Random Photos

Andy Resnick · Feb 5, 2023

Fortunately, I got another chance to stop by the Bean on my way out of town and was able to take some more intentional (and experimental) shots:

For this one, the lens (reflection on the extreme left) is physically touching the surface of the sculpture:

Photo of Cloud Gate, the reflective steel sculpture in Chicago, reflecting a rotated view of a city street, tall buildings and a clear blue sky with a pedestrian on the left.

I also found an (approximate) symmetry axis:

Photo of a curved, mirror-polished steel sculpture with crowds of people reflected in it, viewed at an angle so the scene appears rotated.

Which way is up?

Upward view of tall skyscrapers with white and glass facades rising around a clear blue sky, photographed from street level with a wide-angle lens.

Another Chicago attraction are the glass rooms sticking out of the side of the Willis (nee Sears) tower. I didn't bring any telephoto lenses, this is a 350% zoom (no interpolation) off an 55mm image but it's possible to discern people in the rooms:

Night photo of a building facade with a grid of lit windows; in the top row, five windows protrude as glass rooms with a few people faintly visible inside.

And then coming home I was able to get a few shots of downtown Cleve-town:

Night aerial view of a downtown city core with brightly lit streets, tall office towers, and a stadium with illuminated pink signage near a highway interchange.

Night aerial photo of a downtown city core with lit office towers, a tall illuminated tower with a green-lit crown, and a gold-tipped spire beside it, with highway lights curving across the top.

Andy Resnick · Feb 5, 2023

DennisN said:

The last photo is really weird, and cool!
Is the "top" of the sculpture solid, or?
I mean, is there a hole or not in it "upwards", so to say?

The sculpture has no through holes, if that's what you mean. It's unclear how much room there is underneath- there's no obvious surface visible, so it looks quite cavernous "inside".

Point Conception · Feb 5, 2023

Wine bottle label showing a red and black illustration of a laughing kookaburra perched on a bare red tree branch, with the text LAUGHING BIRD dry red and Product of Australia.

Point Conception · Feb 6, 2023

The beer bars days of glory are going fast.

Close-up of a mosaic wall made of irregular pieces of blue, light blue, pink, yellow-orange and green tile, with two curved bands of small dark blue square tiles running through it.

Collapsed building roof with debris scattered across the ground, a mosaic tiled wall on the left, and a yellow object on the roof beside broken masonry and rubble.

Close-up of a mosaic of irregular pieces in blue, light blue, pink, yellow-orange and olive green, with two winding bands of small square dark blue tiles running diagonally through it.

Point Conception · Feb 7, 2023

The mall I'm standing on was built on a sandlot that was full of beer bars. The go go bars are still thriving on Walking Street however.

Elevated view of a Pattaya seafront street with a Thai flag, palm trees, high-rise hotels along the bay, and a police station with a sign reading PATTAYA CITY POLICE.

Point Conception · Feb 7, 2023

After some altercations with cigarette smokers had to give up on this other
coffee place. And just noticed today this Japanese restaurant has cappuccino too.

Cappuccino in a cream cup on a saucer, set on a wooden table outdoors; beyond it a street lined with palm trees, parked scooters and cars, and a sandy beach with the sea behind, next to a no-smoking sign.

DennisN · Feb 7, 2023

Sunset in May (May 7, 2022):

Sunset over a calm sea, with the bright orange sun just touching the horizon and orange and gold streaks of cloud across a dark orange sky.

(Lens: Helios 44M7 with CPL filter attached)

DennisN · Feb 11, 2023

Ice skating in the city today... apparently very popular among children...
...and a great place to train photography of moving subjects

; patience is essential

.
(even more so when you are using a manual lens, which I did)

Outdoor ice rink with several people skating across the glossy ice, including a child in a teal helmet and black skates in the foreground, a young child in pink snowsuit with a skating aid, and adults walking behind them.

A child in a pink jacket pushes a skating aid across an outdoor ice rink in front of a white building with ornate domed towers and spires.

A woman in a dark jacket and dark cap steadies a child in a green padded jacket and grey knit hat on an outdoor ice rink, the child holding a metal skating walker with blades, buildings and a white fence behind.

Gear: Sony A7R & Canon nFD 50mm f/1.4 with CPL filter attached.

Ivan Seeking · Feb 11, 2023

Einstein's desk the day he died. Note the Philosophy book.

Black-and-white photo of a cluttered desk covered in loose handwritten pages, an open book, a pipe, an ink bottle and a canister, with a paperback labelled PHILOSOPHY at upper right.

DennisN · Feb 12, 2023

A giant wall painting in the city (shot a couple of days ago):

Large mural on the side of a brick building showing a woman in a red dress holding a small child in white clothing in a tight embrace, with a brick building and white balconied building in the background.

When I was editing the photo I found the artist's signature in the photo:

Dark reddish photo of a faint painted signature reading ELOISE GILLOW, with a smudged dark mark above and below it.

The artwork is called "Mother's Arms" and the artist's web page (Eloise Gillow) is here.

DennisN · Feb 12, 2023

I was editing a couple of photos taken recently, and I wanted to share a little useful trick when shooting in strong backlight (e.g. sunlight in front of the camera).

Sometimes backlight can be used for certain effects, but quite often it can degrade the image by "washing it out". Other effects that backlight can introduce are lens flares. Equipment that help with counteracting backlight effects are lens hoods.

But if you have no lens hood with you, you can simply use your hand as a cover against the incoming light
(I don't remember from where I picked it up).

E.g. if the sunlight is coming straight ahead from the top, you can put your hand like this:

Diagram of a hand used as a shade: a camera on the left, a hand-shaped blob held between it and a yellow arrow labelled Sunlight from the sun at upper right, with a tree labelled Subject at lower right and the text Put your hand here.

I'm not sure how well this works with smartphones though, I don't remember if I've tried it with smartphones. If I remember correctly lenses on smartphones are pretty wide angle, so I think the hand would quite easily appear in the shot. But maybe using a finger instead of the entire hand would work, maybe?

Photo examples:

Leaves shot in quite strong backlight:

Orange-brown autumn beech leaves on a thin branch, lit by backlight, beside a grey tree trunk with dense green shrubbery behind.

The same scene, but this time with my hand as a cover against the backlight:
(you can see that the photo looks more clearer and that the colors are more vibrant too)

Autumn beech branch with orange-brown leaves in backlight, with dark green shrubs behind and a lichen-covered tree trunk on the right.

And finally, the second photo after some additional gamma adjustment:

Sunlit orange-brown autumn beech leaves on a branch against dark green shrubs, with a grey tree trunk on the right and leaf litter on the ground.

Astranut · Feb 14, 2023

pinball1970 said:

Crane? @Astranut can help?

Sorry a bit late in replying, the bird in question is a Great White Egret.

Astranut · Feb 14, 2023

pinball1970 said:

All beautiful places.

Everyone in England should make an effort to go and see what is essentially on their own door step, especially city people.
I have never been to Stone Henge, this is one for my bucket list.
You have been much further north than me also! Aviemore from memory.
I did a gig in the lakes two weeks ago and all the hills were covered with snow as we approached the venue in Cockermouth, stunning.
I will see if Astranut has anything he can post, he tends to stay fairly local with bird watching and photography.

This 19th century cobbled bridge at Portland Basin is a local landmark. Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.

Steep cobbled bridge with moss-covered stone parapets rising over a canal basin, with a brick chimney and red-brick apartment blocks behind, and narrowboats moored on the water at right.

Point Conception · Feb 17, 2023

Was going to avoid anymore Thai lady photos: But change of plan. Party Time. And on the 'Getting 0ld ' Topic: Stay at your HS weight and everything else takes care of itself. 70 kg.

Blonde woman in a sleeveless top leaning over a white table on a dimly lit rooftop terrace at night, with a glass of white wine, a phone and a bottle on the table, and city lights in the background.

Shirtless man with curly light hair standing sideways in a dimly lit room with green lighting, with a glass shower enclosure and leafy wallpaper behind him.

DennisN · Feb 18, 2023

A glowing heart in the city park:
(I hope it's not a repost

)

Night photo of a glowing orange neon heart outline framed by trees, with a flight of stone steps leading up to it in a park.

BillTre · Feb 20, 2023

Photo by Lucy Jones:

Slime mold fruiting bodies:

Close-up of a bright yellow slime mold fruiting body with many cylindrical sporangia standing side by side on a dark decaying log. Caption reads: Stemonitis flavogenita.

nsaspook · Feb 23, 2023

View through a row of windows at dusk onto a snow-covered suburban street, with snow-laden evergreen trees, houses and parked cars under a pale sunset sky.

pinball1970 · Feb 24, 2023

nsaspook said:

View attachment 322771

Lovely. Like a Xmas card

DennisN · Feb 24, 2023

The Øresund Bridge (shot yesterday):

Night view of the Øresund Bridge, a long cable-stayed bridge with two tall pylons and slanted cables, its deck lit with lights and supported by a row of piers over dark water under an orange-tinted sky.

I had to fight a bit for this shot

. It was late, cold and windy, so it was quite tricky to focus.
Shot with my Sony 55-210mm zoom, but I have a feeling one of my tele prime lenses would have been better. I don't know why I didn't bring one of those instead. I will next time.

The sky color is actually not due to any sunrise/sunset, it's light pollution from Copenhagen which shows up since I shot with long exposure (15 seconds).

DennisN · Feb 26, 2023

Copenhagen by night... canal scene shot from Børnehusbroen (Børnehus bridge):

Night view of a narrow canal lined with lit brick and rendered apartment buildings, with moored boats on both sides and parked cars along the quay.

Rive · Feb 26, 2023

Barn finds

Three worn metal shovels with long wooden handles standing upright on dirt in front of a row of blue solar panels.

Use it till it can be used
Then a bit further
And maybe it can still come in handy on some rainy day...

BillTre · Feb 28, 2023

A large gaggle of geese near home (but not a google(plex) of geese):

A large flock of Canada geese grazing on a grassy field in front of a school building with blue and brick walls, a chain-link fence and a basketball hoop.

berkeman · Feb 28, 2023

BillTre said:

A large gaggle of geese near home

See that basketball court in the background? Don't even get me started about geese and outdoor basketball courts. Luckily it's cold wintertime here in Silicon Valley right now, and the geese near my favorite outdoor courts have flown south for the winter...

(Selfishly unluckily, we are getting lots of rain this cold wintertime, so the courts are too wet to play on most days right now. Hopefully tomorrow...)

BillTre · Feb 28, 2023

berkeman said:

See that basketball court in the background? Don't even get me started about geese and outdoor basketball courts. Luckily it's cold wintertime here in Silicon Valley right now, and the geese near my favorite outdoor courts have flown south for the winter...

(Selfishly unluckily, we are getting lots of rain this cold wintertime, so the courts are too wet to play on most days right now. Hopefully tomorrow...)

They like the grassy areas where they pick around for things.
There were four or five times as many geese, but they didn't fit into the shot.
Maybe these guys will be flying south to visit you.

berkeman · Feb 28, 2023

BillTre said:

Maybe these guys will be flying south to visit you.

Oh no you don't!

And, since you are many miles north of me, are you saying that my theory of the local park geese leaving due to a southern migration is not even wrong?

BillTre · Feb 28, 2023

I think they actually stay around here in fair numbers. However, some seen to migrate also. Those guys in the picture should have been migrated if they were going to, its late February.
Ask a bird guy.

berkeman · Feb 28, 2023

BillTre said:

Ask a bird guy.

I did, and he was no help.

Basketball player in a green Celtics number 33 jersey shooting a jump shot while a defender in a white jersey reaches up to contest, with a packed crowd in the stands behind them.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url...ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCKDuuZG9uf0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

BillTre · Feb 28, 2023

Guess he wants to shoot them.

DennisN · Mar 2, 2023

The name "Frida" carved into a tree:

Close-up of bark on a green-mossy tree trunk with the letters F, R, I, D, A carved into it, reading as Frida.

("Frida" is an old Norse name still used today)

BillTre · Mar 2, 2023

DennisN said:

("Frida" is an old Norse name still used today)

So that's where Frida Kahlo is from?

Portrait of a woman with dark hair braided and pinned up with a thin band, wearing hoop earrings, a beaded necklace and a deep magenta shawl over a white lace top, against a grey background.

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