Wyatt Johnston

If you read my blog, you may be tired of these three topics. I apologize, but too bad. Something in the air tonight just made evening shots work. The moon was very bright and crisp. The sky was clear and warm. I have three images for tonights posting.

1 – Moon. 3.
|| Nikon D7000 | 1/400 | f/11 | 800mm | ISO 500 ||

2 – Westar’s Jeffery Energy Center (25.6 miles from shooting location)
|| Nikon D7000 | 1/1.3 | f/5.6 | 800mm | ISO 800 || -Closeup Shot
|| Nikon D7000 | 1/8 | f/10 | 55mm | ISO 800 || -Wide Shot

Since I got my x2 Teleconverter, I have wanted to shoot the moon again. I learned a few things that I had not realized much with using my 400mm by it self. At 800mm the moon is huge, even not being a full moon. Also, at 800mm every movement is exaggerated. Even my camera strap swaying was causing the moon to shift in the view finder significantly.

I used a 10 second delay on the shutter, dropped my tripod extension to the base to help shake, and removed the strap. Even with all that, the SHUTTER movement caused it to shake. My personal tripod is, um, not of the greatest quality, I may try this shot again on a full moon with the tripod from work, it is much stronger (ie heavier)

The moon was setting in the westerly sky, some distant clouds added a nice texture in front of the moon.

|| Nikon D7000 | 2 second | f/16 | 800mm | ISO 500 ||

I am not a bird watcher, my mother is however. This morning I was driving to work and made a little side trip to the fledgling little subdivision behind the theaters to snap a picture of Jeffery Energy Center using my new 2x teleconverter and my 400mm lens. While there I saw some birds about 50 yards away looking colorful, so I snapped one.

My concerns about the teleconverter stealing color and clarity appear to be somewhat disproved by this and other shots today. Here is the bird. I know not what it’s name is, other than just pretty bird.

|| Nikon D7000 | 1/320 | f16 | 400mm + x2 teleconverter (800mm) | ISO 800 ||

I also took another fun 50mm vs. 800mm shot. This is Jeffery energy center situated 25 miles from my shooting location. The top picture is the 50mm shot. The plant is very hard to see, look for the small cloud and dark spot on the edge of the horizon. The bottom picture is the 800mm shot of the plant. Neither has any cropping to it, this is the shot as taken. The picture is not great, but 25 miles of air space may just to that. I tried to remove as much of the haze as possible, which negatively impacted the colors a bit, but made the power plant more visible

The other thing that is interesting is scale. The power plant at 800mm 25 miles away fills way more screen than the bird located a few dozen yards away in the picture above.