The new photography thread -any subject - don't be shy!

Enjoying the photography everyone!

 

Kestrel13! Awesome pics you make! Am enjoying them tremendously.

 

Ha!
Wish I could 'shred' my hair.

 

There's much talent in this thread...some really beautiful work capturing the essence of Nature.

Here's the master of the house in command atop kitchen cabinet...

 

Thanks...he (Amon) thinks he's cute too

 

Been a while... First shot is from my spotlight position at our AHL team's game the other night. Second one is yesterday afternoon out my kitchen window, just after several hours of rain that melted a bunch of snow and caused really cool ground fog.

 

Gee Kes, you got him to say "Cheese"!

 

Kestrel.
You have a great eye. Keep shooting! (How could we not?)
Curious: How long is your long lens? Is it a Canon? (Canons are usually a little soft).
Thanks for posting.
Here is one 'given' to me by this nice bird.

"Great photographs are not taken, they are given." ​

​

 

Kes, thanks.

Wow. A $100 Powershot? Just goes to show that it's not the equipment, it's the photographer. Thanks for the confirmation about it being a Canon. Women (especially) love their shots taken with a Canon lens because the typically soft Canons hide, um, things. I prefer and recommend Nikons so that shots can be tack sharp. I can soften things later in Photoshop, yet there is only a certain amount of sharpening that can be done after the fact. Go Nikon.

This Site <--is very useful. Very. Besides being a giant forum of real users, and an impressive array of very detailed reviews, the people are amazing. I will always remember how this one photographer charged a bunch of money to shoot a wedding and messed-up bad. All of the images were some kind of wrecked and the work it would take to salvage anything was too much for one newbie photographer. So, someone got the idea to share the load. They spread a whole buncha shots out between a whole buncha pro photographers who all pitched-in and salvaged a few shots each...for fun...and free. I love stories like that. *wipes tear*

Imaging sensors and optics have come SO far, I am kind of blown away. Megapixels are NOT the whole story. That said, my stupid PHONE (16 MP front-facing camera; Samsung Note 4) beats my 6 MP Canon CAMERA (10D) with the $1200 lens I have on it - IF there is no zooming involved. The phones usually only have digital zoom and should pretty much NEVER be used. I disable digi-zoom on point and shoot cameras, and always set all cameras to the largest file size possible. So what if I can only take 450 shots instead of 3,200 - lol.

Optical zoom is another matter; the glass moves. The $1200 camera lens slays the phone with its optical zooming...as well it should. Your camera has optical zoom that in 35mm film equivalents is a 24-720mm. SEVEN TWENTY! Sheesh. No wonder they look like they are shot with a super long lens.

My next upgrade will be to sell the zoom I have (the pro "L-series" lenses retain about 85% of their value!) and get into a Nikon. I am really extremely tempted by--> THIS <-- new camera. Don't have the money right now. Watch the videos and prepare to be blown away. I wonder what will come next?

The bird is a Rufous...and I am not sure if the color "rufous brown" got its name from the bird, or verse-visa. I tempt them with sugar water. They fly right up to my open window, but one little move or noise scares them away. I can hold still for a long time. That's not a problem. To counter the noise part, I put on some loud music, like LOUD. As long as it stays the same (loud) they don't mind, and step right up to the bar for a drink. (We call 'em "customers"). With the background and foreground noise, I can shoot from sitting on a stool in front of an open window about a foot away from the feeder and they don't care about the KLUH-KLUNK (mirror up, mirror down) camera noise. And, I am not even trying to shoot in sync with the beat of the music.

Maybe they don't mind because I'm a good Indian - LOL.

Photoshop comes in handy, too.

Happy shooting!

 

One more good tip.

Want to be known as a great photographer?
Share ONLY your best shots.

​

 

A fish eating European Robin sequence for you, Kes Na, not by me.

(I watched one trying to eat a freshly frozen to death sheep once! Well, it wasn't trying to eat all of it... )

 

The Robin vs dead sheep was at Ynys Hir RSPB reserve after a cold (-10C?) night, pre- dating Spring Watch by a few years, we weren't sure whether to laugh or cry... Nature in the raw, eh?

Other highlights of that weekend might have included Firecrest at Tregaron Bog (Cors Caron) or a Song Thrush on my head, just down the valley from there at Llangybi (that was definitely funny), my notebook's not to hand to check.

 

You're not in the wrong part of the UK for Firecrests! During Winter they can turn up almost anywhere and after a series of warm Winters, their numbers might increase enough that they're found breeding in areas they're not 'supposed' to be breeding in, like above 1700' altitude in the Welsh hills. Also breeding up in the Derbyshire area in recent years. Breeding distribution 2008-11. Recent reports.

That's a pretty good record shot of a Goldcrest, to get much better than that requires some luck and a lot of time and patience - it'll come

Yes, it flew in over the top of the house we were staying at and landed sweetly, my mate spotted it and started falling about laughing, "Hey boys, Andy's got a Song Thrush nesting in his hair!", yes, I often have a lot of hair On other occasions I've had a Treecreeper land on my leg and for 3 consecutive years, on the first day that I spotted the returning female Barn Swallow back at her breeding site each of those years, she tugged a strand of my hair during a sneak attack from behind. I guess she'd missed seeing me

 

What's for dinner?

 

She (who is a good boy) went to live with a friend and is very happy in the company of two other parrots. They have their own bedroom and get let out of their cages every day to play throughout the house.

 

Anybody familiar with a Yucca?
Beautiful flowers for such a releatively plain plant.

 

This one is more than 20 years old.
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to remove it - it was planted (by the previous owner) too close to my neighbour's garage. The base keeps expanding irregardless of how many times I have lopped it. And it has become to high to maintain.

I hate removing plants and trees.
But some people don't think when planting them in a small area, or too close to a structure.

 

RE: what's for dinner?....

I kept threatening the bird I used to have that SHE wold be dinner if she didn't quiet down!

​

PS - I would no longer EVER consume KC Masterpiece as it is a non-organic Monsanto product.

 

We have Yucca but never seen any bigger than 3 feet tall.
Great pictures everyone.

 

Mine is about 18 feet high.

This picture is of a 'spekboom' (Portulacaria afra), aka elephant bush. In front is a 'woestynroes' (Echeveria Albicans), aka desert rose - not to be confused with the other desert rose. And top left is a tomato.