Photography Adventure: Lake Carlyle

One thing I love about working with the public is the great tips I get from my customers. Last week a customer told me there is a good bird watching site on the north side of Lake Carlyle. Good leads are worth following through on, because whether you find what you are looking for or not, it is always more fun than staying home.

My daughter Brenda came along and we muddled through the state map. Carlyle lake in Illinois is a big lake. All I knew was the spot was near a boat ramp on the north side of the lake, near Keyesport. Our first stop, at lot 3, was a disappointment. It appeared as though the lake used to be there, but it wasn't this hot August day. The park board showed a levy that may have shrunk the lake, or it could have just been the dry season. Not to be deterred we searched on.

Eventually we found a wonderful spot at the Tacoma launch ramp. Heron and egrets were plentiful there, with a backdrop of tree stumps protruding from the lake.

Later Brenda went for a swim while I shot pics of barn swallows. These are beautiful little birds with a long split tale, orange face, and white spots on their tale. There were two nests in action over my head, one with four very small birds with mouths wide open, and another with two large babies about ready to leave the nest. The tricky part about photographing them was their speed. The moms would come in to feed the babies and in an instant would be back out over the field searching for more bugs. If I waited for the mom to hit the nest by the time I raised my camera into position she'd be gone. After a few failed attempts I got an idea. I timed her visits. Once I knew she would visit the nest about every 3 minutes, I waited close to three minutes, got the camera ready, and presto got the shot.

A nearby wildflower field also provided great opportunities for macro closeups of butterflies and flowers. Macro shots can be achieved a couple different ways. A macro lens on an SLR provides the best quality. Another option is to use macro filters. Macro filters usually come in sets of 3 (+1, +2, and +4). They can do a pretty decent job, although they are usually less sharp around the edges than a true macro lens. Some fixed lens cameras, like Konica Minolta's Z series, have a great macro and super macro feature that can be set by pressing the flower button. Just remember to turn the macro off when you are done or your long shots won't focus correctly.

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