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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, cropped — 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Almost
A certain kind of trees around here (cottonwoods, I think) have seeds that float lazily in big white puffy puffs. When I was a kid, we called these “Santa Clauses”, and if you caught one, you made a wish then sent it back on its way. I taught this to Anthony.
They're fairly common, so whenever I was out with Anthony and he tried for one, I tried to photographic the sequence. This gave me much-needed practice with quick-response manual focus, and after a bunch of tries, an okay result with what should be in focus almost in focus....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Just... One... More... Moment...
They're very light, and often merely the approach in an attempt to grab one causes it to fluff away, so Anthony had to make several lunges...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waiting for Attempt #2
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lunge!
unsuccessful
Eventually he caught it, pinched between his hands...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, cropped — 1/250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looks Empty, But It's There
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Making a Wish
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sending It On Its Way
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1/250 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Helping Hand
so to speak
Leave a comment...
So sweet. I really like his making a wish moment. It is so genuinely pure like everything else that little boys do. ( partial to boys since I have 2 boys!)
Great series of photos (I like the wish one, too), although I can’t help but wonder why you feel compelled to practice manual focus on moving subjects, especially because you have no MF lenses.
Sadly, Nikon’s autofocus can’t seem to pick out and lock focus on the whispy fluff of the seed against the busy, high-contrast background. Maybe my lens is defective 🙂 —Jeffrey
Um…Sonal, I, too, love little boys, having had four along the way , but the expression “…so genuinely pure like everything else they do….” would not have immediately sprung to My mind. At least not once they were out of diapers. But I have to admit that Anthony does appear angelic here, doesn’t he?
I wonder whether there is a way to get the autofocus to handle that. The Nikon autofocus system gets such good reviews but I haven’t had much luck when I have really needed it (like trying to get an owl in flight or some motocross bikes zipping by).
Did you try and play with the AF settings much (I was told that the AF would speed up if I lowered the number of points and AF area from 51 to a smaller number – on a D3. When the owl would appear I had so little time to aim and shoot and the AF just wouldn’t lock)?
There’s no way in the world AF could handle this situation. The seed fluff is almost invisible. —Jeffrey
Grandma Friedl, I think you also had Marcina to balance out 4 boys 🙂 While my son who is 6 months younger than Anthony has moved on from wishing for world peace to Nintendos and Wii..I still see so much purity and calmness in him.
Yes, Anthony is a very special little boy in every sense.
You must be missing the kids now that they all went back !
Yes, Sonal, it is very quiet around here today, since Jeffrey and Anthony left yesterday (and arrive safely and very tired back in Japan this morning.). Now I have all the toys and things to put away until next time. ( It will be nice to walk across the floor without stepping on Legos again) Happily, I will have warm memories that I can bring up easily by just looking at all the photos that I, Jeffrey and the others took. Thanks for your comments.