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Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 50 mm — 1/300 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rocket Launch-Pad Assembly
Photo by Josh's mommy, Marci Kreta
Two years ago during our summer visit to my folks', Anthony and I shot off a rocket, his first, to his great enjoyment. I still had the rocket, and with his three-year-old cousin Josh in town, I thought to fire it off again, giving Josh his first experience. (I had intended to do this last week while Anthony's four-year-old cousin Grace was here as well, but missed the chance.)
My intention was to let Anthony fire off the rocket once, then let Josh do it, and then alternate back and forth until I was out of motors or they got bored, whichever came first.
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 50 mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Trajectory Calculations
we want to be sure to avoid the trees
Photo by Marci Kreta
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 35 mm — 1/60 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Launch Crew
Photo by Marci Kreta
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/300 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Launch-Sequence Explanation
Photo by Marci Kreta
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 45 mm — 1/160 sec, f/9, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Giddy Anticipation
Photo by Marci Kreta
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/100 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Launch!
Photo by Marci Kreta
All the photos above are by my sister. In the box below is a sequence I took.... mouse over the buttons in turn to see the sequence, and notice Anthony's reaction in the last one....
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/13, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
T minus 0.2 seconds
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/13, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Takeoff
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/13, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
T plus 0.2 seconds
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/13, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
T plus 0.4 seconds
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/13, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
T plus 0.6 seconds
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/40 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Technical Difficulties Upon Re-Entry
Photo by Marci Kreta
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 60 mm — 1/30 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony and Josh Win the “Where's the Rocket?” Contest
Photo by Marci Kreta
I knew that there was a chance the rocket would get stuck in a tree as it parachuted back to earth, which is why when we did this a couple of years ago we went to a local baseball field. But when we did it then, the rocket came right back down pretty much were we shot it off, so I thought it might be okay this time. A big storm was coming (an hour later a powerful thunderstorm with heavy winds and rain rolled through) so we decided to just give it a try. Fail.
It landed way way up in a tall tree (four or five stories up?), but I did make a halfhearted effort to get the rocket down by throwing apples at it.
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/40 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Fail
Photo by Marci Kreta
So, Josh didn't get a chance to press the fire button, but my one bit of non-fail is that I never had suggested to him that he'd get a chance, so he didn't know he missed out, so there were no “issues” there.
The storm that came through knocked out Dad's Linksys router, so I made a quick dash to a store to get another. When I returned, I found that Anthony had built his own rocket, replete with launch pad and launch button...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — 1/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Finger on the Button
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — 1/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Launch!
Lifting the rocket revealed a yellow tube of rocket blast!
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — 1/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
With Accompanying Rocket Sound
and the yellow tube of fire is about to fall of the launch pad
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 34 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
? ? ?
( leave your caption suggestions in the comments! )
Pushing each other was a popular pastime among the older kids during the gathering of cousins last week. Here are pictures from two such occasions, featuring Anthony's cousins Grace and Josh...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 29 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hey Babe, Pick it Up a Bit!
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
That's Better
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Legroom? What Legroom?
(This is where the lead photo should go, but it's more funny at the front without context.)
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 116 mm — 1/320 sec, f/3.2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Turn About is Fair Play
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102 mm — 1/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pre-Release Instructions
moments before launching Grace down a short hill
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170 mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Put Your Back Into It
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170 mm — 1/320 sec, f/3.5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not Quite as Easy as the Blue Car
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oh Well, He'd Better Get Used To It
if he ever hopes to get married some day
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Melissa “Chickee” Friedl
My sister in law, Mommy of Luke, Grace, and one in the oven
The theme of this summer's family get-together is “Grandma and Grandpa Friedl's grandchildren”, though I've tended to frame it from Anthony's point of reference with posts like “Conflagration of Cousins” and “More Cousins 'n Such”. Six of the grandchildren have been featured in posts during the last two weeks, but one remains, Grandchild #6½, due at the end of November. He or she will Anthony's sixth cousin, and will be Uncle Mikey and Aunt Chickee's #3, after four-year-old Grace and two-year-old Luke.
I wanted the as-yet-unnamed cousin to be represented in my posts, so I asked Chickee to pose for a cliché soft-focus “I'm pregnant and glowing” portrait. I've never really done a portrait beyond an impromptu “hey, stand over there and I'll take a family shot”, a quick snap at a wedding, or a bit of monkeying around, so I wasn't really sure what to do.
As I said, it's cliché, so wasn't too hard to get something with the right mood, and after a bit of negative clarity in Lightroom, and a touch of dark vignette, voilà...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/1250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Pregnant and Glowing”
I then thought to try a regular portrait, for the first time fussing with apparently minor things that are not minor at all, like how the hair fell, the posture of the hands, the tilt of the head, etc...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Portrait
Due in about four months
All of those shots came out looking contrived – I clearly have a lot to learn and experience to gain – but the first shot I took just to check framing, without any forethought or direction, came out great, and that's what you see above. I guess when it comes down to it, she looks so fantastic all a photographer need do is point and shoot.
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Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 23 mm — 1/800 sec, f/3.2, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Don't Mind Us
just give us some worms
( Carolina Wren and a Chipping Sparrow )
Anthony and his cousin Josh were playing in a light rain, so I sat out on the veranda to watch them and get some work done, but the birds would have none of it. As I wrote last year, the birds at my folks' place have trained us to feed them waxworms, so as soon as I sat down, I was accosted by nine or 10 birds swarming around, wanting a snack. Unfortunately, we were out of worms, so I had nothing but apologizes to offer. They didn't understand, so hung around sort of insistently. (My recent post about Anthony's cousin, “Luke's Eyes”, is on my laptop's screen in the shot above.)
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 20 mm — 1/800 sec, f/5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waiting
( Buncha' Chickadees )
It's wonderfully pleasant to sit out there and feed the birds, but the birds are not amenable to photography: it's generally dark where the birds are, and bright in the background. During a rain seems to be best because the difference between the two is less stark, but still, it's a challenge. A couple of years ago I tried some birds-on-the-veranda photography with a D200 and a monopod. This time I was half trying to get some work done, so went handheld and alternated work with grabbing the camera, mostly using a wide-angle zoom (14-24mm f/2.8) on my D700.
The results were generally pretty bad.
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Backlit Blur at 1/400th of a Second
What surprised me most is that exposures of 1/400th of a second didn't do much to freeze the birds' wings. Much slower than that – 1/125th of a second – can almost freeze a helicopter's blades. I bumped up the shutter speed, which caused the quality to go way down, but at least I was able to get less motion blur...
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, cropped — 1/800 sec, f/3.2, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Caught Mid-Hover
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Coming in for a Landing
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/1600 sec, f/3.2, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Short Flight Between Branches
It was difficult to catch them at all, much less in focus. Even with the wide-angle zoom, the depth of field at f/2.8 was really slim when the birds were close. It was much easier to catch them with the telephoto zoom sitting at a feeder...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Chipping Sparrow
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Chickadee
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Young Downy Woodpecker
None of these are very good photography-wise, but they're part of a nice memory of my summer.
As I said, it was hard to catch them in focus, so I did a lot of guessing and photographic carpet bombing. Sometimes the result was sort of funny...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
See Ya'
( the tip of the tail is mostly in focus.... sort of )
More often than not, when I caught good action, the whole shot was out of focus...
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/3.2, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
out of focus
Air Brakes
Eventually my mom came out and showed me that we weren't out of waxworms, so I set some on my leg, and placed the camera on my leg as well, and started shooting blindly, guessing on focus and composition. I was generally lucky about getting the worm in focus, but that was helpful only when the bird came in from the side; otherwise, the bird was guaranteed to be out of focus...
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
out-of-focus Chickadee
“Pluck-n-Dash”, Pre Pluck
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 20 mm — 1/1600 sec, f/3.2, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wren's Awkward Takeoff
Other times during this trip I've occasionally tried to photograph the birds while sitting out on the veranda (the Chickadee on a branch above was taken a few days ago), but it's just too backlit to get anything good. But I keep trying, and keep not getting any work done, and end up with a few shots that make for nice personal memories.
Here are a few shots from when Anthony's four-year-old cousin Grace was feeding the birds with Grandma earlier in the week...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Here You Go
At one point I got a bit smart and pre-focused past Mom's hand, so that if I snapped the shutter just as I saw the bird snatch the worm from her hand, I might get the shot with the bird flying through the plane of focus. It didn't quite work, but the result is better than nothing, and I like the bird's form...
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Anthony's tooth, quite loose from a few days ago, got flippy-floppy-dangly loose this morning while eating breakfast. I thought it should be left to come out naturally, but once it was that loose and bleeding (but not at all painful), both my ER-nurse sister and mom said that I should just pluck it out.
So, under the guise of “checking” it, I had him open up and I gave a light tug, and out it came. He didn't quite realize it, but when I feigned surprise (“it just came out right in my hand!”) and he saw it, he was extremely excited.
Most of his excitement comes from the American idea of the Tooth Fairy, which promises some amount of money under his pillow.
Since Mommy is minding the fort back home in Kyoto, he drew a before/after picture for her, and wrote her a letter describing the windfall he expects in the morning. We'll drop it in the mail on Monday.