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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Morning Company
sitting on the veranda with a cup of coffee and the camera
I joined my mom on the veranda for coffee this cool, sunny, exceedingly-pleasant morning, but knowing we would be accosted by all manner of birds looking for their own breakfast, I of course had to bring the camera along.
As I mentioned in “A Few Japanese Swords of Note”, the Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 is challenging for me to work with in a close-up setting that's dynamic, because the focus pull is so long and the depth of field can be so very thin. The chickadees tend to come in an out pretty quickly, but sometimes just stand around for a few seconds, giving me a chance to get lucky with the focus. (One sat on my hand the other day for 20 seconds waiting for a worm, apparently not noticing the one sitting right at its feet. Sadly, I couldn't take a picture because, well, I was holding a chickadee.)
Anyway, I got an okay focus in the shot above, but he didn't have his head turned enough to get a good glint in his eye, so the result is pretty flat, but the white feathers under his eye are clear...
Full-Resolution Crop
with the Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5
This is at default sharpening in Lightroom, but something about these feathers look way oversharpened to me, but they retain that odd quality even when I turned sharpening off completely, so perhaps that's just the way they are.
I may as well take the moment to compare the shot above with a similar one I took yesterday (while my dad was clearing a fallen tree) with the Sigma Bigma 50-500mm zoom I was using at the time....
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 210 mm — 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waiting to be Served
As illustrated the other day, some of the chickadees can be pretty unreserved about asking for a worm any time any place, so while Anthony and I were standing there by a tree, one came to a branch three feet from my face and waited. Unfortunately it moved to a higher branch when I swung the camera around, so I didn't get nearly the closeup I was hoping for, but the Sigma's autofocus, OS, and sharpness strut their stuff in this quick snapshot. Here's a full-resolution crop:
Full-Resolution Crop
With the Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm @ 210mm
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Morning
Glory
This probably looks washed out unless you have a really good monitor
The morning glories next to the veranda are a continual draw for me, but I'm surprised to see I've not posted them before, except one wide-angle shot last year. Flowers are, of course, the most quintessentially overdone cliché photographic subject, but pretty is pretty, so I don't mind acting as if I'm the first person to ever point a camera their way...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Source of Light
Also nearby, in the morning sunlight...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/4, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rings of Dew
Each empty “follicle” on this monarda is surrounded by a ring of exquisitely tiny beads of dew
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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Always Wear Eye Protection”
When Operating This Machine
My dad started to clear the tree that fell yesterday, donning some grubby clothes and breaking out the backhoe and chainsaw, much like the last time a tree fell while we were in town.
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 95 mm — 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Old and Trusty Friend
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290 mm — 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Offer of Help
Today's agenda was for the removal of the biggest parts of the trunk, which is a one-man job (if the one man has a chainsaw and backhoe), so Anthony and I were relegated to observer. It's just as well, because Anthony was wearing the shirt he made with Aunt Natalie last year, and I wouldn't want to see it get sap or whatnot on it. I'm sure there will be plenty to help with once the big stuff is out of the way, and Anthony is hoping that it'll turn into an opportunity to use the tractor that he got to drive a bit last year.
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170 mm — 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
First Cut
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 78 mm — 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bringing In the Heavy Artillery
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slight Nudge
to roll the uncut area to an accessible position
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Smooth as Butter
a good chainsaw is worth its weight in gold
There's absolutely nothing particularly interesting about the shot above, but for some reason it's one of my favorites.
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290 mm — 1/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Still a Blur
at 1/800th a second
The way the trunk settled as it was cut called for a second, shallow cut near the first, and when the trunk rolled free, a piece of the wedge from between the two broke off, and made the layers of the ring structure all the more apparent...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116 mm — 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tree Wedge
13 years in the making
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oh Well
educational opportunity eclipsed by pretend-cake play
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/400 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Roll'er In
Before hauling the big trunk off, we noticed a little frog hopping around in the bucket of backhoe, so I chased it out and gave it to Anthony to hold, but it didn't stay held long...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/500 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tickly
Anthony giggles as a little frog squirms its way loose
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/320 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Off She Goes
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/320 sec, f/8, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
dumping the log out of the way
Under Anthony's Approving Gaze
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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Inspecting the Damage
It seems that word of the tree that fell this afternoon has gotten out to the neighbors... a doe stopped by at dusk to check it out.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Doh!
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm — 1/250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oops
for the record, a falling tree does make a sound
Never a dull moment around here. Yesterday was nonstop hubbub with Cousin Titi's visit and her daddy's birthday. They left for home this morning, so perhaps to fill in the quiet, a 70' (21 meter) tree decided to fall for no apparent reason. It's a sumac, which Wikipedia says reaches a maximum height of less than half that, so perhaps that's why it fell.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony for Scale
Anthony is standing near the remaining 6' of trunk, at the far left
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Mess
It just seemed to have been the tree's time. There was no storm, no wind... nothing special. Just a loud crack and, well, the sound of a tree falling, taking out a couple of other smaller trees with it along the way.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 20 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Collateral Damage
limb from a too-near Oak that took a four-foot long strip of tree with it
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 21 mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sandbox
is under there somewhere
It fell right over the sandbox (seen here), taking out the redbud that had been shading the sandbox. Luckily no one was playing at the time.
Another photo that appeared on a blog post last year...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Playing In Front Of The Tree Last Year
Living around here, my folks are well versed in cleaning up after these things. I blogged about clearing a fallen tree a few years ago, and I'm sure I will again later this week.
The remnants of the 25"-diameter trunk were quite dynamic, with thick layers of multicolored wood....
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Thick
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dynamic
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Internal Layers
still pretty darn thick
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/125 sec, f/11, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Multicolored
Some large areas in the trunk had a whitish fungus or something, so that's probably why it fell, but no idea why it chose a calm, sunny day to do it.
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Last night after enjoying Uncle Alan's cake, it started to rain a bit. With a thin but intense line of thunderstorms approaching, the dusk light turned the sort of semi-surreal greenish that might otherwise suggest a tornado, but it was apparent that it was merely from the odd circumstances of dusk + clear weather + aproaching storm.
In any case, the 8:30pm light was limited but gorgeous.
With the lack of light I didn't expect much in the way of sharpness from my hand-held 125mm Voigtländer attempts, but I had high hopes for the color, and was not disappointed.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data
Near Miss
after-effects of a big drop dripping from the roof onto the bird perch