mangroves – Matt Tilghman Photography

Florida Coastal Icon – Coccoloba Uvifera

Matt Tilg — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 23:30:54 +0000

The iconic sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera) flanks a tidal creek in Florida’s Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park.

Many tourists probably think that coconut palm trees are the iconic plant of South Florida’s beaches. And indeed, that’s a natural conclusion if you stick to the popular manicured beaches. But in the mind of most locals, the sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera) is the true iconic plant of South Florida’s beaches and dunes. They are everywhere… and they should be! They are native, beautiful, and valuable as a dune stabilizer and wind break. They’re edible, too! Some people enjoy turning the grapes into a jam, but there is a very large pit inside the fruit, so the task is cumbersome.

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Exploring South Florida’s Wilderness – Father And Son Kayaking

Matt Tilg — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 23:15:16 +0000

Father and son kayaking in boat, exploring the wilderness of South Florida together on Whiskey Creek.

When I was wading through Whiskey Creek in Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, it brightened my heart to see a father and son kayaking past. It’s so crucial to instill a love of wildlife in younger generations. And there’s no person better suited than a parent. Perhaps surprisingly, South Florida is actually fairly good at this task. It’s very common for families to take out a boat and fish or snorkel. But most of this indoctrination occurs out in the open water — the oceans and bays. These shoreline mangrove forests are much less sought out, seeming messier and buggier. However, they are incredibly crucial to our greater ecosystem. It is estimated that 90% of Florida’s commercial fishing industry relies on these mangroves in one way or another. They definitely need champions.

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Putting Down Roots – Mangrove Coast In South Florida

Matt Tilg — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 21:14:15 +0000

The mangrove roots in this tidal estuary in South Florida’s Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park provide important refuge for young animals that need protection.

In the ocean, a great many animals do not care for their young, but rather lay many eggs so that some make it to adulthood. For these newborns on their own, finding a safe place to hide can be the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, there’s not many places to hide in the vast and empty sea. But there’s a few. Coral reefs are one, with all their rocks and holes. The mangrove coast is another (pictured here at low tide, but usually the roots are underwater). Big predators have trouble navigating the mess of roots, so smaller animals are safe if they stay within. There’s not all that many mangroves in the world, being limited mainly to between the latitudes of 25N and 25S. (Although the ones pictured here, in Broward County’s Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, are at 26N). Despite being at great risk, coral reefs cover about 110,000 square miles worldwide. Mangrove forests, on the other hand, cover only about 53,000. As such, mangrove forests are precious resources. Even this small slice of mangroves is a rich haven for young animals who will spend their adulthood thousands of miles away.

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Sunny Summer Day at Whiskey Creek

Matt Tilg — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 03:29:50 +0000

Whiskey Creek, a tidal estuary in Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Whiskey Creek is a beautiful tidal estuary, flanked by mangrove forest on one side and sand dunes on the other. I usually like for my captions to be mainly write-ups of the area’s nature, but this one will be different. I was offered a free copy of the photo editing software “sleeklens” (https://sleeklens.com/) in return an honest review on my website. This is the photograph I chose to test it out. First of all, I think some of the actions did not work on my 10 year old version of Photoshop (CS2). They give the error “The command ‘Camera Raw Filter’ is not available.” But the majority of actions do not throw this error. And even the ones that do seem to retain most of their functionality. All in all, sleeklens has quite a few actions that I found useful, and it will definitely play a role in my future workflow. I consider myself a fairly advanced Photoshop user. I tend to edit my photographs very thoroughly and manually, with many layer masks, channels, adjustment layers, etc. Sometimes I can spend almost a whole day editing a difficult photo. Many of the sleeklens actions seem designed to be used as quick and easy replacements for the techniques I’ve learned over the years. While they do perform well, most don’t give me the flexibility and customization that I’m accustomed to when I do it myself. As one example, the “Dreamy Landscape” option seems to mimic the Orton effect, but doesn’t do as well as when you control the effect yourself. I usually like to apply different radii of Gaussian blur for each layer independently, and adjust the transparency differently for each blending mode. Orton effect can improve a photo, but it can become overkill very easily, and I’m not sure a one-size-fits-all approach works best. That being said, there are other actions that I did find quite useful. Some of the other techniques I use do lend themselves to automation, and sleeklens did a good job of doing just that. After preparing the photo in Adobe Camera Raw, I imported it into Photoshop. From there, after playing around with many actions, I settled on the following: I duplicated the photograph, and applied the “sky enhancer” action to one layer, and the “split tone” action to another. Using masks, I used kept the “split tone” layer for the trees, and left the “sky enhancer” layer for the rest. I then used the “deep blue sky” action, which was a bit overkill, but reduced it to 25% opacity and masked it over just the sky. After that, I just fine-tuned the saturation and contrast in each zone, and that was it. All in all, I’m satisfied with the post processing of this photograph, and sleeklens definitely helped speed up the process quite a bit. It will find its way into my workflow on future photographs for sure!

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Balmy Florida Evening – Biscayne Bay at Dusk

Matt Tilg — Mon, 01 May 2017 21:25:21 +0000

Once the sun is below the horizon, Biscayne Bay at Dusk takes on a beautiful, incredibly tranquil atmosphere.

In this photograph of Biscayne Bay at dusk, a sailboat approaches a peaceful Florida anchorage. I struggled with whether or not to include the location in the title, because to me this photograph embodies the general abstract identity of South Florida. The glassy waters and peaceful sunset, the mangrove-covered shorelines and tidal flats, and quiet sailboats soaking it in. All of it adds up to a photograph that, to me, just screams “Florida.” The state is full of these tranquil coastline scenics. In fact, Florida has the second most coastline of any state in the country, behind only Alaska. I’ve scoured Florida’s shores as a photographer, and I’ve scored them as a sailor. There’s never a shortage of new ones to discover.

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Miami and Mangroves – City and Wilderness

Matt Tilg — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 11:05:07 +0000

The modern Miami Skyline is seen at sunset from behind the wild mangrove forests of Bear Cut Preserve.

Bear Cut is one of my favorite places to photograph in South Florida. It’s one of the most wild, pristine places in the immediate proximity of Miami. There’s a surprisingly wide variety of natural beauty: dense mangrove forests, tidal flats, fossilized reefs, natural coastline, and more. And it’s right at the tip of Key Biscayne, so it’s one of those rare places where you can see both sunset and sunrise. But perhaps the most surprising thing about it is the great view of the modern downtown skyline. From here, the modern sky-scrapers glimmer in both the morning and evening light, and stand in beautiful contrast to the natural landscape of the park. The mangroves provide the perfect frame to remind you that Miami is replete with wilderness just a stone’s throw away.

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Canoeing Through Quiet Mangroves

Matt Tilg — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 02:37:23 +0000

Halfway Creek is nestled in the southwest of Florida’s Everglades National Park. The traditional swamp landscape gives way to dense mangroves, which play a crucial role in the health of the ecosystem. The fence-like mangrove roots provide a safe nursery for adolescent aquatic wildlife. But that hustle and bustle is all under the water’s surface. From my canoe, it was nothing but peace and tranquility. Mangrove forest, more than any other type of water landscape, I like to just idly drift through. Behind each root you can see the water lines of the current, and it’s nice to imagine myself to be part of the same dynamic.

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Last Shot Before the Rain – Whiskey Creek

Matt Tilg — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 23:47:58 +0000

The mangrove swamps of Whiskey Creek, in Mizell-Johnson State Park, look ominous as a storm approaches.

This is a photograph of Whiskey Creek, in Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, Florida. When I thought the storms had finished for the day, I set out to explore the mangroves. But it soon became clear that there was one last storm in store. I listened to crescendo of thunder signal that it get closer and closer. Eventually a loud thunder clap told me it was finally time to pack up and get out of the water. I then proceeded to do something I do far too often: convince myself it’s time to go, pack up my gear, only to unpack it twenty feet later for that one last shot. I think this probably happens to most photographers, because the changing light from the nearing storm creates new scenes that weren’t there on the way in. This was one such scene, with the ominous clouds reflecting in the water, which itself was starting to get restless from the increasing drops of rainfall. Purchase “Last Shot Before the Rain – Whiskey Creek” Fine Art Print:

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