Larry Ditto Nature Photography

Spanish Dagger has been in bloom for about 3 weeks in extreme south Texas.  The “pitas”  or yucca blooms come on so early that the season often slips by before I realize it.  This year, I was determined to photograph them and maybe even try a little light painting just after sunset.  Of couse, when I’m not used to doing something,  weaknesses in skill and equipment are glaring.  I needed much stronger lights to get it just right, but I liked a few of the shots.

Last week, we (Glenda and I) traveled up to Uvalde to visit our daughter and to photograph an exihibition of Native American dancing by some of the local Boy Scouts.  It was tons of fun but far more challenging than I’d anticipated.  The ”concert” was in an auditorium, at night with very low light.  I determined to salvage a few of the shots which you will see here. It took some filtering to make them look viewable, but a couple seemed to work.  

I got a few shots of screech owl and yellow-bellied sapsucker in my daughter’s front yard.  If the birds hang around awhile, maybe I can work them with better backgrounds on the next trip.  Most of you probably know how challenging it can be photographing wildlife in the city…cars, brightly colored buildings, joggers, etc. behind the subject.  All had to be dealt with, but I think I can do it right with a second try.

I came across a few deer photos while getting my latest files in order.  So, you will see a couple of shots from December in this newsletter.  The monster bucks didn’t appear this year, but I know they will be out there when the rut starts next season.

Don’t forget to sign up for one of my spring photo tours.  There are still spaces available for South Padre Island Birds in Migration, FeatherFest in Galveston, May Hummingbirds near Goliad, Texas, Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma in May, and South Texas Ranches in May and June.  If you have a hankering to photograph in the more exotic locals, check out Kathy Adams Clark’s tours at www.KathyAdamsClark.com.

Here are some of my recent photos.  Remember, you can click on a photo to enlarge it.  Click the upper right corner area of a photo for slide show mode.

This buck was chasing a south Texas doe, so he pretty much ignored photographers.

Big buck following a doe at sunrise, south Texas.

 

Photographer, Paul Denman, uncovered this Great Plains Skink while helping Gene Gwin bury water lines at his nature photography ranch north of Edinburg, Texas. For more information on his ranch go to www.PMDPhoto.com and click on the south Texas photography ranches page.

 For more information on the Gene Gwin ranch click on: www.PMDPhoto.com and then click on the “south Texas ranches” page.

A Native American dance performance by past and present members of Boy Scouts in Uvalde, Texas.

 

I used a ”palette knife” filter on the photo above and the ”glowing edges” filter from Photoshop on the photo below.  Both original images were blurred, so the filters actually saved them from the trash bin.

By highlighting the outlines in this image with the "glowing edges" filter in Photoshop, a blurred image was salvaged and given a surreal look.

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drawing sap from holes he has pecked in the soft bark of an ornamental tree.

 

 The sapsucker image was captured with the Canon 50D camera, Canon 500 mm IS lens and 1.4 x teleconverter on a Gitzo 1348 tripod with Wimberley Gimbal head.  The bird was in moderate shade, so I overexposed the shot by one stop and shot at 5.6 f  to blur the background (an orange house across the street). 

The night before full moon with some light painting on Spanish Dagger blooms near the mouth of the Rio Grande.

 I shot the yucca blooms just after sunset and just after moon rise using a Canon 1D Mark III camera and Canon 16-35  mm lens with polarizing filter.

Light painted yuccas (Spanish Dagger) in bloom looking west just after sunset.

 

Setting sun behind a cluster of Spanish Dagger near the mouth of the Rio Grande.

 

Yuccas silhouetted against sunset sky.

 

Both of the previous shots were taken through a Canon 100-400 mm IS lens with Gitzo tripod and Arca Swiss ball head.  The bottom shot was taken at +1.

Silhouetted yucca forest east of Brownsville, Texas just after sunset.

 

We were light painting yuccas and facing east toward the moon rise when, for once, I remembered my own advice and turned to look behind me.  The shot above is what I saw.

Spanish Dagger and moon just before sunset.

 

 The moon was well up before sunset.  This shot was done with a Canon 100-400 mm IS lens from a tripod with monoball.

In the coming weeks, I hope to begin capturing some spring migrant birds.  I saw my first indigo bunting of the season yesterday.

Larry

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.