Molten Water |
Friday, March 23, 2012
Lindsey's Molten Water
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Morning in the Swamp
Sandhills Alight |
Nearby is a small marsh area with some open water, the perfect place for waterfowl to roost overnight and a hangout for cranes and other birds and animals. After setting a camo tent up the previous week to photograph some eagles, I decided to just move it down the road and find a concealed place to try my luck here. Sneaking through the swamp grass in the pre-dawn and brightening sky, already the calls of cranes and nervous cackle of geese could be heard. Managing to slip into the tent, the tripod was set and camera functions checked. The small zippered window provided a great view of the water and hopefully wouldn't spook the birds. Several pairs of geese noisily staked out their claims in different corners of the pond, while a drake wood duck made a quick landing in front of me.
My plan was to be all "professional-photographery" here, ready at an instant to click off award winning images. It was not the case in the end. Not wanting to have too much noise, I left the ISO fairly low, which in turn gave me too slow a shutter and blurry photographs of some of my feathered subjects. Two cranes suddenly launched out from some cattails and quickly I just panned and fired away. Everything was motion blurred, but the image above grew on me. It looks like a slapped on Photoshop painterly filter, but in reality it was almost stock with some noise reduction.
Blackbird in Flight |
Hoodies Checking In |
Sooo, back to the Black Birds. It's not terribly exciting, but I did like the tack sharpness of the focus here, which is surprising considering the lens really had to hunt around to lock onto anything in this photograph. A simple picture, but it holds my interest for a little while. No worries that it'll end up in National Geographic!
As quickly as the day wakes with a start in the marsh, it also ends....most of the interesting wildlife has moved on to daytime duties and quickly it became much too warm for a mid March day-but that seems to be the theme this year. I'll return and keep working on that winning (in my mind) photograph here in the swamp, a place with the sights, smells and sounds blend for a perfect start of a day.
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