May 21 2015

Mead Botanical Gardens

Took a walk to the gardens while my car was being serviced this morning. Ran across a bird acting a bit strange. He landed and then fidgeted around a lot.

[f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 1600, 130 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

[f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 1600, 130 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

After watching him a bit and zooming in I discovered that he apparently pushed his beak into some sort of material and is having difficulty getting it off. He rubbed it on the branch numerous time to no avail. Hopefully he will have success shortly.

[f/5.6, 1/320, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

[f/5.6, 1/320, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

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May 19 2015

English can be weird…

May 16 2015

Wekiwa Springs State Park

Took my camera and went to Wekiwa Springs State Park today. Walked all around the springs for a bit, then took off on a hiking trail to Sand Lake, a two mile walk. Ambled around the lake taking pictures and then returned to the swimming area. Although I didn’t activly start a Runkeeper session, my hiking was picked up by Runkeeper’s ‘Pocket Track’ feature that constantly checks for walking activity longer than 15 minutes. Seems I covered a lot of ground; it says I walked almost 14 km! Got a few good photos I think as well.

[f/3.5, 1/4000, ISO 400, 18 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6\

[f/3.5, 1/4000, ISO 400, 18 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

Above is Sand Lake.

And below is my buddy Rocky.

 

[f/5.6, 1/80, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

[f/5.6, 1/80, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

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May 15 2015

Oakridge Gun Range

Haven’t been out shooting in a few years.  Picked up a box of shells and went with a few friends to see how much edge I have lost.  To my surprise I seem to be at least as accurate as I was when I was going regularly.  I’m not really great, but I can still hit the target in the right spot — and that’s gun control I can support.

[f/2.2, 1/4, ISO 80, 4.15 mm, with an iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2]

[f/2.2, 1/4, ISO 80, 4.15 mm, with an iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2]

The only pistol I have with me is my HK USP Compact in .45 Auto.  It has been a great weapon for many years and feels like a second skin.

 

2015-05-15_untitled_006

[f/2.2, 1/4, ISO 80, 4.15 mm, with an iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2]

May 15 2015

Night shot iPhone 6 Plus, grainy but nailed the shot.

[f/2.2, 1/4, ISO 1000, 4.15 mm, with an iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 using ProCamera Night Mode]

[f/2.2, 1/4, ISO 1000, 4.15 mm, with an iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 using ProCamera Night Mode]

I really like ProCamera.  It is easy to use but has depth, allowing lots of control including separate exposure and focus points, shutter or ISO priority and bracketing.  I’ll be trying some even darker night shpts soon. Adjustments in Lightroom 5 include crop, straighten, noise and WB adjustment.

 

May 11 2015

Sunset in neighborhood

Just a quick snap taken during my walk/jog around the neighborhood on my birthday.  No exposure information saved since it was taken within the Runkeeper app on my iPhone 6 Plus.  Editing with Snapseed app to underexpose the lower section and with Touch/Retouch app to remove a light pole in the center of the photo. Amazing what you can do on an iPhone.

 

May 09 2015

A Taste of Sanford

Went to the food and music festival A Taste of Sanford 2015 and got some nice photos. Lots of local food, great band playing and fun stuff for the whole family.  Even the local birds got a treat.

[f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

[f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

Another view of the same bird was captured against the sky, rendered in both color and B/W

 

[f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

[f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

[f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

[f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 200, 200 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

 

May 09 2015

Losing weight and lowering BP

Regular exercise like walking 2.5-5K a day and eating right is paying off!  Goal for now is to drop 47 pounds, hope to be there by mid August.

▼  UPDATEs▼

May 08 2015

Home to the Peacock in the previous post

[f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200, 28 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

[f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200, 28 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]


Beautiful water feature at Magnolia Park.  I went to a bluegrass festival there last weekend and the views were nice, but the music wasn’t to my taste.  Not your typical Bluegrass, more like toothless swamp folk singing colloquial lyrics about life.

 

May 08 2015

Peacock at Magnolia Park

[f/5.6, 1/1250, ISO 200, 130 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

[f/5.6, 1/1250, ISO 200, 130 mm, with a NIKON D5500 and a 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6]

Unfortunately, although I followed him for about 30 minutes, he didn’t open his fantail.  He looks a bit scraggly so it may not have been that spectacular anyway.

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