!DAILY UPDATES! June. 366 days: your 2016 in photographs

[Lars Hansen]

June 2.

[Bruno Schroder]

Well seen, Lars. Good one.

[John Geerts]

June 3rd 2016  Cloudy.

Black and White

D800E  Nikkor  85/1.8 K

[Frank Fremerey]

This morning the weather was ideal: a bright foggy morning. Swallows came up to 1,5 meters to my balcony and I took 142 shots , wonderful shots of swallows entering the nest, in fast flight, frame filled at 85mm and D500 and many more.

Then I checked ... pity ... I hat the camera still set to "M" 6400 ISO f=1.4 and 40th of a second from the night before.

All blown out, all white. Afterwards I took some lesser shots. All crops.

No problem. There will be other bright foggy mornings with lots of swallows and all settings right!

PS: These are "black martins" or "Eurasian swifts". They are the most erratic flyers and one of the fastest flying birds. BUT: I have a colony of a few hundred in my backyard so I have lots of them to practice my birding skills

[John Geerts]

Always reset in the morning    Nice contrast, Frank.

Forgot my 3rd cat.  Puck, the red hunter...

[Peter McLennan]

Puck's looking great, John.  At three cats, you have me beat by one.  Fun subjects for photogs, for sure. 

[John Geerts]

Thanks Peter.  According to the Dutch biologist Midas Dekkers, four is the ideal number. So still room for one    

Cats are very suitable for photographers. They hardly ever pose, so you need to react quickly, with manual focus, have difficult furs for sensors and light measurement *especially the black one, and, for me, the ideal subject to have an idea what a lens is up to. 

[Frank Fremerey]

John. Love your cats. Lived most of my life with them. Then family members grew allergies....

super shots.

[Bruno Schroder]

Frank, I like you silhouettes. You have a dream opportunity with swifts flying that close.

Catching up with June 3. We have extremely tiny Forget-me-not in the garden, check the size of the flower in front of the grass for a measure of how tiny they are. Trying alternate focus points and framing. D750 105/2.8VR

[Frank Fremerey]

The swifts are only so near when the weather is such. On a normal morning they are 20 or 25 meters
up i  the air and flying faster. No chance then.

[John Geerts]

Thanks Frank.

Beautiful Bruno.  You captured them well.

I biked yesterday to a wetland-area and found, apart from the high water in the river, flowering Ragged Robins

[Lars Hansen]

Well seen, Lars. Good one.

Thanks Bruno!
Those forget-me-not surely are tiny - I especially like #1.

Frank - swifts are one of my favorite birds. I have tried photographing them myself - they often fly close to my balcony. But wrong camera for the job (Fuji X-E1) and I'm a poor BIF shooter as well. In danish they are called Mursejler.

John - I would like that shot even without the flowers   

[Frank Fremerey]

Love the light the grass the shallow depth of field the colorscape and the flowers as a little cherry right on top of the icing.

super #40. John!

[Frank Fremerey]

Frank - swifts are one of my favorite birds. I have tried photographing them myself - they often fly close to my balcony. But wrong camera for the job (Fuji X-E1) and I'm a poor BIF shooter as well. In danish they are called Mursejler.

Mauersegler in German. Same word. I bought the D500 and fast tele for birding and sports.
My main target are songbirds.

Yet. As the swifts are so many here I can use them to practice.

settings.
Technique.
VR issues
AF issues

there is so much new to learn

[Lars Hansen]

Mauersegler in German. Same word. I bought the D500 and fast tele for birding and sports.
My main target are songbirds.

Yet. As the swifts are so many here I can use them to practice.

settings.
Technique.
VR issues
AF issues

there is so much new to learn

Thanks - the D500 is definitely a different beast for that purpose! And swifts a good subject for practice 


June 4. It is very hot in Denmark these days - seems we get all the sun and heat while central parts of Europe gets all the water and thunder storms. A few indoor shots of my Brassia orchid still setting flowers - and now also a nice scent. Each flower spans approx. 20 cm.