Invasion of What?

What are these bugs? I've never seen them before. I saw them at my parents' place the other day. Lots of them in soil or grassy areas. 

Is the D7200 better than the D7000?

This shot was taken with the D7200 from inside my car. I had to pull over quickly and I didn't have time to think about the settings. I just shot these wild turkeys as they were making their way into the woods, with the settings I had used earlier. These looks really sharp and the colours pop! I like it. I no longer have the D7000 to compare.

HDR or not?

My enthusiasm with HDR was waned somewhat. I took an outdoor picture yesterday with and without HDR. I thought the picture without HDR was way better. It was vibrant with rich colours whereas the photo with HDR was rather dull overall. I'm sure there is a case scenario for HDR but it wasn't it yesterday.

Without HDR

With HDR

Removing Smoke from Camera Body - Part 2

Well, it's been over a month since I purchased the smoky D7200.  It sat in a box with baking soda for a couple of weeks.  I used toothpaste to clean it.  I applied baking soda right on the body and left it there for a few days.  I've used alcohol.  I've used vinegar.  I've used activated charcoal from a Brita filter--maybe it wasn't effective anymore.  They've all in some small ways removed a bit of the tar from the rubber grip but nothing has been 100% effective.  I'm gonna stop trying to clean it and just use the camera.  I hate that the smell transfers to my hand after using it though.  Grr..

Tilt-Shift Lens

I've always wondered how some movie shoots doesn't show the camera in front of mirror.  I thought maybe there was some post-processing but I found out recently it's actually pretty easy to do, if you have the right equipment!

With a tilt-shift lens, you can actually stay out of view on a bit of the side of a shot and still be able to capture a subject in front of a mirror.  The lens have a wide angle of view and you'd literally just move the the front part of the lens sideways to shift the actual view.

This Nikon PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED is so out of my reach though.  It sells for $2700 CAD in March 2023.  If I had a million dollars....

Golden Hours

I didn't know there was a term for the warm light hours.  It's called the "golden hour".  That's the period shortly after sunrise and shortly before sunset when light rays travel through more of the earth's atmosphere and all the diffraction resulting from it gives rise to a golden light.

I live in Toronto and so here is a link that tracks the golden hours in my region:  https://sunsetsunrisetime.com/golden-hour/toronto_(canada).  The morning golden hours are about an hour long in the morning and in the evening.

The photo shown here is from Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hour_(photography).  Who prefers the bottom photo than the top one?

As the Sun Sets

I forgot how warm the feeling of the sun near sunset. My condo unit faces south and it's at the right angle to receive a warm glow of the reflection of the sunbeams off a building just south of me as the sun starts to set. I happened to be in the bathroom when I noticed the shower head was engulfed in a beautiful light. I knew it wouldn't last long so I grabbed what was the best camera I have, that is, what I easily have access to, my phone.

The phone did some colour correction so I re-coorected it to show the warmth I saw.