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

Cliché Droplet Shots..

I know the whole water droplet thing is cliché, but I love 'em, and anyway I think there's enough uniqueness in these (the "rainbokeh") to make 'em worth sharing... I was watering this plant (ok, I looked it up, it's Oxalis Triangularis - purple shamrock) and watching the water bead on the leaves and I thought, "I haven't shot this cliche lately..."


click the photo to see a larger version...






it's got flowers too...







I noticed that from certain angles, the tiny droplets were refracting the light into tiny droplet rainbows - rainbokeh was born...








Two large planters provide the background color here...

Glossy Ibis at the Pahranagat NWR...

I took 45 minutes out of a recent drive through the Nevada desert to stop at the Pahranagat NWR. Armed with the K-7 / DA* 300mm, I went stalking the local bird population - mostly Glossy Ibis that day...

click a shot to see a larger version...


Prior to launch...



Liftoff...



Climbout...







Cruise...







Approach...



Short Final (and landing)...

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...

Dragonfly Video...

My new Pentax K-7 (amazon link) shoots HD video too... I was playing with the video mode yesterday at Pahranagat Lake, Nv...

High Desert Lightning...

Shot these last night from the airport, I'm pretty happy with them (esp. the first)...

Stormy Sunset in Panaca...

The sun broke out under the ragged edge of the thunderstorm overhead a few evenings ago...

A five shot pano of the fire rigs parked out in the sagebrush...

(click this one for a larger version)


A SEAT plane (Single Engine Air Tanker)...


The helicopter...

Lightning in the North Pahroc Range...