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A couple months back I took a class on photography as training for my job. I had enjoyed taking photos, but it was always with a point and shoot camera and I never really understood the actual technical details behind photography. After my class, I really became fascinated with photography and recently bought a new DSLR camera and a couple of lenses to go with it. I also got a polarizing filter for my lenses because I knew my new found interest in photography would run into my interest in fish.

Anyways, I was up at my family's hunting cabin in PA the last couple days and got to give my new camera a test run. Here are a few photos I took with my new camera...


A nice little YOY SMB in the creek behind the cabin. Notice that classic tri-colored tail.


There are piles and piles of these crayfish hanging out in the creek.


Another YOY SMB with intense coloration. This is a banner year for SMB reproduction in the creek. There are hundreds of them all over. They've got plenty to eat...


A beat up tiger swallowtail butterfly.


The rocky ledge above the deep hole in the creek behind our hunting cabin.



A northern bluet damselfly


A couple of morning glory flowers


An unknown wildflower, anyone know what it is?


A very shy male eastern box turtle.


My dog Shanny after a dip in our watering hole for the deer.

I like that. Like you used to be, I have a pretty simple(cheap) camera. Of course, I never take it anywhere with me.

What leads you to believe that's a male box turtle? Never knew how to tell male from female.. Like the pics rock ledge is really cool.(not many rocks in my Illinois creeks lol)

cool pics

Great pics!

Nice set!

CJ isn't it amazing what is all around us and certain pictures have that absolute life look in them that you just can't put your finger on , but that moment in time in the picture ebables you to really look and see that life is all around you all the time. Those pictures are awesome dude! Thanks for sharing a few of your life moments in time with us!!

Wow! Those are great pictures!

In your spare time, how about starting a fish I.D. reference "book" using pictures? Something along the lines of what Kelly Duffy does with plants?

I'm sure it will come in handy and you run across quite a number of different species of fish.

Nice pics. The filter helps for underwater shots.

Nice photo's CJ, I'll bet the photo's you'll take on the job won't be as purdy.

Where's the Monkey flower photo?

Another instance where we all win. Fine work, CJ.

what rc51 and dudley said!!

loved those cj.

Nice Pics CJ!

Here is one I took last night just before it got dark. This one of Nebraska's most common toads, a Woodhouse's toad, I have always called them "sand toads". He was on the back deck when I let the dogs out. He didn't care much for the camera flash or my wife catching him.

maybe so, but I can tell by the look in his eyes that he really enjoyed YOUR company

Is that a crop, or were you able to fill the lens?

Most bufo woodhousii tend to be little grumpy when disturbed.

It's a crop, I can post the original when I get home later but it's not near as cool as the cropped picture.

Male box turtles tend to have more intense coloration while females are more subdued. Males have a a flatter shell as opposed to a more rounded shell females have. Males tend to have bright orange or red eyes where females have a dull orange or tan eye color. Probably the most sure fire way to sex them is to look at their plastron(bottom of the shell). In males it is slightly but noticeably concave, wheres with females it flat. I guess the concave shape helps the boys get on top of the girls so they can get business done... HAHA

Here's a photo of a female box turtle I found chowing down on something in the creek.

Notice the differences...



I have given a lot of thought into a fish ID key of some sort. I am looking into different ways of photographing fish uniformly. Would like to purchase a macro lens for this purpose but they are quite pricey, so for now I am still in the planning stages.



You have no idea the things my camera has already taken pictures of at work! HAHA

Yes, I should get some photos of the famous monkey flower!



Yes, having a polarizing lens filter made a huge difference and they aren't that expensive. I was using a 50-300mm zoom lens, so I could stand back and really zoom in on the fish. This will definitely become a new hobby!

Thank you to all who enjoyed my photos. This was some of the most relaxing enjoyment I've had in some time!

CJ, what do you think the possibility of netting some of those baby smallies out of the creek would be?

Cool, Travis. I've always wanted to take a photography class because, like you, I have always loved shooting pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Shorty - was that Bruce or JHAP behind that Toad head costume ?

Really high quality photos!

CJBS - what make/model of camera body did you get? Same question for the lens.
Those are really nice photos! - and I tend to be very picky before paying such a compliment.
Shorty - the same compliment goes to you too.
Nothing beats a sharp image with a narrow depth-of-focus to emphasize details.

I was running a seine to collect some forage species and probably released a couple hundred SMB. There are so many this year not hard to collect them. Most years I'm lucky to see a handful at best.

It's the newest release by Nikon, the D5100. I was trained on the D3000 but they are very similar. So far I love the thing. I got the basic kit lens with it, a standard 18-55mm lens. The lens I used for these photos was the 55-300mm lens. It's really amazing... With the vibration reduction technology, it can all be done hand held even with high f stops. I've researched the heck out photography stuff the last couple months, so anyone interested in maybe dropping the cash on a higher end camera and may want advice, I'll give you my amateur advice.