Tuesday, the Centerville Band Booster's presented the 37th Annual Soaring Sounds - bringing together eight of the DCI's top drums corps at Centerville High School. We enjoyed watching Carolina Crown practice in the afternoon and the hot, summer evening drew record crowds. The audience enjoyed big brass, precision drumlines, and a host of local food trucks.
Huffman Metropark
Tried not to get suck in the muck photographing a few Great Egrets at Huffman Metropark (west of the dam).
Catching Up
Here are a few images from the last couple of weeks - the weather here has been unbearable- hot, muggy and hazy.
Too Hot to Shoot
Wow - is it hot out today. The temperature outside is 93°- the heat index reports it feels like 103°, and I agree. A nice day to relax inside and process some photographs.
Dusting Off the Rust
Getting back into the groove of insect macro photography - having taken the spring off to focus on bird photography. It's interesting how it takes a bit of getting used to, but I'm getting back into macro photography quickly. Below is a composite, focus-stack of a Robber Fly composed of four hand-held images taken at Woodman Fen (Nikon D750 50mm reversing ring with 27mm extension tube.)
My Camera Does Work
Haven't shot in quite a while - it has been crazy fast summer. Monday evening I had some great opportunities to capture images. The first image is a handheld shot of a small sunflower - fairly happy with the image, the petals had some depth which made it difficult to get the entire flower sharp. I illuminated the flower with an off-camera flash with custom DIY diffuser. The image was processed in Lightroom and Photoshop - darkening the background and building out the shadows and highlights. The second image is of a Horsefly (Diptera Tabaninae). This example was trapped in the house and not feeling too well - this made him slower and more patient than normal. This image is a single, non-stacked image. I may try in the near future to stack several of the images I captured to create a deeper DOF.
The Blessing of Camp Mowana
We had the pleasure to visit Camp Mowana on Sunday. For two reason: dropping Emma off for Senior Week and to attend the 75th anniversary of this wonderful secret on the outskirts of Mansfield, Ohio. (Did I mention Lily ended up deciding to stay for Senior week too! 280 miles later, we returned with her clothes Monday.) Great to see everyone - wish we'd had longer to catch up.
Gettin' Buggie With It
Dusted off the macro gear, and reminding myself how to shot.
This juvenile Praying Mantis measured approximately 2 cm in length.
A Little Cheating
Don't always have time to get out and shoot, so shooting at the feeder is better than not taking any pictures at all.
Little Bird in the Prairie
Explored the tall grasses of the prairie at Sugarcreek Reserve Metro Park this afternoon. Enjoyed the chance to photograph a Common Yellowthroat and a curious Indigo Bunting
The Promise After the Storm
Great rainbows tonight following the storm (and why I try to keep a camera around at all times.)
Clear Night
Walking the dogs last night, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to photograph the moon. Eight days old, the waxing gibbous moon was crisp and clear.
Destin Highlights
Here are just a few of the top photographs from our trip to Destin, Florida. I truly feel blessed to have experienced and captured the natural wildlife of the gulf coast.
And my favorite highlight...the four love's of my life!
Hitting the Beach Early
No new species this morning, but a couple of great opportunities.
Madeline is awesome (guest editor)
Happy Birthday (to me)
A great day today with my girls - the beach, pool, Joe's Crabshack and The Track!
Day Two
Great day in paradise - dolphins, sting rays, osprey, shorebirds, flounders.... (Note: Editing these on the iPad in Snapseed transferred wireless from camera - I have noticed some major noise issues I don't expect to see when I download these on the PC.)
Wishing You Were Here
Great start to vacation today. Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head (no wait, that's a Beatles song.) Up early and headed to the beach. Louise and Madeline went swimming with the dolphins and the Osprey were feeding close to shore.
Finding Some Peace
It's been a rough week personally, so tried at lunch today to just get out and find a little peace. This isn't quite how I saw the picture in my head, but pretty close.
The Hunter
Madeline spotted this tiny hunter last night - glad to have help around the house controlling the wasps.
Quick Shots
A couple quick shots from this morning at Spring Valley Nature Preserve.