Random Photos

[DennisN]

Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award: 25 unforgettable images of the natural world

"The Natural History Museum in London is inviting you to vote for your favourite image to win the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award 2023."

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/ph...grapher-of-the-year-peoples-choice-award-2023

Example:

 

[morrobay]

 

[DennisN]

Hello gorgeous #1:

Hello gorgeous #2:

(Mallards, shot with Sony 55-210mm)

 

[DennisN]

Brilliant :)

Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards​

I read an article today about the story behind some of the photos in those awards:

The wild true stories behind the 21 funniest animal photos of all time: ‘It only lasted half a second, but I was ready (The Guardian)

"From a smiley fish to brawling mice and a famous monkey selfie, the people who captured magical wildlife moments explain how they got the shots"

Another funny photo from the article:

"Buffalo Having a Bad Day, Tom Stables, 2016"

 

[Rive]

A hike, again.
Woke up early to be first on the track.
Then we just got to the starting point with the bus already full. On the first kilometer around 20-40 cars passed us on that icy tarmac... So we just gave up the original goal and picked a different one, without a pub/restaurant/public road...
Well, almost without any road

On the highest point, with fog as ceiling:

Some treetops:

...and bottoms:

The machinery could not handle that much white properly, but anyway, the whole hike was just perfect

 

[DennisN]

A hike, again.
Woke up early to be first on the track.

Lovely snow photos! I've found that snow scenes can be quite challenging...

The machinery could not handle that much white properly

...for exactly that reason. I've struggled quite a bit with snow scenes before.
One advice I picked up is to use a polarizing filter (CPL (circular) or a linear) (if using a system camera).

There are also two possible hacks for achieving polarization filtering when using smartphones (& tablets):

1. One can tape a small piece of polarizing film in front of the small lens, or
2. One can put polarizing sunglasses in front of the small lens (though it's quite fiddly )

An article about photographing snow scenes: 7 Tips for Taking Photographs in the Snow (B & H)

 

[DennisN]

I found another bird in my archives, a red-necked grebe (Podiceps grisegena) (shot in 2022):

 

[morrobay]

Monday after the weekend jet ski event in Jomtien. So at least it was good for something

 

[morrobay]

I asked my Thai girlfriend why only one finger nail polish. " I come here no finish already"

 

[morrobay]

 

[jtbell]

A couple of years ago, I introduced you to Joel Poinsett, who brought a certain festive holiday plant to the US.

He appears every year in Greenville SC's Poinsettia Christmas Parade.

He looks pretty good for a 244-year-old.

 

[Flyboy]

From a long time ago, in Orbiter Space Flight Simulator. Taking an XR-2 Ravenstar for a flight and departing LEO.

 

[berkeman]

What's wrong with this picture...?

 

[Ibix]

What's wrong with this picture...?

View attachment 337771

Perhaps the bottom of the pan is insulated so she doesn't burn herself?

 

[Borg]

I like how she used the green vegetables as food and a crown.

 

[symbolipoint]

Perhaps the bottom of the pan is insulated so she doesn't burn herself?

That is exactly it, after thinking a few seconds.

 

[BillTre]

Perhaps the bottom of the pan is insulated so she doesn't burn herself?

What makes you think its hot? (Its a fake commercial).

 

[berkeman]

What makes you think its hot?

The gas stovetop in the background is still on...

Spoiler

Made you look!

 

[Ibix]

What makes you think its hot?

Nothing. It's almost certainly faked, as you say - it just amused me to interpret it as an advert for a pan that can't get hot...

 

[morrobay]

My Thai girlfriend with her new Christmas outfit complement the funky surroundings along Naklua Bay

l

 

[morrobay]

 

[Rive]

View attachment 334006

The ~ same spot today:

Transformation

Thawing

(this one is a few days old photo)

Last hike of the year. Planned for around 15km, ended with 25km...
We prefer to spend this day outside, far from people. With arriving home dead tired, we just won't weak up at midnight when it's like WWIII breaks out...

Also, with us away and the cats outside for the day, they are more likely to spend this mad night inside

(we got that cat-furniture when it was still oversized. Then now, it's the cat is the one oversized)

Happy new year for all!

 

[morrobay]

En route photos

 

[Rive]

En route photosView attachment 338112

That overhead wire nightmare - I wonder if there is a dedicated service to help depressed electricians there

One advice I picked up is to use a polarizing filter (CPL (circular) or a linear) (if using a system camera).

It made it to the wishlist, but no luck this year.
Though so far snow is lacking either

By the way, regarding too much white: any ideas about photos of too much black?

We have a black cat. But photos are usually either with overexposed background (due flashlight), or it's just 'something black', but no cat. Could be a shovel worth of soot or a black rug, but nothing cat-like

 

[DennisN]

By the way, regarding too much white: any ideas about photos of too much black?

Not any ideas with certainty at the moment, I'm afraid.
I don't think I've run into that problem.

If you mean shooting the black cat when it's dark, I can clearly imagine it would be a challenge. In that case I think I actually would have tried shooting with the camera flash (if available), to see how that would turn out (if you haven't already tried it, maybe you meant this when you said "flashlight", I don't know ).

And then I would experiment with different exposure times to see if I could find a "sweet spot" for the exposure time.

Shooting a black cat in daylight ought to be easier, I believe, and here I would just experiment with different exposure times, I think.

 

[DennisN]

The ~ same spot today:

Lovely photo with the fog and the road!
I think you captured the feeling of walking down a foggy road really well on that photo!

And the cat is cute, of course!

 

[DennisN]

By the way, regarding too much white: any ideas about photos of too much black?

I would experiment

Some more regarding experimentation... I've experimented quite a lot with my photography, and have had a very fun time doing it.

So I'm a big fan of - and a believer in - the experimental way!

In short:

Shoot, evaluate the shots, change something, shoot again, and evaluate again etc. That's pretty much the method I've used during my photography learning journey.

And personally I don't care very much if I fail and take bunch of crappy shots in a new situation, since then I at least learn something new .

On the topics of creativity and experimentation in photography, here are two excellent videos from my favorite photography channel Zenography:
(the videos are also rare because he goes into things which I find very seldom are described, namely things about the creative/artistic process)

1.



2.

 

[Rive]

I actually would have tried shooting with the camera flash (if available), to see how that would turn out (if you haven't already tried it, maybe you meant this when you said "flashlight", I don't know ).

Yep, flash. Thanks.
A lucky one:

An 'usual' one:

What flash does is, that the background is lighter, overexposed. The cat is the same - black

 

[jtbell]

Some may consider this to be "cheating", but image-editing software can often improve the appearance a lot. I used the "Levels" tool in Photoshop to produce this:

Going even a bit further:

The "Curves" tool gives you more flexibility, but takes more practice to use effectively.

 

[Rive]

Usually I prefer to keep my photos without any modifications, but that's really a significant improvement

 

[jtbell]

Why does your image display as smaller than mine, even though they're both 800x533 pixels? I didn't change any size settings in Photoshop, just the brightness levels.

When posting, I use the "Attach files" button to upload, then on the resulting thumbnail image I click "Insert", then "Full Image".

 

[Rive]

Why does your image display as smaller than mine

Usually I shrink them down a bit (modify the visible size) to keep my posts orderly.
The 800x533 is interesting, that's half the intended size ... I'll need to look into this.
Thanks!

 

[morrobay]

What a difference a view makes

 

[collinsmark]

Some may consider this to be "cheating", but image-editing software can often improve the appearance a lot. I used the "Levels" tool in Photoshop to produce this:

[...]

The "Curves" tool gives you more flexibility, but takes more practice to use effectively.

It's absolutely fine to process your photos. It's not cheating, it's doing your due diligence.

Even back in the days of film, the great photographers spent lots and lots of time in the darkroom. Trust me, Ansel Adams did not just drop off his film at the corner Fotomat and call it a day.

Getting the image onto the film in the camera (or these days the digital sensor) is only the first step in the process of photography. It is not the last.

These days, the endless hours of work in the darkroom choosing of the appropriate photographic print paper, contrast filters, calculation of exposure time of the enlarger, dodging/burning techniques, etc., have been replaced by the endless hours on the computer using histogram transformations, curves, level adjustments, contrast adjustments, white balance correction, etc.

It's all a necessary part of the photographic process.

 

[jtbell]

The 800x533 is interesting, that's half the intended size

IIRC the forum software enforces a maximum image size of 800x600 by shrinking the image automatically if one or both dimensions are too large.

I almost always shrink my images in advance. The only exceptions are when I've already cropped them severely so they include only a small part of the original image, and fall within the forum limits to begin with.

[added] I just noticed that Morrobay's most recent image is 620 pixels tall, so the vertical size limit is bigger than I thought. Maybe it's 800, too. The old photo contest threads specified a maximum of 800x600.