House Finch Friday

Friday morning I went out to the Little Lake Valley and made a very simple set up in the Burris Ranch garden for some bird photography. I used a Hawthorne branch in bloom for the perch and for a background I had a sheet of hand painted masonite. Considering that I only just put up the bird feeder earlier this week I was very impressed with how many birds were coming into the feeder. The majority of birds were House finches though a couple of White Breasted Nuthatches stopped by as well as some Lesser Goldfinches and one Scrub Jay. When I got home I edited them pretty thoroughly and this was my stand out favorite. God's love and blessings upon your week, chris #teamcanon, #tamron This image was created with a canon 7D MkII and a TAMRON | SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2lens at 450mm. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/200th of a sec. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 500 EX flash st to -2 stops.

Hot Off the Showroom I Mean Pharmacy Floor

Here are a few more images of model cars from Thursday night. I can see why people like to work with scale models. It really gets your creative juices going to create a scene for the model to fit into and then to ligh it properly. It's also very challenging to try and get them to look realistic. All images were created with a Canon 7D mkII and a Canon EF-S17-85mm lens. Lighting was provided by two Alien Bees with 2' x 4' soft boxes. the camera settings were Manual mode, ISO 100, F stops varied but I was using a shutter speed of 1/160th of a sec. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon

Day in Paradise

I had a great time yesterday afternoon working with a little model pick up truck.I have a conceptual image in mind that I want to create. This is just part of the learning process of getting there. God's blessings upon your day, chris These images were created with a Canon 7D MkII and a Canon EF-S17-85mm lens. The camera settings used were Manual Mode, ISO 100, F13.0 at 1/160th of a sec. Lighting was provided by two alien Bee studio flashes were used with 2' x 4' soft boxes attached.

All in a Mornings Work

The little Lake Valley was full of light fog yesterday morning as I got ready to head out to do some bird photography at the Burris Ranch. On Tuesday I went out to the ranch and did some weed eating and setting up of bird feeders and perches. On the drive out I a saw one lone cow elk all by herself beside highway 101. Further on in the North end of the valley I spotted a small herd of tule elk up on a hillside. Two of the bulls got into a morning tiff. When i arrived at the ranch my photo blind was literally dripping with condensation. Luckily I had a towel with me and I wiped it down before bringing my camera gear into it. Bird activity was low, mainly because I just set up the bird feeders the day before. I photographed one really nice male House Finch. God's precious love to all, chris all images were created with a Canon 7D MkII with a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens in AV mode at a variety of settings. #TeamCanon,#withmytamron

Surprise Visit

Yesterday morning I pulled out my photo blind from next to the house. I wanted to get it ready for some bird photography later this week. When I popped the blind open there were two Pacific Chorus Frogs and one good sized Northern Alligator Lizard inside. Because it was still a little chilly out it wasn't too hard to capture them. I photographed the lizard on a piece of mossy lichen lying on top of a piece of whit tagboard before letting them go out in the forest. I really like the end resulting image. God's precious love to all, chris This image was created with a hand held Canon 7D MkII and a Canon EF-S17-85mm lens at 41mm. The camera settings used were, manual mode, ISO 100 F13.0 at 1/160th of a sec. Lighting was provided by two Alien Bee studio lights. both were fitted with 2' x 4' soft boxes.#teamcanon

Wyoming Spring Golf

One for fun! This is for my sister Shelley, her husband Steve and the Niobara Country Club. They have had some serious snow this last week. Though in Wyoming that can change to a sunny day with wind in an instant. God bless you all, chris

Country Life: Guest Photographer

Mendocino County in Northern California is a beautiful place to live. We have the ocean and its sandy beaches,tall Redwood groves, wild rivers and high mountains. Mixed in we have farms, ranches and wineries. You could do something different every weekend and not get bored. Living here we don't always take full advantage of what we have at our doorstep. Sometimes it's just nice to sit back on the deck and look up at the redwood trees. Saturday we went down to Hopland to Gaston Forge to look at having a gift made for a friend. They do incredibly beautiful metal artwork from signs to wall art and custom fire pits and more. Along the way we stopped and bought some delicious strawberries at Saechao Strawberries. Fresh picked out of the fields they are incredibly sweet! As we were leaving the strawberry stand we noticed all of the mailboxes lined up on the side of the road. We stopped and Lenore created some really nice images of them and this one was my favorite. I think it really captures the rural feel of where we live. She used a handheld Canon 7D and Tamron 18-200mm lens at 87mm. The camera settings were AV mode, ISO 100, F 5.6 at 1/320th of a second. God's love and blessings upon your week, chris #TeamCanon, #withmytamron