Molting Brown Anole

I got this photograph of a Brown Anole on a fence rail recently, but what is kind of unique is that it was in the process of molting. Moulting (old english) is a natural process whereby old skin, hair or feathers are shed to make room for new skin, hair or feathers. For a relatively short period of time the molting animal or insect can look drab or ill due to the process, even though the animal is physically fine. It took me a while to get close enough to get this wildlife photograph along with a series of others before the presumed Cuban Anole moved out of the photography range.

Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly 003

I took this wildlife photograph of an Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly in my backyard during June of 2014. I had several good opportunities to photograph it as it shot touch and go landings on the same twig. This dragonfly is also known as the common Pondhawk Dragonfly. It is a noteworthy predator in the insect classes.

A VERY LARGE WILD BOAR

I got this wildlife photograph of a very large wild boar foraging for food at the Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. I would estimate it's weight at approximately three hundred fifty pounds. They are a not uncommon visitor to the reserve and actually do a large amount of damage to the grounds.

Silver Back Gorilla

This is a picture of a "Juvenile" gorilla that is part of a zoological facility in central Florida. The only reason that it is still called "Juvenile" is because it is part of a group that in the wild would be composed of all male gorillas. The juvenile male gorillas are typically kicked out of the family group when they reach a size and age to be a challenge to the dominant male gorilla of the family group. The juvenile male gorillas then typically form a group until one meets a female gorilla (or gorillas) and forms a new family group. All Gorillas are also known as apes or great apes.  This one though will live out it's life in a controlled setting. 

A FEEDING OSPREY

I took this wildlfe picture of this feeding Osprey during the middle of June, 2013 at the Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. There are a large number of Ospreys that live in or near this nature preserve and feed in nearby Lake Hancock. I frequently see ten or more of these beautiful birds of prey flying over the lake. I caught this one sitting on the branch of a dead tree snag eating it's meal and occassionally calling out to it's mate. This bird of prey is a very large bird that is specially adapted to taking it's prey from out of the water. Part of it's adaptation is the curved talons that make it easier to capture it's slimy and squirming prey, fish. Often, these magnificent birds are also known as a fish hawk. The Osprey is far easier for me and my camera to get good pictures of when it is perched and I am using a tripod. Lunch time (their lunchtime) is the best time for me to take a wildlife picture of them. 

THE HAND PUMP AT THE COMMON GROUND PARK

  Another great place to create your art is at a local park or playground. Many of them have sculptures or statues and playground equipment to create unique images with or from. I have been to this playground with my children several times to play with them, or at least watch them play. I had an epiphany while I was there the last time with them and realised that if I came back there while they were in school I could actually photograph the park and it's features uninterrupted by having to keep track of my children while they played.
 This artistic photograph was taken the Common Ground Park in Lakeland, Florida while most of the school age children were in school and park usage was low. I took this picture under the shade of a picnic pavilion and used the little girl statue to augment the main subject of this photograph, the old fashioned water pump. As you can tell from the water in the air, this is actually a functional hand pump. Using a two second delay on the camera made it kind of hard to get the water flowing and back to the camera in time to get the picture of the water flowing without causing a blurred picture. This artist's photograph took many attempts until I was happy with the base image. I did do a small amount of touch up editing using my favorite editing program. 

ARMADILLO MEANS "LITTLE ARMORED ONE"

  I created this wildlife photo at one of my favorite shooting locations here in central Florida, the Circle B Bar Reserve. It is of a wild Armadillo that was foraging in the grass near the Nature Discovery Center. These Small placental mammals are covered in a very hard, leathery armoured shell. In fact, the word armadillo means "little armored one" in Spanish. There are at least two excellent reasons not to handle an Armadillo. The first is it's teeth and front claws. While it's bite can be serious, it's front claws are much more capable of causing severe injury and bleeding. They are probably almost constantly sharpened by the digging it does to eat. The Armadillo is not typically an aggressive animal and if you end up bitten or cut, it is almost certainly your own fault for trying to handle a live animal. The other excellent reason not to handle this animal is that it is a possible carrier for a disease known as Leprosy or Hansen's disease. In the state of Florida there has been a rise in the reported number of Leprosy cases though it is not a serious health threat to the public at this time. It is a treatable and probably curable disease nowadays, but in the past it was a probable death sentence by natural causes or at least a life in isolation to prevent the spread of the disease. As long as you are creating your wildlife photo from a reasonable distance you should not encounter any problems. 

THE FRONT END OF A FORD MODEL A TOURING CAR

  I created this artist's photograph of  the front end of what I was told was a Ford Model A Touring car. When it comes to antique vehicle's, I have to rely on the expertise of either the owner or someone else that probably does know more about what they are talking about than I do. This Artist's photograph was composed and created from the middle of the street in historic Downtown Winter Haven, Florida. (Safety hint), make sure that the street is blocked off for some function such as Cruisin' Winter Haven before setting up in the middle of the street. This antique vehicle was the second model series from a world renowned car company that has been in existence for over 120 years now. I was trying to create a unique perspective for this photograph by setting a lowslung tripod up for my camera. It was a fun and pleasant evening spent photographing several antique automobiles or classic cars. I hope that you are enjoying my blog and hope that you want to see more of my art. 

A LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPH OF CYPRESS GARDEN'S BANYAN TREE AT LEGOLAND FLORIDA.

I recently took this landscape photograph of a Banyan tree that is at what used to be Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, Florida. Cypress Gardens unfortunately fell on hard economic times and was eventually purchased by Legoland. This tree was originally planted sometime in the 1930's and rumor has it that it was planted from or in a five gallon bucket at first. This majestic Banyan tree has obviously grown Tree mend us Lee (it is okay to grown, now). This Landscape photograph shows part of the walkway and the main cluster of the ever expanding tree. 

A historic Path at Cypress Gardens

I created this landscape photograph in late July of 2015 on a walkway at what is left of a historic site in central Florida. This sidewalk is in part of what used to be Cypress Gardens. I was walking along the pathway with an eye towards creating an interesting landscape photograph and this image called out to me to take it's picture. The intermittent rainshowers that afternoon made everything seem even more vibrant and beautiful. The sidewalk just naturally led my eye and camera to it. You can see my other great art at chrismerccerimages.  

A nicely restored Ford Model A

I created this piece of modern art in early August of 2014 near Main Street, Winter Haven, Florida.  You can see more great art from that day at chrismercerimages. This model A Ford was one of the displayed classic cars that day. The owner had a lot of time and effort in the restoration of this antique automobile. If you would like more information about some "Model A" clubs, my google search came up with this. 

White Tail Deer Fawn with it's mother.

I got this wildlife photograph of a Whitetail Doe Deer and her fawn in October of 2014. This wildlife photograph was taken in central Florida, which helps explain why the Fawn is still small and in spots. The breeding season typically starts later here in the south than it does up north. This means that a lot of Fawns are not born until sometime in August through October. If you are looking for my other great art, try http://chris-mercer.artistwebsites.com/.

Whitetail Doe Deer With Her Fawn.

I got this wildlife photograph of a Whitetail Doe Deer and her fawn in October of 2014. This wildlife photograph was taken in central Florida, which helps explain why the Fawn is still small and in spots. The breeding season typically starts later here in the south than it does up north. Please see my other photo art at http://chris-mercer.artistwebsites.com/.

Honey Moon Island Storm Tide

I took this Landscape picture of a tree in the storm tide at the Honeymoon Island State Park on a Stormy day in June of 2013. If you are looking for my other great art, try http://chris-mercer.artistwebsites.com/.

Redneck Selfie?

Wa'll, we all no thet Rednecks are'nt tha sharpist nives in the droor. Ah had ma sun tek this ye're pitcher of me awn our trip ter pik up mah waf's frend at th err-port. It's won of them-thier nu-fangled Selfie pitchers. 

Basic photography editing

Once you have taken your photographs you may want to make some changes in the contrast, colors, or size prior to printing or having them printed. Most, if not all digital cameras come with a basic picture editing program. Many computers will also have a version of a photography editing program. My computer has a program installed that is called Photo Gallery. It is capable of basic photo editing including “auto adjust”, cropping, red eye removal, retouch, noise reduction, straighten, color, exposure and fine tuning. Auto adjust does just that, determines what is the basic center-line of all available adjustments and adjusts your photograph to that level. In essence it will straighten the picture so it is evenly vertically distributed in the frame. It will set the brightness, contrast and saturation to the center balance point and run a sharpening mask that will somewhat sharpen the focus on the picture. The cropping feature allows you to “crop” or remove some areas of the picture that are unneeded for the composition of the picture. The red eye removal tool will darken the pupil of the eye or eyes that turned red due to the use of flash photography. Everything I have listed here are just basic edits that are available to use on your digital photographs if you need or desire to do so. Many of these programs are considered to be very minimal and for the average photographer who is not doing fine art photography or needing a high caliber editing program.

For those times when you want or need a more robust photo editing program typing “photo editing software” into your web browser's search box will give you many different brands and sources of software for photo editing. From my personal research, some version of Adobe Photo-shop is the best known and recommended brand of photo editing software. I have no way to tell if that is true or not, because I have never tried that software. From what I have been told, it is designed to be very user friendly. From my wallet's perspective it is prohibitively expensive. Of course, frequently enough, from my wallet's perspective, McDonald's is prohibitively expensive. If you would like to find out more about Adobe and Photo-shop check out this link http://www.photoshop.com/products/photoshop. 
  If you type “free photo editing software” into your internet web browser search box you will probably find that in the number one position, just below the top three paid advertisement slots is GIMP.

I have been using GIMP for several years now and have a basic familiarity with the photo editing portion of it. Not having used Adobe or any of the other photo editing programs out there, I can not evaluate them against GIMP. I can tell you from my experience that GIMP is a very solid program, that I like immensely. It does require a large amount of study and practice to grasp the basic concepts of advanced photo editing using it. I use it for editing my photographs in more detail than is possible with basic photo editing programs, but it has much more to offer than I have tried yet. From what I am able to grasp and THINK I UNDERSTAND, it is a digital art shop for any digital artist. The absolute best thing about it as far as I am concerned is that it is an open source digital download that is currently offered for free. If you want more information or to access the free download please visit: http://www.gimp.org/ to download and start using it. I have never been disappointed by what this program can do. I have been disappointed in my ability to comprehend the how and why's of the program at first. Surprisingly enough, a helpful place to find tutorials about GIMP is actually https://www.youtube.com/. Simply type GIMP tutorial into the search box of youtube and a large number of GIMP tutorials pop up. In fact many if not all of my photographs at http://chris-mercer.artistwebsites.com/ have been touched up using GIMP. I love and highly recommend that you at least try it.

Wildlife picture of a Whitetail Doe and Fawn

I created this piece of wildlife art in October of 2014 when I photographed this Whitetail Fawn and Doe deer. It was one of those very rare days when things were going extremely well for my wildlife art efforts. 

Whitetail Fawn and Doe Wildlife Photograph

I shot this wildlife photo of a Whitetail Fawn and doe in the wilds of Central Florida during October of 2014. Some days the camera gods smile and give out awesome wildlife photo opportunities. This was one of those days. 

Wild Bird Picture of a Wood Stork

I captured this wildlife photograph of a Wood Stork at the Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County Florida. This wood stork was feeding in a marsh just off of the Heron Hideout trail. 

Well, YOU said bare it and mark it.

I will bet that this is an art image that you will not soon forget. The only reason I captured and kept this image is because I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to get this wildlife image. I won't say that it is a tasteful art image, but, it is an art image. 

An Alligator's eye in macro

I shot this Alligator's eye using a telephoto setting to create a macro wildlife picture. If I remember correctly this eye was attached to a medium sized gator that I did not want to get too close to. 

The Silhouette Tree

I created this piece of modern art by carefully positioning my camera and tripod to use the tree trunk to block out most of the sun creating this siloutte. 

My opinion of how to become a self taught photographer....

The path to becoming a self taught photographer can be long and tenuous and if you are like me, you will never be satisfied that you know enough about photography. Becoming a self taught photographer requires dedication and perseverance to succeed. Fortunately, the camera bug did not bite me until digital cameras were fairly well developed and in common usage. While the basics of photography are the basics of photography, digital cameras do have differences. It is not like film photography, where once the film is exposed to light it is done. You do not have the expense of buying and wasting a lot of film learning (probably incorrectly) by shooting. One of the advantages of digital Photography is that you can look at the picture and if you are not happy with it, you have only wasted the time of the shot and the pixels that composed it. Simply click the “delete photo” button on either your digital camera or the computer program you download your photographs to.

With digital photography your storage media, be it an SD Card, Memory Stick or something else, is your “roll of film”. Unlike traditional film, you can reuse your “digital film” many hundreds of times before it is time to buy the next “roll”. Another difference between film photography and digital photography is that the ISO speed is set by a button or knob on most or all digital cameras, while with film photography you have to select a roll of film with the desired ISO speed and insert it in your camera. Changing rolls of film to meet current shooting conditions can be tough or impossible depending on the situation. With a digital camera you simply change the setting on the camera body and continue shooting. The only time you really have to stop shooting is when you fill your current storage media and then it is normally only a few seconds to switch it out with a new media source. I believe that you get the basic idea and I will gloss over further comparisons between digital photography and film photography. While it is always a matter of personal choice, I prefer digital photography to film photography in nearly every instance.

One of the first rules of becoming self educated as a photographer is to read, read and re-read the manuals and documentation that came with your particular camera. If you don't understand it all at first (and I didn't) as you practice with your camera the epiphany light will light more frequently and burn brighter all of the time. (One part of the Merriam Webster definition of epiphany is: a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way.) If for some reason there is no documentation with your camera you can probably get the same information from the website of the camera manufacturer.

The next rule of self education is to practice what you have been learning from your study resources. The old saying “that practice makes perfect” is quite true. Besides, practice is normally fun, even if it takes a long time to become proficient with any individual technique. If you have practiced nearly enough, you will be able to use every button and feature on your camera while you are steadily taking pictures with it without having to stop and search for the feature you want to activate. Then it is time to practice some more.

If you are like me, you will tend to gravitate to one type of photography at first. In my case I already had a love of nature and wild animals, so it was not at all unexpected by me that I would focus on wildlife photography. You can see the results of that specialization at http://chris-mercer.artistwebsites.com/ or http://www.viewbug.com/member/chrismercerimages.

One of the best free resources for learning about photography is your local public library. They probably have or have access to literally hundreds of books and magazines on all aspects of photography. Normally all it takes is a few minutes to fill out the information needed to get a library card. Bear in mind that the books or magazines must be returned in the condition that they were lent to you or you will be responsible to pay for the damages. You might even be able to start a photography club there.

Another excellent resource for learning about photography are the various magazines that cater to the various disciplines of photography. In my case I prefer magazines such as Outdoor Photographer at http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/ and Popular Photography at http://www.popphoto.com/. Probably the absolute best resource is someone with more training and experience using a camera that is willing to mentor and guide you to the right learning resources.

Wildlife picture of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

This flying insect is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. As flying insects go, it is one of the more beautiful and visually inoffensive ones. This is a very colorful wildlife photo with red, green and yellow contrasting with the yellow and black from the butterfly. I suspect that you will find this to be an interesting link: http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/easterntiger.htm

A unique angle on an Alligator

I captured this wildlife picture of an American Alligator from a pedestrian boardwalk at the South Lake Howard Nature Park in Winter Haven, Florida. The boardwalk gave me a unique advantage to take this wildlife picture from nearly directly above it. This was a relatively small specimen at only four or five foot long (if that long). I captured many other equally nice wildlife photographs of it that day and will at some point in the future add them to this blog.

Legoland's Cypress Gardens Island In the Sky (short ride) video clip

  I created this short video using my GE X2600 digital camera on a tripod while seated on Cypress Garden's Island in the sky attraction. At it's height the ride reaches 150 feet in the air and does at least one full circuit. As you can see the view can be spectacular. If the above link fails here is the youtube link: https://youtu.be/7l9ktrZ-gGA . I have not used the Video feature on this camera very much and was pleasanty surprised at the quality of the the image. 
  I have never (yet) had an opportunity to use a DSLR camera from Nikon, Canon or Sony, but in the future (sometime) I intend on finding out if they are actually better than my current camera. My beloved camera is actually a "bridge" camera between a point and shoot camera and a SLR camera. For what it is, it takes very good photographs in sixteen megapixel size when using the highest resolution setting. It also has other lower resolution settings that I almost never use. Overall, I have always been more disappointed in the photographer than the camera. When this camera has failed to produce a quality picture, I have been able to trace the problem to the nut behind the lens. Like any camera it does have some limitations and shortcomings that the person behind the camera can overcome with some thought and practice. The major drawback that I have encountered is a lengthy cycle time (several seconds) between pictures when shooting at it's highest resolution. This can, however, be easily overcome by simply partially depressing the lens button partway and then releasing it briefly before composing and shooting the next shot. Using this method you can probably be ready for the next shot in about a second. Another drawback to this camera is the onboard flash unit that can not readily keep up in high speed shooting situations. In conclusion, I have always been pleased with this camera while waiting for the money to get my first (better?) DSLR camera. 

A Bullfrog as wildlife art.

I created this wildlife picture of an Bullfrog sitting on the bank at the Circle B Bar Reserve. It was a little bit challenging to get the angle on the shot I wanted due to thick brush and undergrowth and still use my tripod for the best possible picture. I would have loved to have gotten several different angles on this wildlife picture but could not get a clear shot elsewhere. The Bullfrog is one of the largest amphibians in the United States. It also has a reputation for being a culinary delicacy in some locales. Spending large amounts of time outside taking  wildlife pictures is one of my greatest pleasures. Bullfrogs even have historical note in Samuel Longhorn Clemens works. 

A fine art photograph of a common Anole

I recently created this piece of wildlife art using my GE X2600 digital camera. What you see is a common Anole lizard. I believe that it is a male Anole that is trying to attract a female Anole by displaying a brightly colored pouch under it's throat area. This lizard is among the most common type of lizard in Florida. Here are some fun facts about a related subspecies of anoles: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Anole.cfm

Boeing Model 75

I took this modern art photograph of this Stearman Biplane at Winter Haven, Florida's Gilbert Field. This Boeing-Stearman Biplane is owned and maintained by Preston Aviation.

Demanding Nature Photography

  Nature photography can be a demanding and rewarding pastime that frequently runs past the time that you planned for it.

It is just so easy to get busy watching all of the wildlife that you are seeing that you forget to watch the time that is flying by. Then the electronic leash in you pocket starts demanding your attention and pulling you home. Just like the hunting dog that doesn't want to quit hunting, you pull and strain to take that last wildlife picture of that interesting animal you see.

  You really do not have to take far flung trips to enjoy nature at it's finest. If you just look you can often see wildlife as close as your backyard

or the county park just down the road a few miles. For those of us who grew up in “the Country” it was simple to slip out the back door and disappear into the woods for several hours. You quickly learned to leave a note or tell your parents where you were going to avoid a “trip to the wood shed”. If you are old enough you know that that trip lead to pain when “the board of education” met the “seat of learning”.

  If you live in the suburbs, as I do now, it is easy enough to spot squirrels, birds and various insects in the backyard or in or on any trees near your house.

Humans seem to have the eyes of a predator, meaning that they are best at spotting movement before they spot an outline of the camera's prey. Try not to stare directly at something unless you have already seen the movement out of the corner of your eye. I have notice that you will stare right past wildlife that is not moving because it has seen you first and quite possibly walk right by it without seeing it until you hear it leave quickly beside or behind you. Regardless it is a missed opportunity to get that outstanding wildlife picture.

  In Florida state hunting lands are called Wildlife Management Areas (WMA ) and can be expected to produce some great opportunities to further your Nature photography experiences. If it is managed to provide hunting opportunities, it is managed to help the majority of wildlife thrive and survive during the non-hunting seasons.

  In order to excel at nature photography you need to work on many of the same skills that a hunter would need to put food on the table. One of the primary skills both need is the ability to move slowly and quietly while using your ears to help locate any wildlife that is outside your current line of vision. You also want to pay attention to the direction of any wind while you are hunting for that next wildlife photograph. It is normally best to be “nose into the wind” or “cross wind” instead of “upwind” of the animals that you are hunting. You really do want to see them before they smell you and leave without you getting a clear shot with your camera. This 

or this

is not what you want to see when trying to take a wildlife photograph. 

And now a shameless plug for my website to sell my art: http://chris-mercer.artistwebsites.com/. I have a large number of artwork pieces there. 

Gorilla

I took this picture of an ape at a local Zoological facility. This is actually a Silverback Gorilla. I could watch these apes on a daily basis and still be amazed at them on a daily basis.