Sun. 04.02.17 – Still at least three weeks before fishing season starts and these three gentlemen are jumping the gun a bit…
On another note, there were skiers who had hiked up Mt. Laurel, skied down, and then hiked back to the Convict Lake parking lot in their Ski Boots!!! Ski boots for hiking the long trail around the lake – brave humans!
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Lumia 950.
Photo of a Painted lady butterfly sipping nectar on a plum tree taken by Ms. Jen with her Nikon D800 and a 70-200mm f/4 lens.
Fri. 03.03.17 – Photo of local environmental art taken by Ms. Jen this afternoon with her Nikon D800 and a 70-200mm lens.
Tues. 02.28.17 – Last evening I went out to my photography corner of Brockman Lane and Dixon Lane*, so that I could take photos of the New Moon as it set behind Mt. Tom to the west. I used the US Navy Observatory Moon rise and set calculator to figure out when it would set and when civil twilight would be so I could take the above new moon photo and attempt to take a photo of the Mars & Uranus conjunction.
When I drove out at 6:30pm, it was approximately 42F / 5.5C and there were frogs singing their little hearts out. Odd but true. Frogs trying to get laid in February when it is still dipping below 32F / 0C at night. By the time I finished nearly 40 minutes later, it was at least 5 degrees colder, a wind had picked up, and the frogs had wisely retreated. My gloves** were not equal to the task at hand and my fingers were sending mayday alerts.
The good news is that I was able to take a series of photos of the Moon and Venus (Instagram), the Moon setting behind Mt. Tom (Flickr), three photos of Mars & Uranus.
Why no posted photos of Mars & Uranus with the used Nikon 70-200mm f4 lens taken with my Nikon D800? Post-processing is my achilles heel. I love to shoot, but I hate post-processing. Working in Lightroom and Photoshop bring out the worst of my personality and work habits. I am normally a patient person who can spend hours crafting a thing, but not in photo post-processing.
Last night, the Flickr version of the Moon Setting on Mt. Tom was my favorite of the three photos I took within a minute and then processed the RAW files to jpg. This morning, the photo I posted above is my favorite. But the truth of the matter is that only the Instagram photo that I took with my camera phone captured the color of the late dusk sky correctly.
No matter how I fiddled in Lightroom last night, I could not get the RAW files to have the right two tones of the late dusk sky. I had to resort to using split tone highlights and shadows – this feels like it is too much processing. But that is the point of shooting RAW, I get to do my own processing and not let the camera generate the jpg.
Anywhoo, forgive my grousing. If you have a clear horizon, do go look at the new moon as it sets tonight. Astro Bob has a nice blog post on the new moon for the 27th & 28th of February, as well as how to find Mars & Uranus with binoculars.
*Do you all sense a theme here? Local high point with low sagebrsuh so the view of the Eastern Sierra, the White Mtns., and the Owens Valley is good.
** I wonder how my Finnish photo friends shoot at night and dawn in winter with a tripod? I must inquire what gloves they use that allow for dexterity & flexibility but keep one’s hands warm.
Wed. 02.15.17 – Photo of Mt. Morrison and the mountains around Convict Lake by Ms. Jen with her Lumia 950.
From last Thursday’s trip to the Huntington Library and Gardens, a photo of the last remnants of the Prunus Mume blossoms.
Photo by Jenifer Hanen with her Nikon D800 and a Nikon 70-200mm lens at The Huntington, San Marino, CA.
Thurs. 02.09.17 – I am absolutely delighted with the Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/4 VR ED lens that I am testing, as the photos are sharp all the way through the zoom range and the color is fantastic. I put the lens on my Nikon D800 this afternoon at The Huntington Library and Gardens and mostly had a small career as a bee paparazzi. When I was walking out, I saw a beautiful, young black phoebe perched on a young magnolia tree less than 10 feet from me.
I stopped. I moved slowly. The black phoebe was wary. I waited. It stayed. I shot about seven photos of it watching me. I love this one, as its eye is in full view.
Photo by Jenifer Hanen with her Nikon D800 and a Nikon 70-200mm lens at The Huntington, San Marino, CA.
