stayed put, amazingly they did.

So we got our tripods out and set up the big lenses and were prepared to shoot any possible situation.

Figuring we would get shots like this first image, two birds looking at each other, or looking the same direction, we were pretty happy with the results.  And then it happened.  It was a mated pair and the male jumped on top of the female and it was over in an instant.

What a great time to have rented that lens.  Must have had all the stars lined up for that day.  I never before or have since seen this magnificent sight.  It was truly a shot of a lifetime.

Airshow

Yesterday I had a unique opportunity to going flying and to shoot "air to air" photos of a classic military trainer, the AT-6.  Our camera club was invited to the media event the day before the "real" airshow to photograph the planes as they arrived for the show.  Included were the T-6, P-51 Mustang, the Mitchell B-25 and L-39 Albatross.  Unfortunately, the B-25 did not show up.  Meanwhile, I got invited to fly in a twin engine Cherokee and shoot the other planes in the air.  Never did that before, although I did take flying lessons at this same airport and soloed during the airshow in 1998.   Once in the plane they told us we were shooting the T-6, well, better than nothing, but not as good as the P-51.  I had taken my Canon 5dMKII and Sigma 120-300 2.8 lens to shoot the planes as they took off and landed, so I was ill prepared to shot while flying.  I took the camera up, but could not use it, because there just wasn't enough room to swing that big lens around.  Luckily I had brought my Sony P&S with the 10x zoom and 10fps capture speed.  So all the shots in the air were taken with that camera.  I thought it did an amazing job and even captured HD video as well.  I will never leave my Canon 24-105 at home again.  Lesson learned.

Upcoming Photo Safaris

                        2011 Safari Calendar

May 21 , 2011 - Longwood Gardens - Kennet Sq, Pa.

Jun 11, 2011- Old Car Museum, Culpeper, Va.

July 9, 2011 - Summit Point Raceway, Charlestown, WV

Sep 3, 2011 - Pax River Air Show -Blue Angles - NAS Patuxent River, Md.

Oct 14-16, 2011 - Chincoteague NWR, Chincoteague, Va.

Brookside Gardens

Went to Brookside gardens with friend Steve Vogel today with mid day sun shining on us.  Not only was the lighting not good, but the traffic for some reason was terrible at 10am.  Not the best lighting conditions, so the plan was shoot when the clouds hid the sun or when the flowers were in full sun, shoot in Infrared.  Best pix are on FB.  The attached photo is a three shot IR stitched photo.

NIK HDR Efex Pro

                                     before

                                        after

These are before and after shots of an old train car at Wycombe train station in Pa.  Since I am now a NIK affiliate I thought I would show a nice comparison of before and after using NIK HDR Efex Pro.

You can see in the first photo that the windows are blown out and there isn't much detail in the interior of the train car.  But after taking just three shots with the Canon 5DMKII,  and using the NIK HDR program, you can see that the detail just pops out and the windows have nice detail as well.  This process is very easy and intuitive and also fun to use.  I highly recommend it.

bluebells and other wildflowers

There is no doubt about it, photographing very small wildflowers is a challenge. After doing some research on the web and FBing Jim Clark, I headed out to Turkey Run Park in N. Va. Its on GW parkway.

I took long time friend Stephen Vogel with me, because you never know what might happen in a park around here.

Luckily my tripod goes down pretty flat because I like to photograph these little flowers from the ground up, so to speak. So we had to get "low down".

Jim Clark had told me that the Dutchman's Breeches, the white flowers that look like pants, were out but didn't last very long. That is exactly what we found, only a few plants were in good, photographic, condition. Next came the bluebells which were down by the Potomac River. An easy walk down, but for two old guys in their 60's it was a trek to get back to the parking lot.

Finally we decided to check out the Stone Bridge in Manassas. My friend Lorrie Herman was there with some other artists and thought it would be fun to shoot them painting.

Much to my surprise they were painting the trees and not the huge field of bluebells. Lorrie let me take her photo painting and then we left for lunch. Great day and great weather, so nice to be retired and able to escape on a weekday.

Although most of my images from Charleston and the Magnolia gardens were HDR. This one is not. I like the clean look and the fallen azalea blossoms. This may become one of my favorite photos.

Charleston Rookery at the Magnolia Gardens

This white egret was building a nest and kept going back and forth through the same area, so after two trips I got the idea and tried to include the reflection. We stayed in this spot for over a half hour.

Once he got to the nest the other egret helped him place the stick and then he would take off and get another one.

Azaleas and Spanish Moss at the Magnolia Gardens plantation in N. Charleston, SC. We were there last weekend and the azaleas were in full bloom. It was so beautiful. This shot is an HDR photograph, using 3 exposures and blending them in NIK HDR Efx Pro. There is also a rookery there and I will have a photo on my next post.

The Making of a Lighthouse Photograph

This image was photographed at Folly Beach near Charleston, SC, Friday evening. I had taken several photos with a couple of filters and liked parts of each one.

I loved the waves at 1/25 of a second, the water at 8 seconds and the clouds with a polarizer. So.....I layered all three images and masked in the parts I wanted and masked out the parts I didn't like. So this image is three in one, the clouds with a Circular Polarizer, the waves and rocks at 1/25th and the water utilizing the Singh-Ray Variable Neutral Density filter. The Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter is expensive but can decrease the light by 8 stops, which is very good for smoothing out water movements, like creeks and waterfalls. My only concern now it that the horizon is too centered. It's not really centered, pretty close, but I don't want to lose the clouds by cropping the top or lose the sand by cropping the bottom. So I think it's finished.

Magnolia Gardens and Plantation

Had a great couple days with photo friend Mike Crosby at the Magnolia Gardens in Charleston, SC. Here is just one of many images that are now on FB.

Cherry Blossom Time

Va Photo Safaris

Tomorrow is the sixth anniversary of Virginia Photo Safaris.