Looking through some old photos… This one is from a trip to northern lower Michigan in 2008. It was late April, I don’t know what the body of water is but the old dock was long submerged and the sun shining on a clear day made it all the more visible… A little help form a polarizer, too..
This claim check fell out of one my suitcases - a very old suitcase - so I snapped a photo of it. Pentax Mz-S, Lensbaby Muse, Tri-X,D76 1+1:
Click for a larger image.
Continuing to work with the Pentax K-01:
I was in rural Indiana earlier this week, and took a walk with the Pentax Q in hand… Click on the image for a larger view:
Here’s another version with a little less color saturation:
Another IR shot from my visit to St. Louis earlier this year - taken with an infrared converted Pentax K10. A bandstand in Forest Park:
I recently purchased a Pentax Q compact interchangeable lens camera. Aside form a wanting a fun and compact camera, I was intrigued by the prospects of excellent macro capabilities using this camera and K Mount macro lenses - along with a K to Q mount adapter.
Here are a couple shots of spiders from earlier today, taken with the Q and D-FA 100mm f2.8 macro lens. The tiny sensor size means great depth of field at open apertures, which also means high shutter speeds and lower ISO settings. I hope to be doing some more macro work with the Q in the days ahead.
These were both out in my wildflower garden, which is now completely overrun by non-wild Sweet Autumn Clematis. I’m certain that the first subject is a Nursery Web Spider, mostly likely Pisaurina mira. I’d guess that the second one is another species of Nursery Web Spider as well.
Click the images for larger files.
Bull thistles have popped up all over my wildflower garden this summer, and Goldfinches have been watching them closely all season long. The bull thistles started blooming a few weeks ago, and when I look out of my upstairs office windows late in the day I see the finches reveling in the thistle seed. They also gather the down for their nests, and this is the time of year when they lay eggs and raise their young.
I took a few lazy stabs at photographing these guys in past years and in the last few weeks, but recently decided to get serious. I broke out the Pentax SMC A*400 f2.8 and 1.7x teleconverter / autofocus adapter, and rummaged through my closet for a suitable flash bracket. It’s been years since I used this setup!
Last weekend I did not have much luck - every time I stepped out the door the finches flew off. So this afternoon I setup the camera and big lens peeking around the corner of my wife’s car, grabbed a book and some beer, and sat back to enjoy the afternoon, reading. It took a few hours but eventually the finches came back to the thistles, and when they did they no longer seemed concerned about me or my efforts to photograph them. With a little luck, I’ll get a few more shots before the summer is over.
Click on the images for larger files.
Here are a few IR shots of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Mo. taken with an infrared converted Pentax K10D. Click on the images for a larger file.
Here are a couple of stitched-together panoramics from my trip to St. Louis last month. First - a view of the city from the top of the gateway arch:
(click the image for larger files.)
Second - the lobby of the art museum:
THat last one came together a bit akimbo.
A snapshot of the Jewel Box, a greenhouse located in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri. Made with an infrared converted Pentax K10D (and a bit of digital finagling.) Click on the image for large file.
A few photos from the St. Louis Zoo, taken last week (June, 2012). For all but the last shot I used a Sigma 135 - 400 f4.5 - 5.6 lens and Pentax K5 - which proved to be a great combination. Click on the images for a larger file.
Not an animal on exhibit at the zoo, but one who was just visiting:
Oops - pulled out the Infrared Converted K10D by mistake at first:
Probably the last insect macro I’ll take iwht my old SMC A* 200mm macro… Though shots takens with the *NEW* SMC 200mm macro will be coming soon!
