peter
Awesome lunchtime photo walk at Woodmen Fen in Kettering, Ohio. First good chance to get a true dragonfly photograph. The Red-Veined Dart's were numerous and with a little patience and careful approach, they were willing to be photographed. What a difference a day makes. I was prepared and didn't have the comedy of errors from Tuesday. Today - a great success!
Red-Veined Dart Dragonfly Nikon D7000 ISO 320 f/11 1/80 sec. sec. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 reversed with BR-2 Reversing Ring plus a PK-3 27mm extension tube, off-camera flash with modified soft box.
Red-Veined Dart Dragonfly Nikon D7000 ISO 200 f/11 1/100 sec. sec. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 reversed with BR-2 Reversing Ring, off-camera flash with modified soft box. Focus stack of two images.
Red-Veined Dart Dragonfly Nikon D7000 ISO 200 f/11 1/100 sec. sec. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 reversed with BR-2 Reversing Ring plus a PK-3 27mm extension tube, off-camera flash with modified soft box.
Red-Veined Dart Dragonfly Nikon D7000 ISO 320 f/11 1/80 sec. sec. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 reversed with BR-2 Reversing Ring plus a PK-3 27mm extension tube, off-camera flash with modified soft box.
Red-Veined Dart Dragonfly Nikon D7000 ISO 200 f/11 1/100 sec. sec. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 reversed with BR-2 Reversing Ring, off-camera flash with modified soft box. Focus stack of three images.
Green Shield (or Stink) Bug - Chinavia Hilaris Nikon D7000 ISO 320 f/11 1/80 sec. sec. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 reversed with BR-2 Reversing Ring plus a PK-3 27mm extension tube, off-camera flash with modified soft box. Focus stack of two images.
Green Shield (or Stink) Bug - Chinavia Hilaris Nikon D7000 ISO 320 f/11 1/80 sec. sec. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 reversed with BR-2 Reversing Ring plus a PK-3 27mm extension tube, off-camera flash with modified soft box.
This hoverfly photograph was an early morning shot at Sweet Arrow Reserve.
Hoverfly Nikon D7000 ISO 200 f/11 1/125 sec. sec. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 reversed with BR-2 Reversing Ring plus two PK-3 27mm extension tube, off-camera flash with modified soft box.
My daughter, Emma, planted this sunflower from seeds we collected last year. The challenge - photograph the flower without killing the plant. Usually I would trim the flower and bring it into a nice, controlled studio environment.
Emma's Sunflower Nikon D7000 ISO 100 50mm f/16 1/6 sec.
Sorry - no pictures yet this week. I'm having a continual Monday.
Today I was reminded of one of the first rules of photography - Check Your Gear. Out for a quick lunchtime photo walk, I was enjoying the diversity of insects and arachnids at Woodmen Fen. First problem, snapped a few shots and no flash, the batteries were dead. Swapped batteries (always carry a spare set.) Cool, thought I was able to capture a couple funnel spiders out hunting. After about 30 minutes, I had grabbed what I thought were a few really sharp shots. Checking the images, I was worried that the images didn't look right. Oh wait - the ISO was set up at 2500 from photographing a nighttime football game. Thirty+ shots, down the drain. ISO corrected and the honey bees were out in force. Popped another half dozen shots - everything seemed dark. All my settings looked normal, what was going on. Flash settings? Wait, EV compensation was -3.0 instead of +3.0. Flash settings now corrected. Oh! 12:58 PM. Time to go back to the office. Better luck next time.
TIP: Shooting macro, I operate in M-Mode. My go to starting point is ISO 200, f/11, 1/200 sec. with a EV of +3.0 to give as much light as possible (this could vary greatly depending on your lens and flash set-up.)
Thankful today to be featured in an article from Creative Drum - Top Macro Photographers Share Their Secrets. Check it out at the link below:
http://www.idesigni.co.uk/blog/top-macro-photographers/
"If you have ever tried macro photography for yourself, you probably know that it is a fascinating field to work in, but also a very competitive one. There will always be somebody who takes sharper images or steals the perfect moment better than you… Don’t panic! In search for the most comprehensive advice on how to take the perfect macro shot, we got in touch with some of the world’s best macro photographers...."
Sap Boiling Nikon D7000 ISO 100 50mm f/1.4 1/640 sec.
2.5 Gallons of Sap Nikon D7000 50mm f/2.8 1/250 sec.
Sap started flowing yesterday - so last night was the first try at 'brewing' maple syrup.
On the photography side - broke out my old Nikkor 1.4 50mm lens to grab some snap shots in the low light of our kitchen. This lens from Nikon is a wonderful classic and still in production today. Solid, all metal construction, this is the lens I first learned on. Loved the action of the sap boiling, but between the steam and being rusty at manually focusing - proved tricky to capture. The challenge - my original camera, a Nikon F3HP has a high eyepoint prism with a split prism. The new digital cameras are 'focused' on auto-focus with smaller view finders and no split prism - making manual focus much harder. Tried to use the range finder feature, but found this to be spotty at best.
On the maple syrup front - first, this bottle is what you get from 2 1/2 gallons of sap. Tried to brew this batch in the kitchen. Lots of steam! Moving further production out to the garage. Second, went just a couple degrees over on the brewing and this batch ended up too thick, but delicious.
Today brings another 3-5 inches of snow, but some excellent opportunities to do some close-up work with song birds. Shooting with my Nikon 80-200mm 1:2.8 ED - I'm able to get close, while letting in lots of light on an otherwise overcast day.
White-throated Sparrow - Nikon D7000 ISO 1600 400mm f/8.0 1/1250 sec.
Dark-eyed Junco - Nikon D7000 ISO 800 200mm f/5.0 1/1250 sec.
Song Sparrow - Nikon D7000 ISO 800 200mm f/5.0 1/1250 sec.
Look who decided to be king of the feeders.
Juvenile Cooper's Hawk Nikon D7000 ISO 320 400mm f/7.1 1/1250 sec.
February has been a long cold month - but snow equals great photography opportunities.
Carolina Chickadee Nikon D7000 ISO 1250 400mm f/8.0 1/800 sec.
Dark-Eyed Junco Nikon D7000 ISO 1600 400mm f/8.0 1/800 sec.
