FEATURED Photo of the Day

Here's one from this summer of some white daisies on a small ledge on the side of a mountain we happened to be driving over, in the Purcell Range of Eastern British Columbia. The wife was using her new 24-70mm f4L to do some macro and close-up work.
Daisies in the Clouds by Pat n Kat, on Flickr

Here's one from this weekend, during a very chilly trip to Banff, AB.
A Cold, Blue Hour by Pat n Kat, on Flickr

And another at the same location, with slightly different framing and exposure settings:
A Cold, Blue Hour II by Pat n Kat, on Flickr
For those not famillair with Banff, that's Mt. Rundle on the right, Tunnel Mountain in the middle (low, behind the trees) and Mt. Girouard on the left.

Stopped by this farm on the way to work this morning. Had to burn rubber to get out there before the sun came up, but I did it. The city is never getting me back at this point.

Here's another one from our frozen day in Banff, last weekend.

Winter Solace (Explored No.91, 22-Dec-2016) by Pat n Kat, on Flickr

Something special I was saving for this weekend.

Nice, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day! etc, etc

It was mighty important to me to get my D800 in time for Christmas, but not so that I could use it for Christmas. At least, on the day itself. It had been in the back of my mind to do a special winter shoot at my mother's family farm for years, and as November hit I'd pretty much decided that it was going to happen this year... no more putting it off.

So, I got the D800 ordered. That weekend, hoarfrost hit our area. Now, wouldn't it be something special if the frost covered the entire area between me and the farm? And have it last until I got the new camera, too?

Well, it actually did happen. I got the D800 on a Monday, taught myself how to use it on Tuesday, and went to the farm on Wednesday. The frost stuck around that whole time... but only where the temperature didn't go over freezing. I lost it when I got to Swift Current to buy frames for my Christmas prints, including the shots I hadn't taken yet. But then I left Swift Current heading south, and the frost came right back. But it got even better - the farm is still owned by the family, and I'd wanted to keep my shoot a surprise until Christmas. So, all the way out there I worked on a cover story as to what I was doing out there in case anybody was out at the farm that day. Nope, I was the only one there. For two solid hours... just me, the frost, and my grandparents' farm.

Did I ever surprise people for Christmas this year

Big thanks to all the excellent photgraphers that contibuted to this forum this year. It's been an absolute pleasure to view!

baditude_df said:

Big thanks to all the excellent photgraphers that contibuted to this forum this year. It's been an absolute pleasure to view!

Click to expand...

Hear hear! I haven't shot much this year, but it has been amazing to watch you guys' shots. Thanks for a beautiful 2016!

- - - Updated - - -

My first contribution to 2017. I hope this shot adequately conveys how utterly cold it was. I only lasted about a minute outside the car.

What was the temp? It was freezing here as well.

Not sure, as I lost the ability to process simple numbers when I got out there, but it was below -20 and windy.

The D800 is rapidly moving itself into "best money I ever spent" territory, along with the 50mm f1.8 used to take this shot. I have plans to replace the lens with the AI-S f1.2, but if I can't do it I'm certainly not going to complain about having to use the f1.8 some more.

First day warm enough for me to shoot in a while. I still froze myself solid.

A little bit later on, same place.

Nice shots Jeremy. Love the balance between foreground and background on the last one.

Heh - that one was at base ISO. On this camera, it seems I can max out the shadows, bottom out the highlights, and still get something useful. Couldn't do that with the D5100's RAW files.

That plus a quick luminosity mask to bring the clouds out and I was done. The massive dynamic range of this thing is going to work wonders for my lightning shots this year.

I already heard the geese heading up north yesterday morning. To me that's an indication that spring might be coming a bit early this year since experiencing some abnormal mild temps this time of year.

I'm thoroughly sick of winter, so I haven't been out shooting too much. But I just got a new lens for the D800, so I had to check it out: Nikkor 28-70 f3.5-4.5 AF-D. Needed a general purpose zoom with autofocus when I don't have time to mess with primes.

I'm happy with it. Ridiculously sharp, and almost flare proof.