JV's Last Game of 2010 - Gold Duster Chairs

Stopped to get this while the Gold Dusters were on the field doing their thing...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/25 sec
Photo taken 11/5/10 by Jim Mahood

JV's Last Game of 2010 - Tuba Trio

Was walking up the stairs next to the band when this caught my eye. As the kids are playing certain songs, the guys playing these tubas twirl around. Capturing that motion in just the right way would be interesting to get some day...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/60 sec
Photo taken 11/5/10 by Jim Mahood

JV's Last Game of 2010 - Trombone Tradition

Interesting, some of the traditions and behaviors at a game...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/4.8, 1/20 sec
Photo taken 11/5/10 by Jim Mahood

JV's Last Game of 2010 - Field Shot

Back in November my brother asked me to take the Big Cahoona to a Jersey Village High School football game. For the purposes of comparing his Canon with my new rig, he asked me to get some wide shots of the field in addition to some of the specialty stuff that I like to capture.

Naturally, I gladly honored that request. Because my lens is a bit slow, the shots taken were largely driven by what could be captured with a much slower shutter speed while maintaining clarity and sharpness. Unless otherwise indicated, this and the next five pictures are absolutely untouched. White balance stayed on automatic, no flash was ever used, exposure compensation was set at -.7, and, as can be seen by the metadata, ISO was kept at 800.

The first pleasantry discovered was that the white balance was much better with the Big Cahoona when compared to the (now) old Fujifilm s7000 advanced compact. The purples here really are purple, and the field stayed true to color. Shutter speeds were comparable, though, eliminating most action shots on the field.



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/3.5, 1/50 sec
Photo taken 11/5/10 by Jim Mahood

Hidalgo Falls - Reeds

After doing an automatic color correction, added about 7% more red to this picture, which provided more contrast between the tops of the reeds and the trees behind.



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/11, 1/500 sec
Photo taken 04/16/11 by Jim Mahood

Hidalgo Falls - River Background

Using the trees along the bank made for some interesting shots...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/10, 1/400 sec
Photo taken 04/16/11 by Jim Mahood

Hidalgo Falls - Kayaker

Our location along the river was purchased and is reserved strictly for the benefit of "paddlers" - those that like to kayak or canoe. That weekend there were a few of these guys out, practicing maneuvers in what rapids could be found in the extremely low river...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/13, 1/320 sec
Photo taken 04/16/11 by Jim Mahood

Hidalgo Falls - Thistle Pods

After the insects left, when there wasn't so much of a hurry in making them the focus, I took the time to compose this shot...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/10, 1/400 sec
Photo taken 04/16/11 by Jim Mahood

Hidalgo Falls - Bee

This little guy and a fly helped themselves to the leftovers. The fly was cropped out.



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/10, 1/400 sec
Photo taken 04/16/11 by Jim Mahood

Hidalgo Falls - Butterfly 04

This peek-a-boo shot was altered somewhat. Since the butterfly was (almost) entirely behind the thistle, its wings hung low and were showing below the pod and to the left of the stem. This, as well as some spider webbing, was easily removed thanks to the smooth background...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/10, 1/400 sec
Photo taken 04/16/11 by Jim Mahood

Hidalgo Falls - Butterfly 03

For this series the metadata shows that about 25 pictures were taken in the span of one minute. These little critters move fast, and shots like this, more often than not, are the product of pure luck...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/10, 1/400 sec
Photo taken 04/16/11 by Jim Mahood

Hidalgo Falls - Butterfly 02

These extra little bud things came in handy to manipulate depth of field.



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/10, 1/400 sec
Photo taken 04/16/11 by Jim Mahood

Hidalgo Falls - Butterfly 01

We went kayaking in Hidalgo Falls, very close to Navasota, Texas, when a friend pointed out this butterfly. I swung the Big Cahoona around to capture this and the next four postings...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/10, 1/400 sec
Photo taken 04/16/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 18

Technically, this one turned out well completely by surprise. It was taken behind glass that was very dirty...I was actually going to throw it away, but using auto levels almost completely cleared the grime.



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/4 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 17

Another kingfisher-type bird...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/30 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 16

Captured this bird from the front during an earlier trip to the zoo...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/40 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 15

This and the next three pictures will be of birds at the Houston Zoo. The ISO was brought up to 800 for all of them, even for this outdoor shot due to the shadows.



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/40 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 14

This one's fairly cropped in...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/125 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 13

Welcome to the world, Little Buddy!



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/10, 1/250 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 12

If you're from Houston you probably read or saw a report recently on the new baby giraffe, born just a couple of weeks before this picture was taken. Here you can see the umbilical cord still attached.

Mom is a tad out of focus, as this was zoomed in all the way...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/10, 1/400 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 11

This guy is cropped way in, eliminating about 2/3 of the picture from around this scene. Great justification again for choosing the D300 over the D700...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/125 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 10

This was taken through a chain-link fence...blurred out almost completely as focus was placed on the cat.



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-200, f/9, 1/200 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 09

This, I believe, is a green mamba. The focus on nature or animal photography (and probably people too), should be on the eyes. For these snake shots that wasn't too much of a problem, as they are fairly slow moving...if moving at all. However, to increase or enhance the appearance of good, solid eye focus, further steps were taken: 1) select just the eye(s); 2) feather the selection by 4 or 5 pixels; then 3) then use the unsharp mask tool, 4 px at 50%. Even if it's already pretty good, this makes the eye appear to be in even sharper focus.

Also, for this shot a broken stick in the background was cloned out as well as some color and level correction...



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/60 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood

Back to the Zoo 08

One thing that surprised me about the lens chosen with the Big Cahoona was its ability to focus on objects that are only a few feet away, even at full zoom. This provides a pretty good macro effect, as can be seen here...the camera was less than three feet away from the subject, yet zoomed in all the way at 200mm.



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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/20 sec
Photo taken 03/20/11 by Jim Mahood