Nature Week 14

 

Extra challenge this week, focal length of 400mm+.

Therefor used my 200-500mm lens with an added 2x teleconverter. And since the regular challenge required taking photos of nature, I combined the two.

 

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Battle of the Swiftest

 Launch your boat from Sandsprit Park into the Manatee Pocket and you find yourself in the stunning waterways of Port Salerno.

This small community was originally the hub for the South Florida commercial fishing industry. Now a working waterfront and fishing fleet provides fresh seafood to local restaurants and markets. 

Port Salerno also welcomes “captains of industry” from around the world, who come to the area every year for world-class sport fishing tournaments that are based out of marinas and parks located on the Manatee Pocket.

With all this fishing going on, year long, Port Salerno has an abudance of pelicans hanging around. 

After all, which pelican doesn't want the fresh catch of the day thrown at them for free?

At the sign of the first boat returning to land with their catch, the pelicans fly in, taking their position in front of the cleaning stations.

And then the show begins.

As the fishermen clean and filet the fish.......

 

They throw the waste into the water.

That's when the battle of the swiftest commences.

 

There's always one pelican that after several attempts to "catch a fish" decides the activity to be too difficult, hence leaves the "playground". 

 

(source)

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Emotions Week 13

 As the title indicates, the challenge for this week is dealing with emotions. Capturing a photo that will evoke feelings.

First attempt was a painting with light photo of this couple. 

 

Then a little pay with slow shutter speed.

 

I messed up the timing on the following photo and ended up with a double exposure, which suit me fine.😊

And finally tried the extra challenge which was using a CTB flash gel.

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The Osprey Nest

 

In my last post , found here, I mentioned looking for the nest of the osprey. 

The osprey that hovered around our condo on a regular basis.

 

I had seen his flight path and sort of had an idea of where the nest might be.

Searching I went and found the nest way high, high above a telephone pole.

I noticed that there were actually two of them sharing the nest.

My goal now was to try and capture their face rather than their derrier.

Therefor,  I waited patiently.

 

And finally one of them looked down at me. 

 

 Mission accomplished.

 

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Long Shutter/Light Painting Week 12

 

This week's challenge required using a slow shutter speed to capture photographs. There was also an extra challenge section which dealt with using any source of light to do some light painting.

Since both the regular challenge and the extra challenge basically required the same type of set up, I chose to do both.

First set of photos were taken with an off camera flash on the right of the subject and a small flashlight on the left side. My goal here was to create some light trails, but I wasn't very successful in that area.

The next set of photos were taken, again with a slow shutter speed and the use of a small flashlight, to paint some light and shadows on the subjects.

And in this last photo, instead of a flashlight I used a string of LED lights.

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