One day, I read a story in the New York Times about how eagles had been spotted at a wildlife refuge off of Occoquan Bay, which joins the Potomac River. It was just a short drive from our house down to Mason Neck State Park where the eagles were supposedly hanging out.

There is a trail through the park that runs along the bay, and then through some marshland. Very scenic but, unfortunately, the eagles were hiding that day. Being late in the year, there wasn't much to photograph.

This picture was taken in the marsh, with late afternoon sun reflected off of the water. Although the camera was set for color, the scene is monochromatic.

A note about cameras. This picture was taken with a digital camera with an electronic viewfinder (EVF). I feel that this type of camera has a distinct advantage over the fancier "Digital Single Lens Reflex" (DSLR) cameras which use the same optical arrangement of mirror, groundglass, and prism that the original single lens reflex cameras used almost fifty years ago. The only difference is that the film has been replaced with a digital sensor and some fancy electronics.

In reality, both types of cameras are single lens reflexes, since they both see directly through the camera's lens. To me, the camera with the electronic viewfinder is the future and, as the electronic viewfinders improve, the cameras with the groundglass will become as obsolete as film.

Take the photograph above. Shooting into the sun like this, while trying to capture the rest of the tones in the picture is pretty tricky. With the camera with the groundglass, the exposure will be hit or miss. You would have to shoot a number of pictures at different exposures to get a usable result. With the camera with the electronic viewfinder, you will see something very close to what the final picture will look like. You can tweak the exposure, color balance, etc. and see the effects before you take the picture.

I shot three pictures of this scene in the marsh. They all had the correct exposure. That let me concentrate on the framing and composition instead.