My NC Vacation Picture Story! Wild horses and other Wildlife....

[KibblesNbitz]

Well, about two weeks ago I got back from a 10 day vacation to North Carolina. It was incredibly relaxing, and the people are so much nicer than here in New Jersey Anyways, I literally just finished going through and editing my vacation pictures. I do a lot of wildlife photography, and North Carolina was amazing for that....Some of the pics are from NJ just before I left, that I just wanted to share, but most are from NC! Every single picture was taken with my new Nikon 300mm f/4 lens with 1.4x teleconverter attached for those who are curious...

Be forewarned, there's lot of pics!


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Believe it or not, those were all from NJ! :lmao:

Anyways, my first day in NC, I took a small boat ferry to an undeveloped, uninhabited island. Only way to access it is by boat, and though quite a few people do stop at the pristine beaches this series of islands offers, I was after something more than just nice beaches....


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A large number of wild horses live on these isolated islands along the North Carolina coast. There's a few theories of where they came from, but the most popular one is that many early ships colonizing America sunk, and the horses were left to swim to the closest land possible. This makes sense because the North Carolina coast is also known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" because of all the shipwrecks that are located along this series of small outer banks islands. They were difficult for early mariners to see, and led to a whole lot of sunken and sand-stuck ships. Also, when trying to reduce weight, like when trying to get off a sandbar, livestock including horses were often the first things to be thrown/pushed off the ship.

Though they are wild, the horses are "freeze-branded" for research and documentation purposes. Basically its like a brand on a normal cow or horse, except they use a freezing chemical to turn the hair white. Its not painful like a standard branding, and can be done safely and quickly, which is necessary when dealing with wild horses...Their stomachs are so bloated and rounded due to the salt from the ocean. With the waves hitting the island and being surrounded by salt water in general, everything on the island becomes covered in salt, including the plants/grasses the horses eat. As with humans, when you eat so much salt you start to retain water and become bloated. This is what causes the horses stomachs to become so bloated and rounded. They adjust, and are certainly used to it though...


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Ah! What is that!

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Forget this, I'm leavin'!

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Will you stop eating already!

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This shows the world of wildlife and people colliding...

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Baby!

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Chargeee!

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Time for a swim!

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One last look back as they were leaving...

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Thats okay, these guys were close to where the horses were...They're White Ibises, and I found them cool because we don't have them in NJ haha...I was kneeling in the water, with the camera on a monopod about 6 inches above the water for these shots. Good thing I didn't slip or lose my grip on the camera, haha...I got soaked, but it was worth it!

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They spend their day digging their bill through the mud, looking for crabs and other such delicacies lol...

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One of the days we went to a nice aquarium. Smallish, but packed with great exhibits!

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Stingray touch tank!

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I really liked this exhibit. The aquarium rescues baby turtles either too weak too make it on their own or at a disadvantage and nurtures them to the juvenile/early adulthood stage before releasing them back into the wild. If unable to do so, they keep them at the aquarium in a very huge tank!

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The ultimate riparium, complete with gars!

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Went to a nice waterfowl museum on the last day. Behind the museum they had a large pond, and it was a bird photographers paradise. Hundreds of birds flew in and out at all times, and there were even several large rookeries, where tens to hundreds of egrets and other birds rest and sleep at night.

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Well, I think that's enough, haha...let me know what you think The numbers are below the images,....critique at will!

 

[Raian-san]

All of it seem pretty sharp to me but that's just way too many for me to critique. My only question is how do you get these picture so sharp? Setting and PP info please.

 

[ultimadrift]

Not everyone here is for critiquing...Its good to share as well! And I love those photos. I've actually never seen those birds in real life. Nice captures!

 

[KibblesNbitz]

All of it seem pretty sharp to me but that's just way too many for me to critique. My only question is how do you get these picture so sharp? Setting and PP info please.

There really wasn't any sharpening applied in PP. The only thing I did in lightroom was some contrast and messing with the black clipping levels. A large part of the sharpness comes from the fact that its a 300mm f/4 prime lens from Nikon, which is very sharp. Check out the MTF chart from Nikon's official site...

Not everyone here is for critiquing...Its good to share as well! And I love those photos. I've actually never seen those birds in real life. Nice captures!

Thanks! I do realize its really too much to critique, but like you said, I enjoy sharing every once in a while too Figured it would be good to see something different for a change, haha...(better than cat pictures )

 

[iNick]

Some great shots here! I moved from NY(Yonkers) to right outside Charlotte NC not too long ago and have been wanting to get to the Outer Banks real bad, i hear it's amazing over there. If you get a chance, next time you're in the carolinas you need to check out Charleston. It's amazing over there!

BTW i can totally agree about the people being nicer down here. It's crazy how different southerners are from us northerners. Not saying one is better than the other, although i am a bit partial to my New Yorkers :thumbup:

 

[TwoTwoLeft]

Nice! I really like the #1st aquarium shot, what settings did you use for that shot and the fish with the black background?