Photography of ATS Members

I love looking at pictures! Some of these are really great!

Here's some of mine.

Nice shots, oh benevolently heretical one...

I like b/w photography; like I commented to BaastetNoir, it has a special mood to it.

I like that Mexican Sage, too. Got a huge one in my yard, but with all the rain we have had it has yet to set buds. I know that like a more arid environment, so, maybe this Summer.

Did you get my u2u thanking you for your help?

I'm impressed you knew it was a Mexican sage. Did you see the hummingbird?

You know, I'm sure I got your U2U. I stick my nose in a lot of people's business and force help on them, so I get a few of those.

Not until you mentioned it!!!

It's right in the middle of the picture, with it's wings outstretched, isn't it?

Wow, talk about Nature's camouflage...
either that, or I am imagining things. Wouldn't be the first time...but I'm on some good meds now...

You all have been busy!

Excellent capture of that humming bird BH!! I had one practically fly into my face the other day when I was snapping a few shots of some flowers in a hanging basket – By the time I brought my camera up and focused, she was zooming all over the place above me and I couldn’t get a decent shot….Tough one to pull off!

Studio Shot: Redux

Well – I got a little peeved at myself the other day….

Ever rush a shot and then kick yourself in the head over it later??

Hurts even more when it’s a scene you can’t recreate – You look at the photo and say – Damn! That would have been better if only I had ______

I did that last night, but luckily it was within a controlled environment – Or at least, as “controlled” as my makeshift studio gets…

I took a few household objects laying around in there late at night and started playing with color schemes to see what I could produce….Mostly an excuse to fiddle with my new flash I’m still trying to learn how to use…

Here’s what I came back with….It’s one of my computer speakers….

It’s a simple lighting setup…..I took a white LED book light and propped it up to illuminate the side panel, then covered a regular flashlight with a piece of green plastic…Framed and focused….Turned of the lights, bounced my flash off the ceiling and gave it about a 4 second exposure at f/7.1

But look at the harsh over-exposed area on the meshed grill….And the white LED seems to only highlight the imperfections on the casing as opposed to drawing it from the shadows…

I recreated this same shot tonight knowing what needed to be fixed – I pulled the green light further back from the speaker…I rubbed down the speaker casing in olive oil and removed any dust….Instead of bouncing my flash off the ceiling, I held over the flash a car sun reflector….Increased the aperture (thus increasing the shutter speed), and I think I came out with a much better and well-planned result…If the previous image didn’t look rushed before, you can surely tell the difference now…

Lesson Learned??
Take your time with the shot the first go around! Make sure you know what variables you’re working with….And never trust the LCD screen to tell you the naked truth after every shot…

BH, great pics!

Enron...I like the speaker pic. I'm not sure why, but it made me think of an X-Box.



Sporty

Enron, you are nuts!

Not really. I admire your tenacity when it comes to getting the right shot.
Now you know why cinematographers like to WET DOWN the streets before shooting the night scenes!

First, another hummingbird, a little bit north of Death Valley..Same Species as BH's..But this one obviously forgot the words, AND the tune. Hard to get them to pose like this..LOL I was actually zoomed in from a distance..


And here is a shot of Death Valley proper. I really like the painted look of the Earth.

Can't remember if I posted this one before or not. It's a picture i took from my porthole one night. I don't know why but I like its simplicity and darkness. You really get the feeling of loneliness every sailor battles while working out on ships. ANyways, hope you like it.

Hmm, an olive-oil-trick!
I'll try to rub down my whole apartment with olive-oil, to see if the dust disappears! Good idea, Enron!

Seriously, I really liked to see those two versions of the pic. It really shows, that the final outcome will really stand out. With practise, those tricks comes automatically too.

Lost sailor,

Thats breathtaking...Dark, yet a path to the light!
I'm a fan of sky phenomenon type photos..This is one of my favorites.

Parrhesia,

That's a nice pic of those flowers...very soft.

What kind are they?

Lost Sailor I love that picture! Reminds me of an old movie for some reason. Very nice.

Spacedoubt, we used to have 6 feeders and at the height of the hummingbird season, there would be 40 birds hovering/feeding at each feeder! I have pictures (the old-fashioned paper kind) of it and I could stick my hand up there and they'd land on it.

I've rescued birds from smashing into the window and held them till they could fly again and once, one got trapped in the garage and I talked to it and approached it slowly and it let me catch it. I just carried it out.

Lots of hummingbird stories.

Originally posted by apocalypticon
Parrhesia,

That's a nice pic of those flowers...very soft.

What kind are they?

Thank you, apocalypticon.
Those flowers are the round-lobed hepatica. They are very pretty. They were asleep that day, though; there was not much sun and it was quite chilly.

Hi Parrhesia,

I wondered about the weather; the picture does have a kind of chilly feel to it, and the flowers are cool.

We were back in D.C. last Fall 'cause one of my daughters sang at the National Christmas Tree lighting. The president and first lady were there for the ceremony so security was super-tight. Along with security people, dogs, etc. everywhere, there were also sniper teams in abundance.

Here is a picture of two sniper teams which were setting up on top of a trailer next to the ceremony...



Kind of a weird feeling. It was cold then too, about *35 F, which is downright chilly to us coastal Californians.

Wow - apocalypticon….I tell ya, If I could vote just one photo for ATS photo of the month,,,,,*suddenly gets an idea*

I cannot begin to tell you the superb detail to attention you’ve attained here….I almost feel harkened back to the Iwa Jima memorial….Simply stunning! It’s like an entire decade has been encapsulated in one photo here…

Originally posted by EnronOutrunHomerun
Thanks for the comments

- Here's a couple more...

I love this picture, but my camera's shutter speed is so fast it caught a little tremble in my wrist and so it made the star look like a UFO or something

Actually that happens when the shutter speed is too slow.


Anyway, spectacular photography. You have real talent.

Wow….You bring back some real memories….And agree with you now about the shutter speed....LOL

Those are some old photos…..But I most definitely appreciate the comments!!

Enron where have you been?

Out greasin' your tweeter?



Wow those are old photos. What camera did you have back then?

Hey Enron

What a compliment! There are some pretty fine pics on this thread, though, and obviously a lot of talented people. I don't think any of mine would hold up as well at the same size as most of the other folks post. Any decent picture is purely accidental on my part.

This last one I took with one of those Kodak disposables. And the only other equipment I have is a Kodak DX3900 and a Canon powershot A-520. No extra stuff for either of them (I could really use a tripod) and I wouldn't know how to use it anyway...

Regarding that trip to D.C...I can't even describe what it was like for me.

(so, like a fool, he tries anyway...) It was only the third time I had been back East, and the first to the capitol. It was cold, but clear; nice weather. We were there for 10 days, so it was time enough to see stuff.

I was a History major in college, and have continued reading over the years, so I was on definite sensory overload the entire time...

And, as far as the picture...yeah, a lot of people around me were sort of trippin' on it too.

I mean, when Lincoln went to Ford's Theatre he went by carriage with a few guests, and that was about it...sure, he paid for it that time, but it had been a normal habit of his during the Civil War.

Fer cryin' outloud, The Prez and The First Lady were sittin' in a bulletproof glass box during the event...with a couple of Bradley AFV's close by.

I mean, it's not that I didn't understand it, it was just...weird...to be there, I mean.

These posts take me forever, my typing skills are out of the stone-age somewhere.