Festival of Nations, Albany, NY

These shots had to be in color!  Beautiful native clothing and wonderful to see the children of so many nations side by side.  Shot with a Nikon D7200, 600B Speedlight with a Lumiquest Ultrasoft soft box.  Settings were generally ISO 800, F5.6, 1/50-1200 sec with AWB using a Nikon 18-140 VR lens.  Enjoy, Jeff

Best Bird Shot!!

Really lucky this afternoon.  Able to time this shot of the Chickadee coming in for a landing!  Equipment: Nikon D7200, Sigma 150-600mm VR lens at 600mm, ISO 2000, F8, 1/340sec.  Nikon 600B Speedlight fired with remote transmitter at 1/8 power.  Aluminum covered cardboard reflector to bird's left. Small LED light bank over bird's head.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Refining Backyard Bird Photography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I was working to get some more inflight images.  Quite challenging.  Gear setup the same as with recent posts but because the light was better I was able to use 1/8 flash power which actually gives you a quicker burst of light than full or half power.  The duration is shorter so with a fast shutter speed of 1/320 sec, greater ability to capture spread wings.  Timing the shot is the challenge!  I am learning to anticipate behavior unique to each type of bird to help me fire the shutter at the right moment.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

A New Approach

INFLIGHT

 

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Concerned that my first approach was not getting enough light as the perch was at the edge of the woods, I placed a stand in the open, created a branch to the feeder as a perch, set up the flash and added a reflector to the pole throwing and bouncing ambient and flash burst on to the subject.  Much more pleased with the results on this overcast day.  I loved the flying bird but of course had to get rid of the feeder on the left.  That is why G-d made Photoshop.  Enjoy, Jeff

Digital Infrared

    

 

 

 

 

Today I ventured out with my "new" old Nikon D200 which I had converted to a pure infrared camera with a 850nm filter.  Only IR light hits the sensor, thus images represent the heat of objects.  These were shot this afternoon at Five Rivers Environmental Center in Delmar, NY.  The camera is used without need for a red r72 filter to reduce visible light, just expose, compose and shoot after a custom white balance is set.  Different but interesting to me.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Rugby

The Scrum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I knew Albany had a Rugby team, the Albany Knickerbockers, but I have never photographed them.  Till today. They play at the Frisbee Ave sports field.  What an intense physical game!  I used the Nikon D7200 with the Sigma 150-600mm VR lens.  Shot at F8, 1/2000 sec mostly and Auto ISO.  I shot 836 pics, distilled it down to 15 to save and picked 5 to send.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Back Yard Birds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the insects are leaving for the season I challenged myself to try small bird photography.  What fun!  I set up a perch/stand from some branches about 25 feet from our back porch which served as a "blind", allowing me to see the birds but  far enough away that they did not care about me. On the tree to where the perch was nailed I set up an oiled sunflower seed feeder.  About 4 feet in front of the perch I set up a remote flash to fire at 1/2 power.  The Nikon D7200 was attached to my new SIgma 150-600mm VR lens at 600mm, AWB,  ISO 1250,F8.1/200 sec with a wireless flash transmitter.  I used a ML-3 remote to fire the camera to reduce camera-lens vibration. 

Images were shot as JPEGs and lightly edited in iPhoto.

Overall for my first shots, I am pretty, pretty pleased!

Enjoy, Jeff

 

Nature's Offerings of the Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Went over to Washington Park where their are some beautiful remaining flowers.  With flowers, there are bees, busy doing their job gathering nectar for the winter hive.  Also at the late afternoon sun position there was a nice degree of back lighting helping me to catch the pattern in the broad leaf, which I converted to monochrome.  Incredible patterns,right!?

Equipment was a Nikon D7200, Tokina ATX MAcro with a 1.4 tele-extender and a Nikon SB-600 speedlight shot through a softbox, camera mounted.  Usually I shoot this insects at F14, 1/200 and auto ISO with TTL flash at -1.0 stops. 

 Enjoy, Jeff

 

Labor Day Bugs

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