Virginia Living Museum (lotsa pics)

Phil U.

While we were staying in Virginia Beach this past weekend, my wife and I decided to pay a visit to the Vriginia Living Museum http://www.valivingmuseum.org/

We had never heard of it before, but we were quite happy to see that they had a nice variety of animals and exhibits.

We ended up spending most of the time in their small aivary.

Edit: I forgot to mention, they had a beautiful GBH in the aivary also, but he would never come out from behind the underbrush so I could get a decent crack at him. I hung around for quite a while waiting (ok, I wasn't just waiting, I was shooting other birds). Bummer.



This little one was waiting for something...



Lunch!!





The only walkway through the aivary was a suspended boardwalk. It really limited the shooting angles...



...but shooting from above really worked with this guy - I love the iridescent colors.



After my wife drug me from the aivary, we found our next holiday dinner



Snug as a bug in a rug...



Moving on to the inside stuff...



They had a real nice glass-enclosed area with very natural looking fake rocks and waterfalls and such. These guys were just sitting there watching the water go by. (yes, the birds are right there in the same space as us - they are allowed to fly around - pretty cool except for the "deposits")



Lucky for the other critters in here, they kept this guy in his own space (I think he was wanting to jump over into the general population



All the water in this indoor area flowed into these nicely done "tanks" (if you can call them that) with plexiglass that goes all the way to the floor and are about 3-4 feet high. You can look right over the top of the wall (they discourage reaching in) or crouch to look through the glass. I had a fun time exploring this area, but I mostly got skunked on the pics.

I found these fish that I had never seen before. I don't know what they're called...





That's pretty much it. There's a few more in this gallery http://philu.smugmug.com/gallery/519522 but I've displayed the best here.

Hope you found something in here to enjoy.

MuskyDude

Excellent!!!

Those would be paddlefish btw, Phil. Just awesome series!!!! Thanks for the tour!!!!!!

AJ

ginger_55

Wonderful shots. YOu can just go there for most of your nature photographic needs.

I do love, from memory the cardinal feeding the "baby".

Also the "bug" in a rug, snug.

Thanks for sharing.

are we about the only ones here......marloff? too? Who is still here?

Harry's name says he is here, but he could just have his computer on anywhere.

ginger

Oh, are you and others oversharpening the wood ducks? Or am I undersharpening? Rutt would know. They certainly have flamboyant colors.

Phil U.

MuskyDude wrote:

Excellent!!!

Those would be paddlefish btw, Phil. Just awesome series!!!! Thanks for the tour!!!!!!

AJ

Ah cool, thanks for the info as well as the comments!

Phil U.

ginger_55 wrote:

Wonderful shots. YOu can just go there for most of your nature photographic needs.

I do love, from memory the cardinal feeding the "baby".

Also the "bug" in a rug, snug.

Thanks for sharing.

are we about the only ones here......marloff? too? Who is still here?

Harry's name says he is here, but he could just have his computer on anywhere.

ginger

Oh, are you and others oversharpening the wood ducks? Or am I undersharpening? Rutt would know. They certainly have flamboyant colors.

Thanks - I'm glad you liked them.

Yea, the place seems pretty empty with everyone on the big trip.

As for the oversharpening of the wood ducks - I think that is mostly a perception thing. I did sharpen him (maybe even a little more than I should have), but I don't think I did it toooo much. You're probably seeing the "halo" of white around the black at the edge of their wings. That's actually part of their natural look. Here's a similar crop of the original - no processing, just downsized in the same way as the other one. You'll see the "halo" here also. Of course the sharpening does make it more noticeable.

ginger_55

Maybe it is just me, but I like the unsharpened one better. Did you use Rutt's method. Marguelis? I am sure you don't remember the settings, I never do.

It is probably just what one's preference is. I have some more of those ducks. Not quite that close, but I know I did not sharpen that much, I may have toned it down a bit.

So, you hear the echos, too.

ginger

ginger_55

Maybe it is the specks in the water that are distracting sharpened. I had that happen with a landscape/lagoon shot. The sharpening accentuated what was in the water, so I took it all out, one, by one, by one.

ginger

Phil U.

ginger_55 wrote:

Maybe it is just me, but I like the unsharpened one better. Did you use Rutt's method. Marguelis? I am sure you don't remember the settings, I never do.

It is probably just what one's preference is. I have some more of those ducks. Not quite that close, but I know I did not sharpen that much, I may have toned it down a bit.

So, you hear the echos, too.

ginger

Yea, It wasn't the sharpest photo to begin with - that probably didn't help.

I know I read Rutt's sharpening tutorial, but I haven't put it into practice. This might be just the shot to play with it on. I generally do a two-pass sharpening routine that's quick and works pretty well for most applications. Can't remember where I read that one - it was a long time ago.

Harryb

Great series Phil. Were they taken with the 717?

bfjr

Good Stuff Phil
Really like the fish, something different pretty strange looking I think.

Phil U.

Harryb wrote:

Great series Phil. Were they taken with the 717?

Thanks Harry - yes, all with the trusty 717. I said long ago that I wouldn't make the jump to a different camera until I was ready photographically. While the 717 is still serving me well, I am getting the itch to move into the DSLR world. Unfortunately I'm afraid my checkbook isn't ready for that So for the time being, I'm still learning the photography side with the 717 as my photographic tool.

Khaos

The feeding cardinal one is fantastic.

philspace

Damn, they are all good. I think I see a road trip down there with the grand kids and the cameras - thanks

Harryb

Phil U. wrote:

Thanks Harry - yes, all with the trusty 717. I said long ago that I wouldn't make the jump to a different camera until I was ready photographically. While the 717 is still serving me well, I am getting the itch to move into the DSLR world. Unfortunately I'm afraid my checkbook isn't ready for that So for the time being, I'm still learning the photography side with the 717 as my photographic tool.

Hey Phil,

The 717 is still my favorite camera. I had more fun with that camera than any other that I have owned. It's an amazing camera that produces excellent pics. You don't need an expensive DSLR and its accompanying glass to get excellent pics.

Phil U.

ginger_55 wrote:

Maybe it is just me, but I like the unsharpened one better. Did you use Rutt's method. Marguelis? I am sure you don't remember the settings, I never do.

It is probably just what one's preference is. I have some more of those ducks. Not quite that close, but I know I did not sharpen that much, I may have toned it down a bit.

So, you hear the echos, too.

ginger

I played around with the swimming woody and re-did the sharpening based off of Rutt's method. The difference is subtle, but I think it might be a bit better. I replaced the first version with the new file so it shows in the storyline. See if you like that any better than before.

Phil U.

Khaos wrote:

The feeding cardinal one is fantastic.

Yea, I was quite surprised to see that. They were quite close (I mean within reaching distance) from the boardwalk. Even then I didn't notice until my wife pointed it out. I was paying attention to the Egret.

Phil U.

philspace wrote:

Damn, they are all good. I think I see a road trip down there with the grand kids and the cameras - thanks

Yea, you should go. It's not an all-day type of thing, but will certainly keep you occupied for a couple or maybe even a few hours. If you do, make sure you share your pics.

Phil U.

Harryb wrote:

Hey Phil,

The 717 is still my favorite camera. I had more fun with that camera than any other that I have owned. It's an amazing camera that produces excellent pics. You don't need an expensive DSLR and its accompanying glass to get excellent pics.

I agree with you, the 717 does put out some really great looking results. When I'm thinking about the DSLR stuff, I'm not so much thinking about quality of pics as I am creative control, speed, and lens choices. I don't think I've outgrown it yet, but at some point I will.

Anyway - enough of this hardware talk... this is a photo thread :tiptoe

SusanB

Fun and educational series Phil!

The paddlefish images are my favorite since I've never seen a fish with gill action so spread out like that before- :wow way cool. I wonder if there might be a bit less oxygen in the water there, necessitating better water circulation through the gills for a higher demand for oxygen relative to its activity; compared to other fish such as the hammer head shark, of seemingly similar body mass/proportions, as suggested by your images.

The feeding cardinals are lovely too. We do not get cardinals here in so Cal.:cry

Susan

JHarris1984

Nice Photos, I should probably go there sometime figuring I live 30 minutes away :. Went there when it first opened like 9 years ago, wasn't that great then though... haha.

Phil U.

bfjr wrote:

Good Stuff Phil
Really like the fish, something different pretty strange looking I think.

They certainly grabbed my attention - very strange looking. Thanks!

Phil U.

SusanB wrote:

Fun and educational series Phil!

The paddlefish images are my favorite since I've never seen a fish with gill action so spread out like that before- :wow way cool. I wonder if there might be a bit less oxygen in the water there, necessitating better water circulation through the gills for a higher demand for oxygen relative to its activity; compared to other fish such as the hammer head shark, of seemingly similar body mass/proportions, as suggested by your images.

The feeding cardinals are lovely too. We do not get cardinals here in so Cal.:cry

Susan

I don't know the purpose for them. I was just shocked because at first glance I didn't see it. Most of them were swimming with the mouth closed. Then all of a sudden I saw one with the mouth opening, and opening, and opening. I took up a seat and watched for a couple minutes to figure out how to capture one. I got lucky - I saw this one swimming in a circle that he kept repeating. I lined up and got it after a few tries. One more circuit after what you see here and he went off into the tank.

Thanks for your comments!

Phil U.

JHarris1984 wrote:

Nice Photos, I should probably go there sometime figuring I live 30 minutes away :. Went there when it first opened like 9 years ago, wasn't that great then though... haha.

You should. I really wasn't expecting much so I was pleasantly surprised.

Take a trip and show us what you get!

Markjay

You did a great job, Phil !!
You had a great outing that day, Phil. Just about every one of those images are excellent shots!! Wish my percentage of "great ones" was that high :-)


Markjay

Kirwin

Hi Phil,

Nice series. The image that caught my I most was of the wood duck's back! Everyone has the profile of this duck. But the colors and pattern of it's back are wonderful! I bet an extreme crop of the neck and the back of the duck would make for a beautiful image! Thanks for sharin'.

Phil U.

Markjay wrote:

You had a great outing that day, Phil. Just about every one of those images are excellent shots!! Wish my percentage of "great ones" was that high :-)


Markjay

I was happy with the take from a somewhat short period of time. However, you didn't see the number of shots that I took but didn't post

Thanks for the kind words...

Phil U.

Kirwin wrote:

Hi Phil,

Nice series. The image that caught my I most was of the wood duck's back! Everyone has the profile of this duck. But the colors and pattern of it's back are wonderful! I bet an extreme crop of the neck and the back of the duck would make for a beautiful image! Thanks for sharin'.

Yes, very beautiful bird. For the crop - what you see here is already a somewhat heavy crop from the original. I don't think going that far would work very well. I might play with it a little and see what happens though.

Thanks!