“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” ― Eudora Welty
Yellow-billed Magpie, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
I thought his iridescence was lovely in the light. I kind of wish I’d taken my 70-300 this time as there was more wildlife than I thought I’d see going up to Mission Peak.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 28-105@105mm| f6.3| 1/800s | ISO 320| Manual Priority| Hand-held
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
All of us were feeling heavy and a bit groggy from the Thanksgiving Feast so we decided to hike up to Mission Peak to shake it off, and keep a tradition going. When my son comes home for the holidays we come up here at least once together. This time my husband came along too. The light was gorgeous at the top when we arrived.
It was a lovely afternoon, sunny, and warm, and it didn’t get chilly or windy until we were near the top. I didn’t outdo any records making it up here this time. The rich food of the day before and not hiking for a few weeks paid its toll.
Near the trail-head there were several Magpies hanging around. Here is one landing on a post along the trail. I think these birds are pretty, but they gross me out!
There are quite a few new calves up here now, and I saw a pretty big Red-Tail Hawk hanging around looking for something to eat near the top. There were also quite a few other people making this trek.
We stayed long enough to snap a photo, and head down. We wanted to get down before dark; we almost did.
Nikon D700| Nikkor 28-105@35mm| Manual Priority| Hand-held
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Several friends and I went out to Central CA to a National Wildlife Refuge to see if any Sandhill Cranes or Snow Geese had arrived and photograph them.
While on the auto-tour we spotted this Red-tailed Hawk on a post. We had a good vantage point to photograph it so we all started framing and firing our cameras which spooked him.
It was just what we hoped for. We all got some really nice shots of him taking off, and flying low in the marsh grass.
I needed help identifying this Red-tail. My National Geographic bird book isn’t very clear on the Light and Dark Morphs. Thanks to my friend Dali for I.D.ing it for me. Since then I’ve purchased a new bird guide-book: Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Between the two books I hope to be able to ID birds more easily.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200@ 200mm + Tamron 1.4x Teleconverter| f7.1| 1/2000sec| ISO 640| Manual Priority| Hand-held
American Kestrel- Female, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
“Not on a wire, not on a pole, it’s a tree for me!” This is the little mantra I said today as I saw a Kestrel on a wire. Later in the morning while we were driving through an Auto-tour in San Luis National Wildlife Refuge I spotted this kestrel in a tree! I was so excited, and thrilled when I uploaded this photo. It’s the first Kestrel I’ve shot that wasn’t on a pole or wire, and the first I’ve posted I believe.
We (Rainy, Dali, Judi, and I) saw so many neat birds and photographed quite a few of them.
We saw, this Kestrel, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, Black Phoebe’s, Sparrow’s a new one for me I need to ID, my first Merlin!, Ross Geese, Coots, Blue Herons, Egrets: mostly Great Egrets, a Kingfisher, an American Bluebird, a Burrowing Owl, Mallards, Northern Pintails, Shrike, Meadow Larks, Plovers, Ibis, Sandhill Cranes, White fronted Geese, Red-winged Blackbirds, Shovelers, and White-tail Kites. In addition we saw a Coyote, I saw a raccoon, and we saw a dear friend Judi. It was an amazing, fantastic, sunny, everything going our way, very good day!
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200 @200mm + Tamron 1.4TC|f7.1| 1/800 sec| ISO 640| Manual Priority| Hand-held
Get a Grip!, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Here’s another shot of the Peregrine landing after an unsuccessful sortie.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor80-200@200mm+ Tamron 1.4T f5.6| 1/1600sec| ISO 640| Manual Priority| Hand-held
Landscape in Lodi, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Dawn from the outer edge of a freshly mowed corn field waiting for the Sandhill Crane Fly-out.
It was a very peaceful, easy morning…until the Geese woke up.
Good grief they’re a noisy bunch!
Nikon D700| Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF-D| f16| 0.4 sec| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Tripod
California, Nikon D700, Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF-D
Autumn Impressions, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
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Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Last fall while in the Eastern Sierras I tried this technique several times and just couldn’t get it right. I was determined to keep trying each time I found myself near a grove of trees.
This past week-end while out shooting Fall Color was the perfect time to give it another go. It took a few tries, but I got the look I was after.
I tried zooming too. Those came out pretty neat I’ll share those soon.
My favorite photographer that employes this technique is Eva Polak www.evapolak.com/autumn1.html
Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200@ 80mm| f14| 1/15s| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Hand-held
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