Blue Super Moon to Blood Moon

Here is a compilation of images from last nights Super Blue Moon Eclipse. All photographed with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. God's love and blessings upon your day, chris #TeamCanon, #TakenWithMyTamron

Crazy Weather

Yesterday I felt like I was living in Colorado and not California. I awoke to the low rumble of thunder. It hailed for about twenty minutes covering the driveway in almost half an inch of pea sized hail. Not done yet it poured big rain drops really hard off and on for the next couple of hours. Then it totally surprised me by snowing in fits and starts for the rest of the afternoon. There were some really big snowflakes too. Some were close to an inch across. It was just crazy. This morning we awoke to a pink pastel sunrise and it was was overcast for most of the day with a few patches of blue sneaking in. The overcast made for some good photography and I photographed some Red Breasted Nuthatches in the backyard. Have a blessed weekend,chris All of the images were created with Canon cameras. The snowy Redwoods were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera with a Canon EFS 17-85mm lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX flash. The sunrise was captured with a Canon T1i camera and a Canon 50mm f 1.8 lens. All of the bird images were captured with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX flash set to minus 1-1/3rd stops. #TeamCanon, #TakenWithMyTamron

Zhongyyi 20mm Macro

About a week ago I was looking through some photo websites and I ran across a really odd looking macro lens. A short search led me to find it was the ZYoptics Zhongyi Mitakon 20mm f/2.0 4.5X Super Macro Lens. It is a fully manual lens that has an f stop range from f 2.0 to f 16.0. Where this lens really shines is that it produces images that are from 4 to 4.5 times life sized on a full frame camera. I decided to order one and it arrived yesterday. After mounting it on my camera and focusing on some sugar crystals I immediately discovered that it is not something that you can hand hold and photograph with. It was time to pull out the tripod and a macro focusing rail. At such high magnification I needed to focus first at f 2.0 and then stop down to take the image. This is because being a manual lens it is too difficult to see the subject at about F8.0 or smaller due to the lack of light being let into the camera. Every tiny movement made could or would shift the images composition or focus. Definitely not a lens that you would want a beginning photographer to start with. After photographing the sugar crystals I moved on to photographing the keys on an old Royal typewriter that I have kept for sentimental reasons. This is going to be a fun lens to keep around for photographing tiny things in the macro realm. God's love and blessing to you, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera. The macro lens was photographed with a Canon EF 28-80mm lens and the macro images were photographed with the ZYoptics Zhongyi Mitakon 20mm f/2.0 4.5X Super Macro Lens. The camera was supported with a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod and a macro focusing rail was used for the macro images. Lighting was provided by two L.E.D. light panels.#TeamCanon

Save It for a Rainy Day

Luckily after another long dry spell we are starting to get some rain again. My photography went through a dry spell as well. With all of the self imposed pressures of some big projects I'm hoping to complete in both my personal and professional life I'm going to knock my photoblog back to only one blog a week. Today it is raining once again. Thank you Lord! Here is a puzzle left over from Christmas. It's missing a few pieces as you can see. A good comparison to how I was feeling.Now there is a better road ahead. The other image is of a mountain top sticking up from the fog and clouds. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon

What is This Thing?

I find some strange things when I'm sorting and cleaning things up. I'm not the neatest of people and periodically I have to clean up and purge all of the detritus that surrounds me from my creative efforts. In cleaning out the cubbies in the closet I found a roll Kodak 35mm print film still in the box. It was a roll of 24 exposure Kodak Gold. I was really surprised to find that you can still buy it on Amazon though in the comments someone noted that the film was outdated. For the younger crowd out there this is what we used to have to put into cameras to create photographs. You had to load it into the camera take your pictures and then drop it off at the drug store or supermarket and they would send it out to a lab to be developed and then send your pictures and negatives back to you.In some places they had a lab in the store and they would develop it right there for you to pick up later. There are places actually still have these! I'm guessing that the box I found was most likely Lenores because I usually photographed with 35mm transparency or slide film. Although I sometimes would use a slide duplicator to make print using print film. On the box it was dated to develop by June of 2001 so that ship has long sailed. Amazing how much photography has changed since that time. Many people wouldn't have a clue as to how to even load a camera with print film today. We are too accustomed to the ease of photographing with our cell phones! God's precious light and love to all, chris This image was photographed on a white sweep with two L.E.D light panels using a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Canon EF-S60mm macro USM lens. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 125, F 20.0 at 1/6th of a sec. #TeamCanon

Closer Look

Here is a much closer look at my pocket watch photographed with my Canon 7D MkII camera and a Canon Ef-S60mm macro lens.It's so much fun to see things close up. It's a whole new world in minature! The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 125, F 16.0 at 4/10ths of a sec. God's love and blessings upon your day, chris #TeamCanon

Time Is Passing By

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up". Galations 6:9 NIV Wow where has all of the time gone? It is so hard for me to fathom that it is 2018. While cleaning out the cubbies in my closet I came across my pocket watch which I rarely wear. It was a gift to me from Lenore on our wedding day. I always try to keep it in my top cubby so that I don't lose track of it. It seemed a fitting subject for today on this second day of the new year. I placed it on an old piece of weathered wood and I photographed it with a macro lens. I think it portrays the passage of time really well. Let's stay focused on doing good for others in the world around us. God's blessings to all in the coming year, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D mkII camera with an EF-S60mm F 2.8 macro lens. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 125, F 16.0 at .4sec. Lighting was provided by two orange jelled L.E.D. light panels.

Last Image of 2017

The morning before New Year's Day I photographed some trees in the foggy Little Lake Valley below where we live. I love to pick out landscape details using my telephoto lens. I used my Canon 7D MkII camera with a Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens. The camera setting used was AV mode, ISO 125,F11.0 at 1/125th of a sec. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamronGod's blessings upon the upcoming year.