We put the feeders out right after the “hurricane” and today we had our first sighting. That’s a Ruby Throated for sure. We saw one other that was very reddish in color. Did not get a picture. I should be able to get some good shots this season since I’ve placed the feeders right outside the kitchen window.
Edouard Aftermath
The rain is a much appreciated byproduct of non-hurricane Edouard, as is the lack of catastrophe. But kudos to the local media outlets for milking it for all it was worth. I’ve never seen so much televised sprinkling and ponding!
I for one was happy this turn out to be a “non-event” even though many of my co-workers chose to take the day off. All the better for me to get caught up on my work and enjoy a traffic free commute both ways.
Main Street – Houston
Happiness Is A Clean Car
Bokeh Machine
The new lens is a veritable bokeh machine. It takes the background, obliterates it and then reassembles it into the most lovely bokeh I have ever seen. This is just a gloved hand in front of Cynthia’s “What’s For Dinner” quilt.
Sabine Street Bridge
At some point everybody shoots a picture of the downtown Houston skyline from the Sabine Street Bridge. This shot was processed for HDR using 3 separate images I took just as the sun was going down. Each was shot at varying exposures on the 11-18mm ultra-wide angle lens and blended together using Photomatix
Due to the rampant theft of this image I was forced to remove the high res version. If you would like to purchase this photo for use on your Web site, please contact me.
Prime Directive
That’s a 77mm UV filter. Why am I grinning like an idiot? Because it goes on my latest acquisition:
The incredible Sony SAL135F18Z 135mm F1.8 Sonnar T* Lens
That’s right, 135mm at 1.8 making it a beefy telephoto and ultra fast which is ideal for the kind of photography I like to do. It’s been on my wish list since purchased my first Sony DSLR and I finally just bit the bullet and bought it. I could not be happier. These tests shot using the lovely Cynthia as the subject gives you an idea of the quality of the optics we are dealing with here
From a distance:
And up close
As you can see, this thing is razor sharp. Taking into consideration the 1.5 crop factor of the APC-C sensor this lens is effectively shooting 1.8 at 200mm (202.5 to be precise). That’s equivalent to the max zoom of the high end 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses used on a full frame camera by many concert photographers and a full stop faster making it a monster of a concert lens.
I am going to L-O-V-E shooting with this thing.
16 years With No End In Sight
Cynthia and I celebrate our 16th anniversary this weekend. It’s an ongoing journey of exploration and adventure and so much joy. I’m a lucky, LUCKY man…