Sunflower field Dixon, CA

What: I love Sunflower. Such a brilliant color. Summer would not be completed without sunflower... how about a whole field of sunflower...

When: Google sunflower season and some users on flickr, I notice they bloom sometime between early June until late July. It depends on the temperature of the year.

Where: I've been browsing for this field for 1 year, wait and try to find it another year. This year I decided, what the heck, I'll just gonna spend 2 hr driving there to check out the area. At least I'll get a relax road trip on the weekend. So I when to Dixon area early June... nothing there. Sadly drove another 2 hr home. So early July I checked back with some friend in the area, she volunteered to be the Guinea pig and browse the area again follow my rough direction. I headed there the following weekend (7/4/10) after knowing she found the place.

Amazed how big this area is. By the time I got there, the season looks like it's almost over. Still I was able to get some good pictures. They have bee hives along the fields... well, why not, great source for bees to collect honey. These sunflowers grow as high as 7ft and some rows at 4-5 ft.

How: I brought with me all my gear but used Nikon D700, Nikon 16-35mm, 70-300mm, a little of 105mm macro and 50mm but too much glare because of where we were.

I used 70-300mm a lot for portrait, and 16-35mm for some landscape.
DO NOT forget to bring ladder. These flowers are high. I had with me a 3 steps ladder. Helped a little but not much.


This one was merged from 5 different exposures. So I can't really say much about the exif data :)



Speed: 1/125s
Aperture: F/9
ISO 200
Focal Length: 200mm

Update to family members...Summer 2010

So I decided bring Nikon 16-35mm f/4 home. It's such a great combination with D700. They are great BUT I think I over kill it by a little. Performance wise, it's a great combination but for my needs, doing landscape, I still think Nikon D90 and Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 still the best combo. Even though the Tokina is not sharp at all at f/2.8. But who shoot landscape at 2.8 anyway.


D700 and Nikon 16-35mm is another story. It's so sharp and I love it. The only down side is ... IT"S HEAVY !!!

Another lens I collected this summer is the all time favorite for FX walk around 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6. Well... It's a walk around lens, nothing much special but slow. It's light weight and does do job well, sharp.

Goodbye

Goodbye my lover... :( (lol on song selection)


BIG changes in the collection this time! New born and is the king in family now.. all new Nikon D700 from beachcamera through ebay with bing and bucks discount. Letting D90 go in tears today (May 31, 2010)... with its 18-105mm and soon the Opteka grip. All to welcome another new member Nikon 16-35mm to be hand in hand with D700.

I'll be missing D90 A LOT. It's a well built camera. If I ever get a gig doing photoshoot, I'll probably get D90 again as backup body.

Switching to D700, there are so so so many more options that I've not had a chance to get used to ever since it's born (MAY 27, 2010). Things I notice so far from this switch:
- Very big view from FX senso in D700
- 3 programmable buttons on D700 compare to 1 in D90. So I had live view, auto bracket, and raw programed in. Kinda the same as D90 bc live view and auto bracket in D90 has its own button. Auto bracket in D700 however can do up to 9 steps unlike D90 only 3 steps.
- When viewing images, D90 let you scroll back dial or use cursor to go through images, D700 only let you use back dial to scroll once image is zoomed in. ***update: the menu of D700 offers so many option and I did finally found out how to do this view using back dial***
- Of course amazing ISO performance.

My final dream set would be Nikon D700 and Nikkor 16-35mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm. But I know I use a lot on the wide end so I ended getting 16-35mm first. Soon enough, 24-70mm will come, but not now. I think 50mm 1.8 and 70-300mm meet my needs for now.



***update: I really miss the Nikon D90. It's best bang for the buck camera so I don't really mind abusing it compare to babying the D700. Light weight (at least compare to D700). Just enought option to amature ... like me. If I ever need a back up body, it'll be D90 for sure.***

Bay bridge

What: I've been driving around and took so many pictures of Golden Gate. This time, I decided to beat Bay bridge to death :) Last time I had some good shots but it was too dark.

When: It was another "partly cloudy" Saturday (05/15), which always end up as a really cloudy day. I'd definitely come back mid summer for a clear shot. So we left SJ about 5:30pm for the 8pm sunset. It's a short drive to Treasure Island... or at least to South SF. Then the traffic started to look really bad... yes on Sat afternoon.

Where/How:

We got to Treasure Island and had that "oh sh!t" feeling looking at the clouds all over SF. It was not what I had in mind before we left.

So I did a lot of hw before I go out to shoot for a location. It's all started from a place I heard, browsing in bay area group in flickriver. Then search and read some more about it, how to get there, what to bring...

This time I have a clear picture in mind of what I wanted, something similar to the pier 7 shot. But I guess it was not the day.

So we decided to to park down the hill in Treasure Island and hike up. Luckily for me this round ;) our friend who is driver volunteer to drop us off at the location. Then we started to hike down the some-what trail. It's not the hardest hike but it's a loose gravel trail. So we got down to the location and it's no where close to sunset. It was so cloudy and I know I wouldn't be able to get any color out of sunset. Any flat cloudy day would turn the picture to pretty much B&W. So I just started taking some knowing it's gonna be B&W for now. And this is what I got

Shutter Speed: 1/50sec
Aperture: F/15.6
Focal: 16mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: -2

So we waited and waited until the bridge started to lid up as well as SF. Still, SF was covered with clouds. Moving around a little and I got some more:

Shutter Speed: 6sec
Aperture: F/5
Focal: 42mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: 0

Shutter Speed: 3sec
Aperture: F/5
Focal: 18mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: 0

Staying there for awhile, we decided to head back to SF side of Bay bridge and get some more angle and finish this bridge. I started to get my first shot of Bay bridge from my "to go" list

Shutter Speed: 8sec
Aperture: F/16
Focal: 38mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: 0

Then here

Shutter Speed: 30sec
Aperture: F/9
Focal: 11mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: 0

Last location:

Shutter Speed: 3sec
Aperture: F/4
Focal: 14mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: 0

Lesson learned: Some local news website would have camcorder in popular location. I would check that first next time I go out to save gas and time. This time I remember to do some pano shots. I almost come to the basic number of shots at each location: A mode to close down to where I wanted depend on location. Add ND filter. Do bracket for HDR. Repeat for portrait frame after landscape is done. Do some under auto. Then some all around for pano.

Another update to family member

Three time is a charm... in my case, Tokina 11-16mm was dropped 3 times and decided to zoom from 11-15 only.

First time, it was carefully wrapped in a jacket and left in back seat. and there goes the lens when I pulled my jacket out the car. It dropped hitting rear cap down the concrete floor at about 2.5ft. Not much damage since it was the metal mount taking the force.

Second time, my failure of walking on log from Crater Lake trip and front end of lens hit the log at about 4ft but not straight down but it was a hard hit as well. Still work "like new"

Third time... I was in my backpack all happy until I pull the backpack out of the trunk unzipped. It flew out hitting the concrete floor again. This time was the front end and the hood took the hit. Filter thread cracked, zoom only from 11-15. Focus still works.

So I let it go today. 1 year later I lost $40 for this lens. What a deal. That's how much it would cost me to rent it a week or so. Btw, the buyer do know it has problem zooming but was ok with it :)

Lesson learned: look twice where you leave the lens. Don't think you are spider man and can walk on log with camera, tripod on 1 hand. I know we all rush when on the spot doing shoot and leave backpack open, but do always check, don't just yank them out. They cost! Last but not least. Invest in good lens, it'll take the abuse and at then end, it's great return. In fact I made few dollars extra from buying, use, and resale the good set of lens. :)

My collection is getting smaller and smaller... only D90, 18-105, 50mm, 105mm, 70-300mm now. BUT (it's a really really big BUT) Nikon D700 is just around the corner. So D90, 18-105mm and Lumix lx3 is on "retirement" list. btw, I had lx3 for few months, it's a great great camera by Panasonic. It comes in small package but do truly turn heads. There are tons of review about lx3 vs Leica online. It was a smart choice from my end. Since D700 is around the corner, it has to go. :( No more pns for me. Maybe a new phone with 8mpx by Verizon would do the trick :)

Color of spring in California

Spring, flowers are blooming. California is one of the location for spring shootings, at least for this year. Next year maybe a trip to tulip festival in WA and maybe cherry blossom in DC the year after...

What: Tecolote Ranunculus and California Poppies

When: Flowers blooming schedule depend on weather every year. It normally around late March till mid April. I went to these location April 10 which was a little late for Tecolote Ranunculus but I think it was perfect for California poppies.

Where: Tecolote Ranunculus is about 30 min North of San Diego called The Flower Field and California Poppies is in Lancaster area. The entrance to Poppy park is at the corner Lancaster Rd and 150th st W. But I didn't went straight to the park's parking lot. Once you get on 138 from HWY 5, keep going straight until 170th st. You'll start seeing field of poppies left and right (well mostly right side. I made a right turn onto 130th st and started shooting. It's every where so I don't need to say the exact location.

How: this is what I got. This time I decided not to edit with PS at all. I think the color by my D90 come out just great and I like it the way it is.

First stop was in Colorado island. Of course for the sun rise view. It was not a perfect day to catch sunrise in SD. It was a cloudy day and this is what I had:

Shutter Speed: 25sec
Aperture: F/10
Focal: 24mm
ISO: 100
Exp compensation: 0


Shutter Speed: 4sec
Aperture: F/4
Focal: 31mm
ISO: 100
Exp compensation: 0



Then Flower Field:

Shutter Speed: 1/1250sec
Aperture: F/4.5
Focal: 22mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: 0



Shutter Speed: 1/1250sec
Aperture: F/4.5
Focal: 38mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: 0


Shutter Speed: 1/200sec
Aperture: F/7.1
Focal: 16mm
ISO: 100
Exp compensation: 0


Headed out to SD beach for sunset
Shutter Speed: 1/160sec
Aperture: F/14
Focal: 20mm
ISO: 100
Exp compensation: -2


Then we headed to California Poppies field in Landcaster. On the way we found this
Shutter Speed: 1/20sec
Aperture: F/10
Focal: 15mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: 0


Shutter Speed: 1/40sec
Aperture: F/3.5
Focal: 40mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: -2


Shutter Speed: 1/320sec
Aperture: F/5
Focal: 105mm
ISO: 200
Exp compensation: 0

Update to family members...

So... I recently purchased a Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8. There are 10^infinity site out there review on this nice, lovely lens so I'll just run over quickly. It's HEAVY. Unlike any lenses I have it's really heavy which is a good trade off for it's performance. I didn't see great improvement until I come back and use 18-105mm lens with all kind of limit. Anyway. I got from ebay... bad bad move. It has many scratches on the body and the focus ring make noises which was kinda turn off. But it did came with 2 B+W filters. So I sold the lens and kept the filters.

Then it's kinda hit me that I have to have this lens at better condition. So I decided to sell my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. I also loveee this lens. Only turn off was that it focus supper slow, and hard in low light. Plus this lens doesn't work too well with Nikon D90. It has problem linking focus at time. I though I could live with it, apparently not. It's annoying when you have fast lens trying to get shots faster and ended up couldn't focus right.

Then the Lowepro slingshot 200AW was gone today as well.

Going through all this could mean I'll get a new Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 or a refurb Nikon D700 from an ebay unauthorized Nikon dealer. And start the whole lens collection again :( So what's wrong with refurb + ebay + unauthorized dealer? I don't know, If you do know what I'll be missing by getting Nikon from "unauthorized dealer", let me know.