Random Photos

[morrobay]

is that the great lawn in Central Park? I don't recognize the buildings.

Sheep Meadow farther South

 

[Tom.G]

is that the great lawn in Central Park? I don't recognize the buildings.

Aww, for a surprise,

Spoiler

ask Google maps to show you Morrow Bay, then use the Zoom function a bit.

 

[DennisN]

Helios magic revisited (experimental photography)

I reversed the front element on my vintage Helios 44 (13 bladed) and took it for a test run.
It was very, very fun, resulting in very weird photos as I was expecting...
First I'd like to show how the gear looked like, because that also looked weird...

But my cat interfered...

"What are you doing? I'm going to sit here."

"There. Now I'm completely obstructing your view."

Finally, here's the gear:

Top: Sony A7R with a M42 adapter, a Helios 44 and a lens hood.
Bottom: Helios 44 with a reversed front element. Four pieces of blu tack were also put between the front element and next element, since otherwise they would be touching which would not be good. When I think about it I should probably have put some thick paper as a separator instead of blu tack, but then again, this is experimental photography, so it's ok to take some chances .

As I've said before, there's nothing like going around shooting with a modified lens like this.
It is incredibly fun, and you can forget all about taking normal shots with it. It won't happen.
You are basically going around like Alice in Wonderland.

An added bonus (optimistically) or disadvantage (pessimistically) is that (1) it is hard to prepare the shots because of the crazy lens behavior and (2) the preview in the viewfinder doesn't really reveal the end result (to me, at least); some shots you think will be cool do not turn out to be that cool, while some you think may not look cool turn out to be very cool. I think that is very fun!

Also note that very little editing has been made to the shots below; they are almost straight out of the camera.

A magic yellow rose:

Cornflower:

At the pond:

Cone in focus:
- this is a shot I did not think would be anything, but when I got home and looked at it I got
very pleased with the crazy bokeh in it.

The haunted cones:
- another shot I did not think would be anything particular. But I really like it beacuse it looks so strange, almost like it's a spooky, haunted garden or something. In reality it is only ordinary
conifers with cones.

 

[Flyboy]

… right, who adjusted the LOD parameters? I think you mixed up some units…

 

[docnet]

Helios magic revisited (experimental photography)

I reversed the front element on my vintage Helios 44 (13 bladed) and took it for a test run.
It was very, very fun, resulting in very weird photos as I was expecting...
First I'd like to show how the gear looked like, because that also looked weird...

But my cat interfered...

View attachment 346549

"What are you doing? I'm going to sit here."

View attachment 346550

"There. Now I'm completely obstructing your view."

View attachment 346551

Finally, here's the gear:

View attachment 346552
Top: Sony A7R with a M42 adapter, a Helios 44 and a lens hood.
Bottom: Helios 44 with a reversed front element. Four pieces of blu tack were also put between the front element and next element, since otherwise they would be touching which would not be good. When I think about it I should probably have put some thick paper as a separator instead of blu tack, but then again, this is experimental photography, so it's ok to take some chances .

As I've said before, there's nothing like going around shooting with a modified lens like this.
It is incredibly fun, and you can forget all about taking normal shots with it. It won't happen.
You are basically going around like Alice in Wonderland.

An added bonus (optimistically) or disadvantage (pessimistically) is that (1) it is hard to prepare the shots because of the crazy lens behavior and (2) the preview in the viewfinder doesn't really reveal the end result (to me, at least); some shots you think will be cool do not turn out to be that cool, while some you think may not look cool turn out to be very cool. I think that is very fun!

Also note that very little editing has been made to the shots below; they are almost straight out of the camera.

A magic yellow rose:

View attachment 346553

Cornflower:

View attachment 346554

At the pond:

View attachment 346555

Cone in focus:
- this is a shot I did not think would be anything, but when I got home and looked at it I got
very pleased with the crazy bokeh in it.

View attachment 346556

The haunted cones:
- another shot I did not think would be anything particular. But I really like it beacuse it looks so strange, almost like it's a spooky, haunted garden or something. In reality it is only ordinary
conifers with cones.

View attachment 346557

Wow. amazing photo effects, I really like them. Too bad it was overcast, I think plants and trees look much better in the sun.

 

[jtbell]

On the sidewalk this morning, down the street from the local McDonald's. Finders keepers, losers weepers?

No, I didn't take it, because I didn't know how long it had been there.

 

[Arjan82]

No, I didn't take it, because I didn't know how long it had been there.

Leaves me wondering, would it have made a difference if you did know?

 

[jack action]

Leaves me wondering, would it have made a difference if you did know?

Five-second rule ...

 

[jtbell]

Five-second rule ...

I was thinking some ants might have already made their way inside via the tear in the wrapper.

Or I might have stood up to find someone glowering at me, "What're you doing with my breakfast, dude?"

 

[jtbell]

Five years ago this month, I visited the Carolinas Aviation Museum, whose centerpiece was the Airbus 320 that was serving on US Airways flight 1549 from New York (La Guardia) to Charlotte when it struck a flock of geese and was forced to ditch in the Hudson River, in January 2009.

Artifacts from the event included the uniforms of Capt. Chesley Sullenberger III and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, behind a stuffed goose similar to the ones that hit the aircraft.

About a month later, the museum closed in order to move to a new facility. This morning I learned that it finally re-opened on June 1 as the Sullenberger Aviation Museum, not far from the old facility.



I'll have to visit it the next time I go to Charlotte.

 

[jack action]

I was thinking some ants might have already made their way inside via the tear in the wrapper.

Or I might have stood up to find someone glowering at me, "What're you doing with my breakfast, dude?"

Ants are not a problem as I was taught by Police Academy (sorry, I only found the German version):

​

 

[DennisN]

Recently it was the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
I participated in the 60th anniversary twenty years ago, and here are some photos from back then...

The Omaha Beach camping was full of military tents and military vehicles:

An overview of Omaha Beach and part of the camping site:

Omaha Beach Museum:

Military (US, it seems; they've got US flags on the uniforms) assembling at the Omaha Beach Museum:

Fireworks over Omaha Beach (crappy focus, sorry ):

A tank on display close to Juno Beach:

A German Anti-tank gun somewhere on the Normandy coast (I don't remember where):

 

[DennisN]

Bottom: Helios 44 with a reversed front element. Four pieces of blu tack were also put between the front element and next element, since otherwise they would be touching which would not be good. When I think about it I should probably have put some thick paper as a separator instead of blu tack, but then again, this is experimental photography, so it's ok to take some chances .

Update:

I don't suggest this method . I just undid my previous lens modification, and there was no problem getting the blu tack off the glass (blu tack "attracts" blu tack, i.e. you can remove blu tack with blu tack), but blu tack has an annoying tendency to get messy when in combination with threads, and it's a bit of a hassle to get it off:

But it turned out alright in the end:

But, as I said, there are probably better methods than using blu tack here.

 

[Flyboy]

It’s race weekend here in Iowa, so of course we get to display the cars we sponsor. I think these are spares instead of the actual race cars being used this weekend, but I could be wrong.

 

[pinball1970]

Two more black and white photos of cats I like from a group on facebook:
(regretfully not sourced in the facebook group, I otherwise like to provide sources to photos)

View attachment 344117

View attachment 344118

I don't like cats for one reason, they kill wildlife for sport. A bell round the neck can scupper attacks but not every cat owner implements this.
Anyway, those images are fantastic. Black and white, good choice and the first image is my favourite.
What is in the cats mind?

"Dude, I'm gonna do some stuff. Because I'm a cat."

Love it

 

[jack action]

I don't like cats for one reason, they kill wildlife for sport. A bell round the neck can scupper attacks

... or you stop feeding them, then it won't be for sport.

Follow me for more tips about cat ownership.

 

[phinds]

Got this shot up at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge (in NY) shot w/ a Canon SX40 HS with 35X optical zoom, ISO=100, shutter = 1/640 and taken from about 100 feet w/ the camera stabilized on top of my car. This is a crop of the center of the image.

Go USA !

 

[jtbell]

Our acorns are apparently popular with the neighborhood's squirrels.

 

[symbolipoint]

An insect, beetle of some kind (?)
Posting here serves for an exercise in using the technologies of the camera and this forum; and allowing some viewers to enjoy seeing.
Done at 4X zoom:

 

[BillTre]

It looks likes a bug not a beetle to me.
Maybe a stink bug.
Beetles have a different shape to their back-neck region.

 

[symbolipoint]

Thanks @BillTre
I never before understood that a beetle is not a bug. I had only thought that "bug" was something which included Insects. I had thought that a beetle was also an insect.

I tried an image search in Google and found several that look somewhat like my posted photograph and very few that come very closer to the shape of the bug and design of its red markings.

edit: I read part of the linked article. Good thing that I did not scare it.

 

[BillTre]

Bugs and beetles are to different kinds of insects. There are more insects than any other animals (versatile body plan).
There are more beetles than other kinds of insects.
Darwin said “If there is a Creator, he must have an inordinate fondness for beetles”, referring to the 400,000+ known species of beetles in the world (~40% of all known insect species and 25% of all known animal life-forms).

 

[docnet]

An insect, beetle of some kind (?)
Posting here serves for an exercise in using the technologies of the camera and this forum; and allowing some viewers to enjoy seeing.
Done at 4X zoom:

View attachment 347145View attachment 347146

it's a nymph of the two-spotted stink bug. Apparently they are beneficial

 

[BillTre]

 

[fresh_42]

View attachment 347180

Reminds me of Devil's bridge in Saxony:

 

[gleem]

Moon(s) rising in Maryland.

 

[jtbell]

Nice moon dog!

 

[jtbell]

Bzz, bzz...

 

[jtbell]

A restored former Shell gas station from the 1930s, in Winston-Salem NC.

They should have someone standing by, in a Spongebob Squarepants costume. "Check your fish oil, sir?"

 

[morrobay]

 

[morrobay]

What a difference a day makes

 

[docnet]

What a difference a day makes View attachment 347269

seashells or trash?

 

[morrobay]

 

[DennisN]

A seagull standing on one leg:
(from what I know they do this to preserve energy)

Leaves:

A white rose:

 

[docnet]

A seagull standing on one leg:
(from what I know they do this to preserve energy)

View attachment 347327

Leaves:

View attachment 347328

A white rose:

View attachment 347329

Lovely pictures!

 

[DennisN]

Ah, this made my day... (shot today)

A damselfly which I happened to spot:
(I think it is a Coenagrion mercuriale/southern damselfly)

It did not give me much time until it went off, ca 2 minutes, but it was a lovely encounter.
They are such cool creatures.

Look at the details of the amazing wings:

Not a perfect shot, but as I said, I regretfully did not get much time with it.

(shot with Canon nFD 100mm Macro)

 

[BillTre]

@DennisN I really like the first picture.

Makes me think about the so simple structure of insect bodies.
Body of obviously repeated body plan segment that repeat a set of components in each segment (some with wings or legs).
The appendages are also made of segments.
A muscle is innervated by a single activating and a single inhibiting motor neuron.
CNS neurons are often individually identifiable among different individuals (big deal or research reproducibility).
Where the damsel fly has fuzzy rows of hairs one it leg segment here:

A smaller fly like a fruitfly would have a small number of hairs or possibly onw or two hairs in smaller flies, like a drain fly. Some are way smaller then a Drosophila.

 

[BillTre]

Saw this today.
Watch out for those old guys with sticks for hitting people.

 

[jrmichler]

The last of four robins to leave the nest made a short, but successful, first flight this morning. The nesting platform was built to stop the birds from building their nest in the gutter back when the gutter was longer and had a downspout.

I don't know why the entire picture is blue. That camera has some sort of random malfunction.

 

[jtbell]

I guess some people really depend on their moose.

 

[morrobay]

Cactus and Shells part 2

 

[fresh_42]

 

[Rive]

Just ... corridor, lighting, horror stories

 

[nsaspook]

Harvest time in the backyard.

 

[DennisN]

Just ... corridor, lighting, horror stories

Film noir meets Stephen King.

 

[DennisN]

Just ... corridor, lighting, horror stories

On second thought I want to say I think you did something very nice there!
You brought out a feeling from very, very little. It's very minimalistic.
I haven't played around much with shadows as the main subject, but I will keep it in mind, so thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Ibix]

Ice spike in my ice cube tray:

According to the wiki article they're fairly easy to produce in distilled water and the mechanism is understood, but they're less common and less well understood in less purified water.

 

[BillTre]

 

[nsaspook]

Drip irrigation and remote Home Assistant monitor.

The DIY hybrid solar battery part of the HA system.

 

[nsaspook]

Glamping for the kids school friends.