Fourth Day- Machias Seal Island

So today was our first visit to Machias Seal Island, a 10 acre island 9.5 nautical miles off the coast of Cutler, Maine. The weather and seas could not have been better. It has one of the largest colonies of Atlantic puffins, plus numerous other birds, as in common murres and razorbills. They are Auks in the family Alcidae, as are most of the birds on the island. These type birds only come ashore to breed and nest. The rest of the time they are out at sea, in the north Atlantic. Also, as the name suggests many seals. Cutler is about 18 miles north of Machias, which is where we were staying. The island is disputed territory between the Canadians and the US. We went to the island via Bold Coast Charters, www.boldcoast.com, where Capt. Andrew Patterson has a 40 foot boat which takes up to about 15 or 16 people over and around Machias Seal Island. It takes about 50 minutes to get there and if the weather and seas cooperate, you can go ashore. You are tendered from the main boat to the island, because there is no dock or such. Then, Canadian officials take you to an area where they explain about the island, how to act while you are there and how the blinds work. The blinds are wooden structures about 3 feet by 6 feet with windows to look out of and/or shoot from. We had about 90 minutes in the blinds. Once you are in them you cannot come out then go back, and the time can vary depending on how many people are there to take their turn in the blinds and/or if the weather starts turning bad the Captn will call you back to the boat. The puffins are everywhere, as in in your face. You can even hear them landing on top of the blind. The first image below shows you the lighthouse and landing area on the island. The second and third images are of Atlantic puffins, and the fourth is of a razorbill. 80% of the time I used my 70-300VR lens and the rest of the time my 500mm. The blinds are quite small and if you have 3 other people with you it can be VERY tight. Tripods would definitely take up too much space! I just leaned my 500 on the bottom of the window. We have another trip planned there tomorrow morning.

All images are copyrighted by Nancy Elwood and Naturesportal

Third Day- Moving to Machias

I relaxed this morning, knowing that I would be up early Friday and Saturday mornings for the puffins. We checked out of the hotel around 10:30 and headed for Machias. The boat for the puffin trip goes out of Cutler, which is only about 20 minutes from Machias. We leisurely drove north, opting to divert slightly to view Schoodic Point, which is the only mainland part of Acadia National Park. It was definitely worth the extra time, with lovely vistas. Just one example is posted below. The sun was behind a very thin overcast, and the blue sky had nice puffy clouds, which all was great for shooting throughout the day. Tomorrow the puffins!!

All images are copyrighted by Nancy Elwood and Naturesportal

Second Day- Acadia National Park

OK, the weather gods cooperated in the morning, but again we were rained out for sunset. We were up a 3:00 AM to leave by 4:00 AM and arrive at Otter Cliffs by 5:00 AM, which here in Maine, in July, is sunrise. The first image is the sunrise seen while standing on the cliffs. The temperature was great, around 63 degrees with a light breeze, but do be prepared for the mosquitoes. We finished there and continued driving along the Park Loop Road. Next stop was Bubbles Pond, which we had stopped at yesterday, but the sky and weather had not made for any kind of nice landscape image. Today was different, as the second image shows. On we went, driving up Cadillac Mountain, then on to Bar Harbor. The third image was taken in Bar Harbor. Great restaurants and shops, with prices that are very reasonable! Then, back to the hotel for a rest. The last image was taken in Somesville, on our way back to Bass Harbor Lighthouse to try for the sunset. A full rainbow, which I was thrilled to get!! The sunset was a wash out, as I said, but I really enjoyed my visit to Acadia National Park, which in a couple days, only covered the highlights. We are off tomorrow to Machias, ME to prepare for our visits to the puffins on the Machias Island.

All images are copyrighted by Nancy Elwood and Naturesportal

First Full Day in Maine- Acadia National Park

The weather gods were not with us today. We woke to heavy overcast and rain, which lasted most of the morning, and just before sunset the dark clouds rolled in and the rains reappeared. But, to start things off with Acadia National Park. It includes a bit over 47,000 acres, located mostly on Mount Desert Island, but includes much of the Isle au Haut, parts of Baker Island, and a portion of the Schoodic Peninsula on the mainland. The roads are very good and the points of interest are fairly well sign posted. Each parking area which is usually the points of interest have very clean restrooms. In fact, the Park is kept to a high standard! A good interactive website for Acadia National Park is www.acadiamagic.com . We are up at 3:00AM tomorrow to try to get the sunset at the Otter Cliffs, which eluded us today. The image below is the lighthouse at Bass Harbor, just before the rain. If anyone is interested in where we stayed and details as that, do not hesitate to be in touch. But, I will go over those details when I get home in a separated blog. To be continued.....

All images are copyrighted by Nancy Elwood and Naturesportal

Wonderful Reference for US Birds

My friend just told me of a terrific website for US birds. The Birds of North American- Online, put on by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna . It is just $42.00 a year. Part of learning to photograph birds is learning their behavior, habitat, sounds, etc. Every little bit that you can learn about your subject will help you anticipate their actions which in turn gives you that much better chance to get that sharp, well exposed image you dreamed of getting. Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!!

For Those Of Us Who Need Glasses!

Clic Magnetic Glasses, thats right. I discovered a great style of readers that are great for us photographers. I do not use my glasses for actually taking the shot, but definitely need glasses to view the images on the back LCD screen, change settings, etc. I would carry expensive glasses with me and then end up laying them down and sitting on them or having them drop on the ground. Then I went to the Walgreens specials, ok less expensive, but still sat on them or drove off with them on the roof of the car. THEN I saw these. They hang around your next at a perfect length and come together when you need them with a snap. I have had my pair for a few months now and they are very durable and have worked a treat! Have a look and see what you think, but they might just be what you have been looking for. One of the websites you can find them is http://store.eyeneeds1.com/clicmag.html .

HEADS UP With Regards to the New Niksoftware Program HDR Efex Pro

I will say first of all Niksoftware has to this point created some wonderful programs for us photographers. They were the creators of the control point way of editing that makes NX2 so easy to use. Most of them are plug-ins for either the Nikon program NX2 or the Photoshop line of editors. But their newest edition to their line of programs, HDR Efex Pro, has caused a fair bit of problems, as in crashing CS5. I am one of those that is having issues. So, for anyone thinking of buying it, I would suggest downloading the trial first and see that it works on your machine. To Nik's credit they are working with many of us to come up with a solution. I will keep you informed with what comes from Nik as to their solution. Their website is http://www.niksoftware.com/.

The Best Parts of NX2

I use NX2 for all my Nef post processing. I prefer how it renders my files and it has some really nice features to help with those hot areas. First I view my file using the top menu, view, show lost shadows and then show lost highlights. These views show me exactly where the image is hot and what colors need to be corrected. Then, in the menu's on the right I use highlight protection and shadow protection. After I am finished in NX2, I "save as" a 16-bit tiff, but you could also click "save" and NX2 will save the corrected version of your nef, leaving your original nef file alone. Or you could do both. The tiff file can be used in Photoshop for further work if needed.

New Version of ViewNX- ViewNX 2 Available for Download

For those Nikon users, there is a new version of ViewNX, called ViewNX 2. The link is here for the US users, http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Imaging-Software/NVNX2/ViewNX-2.html. One thing that is good about using this application, if even just for viewing your images, is that it can show your focus point. Noticing where your focus point was can show you why and, more importantly, why not an image came out in focus or not. Well worth the look and of course ITS FREE!

Video of The Quick Action Harness in Action on a Boat

Hello to all!! The video that we took of me using the Quick Action Harness on the pontoon boat on Blue Cypress Lake has been uploaded to the Quick Action Harness website. I think it really shows of the harness well!! Here is the link http://quickactionharness.com/our-products/quick-action-harness-in-action .