Official Photography Thread

[swampfrog]

I wouldnt overreact to these comments. Many people here are looking on a phone screen in tapatalk which means the images are bout the size of a postage stamp. Your shot is very good as posted.

I'm reacting to what I see, the reflection seems a bit washed out and dull, it doesn't need much, but a little punch wouldn't hurt it. I think I also selected everything but the bird and applied of bit of noise reduction to it (it's a bit noisy because of ISO 800), normally that gives a nice smooth look to the background, but it's quite possible I forgot to remove that noise reduction from the reflection. I won't know for sure until I'm home, the monitors here at work are not bad, but not great either.

[swampfrog]

A few more sandpipers, then moving to some afternoon waterscapes, which aren't my favorite (not the best time of day), but when you're hiking with the kids, you shoot what you can.

Taking a stroll.


I love a good preening shot.


Hungry?


You looking at me?


Splash lighthouse


Natural Arch

[Copelius]

From our trip last week
DSC_3030 by copelius, on Flickr

[swampfrog]

From our trip last week

Beautiful scene. A couple of notes from the EXIF data from flickr. This was a manual exposure at f/18, 1/8000s, ISO18000. That camera's sensor holds up nicely at ISO 18000, but only f/7.1 maybe f/8 is needed for that image, possibly even f/5.6 if focused on the bridge. For landscape, shoot the lowest ISO and shutter speed that is manageable. 1/30 of a second should be sufficient for stability, even longer if the lens has image stabilization. During daylight hours rarely do you need to raise the ISO above the base of 100 (or 50 on some cameras) unless shooting objects in motion. The noise from the high ISO is apparent in the sky and lake and loss of detail in the trees and mountains.

[Copelius]

Beautiful scene. A couple of notes from the EXIF data from flickr. This was a manual exposure at f/18, 1/8000s, ISO18000. That camera's sensor holds up nicely at ISO 18000, but only f/7.1 maybe f/8 is needed for that image, possibly even f/5.6 if focused on the bridge. For landscape, shoot the lowest ISO and shutter speed that is manageable. 1/30 of a second should be sufficient for stability, even longer if the lens has image stabilization. During daylight hours rarely do you need to raise the ISO above the base of 100 (or 50 on some cameras) unless shooting objects in motion. The noise from the high ISO is apparent in the sky and lake and loss of detail in the trees and mountains.

Thanks. I think the ISO was auto so I am going to have to override that since most of my shots are in the bright daylight like that. I had some fun in post-processing making the ridges in the background mountains stand out.

[swampfrog]

Thanks. I think the ISO was auto so I am going to have to override that since most of my shots are in the bright daylight like that. I had some fun in post-processing making the ridges in the background mountains stand out.

Leave the auto ISO on if you want, it's the shutter speed that really tripped it up. I've never needed 1/8000 for anything. Landscape without wind you are generally very safe at 1/50s, if there is wind you may want to go 1/250 or slightly faster. Sports is 1/1000, and flying birds 1/2000 to 1/3200 if you really want to freeze them. 1/8000 is for stopping baseballs.

[Copelius]

Leave the auto ISO on if you want, it's the shutter speed that really tripped it up. I've never needed 1/8000 for anything. Landscape without wind you are generally very safe at 1/50s, if there is wind you may want to go 1/250 or slightly faster. Sports is 1/1000, and flying birds 1/2000 to 1/3200 if you really want to freeze them. 1/8000 is for stopping baseballs.

Good stuff. Thanks again.

[swampfrog]

And here's what may be my favorite shot from the entire week. My favorite shorebird

[swampfrog]

Moving on in the day, went to visit a few locations along the coast.

First one more of the peeps, just because of the lines:


The wreck of the Peter Iredale:


Panning seagull shot, don't succeed with these very often, but this one I got a sharp bird with motion blur on the background, some like these, some hate them:


Pelican:


Twice the Pelican:


Cormorant in flight:


California gull:

[bluegoose]

Rad pictures, swampy!

[Pelado]

Really like both the single pelican shot and the dual pelicans. What sticks out to me in the dual shot is the wings up for one and down for the other. The single pelican looks like he's flashing us.

[mtnbiker]

For some reason, the two-pelican shot still reminds me of Jurassic Park. What dinos are all these descended from again?

All great shots you've been posting. If there was a thumbs-up feature, I use it on all of them. And I always especially enjoy the strength and majesty of the bald eagle.

[Lost Student]

For some reason, the two-pelican shot still reminds me of Jurassic Park. What dinos are all these descended from again?

All great shots you've been posting. If there was a thumbs-up feature, I use it on all of them. And I always especially enjoy the strength and majesty of the bald eagle.

:thumbsup:

[swampfrog]

Really like both the single pelican shot and the dual pelicans. What sticks out to me in the dual shot is the wings up for one and down for the other. The single pelican looks like he's flashing us.

We were there for about an hour and the pelicans where flying in and out for quite a bit of that time. Unfortunately it was around 2:00 in the afternoon on a sunny day, so the pictures are interesting, but not the greatest.

For some reason, the two-pelican shot still reminds me of Jurassic Park. What dinos are all these descended from again?

All great shots you've been posting. If there was a thumbs-up feature, I use it on all of them. And I always especially enjoy the strength and majesty of the bald eagle.

Pelicans are weird looking birds, that's for sure, and thanks. I was able to shoot at an eagle standing in the waves on 2 separate mornings. Morning one it was chased off by a dog. The second morning, I was sitting with my butt in the sand slowly making my way closer when a jogger calmly walks right up behind me with his cell phone out and the eagle promptly flies away.

:thumbsup:

Thanks.

[Northwestcoug]

Our skies have been smoky for the last couple of weeks. We had planned to hike up to see the wild flowers last weekend, yet weren't sure what the air would be like. Lucky for us, the day before we went was pretty windy and the smoke in our area was taken care of. It was a beautiful day:
20617062_1903768269638950_312538822179639026_o.jpg
20643181_1903768376305606_518168807023897927_o.jpg