Wetlands - 01/17/20

2020. Finally has arrived. Little did I know what this year would turn into. Would not have guessed I would be spending 2 months on unemployment and staying safe at home. A little setback in the grand design of my photography, but I’d rather not take chances.

Back in January I was heading out to my new favorite spot at a wildlife management forest. I had been here a few times with mixed success, but this time I had found a specific area for viewing wildlife. A wetlands that actually has a shack set up as a viewing area. Now unfortunately I am over 6 feet tall and this building is definitely made to make sure little kids can see. So the bench that is built right at the window is pretty cramped for me. I’m right up against the wall so I take extra care not to bump into it and make noise. But when I’m sitting there the window is around chest height. So I have to lean and bend over a lot to get down for the viewfinder.

That being said, great spot still. I’ve been back several times since then and found a few different spots besides the shack that I can shoot from.

The first day I went was late for me, almost noon. But it was entirely clouds that day, and cold. I remember being very cold. But it was worth it to get a shot of a new bird for me.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/500 Sec - F4 - ISO 200

The Hooded Merganser. Now that’s a looker.

That was unfortunately it for that trip to the forest. I didn’t last too long in the cold, needed to get some thermals to wear. I did stop on my way back home to grab a bite to eat in the car as I looked around google maps for more areas to visit. As I pulled into a parking spot I did NOT expect to see these.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

Gulls? And not at the sea? What is this?

I learned a good bit that day when I went home to identify and research. They’re not all seagulls, and parking lots are a great place for them to scavenge food, big wide open area that they can keep an eye out for predators. Plus people will often feed them french fries or bits of food. Which isn’t good for them, stop it.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4- ISO 100

Overall not a bad day. Something new and something to learn, pretty happy with it.

The Last Day - Destin FL Vacation Part 4 - 12/30/19

Technically the next to last day, as we left the following day. But the last day I had time to go out and shoot some landscape shots that I had been wanting to do. So to a different beach, where I found a good spot to get some of the boardwalk and resorts that we had seen previously from the dolphin cruise.

I went as light as I could. Camera, lens, tripod, the bare essentials to get the shots I wanted. Most of these are HDR merged photos because I really the look you get when you have the entire photo in a good exposure.

I’ve talked about HDR before, but a quick refresher for anyone reading this that doesn’t feel like digging through this blog. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and it’s a way of taking multiple photos and developing them to be more accurate to what your eye sees. Even with the best camera technology it struggles to be able to get as bright the highlights and dark the shadows in one image. So you set up your camera and take multiple shots at different exposures. Then combine them all in your editing software. People who are much better teachers than I have written countless articles about this, just google it if you want to learn more about it.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR

The bridge you drive in on was really cool too.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/25 Sec - F11 - ISO 200

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR

Since the sun was rising behind me, the buildings were mostly dark. But the bridge had some nice golden color thanks to the sun.

I also turned around and took some shots of the sand dunes, which I had never seen before. They were really interesting, and a lot of signs instructing why they are so important and that you aren’t allowed to walk on them.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR

Destin is a beautiful place.

It was just a quick trip out in the morning, but we wanted to end the vacation how it started. So back to the beach at sunset.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/10 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/13 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/20 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

And the last thing I shot was this building, I really thought the lights for the building number were cool. And I framed it to get the moon right above it.

Because it was so very dark at that point I had to do a really long exposure to get that much light on the building. So I leaned on the roof of the car. Which got a bit of reflection.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 4 Sec - F4 - ISO 500

Dolphin Cruise - Destin FL Vacation Part 4 - 12/27/19

As the title suggests, this was the day we went on a dolphin cruise.

I obviously brought as much as I could. Figured the 300mm would be a bit too much, so I brought two camera bodies instead. With the wide angle and 70-200.

As we were sitting waiting for everyone to get on the boat and before takeoff, I took a couple photos from the boat.

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/800 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 100

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/800 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 100

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/800 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 100

Awesome Brown Pelican coming in for a landing.

As we headed out into the water I got some pictures of the boats we passed.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/250 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/250 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

There was another dolphin cruise going on at the same time, several probably. Seems to be a regular source of income for the town.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/640 - F4 - ISO 400

The pier and boardwalk in Destin is colorful.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/500 Sec - F4 - ISO 1250

As we headed out further into the water we were inbetween the main land and a bit of stretch of an island. Private condos and incredibly expensive houses, apparently celebrities own property according to the crew. We were a lot closer but I didn’t take any pictures during that. Doesn’t seem right, also not my interest.
They look so small at this distance.

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 100

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 160

Managed to get a shot of this pelican as we were about to go under a bridge.

It wasn’t too long before we got notified by the yelling from another dolphin cruise that there were dolphins in the water back behind us. They quick got that boat turned around and we kind of went around in a circle with another dolphin cruise so everyone on both sides of both boats got to see the dolphins as they came up.

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 100

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 125

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 125

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 250

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 200

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 125

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 125

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 125

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 125

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 160

They weren’t jumping up out of the water, which is to be expected. I’m very pleased with what I managed to take pictures of.

We also came along a huge gathering of pelicans.

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 320

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 400

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 400

Not quite done yet though. Even though it was very overcast and there wasn’t a chance to see the actual sunset, we actually lucked out there.

But first, a shot as we were heading out into the deep water. Nice calm blue photo.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/100 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

Then once we had some fun, there were drinks and music on this boat-full of 50 or more people.

I wasn’t so thrilled about that, but I was more than happy with the photos that came out from it. Great experience overall.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/25 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/125 Sec - F4 - ISO 200

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/125 Sec - F4 - ISO 250

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/100 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/40 Sec - F4 - ISO 160

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/125 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

So many great sunset shots. I did say this blog was to provide extra shots that I don’t put on other sections of the website. Maybe it would be better to describe it as digital vomiting photos all over this blog.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/20 Sec - F4 - ISO 3200

But also check that out. Sky was actually purple that night, really stood out with the colors on that structure. Which I believe was for a zipline.

Oh and one last thing, as we were on the boat waiting for them to tie us down before we all got up to leave. I got this great photo of a Heron who was right next to us checking out another boat that was loading up. The guy working that other boat was smart, and tossed him a fish before he got too close.

I took this photo as we just perfectly lined up with the rocking of the boat.

Canon 7D Mark II w/70-200mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 6400