{"id":2735,"date":"2011-07-09T14:34:12","date_gmt":"2011-07-09T20:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2735"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:03:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T14:03:24","slug":"summer-lunacy-nikons-image-overlay-function","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/09\/summer-lunacy-nikons-image-overlay-function\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Lunacy – Nikon’s Image Overlay Function"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OspreyOsprey in trees before sunrise – Nikon D200, F5.6, 1\/125, ISO 400, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There were many mornings that I would arrive at Fort De Soto’s north beach<\/span><\/a> before the sunrise. Quite often I would look for a place to sit and watch the world awaken before there was enough light for bird photography. Other times I would wander the beach waiting for the sun to peek over the eastern horizon.<\/p>\n

On August 17, 2008 there was a full moon about to set in the west before the sunrise. To the east were thin clouds that were just beginning to get some early morning color. I heard an Osprey and looked to find it perched in the trees almost due east. The light was pretty low but I took a couple of photos of the bird at 6:59 am.<\/p>\n

\"FullFull moon August 17, 2008 from Fort De Soto’s north beach – <\/strong>Nikon D200, f5.6, 1\/250, ISO 400, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

At 7:09, almost exactly 10 minutes after taking the Osprey image I looked west to see the moon making its descent towards the horizon and took a few images of it. It was positively glowing in the sky with a few wispy clouds crossing over it.<\/p>\n

I remembered that morning that my Nikon D200 has an “Image Overlay” function and having never tried it before I thought I would give it a shot.<\/p>\n

I had to read the manual (not something I do all the time) to figure out where in the menu that feature was located and then experimented with several frames.<\/p>\n

You can select two frames and then decide which level of transparency to use for each one. I don’t recall at this time what transparency levels I used to create the merged image below.<\/p>\n

\"SummerSummer Lunacy – Two images joined in camera using Nikon’s Image Overlay feature<\/span><\/p>\n

I enjoyed the results of merging these two images together using Nikon’s Image Overlay feature. I sharpened just the dark areas of the tree and bird, then selected the moon and slightly sharpened it too. I look at this photo and remember that part of it was looking due east while the other part was looking west.<\/p>\n

I don’t normally play with the Image Overlay feature but there are times that the results can be very appealing.<\/p>\n

Yes, I was experimenting with a little bit of Summer Lunacy. This is a bit whimsical and it makes me smile.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Osprey photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

PS: Images like this can be created in Photoshop by using the two frames as two separate layers and then using the blending feature you can reduce the transparency of either layer. Personally I like doing it in the camera, you never know what might happen and I like nice surprises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nikon’s Image Overlay Function. Yes, I was experimenting with a little bit of Summer Lunacy. This is a bit whimsical and it makes me smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1746,25,797,466],"tags":[4145,4021,4101,805,800,802,14810,801,519,804,3992,4189,4104,803,3980,4063,4190,4076,102],"class_list":["post-2735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-egmont-key-state-park","category-florida","category-image-overlay","category-ospreys","tag-bird","tag-bird-photography","tag-clouds","tag-d200","tag-full-moon","tag-image-overlay-2","tag-in-camera-composite","tag-merged","tag-nature","tag-nikon","tag-osprey","tag-pandion-haliaetus","tag-perched","tag-photoshop","tag-pinellas-county","tag-raptor","tag-sunrise","tag-trees","tag-wildlife"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/summer-full-moon-osprey-florida-mia-mcpherson-3168.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-I7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46014,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/06\/ospreys-of-honeymoon-island-state-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":2735,"position":0},"title":"Ospreys of Honeymoon Island State Park","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Honeymoon Island State Park in Pinellas County, Florida is a great place to see and photograph nesting Ospreys, not just one or two nests either, there are often quite a few.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Osprey eating a fish on an old snag, Honeymoon Island State Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11423,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/30\/an-osprey-just-floundering-around\/","url_meta":{"origin":2735,"position":1},"title":"An Osprey Just Floundering Around","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of my images make me laugh and this Osprey image with a Flounder that weighs almost as much as the bird does make me laugh.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Osprey with flounder over the Gulf of Mexico, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-with-flounder-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-with-flounder-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-with-flounder-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-with-flounder-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":93396,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/17\/sharing-sunrise-with-a-greater-yellowlegs\/","url_meta":{"origin":2735,"position":2},"title":"Sharing Sunrise With A Greater Yellowlegs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When I lived in Florida it wasn't unusual for me to share sunrise alone with birds at the north beach of Fort De Soto. Thirteen years ago I did just that with a Greater Yellowlegs.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Greater Yellowlegs waking up in a still lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-dawn-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-dawn-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-dawn-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-dawn-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5112,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/01\/female-ospreys-have-flare\/","url_meta":{"origin":2735,"position":3},"title":"Female Ospreys Have Flare!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay. At least this female Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is landing with flared wings and tail!","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Flat"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Flat","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-flat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Osprey landing on nest, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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