April 20, 2012
Byrne Creek Ravine Flowers, Plants, Bees
We are in the midst of a kitchen reno, and the other day I placed my Nikon D300 DSLR and 18-200 lens on top a cabinet that I had assembled. Choco the cat chose that moment to jump up and investigate said cabinet, and slid into the camera, knocking it 39 1/8" onto a carpeted floor. The camera seems to be OK, but the front element of the lens was loose, so I took it in to the Nikon Canada service centre in Richmond, BC. $199 + tax to fix. Ouch, but better than laying out some $800 for a new lens.
So today I was "limited" to my 70-300 (105-450mm equivalent) zoom on my lunchtime creek walk, but I had fun seeking opportunities to capitalize on the telephoto zoom's shallow depth of field, perspective flattening, and ability to narrowly isolate elements in scenes. A few of today's shots:
These are all hand-held, natural shots, with no flash, and no
artificial backgrounds. Just "normal" manipulation of exposure.
ISOs in the 400-1,000 range, because I don't like lugging a tripod
around. But that may change when I try to blow shots like these
up to 11 X 14 and beyond. Lugging that tripod will be critical then . . .