We got some rain Sunday and it was going to be a clear cool day at Wako so we went down Wed. to see how the birds are doing. All wildlife here in Florida has been strained by the recent drought.

Somewhat surprisingly, parking was not a problem - though there still were many photogs in attendance. Heavy foliage makes photographing many of the birds challenging. Many, many Woodstork nests in the open tho.

We did stop by Green Cay also, but very disappointing there.

These all with Sony A77II and Sigma 100-300 from bodypod.

Summer is setting in and temperatures are rising making only early morning forays to the woods possible. I have had a wonderful 6 months of outings including the most recent which I returned from last week. I visited forests in the Southern part of the state of Karnatake, I spent time in the famous iger snactuary at Kabini in the Nagarhole reserve and then drove further South through Bhandipur into the state of Tamil Nadu to Masinagudi and Madhumalai. A visit to the Rangathitoo Bird sanctuary completed an exhausting 7 days of driving. I got some great images (over 8000), I will post some in due course. Its been a great winter.

A mix of birds photographed recently.

Capturing water flowing requires practice and some guesswork dependent upon the amount of practice you have had. There are several things to concider as some have mentioned here. I will list a few of them for you here.

1. The Lighting. The softer, (not harsh sunlight) are usually more pleasant to observe - unless you are including a senset or sunrise in the image.

2. The volume of foam created by the disturbance of the cascade or falls. The more foam created, usually the shorter your exposure will have to be.

3. The speed of the water is a very significant determinant for the correct shutter speed to use. The faster the the water, the shorter the time has to be for the shutter to be open.

4. The distance you are from the moving water will also dictate useage of shutter speeds.

5. Don't shy away from the use of a ND filter, but purchase a decent on when you do. There is a company (Xume) that markets a magnetic filter holder. These are very helpful because it is difficult to impossible to focus the camera when one is in position for the exposure. Since the subject is not moving around, only the water, you just pull off the filter, quick focus, and pop the filter back on.

6. A decent tripod is handy as well. For obvious reasons, the slower shutter speeds require the camera to remain stationary during the exposure process. You don't have to spend a lot of money for a tripod, but is does become a basic tool for long exposures if you do not own one yet.

7. The polarizing filter can be used in place of the ND, but it does alter the appearance of the image. Most of the time in a positive way.

So here are some suggestions for the speeds, fstops, and ISO, you might want to utilize.

A.) ISO - something slow - 64 if you can get that with your camera body.

B.) F11 is also a good starting point. Most scenics you will want some good DOF without having to deal with the defraction at higher Fstops.

C.) You could begin at 1/4 second and double or half the exposures, examining the results on the preview window. I shoot in manual for this because the metering will be in constant flux with varing amounts of white foam that sometimes are distributed in the image field. Remember, if you are in manual, you will have to change Fstops for correct exposure each time you change shutter speeds, unless you use the ISO to do the same. I try not to mess wit the ISO because I enjoy the lack of noise at the lower ISO's.

This is a game of guesswork and metering, but extremely dependent upon your prior knowledge to get it right in short order. If you don't have a lot of time to set up, don't bother. Always allow yourself some time to think it out as you preview your results. I remember back in the film days. I would have to wait days for the results to come back from the lab. You can do that in an instant with the histogram and previewing window.

Good luck, and PM me if you have any further questions. I would be more than happy to help in any way I can.