Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Part 1)

[Dallas Dem]

Earlier this month, I attended Digital Days, a weekend-long photo seminar put on by Popular Photography, and sponsored by Sony. My technical skills have been very weak, and this was a great opportunity to finally understand what all those buttons on my camera are actually for. And actually take pictures in something other than AUTO mode. I strongly recommend something like this for all fledgling photographers........it can vastly change your perspective on how to shoot your photos. (You don't need a Sony cam, any digital is fine, and more info can be found here, including whether or not they're coming to your area:

http://www.digitaldays.com

Anyway......I discovered the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Beach County, FL, last week, and decided to try out my new skills. I was pleasantly surprised......if I do say so myself. Enjoy!

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The Ides of Marsh

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Cleared For Landing

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The Eyes Have It

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Spinal Tap

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Pattern Pending

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Lilac Pinwheel

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Reflections On Flying

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[JeffR]

1. These are superb.

Can you tell us a bit about your settings on some of these? It could be very instructive for people.

[Dallas Dem]

2. The Technical Details

First...thanks for the compliment......always appreciated.

My camera is a Sony A100, Sony lens either f/3.5-5.6/18-70mm or f/4.5-5.6/75-300mm

Technical info as follows:

The Ides of Marsh
f/5.6 1/500 sec. ISO 100 230mm

Cleared For Landing
f/5.6 1/1000 sec. ISO 200 210mm

The Eyes Have It
f/5.6 1/250 sec. ISO 200 300mm

Spinal Tap
f/5.6 1/80 sec. ISO 100 35mm

Pattern Pending
f/5.6 1/1000 sec. ISO 200 300mm

Lilac Pinwheel
f/5.6 1/160 sec. ISO 100 50mm

Reflections On Flying
f/4.5 1/1000 sec. ISO 200 75mm

[JeffR]

7. Thanks for the info.

I actually ordered that same camera a couple of years ago, but the distributor screwed up the shipment and I ended up with a Canon instead.

Were these shot in full manual mode? I confess I'm lazy enough that I shoot most of the time in aperture priority and let the camera deal with exposure time.

[Dallas Dem]

8. These were shot in shutter priority mode.....

......while taking baby step along the learning curve. I took my time, checked my histogram after every shot, played with the ISO, adjusted the shutter speed, etc., etc.

The thing I came away with from the seminar more than any other is to not be afraid to try things, see how they effect the outcome, and that the way to take better pictures is to take MORE pictures. Practice. Practice. Practice.

I still have lots to learn, lots of room for improvement, but a much beter foundation to move forward.

[JeffR]

9. And the wonderful thing about digital is that the experimentation

can proceed without the cost of film.

PS - I didn't want you or anyone to get the impression that I was equating shutter or aperture priority shooting with being lazy. Laziness is just my personal justification for doing so.:)

[Dallas Dem]

10. Good thing.............

........considering my take-a-picture to keep-a-picture ratio is about 100 to 1.

And believe me, I knew no offense was intended, and none was taken. Considering all that these new cameras can do for you, you can actually BE lazy, and still take a great shot!! :rofl:

Sometimes.......the cameras are even good enough to get you in the DU Animals calendar.

I am proud to be "Mr. June," which is quite appropriate, since it's my birthday month, as well.

Congrats to everyone.....the new calendar is awesome!!!

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Amazing! Like flipping through a nature magazine. :^)

[Dallas Dem]

4. Oh, WOW.........!!!!

Glad you liked them........I really enjoyed taking them. Thank you.

[HarveyDarkey]

5. Nicely done, great pics

Still learning digital, but still mostly using the AUTO mode. My 35 MM's are all manual except for the light meter. I tried following your link to Digital days, but couldn't find anything about photography classes.

[Dallas Dem]

6. It's www.digitaldaysphoto.com, sorry!!

Duh.........it's http://www.digitaldaysphoto.com/

And thanks for the kind words!