Brazos Bend State Park and Alligators

You cannot go to Brazos Bend State Park and not come back with a few photos of alligators.  In reality, alligators are not really that exciting to photograph.  Still, I always photograph them when I am at the park. 

This young male alligator was lifting his head out of the water and roaring.  He was in a vocal war with an older and much larger alligator. I wanted to capture him coming out of water and doing “his thing”, but I also wanted to create a little mood to the photo.  Luckily, he swam from the shade to a pocket of light. So, I waited until he got to the light and took about ten shots of him in the light. 

To me, this photograph is as much about the light as it is about the alligator.

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D800 (DX format), 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 at 600mm (effectively), ISO 400, f/8 at 1/350^th of a second on a tripod. 

Post Processing: 

Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and burned top and bottom of photo using the adjustment brush.

Looking for Photographs

Sometimes, I just see no photographs in front of my eyes.  Such was the case one day at Brazos Bend Park.  I had walked up and down this one path three times.  I saw nothing that I wanted to photograph.  Then I sat down and just starting staring at the lake.  I immediately noticed how the light reflected off the water and onto the underside of the water plants.

Wow, how did I miss that? 

In today’s photograph, I wanted it to be about shapes and colors.  

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D800 (DX format), 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 at 600mm (effectively), ISO 1600, f/13 at 1/4000^th of a second on a tripod. 

Post Processing:  

Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and increased saturation of blue, green and yellow.

What Do I Think of the Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 VR II—Part 4

 

One of the things that I did not mention in my last post is the lens’ bokeh.  It is very soft and pleasing to the eye.  It makes it very easy to separate the subject from the background, even at apertures like f/8 or f/11.
I like the lens a lot but I will say, like almost every piece of equipment that I add to my camera bag, there is a leaning curve to it.
Would I recommend you purchase the lens?  If your needs are similar to mine, yes.  I think it is a reasonable substitute for the large, heavy and expensive telephoto lenses.
Today’s photo was taken in JD’s garden.  Dragonflies tend to fly off and then fly back to the same spot.  This one did exactly that.  I set my camera at almost its minimum focusing distance for the lens.  The photo has not been cropped—it is full frame image of what was captured in the camera.  I wanted to show the dragonfly's brilliant rd/orange colors against the green backgrounds.
Enjoy. 
Camera settings:  Nikon D800 (DX format), 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 at 600mm (effectively), ISO 1600, f/22 at 1/4000^th of a second on a tripod. 
Post Processing: 
Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance.

What Do I Think of the Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 VR II—Part 3

 

Back to the evaluation of the Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 VR II.

Ken Rockwell writes reviews of equipment and he said:

“This new Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 AF-S VR is a big, expensive lens that's super sharp, focuses fast and has a great image stabilization for hand-held shots at foolishly long exposure times. It focuses as close as most 80-200mm f/2.8 zooms.

“For those of you looking for the ultimate long Nikon zoom, this new 80-400 VR is it.”

You can read his review of the lens here.

I am not that experienced with long lenses, so I will take Ken’s word on how the lens compares with other long lenses.

As to my experience of the  lens’ overall performance, I would have to rate it as Excellent.  It focuses fast in most light but does sometimes have a little problem in low light.  The lens is very sharp at f/8 through f/16.  But at lower and higher apertures, I find the results to be not quite as good.  The VR II works extremely well and it allows you to hand-hold shots at much slower shutter speeds than you might expect; however, I must admit that I find my best shots at the higher shutter speeds, which means, it’s the photographer, not the lens that is having problems.

Today’s shot is from Brazos Bend State Park and was taken on a very windy day.  The lens tracked the dragonfly perfectly and I found that most of the shots were in perfect focus.

Enjoy.

Camera settings:  Nikon D800 (DX format), 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 at 600mm (effectively), ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1000^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and added some sharpness.

America—Happy 237th Birthday

 

Two points.
Recently, I was at a dinner party in which the conversation turned to the state of our country.  Several people commented that Europe seems to better understand the world because their countries are older and wiser about things.  For one of the few times in my life, I did not say anything, but I thought:  (a) when does a country start being a country—in our case, I believe it was when we adopted our Constitution on September 17, 1787.  In contrast, the French Revolution did not proclaim France (probably considered by many around the table as one of the oldest and wises of countries) a republic until September 1792 and since that date, France has rewritten its constitution four times (1793, 1795, 1946 and 1958).  Our constitution is the second oldest constitution in the world; and, (b) if the most advanced society the world has ever seen cannot become wise in over 200 years, then I question the definition of “wise.” 
My second point regards the great wonder of how the foundation for our country was laid on July 4, 1776.  On the 150^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I think Calvin Coolidge summed up why the formation of our country was so different than any other country when he said: 
“It was not because it was proposed to establish a new nation, but because it was proposed to establish a nation on new principles, that July 4, 1776, has come to be regarded as one of the greatest days in history.  Great ideas do not burst upon the world unannounced. They are reached by a gradual development over a length of time usually proportionate to their importance.  This is especially true of the principles laid down in the Declaration of Independence.  Three very definite propositions were set out in its preamble regarding the nature of mankind and therefore of government. These were the doctrine that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and that therefore the source of the just powers of government must be derived from the consent of the governed. 
“If no one is to be accounted as born into a superior station, if there is to be no ruling class, and if all possess rights which can neither be bartered away nor taken from them by any earthly power, it follows as a matter of course that the practical authority of the Government has to rest on the consent of the governed.  While these principles were not altogether new in political action, and were very far from new in political speculation, they had never been assembled before and declared in such a combination. But remarkable as this may be, it is not the chief distinction of the Declaration of Independence. . . . 
“It was the fact that our Declaration of Independence containing these immortal truths was the political action of a duly authorized and constituted representative public body in its sovereign capacity, supported by the force of general opinion and by the armies of Washington already in the field, which makes it the most important civil document in the world.” 
I think that no other country in the world has been  formed with these principles as its foundation. 
Happy Birthday, America.

What Do I Think of the Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 VR II—Part 2

Sometimes, I really wonder about both Nikon and Canon.  Why?  Because both of them completely ignore some very simple but important improvements that they could make to their equipment.   Improvements that the vast majority of their customers would appreciate and probably not cost them much money at all.

What specifically Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 VR II feature am I talking about?  The tripod foot attached to the lens.  The manufacturers’ tripod foot is too bulky and lacks the Arca-Swiss milling that almost all advanced amateur and professional photographers use.  What would it cost to add an Arca-Swiss type of plate milled into the bottom of the foot?  People who do not use this type of tripod mounting could attach their own plate to the bottom of the foot like they currently do, but for millions of photographers who use the Arca-Swiss system, it would mean one less accessory (which neither Canon or Nikon makes) that the photographer would have to purchase.

In addition, in the Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 VR II, I have found that the collar is not strong enough to allow for the lens to be easily pivoted from landscape to portrait orientation.  Many years ago, I purchased a Nikon AF-S 300mm f/4 that had a Kirk NC-300 replacement lens collar attached (you can see it here).  The collar works great.  I will probably replace the one on the 80-400mm with a Kirk collar made for it.

A shout-out to Nikon, people want equipment that works easily so beef-up your collars so that they do!

Today’s photo is as much about mood as it is about the crane.  The bird was completely in the shade and the light had a slight blue/green cast to it.  I wanted to maintain that look so I set the white balance to cool and I underexposed the photo by about 1½ stops.

Enjoy

Camera settings:  Nikon D800 (DX format), 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 at 600mm (effectively), ISO 2500, f/5.6 at 1/250^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and did some dodging and burning with an adjustment brush.

What Do I Think of the Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 VR II—Part 1

This spring, I purchased the Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 VR II.  I bought this lens to shoot my grandchildren’s softball and baseball games.  I am going to Wyoming in August to attend my nephew’s wedding and JD and I plan to visit Yellowstone National Park (my very favorite national park) after the wedding.   I wanted a longer lens to photograph the animals.  I felt like I needed the extra reach that this lens gives me to do a good job photographing both subjects. 

I generally use the lens on my Nikon D800 with the camera set to DX format that effectively turns the lens into a 120-600mm lens. 

What do I think of the lens?  Before I reply, a couple of notes.  Shooting the lens made me learn “good long lens” technique.  Between the length of the lens and the small pixel size of the Nikon D800, you must keep the lens very still.  The slightest movement will produce blur.  Because the depth-of-field is so narrow, you must focus accurately on your subject. 

I intend to go through a series of shots and describe various aspects of the lens. 

Today’s photograph comes from one of my visits to Brazos Bend State Park.  I was taken relatively early in the morning when the sun was very low in the sky.  I focused on the bird’s eye. 

Enjoy 

Camera settings:  Nikon D800 (DX format), 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 at 600mm (effectively), ISO 100, f/8 at 1/250^th of a second on a tripod. 

Post Processing: 

Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance.

Amy Blake’s Academy of Dance Recital—No 5

 

To me, ballet is the most graceful art form there is.  Photographing ballet dancers is probably my favorite subject matter—in spite of the fact that I am not really that good at it and I have not done it very often.  Still, when I get to do it, I really enjoy it.

Today’s photo is totally about grace.  I took this photo early in the performance and was still thinking that I needed to use the lowest ISO that I could.   It was shot at:  ISO 2800, f/5.6 and 1/90^th of a second.  Pushing the ISO to 6400 and opening the f-stop to f/2.8 would have allowed me to use a shutter speed of 1/750^th of a second which, in turn, would have probably frozen her back leg and produced a better photograph.

Live, photograph and learn.

Enjoy

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 140mm, ISO 2800, f/5.6 at 1/90^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance, and cropped image.

Amy Blake’s Academy of Dance Recital—No 4

Not much to say about today’s photo—I was going for color and contrast. 

The only tricky thing about today’s photo was the fact that I got the idea as other dancers were “doing their thing” and so I set my camera to take five bracketed shots (-1EV to -6EV) since I was not sure that I knew how dark I wanted the image.  This shot is at -3EV.   

Enjoy.

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 125mm, ISO 6400, f/4.8 at 1/500^th of a second on a tripod. 

Post Processing: 

Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance, cropped image and adjusted the red in the image (saturation and luminance).

Amy Blake’s Academy of Dance Recital—No 3

 

A couple comments about my blog:  I have been hacked.  The last two posting have had lots of comments from a travel site.  I do not know how this happened but it did and to date I have not learned how it can be stopped. 

Next, I was asked if I used any noise reduction for the photo that was taken at ISO 6400.  No.  I did no noise reduction for the posting that I used.  If I were to print that photo, I would probably do a little noise reduction in Lightroom 4. 

Today’s photo to me is about lighting.  I like the way that the stage lighting was selectively on parts of the dancers.  To me, it did a great job showing of the power of the dancer. 

Enjoy 

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 125mm, ISO 6400, f/4.8 at 1/125^th of a second on a tripod. 

Post Processing: 

Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and cropped image.

Amy Blake’s Academy of Dance Recital—No 2

 

It always amazes me the different perspective that people have on photographs.
When I was reviewing all the photos with Amy a few days after the recital, I noticed how she constantly commented on how this girl’s hands were in the wrong place, or her angle was not correct or her spacing was not what it should be. A mother of a girl in today’s photograph just noted how beautiful her daughter look—irrespective of the hands being in the wrong place, etc.

Me, I mainly notice the forms, the color and the contrast within the photo.  I believe that the ladies’ posture adds a dynamic element to the photo and red/black color scheme adds a great deal of contrast and visual impact.  Finally, each of the girls seems to have a different expression on the face that seems to suggest that they each had their own interpretation of what the dance represents.
What do you see when you look at this photograph?
Enjoy 
Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 125mm, ISO 6400, f/5.6 at 1/180^th of a second on a tripod. 
Post Processing: 
Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and cropped image.

Amy Blake’s Academy of Dance Recital—No 1

A few weeks ago, I photographed Amy Blake’s Academy of Dance Recital that was held at San Jacinto Junior Collage.  I was more than blown away by both the quality of the dance and the theatre.

Let me put a plug-in for Amy Blake’s Academy of Dance.  Amy and her instructors are top notch people—the type of people that you want to teach your daughter. 

This was a true learning experience.  At the beginning of the performance, I had my camera set on aperture priority, ISO in auto adjusting mode and auto white balance.  I quickly learned that these setting would produce little more than bad photos.  I played around with the settings and finally settled on ISO 3200-6400, manual mode, f/4, 1/250^th of a second and white balance set to 3850.  These setting generally got me in the ballpark!  I did get too much blur on some of the dancer’s jumps, but that is one of the problems photographing fast moving subjects in low light.

A big problem photographing something like a dance recital is the changing light—both color and intensity.  It took me a while to make sure that I shot when the dancers entered various lighted areas.  This did limit some of the shots that I got, but it did improve my success rate.

Today’s photo is totally about the dancer’s movement.  Overall, there is very little blur—virtually none in her upper body, but some in her lower legs.

Enjoy

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 135mm, ISO 5000, f/2.8 at 1/250^th of a second on a tripod.

Post Processing:

Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and cropped image.

The Mighty EARTHQUAKES

For today’s post, I am not a photographer; I am a proud grandfather.

Chloe’s team, the Earthquakes, lost a heartbreak first game in the playoff.  They just did not play-up to their abilities.  Luckily the tournament was double-elimination.

They stormed back and won the remaining four games to win the consolation bracket.

Although I was impressed with the softball skills the girls showed in the final four games, I was more impressed with the determination anf focus.

Congratulations, Earthquakes!

Enjoy.

REAL Baseball

Cameron Julio Patrick who will be four in June is a baseball player.  He plays for the New York Yankees.  He is a very proud Yankee.  He wears his baseball hat constantly and on game days he is ready and standing at the door, ready to go at least 30 minutes before it is time to go.

His biggest disappointment so far this season:  he has not caught all the balls hit by the opposing team—even though he will chase down every ball.

Today’s photo is all about how a three/four year old T-ball game looks.  You will note that each player has his own personal coach standing beside him in the infield.  Also, some of the players take a slightly more relaxed stance than the major leaguers. 

As far as I am concerned, this is REAL BASEBALL!

Enjoy

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 28-300mm f/3.5~5.6 at 28mm, ISO 200, f/13 at 1/180^th of a second.

Post Processing:

Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and cropped image.

Spring Break—No. 7

Before I leave my “Spring Break” photos, I thought I would show one more photograph of the Library of Congress. In this photograph, I wanted to show off the detail work in the marble staircase along with all the different lines formed by the staircase, pillars and ceiling.
If you go to Washington, D.C. make sure you put the Library of Congress on your “to see list.”
Enjoy 
Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 28-300mm f/3.5~5.6 at 28mm, ISO 2000, f/11 at 1/15^th of a second with my camera supported by pillar in the lobby. 
Post Processing: 
Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and used adjustment brush to increase exposure and decrease shadows on staircase.

Spring Break—No. 6

 

Before I get into today’s photo, I would like to address two questions that I had regarding my last post—is the Nikon 28-300 mm f/3.5~5.6 my favorite lens.  No.  I am not sure I have a favorite lens.  However, for travel, street photography and candid family shots, it is my lens of choice.  Why?  It is remarkable sharp (even thought the lens specs might suggest otherwise).  Next, it is extremely versatile which fits into travel, street photography and candid family shots very well.  On vacation I now travel with only two lenses—this one and Nikon 50mm f/1.8 (for extreme low light shots).  I do not think I have ever used this lens for any of my professional work.  Even though I do not use it for my professional work, Jay Maisel and Scott Kelby do and I do not think you can argue with their abilities as photographers.

Most everyone has seen photographs of the Library of Congress, but almost all of those photographs are of the main reading room.  As a result, most people have never seen photographs of the main entrance—which is a shame since it is very impressive.

The building was opened in 1897 and cost about $6.5 million (no idea as to what that would be in 2013 dollars).  Today the library contains more that 145 million items that fill the equivalent of 745 miles of shelves—most impressive!  Today, the library acquires new holdings at rate of 10,000 items per day.  Not sure that there are 10,000 items a day that need to be acquired, but then I am sure that the Library of Congress believes that it must do its part to help spend $3.7 trillion each year.

I wanted this photoraph to be totally about the details of the main lobby. 

Enjoy

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 28-300mm f/3.5~5.6 at 44mm, ISO 900, f/11 at 1/15^th of a second with my camera supported by pillar in the lobby.

Post Processing:

Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance.

Spring Break—No. 5

 

I believe that if you are a photographer and go to Washington, D.C., you must photograph a subway station.  I think the boys in D.C. did a good job designing the subway stations.  However, I do not like the subway system in D.C. because it is not  nearly as user-friendly as the New York or Paris systems.

Here, I wanted to show the station and put some movement into the shot so I used a shutter speed of ½ of a second.  I waited until a train was entering the station.  It is my understanding that you cannot use a tripod so I braced my elbows on my knees to help stabilize the camera.

I like the movement of the train, the details of the station and how the light plays on different parts of the station.

Enjoy

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 28-300mm f/3.5~5.6 at 44mm, ISO 1400, f/11 at 1/2 of a second with my camera supported on my knees.

Post Processing:

Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added vibrance.

Spring Break—No. 4

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is unlike any other museum in the world.  It contains probably the greatest collection of air and space vehicles in the world.  To me, there are two things that make it special:  (1) the range of air craft, from the beginning of man flight to outer space; and, (2) large planes hanging light models throughout the museum.

Today’s photos demonstrate the range of aircraft within the museum.  The Sprit of St. Louis that was the first airplane with a single pilot to go from New York to Paris.  As I was looking at the plane, I thought about JD’s and my trip to Paris last November—flight time 10 hours, large comfortable seats, movies (too many), decent movies and lots of wine!   Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight from New York to Paris—31 hours, cramped seats, no restroom, cold sandwiches, no movies and NO wine!

Within 30 feet of the Spirit of St. Louis is one of NASA’s experimental jet that travels at about 2.5 times the speed of sound.  This plane would have allowed Lindberg to make the flight in about two hours.  I could do without the movies, food and even the wine for two hours!

Enjoy

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 28-300mm f/3.5~5.6 at 28mm, ISO 1600, f/8 at 1/30^th of a second with my camera supported by the railing.

Post Processing:

Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added vibrance and cropped the second photo.