Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Black Crown Night Heron photographed using the Olympus MC14 1.4x Teleconverter - First time out!



Black Crowned Night Heron. Safety Harbor, FL.  I shot this beautiful bird with my Olympus OMD-EM5ii. The lens was the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro and the Olympus 1.4x teleconverter.  It was my first try with the new teleconverter which takes the maximum fixed aperture to 4.0.  I am thrilled with this kit.  The camera was handheld and rock solid.  I shot the Heron while on my daily walk.  I remove the lens collar for my walk so that I can carry the camera and lens on my hip in a Think Tank holster

Saturday, July 9, 2016

My first experience shooting fireworks.


On the 4th of July I had my first experience shooting fireworks.  There are many tutorials about at YouTube and elsewhere on the web that guided me.. At home in Safety Harbor, Florida , we generally don't go to the fireworks due to the crowds and traffic congestion getting there.  Perhaps, I will make the effort though next year. It was so much fun!


These photos were shot along the Intracoastal Waterway in St. Augustine just south of the Bridge of Lions.  Lynn and I were celebrating our 50th Anniversary nearby at the St. Francis Inn Bed and Breakfast.  The b&b was just a 2 block walk from the waterfront.  It was a great spot to setup our beach chairs and photo gear to get a birdseye view of the display.


All of these photos were shot on a tripod.  I used a Manual setting of f8, ISO 200 and 3-8 seconds exposure time. I used Autofocus with manual assist, but in hindsight I believe that using pure manual focus could bring more keepers.

My camera was the Olympus OMD-EM5ii with the Olympus f2.8 Pro lens.  It was a thrill looking at these on the computer.  I certainly am stoked to try shooting fireworks again.  But, July 4, 2017 is so far away....