Author: circadianreflections

My name is Deborah Zajac. I'm a photographer living in Nevada at the base of the Eastern Sierras. I am a passionate nature, landscape, night/astro photographer. I shoot predominately in color and use Nikon Digital Cameras, and lenses. I hope you enjoy seeing some of the photos I've taken while on my travels. Please feel free to leave a comment I'd love to hear from you.

Puzzle Pieces

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Puzzle Pieces, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

The first evening of the workshop several of us went out to these Alkaloid Ponds way out in the country off Hwy 395 in the Owens Gorge, I think. Behind me out in the distance is White Mountain to give you more of an idea of where I am. Or a landmark if you choose to look on a map.
I loved these shapes like puzzle pieces near the ponds. There were more airplane vapor trails dispersed throughout the sky giving us faux clouds. The Golden Hour was lovely on this dry grass and pond.
We worked on composition, and camera settings.

PP- Vibrance, clarity, levels, no USM, and I played with the adjustment brush in ACR on the highlights and shadows, then resized.
Nikon D300s, Nikkor 17-35mm @ 17mm, f/16, 1/30s, ISO 200, Aperture Priority, Tripoded, and I used my Remote Cable Release Cord which I have conveniently velcroed to the leg of my tripod.

Fall in Tuolumne Meadows

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Fall in Tuolumne Meadows, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
This is the second stop my friends and I made while in Tuolumne Meadows. It was amazing to me and Theresa to see the changes in the meadow since June when we saw it last. This area was flooded with the river rushing through the meadow with snow covering what wasn’t under water. The water was so high then that those little islands were not visible, nor were those bushes on the right.

The colors were showing some signs of Fall color in the rusty tops of the bushes on the far bank and the golden grass. We spent a lot of time behind those bushes where there is a little stream tumbling down to this larger pond, and with the help of modern transportation we got some interesting color in the sky. The air traffic over this park is incredible! The clouds you see in the sky are actually the dispersed vapor trails of jets that fly way above the park.

Exposure and PP- This was another one of those tricky scenes with shadows and bright highlights. This is the -1 stop exposed frame from a 3 frame manually Bracketed set. I only took 4 shots here total.
This frame had the best all around detail to work with.

PP- Recovery, clarity, vibrance, USM, resized, and Dodging the Snow Capped Mountains a bit using the Adjustment Brush in ACR to bring out some details. Thank you Pj for that tip. The instructions in my CS5 Scott Kelby book were once again perfect for getting it done quickly and easily.
Nikon D300s, Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 @17mm, f6.3, 1/320s, ISO 200, Manual Mode, Tripoded- this should be a word!

“Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.” William Wordsworth

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Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

This is just one of many stops we made along the way to the Eastern Sierras with 2 friends to spend the week-end shooting Fall Color with Bill Wight and Mountain High Workshops. We were able to cross the mountains via Tioga Pass. We had feared the Pass would be closed due to a 2 day rain/snow storm that has passed through the area only days before. Fortunately the sun came out and the roads weren’t snowed under preventing a crossing.
This is a view of Lembert Dome, and the snow capped mountain peaks behind it. This dome is located in Tuolumne Meadows.
I was last here in June of this year and this whole meadow was covered in snow then.

I have lost some of the detail in the snow capped mountains. I shot two frames this was the -0- or middle frame. I suppose I should have taken another shot 1 stop under also then blended the two frames in post processing. However, I’m weak in Photoshop skills. I think in the future I will spot meter the snow capped mountains and work around that chimping and adjusting my EV compensation until I get better detail all over. It’s more satisfying for me to do that in the field than to try and do it in Photoshop later merging, blending, layering, masks and painting…bleh!!

This is the photo I’m happiest with for this stop. No more tweaking or worrying about those blown out mountains caps. I do love the detail in the tree trunks, and light filtering through this grove, the shadows on the trunks and in the mulch below came out well, and the golden meadow looks great with the sky. Overall I think I did a good job of capturing the dynamic range in this one frame.

PP- Recovery, vibrance, clarity, resized, levels and tried curves but that didn’t do anything good to the mountains snow caps.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 17-35mm @ 19mm, f9, 1/100s, ISO 200

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.” Walt Whitman

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A few more photographs from my day at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing, CA.  The day was overcast, but once in a while the sun would peek out from behind a cloud, and when it did there were humans and animals alike out to soak up its warmth.  Like this Harbor Seal.

This Harbor Seal below has very pretty blue eyes, but I must admit I didn’t see that at first. What caught my attention first were those huge fingers!

Don’t you like way he’s surrounded by the other seals?  I feel like he’s loved and protected here.

This white seal pup was so cute! He watched the boat for sometime. A very curious seal with a wise looking face.

I rented the Nikkor 300mm f4 for this trip. It doesn’t have VR Nikon’s verbage for Vibration Reduction so I kept the shutter speed up all day.

I am very impressed with the performance of this lens. For being on a moving boat, trying to catch the scenes and wildlife as we sailed by it did very well. I like the isolation and colors it gave me, and I didn’t find that it hunted or had trouble locking onto the subject. I didn’t find it too heavy. Well,it is weighty, but not that much heavier than my 80-200mm f2.8, and the tripod collar worked very well on my tripod/ball-head combo. I purchased a universal plate that worked perfectly on the foot.

Renting this lens was a wonderful way for me to try the lens, and get some pretty neat photographs of this trip that I might not have been able to get otherwise. I will rent this lens again, and have started saving for it. I like it that much, and I have birding season coming up! I think this would a fabulous lens to have while at the Snow Goose festival this winter, and in my gear bag.

Blue Heron

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Blue Heron, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

My trip to Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing,CA was filled with lots of wonderful sea animals, and shore birds.
This Heron seems small. A juvenile perhaps. Also there is something odd about its wing. Or it just looks odd from this far away.
I liked the light on his face. The sun came out for just a little while and fortunately I was able to get some light here. I also like how nice he looks with the yellow wildflowers.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 300mm f/4

A Graceful Landing

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Last month I’d gone out with a friend of mine who is a Docent at a local Wildlife Refuge on a van tour he was giving at the Refuge.  The morning was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, and the group small. We weren’t setting our tripods up on top of each other, and Alex gave us plenty of time in each location that he had chosen for us.

There were lots of Great Egrets on the pond this particular morning. One of the first stops I shot this Egret coming in for a landing. The reflections were great on this pond this morning.

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved

A little later I managed to capture this one I call “The Dance”.

I had taken my Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 AF-D prime lens and Tamron 1.4x Extender for this outing. I wasn’t very happy with the IQ (Image Quality) when I used the Extender with my 80-200mm f/2.8 Telephoto Zoom. I have read and heard that Primes perform much better with Extenders.

I have to say that is the case here. I am much happier with these results. For birding this is a great place to go. There were Avocets in their Winter plumage, stilts, Blue Herons, and sea gulls.  There is an island out here on the pond where White Pelicans come to rest too. I’ll share photos of those soon.

Thank you Alex for inviting me to come along!

“La mer, la mer toujours recommencée!” Paul Valéry

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Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

From the trailhead at Pierrce Ranch it’s a 4.7 mile hike out to Tomales Point. Along the way we passed Harems of Tule Elk. The trail has a bit of uphill both ways!
As you see the sky was pretty socked in with fog. No dramatic clouds today, but the scenery did not disappoint! This sailboat looked lovely gliding into Tomales Bay, and there were a half a dozen Starfish on the furthest rocks you see there.

For the Historians:
The Coast Miwok people were the first to inhabit the coastal area of sheltered coves, beaches, tidal marshes, and forest of Bishop pines now known as Tomales Bay State Park, forty miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sir Francis Drake was the first explorer to land in this area in 1579, followed by the Spanish in 1595. Russian and German scientists explored the area in the early 1800s.

In the 1940s real estate developers began to purchase large areas of beachfront land, prompting local residents and conservation groups to save this area as a park. In 1952, Tomales Bay State Park was formally dedicated and opened to the public.

PP- Cropped a bit off the top- nothing interesting to see there, vibrance, clarity, levels and wee bit of saturation, USM, and resized

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S