Saturday, May 30, 2015

Hummer No. 1

FEMALE RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 30, 2015

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 plus Pentax HD 1.4x teleconverter (420mm)
1/180 f8 with on-board flash
ISO 400

This one was captured through the front window with flash on a gray, rainy day—not the best conditions, but acceptable.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Sunset 5/27/15

SUNSET OVER LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 27, 2015

Pentax K-5
Sigma 18-250 at 18mm
1/80 sec. f8
ISO 400

The best of the sunsets won't be here until August, when summer storm cloud formations in the evening add considerable moodiness to the sky, but this late May lakescape isn't bad.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Birch owl

OWL FACE IN CUT BIRCH, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 21, 2015

Pentax K-5
Sigma 18-250 at 31mm
1/500 sec. f8
ISO 6400

Deborah Abbott was walking through a neighbor's yard when she spotted the likeness of an owl in the stump of a freshly cut birch log. The camera, preset at f8 and 1/500th of a second, automatically raised the ISO to compensate for the deep shade in which the stump lay. This setting enables the photographer to concentrate on composition without worrying about the technicals.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 16, 2015

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 plus Pentax HD 1.4x teleconverter (420mm)
1/60 sec. f8
ISO 400

There's a lot wrong with this shot. Too much clutter from the feeders, for instance. But the pose of the grosbeak is lovely, so I'm calling this a keeper. Someone with better Photoshop skills could probably eliminate the clutter.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Blue Jay

BLUE JAY, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 14, 2015

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 plus Pentax HD 1.4x teleconverter (420mm)
1/160 sec. f8
ISO 800

It was a gray, overcast evening and I was shooting handheld through a plate glass window at high ISO and a slow shutter speed, but in my opinion this turned out to be an acceptable although unexciting photo.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Goldfinches

MALE AND FEMALE GOLDFINCHES, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 13, 2015

Both photos:
Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 plus Pentax HD 1.4x teleconverter (420mm)
Top: 1/400 sec. f6.7
Bottom: 1/250 sec. f6.7

The birds were in deep shade, so I opened the aperture on the F* 300 to the full f4.5 (the teleconverter results in loss of one f/stop, resulting in f/6.7 on the camera). The results were pleasingly sharp.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Red-breasted Nuthatch

RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 13, 2015

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 plus Pentax HD 1.4x teleconverter (420mm)
1/320 f6.7
ISO 400

The numbers of different species at our feeders are beginning to increase as the weather improves, but I was lucky to capture this nuthatch in the instant he alighted on a suet feeder and immediately took off for other parts. The little birds never sit still for their portraits.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Chipping Sparrow

CHIPPING SPARROW, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 9, 2015

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 plus Pentax HD 1.4x teleconverter (420mm)
1/1000 sec/ f8
ISO 800

Chippies are common around our cabin feeders but often prefer to forage for spilled seed in the grass underneath them while goldfinches and siskins battle it out for space on the perches.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Purple Finch

PURPLE FINCH, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 7, 2015

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 plus Pentax HD 1.4x teleconverter (420mm)
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 800

I had to kick up the ISO in order to get sufficient shutter speed to capture this outlier in the horde of pine siskins that settled upon our feeders yesterday. A little work with Lightroom smoothed out the resultant noise.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Pine Siskin

PINE SISKIN, GREEN, MICHIGAN, MAY 7, 2015

Pentax K-3
Pentax F* 300mm f4.5 plus Pentax HD 1.4x teleconverter (720mm)
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 400

Our cabin in the woods seems to have become Siskin Central, with dozens upon dozens of the little finches on the feeders and the ground underneath scrabbling for seed. I was pleased with the performance of the 420mm handheld lens combination and its photo quality, which held up despite a heavy crop of the image.