Nikon – Page 63 – Circadianreflections Blog

American Bittern

February 16, 2012February 16, 2012Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, American Bittern, California, D700, Nature, Nikkor, Nikon, Photography, Water fowl, WildlifeLeave a comment

Sunday afternoon I spent with Rainey and Dali photographing birds and waterfowl. Late in the day we saw a Bittern and an Eurasian Wigeon. The lighting and weather weren’t ideal; the sky was getting darker both due to time, and it had been stormy the night before so the sky was still overcast and flat. Monday the sky was blue, and the sun was shining so we decided to go back in the afternoon to take advantage of the better light. The Bittern was there in the same place we’d seen it before tucked in the reeds under an overpass with the late afternoon sun warming his back. This shot was taken from the overpass looking down on him/her.

I uploaded Lightroom Beta 4 to try it out. I’m a bit lost since this is the first time I’ve ever tried LR, but I have to say the highlights and shadow recovery sliders are pretty good. The white feathers around his neck were pretty blown out due to the late afternoon sun beating right down on him. LR did a great job of bringing back the detail in his feathers on his shoulder, and neck. I’m going to be using LR4 for the next several weeks. I’ll be sharing my thoughts and feelings about it as I learn it.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200 @200mm+ Tamron 1.4x TC| f8| 1/50sec| ISO 500| Manual Mode|hand-held

Dreams…

February 15, 2012February 15, 2012Posted in California, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Photography, Travel, WildlifeTagged D700, Nature; Landscape, Nikkor, Nikon, Photography, Travel, Wildlife2 Comments

…”but you never know, traveling, around what bend;

The dreams will curve to an end,

And what will happen then.”

Mary Oliver

I hope you have some time today to slip away to dream, to hope, and plan.

California country-side a day after a storm

Black-crowned Night-Heron

February 11, 2012February 11, 2012Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged Black-crowned Night Heron, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon D700Leave a comment

When in range the 70-300mm VR really is a good lens! (click photo to view it large. It looks awful compressed to this size!) We had an overcast sky yesterday, but for a few brief moments the sun peeked through the clouds and lit him nicely just as if I ordered it.
This is my best Black-crowned Night-Heron to date. I wish all the birds I chase were within range of my lens.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm @ 300mm| f7.1| 1/500 sec| ISO 500| Manual Mode| Hand-held

Nikon Announced the D800!

February 6, 2012Posted in California, Gear, Nikon, PhotographyTagged D800, Gear, Nikon, PhotographyLeave a comment

Announced in Japan first and is on their website the long-awaited Nikon D800 is here! Rumors were right it has a whopping 36.3 Mega Pixels!

Highlights of new features:

New Nikon FX-format CMOS image sensor

New 91K-pixel RGB sensor for the more accurate Advanced Scene Recognition System

Multi-area mode Full HD D-Movie for movie recording using one of two movie formats

Viewfinder frame coverage of approximately 100%*¹ and a lightweight and durable water- and dust-resistant body

Support for high-speed continuous shooting and a variety of battery types with the Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D12 (optional)

Other features:

Other D800 Functions and Features

A 51-point AF system for improved subject acquisition and focus performance under dim lighting. In addition, 11 focus points (five at center with an addition three to each side) are fully functional when lenses with a maximum aperture of f/8 are used.
A 3.2-inch, approximately 921k-dot LCD monitor with reinforced glass, automatic monitor brightness control, and wide viewing angle
A virtual horizon that shows the degree to which the camera is tilted sideways (roll), or forward or backward (pitch) with display in the monitor and viewfinder
A new shutter unit that has passed testing for 200,000 cycles and supports a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 s and flash sync speed of 1/250 s
Continuous shooting at 4 (FX-format/5 : 4 image area) or 5 (DX-format/1.2x image area) fps*
- *When powered by a Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL15
CompactFlash and SD dual memory card slots
Support for SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0)

Read the whole thing here

“I would be a falcon and go free”~ William Dunbar

January 25, 2012January 26, 2012Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged Falcons; Birds of Prey, Merlin, Nature, Nikon, Photography, Raptors, WildlifeLeave a comment

This morning as I was pulling up to my house I noticed in the tree across the street a ~~Merlin~~ Hawk perched on a branch. I was so excited I couldn’t get in the driveway, parked ,and out of the car fast enough. I raced into the house, grabbed my long lens then raced back outside all the while hoping he was still there.

He was! I think it’s a juvenile. Well, it looks young to me.

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Falcom- Merlin? — Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

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I got several shots of him perched then quick as a wink he took flight. He was so fast I could barely keep up with him panning. There is more motion blur than I would have liked, but his eye is pretty sharp. I definitely need more practice panning. Shooting in Continuous High I only got 4 frames of him in flight before he was gone; this one, and one other have motion blur the other two I only caught his tail in the frames.

Falcon Merlin In Flight — Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

It’s the first time in the 25 years I’ve lived here I’ve ever seen a falcon. Several weeks ago I saw a hawk for the first time on my street. This winter food must be in short supply in the country. I can’t imagine anything else bringing them into the suburbs. I hope he comes back and I am around to photograph him.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm VR@ 300mm| f8| 1/1000 sec| ISO 640| Manual Mode| Hand-held

Update: A reader Tj of TjFivephotography emails, ” It looks more like a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a Cooper’s Hawk b/c this one doesn’t have the markings under the eyes like falcons do.”

He sent a cool link showing photos of both birds. I’m leaning toward this one being a Coopers Hawk. What do you all think?

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm

Joe McNally Interviews Little Freddie King

January 23, 2012January 23, 2012Posted in Nikon, PhotographyTagged Joe McNally, Little Freddie King, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon D4, PhotographyLeave a comment

Joe McNally has his hands on the just announced Nikon D4 for some months testing it out. One of the newest improvements is the video capability of this camera. Joe and his crew utilized the new feature while interviewing Little Freddie King. Watch it here.

Read the back story here.

Prendre la fuite!

January 19, 2012January 19, 2012Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, WildlifeTagged Birds of Prey, D700, Impressionism, Nature, Nikon, Photography, Red-tailed Hawk, WildlifeLeave a comment

On the way home from Monday’s birding and photography day this Red-tail landed in a small field by the highway to catch a ground rat or something. Theresa quickly pulled over, but before the car had stopped I started shooting, and the hawk hearing the car and tires crunching the gravel took flight!

In play back I thought the motion blur made a cool impressionist piece.

Prendre la fuite — Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 70-300mm VR @300mm| f8| 1/80 sec| ISO 640| Manual Mode| Hand-held

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