At low tide, the hidden contours of the marsh emerge. Instead of birds floating gracefully on water, I saw these birds with legs and beaks caked in mud looking for food.

Nikon D800, Nikkor AF-S 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 100, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/320s

I love Autumn. Besides tree leaves exploding into rich yellows, oranges and reds, Autumn also brings an earlier sunset. I can see the sunset and still be home in time for dinner.

Two gorgeous sunsets from Shoreline Park but the placement of the biking/hiking route is amiss. In the top photo, it’s a bit too far left, and almost seems like a distraction. It catches your eye but leads you nowhere. In the bottom photo, the bike trail is more dominant. If it headed straight into the sunset, that would have been ideal. Instead, the trail flows right, while the sunset is on the left, leaving a feeling of dissonance.

Hopefully, I can re-work this again next week. Don’t be so focused on exposure that you get the composition wrong.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm, ISO 100, f/9.0, 1/400s

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/160s

I was walking around Shoreline Park at sunset, and there were clouds of all shapes and sizes filling the sky. But, the sun was firmly entrenched behind a bank of clouds that rendered everything a dull gray. Then, the sun descended just a bit, escaped from the grasp of the clouds, and the sky exploded in colors.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm, 116mm, ISO 100, f/18, 10s

The Nikon D50, a 6 megapixel camera, was my first DSLR. It’s pretty amazing that four years later, the recently released iPhone 6 has an 8 megapixel camera. Of course, the number of pixels matter, but so does the quality of the pixels. No one wants 8 megapixels of noise.

Besides the evolution of camera technology, I can also see how my skill level has matured. I have an understanding of how ISO, aperture and shutter speed interact, that I did not before. It’s also quite painful to look back at earlier photos and see the obvious mistakes. ISO 1,600 on the Nikon D50 is noisy and unforgiving, though its problems are not entirely noticeable on the back LCD. Some places you can go back with better technology and technique, but moments with your children are forever sealed in time.

Nikon D50, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, ISO 200, f/8.0, 1/250s

Sometimes, you’re so focused on finding the correct exposure for the main subject that you forget about other possibilities—like silhouettes.

Nikon D7000, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II, ISO 400, 170mm, f/16, 1/800s

During the lunar eclipse, I started photographing at 1/800s but ended up at 1/1,600s. I had some inconsistent notes from previous attempts at photographing the moon, so I wanted to take a more formal look.

These two were taken pretty close in time. While I already know which is which, the difference is not obvious at first glance.

Even at a larger magnification, I cannot tell them apart. I think a full moon is more forgiving because the image is quite flat. Not too much contour because of the illumination. However, when only the side of the moon is lit, the directional light shows off much more of the lunar craters. Will repeat in a few weeks.

1/800s:

1/1,250s:

1/1,600s:

Eclipses always remind me of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. However, we are one step ahead of Hank Morgan. Not only can we look up any eclipse from the past, we can even see into the future, which told me in advance the local time of this morning’s lunar eclipse. However, at 2 AM, I was limited to taking photos from the backyard. I wasn’t about to go out wandering at time of the night.

I used a telescope for the lunar eclipse photos and a 300mm f/2.8 camera lens for the “blood moon.”

I’ve seen Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets around Shoreline Lake, but have never captured a good shot of them feeding. This time, I tracked this Great Egret as it was walking around the lake searching for food. This one caught a good-sized fish. One that was large enough to force it to pause for a few seconds. Slowed down the egret just enough for me to get my photo.

Nikon D800, Nikkor AF-S 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 280, 300mm, f/5.6, 1,1600s

Today was a clear, sunny day. A clear, boring, sunny day completely devoid of the drama that full-bodied clouds deliver.

So, I tracked a turkey vulture that flew overhead.

Nikon D800, Nikkor AF-S 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 200, 300mm, f/5.6, 1,600s