Category Archive: Nikon D7500

One Day in Photos — September 5, 2022

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Let me explain . . . on Monday, Labor Day here in the US, I started the day by sitting outside and photographing hummingbirds. Mind you, there were lots of other birds around, but I concentrated on the hummingbirds. Then, throughout the morning, I shot more photos.

For the record, 170 photos were snapped, of which I kept 123. The SmugMug gallery (HERE) has 75 of those 123.

How many am I going to show here? Don’t know yet, but not that many.

These photos are all cropped from the originals. Even after cropping, the photos are about 2400 pixels per side, and I’m linking photos about half that size (meaning, SmugMug offers larger versions, as will the slideshow at the end).

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Snowberry Clearwing Moth visits our flowerpots

I closed yesterday’s post with this teaser photo . . .

I’m not sure how many noticed what I was referring to, so here’s a close-up.

That is a Snowberry Clearwing. I’m providing additional links about it (HERE, HERE, HERE) and also mentioning that if one does an image search for it, one might be shown a different moth, the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth; they are not the same.

Like in the previous post, the SmugMug Gallery has 27 photos, but I won’t be posting them all. I’ll feature a few I like, but there is a slideshow at the bottom of the post of all 27 photos. And, of course, you could visit the gallery itself. Note that the photos below are linked nearly at full resolution (they are crops of the originals), so the only advantage of going to SmugMug is that you can more easily navigate the photos.

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Organic Hummingbird

We’re getting to the time of year when despite some hummingbirds jealously guarding their favorite feeder, there are enough birds — and enough pressure to bulk up for the coming migration — that birds, and especially young birds, are forced to share.

It’s also the time of year when I’m likely to capture photos like these . . .

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One Day in Photos — July 13, 2022

I tend to fall am way behind in sharing photos, so when, yesterday, I ended up shooting about 300 photos, I decided to share a few more than a tenth of them before too much time passed.

So, what kind of photos? Well, hummingbirds, dragonflies, a brown thrasher, white-tailed deer, a raccoon, and a Great Egret. Oh, and the massive Moon we had that evening.

And, we begin with a ‘find the hummingbird photo’ . . . because I’ll have a number of them and I don’t want to bunch them all in one place.

Next up are a few photos from the P900, but only a few; the rest are all D7500 photos.

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Backyard Birds 2022 — Crops Part 3: Mississippi Kite

Deadly Lure

As mentioned in Part 1, I’ve been taking a lot of photos of birds.

The 100% Crop series is just at it sounds. Each photo shows a bird cropped from a larger photo. Most of the crops will be 100%, but not all.

I was going to include this in the previous post but decided it merited its own post. What is a Mississippi Kite, you ask?

As shot, at 300mm zoom (450mm eqv.)

For photos at 100% crop (the above photo isn’t), if your browser window is set to full screen, and if your screen is large enough, when you click on the photo, it will fill the screen. If your cursor shows as a circle with a ‘plus’ sign, it means your screen resolution is smaller than the photo, in which case, you can click on the photo to further zoom in to 100% resolution.

Again, you won’t see the above at 100% size unless you go to SmugMug and zoom in.

Anyway, I was sitting watching birds when I noticed a speck in the sky. Normally, I can tell what it is by the way it flies (various birds) or soars (raptors or vultures). This one looked odd.

Of course, in SmugMug, you can view the first photo at full resolution and you can see the bird a tad larger . . .

roughly a 100% crop of the above

. . . . I wasn’t happy with either the processing or size of the 100% crop, so I ran the photo through Topaz GigaPixel and doubled the resolution . . .

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Backyard Birds 2022 — Crops Part 2

Hidden Architecture

As mentioned in Part 1, I’ve been taking a lot of photos of birds.

The 100% Crop series is just at it sounds. Each photo shows a bird cropped from a larger photo. Most of the crops will be 100%, but not all.

Regardless, the photos will be fairly large close-ups of the birds. And, what better way to begin than with a Bald Eagle?

For photos at 100% crop (the above photo isn’t), if your browser window is set to full screen, and if your screen is large enough, when you click on the photo, it will fill the screen. If your cursor shows as a circle with a ‘plus’ sign, it means your screen resolution is smaller than the photo, in which case, you can click on the photo to further zoom in to 100% resolution.

The above shot was taken from the car. Even at 300mm zoom (450 effective), the bird is fairly small. I can crop the image and it’s still small.

Of course, in SmugMug, you can view the first photo at full resolution and it’ll be a tad larger . . . but, I also ran the photo through Topaz GigaPixel and doubled the resolution . . .

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June 2022 Birds and/or Bugs — Part 1

Bombing Run

I previously mentioned I’ve been snapping a lot of photos . . . so I have an excuse for not working on the story that’s due in a few weeks as I instead work on this post. This is a short post because I have other stuff to do (stuff that’s also not writing the story).

We begin with a series of flying photos . . . er . . . photos of flying things. Specifically, a Great Blue Heron.

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Backyard Birds 2022 — 100% Crops Part 1

Message of the Young

I’ve been taking a lot of photos of birds. A lot. Many more than I can possibly post unless I dedicate most of my time to posting bird photos (not a bad thing, that, but it would be at the expense of other stuff).

On the other hand, as each day goes by, I fall behind and the inventory gets larger. And so, I decided to do occasional posts sampling the photos in my collection.

The 100% Crop series is just at it sounds. Each photo shows a bird at full resolution (100% crop). For example, here’s a Gray Catbird. Also, it will typically fill the frame with little of the surroundings shown other than what’s in the background.

If your browser window is set to full screen, and if your screen is large enough, when you click on the photo, it will fill the screen. If your cursor shows as a circle with a ‘plus’ sign, it means your screen resolution is smaller than the photo, in which case, you can click on the photo to further zoom in to 100% resolution.

Try it; I’ll wait before adding the rest of the photos.

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One day in April — Birds and Avian Flu

The Pattern Rules

Let’s begin with THIS<<link notice from the Illinois DNR. Basically, it’s a warning about the EA H5N1 strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) currently impacting some wild and domestic bird species. As a result, they recommend stopping the use of bird feeders and birdbaths until the end of May. I’ll have additional important information at the end of the post. (See what I did there? I used the ole “Details at 11:00” ruse to maybe have a few additional readers stick around until the end.)

I like birds, so on April 22nd I pulled all my feeders and emptied my birdbaths. But, not before I sat outside for a few hours photographing birds from my covered patio. This then is a post harkening back to the posts of yore, when I used to publish long posts with lots of photos. Posts that few people read, and even fewer readers stuck with it to the end.

If I use all the photos I post-processed, I’ll end up with 104 photos in this post (I had nearly 300 photos), but because some photos are similar to each other, I’ll probably have a tad fewer than that . . . but still more than what current readers might be used to.

Right! Let’s begin with a White-throated Sparrow . . .

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Brown Thrasher — April 2022

Rain of Death

Occasionally, this past Winter, I spied a Robin-sized bird with striking plumage. I snapped a few photos of it, but few were any good. The bird is the Brown Thrasher, and I live right at the edge of its year-round range.

Before I proceed, a quick reminder about the two polls currently open. One is for the Random Title Challenge Round 2 Submissions (HERE), and the other is to pick a title for Round 3 (HERE). If you’ve not done so — and if you feel so inclined — we’d appreciate your votes. Thanks.

And now, on with the bird stuff.

That’s my neighbor’s junky landscaping. It’s a tad unsightly but I don’t mind because many birds forage there. They come for the seeds of various weeds, the bugs, and for material for their nests.

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Carolina Chickadee — April 2022

Message from the Ancients

Just a quick post because I’m supposed to be writing. I decided to write this because I saw something I’d not read about before. Of course, once I searched for it, I confirmed I wasn’t the first human to observe this behavior . . . drat!

But first, a brief introduction. Click in the name to learn about the Carolina Chickadee, and here’s a specimen at one of my feeders.

They are cute birds, forever looking busy, and here’s their typical behavior . . .

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February 2022 Monochrome Ice Storm Macros

Pressure Points

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post, namely, the monochrome versions of those shots. Typically, I would lump those photos together — color and monochrome — in one post, plus add a bunch more semi-related photos.

Unfortunately, all that takes time to compose and read, as can be experienced by reading THIS post.

Anyway, let me recreate the previous post in monochrome, starting with . . .

I vacillate between thinking chromatic is the better choice and monochromatic as the way to go. Of course, it depends on the subject, one’s preference, the skill of the photographer in processing each version, the preference of the reader (typically fickle and affected by their mood), and, obviously, the current moon phase.

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February 2022 Ice Storm Macros

The Face of Happiness

I previously shared photos from the minor ice storm we experienced in late February (HERE). Those photos were taken with the D100 and D200 . . . and today I want to quickly share the photos I snapped with the D7500.

I say quickly because I’m tired and don’t want to spend a whole lot of time and effort, but want to share the photos that have been languishing in my computer for a while.

I know the title says macro, but the first few photos are not macros . . . sorry, but we’ll get to the macros quickly enough.

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Blue Jay and Peanuts

For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.  

For a SmugMug slideshow, click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow will run a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).

If you want the full experience, keep reading.

Blue Jays (LINK) are not prone to hang around, especially not when they see a camera. However, if you throw some peanuts on the floor, they linger just long enough to get a few photos.

BUT . . . before I regale you with birds, let me show you a gallery of a birdbath in the rain . . .

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More WordPress Annoyances and White-lined Sphinx Moth

I meant to post something yesterday … instead, I spent hours repairing the blog.

So, I figure I would let others know what I experienced. No, I don’t need help. Yes, it’s (mostly) fixed. Yes, I would like WP to stop mucking about with stuff for just a few minutes. No, I don’t think they will.

I’m also sharing the rest of the White-lined Sphinx Moth (a. k. a. the Hummingbird Moth) I was lucky to photograph last September. There’s even a video of one feeding on inpatients. I say “the rest” because some were shared in THIS post.

Anyway, WordPress . . . wait! Here’s the first photo of the moth . . .

As I’d mentioned in the other post, the shooting conditions were not ideal; setting sun combined with shadow areas made for a difficult exposure situation, but I’m not displeased with how these turned out, especially considering how difficult they are to capture in flight (they move like a hummingbird, and hummers are not slow) . . .

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