Monthly Archives: November 2009

Composition

_MSW0913After several of days of wet, foggy, overcast weather, the sun finally popped out today and so did the wind, gusting up to 40 mph.  With this much wind I wanted to experiment using long exposures on large bodies of water.  I headed to Mason Neck state park along Belmont Bay to see if I could make some long exposures.  The wind along the bay was so powerful, I had a lot of difficulty keeping my camera steady during the long exposures, so I decided to change my plan and work on composition.  Repeating patterns are a good compositional style.  The photo above shows the incoming wave mimicking the line of debris along the beach.  This photo was one of many that I took in this exact location looking for the best water pattern.

Another compositional  style is the inclusion of leading lines in your photograph to help the eye move through the frame. This is what I tried to capture below with the sand patterns leading out to the bay and sky in the background.

_MSW0920

0 comments
Comment

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

    Conowingo eagles

    _MSW6446This morning I drove up to the Conowingo Dam site located on the Susquehanna River in northeastern Maryland. It was my first visit to this site which is known for its large population of Bald Eagles. The dam is part of an electricity generation plant and when the turbines are in operation, fish are sucked in the intakes through the dam and the influx of large numbers of fish near the dam attracts the eagles. My understanding is that this time of year sees the largest number of eagles in the area. Even though one of the ‘regular’ photographers remarked that today’s activity level was ‘pretty dead’, I found it a great experience, often seeing 15-20 eagles in the area at once.

    _MSW6509Above is an immature eagle showing patches of white on its wings.  Bald Eagles lose the white on their wings with their head and tail feathers turning white around the age of 5.

    _MSW6544

    After making a catch, the eagles head towards the trees along the banks of the river to eat.  They also utilize perches in the trees to scan the river for their next meal. They have become accustomed to the crowd of photographers that are at the dam site every day, making this a great place to get close-up portraits of eagles.

    _MSW6584

    0 comments
    Comment

    Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

      Rail Rally

      _MSW6280A number of Rails continue to prowl the wetlands at Huntley Meadows park. I saw several two weeks ago here and the one above was in the same area today.  It looks like a King Rail but I thought the one I photographed during my last visit was a Virginia Rail.  Take a look at the 11/8/09 posting and see if you can determine if these are different birds or the same bird? I’m thinking the bird from two weeks ago was also a King Rail…

      _MSW6409The park was full of birds today. I saw Bluebirds, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Kingfishers, Mallards, Shovelers, Canada Geese, Great Blue Heron, Titmouse, and several varieties of sparrows including the White-throated Sparrow above.

      _MSW6413 I’m still surprised to continue seeing some nice fall color.  As long as it hangs around, I’m going to continue to photograph it!

      0 comments
      Comment

      Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

        Fall color continues

        _MSW0834I can’t remember the last time when the fall leaves have been as colorful or as long lasting as this year, at least here in northern Virginia.  Even though most trees have dropped their leaves, there still remains a few trees that are holding on to their color and the leaves on the ground are still putting on a great show.  I started photographing autumn color on Oct. 1 up in Vermont and today on Nov. 14, I am still able to shoot fall color. It’s been a great fall season.

        0 comments
        Comment

        Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

          Sunny Sunday

          _MSW6053

          A bright, cloudless morning today provided a good opportunity to photograph birds, so I drove over to Huntley Meadows park.  I found  the usual inhabitants, like the male Red-winged blackbird above and the male Cardinal below.

          _MSW5971Also seen today was  a less frequent visitor, in the image below.  It appears to be an immature Virginia Rail but that’s a best guess.  (If anyone has a better identification, please send me a note.)

          _MSW5721While most of the trees in this area have dropped their leaves, there are a few trees still showing their fall color.  One of those remaining trees this morning gave me the opportunity to experiment with some zooming exposures.

          _MSW5995

           

          0 comments
          Comment

          Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

            Follow Mike