Picture-A-Week 2019 - Week 52

[pierces]

Pictures taken between Monday, December 23 and Sunday, December 29.

 

Rules: See above

That's it. This isn't a contest.

All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising).

Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize.

The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays.

Post one. Post many. Up to you.

Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

[benjoon]

Art installation Geraldton Western Australia 

[ski ww]

At our local hill night skiing.

 

[mskaufman]

Took this on an excursion from Port Canaveral on Christmas

 

[pierces]

This picture was taken on Christmas Day as we waited to board our flight to Houston to celebrate Christmas with my Son's family. This has become a tradition of sorts and the drive to Palm Springs to catch one of the few open stand-by flights available on Christmas Day is part of it. No traffic, usually good weather and the beauty of the California desert (minus the windmills) is a refreshing break from the wonderful chaos of the prior Eve and Morning. The backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountains on a warm Christmas Day made this shot stand out from the week’s more traditional holiday images and makes us wish the annual trip home didn’t suck so much.

 

Worst Travel Week

 

 

 

Dave

[zackiedawg]

Well I added the new big boy lens for my new A6600 camera - the Sony FE200-600mm - those who know me know that bird and wildlife photography is a primary pursuit of mine, so it was pretty natural that I was going to add the big zoom. It's not intended to replace my venerable FE100-400mm lens, which still will be better for BIF due to the shorter focal length, smaller and lighter size, dual focus motors...and of course better for closeup work due to the much much closer minimum focus distance. But for reach needs - which is almost always with birds, the 200-600mm delivers excellent reach in a still reasonable size (I handhold it)...and is surprisingly adept at BIF too, though I haven't tried it on the superfast birds like martins and swallows.

Here are some shots from my first outing with this lens over the weekend, out at my local wetlands, Wakodahatchee:

Great blue heron out in the tall grasses - at 600mm:


A green iguana, all 'oranged' up for mating time, wandering through the shallow waters and low plants:


Double-crested cormorant closeup at 500mm:


Getting super-tight closeup with an American bittern hunting through the reeds - at 600mm:


Quite a rare find - not only are they not here in big numbers, but they really like to hide - a Wilson's snipe at 600mm:


A cooper's hawk up in a cypress tree, with the remains of a recently caught bird he was feasting on:


A cormorant flying directly at the camera - the tracking AF doing a nice job staying with him:


Cormorant approaching to land:


A great blue heron with a great big fish, trying to figure out how to get it down his throat:


Another great blue heron high in the clear skies - with a baby turtle for a meal:


I do believe I'll be enjoying this lens, and especially the combo on my A6600 - giving me 900mm equivalent reach in a hand-holdable package!

[Re-tired]

9 hours ago, pierces said:

This picture was taken on Christmas Day as we waited to board our flight to Houston to celebrate Christmas with my Son's family. This has become a tradition of sorts and the drive to Palm Springs to catch one of the few open stand-by flights available on Christmas Day is part of it. No traffic, usually good weather and the beauty of the California desert (minus the windmills) is a refreshing break from the wonderful chaos of the prior Eve and Morning. The backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountains on a warm Christmas Day made this shot stand out from the week’s more traditional holiday images and makes us wish the annual trip home didn’t suck so much.

 

Worst Travel Week

 

 

 

Dave

 

Dave,  

Your post and the picture made me smile.  Excellent!!

 

 

[ski ww]

Zackiedawg your new lens looks like it's working just fine, great pics.

[mskaufman]

Leaving Nassau on Christmas Eve

[puppycanducruise]

Wonderful pictures everyone.

Thank you.

[tommui987]

On 12/30/2019 at 1:33 PM, zackiedawg said:

Well I added the new big boy lens for my new A6600 camera - the Sony FE200-600mm -

Quite a rare find - not only are they not here in big numbers, but they really like to hide - a Wilson's snipe at 600mm:




I do believe I'll be enjoying this lens, and especially the combo on my A6600 - giving me 900mm equivalent reach in a hand-holdable package!

 

JUSTIN:

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Liked the close-up of the Wilson snipe - but a hand-held 600mm?!!! Wow!

Very impressive. I have enough problems holding my 70-300mm!

[Re-tired]

There is a B2 in this photo, honest.  It is the little black line above the guys head on the right.  Thought I was doing a video but pushed the wrong button...

 

[Re-tired]

[zackiedawg]

On 12/31/2019 at 7:45 PM, tommui987 said:

 

JUSTIN:

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Liked the close-up of the Wilson snipe - but a hand-held 600mm?!!! Wow!

Very impressive. I have enough problems holding my 70-300mm!

 

Thank you...and Happy New Year to you as well!

 

Yeah, I guess I'm just so accustomed to shooting with long focal lengths - when I first got my first DSLR, the first lens I got for it other than the kit lens was a 200-500mm.  I've never had less than 500mm available in my arsenal...so I had to develop my steady handholding.

 

I was just out this afternoon shooting with the 200-600mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter attached, so I was shooting 840mm handheld on a 1.5x crop body, for 1,260mm equivalent framing, at as low as 1/500 shutter speeds.  Thank the gods for stabilization both in lens and in body!

[Oakman58]

That time I bumped into a movie star on New Year's Eve and he not only wouldn't talk to me he didn't even acknowledge my existence.  What a jerk!

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love the pictures.

[AL3XCruise]

From my last trip of 2019...

[Krazy Kruizers]

On 1/15/2020 at 11:55 PM, AL3XCruise said:

From my last trip of 2019...

 

Great shot -- what city / port is it?

[AL3XCruise]

7 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

 

Great shot -- what city / port is it?

Baltimore's inner Harbor. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you