Random Photos

[collinsmark]

Nebraska bird/critter pics round 1. Taken a few weeks ago on a trip to eastern Nebraska.

Figure 1. Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura)

Figure 2. American robin (Turdus migratorius).

Figure 3. Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus).

Figure 4. American robin (Turdus migratorius).

Figure 5. Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus).

Figure 6. Common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
Most of the time, in most lighting situations, grackles look pretty black. It's easy to confuse them with crows or blackbirds. It wasn't until I got the photos back on my computer that I could tell they were grackles and not some other kind of bird.

Sometimes though, in certain lighting, their iridescent looking feathers really show their colors (see some of my other pics of grackles).

Figure 7. American robin (Turdus migratorius).

Figure 8. Common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula).

Figure 9. Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto), I think.

Figure 10. Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata).

To be continued. ...

 

[Zaciekawiony]

Leaf of european maple (Acer platanoides,)

 

[DennisN]

Nebraska bird/critter pics round 1. Taken a few weeks ago on a trip to eastern Nebraska.

Lovely photos!

 

[pinball1970]

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Leaf of european maple (Acer platanoides,)

Lovely light on that one.

 

[jtbell]

The day after my visit to the technology museum, I went into Atlanta to see the Georgia Aquarium for the first time.

 

[Zaciekawiony]

A piece of dry ice

 

[jtbell]

A piece of dry ice View attachment 371819

This reminds me of the jellyfish in my preceding post.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Back at Exbury Gardens, UK, today. Fewer rhododendrons this time, as most have now finished flowering, but still a beautiful place.

And an unexpected beetle - I think it's a rose chafer:

All taken with my Panasonic Lumix DC-TZ200 as usual.

 

[jrmichler]

Apple tree shot out a side window of my house four days ago. This tree has given 90 to 100 lbs of apples every year for several years now. I normally get about 40 lbs, the food shelf gets about 40 lbs, and deer get about 10 lbs of apples. Cell phone camera with minor cropping.

Two cherry trees and a crabapple tree in the back yard. Just missed the hummingbird, and cannot see the bumble bee in this photo. Cell phone camera taken through my home office window about 15 minutes ago. This photo is not up to the standards of other photos in this thread, but I do like to look out the window.

 

[jack action]

Racing green. He was actually driving off slowly as I took this, it sounded nowhere near as pretty as it looked!

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Would have been nice to have seen one of the older Jags

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Not bad for a Saturday afternoon in Hyde.

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Look at that, my mother's first car! There were pretty rare around here.

​

Speaking of classic cars... the other day I walked past the local drive-in restaurant which was hosting a car show in the parking lot.

View attachment 371761

Looks like this Edsel station wagon still needs some restoration work!

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[Jonathan Scott]

A snag with Exbury Gardens is that it is popular in good weather so there are many people there, but I don't like to include random strangers in my photos of nature. I sometimes don't have the patience to wait until there are no people in the picture, or I fail to spot them until afterwards. There are three people in this first picture (two on the left and one on the right) which otherwise was one I really liked. So I pointed the camera down a bit and changed the angle to take the second, which captures some of the flowers, but I don't like it as much.

 

[DennisN]

but I don't like to include random strangers in my photos of nature. I sometimes don't have the patience to wait until there are no people in the picture, or I fail to spot them until afterwards.

I know what you mean.
If you have Photoshop there is a very useful tool called "content-aware fill".
You select an area where there is an unwanted object (or objects) and then choose "content-aware fill" to get rid of unwanted objects.

It's pretty nifty and powerful and works well in many situations, but in difficult scenarios it could become tricky to remove unwanted objects. But in your case on photo #1, it should work very well.

Similar tools may be availalable in other software, perhaps (but I myself don't know about it).

A short tutorial here about "content-aware fill" (for Photoshop):

How to Use the Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop CC #2MinuteTutorial (Photo Feaver)

 

[DennisN]

Some black and white shots this time...

A sapling.

A sunny evening in the park.

Ivy on a concrete wall.

Gear: Sony A7R, Yashica ML 50mm f/1.9, orange filter.

 

[collinsmark]

( [1/2] This post of photos is jumping order due to its nature as a current event. I want to post these first, even if they are not in chronological order with my previous and upcoming posts. I'll post more Nebraska and downtown San Diego pics later.)

I walked to a vigil Tuesday to show support for the victims and their families of killings that happened in my neighborhood less than a week ago.

Armed teens went on a murderous rampage fueled by bigotry, racism, and hate, only a handful of blocks from my home on Monday, killing three people, centered at the Islamic Center of San Diego. (https://apnews.com/article/islamic-...-mosque-hate-d81d87793aa3eea836d45a9d5b1f297b)

Well over a thousand people (by my count) attended the solemn Tuesday vigil. There were both somber tears of loss for the victims, and also smiles and laughter as friends, family, and even strangers came together in support as an extended community.

I mention the above here (in this thread) for context. Please keep comments limited to the photographic aspects of the post. (I don't want to risk derailing this photography thread.)

The vigil was in the evening. Anticipating low-light, I decided to bring the 50mm Leica Noctilux-M f/0.95 ASPH. I think I made a wise choice by choosing the Noctilux. Sure it's a little heavier, and incredibly tough to nail focus wide open, but that extra 3 dB of signal-to-noise ratio goes a long way in low-light. It's also a very respectful lens for the solemn occasion.

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[collinsmark]

[2/2] One more post of pics from the vigil.

Figure 11.

Figure 12.

Figure 13.

Figure 14.

Figure 15.

Figure 16.

Figure 17.

Figure 18.

Figure 19.

Figure 20.

Okay, that's all I'll post of this vigil event here. I'll get back to the Nebraska pics and some downtown San Diego pics shortly.

 

[Point Conception]

Q

Clear days in Jomtien. *this samsung A07 has some issues posting photos

 

[jrmichler]

I took this photo about two weeks ago. A pair of mallard ducks had been swimming around in front of my house. Then I started seeing only the female, and not very often. Ducks normally fly off with loud quacking when I got near, but the lone female would quietly move off a short distance. I figured that she was nesting, so I stayed away.

Then the female disappeared. After about a week, I looked for the nest. It was hidden under a balsam fir tree. The eggs are the same size as large chicken eggs. Photo taken with a cell phone camera after moving branches aside, then lightly cropped.

 

[collinsmark]

Back to the Nebraska bird pics (round #2).

Figure 11. A couple of common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula). Here you can see their colors a little better. Grackles usually appear pretty much black and can easily be confused with blackbirds and crows. But in the right light you can see the grackles' iridescent looking feathers. I didn't even know for sure that they were grackles until I got back home and saw the pics on my computer.

Figure 12. American robin (Turdus migratorius). Nom nom nom.

figure 13. Common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula). Regardless of their iridescent looking plumage, grackles can be a bit spooky (more to come). With this photo I processed it in B&W to spook it up proper like.

Figure 14. Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata).

Figure 15. Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata).

Figure 16. Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata). At some point around here, I inadvertently bumped my aperture dial, accidentally reducing the aperture to f/6.3 instead of the lens' maximum of f/5.6. Ugh! This will haunt me for the next several pics. The mistake effectively increases the noise while also increasing the depth of field, neither of which I want. I didn't notice the mistake for awhile.

Figure 17. A couple of blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata).

To be continued. ...

 

[pinball1970]

Manchester.

Hyde

 

[Zaciekawiony]

Yesterday I walked to Powsin Botanical Garden, to seing blossom rhododendron's collection. It's one from largest collection of rhododendrons in Poland (probably in Kórnik Park is greather).