Random Photos

[pinball1970]

There is a cool Evolution Chicken Dinosaur T shirt on here somewhere. I took this.

 

[Ibix]

That's awesome (off to Google, I need new tshirts anyway...)

 

[jtbell]

Holy Schnitzel, Batman! It's that time of year again... bring out the beer steins and the oompah bands!

Historical note: South Carolina had a large number of Swiss and German settlers in the mid 1700s, in the former Saxe-Gotha Township (now Lexington County) just west of Columbia, and the Dutch Fork to the northwest, between the Broad and Saluda Rivers.

The main remnants of German culture in these areas today are German family and road names, and many small Lutheran churches, some of which I pass as I drive through the Dutch Fork on my way to Columbia.

 

[BadgerBadger92]

bird in shadow

View attachment 271042

This is very good. Nice contrast and an interesting subject. Gives off a bleak feeling.

 

[BadgerBadger92]

I’m sorry if I posted these before, I don’t remember if I did. What do you think of these shots? Click on the photos to see them better.

 

[Rive]

road

Tanking through...

 

[epenguin]

That second one, Rive, could be further improved by some colour etc. manipulation by someone who knows how.

 

[Rive]

There was plenty of potential in that dirt road... Sadly, we had only a compact at hand, and also: we were running to catch the bus and had only a minute to shoot some random photos

As the raw material is, I think manipulation would only make it manipulated, but not really better

Also - I don't really know the how

 

[DennisN]

Some random photos from August this year...

A bumblebee on an orange flower:

A butterfly (Large white/Pieris brassicae):

A fly sitting on a stone:

And last, a fly out of focus . This could have a become a nice shot if I had been a bit faster.
Regretfully the fly took off before I got a second chance.

 

[morrobay]

Alone Together. By the way that is lavender table under blue light overhead.

 

[Rive]

The Morning Face... A shot so bad it's good

Basking in the sun

 

[DaveC426913]

I am super chuffed to be able to say I have my photos hanging in - not one, but two (2) - installations this month.

One is an adjudicated exhibit in my local Civic Hall, the other is simply the Great Room at my yacht club. (Still counts tho.)

Here's just a couple. These are photographs; not paintings or CGI.

 

[morrobay]

@DaveC426913 are these all applied acrylic or oil paint and how did you get the waves ?

 

[DaveC426913]

@DaveC426913 are these all applied acrylic or oil paint and how did you get the waves ?

These are photographs; not paintings or CGI.

They've been enhanced, cleaned up and cropped, but they're actual photos.

Here are a couple of the raw photos.

 

[morrobay]

Ok but photographs of what ? Then computer generated

 

[DaveC426913]

Ok but photographs of what ? Then computer generated

Oh. The collection is called Waterscapes. (Or maybe Lagoonscapes, haven't decided.)
These are all pics of the reflections of boats at my yacht club.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Oh. The collection is called Waterscapes. (Or maybe Lagoonscapes, haven't decided.)
These are all pics of the reflections of boats at my yacht club.

Heh... should we refer to you as Lil' Yachty? (great photos, btw!)

 

[DaveC426913]

Then computer generated

Noooooo.
Post 784 contains several of the raw photos - taken right off my camera - to show you the final pics are taken right from the originals.

 

[berkeman]

These are all pics of the reflections of boats at my yacht club.

Very nice and creative, Dave.

 

[DaveC426913]

Very nice and creative, Dave.

I'm finding it very interesting how much difficulty I'm having convincing people that they're not manipulated. I've got several hanging in an art show, and I think I may have to provide a (what's the opposite of a caveat? ).

 

[berkeman]

I think I may have to provide a (what's the opposite of a caveat? ).

Do the hanging ones have titles? Unless the viewers know that they involve reflections of colorful boats on the ripples, they could assume that the colors were artificially introduced.

 

[morrobay]

 

[jtbell]

While I was out walking yesterday, I came across the high school's homecoming parade all lined up, ready to start. I stopped and watched as it passed through the college on its way to the high school about a mile away.

The college has its own homecoming next weekend.

 

[morrobay]

From the Northerly side

 

[morrobay]

Some phone photos of film prints: Catalina Island , Similan Islands and Cha-am beach, Thailand

 

[Andy Resnick]

Some recent fall photos from a couple of walks:

(you can just barely see the reflected stars)

 

[BadgerBadger92]

Some recent fall photos from a couple of walks:

View attachment 315785

View attachment 315789
(you can just barely see the reflected stars)

View attachment 315787

View attachment 315788

I like the first one! A great usage of the Fibonacci Spiral

 

[DennisN]

These are photographs; not paintings or CGI.

Gorgeous photos with lovely colors! And very creative!

This reminded me of something similar I did by chance maybe a year ago. I was filming a pond and decided to lower the camera to film the small waves in the pond, and it suddenly made me quite excited. It felt a bit like I looked at an impressionist painting which was in motion instead of static.

I'll see if I can find the clip, and if so I will post it here later.

 

[Swamp Thing]

I like the first one! A great usage of the Fibonacci Spiral

https://www.science.org/content/art...ase, the telltale,large sunflowers—89 and 144.

Over the past 4 years, members of the public have been growing their own sunflowers and submitting photographs and counts of the spiral patterns. After verifying the counts from 657 flowers, a more realistic picture of sunflowers is emerging. A study published today in Royal Society Open Science reports that nearly one in five of the flowers had either non-Fibonacci spiraling patterns or patterns more complicated than has ever been reported, including near-Fibonacci sequences and other mathematical patterns that compete and clash across the flower's face.

 

[DennisN]

Autumn color palette (taken a couple of days ago):

Lens used: Canon nFD 50mm f/1.4 (which can give heart-meltingly warm colors )

 

[DennisN]

I’m sorry if I posted these before, I don’t remember if I did. What do you think of these shots? Click on the photos to see them better.

Very nice shots with loads of character and atmosphere, I like them a lot!

They feel "old school" I think, and I mean it in a good way.
Which gear did/do you use? (i.e. camera and lens/lenses?)

 

[BadgerBadger92]

Very nice shots with loads of character and atmosphere, I like them a lot!

They feel "old school" I think, and I mean it in a good way.
Which gear did/do you use? (i.e. camera and lens/lenses?)

Thank you! I hope some other members can tell me what they think too

I used a Nikon D750 with a 24-120mm F2 lens, and a tripod of course lol

 

[DennisN]

Ok, here's something for lovers of vintage gear and "lensoholics" like me...

A couple of months ago I acquired another optic toy, a so-called "bokeh monster", which is a nickname for lenses that can deliver (1) a small depth of field and (2) a very smooth bokeh (i.e. background blur).
I got it for ca $30 on an online auction, which I consider a bargain.

Here is the Pentacon 135mm f/2.8 (zebra style version)...

...which was made in G.D.R. (East Germany):

One small thing that caught me by surprise was that the lens has a detachable metal hood
which I haven't seen on any of my other lenses:

But here's what makes the lens extra cool and a so-called "bokeh monster"; it's got 15 aperture blades (!):

I really admire the workmanship.
The lens is very, very finely made with smooth but robust controls, and it is a pleasure to use.
Well, partially . There is one downside in my opinion: it's heavy (ca 500 g):

The weight makes it a bit tricky to use handheld. Together with camera and M42 adapter the total weight of the gear approaches 1 kg. So, handheld, you don't do exactly casual point-and-shoot stuff with this setup, but rather a bit of physical workout . And this little beast truly deserves to be called "built like a tank". I don't know if it would withstand a nuclear explosion, a major asteroid hit or hitting the singularity of a black hole, but when I hold it, it feels like there is a chance of survival .

But boy... it can really blur out backgrounds in photos:
(note how the backgrounds have been "disintegrated" in the photos, which I took earlier in July)

More info for anyone who may be interested:

• Pentacon / MeyerOptik Gorlitz Orestogor Preset 135mm F2.8 (PentaxForums)
• Pentacon 135mm F2.8, a gem from the cold war (vintage-photo.nl)

(by the way, I notify @Andy Resnick who I think also likes vintage optics )

 

[pinball1970]

Ok, here's something for lovers of vintage gear and "lensoholics" like me...

A couple of months ago I acquired another optic toy, a so-called "bokeh monster", which is a nickname for lenses that can deliver (1) a small depth of field and (2) a very smooth bokeh (i.e. background blur).
I got it for ca $30 on an online auction, which I consider a bargain.

Here is the Pentacon 135mm f/2.8 (zebra style version)...

View attachment 315871

...which was made in G.D.R. (East Germany):

View attachment 315872

One small thing that caught me by surprise was that the lens has a detachable metal hood
which I haven't seen on any of my other lenses:

View attachment 315873

But here's what makes the lens extra cool and a so-called "bokeh monster"; it's got 15 aperture blades (!):

View attachment 315874

I really admire the workmanship.
The lens is very, very finely made with smooth but robust controls, and it is a pleasure to use.
Well, partially . There is one downside in my opinion: it's heavy (ca 500 g):

View attachment 315875

The weight makes it a bit tricky to use handheld. Together with camera and M42 adapter the total weight of the gear approaches 1 kg. So, handheld, you don't do exactly casual point-and-shoot stuff with this setup, but rather a bit of physical workout . And this little beast truly deserves to be called "built like a tank". I don't know if it would withstand a nuclear explosion, a major asteroid hit or hitting the singularity of a black hole, but when I hold it, it feels like there is a chance of survival .

But boy... it can really blur out backgrounds in photos:
(note how the backgrounds have been "disintegrated" in the photos, which I took earlier in July)

View attachment 315876

View attachment 315877

More info for anyone who may be interested:

• Pentacon / MeyerOptik Gorlitz Orestogor Preset 135mm F2.8 (PentaxForums)
• Pentacon 135mm F2.8, a gem from the cold war (vintage-photo.nl)

(by the way, I notify @Andy Resnick who I think also likes vintage optics )

The GDR is a nice touch. Not seen that in a while.

 

[DennisN]

The GDR is a nice touch.

Some East German vintage lenses are highly appreciated by some vintage camera gear users.

Two years ago I would never have guessed it.

Likewise, there are quite a few highly appreciated lenses from the Soviet Union/Russia, which also was a surprise to me.

Since I started looking for vintage gear on online auction sites I've come across some really weird gear.

For instance, right now there is a Soviet KGB counterespionage camera kit available at the moment on a popular Swedish online site (here). Current price is $90 (80 British pound). No bids yet. A cool kit, but I'm not going to bid on it.

A quote in the ad translated to English:

"USSR-era camera prototype designed by Khrushchev, manufactured by Zenith on behalf of the KGB, intended for counter-espionage above all in the GDR."