Being "Nosy"

 

The Unicornfish or "kala" in Hawaiian.

 

Back in old times the Hawaiians would stretch the skin of this fish over a coconut to make a small drum. The skin is supposed to be very tough!

April Ice Storm

The last two days had touched 80F degrees at my home in Oklahoma. Trees were beginning to leave out and the grass was showing sprigs of green. Charlotte and I were in full tilt Spring Cleanup!

During the evening a cold front bringing sleet, rain, and hail blew in. By this morning (today), everything began icing up.

The Carolina Jasmine, which just yesterday was in full bloom, began to droop with the weight of the ice. It was sure smelling good yesterday!

Even the red tip shrub and the red berries on the nandina bush were drooping!

The ornamental plum tree took the biggest hit. It was in full bloom and the ice really gathered on the branches. Finally I heard a big crack as it split in two. Just what I wanted! More work on top of what is left to do before I can start getting my travel trailer ready for a trip!

Tulips at 36.3 megapixels

It finally got warm enough for a few more flowers to start popping up so I took the opportunity to get out with the new Nikon D800 (it arrived Monday) and take a few photos. Of course it's suppose to freeze tonight and snow tomorrow so I may have to wait another week for any more flowers to show up!

 

This first shot is straight out of the camera with no touch ups except for resizing it for the blog. I shot it using the D800 with a Nikon 105mm micro lens and a ring flash.

 

This second shot is straight from the camera except for cropping about 75% and resizing.  It was shot with the same lens but no ring flash this time. As shot, the tulip photos were making files at 38.9 mb each.

 

Both shots are hand held with the wind whipping the flowers around while I was trying to shoot.

April showers...

All I can say is if April showers bring May flowers we're going to have a pile of flowers on the way... Ha ha!

Truth be known we've had a mild Winter over here on the West Coast and the Spring isn't shaping up too bad either. Though there has been a  "Pineapple Express" strafing the Coast with wind and tropical amounts of rain the last couple of days as seen in this picture.

Seven and counting!

Alone In The Death Valley.

Another "Rain Blob"

Looking north across Queen Charlotte Strait I saw the oddest non rainbow... By good fortune a boat came into the scene and gives an idea of the scale. Before long the "Rain Blob" just faded away and that was that!

After the storm

 

I'm back to the Land of Aloha. I haven't taken any new photos so I'm digging into the last Hawaii trip for some I haven't posted yet. This was taken at the Piilanihale Heiau near Hana on Maui. It had been raining most of the day and the weather cleared long enough for us to get out and walk around a little on the grounds of the Heiau. (pronounced hey-ow)

 

From the web:

Pi'ilanihale Heiau is quite an impressive sight. It is the largest heiau in all of Hawaii, encompassing almost 3 acres, which equals the size of two football fields. Standing next to it, it is impossible not to feel dwarfed by it. Its stone platform measures more than 415 feet (126 m) in length and 340 feet (103 m) in width and dates back to the late 13th century.

The heiau was built out of precisely fitted lava rock and is unique in that it features a construction that can't be observed at any other heiau in Hawaii. Its northern wall is 50 feet (15 m) high with five steep, terraced steps. The lush surroundings, including tropical flowers, coconut palms and breadfruit trees, add to the mystic atmosphere of old Hawaii.

The heiau is located on a bluff in East Maui, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Hana, and has been incorporated into the Kahanu Garden, which is part of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.
The name Pi'ilanihale means “house of Pi'ilani” in the Hawaiian language. The exact history of the heiau is shrouded in mystery. It may have been built by one of the Hana chiefs during the time when Maui was divided, with two ruling chiefs, one in Hana and the other in the rest of Maui. The heiau was rededicated by chief Pi'ilani in the 16th century when he united all of Maui.

Unfortunately once the sun came out I had to look directly into it to get a shot of the heiau so the shot wasn't what I expected it to be.

 

 

These both had a graduated neutral density filter used on the top half of the photo to block out some of the super bright sun light.



Foremost ATV

I have no idea what the story behind this most interesting machine is, where it came from or even who owns it but my first thought when I saw it was that Ron could use this around his place in the winter... That way he would have no excuses why he's not out taking photos... Probably do a good "Hay Ride" business on the side with a machine like this too. Ha ha!

Paying My Respects!

10-26-12

Ever since first seeing this guy back in the early part of 2009, I've always tried to look him up, take a pic, and wish him all the best! I even offered to take the annoying dead stick hanging from his forehead but he told me that being an old Tall Hump Bison that would probably not be a good idea. I took him at his word!

Take note of the yellow flowered broomweed where he is resting! Next post will find a similar setting!

1-3-09

The pic above was my first sighting of this old guy. It was a cold day in January but it seemed a bond was in the making! Two old guys looking at each other! It was easy to see he was an old fellow and  his hump was the tallest of all the Buffalo! Bitter Sweet!

Moving Pictures

I have been so busy the last couple of weeks I haven't had time to take photos or edit old photos or do much commenting on other blogs. Being sick really put me behind. I'm ready for a vacation!!

 

This is one of the many waterfalls you find along the Road to Hana. It's a little noisy so you might want to turn your sound down. I figured I would post a "moving picture" just to figure out how to do it.

 

I shot this with the Nikon P7700 and it was only after I shot it that I realized that I had hit the exposure button and over exposed the shot. I need to learn to check that wheel everytime I use the camera because I have a bad habit of moving it just about everytime. That's one of the very few things I don't like about the camera.

Fawn Lilies

It's that time of year again, the Fawn Lilies are coming out in the woods behind my house. These pretty little flowers make great subjects as they hold perfectly still. Ha ha!

I'm finding an interesting thing with my Nikon 18-300 lens, most zoom lenses get clearer and sharper stopped down a little with a smaller aperture as opposed to wide open with a larger aperture. This is definitely not the case with this lens as it gets it's best results at 300mm wide open! I can see I'm going to have to spend some time playing with this lens at various focal lengths and apertures to see what works best.

Moth or Butterfly?

A quick look on the internet gives some clues to look at.

- Butterflies have antenna with knobs on the ends, moths have plain or feather like antenna.
- Butterflies are usually active during the day, moths at night.
- Butterflies rest with their wings up, moths with their wings laid out flat.
- Butterflies have slender, hairless bodies, moths have a fat abdomen and furry bodies.
- Butterflies are usually more colorful than moths though not always.

So is it a moth of butterfly? Got me buffaloed!

Please come by anytime!

Full flaps...

Caught this shot just as the Eagle was about to land, lighting was over my shoulder in the perfect position for good light with a bit of definition. Took this with the Nikon 18-300 at 300mm and cropped it to about half it's original size.
Funny now that I'm looking for birds in flight to practice taking pictures of none seem to be around! I'm thinking they all had their fill when the herring were in a few weeks ago and have gone to sleep it off... Ha ha!

Spot and Stalk Photography

      I don't have the same zoom capabilities as some of the other bloggers on this blog, which makes it a little difficult to capture some of the bird photos. So, I had to put my hunting skills to use on these photos, with a little spot and stalk action. Using some of the natural terrain and a pond dam, I was able to sneak within 15 to 20 yards of these three blue winged teal. At first I don't think they realized I was there. It only took a few shutter clicks of the camera to alert them that they had company and to the air they took.

    Kansas is in the central flyway zone, and over the last few weeks I have been seeing fewer and fewer waterfowl, as most have already made the trek back to the great north. A few still hang around but, I would imagine all but a few will move out by the end of the month.  Which gives way to my next fowl experiment  taking my 5 year old turkey hunting! Hopefully in the next few weeks I can capture a couple images of turkeys up close!!  

All of these were shot with my D300 with a 70-300mm lens at 300mm, ISO 800, between 1/640th and 1/2000th sec.

   

Going For The Gold.

Couple weeks ago we attended our son tournament to qualify the National division that going to be held in Chicago in July.  Well, he was placed in third out of 18 kids in his division, and he's qualified for National.
My Jonathan is in first and third picture.


All these shots from Nikon D3 with 70-200mm f/2.8, ISO5000, and no flash.

What the ?

I was looking through the picture files from the Nikon P7700 to see what I could post and I found two photos that Cheryl took one right after the other. I'm not quite sure what she was thinking at the time or if she even meant to take the two photos but I decided to put them together just for fun.

Lost...

Portraits on Nikon 105mm f/2.8 with Nikon D3.  Beside using this lens as macro, is also good for portrait head shot.  I'm highly recommended to get this lens if you can find a good deal like Ron.  LOL.

Photographer At Work.