Random Photos

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pinball1970 said:
Not something you see every day on Oxford Rd, Manchester.

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The foreground reminds me of Granada's Sherlock show I have been rewatching recently (recommended).
 
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berkeman said:
Was it a funeral procession? What did the flags say?
It was a religious march, I had not heard of it before. I have a few flag ones but they are not as picturesque as the horses!
 
@berkeman Not as interesting.
Street march in a city with scaffolding on a red-brick building behind; marchers in dark clothes and yellow stewards' vests carry a white banner reading "Walk For Hussain" and placards including "Hussain Sacrificed Everything".



This was a surprise. The film "Yanks," 1979, was filmed in parts of greater Manchester. Ashton commemorate the shoot every couple of years.

A man in a dark jacket, grey shirt and navy trousers stands in front of a large American flag hung on a dark green shipping container, with gravel underfoot and smaller flags visible above.
 
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Nice mural of Geoff Hurst here too.

Large mural of a footballer in a red England shirt with a three lions crest, mid-kick against a stadium crowd backdrop, with a standing man in front. Black sign reads 1966 Our Finest Hour! and a Did You Know? panel.
 
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Here's a few pics from about a week and a half ago in downtown San Diego.

Two young people in colourful costumes stand inside a transit vehicle holding a yellow pole, with a man in a white shirt and cap standing beside the open door.

Figure 1.

A small white curly-coated dog wearing a pink and black harness, tongue out, standing on a brick pavement beside a person in black clothing holding its leash.

Figure 2.

Outdoor photo of black-mounted portrait cards hung on a string with white flowers, labeled Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, Alex Pretti, Emmanuel Damas and Geraldo Lunas Campos, on a brick plaza with people in the background.

Figure 3.

Outdoor street procession in a plaza with palm trees and a large white convention-center style building; people carry tall framed portrait banners decorated with white flowers and greenery, and pedestrians walk nearby on a sunny day.

Figure 4.

Outdoor street scene with people holding black framed portrait photos on poles and hung from a black banner, with flowers attached, beside an orange barrier and a brick building.

Figure 5.

Street protest in a sunny city crosswalk: people march past a Disney Percy Jackson billboard; a woman in a pink hat raises a green lightsaber and holds a sign reading FREEDOM for ALL!

Figure 6.

An older man in a wide-brimmed hat and glasses, wearing a yellow shirt, sits in a wheelchair on a street while a small white dog in a yellow vest nuzzles his cheek. He holds up a printed photo of a bald man with a goatee in a blue shirt.

Figure 7.

Cosplayer dressed as a Star Wars stormtrooper in white armour holds a blaster rifle on a sunny street, with crowd members behind him and a palm tree trunk to the right.

Figure 8

Brown and white whippet sitting on a grey pavement, wearing a purple patterned collar with a red collar and a pink heart-shaped tag, attached to a blue and purple leash.

Figure 9.

Street scene with a row of leafy trees on a paved sidewalk, pedestrians walking, and a brick building wall with a painted mural showing a giraffe, palm trees, oranges, a sea turtle, and the words SAN DIEGO STYLE.

Figure 10.
 
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I got to spend a sunny afternoon practicing macro (55mm MicroNikkor) and tilt-shift photography (Vivitar 135/3.5), both are lenses I inherited, but this is the first time (for me) using a 135mm lens.

Some macro shots, all @ f/11, 1/1600s, auto ISO, images cropped as I see fit:

Close-up macro photo of a dark metallic-green bee with translucent wings resting on a purple thistle flower, dusted with yellow pollen on its legs and body.


Close-up macro photo of a damselfly with large purple-tinted eyes and dark violet abdomen, resting on a textured grey surface, with a shadow cast to the lower right and a blurred wing.


Extreme close-up of a honeybee's head and thorax in profile, with dark hairy eye, black antenna and leg, against a blurred white and green background.


Hairy eyeballs are nightmare fuel (for me)...

One image showed a weird artifact- I think the bee took to flight just as the shutter operated, and it looks like a stroboscopic effect on the wings:

Close-up macro photo of a honey bee in flight beside pink and white milkweed flowers, with motion blur and a faint stroboscopic streak across its wings.


Now for the 135mm. There's a lot I like about this lens- it's small, well-made, and has a slightly longer 'reach' compared to my 105mm lens. But it's also slow. In sunlight, that's not a problem- stop down to f/8 and:

Osprey in flight seen from below against a clear blue sky, wings spread wide with dark wing feathers and white underside, tail fanned out.


Close-up photo of a dark freshwater turtle with a long neck and smooth olive-green shell, perched on a weathered log at the water's edge, its head raised and claws gripping the wood.


But in shade, the slowness is a problem:

A Northern Flicker woodpecker clings to the trunk of a tree, its head turned toward the bark, against a blurred green woodland background.


For tilt-shift, here's a useful equation: tan(θ)= M * tan(φ). θ is the tilt angle of the lens, M the magnification of the lens, and φ is the angle between the object plane and sensor plane. For 'normal' photography, M is very small. M is not angular magnification but linear magnification: image size divided by object size. I estimated M ranges from 0.005 (15mm focal length) to 0.04 (400mm focal length); obviously these numbers depend on the object distance, the main point is that unless I am doing macro photography (M = 1-ish), the required lens tilt is almost always less than a couple of degrees- even when φ is close to 90 degrees. So.... here's the starting image:

Close-up of a dense meadow of small white umbel flowers, likely wild carrot or Queen Anne's lace, with green stems and buds scattered through grass, shallow depth of field.


The near objects are close to near focus point (about 5 feet), φ is about 80 degrees, and this was shooting wide-open f/3.5. If I wanted all of the flowers in focus, I would have to stop the lens down to something like f/128, which is 1) not possible since the lens only stops down to f/22 and 2) diffraction from that aperture would dominate the image, meaning everything would be blurry. However, by tilting the lens (in this case, θ was about 8 degrees) and stopping down to f/5.6 gives this:

Wide meadow of white flat-topped umbel flowers, likely wild carrot or Queen Anne's lace, scattered over green grass and leafy weeds, with a few seed heads visible.


Not bad! Now, full disclosure- I'm still a n00b with this method, but that second image took almost 20 minutes to compose... a small crowd actually gathered to watch, probably wondering what I was so intently trying to photograph. Like I've said before, tilt-shift is about the opposite of point-n-shoot....

Post-script: when I got home I needed to clean the sensor from all the lens change-outs. I have realized another advantage of mirrorless cameras- cleaning the sensor is trivial because 1) the flange distance is basically zero, so I don't have to reach down into the camera body to access the sensor, and 2) there's no physical object covering the sensor, so I can clean the sensor when the camera is off and also not worry about wrecking the shutter leaves by accidentally contacting them.
 
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About 10 years ago I took a montage of pictures in the Olympic forest of a decayed log that died long ago. several trees, nurtured by nutrients released by its decay.
2016:
Photo of a forest with several large moss-covered tree trunks and exposed roots, ferns in the foreground, and a small sign on a post at left.


My daughter went camping in the area last week and took another shot of the same log.
It is a hollowed out remnant of what it was ten years ago.
2026:
Photo of a forest floor in the Olympic rainforest with large tree roots arching over a hollowed-out decayed log, moss-covered tree trunks on either side, ferns and mossy hanging branches above.
 
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Same geography but always variations on water , wind ,light, atmosphere. Jomtien looking South West.Today
Choppy sea with white surf in the foreground, a line of dark buoys with pale tops floating in a row, a row of white floats further out, and mountains on the horizon under a cloudy sky.
Sandy beach in the foreground with foamy waves, a choppy green-grey sea with a line of yellow buoys and a floating boundary line, and dark hills under a cloudy sky.
 
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Andy Resnick said:
Hairy eyeballs are nightmare fuel (for me)...
Yikes, that did strange things to my skin!


Andy Resnick said:
For tilt-shift, here's a useful equation: tan(θ)= M * tan(φ). θ is the tilt angle of the lens, M the magnification of the lens, and φ is the angle between the object plane and sensor plane
Only on PF!
 
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Two people eating a meal at a tiled outdoor table under a roof with ivy, overlooking calm grey sea; a woman in a straw hat sits at left and a woman in a brown top at right.
Took my massage / cleaning girl for seafood this afternoon. She had squid in squid black ink.
A woman in a brown long-sleeve top eats at an outdoor table by the sea, with a bowl of tom yum soup, a plate of shrimp salad and a bowl of dark squid in ink.
 
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My neighbor's cat stopped over yesterday to visit and model for portraits.

Brown tabby cat with eyes closed, licking its raised white front paw, which is pressed against its face, lying on a brown fabric surface.

Figure 1. "Mr. Mittens in August." Natural light.
 
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Close-up photo of a rose with deep purple outer petals wrapped around a pale white inner bud, with green leaves blurred in the background.
 
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  • Close-up photo of a rose in full bloom with deep purple outer petals curling back around a pale white inner bud, with green leaves and a blurred background.
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Petoskey stones, fossilized coral.

Two side-by-side photos of smooth oval stones with a honeycomb pattern of polygonal cells, each with a radiating star-like centre, resting in an open palm over grass.
 
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Daughter turns 21 with friends in Vegas
Four people standing on a green lawn in front of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada sign under bright blue sky and palm trees.

Ornate domed hall with painted ceiling panels and a skylight, a golden armillary sphere fountain in the foreground, and columned arcades with people walking through.

Restaurant table with a white bowl of pan-seared fish fillets topped with green herb sauce, green beans, cherry tomatoes and a lemon wedge over mashed potatoes, beside a tall iced drink with a black straw.

Night aerial view of the Las Vegas Strip, with illuminated hotels and signs including MGM, Luxor's obelisk and pyramid, Excalibur, and New York New York.

Sushi on a wooden table: a long plate of salmon and avocado rolls topped with salmon slices and pickled ginger, plus a small dish of eel nigiri with pickled ginger and wasabi, with two drinks behind.

Dessert on a white rectangular plate with chocolate script reading "Happy Birthday", a lit candle and a pink orchid on a small dark bowl, set on a wooden table beside a spoon and glass.

Entrance to Area 15 entertainment venue in dim purple and blue light, with a large illuminated skull sculpture behind a sign reading AREA15 and floor text reading ENTER with arrows.

Four people stand smiling in front of a large aquarium window with a sunken shipwreck and blue water behind them; one wears a wide-brimmed straw hat and a pink dress.

Dinner table in a restaurant with white tablecloth: a small steak with herbs on a white plate, bread rolls, butter, a cocktail glass, water glasses, and a seafood dish with mussels and shrimp, with diners partially visible.

Night view over the Las Vegas Strip from a high floor, with a blurred martini glass in the foreground and the Bellagio fountains lit in red and blue on the lake below.
 
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I saw totl sun ecclipse from Spain.
Solar eclipse with the Moon covering most of the Sun, leaving a bright crescent of sunlight and a glowing ring around the dark disc against a dim sky.
 
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A couple of musical artist shots...
I took a walk in the city during the yearly festival, and ended up in a square where the Swedish singer/songwriter Moonica Mac was playing live with her band. I wasn't quite prepared for such a shoot as I would have preferred to use a zoom lens, but I managed to get a few shots using only a 50mm lens by getting pretty close to the stage...

Blonde singer in a long cream trench coat singing into a microphone on a stage, with an acoustic guitar, drum kit and keyboard behind her under purple and red lighting.


A female singer in a long cream-coloured dress sings into a microphone on an outdoor stage, with a drummer in a cap behind her and an acoustic guitar resting on a stand.


Female singer with long light blonde hair in a long white robe playing an acoustic guitar at a microphone on a blue-lit stage, with a keyboardist behind her and a large video screen showing her image.


A shot of the entire band:

Live concert photo: a singer in a white dress plays an acoustic guitar at a microphone, with a bassist and drummer on a stage lit by vertical light strips and a large screen.


The band waving goodbye to the audience after the concert:

Four people on a dimly lit concert stage under blue lights, with two waving to the crowd, one with a cap, one in a long cream trench coat, and a guitar and amplifiers nearby.


This was not a small concert; it was performed on the largest stage of the festival, and here is photo of a part of the audience:

Panoramic night photo of a large outdoor crowd filling a city square, with a lit stage, string lights, white festival tents and an equestrian statue at right.


(Gear used: Sony A6500, Canon nFD 50mm f/1.4)
 
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Started my first chemotherapy treatment yesterday. No side effects yet but it's still early. Here's a couple of pics commemorating the experience.

Black and white photo of a hospital infusion area: a wall clock showing about 12:55, a framed print, a plaque reading "Patio and Garden", a refrigerator covered in dog photos, and a blurred IV pole in front.

Figure 1. "Chemo and time left."

Motion-blurred red car streaking past a sunny street; a man in a hat sits on a white bench at a bus stop beside a trash can, with a tan building and blue apartment block behind.

Figure 2. "Taken at familiar bus stop after first chemotherapy treatment." 50mm Summilux-M ASPH @f/16, 1/8 sec, ISO 64 (from auto-ISO).
 
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So yesterday was the annual "World Photography Day" (August 19th, the date commemorating the Daguerreian process). If you missed it, well, I almost missed it too.

Anyway, the day started for me taking a bus back to the hospital (of course) to get some chemo tubes and stuff [temporarily] removed from my person. I took this photo at one of the bus stops (See Fig. 1).

Black and white street photo of a woman in a dark t-shirt walking past a crosswalk, with a large translucent reflection of a smiling woman's face overlaid in the foreground.

Figure 1. "Bus stop poster reflection study #1"

All the poking and prodding of doctors and nurses was probably on my mind when I took the photo. I'm not the prominent one in the reflection (that was some other commuter), but you can see my reflection and camera in the poster woman's face if you look hard enough.

Here's a pic from outside the hospital (see Fig. 2).

Silver insulated ducts bending in a zigzag along a grey concrete wall, with tall cypress trees and shrubs in front and blue reflective glass windows above.

Figure 2. Outside the hospital.

After the hospital visit I had some motivation left. Instead of going home I decided to take the camera down to the Seaport Village area (via bus and trolley). The location, Seaport Village, was not chosen for any particularly compelling reason, it was just a place to go.

Wall art in a recessed panel showing two V-configured pistons and connecting rods joined to a round crankshaft disc, mounted on a stucco wall beside a glass door.

Figure 3. Artwork outside a coffee shop near the Seaport Village trolley station.

I question the effectiveness of the crankshaft geometry (see Fig. 3). I don't see how either of the two piston/rod assemblies could transfer any torque to the system in that configuration.

Maybe that's the point of the artwork: how two things so closely linked can also be so effectively isolated from one another.

Maybe I'm putting too much thought into it.

Anyway, here's a picture of a couple of people enjoying Seaport Village's view of San Diego Bay (See Fig 4).

Two people seen from behind sitting in brightly coloured Adirondack chairs on a sandy patio, facing a calm blue bay under a clear sky, with a patio umbrella and a street lamp.
Figure 4. A couple enjoying Seaport Village's view of San Diego Bay.

To be continued. ...
 
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... Continued from previous post.

I used to live near Seaport Village when I first moved to San Diego. I used to walk down here a lot and watch the ducks. I saw a generation of ducks come and go.

Four brown mallard ducks walk in a line across a wooden boardwalk, past the legs of a child in blue shorts and sandals on the left and an adult in grey sneakers on the right.

Figure 5. Ducks.

Several mallard ducks walking in a line along a wooden boardwalk, with the legs of two people visible at the right edge and their long shadows cast across the planks.

Figure 6. Ducks again.

While in the area, I had lunch at Kansas City Barbeque. It's a somewhat famous place in San Diego. This is the first time I recall ever actually eating food there. I think I've had a drink at the bar once or twice many years ago, but this is the first time for food.

Kansas City Barbeque is sort of famous because a couple of scenes from the movie "Top Gun" (the original) were filmed there. Not to be confused with high-end nightclub involving the "You've lost that loving feeling" serenade (that's a different place), Kansas City Barbeque was the bar for the more down-home, friendly, low-end bar scene involving "Great Balls of Fire." (Although later in the movie, Kansas City Barbeque is visited again with "You've lost that loving feeling" playing on the jukebox.)

Interior of the Kansas City Barbeque bar with ceiling covered in caps, walls covered in military patches and license plates, and a customer drinking from a bottle while a woman walks past.

Figure 7. Kansas City Barbeque restaurant and bar.

Interior of a diner with red-and-white checkered tablecloths, red vinyl chairs, a neon sign in the front window and a wood-cased jukebox on the right labelled Rock-Ola with the screen reading BE FIRST IN LINE! Pick a song and hear it next! YOUR SONG.

Figure 8. Kasas City Barbeque restaraunt area.

Interior of a bar with a long wooden counter in the foreground, black leather-topped stools on the left, walls and ceiling covered with caps, license plates and stickers, and TVs showing sports above the back bar.

Figure 9. Kansas City Barbeque bar area.

Kansas City Barbeque sits adjacent to the Seaport Village trolley station. so, back to the trolley.

Motion-blurred photo taken from a moving vehicle of a person passing a chain-link fence beside a trash bin and a street sign reading 9 and 8 in a sunlit area.

Figure 10. Woman waiting for trolley (photo taken from the trolley, 1/8 sec).

And finally, my favorite picture of the day (see Fig. 11),

Motion-blurred photo taken from a moving vehicle of a colourful rainbow-striped umbrella over a cart at the roadside, with dry scrub hills and blue sky behind.

Figure 11. "Roadside produce vendor. Photo taken from bus window. 1/8 second."
 
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I made it to my weekly downtown thing last Thursday. Here are a few select pictures.

Photo of a white long-haired Papillon dog with black and tan markings on its head and ears, standing on a brick pavement beside a person in red trousers and white shoes.

Figure 1. <Untitled>

Street photo of a person wearing a black Darth Vader helmet and black leather jacket, raising a yellow work-gloved fist, with a bearded man in a white striped shirt behind them.

Figure 2. Darth Vader joined us this week.

Darth Vader joined us this week (see Fig. 2). I won't go into details about it here, but you can probably find out more by googling weird US news (or maybe narrow it down with recent San Diego news involving Darth Vader). [Edit: But if you do look into this, realize that there is a heavy amount of sarcasm involved.]

Two small dogs in a teal pet stroller on a brick sidewalk: a black dog in a pink harness faces the camera, and a tan dog looks off to the right.

Figure 3. A couple of puppies passed by while I was getting some lunch.

Cluttered antique and salvage shop display with a wooden desk holding vintage typewriters, a table lamp, a boxed Edison Home Phonograph, and a pink glass lamp.

Figure 4. Found a salvage shop after lunch.

Salvage shop interior with brass wall lanterns and copper lantern fixtures on a wire mesh wall, a carved oak mantel-style shelf with glassware, and a large SALVAGE sign above.

Figure 5. Salvage shop (2).

I love shops like this (see Figs 5, 6). Most of my furniture is second hand.

Motion-blurred street photo of a pale stucco building corner with barred windows, two blurred pedestrians on the sidewalk, a metal pole and a yellow curb marking.

Figure 6. Picture taken from the trolley window. f/16, 1/8 second, ISO 64 (from auto-ISO).

Motion-blurred photo of a person in pink flip-flops and shorts walking a grey dog on a leash past a metal fence and a tree trunk on a sidewalk.

Figure 7. Picture taken from trolley window. f/16, 1/8 second, ISO 64 (from auto-ISO).
 
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collinsmark said:
San Diego news involving Darth Vader
I'll bet that's getting a Flock of comments. :oldlaugh:
 
A couple of shots from the yearly festival in the city...

Night scene of a illuminated ferris wheel with red-lit gondolas, with a crowd of people standing in the foreground on a paved area near trees and festival lights.

Photo 1: A ferris wheel.

Evening street scene at a festival: white tent stalls with lit signs along a road, a man in a yellow hi-vis vest, and pedestrians walking across a painted crosswalk past a row of old apartment buildings.

Photo 2: At the festival.

Evening street scene at a festival: a crowd of people walks and queues past white tents with red and colourful banners and flags, under street lights and trees.

Photo 3: Waiting for food.

Illuminated ferris wheel at night with orange and blue lights on its rim and gondolas, with people seated at outdoor tables in the foreground.

Photo 4: Another ferris wheel.

Night photo of a illuminated ornate carousel with painted horses in a cobbled plaza, two young men standing close together at right and a man walking past at left.

Photo 5: A carousel.

(all shot with Sony A6500 + Canon nFD 50mm f/1.4)
 
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Your first shot is of the Ferris wheel right after 1/3 of the cars fell off? Yikes! And good timing! :wink:
 
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berkeman said:
Your first shot is of the Ferris wheel right after 1/3 of the cars fell off? Yikes! And good timing!
Ah, I see now that the photostitching process didn't quite make it.
I remember that when I shot it (with multiple shots) I wondered how it would turn out, since the wheel was turning AND the lights were changing. :smile: