Remembering PRESTAGS

An unusual flock

They were looking at me when I pulled out my camera but return to focussing on each other while I fooled with framing. I think the Maggie was trying to muscle the Kookaburra away from its nest. I am not sure what the Galah was about. Probably got the time or place wrong when she read the invitation. I should be photographing stuff with my mates today!

An afternoon walk

hazy & cloudy.  but so green.

An afternoon walk

hazy & cloudy.  but so green.

An unexpected visitor

yesterday I had the back door open, and was working in the lounge room at the computer.

suddenly there was a flutter of wings, and a silvery eye alighted on the windowsill, presumably having thought he could fly out the wide window. Luckily he didn't crash headfirst into the window.

Lexi had a half hearted lunge at him as he flew into the curtain corner and thankfully she came away when I called her.

I deposited her outside, took one quick shot with the venerable D60 which was right at hand.

It was clear he was going to stay put against the window so I then went and shut all the other internal doors and opened and wedged the front door & its screen door.

Came back and moved quietly and thankfully he let me grasp him without freaking out.

Then out to the door, and he was on the wing and gone hardly before I had let go of him.

2 shots - as shot for scale of how small they are, and then a pretty big crop.

I generally only see them around here in the Spring and early Summer, so they must migrate in then.

Farewell to Batemans Bay

Here is the dawn photo for Spetz. Although taken at 6:20am, the sun was up and behind clouds.

There is some pink in the clouds above the island. but drowned out by the other colours. There was one patch of red though, from a final visitor.

 

An uncommon sight in Croydon

I am intrigued than when we moved house 17 years ago, we moved about 6 kilometres but completely changed our avian niche:

• Australian miners for Indian Mhynahs and wattle birds
• King parrots for rosellas
• Pluvers for mudkarks

But no replacement for Kookaburras. I saw this pair on a long walk - about 3 km from home in Enfield - and snapped because they are as rare to me now as a passenger jet.

Accidental naturalist

Today I saw a little spider flitting very fast on the window & sill. I captured him (I think it was a male) with a glass. Very pretty markings. How to photograph? First I thought I would put some gladwrap over the glass and shoot through that. was worried that wouldn't be very stable. Then thought of a little shallow porcelain dish I could try - luckily virtually the same diameter as the glass so transfer wasn't a problem. Used a piece of hard plastic to 'seal' him in. Then had another thought - a clear lens filter sitting on the dish would not fall off and should not affect too much the optics.

Here is that set up:

then to attempting to photograph. lots and lots of shots. spider wouldn't sit still. getting light tricky (couldn't use flash as it would just reflect). Tried a couple of different tripod setups. Had the jar on the floor under the big lounge windows and was lying / crouching on the floor to get angles for shots. D7500 + 85 micro lens

This is actually one of the early shots. Google provided me with an identification this evening - Nyssus coloripes or orange legged swift spider. http://www.findaspider.org.au/find/spiders/509.htm  http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1807  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyssus_coloripes

From all the observations I did notice something really neat - he was cleaning his legs, one at a time by running them past the mouth parts. Depth of field proved an insurmountable obstacle to get a nice shot of that but I saw it nevertheless.  I also didn't register for ages that he was missing one leg.

A gorgeous little spider. I subsequently released him under the bushes outside.

 

In between changing tripods (teeny for small) I also noticed that a male blackbird was sitting quite still outside the lounge window. Grabbed the D3300 and wacked on the 70-300 AF-P and tried to get some shots through the (not very clean) window. The bird was also sitting in a patch of shade so lighting was tricky and trying focus on a black bird. I also noticed he had a grub or worm in his beak. The shot below is a moderate crop with some post processing but I don't think focus was nailed and that can't be provided after the fact. Might be a function of the dirty window too.

I like blackbirds - they have a beautiful song, and flit quickly about through the spring and summer. The hen bird is a drabber brown colour. Although an immigrant species they haven't gone nuts like Indian mynas.

New toys. Food. Old toy. Birds.

NEW TOY

So I got a poor man's RX100 - a used Canon S120 (for $120 incl post) with the teeny 1/1.7 inch sensor.

I'm pretty impressed. Solid build - metal top and bottom. Lot to learn to drive it though.

Should be good for quick photos.

Dinner last night.

Carl: spring rolls, chicken things, wedges


Thygo - stir fry / satay + kanga bangas

Packet cake made by Carl & Thygo last night, iced today, tastes good.

Lexi enjoying the sun

selfie of Grumpy old Man

 

Another NEW TOY - old binoculars (Gumtree special, $30)- object d'art

image quality good and much more comfortable to hold than the new-bought Olympus.  Both 8x40. Dad had/has a pair like these older ones when I was young.

thi

 

OLD TOY - D7500 + (stellar little) AF-P 70-300 DX VR - Crested pigeons from the clothes line. No cropping.

Trouble photographing black creatures - Willy Wagtail & a new jumping spider

Over the last few weeks one or more Willy Wagtails have been visiting the backyard. They flit about quickly and are elusive photographic subjects.

This morning there was one in the yard below the rear window. So rather than try to go out the door, and probably scare him off, I tried shooting through the glass.

There seem to be two challenges getting good focus - the all black around the eye, so little contrast for the AF system, and the rapid and almost never stationary movement of the bird.

but I got a couple of half-decent shots. shown as shot with a crop. Still some motion blur evident I think.

in this pic I think he has just done a little white poo !

The little jumping spider, with a similar body shape to a white tail. But the eye arrangement clearly shows it as a jumper. The lack of different colours made it hard to shoot this one, and he/she wasn't cooperating with being still either. These are all crops. The mortar line between the bricks gives scale.

 

 

Good Friday Brunch

Hot Cross Buns under lockdown.

Sound Recording 2 - Some Sounds of Malaysia

I took three of my recorders to Malaysia in January. At the small end, a Zoom H2n (very small with alternate patterns, can place anywhere) and a Zoom F1 field recorder (my favourite little recorder for lavalier mics pinned to clothing, but can also use interchangeable microphone capsules with different patterns). At the medium end, a Tascam DR-100 Mk III, my favourite travel recorder which has two XLR slots and phantom power for external recorders. I took a small external Sony ECM-MS2 Stereo Electret Condenser Microphone with a windjammer.

Now that I'm more confident with the durability of my top end recorders and mics, I will take fancier gear overseas on my next trip (hoping for a next trip!).

A few different sounds.

We spent some pleasant mornings on the Indian Ocean at a resort on Batu Ferringhi beach (West side of Penang Island). Some people make sand castles but I make microphone castles. Here is a view of the beach, and a castle with the Zoom H2n.

My better equipment, the Tascam and Sony external mic, also came out. I used this on a beach chair facing the ocean, and I took long soundscapes of over an hour.

Here is a snippet of Indian Ocean Waves:

Batu Ferringhi Beach Malaysia Waves

One evening the Boss and I had a very pleasant pre-dinner drink at the resort, at a nice outdoor bar near a fountain. I placed the F1 with a stereo capsule on a rock next to the fountain.

Resort Fountain:

Malaysia Resort Fountain

I find the sound relaxing. The sound wave is distinctly water - loud and regular.

Back at the In-Laws family home in George Town I recorded early morning soundscapes through the back window. Lots of birds (different sounds to Australia), traffic (many motor bikes, being South East Asia) and dogs barking. The Tascam and Sony mic fitted nicely in the window. The view out the window was not spectacular, but the sounds were nice and will remind me of Penang.

Early Morning Birds:

Malaysian Early Morning Birds

Dogs Barking:

Malaysia Dogs Barking

 It's nice having these living memories of Malaysia. Sounds are evocative in a very different way to photographs.

 

Molongolo Gorge

Uncle Paul had a flying visit to Kanbra and had a nice jaunt with Bastard, Carl & Lexi to Molongolo Gorge. First time I have been there, despite it being so close.

Weather was a bit so-so - very windy, and intermittent cloud/sun and the odd spit of (trying to) rain. The path was a bit rugged, playing havoc with Paul's knee. Sadly the ACT BBQs weren't functioning for our planned lunch.

departing:

Crows and currawong were investigating someone's rubbish. The currawong was less scared than the crows:

before the rocks

looking upstream towards Queanbeyan

Captain Paul (now with Gandalf staff)

Mooncake Festival Feasting

Last night was part of the mooncake festival and I was allowed to have duck.

Duck is one of the special foods for the festival:

The mooncake festival marks the end of the autumn harvest, and is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid September to early October of the Gregorian calendar. The official festival day was Friday 13 September.

Last night the moon was certainly very full and bright. I'm surprised Thygo did not post a moon photograph.

We were also still celebrating #3 daughter's important birthday, and she had a second birthday cake of her favourite kind, ie a family meat pie.

Apparently Duck Rather than Chicken is the go-to fowl for this festival. Not only are ducks fattest at this time of the year, their natural game-meat flavour is the richest too, making it the peak season to enjoy duck meat. It is also believed that eating duck in Autumn helped to expel pathogenic heat to restore the balance of yin and yang in the body, hence enhancing one’s health. I'm only allowed duck once a year. Python gets it all the time so he must have a perfect yin and yang balance.

We got a whole Peking Duck, chopped up to go:

Adding to the festivities, Satay Chicken :

Desert, the birthday meat pie:

Where is the moon?

Since Thygo hasn't done a photograph, I have done one. B700:

New Sound Toy - Tascam DR-70D

Bad Paul had another GAS attack and acquired the Tascam DR-70D 6 input / 4 track / multi-track field recorder.

It is now a great price, less than $400 and less than half what it was when it first came out 5 years ago.

Super capabilities for a ridiculous low price.

The main features that attracted me were the quality pre-amps plus 4 XLR ports each with phantom power. For me this means I can use two high quality stereo microphones, each using its own left and right XLR port. I can record two separate stereo tracks, or mix both microphones into one stereo track.

The XLR ports are compatible with all the nice microphones I have invested in.

This thing is power hungry, especially pumping out phantom power to the mics, and the 4 AA batteries don't have a long life. I acquired a Powertech 15600 mAh usb portable power pack from Jaycar near my office (only $70) because the DR-70D can use usb bus power with the batteries as a back up. This gives the field recorder plenty of life.

Here is the new toy with some kit.

The DR-70D with the power pack, along with two stereo microphones. The smaller Sony ECM-MS2 (brilliant small travel mic) and the larger Audio-Technica AT 8022.

The AT 8022 with the two wind jammers.

I have set up the recorder on the filing cabinet near Sir Lancelot's cage, with the two mics in different positions ready to record his next bout of talking.

But Sir Lance is gaming with me. He starts a really nice burst of talking, then as soon as I turn the recorder on he stops. Next he gives me a cheeky look.

But I will leave everything set up, and get him in the end.

The DR-70D can be mounted on a tripod (either above or below the camera) and used with a DLSR for video recording. Something else I need to try. Here is a picture of what this set up would look like.

I have better quality field recorders (the Sound Devices PreMix-6, but it's 4 times the price of the DR-70D) and more compact ones for travel (the Tascam DR100 Mark III - my favourite field recorder). However I reckon I'll have a lot of fun with this one and I won't have to worry about it too much.

Return of the Beetles

I decided the beetles would provide an opportunity to compare a Nikon DSLR with the Sony A6000. I was especially interested to see whether focus was easier to achieve with the Nikon.

So I set out with a Nikon D7200 and an 18-300 lens.

A magpie shot on the way was not as good as the seagull I took with the Sony. But this will be a test of the beetles.

The beetles were still devouring the fruit in the tree. There was more direct sun, so the beetles (especially the blue ones) seemed more metallic and reflective.

It was immediately clear that the Nikon was achieving quicker and better focus. It was also focusing more of the beetles in a group rather than one beetle or part of a beetle. The 18-300 had 100mm more reach but is also not a macro lens.

This last one is my favourite. The beetle is only from the side, but the focus is perfect and the more olive green colours of the leaves are more attractive.

Beetle test - the Nikon won but it was a close run thing. Possibly the colour rendition was a bit better on the Sony.

 

The Beetles Stole the Show

I left my sick bed for a quick stroll with the Sony A6000.

I took a nice seagull.

But then, I was completely distracted by a tree with colourful beetles eating the fruit.

The camera really struggled to achieve focus. The beetles were not only colourful, they were 'metallic' and reflective, and with lots of leaves around the processor could not figure out where to direct focus. My manual attempts to get the right focus were not much better.

I was also trying to get close, and the 18-200 lens is not a macro lens.

PRESTAGS Quiz

What is wrong with this Photo?

 

Autumn shooting

A sample of pics

from today - opportunistic shots at Weston Park. Nice afternoon light.

I love Gang-gangs - I was trying to get close as I only had the 17-50 with me. These are cropped pretty heavily.

early this month - ornamental pears (?) in the neighbour's front yard. About as big as a small grape. Nice afternoon light.

Tree in my front yard.

and one of the moon, also cropped a lot, some sharpening. 70-300 AF-P DX VR

 

 

The Great Escape

Patrick was home sick yesterday but had done some training with Lexi. Chooks and ducks in their extended enclosure.

When I got home from work, I didn't go outside but started up my laptop.

Then I heard a 'sqwarky' noise from one of the chooks - didn't sound right, so I stood up to have a look out the window.

Lo and behold, Lexi is in the chookyard, standing watching the fowls. 

But the gate is still shut.

On closer inspection, she has dug her way under the outer fence ... No idea how long she was in there. No dead fowls (thankfully).

She got in again a little while later and I think she wants to play with them.

here is her tunnel INTO Stalag Chook

Purple Sydney

Afternoon animal encounters

Crested pigeons on my back power lines - all puffed up - it was cold. Walked to the pharmacy and unexpectedly saw kangaroos on the oval and even closer to Drakeford Drive on my way back. Indication of how little feed there must be and how dry it is. Also saw some wood ducks, quite some way from the lake.

Then at soccer practice, cockatoos and quite a lot of grass parrots, all in pairs. They are hard to capture though - they were almost always in the shade.

cropped image of pigeon, and something weird has gone on with the colour of the sky

on the way back - you can seen the road at the top right.

parrots at soccer

cropped

Crested pigeon on my roof

Crested pigeon, Ocyphaps lophotes, sitting on the crest of my roof this afternoon. They come to get a drink from the duck pond and normally nervous, flighty birds even on the roof, but this one stayed put for me.

So impressed with the 70-300 AF-P.

as shot

cropped

cropped some more

another perspective as shot

cropped

cropped some more

 

New Camera Accessory With Special Capability

I've been playing with my new camera accessory. I won't give away what it is.

It is certainly taking some interesting shots.

The shots are original. They are not zoomed in extracts from larger photographs. All I've done is reduced the size so they load quicker when they're on the website.  Apart from the first photograph, I turned the date stamp on.

First, a photograph of some of Sir Lancelot's bird seed.

To give an idea of how small the budgie seed is, I took a shot of it in a small bowl next to Azog. This was a photo with my D7200 and 18-200 lens.

Next, a surprise shot. This is the PRESTAGS QUIZ - what is this?

Here is a shot of the gold fleur-de-lis pattern on my maroon braces. You can see each individual thread.

Here are the braces excellently modeled by me. Number two daughter took the photo with the D7200 and 18-200 lens.

Speaking of Sir Lancelot, here is a nice shot from the Boss' mobile phone which does a pretty good job of his feathers.

Here is one tiny feather (original was about 10mm) with my new accessory. You can see each strand of the feather.

And last, a rather horrific shot. This is a photograph of the hairs on my forefinger.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to find a little insect to photograph.

A Shot Into The Sun

I took this shot directly at the sun late one afternoon. At the precise moment I was taking the photograph a bird flew in - completely unplanned. I like the colours.

Orroral Valley, Easter Monday

European wasps were a distraction at (very late) lunch, so I set a Kinglseys distraction for them. They are evil looking little bastards and quite strong. Straight out of camera jpeg from D3300 + 85mm micro (but compressed for upload).

crop of same

European trees starting to turn. The rest are D90 + 18-105 with minor tweeks

Cockatoo on the wing as shot and a crop

 - 

Orroral valley

What Is This?

Thygo got it!

Trying A Really Big Boy

Time for the tasting of a second single malt.

I've chosen a big bad 21 year old bottled at 48% alcohol.

The Glendronach 21 Year Old Parliament Single Malt.

As the bottling notes below record, "parliament" has nothing to do with politics and refers to a parliament of rooks.

Bottling Notes:

Matured in a combination of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks for a minimum of 21 years. Bottled at 48%, the 'Parliament' is named after the colony, or ‘parliament’, of rooks that have been nesting in the trees that overlook the GlenDronach distillery for almost 200 years. Non chill filtered and of natural colour.

Tasting Notes from Master of Malt:

Nose: Soft smoke and lemon juice, cedar wood, apple peel, toasty oak, soft earth, date and walnut cake and a hint of freshly made espresso.

Palate: Golden syrup, soft, juicy raisins, tangy oak notes, peach, cherry blossom, cocoa and honeydew melon.

Finish: Sherry tones lead the finish, with a hint of sulphur, chocolate, luscious fruit and pepper.

 

My bottle:

Tasting Notes from The Whiskey Wash:

Appearance: African mahogany. I could gaze upon this “splendor in the glass” for hours.

Nose: Dark rum-soaked stone fruits like plums, peaches, and apricots. In time, the sherry presence dominates. Even though this whisky has been aged in both oloroso and Pedro Ximenez casks, I get more of a sweet profile that’s native to the PX. The wood lends itself to a bit of white pepper, and cashews, along with Brazil nuts.

There’s a dollop of flan, graham cracker pie crust…honey-glazed ham, as well. An odd-sounding combination of impressions, I know, but the flavors are in there. Wow, this nose is complex. I’m also detecting cloves, with a gun-powdery tang. This said, the sulfur is not offensive; it’s lower in the mix than with some other Glendronachs I’ve tasted in the past, including Parliaments.

Palate: Mexican chocolate; hot pepper; watercress; oloroso sherry gains the upper hand; a fatty red meat note hangs back, as of beef brisket; wet ash; furniture polish; ginger snaps; black strap rum; menthol (at an acceptable level); vanilla bean; dry oaky tanins that turn bitter, along with anise. As Yoda says, “Complex, this one is!”

Finish: Quite long with peppery oak, Abuelita chocolate powder, and a drying sherry note that ends with a drawn-out ashy death, which is not at all morbid or depressing. No, this kind of “ash” is a good thing. It mingles with tannins to help round out the almost sickly-sweet palate.

Call it the cycle of life – from a cherubic candy-coated nose, to a middle-aged palate, to a delightfully denture-puckering finish. One thing is certain: time in the glass does help to brighten the corners of this whisky. Don’t pour any if you are in a hurry!   As time marches on, Glendronach 21-Year-Old Parliament will gain more of a following, just as the single cask Glendronachs did late last year.

Tasting notes from Shirley:

OK Shirley did the right thing and left it in the glass for 10 minutes before even thinking about drinking it.

Brilliant first flavours punched me in the mouth straight away. I agree with Master of Malt when they refer to date and walnut cake. Very nice oak throughout and a sherry finish. A hint of vanilla. I detected no smoke at all. Wonderful. Almost up to the Balvenie Caribbean cask, which is a bit ahead because I loved its sweeter and amazing smoothness. I'll give the GlenDronach 85.

Time for my second glass. But I have to wait 10 minutes again!

Rankings:

1.    The Balvenie Caribbean Cask. 14 years. 90/100.

2.    The GlenDronach Parliament. 21 years. 85/100.

Afternoon walk

walked to the shops on this warm (globally warming) Autumn day - bright sunshine, clear skies.

Took the D90 and the old 18-135.

Trying to get the Autumn colours without blowing the sky ...

 

 

colour amongst the gums

interesting set up for kids to ride

Mr & Mrs Galah

Dawn Walk With the D7200

On Saturday morning I had a nice dawn walk after missing out for a few weeks because of never ending rain.

I took the Nikkor 18-200mm lens which is my general purpose walk around lens.

My intention was to capture birds in flight, which is always difficult, especially with bad light.

Just after dawn, I got three decent shots of Ibises in flight. Decent in that it wasn't just a blur, and the subject matter is unmistakably an ibis.

This is a cropped bit from the last shot.

I also got three shots of pelicans in flight. They are big birds and they take off slowly, but are fast and graceful in flight.

Another copped bit of pelicans in flight.

This is my wife's favourite shot. The pelican was paddling fast along side us for a long distance. The shot captures his movement, with a neat reflection in the water.

This is just a really nice shot of a dog taken with a flash.

Speaking of birds in flight, fast forward to the next day Sunday when I was out testing Big Bertha. I managed to capture two cockatoos in flight. Taken with the Nikkor 18-200mm at 150mm.

A cropped close up.

Not nearly up to Thygo's cockatoos in flight standard, but a small beginning!

Zooming In With Big Bertha

Sunday afternoon, and time to test run my new biggest lens on my D7200. The Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD.

Bought on ebay for less than half the new price. Arrived in excellent condition.

Thygo has already named this lens Big Bertha.

After carrying this around for 10 minutes you realise how heavy it is.

Test Run #1 - A crane

The crane is not a bird!

Picture of a crane taken with the Nikkor 18-200mm at 18mm. You can see Big Bertha ready on the tripod on the right of the shot.

Crane with the Tamron at 150mm.

Crane with the Tamron at 600mm.

Test Run #2 - A Flock of Ibises in a Tree. Is that Ibi?

Picture of a flock of Ibises in a tree taken with the Nikkor 18-200mm at 18mm. The birds are just specks of white in the tree in the middle of the photo.

Flock of Ibises in tree with the Tamron at 150mm.

Flock of Ibises in tree with the Tamron at 600mm.

The Tamron shots were taken with a tripod. All in all, I'm rather happy with this lens.

Here is a water bird up close and personal at 600mm. The shot was pretty much facing the sun so a good effort. Slightly cropped.

 

Stroll to the shops

Took camera (3300 + 55-300) and was taking some shots of the 'Stargate' footbridge. Off to right of vision a white object - sulphur crested cockatoo.

Tried to grab a few shots as it flew past. These are the best 2, at normal size and then cropped (+ some minor tweeks in processing).

 

Adventures With The New Lenses

Paul has been very happy playing with his new lenses, both of which appear to be superior to the kit lens.

70-300 mm

The new zoom is awesome, especially after Thygo taught me how to track the focus.

Once again I can get decent shots of aeroplanes, in this case an Emirates A380 flying into the clouds.

At the other end of the zoom, close ups also work well with this big heavy lens. This is Sir Lancelot who likes to come out of his cage for a cuddle and scratch.

I had lots of fun in the Botanic Gardens with Thygo, who was every bit the intrepid explorer and photographer in the rain forest. Note the foot movement captured in this photo.

The famous blue wrens were too fast for me, but I got a honey eater and a magpie who caught me creeping up from behind.

Here is a zoom in close of my mother's apostle pot.

In Sydney my early morning walks still leave me in darkness for most of the walk, and then only very early morning light. I got a decent shot of a posh retirement home, and was able to zoom in through the glass for a good closeup.

This is one of my favourite photos of Canada Bay towards the end of my walk. The sun has risen above the horizon behind me, and it reflects off the white boats and buildings in front of me in the grey dawn.

I haven't really tried to take a moon shot yet, but I did a quick snap of the early morning moon with my zoom. Not too bad for hand held. I cropped this from the middle section of the photo.

35 mm Prime

Let's not forget the little 35 mm prime.

First of all, it takes excellent portraits. Here is the Master taken by the Apprentice.

Second, this lens takes excellent landscapes. Notice the wind blowing the trees in the first photo. Both of these are views from the Arboreum. The second photo is looking towards Mt Stromlo. The colours are great and the sky and clouds exactly like it was on the day.

I'm looking forward to more adventures with the Nikon, especially in Canberra with the Master.

 

Almost human ...

Cockatoos eating apples on the neighbour's carport.

 

Camera adventures in the bush capital

Paul and Peter went out in the somewhat cooler and very windy mid morning to try their hand at photography ...

Botanic Gardens

in the rainforest gully

my best wren shot, not cropped.

cropped a bit. but the bird was just too far away :-(

white bark amongst the green

 

Arboretum, Dairy Farmers Hill - very windy

Mt Stromlo - also very windy

 

 

Dawn Light

My 5.45 am walks are going well. It's almost completely dark when I leave, and then the sun slowly rises as I walk. The sun rises in the north east, and I'm walking south west along the Bay, so I don't get much of the vivid red streaks of dawn.

The only signs of life are the odd person like me (usually oldies walking dogs) and lots of birds. The most common bird types are Sea Gulls, Bar Tailed Godwits and Ibises. Cockatoos and magpies are reasonably frequent, with the odd Kookaburra and Crow. Every now and then I see one of my favourite birds - a Pelican.

Towards the end of my walk, usually 45 minutes to one hour, the sun has risen enough that there is a tiny splash of pink in the south western sky. It's nice when this is reflected in the water. My nikon managed to capture the reflection but there wasn't much colour to work with.

 

Australia Day Nikon Testing

I have been testing my D5500 each day when I go walking. The trouble is that I walk either very early (say 5.45am) or late (say 7.45pm) and at this time of the year it is light but very grey. There is no bright sunshine and it's not a good time for photo testing.

On Australia Day I took my new prime lens for a test drive. It's the little AF-S Nikkor 35mm 1:1.8G. The first big shock was having no zoom at all. However, the lens seemed to cope very well with the low light, and I got a good practice of the auto focus.

This photo of the Bay exactly captures the grey light as it was to my eye.

There is something very special in this photograph. The nondescript brown birds are Bar-Tailed Godwits. These are an incredible and very famous bird. PRESTAGS QUIZ - why?

I took lots of photos of cars. Not because I liked the particular cars, but because they were the most colourful things around and I wanted to test the colour on the 35mm lens. I think the colours came out very well.

I struggled to find a shot with multiple colours, and ended up taking some garbage bins (not usually a hot subject for me). I was impressed with the way the different colours came out. In fact I am so far impressed generally with this little lens.

The best shot of the day was the front gardens of some units. The unit bricks were shades of sand, and the colours of the flowers and Australian flag added a splash of colour. The colours were all subtle to my eye, and this is how they came out in the photo.

 

Now I'm dreaming of a higher powered zoom lens. 

U.N.I.

Yesterday late afternoon I went for a quiet stroll and I saw a U.N.I.

I was enjoying a nice cool breeze which had come in as relief from our heat wave. I walked along the bay with one of my older cameras (I've turned into a Thygo, and I think all the cameras need a share of usage. It justifies the constant new purchases). It was also very grey and I want to test my new camera on something more colourful.

I saw a U.N.I.

What is a U.N.I.?

It is not bees or beehives. One of my neighbours keeps bees on his roof.

It is not pelicans, or a pair of pelicans.

It is not a travelling Italian street food truck.

It is not a man with a travel BBQ preparing dinner on the shore.

It is not a lonely boat on the mud flats.

It is not a strange artifice of light caused by the setting sun behind the Bushell's coffee factory.

It is not a one-legged seagull. Have you noticed that there is always at least one one-legged seagull.

No, a U.N.I is something else.

An U.N.I is an Unidentified Naked Idiot.

I saw this clown shouting in the water with his beer can and making lude gestures at his small thing. He had a small crowd of onlookers.

I just wanted a nice quiet walk.

Retaliation demo ...

Hi baby, want to play a wargame with me?

Humming Bird. Not.

What the *#@+ are you staring at? Who says owls can't hover.

Welcome Sir Lancelot

The Boss and the girls couldn't go too long without another budgie, so they have acquired Sir Lancelot (currently known as baby Lance because he was only six weeks old when he arrived). He already has his own little personality, quite different to Aristo.