Ken Chan
December 7, 2012
Winter is Monarch butterfly season at the Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, California.
Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 320, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/800
From the visitor center, head down the Monarch Butterfly Boardwalk to reach the Monarch Grove. You will arrive at the viewing platform after a short descent. I wouldn’t even call it a hike.
Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 640, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/800
Bring binoculars for a close-up view of the butterflies.
Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 640, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/800
Most of my photos were at the 300mm end. If I were to visit this place again, I would definitely use a tripod. Focusing on a small (and sometimes moving) butterfly was a big challenge. A tripod would definitely help reduce camera shake. But, the viewing platform was quite crowded. So, I would return at the beginning or end of the day. This would help out with the lighting as well. The mid-day sun just created too much contrast. Some butterflies were in the shade. Others were in the sun. A total challenge.
Ken Chan
November 13, 2012
At first, I thought it was some kind of beetle. But, Google leads me to believe that this is a bumblebee. Would have been better if the bumblebee was perched on a flower instead of lounging around on my concrete driveway.
Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 280, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/320
Ken Chan
October 15, 2012
After the Full Moon on the Quad photos, I strolled down Serra Street to the fountain between Memorial Auditorium (Mem Aud) and Hoover Tower.
Nikon D800, AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 14mm, f/5, 20.0
At night, the wide angle of the 14-24mm lens can pick up glare from off-image light sources. Avoiding the bright peripheral lights from street lamps prevents the appearance of UFOs hell bent on attacking Hoover Tower.
Ken Chan
October 14, 2012
Mid-Autumn Festival or the Moon Festival at the Stanford Quad. I think I was testing ISO at this point. The image is pretty clean for ISO 5600.
Nikon D800, AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 5600, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/25
Ken Chan
September 21, 2012
From this morning’s flyover near NASA’s Ames Research Center.
Space Shuttle Endeavor, atop the NASA 747, flew directly above us. The air was a bit hazy, so I had to clean up the image a bit in Photoshop.
Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 100, 300 mm, f/9, 1/320
Ken Chan
September 7, 2012
I headed to the Chabot Space & Science Center with the light lens, a 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5 Nikkor zoom that I had bought about 20 years ago. This small, plastic wonder was a delight to use since it was light and svelte, unlike its beastly f/2.8 cousins. Indoors, no flash, and letting auto ISO take care of whatever needs to be done. Not bad for ISO 4000.
Nikon D800, AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5 N, ISO 4000, 70 mm, f/4.5, 1/200
At ISO 400 for 15 seconds, my first attempt ended up pitch black. However, Photoshop was able to recover some of the details. Quite grainy, but I like the colors.
Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 400, 24mm, f/2.8, 15.0s
At first, I was just focused on capturing the Milky Way. So, I spent some time adjusting the ISO and shutter speed settings. After I was confident in my settings, I turned to aligning the Milky Way with the various foreground shadows. In my case, I was surrounded by a ring of trees, so this shot ends up with the tip of the trees on three sides of the photo.
And, instead of the Milky Way streaking across the sky, in this shot, it appears almost flame-like. A bit hard to keep this all straight in the middle of the dark field, but take a lot of different photos and sort it all out later. From the comfort of home, I noticed that there’s a bit more color in the wide end of the Milky Way. Something to keep in mind next time.
Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 3200, 14mm, f/2.8, 30.0 sec
Before I headed out to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, I tried to photograph the Milky Way from a block away from my home. I could catch a faint glimpse of the Milky Way, but that was about it. I took some test shots for practice and reference, then packed up my gear.
Turns out, the settings for photographing the night sky from the suburbs were not particularly helpful for more remote locations. So, I ended up shooting at different ISOs and shutter speeds throughout the night.
Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 3200, 16mm, f/2.8, 30.0 sec
Most of the seals were lounging on the beach. However, I found this pair swimming just off the coast. Perhaps, they were as intrigued by us, as we were by them.
Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 100, 300 mm, f/9, 1/320
