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Posts Tagged ‘Canon Rebel XT’

Thirsty gosling

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 10, 2013| 9 Comments »

The last few weeks I have been following the adventures of a family of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) at my local marshland and encountered them this morning as they were foraging in the muddy grass.

There are currently four goslings (there may have been six initially if this is the same family I saw previously) and it was fun to watch them as they would wander off a little from their parents and then scurry back quickly.

It was hard to get clear shots of the youngsters, but I did manage to get this shot that I like when one of the goslings walked to the water’s edge to get a drink.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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From the highest tree

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 10, 2013| 4 Comments »

On a heavily overcast day with intermittent rain, most birds seemed to be in hiding, but this male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) took the opposite approach by flying to the highest tree and loudly announcing his presence to the world with his distinctive call.

I like the way that the limited lighting caused this profile shot to turn into almost a silhouette, but somehow the colorful shoulder markings managed to show through.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Beads of water

Posted in Art, Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on May 9, 2013| 9 Comments »

I love to photograph raindrops, normally focusing on a single drop, but I was really attracted this weekend to the rows of water drops on a single leaf of this Hosta plant. Many of them formed perfect little spheres of water, like tiny jewels or little water pearls.

Sometimes it’s easiest to find real beauty in simplicity, with no need for bright colors or ornate details.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Early Love-in-a-mist

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on May 9, 2013| 10 Comments »

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) is a flower that looks like it came from outer space, with wild tendrils shooting out of its middle and green spikes surrounding it.

I was surprised this past weekend to see some of the plants putting out blossoms this early at a local garden that I like to visit. I had never seen Love-in-a-mist (I love saying the flower’s name) in its early stage of growth and really like the look of the bud in the last photo, surrounded by the soft green spikes, as the flower is at all stages of growth.

Before long, entire patches of this garden will be covered with this remarkable flower—we can always use more Love, whether it is in a mist or not.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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A couple more columbines

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , on May 8, 2013| 5 Comments »

Columbines come in a variety of colors and they have sharp angles as well as soft curves—these are a few of the reasons that columbines are among my favorite spring flowers.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Focused Green Heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 8, 2013| 13 Comments »

I stopped dead in my tracks on Monday when I spotted this Green Heron (Butorides virescens) as I was walking along the boardwalk at my local marshland park.

Only rarely have I had such an unobstructed view of this beautiful bird. My camera was already affixed to my tripod and I slowly opened its legs and set it down, all the while keeping my eyes on the Green Heron. I didn’t dare to make any sudden movements and felt like I was moving in slow motion as I inched my way forward to the edge of the boardwalk.

I don’t know if the heron was actively hunting for prey, but he seemed really focused and unaware of my presence (or was willing to ignore me). Initially upright, the heron gradually leaned more and more forward and appeared to be focusing even more intently.

My breathing seemed loud in my ears and my shutter sounded like a machine gun to me, but the heron hung around long enough for me to get some pretty good photos. Eventually, though, he got spooked and flew away, but I think I have an idea of the general area in which he hangs out, so I hope to encounter him again.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Tilted columbine

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on May 7, 2013| 10 Comments »

One of my favorite spring flowers is the columbine (genus Aquilegia) and I especially like its distinctive shape. Yesterday I took this photo at Green Spring Gardens, a county-run historical garden, one of my favorite spots for photographing flowers.

The flower was growing at an unusual angle and I tried hard to capture the details of the flower, as well as the beautiful colors in the background. I’m pretty happy with the result.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Contrast in purple flowers

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , on May 7, 2013| 5 Comments »

In my neighbors’ garden facing the street, a beautiful purple bearded iris has a position of prominence, but unseen by most, a more modest, but equally beautiful purple flower grows amidst the vines in a corner of the back yard.

This iris is a showy flower, with deep, rich colors, frilly petals, and the colorful accent of the beard. How can you not like such a flower? It is the first iris to bloom and doesn’t have to share its glory.

Yet I am just as attracted to the geometric simplicity of the little purple flower in the back yard. The owner, Cindy Dyer, who posts amazing flower photos on her blog, told me the name of the flower (or perhaps it is considered a weed), but it didn’t stick in my memory.

Spring offers such a bounty of flowers, that there are bound to be some that appeal to your tastes and moods and sensitivities—it is definitely worth slowing down to smell the roses (and taking in the beauty of the other flowers too).

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Menacing ladybug

Posted in Bugs, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , on May 6, 2013| 11 Comments »

Ladybugs are often considered symbols of good luck and many people look at them as cute. Consequently, you have probably never considered them as menacing (assuming that you are not an aphid), but that is the descriptor that came to mind when I first looked at this head-on image of a ladybug that I photographed yesterday.

Perhaps I am just not used to looking eye to eye with a ladybug, but this one seems to have a deadly serious look on its face, like it was not happy that I was disturbing it.

I took the shot in my neighbor’s garden, using a macro lens and a hand-held diffuser to cut down on the intensity of the sunlight. Although I stopped down the lens to get some additional depth of field, the back portion of the ladybug, including its rear legs, are out of focus, which helps to draw attention to the face.

The change in seasons means that I will probably be featuring fewer birds in my blog than during the winter, and a whole lot more insects and flowers.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Morning reflections

Posted in Art, commentary, Inspiration, Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on May 6, 2013| 3 Comments »

There is a spot in a back corner of my marshland park that I love to visit in the early morning, when the light produces beautiful reflections in the still waters of a small pond.

It’s accessible only by an informal muddy trail, so I don’t have to share the moments of tranquility with the baby strollers and power walkers that interrupt my conversations with nature when I am on the boardwalk. Sometimes I will see ducks and geese here and I have even spotted a bald eagle perching in a tall tree, but the main draw for me is not the wildlife—it’s the sense of peace that envelopes me when I am here.

Sometimes I like reflections in which you can easily identify the objects being reflected, like the two trees in the first image. Other times, I get lost in the reflections themselves, which can result in a Monet-like abstract image like the second image below.

All of us are looking for an inner peace—this is one place in which I am able to experience a few moments of that peace.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Wood Duck entering nesting box

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on May 5, 2013| 3 Comments »

Yesterday I watched and waited as a female Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), perched on top of a nesting box at my local marsh park, decided when it was the right moment to enter into the box and work on her nest.

Initially I was surprised when I spotted the duck atop this particular nesting box, because Hooded Merganser babies had exited from the box only a week earlier. The female moved around a bit on top of the box, looking in both directions (second photo). Eventually she bent her head lower and lower, as if checking to see that the entrance to the box was clear (third and fourth photos.

When she finally did take off, she flew a little to one side (fifth photo) and made a tight little circle in the air. In the final shot, you can see the female duck with her eyes on the target, approaching it from just below the level of the bottom of the nesting box.

I led with the shot that I like the most. I am amazed that the duck can synchronize her movements so well and arrest her forward momentum to keep from banging into the back of the box (and to keep her wings from getting stuck).  The lighting kept changing as waited for the action to develop, to the point that I moved into manual mode, something that I only rarely do. I am happy that the sun was shining at the moment when she entered the box, because I think the shadow adds to the interest of the photo.

I missed seeing the Hooded Merganser duckings leaving the box—maybe I will be luckier with these Wood Ducks.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Portrait of a Barn Swallow

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 5, 2013| 14 Comments »

With the arrival of blue skies, I was finally able to a close-up shot of a Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) with a natural backdrop (vice the white background of the overcast days).

The lighting was beautiful and the swallow cooperated by turning its head slightly, enabling me to capture the catch light in its eye. The shadows are pretty minimal, but help to keep the image from being too flat.

I even like the serious expression on the swallow’s face, as though he had decided that this was a formal portrait.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Wood Ducks take to the air

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 4, 2013| 5 Comments »

Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa), especially the males, are probably the coolest-looking ducks, but in the past few months the only ones that I have seen have been flying away from me, generally from branches on which they were perched.

I was not really expecting that I would see any Wood Ducks on the ground when I approached a tiny pond earlier this week. However, I did notice a little movement at the water’s edge and had just focused on that area, when suddenly a pair of wood ducks took off. I snapped off a few shots, not really expecting that they would be in focus and was pleasantly surprised at the result

The ducks in this image ended up pretty much in focus, especially the male’s head, his most prominent and colorful feature. The wings have some motion blur, but it’s not too distracting.

I’d like to say that my focusing skills are getting better, but I know that this shot was primarily the result of luck. It doesn’t really matter that much how I got the shot—what matters more to me is that I like the result.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Unexpected visitors—Glossy Ibises

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on May 4, 2013| 2 Comments »

Yesterday at my local marsh, several birders were really excited about the unexpected presence of a pair of Glossy Ibises (Plegadis falcinellus). I missed seeing them fly in, but spent almost an hour watching them forage in the distance, listening to the debate among the birders about whether these were Glossy Ibises or White-faced Ibises—they concluded the birds were Glossy Ibises.

I think that these strange-looking wading birds tend to be found nearer the coast and it is relatively rare, though not unprecedented, to have them at our marsh. I was not able to get any close-up shots, but I did manage to take some photos that show their downward-curved bills and colorful breeding plumage. The last shot really gives you a sense of the color—one of the ibises opened its wings to hop over a little patch of water.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Another swallow confrontation

Posted in Birds, commentary, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 3, 2013| 10 Comments »

Are Barn  Swallows normally hostile toward each other?

As I was looking over once more the shots that I took on Monday, I came across this little series of images of two Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) interacting. I had passed over these photos when I did my first sorting, because they were seriously underexposed. Unlike the photo that I posted earlier this week of a confrontation between two swallows, I was not using a flash for these photos, which meant, however,  that I was able to take a burst of photos. (When I used my pop-up flash, I had to wait for the flash to re-cycle in order to shoot again.)

I tweaked these photos in Photoshop Elements (and cleaned up the background a little) and was amazed to discover that this confrontation seems to have escalated a bit beyond the previous one. The flying swallow seems much more aggressive and threatening, going beyond the squawking I had seen before, and looking more like he was ready to attack the sitting swallow, who seems to be paying attention to the incoming bird.

These photos would have been better with a higher shutter speed and better light, but I am amazed that I was able to capture this moment. I love interactions between members of the same species (and between different species) and I enjoy trying to catch those moments.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Heron sheltered from the rain

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on May 2, 2013| 9 Comments »

As I was getting ready to leave the marsh on Monday, I noticed this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) on the other side of the beaver pond.

He did not appear to be fishing, but was perched on a fallen tree, seemingly seeking shelter from the falling rain. He was hunched over a little, like he was trying to retain body heat.

It’s not often that I see a blue heron completely out of the water (assuming I don’t count all of the times when they were flying away from me), so I was happy to get this shot.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Portrait of a Tree Swallow

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 2, 2013| 7 Comments »

This portrait of a Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) looks almost like it was shot in a studio, but I am pretty sure that if it had been, I would have chosen a more attractive item on which to have her perch.

The green rusted metal post holds up a nesting box and this swallow may be building a nest in it or in one of the other nearby boxes, because she had a long piece of grass in her mouth when I started shooting. I think it might be a female, but it’s hard to tell, because males and females look a lot alike, though, according to my Peterson bird guide, the female is “slightly duller” than the male.

This was another shot that I took this past Monday, when the sky was heavily overcast. I made an effort to frame this shot with the swallow up against the sky and I think that I used my pop-up flash to add a little light. I probably will continue to experiment with the technique, especially when it’s really cloudy,  for I like the result that I got here. It does looks a little sterile and unnatural, but so often the background gets really cluttered and distracting.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Green Heron in cattail shoots

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 1, 2013| 13 Comments »

On Monday as it was raining,  I encountered a Green Heron (Butorides virescens), one of my favorite birds. Initially he was perched atop an abandoned beaver lodge, but he took to the air as I approached. He flew to the edge of a cattail patch, where new shoots have started to appear during the last couple of weeks. The cattail shoots help contribute to the green backdrop for this Green Heron.

I was happy that I was able to get an unobstructed path to this little heron—normally Green Herons are at the edge of the water or are in trees, where it’s almost impossible to get a clear shot.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Wet baby geese

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 1, 2013| 13 Comments »

On Monday, I watched a family of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis), the parents and five little goslings, as they made their way from a little pond to forage in a field of cattails nearby. It was raining at the time, as you can see in the first photo, where two of the babies are swimming along (there was one parent to the front and one to the rear in the little convoy).

Once they made it to drier land, the little geese vigorously munched on small bits of vegetation. In the second photo, there is a little piece of a plant hanging out of the mouth of the baby goose. When they were in the water, the goslings looked like round balls of fluff, but they look more gangly and awkward on land.

I noticed a couple of geese sitting on what appeared to be nests. If so, I suspect I will be taking more photos of cute little baby geese.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Low-flying dragonfly

Posted in Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , on April 30, 2013| 7 Comments »

Is it just me, or does this image look like it came from a low budget science fiction movie, with a strange-looking alien creature hovering over a Martian landscape?

I was chasing dragonflies again this past weekend, trying to capture images of them in flight, and ended up with this image of a female Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia). It’s pretty tough to try to track these flying insects with a hand-held telephoto zoom lens extended to almost 400mm. My autofocus seemed too slow and I adapted a technique of trying to focus manually, while trying to keep the lens steady. I can’t tell for sure if this image was auto-focused or was manually focused.

Female Common Whitetail dragonflies do not have a white tail and in many ways that makes them a little easier to expose correctly. The wings are blurred, but you can still see the brown markings that identify this as a female, and not an immature male.

Last summer I was content to get a shot of a dragonfly when it was stationary, but this summer I am going to work hard to capture some more images of dragonflies in flight.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Circling hawk

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 30, 2013| 7 Comments »

I haven’t seen many hawks in the last month or two, so I was delighted when I spotted this Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) circling in the distance this past weekend.

Most of the hawks that I had previously seen at my local marsh have been Red-shouldered Hawks, but I am pretty sure this one is a Red-tailed. The hawk never came close enough for me to get a really good shot, but I am content that I was able to get some shots in which the hawk is recognizable as more than an indistinct blob in the distance. Several of the shots I am posting look almost like they have a rock formation in the background—it was only, however, a dead tree.

These images are aspirational ones for me. They represent the kind of photographs that I am working to be able to produce in the future with greater sharpness and more pixels (I had to do a lot of cropping). They are a step on the path of my journey into photography.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Pre-confrontation

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 29, 2013| 6 Comments »

Here’s a photo of the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) that I took today just prior to the confrontation that I featured in my previous blog entry. The sky was almost completely white, because the day was heavily overcast, and it totally disappeared when I was adjusting the RAW image.

This was one of the first times that I used flash to add a little light and bring out the colores and it seems to have worked out pretty well. Some of the more dedicated bird photographers that I see use a Fresnel lens attachment for their external flash units to give more reach to the flash—I am not sure that I am ready to go that far yet.

I managed to get a pretty good amount of detail in this shot, even capturing some of the raindrops on the swallow’s wing.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Confrontation

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 29, 2013| 14 Comments »

I was focusing my camera on a Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) perched on a branch, when out of nowhere another Barn Swallow appeared and started screeching as it hovered in midair. Fortunately I had enough presence of mind to press the shutter release.

It was raining most of the day and I was shooting one-handed under an umbrella much of the time. For this shot, I decided to use the built-in flash on my camera to add a little additional light. The reflections in the screeching bird’s eyes add to its almost maniacal look.

The bird on the branch was totally impassive. It turned its head toward the hovering bird, but did not appear to react in any other way.

The overall feel of the image is almost like a cartoon.  I really like the way it came out (and recognize that it was mostly luck and fortunate timing).

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Green Heron in a tree

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 29, 2013| 5 Comments »

I was thrilled this past Saturday when I caught sight of this Green Heron (Butorides virescens), because green herons have only recently returned to the area after spending their winter in warmer locations.

The lighting situation, however, was really problematic. There was beautiful dappled sunlight in the background, but the heron was mostly in heavy shade and his back was illuminated with harsh sunlight. I played around with a number of different settings and this was one of the better images.  I still had to make some adjustments in post-processing to pull some of the details out of the shadows, which made the final image a bit grainy.

I really like the Green Heron’s pose, as he looks off into the distance. I don’t think that he was actively fishing, but was merely relaxing in the shade of the tree.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Heron reflection

Posted in Art, Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged , , , , , , on April 28, 2013| 10 Comments »

The Great Blue Heron was too far away for me to capture many details, but the light early yesterday morning was especially beautiful, so I decided to pull back and try to capture the landscape, something that I don’t do very often.

I love the rich bands of color that I managed to capture in this shot and the gorgeous reflections in the water at my local marshland park. The red color, I believe, is from buds that were stripped from the trees by winds and rain this past week.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Here’s looking at you

Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 28, 2013| 12 Comments »

Snake eyes are often cold and menacing, but somehow this snake that I encountered yesterday seems to have warm brown eyes that look almost like he is smiling.

This snake, which I think is a Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis), was curled up in some underbrush near the edge of the marsh. It was a real challenge getting a clear view of his head, the more so because I was using my 135-400mm lens that has a minimum focusing distance of almost seven feet (two meters).

For this shot, I used my tripod so that I could get an exposure of 1/30 second at f/9, with the lens zoomed out to about 350mm. I like the fact that I was able to capture some of the beautiful texture of the scales on his skin. You can easily see how I had to look for little sight windows through the brush, which is mostly blurred and hopefully is not too distracting. Finally, I am happy that I managed to capture some of the sinuous curves that help to guide the viewer’s eye to the snake’s head.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Whitetail in April

Posted in Bugs, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 28, 2013| 3 Comments »

Although most people probably associate the descriptor “whitetail” with deer, it’s also part of the name of this dragonfly that I photographed yesterday, an immature male Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia).

I remember seeing the adult male Whitetail a lot last summer, and its body is a chalky white in color, as its name suggests. Males start out looking a lot like the female, which has a brown body with some white or yellow markings, according to Bugguide. However, it’s relatively easy to tell the immature males from the females, because their wing patterns are different. Males have wider bands of brown and clear wingtips (no, they are not wearing dress shoes—I am talking about the literal tips of the wings).

I am sure that I’ll get lots more photos of Common Whitetail dragonflies this summer, including some in much better light, but it was nice to see them appearing already in April.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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New little goose

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 27, 2013| 5 Comments »

It’s hard to imagine anything cuter than this tiny little Canada Goose that climbed into the water at my local marsh for a swim along with his siblings and his parents. They were close enough to me that I was able to frame the shot pretty much like you see it.

I really like the expression of the gosling as he seemed to turn his head to look at me and also like the contrast between the bright colors of the gosling and the more muted tones of the full-grown geese.

I just missed the drop of 15 Hooded Merganser ducklings from the nesting box this morning by about twenty minutes. Hopefully I will have the chance to celebrate more new lives like this little goose in the coming weeks.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Posing blackbird

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 27, 2013| 4 Comments »

Male Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) are loud and visible almost all of the time, but this one blackbird seemed even more determined than usual to pose for me. It was almost as though he was an experienced model, changing poses and holding them for a few seconds to allow me to get the shot before striking a new pose.

I wonder if he could have his own fashion show. Of course, we might have to alter the terminology a bit—I am not sure he would be keen to strut his stuff on something called a “catwalk.”

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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A few more yellowlegs

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 23, 2013| 6 Comments »

The soggy, overcast weather this past Friday kept people away from my local marshland park and allowed me to get these shots of a Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca).

I don’t normally see these birds and if I do, they are almost always beyond the range of my lens. This day, however, there were a couple of yellowlegs and another smaller shorebird, which I was told was a Solitary Sandpiper, that moved back and forth in the water, remaining within range for quite some time.

The lighting was a little  tricky for me, with the sky almost white most of the time, though sometimes the sun would peek out from behind all of the clouds. Most of the shots were a little underexposed, but I was able to correct them with a few little tweaks in post-production. I especially like the lighting in the first photo, in which the water has some color to it.

I am happy, though, that I was able to get some pretty clear shots of this beautiful bird, thanks in part to some careful focusing and the use of a tripod. (If you want to see another shot of the yellowlegs, checkout my earlier posting.)

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Egret in the air

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on April 22, 2013| 4 Comments »

I continue my efforts to capture photos of herons and egrets in flight whenever I can and here are a couple of shots from this past weekend of a flying egret.

In theory, it should be easy to photograph these birds—they are large and fly slowly—but the changing backgrounds and direction of flight has often made it tough to get the proper exposure and focus.

The egrets were gone all winter, but they are back now. I am hoping that I will continue to see them often enough to be able to get some better photos of them (or at least to try).

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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