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...


Click on a photo to see a larger version...

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).

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

First shots with the DA* 300mm...

Nice lens!
:D...

(click the photo to see a larger version...)

Bees...

w/ the -F 1.7x adapter...

A Damselfly...

A duck...(no TC for the following shots...)

not sure what these guys are, I think maybe bank swallows...

And a bumblebee video (somewhere in the upload process, the quality got a bit mangled, full size looks better...)

click the screenshot to link to the video...