The Mote in My Eye

Hali — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 02:08:18 +0000

Another in the backyard series with my 500mm f/4.0 lens. An American Goldfinch taking a momentary rest on a weed I hadn’t gotten around to pulling.

Cropped to 50% Nik Dfine and a small amount of Nik Sharpener is all.

Juvenile American Sparrow

Hali — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:10:23 +0000

Taken with that amazing Canon 500mm f/4.0L lens on the 5DMII. ISO was set to 1250. The only editing done was to use Nik Dfine to clear up the noise. I’m amazed at the bokeh along with the sharpness. Now if I could only hire a sherpa to carry the beastie for me I’d be even happier.

Nuthatch

Hali — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:27:03 +0000

Another image from my first try with the 500mm f/4.0L lens. A nuthatch eying the bird feeder:

Nuthatch

I’m still amazed how amazingly sharp this lens is. Processed just gently in photoshop cs5 with Nik plugins – Viveza 2 to give an overall brightness to the image since it was shot under trees, and White Neutralizer from Color Efex Pro 3.0 to adjust the white balance. Sharpened gently with Sharpener Pro.

Happiness is…

Hali — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:17:47 +0000

A 500mm f/4.0L lens. It arrived today, a day early, and it is a BEAST. It weighs 9.5 lbs and comes in a hard case (which is apparently a good thing because the box from Canon that was inside the intact box from B&H was all crumpled on one end with the Styrofoam crunched up good inside). The Wimberly head for the tripod comes tomorrow so I hand held it, well, not really hand held it, I’m not up to that – yet – I sat in a chair in the backyard and balanced my elbow on my knee or on the arm of the chair. The birds and squirrels were very cooperative after an initial fly off. This is one of my favorites, just for the color and sharpness, it’s a bit busy for me with that branch in the foreground but he didn’t stay still very long. 50% crop, Dfine and Pro Contrast Nik filters.

Male Cardinal on Branch

Egyptian Lotus

Hali — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:28:40 +0000

The Lotuses are blooming down in Wickford and although it was a bit windy and the sun was too high in the sky I was able to get some nice images of the new buds.

I thought I’d try something different so I dug out my old Canon 300L f/4.0 and my 1.4X tele. It gives me a bit more reach than my 100-400 and I think it’s a bit sharper.

Maine Sunset

Hali — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 03:31:04 +0000

I went looking for the sunset tonight, it was beautiful but I had no oomph. Drove to Jamestown, wasn’t up to the crowds and I just couldn’t get enthused with the composition, all those beautiful puffy clouds stayed inland. So I came home and took a drive through Providence, stopped for a few shots of the First Baptist Church steeple against the blue sky and the puffy clouds but it still didn’t do anything for me. So I was working on a few older images and came across the pictures we took on Cadillac Mountain the first night we were up in Bar Harbor. It was a spectacular sunset, the drive up had been rainy all the way until we got to Ellsworth then the sun started peeping through the clouds. The colors were simply amazing and I loved the layers of the mountains in the distance and their blue tones.

Tech stuff:

Canon 50D, Canon 24-105L f/4.0 ISO 400 1/6 sec at f/16 -2/3ev. Processed in CS5 with nik Dfine and Viveza 2 to brighten and increase contrast. Sharpening by Tony Kuyper’s sharpening action.

Lovely Lupines

Hali — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:39:44 +0000

Every time I see lupines I think of my BFF from college Eva and the trip we took circumnavigating Nova Scotia the year I started practicing in Newport. Mike and I took a too short trip to Acadia National Park three weekends ago, just before the beginning of the summer season and luckily the lupines were in bloom. So Eva, this Lupine is for you.

Tech Specs
Canon 5DMII, Canon 24-105L f/4 @55mm, ISO 100, Slight brightness and color adjustment with Nik Plugins in CS5 and sharpening done by Tony Kuyper’s sharpening Action.

Oystercatcher and chick 2

Hali — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 02:10:26 +0000

Taken during the workshop Roamin’ with Roman given by Roman Kurywczak and Denise Ippolito at Nickerson Beach on LI, NY.

Lesser Tern “Glamour Glow”

Hali — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:12:37 +0000

Taken during the workshop Roamin’ with Roman given by Roman Kurywczak and Denise Ippolito at Nickerson Beach on LI, NY. Cropped in CS5 and applied a “glamour glow” from Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0.

Oystercatcher and Chick

Hali — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:10:13 +0000

Taken during the workshop Roamin’ with Roman given by Roman Kurywczak and Denise Ippolito at Nickerson Beach on LI, NY.