Thursday, February 27, 2014

Orchid 4

ORCHID, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 16, 2014

Pentax K-3
Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
1/200 sec. f8
ISO 400

The last in a series of photographs from the Botanic Garden's annual Orchid Show.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Orchid 3

ORCHID, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 16, 2014

Pentax K-3
Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
1/400 sec. f9
ISO 400

Another in a series of photographs taken at the annual Orchid Show at the Botanic Garden. This one is a variety of Phalaenopsis.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Orchid 2

ORCHID, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 16, 2014

Pentax K-3
Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
1/60 sec. f5.6
ISO 800

The light was low in the room at the Orchid Show where this was taken, but the illumination was sufficient to allow lowering the ISO to 800 for better image quality than the 3200 used in the previous photograph. I believe that's one of the common Phalaenopsis varieties of orchid.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Orchid 1

LADY'S SLIPPER ORCHID, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 16, 2014

Pentax K-3
Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
1/80 sec. f5.6
ISO 3200

"No tripods or monopods," the nice folks at the annual Orchid Show at the Botanic Garden asked. "Too crowded." That wasn't a problem in the dimly lit space. Jacking the ISO to 3200, relying on the camera's antishake feature, and denoising with Lightroom 5 yielded an usable photograph.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Dugout

DUGOUT CANOE, TARCOLES RIVER, PUNTARENAS, COSTA RICA

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 135mm
1/2000 sec. f8
ISO 800

We had just returned from an hour's crocodile watching on the Tarcoles when our tourist boat chugged past a dugout canoe being paddled across the river. This canoe appears to be genuine and quite old and battered, unlike the ersatz "dugouts" constructed by modern boat builders to carry tourists in Costa Rica.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Lunchtime

LUNCHTIME UNDER FORT WALL, CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA, JANUARY 26, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 53mm
1/8000 sec. f5.6
ISO 800

A small grabshooting trophy taken from a tour bus window while it rolled along inside the outer fort wall of the old city of Cartagena. All over the city at noontime, people look for shadowy nooks to hide in from the high sun.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Sister and brother

TODDLERS, HUATULCO, MEXICO, JANUARY 20, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 120mm
1/200 sec. f10
ISO 800

Small children everywhere make excellent photographic subjects, and this pair, taken at their parents' tourist-trinkets kiosk near the Huatulco cruise ship dock, were simply irresistible. She must be rocking back on her heels because he actually managed to find the right hole to shove the block through.


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Maya infant

MAYA INFANT, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA, JANUARY 21, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 60mm
1/160 sec. f10
ISO 800

Another shot from the central town square of Antigua, where Guatemalan families as well as hordes of tourists congregate. Note the intricate embroidery of Mama's dress.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Mother and child

MAYA MOTHER AND CHILD, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA, JANUARY 21, 2014

Pentax K-5
Pentax 35mm f2.4
1/40 sec. f8
ISO 400

Deborah Abbott captured this charming tableau in the town square of Antigua. The photo is sharp despite the slow shutter speed, thanks to the K-5's excellent in-body antishake system.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Family transportation

FAMILY ON A BICYCLE, PUERTO CORINTO, NICARAGUA, JANUARY 22, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 36mm
1/1000 f8
ISO 1600

The image quality of this photograph is not so hot—there is movement blur even at 1/1000 of a second—but the subject matter, in my opinion, makes up for the flaw. Shot from the window of a cruise ship tour bus in downtown Corinto.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Teenagers on a corner

TEENAGE GIRLS, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA, JANUARY 21, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 28mm
1/200 f10
ISO 1600

As our tour bus turned a corner in the old city of Antigua, I shot through the window from my seat at this group of skylarking young women, probably high school seniors. No idea what the upraised fingers might mean, but a possible caption might be: "My ex-boyfriend has only two brain cells."

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Lovers

YOUNG LOVERS, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA, JANUARY 21, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 18mm
1/640 sec. f10
ISO 1600

A generation ago this young couple would have had to cope with the presence of a duenna, an aunt or other female member of the family dispatched to keep a disapproving eye on them. Nowadays such chaperones are rarely seen in Guatemalan cities. This photograph was shot from the side window of a moving tour bus.


Saturday, February 15, 2014

Schoolgirls

SCHOOLGIRLS, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA, JANUARY 21, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 68mm
1/800 sec. f7.1
ISO 800

These three Guatemalan schoolgirls are walking by the ruins of the Convento de la Concepcion, destroyed by earthquake in 1774. I took the shot from the street corner just down from the Jade Museum doorway in the photograph posted yesterday.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Maya street vendor 2

MAYA STREET VENDOR, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA, JANUARY 21, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 18mm
1/500 sec. f7.1
ISO 1600

No sooner does a customer turn to leave the Jade Museum shop in old downtown Antigua than a street textile vendor greets him at the door to make sure he hasn't overlooked anything.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Maya street vendor 1

MAYA STREET VENDOR, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA, JANUARY 21, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 115mm
1/1250 f5.6
ISO 1600

I shot this one through the window of a moving tour bus after kicking up the ISO to achieve a sufficiently high shutter speed to stop blur. The vendors, all in colorful traditional costume, were intensely but also gently in-your-face and followed us from site to site all over the city.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Mexican folk dancers 2


MEXICAN FOLK DANCERS, PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO, JANUARY 18, 2014

Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-135mm at 100mm
Top: 1/640 sec. f5.6
Bottom: 1/500 sec. f5.6
ISO 1600

Deborah Abbott photographed this extraordinarily beautiful dancer at the Hacienda Dona Engracia outside Puerto Vallarta during a stop there on our way to the Panama Canal aboard a cruise ship. The colors of the dancer's dress were as vibrant as the vigorous dance steps.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Mexican folk dancers 1


MEXICAN FOLK DANCERS, PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO, JANUARY 18, 2014

Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-135mm
Top: 68mm, 1/1600 sec. f5.6
Bottom: 135mm, 1/500 sec. f5.6
ISO 1600

On one port call during our cruise through the Panama Canal, we visited an old tequila distillery called Hacienda Dona Engracia, about 15 miles outside Puerto Vallarta on the west coast of Mexico. The hacienda laid on a fiesta accompanied by excellent Mexican folk dancers. Deborah Abbott's close-in shots of the dancers avoided backgrounds of wall-to-wall tourist onlookers.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Marimba dancers


MARIMBA DANCERS, CORTIJO EL ROSARIO NEAR PUERTO CORINTO, NICARAGUA, JANUARY 22, 2014

Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-135 at 135mm
Top: 1/320 sec f5.6
Bottom: 1/200 sec. f5.6
ISO 3200

Marimba is a sweet and gentle traditional music and dance form popular in Nicaragua, and there was a fine demonstration of it during an open-air lunch at Cortijo el Rosario, a working horse farm owned by the Coen Trust, founded by a wealthy family with a long history in the country. Deborah Abbott needed a high ISO of 3200 to capture the dancers in deep shade, but denoising in Lightroom 5 yielded satisfactory photographs.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Green Iguana

GREEN IGUANA, CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA, JANUARY 26, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 260mm
1/500 f6.3
ISO 200

This beagle-sized beauty looks ferocious but is really a plant-eater. It can be tamed and often is kept as a pet. It crept out of the jungle onto the lawn at the Cartagena waterfront bird park and posed prettily for its portrait.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Brown Booby

BROWN BOOBY, AT SEA OFF PACIFIC COAST OF PANAMA, JANUARY 24, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 260mm
1/1600 sec. f9
ISO 800

Its name comes from bobo, Spanish for "stupid," because of the seabird's habit of alighting on ships to be snatched and eaten by sailors (Captain Bligh and his crew survived on them when they were cast adrift). One morning aboard the m/s Statendam last month, a dozen boobies whirled and swung above the foredeck, providing much photographic pleasure.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Indian Peacock

INDIAN PEACOCK, CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA, JANUARY 26, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 300mm
1/1000 sec. f6.3
ISO 1600

This peacock was the only non-native species I spotted in a Cartagena waterfront park full of macaws, toucans and flamingoes, but it certainly was the showiest. There was enough dappled sunlight to display the brilliant iridescent blue of the bird's head and neck.


Thursday, February 6, 2014

Keel-billed Toucan

KEEL-BILLED TOUCAN, CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA, JANUARY 26, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 135mm
1/320 sec. f6.3
ISO 3200

The deep shade in the Cartagena quayside park forced me to use high ISO to capture this specimen, but post processing took care of most of the resultant noise. Judging by the damage to the front of its bill, this toucan evidently had an encounter with something hostile and probably was rehabilitated in the park.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Great Kiskadee

GREAT KISKADEE, HUATULCO, MEXICO, JANUARY 20, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 300mm
1/1250 sec. f7.1
ISO 800

The Great Kiskadee is a large tyrant flycatcher with a range from southern Texas to Uruguay, and is common in Central America. Fortunately I came along just as this specimen got excited and erected its crest.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Brown Pelican


BROWN PELICAN, PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO, JANUARY 18, 2014

Both photographs: Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 300mm
1/1250 sec. f9
ISO 400

The ubiquitous brown pelican is to the Pacific coast as the English sparrow is to the midwest United States. These specimens were among hundreds swooping and diving along the waterfront of Puerto Vallarta, gladdening the hearts of visiting amateur photographers with long lenses.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Flamingo

AMERICAN FLAMINGO, CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA, JANUARY 26, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 300mm
1/2500 sec. f6.3
ISO 1600

Near Cartagena's cruise ship terminal lies a little park containing all sorts of birds, including a flock of flamingoes. This one is orange rather than pink owing to the beta carotene in its diet, according to the Wikipedia entry on the species.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Great Green Macaw

GREAT GREEN MACAW, ARANJUEZ, PUNTARENAS, COSTA RICA, JANUARY 23, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 230mm
1/800 sec. f5.6
ISO 400

Another species found in the macaw preserve near Puntarenas, Costa Rica, the Great Green is also known as Buffon's Macaw or the Military Macaw. The odd background was caused by the mesh wire that enclosed the aviary.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Scarlet Macaw

SCARLET MACAW, ARANJUEZ, PUNTARENAS, COSTA RICA, JANUARY 23, 2014

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 190mm
1/250 sec. f8
ISO 1600

This glorious bird was spotted at a sanctuary devoted to scarlet macaws near the Costa Rican Pacific coast. Macaws are raised and rehabilitated in huge cages, then released into the wild, and many of them return to the sanctuary to hang out all day with their chums.