Arizona Sunflower and more

Copyright © 2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I took my D810 mounted with my LensBaby Composer Pro out for a walk looking for flowers in the neighborhood the other day.   I put the Soft Focus Optic in the Composer along with the 16mm macro adapter; here’s a few images from that walk.

Arizona Sunflower at f/2- I love that blur!

Arizona Sun Flower

Artichoke f/2

Artichoke

a Rose f/4- I wanted to get a bit more in focus so stopped it down a stop.

Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

It looks like my LensBaby will get along fine with the D810.

I’m off for a “ladies  long week-end” with a good friend. We plan to hike in the mountains by a lake, and do a lot of photography. I hope the sky is clear so we can photograph the stars at least one night.

I hope you all have a lovely week-end. I’ll catch up when I return.

More to come…

Gear Talk

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Nikon is having a sale or instant rebates going on right now. Several of the high end Prosumer Cameras are in this sale. Some are bundled with lenses, and all come with some freebies to sweeten the deal.  Nikon comes out with new cameras every 2-4 yrs.  It normally is 2+ years, but there are sometimes set backs which push out the dates.

I jumped on the sale and picked up a Nikon D810. The tech inside the camera is 3 yrs old so, I’m sure there’s some kinda wonderful new camera coming down the pipe later this year, but for me this camera is a huge jump up in tech. It will replace my 6+ year old D700.  There’s still a lot of life left in the D700, but she has been my wildlife camera since my D300s’ auto focus motor went out.

It wasn’t worth the price to fix the D300s so, the D700 is what I have been using.  It has 12.3 MP and cropping in on little birds has been limited.  Stepping up the D810 with its 36MP I’ll have room to crop heavily and not lose resolution, and for landscapes, macro, and studio work the images will contain all sorts of lovely details that will be wonderful when making big prints.

As you might imagine I’ve been photographing things with the new camera testing it out since it arrived on Tuesday. I’ve been tweaking it; getting the buttons and dials, and features set up the way I like them.  Here’s a look at some of what I’ve been photographing last week.

Thursday night’s sunset at Lake Vasona. Nikon D810 + 50mm f/1.8G

High Pass resize Vasona Dusk

I spent all day shooting with friends on Saturday at San Jose Municipal Rose Garden and other venues.  The garden was awash in color! Nikon D810 + Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D micro

Fill the Frame

3 Garden Arches D810 + Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D micro

3 Arched Trellis'

A Bird of Paradise in the Garden at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.

D810 + Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D micro

Bird of Paradise

…and Mother’s Day Sunset at Lake Vasona using the 35mm f/1.8G lens my children gave me for my Birthday/Mother’s Day.  I’ve have wanted this lens since it came out several years ago. I sold my old 35mm f/2D lens about the time this lens came out with the intention of buying the new lens, but I never did

get one. There was always something else that I needed to have so couldn’t afford it.  I am thrilled and so blessed to have been gifted this lens. D810 + Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G micro

Vasona Lake Sunset Mother's Day

I really love how quiet the shutter is on the camera, and it’s a bit lighter than my D700. The grip is deeper which is nice when holding it, and the buttons are laid out perfectly for my hands.  A couple of buttons have been moved to new places on this camera and I’m getting used to that, but overall I’m really happy with this purchase. I think it’s going to be a pretty great all-around camera which will give my trusty Df a break, and retire my D700.

Nikon D810| Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D, 35mm f/1.8G & 50mm f/1.8G | Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

Happy Mother’s Day!

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I know I’m early, but I won’t be online much over the week-end.  I want to wish all the Mother’s reading this a very Happy Mother’s Day!  I hope you all have a lovely day, and wonderful week-end.

African Daisy Image 14

Gerbera with Tiny Planet

Nikon D810| Nikkor 105mm macro|Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2017 and bottom image I also used the Tiny Planet iPhone app

More to come…

 

 

Wordless Wednesday 12/52 Spring came Barrelin’ In!

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Spring has Sprung

Nikon Df| Nikkor 105mm | Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2017 & On1| Daffodil Hill, Volcano, CA

More to come…

What’s Blooming?

I met Gordon and several other photography friends Sunday in Golden Gate Park to photograph the Dahlia Garden next to the Conservatory.

We arrived a bit ahead of the others and found the garden mostly empty,  the sky was overcast which lent itself to nice even lighting.

The company was amazing, the blossoms were at peak perfection, and the bees were busy humming along doin’ their thing.

Here are some images from the morning,

Target in Sight…

Target in Sight!

Nikon Df| 24-70mm f/2.8G ED| Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2015.5

Red, and Yellow

Dahlia

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer w/ Soft Focus Optic @ f/2.8

This is my best side… This Blue Jay posed nicely for me.

Blue Jay

Nikon Df| Nikkor 80-200mm f.2.8D @200mm| f/4

…and there was real live Tom & Jerry cat, and mouse games in the background.  The cat caught and let the mouse go 4 times while I was paying attention. Later in the morning I noticed other people watching the cats movements, so I think it was still toying with the mouse.  In this image which is really dark…it was overcast, and the cat was far down the path from me…the cat has the mouse in its mouth.

He dropped the mouse in this flowering bush and began the chase all over again. I sure hope they both liked the game!

Feral Cat with Mouse

Gordon, myself, and two other friends headed for Brunch at lunch time. I started with a Virgin Bloody Mary: It’s an iPhone pic and I’m not that good at those! It was spicy and really good! I want to learn how to make this drink.

Copyright © 2016 Deborah M. Zajac ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

iPhone5| Park Chow, San Francisco

I had a marvelous veggie omelette with goat cheese, zuccini, and cheddar cheese, home style potatoes on the side, and toast with homemade blackberry jam. I was too hungry to take a photo.  I was so fat when I left the table!

We headed back to the park to see the Rose Garden and then we did a mini Doorscursion.

Those images will come in the future.

Images developed in PS CC 2015.5, and Nik Suite

More to come…