Category: Photography

P52 34/52 Dawn Santa Clara County

Posted in California, hikes, Landscapes, Photography, Project 52-2014Tagged , , , , , 4 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDP52 34 of 52 Dawn Santa Clara County

Mornings are arriving a little later, and chillier these days and with that I’m finding it a little harder to get out of the house for a hike or walk. Once I get out I am usually very happy that I did.
This morning was especially nice as we had a lot of clouds which meant there might be some color, and I got lucky and had “God Rays” too, and there was a bonus; the sign marking the trail’s boundary is gone! 

YEAH! I have spent years framing around it, cloning it out, or cropping it out. It was lovely shooting and not have to deal with it, or deal with it later in post development.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t replace it, and if they do they put it somewhere that doesn’t hinder the view. 

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 17-35@ 17mm| f20| 5 seconds| ISO 200| Tripod| B+W 6 stop ND filter

Butterfly on Lantana

Posted in Insects, PhotographyTagged , , , , 9 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Butterfly on Lantana

There have been two regular Butterflies visiting my blooming Lantana for several weeks.

I’m not sure what type of Butterfly they are, but I think they’re in the Fritillary family. Any help with

the ID would be greatly appreciated.

Here’s one enjoying a nice drink of Lantana juice.

Taken with a Nikon D700 and AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 lens

Too soon he’ll spread his wings…

Posted in Photography, PortraitsTagged , , , , , 3 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Jaxon 19 months old…and fly! He’s growing up so fast!

This portrait was challenging. Our little toddler is a busy baby! He’s not still too long.  I hope to get more images of him

made with these wings.

As he gets older I hope to be  able to make portraits of him with off camera flash, but it’s impossible now unless he’s sleeping.

I love this face! Hopefully you’re not getting tired of seeing him. I do restrain myself to only posting images of him once in a while.

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 50mm f1.8G| SB910

“All you need is Faith, Trust, and little bit of Pixie Dust.”~Tinkerbell

Posted in Fashion, Photography, Project 52-2014, Still LifeTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVE"All you need is Faith, Trust, and little bit of Pixie Dust." ~Tinkerbell is one of my favorite Disney characters so, when I saw this T-shirt at the Disney store I couldn’t resist purchasing it.

It’s washed and ready to wear. I’ll be pairing it with my White House/Black Market jeans, polka dot open toe-kitten heels, Dior sunglasses, and simple jewelry that I bought on a trip to London in 2006. The watch is Malachite and Mother of Pearl, the ear-rings are malachite both are made by PastTimes.

I used my new SU-800 Wireless Remote Commander to trigger my Speedlights. It’s super easy to use and can control up to 3 lights. It’s also a lot more affordable than 3 Pocket Wizards would have been.

More to come…

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 50mm f1.8G| SB910|SB600 |SU-800

 

P52 31/52 Jaxon

Posted in Fine Art, Flowers, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro Photography, PhotographyTagged , , , , , 11 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

P52 31 of 52 Jaxon 19 months oldI’m still trying to figure out how all the bits and pieces to my LensBaby Composer Pro work. I finally put my Soft Focus Optic

in and took some photos of flowers, and a few head shots of #1 Grandson who is 19 months old now.  I like this pose the best of the three images I took.

I thought the pose fit Black & White best, and then I put an antique finish, and frame on it and really liked how it came out.

I’ve had the LensBaby Composer Pro for several weeks now, and like it, but I was having an issue with the Ball Locking, and the mounting lock. The Ball adjustment lock and the mounting lock both turn in the same direction and when ever I would turn the ball to change the point of focus it would also unscrew the lens. I kept remounting it, but nothing worked.   It wouldn’t have that secure “snap!” when twisted into place, and I couldn’t find a little dot to line up with my white dot on my camera.  Let me assure now, that I did read the manual…such as it is- multiple times. It’s a brochure that tells you how to install and remove your Optic, but there is nothing on how to mount it to your camera.  As you can imagine I wasn’t happy about that set up, and it was scary thinking my lens wasn’t really secure in the mount. I was afraid it would fall off at any time.

I finally sent a message to my friend Wayne asking him what the trick to mounting the lens so it would lock in place is? Within  a few minutes he told me there was tiny “Red” dot on the metal mount that I should match up with my camera. I looked at the mount and sure enough there it was! A tiny red dot on the metal mount. I never saw it before.  Nikon programmed me to look for a white dot since my camera and lenses all have a white dot to line up.

I remounted my Composer Pro and got that nice “snap!” into place and locked sound. What a huge relief that is! Now I like my Composer Pro a lot more!  THANK YOU WAYNE!

There’s supposed to be a dot on my Optics that you line up with the Composer Pro when installing them, but I can’t find the dots! Red or White! I’m hopeless I guess.  For now I’m lining up the notches and securing my Optics that way.  They’re secure in the Composer at least so, hopefully it’s right. 🙂

Here are a couple flower images I made using the LensBaby Composer Pro and Soft Focus Optic. I love this soft, dreamy look, and the OOF areas are smooth and creamy. Love it!

My Lantana with Soft focus Optic and +8mm & +16mm macro converters.

P52 31 of 52 Lantana_0341…and a neighbors Daisy like flower with the Soft Focus Optic

Daisy_0378 v2I’ve also got a wide-angle, and telephoto lens I need to try out. Perhaps this week-end.

Nikon D700| LensBaby Composer Pro with Soft Focus Optic and Macro Converter kit.

More to come…

Morning’s Golden light on Delicate Arch Moab, UT

Posted in hikes, Landscapes, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Morning's Golden Light on Delicate Arch Moab UtahAlex, Theresa, and I started our hike to Delicate Arch at 4:10am and got to the Arch in 42 minutes with only head-lamps for light. There was only one other car in the parking lot when we arrived. We met the two guys that it belonged to on their way down.

The trail-head to Delicate Arch is right off the parking lot at Wolfe Ranch inside of Arches National Park. The elevation gain is about 500 ft up rough and steep terrain. Length of the hike is 3 miles round trip.  Most the trail you’re hiking on giant slabs of sandstone. The trail is marked by cairns, but some are widely spaced so, if not carefully looking for them you can miss one.Theresa and I missed one on our first hike up to Delicate Arch back in 2010  we ended up about quarter of mile off course and had to back-track to find the trail.

The last bit of the climb is along the side of sandstone fin. There are several steps and a path that was carved out of the stone that wind their way up to the Arch. This part of the path is fairly narrow and has no cable or guard rail- If you fall you could be toast.

Here’s an image Theresa took of us hiking down that part of the trail. That’s Alex, with me in the lead, and Theresa’s shadow on the sandstone wall. Thank you T for giving me a copy of this image! xx

Image by Theresa Johnson. Used with Permission
Image by © 2014 Theresa Johnson. Used with Permission

There was no one else up at the Arch when we got there, but it wasn’t too long before other hikers were coming up the trail, and by 6AM there was quite a crowd, and it was getting warm already. We stayed up through Golden Hour and when the light went flat we packed up and hiked down, starving and ready for breakfast then a nap.

More to come…

NIkon D700| AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8| Tripod