Thursday, 11 of March of 2010
Landscape | Wildlife | Nature
Rummaging around in some old files from last summer I ran across these images that I guess I dismissed back then. Both images were captured from the bow of Mike’s boat on the Missouri river near Blair. I like the dark background of the first one and the wispy grass that is splayed out behind the bird. It was pretty hot that day.
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Pentax K10D w/ Pentax smc A*600mm - 1/1500s at f/5.6 iso400
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Pentax K10D w/ Pentax smc A*600mm at 1/180s at f/5.6 iso400
Bored; haven’t been out much lately because of the weather; felt the need to make a photograph while making photographs; made this one with in-camera HDR; Pentax K7 and Pentax DA12-24mm @ 12mm. Somethin’ to do . . .
I was a little peeved after using a $5 bill to pay the $3 entry fee (had no singles) to DeSoto Bend NWR today only to find out that almost all the roads were closed. But as I was leaving only about 10 minutes after I got there, I spotted this eagle right near the entrance. He was perched in a tree very close to the road. The light was excellent. Captured with the K7 and A*600mm.
A bargain at only $5!
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1/800s at f/8, iso 200 600mm
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1/1600s at f/5.6, iso 200 600mm
Here’s another image from 12/31.
I’m told this is a Cairns Birdwing (I thought it was just a yellow butterfly).
Anyway, the PP on this version included noise reduction on the background and sharpening with NIK Sharpener Pro 3.0 (RAW and Display) only on the butterfly body, legs, and lower wing.
A little sharpening goes a long way. Too much?
Pentax K7 w/ smc DA*60-250mm
I took the day off from work; spent some time at the zoo on the last day of 2009.
Shutter speed on this image was 1/160s at f/4.0 iso400; focal length 220mm. In addition to my “normal post-processing” (minor curves and a bit of saturation) the PP on this image also included noise reduction with NIK Define 2.0, contrast and saturation enhancement with NIK Viveza 2.0, and RAW and Display sharpening with NIK Sharpener Pro 3.0. The new versions of the NIK plug-ins are quite nice and have a consistent and integrated interface.
It’s been a great year! I’m looking forward to an even better 2010 with lots and lots of photo ops!!! Happy New Year to all!!!
Merry Christmas to all. I hope the weather did not ruin your holiday. Since just about everyone will be snow bound for most of this weekend, I figured now would be a good time for this post.
I’m looking for 4 to 5 photographers to join me for a photography tour to Costa Rica in January 2011. I was there recently with my wife but had little time for photography. Therefore, I’ve decided to go back and focus (no pun intended) on photographing its incredible flora and fauna.
I’m putting together a tour of some fantastic places for landscape and wildlife photography. When I was there a few weeks ago, I met Freddy, a bilingual naturalist guide. We discussed the possibility of putting together a photography tour and are currently working out the details. I invite you to visit the Costa Rica 2011 page on my blog for preliminary details http://scenicaperture.com/costa-rica-photography-excursion/ and to view a few images I got while there the first time.
I figure we would need 4 to 5 others to make it possible. After you’ve had a chance to visit my blog and see what I’m thinking, let me know if you have questions and whether you are interested. I’d be happy to provide more information.
After visiting Costa Rica, it is easy to see why Steven Spielberg chose the Central American country as the setting for the 1993 movie Jurassic Park. To me, these images portray the feeling of a beautiful “lost world” where dinosaurs might in fact be lurking somewhere in the rain forest.
Here are a couple of my favorite landscapes from the trip and another iguana who assumed a striking pose. For landscapes on this trip, I used only the DA 15 Ltd f/4, FA 31 Ltd f/1.8, and my favorite lens of all time, the FA 43 Ltd f/1.9. Additional landscapes are available on Flickr. Click here if you are interested.
PENTAX K-7, FA 31mm f/1.8 AL Ltd 1/125s f/6.3 iso200
Arenal Volcano
PENTAX K-7,FA 43mm f/1.9 Ltd 1s f/5.0 iso100
Rio Negro-Rincon de la Vieja Area
PENTAX K-7, DA* 300mm f/4 1/180s f/4.0 iso400 fill flash
Green Iguana - Palo Verde National Park
Freddy Vindas-C.Rwow@hotmail.com
I’ve just returned from six days in Costa Rica. It is a beautiful country with just about everything a nature photographer loves; beaches, mountains, active volcanoes, rain forests, dry forests, waterfalls, butterflies, wildlife, and more. Although photography was not a prime objective of this trip, I did manage to take a few shots. We had the luxury of a superb naturalist guide, Freddy Vindas, for three days. Freddy seemed to know every plant, animal, and place of interest. If we had a question, Freddy had the answer.
Because of the nature of the trip (vacation with wife) and location (very hot and humid) I set out to travel light with regard to photography equipment. I took one body, the Pentax K7, with four prime lenses; DA*300 f/4, DA 15 Ltd f/4, FA 31 Ltd f/1.8, and FA 43 Ltd f/1.9. This kit was easy to carry around and worked out well for a variety of landscapes and wildlife.
The best wildlife viewing was in Palo Verde National Park. Although we spent only one morning on the Tempisque river, we saw many birds and monkeys. I was hoping to get some good shots of american crocodiles but we were there at high tide so they were mostly submerged with only their heads visible. Although we saw many birds that are common around here (great blue herons and great egrets) we also saw snowy egrets, american wood storks, osprey, little blue herons, and rosegate spoon bills. The most common critter on the river was the iguana. They were everywhere; in the trees and scampering on the ground.
I’ll be posting some landscapes as I finish up with post processing. I’ve worked through most of the wildlife shots. Here are a couple of my favorite images. These images were all captured with the DA*300 mounted to the K7. Many others are available on Flickr. Click here if you are interested.
PENTAX K-7, DA* 300mm f/4 – 1/180s f/4.0 iso400 – fill flash
Pentax PENTAX K-7, DA* 300mm f/4 - 1/800s f/4.0 iso200
Pentax PENTAX K-7, DA* 300mm f/4 - 1/1250s f/4.0 iso200
After 6 days of 95 degrees near the equator in Costa Rica, returning to home to dig the car out of 10″ of snow at the airport parking lot was quite a shock to the system.
I’ve got a lot of images to sort through and process. Check back in the coming days for new images of Costa Rica. In the mean time, here’s some K7 video of the beach:
Pentax K7 with Pentax smc A* 600mm f/5.6 ED (IF) 1/800s @ f6.3 iso200
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