Manifold Suns Setting...

click to see larger...

Shot with:

• Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• Lens: Tamron AF 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD IF Macro

and the
Acratech GP Ballhead

These ballheads are awesome, Check 'em out at bigheadphoto.com!

Good timing in Yosemite...

Fortuitous timing allowed a chance to catch the moon rising over Half Dome, I had to setup quickly as the moon was climbing rapidly, but it all worked out...

Shot with the Canon 5D Mark II + the Canon 100-400mm L from "Tunnel View".

A bit out of the ordinary...

I mostly post landscapes up here, but got a couple shots of "Buddy" today (my wife's parent's dog for those few of you who read this but aren't my immediate family ;-) that I liked so I thought I'd show some versatility here...

Great Egret Catching Lunch...

I got down to the Cosumnes River Preserve today with my long lens setup (Tamron SP 400mm F4 + 1.7x AFTC + K20D) and wandered around for a couple hours not getting close to birds :p... Then, almost back to the truck, I saw this egret along the path. Since the last egret I tried to approach had bugged out when I got within a couple hundred yards, I decided to take it slow, only to watch aghast as a couple of birdwatchers walked right up to it from the other direction... It turns out this bird was so engrossed in the hunt that it didn't even register the presence of the people. I wasn't able to get a close as I wanted before the action started and when it did, I plunked down my tripod and started firing (filled the buffer a couple times in the process)...

Stalking Lunch...



Got 'im...






Look how close he walked to the folks on the trail (well, there's some compression from the 700mm lens... those feet are probably 10-15 feet behind the egret).










Then I grabbed my 5DII with the 100-400mm L at f/7.1 and stalked in a bit closer before he launched away...

Autumn Day in Yosemite...

Finally! Yosemite Valley, and I didn't miss all the color (though it's almost gone). I even got lucky and had clouds...

Tree Hug...

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Some Yosemite Color...

My son and I went to Yosemite the other day... found some nice color around Siesta Lake and some aspens near Crane Flat...


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A three shot pano of Siesta Lake, stitched with Hugin.







Two bracketed frames with the DA* 16-50mm @ 16mm, f/5, blended with Enfuse (HDR).

Mountain Pano...

The mountains northwest of June Lake. Nine portrait orientation shots were stitched with hugin for this pano, the full dimensions are 15,088 x 2905 px.

Click the image below to see a 4,674 x 900 px version...

Mono Lake Sunrise Panorama...

Click to see a larger version (much larger ;-)...

Mono Lake at Sunrise II...

Here's a few more shots from sunrise the other day at Mono Lake in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains...

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Just before sunrise...



Just after...

Acorn Woodpecker...

I went shooting at a local pond last week, hoping to photograph the wading birds I see there every time I drive by (Great Blue Herons, Egrets, etc...) Well it turns out that all those birds were perched in the trees which line the trail next to the pond, and as I walked along, I heard (but didn't see) them all departing one by one... I hung around about an hour and a half, but then I had to head for home - in that time they never came back, there are other ponds nearby they probably went to...

I did get to shoot some active Acorn Woodpeckers, so good practice with the tele rig (and I do need practice)...

All shots with the K-7, Pentax-F 1.7x AFTC, and Tamron SP 400mm f/4 @ f/8 (for f/14 as calculated by the TC).

Click a photo to see a larger version...









(looks like he's hiding in this one...)

Mono Lake at Sunrise...

Wild Skies...

Here's a few from last week. Very un-californian skies... Mammatus Clouds!

(click for a larger version...)

Lookin' for birds - found bugs instead...

Saw some ducks at the pond - they departed when I got within 200m... Saw a killdeer - it left when I took my tripod off my pack... Saw a splash when a frog jumped into the water and disappear (saw that a lot actually).

Luckily, some bugs showed up so the walk wasn't a total wash ;-)...

First the Mantis shots...


Click the photo to see a larger version...

DA* 300mm, f/10



DA* 300mm, f/8



DA* 300mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/22



Tamron SP 400mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/11





Now the Dragonfly...

Tamron SP 400mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/16



Tamron SP 400mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/16



DA* 300mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/14
(I sure wish I had avoided the foreground blur on the right of this one)



Tamron SP 400mm + Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter, equivalent f/16