Month: March 2016

California Quail

Posted in Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Nature, Nature Photography, Nikon, Northern California Birds, Photography, Quail, San Jose California Nature PhotographerTagged , , , , , , , , 34 Comments

Copyright © 2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

When I was setting up my rig a few weeks ago in Santa Cruz to photograph Hummingbirds a California Quail jumped up on an old weathered post not too far from me surrounded by lovely flowers.  I moved pretty quick to finish setting up my tripod w/Sidekick and mounting my camera hoping it would stick around!

California Quail on Post

“You lookin’ at me?”…

California Quail- The Look

A little Morning Stretch…

California Quail-Morning Stretch

Seeing and photographing this Quail first thing in the morning made my day. They’re so quick, and skittish that I’ve only been able to get a few good images of any.  The rest of the images I made this day were icing on the cake.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm VR| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

Wishing you all a great week-end!

More to come…

 

 

 

Violet-Green Swallow Pen & Wash

Posted in Bird Art, Birds, Birds of North America, Pen & Wash Watercolor, Photography, Watercolor, Watercolor PaintingTagged , , , , , , , , 28 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I don’t normally post twice in a day, but as it’s St. Patrick’s Day I thought I’d post something Green in honor of it.

Watercolor Line and Wash Violet-Green Swallow

I painted this with Turner Artists Watercolor paints, on Canson 140 lb Cold Press Fine

Grain paper.  I used my 12 round Mimik Kolinsky, #8 round Robert Simmons Sapphire, and #6 rd Winson & Newton Kolinsky Sable brushes, and Pigma Micron 03, 05, and 01 pens.

My reference image is one of my own which I made in the Spring of 2014. You can see the reference image here.

I hope you all have a great St. Paddy’s Day!

Panasonic Lumix FZ200| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Hand-held in natural light| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Thursday Doors 11/52 Nº111

Posted in Architecture, Photography, Santa Cruz California, Thursday DoorsTagged , , , , , , , , , , 20 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

While in Santa Cruz over the week-end photographing  Hummingbirds I saw this door that I thought was nice looking, so stopped to take the photo for today’s door post.Front door with cat decoration and pots

Every cat in the neighborhood must feel welcome here.

Nikon Df| Nikon 28-105mm| Delkin Devices Digital Film| PS CC 2015

This post is part of Norm 2.0 Thursday Doors. To see all the doors posted this week click  here then click on the little blue view/sync up button at the bottom of his page where you’ll be directed to links to all those participating.

Are there Bonus points for having a car door in the reflection?  🙂

More to come…

 

Monochrome Madness 2 49/52 Natural Bridge

Posted in Black and White Photography, California Beaches, Monochrome Madness2, Photography, Santa Cruz CaliforniaTagged , , , , , , , 6 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I was over in Santa Cruz on Saturday photographing Hummingbirds then thought I’d head over to Natural Bridge Beach to do some long exposures since there was wind, and storm clouds on the horizon.

Natural Bridge State Beach Monochrome

I used my 6 stop B+W Neutral Density filter to create this image. I wanted to retain some

movement in the waves rather than completely smooth it out.  It’s moody and just what I wanted.

But, I also tried some longer exposures with both a 6 stop and 3 stop ND filters on. Here one of those images.

Natural Bridge State Beach Monochrome

It’s a subtle difference , but a wee bit smoother than the image above.

Nikon Df| Nikon 28-105mm| Delkin Devices Digital Film| PS CC 2015, Silver Efex Pro, &

On1 Photo 10

This is part of Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2 Challenge. To view all the images submitted this week click here.

More to come…

Anna’s Hummingbird-Female

Posted in Anna's Hummingbird, Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Hummingbirds, Nikon, Photography, Santa Cruz CaliforniaTagged , , , , , , , , , 37 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I went over to Santa Cruz on Saturday while we had a break between rain showers to photograph Allen’s, and Anna’s Hummingbirds. It was a lovely day in the Arboretum.

There were very few people there since the weather wasn’t ideal.  While I was waiting for a male Allen’s Hummingbird to return to a favored perch I looked behind me and saw a lovely female Anna’s darting around the Ericaceae plants which is a succulent plant.

Here’s a series of 3 images that shows her approach to the plant, feeding, then resting on a perch.

Anna's Hummingbird Female Approaching flowers

Anna's Hummingbird Female Feeding

Anna's Hummingbird Female perched on a branch

I love the fresh Spring color palette in this series, and this pretty little Hummingbird.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm VR| Tripod w/ Wimberley SideKick| Lexar Professional Digial Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

 

Great Egret Reflected

Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Coastal Birds, Great Egret, Nikon, Photography, Santa Clara County BirdingTagged , , , , , , 38 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Great Egret Reflected

I made this image with the rental Nikon 200-500mm VR lens the morning after I rented it.

I saw this Great Egret out in the pond within the range of the lens so I walked out to the edge of the pond to photograph it. I initially set up in landscape orientation then I zoomed out to 500mm, and only had its head and half its neck in the frame! “Oh no, that won’t do!” I thought. I switched to portrait orientation, which fit the whole Egret in the frame, but only half the reflection, and I wanted to get the reflection because it was very clear, and the blue sky and water were gorgeous on this morning.  Next I started pulling my zoom in…400mm, nope, 300mm, nope, 200mm, not quite. I had to back up to get the whole reflection in, and stay at 200mm.  This image isn’t cropped at all.  So, began my learning curve with this lens.

After that week-end I liked the lens so well I bought one,  and have been using it a lot.  I’m on the down side of the learning curve now. 🙂

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 200-500mm VR hired unit| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Thursday Doors 10/52 Nº21245

Posted in Architecture, Photography, Santa Clara County, Thursday DoorsTagged , , , , 29 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Saturday we had pouring rain and a lot of wind and there was quite a bit of debris all over the steep road when He-Man and  I went for a “stretch our legs” walk Sunday morning.

Most folks had already swept up or were in the process, but these owners must have slept in. Nº21245

Nº21245 After the Storm

… continuing on with the statuary decor  by the door theme I spied this door- Nº12903

Nº12903

I like the design, and how they carried that into the glass panels. I really like the Lions guarding the doors.  I don’t care for the door knocker on the door. I find it distracting, and only one door has a knob. I would have two. That’s just me.  Maybe they were going for a Yin-Yang thing?

This post is part of Norm 2.0 Thursday Doors. To see all the doors posted this week click  here then click on the little blue view/sync up button at the bottom of his page where you’ll be directed to links to all those participating.

More to come…