Well, I really do need to go out and shoot some new material and it looks like the weather will be improving this week so I will have the opportunity. This was from my first day in California at the Colusa National Wildlife refuge. The heron was pretty far away even for a 600mm lens and I had to crop this alot. It still looks pretty good at high resolution but not to happy with the jpeg version.
Category Archives: Nature
Day 75 – Battle
One of the high
lights of our visit to the elephant seal rookery was this battle between two alpha males for dominance of the beach. You can see the cars from previous battles as well as some blood from this one on their necks.
Day 74 – Merganser
Here is a
nother duck from yesterday’s outing. This Merganser was hard on the heels of his lady love. Guess it is that time of year for ducks too.
These guys move very fast and I had to pan to get a sharp shot. Many failures in that regard but this one actually turned out!
Day 73 – Wood Duck
I decided it was time for some new material and headed down to Lithia Park to look for Wood Ducks. Found them, along with some Mergansers and Mallards. I’m pretty happy with this image because they move pretty fast and getting one sharp in the water is a bit of challenge.
Day 72 – Tree Abstract
I love explor
ing that never never land where art meets photogaphy. And this image is a great example. It started with a tree that I shot at low ISO and slow shutter speed while deliberately moving the camera. That gave me the nice light streaks. Then I took it into Photoshop and increased the saturation. Then I took it into Topaz Texture Effects and just started looking for a look I liked. Then I drilled down and started messing with the textures and light leaks and finally came up with this image that I love. You can still see the tree in there somewhere and the texture I chose gives a hit of a forest. The light leak suggests sunbeams streaming through but I took the opacity down to make it subtle. I would definitely hang this one on my wall!
Day 70 – Prickly Pear
Here’s something a little different. I found this Prickly Pear cactus in the courtyard at San Miguel Mission. I love the simplicity of green cactus, red buds and blue sky.
Day 62 – Sea Otters
I had a little time to go back to Morro Bay and photograph Sea Otters today. And I am so glad I did! I thought I was doing great at the original Sea Otter sighting spot but two different people stopped to tell me to go down by the Great American Fish Company where they were really close.
Well, I didn’t really know where that was but I spotted it on the way out and decided what the heck. They were so close I could get intimate portraits like this with the 150-600mm zoom lens. So sweet. Post processing as usual. Detail, sharpness, saturation and darkening on the edges.
Day 60 – Elephant Seal
Much of the day today was spent looking at, photographing and learning about Elephant Seals. this one won on sheer cuteness factor.
Day 59 – Racoon
On a bird walk this morning this mammal made a surprise visit.
Day 58 – Brown Pelican
I was out to see Sea Otters at Morro Bay but this Brown Pelican flew in and stole the show. It’s been a long day and that’s all I have to say about that.