JBO Photo

Milestone!

admin_jbophoto — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:17:44 +0000

I did not realize it when it happened. The post titled, ” Still the Space Coast” was my 100th post! Growing up in a small agricultural town in south Georgia, I never dreamed of anything close to a blog page. Thanks to all of the subscribers especially the ones that comment on and “Like” the posts. I appreciate your support and encouragement.

Also another milestone…… I can now announce that my Space Shuttle photos are for sale in the gift shop at the U.S. Space Walk of Fame in Titusville, Fl. I have images of the last three missions plus Space Shuttle Discovery’s departure to The Smithsonian. The fly out images should be available next week. There are choices of products that include: framed images of Atlantis and Discovery; images of Discovery, Endeavour, and Atlantis matted for a 16X20 frame; Discovery on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft as it makes a low pass over the runway matted for a 12X16 frame; and, 5X7 note cards with original prints suitable for framing. A portion of the sales price goes to the museum.

I am including an image that has all of the info an where they are and how to contact them. For those of you in the area, the museum is on the east end of Main Street on the north side of the road across from the Wells Fargo Bank. The place is run by all volunteers.

I am working on a photography project for them to upgrade the images on their web site. I’ll let you know when that is up and running. In the mean time, stop at the gift shop and support both the museum and of course, yours truly. Father’s Day is just around the corner and these would make great gifts.

Regards,

Jim

By the way, if you have Microsoft Tag on your smart phone or tablet, you can scan the tag on the sign.

Mother’s Day is Soon!

admin_jbophoto — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:04:55 +0000

This female Black Necked Stilt was busy with her eggs last week. If you look below her neck, you will find 4 eggs camouflaged in the nest. I haven’t been back out to check, but I am sure we have chicks by now. The image was taken along East Gator Creek Road on the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. I liked how she was adjusting the grass to make sure things were just so. According to the Crossley ID Guide, the scientific name is Himantopus mexicanus. The average length is about 14 inches. They are usually found in loosely scattered groups often with American Avocets. The unique feature for this bird is the long, skinny legs. I entered this image in the Orange (County, Florida) Audubon 2012 photo contest.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the readers where that salutation applies!

Regards,

Jim

PS… just a few short weeks until the Jim Boland Photography Workshop Experience. Only 4 openings remain. Contact me to sign up for this 2 day event!

Hurry for Mother's Day!

Still The Space Coast

admin_jbophoto — Sat, 05 May 2012 16:16:23 +0000

In spite of The Space Shuttle no longer launching, there are still launches from The Space Coast. Yesterday, Friday, May 4th, an Atlas V launched a military satellite into what is called a super synchronous orbit. According to the newspapers the value of the satellite is $1.7 billion.

I went to a causeway that connects Kennedy Space Center to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. I wasn’t sure people would be allowed to park there to view the launch because of any kind of a safety clear zone. There were no restrictions and I was able to choose my location. I stayed on the west side of the causeway and drove up and down twice to get the best location. There wasn’t anyone else around me though there were some people at the extreme west end.

I was listening to the countdown on the radio. From experience, I know there is a lag of a few seconds of what is heard on the radio and what is going on before me. So when the radio said they were at T-30 seconds, I made sure I had everything ready. I caught the ignition sequence through the climb to altitude. I chose this image to share with you all.

I used my Canon EOS 1D Mark-IV, 500mm lens, aperture priority, +1 and 1/3 exposure compensation, f/8, ISO 400, and shutter speed was 1/1250th of a second. The image is slightly cropped for composition. The atmosphere was hazy from the wind blowing off of the ocean. I adjusted the black point in Adobe Camera RAW to clear the haze. This approach works on haze as well as fog.

If you would like to know more about image processing and in the field photography, join me for my upcoming workshop the second weekend in June. The workshop is in conjunction with the Titusville Second Annual Sea Turtle Festival. Contact me for details. Information is also listed on the Workshop tab of my web page.

Regards,

Jim

And We Have Liftoff!

I’m not sure…..

admin_jbophoto — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:45:05 +0000

…. if I posted this link. The full Osprey Album can be found here: http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=11&user_id=53630&action=viewalbum&album_id=1077268&event= . When the album opens, click on slide show. Note: there is music so have your speakers on. Let me know if you have a favorite in the group.

I have a few openings for the photography experience workshop the first weekend in June. Contact me for details if you are interested.

Regards,

Jim

Sunrise at Lake Blue Cypress, Florida

admin_jbophoto — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 22:08:02 +0000

If you follow my blog you know that a few weeks ago I went on an Osprey Photo Safari. The ospreys were photographed at Lake Blue Cypress, Florida. The lake is about 20 miles east of Vero, Florida just north of Highway 60. Each morning we were at the fish camp by 6:15 am so we would have plenty of time to get our gear in the pontoon boat and be on the lake before sun up. On day one we had the most spectacular sunrise. We had some clouds to the east, light winds, and color in the sky. Day two was foggy and overcast. Day three was clear but no color.

From the fish camp we maneuvered just inside the cypress tree line to have a tree in the foreground leading to the sunrise. These three shots were taken within just a few minutes but each one draws you to the sun in different ways. It was awe inspiring to be on the lake in the boat at that location for this magical moment. I have my favorite. Which do you like the best?

If you want the camera specs, let me know. By the way, you can see these matted and framed at Studio Plus, Searstown Mall, Titusville, Fl after April 24th, 2012.

Regards,

Jim

Lake Blue Cypress Sunrise

Space Shuttle Discovery

admin_jbophoto — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:19:20 +0000

The last two days have been busy with photo ops of Space Shuttle Discovery. As most of you know, it was delivered from Kennedy Space Center, Florida to The Smithsonian Institute at Dulles Airport in the Washington, D.C. area. NASA had events for those of us still fortunate enough to work there to celebrate Discovery’s departure. yesterday was a static display at The Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). We went to a designated parking area and caught a bus out to Discovery. Image one captures that moment. This image is a five image HDR processed with NIK HDR Efex Pro. I cropped out a small group of people that would have been standing in the lower right. I used the clone stamp tool in Photoshop to remove the rope they used to cordon off the area. I used my canon 24-105mm lens and a tri-pod.

This morning I had a pass to go to the mid-field area of the SLF. There were quite a few people there (read bus loads). The field of view was limited for ground operations. The second image is the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) taxiing to the departure end of the runway. In this image, I used the clone stamp tool to remove two porta-potties that were in a really bad location for the image. After takeoff the SCA flew around the local area before coming back to make a low pass over the runway (image 3) before departing the area for Dulles. Takeoff was right at 7am this morning. For our area, that is right at sunrise.

Endeavour will be the next one to fly out. that will be in November. Atlantis will be staying here for display at the KSC Visitor’s Center.

Regards,

Jim

Image 1 - Static Display at SLF

Image 2 - Taxi for Takeoff

Image 3 - One last Fly By

Oil Change!

admin_jbophoto — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:15:02 +0000

That’s where I am as I write this post. Oh, by the way sir, you are due your 15,000 mile service. What are you gonna do? I told them at the service counter that I needed to be out in an hour and a half to make my grandson’s T-ball game. I’m sure they will hurry for that! After the T-ball game I’ll venture to my tax preparer”s business and drop off signed papers to e-file our taxes. Life keeps on going.

While I am waiting for the car, I wanted to visit the Ospreys Galore again and think about my time on the lake with a great group of people. This particular shot was taken on day one. I was hand holding my canon EOS-1D Mark IV hooked up to my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens with a 2X extender zoomed all of the way out (400mm). I don’t remember too much about this shot. It was taken just a little after 7am so that would have been just at official sunrise. We were on the west side of the lake with the sun behind our back. I was shooting in manual mode at f/8; ISO 400; 1/800th sec. shutter speed.

My plan by the end of this weekend is to have the images from this trip uploaded to my online gallery. I’ll continue to highlight individual images in the blog. Please feel free to comment on the posts or to ask any questions you might have. I am also available for individual or small group photo workshop experiences. You can also still sign up for the photo workshop for the Turtle Festival the second weekend in June. See the Workshop part of my web page for the details on how to sign up.

Regards,

Jim

Is this pose what you are looking for?

Ospreys Galore Photo Safari

admin_jbophoto — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:59:35 +0000

I recently participated in a photo safari to Lake Blue Cypress, Florida to photograph ospreys. The event was led by Christopher Dodds, Canadian wildlife photographer. There were a total of five people on a 24 foot long pontoon boat. The photo safari was over a three day period during the morning hours. In the afternoon we visited other locations. My main interests were for ospreys. I came home with 2500 images, whittled them down to 5oo, and then down to 80.

This post is one of the 80. I was hand holding my 500mm lens for this flight sequence. As you can see the bird got close. This image was cropped some for image composition. As you will see over the next few weeks, I have what you might call more traditional action shots plus some knock dead gorgeous sunrises.

Does this image have potential? Does it work for you/ Let me know what you think. You can find out more about Chris at chrisdoddsphoto.com

Regards,

Jim Boland

Here's Looking at You!

Roseate Spoonbill from Alafia Banks

admin_jbophoto — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:29:20 +0000

So in my last post I mentioned going over to the west coast of Florida to get some images of Roseate Spoonbills. What you got in the first post was a reddish Egret and a Pelican. I thought it was time to send a couple of images of spoonbills just so you’ll know I was really serious! To recap, we take a pontoon boat out close to a spoil island (Audubon managed rookery); anchor the boat; put on chest waders; hop in the water with thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment; and, slowly (need I say carefully) wade to get close to the birds. Last Saturday, we had the added challenge of higher than normal tides, an approaching storm front, overcast skies, and very windy conditions. We waded into a little hook area behind a sand bar so we could capture images of birds as they were landing into the wind.

The two images below are of the same bird just a fraction of a second apart. These two images are what I see as the birds are landing. Nothing was taken out of the image background. As you can see it is wide open with no man made objects visible. Post a reply if you want to know the camera technical specs or any computer processing info.

Ihave a few more images from the trip to share. Thanks again to Captain James Shadle for a wonderful trip!

Regards,

Jim

Roseate Spoonbill Landing

Squeezing In!

A trip to the Bank(s)……

admin_jbophoto — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:35:32 +0000

…. Alafia Banks that is. Those that have kept up with me have seen previous posts about this location. It is just offshore of Gibsonton, Fl (south of Brandon) in Tampa Bay. The banks are spoil islands that have evolved into a rookery managed by The Audubon Society. I traveled there this past weekend to photograph Roseate Spoonbills. However, they were the last ones to come in for the afternoon. So before I get to the spoonbill images, I have a few others to share with you first.

To get these images we had taken a pontoon boat out to the spoil island, hopped into the water, and waded to an area so we would be shotting across a sandbar as the birds were coming in to the rookery area. As you can see from the first image, we could get really close to the birds and they could have cared less. It is a magical place. The images were last Saturday afternoon. We had overcast skies and a stout wind as a front was moving into the area. If anyone wants the camera specs just shoot me an email or post a reply to the blog.

Regards,

Jim

The first image is a Reddish Egret. The second one is a Florida Brown Pelican.

Reddish Egret Feeding

Pelican on the Go!