Bataquitos Sunset

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It never quite went off tonight. The clouds were perfectly set, but too much scud rolled in before the sun got below the clouds. I was worried about that, so I went to my spot underneath the bridge, hoping the extra mile inland would help. At first it looked like it was going to be great, as you can see in the first photo. But it wasn’t enough. The clouds kept rolling in and. I held hope as the sky started going light and for about a minute there was a lovely reflection and some lit clouds, but then the vibrancy died off and it was just a spot of glow and grey.

Alas, at the same time, the east was lit up with spectacular pink and purple. But, being beneath the bridge with all the water to the west of me, that did me no good. The last photo is what’s behind me at this spot, a bridge, a freeway offramp, and some bushes. Far less dramatic than still, reflecting waters.

Might have been a good night to take this lagoon from the other direction. I should scout the overlooks up the road. I’ve avoided them because the background is a mall and a wal mart, but maybe there’s some creative framing to be done for evenings like this.

Red Shouldered Hawk

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We had an Exmas visitor today. This is a Red Shouldered Hawk. They’re smaller than the Red Tailed Hawks we normally see around here, though they feed on the same things.

Unfortunately, I was standing in the street taking these pictures and a car came just as he saw some pray and swooped off the perch, so I didn’t get it. And I mean just as it happened. The car came up beside me, I stepped aside, looked up and he was swooping down after something in the neighbor’s yard. So I didn’t get the money shot, but it’s still a handsome bird.

Exmas Eve Sunset

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Lots of clouds, lots of wind. Offshore wind, though, which is very strange with these clouds. I never got the perfect light I was looking for, with some clouds and smoke obscuring the horizon, but a half hour after sunset taking 15-30 second exposures was kind of interesting.

I’ll just dump them all here. They should be in chronological order.

Snapshots on Ektar

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100 speed is too slow for surfers. At least during the winter sunset. I’ve got some Portra 400 and 800 coming, and I’ll likely try the same shots again if I get another day like this.

I also took a hard to meter shot into the sun. Portra is a little nicer on highlights, but Ektar does have some pretty significant dynamic range. I was able to pull some detail out of the jetty, which is well underexposed, and it doesn’t have the greenish tint the underexposed Portra gets.

What I really need is a big enough filter holder for these ginormous lenses so I don’t have to hold a GND with my free hand, hoping not to get a thumb or finger in the frame, to get the bright sky tamed.

Birds in the Yard

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The Black Phoebe was out again, trying to roust the mockingbird who has taken residence in the berry bush. He’d land on the wire and cheep cheep cheep loudly, then the mockingbird would hop on the fence above the berry bush and scare him off.

I have noticed the male mockingbird has picked up finch sounds, as well. Except not the sound of a finch, he makes the sound of a bunch of them arguing and chattering at each other. Makes it harder for me to locate the actual finches, which I pretty much do by ear.

I was also able to catch this hummeringbird feeding off the cactus flowers and then resting on the wire above. I’ve been trying to get one feeding in the wild for a long time, so I am happy I was able to get a reasonable shot.

And targets of opportunity, a female house finch posing on the wire after the hummingbird left, and some bees in flight.

Jupiter and Saturn

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No telescope, these were taken with my 200-500mm Nikkor lens on the Z6.

Yes, those are Jupiter’s moons

And, since I had the camera on the tripod, here’s tonight’s moon.

Birdies

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House finch, Mockingbird, Black Phoebe — which, in addition to being a bird sounds like a good song title. I should take pictures of this dude to put on the album cover.

And from last night when it was cloudy, another mockingbird shot. This one has been following that black phoebe around and and now emulates it’s call perfectly.

Bees Bees Bees!

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Bees were swarming around the cactus flowers in the front yard. I got a wild hair to try and catch one in flight, but I had scant success. Wrong lens, and it was very late in the evening so the light didn’t last long enough for me to run inside and grab one more appropriate.

I did get to delete 300 photographs and only keep 8 or 10 though. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

I got two static photos that I like, though. One of a bee, one of a ladybug. And the neighbors staring at me like I was strange for standing in a bee swarm with my camera 8 inches from the cactus is a good trade for two OK shots.

Some more film

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Just a few shots I took looking for challenging metering. I pretty much lost half of each roll doing this, but I think I am learning some. Taken over the course of a week in Early December. I’ll just leave them here without further comment.

Birds In Silhouette

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This afternoon there was a lovely, broken, high cirrus with no scud on the horizon and little possibility of the marine layer blocking a glorious lighting of the high clouds. It was going to be a perfect sunset for photography.

I put the ultrawide on the film camera, and camped on a spot where I saw several strings of pelicans flying by at low altitude, and where I expected plenty of options for subjects beneath the spectacular glow. Then I watched the sky as the clouds dissipated, leaving me with nothing above the horizon. Instead of a firmament of ping, purple, and yellow I got mostly blue, with the only color being right where the sun hit the horizon. And the pelicans never again flew past. That’ll teach me to get excited for the weather.

At least I had the digital with a 24-70 lens, so I spent some of the time experimenting with powerful backlighting. The tide was extremely low and the breeze was out of the north. Plenty of seagulls were using the jetties for lift, at some moments congregating in groups a dozen strong, and I got a few cormorants heading north for variety. It wasn’t what I was looking for, but at least it was a fun way to spend an hour outside on a chilly evening.

I dumped a smattering of the images to jpeg and I’ll just leave them here.