Archive for August, 2011

… when they are not in the nest with the chicks? Well, for one thing they go get something to feed the chick. As most of you realize, competition for food can be fierce. At other times, animals work together. In the case below, a gull takes advantage of a perch on the pelican’s head to get food. After the pelican makes its dive, the gulls in this particular area land on the pelicam’s head. From that vantage point the gull scarfs up any remnants that may surface from the pelican’s dive. It is a behavior I haven’t seen anywhere else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After getting the kids something to eat and feeding them, then it is time for a bath!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like a good day all around!

Regards,

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all for the comments on the previous post about the pelican chicks. I thought as a follow up I would post two more images of pelican chicks. These were taken on the same trip as the previous pelican image as well as the spoonbill images recently posted. These two images below were taken from the pontoon boat. The camera was handheld. I was using a 70-200mm lens with a 2x extender. The first image captures some interaction between the two chicks. The second image show a quieter moment in a a nest where there is only one chick. As always, feel free to post your questions or comments. Let me know if you want the camera tech specs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Jim

Psalms 19:1-4

….. a photo of a baby pelican? That was the question I was asked at my last arts and crafts festival in May. I had to confess that I did not have a photo of a baby pelican. Not only that, I admitted that I had never seen one! Well, that all changed just a few short weeks later. The first weekend in June I went on a photo safari of the Alafia banks. My guide was the famous James Shadle. James is a Florida master naturalist and professional photographer. He is sponsored in part bey Sigma lenses. I had attended a workshop with him previously and could not wait to get back. James has a pontoon boat that he uses to get people close to the birds without violating the bird’s comfort zone.

He piloted the pontoon boat around a spoil island so we could get a water view of the various birds nesting in the small trees at the water’s edge. As we rounded a corner, there they were… baby pelicans. The image below shows just one of the many nest we came across. SO the next time I am asked a question about baby pelicans, I can take the conversation a little further. If you want the specs on the photo just let me know.

 

Regards,

Jim

I expect this to be my last post about the July trip to the Seattle, Washington area plus the cruise to the Alaska inside passage. For this review, I chose to do a slideshow using Animoto. I have attempted to get the images in order beginning and ending in Seattle. The parade was a July 4th parade in beautiful downtown Skagway, Alaska! The first glacier is Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau. The second glacier is Endicott Arm Glacier south of Juneau. The water lilies are at Buchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia. Let me know if you have any questions about any of the images. Feel free to post any comments about the images or video.

Regards,

Jim

I have to talk about two things unrelated…. but they are. They are both about photos. I posted on Facebook a photo of me at the U.S. National park Service Visitor’s Center, Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska. My wife, Claire, took the image with our pocket walk around, all weather, camera. We were there on July 3rd. That image is shown below.

The other subject has to do with the lily images I posted earlier. I have had questions about other lily images and where people can find them. Here are the links: http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=11&action=viewalbum&user_id=53630&album_id=392977&event= and http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=11&action=viewalbum&user_id=53630&album_id=255369&event= . The first link is the Artsy gallery. The second link takes you to the natural shot.

 

In the meantime, here is my happy face in front of the blue ice of the Mendenhall Glacier……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Jim

 

That is what I said to my wife as we were making our way through beautiful Buchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia. For the duration of our cruise, there were at least two other cruise ships with the same itinerary. We had been anticipating a peaceful walk through beautiful, well manicured grounds. Well, we found the beautiful and the well manicured, but it was anything but peaceful. There were people everywhere. At times, it was shoulder to shoulder as we progress through the various garden sections. It was a frustrating exercise to soak in the surroundings. As time was approaching to get back to the bus, I finally surrendered and said, “I’ve had enough. Let’s go!”

As we switched gears to make it our mission to flee the crowd, we headed for the exit. All of a sudden, the crowd thinned which allowed us to pick up speed for the exit. Just as we hit the clear, we passed a pond with water lilies in bloom. I hit the brakes to take in the gift before me. I ended up taking several images that could be some of the top images taken from the entire trip. The first image is one where I made a few basic adjustments. The second image is the first image with a software filter allied to it to give the image its artsy (high dynamic range) effect. Contact me for the technical details if you are interested.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the best,

Jim

As I keep going through all of the images of the recent trip to Alaska, I find myself looking for different way to display various images. believe it or not, it is somewhat of a tedious task to go through so many images. As I go through them all the magnificence and grandeur of Alaska returns. The images captured don’t convey how awesome it really is. It is the equivalent of seeing a photo of a Space Shuttle photo but not being there to experience the vibrations and sounds.

After taking another pass at some of the images today, I decided to “play” a little bit to see what I could do with some images of ice flows and one of Endicott Glacier. The first two are the ice flows. I photographed each of them from our balcony on the cruise ship. In the first image, I added a zoom blur effect to the image using Topaz Lens Effects motion blur zoom 1 preset. On the second ice flow image I used Topaz Lens Effects motion blur spiral preset. The third image is a close up of Endicott Glacier. I added the snow fall using On One Software, Photo Tools landscape preset for snow. If you want to know more about how to do any of this, please contact me. If not, enjoy the images. I would be interested in knowing what you think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Jim

The image below is a photo merge of seven different images to give you a panoramic view of the Endicott Arm Glacier., Alaska. As I said un the previous post, this glacier is south of Juneau. It is recommended when taking images for a panoramic merge that one use a tripod. I hand held the camera. This is the view that we had from our balcony room on the cruise ship. The breeze coming off the glacier kept the air temperature at a cool 48 degrees on July 5th. It was a great morning. we had ordered room service for breakfast. Still in our pajamas all bundled up, enjoying the drop dead gorgeous scenery. Getting up close and personal with a glacier was one of the trip objectives and this visit more than fulfilled that wish. The photo does not do it justice.

If you want camera techs or Photoshop techniques for creating a panoramic image, let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Jim

http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=11&user_id=53630&action=viewalbum&album_id=864732&event= is the link to view the images of mostly coastal mountains (not mountains of images) that we saw on our trip to Alaska. Be sure to click on the Slideshow feature for the best presentation. Most of these images were taken from the cruise ship. The first image in the gallery is Mt. Ranier in Washington State. I took this image from the cruise ship as we set sail on our journey.You get a completely different perspective from the water. On a cruise you see things just not possible on a land trip. In some of these images you’ll notice ice flows in the water. these are from glaciers. the one glacier in the mix is Endicott Arm Glacier. It is located just south of Juneau. The high temperatures the first week in July in that part of Alaska were in the low to mid 50s. In Florida this week the high temps are in the upper 90s. The heat stress factor at 10:30 pm is still in the mid 90s. So, I thought it fitting that we all take a break from the heat and look at some cool (literally) images. I have included one here just to get us started. If anyone wants the technical info, just let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Jim

I just wanted you all to know that the link in the waterfall post has been corrected. The original link took you into a different side of the web page that you didn’t need to go to. The corrected link gets you where you need to be. Sorry for the inconvenience for those of you that tried.

Jim