I've been worried about you and I'm glad to see you here. It's been a tough year, with Andy gone.

My favorite is the raccoon peaking out at you.

Well done.

...i don't remember them having a size limit before.

Great shots.

Wildlife photography is a real challenge. Very little up here. Birds, especially, love the central valley flyways. I basically get scenics only, but you play the cards you’re dealt!

Nice cards!

...i bet if you snap on your macro lens, you'll see an endless world of life around you.

what have you been shooting lately?

I get only wildflowers here because deer eat everything else. Survival of the worst-tasting, I guess.

Quick review says clouds, clouds, one comet, and lots of manzanitas.They are quite translucent (or reflective) when they drop their berries ( "little apples" ) and are best viewed with an extreme wide angle lens (14mm.) Not really macro, but shooting in close shows some with amazing twisted branches for whatever reason those specimens do that.

Spring is the time for flowers. I'd have to look up their names, but I go to town on Mariposa Lilies --- for a brief burst, and then they disappear to their bulbs, which I never see because they grow in rocky soil --- and Indian Warrior or Indian Paintbrush, which grow through the snow. And later, the mule-ear daisies (whyethia) which grow in profusion. I have posted these in the past. I used the OG 55mm macro lens with FTZ adapter (that lens is spectacular) and got a new 105mm macro for Z-mount, mainly to get some more working distance.

I was seriously shielding the lilies from the sun by shooting so close.

I was looking for a fill-in flash, but later found one of those "selfie" ring lamps in the thrift store (CHEAP). It runs on USB so I can power it with a battery pack, and I'm looking to try it out.

After spring and early summer, I can put the macro lens away.

I figured out how to set the "focus" button (how did I do that?). So, pressing the button sets focus auto or manually by twisting the control ring, and holds it, which is nice.

People have said, and I agree, that Nikon's Z way of going immediately into manual focus mode (with optional peaking) just by twisting the control ring, is wonderful.

....i haven't shot any true macro with it yet....just close ups of frogs and snakes, and the AF seems to nail it (tho, i'm usually at f/16 or smaller, so who can tell where the focal plane actually is).

which Z do you have? i forgot.

But I saw the Z7-2 on sale for $700 off.
Missed that, and dropped by the nearest camera store, and it was $1000 off for 3 days. And saw a used one for $1300 off.

Well, it's outstanding.

I hate to change lenses in a hurry and i get dust,, so I keep two cameras with me most of the time.

Every sensor cleaning, i swear to go back to film. A dust spot in film affects one frame. A dust spot on digital affects every frame.

I shoot a lot wide open. Lenses are so sharp they perform well wide open.

...when i'm shooting close up, i need a lot more depth of field, so when i'm shooting frogs, etc, i'm at f/16 or smaller.

The bigger/slower the f/ratio the more the dust shows up!

However, until I get to the camera shop, I use the camera on subjects with great detail.

The “sad” fact is that I get a lot of big sky shots here with clouds and blue sky, and dust shows, even af f/4.

At f/16, you are diffraction limited and might as well have a pinhole lens. I took some shots with the 55mm NikkorP on the FTZ adapter and they were spectacular.

Sometimes, I don’t even need a camera. I keep checking the Yosemite webcams (available to everyone everywhere) and sometimes I get a surprise.

This photo is cropped because image hosts seem to lose image quality.



Webcams are courtesy Yosemite Conservancy
https://yosemite.org

The “El Capitan” camera (on Turtleback, near the Tunnel View vista point) gets star photos at night, and the lights of climbers.

...small apertures. i have shot the 105 micro at f/29 without issues. and, i always use a flash or strobes with lots of diffusion and i can keep the ISO down at 64.

as for dust, you can't just blow it off with a squeeze blower? also, if you only see the out of focus dust when it's against an open sky or a wall or something, have you tried just using the spot healing brush in Ps?

Focus stacking requires software to do. I will look into it. iphones do it, as I discovered.
I took some close-ups at f/1.8 and they are NOT what you expect from f/1.8 at all. By a light year.

I have been looking for a fill-in flash, but I found a USB ring light for selfies and will try that.

Only cheat with flowers is that the lilies are on very slender stalks, so I stick a plant wire in the ground, and gently tie the stem to the wire.

I don’t want to risk damaging the sensor. I can be a klutz at times.

GIMP has a healing tool and airbrush. Easy to do with flat sky.

Best solution is to put the 14-30 zoom on the camera with the clean sensor. The SWC is roughly equivalent to 24-28mm horizontal and vertical, though wider measured on the diagonal. (I don’t shoot landscapes at 45 degrees tilt). I need a new scanner for old and new film photos.

That’s what IRA’s are for. 📷

Thanks so much for sharing!

Beautiful! That Jay was really checking you out. ❤️

...that raccoon shot was taken down the street in the forest preserve district.

Thank you!