Michael Libbe Photography

One Good Tern Deserves Another

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Michael

During our vacation at Indian Rocks Beach in October, I met up with Mike Godwin and Sally Tomlinson for some shooting at Fort DeSoto. The morning started out a little slow, but eventually we found our way to the end of North Beach where there was a huge flock of terns and skimmers loafing at the water’s edge. The terns still had young mouths to feed, so they were constantly bringing in the fresh catch of the day for the hungry teenagers. The wind and sun were properly aligned so that we were able to sit in the sand at a respectable distance from the flock and capture flight shots as they came in with breakfast. It was a lot of fun and almost like shooting fish in a barrel…or maybe shooting terns on the beach.

Sandwich Tern

Royal Tern

Sandwich Tern

Royal Tern

Sandwich Tern

Requesting Clearance to Land

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Posted in Florida Wildlife, Photography | Tagged birds, fish, flight, florida, nature, photography, royal tern, sandwich tern, tern, wildlife | 1 Comment

2011 Year In Review

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Michael

As the final hours of 2011 tick away, I look forward to new photography opportunities in 2012. 2011 was a year of mixed blessings for me, but I think that each encounter and opportunity helped me grow not only as a photographer, but as a person as well. I like to think that as each year of my life passes, I make better decisions and take advantage of most of the opportunities and beauty that God makes available in my journey. As I reflect upon the year that was, I thought I would share some of my favorite images from this year. Click on an image to view larger.

Sunrise at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

One of the things that I came to realize during 2011 is that I have improved my ability to “see” things. By that I mean that I look at nature differently now. I find myself spending more time looking for better angles, spending more time with a subject, and slowing down my workflow when making photos. I used to be in the mindset of “hurry up and take the shot”, thinking that I should move on quickly because I might be missing something. In 2011, I found myself worrying less about what I was missing and concentrating more on what I had right in front of me. This is a good thing.

Gulf Sunset

In wildlife photography, I did a credible job of increasing the number of birds on my life list. This year I added American Widgeon, Canvasback, Great Horned Owl, Cape May Warbler, Nanday Parakeet, Black Tern, Wilson’s Phalarope, Egyptian Goose, Clay-colored Sparrow, Blue-headed Vireo, Acadian Flycatcher, Bufflehead, Horned Grebe, Redhead, Eurasian Widgeon and Common Loon. Unfortunately I don’t have respectable images of all these species to share. I get very excited when I see a new bird in the field, but then I kick myself when I get home and find that I don’t have a decent image of my find. Some of that frustration is because the glimpse of the bird is fleeting, or the conditions extremely poor for a good photo. The real frustration comes from having all the right conditions and plenty of time and still missing the shot.

Common Loon with Shrimp

In June Faith and I made a trip to the St. Petersburg area to visit her father for Father’s Day. While we were there, we took advantage of the Black Skimmer colony that nests on the beach each spring. I was very fortunate to have stopped by for some photography just a couple of days after the chicks started to hatch. I got some of my most memorable images of 2011 from this day.

Black Skimmer Family

In 2011, I met several new friends as well including Jess, Susan, Trisha, Kathy, Mary, Tom, Chris, Eric, Brian, Michael, Roni, Sally, Varsha, Lana and many others. And what year would be complete without a visit from the UK by Graham? We had a great time with Hank and Linda at Blue Cypress Lake in March.

Osprey at Blue Cypress Lake

Unfortunately, 2011 was also the year that we lost a very dear friend, Klaus Peter. His passing in August has left a hole in our lives that we notice every time we go out with the camera.

Faith and I traveled to Chincoteague, VA for a family reunion. It was a great time to visit family and I made the most of the photography while I was there.

Sunrise over Chincoteague Channel.

We also took our annual week’s vacation at Indian Rocks Beach where we enjoyed a quiet, relaxed pace for a week. The photography wasn’t half bad either!

I Hope This Wasn't Important!

I even ventured out of my comfort zone to snap a few pictures when our nieces visited us in July.

Emily, Amy, Torey and Faith

I made my first trip to the Butterfly Rainforest at the University of Florida this year and had a fantastic time! Thanks Nancy for letting me tag along.

Gold-banded Forester

I made a few trips to Fort DeSoto this year, but I think my visit in April was by far the best. All the birds were in their breeding colors, and as you might imagine, they were breeding too! That was a fun time with Klaus, Dan, Alan, Dennis, Kevan, Linda, Jess and Rich.

Royal Terns

Jess let me tag along on a trip to Flagler County to see the Least Tern colony there. While we were there we stopped at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm for my first visit to their rookery. I’m already looking forward to going back up there for both the Least Terns and the Alligator Farm.

Snowy Egret Preening

I hope 2012 provides as many opportunities as I had in 2011. We have a trip planned for the Oregon coast this summer, and I’m really looking forward to that. It will soon be time to start planning this trip. As far as goals for the new year go, my focus will be on improving my photography by taking better pictures in camera and spending less time post processing. I will also work on slowing down and focusing more on what is right in front of me.

Happy New Year!

Sunrise at Circle B Bar Reserve

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Posted in Florida Wildlife, Photography | Tagged 2011, birds, black skimmer, blue cypress lake, breeding, chincoteague, circle b bar reserve, common loon, farewell, florida, friend, gold-banded forester, indian rocks beach, klaus peter, landscape, memoriam, nature, osprey, photography, royal terns, snowy egret, st. augustine alligator farm, sunrise, western sandpiper, wildlife, year in review | 6 Comments

Black Friday

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Michael

While most of the US was fighting crowds and starting their Christmas shopping on Black Friday, I was out at Circle B Bar Reserve for a little photography R&R. I met up with Susan, Donna and Dan for a nice leisurely pace through the reserve and even ran into Mark and Dina along the way. The bird photography opportunities were not fantastic, but we still had a great morning. For me, the highlight of the morning (besides the friendship) was the blooming Burr Marigolds. There were fields of yellow blooms everywhere and they were quite beautiful.

Burr Marigolds in bloom with "The Tree"

Sunrise was quite nice too as the clouds cooperated to allow for some drama in the sky as well.

The rising sun brings out the beauty of the Burr Marigolds

I hope the marigolds stick around until I can get back out there.

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Posted in Photography | Tagged beauty, blooms, Burr Marigold, circle b bar reserve, clouds, florida, flowers, landscape, morning, nature, photography, sky, sunrise, The Tree, yellow | 4 Comments

Willet Skirmish

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Michael

The day after I photographed “The Osprey” my wife and I ran across a pair of Willets that were negotiating some sort of disagreement. There was a great deal of action and I shot dozens of frames as the confrontation played out. It was hard to keep focus on the action as the birds were in constant motion moving both left and right as well as closer and farther away. My wife and I were thrilled to watch this confrontation and I especially love the wing patterns captured in some of these images. Both Willets and the Western Sandpiper escaped any serious injury. We never did learn what the disagreement was all about.

Click an image to view larger.

Perhaps we can talk this out.

One Willet gets a little agitated.

The second Willet becomes somewhat insistent.

The battle begins in earnest.

That's gotta hurt!

Hey! Let go of my leg!

Airborne Assault

A Western Sandpiper finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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Posted in Florida Wildlife, Photography | Tagged birds, florida, nature, pectoral sandpiper, photography, wildlife, willet | 5 Comments

The Osprey

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Michael

Since I became interested in wildlife photography, I have dreamed of capturing “the shot”. That might be a tender moment between mother and child, a soaring bird overhead in perfect light, or the struggle for life between predator and prey. I have been fortunate to capture some of these images, but many more are still just dreams.

One of my dream shots is catching an Osprey diving into the water and coming out with a fish. I’ve captured many Osprey shots in the past. Some have been on nests, some have been with recent hatchlings, and some have been flight shots with and without a fish in the talons. But I had never been successful in being at the right place at the right time to catch one diving and taking flight with prey. Until now.

While we were vacationing in Indian Rocks Beach, FL last month, I would spend the first 2-3 hours of daylight walking the beach and composing shots of anything that moved. I love shorebirds and there were many to choose from that week. On one of these morning walks, I spotted an Osprey circling overhead. Thinking he might be looking for breakfast, I waited him out and was rewarded with a dive and a catch.

Now, trying to catch an Osprey diving and getting the focus and framing just right is pretty tough to do. Even professional photographers will tell you that unless you just happen to have the Osprey already focused and everything lined up properly, catching the dive is very difficult. I guess I’ll need more practice as the shots I fired off while he was diving are all unusable…unless you consider a brown out-of-focus blob as the subject of a photo interesting. But once he hit the water, my camera caught focus and I was able to get him coming out of the water with his breakfast.

Click an image to view larger.

Osprey with his morning catch

I took a whole series of shots as the Osprey lifted out of the water and began to fly away from me. I had no idea at the time if I had good focus and exposure. All you can do is hope you’ve set the camera correctly for the light and keep firing away. The entire encounter lasted less than 5 seconds. By then the Osprey was too far away to keep shooting.

Why do they always fly away from the photographer?

I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was no ordinary fish for the Osprey. If you look closely at the next image, you’ll see that there is fishing line and fishing hooks attached to the fish. This was a fisherman’s bait fish that the Osprey had captured. You should be able to see the hooks and line if you click the image.

The fish has two hooks and fishing line attached to it.

This obviously wasn’t a very good day for this particular fish. First he was captured by a fisherman, then he was rigged with hooks and tossed back in the Gulf in hopes a larger fish would eat him. Then he gets grabbed by an Osprey and yanked out of the water again. What else could go wrong?

In this next image, you will see that the Osprey’s left leg is tangled in the fishing line. This is not turning out to be a good day for the Osprey either.

The Osprey's left leg is caught in the fishing line

In this final image, the Osprey is able to free leg from the fishing line. He eventually dropped the fish and flew away unharmed. Since I was shooting the action, I didn’t notice what the fisherman might have been doing. He couldn’t have been too happy watching his bait be taken away. I’m sure he would have gladly given up the fish in order to avoid entangling the Osprey and having to save the bird.

The Osprey freed his left leg and then dropped the fish. He was on his way unharmed.

In hindsight, it would seem to me that the fisherman should have been paying attention and noticed the Osprey circling overhead. I would have thought that he would have reeled in his rig to avoid getting the Osprey entangled in the line. And perhaps he was and the Osprey dove for the fish anyway. This is also a common problem with pelicans too. As they fly by, they are always looking for a fish that might be struggling or separated from the school. Many pelicans have met an untimely demise because they have captured and swallowed a bait rig like this. Once swallowed, the only hope for the pelican would be to reel him in and get him to a bird hospital as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, most fishermen would simply cut the line leaving the pelican to die a slow and horrible death.

I will say that I was quite excited to “find” this sequence when I got home and uploaded the images to my computer. Although I don’t have an image of the Osprey diving yet, I do have a decent one of the Osprey coming out of the water with a fish…even if it is a bait fish. Maybe that makes the encounter that much more exciting.

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Posted in Florida Wildlife, Photography | Tagged bait, birds, dream, fish, florida, hooks, nature, osprey, Pandion haliaetus, photography, prey, water, wildlife | 9 Comments

Nik Color Efex 4.1 and Why I Hate To Delete Images

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Michael

What does Nik Software’s updated Color Efex Pro 4.1 have to do with deleting images? Everything and absolutely nothing. Let me explain.

Recently I upgraded to Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro 4.1 after hearing rave reviews from other photographers. I didn’t get a chance to work with it right away, but I finally had some time Wednesday night to try it out. In a word, WOW! I’ve only worked with 2 filters; tonal contrast and detail extractor. But take a look at this image from our trip to Kauai in February 2010. Click the images to view larger on black.

Waimea Canyon, Kauai, HI

I will be reading more about the new Color Efex in the weeks to come and trying out more of the many filters that come with the product. I can already see how these filters can be used to spice up an otherwise dull or boring image. I like to get the image right when I click the shutter, but with these two images, that was tough to do. See these were taken in a helicopter as we flew over Waimea Canyon. Not only was I in a helicopter, but we were flying without doors on the helicopter. There was nothing between me and the bottom of the canyon!! It was very exciting, but the 1 hour tour goes by exceptionally quick. I literally held down the shutter the entire time and just fired off image after image. There was no time to check settings as we were constantly moving and alternating between bright sunshine and shade. It was a lot of fun, but very challenging photographically.

Waimea Canyon, Kauai, HI

Which brings me to why I hate to delete images. This second image would have likely found the recycle bin as I just wasn’t impressed with the image out of the camera. I really don’t like the dark shadows on the left side of the canyon walls. For some reason I decided to hold on to it, so when I was playing around with Color Efex Pro 4.1, I decided to try it out on this image. What a difference! I still don’t think this is my best image of the flight, but had I tossed all the images I didn’t like at the time, I would have lost some that would be pretty good with a little post-processing help. As technology improves and software products like Photoshop and Nik’s Color Efex Pro improve, images that I once thought were not usable suddenly become candidates for a second look. I hear Adobe is coming out with a program that will “fix” out of focus images. I excel at taking out of focus images, so perhaps Adobe’s new product will help me save more images in the future.

The bad news about saving all these images is the amount of disk space it consumes. Currently I am consuming 750 gigabytes of disk storage, so my 1.5 terabyte disks and backup disks are soon to be full. Fortunately 3TB drives are coming down in price, so I figure by January the price will be low enough to consider replacing the 1.5TB drives.

Look for more posts from the archives as I figure out how to work more of these filters. So far it has been well worth the investment.

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Posted in Photography, Random Musings | Tagged canyon, color efex pro, hawaii, kauai, landscape, Nik, sofware, waimea | Leave a comment

A Fitting Tribute

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Michael

In August I wrote about the unexpected passing of my good friend Klaus Peter. His passing was a shock and great loss to all of his friends. In the hours after we learned of his passing, we began planning a memorial and photo walk at one of his favorite photography locations, Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland, Florida. Yesterday was the memorial and I think it is safe to say that he would have been brought to tears by the number of people that showed up to pay tribute to him. We were honored to have members of Klaus’ family from Germany join us for this day.

The event was somewhat free-form so that as many people could attend as possible and allow different schedules to be accommodated. For those who could make it, there was a group that got there early for sunrise. At 9:00am we had a video presentation of Klaus’ work and photos of Klaus doing what he loved most; taking photographs and having fun with friends. After the 1 hour memorial attendees were free to explore the reserve, take pictures, meet new friends and renew old friends. At 2:00pm we went to a local restaurant for lunch and then some of us returned to the reserve for a late afternoon/early evening photo shoot.

My day started out with sunrise and while the sunrise wasn’t as spectacular as some we’ve had before, it certainly had it’s beauty. Click an image to view larger.

Memorial Sunrise

After the sunrise, there was time to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Due to the number of images in this post, I’ve included smaller versions so the page loads faster. Click on any image to view larger.

Scott explains to Varsha how best to photograph a Coot.

World famous landscape photographer Claudia Domenig with Steven Wildman

Next we all went into the Nature Center to view a slideshow of Klaus’ best images and photos of Klaus.

Klaus' family leads the way into the Nature Center

After the video tribute, we all posed for a group photo. You can see how many people showed up for the event. These were all people that knew Klaus personally or knew of his photography. There is a statement to be made of someone when you have this many people from 2 continents come together to celebrate your life.

Photo Courtesy of Daniel Kaufmann

After the group photo we broke into smaller groups and explored the reserve. For some, this was their first time at Circle B, and while we didn’t see many photo opportunities, I suspect they’ll be back when the conditions are a little better (and the place isn’t overrun with a bunch of rowdy photographers).

Robert, Alan, Debbie and John

Roberto, Heather, John, Debbie, Dan, Varsha, Tom and Chris.

John with the local "wildlife"

Alan, or the "South Florida Wildlife", with the local "wildlife"

Kevan Sunderland showing off his "G.A.T.O.R."

Diana asks "where did everyone go?"

Debbie, Scott, Diana and Dan look hungry. I was too!

Donna and Susan after getting "lost" in the "Circle"

Dan and Donna share a moment after Donna's "rescue"

Marni and Alan share a laugh...and some grapes

Robert, Debbie and Tom return to the Nature Center after a long, but very rewarding day

As much fun as I had, it was a bittersweet day. Klaus would have loved to have been there to see all his friends one last time, but he was with each and every one of us in our hearts and memory. We’ve lost a great friend, but even after he’s gone, he continues to bring people together. He was certainly one of a kind and he is deeply missed by all who knew him.

Photo courtesy of Meg Puente

They say that time heals all wounds and that writing helps to work through the grief. But it still hurts…and this was still tough to get through. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments.

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Posted in Photography | Tagged florida, friends, klaus peter, photography | 7 Comments

Butterfly Rainforest

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Michael

I had the opportunity to visit the Butterfly Rainforest at the University of Florida Harn Museum of Natural History last weekend. It was my first time there and I had an absolutely wonderful time. Once a year they sponsor a Butterfly Festival. On that Saturday and Sunday morning, photographers can gain entrance to the rainforest 90 minutes before the public is allowed in. This gives you an opportunity to bring tripods and monopods into the exhibit when they are normally not allowed. Having the extra equipment and having the place just for photographers is a nice treat. [Click an image to view larger]

Clipper - Southeast Asia

On this particular Sunday, there were 7 photographers and 4 staff members in the rainforest. There was some momentary jockeying for positions and you had to wait patiently for other photographers to finish shooting before you could move around in some areas, but for the most part you could setup where ever and however you wanted to capture the beautiful butterflies on exhibit.

Gold-banded Forester (Wings Closed) - Southern Africa

The rainforest boasts of 75 different species of butterfiles from all around the world with a population of approximately 1500 individuals. I tried to find all 75 species, but fell well short. Many are well camouflaged and some are much higher in the trees and the enclosure than you can reach with your lens.

Gold-banded Forester (Wings Open) - Southern Africa

Still, the ones we were able to see and photograph were quite beautiful.

Mexican Bluewing - Central and South America

While it was very nice to have the place to ourselves for 90 minutes in the morning, the better opportunities came after the general public was allowed in. By then the sun had begun to warm the enclosure and the butterflies were much more active. Active butterflies are easier to find, but by being active, they are harder to get great images. A resting butterfly provides a better subject than one on the move.

Postman - South America

I’m planning to go back to the rainforest during the Christmas holidays and try to improve my skills even more. While I did capture some images I’m happy with, I tossed a whole lot more in the recycle bin than I would have liked. It was a great learning lesson though as I know what mistakes I made and what I need to do differently next time.

Question Mark - North America

Tiger-Mimic Queen - Central and South America

Malechite - Central and South America, Cuba and Extreme Southern North America

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Posted in Photography | Tagged butterfly, florida, insects, nature, photography, rainforest, wildlife | 3 Comments

Easy Canvas Prints

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Michael

A few weeks ago, I was approached by Brendan at Easy Canvas Prints asking if I would like to have my Chincoteague Sunrise image printed and mounted on canvas for free. I really like that image and it is one of my favorites from our vacation in Chincoteague this past August, so I was definitely interested in hearing more. Brendan was offering to turn my photo-to-canvas in exchange for a blog post about my experience. I told him that I would be interested, but the blog post had to be in my own words without any editing or comments from the company. If I’m going to write an endorsement about a product, then I would want to do so in my own words. He agreed with me that they wanted the post to be in my own words.

So once we agreed on how this would proceed, I began the process to turn my Chincoteague Sunrise into a canvas. The process to convert your photos-to-canvas is very simple. They offer a choice of sizes and a choice of Standard Wrap or Gallery Wrap. Next you upload your image and then proceed through the checkout process. It is very quick and easy to get your beautiful images on their way to you. I got an email 2 days later saying that my canvas had shipped and UPS delivered the canvas about 3 days later. Here is a picture of the finished canvas.

Chincoteague Sunrise Canvas

I found the quality of the canvas to be very good. The frame was assembled from quality hardwoods and the canvas was properly stretched and fastened to the frame. They even include the hanger on the back of the image so it’s ready to hang right out of the box. I choose the Standard Wrap for my image as I think that will be a better look where we ultimately plan to hang the canvas. Here is a photo of the back of the canvas showing the frame, canvas fastening and mounting hardware.

I had the opportunity to work with Samantha in their Customer Love Team during this process. When my canvas initially arrived, I wasn’t happy with the colors. The canvas was much darker than what I had expected from the image I had posted to Flickr, my blog and my website. I called and explained my concern and there was no hesitation in what was going to happen. They were willing to reprint the canvas and make it right. I’m not sure if I should have used a different color profile in Photoshop or if it was a production problem on their end. Samantha asked me to send a photo of the canvas and a new JPEG and they would have their art department make sure the canvas is perfect. I lightened the image in Photoshop first, and the resulting canvas I received earlier this week was beautiful. The colors are perfect, the sky has the right tones in it and I am very pleased with the results.

If you want to turn your photos-to-canvas, click the link and check them out. If you Like them on Facebook, you can get a 50% discount on your next order as well as free shipping.

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Posted in Photography | Tagged chincoteague, easy canvas prints, photos-to-canvas, sunrise | 2 Comments

Western Sandpiper

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Michael

What a busy September/October we’ve had. Faith had her big charity fundraiser in September, then we were off to Indian Rocks Beach for a week of vacation. As soon as we came back from vacation, Faith left for Washington, DC for another fundraiser and is now in Assisi, Italy for the World Day of Peace. Meanwhile I’ve been to Atlanta twice and I’ve been trying to catch up from all the shooting I did on vacation. Of course, being busy hasn’t stopped me from more shooting so I’ve amassed 1500+ images waiting to be reviewed.

So while it has been a while since I’ve had time to write a post, I thought I’d share some images of a very cute and cooperative Western Sandpiper that I took while on vacation. I hope you enjoy them. Click an image to view it larger.

Western Sandpipers are small shorebirds that roam the surf line looking for small invertebrates to feed upon. This one wasn’t as interested in eating as he was in preening…or perhaps showing off for the photographer.