2010-11-15 Photo day

Don and I took a week off from work, but then Don had to work today after-all, so I spent the day with my 70-300 mm lens. I left the camera on automatic most of the time--which caused a lot of my images to be out of focus either because of a very shallow depth of field, or because of too slow of a shutter speed, or both. I just didn't seem to have the patience today for constant lighting changes--being in and out of shade and then missing a good shot all-together because the setting was wrong--so for spontaneity's sake I settled for automatic. Another day I might try less magnification for greater clarity, but this was fun. I did use a wide angle lens for one shot of a large tree, but found I really needed the long lens for the caged creatures if I was going to have any hope at all of eliminating the cages--not all that much success on that front though. The Orange County Zoo at Irvine Regional Park in Orange has rather finely meshed cages, much to my consternation.


Nearby sign reads "Pony Rides".


Woodpecker in Sycamore tree.


Bald Eagle


For my HBPL friends.


Sycamore tree.


Woodpecker in Sycamore tree.


Peacock


Train tunnel,


Peacock


Is this a pepper tree?


Coyote


Coyote


Benches


Bald Eagle


Sycamore trees.


Mine


Peacock


Peacock

2010-11-14 Roses

Greetings and salutations!
So, not too long ago when I posted a photograph of a rose on my Flickr account, I discovered a message attached to it inviting me to join the "il ROSETO" rose photo group. I viewed the group's photos and even though at least half of the comments attached to photos there were languages I didn't understand, or maybe because of that, I joined.
Seeing the really beautiful images there of roses, and how the ones that stand out get umpteen million comments on them-agreements that they are as exquisite as I thought, I've been inspired to improve my rose photography--which is why if you go to my Flicker account these days, you will probably be bombarded with roses. And now, lucky you, they are spilling over to the blog.
Fortunately for me, I only have to travel about 3 miles to get to an excellent rose garden, as the Westminster City Hall has sponsored the Orange County Rose Society for years---I think since 1969 actually.
So here are a few practice shots from yesterday afternoon.

Friday at the Aquarium of the Pacific

Saturday (Oct 16) was a workday for me, so I had Friday off. Friday was the last day that our free Chapman tickets to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach were good, so after Don's doctor visit (he checks out in top shape after his ablation surgery two weeks before), off we went to the Aquarium. Many of the tanks are open at the top to the outside, so get natural sunlight. This being an overcast day though, lighting was a bit dim and my camera settings were set for the dimmest of conditions; with a "Hi1" ISO (equivelent to 3200) which I hoped would allow me some depth of field and reasonable shutter speeds--hee-hee, as it turns out though, silly me didn't notice that I had previously set the camera to a -2.3EV adjustment. Grrrrr.
So images are a bit dark, but here are a few, and later I'll post a few of Don's videos:

2010-10-18 Horses

Last weekend Don and I saw the movie "Secretariat", about a horse of the same name who was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, who in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in twenty-five years. The cinematography in the movie was so great that I decided it had been way too long since I'd photographed a horse. (Probably the last time was when I photographed a fund raising horse show as a part time photographer for Western Medical Center in the early 1990's)
So on my lunch a couple of days last week I went to horse stables.
This first place was listed as Hunters Pointe and is in Anaheim off of Phoenix Club Drive:





OK, it's not a horse but isn't he a cute kitty?

And this second place is at Irvine Regional Park. It's listed as Peacock Hill Equestrian Center:

I think I'll see if I can learn Photoshop well enough to eliminate those pesky flies.

Newport Back Bay August 21, 2010

A few weeks ago I visited Newport Back Bay to take some morning shots. I was surprised at how crowded the one way road was, with the occasional car, streams of bicyclists, and teams of runners. Happily this didn't do much to detour the wildlife from going about Summer as usual.
I managed a few shots of this little fellow. You'd think the chirps would help to locate him, but they only helped me generalize an area I might see something. I mostly had to rely on glimpsing the tip of a moving reed and then followed it half down the stock, tricky when most stalks were obscured by several more reeds,







According to The "National Audubon Society Field Guide to California", he is a "Common Yellowthroat" bird (technically known as a "Geothlypis trichas") of the Wood Warbler Subfamily.
They are 5".
"Male upperparts and sides uniformly olive-brown; throat and chest yellow; midbelly white; black mask over forehead and cheeks; broad white line above mask. Female and imm. olive brown above; pale eye ring; throat yellow. Imm. male has blackish cheek. Feeds low; often raises tail at wren-like angle. VOICE Song: rollicking witchity-witchity-witchity-witch. Call: flat chep. HABITAT Riparian thickets, marshes, shrubs. RANGE Resident in c and s CA on Pacific slope; inland valleys. May-Sept.: n CA, valleys east of Sierras. Apr.-May, Aug.-Oct.: all CA."