The link to the Boxed Full Version Upgrade is $79.00 USD link here
The Boxed Full Version is $146.99 USD The link is here
Category: Photography
Western Bluebird-Male
Via Flickr:
Copyright 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved
The early bird does get the worm and photograph! 🙂 While birding yesterday morning the Western Bluebirds were very active.
I’m really loving how fast this lens is, and it doesn’t hunt very often.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 300mm @ f4| 1/1600s| ISO 500| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Tripod
Pygmy Nuthatch
Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
In the condo next to my friend Jackie’s in Lake Tahoe there’s a hole pecked out of the wall that several Pygmy Nuthatches are using as a door to their nest.
We watched these little birds fly sorties to the nearby Pine trees gathering nuts and grubs and bringing the stuff back to the nest. We didn’t hear any little peeps, but wondered if there were chicks in there.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 300mm @ f5.6| 1/320s| ISO 800| Manual Priority| Hand-held
Gotcha!
Via Flickr:
Copyright 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved
I tried my new to me Nikkor 300mm f/4 on my D700 this morning while birding with Dali over at Vasona Lake and hoped I got this female Western Blue Bird catching this insect. I was doing a little happy dance when I saw this when reviewing my photos after uploading them.
The lens is quiet, and really fast on the D700. For the next test I added my Tamron 1.4x TC. I haven’t looked at those photos yet. I hope I have some keepers.
I only have a couple of days left to test this lens before the return period runs out, but so far I’m thinking the lens is a keeper.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 300mm f/4@ f4| 1/4000s| ISO 500| Manual Priority| Tripod
Sunset Lake Tahoe Nevada
Via Flickr:
Copyright 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
My long time Flickr friend Jackie flew to Lake Tahoe for vacation, and being only 4 hours from me we worked it out so I could go up to hang out and meet face to face finally. We’ve been flickr, Yahoo group, facebook friends since Jan. 2009. I only had one full day to hang out. It was a lovely, but too short visit.
I only hope we don’t go another 5 years before we see each other again.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35@ 20mm| f8| 6 seconds| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Tripod| B+W6 stop ND filter| Singh-Ray 3 and 1 stop Graduated ND filters
Iridium Flare
Copyright 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved
I took this photo last month when I was shooting in Fremont Peak State Park with several Night Sky Photographers. This is one of the set-up/ test shots I took before starting my star trail sequence. After uploading the frames I was going through them and discovered I may have caught an Iridium Flare. Iridium Flare is the sun reflecting off communication satellites orbiting in space. ” The Iridium communication satellites have a peculiar shape with three polished door-sized antennas, 120° apart and at 40° angles with the main bus. The forward antenna faces the direction the satellite is traveling. Occasionally, an antenna reflects sunlight directly down at Earth, creating a predictable and quickly moving illuminated spot on the surface below of about 10 km diameter. To an observer this looks like a bright flash, or flare in the sky, with a duration of a few seconds.
Ranging up to -8 magnitude (rarely to a brilliant -9.5), some of the flares are so bright that they can be seen in the daytime; but they are most impressive at night. This flashing has caused some annoyance to astronomers, as the flares occasionally disturb observations and can damage sensitive equipment.
When not flaring, the satellites are often visible crossing the night sky at a typical magnitude of 6, similar to a dim star.” ~Wikipedia
I realize the flare is hard to see in this photo so I’ve zoomed in on it and cropped it out to enable one to see it better. It has the classic shape of Iridium Flare. I took this photo on May 11, 2013 at 9:06pm PDT.
I need to check out the site that has predictions to see if this could be Iridium Flare. I think the site is called Heaven’s Above.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 16mm Fisheye lens
Update: After checking the Heaven’s Above site to see if there was an Iridium Flare predicted on the date and time I took this photo I found there was a predicted flare on May 10, 2013 at 19:31 h. in the same place in the sky as this flare. I’m confused. Nothing was listed for May 11th. The site says all times are local. Do I need to factor in Daylight Savings time? I wondered if it could another satellite? Searching the sites FAQ’s I found this.
| Q. | While I was out waiting for a flare or other satellite to appear, I saw another flare which wasn’t in the predictions. What could it have been? |
| A. | This was probably a flare from a failed Iridium satellite. Several satellites have failed in orbit, and are not in the nominal orbit and/or attitude. However, they can still produce flares just like the operational ones. The difference is, that we can’t predict when they will happen. |
White-breasted Nuthatch
Via Flickr:
Copyright 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved
This is my first decent capture of a Nuthatch. They’re so quick. I haven’t been able to get one. Today I got lucky. This one wasn’t too skittish. I suppose it is used to people being around.
I found a near mint condition 300mm f4 today and purchase it. I have a week to try it out. Initial thoughts are it is very responsive and quiet. I still have to crop in, but this isn’t a heavy crop. I’ll try it with my TC in the next day or so. Focusing seems spot on. I don’t do scientific tests I just shoot what I like.
I didn’t do much to this photo- in ACR I tweaked white balance …it was fine, then highlights, and whites, pushed the blacks a little, added clarity, vibrance, and the lens correction filter then moved over to Photoshop to sharpen a tiny bit, resize and add my copyright. Pretty much what I do to every photo.
I bought a new backpack too. A Think Tank Streetwalker HardDrive. I plan to take a photo of it very soon loaded with my usual set-up.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor AF-S 300mm @f8| 1/320s| ISO 500| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Tripod
San Jose, California- fine weather
Circadianreflections Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.