Sanibel Island or Bust (56k, go dig a hole)

[finch13]

So as many of you know, I took a roadtrip from Minneapolis, MN to Sanibel Island, FL which is 1800 miles each way. I put 4,150 miles on my 6G in about 10 days with no issues whatsoever and even changed my oil under a palm tree down there.

I took a little over 1,250 pictures, deleted about 500 of them, and here are some of the better ones that I have.

PS - I was the underdog here, even though I had more experience than my buddy and his dad. They shoot Nikon D80's and D3's, respectively, while I had my ancient Canon Digi Rebel

C&C is always welcome!

Pt. 1 - On the Boat/Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve

We weren't allowed to go on the bigger, 30 ft. or so, boat without the owner, but we did get to go fish on the smaller 20 ft. within the islands (Sanibel/Captiva/N. Captiva) and that was pretty fun.

We woke up at like 5:45 one morning to catch the sunrise, and then headed to Ding Darling to take pictures of wildlife in dawn light (which is probably the cleanest, sharpest light you could ever ask for). Our whole group was the underdog here; other photographers were shooting Canon 1Ds's on the ends of anywhere between 500-800mm L glass.

Tamron 28-300mm @ 218mm & f/6.3 1/320s w/ B+W Kasemann 62mm Circular Polarizer

Tamron 28-300mm @ 39mm & f/5.6 1/320s w/ B+W Kasemann 62mm Circular Polarizer
Weaving through the canal on Sanibel, heading back to our house.

Tamron 28-300mm @ 300mm & f/9 1/320s
Ding Darling wildlife Preserve

Tamron 28-300mm @ 300mm & f/8 1/320s
Ding Darling wildlife Preserve

Tamron 28-300mm @ 46mm & f/8 1/320s
Ding Darling wildlife Preserve

This is a Nikon Nikkor 200-400mm f/4 VR
Ding Darling wildlife Preserve

And this is a CF lens hood lol
Ding Darling wildlife Preserve


Pt. 2 - Sunrise/Trailer Park Parrot Show

Before Ding Darling, we hit up Lighthouse Point on Sanibel. This is the southermost point on the island, whereas Ding Darling is north and on the west coast. Let me use a firearm analogy for us taking pics on the pier: If my Canon is gun, it shoots semi-auto at best (3fps), the D3 was right next to me and shooting fully automatic, cranking off at least 12fps. I felt a little inadequate to say the least.

This parrot show took place in the trailer park on the island (yes, there is a trailer park on a small island with multi-million dollar homes). The owner kindly allow my friend and I, out of at least 6 other people with dSLRs taking pictures, inside of the fence to get close ups of the birds.

Canon 18-55mm @ 18mm & f/3.5 1/500s (Kit lens FTW!)
I love the vignetting on this photo!
Lighthouse Point, Sanibel Island, FL

Tamron 28-300mm @ 300mm & f/14 1/320s
This might look familiar to some of you who voted in the last contest... I did not know a bird got in my way until I looked on the laptop.
Lighthouse Point, Sanibel Island, FL

Tamron 28-300mm @ 71mm & f/7.1 1/320s
You can see all the people shelling and another photographer as the sun rises.
Lighthouse Point, Sanibel Island, FL

Tamron 28-300mm @ 168mm & f/5.6 1/200s
The colors are absolutely gorgeous. How do you get bluish purple from a fiery orange sunrise?
Lighthouse Point, Sanibel Island, FL

Mmmm... the bokeh colors flow with the parrot colors!
Tamron 28-300mm @ 300mm & f/6.3 1/200s
Sanibel Island, FL

Tamron 28-300mm @ 300mm & f/6.3 1/320s
STOP LOOKING AT ME, SWAN!
Sanibel Island, FL

Pt. 3 - Skim Boarding/Ft. Myers Beach/New Years

So we beat the mad rush to Ft. Myers Beach and got there around 1pm... fireworks were at 12am, so we had time to kill.

Tamron 28-300mm @ 300mm & f/6.3 1/400s +0.33EV
This kid failed... a lot.
Ft. Myers Beach, FL

Tamron 28-300mm @ 300mm & f/6.3 1/320s +0.33EV
lolgoggie
Ft. Myers Beach, FL

Canon 50mm @ f/1.8 & 1/125s
Buddy couldn't figure out why he couldn't get as sharp as the nifty fifty! (I accidentally focused on the chick in the black's hair and not the other people, mah bad!)
Ft. Myers Beach, FL

Canon 50mm @ f/1.8 & 1/13s (yes, 1/13s!)
Me for most of the vacation... notice the puffy eyes, lol
Ft. Myers Beach, FL

Canon 50mm @ f/1.8 & 1/20s
Jammin' to tunes before the fireworks...
Ft. Myers Beach, FL

Canon 50mm @ f/1.8 & 1/10s
Cute little girl drawing nexTOme...
Ft. Myers Beach, FL

FINALE

Canon 18-55mm @ 18mm & f/11 1s
Before you get all warm and fuzzy about two people in love, watching fireworks on New Years, they were drunk and in my shot. I asked them to leave right after this shot, still turned out pretty good, right?
Ft. Myers Beach, FL




One more... I took this last Sunday:

Canon 18-55mm @ 18mm & f/13 1/200s
I kinda dig it...
Minneapolis, MN


















And what is a roadtrip without rice?

Outskirts of Tampa Bay, FL

Bish thought a mesh grille and blackhoused lights made his Civic fast. Notice big brother Accord was leading the way!

 

[Raymond]

Looks like you had a good time man, thnaks for sharing.

 

[tnguyen600]

damn those are some nice pictures man. I have a question though; how do you manage to take great pics with low lighting such as ones in your second set. If its a long exposure on a tripod, wont the moving objects get blurry? I love the cf lens hood lol

 

[ActNow]

Nice pictures, I would have focused on the girl with black hair too

 

[finch13]

damn those are some nice pictures man. I have a question though; how do you manage to take great pics with low lighting such as ones in your second set. If its a long exposure on a tripod, wont the moving objects get blurry?

Second set was at sunrise, all of those were shot from a tripod at 1/320s. Basically, and I can't stress this rule enough, if you want to stop action you must have the shutter speed set at 1/focal length or faster. My focal length was 300mm, therefore the shutter speed was at 1/320 or faster for most of those pics.

If you were talking about the nighttime pics in the third set, it was a combination of the 50mm be able to shoot at f/1.8 and skill. All of the 50mm shots were hand held and the slowest shutter speed I used was 1/10th second, whereas 1/30 is difficult for most people to hold and not shake. For those shots, I would lean against a tree or something, exhale and hold my breath.

 

[finch13]

Nice pictures, I would have focused on the girl with black hair too

Thank you. I meant I accidentally focused on the blonde and not the brunette, the brunette was smoking though!

"Baby would you be my Corona and lime?" lol

 

[hiddengamer7]

I love the nifty fifty

 

[DarkSideAccord]

i like these the best...

whose cameras r those with teh huuuuuge lens?

 

[finch13]

whose cameras r those with teh huuuuuge lens?

Thats my buddy's dad's lens, he's a orthopedic surgeon... so dropping $25k+ on photography was no biggie for him. That lens retails at $5k and he shoots a Nikon D3, basically their version of the Canon 1Ds, a very, very nice full frame dSLR.

I have a few more pics to add from my other camera tomorrow... and comparing the size of my camera vs. his lol, not that size matters, roy

 

[Russianred]

Nice shots man! It's great how you can capture movement and action in your photos, like those wildlife ones. You should apply to national geographic hahaha!