Random Photos

[Rive]

The Skeptic in the Garden

 

[Andy Resnick]

I played around with some of the lenses that I rarely use. All images are full-frame D810, no post-processing, jpg straight from the camera, etc... First, the Luminar Zoom image of an Intel 1602A:

Next, a Leica 10X Mirau lens, designed to be used for profilometry. This is a random FET, the fringe pattern is used to measure the surface profile:

The major step change occurs from the base (blue surface) to the greenish pad, the fringes shift almost exactly 1/2 a wavelength (note- this is white-light fringes, no color filter used), my guess is the height change is about 250 nm. And then you can see another big height change stepping up to the top layer. Helpfully, Leica sells software that will do a better job of image analysis :)

Last is a pair of images showing the effect of epi-DIC: 80/0.95 Epiplan lens, INKO DIC

Moving the prism from just barely positive to a just-barely negative position reverses the sense of surface relief.

 

[jack action]

The following is NOT a tricked photo. How long does it take for you to figure out what you are looking at?

Spoiler

The top part on the right is a building in the water. The lower part on the right is the reflection of the building in the water.

 

[TonyStewart]

chat.open.ai/images for "electronics circuit design of tony on the new yorker

cover"

Electronic Design in the style of Picasso

Electronic design in space

 

[jtbell]

The state has been building a replacement for the old bridge leading into our neighborhood. Maybe soon it will be finished, finally.

View attachment 324924

And then we all can stop using Amazon delivery drones. Just kidding... there's another way into the neighborhood. This is from about three months ago:

View attachment 324925

We had to listen to that pile driver for a few weeks. Bam! ... Bam! ... Bam!

And now it's finished! They took away the barricades this afternoon, between when I started my afternoon walk and when I returned.

 

[Point Conception]

 

[TonyStewart]

Design by da Vinci on the cover of Vogue by openAI art

Da Vinci Art in oil on Mad Magazine

Exotic Interior Design

Wow! That is a genuine image? No touch up?

Highly touched up. When you turn up the gain in a gamma curve then quantization noise from the limited number of colour levels for RGB (256 each) for 3 byte chroma These then show up on a histogram as discrete spikes of colour intensity levels difficult for our eyes to detect for untrained eyes. So I compared a couple random photos on Irfanview and disabled curve fit.

Where the density of a colour levels becomes sparse, you know the colour was amplified for that brightness level.

It's the same way led white would look with a strong Blue spike and yellow-red phosphor. For most things, you can't tell unless the object has a continuous range of colours to reflect then you see the gaps by the "off" colour. This is why I prefer tri-phospor FL tubes over dual phosphor LEDs for under cabinet lights in kitchen to see food prep or marble/granite

Irfanview32 is my GoTo picture viewer with T thumbnails and quick edits. (free) and supports Abobe filters. Somewhat like GIMP and others with a couple more features but certainly less than pro tools.

 

[TonyStewart]

That's correct- no autofocus. Thanks!

Nice job.

The fuzzy logic focus used by Sony (perhaps others now with target recognition) has been impressive to me in dark conditions. I tried to catch surfers with 10x binoculars in front of an iPad lens once. I needed really steady hands, but the old school Sony handicams with 800x zoom with Steadicam are impressive for lost cost.

 

[TonyStewart]

iPhone 10Pro Max

OpenAI

 

[DennisN]

Magpies courting (I think) in a tree:

Gear: Sony A6000 + Sony 55-210mm + B+W linear polarization filter.

This was a lucky shot; I noticed that these two magpies were moving a bit strangely in a tree, so I directed the camera at them and let the camera go off like a small machine gun . Afterwards I went through the photos and found this one.

Magpies are interesting birds for a variety of reasons. They (Eurasian magpie) are extremely common (at least where I live) but it wasn't until I started "hunting" them with camera that I noticed they are extremely observant and very hard to get close to. They are also very intelligent birds.

Going Rambo

Since I like photographing birds and have noticed how difficult it can be to get closer to them, I've decided to "go Rambo"... I never ever thought I'd be buying camo gear, but it happened.

(I notify @Andy Resnick about camo gear, since it seems you enjoy photographing birds too )

Camo gear:

• Camo cap & scarf (Amazon link) - the cap is for the head, and the scarf for covering lens (side) and perhaps part of camera
• Camo fabric tape rolls (Amazon link) - I didn't know such products existed, but now I know . I will use the camo tape to cover one of my camera bags and perhaps other things (backpack/small bags). Note: the Amazon page states it is self-adhesive, but the rolls I got weren't particularly adhesive, so I'll either sew or glue the tape to attach it.
• Camo Waist Bag (Amazon link) (not in my photo since it hasn't arrived yet)

I'll probably soon be looking for a camo jacket and camo pants too.
And then I will disappear from sight .

 

[TonyStewart]

OpenAI: downtown bottom half mirror image

O

penAI

 

[TonyStewart]

openAI text as shown

steam engine falling off a cliff hires

 

[TonyStewart]

openAI : memories of Loyal Chapman's art of golf but not as well as he did for 18 holes for fantasy golf courses

impossible golf from penthouse

 

[BadgerBadger92]

Some of my work

 

[Point Conception]

 

[Point Conception]

 

[Andy Resnick]

More fun with the 10X Mirau objective, this time a photo of a MEMS microphone, fabricated by Knowles, and likely in your smartphone:

It's not a great image, but you can clearly see that the membrane has 2 layers- colors inside the dots are different than the color outside the dots, which is the top surface of the device.

 

[TonyStewart]

Fascinating active noise cancelling technology with silicon MEMS

 

[dlgoff]

Here's a Black Snake that was getting ready to go under my house:

 

[Point Conception]

Looking South from Jomtien

 

[DennisN]

Some more long exposures in daylight...

Two fountains in the city, with the "dreamy water effect" due to to long exposure:

Gear: Sony A6000 + Sony Kit Lens + B+W 10-stop ND filter, 5 s exposure, f/9, ISO 100

Gear: Sony A6000 + Sony Kit Lens + B+W 10-stop ND filter, 5 s exposure, f/9, ISO 100

I've been thinking about trying some street shooting in daylight with this technique, but not to achieve the thing you mentioned. I was thinking of the opposite : getting motion blur from people. But when I think of it maybe it's impossible (or very difficult?) since the cars disappeared in my photo (but not their lights), so maybe people are too dark to generate significant motion blur?

I tried it yesterday , and it seems at least some motion blur from people is possible to get.

Here are some "ghosts" appearing in the city:

Gear: Sony A6000 + Sony Kit Lens + B+W 10-stop ND filter, 5 s exposure, f/9, ISO 100

 

[Point Conception]

Jomtien now with the clear, seasonal, prevailing Southerly winds - finally. After months of this smoggy atmosphere coming down from over the land masses to the North.

 

[jtbell]

Who remembers Gateway Computers? When I bought two of them for my college's physics lab 25 years ago, each one came with a little foam-rubber cow in the box. Since then, they've been standing guard over our kitchen at home, from the top of the refrigerator.

 

[Point Conception]

Jomtien Beach promenade

 

[BillTre]

Saw this plant today.

Light green: new growth this year.
Dark green: older growth from last year.
White: little flowers from the old growth parts.
A developmental sequence revealed in a single plant.

 

[DennisN]

Bird time again...

First, here's a fieldfare in a park outside the city.
I've seen these before, but they are quite rare here.
It kept the distance and I couldn't get closer than ca 15 m to it (and I didn't wear camo at that time).

It's got a lovely spotted breast:

Weird stance:

And here are a couple of Eurasian blue tits in a city cemetery...

Two birds on a branch:

Singing a tune in the afternoon:

When I was about to leave the cemetery, two tiny great tits landed right next to me and got very curious. So I picked out my little box with birdseed and put it down. The birds were so close I had to step back a bit in order to be able to get them in focus with the camera...

"Food?"

"Yes, food!"

Looking up at something...

"More food!"

"I am being fed by a weirdo in a camo shirt"

 

[DennisN]

First, here's a fieldfare in a park outside the city.

By the way, I just checked the fieldfare page on Swedish Wikipedia and saw these two nice photos:

Turdus pilaris in snow, Väsby, by EstrellaSuecia

Turdus pilaris in Stockholm, Sweden in 2015 by Frankie Fouganthin

I think they are gorgeous birds.

 

[Rive]

Hiking around a village nearby

Contrast

 

[TonyStewart]

Who remembers Gateway Computers? When I bought two of them for my college's physics lab 25 years ago, each one came with a little foam-rubber cow in the box. Since then, they've been standing guard over our kitchen at home, from the top of the refrigerator.

View attachment 326494

I tossed a 20 yr old Gateway Win95 that still booted up about 4 seconds and had lots of apps. Wish I had a museum.

 

[Point Conception]

With multiple lightning flashes there is just enough time to catch it.