A few first impressions of the Nikon Coolpix P7100

Posted on 2012/01/09 by birds n' bugs

I was looking for a decent walkaround camera for the days I didn’t want to pack all the gear and head out for a few hours just shooting photos.  I looked at a number of point and shoots but none offered the control and raw shooting that I enjoy.  The Nikon P7100 is an update revision to the P7000 that looked interesting.  I could still use my Nikon flashes and processing software so, the camera was really the only investment.  I got it from B&H which is also where I got this picture.

Once it arrived, I spent a little time getting used to it and trying to figure out the controls without going to the computer to read the users manual. It doesn’t come in paper. As a point and shoot, it has a lot of scene modes with tiny icons and has a lot of effects that can be used in camera if desired.  So far, other than the tulip macro icon, I haven’t used them.  The tulip did work well for a hibiscus at the Punta Gorda History Park though.
I was pretty happy with the result, and this will make my Hibiscus project a little easier.

Later, we went to Trabue, a local restaurant named after the founder of Punta Gorda (although, he did name it Trabue after himself). The lighting around the bar is dramatic and colorful. Since I had the P7100 with me, I decided to try a few low light, long exposure shots. ISO was 200, I set the aperture to f2.8 (wide open) and shot two 5 second exposures of the bar.  I just set the camera flat on the table for these.

The pyramidal chandelier on the right side of the second picture caught my eye and I decided to extend the lens into the telephoto range to catch it. That pushed the aperture to f4 and the shutter to 8 seconds.  The trouble is that I needed to point the camera upward at an angle while still managing to hold it very still for 8 seconds (VR will only get you so far).   Well, I figure out a little trick using the articulated screen.  If you just pull it out a little bit, you can actually get a very stable base for a shot and changing the angle of the screen will allow it to point upward.  So, here is the result.  Not wonderful but surprisingly good as an example.

Just click any picture for a larger view.  So, in just a few days, I’ve decided that this one is a keeper and will be a very useful addition to my gear.

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The Nikkor 70-300mm VR

Posted on 2012/01/07 by birds n' bugs

I bought this lens after trying the Sigma 70-300mm APO DG, etc. etc.  It was a lens I just couldn’t get on with.

But, the 70-300mm has become a staple in my light bag along with the Nikkor 24-85mm f2.8-f4.0 and the Nikkor 105mm f2.8 VR for macro work.  It’s really handy for a lot of handheld telephoto work and quite a lot of the images taken with it show up in this blog.

As a simple example of what it can do, here is a straight from the camera (D90) jpeg at full size.

and here is a crop of just the airplane from that 4288×2848 12MP original.

The only post processing done to this was to slightly increase contrast in Faststone Image Viewer to bring the lettering out a little better.   The aircraft, by the way, is an AeroPro Eurofox.

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Around town

Posted on 2012/01/06 by birds n' bugs

I took a short run to a couple of my favorite places in town. The History Park and a nearby golf course. The owls are still at the history park but, photographically, they are pretty uninteresting. Owls sit very, very still for a long, long time. At least during the daytime.  So, no owl pictures today.  But, owls aren’t the only thing in the park.  I found a curious squirrel on one branch and a Sharp-shinned Hawk on another.   

After that brief visit, I headed off to a nearby pond on a golf course not too far away.   One of the water hazards has a small island which has become a rookery for cormorants and Great Blue Herons.  There are a lot of other birds around but, right now, those are the two that are nesting.  One of the cormorants was early since they have two unfledged juveniles to support but, they will soon be off.  There are others though still brooding.

    

On the water, the species were plentiful and active.  I decided to use the grebe and coot crossing as a header banner here but, there were several others that looked good.

Like this pair of Mottled Ducks (Anas fulvigula)

or, this trio of American Coots (Fulica americana)

but, in the end, the crossing looked best

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A couple of bugs

Posted on 2012/01/02 by birds n' bugs

I’m involved in a project to document the Hibiscus flowers at the Punta Gorda History Park.  They are important to the Historical Society which runs the park because Harry Goulding, one of the world’s most reknown hibiscus hybridizers worked in Punta Gorda.  In fact, he produced over 450 hybrids. It is basically a documentary effort trying to capture the characteristics of the specific hybrid so, the pictures aren’t that thrilling.

While shooting though, I did notice the other ‘features’ of the garden.  It attracts pollinators and other insects.  Well, where there are plants, there are insects that eat plants like this Little Leaf Notcher (Artipus floridanus).


And, where there are insects, there are insects that eat insects like this Milkweed Assassin Bug (Zelus longipes)

The Hibiscus pictures will probably appear, in part, on other Punta Gorda Historical Society blogs and a guide to the park.

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2011 in review

Posted on 2011/12/31 by birds n' bugs

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 14,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Another trip to the History Park

Posted on 2011/12/30 by birds n' bugs

Still a great place in Punta Gorda to spend some time.  The Hibiscus are coming in to bloom and there is an abundance of birds in the park.  The craft shop in the Trabue Land Office has a list of species seen.  Of course, the feeder draws a few of the small birds.

   

But, the highlight was discovering that a pair of Great Horned Owls – Bubo virginianus had taken over the abandoned eagle nest and were preparing to raise a family there. This was the only shot I could get with both in the frame

But, I did get a couple of individual shots over two days.

   

So, it looks like the park will be pretty interesting for the next few months. Since they prey on other birds we may see some reduction in other species.

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An hour at the Punta Gorda History Park

Posted on 2011/12/23 by birds n' bugs

I decided to take a walk around the history park this morning just to see what the activity was like.  There are no eagles on the nest this year but still plenty of other activity around.

This Grackle was sitting near a bird feeder waiting his turn (uncommonly polite for a grackle).

The snags were attracting woodpeckers too.  I found this little Red-Bellied on the snag and caught the Pileated taking a break on the fountain in front of the Price House.

   

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Two more from the Punta Gorda Isles Lighted Boat Parade

Posted on 2011/12/20 by birds n' bugs

Just two more shots from the boat parade


I was asked how I got these shots. All of these shots were taken with a Nikon D90 with 50mm f1.8D lens. Manual exposure mode 1/100th of a second at f1.8.

Pictures like this are a challenge because the lights are easy to see but, if you allow the automation to select your exposure you end up with muddy pictures or, end up with such a slow shutter speed that subject motion turns all your lights into streaks. Since these are all boats in motion, their wakes make the water a little choppy and the motion can be multi-dimensional.

So, I increased my shutter speed to 1/100 and opened the lens up to it’s maximum aperture. That got the lights in focus and stopped but, still left the picture underexposed. Here is a straight from the camera jpeg of the Pig Wreath above.


Post processing was enlightening. Normally, brightness and contrast are enough to adjust exposure. These are linear function though and as a result you start getting a lot of grey coming into the dark parts of the picture.  I then remembered that Gamma correction is non-linear and tried that using the free Faststone image viewer which includes some decent editting functions for quick fixes including an ‘enhance color’ function.  Increasing Gamma quickly added some brilliance to the lights and kept the dark areas clean.

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Punta Gorda Isles Christmas Boat Parade

Posted on 2011/12/18 by birds n' bugs

The parade was held December 17th and the route took the boats around the perimeter canal and along some of the transit canals.  I’m not sure how many boats took part this year but, it was an enjoyable evening watching the effort and creativity that went into the displays.  Some simple and some elaborate but all reflected the joy of their owners in taking part in the parade.

Speaking of Joy, that was the theme of the first boat in the parade which had an Angel with a trumpet announcing the arrival of the boats.  The boat was quickly followed by others.

   

   

   

My favorite of the evening though was an animated display of a Poinsettia being watered and blooming as the boat passed by.  Just click on any image below for a better view.

  

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Improvements at Babcock-Webb WMA

Posted on 2011/12/17 by birds n' bugs

On Thursday, I took a scouting trip out to the Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area to see what the hunting area looked like this year.  It will be open through January 13th, 2012 so, if you want to see it, now is the time.

Two of my  favorite spots are the western end of tram grade after Seaboard and the eastern end of Tuckers Grade around Snag Lake.  It’s usually not possible to get to both easily in a regular car.   I was going to take Tram Grade out to Route 31 and return when I discovered that the FWC had regraded Road 6.

To get to Tram Grade, go past the gun range and turn north on Oilwell Grade.  After a mile or so, you will find Tram running east.  Once past Seaboard, you soon hit the normally closed hunting area.  The area that you first enter is a grade through pleasant wetlands with an abundance of wildlife.

   

The marshes soon start to show some hammocks rising as the land does.  After a while, you end up in typical pine flatwoods and eventually reach the closed gate at Route 31.   Along the way here you will see that Florida is still cattle country.

   

You can see the  gate to Babcock Ranch across the way.  It almost looks like you could drive straight across but, that’s a major road between the gates and the Babcock-Webb side is always locked.  But, the interesting news at this end was that Road 6 which roughly parallels Route 31 between Tram and Tucker Grades had been regraded.  No longer fit only for trucks, any car could travel this.

   

With the recent grading, you can now get to my next favorite spot, Snag Lake near the eastern end of Tuckers Grade.  This is a large flooded area which at the better times will have hundreds of birds on the snags, and fishing.  Today though I was  too late for the morning feed.  Even without the usual multitudes, the sight was spectacular.

Passing along the lake, I did manage to find this Kingfisher on a distant snag and these Woodstorks wading near the edge.

   

Finding Road 6 open and connecting favorite places made this trip to Babcock-Webb a little more special.  As I headed west on Tuckers Grade, I ran into a recent burn area.  So recent, in fact that there were still a few hot spots putting out the occasional flame and smoke.

   

These burns are perfectly normal in the flatwoods.  They don’t move fast enough to do much harm to the wildlife but, they keep the underbrush down.  I did see this family of Sandhill Cranes feeding on the edges of the burn.

So, that was the end of the scouting trip.  Still about 3 weeks to have this great access to the hunting area.

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