Yellowstone 2013 Visit—#2

Today’s photographs are not about Yellowstone National Park, but, rather something that I found funny. 

We stayed in West Yellowstone, which is just outside the park.  Every morning, we would get a cup of tea (JD) and coffee (me) and head into the park.  We would then sit at one of the parking areas, watch the animals and eat our peanut butter sandwiches and drink our tea and coffee.  To us, this was much better than eating an over-priced, poorly prepared breakfast in a restaurant.  The Woodside Bakery had good tea and coffee, so that was our spot to pick-up our drinks. 

One of things that really surprised us about the park this year was the number of Asians visiting the park.  I would estimate that Asians represented about 40-50% of the people that we saw within the park.  As a result, the most popular restaurant in West Yellowstone for dinner was the Red Lotus, which served mainly Chinese food.   

As proof that capitalism is alive in West Yellowstone, look at the signs of the gun shop two doors down.  The signs advertise services for what people want to do—shoot a machine gun—and accommodate its customer base (note the Chinese characters on the small sign) which according to an employee says the same thing. 

In talking to the owner of the gun shop, he said that his business had almost tripled after he hung the sign in Chinese—which, I guess proves that if you offer a product that people want, tell them that you offer it, they will come. 

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 28-70mm f/2.8 at 50mm, ISO 110, f/6.7 at 1/30^th of a second. 

Post Processing: 

Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Standard preset, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance.

Yellowstone 2013 Visit—#1

 

JD and I just got back from our trip to photograph my nephew’s wedding and our visit to Yellowstone National Park. 

Our visit to Yellowstone did not match our last visit.  Why?  Too many people, and too few animals.  Although the temperatures were generally in the 70’s, the animals were just not moving much except in the very early morning and very late afternoon.  We do not like driving in the dark in the park due to all the animals on the road—just too dangerous for us wimps!  So, I had to settle for shooting other things. 

We spent a lot of time hiking through the various geothermal features—geysers, hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles. 

The color in the hot springs shown in today’s photograph is caused by heat loving organisms that live in and around the hot springs.  The different colors are caused by the varying temperatures of the water as it flows from the hot springs. 

For this photograph, I pre-focused my camera about three feet into the scene and then lowered my camera just above the water.  I wanted a very expansive look to the image so I used f/22 and 24mm focal length.

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 28-70mm f/2.8 at 50mm, ISO 400, f/22 at 1/125^th of a second. 

Post Processing: 

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

Yellowstone—Revisited #7

 

The last time that we visited Yellowstone, it was in mid-September.  All the trees had their fall color on full display.  Something that we really do not see much in Houston, Texas.  In today’s photo, I thought that the yellow in the trees worked extremely well with the blue sky. 

Enjoy.

Camera settings:  Nikon D200, 28-70mm f/2.8 at 50mm, ISO 200, f/13 at 1/500^th of a second on a tripod 

Post Processing

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

Yellowstone—Revisited #6

Almost everyone who goes to Yellowstone visits Old Faithful.  I must admit, the fact that it goes off on such a regular schedule is impressive, but I found that many of the smaller geysers to be much more interesting because of what is around them.  Here, I like the small stream that ran beside the geyser. 

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D200, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 120mm, ISO 200, f/16 at 1/250^th of a second on a tripod 

Post Processing: 

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

Yellowstone—Revisited #5

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We had just finished a hike and were approaching our car when I saw this bus driving towards us.  It looked much like the buses that traveled throughout Arkansas when I was growing-up.  Because of the age of the bus, I decided that I should convert the photo to sepia. 

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D200, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 90mm, ISO 400, f/11 at 1/125^th of a second on a tripod 

Post Processing: 

Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Standard preset, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance and converted to sepia using a preset within LR5.

Yellowstone—Revisited #4

We were hiking one day when we came across this deer.  We decided to take a break, ate a snack and sat and watched her for some time.  When we got to leave, she started following us.  I cannot say how far she followed us, but it was at least 20 minutes. 

Just liked how she looks so natural in the woods. 

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D200, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 90mm, ISO 400, f/8 at 1/90^th of a second on a tripod 

Post Processing: 

Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Standard preset, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance.

Yellowstone—Revisited #3

Sometimes, the scene is so peaceful that all you want to do is sit and take in the moment. 

That was the case as JD and I made our way back to our hotel one evening.  JD does not like being on the road after dark (see last weeks post for the reason) in Yellowstone.  However, she also loves sunset (not so much sunrises because that means getting out of bed early).  She insisted that we stop at a roadside pull-out and watch the sky change colors.  To be honest with you, I was so taken-in by the scene that I only took four shots. 

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D200, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 90mm, ISO 400, f/8 at 1/30^th of a second on a tripod 

Post Processing: 

Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Standard preset, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance, cropped into panorama.

Yellowstone—Revisited #2

 

Recently, Bill, a friend and fellow photographer, asked me about how I decide what to shoot.  I told him that you must think about your photos as a visual story.  You may have one photo to tell the story or a series of photos to tell the story.  Either way, you must shoot what helps you tell that story—which, of course, will vary from story to story. 

Today’s photo is part of the Yellowstone story—traffic jam, Yellowstone style.  As a photograph, this photo is nothing special, but as part of a larger package (think, Yellowstone vacation book or slideshow), it helps tell something about what I experienced in Yellowstone.  Something that is unique to Yellowstone. 

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D200, 24-70mm f/2.8 at 24mm, ISO 200, f/8 at 1/90^th of a second. 

Post Processing: 

Lightroom 5—applied Nikon Standard preset, set white and black points, added clarity, sharpness and vibrance, cropped into panorama and burned top and bottom of photo using the adjustment brush.

Yellowstone—Revisited #1

 

In August, JD and I are going to Montana/Wyoming to photograph my nephew’s wedding/Yellowstone. 

I do not professional photograph weddings; so, my knowledge about the subject is very limited.  I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos on wedding photography, but, I am not sure I really understand what the “Boss” (JD, my bride, for those new to the blog) has gotten me into.  The wedding is in Sydney, Montana—a somewhat hard difficult destination from Houston. 

After the wedding, we plan to drive to Yellowstone National Park (my absolute favorite national park).  Over the weekend, I started reviewing my photographs from our last visit to Yellowstone in September 2006.  

At that time, I was using a Nikon D200, which I considered the best camera I had ever used.  All the RAW images in my Lightroom Catalog were processed in Lightroom 2 or 3.  Looking over the photos, I soon realized just how far cameras and Lightroom have progressed since then.  WOW!  What a change. 

Today’s photo is my favorite from my last visit to Yellowstone.  As far as back story, the only thing that I remember is that I had used a graduated neutral density filter to tone down the sky. 

Enjoy. 

Camera settings:  Nikon D200, 24-70mm f/2.8 at 26mm, ISO 400, f/22 at 1/13^th of a second on a tripod. 

Post Processing: 

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

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).