23. January 2010 by David.

I wasn’t able to take the day off to photograph so in the late afternoon I went to the Merced Wildlife Refuge hoping to get some waterfowl photographs. Very few ducks but being a lover of landscapes I still considered the shoot a success.

Looking South, 1/30 sec, f7.1, 130mm, ISO200, tripod mounted

Looking West, 1/100sec, f7.1, 170mm, ISO200, tripod mounted

Keep clicking,

Dave

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20. December 2009 by David.

With the budget crisis in California and the Federal Government the Merced Wildlife Refuge has employed some of the natural residents of the area to help enforce the rules and regulations.

Keep Clicking

Dave

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18. December 2009 by David.

Last Sunday when I was done with my ‘have to’s’ I had just enough time to take a run to the Merced Wildlife Refuge. It rained most of the way up and I could see that the sunset was going to be blocked by heavy clouds. Once I got there the rain stopped and the wind was calm but the sunset was still overcast. However looking to the east I was able to catch this shot of the storm breaking up. F6.3, 1/85 of a sec. 65mm at ISO 400.

Keep Clicking

Dave

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5. December 2009 by David.

Even though it’s just the beginning of the birds coming into the Merced Wildlife Refuge and the sky was pretty plain, this is somewhere you want to visit. This was taken just after sundown, the birds were very noisy and flock after flock flew over my head.  I had to use a fairly fast shutter speed for the time of day otherwise the geese would have been blurred, therefore I had to increase the (relative) film speed to ISO 400, 1/40sec, F9, 75mm, tripod mounted.

Keep clicking

Dave

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28. November 2009 by David.

I dropped by the Merced Wildlife Refuge today. There weren’t many birds yet and I found this one loner intriguing. The sun was just setting and the brisk winds that were blowing earlier had died down. Soon after this I drove around (it’s one way) and witnessed flocks of geese coming in for the night. It’s the beginning of the time of year that you need to think about going out to the refuge.

I upped the ISO on this shot to 400 which allowed a handheld 1/250 of a second, F9 at 300mm with an unstablized lens. I purposely used a moderate f-stop to keep just enough of the foreground in focus and blur the background adding to the depth of the photograph.

Keep clicking

Dave

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28. February 2009 by David.

I was driving around and ended up at the Merced Wildlife Refuge again. There were hardly any ducks where I usually stop to photograph sunsets and the sky was pretty grey. I  had changed my focus and was looking for flowers or other close up items when I came across a field filled with geese. They were just milling around nothing much was happening when I spotted some toad stools and decided to photograph them. With wet knees I headed back to my truck, as I opened the door I turned around and saw this. I couldn’t change my lens fast enough. As I’ve said before. Widen your horizens, opportunities happen all the time. While this is not the best photo I’ve ever taken, being in the presence of this spectacular show was amazing.

Within 5 minutes the geese had moved to the center of the refuge and out of camera range.

Keep LOOKING!

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25. February 2009 by Friedhelm.

Sunsets are always amazing especially in central California. In order to get the best possible color range I took my raw photograph and created three different tif files, one underexposed (-2), one normal exposed and one overexposed (+2). Out of the three tif  files I created a 32 bit image which contains a much wider tonal range than a standard image file. The 32 bit hdr file had to undergo a second editing process to bring out the best possible range of colors for this image.

If you would like to know more about hdr imaging, join us for the next Photo Club meeting in Chowchilla. Go to www.passionforphotos.com

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1. February 2009 by David.

This photo taken at the Merced Wildlife Refuge is one of the reasons it has become a favorite place to photograph. During the late fall to early spring many different types of geese, ducks and cranes make their home here. Just as the sun sets, the sky fills with flocks as they come in to roost for the night.  A few minutes after this photograph the sky was filled with birds. You’ll probably see some of those later in the blog.

Don’t forget your tripod, or if you have to use your car as a support, turn the engine off. You’d be surprised at how much vibration there is, even with a smooth running engine.  Oh, and tell your passengers to sit still.  The shot is the important thing.    lol

Keep clicking!

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18. January 2009 by David.

Most of the time when a photograph is blurred it’s because we were not holding the camera steady enough. I blurred this one on purpose to give a painting like effect. With my camera on a tripod and using a slow shutter speed, 1/4 of a second at f10, I zoomed in while pressing the shutter button. It took several tries to get the effect I wanted but that’s one of the benefits of digital, you can experiment without any additional cost.

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12. January 2009 by Friedhelm.

This picture was taken at the Merced Game Refuge right at sunset. The branches and the bird form a wonderful silhouette against the orange colors of the sunset. Come back and see a new picture every day!

David and Friedhelm

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