The heat continues, the fireflies are mostly gone and the cicadas are making noise. I really want to find and photograph the cicadas. I hear them, but have yet to find one. While sitting out on the deck I did get a chance to photograph what I believe is a chipping sparrow. Thom Hogan (and birders) would call it a LBJ (little brown job) — but I need the practice focusing and getting a sharp image with a big telephoto lens as part of my quest to get to 10,000 hours.
Chipping Sparrow. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/50 sec) on a tripod, VR-ON, Mirror-UP. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Chipping Sparrow. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/50 sec) on a tripod, VR-ON, Mirror-UP. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Chipping Sparrow. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/50 sec) on a tripod, VR-ON, Mirror-UP. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.
10,000 Hours to Become an Expert. Over the last couple of days I have seen several blogs referencing that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in a subject, activity, profession, etc. Thom Hogan and Mike Hagen have related this to becoming a photography expert. Thom Hogan pointed out that 10,000 hours is 40 hours/week for 5 years. (About as long as it took me to complete my PhD studies in Organic Chemistry). This could be doubled if visualization/acquisition of the image, and post processing are separate areas of expertise. Unless totally committed (and not having a day job to pay the bills) how many folks have 10,000 hours to commit to becoming an expert in 5, 10, or 20 years? I have always taken on new challenges every few years, both professional at work and outside of work. It was about 5 years ago that I decided to take on photography. From my point of view, the technical side was easy (but still requiring a lot of work and practice). For me the artistic side is the challenge. I have had several teachers/mentors (Winston Hall, Thom Hogan, Michael Marriant) over the past 5 years. One thing I learned from Winston was to share a new image every day (and thus my “Image of the Day” postings) and then learn from the feedback. Thom Hogan also pointed out today you also need to accept and learn from failures. If you don’t like one of my images, let me know.
Back to my “Images of the Day”. Another hot summer evening in New Jersey. Each of my tomato pots on the deck took 2 gallons of water. As I was sitting out on my deck I took some images of a young fawn, a grey cowbird, and Harvey the backyard rabbit. All were taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. Because the D3x camera has a 24 MP sensor, I was able to do significant crops and still retain significant detail. I will break this into 3 posts (one for each animal) because of the number of images.
Grey Catbird with Insect Lunch. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Grey Catbird. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.
Blue-Eyed Fawn. Another hot summer evening in New Jersey. Each of my tomato pots on the deck took 2 gallons of water. As I was sitting out on my deck I took some images of a young fawn, a grey cowbird, and Harvey the backyard rabbit. All were taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. Because the D3x camera has a 24 MP sensor, I was able to do significant crops and still retain lots of detail. I will break this into 3 posts (one for each animal) because of the number of images. The sky reflection makes this fawn look like it has blue eyes. It also have very long whiskers and eye lashes.
Blue Eyed Fawn Head Crop. Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). Image processed with Capture One 6 Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Blue Eyed Fawn. Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). Image processed with Capture One 6 Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Blue Eyed Fawn Running. Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/250 sec). Image processed with Capture One 6 Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Blue Eyed Fawn. Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/250 sec). Image processed with Capture One 6 Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Blue Eyed Fawn. Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). Image processed with Capture One 6 Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.
Harvey the Backyard Rabbit. Another hot summer evening in New Jersey. Each of my tomato pots on the deck took 2 gallons of water. As I was sitting out on my deck I took some images of a young fawn, a grey cowbird, and Harvey the backyard rabbit. All were taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. Because the D3x camera has a 24 MP sensor, I was able to do significant crops and still retain significant detail. I will break this into 3 posts (one for each animal) because of the number of images.
Harvey the Rabbit Looking at you. Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Harvey the Rabbit Looking at you. Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Harvey the Rabbit Looking at you. Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Harvey the Rabbit. Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.Harvey the Rabbit Resting after Dinner. Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.
Hot Summer Evening. While out sitting on my deck, I took some images of a Doe. I also caught an image of a distant commercial jet passing in front of a rapidly growing storm cloud.
Doe. Outdoor Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 500 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro 6, and Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.Doe. Outdoor Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 500 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro 6, and Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.Distant Jet Passing a Growing Thunder Cloud. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/4, 1/1250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Silver Efex Pro, and Photoshop CS5
