Nikon Wednesday 2020: #20

 

Not to be out-done by the previous week's Navy and Air Force regional fly-by, our local Air National Guard had a trio of A-10 Warthogs do a lap around the state as a salute. Alas, they had a dim, gray day to fly their ghost-like close air support machines ... which means I had a lot less light to work with! Very different than the sparkly Blue Angels and Thunderbird, these are duty-ready aircraft. But still a thrill to see them cruise by at well under 1000 feet. Shot again with the D810 and the 200-500/5.6 for this week's Nikon Wednesday.

Taken in Jack E. Hill Park, Elk Grove, CA 16 April 2020 @ 2:56 PM

Nikon D750 1/1250 sec, f/8, ISO 900 (Auto) Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD A009N @ 200mm Range:23.71 meters

 

Please view full-size

 

Nikon F and F2. Nikkor P.C. 105 and Micro-Nikkor-P 55. Kodak Ektachrome 200

Summer car shows in doubt around here

Milwaukee skyline taken at Lake Shore State Park a few mornings ago just after sunrise. It is the smallest State Park in Wisconsin and a great place to walk my dog.

Singapore Air Show

 

Sea Lion, D80

D500 + 200-500mm @ 270mm f7.1 ISO 640

 

Duxford Airshow 2018, sadly cancelled for this year.

 

Given the coronavirus social distancing rules, I haven't been able to photograph people in two-three months now. To not just be jammed in my home 24/7, I've been finding nature spots that don't require long driving distances, and one such place is Suomenoja just a short drive from my home. It is an area of water where numerous black-headed gulls inhabit, and they give some protection to less common species.

 

Last week I had my first encounter with horned grebes. A goldeneye was ramming through a pair of grebes, spilling water over them, and this continued for several passes. I thought "those birds have issues". D5, 500/5.6 PF at f/9.5, 1/1600s, ISO 1600.

 

It is rather difficult to get a clear shot of the grebes, I thought, the bird is relatively small and good light in afternoons was hitting the background if the bird was close to my spot on the shore, so a lot of cropping was involved initially. At close distances the bird was in shadow. I changed strategy and got up at 4am, and I was able to photograph the birds in morning fog, without seeing any people the whole morning. Here, by coincidence a goldeneye happened to pass by my field of view, illustrating the traffic that is present in the water area. D5, 500/5.6 PF at f/5.6, ISO 2500, 1/400s.

 

Like I said, I found it difficult to get a clear look at the grebe, but after several days the bird came really close to me, I was lying on a sleeping pad and apparently the bird wanted to take a look at me, to such a distance where I was even hitting the minimum focus distance of my lens. I was really surprised by the appearance and color of the bird at close distances. D850, 500 PF, f/5.6, 1/400s, ISO 1100. In this case the bird is still a little further away and the image was cropped.

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by ilkka_nissila

Eagle with the moon, D500 with 600mm lens @ f5.6, 1/640 sec, ISO 100

 

 

Nikon D500 + Sigma 60-600mm @ 600mm ISO 1800 1/4000th f6.3

 

D500 + Sigma 60-600mm @ 600mm. f7.1 1/250 ISO 720. Juvenile Robin.

 

Z6 60mm f2.8D 1/160th f9 iso 200

Nikon F, 28-85mm Nikkor, TriX, Xtol/Rodinal.

My local grebes are nesting in plain view in the middle of the local mill pond, but alas not very close to the shore. They also really like turning their posterior in my direction. Next week, perhaps. I spent an hour in the garden on Friday, long after an unadvertised Red Arrows flypast, waiting for some Spitfires for this thread - I heard them (I think), but apparently I should have shot through my dirty study window because I couldn't see them over the neighbours' houses. So instead, a social distancing VE day street party for you (in which everyone tries to make "small shout" with their neighbours who are a house width apart). My wife and I got heat stroke and sunburn after a bit and went in, but the neighbours were still singing "We'll meet again" (and YMCA...) after 10pm. Apologies for the lack of aesthetics - I'm really not a street shooter, even when it's my own street, but it's what I've got to share. (D850, 14-24, DxO trying to manage the dynamic range.)

 

 

While the planned national VE-day anniversary celebrations (75th, for anyone not following) obviously had their plans go to pot, it was nice to see the locals out. I'm always a bit wary about how, in post-Brexit Britain, the message gets spun - unlike many in my locality I was pro-remain, and I think some of the nationalism can be detrimental (pride in your country is good, but preferably not regardless of what it's doing), which is sad because it makes me uncomfortable whenever I see a union flag. I'm very glad to celebrate the anniversary in a "let's not allow this to happen again" sense, though. </politics>

D750 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR. so ive been around and around between getting this lens, the 300mm pf or a Z6, beating my brains out but then I ran across a decent deal on a mint condition and thought I would be a fool to pass it up, so I just got it in the mail about a half hour ago, took several shots around the house and I think I made the right decision, cant wait to get out and put it to work.

Shot some full moonrise last week. D750+Sigma 150-600.

Everyone is feeling a little trapped at the moment....

 

C'mpn, push a little harder. It's almost open!

meanwhile, just to remind us what's out there...

(Patagonia)

Some semi-abstract close-up/macros.