Nikon Wednesday 2015: #48

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<p><strong><em>Important:</em></strong> please keep your image under 700 pixels on the longest side for in-line viewing, and <em><strong>please keep the FILE SIZE UNDER 300kb</strong></em>. Note that <strong>this includes photos hosted off-site</strong> (at Flickr, Photobucket, your own site, etc).<br /><br />Are you <strong>new to this thread?</strong> The general guidelines for these Wednesday threads are <strong><a href="/nikon-camera-forum/00W7km" rel="nofollow">right here</a></strong>:<a href="/nikon-camera-forum/00W7km" rel="nofollow">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00W7km</a>. This forum's moderators are allowing up to three images per week, so share some work!</p>

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<p>Hello Nikon Wednesday People, and welcome to December. I find myself swamped with other projects this week, so I've shaken the magic archive box, and allowed an image to fall out from October of three years ago. While prepping for a shoot and waiting up high in a fire/rescue burn tower at the training academy for the DC Fire Department, I watched some soon-to-be simulated victims on the pavement below break into a game of sunrise touch football. They were to play lab workers in a terrorist mass casualty event, hence the disposable white paper jumpsuits. It was an interesting day to shoot, that's for sure. Especially because the academy is sometimes downwind from the DC sewage treatment plant. But that's photography, right? Sometimes you're just plain downwind.<br /><br />Got something with an interesting back story? Share!</p><div></div>

<p>Capturing birds in flight with the D7100/200-500 combo has so far been an exercise in frustration - not only is it quite hard to find a bird in the viewfinder when zoomed to 500mm - and then to keep it in there; on top of that is the waiting for the AF to acquire focus - so far my experience has been that the process is no faster than what I am used to from using either the 300/4 AF-S with at TC-14E or TC-17EII or the AF-D 80-400. I have not done a direct comparison with the AF-S 80-400 on the D7100 yet - but if memory serves, then it performed faster - though not by much.<br /> <a title="banking" href=" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5651/23367339095_207e6c8b7b_z.jpg" alt="banking" width="640" height="640" /></a><br /> When hand-holding such a large and relatively heavy lens, the shortcoming of the placement of the AF mode button becomes obvious. While it was easy with the right hand to move the selector on the back of the D300/D700 from single area to dynamic area without taking the camera down or even looking at the switch - the same cannot be said for the two-handed button press/sub-command dial turn that is required on the likes of D7100 and D810.</p>

<p>Quite likely though it's not the violin, but the violinist. </p>

<p>From last year, and part of an ongoing interest in old and idiosyncratic lenses. This is with a Mir 1B 37mm (!) f2.8, which won't focus to infinity on Nikon bodies using a glassless M42 adapter. Close-up and wide open though it's 'interesting' with coma and characterful oof areas.</p><div></div>

<p>This is a comp. I made of the 4 Blood Moon eclipses of 2014-15.</p><div></div>

<p>A foggy morning at <em>Lake Pamvotida</em> / <em>Ioannina. <br /></em><br>

The floating green stuff is plankton.<em> <br /></em></p><div></div>

<p>Here is, once again, my Christmas Cactus. Hope you like it. Not much of a story behind it but it's always fun to shoot flowers.</p><div></div>

<p>#2</p><div></div>

<p>#3</p><div></div>

<p>Sherwood Forest Faire</p><div></div>

<p>A few of the buildings in down town Pittsburgh, Pa. Shot taken from atop Mt. Washington, a section of the city that overlooks <br>

the down town area as well as part of the North Side. </p><div></div>

<p>Fall Colors in Portland</p><div></div>

<p>Some household abstracts.</p><div></div>

<p>Bathroom towels.</p><div></div>

<p>Green Pepper close up.</p><div></div>

<p>A diving brown pelican</p>

<p>Nikon D7200 with 80-400mm AF-S VR @ 135mm, f5.6, 1/1250 sec and ISO 280</p><div></div>

<p>Steve, I like the abstract curtain shot. Very evocative of an x-ray.</p>

<p>A friend who is a professional photographer has let me candid shoot some of his shoots, this is from one of them</p><div></div>

<p>This past weekend was 'Village Noël' here. The downtown was set up with vendor kiosks like a European Xmas market. There was lots of entertainment, food, etc. As well, folks were in costume according to the 'New France' theme. This fits well with the 400th anniversary of the francophone presence in Ontario.</p>

<p>All shots taken with a D7100, 18-200mm and an SB600w/Gary Fong Lightsphere</p><div></div>

<p>This is one of about 100 dancers in a flash dance to traditional Francophone music.</p><div></div>

<p>Fire pits were set up around town in case anyone needed warming up.</p><div></div>

<p>Shun: Great pelican shot.<br>

My shot is of a head bobbing northern shoveler.</p><div></div>

<p>Dieter: I feel your pain. BIF is really a challenge. I finally broke down and purchased an inexpensive gimbel head. But even with the gimbel it is practice, practice and practice.<br>

Great shot, by the way</p><div></div>

<p>Dark and Stormy in Bermuda</p><div></div>

<p>Chip: Thanks for your comment regarding the kitchen curtain shot of mine. Others have mentioned it too, that it looks like an x-ray, and somewhat like a dental x-ray at that! It is a "straight" shot of the top of a white curtain with diffuse light coming through from outside. </p>

<p>Not a lot of backstory here. Just a dog-day afternoon in the Carolinas. Sun on my face... a scratch behind the ears... life is good.</p>

<p>Tom</p><div></div>