Via Flickr:
This is a shot in broad daylight in the Everglades using my Canon 580 with the Beamer. The Cypress trees are about 35-40 feet away and the lighted area is the result of the beamer kicking in to assist. Not only does it illuminate the Cypress trees but also adds to the reflection. Light works that way.
When people see my camera and flash rig they ask me whether the flash enhancer, the "Beamer" really does anything in the daylight. My answer is always, "yup". Here is an example of how well it actually works.
Check out this shot of the Alligator. He’s hiding deep within the Everglades Cypress trees. It’s dark and, even though light is streaming through the trees, I needed a little extra light 35-40 feet away. Enter the “Beamer” an extension on the face of your flash. It’s so cool and I never leave home with out it.
I love shooting pictures in the Everglades, if you haven’t already figured that out. Over the years I’ve been able to shoot thousands of pictures and capture hundreds of hours of video in many different formats. Before going total HD 16×9 this past summer I created several short videos about wildlife and am recently uploaded them to YouTube for sharing. These short videos are trying to share some of the pictures I’m able to capture in sequences most people have never seen before. My style of capturing wildlife is to shoot extended burst sequences to attempt to capture a greater scope of the subject’s behavior and life. Single shots are nice but I normally shoot 100-400 stills in the same time photographers shoot a dozen. I’ve shot that way ever since I purchased my first auto winder for my Olympus camera in the 70′s. Depending on the setting and lightening I’ll even shoot long sequences with flash. I have some of those sequences being ready for later blogs.
South Florida Birds
If you have a couple of minutes check out South Florida Birds (above) and Great Blues Rookery (below). Great Blues is a series of very high quality still shots with my SLR combined with a short video clip. It’s similar to stop motion animation, with real live wildlife. These are about the last two productions I did in 4 x 3 SD, Everything now is 16 x 9 HD (1080p).
I hope you enjoy these short views into the life of Great Blue Herons (Tri-Colored too). We expect to start seeing chicks like this in the Rookeries around South Florida soon. Look for more media on them in the near future.
Great Blues in the Rookery
Please feel free to share these with your friends. This site is also MOBILE FRIENDLY.
Sometime during the exploratory trips my wife and I take around Central and South Florida we run into all sizes of Alligators. This big guy was surrounded by other big gators sunning in the warm mid day sunlight. One weekend a few months ago we were exploring a dirt road between Andytown Florida and the Seminole reservation and we counted over 100 ‘gators swimming and sunning along the canals.
Seeing them is one thing but walking around in the muck very close to them is something else. I tend to really respect their space and keep my distance, it’s a good thing we have long lenses on the cameras so we can get these close-up shots.
On the most part these ‘Gators would rather run when they see us but sometime they will hang out and allow some pictures. I don’t fully trust that they will run the other way. I’ve actually seen them pop up and run very fast, mostly in the other direction. One day I’m sure I’ll have to drop my cameras and jump on top of the car in a serious effort to escape being eaten.
