Picture-A-Week 2017 - Week 08

Pictures taken between Monday, February 20 and Sunday, February 26.

Episode 3 of my photo project: Diners of New Jersey. This is the Omega Diner in North Brunswick shot during the blue hour.

Nice! Gives the picture great colors.

For a change, I can actually post to this week's thread THIS WEEK! (usually my shooting is on weekends, and each new thread starts on a Monday, so I don't get around to posting until the end of the current thread - but a Monday holiday meant I could get out and shoot on a Monday). Here's some of the latest wetlands action, from a good day:

Starting with a cute little baby alligator - there are lots of these recently hatched all over the wetlands:

And where there's a little baby alligator, usually nearby is momma gator:

A rare exotic for Florida - this strange and lovely colored duck is a white-faced whistling duck, not something that's supposed to be found here. He was hanging out with a bunch of black-bellied whistling ducks, who I guess he felt were close enough to him to hang out with:

Great egrets are in mating season - and as with many birds, that means they start to change colors. In the great egret's case, the area around their bill and eyes goes from yellow, matching their bills, to a vibrant green:

This little fella with the big head is a belted kingfisher, sitting on this reed while waiting for an unaware fish in the waters below to jump down on:

Great pictures.

Driving through town yesterday I saw this reminder that it's TAX SEASON.

Great pictures.

Our CPA can't do our tax return until we get all of our 1099's. And some don't come in until March.

You would never know that it is still winter where we live as the temperatures have been in the upper 60's and tomorrow it will be in the upper 70's. We are breaking records.

While prepping dinner I saw a robin in our back yard -- way too early for them to be here.

For a change, I can actually post to this week's thread THIS WEEK! (usually my shooting is on weekends, and each new thread starts on a Monday, so I don't get around to posting until the end of the current thread - but a Monday holiday meant I could get out and shoot on a Monday). Here's some of the latest wetlands action, from a good day:

 

Starting with a cute little baby alligator - there are lots of these recently hatched all over the wetlands:

 

And where there's a little baby alligator, usually nearby is momma gator:

 

A rare exotic for Florida - this strange and lovely colored duck is a white-faced whistling duck, not something that's supposed to be found here. He was hanging out with a bunch of black-bellied whistling ducks, who I guess he felt were close enough to him to hang out with:

 

Great egrets are in mating season - and as with many birds, that means they start to change colors. In the great egret's case, the area around their bill and eyes goes from yellow, matching their bills, to a vibrant green:

 

This little fella with the big head is a belted kingfisher, sitting on this reed while waiting for an unaware fish in the waters below to jump down on:

Wow!

I don't know why but I always enjoy seeing gator photos.

Zoo day...

Zoo day...

Ugh, CC photo incompatibility strikes again...:(

We love hummingbirds.

We always put up 2 feeders. Last year we had 5 families and could barely keep the feeders full.

One of the disadvantages of shooting with the tiny lens and sensor in a smartphone is the inability to separate the subject from the background by blurring the background with a shallow depth of field. Flip that around and you can call it an advantage if you want the entire scene to be in focus. As with everything, there are limits and this image would be impossible with just about any phone or camera and lens combo. This photo is actually two photos taken at the same angle and distance but focused on two different points and merged in Photoshop. Great cameras. Great Phones. Great software. It's a great time to be a photographer!

Depth of Beer

Dave