March 26, 2016

It started out a cold cloudy day in central Ohio this morning but quickly cleared up into a bright and sunny Saturday, I made it to one of my favorite spots on Big Walnut Creek for the last couple hours daylight and got some shots on wood ducks and hooded mergansers. I hope you enjoy them!

 I liked the fun house mirror effect on this woodie so I cropped just the head out of the reflection in the shot.

March 25, 2016

I have made a couple of equipment upgrades recently, so far the results are good and should steadily get better as I continue to learn and practice. I shot these at Blendon Woods this afternoon.

March 22, 2016

I have been doing some additional editing on the shots I took last night and have decided to add a few. I like the soft effect on the wood ducks; they are certainly not sharp images. I included the shot of the flying mergansers, the shot is soft and out of focus but I like the it came out. I have come to the conclusion that every shot does not have to be razor sharp to be not only interesting, but beautiful!

March 21, 2016

I hit the same spot this evening as last. I know how I feel about these shots, please let me know what you all think in the comments. The last picture is a hen hooded merganser.

March 20, 2016

I shot these pictures along Big Walnut Creek in Westerville Ohio last evening. I have caught the merganser a couple of times in that spot over the last few days and I think I got him to pose pretty well this time; tell me what you think in the comments!

The wood ducks were fairly cooperative and I just don't seem to get tired of watching them. I set up on the creek bank wearing a 3D camouflaged jacket and hood. I also wrapped the white camera lens in camouflage fabric and fastened it into place with rubber bands. I am either going to make camouflage sleeves for the legs on my tripod or simply paint the entire thing. The merganser swam past just about 30 feet in front of me, the wood ducks were about 30 yards away. Wood ducks are extremely skittish and will not stick around if they see anything resembling a human.  I watched and photographed these birds for 30 minutes and they had no idea I was there, it was great fun to say the least.

I was able to get shots of both a downy woodpecker and a pileated woodpecker, unfortunately the pictures were just not good enough to publish here. I'll keep working on them and hopefully get some nice shots on them soon.

March 19, 2016

I made an early morning trip to a marsh at Deer Creek Wildlife Area near Mt Sterling Ohio. The weather was cold, overcast and drizzling rain and snow, not great conditions for photography but I made the best of it. There are many ducks using the marsh this spring species I identified include mallards, redheads, ring necks, wood ducks, grebes, and coots.

March 17, 2016

I spent a couple hours along a creek close to home late this afternoon. I caught  this hooded merganser lazily floating down the creek. The first shot really seems unremarkable; the thing I found interesting is we can see his tail feathers fanned out on the surface of the water.

These are funny little ducks; with their seemingly large head they bear a striking resemblance to  an alien in Star Trek!

March 16, 2016

I made a couple stops this afternoon. First stop was a wetland preserve near Washington Courthouse, Ohio where I shot the frogs and woodpecker. Second stop was Deer Creek Wildlife Area near Mt Sterling Ohio where I shot the ducks. I love the shot of the flying redheads.

March 15, 2016

It was a wood duck kind of day at Blendon Woods this afternoon. The ducks were very cooperative and posed very well. I have recently added a new lens to camera set up that I think is much better than my other telephoto lens. We have a goose shot that is a bit underexposed but still interesting so included it as well. Enjoy!

March 14, 2016

I shot these turtles in a road side pond near Coshocton Ohio this afternoon.

March 12, 2016

I shot these at Blendon Woods Metro Park yesterday afternoon. I hope you enjoy them. I was able to get very close to turkeys, these were actually taken with the lens zoom at minimum.

I caught a pretty nice reflection on this wood duck.