Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved. – Page 3

Two hours in the park

October 14, 2013October 14, 2013Posted in Birds, California, Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged Birding; San Jose California Nature Photographer; Photography;, BirdwatchingLeave a comment

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of going birding with a my friend Dali. We heard the Cedar Waxwings were returning, and we hoped to find them.

We found a good size flock of them zipping through the Aspens, and pines in the park. We spent most the morning photographing them.

We spotted several other birds too. I managed to nail this photo of a White Crown Sparrow as it was just about to take off.

There was an old dead tree along the creek that had several Acorn Woodpeckers, and Starlings perched on it. Here’s an Acorn Woodpecker taking a quick break from pecking for bugs.

In the wooded area we came across these lovely berries. I don’t know what plant this is, but it was lovely in the morning light, and the colors were vibrant, and perfect for the season.

It was in this area we also saw several Anna’s Hummingbirds flitting around.

Dali says this is a Yellow Throat Warbler. If it is this is the first one I’ve ever seen.

Here are a few more Cedar Waxwings. I just love seeing them. They’re so exotic.

The Aspens in the park were at peak Fall color, and the Waxwings liked being in the yellow branches.

…and here’s one that was high on top of a tree feathering its nest.

It was a very successful outing for birding, and a lovely way to spend two hours.

All the photos were taken with a Nikon D300s with a Nikkor 300mm f/4 lens, hand-held.

Sunrise Oxbow Bend and Mt Moran

September 30, 2013September 30, 2013Posted in Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Landscapes, Nature, Photography, TravelTagged Grand Teton National Park, National Parks and Monuments, Teton Range, Travel and Tourism, United States, Wyoming3 Comments

I took this on day 2 of my Yellowstone – Grand Tetons Trip. Usually, I would have been here an hour before sunrise waiting to see if the magic would happen. We got a late start departing from the Inn on this morning, and by the time we parked and I found this composition to shoot the sun was already cresting the mountains. . The clouds started to take on color, and the mountain peaks glowed that wonderful pink and gold we call Alpine Glow.

The river was still, the reflections crisp, and there was a fine mist hanging low over the water. Even though there were at least 75 other photographers lined up around this bend it was quiet, peaceful, and so beautiful.

Arriving at a destination just in time find my composition, set up my equipment, then have all the elements of nature come together to make it all worth while just doesn’t happen to me often. This was magical! A morning I’ll remember forever.

Fall color is in full swing there. You see some of that on the right side of the bank. I was so happy to see and photograph a little Fall Color. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it to the Eastern Sierras this year.

If you’re finally old enough to go on a Road Scholar Trip I would do it! I had a great time, and met lovely people. I’m looking forward to my next Road Scholar trip.

“I feel the sense of possibilities, I feel the wrench of hard realities, The focus is sharp in the city.”~ Rush

August 1, 2013August 1, 2013Posted in California, Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Photography, TravelTagged San Jose Nature Photographer; San Francisco CA; Night Photography;Leave a comment

"I feel the sense of possibilities, I feel the wrench of hard realities, The focus is sharp in the city."~ Rush, originally uploaded by CircadianReflections Photography.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2013 Deborah M. Zajac All Rights Reserved

About 2.5 years ago I saw my Flickr contact MattyD90’s photo from this spot and have had it on my "Bucket List" since.
See his photo here:
www.flickr.com/photos/53734358@N08/5280329228/lightbox/

About two weeks ago I asked my friend Dali if he’d want to shoot it and/or scout out the area if we didn’t beat the fog. As it turned out we did not beat the fog, but we found our shooting location. Dali emailed me yesterday that the conditions for shooting this shot were favorable and asked if I was free. Luckily I was free.There was a little atmosphere (read fog) in the air, but it didn’t block the view.

I only took two lenses with me the 24-70, and the 18mm f3.5 AI-S. I realized while shooting it that having a tighter view would be something I want to shoot as well, and
I want to shoot it on a perfectly clear night so it remains on the "Bucket List".

Tufted Puffin-Adult Summer

July 29, 2013July 29, 2013Posted in Birds, California, Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Nature, Nikon, Photography, Travel, WildlifeTagged Alvaro's Adventures, Birding, Farallon Islands, Nikon D700, San Jose California Nature Photography, Tufted PuffinLeave a comment

This is the first time I’ve ever seen a Puffin in the wild! I went on a Birding trip out to the Farallon Islands 27 miles outside of San Francisco in the Pacific Ocean. We weren’t allowed on the island-only Biologists are allowed on the island, but we cruised all around them and then we went out to deeper water from there. Along the way we saw 3 Tufted Puffin.

There are only 50 pairs of Tufted Puffin nesting on the Islands at this time, but there thousands of gulls, Common Murre’s, lots of Cormorants, seals, sea lions, and one lone Gannet. In deeper water we saw Hump Back whales, and a Blue Whale too.

I saw so many new birds on the trip, and the one bird I hoped to see was the Tufted Puffin. I went home a happy sailor just seeing one. I hoped I got one good shot.
The weather was overcast, and to get the shutter speed I needed I really pushed the ISO. Shooting from the boat was challenging. I would focus on a bird then the boat would go up or down and my focus point was off. I didn’t start to get the rhythm of the sea til near the end of the day, and then there wasn’t much to see as we were pushing hard to get back.
We were out at sea for nearly 9 hours. I went with Alvaro’s Adventures out of Half Moon Bay. I would definitely go again.

Alvaro is a Biologist, and he had two expert birders along for the tour. One was on the starboard side calling out birds and mammals, and the other on the Port side doing the same. I don’t think we missed anything flying or swimming on our route.

I’ve not been able to spend much time online lately. #1 Grandson is very busy and takes all my attention these days. I’m looking at your photos when I can and I’ll catch up soon!

Bird of the Week: Tufted Puffin (valleybirder.wordpress.com)

Add a little Sparkle to your day…

July 17, 2013July 17, 2013Posted in Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Gear, Nikon, Photography, Still LifeTagged Jewelry Photography, Nikon, Nikon D700, Off camera flash, Photography, Product photography, StrobistLeave a comment

I had the whole day free so I played with my continuous lights and SB600 Speedlight. I bought a couple of pieces of jewelry recently which started me thinking about Jewelry Photography and lighting. I am still trying to get more accomplished with external lights and photography and I hope this exercise will help me grow in that area.

After studying lighting techniques, and jewelry styling for a couple of days I got my props together and by late this morning I was ready to start taking some photos.

I still don’t have the lights quite right for the sparkle I want. I’m looking into getting a Dazzle Bulb for the future. I also need another high wattage bulb. I’d also like to add some plexiglass sheets to my kit as well; I see a trip to the hardware store in my near future.

This is my tabletop set up. I set up on the kitchen table with a white sheet, white foam core board, and my lights. I had to hunt for something to tie dental floss on to be able to hang the jewelry and this is what I came up with. My daughters old high-school locker shelf. It came in handy after all these years of non-use.
I took the photo of the set up with a Nikon D300s and 24mm f2.8 AF-D and on-camera flash.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF-D, and Nikkor 28-105mm AF-D| Continuous lights 1 full Daylight camera right, 1 soft light bulb camera left, SB 600 camera front

I did all the photo development/processing in Photoshop CS6. All my processing starts in Adobe Camera RAW then I moved to Photoshop for levels adjustments, output sharpening, cloning out the thread that held the ear-rings and necklace, cleaning up dust spots, and adding my watermark then resizing for the web.

P.S. Several times today I wished I had a macro lens!

” My only true love, darling. I live for furs. I worship furs! After all, is there a woman in all this wretched world who doesn’t? ” Cruella De Vil in Disney’s 101 Dalmations

June 28, 2013June 28, 2013Posted in Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Gear, PhotographyTagged "Fast Food Toys", Camera Gear, Photography, San Jose California Nature Photography, Speedlight, StrobistLeave a comment

I’m continuing to play with my Speedlight off camera. I have to re-learn how to set it up before I can use it if I let too much time pass between using it off camera. For this shot I used my homemade Snoot for the lighting on this. This is my Homemade Snoot on my SB600.

I made it with an old tea box, and Gaffer’s Tape

“How To” make my Snoot:

What I used and did–
A tea box
Scissors
Box cutter
Gaffers Tape
Painters Tape
SB600 w/Finished Snoot

I cut the box to fit around the Speedlight then covered both the inside and outside of the box with Gaffers tape. I couldn’t find any Velcro in the house so I used Painters tape to temporarily close the Snoot around my SB600 Speedlight. I had planned to put Velcro on the seam so I can re-use the Snoot for future projects, but I never got around to that.

I think it works pretty well. These characters I’ve had stored since the 1990’s.

Sunrise Lake Tahoe Nevada

June 17, 2013June 17, 2013Posted in Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged Flickr, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Photography, San Jose Nature Photography, TravelLeave a comment

Sunrise Lake Tahoe Nevada, originally uploaded by CircadianReflections Photography.

I mentioned that I only had one full day to spend with Jackie so I left home the evening of the 5th and arrived at Jackie’s vacation Condo about 11PM.
Jackie showed me the bedroom I’d have, then a quick tour around the condo. It was a lovely condo. My bedroom was spacious, and I had a bathroom to myself. We chatted for sometime on the deck while taking photos of the stars then we called it a day because I wanted to rise early to get the sunrise on the lake.

Sunrise is really early here at this time of year so, I set my alarm for 4AM.
I slept in a bit, but we made it out the door and to our destination in plenty of time for sunrise.
The sky was pretty flat, but we did get some nice pinks, and light on the distant Sierra Mountain Range.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35mm| Singh Ray Graduated Neutral Density Filter| Induro Tripod| Markins Q20 ball-head

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