• Home
  • Birds
    • Owls
    • Snowy Owls
    • Eagles2
    • Eagles
    • Hawks/Raptors
    • Raptor Conservancy
    • Greater Prairie Chickens
    • Backyard Birds
    • Spring Birds
    • Spring Birds 2
    • Loons
    • Waterfowl >
      • Snow Geese
      • Swans
      • Geese
      • Ducks
    • Pelicans
    • Herons
    • Whooping Cranes
    • Sandhill Cranes
    • Sandhill Cranes 2
    • Bosque Snow Geese & Cranes
    • More Birds
    • SOAR
    • Florida
  • Animals
  • National/State Parks
    • Yellowstone In Winter
    • Animals/Birds of the Badlands, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks
    • National Parks Landscapes
    • Animals of Yellowstone/Tetons/Badlands
    • Yellowstone/Tetons/Badlands Landscapes
    • Animals of Yellowstone/Tetons/Badlands
    • Yellowstone/Tetons/Badlands Landscapes
    • Animals of Yellowstone
    • Yellowstone/Tetons Landscapes
    • Yellowstone Textures
    • Custer State Park, SD
    • Great Smoky Mountains NP
    • Rocky Mountain National Park
    • Utah National Parks
  • Landscapes
    • Lake Superior
    • The Great Smoky Mountains NP
    • National Parks
    • Niagara Falls
    • Fireworks - 3
    • Fireworks - 2
    • Fireworks - 1
  • Flowers
    • Prairie Flowers
  • Insects
  • MyBlog
  • About Me
    • Recognitions
    • Presentations

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis

6/24/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Wow. Northern Lights in North Iowa. A rare occurrence to be sure. Taken about 10:30 pm on June 22. The purple streaks were pulsing nearly overhead.

I follow several Aurora forecast web sites including spaceweatherlive.com, f5data.net, softservenews.com and the active Facebook group Great Lakes Aurora Hunters. One of the measures of Aurora strength is the Kp index. In North Iowa it generally needs to be at least 7 or higher to see the Northern Lights. Tonight there was a Kp of 8. 
24mm lens on a full-frame camera, ISO 800, f/5.0, 25 sec.
Click the image to see larger.
2 Comments

Common Loons

6/11/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Click here for twelve new Loon photos along with previous photos of the Loons.
The Common Loon, the Minnesota State bird is one of my favorites (well, okay, I have a lot of favorites). These photos were taken the last weekend of May on a small lake near Park Rapids, Minnesota from a canoe. Some were taken in the evening an some in the early morning. I sat in the bottom of the canoe with the camera while my good friend Wayne paddled me around to get the best camera angle from a distance. There were two pairs of Loons and they didn't appear to be nesting nor displaying any courtship behavior other than staying fairly close together. An ocassional call echoed across the lake. Definitely my favorite bird call/song.  Hand-holding a big telephoto lens in a canoe in the fading evening or early morning light in a moving, rocking canoe is a bit of a challenge (no sudden movements - don't want to tip the canoe!).  I like the low-angle perspective being so close to the surface of the water.


0 Comments

A few Birds

6/11/2015

1 Comment

 
These were taken a couple of weeks ago near Park Rapids, MN. Left to right -
1. The Osprey nest is on the top of a power pole next to the highway. I had stopped on the opposite side of the road to take pictures from the sunroof of the car with the telephoto lens and was lucky enough to get the male returning to the nest with a fish in his talons to feed the chicks. 
2. There is an Eagle's nest on an island on a small lake. From the canoe I took photos of one of the adults perched on a nearby tree in the evening. Hand-holding the big telephoto in a moving canoe was challenging.
3. While paddling a bit further I spotted a Kingfisher. Just as I quickly snapped a few photos a second Kingfisher flew through the frame and they both flew off. Kingfishers are very wary around people and I felt very lucky to get any photos.
4. A great Blue Heron flew over the lake while we were in the canoe.

Click an image to see larger.

1 Comment

Lightning

6/5/2015

0 Comments

 
Lightning tonight. According to my weather app the storm was about 50 miles away.  I take lots of long exposures with the hope that I will get a lightning strike in one or two of the frames. The camera is on the tripod, and I use a remote timer (intervalometer) set in this case to take 20 second exposures repeatedly. I never know if I will get a bolt of lightning during that exposure or if it will be in the frame, but sometimes I get lucky. I would never do this when the lightning is close or if I can hear thunder. 112mm, f4.5, ISO 250, 20 second exposure and cropped.
Picture

Below is a second image taken earlier with a wide angle lens while there was still a bit of light in the sky from the setting sun. I got a triple! The three lightning bolts didn't happen at exactly the same time, but they happened within the eight-second exposure. The length of time the shutter is open has little to do with the exposure because the lightning strike is so fast, but does allow a wider window of opportunity to capture one. The exposure is controlled by the f/stop and ISO (and perhaps a bit of post-processing in Lightroom and Photoshop). 
35mm, f/5, ISO 100, 8 second exposure and cropped.
Picture
0 Comments

    Bruce's Blog

    Just a few notes about my photos and videos. See more on Facebook. and videos on YouTube

    Archives

    July 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Awards
    Backyard Birds
    Balloons
    Bears
    Birds
    Bison
    Buffalo
    Butterflies
    Canoeing
    Christmas
    Christmas Lights
    Clouds
    Death Valley
    Ducks
    Eagles
    Fireworks
    Flowers
    Fox
    Frog
    Geese
    Grouse
    Holiday Lights
    Hot Air Balloons
    Iceland
    Insects
    Kayaking
    Kites
    Lake Superior
    Landscapes
    Lightning
    Loon
    Milky Way
    Moon
    National Parks
    Northern Lights
    Owls
    Prairie Chickens
    Raptors
    Reflections
    River
    Rocky Mountain National Park
    Sandhill Cranes
    Sax Zim Bog
    Sax-Zim Bog
    Smoky Mountains
    Stars
    State Parks
    Sunrise
    Sunset
    Swans
    Tetons Yellowstone
    Tetons-Yellowstone
    Trees
    Video
    Waterfall
    Whooping Cranes
    Wildflowers
    Wildlife
    Wildlife Refuge
    Winter

All photographs © Bruce G. McKee - May not be reproduced without written permission - All rights reserved

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.