During last weekend

Last weekend, I took some nice pictures—like this one of an alligator swimming like a torpedo, breaking through the surface of the water.

 

Alligators have become one of my favorite animals to photograph. It's captivating to think that they’ve been around longer than us. Their skin—especially in the younger ones—is full of rich colors and texture.

Florida is at its greenest right now. The vegetation in some places reminds me of what you’d find in the rainforests of Costa Rica or the Amazon.

 

The photo above is composed of about 10 images stitched together using LrC. Taking it on a cloudy day helped bring out the different shades of green. 

Just a reminder: if you haven’t done so yet, please hit the 'Follow' button on Instagram.   

Condensation!

 I hate condensation! In my case, I bought an USB lens heater and I put that on my lens few minutes before I take my lens outside. That fixes the issue for me. But here is something that will not cost you a penny. 

 

Taking another shot at Instagram

I created an Instagram account back in 2020, but I didn’t really enjoy the experience at the time. As an aspiring photographer, I’m passionate about composition and often spend a lot of time just on that. Instagram’s format can be a bit limiting—it doesn’t always work well with the way I like to present my photos.

But recently, our grandsons started working on their own project, and it reminded me that I had an old account just sitting there collecting dust. So, I decided to give it another shot partially supporting them with my photos.

While on Facebook I’ve been posting full albums from each photoshoot, on Instagram I’ll be sharing only the very best of my shots. If you’ve been following my work on Facebook, I’d love it if you’d check out my Instagram too and give me a follow. I would truly appreciate your support! And of course! Supporting our grandsons is also appreciated. 

 

Magic Lantern is back

Magic Lantern is a free, open-source software add-on that runs on many Canon DSLR cameras. It extends the functionality of Canon's firmware by unlocking advanced features not originally included by the manufacturer.

 

Important Notes:

•     Magic Lantern runs from the camera’s SD/CF card and does not replace Canon's firmware.
•     It's unofficial and not supported by Canon.
•     There's some risk (like camera malfunction or warranty voiding), though it's generally safe when installed correctly.    Magic Lantern does not support Canon Mirrorless cameras.  

My Opinion:

 While some of the features available in this "add-on" are extremely useful, it’s cluttered with so many options that it becomes difficult to remember where everything is, making it hard to use. It's really something for professionals who can't live without one of its advanced tools—not for the average user who just wants to enjoy photography. On the other hand, for DSLRs that are no longer receiving firmware updates, this add-on is a great way to revitalize the camera with new features.

Wildlife photography tips

Meet Chelsea Northup, a wildlife photography enthusiast with a wealth of experience. Her tips and tricks are a treasure trove of knowledge that will elevate your photography skills. 

The R6 Mark II is currently available at 18% off

The R6 Mark II is currently available at 18% off on Amazon. To me, this looks like a sign that Canon may be releasing the R6 Mark III soon—a rumor that has been circulating for some time.

The Canon R6 Mark II is a great camera that offers outstanding image quality, fast and reliable autofocus, and impressive low-light performance. With its 24.2MP sensor, high-speed continuous shooting (up to 40 fps with electronic shutter), and advanced video features (4K 60p oversampled), it's ideal for both wildlife and hybrid photo/video shooters. It's also known for its excellent in-body image stabilization and ergonomic design.

From last weekend

Last Saturday, I went to my favorite park and came back home with a few good pictures.

I saw a hummingbird flying around, but I couldn't capture a shot of him in flight. Luckily, he perched for a few short minutes—just long enough for me to get a picture.

With hummingbirds—especially when they’re perched in the shade—the post-editing process is incredibly important. In those conditions, you can’t really see the bird’s beautiful colors. It’s only after editing that those vibrant colors truly come to life.

This Carolina Wren love to sing. It's not the first time he poses for me and even aloud me to get very close. 

 

On Sunday, I had a special assignment: I took some pictures of our grandsons on the streets of Brooksville—a beautiful place for photoshoots. You can enjoy the pictures here. I really love how they turned out. 

 

 

Nature's Moments No 16

 A new release of my short movies about nature.

What would you buy for your current R camera

Suppose you came across some extra cash and decided to buy something for your R-series camera—what would you choose?

Tough question, right?

As for me, what would I buy to pair with my Canon R6 Mark I? Since I spend about 80% of my time shooting wildlife, it makes sense to invest in a lens suited for that purpose. If you want to stick with Canon, there aren’t too many options—so the lens I’d choose is the Canon RF 100-500mm.

To complement this lens, I’d also get the RF 1.4x Extender. You might ask, “If you’re getting the extender, why not just go for the RF 200-800mm?” Well, here’s my reasoning: the RF 100-500mm paired with the 1.4x Extender gives me a range of 140-700mm. I actually prefer that range, especially on the lower end. For the kind of work I do, 140mm works better for me than 200mm.

Now I’m curious—what would you buy?

 

Electronic First Curtain Shutter

From all the shutter modes available in the Canon R6 Mark I, the one that I always use is the Electronic First Curtain Shutter or EFCS. In the Canon R7, I was using Electronic Shutter most of the time, but I stopped using it in the R6 because this camera is totally silent in this mode, and I love to have the sound feedback from the shutter. 

Here is a nice video explaining the differences between the Electronic, Mechanical, and EFCS.

For no reason at all

I can’t stop going back to this news, watching the video and looking at the pictures. It’s heartbreaking—this reporter was shot for no reason at all, just for someone’s cruel idea of entertainment.

I’m absolutely pro-police—I believe in law and order and the vital role officers play in keeping our communities safe. But respect has to go both ways. It’s a two-way street, and trust can only exist when it's mutual.

 

 

Lightroom Classic June Update

 Adobe has released an update for Lightroom Classic. What is new? Well, Denoise has been updated and now it does not create a copy of the original. Beside that a New option has been added called Remove Distractions. This feature includes two options, remove reflections and remove people, this last one useful to remove people from your landscape photos. You can see these changes here in this video. 

 

Squirrel posing like a pro

Last weekend, I took three pictures of a squirrel that I absolutely love. To me, the lighting and composition were perfect, and the squirrel was posing like a pro.

 

From Last Weekend

 A short Video from last weekend hiking. 

This weekend

Here are my picks for this weekend.

This red-shouldered hawk made me walk a lot just to get a few pictures. It seems to be a juvenile—very shy and constantly calling for its mother. Or at least, that was my impression.

I took the opportunity to shot few pictures to create a huge panorama. Here is the result.

This is a 10271x7009 resolution picture. That's a 72 megapixels picture coming from a 24 megapixel camera!

My special mention for this weekend:

Brenizer Method

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I sometimes create panoramas using my zoom lenses. These aren’t your typical wide landscape panoramas—they can be images of a subject, like a tree, that simply doesn’t fit within the frame provided by the zoom lens. Here’s an example of one of my photos created using this technique.

The Brenizer Method, also known as a "Bokeh Panorama" or "Bokeh Pano", is a photographic technique that combines panoramic stitching with wide apertures to create portraits with an extremely shallow depth of field. This method, popularized by Ryan Brenizer, allows photographers to achieve a look similar to that of larger format film cameras using digital cameras. 

Here is a video explaining this method very well. 

 

Is using AI cheating?

Here’s a very interesting debate: Using AI make the work of wedding photographers easier. Where they once had to manually edit hundreds of photos, AI can now learn their editing style and apply it across all the images automatically. But is that cheating?

I don’t think so. AI is just another tool designed to make your life easier, and that doesn’t mean your final work should be cheaper. Pricing isn’t determined only by the tools you use, but by the demand and the quality of the final product, within other facts. 

Three New Sigma Zoom Lenses

According to a report published by The Phoblographer, Sigma has filed patents for three new zoom lenses: a 300–600mm f/4, a 400–800mm f/8, and a 180–800mm f/5.8–8.4.

The 300–600mm and 400–800mm ranges aren't ones I’d consider for myself, as they seem to be aimed at photographers who need long reach without the need to also capture subjects that are much closer. The 180–800mm is more appealing for that reason—it offers more flexibility.

The bad news is that there’s no mention of Canon RF mount versions. It appears these lenses are primarily being designed for the Sony ecosystem. 

The first Canon mirrorless camera using the RF mount was released in September 2018, and here we are in 2025—with still no widely available third-party lenses for the system, despite ongoing rumors of a possible release from Sigma. This pushes Canon users to buy EF-mount lenses and adapt them to the RF mount, as it remains the only viable option for purchasing lenses that are more affordable than the newer RF lenses.

Is this Canon’s marketing strategy the right one? Apparently, yes—because it hasn’t changed since 2018.

Photographer shot by a sponge bullet

While checking the news, I came across two incidents where a photographer and a journalist were struck by sponge bullets. Covering a protest isn’t as safe as many might think—especially when the protest turns violent. Here are my recommendations for those willing to take the risk:

- Avoid getting trapped between protesters and law enforcement.
- Always be aware of escape routes.
- Constantly scan your surroundings.
- Don’t run unless necessary: Running can draw attention or cause injury in a chaotic crowd.

Nick Stern saw blood pouring down his leg after being shot by a non-lethal round (AP)

 

Mastering the Basics

 Some people are just really good at teaching. This is one of the best videos I’ve seen for explaining the basics of shooting in Manual Mode.

 In Spain, there’s an old saying: “You learn how to castrate by castrating.” What it means is that learning photography—like any skill—requires a lot of hands-on practice. You’ll only start to feel truly comfortable with your camera and your results after taking thousands of photos. You definitely won’t see great results after just 10 shots—that’s for sure.

Last weekend

 As usual, let’s start the week by sharing some of the pictures taken over the weekend. One of my favorites is this one, where I managed to capture a composition with the alligator framed right in the center.

Pictures of a gallinule chick are something new for me. I’ve seen plenty of common gallinules, but this is the first time I’ve seen their babies. They’re black! It was funny to watch them moving around with their disproportionately large legs!

 This landscape picture is my favorite. I managed to add some color to the sky in post processing and I think it came out well. 

 

 The last picture is of a turtle that was taking a walk, looking for a good place to lay its eggs.

 

The videos from this weekend can be found here and here.  

Nature's Moments No 14

 Here is another short video from this last weekend. 

Canon R1 vs Canon R6 Mark II

Here’s a video comparing two cameras: the Canon R1 and the Canon R6 Mark II. Spoiler alert—the R1 knocks out the R6 Mark II in almost every comparison point. That’s the main reason you pay $6,000 for the R1 and $2,000 for the R6 Mark II.

 

The R1 is, without a doubt, a dream machine—specifically designed for companies that can afford this tool to produce high-quality content, whether it’s for commercials, magazines, or other professional publications. For the rest of us mortals, the R6 Mark II gets the job done, delivering photo and video quality that’s more than decent. And when I say decent, I mean good enough to earn money from your work if you're a professional photographer dreaming of one day owning an R1.

Nature's Moments No 13

 

Still experimenting with video.

Extreme wedding photography

Couples sometimes want unique wedding photos—pictures that make you go “wow.” And if there’s demand, there will always be photographers willing to go to extremes, no matter how risky getting those shots might be or how far they have to travel.

This article from LA Times is about one of those photographers, Aimée Flynn. 

 

Extreme macro

Sometimes people do things just because they can, not because it’s the best way to. This is one of those cases. 

Canon 5D Mark III called a Masterpiece

It’s nice to see a camera released 13 years ago still being called a masterpiece. And I have to agree—I bought this camera used a few months ago as a backup, and the first time I used it, I was impressed by the image quality. You can find this camera today for as little as $320. It lacks some of the advanced features found in modern mirrorless cameras, but even so, it remains one of the best DSLRs you can still buy.

 

Lenovo announcing a digital camera

Lenovo has announced a digital camera in China. The news comes as a surprise, since Lenovo is better known for making computers. PetaPixel is covering the story in detail. I have to say, the pictures in the brochure reminded me of the kind of Chinese propaganda often seen in products from the 1990s—heavily Photoshopped to the point that they looked fake.

 You have to agree that this point and shoot looks more like a toy than to a real camera. 

Statues

I absolutely love capturing the essence of statues, especially those that evoke the grandeur of the Roman era. 

Last Weekend

This past weekend started with rain—a lot of it. But once the rain let up, I headed to a local botanical garden to take some photos of the flowers while they were still wet.

On Sunday I headed to the local park. Who says that you can't take landscape pictures using a zoom lens.

Ducks were very active and I managed to take some pictures of them flying around. 

 

 Two more pictures that I loved, the first one is from this wild flower.

The second one from this Osprey, they do not use to hunt in this like and for me it was a bid surprise.

 

Special mention to a familiar face. 

 

A short video from this photo section.