Black Skimmer Rookery At Indian Shores

Black skimmers are unique birds. Just their appearance alone is eye-catching with their bright red beaks and legs contrasted against a black and white body. But they are especially unique when they go fishing. It's amazing to watch these birds skim along the water at a pretty good clip with that lower jaw submerged in the water skimming for whatever small fish can be found. And they are pretty good at what they do.

Just last week we visited the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores, FL as we do from time to time. By the way, this is a great place to support with donations as they do wonderful work with injured birds and waterfowl, helping them to heal and rehab. But as we walked out the back side of the sanctuary to the beach, I noticed that there were a lot of black skimmers in the area cruising the shallow water for food.

After looking around we noticed that there was an area on the beach a little farther north that was roped off and we quickly realized that this was where the black skimmers were laying their eggs. Of course, this makes a nature photographer very happy to have all of these great birds in one location, so I spent quite a bit of time there getting plenty of images into my camera.

Interestingly, after talking with some of the local folks we learned that the black skimmer colony in past years has been much larger than it is this year and nobody seems to know why. But for me, it was plenty big enough to get some great shots of the males strutting their stuff and the females protecting their eggs in the sand.

Here are some of the shots I got that day:

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The Most Important Element Of Bird Photography

Bird photography is challenging to say the least. Birds usually are constantly on the move and they rarely pose for you like you wish they would. Add to that the fact that you can't control outdoor lighting, only try to work along with it, and the fact that birds are often skittish and wary to begin with, and you can see why bird photography is not easy.

But that is also part of the allure. That's because it takes great amounts of patience, planning, knowledge of your subjects, and willingness to go wherever they are that translates into bird photography skills that produce great images. Of course, anyone can get run-of-the-mill, ordinary shots of birds. But if you want bird photos that really stir interest and are engaging, you need the skills to do be able to do that.

One of the most important factors to understand when photographing birds is that of all the elements of the image that will be important, and there are often many of these, by far the most important is the eyes of the bird. Truly great bird photographers recognize this and if you examine their work you will see clearly that the eyes get preferential treatment. They are almost always razor sharp even if other parts of the bird are slightly out of focus.

There is just something about our desire as beholders to look into the eyes of the bird and see it clearly. Again, this is going to take effort because birds don't stand still very often. Their head is usually a moving target that slips in and out of focus depending on which way they are looking. This means that you have to keep readjusting focus all the time to keep those eyes sharp.

For this, I like to use the spot focusing feature on my camera that lets me focus on a very small part of the image in the middle of the viewfinder. Once I place the eye in the center of the viewfinder, I lock the focus on the bird's eye by half-pressing the shutter and then recompose the image in whatever way that I want. This is fine as long as the bird stays in that general position. But when it moves or changes the direction it is facing, I have to go through that whole process again, often many times before everything is in place to press the shutter the rest of the way and take the shot. It's a lot of work, but very rewarding when done properly.

Here is an example of keeping the eye in sharp focus even if the beak or other parts of the bird are slightly out of focus:

What is the element of this photo that grabs your eye first?

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How To Start Post-Processing Your Digital Photos

Post-processing digital photos is intimidating to many amateur photographers. It seems very confusing at first and if you have a powerful program like Photoshop there are a ton of menu options that can appear to be overwhelming.

That being the case, the simple truth is that you need to learn how to do at least some basic post-processing of your digital images if you want them to look their best. Back in the heyday of film cameras, you seldom got the results you hoped to achieve when you picked up your roll after it was processed into prints. Even if the processing lab knew what look you were trying to achieve with your film images, extensive image adjustment was time intensive and therefore cost prohibitive. So we often got back prints that were bland in appearance with no real visual pop. Unfortunately some seem to think that is the way that digital photos should look now as well, but there is absolutely no reason in this digital age that you have to settle for the images that come unprocessed straight out of the camera.

Of course, one important decision to make is whether you intend to shoot RAW or JPG files. That is a whole other discussion to itself, but suffice it to say that if you shoot JPG files the camera will be doing some post-processing of its own and you may not need to make as much adjustment of each photo as you would with RAW files that have had no processing applied to them. However, even JPG files will need some adjustments at times and that is why you should have at least a working knowledge of the basics of post-processing. This will include being able to adjust exposure, contrast, clarity, noise, color saturation, use cropping, etc.

For these kind of adjustments, a behemoth like Photoshop may not be the best choice anyway. In fact, many photographers prefer the more streamlined approach found in Lightroom or similar products. So what do you do when you open a photo in Lightroom? Is there a standard procedure that you apply to every image? I know that it would be much simpler if that was the case, but the truth is that every photo is unique and and every scene that you capture is likewise very individual. So you need to have a working knowledge of the impact that each adjustment you make to the image will produce.

How do you get that kind of working knowledge? Well, watching some videos of others who can show you around Lightroom or similar programs is a good idea to get familiar with what adjustments can be made and what tools you will have at your disposal. There are plenty of these kind of educational videos available for free on YouTube. But if you really want to learn how to master image adjustments, you are going to have to get your hands dirty and just start using the program. The good news is that you will probably learn a lot very quickly and in short order will get some idea of general adjustments that you tend to favor in your style of photography. Most likely, it won't take long before you will be turning out much better images that have emotional and visual appeal.

As long as you save the changes you make as a different digital file from the one that came out of the camera, nothing you do to your photos is permanently harmful to that image. So feel free to slide the adjustments available to you in the post-processing program back and forth to see what effect they have on your images. Eventually you will develop a workflow with your images that is relatively quick and efficient. So if you aren't using a post-processing program, why not get started right away? You'll be glad you did and your photography results will improve by leaps and bounds.

Orange Gerbera Daisies

Above photo: Here is an example of a photo that was taken in strong sunlight and was very bland when I brought it into Lightroom. By bringing down the background shadows and punching up the color of the flowers and adding some contrast, the image was much improved over the file that came straight from my camera.

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How To Shoot Low-Key Images With Any Camera

Have you ever seen those photos where the main subject is lit up against a relatively dark background? We all have, and those kind of images tend to be very pleasing to the eye of most beholders and they are also memorable as well. They are referred to as low-key images because the overall tone of the image is fairly dark and in the low light range.

So how does a photographer get that kind of shot? It takes planning and a good set of circumstances if you are an outdoor photographer. In the studio, you can control the light any way that you wish and produce whatever lighting combination that you wish if you have the right kind of equipment.

But outdoor photography presents much more of a challenge to get these low-key images. The main light source is usually the sun and you can't just move it around to get the look you want. In addition, if your main subject is an animal, you can't expect them to go where you want them to go and pose as you would like. In fact, they do that on rare occasions, which is often frustrating.

But if you think about your shot beforehand, you can look for circumstances where low-key shots are possible. These kind of situations usually involve some kind of side-lighting where the main subject is clearly exposed by the sun, but the background is in shadow. 

Low-key shots are also more possible when your main subject is a bright color like white or yellow and the background is a darker color. Our camera helps us to create a low-key image in this situation because it is restricted to capturing a range of only 8-9 stops of light in any one image, whereas our eye is capable of seeing a much higher range of light. So, if your main subject is lit well and is bright, that automatically makes the background appear darker in comparison when the camera captures the image.

These kind of opportunities don't come along all the time, but you will be surprised how often you can design a low-key image if you are simply looking for the right circumstances and change your camera angle to produce that kind of image.

Here is a couple of examples of low-key images that was produced in normal sunlight using the techniques discussed above:

Snowy egret

Yellow daisy

Little blue heron

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www.duanelipham.com
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Get Plenty Of Impressive Butterfly Photos At Lukas Nursery

One of the most popular subjects for nature photographers is the butterfly. Their colorful and detailed wing patterns displayed while they are gathering nectar from flowers makes for some exceptionally beautiful photographs too.

But finding butterflies in the wild can be a random occurrence, and even when you do find them, they often fly in such erratic patterns that it makes it unbelievably challenging to get a decent shot before they are gone again. So how does a nature photographer get an opportunity to have access to several butterflies in one area so the chances of getting good images are in their favor?

One solution is that many people these days are planting butterfly gardens, which essentially means that they specifically cultivate the plants and shrubs that nurture and feed butterflies. If you can find a butterfly garden in your area, this will make your chances of getting some great butterfly photos much better.

Happily, here in Florida there are even better opportunities to have access to hundreds of butterflies at one time in a relatively small enclosed area. One of the best spots that I have found so far for this kind of "butterfly heaven" is Lukas Nursery in Oviedo, FL. The plant and flower nursery is very large too and would keep a good flower photographer busy for some time, but the butterfly encounter is a screened-in area that allows you to get up close and personal with several kinds of butterflies as they go about their routine of gathering nectar.

There is a $6 charge for the exhibit as of now, but it is well worth it to get the kind of photographs that are possible there. If you go in the summertime, be sure to bring plenty of water as the butterfly area is not air-conditioned and it will get warm, but that's a minor issue for us wildlife and nature photographers, right? Here is a link to find out more about the Lukas Nursery Butterfly Encounter.

These photos are from a recent visit to Lukas Nursery just a few weeks ago:

Monarch butterfly on a gout plant

Great southern white butterfly

Gulf fritillary butterfly

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www.duanelipham.com
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Tips For Great Flower Photos

One of the most popular forms of photography is photographing flowers, and there are myriads of flower photos found on photo sharing sites like Flickr and 500px. So why even bother adding to the already huge numbers of flower photos already out there?

One reason is that if you love symmetry and color, you are going to be drawn to flowers no matter what! Nature is filled with beauty all around us, but nothing grabs your eye's attention and holds it quite like the shape and beauty of flowers. We are drawn to them and we find our souls soothed and comforted by their cheerfulness. We are amazed by their symmetrical design and order. Many of us, whether artists or not, just find them fascinating!

So then, if we are going to photograph flowers, how do we do so in a way that is pleasing to the eye of the beholder? One of the most important tips for getting great flower shots is to be thoughtful as you approach your subject. I can't tell you how many flower photos I see every day that reflects that the photographer did little more than just saunter up to the flower, point the camera in its general direction and press the shutter button.

Instead, give the image that you will be creating some thought. Get creative. Walk around and look at the flower from all angles. You will notice that some angles trigger your interest better than others, and if those angles interest you they will most likely interest others as well. By changing the angle of view to one that we do not normally use when we interact with flowers in our daily lives, you automatically bring a measure of freshness to the image you are making.

Here is an example of two shots of the same flower. The first one is made the way that we most often view flowers, straight on and pretty close to a 90 degree angle. It's nice, and there is nothing wrong with that shot. But the second is in my opinion much better. It gets down on the level of the flower itself and views it at a side angle, highlighting the detail and contours of the flower in addition to its color and beauty.

So when you see a beautiful flower and get inspired, don't give in to the urge to rush the shot. Stop and think about your subject and how you can showcase it in a unique and pleasing way. The use of a tripod is a good way to get into the mindset that produces this kind of advance thought because tripods don't move easily or quickly. They require adjustment and deliberation to get things just right. And that is just the kind of pace and effort you need to produce great flower photographs.

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www.duanelipham.com
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Limpkin Chicks At Circle B Bar Reserve

Springtime is the time of year to get photos of young wildlife. This is especially true of birds, and one of my favorite birds in Central Florida is the Limpkin. They can grow to be pretty large, but it's the light brown and white feathers that really make them attractive.

Recently I was hiking through the Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland, FL that is home to lots of Limpkins and I came across a family of Limpkin parents and their 6 little ones. The parents were busy finding snails in the marsh, which is one of their staple foods, and then showing the chicks how to extract the snail from its shell for a good meal.

One of the great things about Circle B Bar Reserve is that it gets a great deal of human traffic going through it so many of the birds and other wildlife are fairly used to us and aren't nearly as skittish as they may be outside of the Reserve. This allowed me to get pretty close to the Limpkin family and get some great close-up shots. Of course, the parents had a wary eye on me for a while but when they saw that I meant no harm to their young they pretty much just ignored my presence and went back to the job of providing lunch for the kids.

I have said this before in many posts but it bears repeating again that if you want to get the best wildlife shots, it means that you have to get fairly close to do so. This means that you can't just barrel into their area and start firing away. A good wildlife photographer is patient and takes their time to slowly move closer without unnecessarily alarming the animal or bird. If done correctly, you can get closer than you would often imagine to get some great shots.

Here are some of the images I got of the Limpkin chicks:

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www.duanelipham.com
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