Random Photos

[gmax137]

the second one

You know how wet sidewalks smell, kind of a mineral smell? That's what the second photo there does to me. I smell wet concrete in a drizzly rain. And to me, evoking smells is nostalgic, memories from childhood. Like the kid running down the sidewalk.

Love it.

 

[jtbell]

"Nah, we can honk better than that guy!"

 

[DennisN]

Tonight I tried something for fun which I had never done before.
It was a full moon and there was a distinct sphere of moonlight around it, and I got the idea of trying to take a photo of both the Moon itself with details and the moonlight around it.

To do this in one shot is AFAIK impossible with ordinary gear (maybe there is some special equipment which can dim a particular area only, I don't know). The reason is that you need very different exposure times for the Moon and moonlight.

So I shot it using two different exposure times, and then I merged them in Photoshop.

Photo info:

Moonlight shot at ISO 1600, 1/20 s exposure.
Moon shot at ISO 1600, 1/1000 s exposure, 25% of 50 stacked photos.
Gear: Sony A6000 with a Canon FD 135mm f/3.5 and a Canon 2x Teleconverter.

 

[collinsmark]

Tonight I tried something for fun which I had never done before.
It was a full moon and there was a distinct sphere of moonlight around it, and I got the idea of trying to take a photo of both the Moon itself with details and the moonlight around it.

To do this in one shot is AFAIK impossible with ordinary gear (maybe there is some special equipment which can dim a particular area only, I don't know). The reason is that you need very different exposure times for the Moon and moonlight.

So I shot it using two different exposure times, and then I merged them in Photoshop.

View attachment 292608

Photo info:

Moonlight shot at ISO 1600, 1/20 s exposure.
Moon shot at ISO 1600, 1/1000 s exposure, 25% of 50 stacked photos.
Gear: Sony A6000 with a Canon FD 135mm f/3.5 and a Canon 2x Teleconverter.

That's a beautiful image.

Yes, it's true that sometimes it is necessary to take multiple exposures (or separate stacks, each stack using a different exposure setting) for different objects/targets/facets in the same frame. Then combine them into a single image in post-processing.

I'm using "exposure setting" here liberally, because it could mean change the camera's gain/ISO setting, not just the exposure time.

Here's an image I took of the Great Conjunction on Dec. 21st, 2020. The image was made by capturing tens of thousands of individual frames, over the course of about 25 minutes, using a few different camera gain settings to increase dynamic range. They were then stacked using lucky imaging techniques and combined.

There's no way I could have gotten all of Jupiter, Saturn, and the moons using a single set of exposure time and gain setting, without blowing highlights or having something getting lost in the noise.

---

In normal, terrestrial photography, there's a whole technique called "HDR," standing for "High Dynamic Range," where the same subject is photographed typically three times, each with a different exposure, then those exposures are combined in post processing. Here is an article on it.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/what-is-hdr-photography/

Note that the same term and initialism is used to describe TVs and computer monitors with high brightness and deep darks, which have almost nothing to do with HDR photography. 'Just wanted to point that out: HDR photography and HDR monitors are different beasts.

That said, some rendering engines in video games use HDR techniques similar to HDR photography, even if they don't support HDR monitors. And other video games are capable of supporting HDR monitors.

So yeah, when looking up the term "HDR" and/or "High Dynamic Range," it might refer to different things depending on the context.

 

[DennisN]

That's a beautiful image.

Thanks! It was fun to do.

There's no way I could have gotten all of Jupiter, Saturn, and the moons using a single set of exposure time and gain setting, without blowing highlights or having something getting lost in the noise.

I understand. I've realized that during my own initial tests with Jupiter. Jupiter is just a small dot in the night sky, but it can be amazingly bright in my small scope .

 

[jack action]

Photographers and camera equipment lined up in preparation for a nuclear test at Bikini Atoll, 1946:

 

[dlgoff]

Living in Kansas, you get some cool sunsets. Here are some photos I just took using my Canon "point and shoot".

 

[nsaspook]

Turbo molecular pump salad.

 

[dlgoff]

Photographers and camera equipment lined up in preparation for a nuclear test at Bikini Atoll, 1946:

View attachment 292631​

I found that image somewhere and sent/emailed it to my pilot daughter. I wonder how much the cameras weigh and if they could have all fit in that airplane?

edit: now that I think about it, I might have saved then sent your image.

 

[jack action]

I wonder how much the cameras weigh and if they could have all fit in that airplane?

I think there was more than a single airplane to cover all possible angles.

 

[dlgoff]

Photographers and camera equipment lined up in preparation for a nuclear test at Bikini Atoll, 1946:

View attachment 292631​

I found that image somewhere and sent/emailed it to my pilot daughter.

I think there was more than a single airplane to cover all possible angles.

That makes sense.

 

[dlgoff]

Living in Kansas, you get some cool sunsets. Here are some photos I just took using my Canon "point and shoot".
View attachment 292632
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More from Kansas

 

[dlgoff]

More from Kansas
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Okay, okay, These are the last ones. I took these two summers ago.

Now back to whatever you've been doing.

 

[DennisN]

Okay, okay, These are the last ones. I took these two summers ago.

Cool yellow lights. It reminds me of a sunrise shot I took a couple of years ago.

(Taken with my mobile phone. Some weird house angles here since it's a stitched panorama, and I probably wasn't experienced with the stitching process.)

 

[morrobay]

 

[morrobay]

 

[morrobay]

< River weeds wash up

 

[DennisN]

I was out testing my newly acquired fast ultra-wide lens which I bought in used condition (but it was hardly used at all, so it was in excellent condition). It's a Samyang/Rokinon 12mm f/2.0.

It seems to deliver as promised. It seems great for low-light photography, and I've planned to use it for e.g. landscape photography and wide photography of the night sky.

It has a seriously wide field of view. Currently I'm very used to photographing with focal lengths between 35 and 135 mm, which on cropped sensor cameras like mine translates to standard, portrait and tele focal lengths. So when I first tried this 12mm it was a completely new experience. It felt liked being pushed back 10 - 20 meters or something. The "distance feel" I had for taking photos was challenged, as I repeatedly saw my targets getting too small in the view . I guess this will settle with experience.

I was just out to test it for a while, but I ended up taking about 100 photos during the test, which I think is a good sign that it's a lens I'll be using in the future .

One wide-angle night photo:
(the original was brighter than this, but I made it a bit darker in the editing)

 

[jtbell]

Go Blue! Michigan beats Ohio State for the first time in nine years IIRC.

I lived across the street from the stadium for most of my time in grad school.

 

[collinsmark]

So when I first tried this 12mm it was a completely new experience. It felt liked being pushed back 10 - 20 meters or something. The "distance feel" I had for taking photos was challenged, as I repeatedly saw my targets getting too small in the view . I guess this will settle with experience.

Yeah, it's like a secret weapon. You may not use it often, but every once in awhile nothing else will do.

Here's a image I took somewhere around 20 years ago (somewhere in the vicinity of Ballina Ireland [Lough Conn maybe? I can't remember] It's somewhere in County Mayo, anyway), with a 12-24 mm zoom lens.

---
Now that you have a wide angle, try this: you can take some interesting portraits with it. Try taking a picture with somebody standing up, with the camera right next to their head/face, but angled slightly down to get their whole body in, down to their feet. The results make them look kinda cartoonish. You can use this to make some very interesting, approachable, non-threatening portraits.

 

[DennisN]

Here's a image I took somewhere around 20 years ago

A beautiful photo! :)

Thanks for the info about close-ups, I will try it!

I actually had not planned to get this 12mm, since I thought it was too expensive as new (and there are some more items I am considering getting, maybe a tracker. I'm still thinking about it). And I think you are well aware that both photography gear and astro gear can get expensive, hehe. :)

But I had read about this lens before from various people doing astrophotography (e.g. Milky Way shots), so when I found it on an auction site for ca 40% of the price as new, I could not resist it. A fun thing is that there was a polarizing filter on it too, which I checked out on the net because I did not know the brand. And that filter alone costed (as new) about as much as I paid for the lens (and filter) :).

 

[dlgoff]

Okay, okay, These are the last ones. I took these two summers ago.
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View attachment 292886
Now back to whatever you've been doing.

I just can't resist sharing the beauty of my skies here:

 

[BillTre]

I like it @dlgoff!

The subtleties in the clouds are nice. Don't see that a lot in pictures I think.
I like top-down airplane shots of clouds also.

 

[nsaspook]

Plasma burns on a vacuum chamber insulator.

 

[DennisN]

We just got some snow here. Not much, but I took the opportunity to train my snow photography a bit.

I remember I've had difficulties with photographing snow scenes before. The photos often got overexposed if there was much snow. But I read a bit about it online this time and decided to try with a CPL filter (circular polarizer/linear) in front of the lens this time which some suggested.

Snow on brown leaves:

Snow on a wooden table:

Close-up of snow and ice on wood table:
(a part of the table above, I used extension tubes here which enables macrophotography)

(all three taken with Canon FD 50mm f/1.8)

 

[morrobay]

View attachment 293200

Amazing image resolution here for wide angle.

 

[jtbell]

The Big Guy of the season at our town's Christmas parade today.

And one of his little helpers.

 

[DennisN]

Christmas time in the city.

(this time I was out testing my newly acquired vintage Canon nFD 50mm f/1.4 which was sent to me all the way from Japan. It's a really fast "fifty" (gathers a lot of light) and I very much enjoyed shooting with it, so I am pleased with my buy )

(composite wide-angle (stitched photos), 1/15 s exposure, f/4, ISO 400)

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Christmas time in the city.

Gustav, Malmö?

 

[DennisN]

Gustav, Malmö?

That's correct! Have you been there?

 

[Jonathan Scott]

That's correct! Have you been there?

No, but I lived in Göteborg in the 1980s and I had the vague idea that it might be a square in Malmö (perhaps from something on TV), so I did a Google search on Malmö Christmas and spotted it immediately. I enjoyed that time of year in Sweden (including the St Lucia celebrations, with lussekatter and glögg).

 

[DennisN]

(including the St Lucia celebrations, with lussekatter and glögg)

I was actually drinking glögg (non-alcoholic) at home when I edited my photos yesterday , because I felt quite cold after the long photo walk.

(for those who don't know what it is, it's mulled wine, also known as Glühwein in Germany and Austria)

 

[dlgoff]

Here are a couple photos that I just took of my Kansas skies:

I can't resist taking photos of my skies:

I'm not sure that these photos got loaded in the correct order I wanted.

 

[dlgoff]

Here are a couple photos that I just took of my Kansas skies:
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I can't resist taking photos of my skies.

 

[dlgoff]

I can't resist taking photos of my skies.
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I didn't realize how blurry the last one was until now. Looks like I must have not kept the camera still enough. Dang.