Tag: Nikkor

Oh, I see what you’re doing there.

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Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

On Monday a holiday in the States myself and two girlfriends set out for the country to do some bird photography. This young Long-eared Owl was high in a conifer tree along with many other owls. My friend Theresa said she stopped counting after 18!
There looked like there might be another breed of owls in there too, but I couldn’t get a good look at any of them.

Exposing for this guy was a bit tricky. He was tucked into the tree behind these pine needles with occasional sun filtering through to highlight him. I took a lot of photographs of him hoping I hit the light just right. After 30 minutes I decided to move on. The best light was going to be in early afternoon. If I was still there I’d try it then. I wasn’t.

My book of North American Birds by National Geographic says this is an Uncommonly seen breed. Making this another fantastic find for me and my girlfriends!

I think Theresa, Rainey and I are probably Uncommon girlfriends too. How many do you know that get together for a day of birding rather than shopping? “)

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mmVR @ 300mm| f8| 1/50 second| ISO 800| Manual Mode| Tripod

First Photo of the New Year

Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Holidays, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I spent the first few days of 2012 photographing parts of the Eastern Sierras with dear friends. This was our 2nd Annual New Years Photo Trip.
There wasn’t much snow in the high country so we were able to cross Tioga Pass to get to our base camp which was in Bishop, CA. From there we were pretty central to everything we had hoped to photograph. We roamed from Mammoth on the northern end to Alabama Hills in the south.
Sunrises, sunsets, and a bit of scouting during the day was on the agenda, and on our first night we had a clear sky so we drove south to Ancient Bristle Pine Cone National Park and shot in the Patriarch Grove.  The elevation is between 10,000 and 11,000ft.  Because the air is so thin up here these trees grow slowly.  This  harsh environment makes their wood denser and stronger to resist pests, and disease. The oldest tree is 4600 years old! Their twisted limbs and odd shapes make great subjects and foreground for star trails.

Once you get the focus sharp, your settings selected, and your intervelometer set up you can sit back and watch the sky, or  do what we did; go back to the car and turn on the heater. It was 26 degrees outside!

This star trail is made from 82 frames each were 58 second exposures. I cloned out 6 airplanes and 1 shooting star.
The trip was great fun, and I’m looking forward to our 2013 New Years Photo adventure.

Red-tailed Hawk

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While out looking for Sandhill Cranes to photograph this Red-tailed Hawk got startled and flew out of a nearby Willow tree.

Flapping

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

 

Gliding

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Downbeat

Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200mm + Tamron 1.4x extender| f5| 1/800 sec| ISO 500| Manual Mode| Hand-held

He’s making a list checking it twice…

Posted in Holidays, Nikon, Photography, Still LifeTagged , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

“This Christmas song was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, and was first sung on Eddie Cantor‘s radio show in November 1934. It became an instant hit with orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day and more than 400,000 copies sold by Christmas.” ~ Wikipedia

Santa Claus is Coming to Town
“You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
He’s making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town!”

Nikon D700| Nikkor 50mm| f2.8| 1/80 sec| ISO 320| Manual Mode| Hand-held-

An ornament on my Christmas tree.

White Kites…

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

I’ve been trying for weeks to get a decent shot of a Kite that lives in Moss Landing without success. That Kite likes to perch on a tree out in a Marsh which is too far away for my longest lens. Here’s the best I’ve been able to get. It’s soft, and there isn’t much detail. I used a Nikkor 70-300mm VR on a tripod for this shot in mid November 2011.

I hoped by renting the Nikkor 300mm f4 I would have better luck. I’d be able to use my Tamron 1.4x Extender with it and have a bit more reach.  With that in mind I took the rental lens with me last Saturday to Merced National Wildlife Refuge with my friend Rainey. We made a detour on the way to try to find some birds at another park and along the way we spotted this Kite perched on the branch. I was busy clicking away when I noticed it opened its beak, and then I heard it call then in came this other Kite!  Oh, how I hoped I nailed the shot with its beak open!

While this photo isn’t as sharp, or have as much detail as I would like it to have I’m thrilled it’s decent and I did get the shot with its beak open. You can see  a little more detail, but it’s still too far away for this lens plus extender.  Also when using an Extender  there is generally a loss of sharpness. With my aperture wide open and focused on the perched Kite I missed the opportunity to get them both in focus.  I was focused on the perched one.

I’m learning though. One thing I’ll do differently the next time is stop the lens down to f8. I expect the clarity will improve a bit.

A brief word on the Nikkor 300mm F4 lens. This is the 3rd time I’ve rented this lens . Each time I rent it I want one of my own! It’s a great lens.  It produces wonderful colors, and superb details if you can get a bit closer, and the Bokeh is yummy. I do wish it had image stabilization though. Hand-holding this lens isn’t easy so I’m using a tripod, or a pillow when I am shooting out of the car window.

Right after I took the picture above the perched Kite took flight. I got a little of his profile, and the sun peeked through the fog and overcast morning for a little while which lit up its chest nicely.

I do love the thrill of the chase so, I’ll continue to look for Kites maybe the next time they’ll be a bit closer.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 70-300mm VR & Nikkor 300mm f4 w/ Tamron 1.4x TeleConverter

All Decked Out for Christmas

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Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

Here’s another house I saw while taking Diva Dog for her evening walk .  Have you been out to see the Christmas displays?

Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35@ 20mm| f16| 20 seconds| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod

“Christmastime is here, happiness and cheer, fun for all that children call, their favorite time of the year.” ~Charlie Brown’s Christmas

Posted in California, Holidays, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

I’ve taken my camera and tripod with me while taking Diva Dog  for her evening walk to take photos of the most elaborate houses I come across. These two houses have been the most well thought out and presented so far.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35@ 20mm| f16| 10 seconds| ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod| Self-Timer