circadianreflections

Monochrome Madness 2 29/52 Peek-a-Boo!

October 20, 2015Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Black and White Photography, Monochrome Madness2, Nikon Gear, Yellow-rumped WarblerTagged Birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Black and White Photography, Monochrome Madness2, Nikon Gear, Yellow-rumped Warbler18 Comments

A shy Yellow-rumped Warbler that was so adorable! Taken while out birding last Saturday morning.

I think my old 300mm f4 is having auto-focus issues again. It has quit auto-focusing a few times lately, so I switched to my D700 camera to test the lens verses camera since my D300s is also long in the tooth I need to go through the process of elimination to be sure it’s the lens and not the camera. While shooting last Saturday my lens stopped auto-focusing, and suddenly my camera settings switched from f5.6 to f22! I turned the camera off and on again and all was well the rest of the morning. That’s a pretty good indication that it’s my lens. It’s pretty old now and was sent in to Nikon in January for auto-focus issues. I’m afraid it may be ready to go back for repairs again. Sadly, it’s not under warranty anymore. Sigh. Reality check! It may be time for a new lens.

My D300s’ flash doesn’t pop up anymore either, and it’s getting near 60,000 shutter clicks. I think it’s rated for 100K. My poor gear. I treat it really well, but use it a lot. I may have to retire my D300s too. That makes me a little sad. They’ve been such good company, and a huge part of my life for many years. Time to start saving big time for their replacements! 🙂

To see the other images posted for this week’s Monochrome Madness2 visit Leanne Cole’s site here.

Nikon 700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4| SanDisk Pro Extreme Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro| Tripod

More to come…

Aspen Leaves

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015Posted in Aspen, Autumn, Eastern Sierras, Fall Leaves, Photography, YellowTagged Aspen, Aspen Leaves, Autumn, Eastern Sierras, Photography, Selective Focus, Trees, Yellow5 Comments

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & On1| Tripod

More to come…

Lesser Goldfinch: Female

October 17, 2015October 19, 2015Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Lesser Goldfinch, Santa Clara County BirdingTagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Lesser Goldfinch, Santa Clara County Birding, Winter Migration20 Comments

This morning I went back to the reserve where I went a couple of weeks ago; where I saw my first Yellow Warbler hoping to see it again only closer, and longer. I was seeing lots of Sparrows, and Yellow Rumped Warblers, the pair California Towhee’s were present, and so too was the Blue Jay, and a Northern Flicker flew in, but he kept his back to me only giving me side looks. Stuck up bird! 🙂

40 minutes after I arrived a yellow blur caught my eye and there it was! I quickly swung my rig around and fired off 3 rapid bursts. Then the bird was gone.

My first shot caught him landing and was so blurry it was unusable, the middle shot the bird was there, and the 3rd frame…no bird in it at all. I wouldn’t know for sure if I had a keeper image or not until I saw it on my computer. Though it did look promising in playback.

I didn’t see the Yellow Warbler again, and I stayed in the area until well after 9AM when it began to get busy with runners, dog walkers, and Saturday morning strollers.

He’s a beauty. I’ll be heading back over there again soon hoping to see him, and that Northern Flickr again.

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4| SanDisk Extreme Pro Digital Film| CS6

More to come…

Addendum: It’s been brought to my attention that this isn’t a Yellow Warbler after all; it’s a Lesser Goldfinch Female. Thank you https://myrsbytes.wordpress.com/ !

I’ll keep trying to capture that Yellow Warbler, but I’m glad I saw and was able to make an image of this little beauty especially since she didn’t hang around long!

P52 42/52 Snack Time!

October 16, 2015October 16, 2015Posted in Food Photography, Macro Photography, Project 52, SnacksTagged Chips, Food Photography, Macro photography, Off camera flash, Project 52, Snacks2 Comments

He-Man bought a bag of Sweet Potato & Beet Chips early in the week, and I’ve been snacking on them since.

The colors are the colors of fall; deep purple, and orange. My favorite of the two are the Sweet Potato chips, they’re crunchy, and salty/ lightly sweet, the beet chips are chewy, but tasty. I just wish they were crunchy.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 105mm| SB600 camera front| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6

More to come…