# Sticky  Photo Gallery



## WereBo

Hi folks :wave: - The gallery is just for sharing photos, please keep in mind this is a family-friendly forum, so no nudity or controversial pics please (*TSF Rules*). Also, please read the following sticky-thread regarding photo sizes and follow the advice given - *Link*

All photos posted here are copyright of the owner, so please ask if you want to use a photo for your own use - This also applies to posting pics taken by someone else, you need their permission to do so before posting.

*PS* - No more that 10 pics per post please, folks often don't like having to scroll for ages to see 'em all.


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## zuluclayman

ooohhh - our very own gallery - well done WereBo :smile::thumb::luxhello::luxhello::luxhello::beerchug::beerchug:


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## sinclair_tm

Woho! Well, since it's here due to my request, I'll be 1st to post a couple of photos.









My wife and new son.









My 1st interchangeable lens camera.









The tarmac by where I work.


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## MartyF81

Wow it was very hard for me to pick just 5!


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## WereBo

Ohhh rats Marty! How can I pick a favourite when all 5 are superb? - I'm 'leaning' to #2, but that might just be a natural bias.... :grin:


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## MartyF81

Thanks WereBo! It was hard for me to pick!

I am really liking Sinclair's AE-1 Canon pic. Nice!


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## sarla

Nice !


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## sinclair_tm

MartyF81 said:


> I am really liking Sinclair's AE-1 Canon pic. Nice!


Thanks. It really turned out well, I was surprised. We have the really old and rickety piano that I got for free, and when I wanted to take a photo of the Canon for a different forum, I thought, "Why not put it on the keys." I didn't notice until after I took it that I placed it near the broken ones. All in all it came out really good. It's my desktop now.


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## WereBo

I reckon the chips off the piano keys just add character to the photo, a sort of 'Old & New' composition :wink: - I really like that plant in the tarmac shot too, excellently framed and exposed


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## sinclair_tm

Thank you. I just wish I got the plant in better focus. But that's hard to do with the camera on the ground, and the surface temp close to 100°F, and me in my slacks.


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## WereBo

100F? I'm nearly getting officially envious.... :grin: - I can see your point though :grin:


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## zuluclayman

Some pics taken using my old 8MP Olympus E500 (my first DSLR) - I leave it and its lenses in my van in a locked drawer so I have a camera with me while I'm out and about and not necessarily intending to shoot anything. 

I hadn't used it for more than a year and forgot to check some of the settings, assuming it would be as they were a year ago - unfortunately they weren't so no RAW only jpegs  - and of course, the kit lenses can't hope to match the sharpness & clarity of the Canon L series lenses

These were taken while walking along Merewether Beach:


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## WereBo

Those first 3 pics have caught the water/foam textures perfectly and fill the frame beautifully ray:

#4 looks like something some animal has left behind, after a lot of pain... :grin: - Is it seashells on a rock?

#5 A day at the beach, with the relatives..... :laugh:


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## zuluclayman

@ WereBo - it's shells on a tube-like marine animal/plant (?) that attaches itself to rocks and is detached and washed up on shore during high seas.


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## WereBo

Mmmmm... Most strange... It's not one of those deadly life-forms that will try to kill anything within 2', that Australia is famous for is it? :grin:


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## zuluclayman

some pics from last night's session at The Drawing Room - very bizzare! The model is a performance artist that creates bizzare characters, creates the clothing, cobbles together the costume props from various sources and performs narratives and/or just has street appearances at festivals etc.
He has been Robo Wallaby Cop & Pierrot-the sad clown and many others - last night he was Space Lamb, a character that was born to "go about the world's conflict areas and encourage people to ponder & contemplate the Lamb in the hope of solving these conflicts..." (there was more to the story but I forget it now) - the Lamb was a highly spiritual being with a crook that sported solar powered flashing lights and a backpack of uncertain contents and powers - he also stood very tall, thanks to stilts, and needed a ladder as a prop :smile:

I give you Space Lamb!




























This is Space Lamb's alter ego aka Alex having a breather


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## WereBo

I gotta give him 10/10 for imagination :laugh:...... - The darkness of the room and slight underexposure adds to the mystery very well Zulu, even to the slight hand-blurring during his break, very nicely done


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## WereBo

I saw my new neighbours today, whilst looking out my kitchen window waiting for the kettle to boil, I grabbed my camera and snapped through the double-glazing.....

Where they live Neighbours



















This at max optical-zoom (still hand-held)











Out feeding on the garages roof...




















The most photogenic neighbours I've had in a long while :grin:


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## oscer1

a couple pics of my dogs.
fritos & spicey

fritos 



spicey


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## WereBo

Hi Fritos hi Spicey :wave:

A lovely couple of dogs there oscer1, very nicely framed and excellent detail


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## oscer1

thanks werbo , no cropping just fooling around with the camera.


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## zuluclayman

After the passing of Suzie, our 18+yr old kelpie cross earlier this year my son and ex have now got a new little friend Sophie - she's a purebred golden Labrador and as cute as a button at about 8 weeks old:


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## WereBo

Hi Suzie :wave:

Awww... She's just too sweet for words :laugh:

Beautiful portraits there Zulu #1 & #3 especially, It seems your lad and Suzie have bonded well in #4, not that I can blame him :grin:


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## zuluclayman

yes - he has been looking forward to her arrival since confirming the sale & she's every bit as cute as she looks here


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## zuluclayman

Late evening, nice autumn weather - took my camera and did some stills & some video - the video can be seen here
Here are a couple of the stills:


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## sandman55

Wow so much great photography. Love the video zulu.


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## WereBo

A really nice 'Golden-Hour' session Zulu, excellent work


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## yustr

Bravo Zulu

Who da thunk it?


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## zuluclayman

thanks all - @ yustr :laugh:


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## sandman55

@zulu I showed my wife the film clip and she loved it and it was then that I realised there were more clips above that one I particularly enjoyed the Offshore & Swell and also the 2 days and nights of Allyn river serenity. Very professional you have a real talent.


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## zuluclayman

thanks Sandy - glad you enjoyed them. I've enjoyed making videos for a while now. It first came about from needing to learn how so I could keep at least one step ahead of my school students when I was teaching Photography & Digital Imaging :laugh:
Since having to retire I've been able to focus more (pun intended :smile: ) on this area - hence the 60 odd videos on Vimeo.
I'm about to take a new step - the rental property I live in has been sold and the new owner wants possession as of the 17th May. 
I have decided to put everything in storage & go walkabout in my campervan for a bit - going to go see (and photograph & video) some more of our great country.


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## WereBo

Sorry to read about the loss of your home Zulu, especially as your heading towards Winter down there :sigh: - I do look forward to seeing the photos from your walkabout though, any ideas as to where you'll be visiting?


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## zuluclayman

The first trip will be south (I know, I know - I should be heading north for winter) to Victoria for a few weeks, possibly more - this will give me an indication of:
1) how my head handles reasonably constant travel - one of the leftovers from the brain injury has been an inability to drive for more than 2-3 hours at a time before needing long rest periods to prevent bad headaches and loss of concentration etc.
2) how I handle living in the confined space of the van - not looking forward to long periods of rainy weather
3) how the finances stand up to travel with the ever increasing fuel costs - should be cheaper than rental costs though :smile:

I hope to eventually get across to West Australia, see a bit of the Outback (NT, Uluru etc.) Who knows? I'll be setting off with only the first part planned


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## WereBo

If you do find yourself in W Aussieland, it could be worth a trip to Pernalulu Park and '*The Bungle-Bungles*' - They look totally awesome :wink:


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## sandman55

Sounds good zulu if you get over our way and if we're here and not over your way :grin: we can take you out to whalers way Eyre Peninsula - The Southern Tip (Part 6 of 10) also the whales in the Bight between June and October Head of the Bight - Nullarbor Travel Guide Australia. You might also find Coober Pedy a lot different than your green lush country. Coober Pedy Pictures


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## WereBo

Mrs WereBo and I spent a lovely Bank-Holiday Monday at *Whitstable*, Kent yesterday, it's an ancient coastal-port that goes back to before the 'Domesday Book'.

Unfortunately it was absolutely packed with other tourists, which made photography near impossible, along with walking and looking around (you couldn't see in the shop-windows for heads bobbing along and walking was at a snail's pace 'cos of people idly ambling along..... :nonono:

Anyway, I managed to grab a few shots without too many *grockles*, or getting jogged as I was framing the shots..... :grin:

A pano from the top of the Coast-Guard's slipway, looking towards the North Sea....











Stranded..... I wonder what happened to the car... :grin:











I'm not sure whether the anchor is tied to the post to stop people stealing the post or the anchor.... :augh:










A sure sign of clean air, lichen on an old mooring-bollard.....











Looking out to sea a few miles off-shore, one of the largest wind-farms in the UK....











Taken from the 'Beer-Garden' of a very excellent pub, the local school's chimney.... Complete with tree and sea-gull's bum....


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## sinclair_tm

Looks like fun. I'm guessing that fireplace isn't used too often if a tree is growing in it.


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## WereBo

By chance, the school's caretaker was sat at the next table along with some of his pals, as soon as he saw me pointing my camera, he knew what I was after and started mumbling under his breath about that bl**dy tree on the roof and how he should get rid of it, but the old coal-fired boiler had been replaced by electric. His pals immediately started ribbing him about sending one of the kids up the chimney to clear it, after all, it was common practice in olden days..... :grin:


Walking along the seafront I found this beautiful old place named 'Cushing's View', it's the home of a favourite old actor and 'villain-sinister' *Peter Cushing*, famed for his 'Hammer Horror' films during the 60's-80's......










On the left of the picture you can see some green boxes on the sea-wall, these were full of plants.....











The harbour, the shadow is thrown from the old 'fishing-net towers' behind me, they're used for drying the nets when the ships are at home....











Footprints in the sand...... - Taken at the far end of the harbour, the keel-prints from a couple of boats. It weren't until I got home that I started puzzling over this one - The tide must have been out for the boats to settle and leave the prints, how could the boats leave without the incoming/outgoing tide washing the prints away??? Anyway, I'll let you puzzle over it :grin:











Some of the residents enjoying the sun.... 











Shell and Stones.....


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## sandman55

Great pics WereBo from the look of those boats there is quite a bit of tidal movement there. I wonder how long that chimney pot will last wit a tree growing in it. Perhaps it is the new way of growing bonsai :grin:


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## WereBo

Thanks Sandy, you can get an idea of the tidal-height by the water-marks on the harbour walls, according to the tidal charts it's about 10' (3m).


Seafront homes in a uniquely 'Kentish Style'....











One of the strange natural features there is a spit of shingle that's only visible at low tide. Known as 'The Street', it's about 1/2 mile long and used to be used for loading/unloading the 'Thames Barges', taking oysters and other sea-food up-river to London, years ago....











The tide lapping over The Street....











The land-mass that can be seen from the beach, the Isle of Sheppey approx 4 miles away, I was over there the day before, visiting a very close pal of mine but he lives on t'other side of the island to here :grin:











A sea-themed house....











Just back from the harbour area, the beautiful old 'Coach House', built from brick and flints.....











Walking back to the car-park, this 'Crab-Apple' tree suddenly leapt out and shouted 'photograph me!'.... :grin: - Sadly, it was too tall to get a macro-shot of the blossoms and I'd forgotted my step-ladder..... :whistling:


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## zuluclayman

Some nice shots there WereBo - 2 & 4 of the last group among others - and always interesting to see different parts of the world through locals' eyes (well...lenses in this case :smile - boy, you have some big tides there


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## WereBo

Thanks Zulu, I really enjoy 'recording' bits of Britain, as I get to 'em :grin: - I've also uploaded them to 'Panoramio' on Google-Earth, so I'm now waiting to see which ones have been rejected.... :nonono:

The only thing that spoilt the day was when we got back to the car, only to find a parking-ticket on the windscreen, the rear-wheels where just over the parking-bay line thanks to a badly positioned 4x4 in the bay in front :sigh: - Still, Mrs WereBo pointed out that as most of the shops were shut for the holiday, we didn't spend as much as she intended, so we had the money to spare.... :laugh:


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## zuluclayman

grrr - parking fines are a good way of spoiling a day out, but at least you're both getting out and about and enjoying your part of the world :smile:


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## sandman55

More interesting pics WereBo. That Coach house is a lovely solid building. Bad luck about the parking ticket, I have had that trouble when inconsiderate people park badly.


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## WereBo

Thanks guys, the fine weren't too bad, it's reduced 50% if paid within 14 days, and it's over half less than the fines here in London (£50 down there £120 up here, after 14 days) :grin:

Here's the Coach-House head-on, with a bit more detail showing in the stonework. I wish I'd discovered this place earlier in the day when my ankles and knees didn't ache so much, I was just starting to feel the aches turning to pains and I still had at least an hour's drive back (2.5 hours, including the 16 miles crawling along in 1st-2nd gear:nonono, so I didn't get any of the side-shots :sigh: - Next time though..... :laugh:











The final treat was as I was walking along the balcony to my front-door and, glancing across towards Canary Wharf (t'other side of the Thames), I saw dozens of seagulls circling around getting the last of the thermals. I had to zoom in a fair bit to actually see them in the camera, so I couldn't get them all en-masse but here's some of 'em....


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## sandman55

Yes it's a beautiful building WereBo with the lovely stonework and the the beautiful carved fascias. It would be relaxing watching the seagulls in the thermals.


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## sinclair_tm

Happy National Train Day everyone!


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## WereBo

A lovely photo sinclair, though we don't celebrate it here :sad: - A happy National Train Day to you though :grin:


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## sandman55

Nice one sinclair


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## sinclair_tm

Thanks guys. I've got a ton more photos, most taken as a bracketed set to do HDR PP on, but I haven't had much time to get into it. I've picked one "shot" and started working on it last night, but still haven't found the mix I like. I know how to get my vision, but it'll require lots of PP with layers and masks in Gimp, which I want to avoid. So I'm messing around to find a simple way so that I can quickly PP the rest to match. Expect to see a few posts asking for opinions this week.


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## sandman55

My latest pics are posted here http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f279/garden-status-2013-a-688645-4.html#post4107285 More appropriate to the subject :grin:

I took them with my new phone a Sony Xperia Z


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## sinclair_tm

Okay, here are the 1st two shots PPed. It seems that I can't just find one 'path of workflow' to fit all my images. I ran into an issue, so it seems that I'll have treat each image different, what a pain. My wife already thinks I spend too much time on the computer, and I must be too picky since it seems to take forever for me to get something I like. Maybe it'd take less time for me to just do all the layer masks and stuff...

These are all taken at the Arizona Railway Museum. Back when he was alive, my grandfather was one of the early members of the museum. He's where I got my love of trains from. Over the years the museum has grown their collection a bit.


















This is a little speeder, in fact it was my grandpa's. He taught me how to run it, the weekend before he died. Unfortunately, I was about 12 at the time, so it's been so long I'm not likely to remember anymore without any help, but it was sure fun to race up and down the track with it. I'm glad to see that they have kept it up and running.


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## sinclair_tm

3 more done.


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## WereBo

Nicely framed photos sinclair, is that last photo inside the 'brake-van' (caboose?)?


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## sandman55

Interesting pics to look at particularly the second last one where you look through the door of each carriage and it is surprising the amount of colour even in the rust in the first one of the carriage.


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## WereBo

Sorry Sandy, I just found your post with you pic-link above







- They're excellent pics for a phone-camera, good detail, contrast and colour-balance










You might want to let the Security-Team take a look at it though, it looks like it might be infected with a worm or two..... :grin:


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## sinclair_tm

@WereBo -Yup the inside of a caboose, as we Yanks call them.
@sandman55 -That is the beauty of HDR, you see all the color. And yes, these cabooses are still very colorful.

I still have 30+ image bracket sets to go through and work to see if I like how any turn out in PP. I actually don't like how the looking through the line of cabooses image looks, it's just off. But it was such a neat perspective that I posted it anyway. I'll keep posting more as I get them, 5 at a time.


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## yustr

Playing with black & white



same pic with a bit of color


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## yustr

sinclair_tm said:


> I still have 30+ image bracket sets to go through and work to see if I like how any turn out in PP. I actually don't like how the looking through the line of cabooses image looks, it's just off. But it was such a neat perspective that I posted it anyway. I'll keep posting more as I get them, 5 at a time.


I really like the view through the door. Great framing and colors. I'd try a bit of lightening of the inside of the car you're standing in to bring out some of the detail on those walls. 

One suggestion: fix the horizons and verticals (in this case). It's the first thing I do (after processing for exposure, temp, luminosity, etc in Adobe Camera Raw) before any cropping or cleanup.


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## WereBo

An interesting play there yustr, especially the part-coloured one. I also like that last crop-'n'-zoom, the petals look almost like fur, with the detailed striations ray:

Straightening the verticals in the line of carriages would make it 'proper', but as it is now gives a good sense of motion, especially as the doorways are slightly offlined with each other :wink:


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## sandman55

WereBo said:


> Sorry Sandy, I just found your post with you pic-link above
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> - They're excellent pics for a phone-camera, good detail, contrast and colour-balance
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might want to let the Security-Team take a look at it though, it looks like it might be infected with a worm or two..... :grin:


Thanks WereBo it's a 13 megapixel, Xperia Z | Smartphone - Sony Smartphones I believe that is more than the iPhone. I don't know what to do about the worms though :grin: It should be handy because it will be with me all the time I just have to remember to use it :grin:

Nice one yustr, the one with the colour in the flower and the B&W background is interesting.


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## oscer1

was watching a storm last night, managed to get a pic of lightening.


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## WereBo

Well done oscer1, that's more than I've ever been able to get ray:


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## sinclair_tm

Here are 11 more from National Train Day, and I'm still not half way done on the shots I took with the intent of PP them as HDR. This thread will be very train heavy, until the rest of you blokes get out and so some shooting! :winkgrin:

















































































This and the next are my grandfather’s private passenger car. He bought it and really fixed up the inside. Unfortunately, he never had the money to fix the undercarriage so it has long not been road worthy. They tell me that they are working on raising the funds to repaint and repair the exterior of the body.


















This one was handheld so I wasn’t steady enough to get a good HDR shot. And help on aligning the images so I could try again would be great.


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## oscer1

WereBo said:


> Well done oscer1, that's more than I've ever been able to get ray:


Well the camera I was using need light so shutter works. Car came by. Activated just kept trigger held down so kept taking pictures bunch of black shy till got the pic probably had a hundred shots before got a good one.


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## sandman55

Interesting oscer1 I have often wondered how people get lightening shots timed for when it strikes.

@ sinclair there is a lot of heavy metal there and it's interesting to see, those logs look well seasoned.


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## WereBo

Some very interesting looking wagons there sinclair, some rather odd-looking ones too :grin:

I'm still waiting for Summer to start (or Spring even :laugh so I can get out with my camera - We've had about 3-4 sunny days total so far, the rest have been wall-to-wall (mostly thick) clouds, which gives very dull, 'flat' photos :sigh:

Re: Lightning shots - Even back in my 35mm days I tried to get some lightning pics, Camera on tripod, exposure set to 15-30 seconds or 'B' (shutter held open until released) and the lens closed right down. Either the lightning flashed out of frame, or about 1-2 seconds after the shutter closed :nonono:


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## sinclair_tm

WereBo said:


> Some very interesting looking wagons there sinclair, some rather odd-looking ones too :grin:


I've always thought you "Brits" had "weird" looking "wagons". Those "train cars" are typical "Yank" "coaches" and look very "normal" to me. :winkgrin:


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## Natsuke

Hi all.
Got a question. Can I post a link in this thread, I am hobby photographer and have profile open at deviantart, so if people want to see some of my work, I'd post a link here.
That profile I use as my amateur portfolio.


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## Flight Sim Guy

sinclair_tm said:


> I've always thought you "Brits" had "weird" looking "wagons". Those "train cars" are typical "Yank" "coaches" and look very "normal" to me. :winkgrin:


Haha! Same here. Well, we all know Brits are kinda "weird".:whistling: :grin: I think they're still using these: http://www.handcarracing.com/images/NextRace/September_09_06.jpg uttahere:

Nice pics Sinclair.:thumb: Our local train is the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge. Sadly, I don't have any personal pics, but here's some "official" ones.


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## WereBo

Natsuke said:


> Hi all.
> Got a question. Can I post a link in this thread, I am hobby photographer and have profile open at deviantart, so if people want to see some of my work, I'd post a link here.
> That profile I use as my amateur portfolio.


Hi Natsuke and welcome to the Photographers Corner :wave: - Yep, that's fine, just as long as they're your own photos and follow the TSF rules regarding content (No 'adult' or offensive stuff etc.).




sinclair_tm said:


> I've always thought you "Brits" had "weird" looking "wagons". Those "train cars" are typical "Yank" "coaches" and look very "normal" to me. :winkgrin:


I was looking more at the various cranes, tankers and 'shunters' (the little engines used in the yards for shunting the wagons around) - That little speeder looks like fun too :laugh:

The old 'carriages' you posted certainly have their own elegance, the same as our old ones, nowadays all ours are identical, apart from the paint-jobs and they're all boring :nonono:

They all went downhill rapidly when the 'Age of Steam' ended. We do have a few 'Tourist-Line' steam-engines still running, but they're miles away from me :sigh: - I'm rather proud that 1 of the UK's most scenic lines start at my birth-place: '*Settle-Carlisle* line' :grin:


That's a neat looking train there FSG, along with absolutely stunning scenery - I think I'd need about a dozen sets of batteries and SDHC-cards for that journey :laugh:


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## Flight Sim Guy

Just kidding, Bo.:lol: You would love this country if you like photography. I wish I had some personal pics of that train, but I didn't have a camera the two times I rode it.


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## sinclair_tm

You aren't the only one WereBo, I'd have at least that. I'm sure I used over a 1/4 of my 64GB SD card on the trains. FSG, how could you not take a camera with you? I so want to see that train some day.


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## Flight Sim Guy

Because the first time I was too young and the second time I was, um, shall we say, distracted.:grin: I think _she_ got some photos, though.:grin: She was an amazing photographer.

I've heard it's really good at night with snow and a full moon. Just dress warm.:lol:


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## WereBo

After Mrs WereBo's excursions around the USA, I worked out I'd need an absolute minimum of 5 years holiday there - I want to see all the sights in all the States, during all 4 seasons..... :grin:


@ Sinclair - Here's some Google-pics of the trains+scenery *Link*...... :wink:


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## Natsuke

Thanks for info 
All photos there were taken by myself, also I don't make "adult" or similar photos so no worries 
Here's the link to my profile
zoranbezjakphoto on deviantART (also have them up on my facebook profile - same name)
I'm photographing for my hobby, and am taking photos wherever I go. I plan to publish my own photo portfolio (I'm in the process of making website which should be active in next few weeks when I finish everything).
Hope you like it and leave some comments on photos you like, even if photo is bad or lacks something.
Those photos aren't modified yet, some will be added modified to have some retro or other effect.
Any feedback is welcome as Im still a newbie in this field 

p.s. I've put a watermark on them, but since its too intrusive I'll replace them with more apropriate signature, so dont take that into account - I know it looks bad


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## WereBo

There's a lot of very beautiful shots there Natsuke, you've an excellent eye for 'framing' and catching the 'feel' of the place ray: - I especially like the 'Lamplight 2' pic, with the dark-blue sky showing through the leaves, what camera are you using?

The only slight 'niggle' with some of the scenic and close-up shots is the focus is a bit 'soft', otherwise they're excellent - Have you thought of posting them on 'Panoramio'? They'll then appear on the 'Google-Earth' maps when 'mapped' to the area :wink:


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## Natsuke

Thanks for encouragement 
I was using 2 cameras - first and older was Canon SX110 IS powershot, and now I use Canon EOS 1100D. I'll link my website when I set it up, theres a bit more info and link.
Also, photos taken with EOS were taken with stock 18-55mm lenses so no great focus there, but since I bought one additional 50-250mm lense some newer photos have good focus (for example one called flower1 if I remember correctly).
As for the Panoramio, I haven't heared of it, will consider it, might be good to advertise me a bit 
Since I'm a bit new in this area, I haven't connected to any photo group yet, so I thought I'd come here as I'm a member of techsupportforum.com for 2 years already 
Its a bit hard to add some variety to kind of scenes I photograph because I don't have money to travel, so wherever I go I carry camera to maybe find some interesting scene.


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## yustr

Flight Sim Guy said:


> ...
> I've heard it's really good at night with snow and a full moon.


And I bet the scenery wouldn't be too bad either. :rofl:


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## WereBo

@ Natsuke - I know what you mean about limited travelling, although I have a small car the cost of fuel here is ridiculously high :sigh: - The art is to find things worthwhile in your local area, which is often easier said than done :grin:

If you want to post your photos directly here, I suggest a photo-sharing site like '*PhotoBucket*' (free, or a low annual fee for greater storage, increased bandwidth and no adverts), you can link your photos so they appear in the actual posts, similar to 'sinclair' above :wink:


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## sinclair_tm

I'm keeping my photos on Google+ Photos, for now. I need to start a new thread about hosting sites, unless I have already...

Pro Tip: Don't age past 23.


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## oscer1

well was fooling around with shutter speed the same night as the storm and got these as a car went by. thought they where interesting.


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## Flight Sim Guy

Interesting? Those are awesome!:thumb:


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## sinclair_tm

They are looking over exposed, that or the cars' headlights shined on the camera as they went by. But I love long exposure shots at night to catch the car trails.









Canon FL 55-135mm at 55mm on a Panasonic GF5.


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## sandman55

Interesting shots though I am sorry to say I don't have a camera that has that versatility so I will just have to watch and learn.


----------



## WereBo

@ oscer - You must have some right drunken drivers for their lights to be all over the place, like that :grin: - It adds a nice touch of surrealism to the overall effect though :laugh:

@ sinclair - A wonderfully balanced shot there sinclair, from the street-lit trees to the aeroplane-streak across the sky (or is it another close encounter with a meteor? :grin

---***--- ---***--- ---***--- ---***--- ---***--- ---***--- 


I'd just watered/fed my balcony (hence the wet floor) when the sun decided to finally show it's face, for a change......


It's had a bit of a change-around from last year.....




















'Exploding' Clematis planted 4-5 days ago....











Pansy in my favourite colour/shade of purple....











Strawberries coming on nicely, all 4 of 'em.... :grin: I'm getting to really hate 'Auto-focus'! :nonono











The trees as seen from my balcony.....











One of my better-behaved neighbours...... :laugh:


----------



## sandman55

Nice WereBo, to have your own little patch of nature on your balcony and your well behaved neighbour looks quite smart.


----------



## WereBo

Thanks Sandy, unfortunately with all the pots and planters etc. there's no room to actually sit out there and enjoy it :grin:

I'm getting to recognise a lot of the crows personally now :laugh: - I've noticed that, over the generations, there's 1 'family' that have a few white patches on their feathers. Each bird has them in different places, but they appears in every generation..... Must be something in the water here.....


----------



## sandman55

We have crows like that as well.

On the weekend we went for a drive to a little town called Coffin Bay it got it's name from British naval explorer Matthew Flinders who named the bay in honour of his friend Sir Isaac Coffin, who was Resident Naval Commissioner at Sheerness, where Flinders ship the Investigator was fitted out.

It was an opportunity for me to try out the camera on my new phone a Sony Xperia Z some were difficult to frame because with my glasses darkening in the sun I couldn't see the details clearly.

This first pic is of the small fishing wharf.


The next two pics are of the bay as we approach the town




This one is at the boat ramp where in the distance some cormorants (we call them shags) were drying their wings.


And of course Charlotte had to have a swim.


----------



## WereBo

Beautiful tranquil looking place there Sandy, your photos have captured that excellently







- I especially like how you've captured the cloud reflections on the water in #3, the slight ripples in the foreground add a perfect focal-point ray:

Hi Charlotte, did you catch any oysters? :wave:


----------



## SABL

Unusual day, Bo?? The sun is shining!!......:laugh:

Recent P&S pics (yesterday).....don't have a DSLR.....:sigh:. 

Wild blackberries next to my garden.....looking towards the back of my lot (farmer's access on the left and you can see the field, looking way back, that has been freshly planted)....part of my 'wild' area after the kid ran his mower through there. Might let him mow the whole thing to cut down on hiding places for the wabbits.....we have way too many of them varmints...:frown:.


----------



## WereBo

@ SABL - 2 warm sunny holidays in the same month is a new World record for the UK.... :grin:

Your 'yard' makes my little balcony look rather puny, but then again I don't need a lawn-mower :laugh:


----------



## sandman55

WereBo said:


> Beautiful tranquil looking place there Sandy, your photos have captured that excellently
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> - I especially like how you've captured the cloud reflections on the water in #3, the slight ripples in the foreground add a perfect focal-point ray:
> 
> Hi Charlotte, did you catch any oysters? :wave:


Thanks WereBo and yes there are oyster farms there. We had a nice calamari and scallop pub lunch there.

@ SABL actually the sun wasn't shining it was quite overcast but nice and calm. You have some lovely green country there, I would imagine you get a good rainfall.


----------



## joeten

Nice shots from a phone they do seem to be bringing better spec to them now.

always enjoy having a look at your shots guys seems to be a variety of scale and focus that makes a look through fun.


----------



## SABL

Well.....the sun isn't shining around here today. Steady drizzle of rain and something nasty looking coming from the West.....currently 11C and I don't feel like taking gloomy pics......:laugh:

The pic (#2) was taken slightly more than halfway back on the lot....the wee bit of branches (on the right of the pic) is my shade tree that is seen in pic #1 (to the left of the blackberries). 

Not much fun cutting the grass on a hot sunny day......takes a few hours. Lawn tractor takes better part of the day.....that's why I got rid of it. Pretty rough ride and hard to keep the 'stripes' straight......lawn needs 'rolled'. And, it doesn't help when I drive my van across the yard.......it weighs ~3 1/2 US tons.


----------



## SABL

sandman55 said:


> Thanks WereBo and yes there are oyster farms there. We had a nice calamari and scallop pub lunch there.
> 
> @ SABL actually the sun wasn't shining it was quite overcast but nice and calm. You have some lovely green country there, I would imagine you get a good rainfall.


Haven't had oysters for years.....I'm jealous!! Not many seafood fans in the house......won't eat fish but eat canned tuna.....:4-dontkno. 

Last year's pics are on the other PC......we had drought conditions and many lawns died out. Some homeowners with smaller lots resodded too soon.......and lost the sod. Lost my melons before they got fully ripe...... You could clearly see where my septic tanks are.....drainage lines were easy to find by the green stripes. http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f279/garden-status-2012-a-622127-4.html#post3777507 was posted 3 weeks into the season and not looking good.....it got worse.


----------



## sinclair_tm

Okay, last bunch from 2013 National Train Day, for now anyways. I've had to break it up since it's a lot more photos. These are more of my grandfather's car. They are actually trying to find more info and history of the car. It seems it's rather an enigma. If any are history buffs, feel free to try your hand at it.


















I think some of the wave in this photo is lens distortion.


----------



## sinclair_tm

Signage and signals


















I haven't figured out how to remove the spot yet, but I haven't spent much time on it either. The sky gradent makes it difficult.


----------



## sinclair_tm

Motive power









Old City of Phoenix streetcar.









This is the other end of a loco I've already posted photos of. They were letting people in teh cab to blow the horn.


















This is a rechargeable steam locomotive, aka a fireless steamer. A larger stationary boiler would be used for heating and other workings on a site, and they'd tap into it's steam to fill one of these. And it could run off of the stored steam for a short time.


----------



## sinclair_tm

And the remainder









Not the greatest shot due to having the camera on the wrong settings, but I like the grittyish feel it has for me.


















Yet another shot of this car.





































That should cover things for a while. Now that I'm done with the HDR PP, I'll have the time to look over the other photos and see if there are any worth sharing.


----------



## WereBo

A really nice collection of pics there sinclair, you're really getting the hang of HDR now - The only slight niggle would be that they have a very slight blue-ish caste to 'em, possibly from the intense sky.

Re: The 'wavey' lines, that's a feature when using wide-angle settings, it's the curvature of the lens - Often a PITA but sometimes useful for an occasional surreal effect.

Re: the flare-spot in the sky, you could try playing with the 'Clone' tool, starting from the edges inwards and working in very small areas, to keep the gradient.


----------



## sinclair_tm

I'm sure I could correct the hue, if I bothered doing any PP after the HDR creation, but I didn't. For the most part I like how they turned out and, for now, have decided to let them stand as is. Maybe some day I'll go back and tweak them a bit more after I get Aperture. 

As for the wide angle stuff, that's why I said it, I know it's from being at 14mm. But the thing that really surprises me is that there is built-in correction for it in the camera and/or RAW files. iPhoto has the photos at 4000x3000, which is the listed res of the camera, and things look straight, when viewing the RAW and camera created JPGs. But I used the RAW files in Luminance HDR, the resulting images are 4016x3016 (or close to that, I can't remember now if it's 16 or 13), and you can really see teh wave from the wide lens.


----------



## sandman55

Nice pics of history sinclair, that street car (we call them a tram) looks in good condition. It would be a piece of cake to remove that spot with a clone tool. In fact you can have a bit of fun with a clone tool by selecting the sample from one pic and cloning it onto another pic for example you could have a pick of a girl and clone a bubble of her boyfriend onto it as a thought bubble. I had a beautiful pic of one of my nephews wedding that my sister took only there was a ladies head in the way. I was able to clone the grass over the head and also where it covered over someones foot I was able to grab a foot from another pic in its place I had to do a bit of work on the foot first. I had to resize it and then change the lighting and add it with layers I havent done much of that it is a case of trial and error with me.

I have just dug it out and I used the sky in one pic and cloned it over the faces in both pics

Here is the one with the head in the way I cloned grass over it








here is the end result









Charlotte likes Rex the wonder dog here is her thinking of him also I could have used the clone tool to remove that garden hose. I cloned rex by selecting him from one pic then putting him on another and if it didn't work out right I pressed Ctrl + Z and started again


----------



## WereBo

That's a really neat edit-job there Sandy ray:

Did you explain to Charlotte that Rex might well be a bit old for her? - She's still young enough to need nourishment, not punishment.... :whistling:

:grin:


----------



## sandman55

Thanks WereBo and no she has led a sheltered life and she is only dreaming :grin: Actually with out looking up her Vet papers she is elevenish so in dog years she is no spring chicken but I can understand you miss judging her age because she is still beautiful though that pic might have been taken five years ago. :grin:


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Colorado views.:wink: Phone camera.


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Update.


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

My phone only lets me do one pic per post.:banghead:


----------



## WereBo

It's a shame it's a phone-cam, you've got some stunning scenery there - To be fair though, the camera's done an excellent job with the colours, contrasts and detail, considering it's limitations


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Thanks.  It is a Samsung.:lol: Bo, you should see the sunsets out here; they'd knock you off your feet. The sunrises are quite amazing too... when I get up that early.:grin:


----------



## sandman55

Flight Sim Guy said:


> My phone only lets me do one pic per post.:banghead:


Beautiful scenery FSG I rotated the last one for you.


----------



## WereBo

@ FSG - That's my problem too, getting up early enough to see the sun-rise, I usually see it when I'm going to bed.... :grin:

Win-7 has a 'Rotate' feature built in now, From 'Explorer' if you look at your pic-files in 'Large Icon' view then right click on the pic laying down, there's an option to rotate (anti) clock-wise - You can also do it from within the Win-Photo-Viewer too :wink:


----------



## sandman55

I only have a WinXP box since I returned my faulty Dell laptop with Win7 for a refund  Now I'm waiting till later in the year to see what they are going to do With Win8.1 and for the SSD prices to fall then I will build a new box and buy a new laptop.


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Thanks, Sandman.:thanx: I think I can rotate it on my phone, but I'm not sure how. I'll have to mess with it.


----------



## SABL

I keep forgetting my phone has a camera......:rofl:

Have no clue how to get them off the phone.......but, I haven't figured out how to make a phone call with my camera, either.


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

SABL said:


> I haven't figured out how to make a phone call with my camera, either.


Let me know when you do.:rofl:


----------



## WereBo

I can switch my phone to camera-mode with a couple of 'clicks' but it takes sooo long to fire up, whatever I wanted to photograph has gone... :sigh:


----------



## sandman55

With my android phone, when I press the on button I am presented with an option to access the camera or music before I have even unlocked the screen. I have yet to put a password on the unlock so I don't know if that will change things, but I don't think it will as the option is there as soon as it fires up.

EDIT: It is a Sony Xperia Z


----------



## Done_Fishin

walked home from work one day, as I often do when I have cycled a long distance the day before, passing by what used to be an old quarry that has been 'reclaimed" for use as a sports centre. It;s tucked away towards the mountain and I love walking around the edge since I found out it harbours ( or used to) lots of Dragonflys in many splendid colours. I only saw one when I went here recently and it ws far too quick for me to capture on digital film.


*1.)here's a view of the "quarry" *











*
2.)Here is a flower from a prickly pear cactus plant along with a visitor who decided to fly away just as I took the shot :laugh: *











*3.) from this vantage point and altitude I got a different view of Lykavitos and the Church that sits on the summit. One of two major elevations in the centre of Athens. The other holds the Acropolis or Parthenon *










*4.) Zoom in to the church at the summit*











*5.) The Acropolis or Parthenon *


----------



## Done_Fishin

*here is one showing the location of Lykavitos (Right) & The Acropolis (left)*










*Apart from the amazing views there are also the amazing colours *


----------



## WereBo

Lovely pics there DF, although the bee is departing, you managed to get a good sense of motion with the slight blurring and light glinting on the wings ray:

I like the way you've presented the Acropolis and Lykavitos, it gives a good distance-scale of the city









Just out of curiosity, I had a look at the Acropolis in Google-Earth (Panoramio-photos), are they actually rebuilding the place, or just 'safety-restoration'?


----------



## sandman55

Nice pics DF it's good to see different places in the world. I have often heard of prickly pears and I believe we have them here in the centre. This is the first time I have seen one and known what it is.


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Nice pics.:thumb: I thought prickly pears only grew here in the SW US, but I guess I was wrong. They have beautiful flowers.


----------



## Done_Fishin

WereBo said:


> Just out of curiosity, I had a look at the Acropolis in Google-Earth (Panoramio-photos), are they actually rebuilding the place, or just 'safety-restoration'?


I call it rape of the parthenon .. they are dismantling and taking parts into safe custody of the new museum .. I think the original idea was to rebuild by piecing together all known broken parts, however it is no longer known what the current idea is. No doubt when they have finished pulling it all apart they will let us know

Interesting documentary about the restoration project can be found here 

Secrets of the Parthenon- http://www.projethomere.com - YouTube


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Here's a poor picture of a sample of our sunsets.  The second one is with the Sunset setting on my phone.


----------



## WereBo

The only 'poor' thing about those pics is the size, the sunset itself is beautiful









It's amazing how the same shot can vary, depending on the cameras-settings, which of the 2 is the closest to the real thing? :grin:


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Probably the first, without the sunset setting. But we get a lot that do look like the second.


----------



## sandman55

Both are good FSG I like the first one best.


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

:thanx:


----------



## Natsuke

Haven't posted for a bit, but now I managed to get my amateur website running (Zoran Bezjak Photo - photography and web design), so feel free to roam through my photos and also criticize if some needs it  I might have done some mistakes in photographing and would like feedback on them.
You guys shoot some good photos, you make it look too easy :thumb:


----------



## WereBo

Hi and welcome back Natsuke :wave:

Well, I looked through them all and can't find a single photo to critique - You live in a very beautifully scenic area, I have to travel miles to see countryside resembling anything close to that :sigh:

Also, you've got the 'eye' and imagination to get the best from where you are, from the evening-shot of the street-light behind the tree (#5 in the 'Urban' gallery) to the lady sat on the bench, with her in colour and the background in B&W (#3 in the 'Thematic' gallery).

Very well done indeed ray:


----------



## sandman55

Great shots Natsuke my only criticism would be on you web page when you are in Galleries some of the buttons if you mouse directly on the text they don't work you have to move off the text a little so that they are active. I am at the moment looking with Google Chrome Browser maybe it is different in another browser.


----------



## Natsuke

Thanks for replies  It sometimes, while its loading, doesn't give "easy" click on categories (if those links you meant), but normally I made them so you just need to click near them to activate, not neccessarily on text itself.
Will see how it behaves in future and update it when I find solution.

@WereBo - Most of photos were taken outside of my city, from the travels to seaside and inner Croatia, and since its a bit hard now to travel due to money problems, I'm limited to Zagreb and surrounding area. Still to get good shots here, I made more of them, just need to prepare them for publishing. BTW, girl in frame is my wife 

I spend alot of time on deviantart and I saw some people that only take photo of their hometown and region, and while its very limiting, they make high quality and very pretty photos. (I guess when you look whole your life on same area its not same as when someone view's it first time).


----------



## WereBo

Very true Natsuke, I'm lucky that London itself has so much of it's history surviving, but my corner of it is mostly an 'Inner city concrete jungle'. It's only when something gets demolished then the history gets revealed via the archaeology-digs etc.

Still, it makes me appreciate the countryside all the more, when I do manage to get out to see it :grin:


----------



## Natsuke

I like very much traditional british arhitecture, and mostly those red brick houses and small buildings. Difference between rest of europe, mostly western and Croatia is that every single building and house is painted and taken care of. Here you can see a lot of them just brick and no finishing, and even in Zagreb center you'll find lots of them decaying. That makes it hard to find many spots to photograph city itself aside from several cultural spots.
ps not just buildings but parks and riverside too


----------



## yustr

Happened to happen on this spectacular storm moving across Chesapeake Bay. 

Originals follow what I think are much more dynamic B&W. Edited down to 800 x 5XX














Comments are appreciated.
yustr


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Nice pics!:thumb: I love clouds; they're awesome.:dance:


----------



## WereBo

Wonderful examples showing how B&W can highlight the 'dynamics' of a photo, whereas colour highlights the 'mood' - Beautiful photos too ray:


----------



## zuluclayman

nice capture yustr - agreed that the b&w give the images a more dramatic feel - #2 is my preferred image - little bit more range in the tones and the composition for me is better without the poles on the beach. Giving the jetty/pier more dominance seems to heighten the drama for me 
-all in all a nice image set - I do love a dramatic sky :smile:


----------



## yustr

Took Zulu's advice and cloned out the poles:



Here's one shot vertically. Methinks it looses some of the impact.



I have some more shot from within the dunes but this is probably enough - maybe too much...:grin:


----------



## WereBo

Yep, the portrait frame is waaay less dynamic and generally stunning than the landscape framing :wink:


----------



## yustr

Trying a little impressionist style. No post process except cropping. All of the effect is from using my 50mm lens wide open.


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Beautiful.:thumb:


----------



## WereBo

The 1st shot is totally stunning, with the vividness of colours and DoF on the subject - Unfortunately, the 2nd shot has a slightly too shallow a Dof, the main focal-point (the flower) is slightly out of focus, though the stem and leaves are excellent for detail, saturation, framing etc.


----------



## sinclair_tm

A photo I submitted for a Gizmodo photo contest. Not only didn't I win, but it didn't even make it on the results page. It only showed up in the flickr stream. Oh well, good thing I don't live off of photography.










Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8 at f/2.8 on my GF5, ISO 400, 5 photo bracket 1/13-1/2 sec, combined in Luminance HDR and The Gimp, and then monochromed and touched up in iPhoto.


----------



## joeten

Links are not active


----------



## sinclair_tm

joeten said:


> Links are not active


I see, fixed.


----------



## joeten

I like it but then I may be biased since my son used to go to a train club they had a really big lay out which they took to a big show in Glasgow Secc where kids got to control the trains they also had a tram set up


----------



## WereBo

I suspect you might have had more luck if the train in the foreground was in focus, along with the front of the steam-loco, leaving the back+trucks outside the DoF - A lovely idea that's very well worked though


----------



## sinclair_tm

Perhaps, but this is more along the lines I was looking for. I wanted the focus to be on the loco. But the room is small so the DOF was to force the illusion of depth.


----------



## WereBo

Yep, it would require absolute precision with the DoF being accurate to a few mm either side, for such a miniature scene - Then again though, I've been analysing a lot of competition entries recently trying to see why and how the 'judges' decided on their winners, I might well be getting too finicky :laugh:

It's a wonderfully crisp and detailed photo though,that shows what YOU want from it, very nicely worked


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

What scale are those?


----------



## sinclair_tm

Maybe because I'm a train guy I think it's completely obvious what scale they are by looking at them, but then not everyone is me. They are O-scale. There are only 2 3-rail gauges, O and 1-gauge, and 1-gauge track doesn't have built-in roadbeds AFAIK.
My 1st train set was O when I was 5, and since then it has always been in my mind as a toy size. When I was older i got some HO stuff and then as a teenager I got into N thinking and planning for that to by my scale. Then I got my hands on S and really liked the size and feel, less toy like then O, but still fun to look at. Then when my son was 4, I came across another old O train set at a thrift shop for cheap and I got it for him. While cleaning it up for Christmas, I went to get new track and got introduced to the newer world of O. I was impressed, bought a used locomotive off of ebay, and it's been "downhill" since. I just bought a house, and needless to say, I have staked a part of a room out for a future railroad empire.


----------



## joeten

There are quite a few more some are specialist builders others from across the world Reference: Model Railway Scales/Gauges


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

OK. I never did trains. I did scale and RC aircraft.


----------



## sinclair_tm

joeten said:


> There are quite a few more some are specialist builders others from across the world Reference: Model Railway Scales/Gauges


That's just a list of the different scales/gauges. It doesn't say which ones are 2 or 3 rail.


----------



## WereBo

Mrs WereBo and I had a lovely walk through 'Abbey Wood' yesterday, several miles down-river from me.....


One of the entrances to the wood....











Plenty of winter food growing for the birds.....











Plenty of lichen, a good indicator of healthy woodland....











A spooky tree, this would look good with a hallowe'en pumpkin inside it.... :grin:











'Lords And Ladies' plant....











Bracket-fungus growing on a fallen trunk.....











A woodland pond, in miniature.....











Finally, courtesy of Mrs WereBo, yours truly in action... :laugh:


----------



## joeten

Cracking WereBo


----------



## sinclair_tm

How many of those berries did you sample?


----------



## WereBo

Thanks Joe









@ Sinclair-tm - None, the red 'Lords and Ladies' are poisonous and I left the Blackberries for the wildlife... :grin:


----------



## sinclair_tm

You're a better man than I. I would of been eating the blackberries...


----------



## WereBo

A lot of the fruits were either unripe or partially eaten, plus I've got a big jar of both Blackberry jam (jello in USA?) and 'what we call 'Bramble Jelly' (a jam (or jello) without the pips, seeds, bits of fruit etc.) in my pantry - They're welcome to what grows there :wink:


----------



## yustr

Jelly = sweetened fruit with no seeds or pulp
Jam = sweetened fruit with some seeds and pulp
Preserves = sweetened fruit with lots of seeds and pulp
Jello = sugar, gelatin, artificial coloring, artificial flavoring

Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.


----------



## WereBo

Hehehehe.... :laugh: - Thanks yustr :grin:


----------



## sinclair_tm

That and Jell-O is a powder that comes in a box while the others come in a glass jar.


----------



## joeten

Unfortunately they can all come in boxes now with that infernal silver foil


----------



## sinclair_tm

Jelly or jam in a box? Wow, this I have never seen.


----------



## WereBo

I don't think I want to, I'll stick with the ones in glass-jars :grin:


----------



## joeten

Wouldn't you know it I saw it at one point and now can't find it oh well maybe it was part of a nightmare, though you still get those little plastic servings in hotels etc


----------



## sandman55

Hi Guys some of you might have wondered where I was during July and August. We had a holiday to see family in Newcastle New South Wales then we toured north through Queensland as far as Innisfail then inland to Innot hot springs then to Undara Lava tubes then south and home. So you might be interested to see some of our holiday pics.


This one is of Queen Lake Camden Haven we were walking along a board walk at dusk.


This is Camden Haven from a high look out


This one is of Harry waiting for his tea at Noosa we were walking along and saw this crane on the counter at a fish and chip shop and after taking several shots and getting closer each time worrying it will soon fly away. I called out to the owner and he said "Oh that's just Harry (I think I got his name right) he is just waiting for his tea" and he gave him a fillet if fish and the crane flew away to eat it.


This is a Perch Lake on Fraser Island the largest sand Island in the world. A perch lake is above the water table and it is in a depression in sand and the reason the water doesn't drain away through the sand is it is lined with decaying vegetable matter which gives it the colour of tea.


This one is a crystal clear stream on Fraser Island. The water is so clear that where you see the sand that is the stream


----------



## WereBo

Really nice shots there Sandy, excellently framed with good saturation and contrast - I think #1 and 5 are my favourites :wink:


----------



## sandman55

Thanks WereBo 1 is my favourite I have it as my wallpaper I'll try to post some more tomorrow. I forgot to say they were all taken with my phone it's a Sony xperia z.


----------



## joeten

Some phones have really good cameras now 2 and 3 are great


----------



## sandman55

joeten said:


> Some phones have really good cameras now 2 and 3 are great


Yes I'm very happy with my phone we carried the digital camera with us and didn't use it.
No 3 pic gave us a laugh with the crane waiting for his dinner I kept getting closer and closer but he was waiting for his fish :grin:

Ok here are another five as we worked our way up the coast.


This one is of a strangler fig on Fraser Island. Here is what wikipedia says about them


> They all share a common "strangling" growth habit that is found in many tropical forest species, particularly of the genus Ficus.[1] This growth habit is an adaptation for growing in dark forests where the competition for light is intense. These plants begin life as epiphytes, when their seeds, often bird-dispersed, germinate in crevices atop other trees. These seedlings grow their roots downward and envelop the host tree while also growing upward to reach into the sunlight zone above the canopy.[2][3]
> An original support tree can sometimes die, so that the strangler fig becomes a "columnar tree" with a hollow central core.


 Strangler fig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This one is of Bargarla Beach swimming pool in Bundaberg it was built in the early days by the Kanakas The Kanakas were slaves from the southsea islands who were brought in to work in the sugar cane industry. 


This is one of the birds on the veranda of our cabin at the town called 1770 it gets it's name from the year that Captain Cook landed. The birds were quite tame and some would eat out of your hand.


I thought I would post this one of a Wombat at the Rockhampton zoo for those of you who had not seen one. Wombats are burrowing marsupials and they have their pouches facing backward so that they don't fill it with dirt when they are burrowing. I'm told their meat tastes like pork.


This is a view of the sunset over Rockhampton from Mount Archer.


----------



## WereBo

#1 - That Strangler-Fig is phenomenal









#2 - Looking close at the Bargarla Beach pic, it's strange to see waves lapping in an enclosed pool, even if it is connected under the walls.... :laugh:

#3 - Cute looking birds and a nice shot of your knee-knob :grin:

#4 - There's even 'Hairy-Nosed Wombats' available too :wink: - I can't see the handle though, how do you hold it when playing 'Wom'?

#5 - That's just beautiful!


----------



## sandman55

Thanks WereBo now for another five as we moved up to warmer weather.


This one is of two cheeky thieves :grin: two kookaburras and one to the right of them landing. They were thieves because as my wife and I sat eating some sandwiches for lunch first one swooped down and stole the sandwich out of her hand, he came from behind. Later the same thing happened again, I was just about to say hold your sandwich closer to yourself when we heard the flapping of wings and there went her sandwich again. 


This one is of my wife swimming in a mountain pool. The water was freezing and when she got out she was pink with the cold. The falls are called Finch Hatton Falls or Finch Hatton Gorge Falls



The two above are of a parasailer viewed from Sky window look out at Eungella


This one is of a rainforest walk in the same area.


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## joeten

The pool does look inviting


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## WereBo

#s 1, 2 & 5 are excellently framed but could do with a slight tweak to the 'Levels', just to bring the contrast up a bit - The upper parts of the photos appear slightly 'blown' from the strong light.

It's heart-warming to see there's still some 'wilderness' left, on this little planet :grin:


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## sandman55

Yes I must have been taking those pics into the sun.
The pool looks inviting in that pic, but It was too cold for me, it didn't stop my wife though. She loves to swim.
OK here are another five.


This one gives an idea of the height of a tree in the rain forest walk near the town of Eungella Queensland


We saw this yacht grounded at the town of Airlie Beach (a pretty town if you want to look at it on Google earth with the bays an islands) we tried to get a closer shot and found this nice window through the scrub.


This one is of Schute Harbour near Airlie Beach


We went out on a boat to the reef to snorkle over and atol but it was a bit of a disaster because it was windy. I took this shot of a groper from the glass bottomed boat


We moved further north to the town of Bowen this is Horseshoe Beach we had a some lovely swims there.


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## WereBo

I love the textures and geometric patterns in #1, beautiful! ray:

Have you uploaded these photos to Goggle-Earth (Panoramio)? They're well worthy of being mapped on there - I took a look around Airlie Beach and Bowen (Did you stay at the 'Motel Bowen Arrow'? :grin, 'tis paradise indeed :laugh:


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## sandman55

I have Win XP and google earth always crashes my PC that's why I only use Google Maps, it seems to work OK I'll have to build a new box later in the year when SSD's become cheaper. Airlie Beach is quite trendy but Bowen is a bit tired they are waiting to see if a port is going to open up further up the coast to inject some cash in the town but it has potential for tourism with it's beaches Google maps street view didn't show me much for the Arrow motel. We normally stop in Tourist Park Cabins, we find you get what you get in a motel plus cooking facilities as well for about the same price.


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## WereBo

I only found the 'Bowen Arrow' from someone's Panoramio photo of the area, that's the beauty of Panoramio, folks can record what 'Google Street-View' can't see :wink:


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## zuluclayman

nice work sandy - I spent a couple of days at Bagara on my trip north last month too - a nice spot


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## sandman55

Thanks guys I haven't time tonight but I will try to post some more tomorrow.
Welcome back Zulu are you still travelling?


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## sandman55

Hi guys I'm back again I've been a bit busy I'll post another five pics of our travels.


This lovely beach for swimming is just around the corner from Horseshoe beach and is called Murrays Bay (Bowen). Gina Rinehart who was the worlds richest woman bought the land where the palms are.


This is a view of the Whitsunday Islands from Bowen I think those islands are breeding there are so many of them


> The Whitsundays are a group of more than 150 islands and islets off the sub-tropical central Queensland coast of Australia between approximately 20° and 21° south latitude.


 Introduction to the Whitsundays


We are in Townsville now and this is a view of Magnetic Island from Castle mountain over Townsville. Magnet Island got it's name :-


> It was given its name because of the spinning effect it had on Captain Cook's compass.


 Magnetic Island



These two waterfalls "Tchupala falls" and Wallicher falls are close together and not far off the Palmerston Highway where we turned inland from Innesfail to see the lava tubes at Undara.


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## joeten

The whole thing shows of the beauty of those areas


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## sandman55

Yes there are some beautiful places in Queensland and my little phone camera doesn't do them justice. I'll post some more tonight.


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## WereBo

Oooohh, a beach without a single deck-chair on it! :laugh: - There's certainly some stunningly beautiful scenery there Sandy, an idyllic paradise (apart from any wildlife wanting to kill you :grin - That phone-cam is certainly producing consistently excellent shots









I bet Charlotte had a wonderful time with the different scents and scenery


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## zuluclayman

@ sandy - just arrived back in Newcastle from a shorter trip to the central west of NSW taking in Mudgee, Gulgong, Hill End, Dubbo, Forbes, Cowra -mostly spent in National Parks apart from a trip to Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo and the Japanese Gardens in Cowra.


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## WereBo

Welcome back again Zulu, good to see the van is holding up OK


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## sandman55

WereBo said:


> Oooohh, a beach without a single deck-chair on it! :laugh: - There's certainly some stunningly beautiful scenery there Sandy, an idyllic paradise (apart from any wildlife wanting to kill you :grin - That phone-cam is certainly producing consistently excellent shots
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bet Charlotte had a wonderful time with the different scents and scenery


Yes I'm happy with the phone cam. The beaches on the east coast are great as zulu would well know and every town seems to have a river. Alas poor Charlotte had to stay at home in the care of our daughter and she knew just how far she could push the limits of being a naughty dog. 



zuluclayman said:


> @ sandy - just arrived back in Newcastle from a shorter trip to the central west of NSW taking in Mudgee, Gulgong, Hill End, Dubbo, Forbes, Cowra -mostly spent in National Parks apart from a trip to Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo and the Japanese Gardens in Cowra.


Well you are certainly making good use of the zuluclayvan zulu. What a relaxing time waking up in a national park with nature all around. I would like to get a small caravan and do the same thing but I have to convince my wife first.

Well guys I'll post another five more pics this is about the end of the trip because after two months we made a quick trip home but we will have to come back to do justice to the inland parts.


We are now inland 255km by road to Mount surprise where we went to see the undara Lava Tubes. This pic is of a Brush Turkey nest. They build this huge mound of vegetation and as it decomposes and generates heat it hatches the eggs and I believe the bird adjusts the nest to vary the temperature. We were told by the guide you don't put your hand in the nest because you could encounter a snake and if you see a nest like this near a river estuary then leave because it could be a crocodile nest and they look after their nest as well.


This is one of the lava tubes where the lava flowed through and flowed out and left a cave, our guide gives an idea of the size.


When animals are sick and dying they look for some where sheltered to hole up and there they die these bones were collected up from inside the cave the one on the right is a wild pig the next a dingo and the other two marsupials.



the two above are the two ends of a lava tube we walked through in the dark with torches.


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## joeten

The power of nature is quite fierce some and spectacular


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## WereBo

A wonderful collections of pics Sandy, I bet Charlotte would've enjoyed some of those bones :grin:


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## sandman55

Thanks guys and yes she would have had a good chew :grin:


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## yustr

Mrs. yustr and I and some friends took a trip over to Long Island to enjoy the fine weather (and our 29th anniversary). Here are some shots. 



Yes it was that blue...


Chardonnay ready to harvest


Aging


Guarding the Casks
(This and the one above were shot with my 50mm F1.4 - wide open yet I was still forced to try to hand hold at 1/10th sec. Should have bumped up the iso a couple of stops. :facepalm

Entrance to one of the winery's


Row of vines (I'll have to play with this one to get rid of the lightness creeping in at the top left.)


Should have got closer :banghead:


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## sandman55

Nice yustr, I particularly like the first one with the white and blues. It is quite a stunning pic. I would say you might have enjoyed a nice glass of wine or two while you were there. :grin:


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## WereBo

Pic #1 is beautiful and Mrs WereBo agrees, definitely a large wall-hanger









The grapes close-up are very well shot too, that would look good on the cover of the winery catalogue/brochure :grin:

The purple 'bottle-brush' type flowers are a perfect example of the 'Rule-of-1/3rds, with the background plant leading the eye into the pic and out through the gap on the right









The last pic, although a closer zoom would look good, is excellent as it is, beautifully framed showing the old oak-wood grain on the cask :wink:


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## joeten

Beautiful


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## Cathy95820

I think this is a nice picture (taken from my kodak point n click - I purchased with my tsf giftcard for Amazon yrs ago) So So So glad I didn't buy a pair of shoes!!


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## WereBo

Mmmmmm..... A beautiful photo of a lovely looking dog there Cathy


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## sandman55

A Lovely pic Cathy.


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## zuluclayman

arrived back in newcastle saturday morning to find one of my favourite beach's carpark full of motorbikes sporting pink everywhere - it was the annual Pink Ribbon Motorcycle Ride - I quickly grabbed my camera and asked people could I take pics of them and/or their bikes here are some:


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## WereBo

Great pics Zulu and welcome back from your latest walkabout :grin:

I'm not right sure about the bra on the bike in #2 though, and as for Kermit wearing a dress, Miss Piggy might have some words about that.....









:laugh:


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## joeten

Nice to see folks with a sense of humour


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## sandman55

WereBo said:


> Great pics Zulu and welcome back from your latest walkabout :grin:
> 
> I'm not right sure about the bra on the bike in #2 though, and as for Kermit wearing a dress, Miss Piggy might have some words about that.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :laugh:


The pink is in support of breast cancer. My wife walks with a group of friends and that Tuesday they all wore pink.


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## WereBo

Aaahhh thanks Sandy


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## zuluclayman

sorry - should have included the info poster in that last post to explain the proliferation of pink:




the whole shoot can be viewed here


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## WereBo

A really nice set of photos there Zulu, it looks like great fun was had by all


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## sandman55

Nice ones zulu.


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## WereBo

I gave myself a burfday pressie yesterday by taking my camera around the old *Woolwich Arsenal* (NOT the football club :grin, then along to the O2 arena, a 'flight' on the Emirates Skylane' cable-car across the Thames, then a wander around the 'Royal Dock'.

Here's a few 'teasers', all the rest are here - *Slideshow* (It saves me hijacking the thread with 90+ piccies :grin




























A lot of the cable-car pics have odd reflections from the windows, this shot has the London City Airport in the distance, beyond the dock....


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## sandman55

Thanks for the miniature holiday from my computer desk WereBo. Some nice pics there and interesting too especially the steel block with the cannon dents in it.


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## Done_Fishin

Picture no4 looks great ... first time I have ever seen that submerged warehouse area & possible park under the river .. exactly where were you standing to be able to catch so much detail .. :smile:

Just noted the cable cars in pic #5 .. explains all .. weren't any when I was last in that area a few centuries ago!! :lol:


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## WereBo

Thanks guys and you're welcome Sandy :laugh:



Done_Fishin said:


> Picture no4 looks great ... first time I have ever seen that submerged warehouse area & possible park under the river .. exactly where were you standing to be able to catch so much detail .. :smile:
> 
> Just noted the cable cars in pic #5 .. explains all .. weren't any when I was last in that area a few centuries ago!! :lol:


It was rather weird watching the lorries sub-aqua driving too :grin:

The cable-car is only a year or old, 'off-peak' is a 10-12 minute journey, speeding up to 4-5 minutes for the 'rush hour' times :wink:


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## zuluclayman

love the reflections in No 4 - clone out the cable upper right corner so the eye is drawn even more to the reflections - really is ambiguous, looking for all the world as if there is underwater activity there - you clever Poms :smile:

The other day I went to have a look at an exhibition by a friend of mine's daughter. It was held at The Lock-Up Cultural Centre which was the part of the original Police Station in Newcastle. It now houses offices for cultural groups, a gallery room for exhibitions & some of the cells are used as historical displays (including a padded cell, leather lined)
The exercise yard is an enclosed area with 4 stone walls and an iron barred roof otherwise originally open to the elements.
After viewing the exhibition I took my camera into the yard area and shot some images - they have left the walls as they were when taken over from the police with peeling paint, graffiti etc - just perfect for a grunge edit :smile:


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## zuluclayman

then I got to thinking about possibilities for projected images.... they had some images of former inmates on their website so I played in Photoshop:


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## WereBo

Thanks for picking up on the cable in the top-corner Zulu, I hadn't noticed that







(Now amended :wink

Really moody pics Zulu, you've caught the 'feel' of the place perfectly, I was almost looking for a noose somewhere :laugh: - I also like the 'amendments' with the image projections, you've got them warped perfectly for the wall's perspective ray:


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## sandman55

Interesting building zulu and the projections on the wall create atmosphere. I would think a clever artistic person could make something of that building like a gallery/living area. The exercise yard would have to be roofed over.


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## zuluclayman

@ Sandy - the yard area is now roofed (clear Alsonite) and is able to be hired for functions etc.


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## sandman55

Nice.


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## zuluclayman

playing again with the Lock-Up image - doing a day-into-night with some ghosted images:


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## joeten

one word nice


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## WereBo

2 words, ditto that :grin:


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## sandman55

Yes clever.


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## zuluclayman

thanks all - I think I just have too much time on my hands :laugh:


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## sandman55

Things like that are using your time well. Far better to use your mind and skills than watching TV and vegetating.


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## WereBo

Whilst browsing around Google-Earth/Panoramio, I noticed another strange reflection on one of my pics. I wanted to get the pylons in-line and with the cars rising in neat rows, the next pylon is t'other side of the road and bridge across the picture. 

More by luck than judgement, the pylon behind me is the perfect distance for it's reflection to fit the missing bit in front


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## zuluclayman

ha ha - tricking the eye WereBo

I spent a windy afternoon and night around the Seal Rocks/Neranie/Sugarloaf Point area recently - the wind had been blowing all day and had whipped up some serious froth & bubbles along with some wavelets on the lake - here are some pics:









Edit: aghhh :facepalm: - just noticed that Photobucket's compression has given images 1 & 4 some unsightly colour aberrations in the shadows on the water - they aren't there in the originals


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## sandman55

Clever WereBo, a ghostly pylon.

Nice ones zulu I had to check on Google maps to see where it is and my wife reminded me we passed through there on the way to Forster on a minor road. I remember we saw a couple of small dingos but wasn't quick enough to get a photo. It is interesting to see on Google maps all the lakes. The foam makes an interesting picture.


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## WereBo

Beautiful pics Zulu







- The aberration is hardly noticeable in #4, compared to #1; but that foam in #2 is weird, I know it's just algae etc, but it still looks weird :laugh:

Like Sandy, I like to browse Google Earth to see where the places are and 'tour' around the area, are they taken at Myall Lake?


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## zuluclayman

Yes WereBo - Neranie is the name of a National Parks & Wildlife campsite on the shores of Myall Lake where these were taken.

I think I may have to stop using Photobucket - the quality of images after 1) resizing for the net in Photoshop & 2) Photobucket compressing them further is getting much worse than it used to be - clarity is lessened, colours are muddied and now these colour aberrations, moire & aliasing artefacts are appearing too.


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## sinclair_tm

Let me know when you find a good free hosting site. I use Google, but they keep "updating" the photo part of the site. I was livid when after spending a couple hours doing some PP and uploading, only to have Google apply their own PP to the images. After some searching I was able to turn that off. But now they do auto resizing and even if you go to view image, it's still a resized version and not the original size, which is still buried in their servers and you can get it if you know how to edit the URL for the image by hand, which make linking to images a much longer than needed process. Skydrive also make linking to the original image near impossible. The woes of this twitter/facebook/instagram world.


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## zuluclayman

@ sinclair tm - yep, unfortunately the free areas of the net is more and more catering to the lowest common denominator in the area of graphics/image hosting etc while video is getting better and better.

I have a basic zenfolio account costing me $25 per annum and a free Facebook artist page where I post images and video - I have to get in the habit of linking to these for 2 reasons: saves uploading to a third site so saves my broadband quota and they are better quality than offered by Photobucket now.

I also have a paid Vimeo Plus account for my videos.


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## WereBo

I don't have many problems with my paid-for Photobucket (except not being able to show all pics per page), but then I never use their photo-editing stuff, it's purely for storing and linking to.


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## zuluclayman

I've stopped travelling in the "zuluclayvan" for the summer...too many flies, mosquitos, spiders, snakes, bushfires, holidaying children (and their parents), too hot and too many fools on the road to say nothing of the madly inflated prices at van parks etc during peak season.

this is a quick pic of a sunset, complete with "god rays" taken from my new (rented) home:


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## WereBo

Wow! That's excellent! Lots of detail and textures without being 'blown out' from the sunlight ray:

Are you still in Newcastle?


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## zuluclayman

@ WereBo - yep, I've returned to Newcastle after giving consideration to living in or near one of the many nice rural/forest places I visited on my trips - family ties won out - my youngest son (22) is not yet settled in life and my 86 year old mum is becoming more & more frail in body and mind unfortunately.
On the bright side - still near enough to some stunning beaches, wild forested upper reaches of rivers (the Allyn & the Williams) - lots of day/overnight trips to be had :smile:


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## WereBo

Aaahhh, just as long as you can get your 'sanity-break' days :laugh:


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## sandman55

I love the way you have captured the rays of the sun.
It is sad for your Mum but good you can be near for her.


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## olgun52

yedigoller / Bolu / Türkiye - 24 November 2013 Sony Cybershot DSC510


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## WereBo

Hi olgun52 and welcome to the Photographers Corner :wave:

A lovely pic for 'Reflections' or 'Autumn', even nicer for having totally smooth water :thumb:

Your camera suffers the same problem as mine though, no means of attaching a polarising-filter, to remove unwanted reflections on the water - That would have made it excellent :wink:


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## olgun52

Thanks WereBo. Hello everybody.

That's right-no means of attaching a polarizing filter, to remove unwanted reflections on the water.

But 'Reflections' on the PC screen looks more beautiful.

Another reflection. Better perceive the reflection of machines.










Good day.


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## sandman55

Nice one olgun52 I like the reflections and the floating autumn leaves.
EDIT: I should have turned the page. The reflections in the last one are so clear and a little darker that you could almost turn it upside down and call the reflections the trees :grin:


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## sandman55

Just a quick chop to show you what I meant (I hope you don't mind) The reflected trees look so real.


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## WereBo

Yep, what Sandy says







:grin:

Also, a slight 'tweak' to the contrast 'levels' makes the piccie a lot more 'dynamic' i.e....











If you're unsure what's meant by 'Levels', a retired member (DonaldG) wrote a wonderful article explaining what they are and how they can be tweaked :wink: - *Link*


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## sinclair_tm

As for the filter, there is always a way. You just haven't used enough duct tape yet...

But what I'd do is buy a filter that is bigger around than your lens and hold it against the lens with your hand. This will also allow you to easily turn it to get just the look you want.


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## zuluclayman

"As for the filter, there is always a way. You just haven't used enough duct tape yet..."


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## WereBo

sinclair_tm said:


> As for the filter, there is always a way. You just haven't used enough duct tape yet...










......




sinclair_tm said:


> But what I'd do is buy a filter that is bigger around than your lens and hold it against the lens with your hand. This will also allow you to easily turn it to get just the look you want.


Hmmmm.... I've got 2 polarising filters on my 35mm camera lenses, though I can't now remember what size they are. The only problem I can foresee is that, in bright/sunny weather, I've gotten pretty nifty in framing and firing the camera one handed, while shading the viewfinder with t'other one....

Perhaps I should have a word with Dr Glas about a 3rd-hand transplant :grin:


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## sandman55

An arm and a hand from the top of your head perhaps. :laugh:


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## WereBo

sandman55 said:


> An arm and a hand from the top of your head perhaps. :laugh:


Hehehehehehe..... :grin: - I'm now wondering about fitting the little rubber eye-shade attachment thingy on my 35mm Praktica onto my Fuji, without having to glue it :laugh:


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## joeten

Bluetack could be worth a shot


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## olgun52

WereBo said:


> a lot more 'dynamic'


Yes,now a lot more 'dynamic' thanks.


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## Done_Fishin

aout time I added a bit of colour again to the "Corner"

took this picture the other night doing everything that one shouldn't .. night shot, no tripod, moving (cycling) with one hand on the handlebar and the other holding the camera, trying to keep it steady whilst knowing only too well that the shot would be slow .. we were travelling along a street with a fair amount of lighting but also a lot of trees with leaves and branches creating a tunnel effect whilst reflecting the light everywhere .. in many senses it's a lousy picture but at the same time I quite like the overall affect created .. shot with an Olympus D-745 point & shoot .. nowhere near as good as my old Sony TX-5 P&S but occasionally I manage to get a reasonable photo ..


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## joeten

Near a Startrek moment lol


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## WereBo

Now that I like! Although blurry from the camera itself not being up to the job, the photo itself still works really well - Nice one indeed DF ray:


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## sandman55

Nice DF with the tunnel effect. Imagine if you could have got the cyclists clearer but under the circumstances you did very well.


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## sinclair_tm

Many photographers spend hours trying to get a shot like that. Nice.


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## WereBo

I managed to finally try some portrait-shots last weekend, when the missus and I went to the 'Planet Rockstock' festival (full story with all the gory details *here* :lol - It was a successful shoot, in that the good shots outnumbered the rejects, 170 good v. 139 rubbish, but it was mostly pure luck when shooting with lots of multicoloured stage-lights, lasers and spots flashing around.


A very appropriate sign, both the holiday-park staff and the residents we met when shopping in the town were really friendly....










Our Home for the 3 days....









The 'Recreation' area (2 hall+stages and several 'eateries').....











Looking from the near the stage to the bar......











The 1st band 'Toseland', the singer here is James Toseland, twice World-Champion Superbikes winner. He had to quit biking after an injury forced him to retire, so he (very wisely) took up singing.....











Standard 'Rock-Pose' #1 :grin:











Pose #2.....











Headbanging.....


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## zuluclayman

looks like fun WereBo - some classic rock shots there :smile:

the hall unusual in its architecture - like the use of brick patterning

edit: for some reason my post duplicated itself, hence the deletion above


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## WereBo

Apparently the hall is based on an upturned boat, appropriate for an ancient fishing-town :lol: - I also got a night-shot of it, during a break between bands. I was really pleased with it 'cos it's hand-held (I forgot to take my monopod :facepalm.....











Although it's a mess of blurs, I kept this shot of the Temperance Movement vocalist, just for the surreal streaks off his glasses - The low lighting and rapid movements defeated my camera's autofocus, but this one worked for me.....











Just across the road from the park is Breydon Bridge, a simple but elegant cantilever bridge across the River Yare....











After stocking up on warm clothing for the near-freezing temperatures, I saw these reeds on the walk back....











Another shot of the bridge, taken closer to sunset.....











The sunset.... :grin:


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## zuluclayman

well done on the handheld night shot - also like the reeds shot with nice colour range & the contrast between the shapes/textures of nature set against the light poles that almost look like an alien life form moving through the area


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## sandman55

Some good shots WereBo looks like you had fun I particularly like the Pose #2


----------



## Tyree

*Chance the Cougar*

An old friend who passed recently. 85# of kitty that will be missed!


----------



## WereBo

Thanks Zulu, I must admit when I first saw the scene, my first though was '*Triffids!!!*' :laugh:

These two weren't too impressed though :grin:....











A couple of the better band shots, this is Fish, ex-singer for Marillion.....











A shot of 'The Quireboys', taken from the back of the hall....












A bit closer.....











The mixing-desk at the back.....











This was the prime reason for the entire trip, Bernie Shaw and Uriah Heep (see 'tother thread linked above for more info :wink











The guitarist Mick Box (the guy that a crowd of fans mistook for me and wanted my autograph).....




















Another surreal shot, this time the bass-player Davey Rimmer.....











Davey is very shy, every time I aimed my camera at him, he hid back again :lol:


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## WereBo

Awww Tyree, my condolences indeed - That's a very beautiful moggy you lost


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## Tyree

He belonged to a friend but he was thrill a minute to play with.


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## joeten

Love the shots WereBo.

What a beautiful animal Tyree shame it had to pass


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## WereBo

Thanks Zulu - The highest point of the event came for the final song, Bernie asked for some female volunteers to get on stage and dance... :rofl:

Mrs WereBo was off like shot and just made it in time.....

1 happy missus :grin:






































Catching up with the gossip with Bernie....


----------



## sandman55

Looks like you both were having a ball WereBo.

Tyree that is a beautiful cat and so big. It is sad when our pets even pets of friends that we get close to pass away.


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## sinclair_tm

Playing with some night photography.









The magic of books.









Of days gone past.

I need to take more "serious" photos. Lately I've only pulled the camera out for family things, and even then my iPhone takes most of those. I'm thinking of doing a 365 project for 2014. I wonder how beat up my camera will be after being in my pocket for a year.


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## sandman55

Interesting sinclair, I like the first one the best it's almost a silhouette.


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## WereBo

Like Sandy, both are great but the 1st pic wins it for me too - The light from the screen is perfect for illuminating the face just enough, with the corner of the screen to give a clue as to what is happening - Superb! ray:


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## sinclair_tm

My wife loves her Nook with glowlight. I had been trying to rock the baby to sleep and she was on our bed reading. When I laid him down and came in, I saw her and just had to take a photo.

As for the 2nd, what can I say, I love trains, and love my model trains. I had them going as I was rocking my son, the noise helps calm him I guess you could say. He also loves watching them go around. But I saw how the passenger train would silhouette the freight train and had to capture it. It didn't quite turn out as I wanted, but it's close. I'd need brighter light on the passenger cars, but there is no real way to do that.


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## WereBo

The only way would be to have a diffused low-wattage spot/reading-light behind or alongside you, aiming at the cars.


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## Babbzzz

Great pictures!

What pictures do you post? Anything?


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## WereBo

Hi Babbzzz :wave:

Yep, anything goes, within the TSF rules - Have a browse around and you'll get an idea of what's acceptable :wink:


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## Done_Fishin

My youngest brother came over for a few days recently to get in a few days exercise and cycling. On one of those days we cycled over to the Harbour at Piraeus where, due to the time of the year, very little was happening in the way of Ferry traffic. 

This meant that very few boats were around to obstruct the view. The weather wasn't brilliant, tending to try to rain, a very cloudy sky and by the time we arrived the sun was low in the sky giving a great affect to the area.

Unfortunately for me I forgot to untag the "Date" function .. 


*1.) View as we entered the harbour area *











*2.) *











*3.) *










*4.) *











*5.) *


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## joeten

I like the light in 4


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## WereBo

WOW! That's dramatic lighting indeed! - A perfect example of the 'Golden Hour' ray:

I like the surreal effect of light, shadow and paintwork in #5, it looks as if the ships are leaning over, away from the camera :lol:


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## zuluclayman

some nice moody dark shots there DF - #1 is my pick with its leading line of the wharf taking your eye to the skyline being duplicated by the cloud bank and the buildings look great with the sunlight on them.

I can't remember what software you use, but if GIMP or Photoshop you could clone or healing brush the date stamp out easily.


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## sandman55

Some nice golden shots there DF its a pity about the date but as zulu says you could clone them out, some where the date is in a dark part of the pic would be quite easy.


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## GZ

Trying to do a little catching up... Some very beautiful shots indeed! I would love to see Sinclair's Booklight shot faded to black around the edges...

Bo, looks like you and the Mrs. Had a blast. I haven't been to a good concert in ages! I really want to go to Wacken, but I don't have the money for that... 

DF... That one shot of the sun reflection off the building is just stunning.

Hey Sandy, Zulu and everyone else, Long time no see! Hope everyone is well.


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## zuluclayman

@ DF - gets rid of the date stamp and #1 looks even better with a 16:9 crop 
it's made it into my "collected favourites" folder on my comp - you're in good company there DF :smile:



@ GZ - heya GZ, long time no see (?) - I've been travelling in my campervan so haven't been on as much either - hope all is well with you too :wave:


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## sandman55

Hi GZ good to see you.


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## Done_Fishin

@zcm .. as soon as I entered the harbour area & saw the view I knew there were some good shots to be taken. I keep promising myself that I will sit down and learn / practice how to "remove" unwanted items from photo's (not cropping) but on the few occasions that I tried I ended up with anomalies that I could see, like differing colours on either side of the clone & blur. I just couldn't find the way to match colours across the removal.

Being with my brother, on bicycles plus expecting an imminent downpour I didn't get out the Nikon out of my backpack and used the Olympus P&S. I prefer the Nikon but for speed I use the the other. Still don't reckon it's anywhere near as good as the Sony P&S I used to use but better to take a few shots than miss the chance. I was quite happy with the results (colours especially) but didn't want to crop down because I wanted the overall effects with clouds included 

Thanks for all comments and suggestions .. will give more time to learning editing techniques and hopefully manage to master some of the more "advanced" methods of improving my photo's. I lose so many beautiful shots purely because there are so many obstructions between the camera and what I would love to capture.


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## sinclair_tm

WereBo said:


> The only way would be to have a diffused low-wattage spot/reading-light behind or alongside you, aiming at the cars.


I wanted the cars to backlight the locomotive to make it a sharper silhouette, yet leave the foreground still black. But to leave the shutter open long enough to light the back also leaves it open to allow enough light from the foreground to be seen. Maybe some other time I'll mess with it more.


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## WereBo

Aahhh, I misread what you meant, you could play with it in your Photoshop or equivalent, this was a rough twiddle in my Photoplus X5:


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## sinclair_tm

I did try, and didn't do very good. Kept brightening up the foreground. Maybe someday I'll have more time to mess with it...


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## WereBo

The 'secret' is to mask the pic from slightly below the wheels to the top, then tweak the levels to lighten it slightly, then replace the mask with another one from the same point below the wheels to the bottom, then darken that bit :wink:

The only problem with the lightening process is to not have too much 'grain' and noise showing, on the very dark bits :wink:


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## sinclair_tm

Ah, I was just using iPhoto to tweak levels. I'll have to remember masks and layers in the future when I shoot and plan for it and use The Gimp.


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## Done_Fishin

here's another scene that grabbed my attention a day later, once again the low sun made all the difference 


AT some point I'll experiment with date removal .. until then .. here's the view 











looking at it here I just realised I could just crop out the date without compromising the photo at all ..


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## WereBo

Oooohh, so that's what sunlight looks like.... :grin: - After many days of overcast grey skies and getting dark by 4:00pm or earlier, I'd near forgotted what it was like :lol:

I reckon that cropping the date out would also highlight the sunlit area, giving the pic a focal-point for the eyes :wink:


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## Done_Fishin

*Voila!!!
*


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## joeten

Stunning love the light and shadow and the shape of some of those trees are quite surreal, if the light was coming at a different angle it could be quite spooky


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## WereBo

Excellent! It's got rid of the bare soil area in the foreground and highlights the light and tree-shadows perfectly - Great job DF ray:


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## sandman55

Yes it looks better for being cropped also you will have to have a play with the clone tool you can have a lot of fun with it.... and Charlotte wants to thank you for the holiday it's her first trip to Greece :grin:


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## WereBo

.....


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## Done_Fishin

@ Sandman55 

I'm sure that she must have been here before .. it's not the first time I have shared photo's with her


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## Done_Fishin

As a complete contrast .. we had a full moon recently, I think it was Tuesday but I missed it only realising last night as we were out cycling 

*1.)*










*2.)Greyscale*










*3.)*










* 4.)Greyscale*


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## WereBo

Lovely shots DF, one of those occasions where colour looks better than B&W :lol: - If hand-held, then very excellent shots indeed :grin:


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## Done_Fishin

all shots handheld .. or at least handheld on the bike saddle or against something that is supportive and doesn't allow camera shake .. whatever is available that allows me to capture the shot I am looking o take.

I converted to B&W because one of my fellow cyclists, another keen amateur photographer, prompted me on several occasions to do so on specific photo's .. I did this because I wanted to see if there was anything to gain on this particular occasion .. I feel my own feelings might be biased because I took and modified the photo's.


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## sandman55

Nice DF I like the B&W #2 as it brings out the sky more and I like the colour of #3 more than #4


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## scott411

best buds


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## joeten

Yeah nice animals the last one is pretty funny I see 2 dogs like that most days when walking my Dog


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## Done_Fishin

Love the last one with the two dogs in the snow .. because of the colouring and contrast both in colours and attitude!


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## sandman55

Beautiful dogs, I really like the pic of the German Shepherd on its own it's so alert. Maybe it is because I have a soft spot for them. I used to have Shepherds.


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## WereBo

Hi scott44 and welcome to the Photographers Corner :wave:

Excellent photos there, what camera did you use?


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## scott411

thanks guys for the kind words WereBo I gave myself a 6d for xmas :dance:


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## WereBo

Oooooohh nice pressie, it's definitely working well :grin:


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## scott411

have a good one everyone:grin:


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## Done_Fishin

Nice bit of artwork done there 

:thumb:


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## WereBo

A scene of Kent, taken a couple of years ago....


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## yustr

Santa brought a 8mm Fisheye (about 12mm on my camera). 

The resulting image is actually a merge of two using vastly different exposures. The nutcrackers (pic 2) were shot at F6.7 while the background (pic 3) was at F22 (both at 1/8th second). I combined them and used a mask to show the background. Normally I'd do this by changing the shutter speed not the F-stop but given the vast depth of focus of the lens it really didn't matter. It's not really that great a shot (IMHO) technically as there is a lot of green and purple fringing. Probably somethings a few more hours manipulating could cure but it's taken enough time to get to this stage of the experiment so I'll stop. 











Happy New Year to all my friends here at TSFG!! :dance:


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## sinclair_tm

Nice. I wish I had a fisheye. They'd be so much fun.


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## WereBo

Although I'm not much into fish-eye effects (extreme curvatures etc.), the combining has worked excellently well, a really nice job ray:


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## Done_Fishin

What did you do to merge those photo's ?? layers, masks & overlays ?? I really must try to get into that one day .. 

Regardless of whatever your own opinion of the photo is .. it works well and I like it ..


----------



## Done_Fishin

Early Sunday Morning, in a local park


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## sandman55

Nice DF


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## WereBo

Nice shots DF, I really like the way the light's just catching the top of the tree, through the fork in the tree in the foreground of #1


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## yustr

Done_Fishin said:


> What did you do to merge those photo's ?? layers, masks & overlays ?? I really must try to get into that one day ..
> 
> Regardless of whatever your own opinion of the photo is .. it works well and I like it ..


I copied the images into two layers in one frame and then used a layer mask to reveal the scene behind the curtains.

Nice shots DF - considering that come Friday it's forecast to be below freezing with 4" of snow - I'm jealous. Wish I could go out for a morning ride through the park.


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## zuluclayman

a couple of shots of old favourite places taken on a beach walk today - 

#1 the pumphouse at Merewether Ocean Baths
#2 summer days with bathers & hangliders - the view to Bar Beach from Dixon Park Beach


----------



## WereBo

I like the textures in #1, from the moss/lichen on top of pump-house, to the sea-spray behind it - They really show up nice against the dark sky.

#2 seems a good place to be, with the 40C+ temps you've been getting down there







- Are the seagulls the welcoming-committee for the hang-glider? :grin:


----------



## buccaneer

Hi everyone :smile:
I finally started playing with the extension tube set that I got. Attached the first ring of the tube which I think is 35mm to my 55-200mm zoom and took a few pics. Realized it is very hard to focus well and get good pics. Atleast for me, it is much much harder than taking normal pics. I took plenty of out of focus pics! If I attach the other two rings for the extension tube, well, it is going to be a lot more harder to focus correctly wouldnt it? All the subjects are flowers in my yard, and even though those things dont move, I still found it very hard to get a proper pic. 






It's a good thing I dont depend on photography for a living lol. I know everything about the pics is crappy, even the composition, some day maybe I'll take pics as good as you folks do. *fingers crossed*


----------



## zuluclayman

Are you using a tripod? once you start getting into long focal lengths it's absolutely necessary to stabilise the camera.
Another concern is your shutter speed - the last pic's exif info tells me that it was 1/40th sec - way too long to handhold for clean shots with a zoom lens on. The first one is even slower at 1/25th sec.
If your lens has Image Stabilisation turn it on.
If you are using such a slow shutter speed, any camera shake from hand holding, any movement of the flowers in the breeze will result in blurring. Even on a tripod, the opening and closing of the shutter and the subsequent shake of the camera can cause blurring.
You are better to shoot using shutter speed priority (with a speed around 1/100th sec as a bare minimum), auto ISO and let the camera choose the aperture. You will probably find that the ISO will get pretty high in the light you shot these in (was already at 200 in these) and therefore the images will get a bit noisy.

One solution to this is add more light - either by taking pics where there is enough natural light OR using the flash OR using a piece of white cardboard/white foamcore/piece of cardboard covered in tinfoil as a reflector to bounce light into the shadows - you may even need all of the above :smile:


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## WereBo

Hi Buccaneer, good to see you back again :wave:

Although they're slightly blurry from being hand-held (still not bad at all for that), your composition has improved a lot - Just keep practising (ideally with a tripod :lol and you'll get there soon









By the way, they're better than some of the photos I took last year, at a rock-festival I went to - I took just over 400 pics, of which 170 are usable





























One photo I did get that surprised the socks off me, this shot of the moon taken at the festival - It's hand-held though I'm leaning against a convenient lamp-post, but still clear enough to see some of the texture and craters



















Keep practising, the improvements are noticeable already :wink:


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## yustr

Bucc,

Taking macro shots does require precise focus and a steady camera. If you don't have a tripod, make a beanbag and place the camera on it to steady it. I always use a remote shutter trigger when I shoot closeups. Even the most careful finger can cause the camera to shake. HERE's One . Also, closeups require a lot of light because (among the many reasons) the subject is occupying a lot of the lens real estate and therefore is blocking light from getting to the sensor. 

Keep shooting - we do see a great improvement. :thumb:


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## WereBo

If you don't have an R/C facility, you can set the timer to take the pic a few seconds after you press the shutter (usually 2 or 10 seconds) :wink:


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## buccaneer

Thank you so much everyone, for the kind comments.:smile:

@zuluclayman: No sir, I dont have a tripod. I do need to save up to get one. I used the slow shutterspeed as otherwise I was getting dark pics sir. And my 55-200mm lens doesnt have image stabilization, and I regret my choice now. Actually sir, the lowest ISO my camera (Nikon D40) has is 200. I didnt play with the ISO settings, perhaps I should have chosen a higher ISO and increased the shutter speed. I'll try that the next time and see whether I get decent pics. Sir, did you mean for me to use a white cardboard behind the flash to bounce more of its light onto the subject? Or to use the white cardboard separately, positioning it so that natural light gets bounced off onto the subject? (Sorry sir, just a bit confused there.)

@ Werebo: Thank you for saying I am improving.  I actually like the concert pics, especially the first one hehe. And the moon pic is great! Did you zoom in an awful lot for that one? And you took 400 pics at the concert? wow! I should start shooting more pics of the same subject too, currently I am being a miser and shoot only one or two pics of a subject as I have this (probably unreasonable) fear that shooting too many pics may lead to an early mechanical failure of the shutter, leading to costly repairs. (Or is shutter replacement not so costly?). Ah yes, my little D40 does have delayed shutter release, but I need to buy a tripod too.

@ yustr: Yes sir, I really should get a tripod and possibly a remote control too. Thank you for that link for the remote sir. Thank you for saying there is progress in my work sir.  Although to be honest, I didnt think much before composing the shots. I should use my little grey cells more hehe.


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## WereBo

The white cardboard is used to bounce either the flash or sunlight onto the subject, depending on the situation. It might need a 2nd person to hold the card, or you might be able to tape the card somehow. I discovered that the cardboard lids to take-away meals (the ones in aluminium dishes) are great for this, the white side gives a soft diffused reflected light, whereas the silvered side gives a harsher more distinct light, they also come in a range of sizes too :wink:


The moon pic was at the camera's maximum optical zoom (18x zoom, it has an extra 'digital' 5x zoom, but it makes the pics very 'noisy' and grainy :sigh, it was a slightly hazy sky which added a slight blur to the pic too. If you want to see all the pics taken, here's a link to the slide-show, all 170 of 'em. There's also some pics of Mrs WereBo dancing on-stage with one of the bands :grin: - It was a tricky situation 'cos the stage-lighting occasionally shone into the audience, and the bands were also dancing around too. Also, the bands were at ground-level, rather than higher-up on a proper stage, so a lot of rejected shots were of of folks heads and backs :nonono:


Most cameras have electronic shutters rather than mechanical, so you can snap away to your heart's content without worry of breaking down - The only main worry is battery-life..... :thumb:


It takes a bit of practice, but you can brace yourself to steady your shots; hold your elbows tight against your body, compose your shot then take a deep breath (some folks breath out instead, whichever works best for you) and snap away. I took these by kneeling down and bracing my elbows on my knees (*Lesson learnt:* - Check for muddy ground beforehand :grin - The 1st pic was taken in dense woodland, the 2nd was in open ground with bright sunlight.




















This pic was taken using the camera's Super-Macro mode using the 5x digital zoom, as you can see the quality sucks :sigh:


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## yustr

WereBo said:


> ...
> 
> It takes a bit of practice, but you can brace yourself to steady your shots; hold your elbows tight against your body, compose your shot then take a deep breath (some folks breath out instead, whichever works best for you) and snap away. I took these by kneeling down and bracing my elbows on my knees (*Lesson learnt:* - *Check for muddy ground beforehand *:grin - ...


There's an old saying: _The best photographer is the one with the muddy knees._ Must be thinking of you Bo!

Another: _If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough._ - Robert Capa - before he got too close to mine that killed him, while covering Indochina. :nonono:


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## buccaneer

@ Werebo: Thank you for the link to the slideshow. And ty for telling me how exactly to use the white cardboard bits.  I love those pics you posted, they are wonderful! As for the pic of the fly, you say the quality is bad by me, I love the pic anyways, so there!


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## Vegassparky

There are some great pictures in here. :smile: I love looking at pictures. I'm constantly using the camera on my phone to capture some of lifes unusual moments like,

"I wonder if this guy is moving?"










or "Happy Cat"










or "Please stay out of the road"










or "Why can't every sunrise look like that?"


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## WereBo

I've got just over 700 photos plotted on '*Panoramio*' (the photos that appear on Google-Earth/Maps, when the 'Photos' option is enabled), from my travels around the UK, most around London and the rest are scattered the UK.

@ Buccaneer - Thank you Buccaneer, on looking at the 'macro-fly' again, what I first thought was bad pixellation is actually the patterning on the fly's back and lousy paint-work by my local council (They repainted the balcony-rail over the top of the old peeling paint, dirt, dust and pigeon-poo! :nonono - The pic isn't as bad as I thought it was, so thank you for making me look closer at it :lol:


@ VS - In #1, that's gotta be the biggest cardboard-box I've ever seen in my life!









#2 - If you stain the cat a few shades darker, it can disguise itself as a floorboard :grin:

#3 - I hope you don't mind but the pic screamed for a slight 'tweak' to the contrasts, just to bring it to life :wink:









#4 - That really grabs me, the light and composition is excellent with just enough light to show the foreground, without looking 'flat'. A beautiful shot ray: - I'm not a 'Morning-person' so I rarely see a sunrise, I prefer sunsets cos they're just as nice, only backwards..... :lol:


I haven't been taking many photos recently, too wet cold and dismal to go out the front-door







- All I've done is get some local residents prosecuted for 'fly-tipping' (illegal rubbish dumping), I photographed them, their vehicle registrations and their rubbish, then sent them to my local council's environmental-control folks. My area is enough of a dump, without the neighbours turning it into a ghetto :angry:


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## Vegassparky

The grand, old buildings of Europe have always fascinated me. The ornamental detail they put into those structures is astounding. Because of their rich history, they can certainly spark your imagination. I would hope they're treasured by the local community. 

And then some jerk has to dump trash. Sheeeesh.  ( I take pictures of those lazy bums too)


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## joeten

Here you go VS
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=u...HG7Aa2v4HwBw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=618


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## WereBo

Though I'm far from the grand old buildings of London (Some of them are here - *Link*), my little corner still has some claims to fame, one of 'em being where King Henry VIII built the Royal Dockyards for his navy, my flat is approx 100' away from where it was :grin:

A couple of years ago, there was a major archaeological dig to find what, if anything, was left of it. - *Link* - This is where the 'Golden Hind', the 'Mayflower' (yes, THAT 'Mayflower' :lol, 'HMS Endeavour' and other famous old ships were built.


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## Vegassparky

The gothic architecture practically takes my breath away. How could anyone not want to take in the experience of being in a magnificent place, created and constructed by artists? 

I'm compelled to add a tower to my Motte and Bailey. :devil:


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## Vegassparky

Wish I had a better camera today. A couple of Bald Eagles decided to munch on something in the back pasture. Look straight above the outhouse, just behind the hedges, and there are two dark blobs. I swear they're eagles. LOL











Gratuitous sunset pic.


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## SABL

I had a whole bunch of 'em in my yard........:huh:......:grin:










http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f36/might-call-odnr-629716.html#post3621849


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## Vegassparky

I'm gonna have to get back to that thread when I'm done painting. Lots a good stuff in there.


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## WereBo

We have 'em in the UK too, this one's named 'Alaska'....





































These were taken in 2009 with my 1st digital camera (Olympus 'Camedia' can't now remember the model), at a a raptor-sanctuary in a beautiful little Kentish village called Eynsford, about 30-40 minutes drive away.


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## Basementgeek

Nice Bald Eagle shots. I have seen 100's of them in the wild in Adak Alaska.

Adak, Alaska - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nasty place. Not the end of the world but you see it from there. Been there twice in the 80's.

BG


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## WereBo

Sheeesh! That does look a bleak place, absolutely perfect for Bald Eagles :grin:

There's a lovely story associated with the pics above, A good friend of Mrs WereBo and her husband (Alan) visited us for a day from Florida (part of their holiday package touring European Capital cities), as Mrs WereBo was giving her pal some lace-making lessons. I asked her husband if he fancied a day at *Eagle Heights*, (the bird-centre above) as I knew he was a keen birdwatcher, it seemed a lot better than getting bore witless watching the ladies play with threads and bobbins etc.

Alan mentioned that he'd never seen a Bald Eagle up close, just vague dots in a distant sky so, as we were sat on the benches waiting, Alaska flew just inches over the top of Alan and brushed his head with a wing-tip - Alan had tears of joy streaming down his face from that :lol:

Meanwhile, here's Alaska looking regal....




















I just wish I could get this close to the wildlife elsewhere :lol:


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## Vegassparky

Seems like just about everyone else was leaving right behind you, BG. Did the end of the Cold War mean you didn't have to wave to the Soviets anymore? :wavey

Alaska is a handsome dude, and looks like he means business. 

I had seen a couple of Bald Eagles in captivity, but never in the wild, and I've been looking. Two trips to Yellowstone, and a trip down the Snake river yielded no sightings by me. I was always busy driving the car, or a raft. Seeing these two in basically my backyard was pretty exciting. I couldn't get within 200 feet before they would take off, flying away from me. They were back this morning for more yummy dead something. You should just be able to make out their white head feathers.


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## Vegassparky

If I don't get a chance to get a better camera soon, I'll at least bring the binoculars. They work pretty good with Cel phone cams. Here's lower Yellowstone falls from the Artist Point overlook. 









The binocs brought them much closer. Hey, it works in a pinch. LOL


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## Basementgeek

Remember bald eagle do not develop the white head until they mature, about age 5.
Immature bald eagles are all brown. Most of the eagles I saw were immature ones.

They loved the base's dump. Everything was thrown in there and never covered.

The military stayed up there several years after I got out. I retired in 1986. I was a neat place to visit for 2-3 days, not a week or so working in tundra. Marines would call off their training if the sun was out sometimes, since it was rarely seen.

I will look for a few pictures I am sure I still have. Naturally they won't be digital.

BG


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## WereBo

Nice pics VS, definitely classed as 'creative photography' :grin:


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## zuluclayman

I've been setting myself shooting parameters as an exercise over the last little while - today's was to go into the city centre and shoot using just one lens, one that I haven't used as much as my main go-to lenses (24-105mm f4 L IS USM for general use & the 70-300mm standard quality for surf shots etc) - for today I chose the "nifty fifty" - 50mm f1.8 - canon's cheapest fast lens at around AUD$120. The wide aperture of this lens allows for very shallow depth of field and fast shutter speeds in daylight.

here are a few shots - the first 2 are of "greenman" playing his electric guitar in a deserted laneway just off Newcastle's main street mall. He'd been busking in the main street just before this was taken - he got his name from painting himself green all over for some project in Byron Bay and had now come to Newcastle to busk and live on the streets (by choice)
the other 2 are just of some scooters & motorbikes parked in the main street


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## WereBo

Lovely pics Zulu, although I'm not really into portraits and such, abstract moments like those can fire the imagination.

The bike/scooter shots are really crisp, is that your reflection in the mirror, in #3? :lol:


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## yustr

Love the bokeh that a fast lens can give when used wide open.

Yes it's a totally unnatural look but one that's very appealing to my eye.


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## zuluclayman

@ WereBo - nah, think I managed to keep out of the way this time :smile:

@ yustr - agreed, love the look, especially for portraits


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## Vegassparky

I couldn't see your reflection, myself. Great pictures.


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## zuluclayman

I've been playing with using a parallel firmware (Magic Lantern) on my Canon 60D - it allows the use of a number of "extras" in both stills mode and more so in video mode.
In a fairly recent (last year some time) development it allows for shooting video in RAW mode - instead of outputting compressed H264 .mov files it outputs a RAW file that can be easily transcoded to DNG sequences which can then be opened in Adobe Camera RAW and treated the same as a still RAW file - highlight recovery, shadow detail, white balance, all the features of RAW still editing are available and the data is straight off the sensor.

*I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE READING THIS TO INSTALL THIS FIRMWARE - IT IS IN BETA TESTING MODE AND MAY DAMAGE YOUR CAMERA AND/OR VOID YOUR WARRANTY - I HAVE INSTALLED THIS AT MY OWN RISK*

It leads to a fairly torturous workflow and huge data amounts - living in the land of PAL I shoot at 25 frames per second of video, with each DNG frame being about 1.5-2MB, this then is saved out of Camera RAW as a .psd file (my version of Adobe Premiere Pro doesn't support DNG's unfortunately) at about 4-5MB each - you can see how the data storage piles up quickly! 

here are a couple of processed DNG files compressed as high quality jpegs - there will be some compression from this site & photobucket too.


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## sandman55

Some nice pics guys. I have been a bit busy lately to check in here. I love that first one in your last post zulu I had to look closely, I was looking at the view behind the grass and I was sure the grass was moving in the breeze. My brain playing tricks on me. :grin:


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## WereBo

You're not the only one Sandy, I noticed that too :grin: - Beautiful pics Zulu, excellent examples of the 'Golden Hour'


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## zuluclayman

thanks - here are a couple more:


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## zuluclayman

this is the video that came form that RAW shoot:

https://vimeo.com/86463422


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## WereBo

Mmmmmm.... Nice to see calm seas after the battering we're taking in the UK :laugh:

Beautiful video there Zulu, golden sands, golden light, wonderful weather, what more could a photographer want? :grin:


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## yustr

Nice beach scenes Zulu but you forgot two fundamental rules of photography: "If your pictures aren't good you're not close enough" and "Place the subject of most interest in a predominant location of the frame." --- not off to the far left edge. :whistling: 

(I made that last rule up...:wink: )


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## zuluclayman

they're a dime a dozen here in Oz yustr :laugh:


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## WereBo

zuluclayman said:


> they're a dime a dozen here in Oz yustr :laugh:


What's that address again? :grin:


----------



## Done_Fishin

yustr said:


> Nice beach scenes Zulu but you forgot two fundamental rules of photography: "If your pictures aren't good you're not close enough" and "Place the subject of most interest in a predominant location of the frame." --- not off to the far left edge. :whistling:
> 
> (I made that last rule up...:wink: )


and FOCUS!!! hahaha


----------



## SABL

I have a pic pretty much similar......again, on the left.










Focus??........I think I've heard that joke before......:laugh:


----------



## zuluclayman

a not so typical beach photo - grey misty rain falling today - we badly need some proper rain, unlike our friends in the UK - the northern hemisphere seems to have been copping it badly over the last little while with floods, polar temps etc
To all my northern hemisphere friends:stay safe and if you possibly can, send just a teeny bit of the moisture-from-the-sky you have been getting Down Under.
now for the photo:


----------



## WereBo

I see it hasn't stopped the swimmers still going out to get wet.... :grin:

You're welcome to all the water you want, for free - Just send a tanker or 2 and help yourself :lol:

A really moody photo Zulu, the weather looks as dismal as what we've been getting only we can see the the raindrops - Beautifully captured with the hills fading into the cloud


----------



## joeten

Ditto


----------



## zuluclayman

Today's efforts - went to meet a friend at Hamilton's Food & Music Festival - Hamilton is a suburb whose main street is home to many, many restaurants, giving it the nickname "Eat Street". Hamilton is a, for want of a better word, trendy place to be seen and to see - the main street ends in Islington, a suburb more known for street prostitution, gay bars and some of the best antique shops in Newcastle

Every year they block off 5 or 6 blocks of Beaumont Street and have food stalls, clothing etc and set up a main stage in a side street where they have musicians playing.

I took my Canon 60D with the 70-300mm lens on to capture some of the colour and interesting people.

here's some: (these & some others can be seen here)


----------



## WereBo

That looked to be a great day out Zulu, definitely some colourful characters there


----------



## zuluclayman

I've been back at The Drawing Room since returning to town - these are from tonight's session with Dee, the bellydancer:

the last one is an extreme edit...influenced a bit by old photos...and, yes, she is balancing that sword on her head and did so for a 5 minute pose


----------



## Done_Fishin

Nice!!

The bottom one with the b&w background .. you imposed the background or it was part of the set? Looks good and blends well!


----------



## WereBo

A nice set of photos Zulu, but that last one is really excellent ray:

Also, a wonderful bit of editing, no a single trace of blood anywhere on her face/clothing (what there is of them :grin......


----------



## zuluclayman

@ DF - the images in the background are part of the Drawing Room experience - they are projected on the back wall behind the model with a data projector.
Ann makes up a slideshow for each session, based on the night's theme - sometimes it's artworks by particular artists, other times it's images (mostly artworks) that suit the theme.

@ WereBo - no blood, no edge on sword :smile:


----------



## zuluclayman

for your interest (maybe) - this is what the last shot came out of the camera looking like.
It was shot in RAW format so adjustments to it in Adobe Camera RAW can be made to white balance, exposure, sharpness, highlights/shadows, white point, black point, clarity, saturation, lens corrections (distortions corrected), noise reduction values and some others. Then I take them into Photoshop and do more corrections/adjustments and add effects etc.


----------



## WereBo

Mmmmm... It looks far better after treatment, the lighting makes Dee look very gaunt and a lot older, though I do like the colour-reflections/refractions on the sword-blade.


----------



## zuluclayman

while waiting for a children's class to finish at a local Art School where I was to teach an adult's evening photography class I wandered over to the nearby park - this was the scene that greeted me:


----------



## Done_Fishin

Beautiful skyline but I bet it looked much better in real life .. what a shame they can't invent a camera that sees what we see .. I bet those trees against the skyline looked great and highly visible whilst in your photo they look like they are darkened out. It's a problem that I suffer from continually and expect that the only way around it is to use layers to lighten the foreground and bring back the colours to the trees whilst keeping the original colouring of the sky & clouds ... of course it could be that my monitor needs adjusting too !! :laugh: 

I can see what a beautiful view you had when you shot that picture which in the end is what it's all about :wave:


----------



## WereBo

Another great example of a 'Golden Sunset' there Zulu









I tried a quick play with it and just adjusting the levels tweaks it nicely, leave the 'bright' slider as it is (to prevent the cloud 'blowing out') and just tweak the 'dark' slider fractionally, most tweaking is with the 'mid-range' slider to brighten the foreground a tad or 2 :wink:


----------



## zuluclayman

It was a nice outlook...when in expanded view on TSF (click this bar...) I can still see quite a bit of detail & colour in the trees in the background & in the rose garden in the foreground on my monitor...even with photobucket's compression.


----------



## WereBo

I suspect it's an optical illusion, the bright-looking sky makes the ground features appear darker than they actually are.

I took the liberty of adjusting the pic fractionally, just to illustrate my meaning:


----------



## sandman55

Lots of great shots zulu people are interesting subjects.


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## zuluclayman

Newcastle was, for years, a dirty old industrial steel & coal town - the port was solely geared towards coal export, iron ore supply to the steel mill (BHP), shipbuilding, wheat export & then general freight, nothing glamorous!
After the steel mill & the shipyards shut down Newcastle went about re-imaging itself into a cultural, advanced technology services, still coal dependent city and the port reflected this.
Tourism has become a huge part of Newcastle's economy - the Hunter Valley Vineyards are very close by & well respected worldwide, we have great beaches, a huge lake, forests etc.
As part of this push cruise ships have been enticed to dock for a day and cruisers go for short half day tours or just wander about in the city - lots of historical buildings, art galleries, restaurants etc. to visit.
Only trouble is we don't have a cruise ship terminal & these glamorous ladies have to tie up at an ex-shipyard wharf, the passengers get off to a marquee tent where they have drinkie-poos before being whisked through the industrial area in mimi-buses and taxis to the more genteel parts of Newcastle:


----------



## WereBo

It's amazing just how massive those ships actually are, those 2 pics highlight their size excellently







- I like the subtle crepuscular rays on the 2nd pic too.


----------



## zuluclayman

yep - they're huge - so tall that they look like they would fall over in high cross-seas 

Here's another visitor to our area from a completely different era of shipping - she is a rough replica of a 15th century caravel (of no particular boat, just the style of boat) - a labour of love for the owner, nine years in the making, all from locally gathered timber... well, local to Victoria where she is based and was built. 
She was on Lake Macquarie for the Lake Macquarie Classic Boat Festival, an annual festival showcasing some beautiful old ladies of the sea and other waterways:

*EDIT:* Photobucket's compression is getting worse not better unfortunately.
Time to stop posting there and use my zenfolio account - that link will take you to the Notorious album


----------



## WereBo

A lovely set of photos Zulu, it's a pity they painted the ship black though, it permanently looks like a silhouette - Still, I bet it's great for pirating....









:lol:


----------



## zuluclayman

hiya WereBo - it's not painted - it has been treated in a similar way to that which would have been used back in it's day 

here is a video I shot on the same day:

https://vimeo.com/92442631


----------



## WereBo

That's a really nice video, just a bit too short though - I could happily watch another 30+ minutes around the Notorious :lol:


----------



## Done_Fishin

That guy in the third photo looks like quite a character .. with that gun behind him and his overall appearance he could be a modern day pirate !! Nicely done!! I bet he's pleased with it too!


----------



## zuluclayman

@ WereBo: would love to do a longer doco style video on the ship & its builder, including some seagoing footage...may have to look them up on a future journey to Victoria - I'm going to Victoria next month to shoot some video for a friend but Notorious is currently heading north

@ DF: Thanks DF - the guy is the owner/builder of the ship, Graeme Wylie, and yes he is a bit of a pirate I think :smile:
The little canon is all the armaments that most of these type of ships carried he told me - they relied on their maneuverability and speed to keep them out of trouble and weren't in the business of starting trouble.


----------



## WereBo

I'm starting to get a bit impatient for September to come around as Greenwich is hosting the '*Tall Ships Regatta*', 50 sailing ships moored at Greenwich is waaaay too much temptation for any mortal soul with a camera to resist :grin:


----------



## zuluclayman

ha ha WereBo - I can see your point - we had the New Endeavour in Newcastle just recently, a replica of Captain Cook's vessel but I missed out on getting in to take some pics - the tallships are definitely photogenic :smile:


----------



## WereBo

I really miss seeing the annual tall-ships race, it used to start just down-river of London Bridge, sail past my flat (blocked by buildings though Ggrrrrrr!) then through Greenwich - It all stopped when the 'Dartford Crossing' bridge was built, some miles down the Thames, it was too low for the ships to get under :nonono:

A lot of ships have now been modified, so the top of the mast can flip/slide out of the way to get under most bridges, but the race itself hasn't returned to London (yet) :sigh:


----------



## martt

A warm day and a female blackbird has a sunbathe on our lawn:


----------



## WereBo

Hi martt and welcome to the Photographers Corner :wave:

Now that is a lovely portrait







- What camera did you use?


----------



## martt

Thanks WereBo :smile: - It was an Olympus SP-560UZ bridge camera.


----------



## WereBo

Mmmm... A nicely specced camera, it definitely works well for you :wink:


----------



## scott411

old girl chillin flowers at dusk


----------



## joeten

Nice the dog looks quite settled


----------



## WereBo

Hi scott411 :wave:

3 nicely taken and composed photos there









You've got the DoF just right and the contrast/saturation is really good for 'stand-out' pics, the only slight 'niggle' is #1 that has a slightly blue cast to it.

I suspect it might just be a peculiarity of the camera though, my Fuji 'bridge-camera' occasionally does the same, even with near identical shots of the same subject, taken a second or 2 apart - 1 will be good but t'other is sometimes 'blued'


----------



## Done_Fishin

Thought I would share a couple of photo's taken 7th June 2014 with my Nikon L130. Shots taken in macro mode. Photo's are either as taken or have been cropped .. just didn't see the need to do any other adjustments to colours etc.


*1* Didn't quite get the focus right but still a passable photo I think. 











*2*











*2 Crop #1*










*2 Crop #2*


----------



## joeten

They look good to my untrained eye.


----------



## WereBo

It looks like the focus has picked the leaf rather than the dragonfly, but the fuzz is still sharp on the shoulders so it's more than 'good enough' - That last close-up is superb, I'd call it a wall-hanger' ray:


----------



## Done_Fishin

The last photo was taken at much closer range, having already taken several photo's from about 2 meters distance. I decided to go closer (very slowly so that I didn't scare it away) and this was the very last photo taken at that point ! patience in photography is a virtue even if it doesn't always pay off!


----------



## WereBo

Done_Fishin said:


> ...........................
> 
> patience in photography is a virtue even if it doesn't always pay off!


Hehehehe.... so true... :lol:


----------



## zuluclayman

a wintry day at the beach - our winter so far has been very mild with temps hanging around the low to mid twenties C - until yesterday that is - a cool, windy front moved across the valley bringing biting offshore winds and much lower temps
some pics from the afternoon with a mostly deserted beach, flags still up for the hardy souls:


----------



## WereBo

You've caught the 'Dismal-Day' beautifully with the clouds and flat sea, plus the obligatory ship on the horizon... :lol:

I particularly like the way the camera's caught the green-water, in #2 & #3, in the shallows and wavelets - Very nicely done


----------



## Masterchiefxx17

Took both of these with my brand new TG-850 I did a review for.


----------



## WereBo

Nicely done MC, that flower in #1 has exposed well. A lot of cameras would've saturated the colours attempting to compensate, but it's caught the subtle shades excellently, and the detail is well defined.

Is that just a garden ornament in #3? :lol: - I like the faint rainbow effect of the glass surface, where the light's catching it :thumb:

I just read through the specs for the new Olympus and they look rather impressive, but then I've been impressed with Olympus from my 1st digi-camera :wink:


----------



## Masterchiefxx17

Yes, I agree. The flower in #1 did turn out quite well.

I was walking around the yard finding something to take a photo of and saw the bird in the front yard :grin:. It was the only thing that had some decent color to it. :lil:


----------



## WereBo

It takes a little practice to 'see' the possibilities, plus knowing the camera's capabilities (i.e. how good is the macro/super-macro results etc.), even a close-up of wood-bark/moss/lichen can give fascinating shots :lol:


----------



## Masterchiefxx17

My camera knowledge the best, but I feel like I do a good job here and there :grin:.

I'm one of those people who just use those point and shoot cameras.


----------



## WereBo

As you've proved with those 3 pics, the P&S cameras have improved drastically nowadays :thumb:


----------



## scott411

do I look like I want to move


----------



## WereBo

Hehehehehe :lol: - A lovely well-defined portrait, the detail is superb :thumb:


----------



## zuluclayman

ha ha scott411 - that's one happy chappy (dame?) :smile:

Here are a couple of processed DNG files shot as part of RAW video sequences - when shooting RAW video my camera outputs 25 1280x720 pixel DNGs per second of video - my camera can only shoot 12 seconds at a time (something to do with the internal buffer bottleneck) but the ability to adjust them in Camera RAW and the added range of colours and detail is great to work with - the workflow is horrendous but somehow worth it in the end.

The video is up on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/99443893

While shooting in the mall I had a run-in with the mall security guard who insisted I had no right to shoot there - I explained that a) it was a personal project not commercial, b) if I was shooting people's faces I asked their permission first c) current Australian legislation has no provisions of privacy from photography or video shooters when in public spaces...and on and on it went - back to the pics: first is a bit abstract: golden hour light playing on a fountain, second a walker in the walkway leading to Newcastle's phallic monument on the foreshore


----------



## WereBo

Mmmmmm, a lovely view of life in Newcastle, the evening light is beautiful for setting the evening scene, plus a nicely varied view of your city ray:

As for the 'Jobsworth', don't worry too much about it pal, everywhere has got 'em :sigh:


----------



## zuluclayman

The Drawing Room has been going mobile for the first Sunday of each month lately - first session was held at Nobby's Lighthouse, this month's was held at Wickham Motorcycle Cafe, a coffee shop housed in the shed of Wickham Motorcycle Co. Surrounded by some nice machinery (mostly custom vintage motorcycles) the model sat/stood in poses for 3 hours while members of the coffee shop public watched the artists drawing her - all in all a fun afternoon. They also do some custom trucks there:the first image is the counter in the adjoining MisKonduct Klothing shop selling retro clothing


----------



## zuluclayman

sorry for the 2 in a row post...well I thought I'd better show the model too :smile:
Zoe models for MisKonduct Klothing and agreed to do this session dressed in some of the klothing - the hairstyling was stunning...Victory Rolls anyone?


----------



## WereBo

Excellent portraits Zulu, it's definitely an interesting hair-do for the model - I also like the emergency beer-keg on the side of the 'MisKonduct' wagon too :lol:


----------



## yustr

Mrs. yustr hauled me out to a sunflower farm last weekend. Caught this little guy collecting for his hive. Hand held, 50 mm macro, F8 @ 1/350 sec, iso 200.


----------



## joeten

Very nice, though I cannot abide the creature it is always interesting to see them at work.


----------



## WereBo

Excellently framed and beautiful detail yustr though a tad dark ray:


I've been trying to photo the several bees that visit my balcony but:
1} - They won't stay still long enough and:
2} - Cos all the plants only get the sun from 'outside', all the flowers (+ bees) are on the wrong side of the railings for me to get at..... :sigh:











I did get a couple of nice 'specimen' flower-shots though and in my favouritest colour :grin:


----------



## zuluclayman

"Cos all the plants only get the sun from 'outside', all the flowers (+ bees) are on the wrong side of the railings for me to get at...."

You mean you haven't learned to levitate in all your Were-lifetimes? :laugh:

We have been having beautiful blue sky clear warmish (for winter) days for the last few days so I got out and went to the beach - this little inner city beach area (known as The Cowrie Hole) is a rockshelf next to the Ocean Baths and is a popular rock fishing spot and so is also popular with the local pelicans who hang about waiting for the successful fishermen to clean their catch and dispose thoughtfully of the waste. Here's some of the gang hanging out formal (B&W) style: LHS one seems almost to be fussing around "where did I leave my keys & wallet, what if I left the stove on..."


----------



## WereBo

A beautiful photo Zulu, having it B&W really adds to highlight the birds ray: - I suspect the 3rd pelican from the left is the guilty party, from the way it's smirking.... :lol:


Us WereFolks aren't developed for levitating, it's more running and, nowadays, shedding fur.... :grin:


----------



## zuluclayman

ah yes, the shedding of the fur - happens to us humans too :smile:

last night we had a really spectacular sunset due to the presence of a stream of high cloud - these are a couple I shot from the lane behind my house


----------



## WereBo

WOW! Stunning indeed, especially with the trees etc. in silhouette - Beautiful


----------



## sandman55

Wow some great pics guys I love those pink clouds zulu.


----------



## Done_Fishin

whilst both are great shots I prefer the second one .. love those colours and silhouettes !!


----------



## zuluclayman

thanks everyone - it was hard to take a bad pic of that sunset - social media went absolutely ballistic with images, everyone who saw it and had a camera, be it phone, point & shoot or DSLR took pics...and posted them to weather & news sites, social media sites (Facebook etc), Flickr...everywhere!

I have owned a variable neutral density filter since buying my present camera and it mostly sits on my go-to lens (24-105mm L series) and is used for either its polarising effect (A variable ND filter is just 2 circular polarising filters that spin over each other, decreasing or increasing the density) to reduce glare/reflection in harsh Aussie sun or to enable shallower depth of field by allowing me to use wider apertures.
Occasionally I use it for the other main purpose of an ND filter - to enable long exposures in daylight. I did this the other day, again at the Newcastle Ocean Baths & Cowrie Hole where the pelican pic above was taken. It was a lovely warmish (for winter) day with good light, a little windy and with cold water temps there weren't many takers for a swim. This meant the baths in particular really lent themselves to a clean look, no people, water smoothed off by the long exposure:





The surf beach next to the baths, the Cowrie Hole also came up well, the odd shaped structure is the pumphouse for the baths:


----------



## WereBo

That filter gives a really excellent mood to all the pics, along with the perspective in the first two shots - Almost surreal minimalism, beautiful :thumb:


----------



## sandman55

Nice zulu and the water looks tempting but I know how cold it would be :grin:


----------



## Vegassparky

Spent the day at Bryce Canyon yesterday. Spectacular, as usual.


----------



## joeten

The colour contrast is quite stunning


----------



## WereBo

Mmmmmm, lovely shots of an extraordinary place VS, not only the colours and textures, but the geological history on show too









Bryce Canyon is in the top 5 places to visit, if I ever get to the USA, Yellowstone Park and The Grand Canyon amongst t'other 'major' visits :grin:


----------



## olgun52

Great geological structures. That I'd like to visit. Thanks.


----------



## Done_Fishin

WereBo said:


> Bryce Canyon is in the top 5 places to visit, if I ever get to the USA, Yellowstone Park and The Grand Canyon amongst t'other 'major' visits :grin:


According to the "Experts" .. if you want to visit Yellowstone you'd better go now & sneak in quick ... 


Yellowstone Eruption Within Weeks? Evacuations? Fact Or Viral Satire? You Be The Judge | Environment


----------



## WereBo

Mmmmm.... That figures, Yellowstone blows in 2 weeks and I've just taxed my car for the next year! :nonono:

:grin:


----------



## Wizmo

I took these during the Grand Re-opening of the Cayman Catboat Cluhouse, George Town, Grand Cayman - re-modeled after 10 years of neglect after the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ivan. 

The fundraising for the rehabilitation of this over 100 year-old cultural icon on the George Town waterfront took 10 years and the involvement of many corporate partners. The "Whitehall Bay" building is listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. It is located adjacent to the world famous Lobster Pot Restaurant & Dive Centre.

Filename - IMG_896423-CR.JPG
Model - Canon EOS 60D - ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 16 - ISOSpeedRatings - 400
FocalLength - 32 mm









*
Does anyone know what these local flowers (weeds really) are called?*

Filename - IMG_896690-CR.JPG
Model - Canon EOS 60D - ExposureTime - 1/250 seconds
FNumber - 7.10 - ISOSpeedRatings - 400
FocalLength - 200 mm [MACRO]










Filename - IMG_896691-CR.JPG
Model - Canon EOS 60D - ExposureTime - 1/250 seconds
FNumber - 7.10 - ISOSpeedRatings - 400
FocalLength - 200 mm [MACRO]










__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


----------



## joeten

Boathouse looks amazing and the flowers, glorious.


----------



## Wizmo

I'm trying to find the 'before' picture of the clubhouse right after IVAN in Sept. 2004 which shows the level of devastation and the massive chsnge of this building since. The original roof and 'wattle & daub' construction was retained and a modern concrete and stell shell was built over (and inside) the original. The building and windows/doors are now hurricane rated. When I find that before picture I will post it.

__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


----------



## WereBo

They did an excellent job of rebuilding that clubhouse - I don't know what the flowers are, but I had to put my shades on to look at 'em :grin:

Really nice photos Wizmo, it's great to see local views from around our world


----------



## Wizmo

I just 'discovered' this forum by way of a mention in the recent discussions notices and decided to check it out. I have my own website hosting and ftp storage where I can host some of my thousands of photos which I have never made public.

I don't use any of the usual places like flicker or such as I try to keep my public profile very low and 'under the radar' for personal reasons. I've had too many of my photos 'stolen' without proper photo credit and have decided to fight back by simply not sharing anything. There was (and still is) a prominent local person going through a federal prosecution (more like persecution!) and ALL of the photos circulating of him are MINE, with NO PHOTO CREDIT being given. Where I have threatened legal action there has been some belated credit given, but it has been very little.

I'll try to be a regular contributor here, but will watch carefully to see if any of the postings get wider distribution, especially without proper photo credit.

__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


----------



## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> all the plants only get the sun from 'outside', all the flowers (+ bees) are on the wrong side of the railings for me to get at..... :sigh:
> 
> I did get a couple of nice 'specimen' flower-shots though and in my favouritest colour :grin:


If these plants are on a balcony in pots, they should be rotated 180 degrees on a regular basis to keep the growth balanced. This would allow you to get photos of the flowers and bees much better!

You share my favorite color as well!

__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


----------



## joeten

Add something to your pictures, you would know more about that than me but it might help.


----------



## Wizmo

I often use an embedded (ie hidden) watermark that can only be seen in certain software. This has worked in my favor several times, and resulted in some proper photo credit and even some compen$ation a few times. I shoot so much that it has become a hassle to do this, but in anything that gets published I still take the time to embed it.

Placing a visible watermark I feel mars the beauty and integrity of a photo.

__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


----------



## scott411

my best buddy


----------



## scott411

flowers just before dark


----------



## sandman55

Wow some great pics guys!


----------



## joeten

Real nice Dog there and the flowers are extremely pretty, I like the water droplet on the Rose.


----------



## WereBo

@ Wizmo - You could try putting a watermark on your photos for public view, it's not totally infallible, but it should dissuade the casual grabber. Another trick is to crop the photo slightly then post that publicly. You can then prove ownership cos you have the original complete picture.

I just quit 'Panoramio' (The public photos that appear on Google-Earth/Maps) for a similar reason, folks were stealing photos and reposting them, along with lots of problems with the site itself. Google had bought Panoramio and decided to let their guys 'upgrade' the web-site, nearly wrecking it in the process and they won't remove photos unless a court-order thingy is produced :nonono:


@ Scott - Superb pics Scott, especially the dog. I particularly like the Alsation in the snow, with the smaller dog looking like it's trying to shelter underneath it :lol:


----------



## scott411

thank you joeten and WereBo


----------



## Wizmo

Twilight is often a great time to get well saturated photos (witness the flower photos above) as the light is most diffuse and less harsh. Often a small amount of fill-flash will help to bring the exposure more into line as needed. I especially enjoy shooting sunset weddings for this reason.

When I do wedding photography, I always use a small amount of fill-flash, even outdoors in daylight to make harsh shadows less of an issue. It especially helps in "salt & pepper" (mixed ethnicity) ceremonies, and if the marriage officer happens to be much darker than the celebrants, even more-so. This is often the case in the Caribbean. Worst of all is a bride in brilliant white and a dark-skinned groom in a pitch black suit! Try getting balanced exposure without doing exposure bracketing, which often causes you to miss critical moments. It is very difficult to capture the fine details in a delicate white dress without such compensations. I use the fill-flash to equalize out the overall exposure to good effect most times (with a few exceptions).

We can only do the best we can with the subject matter and light available....

__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


----------



## Wizmo

I wanted to share the photo applications I find most useful:

===================================================================================== 
My favorite photo tools:

IrfanView (***FREE***! current version 4.38) 

*NOTE*: Use caution when using the built-in Windows Photo Gallery, as it physically _*CHANGES*_ photo files when you do any adjustments
for viewing, such as *ROTATE IMAGE*! That's why IrfanView is my *DEFAULT* photo viewing utility.

Corel Paintshop Pro (current version X6 - 1/10 the cost of Photoshop and all the same features!)

***FREE*** for the truly budget-minded there is also GIMP.
===================================================================================== 

That's it folks, my personal tool chest for photography. Been using these for over 10 years now, through many different versions and feature upgrades. There is a plug-in add-on for IrfanView which is VERY useful as well.

Many beautiful images, and much fun in the pursuit. :grin: :thumb: :wink:

__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


----------



## zuluclayman

some nice images folks 
gotta love a shepherd, so alert & smiling scott411

@wizmo - the flower from your earlier post looks to be lantana - a noxious weed here in Australia, once used in gardens decoratively but began to take over large areas of bushland - does it have tiny, tiny thorns on the stem?

I used to pass by this spot on the Hunter River every workday when teaching (usually at golden hour in late autumn, winter & early spring) and always meant to stop and shoot some video & stills but somehow never did - too eager to get home from work probably!
The other day I went up there specifically to shoot at golden hour - here's a couple from the shoot:








and a link to the video:

https://vimeo.com/103039990


----------



## sandman55

Nice Zulu both my wife and I enjoyed the vimeo.


----------



## zuluclayman

thanks sandy - hope all is well over in the great south land :wave:


----------



## WereBo

Beautiful scenes Zulu, tranquil and almost primeval, apart from almost hidden power-lines etc. - Definitely a wonderful place ray:


----------



## zuluclayman

@ WereBo - ha, ha...the old "camera always lies" trick!

While this spot does seem "tranquil and almost primeval"...

* less than 20 metres away is the main 4 lane highway going both North/South (old Pacific Highway, now renamed M1) and branching off in about 1-2km is the alternate North/South route via the New England Highway, favoured by many truckers.
* about 100 metres or so away (just the other side of the 4 lane highway) is the main rail line going both north (up the coast to Brisbane) and west to the Hunter Valley coalfields that pour coal into the Port of Newcastle which is the busiest coal port in the world.
* within 2-3km, scattered along the highway and just behind it are a number of light to heavy industrial businesses, including a shipbuilding yard, heavy engineering works, truck and caravan sales & service and others.

It's one of the things that drew me to this little reserve area that is sheltered by a few trees from the hurly-burly of the highway and rail line... it IS relatively peaceful, the river IS beautiful in spite of all that surrounds it...people can go there and pretend to be out in the wilds :smile:


----------



## sandman55

zuluclayman said:


> thanks sandy - hope all is well over in the great south land :wave:


We'll be better when the weather warms up, this has been the wettest coldest winter for some time.


----------



## zuluclayman

yes sandy, been cold here too but we've had the opposite problem: very dry - gardens and farms desperately want/need rain


----------



## yustr

New addition to the yustr family.

Meet "Bear"


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## joeten

A Cracker.


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## WereBo

Superb portraits yustr :thumb: - Allo Bear :wave:


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## sandman55

Hello Bear what a lovely smile.


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## zuluclayman

@ yustr - now that's a "happy face"

The surf was up the other day and I spent a couple of hours shooting some video of surfers doing their thing at Shark Alley, a surf spot at Newcastle Beach. 
It's called Shark Alley because there are 2 rock shelves with some water between - the main rock shelf is the northern one which has a kid's wading pool & the main Newcastle Ocean Baths cut into it, the other, lesser shelf is really just a bit of rock protruding from the sand of the main Newcastle Beach. (see first pic from Google)
The small stretch of water in between these 2 rock shelves (only about 20metres wide) forms an alley in which sharks were said to feed, hence the name - I've surfed there many times and never seen a shark.

The shot below is of one of the surfers making his way out to the break - rather than attempt to paddle through a whole lot of white water from the large waves, most surfers jump off the back of the rock platform & then paddle the short distance to the take-off zone - the problem is there are large waves that break on the rockshelf and there is definitely an art to timing your run & jump off! I have seen some rather horrific injuries to people who have mistimed their approach. 
This guy was almost doing a dance - he would tentatively go, then decide discretion was the better part of valour and retreat until the set of waves had broken, then go again, sometimes only to retreat again. 
He did get out and if you watch the video (link below) he is seen getting ready to go out then has the last wave of the video.

https://vimeo.com/103688153


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## WereBo

A wonderful video Zulu, it almost made me want to try surfing







.... Only almost though... :grin:

It's likely the sharks don't go there any more 'cos the chain-rail made it too hard for 'em to get ashore.... :whistling: :lol:


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## zuluclayman

ha ha - yep that chain would pull them up short of their meals WereBo

I went for a photo drive the other day, circumnavigating Lake Macquarie which is nearby and is Australia's largest coastal salt-water lake at 110 sq km.

Unfortunately we are in the middle of an east coast rain event and what started out as a nice-ish day ended in tears from the sky aka a torrential downpour. Not as many pics as I had hoped but did have fun with 6 second exposures, especially as in the 3rd pic where the sun broke through during the exposure leading to some flaring :laugh:


----------



## WereBo

A lovely set of pics Zulu, #2 looks really primaeval - I nearly spent some minutes waiting for the Loch-Ness monster to appear... :lol:

I really like the almost-rainbow rays down the left side of #3, the bright green really sets well with the dark waters and sky ray:


----------



## zuluclayman

thanks WereBo - the pics are in chronological order but you can see how dark it got with the clouds and rainstorm approaching in the second pic, the third pic was taken after outrunning the rain...it caught up soon after the pic was taken and followed me all the way home


----------



## WereBo

Taken on my balcony this morning....











Lunchtime.....


----------



## Wizmo

Looks rather intimidating, but nice image!
__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


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## sandman55

Nice zulu and I enjoyed the surf video. I have wondered about that wading pool and thought it was silted up with sand. Is that the case or is it intended to be shallow for kids?

@ WereBo you will have to charge that guy for bed and breakfast :grin: he is a colourful fellow.


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## WereBo

Thanks guys :smile:

@ Sandy - He's a 'she', or at least I hope so... Male spiders are usually smaller than the females, so if this is a male, I'd hate to see the size of the female









:grin:


----------



## zuluclayman

@ WereBo - "come in to my parlour..." big mistake :laugh:

@ sandy - yes it is just a wading pool for kiddies, there used to be a World Map Canoe Pool contained within it that had raised coloured concrete continents (pink for Commonwealth countries) so kiddies could paddle "around the world" :smile:


----------



## sandman55

Interesting piece of history zulu I'll pass the link on to my son.


----------



## olgun52

Interesting and a great shot. Thanks.


----------



## sandman55

WereBo said:


> Thanks guys :smile:
> 
> @ Sandy - He's a 'she', or at least I hope so... Male spiders are usually smaller than the females, so if this is a male, I'd hate to see the size of the female
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :grin:


We have some interesting spiders in this country as well. :hide:


----------



## WereBo

Yep, from what I can gather, most are poisonous and happy to demonstrate just how much









:grin:


----------



## olgun52

An interesting picture from the Black Sea coast.



















Panoramio - Photos by İsmail AKPINAR > ZONGULDAK-Kozlu-Ilıksu Plajı


----------



## Wizmo

"I don't like spiders and snakes, and that ain't what it takes to love me, like I wanna be loved by you...."

OK, name the song & artist! No fair Googling, do it from memory!!:whistling:

__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


----------



## sandman55

@ olgun52 that is what I call a true tree lover :grin:

@ Wizmo I can hear the song in my head but that is all. :grin:


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## WereBo

Very nicely details pics olgun, showing a good and simple cure for the potential problems of branches growing through roofs :grin:

@ Wizmo - I can remember Dolly Parton singing it with some guy in the early 70's, but his name escapes me. I think it's a guy who's not too well known in the UK


----------



## olgun52

@sandman55
@WereBo

Yes. Thanks.


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## zuluclayman

Port of Newcastle, one of, if not THE largest exporter of coal...we get lots of coal carriers in & out of port, a line-up sitting offshore waiting to get in to load and get away. 
While shooting some other shots of the harbour area this one was leaving port heavily laden - front on you can see the width and just how low to the water they travel. The second shot here shows a side view which doesn't give any notion of width but does show their length...big vessels whichever way you look at them


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## WereBo

Sheeesh! They could get the entire coal-mine in that thing! :grin:


Definitely not as elegant as what I was looking at yesterday though :wink:











I tried pronouncing the name, but got cramp in my tongue :lol:


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## joeten

Gift of youth Dar Młodzieży - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pronunciation Dar M?odzie?y pronunciation: How to pronounce Dar M?odzie?y in Polish
1 behemoth of a vessel and 1 of beauty.
Nice pictures guys.


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## WereBo

Thanks Joe, that's close enough to how one of the crew pronounced it, when I overheard them chatting to folks ashore :grin:


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## joeten

Your welcome I quite like looking for odd things and language can certainly be that.
(Say's the Glaswegian lol)


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## zuluclayman

yes, WereBo, yours is definitely more elegant and photogenic than mine :smile: :thumb:


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## WereBo

Returning home after the tall-ships event, the sunshine was too good to waste so I grabbed some macro shots....






































A pano from next to the Cutty Sark...










I saw these gulls swimming around, with the sun glinting on the ripples - I think thet pics have turned out lots better than what I was looking at :grin:






































The creek they were in....


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## joeten

Those flowers are just cracking the gulls are a little surreal probably the reflections all around.


----------



## Wizmo

@ WereBo
*Awesome* photos of the tall ships and assorted others! Someday I hope to attend such an event, either in Boston Harbor or better yet in your "neck of the woods." Thanks for contributing and making my day!

__________________
"Hide not your talents, they for use were made,
What's a sundial in the shade?”
- Benjamin Franklin

"Remember - HARDWARE is the part of the computer that can be KICKED!"
- WIZMO


----------



## WereBo

Thanks guys, it was definitely a memorable event - Hopefully repeated next year, if all goes to plan.... :grin:


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## Wizmo

@ WereBo
Did you see a Russian ship, STS Sedov in the display?

From Wikipedia:

The *STS Sedov* (Russian: Седов), formerly the _*Magdalene Vinnen II*_ (1921–1936) and the _*Kommodore Johnsen*_ (–1948), is a 4-masted steel barque that for almost 80 years was the largest traditional sailing ship in operation. Originally built as a German cargo ship, the _Sedov_ is today a sail training vessel, training cadets from the universities of Murmansk, Saint Petersburg and Arkhangelsk. She participates regularly in the big maritime international events as a privileged host and has also been a regular participant in The Tall Ships' Races.

I have a considerable amount of souvenirs from this ship as I visited it when it was in Norfolk VA back in the early 90's. One of my business associates (native Russian) got us a total behind the scenes tour including lunch with the Captain & First mate. It was here I first tasted genuine Beluga Caviar!

They made sure we had all the most important memorabilia including a medallion with the ship's name & image in bronze. It also included a pair of Cuban cigars, from their previous port of call!! If I can lay my hands on the medallion I will take a photo. It may still be at the family home in NC however.


__________________
"Hide not your talents, they for use were made,
What's a sundial in the shade?”
- Benjamin Franklin

"Remember - HARDWARE is the part of the computer that can be KICKED!"
- WIZMO


----------



## WereBo

No, she didn't make it here for some reason or other :sigh: - That would definitely be a memorable sight though, a 4-master sailing up the Thames.... :grin:


Back in Henry VIII's day, he built his 'Royal Naval Dockyards' approx 100 yards from where I'm living now. after the docks moved elsewhere, it became warehouses/docks 'til a few years ago, when the land was sold for 'development' (3,800 luxury homes, just what my area needs to reduce overcrowding.... :nonono

After the land was cleared (approx 40 acres) they decided it would be a perfect time for an archaeological dig, they eventually uncovered the entire history of the site from pre-neolithic times onwards, including the slipway that launched the HMS Bounty, the Golden Hinde and the 'Mayflower', amongst a host of other ships.....




















This shows how close Greenwich is from the site, the Cutty Sark....











Between 1697-98, Czar Peter of Russia toured Europe and stayed here at John Evelyn's house (of London Diaries fame) for 4 months, whilst studying ship-building at the yards. He then returned home and built his navy (which is where the 'Schtandart' enters the picture.... :lol.

When the corner of Deptford Creek/River Thames was developed recently, the Russians sent a memorial to commemorate his stay here.... (If you have 'Google-Earth' installed, enter Greenwich, UK and explore up-river to Convoy's Wharf, in Deptford :wink











There ya go, 1 potted history of my area, thus endeth the lesson for today.... :grin:


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## zuluclayman

We had our mini tallship festival...well just one tall ship in port for a visit - the HMB Endeavour, a replica of Cook's ship, came into port yesterday.
I had read about the visit and they gave the arrival time as 3pm or so. I figured I'd get to my vantage point (Stockton) across the other side of the harbour (so I could get the city skyline in the pics) about 45 min before just in case she made good speed and arrived a little early.
Forgot that I needed to stop for fuel on the way, got to the top of the high bridge connecting Stockton peninsula to Kooragang Island, glanced over toward the harbour to see the puffs of smoke signalling that Fort Scratchley's guns, and in turn the Endeavour's guns had had their little exchange salute and I was still 10 minutes from being there! grrr!!!!
First pics shows the Endeavour making her way down the channel into port... Fort Scratchley can be seen in the background atop the hill on RHS



the small pilot cutter acting as a tug to prod her into her wharf mooring:



snug as a bug in a rug...Endeavour at Queen's Wharf...the cathedral sits atop the hill in the background & Newcastle's harbourside architectural folly can be seen directly behind her stern...yes, a viewing tower shaped like...well you make up your minds what it is shaped like, this is a family forum :smile:


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## joeten

I will be honest I have no idea what you missed,what you got is worth the time and effort


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## WereBo

zuluclayman said:


> ......................
> 
> snug as a bug in a rug...Endeavour at Queen's Wharf...the cathedral sits atop the hill in the background & Newcastle's harbourside architectural folly can be seen directly behind her stern...yes, a viewing tower shaped like...well you make up your minds what it is shaped like, this is a family forum :smile:


What? We can't say 'mutated mushroom' here?.... :whistling: :grin:

She's definitely a fine looking ship, I'm always astounded by the amount of rigging those old ships have, how on Earth the sailors managed to remember what rope went where is beyond me :lol:

Will the ship be open to the public while she's moored up?


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## zuluclayman

@ joeten - thanks, yes I got some nice shots...had planned to video her entering past the lighthouse, firing off her canons & the reciprocal firing of the Fort Scratchley big gun... ah well, did get some footage and some stills

@ WereBo - yep, she's here for the weekend and open both days, might try to get in there and get aboard and shoot some stills/video if allowed...failing that find out when she will be leaving and see if I can get that

here's the newspaper pics & article...shows the gun salute etc.

here's a trial I did of the video I did manage to get... just trying out different ways of processing the RAW video footage


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## WereBo

You should get a job as photographer for the 'Newcastle Herald', some of those Endeavour' pics of theirs are useless, waaaaay too dark unless silhouettes are the 'flavour of the day'.... :grin:

It's an excellent video-clip, though I couldn't see any difference between the various settings


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## zuluclayman

Yep, the differences are subtle...just mainly the amount of grain added back in to give the clips a less sterile look...the second run through also has some diffusion added, again trying to lessen sterile, clean look.
One of the reasons for putting it up on Vimeo is to see what their compression does to the images...in this case it nearly scrubs the changes out :laugh:


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## Wizmo

*Re: Photo Gallery - Tall Ships*

@WereBo

I found the schedule for the STS Sedov on her website. You'll have to venture to Liverpool next year in March to see her:

STS Sedov scheduled in Liverpool UK, 22.03.2015 - 28.03.2015

2015 Schedule
schedule 2015 :: Schedule 2015

2014 Schedule
Barque Sedov online booking :: Booking

I also found the reference to the 1992 sailing of the STS Sedov at the bottom of the page here:

News about STS Sedov :: News :: Barque “Sedov”: operation “sail” and Strait of Messina.

"After sailing through the Strait of Messina, the barque will enter the Tyrrhenian Sea that borders on the Ligurian Sea with its port of Genoa, from where in the year of 1992 the international regatta “Columbus 500” dedicated to the quincentenary of the discovery of America started. The veterans of the “Sedov” still remember that unforgettable route: Italian Genoa – Spanish Cadis and Santa Cruz de Tenerife – San Juan in Puerto Rico – American New-York, Norfolk, Boston and finally Liverpool, crossing the ocean under sails filled with the powerful trade winds, heaviest storm during the passage from Boston to Liverpool and safe return to the home port of Murmansk."

__________________
“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.”
- Benjamin Franklin

"Remember - HARDWARE is the part of the computer that can be KICKED!"
- WIZMO


----------



## zuluclayman

I spent the afternoon in & around the harbour today...mostly shooting video...22GB of RAW video files  
The main purpose was to visit the barque Endeavour, go aboard and have a look and shoot video of her, inside & out. The port was really busy with coal carriers coming and going...so much so that the two or three sets of 3 tugs didn't bother going back to their berths but just sat at either the entrance to the harbour or down the berth end waiting for their next job to appear.

Some points I took away with me after my onboard visit:

* wouldn't pay to be tall on these ships...bunks were very short, hammocks even shorter in some sections and not much headroom anywhere
* there is a lot of rope involved - 29km on this ship alone! don't know whether that includes the cat o'nine tails beautifully bagged in a red bag (now I understand the saying "letting the cat out of the bag" a bit better 
* no toilet paper meant "using rope ends, rags or water"...hmmm! ouch!

Hope to have more pics over the next few days and a video :smile:


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## joeten

I think the saying jigging in the rigging is better understood now lol


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## WereBo

That was one of the things I noticed, when I went over the Cutty Sark a few years ago - Just how small the bunks were. I think they were 5'6", or thereabouts...

I didn't bother to find it later, but there's a video on Youtube somewhere, taken by a mother after she persuaded her teenage son to try one of the berths.... He was approx 6'0"-6'2" and looked like a cross between a spider and a giraffe being folded up.... :grin:











Even a ship the size of the Cutty Sark had very little headroom, 'tween decks...


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## zuluclayman

One of the crew members was telling how Joseph Banks, the botanist on Cook's voyage, who was a tall man didn't bother with the bunk in his cabin, allowing his dogs to use it instead, he slept on the floor.


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## WereBo

A novel way to get rocked off to sleep, during stormy weather.... :lol:


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## zuluclayman

HMB Endeavour left Newcastle yesterday...only doing a short hop up to Port Stephens.

I went in to see her go and shot more RAW video. I'll start wading through the process of transcoding the 30GB of video footage - have to convert each clip from RAW video file to DNG sequence, then to editable form which in my case is an .avi file encoded with a Matrox codec. 
Oh, and that 30GB of footage is only only about 13 minutes (unedited) of video...would hate to be doing a long form doco or narrative  

As she left she saluted Fort Scratchley with her 10 pounder...boy that makes a noise!


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## WereBo

Lovely pics of a wonderful ship Zulu, is she returning to Newcastle at all? - I must admit, since the tall-ships left Greenwich t'other week, it seems really empty around here now :lol:


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## zuluclayman

She does occasional voyages along the east coast of Australia, stopping at various places so will most likely be back at some stage. 
She is part of the Australian National Maritime Museum which is just 3 hours down the road (or rail) in Sydney, so not too hard to visit for a day trip if I wanted to.
This website tells about her.
One of the things I love about living near a working harbour is that there is always something of interest happening. 
Unfortunately, as part of the global economic times we live in, we have lost the dry dock facilities we used to have in the Port of Newcastle so we don't get quite so many interesting vessels visiting for work or play anymore. It was quite common to see Antarctic ice breakers, naval vessels, odd roll-on-roll-off container vessels, cruise ships and anything in between on the harbour either for refits, general maintenance or just visiting.
In my younger days I worked for 6 months or so at the old ship building State Dockyard and gained a love of maritime stuff. Later, working for TAFE lecturing in Ceramics our building was harbourside so was able to watch, hear and smell the dock areas :smile:

a couple of images taken from the top of our architectural folly (observation tower) showing the size of the coal carriers and also their friendly little helpers, the tugboats.


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## WereBo

The only boats working in Greenwich now (apart from an occasional tug towing a string of barges behind) are the 'Thames Clippers' ferry service, taking commuters up to London and back, with various stops along the route - Although practical for the job, there's no 'personality' to 'em, see one and you've seen 'em all :sigh:




















There are plans to (re)build part of the 'Royal Dockyard' at the end of my street so as to build a replica of the 'HMS Lenox', a warship built in 1678 in this very dockyard. If given the go-ahead (it's presently being 'processed' by 'The Bureaucracy'), it will take approx 8 years to build, so that will be an excellent project for me to photograph, as well as providing valuable links to Greenwich's maritime history... :lol: - *The Lenox Project*

Taken from next to the Cutty Sark, the proposed dockyard is where the low green(ish) row of sheds are, immediately behind the street-light....


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## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> Taken from next to the Cutty Sark, the proposed dockyard is where the low green(ish) row of sheds are, immediately behind the street-light....


I think if you look closely at that last photo you will find it is in fact one of the *thousands* of CCTV cameras placed all over the UK landscape. BTW, with all those cameras everywhere, who actually looks at and determines what is of interest and what is not? Surely there must be an enormous bureaucracy involved with the camera system??

__________________
“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”
-- Benjamin Franklin

"Remember - HARDWARE is the part of the computer that can be KICKED!"
- WIZMO


----------



## WereBo

It might well be, I've given up looking for 'em now, there's so many.... - A goodly few are just dummies, usually switched off for lack of tape-cassettes (A lot were never updated to digital), most others aren't generally monitored 24/7. They just record the scene for whatever period of time, then used for reference if anything naughty did happen, before being recorded over.


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## zuluclayman

The video I shot of the HMB Endeavour's visit to the Port of Newcastle is up on Vimeo now:

https://vimeo.com/106722069


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## WereBo

An excellent video of 'dock-life' and especially on and around the Endeavour', she's definitely a wonderful ship :thumb: - Unfortunately, Vimeo seems to have hiccups and refused to play nicely, so I DLed the HD version to watch.

I especially liked the final sequence, with Endeavour sailing out. The light on the water is beautiful, just a pity there wasn't a sunset for her to sail into :grin:


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## zuluclayman

Yes, Vimeo has some problems at times with smooth playback - at the moment I can't watch videos on Vimeo between 5pm-8pm - I think it is a combination of my poor internet connection and something on Vimeo's end.

Ha, ha - no sunset at 9:00am WereBo...at least not in this part of the world :laugh:


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## WereBo

Couldn't you do it with a sunrise, then play it backwards? :grin:


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## WereBo

Spot the spider.....











Here it is........ - It's amazing what can be seen, after cleaning the windows... :grin:


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## sandman55

I am reposting this as the images are a bit small maybe one of the Mods can delete my first post as it won't let me edit it after 15 minutes


Hi guys some lovely pics of ships and also your colourful lodger WereBo.

We have recently come back from a trip to the Outback where we stayed in a cabin at Wonoka station 7km north of Hawker, we took in the sights of around Hawker then up to Parachilna and Blinman where we enjoyed a lovely Quandong pie. A Quandong is a fruit (about 30mm in diameter) that you peel off a stone the peel a bit thinner than an orange peel and it is dried and then rehydrated when you want to use it. The Quandong tree is a parasitic tree in that it's roots tap into other trees roots for sustenance.
Quandongs - Australian Bush Food - Nullarbor Travel Guide
Santalum acuminatum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After Wonoka station we went to Arkaroola for three days where we went on the very bumpy Ridge Top tour which was quite an experience and after Arkaroola about 90km south we called in at Mount Chambers Gorge which is about the best Gorge of our trip it also included ancient Aboriginal rock engravings. There is a Chasm Mount Chambers Chasm there but we didn't find it, that place is bookmarked for a special trip on it's own. Mount Chambers Gorge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unfortunately I only had my point and shoot phone to takes pics I should have brought my point and shoot camera that has some zoom but the phone is so convenient. I will have to talk to my financial manager S.W.M.B.O. about buying a decent SLR with anti shudder and a decent lens because in my pics somewhere are some rock wallabys with yellow bands on their tails only they are too distant and will only be seen if digitally zoomed.

The first shots are of "Death Rock" It is a large rock by permanent water that it is said the Aboriginies brought someone that was dying and laid them in the shade of the rock by the cool water till they passed away.







The next two are of the ruins of Kanyaka Homestead - 1850 to 1870


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## zuluclayman

nice sandy :thumb:

One of my "to do" trips is to SA and then up into NT, the Alice, Uluru etc.

then there's the trip to WA which should just be added onto the one above...one day


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## WereBo

Lovely shots there Sandy and welcome back :wave: - I just followed your route on Google-Earth, I bet you clocked up some driving-mileage there, without the walkabouts at the various stops - Has Charlotte got any legs left, or are they worn down to stumps? :grin:


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## sandman55

Thanks Guys. zulu with your camping set up Chambers Gorge would be great only check with with someone maybe the Pub at Blinman to see that the road is OK and they haven't had too much rain. The road was fine for us and the Gorge 90 km south of Arkaroola and 9 km off the road on a good two wheel track a good part of it is the creek bed which was flat shale and good going though I guess if you were worried you could camp at the end of the track. There were two wheel drive vehicles there and on the day they would have had no trouble. Some of the tracks at Arkaroola that they had down as for two wheel drive vehicles were pretty rough.

WereBo we couldn't bring Charlotte as it is National Park in places. She has been up to mischief while we were away, two weeks before we left one of our chooks got out and Charlotte loves a chase, we found some feathers and thought it got over the fence but couldn't find it. We searched the yard and nothing, so I walked her around the yard to see if there was anywhere she was interested in but nothing. We got a call from our Daughter the day before we got back to say the month old remains of the chook was spread across the lawn also the dead body of a brown snake 0.9 metre long was on the lawn.


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## WereBo

Wow! She was lucky not to get bitten with the brown snake, unless she threw the chook at it to stun it first...... :lol:


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## sandman55

Yes she was lucky as there wasn't much of the chook left after a month to throw at it :laugh:

Here are a few more pics of our trip. The first one is of a permanent water hole in a dry creek on the sheep station that we stayed at.



This next one is of an Australian chicken :whistling: Colonel Sanders is very interested in them.



We came upon this guy and he kindly stopped long enough for us to get a few pics of him.



Some rugged country into Brachina Gorge



Heading back south toward Wilpena Pound.


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## WereBo

It's definitely spectacular scenery Sandy, is that all around the Flinders Range?

Re #2 - No wonder your daughter was a bit perturbed, if that's the size of the chook she found on her lawn.... :lol: - Even the mice are huge, if #3 is anything to go by.... :grin:


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## sandman55

WereBo said:


> It's definitely spectacular scenery Sandy, is that all around the Flinders Range?
> 
> Re #2 - No wonder your daughter was a bit perturbed, if that's the size of the chook she found on her lawn.... :lol: - Even the mice are huge, if #3 is anything to go by.... :grin:


I'm glad Charlotte didn't see that chook because she would have given it chase and probably ended up second best. :lol: :lol: :lol:

This old hut was on the station where we stayed and it has been renovated by people associated with the Heysen Trail and had multiple bunk beds for the hikers on the trail.


> The Heysen Trail is a long distance walking trail in South Australia. It runs from Parachilna Gorge, in the Flinders Ranges via the Adelaide Hills to Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula and is approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) in length.




The next pic is on the Parachilna Gorge road to Blinman.



When we left the station and headed north toward Leigh Creek we decided to leave the bitumen and drive on the old dirt road via Beltana and Puttapa gap MAP it was nostalgic for me because as a young man I worked for a short time at the Leigh Creek coal fields and all the road north of Hawker was dirt road. If you look at the map you will see that Leigh Creek is south of Copley but when I worked there Leigh Creek was north of Copley and in where the coal field is today but some years after I left, the town had to be pulled down and the new town built so that they could mine the coal underneath.

We turned right (east) at Copley and travelled 100km then turned left (north) 30km to Arkaroola for a few days and when we left there and headed home we went south for 90km to look in at Chambers Gorge which was spectacular.

The following pics are at Arkaroola. 

The next one is a pic of one of the waterholes on one of the so called 2wd tracks I've lost the name of the waterhole but it is so rugged I wont leave it out.



The next one is one of the waterholes on the way to Stubbs waterhole it is really something to see permanent water in such an arid area.



And the next one is of the Ochre wall. Ochre is a soft rock that the Aborigines would use to colour their skin for their ceremonies, the wall is gouged out by water when the dry creek floods.


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## joeten

You sure seen some rugged country and the last pic shows some real nice striations.


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## WereBo

750 miles for the Heysen Trail??? Sheeesh, I know Aussies like to go 'walkabout' occasionally, but...... I'd fall off the end of the UK if I tried that here:grin:

Stunning and fascinating pics though Sandy, 'prehistoric' seems too modern to describe the landscape - Did you see any velociraptors there? :grin:


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## sandman55

WereBo said:


> 750 miles for the Heysen Trail??? Sheeesh, I know Aussies like to go 'walkabout' occasionally, but...... I'd fall off the end of the UK if I tried that here:grin:
> 
> Stunning and fascinating pics though Sandy, 'prehistoric' seems too modern to describe the landscape - Did you see any velociraptors there? :grin:


Funny you should mention that... we saw a strange wee beastie going through Parachilna Gorge...... :whistling:


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## WereBo

Hehehehehehehe......







- Nice one Sandy :thumb: :grin:


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## zuluclayman

I was asked to document (mainly video, some stills) an unusual art event in Newcastle this weekend... the Newcastle Printmakers Workshop hosted a public printmaking event, "Roll Your Own", on the foreshore of the harbour. What made it unusual was the methodology: instead of a traditional printing press they were using a small steamroller (funny how we still call them steam rollers when they are no longer powered by steam) and the ground to make extra large prints, some measuring over 2 metres on the longest side.
Here are some images grabbed from video I shot - the first rolling I used 2 cameras, my camcorder on a tripod set for a continuous wide shot. I also had my DSLR on a small stabilising rig to get some close ups & B-roll shots...and a couple of times stepped into the wide shot


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## WereBo

Definitely a novel way to print up large posters etc. :grin: - A great set of pics of the event Zulu, it's a pity the sky was overcast, a bit of sunshine would have 'lifted' the pics nicely :lol:


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## sandman55

Good ones zulu and a good way to get the wrinkles out of the canvas :lol:


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## sandman55

Here are a few more from out trip. This one is when we went on the "Ridge top tour" it was a very rough track the driver was asked how far do they get out of a set of tyres and he said about 3000km and I can believe that because there is no way I would take my vehicle on that track. The vehicle following us went up what they called "the stairs" at the end of the tour you feel like you have been through a mill.



I quite like this one of the grass trees or what we call Yakka's they can be a quite long lived plant we have some near home at Mikkira Station that are 2000 years old and are quite tall.



The Flinders Ranges was once under the sea as this pic depicts.



This pic is of the Bush Tomatoes, the fruit makes a good chutney.



This one is of the "Sturt Desert Pea" as far as I know it is not edible.


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## WereBo

Wow! That's a spectacular view from the tops Sandy, though I'm glad it weren't me there :lol:

That seabed so far inland is amazing, especially when it's seen vertical like that - Then again, explorers have found caves in the high Himalayas that have seabed flooring.

A lovely splash of colour too :grin:


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## sandman55

Thanks WereBo I'll post a few more a bit later.


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## WereBo

Mmmmm, looking forward to 'em already.... :grin:


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## sandman55

The next five are the last in this series, it is our visit to Chambers Gorge a beautiful place and the camera doesn't do it justice especially my phone camera. I have to talk to S.W.M.B.O. and discuss my Christmas present a Digital SLR with anti shudder and a good all round lense that you don't have to keep changing, but what to choose as there is so much choice.

This one is of a sculpture at the start of Chambers Gorge.



The next two are of ancient Aboriginal engravings, the first one would have been better in a lower light, the concentric circles represent water, I should have photographed a sign that had the meanings of the others. 





The next one is of running water which makes all the difference to scenery in an arid area.

 

The next one is as far as we went into the Gorge, the creek is on the right out of sight. We must get back there sometime with a tent as there is so much to see.


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## zuluclayman

Ugh...you have now made my itchy feet even itchier sandy...have wanted to see some of these areas for a while and now...well they'll still be there a little later I suppose...BUT I WANT TO GO NOW!!!

Edit: If you're going to upgrade go with a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera sandy...smaller & lighter than lugging a full DSLR around and the models around now really take images the same if not sometimes better than full DSLR 

and here you go sandy...had a little play with that bright image:


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## sandman55

Thanks zulu the colours and circles are better now. I have a Fuji Finepix with 6 x zoom and that would have been better if I had brought it to bring in some of the animals though I think I should invest in something better, a couple of friends were telling me about cameras with anti shudder which sounds good though I have no experience of it. I will probably be a long time before I upgrade as I have a lot to learn and research and there is so much choice. Is the type of camera you are recommending a SLR in that you are viewing through the lens?

EDIT: I just found this to confuse me a bit more :lol: Mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## WereBo

More wonderful pics, especially the rock-carving :thumb: - Is there any approximate date for the ancient Aboriginal engravings?

Alternatively, if you don't want to lug various lenses around, try a 'Bridge-Camera' - They have most of the DSLR features, along with a lens system that ranges from wide-angle to long zoom, my old Fuji Finepix goes from 28mm-720mm (optical, it also has a 4X digital-zoom but that adds lots of 'noise'), approx 3 lenses for a DSLR.

The new cameras have even greater ranges, one of the top Fuji bridge-cameras goes from 22mm-1200mm (50X zoom), that's a zoom lens with tripod attachment on a film-camera :grin:


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## zuluclayman

that article covers all the bases sandy - the main differences are: 

* size and weight - they're smaller & lighter because they don't have the complex mirroring system
* you have no optical viewfinder - they use either just the rear LCD screen, or some have both rear LCD screen and an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) which looks like a normal DSLR viewfinder but the image is produced electronically from the sensor...early models sometimes had a bit of lag in doing this so weren't good for action shooting. I think most reputable brands have improved the performance of their EVF's to a more acceptable standard now.


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## zuluclayman

Last night we had a full lunar eclipse resulting in a blood moon - unfortunately the weather wasn't co-operating fully: had been raining in the afternoon and cloud banks were still scudding around the night sky.
I spent a couple of hours on the front verandah with my 70-300mm on my camera and shot some pics when there was no cloud over the moon...found it really hard to get good clean focus and detail...may just have been tired old eyes and standard quality lens, may have been a bit of city haze and rain mist still about in the atmosphere.
here's a progression composited from a few shots and one of the blood moon...still a little light on the left edge of it but after that the clouds came over.


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## sandman55

Thanks guys, I will need to study up on what all the terms mean.

@WereBo I have tried to find what the age of the engravings are I found this link
How old is Australian Rock Art? - Aboriginal Art Online

and it said



> Australian rock art shows some of the oldest-known artistic images by modern humans. However, there are considerable technical difficulties and uncertainties in dating rock art which make it difficult to determine the age of Australia's earliest rock art.
> 
> Australian rock art, while extensive and in places of great age, is nevertheless not the oldest in the world. Both rock art and portable palaeoart were made long before Australia was apparently first settled. The oldest currently known rock art is in India, at such sites as Auditorium Cave and Daraki-Chattan, but similar Acheulian rock art is believed to exist in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa.


@ zulu I have saved that Wikipedia link and will have to study it again as it has a lot of info. What you say about (in some) the image is produced electronically from the sensor sounds good as you see what you are getting like a SLR. I will have to do some research and then over Christmas or just after there should be some good specials. I would like to get a lens like you say WereBo that covers quite a range, hopefully one that has anti shudder for when zooming.


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## WereBo

A lovely lunar set Zulu, the eclipse wasn't visible from the UK, so I didn't mind the rainy skies so much :lol:

@ Sandy - Most cameras now have some form of image-stabilisation or other, the main fault I've found with most bridge-cameras is the lack of manual-focussing - In most instances, auto-focus does a good or excellent job, but there's always a time when it just can't lock on to the subject and the camera gets threatened with encountering a nearby wall at high velocity :grin:


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## zuluclayman

today I went in to the beach for a photography shoot with a mate of mine who is a semi-pro photographer (he works in IT full time but his employer also pays him extra to do their photography)
We had a cuppa at a cafe near the beach then went over to the beach, then the ocean baths to shoot some pics. Both of us had decided to do long exposures...I had my variable ND filter, he had 3 ND filters: a 3 stop, a10 stop and a 16 stop IRND 

His first exposure was 21 minutes! The Firecrest 16 stop IRND is almost like putting welding goggles in front of your lens. Doesn't matter if someone walks into your shot... they just disappear.
I ended up using his 10 stop as it was a very sunny, bright sky. Then he let me use the Firecrest for the last shot - 4 minutes 22 second exposure. 
The first pic is the long, long exposure (4min22sec) the others are 10 second exposures:


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## joeten

Wow, I can't find the right description for those, no. 1 just blew me away.


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## WereBo

Nice :thumb: - Long exposure and water do go together perfectly :lol:


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## sandman55

WereBo said:


> A lovely lunar set Zulu, the eclipse wasn't visible from the UK, so I didn't mind the rainy skies so much :lol:
> 
> @ Sandy - Most cameras now have some form of image-stabilisation or other, the main fault I've found with most bridge-cameras is the lack of manual-focussing - In most instances, auto-focus does a good or excellent job, but there's always a time when it just can't lock on to the subject and the camera gets threatened with encountering a nearby wall at high velocity :grin:


Thanks WereBo I have lot to learn.

@ zulu, great shots, I like the effect the longer exposure gives to the water and clouds.


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## zuluclayman

I am currently taking part in an online photography challenge - the idea is to post one B&W image each day for 5 days and nominate a friend/colleague to do likewise.
I have added a rider to mine: the images must be taken specifically for this challenge, not be ones I already have sitting on my HD, nor can they be colour images from my HD just desaturated each day.
I did this to make me think about the differences between colour photography and B&W photography - to me colour can be a distraction that can hide a multitude of sins. 
I do love colour photography & most of my images will always be colour.
There's nowhere to hide with B&W and you have to rely more on good composition and good tonality.

These are the images so far: the final one I will try to find someone for a portrait


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## sandman55

Nice zulu I particularly like the cups and the inkwell.


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## zuluclayman

thanks sandy...the cups and inkwell I set up as I would a studio shoot with 2 lights and a backdrop...finicky but fun and the results look better than just a quick snap.


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## sandman55

Yes the reflection off the cups is good and the reflection and transparency of the inkwell looks good as well. Also you can see the shadow to the right of the inkwell.


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## WereBo

Just echoing Sandy's comments really, the cups and inkwell work well, though the satellite-dish(?) also works well for detail and texture :thumb:


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## yustr

zuluclayman said:


> ... nor can they be colour images from my HD just desaturated each day...


How do you do that? Back in the day we used either color film or B&W. Now our sensors always see all of the colors. Where in post-processing do you convert the image to B&W.

BTW: I don't mean to denigrate the shots - they are very fine indeed. Especially the cups. (The bird - not so much :hide: )


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## zuluclayman

@ yustr - yup, the images are converted in post processing (either in Camera RAW or Photoshop)...I usually do some work in Camera RAW (in colour) then when in Photoshop I use a Nik plug-in (Silver Efex Pro) that allows a number of parameters specific to B&W to be adjusted.

All I meant by that phrase "... nor can they be colour images from my HD just desaturated each day..." was that I would actually take new images, specifically with B&W processing in mind rather than just find any old colour image on my hard drive and desaturate it...some colour images don't translate well to B&W


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## WereBo

@ yustr - There should also be an option on the camera's menu somewhere, for B&W pics :wink:


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## Wizmo

Hi Zulu,

The satellite dish shot looks almost like an infra-red exposure image! All in all great shots!


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## yustr

WereBo said:


> @ yustr - There should also be an option on the camera's menu somewhere, for B&W pics :wink:


Bo,

I shoot in (the) RAW :rofl: I'm guessing zulu does also. So the camera does no processing for us.


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## WereBo

Aahh right, I hadn't realised cams can't apply filters etc to RAW files, mine only handles .JPG :lol:

I imagine it would be easier for Zulu to shoot in (the) RAW, Summers are hot down there :grin:


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## zuluclayman

I do shoot RAW...but not in the raw...there's laws against that, even here in the hot colonies :laugh:
Last 2 days have been shooting a lot of RAW video - Hit the Bricks, a street art festival launched last year was on again. 
Well known national and some international street artists, mostly aerosol artists were invited to town and over the weekend (and some other days for some of the bigger projects) they transformed some bleak uninteresting walls into great examples of street art.
Saturday was hot (up to 38C) & extremely windy ending with a huge lightning storm (2 people were killed by lightning during this storm locally) making it very difficult for many of the artists.
Sunday was cooler and not as windy.
Both days I wandered around taking footage (40GB of RAW video  )
Here are some frame grabs...video will follow in about a week's time or so...these are unfinished works












A fuller set can be seen in the album on my public Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.837370159617590.1073741851.540080879346521&type=1


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## sandman55

Nice zulu, some really talented people there.


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## WereBo

Lovely pics of the event Zulu, though I don't envy the 38C







- On a positive note though, the paint dries quickly... :lol:


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## zuluclayman

ha ha...I think the paint was sometimes drying before it hit the bricks WereBo

last weekend I went up to one of my favourite nearby (2hrs drive) campsites; the Allyn River
I arrived Sunday evening around 5pm (planned that way so the weekend bush warriors had gone back to their suburban lives) and left Tuesday morning. From Monday 10am or so I had it to myself :smile:
First shot shows the van in it's favourite campsite, the next shows the pool and waterfall which is only about 10 metres to the right of where the van is - water was still a little cool for long swims but definitely refreshing! Last shot is of one of the many currawongs that came to my van in the mornings looking for breakfast...obviously campers had been feeding them over time. This one was one of the smaller among the crowd...but, boy, was he/she bossy! larger birds were told very quickly that this was his/her spot and they weren't welcome to share it!


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## joeten

Absolutely cracking shots, I wish I had the eye for it.


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## sandman55

Lovely pristine campsite zulu and you have captured the waterfall beautifully lovely reflections. I like the way you have captured only the bird and not the background, a friend was showing me how to do that with a setting on his mirrorless camera. He has an Olympus OM-D E-M5 I fancy the next model OM-D E-M1 a guy has done a review/comparison on it here Olympus OM-D E-M1 vs E-M5 - YouTube the bad thing is the cost. It is new out so I hope it will drop I am thinking about 14-150mm lens LINK I have looked on Kogan.com.au (Grey Marketing) and they only have the old model. I guess they will clear their old stock before stocking the new model but I will sit on the side lines and watch and wait.


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## zuluclayman

@ joeten - thanks, good subjects make it easier to get good shots :smile:

@ sandy - Nice cameras Olympus (my first DSLR was an Olympus)...both my sister and one of my sons use Olympus compacts. That 14-150mm looks good...nice wide end and on a micro four thirds body with crop factor around x2 that's equivalent field of view to a 300mm on a full frame body...makes everything look lot closer!


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## sandman55

Thanks zulu now I will bide my time, maybe Christmas or early next year.


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## WereBo

Superb pics of a beautiful spot Zulu, it's only the reflections that show there's water there (apart from the waterfall itself :lol

The currawong certainly looks an entertaining character, definitely used to humans from the way he/she's posing :wink:


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## Vegassparky

The low lying clouds in Vegas this morning made me think I was looking at the London Eye. Strange weather.


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## WereBo

Mmmmm that is a really nice photo, it's intriguing enough to make the viewer look closely, to see the faint clues through the haze, despite the clarity of the foreground - I like it lots ray:


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## sandman55

Yes and a pink to purple sky.


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## joeten

That is quite the optical illusion it took me a moment to see it, then I wondered how I missed it. Well done catching it.


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## Vegassparky

Glad you liked that one.  

Was driving home today, wanted to snap a cool desert pic, and something strange happened. The line on the road was as straight as the rail, but something freaked the processor out. It was oscillating back and forth on the display before I pulled the trigger. Made for an interesting image.










Whatever it was, it had nothing to do with traveling at a high rate of speed, on a beautiful day, over a long stretch of southwest interstate. LOL


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## Done_Fishin

The railing looks straight so it could just be that by luck you just caught the one place where the truck drawing the line had to move slightly and caused the affect! Your eye wouldn't have caught it because of the speed you were travelling and you were concentrating on taking the picture, plus as you said your camera was doing some funnies to you anyway. I have a Sony that decided to do what you describe and the whole picture distorts and not just one particular part when it did that.


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## WereBo

Aaahh so it's the camera, just s I was wondering what the road-crew had been drinking... :grin: - I still find it amazing how the US interstates appear to go nowhere, then suddenly a town appears from nowhere, in the middle of nowhere :lol:

Hi DF :wave: - Good to see you around :wink:


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## Done_Fishin

WereBo said:


> Hi DF :wave: - Good to see you around :wink:


Hi :wave: Werebo... yep, Still here lurking in the background 

I follow my Parents great advice of only talking when I feel I know what I am talking about, have something worth saying and I am NOT repeating what others have already said :whistling: :smile:

Most of the time I am late for the party


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## joeten

Better to be late than never go at all.


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## zuluclayman

I'm with WereBo Vegassparky...the line painters had the wobbly boot on for that section of road :laugh:

Here's some more long exposure (well, 10 seconds is longish in broad daylight) shots of my favourite beach & baths...Merewether

The last one isn't long exposure...just the opposite in fact...fast shutter speed to catch the wave splash


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## Done_Fishin

love the final two slow shots ... the first with the mist over the water & the strange rock formations! The second with the rock pool that looks like someone picked up crazy paving and put the rocks in the sand tomake the pool!


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## WereBo

Ditto to Zulu, excellent pics but those go beyond


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## yustr

Very well done clayman. :thumb:


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## sandman55

Lovely scenery as always zulu.

I have the camera and lense picked out and found a good price but I am having trouble convincing S.W.M.B.O. that I need it. She says what's wrong with your present camera


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## WereBo

That's about the same response as my missus, my camera takes better pics than hers, so why do I need a new one...... :nonono:

:grin:


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## joeten

But I was going to let you use the other one.


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## WereBo

There's too many buttons for her, plus it won't fit in her bag/pocket :grin:


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## sandman55

WereBo said:


> There's too many buttons for her, plus it won't fit in her bag/pocket :grin:


The too many buttons would be my wife's complaint. :grin:


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## zuluclayman

You can never have too many buttons :laugh:


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## zuluclayman

This evening I went for a drive into the harbour & beaches and took my camera (how unusual!) & tripod & ND filters...here are some longer exposure summer evening shots:


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## Done_Fishin

NICE !!!! Especially the third one ..


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## WereBo

Yep, #3 is definitely a wall-hanger :wink:


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## sandman55

Lovely shots zulu!


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## zuluclayman

thanks ppl...third is my favourite too


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## Masterchiefxx17

I agree as well! The third photo looks perfect!


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## Done_Fishin

This one is for Werebo, captured this little guy hovering just on the inside of Tatoi airfield. At first I didn't think I would have a chance of getting my camera out to grab a shot but it seemed so good at hovering whilst scouring the ground below that I eventually removed my backpack, grabbed the camera and started to shoot. I only managed 3 photo's at full zoom and these were the results. I was standing on the opposite side of the road from where it was hovering and had I moved across the road I would have had problems with barbed wire and boundary fencing! Qusetion is though , what bird is it ?? Possible a Kite ?? 






























These photo's were cropped from the originals


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## joeten

2 and 3 are nice though the head has dipped out of shot. you might find out from here what it is Bird Identification from Birdzilla,com


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## sandman55

Yes 2 & 3 are the best but 1 would have been a beauty if you got the focus. That's the luck of the draw when you have to be quick.


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## Done_Fishin

Shame that the camera decided to focus on the barbed wire instead of the subject matter .. I left it so as to give the idea that it was hovering for quite some time, both before and after getting the camera out. Really difficult keeping track of a small object (zoom was at max -21x) on the screen and virtually impossible if it is moving. Makes you realise what professionals have to do to get their great shots !


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## sandman55

Yes it's a shame the posture of the bird is good.


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## Done_Fishin

I suspect after looking at a few websites that it might be the Common Kestrel 

Photos of Common Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus


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## WereBo

Yep, that's a Kestrel, excellently caught especially for a 'rush-job' - Kestrels and Hummingbirds are the only birds that can hover at will, some others (gulls etc.) can mimic it, but it means having to fly slowly into a fairly strong headwind, with little directional control.


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## Done_Fishin

WereBo said:


> Yep, that's a Kestrel, excellently caught especially for a 'rush-job' - Kestrels and Hummingbirds are the only birds that can hover at will, some others (gulls etc.) can mimic it, but it means having to fly slowly into a fairly strong headwind, with little directional control.


I knew you were the man to ask !! :thanx:


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## WereBo

Hehehehe..... Of all the raptors, kessies are my most favouritest.... This is what one looks like fairly close to (and posing for the camera :grin, taken back in the mid-1980's with my Praktica 35mm....


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## sandman55

Nice.


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## Done_Fishin

Wish I could have got that close without worrying that I might end up as dinner or even a snack :lol:


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## WereBo

Hehehehe.... They're not that big, a Blackbird is about the largest they'll manage - In the 'hierarchy of birds-of-prey', emperors had eagles, kings hunted with Gyr-Falcons, earls had Peregrine Falcons and so on down to the common man who had kestrels :grin:


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## zuluclayman

Still see a kestrel or two over at the beach soaring about the place on the updraughts...they feed on all the small rodents etc that make the coastal shrubbery home...nice looking birds.

Speaking of the beach....today was New Year's Day, a public holiday and with temps nudging the high 30's in the suburbs many headed to the beach or baths. I took my camera over and shot some RAW video which I have yet to edit.
When capturing RAW video you end up with DNG sequences (25 frames per second of video) instead of video clips and the DNG's are edited in Camera RAW before being taken into your video editing software.
At only 1280x720 pixels they aren't as detailed as RAW stills shot on the same camera at its highest megapixel count but are still fun to edit and post online. 

Here are some from today:


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## joeten

Looks like you caught a lot of happy people, nice to see folks enjoy a lovely day.


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## WereBo

Lovely shots Zulu, though 1-4 look slightly hazy, possibly cos they're lifted from video. I know the seasons are reversed down there, but it still looks odd seeing folks in bathing-costumes in the surf on New Year's Day :grin:


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## zuluclayman

Ha, ha...same as for us Downunder...always seemed odd to have snow encrusted Christmas tree decorations, fake snow on the tree, log fires and snow scenes on cards etc at Christmas in the middle of our summer :laugh:

By the time I went over to the beach (after lunch sometime...2-3pm) it was very hazy from very high humidity and salt spray from a strong onshore breeze - the effect was stronger when facing north (#1-#3), not sure why #4 is showing the haze more than #5...was using a strong variable ND filter so may have had it ramped up a bit more.

Here's some more:


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## WereBo

I'm starting to get a bit jealous now, with all that warm sunshine :grin: - Still, we're on our way to Spring now, hopefully I'll be out with my camera again.... :lol:


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## Babbzzz

Marvellous pictures. I don't take many pictures, but here's a mediocre but recent one I took from my smartphone. I am no photographer (which can be seen below :grin, but here to learn so, I would love to hear from you. On a hilltop, the place is called Panchalimedu. A little history about the place.


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## WereBo

That's a far from mediocre shot Babbzzz, OK the phone-cam might let the detail down, but the framing and composition is excellent


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## joeten

I would be more than happy with a shot like that, Chances are I would have gone tumbling down the slope.


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## Babbzzz

WereBo said:


> That's a far from mediocre shot Babbzzz, OK the phone-cam might let the detail down, but the framing and composition is excellent


Framing and composition? :huh: Okay! If you say so! :whistling: :grin: 



joeten said:


> I would be more than happy with a shot like that, Chances are I would have gone tumbling down the slope.


It is a really nice place. There is a rock where we can lie down on our sides and see the mist covered mountain tops. No camera can reproduce that.

Let me see if I have anymore.


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## zuluclayman

The video from New Year's Day:

https://vimeo.com/115884776


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## WereBo

Ooohh sun, sand, sea and ladies in bikinis - What's not to like? :grin:


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## zuluclayman

@ WereBo....sand in your undies & between your toes in flip-flops, sunburn, sharks, bluebottles, jellyfish, seaweed, crowded surf (tore a tendon in two fingers running into another bodysurfer last year - still can't bend them completely down to touch my palm), ladies who really shouldn't wear bikinis, men who really shouldn't wear speedos (aka "budgie smugglers")....but no, you're right...what is not to like about the Aussie summer at the beach! 
But really, for all of the above, I love our beach summers :smile:


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## WereBo

Well, my first pics of 2015 - Sunday was like the 1st day of Spring, apart from the temps.... When I heard a loud clattering overhead and getting closer, I grabbed my camera and managed to snap these guys passing by:











Yesterday was wall-to-wall deep dark murky all day, apart from approx. 3 minutes while I wuz making a cuppa in the kitchen, I snapped the light hitting the tree-tops and Canary-Wharf, before the sun disappeared again for the rest of the day....


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## Done_Fishin

Apart from your statement about Sunday being the first day of spring When is the first day of spring 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2012, 2013? and wondering what you might have added to your cuppa as a sweetener ??!! ... Nice shots .. and sunshine too !!

Thought I would show you what the weather is like is sunny Greece !!

14 friends and myself headed on our bikes towards the mountains with the idea of going up & over then returning via the coast road. Unfortunately although the forecast was for 14 degrees Celsius we still had some snow on some roads and the climb up was forbidden by the authorities ... 

1.) Snowline 










So we turned around after the short detour and headed off to go around the mountain instead 

2.)Where the weather was slightly better and a little bit warmer although still slightly overcast!










3.) We headed off over to the left hand side of the photo and just behind where that mountain range comes down to sea level !











4.) By the time we reached Pachi, the fishing village we decided would be our new destination, the weather had turned quite nice & sunny - although still a chill to the breeze 











5.) The sunset was quite nice too


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## WereBo

Lovely pics there DF, it's nice to see green :grin: - I especially really like that last sunset pic too, spectacular deep colours ray:

I meant like the 1st day of Spring as it was so bright an' sunny, with birds chirping away to each other too, it was only the near 0C temps that ended the similarity :lol:


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## zuluclayman

nice pics from you both WereBo & DF...looks like a tough climb DF but worth it for the view.

A couple more evening sundown shots from Merewether beach....

All Newcastle beaches have been closed to swimmers/surfers for 7 days running now because of high levels of big shark (great whites) activity...this is very unusual and has sparked a lot of debate:

some saying they're out there all the time, get over it and realise that the ocean is not really our domain and we swim/surf at our own risk...many have been doing this during the last week

others saying that this level of large shark activity close to the surf beaches is highly unusual and we should keep out of the water while there is this level of activity

then there's the "kill 'em all" minority who feel the authorities should be ridding us of risk

This article and its links show the local media coverage

Me, I have stayed out of the water mostly because I know my reaction times have slowed and my vision not as good as it once was...I'll go in close to shore perhaps today or tomorrow

EDIT: the newspapers have just reported that the beaches will remain closed all weekend because of further shark sightings close to swimming areas...this is the first time I have known beaches to be shut because of sharks for longer than an afternoon or so...south of Sydney a spearfisherman has been bitten on the hand by a shark this afternoon....SHARKNADO!!!!


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## WereBo

Lovely evening shades Zulu







- Although sharks are bad for the local trade, empty beaches are just as photogenic.... :lol:


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## sandman55

Wow I haven't been here a while and so many good shots. I cant get over how many people you cram into your beaches over there zulu.


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## zuluclayman

Yep...we sure do cram them in....unfortunately...it's one of the reasons I rarely pull the surfboard out of the shed these days.
I suppose it's to be expected when I think population-wise we're the 7th biggest city in Oz - bigger than 2 state capitals - Hobart & Darwin.

The beaches have been a little more deserted this last week with the shark scare...once it's over and school holidays still in force, I'm sure we'll go back to larger crowds.


On another note...

A while back we had the second installment of the Hit the Bricks street art festival in Newcastle where national, international and local aerosol artists were invited to make major works on walls around town...the businesses contributed to the costs and in return had a wall painted...some of the walls were huge and in very conspicuous locations, some smaller and more hidden.
I went around on the first weekend shooting footage of the artists working then went back the next weekend to capture the finished products:

https://vimeo.com/116619732


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## sandman55

Great clip. They are so talented and so accurate with a spray can. Good to see some with respirators on.

I remember as a young bloke in winter at a top surf beach there might be only two out in the water and in summer you could have a wave to yourself.


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## zuluclayman

> I remember as a young bloke in winter at a top surf beach there might be only two out in the water and in summer you could have a wave to yourself.


ah...the good old days, I started boardriding in the late sixties...we've always had reasonably large crowds around the Newcastle town beaches, surfing has been very popular for a long time here...we'd go a few km north or south and usually end up with good waves and small crowds, if any...had a mate whose catch-cry was "somewhere else will be pumping...let's go look for waves" often ended up with lots of driving, very little surfing, but fun anyways :laugh:


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## sandman55

We had one surfing holiday where we had great surf along the Great Ocean road to Melbourne so the next year we did the same trip with two car loads and then back across to Cactus beach where it was so big I got dumped and came out with my tail between my legs we then went to Fishery bay south of Port Lincoln and got the best surf at home of the whole trip.


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## WereBo

WOW! What a brilliant way to brighten the town up ray: - The only graffiti we get around here is usually barely legible vulgarities.... :sad:

Very nicely captured Zulu, with both the creation and end results


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## zuluclayman

thanks WereBo...we get plenty of tagging here too, the downside of aerosol

One of the benefits of being a pensioner here in NSW is I can buy a $2.50 ticket that allows me to travel on government trains buses & ferries for a day (travel must be completed before 4am)
The other day I hopped on a train and travelled to Sydney (3hrs away). Once there hopped on a city circle train to Circular Quay...then slowly walked back to the main station and caught a train home. 
Of course I had my camera with me...shot some people & some buildings:


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## sandman55

Nice shots zulu. I liked the corrugated background of the first one and the mirrored effect of the fourth one and I particularly liked the composition of the last one with the tall building leading down the steps to the person sitting on the bottom.


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## WereBo

A lovely set of photos Zulu, similar likes to Sandy, though I'm slightly curious as to the cylindrical construct at the top of the steps - Surely not a water-pump (thinking of the pump-house at Mereweather-pool :grin


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## yustr

Yeah, there was a bit of snow today. Especially if your legs are 3" long.


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## zuluclayman

Ha,ha...love the first one...someone has been dipping their snout in the snow! the light dusting on the top of the head and behind the collar looks great...nice detail in the fur too.
The second one's white balance a little out? appears pinkish to me...poor little bugger would have been cold after this outing, chest deep in snow...looks like he's saying "come save me?"


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## sandman55

Nice looking dog, it's three inch legs aren't much good in the snow. Have you considered doing something like this :lol:


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## zuluclayman

ha, ha...sausage dog that ran away to join the circus?

I went for a walk along part of the foreshore of Lake Macquarie today, mostly doing some video shooting of some artworks I was involved with the making of.
I only shot one still image, not of the artworks but of an upside down tinny (aluminium dinghy):


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## WereBo

Mmmmm, lovely shots yustr the detail in #1 is excellent, as is the pose and expression in #2 :thumb:

@ Sandy - Isn't that a bit of a tall order for Charlotte's dinner? :grin:


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## sandman55

Don't worry WereBo a nice long bread roll and some tomato sauce and all that would be left would be the stilts :lol:
From the looks if that tinny zulu it could tell some fish tales.


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## zuluclayman

@sandy...yep, looks as if it has scraped a few rocky shores in its time.

More from the lake...not having much food in the house I decided to get some take-away and have it by the lake...and take my camera of course. 
I took some long exposures as the evening progressed...very cloudy, gloomy sky so images are intentionally dark & sombre looking...makes a change from the gaudy oranges, pinks, blues & purples often seen in sunset images (guilty as charged at times)
The skinny looking "road" is a shared bike/walking path that goes around this part of the lake shoreline...both images' streaked car lights show where the road is.


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## WereBo

Mmmmmm, stunning pics again Zulu, you've really caught the gloomy mood perfectly - I really like the 'selective star' effect on the brighter lights in #2 ray:


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## yustr

Had a bit of a thaw this past weekend - the sun came out and it actually got above freezing for a short while. 

Took the opportunity to capture a few scenes. The birds were shot through my double pane window using my 200mm. The droplets were done with my 50mm macro.


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## zuluclayman

Well done yustr - quite good clarity for being shot through double glazing and at 200mm...you can see the rhs sparrow has a grain in its mouth...first shot is a good one too...like the composition, especially the empty space left at the top centre & right.
I'd like to have a go at shooting snow shots...only ever been to the snow here in Oz a couple of times many years ago


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## yustr

zuluclayman said:


> ...
> I'd like to have a go at shooting snow shots...only ever been to the snow here in Oz a couple of times many years ago


So get on a plane...we have plenty. :grin:


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## WereBo

As above, lovely shots yustr - Your windows are obviously a lot cleaner than mine... :grin:


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## zuluclayman

no snow, plenty of sunshine and a waterfall...a 3 hour round trip to buy some clay for some classes I teach turned into a nice picnic at a nearby waterfall:
first image is the rocks & river above the falls:


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## zuluclayman

on a sadder note: some of you will have seen my posts showing one of my favourite haunts...The Upper Allyn River...I have made a video and lots of photographs of the surrounding river landscape including the falls and pools at Ladies Well.
Last weekend a family visiting the area were involved in a tragedy when one of their number slipped from the top of the taller waterfall and became caught in the turbulent waters in the pool below...despite her family's and an onlooker's efforts she died.
Such a sad occurrence in one of my favourite places:
More here
one of my images from this place: (the waterfall in the background is where the lady fell)


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## Done_Fishin

Beautiful photo's but now marred for you by that tragic incident. No consolation but if ones days have to come to an end, at least hope that it in happens in such beautiful surroundings!


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## zuluclayman

my thoughts exactly DF...I've actually thought a number of times while up there that if something happened & I died up there at least I would have taken my last breath, seen my last landscape in one of my favourite places and not at work, in hospital or somewhere with no redeeming features not that I'm planning to step off this mortal coil anytime soon :laugh:


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## WereBo

'tis a truly beautiful place Zulu, any of those 3 would look superb enlarged on a room-wall ray:

It's a tragedy about that family's loss but that's the circle of life, people come then they go :sad:


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## WereBo

After last year's various health issues, I weren't able to get out much, and the days I felt well enough had lousy weather...... :nonono:

Anyway, yesterday (Saturday) was excellent weather so I took my camera for a walk around Greenwich......

One thing I really disliked about walking to Greenwich was having to leave the riverside walk to get to the bridge over the local creek, then back to the riverside path. Well, the local powers-that-be have kindly built a new footbridge for pedestrians. The whole thing swivels to let boats through (yellow ring underneath the bridge, left-hand side).











I was surprised this shot turned out like it did, considering it's straight on to the sun.... :lol:











A rather futuristic-looking river ferry.....











Looking up-river towards London, the '*Walkie-Talkie*' building (famous for melting cars etc., a couple o' years ago) is dead-centre.....











Confession time
I tried.... I tried so hard. but I couldn't resist getting yet more shots of the Cutty Sark......



















I've had this shot in my mind since I 1st got this camera, but crowds, weather or market-stalls always got in the way, 'til now!!!


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## zuluclayman

good work WereBo...always interesting to see other parts of the world...love the last Cutty Sark image


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## joeten

No apologies needed those are some real sharp shots, good work and the one you mentioned being direct sun worked.


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## WereBo

Thanks guys, the blue sky and sunlight does make a lovely backdrop for the rigging, though I do feel sorry for that guy still stuck up in the rigging (right-hand side of the mast, lowest crossbar. you can just see his shoulders and head****) :grin:

The Royal Observatory (and statue of *General Wolfe*) behind *Queen Anne's House*, behind the old Royal Naval College....











The 'Painted Hall', used as the officers mess. When the Naval College was still used by the Navy (it's now part of a 'local' college, 'Woolwich Polytechnic', also my old secondary-school... :lol, this was their view of the ceiling. I certainly admire the skill and handiwork in such art, but it still does nothing for me....











All the 'ranking' officers had their own separate mess, next to the main one....





























First time I noticed this, I suspect it's a loading slipway for the barges, when the area was used as docks and warehousing....











I can't remember whether I've posted this before, alopogies if I have and blame it on 'Senior moments'... :lol:





































The story connected to it all....











Finally, some seagulls...












****
The guy up the rigging, taken a year or 2 ago :grin


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## NEOOOO2

How to upload picture???


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## oscer1

hi their is a couple ways you can do it. can use go advance button and choose manage attachments and upload it. or you could use photobucket and copy the image tag and paste it into a reply.


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## NEOOOO2

Travel in Nepal ...


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## NEOOOO2

Done,Thank you ,oscer1


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## zuluclayman

hi NEOOO2...welcome to the corner...nice pic from Nepal, would love to get there one day.

Hi to all... have been itching to get away in the van again and finally did an overnighter in the Watagan Mountains which is only an hour or so's drive from home. While there I went to the Gap Creek falls...beautiful, but, oh what a reminder of how unfit I have become!
The walk from the carpark to the falls is about 800mtrs...the last 450mtrs of which is nearly vertical downhill. This also means that the first part of the return journey is 450mtrs straight up! This in 35C temps with 80% humidity...I'm getting too old for this :laugh:
By the time I got back to the van I was literally shaking with fatigue.

Add to this the fact that there are many leeches just waiting for a suitable host to ride around on sucking their blood.

The photos:







The campsite I stayed in was called The Pines... and yes, I enjoyed the sound of the occasional small pine cone dropping on the van roof throughout the night!


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## Done_Fishin

Thanks to all for sharing beautiful pictures of their travels especially to werebo who shares pictures regarding my heritage in areas that aren't so far from where I was raised as a kid yet NEVER managed to visit and to ZCM for the insight into foreign lands that I had once planned to visit and still waiting for the right opportunity to fullfill!


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## WereBo

Hi NEOOOO2 and welcome to the Photographers Corner :wave:

Lovely pic of the monkey, though I reckon he needs a few more lessons about hiding successfully :lol: - What camera are you using?

Wonderful pics Zulu, I still keep expecting to find something prehistoric peeking around a tree, I especially like #3, the stone makes a wonderful backdrop for the palm ray:

@ DF - You're welcome, that's the idea of this thread :grin: - I must admit, I still enjoy looking up the places here, on Google-Earth :lol:


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## zuluclayman

thanks WereBo & DF

Once again I found myself going to Beaumont St in Hamilton...known as "eat street" because of its many restaurants/food shops, it is also where many of the early 1950's wave of European migrants (mostly Greek, Italian, Macedonian & what was Yugoslavian) first settled and set up businesses.
I took only my camera and the "nifty fifty" (Canon 50mm f1.8) lens with a variable ND filter on front so I could keep a shallow Depth of Field and set myself to take mostly images of the people.
Here are a few of the pics:


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## WereBo

A nice set of every-life shots Zulu :thumb:


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## zuluclayman

thanks WereBo...I'm just starting to be more confident in, and enjoying taking "street photography" pics of people as well as places.

Went in to one of my other favourite haunts the other evening...the harbour foreshore in the Port of Newcastle...with a rain squall approaching it wasn't as welcoming as the sign proclaimed:



a coal carrier leaves port disappearing into the oncoming rain squall accompanied by a flotilla of tugs and fishing trawlers:


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## oscer1

don't remember if i posted this before it's my avitar though


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## WereBo

@ Zulu - The rain clouds do add a lovely gloomy and mysterious effect to the scene, excellent shots :thumb:

@ oscer1 - A lovely pair of pooches oscer, are they praying for the cat to fall off the ceiling, or waiting patiently for some food? :grin:


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## oscer1

I had a treat in hand. They will sit until I give them a treat. Was my favorite pic of them.


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## WereBo

oscer1 said:


> ......... Was my favorite pic of them.


Hehehehe, I can see why :wink:


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## SABL

oscer1 said:


> I had a treat in hand. They will sit until I give them a treat. Was my favorite pic of them.


Basset hounds?? I had one long ago.....she tripped on her ears when she was a puppy......:rofl:. Those dogs can eat!! A BIG plate of leftovers was placed on the back deck for the dogs to share.......she ate it all and looked to be in great misery afterwards. She just lay on the deck and wouldn't move.....belly was completely distended......:huh:

Good natured dogs as long as there is no food involved. My g-kids would ride her like a horse......:grin:. Her ears were the reins......:laugh:. We never let the little ones put their full weight on her......they just straddled and walked with her while holding her ears......yanking was not allowed.


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## zuluclayman

This Easter weekend saw the Australian Street Rod nationals come to my home town...so I went off with my camera to capture some images... the full set can be seen on my Photography & Video Facebook page

or there is a limited set on my Flickr account


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## joeten

I will look later, too late and bed is beckoning, but I like that shots you posted. Later.


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## SABL

Nice pics ZC......:thumb:

I don't go to auto shows much.......old guys drooling is not a pleasant sight....:laugh:. I used to see cars like that on the street when I was young.......drove a few and owned a few, myself.


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## WereBo

Excellent pics of some beautiful cars Zulu, I like the Facebook collection too ray:


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## zuluclayman

@SABL - yep, in the early '70s my friends and I all owned a motley collection of '52, '53, '54 Chevvies at different times...we would put in $30-40 each and buy one for around $100 - they were usually pretty clapped out with little registration left so we would drive them until they broke down irrevocably or ran out of rego then look in the paper the next weekend to see if we could find another...they were good for us surfies as we could take the back seat out and put the boards through from the boot into the cab...this was so we wouldn't be the target for the overzealous Highway Patrol cops who liked to pick on surfies, issuing defect notices on our cars that meant they had to be inspected "over the pits" - a fine toothcomb inspection that invariably led to the car being taken to the wrecking yard.

@ WereBo - thanks


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## SABL

Not sure if you have me by a few years, ZC. I started driving in '68 and the earliest car I drove was a '55 Chevy. The oldest car I've owned is a '57 Chevy.....I've also been behind the wheel of a '56 Chevy. The '55 was a 348 ci with tri-power and 3spd. '56 was was 327 ci 365 hp.....also a 3 spd. Neither car had the original engine which would have been a max of 265 ci. In '57 the 283 ci was introduced. I owned that one and kept the original engine.....a few mods along with 4spd tranny proved to be a good combo. How I survived those years is a mystery.....


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## zuluclayman

> How I survived those years is a mystery.....


ha, ha..yes...when I think back to some of the crazy stunts we pulled as teens/early 20's I too wonder how I made it through them...one of the more memorable was taking one of our more reliable '54 Chevvys up to 100mph on a long downhill straight that ended in a reasonably sharp left hand curve...getting up to the magical 100mph was a buzz, but slowing enough to take the curve safely was hair raising in a car with not so good brakes!



> Not sure if you have me by a few years, ZC.


I liked the '54 Chevvys because they were made the year I was born :thumb:


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## WereBo

After sweeping my balcony of a Winter's worth of leaves and 'deadery' (literally a bucket full of sycamore leaves and seeds, squished down), the first photos of the plant's appreciation... :lol:





























The Night-Scented Jasmine is getting ready to open too (against the grey brickwork, just under the green hanging-basket)....


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## WereBo

I decided to explore the Tower-Bridge-London-Bridge riverside, t'other day, starting at 'Shad Thames' (immediately next to Tower-Bridge). No fixed meaning of the name, apart from possibly a corruption of 'St John-at-Thames', a church that used to be in the area, back in the 1700s.

What used to be warehouses have now been transformed in trendy 'apartments', at extortionate rents...





















A Victorian post-box, back in the day when snail-mail was quick.... :lol:











Tower Bridge, with the 'Walkie-Talkie', The 'Cheese-grater' and the 'Gherkin' behind....




















City Hall, looking like the aftermath of a strong wind....












Tower of London, with dire warning... :grin:


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## joeten

It could be the Parmesan, Gherkin and Cheese grater lol.


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## WereBo

Hehehehehe, there's enough cheese further up-river, at Parliament..... :grin:

A failed pano of HMS Belfast, it was just too long to get in 1 wide-angle shot :lol:











I was wishing I'd remembered to bring my frying-pan and some eggs, at this point.....






























Old and new - The remains of St Dunstans-in-the-East church, it was severely damaged during WWII....











The Addams Family's new London residence is looking promising.....











4 bridges - London Bridge, Hungerford Bridge (railway into Canon Street), Southwark Bridge Blackfriars Bridge....











St Pauls dome behind the train-entrance to Canon Street...











No. 1 London Bridge.....




















Southwark Cathedral....











All that now remains of Winchester Palace....




















The Golden Hynde exact replica of the original Golden Hind - Trying to photo a ship painted black, that's in almost permanent shodow is no fun....











Finally, I saw this painted over the fireplace of a nearby pub (The Market Porter), that sells a really nice ale called 'Cornish Mutiny'....


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## Done_Fishin

werebo, very nice shots apart from "that one" .. I think you need to learn about HUGIN 

Hugin - Panorama photo stitcher

take overlapping shots trying to keep the camera pivoted under the lens, then use hugin to staple them together. Before you make the final picture you can pull the resulting preview around to look good & straighten it up. I like the program and have found it very handy. Only thing it doesn't seem to do properly is stitch horizons when there are no shore lines to buffer blue seas and sky. 

I particularly like those old warehouses that sit along the Thames around London Bridge, reminds me of my days as a GPO Apprentice Technician rushing to get to work after getting off the train at London Bridge, possibly heading in the direction of Fleet St or Blackfriars Bridge .. That was back in 1968 ... a lot has changed since then ..


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## WereBo

'That one' was taken using the camera's panorama function, I was taking the shots at a wide-angle setting, with the subject also at an angle, hence the bend in the middle of the ship :lol:

I've used the setting previously and it worked wonderful, this time it just weren't happy to do so :sigh:


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## Done_Fishin

Perhaps it's just me but I have never liked the "built in" panorama function that cameras offer so I always take lots of photo's & use Hugin .. apart from anything else I stitch a lot of photo's together that have a lot of detail .. 

your other photo's above look great though so I suppose it's just me ..


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## WereBo

I was a bit wary of the pano setting when I 1st got this camera, but I eventually discovered that 9/10(ish) shots worked well. I can only save as .JPG so I'm losing a fair bit of detail anyway.


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## zuluclayman

Over the last week we have had a major "1 in 100 year" weather event (the second in 8 years...the Pasha Bulker storm was similar)...a huge, slow moving East Coast Low...they are characterised by intense winds and major dumps of rain (over 4-500mm in a 24hr period in some cases this week)...the system that affected us had the extra hit of being very slow moving so sat in much the same place (just off the coast of Newcastle) for a couple of days lashing us with constant rain and winds up to 165km/hr.
The end result of this was much damage to houses (loss of houses completely in some cases), major flooding, thousands of trees uprooted, electricity cut to over 200,000 premises (many for a number of days, some still not reconnected...storm started on Monday)...all this over an area from Newcastle to Wollongong with the worst in Newcastle and the surrounding region. Unfortunately some lives were lost with people drowning in floodwaters.
My house (and my 88yr old mum's) was OK but I lost power for 3 nights...house camped using my photography & video LED fixtures with long lasting batteries...and conserving my dwindling hot water as best possible, the 12v fridge in my campervan for food storage...am lucky to have gas cooking so meals weren't a problem.
I went over to my son's place the other day (he was in an area unaffected by power cuts) to charge all my devices and some spare LED light batteries and while waiting for them to charge went for a wander to one of the main city parks, Civic Park, which had suffered a lot of tree losses.
The Captain Cook Fountain was still running and seemed like a more positive shot to take than the decimated trees littering the rest of the park:


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## Done_Fishin

This photo was originally 2 shots taken using macro mode on my Nikon L310 then stitched together using Hugin .. 

12/4/2015 Greek Easter Sunday, just outside of the town of Hydra (the island of Hydra) 










I post it to remind you what sunshine looks like when one is in front of a lot of beautiful flowers !!


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## Done_Fishin

Just saw your photo ZCM after posting mine .. had seen some news here in Greece about bad weather in Australia but hadn't realised it was so bad .. normally we only hear about forest fires. 
Sounds like that campervan of yours was a great idea at trhe time and must ba a great help to you right now .. don't you have charging facilities from the ciggie lighter in the van or is it a 6V supply rather than a 12Volt one ??


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## zuluclayman

yep - it was good to have it there DF. I have 2x100ah 12v deep cycle auxiliary batteries in the van...I can (and did) use them to charge my phone and laptop but was trying to conserve battery charge for the 40L fridge so I could keep food...we were told that some areas would not have power until either the weekend or next week (some are still not reconnected) and when no power available, driving for a few hours is the only way to charge the van batteries...and it hasn't been the best weather for a drive with flooded roads and many unsafe trees around 

This is a common sight driving around the suburbs of Newcastle at the moment...in this street there were 6 trees uprooted like this resting against houses and in some cases cars in driveways:


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## Done_Fishin

zuluclayman said:


> This is a common sight driving around the suburbs of Newcastle at the moment...in this street there were 6 trees uprooted like this resting against houses and in some cases cars in driveways:


Looking for the uprooted trees but don't see any in the photo you show .. or am I missing something ??


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## Done_Fishin

That uprooted tree arrived when I posted my quote !! Are you any relation David Copperfield :laugh:


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## WereBo

Glad to see you're OK Zulu (+ mum), we've had some TV coverage on our news, mainly showing the worst of it with houses floating away etc. - As DF says, the Zuluclayvan has been a godsend :wink:

A nice bit of stitching there DF, I bet the field full of 'em looks impressive :wink:

Had a quick play with the 'Super-Macro' setting earlier, with some 'Meadow Clary' on my balcony. It was compensation for failing to snap a 'Common Blue' butterfly, the first time I've ever seen one around here....


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## Done_Fishin

WereBo said:


> A nice bit of stitching there DF, I bet the field full of 'em looks impressive :wink:


Just to give you a clue since I am still editing the days shots which has been impeded by a second bout of neck problems (not the two legged variety that we marry) that cause me pain & distress whenever I try to use the mouse or keyboard. However that day I arrived on the island with my brother at 9:40 am and left at 19:20. During this time we walked about 2 km down the coastal path to the east, then after returning, eating lunch at one taverna then ice cream at another venue, we walked about 3 km to the west along the coast. The 3 km to the west took us about 90 minutes whilst it only took us 35 to get back !! When I put all the photos together fro the 2 P&S's that I had with me I found I had taken over 900 photos .. approaching the 1000 mark .. I fell in love with that Island and is definitely worth a springtime (April) visit !!
No cars apart from a few rubbish collection vehicles seen as we arrived, no lorries, no motorbikes !! Mules are the favourite form of local transport along with water taxis taking people to otherwise inaccessible bays around the coast or neighbouring islands.
Thanks god my affliction is wearing off after a month of Physiotherapy (Mckenzie treatment) have at least one more week to go .. but can sit at the keyboard again without suffering too much. Hopefully I will have finished editing soon and be able to show a few more sights ..

Many of the photo's taken were series for stitching together ... so I should be able to give several good views for all to see

Edit : Forgot to say that I wish I had a garden like yours .. we too have a balcony but we rarely lift up the canopy since it faces the sun most of the day and gets far too hot .. plus we live on the ground floor resulting in the collection of anything dropped or thrown from balconies higher up!


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## WereBo

We've had several travelogue and assorted ancient Greek archaeology documentaries on TV recently, which I found fascinating both for the history and the scenery of the different locations - It's certainly a beautiful place to see, with excellent weather as a good bonus :grin:

Re: the balcony, although it's South-facing and recessed so rubbish from upstairs misses it, there's little to no room to actually put a chair to sit out there :grin:

A couple o' years ago....











Also, though it's South-facing, there's an 8-Storey block of flats right in front of me, just high enough to block most of the afternoon sun during Summer... :sigh:

Also taken earlier.....











This is my first ever pano, taken with my ,then brand new, Fuji Finepix....


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## zuluclayman

Done_Fishin said:


> That uprooted tree arrived when I posted my quote !! Are you any relation David Copperfield :laugh:


Ha,ha...the magic of the cyberuniverse at work DF :laugh:

looking forward to seeing the edits once done...sorry to hear the body is not as willing as it once was


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## Done_Fishin

It's the second time in 6 months ... lost 2 months cycling, forbidden by my Physiotherapist, last October whilst being put through the hoops and again this year since beginning of April. Luckily though I am allowed to go walking as long as I don't carry any weight in my backpack and that means I can get out occasionally (weather permitting) to get some fresh air & sunshine. My Brother came over recently for 8 days and I managed to get in about 150 kilometers walking including the trip to Hydra .. It's an inconvenience more than a condition since I was doing 1000 km / month on the bike and the body still thinks it needs to eat in spite of reduced effort.


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## WereBo

Good luck with the healing DF, this seems a good time for some doc to invent 'Surgical WD40'.... I could certainly use a couple o' gallons... :grin:


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## Done_Fishin

Another friend of mine who has similar problems but not so far advanced told me today that he was advised to go swimming regularly in the sea .. which sounds great to me since I live within a few miles but you aren't quite that lucky .. and wasn't cod liver oil or castor oil supposed to help with these ailments about 50 years ago ??


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## WereBo

Cod-Liver and/or Castor Oil was given to kids, but more as a preventative - I don't know how it is as a curative though. I always hated the taste and the capsules always seem to dissolve, whilst still in 'tasting-distance' :lol:


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## Done_Fishin

don't remind me !!! .. :hide:


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## zuluclayman

This year's ANZAC Day was the 100 year commemoration of the WWI dawn landing on the 25th April 1915 at the beaches of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian & New Zealand Army Corps (hence the name ANZAC) where over 10,000 died attempting to take the surrounding hills over a period of 8 months of intense fighting.

My pop was one of the lucky (?) ones...he was wounded in June, having been there 2 months and was shipped home...he lost 2 fingers of his right hand and also had a head wound.

This year has seen the construction of the ANZAC Memorial Walkway along the cliff tops overlooking the Bar Beach to Merewether stretch of coastline here in Newcastle.
The walkway was completed just in time for this big occasion...it includes steel cutout figures of soldiers with the family names of many of the personnel killed in action.
I went for a walk along part of it today and snapped a couple of pics and took some video..I will be sure to be going back to do more as the novelty wears off & the crowds thin...though I think it will be a popular walk for good now...the views are superb.
Here's a couple of stills and a link to the video:

video: https://vimeo.com/126030111


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## Done_Fishin

Been a lot in the news over here about the event. Looks like the weather continued to add a gloomy mood to the day too!
Thanks for sharing the photos.


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## WereBo

Lovely shots of the event Zulu, it appears to be a very 'elegant' walkway, with the curved metalwork etc. I bet you can see lots more cargo-ships from up there now :lol:

The cut-outs with the names of the fallen inscribed on them are also really well designed, will they be there permanently now?


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## zuluclayman

@WereBo...yes they are a permanent part of the design, it is intended as a permanent memorial. 
Some more info & pics...not by me...here


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## WereBo

Mmmmm, a fascinating article, thank you Zulu

If you ever thought of trying hang-gliding, some chap there hang-glid... hang-glided... AARRGH!... flew along the walk with a hang-glider and video-camera :grin: - Rather excellent results too (worth watchng full-screen HD):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mNxP94bxW0


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## zuluclayman

yep...the person making the video (and flying the hang glider) is our local TV channel's weatherman Gavin Morris...the cliff tops surrounding the ANZAC Walk are heavily used for hang gliding, para-sailing...there is a carpark at the top of the hill at Strzelecki Lookout which is the take-off area. The carpark is also now the start point for the ANZAC walk.

Have I ever considered it? ... I think it would be great but don't know that I have requisite courage/reaction times/$$$ to go there :laugh:

In the video it says that they call the path from the main Bar Beach carpark to the start/end of ANZAC walk "Adam's Way"
Adam was a friend of Gavin Morris's, a champion hang glider pilot who was killed while trying to avoid a collision with another hang glider while flying over the Bar Beach carpark area...he crashed into a house sustaining fatal injuries.
A friend of mine had made a short video interview with Adam some time before which I edited for his Youtube channel (see video below)...he subsequently asked me to go back through all the footage he shot of Adam and do a longer edit for his family.
In true Newcastle (biggest small town in the world...one degree of separation) fashion Adam was also my ex-head teacher's neighbour and was in the process of buying her house for his mum when the accident happened.

RIP Adam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy8uju_f7Mg


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## WereBo

The nice guys always seem to go early :sigh: - I'd love to try hang/para-gliding too, but not at the extortionate prices here, plus the nearest clubs are lots of miles away from me :sad:


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## zuluclayman

say hello to my first grandchild...Lucy, born this morning :smile: :smile: :smile:


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## Done_Fishin

Congratulations Grandad !!! 

My best wishes to all of you !!!


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## WereBo

Congratulations indeed Zulu, and to the highly happy new parents :thumb: - Lucy's sharing the same birthday as the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge's (Prince William & Kate Middleton) new daughter too (as yet unnamed) :grin:


Meanwhile, urban sunrise 5:15 am today....


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## Done_Fishin

Somebody was up early ... waiting for the new arrival ?? 

Don't you just hate it when you see what could be a beautiful picture marred by the local environment ?? They shouldn't allow structures to interfere like that on photographs !!


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## Done_Fishin

Here is a photo of Thursday nights sunset looking out over the sea towards the Island of Salamina .. just to remind you that Summer is on its way !

:hide:


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## WereBo

Done_Fishin said:


> Somebody was up early ... waiting for the new arrival ??
> 
> Don't you just hate it when you see what could be a beautiful picture marred by the local environment ?? They shouldn't allow structures to interfere like that on photographs !!


Just the opposite hehehehe, I was washing a few things before heading off to bed... :grin:

I wouldn't mind the CCTV-camera so much, if it actually worked... The few times I've had to contact the police (fly-tipping, vandalism etc. etc. etc.) they informed me it doesn't actually do anything, it just sits there and bluffs! :nonono:


That's a beautiful sunset there DF, spectacularly rich colours ray:


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## Done_Fishin

One of those few times when I was in the right place at the right time .. even if I didn't have the right equipment !! :smile:


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## WereBo

Done_Fishin said:


> One of those few times when I was in the right place at the right time .. even if I didn't have the right equipment !! :smile:


Hey! Your camera produced a beautiful piccie, therefore it was the right equipment :grin:


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## SABL

Congratulations, ZC.......she's a cutie. Sure has plenty of hair......:smile:

Nice pics, guys.......:thumb:. I need to get my camera out and take a few now that the weather is getting a little warmer.......73F right now. I could take a shot or two of my dandelion crop......:nonono:

Sunrise shouldn't be too hard to capture.......sunsets may be ok if I'm awake that late.....:rofl:


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## zuluclayman

Thanks everyone...she sure is a cutie...babies are like open fires - you can stare at them for hours.

Nice sunset pic [email protected] SABL - I'm the opposite...never get to see a sunrise, still in the Land of Nod mostly...sunsets are more my time slot :laugh:


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## SABL

I put the coffee on at 4:20AM this morning.........5:45AM right now and it's still dark outside.

I should be done with g-kids unless two of my sons raise a family. Next batch will be gg-kids. The two sons have girlfriends but no children.......one is 34 and the other is 37.....getting rather late to raise kids. I was done at 29 when my last son was born.


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## joeten

Congratulations on the new member of the family, you will be wrapped around her finger in no time.


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## SABL

Roughly 6AM on the first two pics (taken two minutes apart)........6:45AM on the last one. 5MP P&S without tripod......I don't own a tripod.....:lol:. The sun rises too far north to get a clear shot without the trees.


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## WereBo

SABL said:


> I put the coffee on at 4:20AM this morning.........5:45AM right now and it's still dark outside.........


4:20AM??? - Sheeeesh! I was just heading off to bed then







:grin:


A lovely set of pics SABL, I really like the monochrome of #1, #2 promising of good things to come and #3 the day waking up.


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## WereBo

I spent a lovely afternoon at *Eagle Heights* last Monday, lots of birds and a 'choccie-box top' village, in Kent.....











Harold the Griffon Vulture...











Tawny Eagle.....











Batty the Bateleur Eagle....











African Sea Eagle, I lost a lot of pics due to the slight lag between pressing the button and the shutter actually releasing :sigh:


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## joeten

I think my favs are 1 and 3, the rest are very good, I just seem to like those 2.


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## Done_Fishin

Some mean looking birds there werebo .. and I love the way that you have them looking so focused, sharp & crisp!!


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## WereBo

Thanks guys, having the birds so close really helped to get a crisp photo, along with a beautifully bright sunny day. The handler(s) walked around the seating area dropping food next to the (few) customers, the birds were inches away at times :lol:

Not all my pics had the subject so sharp though, I was reeeaally cursing the 'Autofocus' at times :grin:




















This little fellow ('Owlfie', Bengal Eagle Owl) really took a shine to me when I took his piccie, When I thanked him for a lovely pose, he started chirruping back to me so we had a wonderful conversation between us (even one of the handlers, stood behind me, called a colleague over to watch, they'd never seen Owlfie behave like it before). When I left he started screeching at the top of his lungs, until I went back, then he quietened down to chirruping again :nonono:




















The 'Flying ground'....


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## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> This little fellow ('Owlfie', Bengal Eagle Owl) really took a shine to me when I took his piccie, When I thanked him for a lovely pose, he started chirruping back to me so we had a wonderful conversation between us (even one of the handlers, stood behind me, called a colleague over to watch, they'd never seen Owlfie behave like it before). When I left he started screeching at the top of his lungs, until I went back, then he quietened down to chirruping again :nonono:
> 
> 
> *Little did little 'Owlfie' know you were the true top level predator in that henhouse!! *


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## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> Not all my pics had the subject so sharp though, I was reeeaally cursing the 'Autofocus' at times :grin:


*T**his is why I always use SPOT metering in situations like this. Point it at the beak or feet and re-compose - and . . . gotcha!!*


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## WereBo

Spot-focussing is defaulted, but the camera's 'spot' was larger than the hole in the mesh though :lol: - I think I'll write to the camera companies and suggest they offer 'custom cameras', i.e. a bridge-camera with manual focus, uses AA batteries, instant shutter-release and some customisable buttons :grin:


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## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> Spot-focussing is defaulted, but the camera's 'spot' was larger than the hole in the mesh though :lol: - I think I'll write to the camera companies and suggest they offer 'custom cameras', i.e. a bridge-camera with manual focus, uses AA batteries, instant shutter-release and some customisable buttons :grin:


*Geez, you don't want much, eh!?!?* :rofl:

*On all my Canons, I've had very good results with spot metering of caged critters. - YMMV* *

We have a lot of tropical birds on display all over the place here!* :whistling:

*You made quite an impression on that little owl though. I've had a similar experience with a crippled eagle at a rescue ranch in Texas. It was "normally shy and reserved" according to the staff, but when I approached it began to get very animated and jumped right on my shoulder, to the shock and amazement of the handler!* *She had a devil of a time separating us!! *


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## WereBo

A Canon DSLR is my 'dream-camera', but 'til I win the lottery or something, I'm stuck with my *Fuji Finepix S2500HD* - It's not a bad camera considering the use it's had, along with mishaps, the worst being getting soaked when a car drove through a large puddle in the road and sent a wall of water over me and the camera. I tipped the camera lens-down and water just poured out from around the lens :sigh: Apart from the 'Zoom' occasionally sticking, it still takes (mostly) excellent quality pics though :lol:

I tend to be 'luckier' with dogs more than birds, I've seen dogs drag their owners across the road, just so they can say 'Hello', sniff and lick my hands and wag their tail at me :grin:


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## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> I tend to be 'luckier' with dogs more than birds, I've seen dogs drag their owners across the road, just so they can say 'Hello', sniff and lick my hands and wag their tail at me :grin:


*I recently observed a neighbor chasing her dog up and down the street for over 15 minutes. Each time she would get close to him, he would bolt away. After watching for 15 minutes, I walked calmly out to about 10 feet from the dog, and simply whistled! He came right to me and sat at heel!! I grasped his collar and handed him over to the shocked owner!! :rofl:

He was having far too much fun playing 'catch me if you can' with the her. Mind, I've never interacted with this dog before as it is usually tied out. Didn't even know his name until that day...* 

*Go figure!* :whistling:


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## sandman55

Hi Guys I haven't been here for a while. Congrats zulu on the new Granddaughter lots of good times ahead. I hope she doesn't live too far away so that you can spend lots of time with her as she grows. Ours are half a continent away but the internet helps.
So many pics posted since my last visit. It looks like you had a good time at Eagle Heights WereBo. I must get organised and post some from my recent visit to New Zealand.


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## WereBo

Thanks Sandy, 'twas a great afternoon out indeed :grin:

Eynsford is first mentioned in writing in 864, as "Egenes homme". The derivation is unclear, but one possibility is that it represents "Ægen's river-meadow", from the Old English hamm "river-meadow, enclosure".

Nowadays, it looks like a chocolate-box top, picturesque, rustic and beautiful....












The ford, and no I didn't drive through it :lol:....






























180° from the above pics....











16th Century homes.....


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## Done_Fishin

NICE!!!! Makes me want to visit .. whereabouts is it .. maybe I can persuade a few family members that it's a place worth visiting in order to get them to take me there ! :laugh: I am sure that my mum would love it. Slow walk around an old village would do her good .. any tea shops to be found there ??


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## sandman55

What lovely scenes WereBo I love the first one best. Isn't it lovely what water can do for scenery.


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## sandman55

Here are some pics of our recent holiday to New Zealand. The first one is of the small village of Akaroa, 75km south east of Christchurch in the heart of an ancient volcano. 
The history of Akaroa is as follows :- 
In 1838 Captain Jean Francois L'Anglois made a provisional purchase of land in "the greater Banks Peninsula" from the Maori, (After being informed of the French intent to colonise Akaroa and use the area as a whaling port, the English ship the "Britomart" was despatched in to proclaim sovereignty of the Banks Peninsula for the Crown. ) by the time the French settlers arrived in 1840, they discovered that the British had already claimed the land. The French still established a settlement. 



The next one is of Lake Tekapo. New Zealand has so many lakes and many are so blue from the Glacial flour (the extremely finely ground rock particles from the glaciers).



The next is of Lake Pukaki with Mount Cook in the background at it's source and like Lake Tekapo it is a Glacial lake.



And this is a closer one of Mount Cook and Lake Pukaki.



The next one is of Larnach Castle (Dunedin) which was built by William Larnach a wealthy banker businessman and politician. The history of the castle is very sad. William Larnach was married three times. In a little over a decade his first two wives died as well as his eldest daughter Kate. His third wife was rumoured to have had an affair with his son Douglas. Larnach suffered two huge financial losses and, tormented by bouts of depression and rumours of the affair between his wife and son, shot himself at Parliament.



The next one is of Lake Gunn. One of the many scenic spots we stopped at on our way to Milford Sound.



Later I'll post some more.


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## Done_Fishin

great photo's .. really makes one want to get up and visit !! Look forward to seeing more :smile:


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## SABL

Nice photos, Bo......wish we had something like that around here. The oldest residential structure in Columbus was built in 1804. They just keep tearing buildings down.....I worked on a downtown shopping mall when it was first built and it was razed 20 years later to make a park. 

More nice photos from Sandy......:thumb:. With scenery like that I can see why my uncle never came home after being discharged from the USN after WWII. He stayed in NZ and only came back once for a visit.


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## WereBo

Thanks guys, visiting there really takes you back to a 'rustic' way of life, chatty residents, polite drivers and sweet-smelling air makes it really idyllic, both to see and wanting to live there :lol:

@ DF - Eynsford is just outside the south-east corner of the M25 Ring-Road (Along the A20 (Sidcup Bypass) and take the M25 turn-off, follow the signs to Brand Hatch/Eynsford), about 30-45 minutes drive from SE London (depending on traffic), typing 'Eynsford, Kent, UK' into google-Maps/Earth shows exactly where it is. I didn't notice any tea-rooms, but I didn't investigate the entire village (across the bridge in #1, then turn right is the 'High Street' :wink, the several pubs there do sell tea/coffee and cakes etc. during the day though, and are also 'child-friendly'.

Further along the riverside walk (Lullingstone Road) is a wonderful railway-viaduct (London-France 'Chunnel' line, as seen for approx 1/2-second in the 'Mission Impossible' movie :grin, then Eagle Heights, then *Lullingstone Roman Villa*, also worth a visit....

@ Sandy, As DF says, it's a beautiful place indeed, I sorta envy my youngest nephew who moved to Dunedin when he married a NZ lass (I keep kidding him it's as far away as he can get from his mother :lol

@ SABL - That's one of the reasons I'm glad we have organisations like 'English Heritage' and the 'National Trust', they grade the old buildings and dictate what can/cannot be done to them. Recently they took a 'development company' to court when they flattened an old pub somewhere. The court ruled the pub must be completely rebuilt brick-for-brick and restored back to the exact condition it was before demolition :lol:....


A few more of the Eynsford scenery.....





















A 'biker-cow' with massive handlebars....... :grin:






































The only 'problem' with visiting is if you walk to Eagle Heights, it's at the same height as the top of the viaduct (long very steep hill to walk up), fortunately there's a car-park at the top for visitors :wink


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## Done_Fishin

> Very Interesting


 as they used to say on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In!!

I had no idea that Eagle Heights was anywhere near there nor that Eynsford as so close to London although I sort of suspected since I figured you wouldn't be going too far from home with your leg problems !!

Nice .. all I need now is an invite and and good weather !! 

Werebo it looks like you were lucky enough with the weather or did you just wait a few months for the sun to appear and "MOVE FAST !!!"


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## joeten

Some beautiful pics there guy's, Maybe Bo used these.


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## sandman55

Some lovely pics WereBo it's nice to see different places from my computer chair. That cow looks like one I have seen at a kids animal park here I think it is a Scottish cow.

The New Zealand people are very friendly and I love their accent and the way they pronounce their words. It's funny when we read a name off a map and then hear the way they say the name which is completely different to the way we would have though it would sound. Maori words with Wh in them is pronounced F. This site gives you audio of the way to pronounce Maori words 100 Māori words every New Zealander should know - Maori Language Week | NZHistory, New Zealand history online 

When we were at Christchurch we were lucky to get accommodation as there was to be a big Maori dance festival and much of the accommodation was taken, sadly we had booked ahead and were not able to see it. We got a cabin at a caravan park where there were a lot of Maori staying for the festival and I remember one morning we woke to a lovely Maori choir singing. Many of them are big strong people and look formidable with their tattoos and yet are so friendly. 

All up on our trip we did 5,000 kilometres in our hire car, the roads there are so winding. I kid you not my neck at times had a burning sensation from the turning of the wheel but it is worth it for all the lovely scenery. I made a joking remark that if Australia and New Zealand ever made and exchange they could export some of their water (especially from Milford Sound which has an annual rainfall of 6.8 metres) and we could send them some lovely long straight roads :grin:


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## zuluclayman

some nice images WereBo & sandy...have been meaning for years to get across to NZ...and never have...so close, yet so far. My sister & brother-in-law did a trip across there, hiring a car & driving themselves around the top half of South Island...looked terrific!

Meanwhile, trapped at home with no $$$ to take the zuluclayvan travelling I've been shooting more of one of my favourite bits of coastline, favourite just because it's home:


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## Done_Fishin

Looks like Summer has been & gone .. lots of imposing clouds frightening or keeping the crowds at bay ... It's obvious why the beaches are empty .. our beaches are beginning to fill over here now that our prolonged cold winter spell has finally allowed the summer to approach. I managed my first swim last Sunday, 2nd attempt - the previous Sunday the water was so cold that I didn't go in farther than my ankles and I am still suffering today from the attempt. Last few years, since I started cycling and getting to the beaches, I usually get my first swim at the end of March.


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## WereBo

@ DF - I check the weather-forecast on the BBC News site (10-day forecast) then plan from there... :grin: - My legs aren't a problem any more, but Asthma/Emphysema stops me walking long distances, unless I amble along fairly slowly. No great problem when I'm permanently stopping to take piccies though :grin:

@ joeten - Even as a youngster I could never get the hang of roller-skates, without lots of bruises and total loss of 'street-cred' :grin: - Nowadays I just use this to get around.....











@ Sandy - The cow is an 'Aberdeen Angus', very docile animals that have lovely tender beef on 'em







- I've not met many New Zealanders but I got on well with the few I did meet. Still waiting to meet a Maori though, I'm impressed how they carry their personal history in their tattoos, and listening to their hakas :lol:

@ Zulu - I know what you mean about £££shortage, I'm still clearing my overdraft from last year, when I had to replace the entire brake-system+ABS+wheel-bearings for my car. I can only take austerity for so long, then I need to go somewhere (fairly) distant and explore for a while :lol: - That's a beautiful coastal shot of Newcastle, I'm guessing it's a long-exposure, from the blurry water?


I'm now praying our weather improves for my next 'adventure' on 13th June, it's the 50th anniversary of the 1st *Biggin Hill* Air Display (*Festival of Flight*) and also the 50th anniversary of our 'Red Arrows' display team. The Red Arrows performed their 1st display at the 1st Biggin Hill show and my parents had taken me to see it all, so lots of happy memories to celebrate, though I can still remember it as if it was just last week (I can't remember much of last week though :grin


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## zuluclayman

@ WereBo...no I cheated on this one
It is a panorama stitched together in Hugin (freeware panorama software) from 5 images.
The blurring has been done in Photoshop using Motion Blur filter...had to do something to disguise the misalignment that comes from having moving waves...Hugin does a pretty good job at stretching & aligning the waves but left some phantom waves in amongst the others with this pano so rather than try to clone them out I made it a faux long exposure :thumb:


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## Done_Fishin

Hugin is a great program, I have been using it for years and must admit, given the opportunity, I will use it with 5 zoomed-in shots rather than crop one single photo.

only problem I ever have is with "sea horizons" where there is no shoreline .. it seems that the program is capable of matching verticals but not horizontals and I have noted a "step" on seascapes under the above conditions.


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## zuluclayman

@ DF...you can do manual adjustments in Hugin to help fix this...in the Bar Beach pano I had to adjust the furthest piece of land as it had a "step" in the line where the land meets the ocean horizontally too. I think it mostly happens where the margins between two images is fairly featureless and you use the auto align process rather than making the control points yourself. In my case the land is covered by bush and it's dark and reasonably uniform, as is the water. I went in and added some control points where I could see houses under magnification. That didn't help much so I used the Move/Drag tab to realign one of the pics.


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## Done_Fishin

@zcm .. I am well used to using the Move/Drag button and also to adding extra control points (when I first started using Hugin I think there was no auto mode but it may just have been that in the Linux distro I was using that it didn't have the function) however try as I might if it doesn't want to correct it just doesn't correct. I suspect that the first thing they do (in the program) is to remove the colours from the photos and work on greyscale .. when you have blue skies and blue seas it may be difficult to differentiate where the horizon lies.


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## Done_Fishin

here is an example of the problem 

the panorama 










the problematic "step" ..


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## zuluclayman

yeah...can see the step...and the disruption to the water in a line down from it too...Hugin doesn't like joins that occur in areas of little or similar detail does it.

I suppose we've got to be thankful that for freeware it mostly does a pretty good job. I haven't done many panos for a while...had to download a newer version of Hugin to do that last one. 

To get error free results we probably should use tripods with pano heads so horizons are aligned...but who wants to walk/ride around with a tripod all the time?

Nice part of the world you're in there DF... I need to win Lotto (a huge one!)...and live another 100 years so I can go see all the nice places in the world :laugh:


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## Done_Fishin

Even using a tripod I get errors, although no steps :smile: ) .. Sometimes I take 3 photo's when only two would do so I try to see what works best. 

Greece is a great place to be as a photographer .. but you have to be somewhat versatile. The Summer is a great place for Sunsets, in Spring it's a great place for wild flowers, butterflies, bugs & bees, Winter has its moments as does Autumn .. but you need to be able to get out & about. money is only a problem when you need to eat, drink or repair the bike!
Talking of which we stopped the other day to repair a puncture only to note that we had stopped in front of someones tended garden that looked both tended & wild! 

*Check out the garden in the background *










*Panorama of the garden made using Hugin*










*Not sure what the flowers are but we see them frequently growing wild at the side of the road when touring *


----------



## WereBo

WOW! That's a beautiful garden indeed DF, lovely shots of it :thumb:


----------



## zuluclayman

The flowers are commonly called the Oyster Plant here in Oz...we used to have them out the front of my house...they have some rather nasty barbs on them....as a friend of mine found out when he took a small tumble down our front steps and landed in amongst them :laugh:


----------



## Done_Fishin

Thanks for that update zcm .. and the timely warning !! I see them everywhere but rarely go close so never found out the hard way !!


----------



## zuluclayman

a couple more shot from the new ANZAC Walk...a cold and windy walk yesterday evening but a nice sunset...and who doesn't like a good sunset? :laugh:


----------



## Done_Fishin

zuluclayman said:


> but a nice sunset...and who doesn't like a good sunset? :laugh:


It's not me!! I love em .. and that first photo is a beauty !!


----------



## WereBo

A beautiful sunset indeed Zulu, I really like the various reflected glints off the various features in #1, along with the lights coming on in the houses :thumb:

I also like the very slight dusky haziness in #2, those kerb-lights on the footpath seem a brilliant design, illuminating the path itself without lots of wasted light above.

They look even sharper and crisper now, my monitor died this morning so I had a panic-rush to my local store for a brand new 24" Samsung, it makes my old 21" Syncmaster look positively fuzzy... :grin:


----------



## Done_Fishin

WereBo said:


> They look even sharper and crisper now, my monitor died this morning so I had a panic-rush to my local store for a brand new 24" Samsung, it makes my old 21" Syncmaster look positively fuzzy... :grin:


How upsetting that must have been :lol: ... wonder what your photo's will look like now !!!


----------



## zuluclayman

Thanks DF & WereBo...it was worth the cold and windy walk...funniest sight of the evening: a burly Aussie bloke walking with his girl/partner/wife in shorts & T-shirt...with a baby pink chequered fringed baby blanket wrapped around his shoulders...had obviously decided discretion was the better part of valour...and that it was bloody cold!



> How upsetting that must have been


I can imagine! poor WereBo will have to put up with increased screen real estate, increased resolution, optimised colour response...oh the things we have to put up with in this rapidly accelerating age of technology! :laugh:


----------



## WereBo

@ DF - I had a browse through my old photos with the new monitor (Samsung S24D590PL), and some that I'd previously 'rejected' have now got a new lease of life, especially with the 'Samsung Upscaler' turned on :grin:

@ Zulu - It's a pity you couldn't get a pic of that guy but, as you say, perhaps discretion is the better part of valour.... :lol:

The monitor's increased size did mean I had to rearrange the desk a bit, to get it to fit on, but it was worth the hassle. It's actually freed up some desk-space too, the old monitor had a large oval base, whereas this one has a slim 'T' shaped base, leaving quite a bit of space for small stuff (distance-glasses and cases, asthma-inhalers, baccy-tin etc. (I've seriously cut down smoking, but I just can't totally give it up )).


----------



## joeten

Did you give any thoughts to the E-Cigs, I came off Ciggies in November and went to E-cigs, I would not thank you for a Cigarette now. You can also save a fair amount of cash.


----------



## WereBo

I'm still have a lot of doubts about 'em, with unknown long-term health issues.. Besides which, I've cut right down on alcohol, I'm too old to chase women (unless they run very, very slowly) and a mashed up elbow put an end to my music (apart from just listening), the 'rebel' in me has only got smoking as a vice now..... :grin:


----------



## joeten

LOL. fair enough. There is a bit of info here, but only if you want to read it What is Vaping? | GrimmGreen.com


----------



## sandman55

Nice sunset zulu and that Anzac walk looks like a good scenic walk when you want a bit of exercise.
Bad luck about your old monitor WereBo it's a shame that you will have to put up with all that larger screen real estate. :grin: 
Good luck with the ciggies.
As far a chasing women have you considered one of these.


----------



## oscer1

some picks of new puppy and some landscapes


----------



## sandman55

Nice oscer1 I particularly like the first two and the lovely golden sky of the first scene, you've captured some nice reflections it the river scene and the last fella looks quite content.


----------



## oscer1

First two was yeager. The two scenery pics did not come out to well not quite the actual colors. Last pic is one of our Bassett hounds her name is spicey as you can see we have a training coller on him. Trying to teach him to stay and come when called. Did a great job of listening. He is a German short hair pointer.


----------



## WereBo

Lovely shots oscer - Re: #1 - I've seen dogs smiling, looking guilty and looking tired, but I've never seen a dog smirk before :grin:

I love the sunset, it's difficult to shoot directly at the sun without the colours/contrast looking blown out, you've got it spot-on :thumb:

#3 must be an American river, the water's flowing on the right...... :grin:


----------



## oscer1

guess so depending what side of river your on. :grin:


----------



## WereBo

Yesterday I decided to take a wander around my old work-place, in the middle of Rotherhithe, just down-river from Tower-Bridge. Years ago it was a huge mass of docks and warehouses, now it's a massive housing estate with a park in the middle. On 1 side of the park is '*Stave Hill Ecology Park*', where I worked for approx 5-6 years (early-mid-1990s). It's a 5.2 acre haven for wild plants and wildlife, containing different types of habitats for plants etc. (Chalk, sandy, swamp, meadow and so on).

It's hard to believe somewhere so tranquil and refreshing can be in the middle of London (or just off-centre :lol


Stave Hill itself.... (With Mrs WereBo trying not to fall down it :grin











On the top of the hill, a bronze map showing how it used to look.....











A Magpie being photo-bombed by a pigeon.....






































While I was taking these shots, this blackbird was serenading us.....


----------



## Done_Fishin

Nice Photo's werebo !! 

The only thing I remember about Rotherhythe was driving through the tunnel on several occasions although it was so long ago I have no idea where I had been nor where I was going ...


----------



## WereBo

The last time I went through Rotherhithe tunnel, was pushing my cycle 'cos it had a flat tyre (and no puncture-repair kit), every single vehicle hooted at me, which echoed back and forth along the tunnel - I was deaf by the time I got out on the South-side :nonono:....

:grin:


----------



## sandman55

Some lovely shots of nature WereBo. We have some of those black birds as an introduced feral species competing with our native birds along with starlings and to a worse extent sparrows, but I can see in their proper environment with their lovely song they have a real place.


----------



## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> I was deaf by the time I got out on the South-side :nonono:....
> 
> :grin:


*Are you certain the trip through the tunnel had anything to do with that... *:grin: :hide:

:rofl:


----------



## zuluclayman

a grey dull day at the beach...some bird pics for you:
the first a magpie using some abandoned stairs, he walked/hopped all the way up them...they like a walk
the second a pelican in flight with the ever present coal carrier on the horizon


----------



## sandman55

A couple of nice pics zulu I particularly like the one with the pelican


----------



## WereBo

Lovely pics Zulu, the 2nd is a bit deceptive though, whilst looking closely at the pelican, the wavelets in my peripheral vision appears to move - Most effective... :lol:


Some more from my Stave Hill visit.....

Anyone got a mower?..... One of the nice things at the park is that they don't have any mowers, the meadow-areas are scythed instead - The reason being that mowers will mash any bug-eggs on the grass-leaves, whereas scything lets the grass fall intact, preserving the eggs to hatch at leisure :smile:











A woven barrier.....











The Trust also built a classroom (The Shed, built entirely from recycled wood) for local schools to use, complete with 'organic roof'...














































The last pic is a bit fuzzy, but yes the clock is backwards..... :grin:


----------



## sandman55

Nice WereBo I love the shed roof. I must find time to post some more of my New Zealand trip. Off to bed now.


----------



## yustr

*Still Life with Pepper*

This was an experiment to see which of my ancient 50mm lens was most sharp. I couldn't see much difference and besides, I can't remember which photo goes with which lens. :rofl:


----------



## yustr

*Bottle Brush and Cask*

Shot this one at a winery on Long Island. I have it on my wall at home.


----------



## sandman55

Very close but I think the wine bottle looks sharpest.


----------



## Wizmo

*I can't tell from the EXIF data what exact lens was used, but the second photo of the flowers taken on 2013:09:22 16:17:52 (according to the EXIF) did recognize the 50mm lens. The first of the wine bottle taken 2011:08:31 15:06:11 (according to the EXIF) did NOT detect the lens focal length, probably because the earlier model lens did not report the data.

I do note you carefully adjusted your exposure with full manual mode - extra points!* 

Filename - Still Life 2.jpg
ImageWidth - 2819
ImageLength - 2033
BitsPerSample - 8 8 8 
PhotometricInterpretation - 2
Make - PENTAX Corporation
Model - PENTAX K10D
Orientation - Top left
SamplesPerPixel - 3
XResolution - 240
YResolution - 240
ResolutionUnit - Inch
Software - Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
DateTime - 2013:12:06 17:01:09
ExifOffset - 288
ExposureTime - 1/125 seconds
ExposureProgram - Manual control
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ExifVersion - 0221
*DateTimeOriginal - 2011:08:31 15:06:11*
DateTimeDigitized - 2011:08:31 15:06:11
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/125 seconds
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MeteringMode - Spot
Flash - Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode
ColorSpace - Uncalibrated/Unknown (-1)
ExifImageWidth - 2819
ExifImageHeight - 2033
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Manual
White Balance - Auto
SceneCaptureType - Standard
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Normal
SubjectDistanceRange - Unknown

Thumbnail: - 
Compression - 6 (JPG)
XResolution - 240
YResolution - 240
ResolutionUnit - Inch
JpegIFOffset - 718
JpegIFByteCount - 5883


Filename - Flowers and Cask.jpg
Make - PENTAX Corporation
Model - PENTAX K10D
Orientation - Top left
XResolution - 240
YResolution - 240
ResolutionUnit - Inch
Software - Adobe Photoshop Elements 13.0 (Windows)
DateTime - 2015:04:03 16:10:22
ExifOffset - 232
ExposureTime - 1/30 seconds
ExposureProgram - Manual control
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ExifVersion - 0221
*DateTimeOriginal - 2013:09:22 16:17:52*
DateTimeDigitized - 2013:09:22 16:17:52
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/30 seconds
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MeteringMode - Center weighted average
Flash - Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode
*FocalLength - 50.00 mm*
ColorSpace - Uncalibrated/Unknown (-1)
ExifImageWidth - 1843
ExifImageHeight - 2458
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Manual
White Balance - Auto
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm - 75 mm
SceneCaptureType - Standard
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Normal
SubjectDistanceRange - Unknown

Thumbnail: - 
Compression - 6 (JPG)
XResolution - 240
YResolution - 240
ResolutionUnit - Inch
JpegIFOffset - 694
JpegIFByteCount - 6457


----------



## yustr

I guess I should hide the EXIF data so wizmo won't know if I was wearing boxers or briefs. :grin:

I almost always shoot in manual mode - that's how I learned - taking candid shots of dinosaurs.


----------



## WereBo

The wine-bottle is noticeably sharper, but the plant (Bottle-Brush plant?) is far more stunning :grin:


The last few from Stave Hill, a great idea to recycle those plastic water-bottles that folks seem to drop everywhere - A simple slot cut into the bottle and then nailed to a plank.... :grin:








































A long shot of the meadow, with Mrs WereBo chatting to a wren...... :lol:











Light at the end of the tunnel.....


----------



## Wizmo

yustr said:


> I guess I should hide the EXIF data so wizmo won't know if I was wearing boxers or briefs. :grin:
> 
> I almost always shoot in manual mode - that's how I learned - taking candid shots of dinosaurs.


*According to the self reflection off the wine bottle, I'd say . . . boxers!* :grin: :hide:

*I always check for EXIF data when I see a shot I like to see how it was captured.* :angel:


----------



## zuluclayman

In an earlier post I said I rarely, if ever, see the dawn...let alone photograph it...well this morning I did after having been woken by an unanswered phone call and not being able to get to sleep worried that the call may have been my ageing mother in trouble at her home (she has had a number of falls) so went over, checked she was sleeping snugly in her bed and continued on to the beach for the sunrise...missing it come up over the horizon by a few minutes! 
It being a full moon I was able to find a spot that allowed me to shoot the moon setting and then turn 180 degrees and shoot the rising sun....bloody cold at that time (4C) ...now I know why I don't do it more often!


----------



## WereBo

Absolutely stunning pics John, it's worth the cold to get pics like that ray: - #2 is a definite wall-hanger (or would be if I had any space left on my walls.... :grin


----------



## Done_Fishin

I would like to know how you got the moon to look like the moon with crater details etc ... especially at the size it has compared to the rest of the photo contents .. is it because you shoot in RAW mode, that you have good glass or you did what I tried to do one time and paste it in from another photo ... I failed, lacking the experience in using layers and trying to downsize and fit the object from one photo to another !!
I doubt, looking at your photo, that you attempted the latter .. so it's either RAW or Lens or BOTH !!


----------



## joeten

What Bo said ^^^


----------



## zuluclayman

thanks guys
@ DF....yep, I always shoot RAW...the lens was the Canon 15-85mm, not one of their L series pro lenses but have heard that the optics are pro level but as the lens is only designed to cover APS-C sensors (not full frame) they couldn't give it the L badging.
In post I heightened the local contrast & clarity a bit on the moon to emphasise the markings and give it some more apparent sharpness...the focus in camera was set on the bushes


----------



## Done_Fishin

Thanks ZCM .. it's a fine example of the difference between shooting jpeg or RAW .. only way I can get that much detail in jpg is to zoom in to max analog (about x20) with -2EV which means I lose everything else around


----------



## sandman55

Nice WerBo and an interesting way to recycle with the plastic bottles and the hollow trunk.

Nice shots too zulu I particularly like the first one with the clouds and the suns rays showing. I have seen a family members photo with the rays showing like that. Is it a setting on the camera or is it just the right time of day to capture a shot like that.


----------



## yustr

Done_Fishin said:


> Thanks ZCM .. it's a fine example of the difference between shooting jpeg or RAW .. only way I can get that much detail in jpg is to zoom in to max analog (about x20) with -2EV which means I lose everything else around


DF - most lens loose some clarity when focused to infinity. Likewise, most loose some clarity when at max zoom. This is especially true with digital zooms in P&S cameras. Next time try a little under full zoom and pre-focusing on an object in the mid range of the shot (like clayman's bushes). Worth a try - there's always the delete key. :grin:


----------



## Done_Fishin

I'll post some shots taken last Sunday when the moon was almost full, just been touching them up and have to upload them as yet too !


----------



## zuluclayman

@ sandy...shooting into a strong light source (in this case the sun) gives flares as the light bounces around in the elements of the lens, particularly with a wider aperture and wide angle lens....caught at the right angle and with the right shutter speed (not really able to be calculated...more a serendipitous moment) these linear rays will often appear as well as the circular flare spots seen in the foreground against the darker mass of the bushes. I also shot this with a screw on variable Neutral Density filter attached to tone down the sun...giving the light rays even more "bouncing space".

You often get this effect doing night photography with longer exposures too, especially if there is a bit of haze about.

If you don't ever get any and want that effect you can also buy star filters to attach to your lens or use a software package that has star filter as an effect. They only work off a strong localised light source.


----------



## sandman55

Thanks zulu I've a lot to learn especially when I convince SWMBO that my camera is not much chop and I need better. :grin:


----------



## sandman55

I guess it's time I posted some more of our trip to New Zealand.
This one is one of the many beautiful places on the side of the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound



This is on the road to Milford Sound.



This one is what we see when we get to Milford Sound. One interesting fact about Milford Sound is it has an annual rainfall of 6.8 metres fortunately it was a nice day for us there.



This one is the valley to the left of the peak in the previous pic.



This is where we head out on the cruise of Milford Sound and we look back at the small settlement of Milford Sound also the waterfall.



They look so much better on my full screen but this is the size that I am getting from Photo Bucket.


----------



## Done_Fishin

Some really impressive mountains there, wonderful scenery but I don't notice any roads going anywhere except those close to sea level in the valleys .. looks like sea travel must be one of the popular methods of getting around!


----------



## sandman55

No there are roads as you can see on Google maps though they are often winding roads. We did 5000 kilometres all up on the North and South Islands and I often could feel it in my neck from the winding roads.


----------



## Done_Fishin

*Moonshots 1/6/2015*

1.)










2.)










3.)










4.)











5.)


----------



## WereBo

WOW! NZ certainly is spectacular! Beautiful photos Sandy, the definition is really crisp :thumb:

@ DF - Does your camera have a 'Night' (sometimes with an extra 'with tripod') setting? From halos around the moon it looks as though the sky is slightly hazy, which will blur and/or hide the detail. I love the framing with the various branches, it's surprising just how much they can help reduce the moon's brightness.


----------



## Done_Fishin

There is a night setting but I wasn't using it on this occasion .. I have used it before but didn't like the results finding that it was better to use another scene setting .. I think I was just set to Landscape although there are times when I use the "macro" function which I have found gives a crisper more focused result 

this photo was taken when at max zoom which added x4 digital zoom to max analog zoom .. whilst the result is far better than anything else I have managed using my P&S cameras (it was also hand held against a vertical beam) it lacks sharpness even when removing all the colour.










This was taken a couple of nights ago on the 3rd June, handheld against some railings and making sure that the almost full moon was in the picture (full moon would have been on 2nd June 24 hours before

one of my favourite Athens sites / sights ... 











same camera, same settings and handheld again but this time the base was on a firm iron railing .. made using hugin from two separate photos


----------



## sandman55

Thanks WereBo there is some spectacular scenery there especially on the south island.

Nice DF Ilike it when the object of interest is framed with trees I tried to do that with some of my pics I took in NZ, the last one of the ancient building lit up looks great.


----------



## Done_Fishin

Strangely enough, even though i do like to "frame" my views with trees & flowers when possible, the moonshots above had enforced framing due to the fact that the moon was being hidden by some trees and the only way I could try to grab a shot (using the "uprights" available) was to stretch arms high whilst standing on tiptoes, then try not to inflict camera shake !! I should also mention that I was on the first floor balcony at the time, trying to get some extra height to see over the treeline.

That ancient building you refer to is the Acropolis in Athens .. a truly monumental monument !!


----------



## sandman55

You did a good job then considering you had to reach up and take the shots.

I'll post another five from our cruise of Milford Sound, the last one had seals on the rocks. My Son joked it's all rocks and water :grin: but the camera doesn't do justice to the scenery, we became spoilt after a while.


----------



## WereBo

Beautiful Acropolis shots DF :thumb:

A lot of cameras get very 'noisy' when using digital-zoom, I always try and avoid when possible, as my Finepix is very susceptible to it - I rarely like 'grainy' photos.

I've yet to try it but bracketing moon-shots, then merging them as HDR can give spectacular results, but a tripod is essential. 

A handy tip for night shots: Once the camera is firmly braced and the pic is framed, use the self-timer at the shortest setting (usually 2 seconds) to prevent 'shutter-jog' ;-)


@ Sandy, it's definitely primeval looking scenery, a pterodactyl or 2 swooping around would fit right in :grin:


----------



## Done_Fishin

WereBo said:


> A lot of cameras get very 'noisy' when using digital-zoom, I always try and avoid when possible, as my Finepix is very susceptible to it - I rarely like 'grainy' photos.


I usually avoid it like the plague .. on my Olympus point & shoot I have disabled digital zoom in the setup somewhere .. on the nikon I have to hold the zoom button ON for a few extra seconds and it ook me over a year to find it! I only use it on moonshots to try & fill the screen with the moon .. trying to get the best sense for the photo whilst still cutting the exposure to -2EV anything else & I find that I just have a yellow ball on a black background.



WereBo said:


> I've yet to try it but bracketing moon-shots, then merging them as HDR can give spectacular results, but a tripod is essential.


what sort of exposures are used for HDR, the bracketing I mean .. 



WereBo said:


> A handy tip for night shots: Once the camera is firmly braced and the pic is framed, use the self-timer at the shortest setting (usually 2 seconds) to prevent 'shutter-jog' ;-)


I thought everyone knew that :lol: .. only on tripod though .. no point in holding the camera and using a 2 sec delay ..


----------



## WereBo

Done_Fishin said:


> ...............
> 
> what sort of exposures are used for HDR, the bracketing I mean ..
> 
> ........................


I seem to recollect DonaldG posting something about moon-pics, I suspect he suggested starting with 1/15th second exposure, then +/- 1/3rd f-stop. Any more exposure-time risks getting a blurry shot, as the moon moves.


----------



## yustr

Cheated a bit - combined two exposures. One of the moon and the other of the whole scene.


----------



## sandman55

Interesting yustr my first impression was wow look at the moon on the water but after reading your admission I have looked more critically and cant fault it so I'd best leave it to the experts :grin: some times a bit of photo shopping is required.


----------



## Done_Fishin

Not sure but the reflection on the water doesn't look right .. it's almost like I would expect the moon to be sitting lower if not on the horizon .. However for the average Joe who doesn't understand physics and just looks at the finished result, it looks great!!


----------



## Done_Fishin

WereBo said:


> Done_Fishin said:
> 
> 
> 
> what sort of exposures are used for HDR, the bracketing I mean ..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I seem to recollect DonaldG posting something about moon-pics, I suspect he suggested starting with 1/15th second exposure, then +/- 1/3rd f-stop. Any more exposure-time risks getting a blurry shot, as the moon moves.
Click to expand...


Thanks Werebo .. unfortunately I have no control over anything other than EV, however I will see if I might be able to experiment with what I have !


----------



## zuluclayman

@ DF...you can use EV settings for bracketing...I wouldn't be surprised if your camera already has an auto exposure bracketing feature...many do.

If not try doing a bracketed set with one pic set for "correct" exposure, one set for -1 EV and one set for +1 EV...if the scene is heavily contrasting you may need larger steps or more steps to capture the full dynamic range.

@ sandy...nice pics, what a beautiful trip you have had!...can't beat mountains and water in one place...NZ is on my bucket list for sure...been meaning to get there for some time


----------



## sandman55

Thanks zulu we were overwhelmed especially in the south island by the sounds, lakes and mountains. Doubtful sound was great as well only we had a more overcast day and the photos came out darker and I couldn't lighten them too much on photoshop, another argument for a better camera :grin:


----------



## zuluclayman

oh....there's always more arguments for a better camera sandy :laugh:

I have heard tell that the best camera is the one in your hand...but by gum there's some nice looking cameras out there on various websites....now how do I make one of them be the one in my hand?

I think I would go into some kind of photographic trance/overload in some of NZ's sounds and mountain environments...so many things to record!


----------



## sandman55

If you were there your shutter would over heat :grin: we at first thought to only do one island in one holiday and then come back and do the other island another year and I now think especially as we get older we should have done that. We were two days travelling and 27 days there. I now think we should have spent that time only on the south island, as it would have given us more time for rest days. On our trip by the time we got to Rotorua we were tired and I remember we spent most of one day in bed. We tried to fit too much in.
With cameras I am interested in the mirrorless ones you recommended as they are so compact and easy to carry around. The camera I want is the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds Digital Camera Body | DigiDIRECT Australia and the lens Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm F4-5.6 II lens | DigiDIRECT Australia
This is a pricey setup and I am not happy paying that much. The lens is new out and I hope it gets cheaper and it is their latest camera so I am happy to wait and who knows maybe Christmas there will be some better prices. There are some better prices out there now but I suspect some are grey marketing where I would have to rely on the retailer for warrantee so I will be careful who I buy from.


----------



## Done_Fishin

zuluclayman said:


> I think I would go into some kind of photographic trance/overload in some of NZ's sounds and mountain environments...so many things to record!


I know what you mean .. I visited a Greek Island a couple of months back and within less than 12 hours I had clicked 1000 shots .. many were taken deliberately to be turned into panoramas using hugin but at the end of the weeks post processing / editing I still had 700 shots that *still* need to be uploaded .. I can't remember if I showed this one that I took and uploaded as group photo on a facebook page for my cycling companions


----------



## Done_Fishin

zuluclayman said:


> @ DF...you can use EV settings for bracketing...I wouldn't be surprised if your camera already has an auto exposure bracketing feature...many do.
> 
> If not try doing a bracketed set with one pic set for "correct" exposure, one set for -1 EV and one set for +1 EV...if the scene is heavily contrasting you may need larger steps or more steps to capture the full dynamic range.


My old Sony had an HDR setting but sadly after repair it doesn't focus properly on long distances and I have proved to myself that the focus setup is off however for closeups it's still good 

there is no HDR setting on this Nikon though nor on the Olympus both of which do a great job for most of the time. 

Shooting the moon at 0 EV would result in a yellow glob .. however I might get away with -2 & -1 as a bracket. It's something I shall have to experiment with ..


----------



## WereBo

@ Sandy - That Olympus kit costs more than I could get from selling all my limbs :grin: - It looks a lovely set-up though, I was extremely impressed with my ol' Olympus Camedia P&S.

I really do wish someone had invented/designed a decent 35mm camera-digital adaptor, I've still got my ol' Praktica BX20 camera with full range of lenses (covers 24mm~200mm), extension-tubes, flashes, filters and misc. gizmos.

@ DF - Nope you hadn't posted that pic before :lol: - A superb catch though, DoF, lighting and everything is spot-on :thumb:


----------



## Done_Fishin

@ werebo .. it's another Hugin "special" took 2 overlapping shots to create a panorama


----------



## WereBo

Hugin seems to do a very impressive job, even with a very close examination there's no clue as to where the join could be :lol:


----------



## Done_Fishin

And you end up with a great analysis .. I would love to print that one at full size .. it's 4430 x 2269 @ 150 dpi .. I assume that would make a print of about 30" x 15" .. a nice wallhanger


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## zuluclayman

@ DF...yes, we're a little spoilt these days; with digital not costing anything we tend to overshoot...sometimes I limit myself to 2-3 pics of the same subject, try to limit the subjects or angles of the same subject and so try to limit the total number of shots...makes editing much faster too!

some from another evening stroll at Merewether Beach...a balmy late winter's afternoon on the long weekend saw some go for a dip...water temp is higher than air temp mostly in winter here...wind was a little icy tho'


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## Done_Fishin

Your photo's remind me that the sea is only a few kilometers away and that I need to go swimming for a long long soak .. the sun & I don't actually like to see too much of each other but the sea beckons ... cool & refreshing .. especially now that we are heading for hot weather !! 

You show some nice long sandy beaches too, something we don't have too many of over here unless we travel to the far side of the Peloponnese some 200 km away ..


----------



## WereBo

Beautiful evening shots Zulu, the golden light is lovely :thumb:

@ DF - Well, you've got that new Rio-Antirrio bridge to cycle over now, to the Peloponnese, that's beautiful in itself (and an engineering marvel) :lol:


----------



## Done_Fishin

WereBo said:


> @ DF - Well, you've got that new Rio-Antirrio bridge to cycle over now, to the Peloponnese, that's beautiful in itself (and an engineering marvel) :lol:


Nice try Werebo .. that bridge is in Patra (top of Peloponnese) and allows traffic to cross North towards Ioannina and Corfu (Kerkyra) .. Athens is towards the East & then South after crossing the Corinth Canal. The Sandy beaches are all South of Patra !


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## WereBo

Aahh, I just had a look on Google-Earth and see that it's miles out of the way, from Athens - 'tis an amazing bridge though, I watched a TV documentary about it's design and construction t'other day, it's designed to withstand earthquakes in one of the most 'volatile' areas for quakes, as well as the 2 ends parting company through tectonic shifts. It's also very elegant-looking and photogenic, from the quantity of 'Panoramio' shots of it :grin:


----------



## Done_Fishin

I have seen it twice from a distance .. once when returning to Greece from the UK and a second time, again from a distance, when my Daughter & I went hiking / camping for a weekend and the coach taking us for the trip passed close by .. but not close enough!! Pictures I have seen are indeed amazing .. I just haven't had the opportunity to get up close !


----------



## WereBo

Try viewing it with Google-Earth's street-view, you can drive over it from your chair.... :grin:


----------



## Done_Fishin




----------



## WereBo

As part of the 75th anniversary of the Battle Of Britain, I went to the '*Festival Of Flight*' display at *RAF Biggin Hill*, a WWII airfield (and principal fighter-base for London's defence) just outside London for their air-show on Saturday. 

The day started with dismal gloomy clouds that were very low (Gulfstream jets vanished approx 3-5 seconds after take-off) but had lifted enough for the flying to start at 1:30PM, as promised. A lot of planes that were due couldn't make it, thanks to bad weather further North, they couldn't get off the ground, let alone do their aerobatics :sigh:

Anyways, it was a nostalgic visit for me, since my parents took me to the very 1st display back in 1965, when I was 11, I also saw the very first display by the Red Arrows there, so it was a Golden Anniversary all round :grin:


Spitfires lined up ready.....











A 'Harvard' trainer, part of the static display.....











A 'Civilian Coupe' from 1931 - Perhaps it's the wheels, but I can't help thinking of ancient prams when I see this :grin:.....











Part of the 'Barmy Army' display, lovely old 'Matchless' bikes....











A Beautiful ol' US Navy Chevrolet.....










Inside the Chevy (plus reflections :lol.....











The stars of the show the Rd Arrows arrive in style, as only they can. They'd stayed the night at BigginHill, ready to perform up in London to celebrate the Queen's Birthday and 'Trooping The Colour' with a fly-past - The black clouds made a beautiful backdrop for the display, better than blue skies to see the planes and smoke etc.....


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## WereBo

My dream-car, although it'd be in a different colour :grin:....




















My alternative dream-car, in this colour..... :lol: - It's a kit-car built in 2000....











I HATE 'SELFIE-STICKS!' :grin:.....











Planes aren't supposed to do this....











The Royal Navy 'Black Cats' team.....




















How to stack helicopters.....


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## Done_Fishin

Lots of action going on there and you have captured it well! Personally I wouldn't have bothered with that Sick Morgan .. there must have been quite a few healthy ones to photograph !! 

When I was 18 I had a 2nd job at a pub working nights & weekends to boost my spending power and stop me from going out to spend it !! :lol: The landlord bought himself one of those .. a nice red colour though .. looked great but I kept my distance in case anything went wrong .. scratches dents etc .. and a few years ago down in Cornwall helping my Mum celebrate her 80th birthday we visited a National trust place somewhere where a Morgan owners club had filled the carpark with their "trophies" !!


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## WereBo

Thanks DF :smile: - The 3-wheeler Morgans do look rather odd, but there's something about old 1930s-style 'Roadster's that really pushes my buttons for me, I think it's that they have running-boards on 'em, along with elegant-looking :grin:


2 of the 4 'Yakovlevs' display team taking off....











And doing their stuff.....






































Blue skies appearing, at last......











The Yakovlevs, being photobombed by a skylark..... :grin:


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## Done_Fishin

Where did that blue sky come from ??? Are you sure you haven't been learning Photoshop on the quiet ?? :lol:

Amazing the difference a little bit of blue sky makes to events and photo's .. nice captures werebo .. reminds me of when I was a teenager living not far from there (as the crow flies!!)


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## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> 2 of the 4 'Yakovlevs' display team taking off....


*I like the interesting variation between the tail dragger and the tricycle landing gear in the first Yakovlev photo!
*
*Great shots for such varying shooting conditions.*


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## WereBo

Thanks guys  - The sun finally broke through mid-afternoon, but it was more like holes in the clouds than individual clouds, it was still welcome though :grin:



A rare sight that would've freaked folks out in the 1940s, a BF-109G (A.K.A. ME-109) readying to take off.....










And one of its adversaries, a Hawker Hurricane.....










Plus the hero of the show, Supermarine Spitfire.....




















2 onto 1 isn't really fair, but.....





























*Note:* - The big yellow pole that occasionally appears is the weather-gear, with anemometer etc. on the top. During my morning 'walkabout', I was chatting with some Red Arrow pilots on their publicity-stand. One of 'em mentioned that they use the pole as a marker for their 'Split-Points', or where they aim for when they perform their high-speed fly-pasts and 'Bomb-burst' manoeuvres etc. It was a great spot for the show, but the pole was a [email protected]~*ed nuisance in some of the shots.... :grin:


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## Done_Fishin

Makes me wonder what I have been missing all these years .. maybe, just maybe, I will get over there one day for the show!


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## WereBo

There's lots air-shows happening here nowadays, usually from June-September(ish). Lots are a bit too far for me to get to (RAF Cosford, RAF Duxford etc.), but this year's calendar will give you an idea of what's happening, when and where *Link*

Being the 75th anniversary of the Battle Of Britain has helped a lot this year, a lot more Spitfires and Hurricanes have appeared, a lot more than I thought existed. Sadly though, it's the last year that the 'Vulcan' bomber is flying, financing and tech-support has made it impossible to continue :sigh: - It didn't show at Biggin Hill this year, but I'm hoping to see it at the Headcorn '*Combined Ops*' display in August :thumb:


The stars of the show, the Red arrows are definitely the best in the world....
















































A short vid-clip of a 'Double Fly-Past', with the 'Marker-pole' :grin: - Apologies for the quality, video isn't really one of the camera's strong-points (or mine :lol.




The 'Corkscrew', this is just showing off.... :grin:


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## Done_Fishin

All brilliant as far as I am concerned ..


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## zuluclayman

nice captures WereBo...have never been to an airshow even though we have the RAAF base close by at Williamtown...I don't think they do too many there...it is both a commercial airport and military base.

I went away in the zuluclayvan for a couple of nights the other day...up to Woko National Park where the campsites are on the upper reaches of the Manning River's banks...lots of birds, a river, flat & grassy campsites and in winter...no people. 
I took both stills and video...the video can be seen here:

https://vimeo.com/130985224

Here are some shots from there:





One of these little male Superb Fairy-wrens (got to love bird names) came and sat on the arm of the chair I was in and then hopped onto the top of my camera...while I was holding it



this is one of the male Superb Fairy-wren's female harem, captured just as she was taking off


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## WereBo

Beautiful shots Zulu, I really like that first pic, it looks like the close undergrowth, in the foreground, is adding a selective blur to specific areas, giving a magical/mystical atmosphere the the place ray:

That Fairy Wren is just too cute, stunning shots of both :thumb:



A final flypast from the BBMF (Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight)....












Finally, the 'Synco-Pair', a Spitfire and Tornado 'Eurofighter', the Tornado has been repainted in 1940s camo-colours, to match the Spitfire.











I HATE SHUTTER-LAG!!! :banghead:




















And that was the end of a wonderful and memorable day, a slow walk across to the Red arrows tent to thank 'em for a superb display, plus the tip about where to stand for good shots, then sit in the car for 1.5 hours queueing to get out and go home......

Roll on the Headcorn 'Combined Ops' display in August, hopefully seeing the last flight of the Vulcan and, if the Gods are smiling, my first ever flight.... 50 years ago I promised myself that I'd get off the ground one day, hopefully this will be it - YAAAYY! :grin:


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## ash369

I like to take landscape pictures, here are a few of them...


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## joeten

Nice looking pics, a little info on where you took them is always an added bonus.


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## WereBo

Hi ash369 :wave:

Really nice pics, rich colour and nicely framed :thumb: - The 1st 3 pics could be anywhere in the UK, but that last pic looks very much like the Yorkshire Moors :lol:


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## ash369

The first and 3rd pics are, if i remember correctly from carsington reservoir. The second is a place called trent lock in nottingham and the last is dovedale in the peak district  Glad u like them i have some more maybe post them another time.


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## WereBo

Good, please feel free to post your pics any time :smile:


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## zuluclayman

nice looking places there ash369

a nice sunny winter's day (and first day of mid year school holidays) today so headed in to the beach & baths...plenty of people about...some taking their own pics...so I took a pic of someone taking a pic...as you do.

I liked the starkness of the composition and the water's texture in the foreground so decided it would be good in B&W:


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## sandman55

Nice shot zulu you must have been lying down to get the shot close to the water and the texture of the water is a good effect. I can see where you have applied the rule of thirds, I am picking up clues here all the time :thumb:


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## WereBo

A great photo Zulu, all the better for being B&W :thumb:


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## zuluclayman

@ sandy....my camera has a flip out, angle adjustable rear LCD screen so I can put it in Live View mode (rather than having to look through the viewfinder), hold the camera low to the ground or rest it on the ground and have the LCD screen facing up to me allowing me to compose the shot....has saved the knees, stomach and back on many occasions :smile:
This is a pic off the net of my camera showing the flip out LCD:


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## WereBo

Some shots from my balcony..... Approx 1 month ago, I received some seeds for 'Bee-Friendly' meadow-plants so some of 'em were sprinkled in a balcony-planter (A 'bucket' that straddles a balcony-rail), The seed packet didn't state what plants there are, but this is after 1 month's growth.....




























There seems to be a lot of grass-types sprouting, though I haven't a clue how I'm gonna mow it...... 



Also growing on the balcony is a Fennel (a herb for cooking etc.), although it's more like a Triffid now :lol:











For such a huge plant, the flowers are minuscule....


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## SABL

I don't know about mowing the pot of plants but if you grab the Mrs scissors for the task you may get into a wee bit of trouble.......:laugh:

If you like black licorice flavor, the fennel is worth looking up some recipes. The g-kids are a hard sell on anything like that.....they won't touch anything with fennel/anise taste. They have funny tastes.......I put honey on an English muffin and they turned up their noses.

I wish I had something worth taking a picture of around here.....maybe soggy ground and swampland.


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## Done_Fishin

> soggy ground and swampland.


 must be great for insects of all kinds plus a few reptiles .. frogs, snakes etc .. anything bigger and I would say keep away !! What about Dragon Flies don't you see any of those at all .. I suspect that you have gotten so used to the local inhabitants that you don't even see them any more even if they are in front of your nose!:whistling:

werebo .. are you sure that you weren't scammed with those seeds .. looks like a bunch of the local weeds I see on a daily basis wherever there is a bit of water to found .. :hide:


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## SABL

Dragonflies will be next month and I see plenty when they arrive. Fireflies have been putting on a nice show this year. Not seeing the usual toads but there are a few around........snakes are not as abundant as they once were. I could find 3-4 snakes in a day with no trouble years ago. 

Mosquitoes haven't been too bad but that will change when the temps get warmer. The county has been spraying to control them......:thumb:.

Awareness is pretty much a habit with me. I've noticed many changes in the number of native inhabitants over the years. Deer, rabbits, and chipmunks are on the rise.....pheasants, groundhogs, skunks, frogs/toads/snakes are on the decline. Raccoons I rarely see except for the damage to my sweet corn.......:sigh:


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## Done_Fishin

and you say that there is nothing to photograph !!! :laugh: 

perhaps this is all a daily occurence to you but it sounds like a photographers dream to the likes of people like myself! I suppose your only problem is finding time to go do it ! Life does tend to throw obstacles in our way!


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## NatalieGreen

great pictures:thumb:


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## WereBo

Hi NatalieGreen, thanks and welcome to the Photography Corner :wave:

@ DF - The seeds were sent by FoE (Friends of the Earth) and are supposed to be (bee-friendly) meadow-flowers, so I s'pose there will be some plants that's accepted as weeds :lol: - Then again, a weed is only a plant that's not wanted/in the wrong place, so I'm waiting to see what the flowers eventually look like :lol:


Apart from greenfly and some garden-spiders that appear later in the year, there's not many insects around here, apart from those annoying house-flies that buzz and bang against the windows. I suppose they're sort of amazing 'cos they can squeeze through a 1/8" gap to get in, but can't find a wide-open door to get out again..... :grin:

I planted a Salvia (purple-flowered, dunno what type :wink and some flowering clover last year, so there's often about 5-6 bees feeding off it. Unfortunately, the flowers are very small so the bees don't stay still long enough to get any 1/2-decent photos :sigh: - That's why I'm keeping my fingers crossed about the meadow-bucket being bee-friendly, they're getting close to endangered here, nowadays.


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## SABL

I can see what you mean about things being a daily occurence, D_F. Constantly changing but things remain the same if you know what I mean. I have become so habituated with my surroundings that nothing is worth mentioning......:laugh:. If I were in an "Old World" country I would have plenty to photograph......the architecture would keep me pretty well occupied. I wish I had a decent camera when I was doing commercial carpentry back in the 80's & 90's.......I did quite a bit of work on some old theaters. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_Theatre_(Columbus,_Ohio))

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Theatre_(Columbus,_Ohio))

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Theatre_(Columbus,_Ohio))

I was handed the task of taking the panel construction from paper to production for an unusual office building. I was handed a set of drawings and proceeded to build the initial panels to be used for creating templates. 

You have a shortage of honey bees, too, Bo?? The 11yr old G-kid wanted me to kill one the other day.....she said she was allergic to them. I told her the bee wanted nothing to do with her unless she seriously pestered the poor thing. I also told her that harming honey bees is worth a swat on the backside.....:angel:

The patio looks nice, Bo.......:thumb:. I've got 20' of planter boxes sitting vacant......except for what trash the g-kids put in them.....:frown:. I tried herbs a few years ago but I think I made a mistake on the planting medium.....and we didn't use all that much in the way of fresh herbs.


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## WereBo

WOW! Those are some beautiful historic buildings you worked on SABL, the 'Ohio Theatre' is stunning inside :thumb: - As far as I'm aware of, the only building I worked on that's still standing is my pal's house, on the Isle of Sheppey (a small island on the South side of the Thames Estuary), and that's more by luck than judgement :grin: It was originally built as temporary workmen's housing, when the island was scoured clean after a major storm, waaay back in 1953.... The bricks were rotten (they crumbled in my hand as I touched 'em :nonono and all the walls were 'single-skinned' (just 1 wall of bricks, rather than 2 walls tied by cross-bricking). Neither of us had much idea of what we were doing so it was massively over-botched, but the local housing inspector estimated the house will stand for approx 150 years, instead of the minimum 50.... :grin:

The bee-shortage is world-wide, all countries are affected to a greater or lesser degree. Lots of theories as to why, but still no ideas as to curing the problem. Still, I suppose it's one way of reducing planetary population..... :hide:

I tried growing herbs on the balcony some years ago, for cooking and salads etc. but they tasted very strange and metallic, very possibly from the vehicle exhausts on the main road, a hundred feet or so away. I now grow 'em just for the flowers/bee-fodder. The trees on the green in front of my balcony have grown enough to shield a lot of the pollution, but now they cut a lot of the direct sunlight on the balcony, along with the tall block.


The main road can just be seen, t'other side of the tall block in front of me.


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## NatalieGreen

:thumb:
There are some great pictures that are shared here.
I am loving this thread. I would also like to contribute sometime.


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## WereBo

You're more than welcome to post your pics here Natalie, just as a long as they follow the TSF rules regarding 'family-forum' content :grin:


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## zuluclayman

the other day I caught the train down to Sydney, walked from Central Station to Circular Quay shooting video as I went...mostly concentrating on the people of Sydney....I have always been a people watcher, can sit for hours just watching people going about their business, wondering what their stories would be.
As in any capital city there is a continual flow & heavy density of people, something that smaller cities & towns don't have...it too has always intrigued me...so many people, so many lives....what do they all do?

You can view the video here:

https://vimeo.com/133328399

Here are some processed images from the video's DNG sequences:

78 and still playing strongly


busking in the mall


some of the crowd at Circular Quay in the afternoon glow


Circular Quay with ferries, ocean liners and of course, the coathanger aka Sydney Harbour Bridge


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## WereBo

An excellent record of Sydney's daily life Zulu :thumb:


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## SABL

Very nice video, John.......:thumb:

That's the only way I'll ever get to see Sydney......or any part of OZ. I liked the coats......I forgot it is winter season down under....:laugh:


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## zuluclayman

thanks guys...yes, we're shivering Down Under...we've just had some of the coldest days for years with snow along the Great Dividing Range down to 600mtrs almost as far north as Queensland...unheard of for here where our winters are much milder for most of the country, excepting the alpine areas of course....and Tassie...brrr


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## WereBo

Waaaay back in the early '70s, my good pal (Dave) left Dublin (Ireland) to go 'walkabout' and discover the world. He eventually ended up in Australia and immediately fell in love with it, so much so he not only worked/hitch-hiked his way all around the coasts, he crossed Australia from North-to-South and East-to-West.

In typical Irish fashion, he was staying in some tiny place in the middle of the Outback when it started snowing! First snow for centuries according to local Aborigines, so Dave almost got lynched when he started a snowball-fight with the locals :grin:


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## Done_Fishin

:lol:


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## WereBo

I was lucky enough to get my own private air-show this morning, a couple of military helicopters were practising something or other overhead. They spent approx. 5 minutes circling between overhead of my flat and the River Thames nearby, before they flew off into the distance :smile:

Not very good quality, the camera was nearly max-zoom (18X) and it's not very happy with auto-focussing on fast-moving objects, plus the noticeable shutter-release lag causing the pics to be off-centred :sigh: - Still it was fun to see 'em, it makes a change from the usual boring passenger-planes that fly over, to either Heathrow or London City Airport.


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## Wizmo

*Hey Bo,

Next time an opportunity like this presents itself, go manual focus (to infinity) and shoot way! A little faster shutter speed will effectively freeze the rotor blades as well. I shoot local events all the time and get the helicopter shots as part of the event record. From sea swims to fishing tournaments, etc it works pretty well all the time. 

At ISO400, 200mm zoom, the chopper pretty well fills the screen and the photographer or videographer (or both!) are readily identifiable.

I much prefer shooting stills loosely harnessed off the skid myself, as after firing a .50 cal from that vantage point in another life, shooting with a camera is somewhat anti-climactic. :grin:
*


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## WereBo

Unfortunately, my camera is 'Auto-focus' only, no manual focus (it's a Fuji Finepix bridge-camera) :sigh:

I personally prefer a fractionally slower shutter to slightly blur rotors/propellers, it gives the photo some action and movement, but getting the rest crisp is sometimes beyond my poor little Fuji. I'd managed to get it set to 'Sports' mode, to give continual tracking focus, but there's approx 1/4~1/2 second lag on the shutter-release, which really 'gets up my nose' for shooting anything faster than a snail on steroids.....

I'd love to try photographing from up in the air, but I've never yet been off the ground, unless the tops of trees count... :grin: - Fingers crossed that'll change next month, I'm off to the '*Headcorn Combined Ops*' show, down in the wilds of Kent. I went last year and had a great time, except for not enough funds to take a 30 minutes pleasure flight around Kent in a 1930s 'Dragon-Rapide'. This time I've been saving my pennies to wipe #1 off my bucket-list.... :lol:











I did manage to see these two beautiful ol' gals though, 'Vera' and 'Thumper', the last 2 airworthy Lancaster bombers in the world. 'Thumper' had flown over from Canada to display in the UK's Battle of Britain celebrations, and you can hear the difference between the 2 planes, 'Thumper' growls with a Canadian accent.... :whistling: :grin:











This with their escort, 2 Spitfires.....


----------



## WereBo

I had a superb day at Eagle Heights raptor Sanctuary yesterday, warm sun and pleasant fluffy stuff in the sky was really nice.

The centre was holding a 'Husky Day Special', with their sled-team of 24 dogs - They have 'Husky Experiences' with a wheeled sled and 16 dogs give rides around Kent. For today, there was a 'Best of Show', 'Man vs Beast Husky-Race' and a 'Man vs Beast Tug-of-War' (Dogs won paws down) :grin:

The first thing I noticed was just how much my little chum 'Owlfie' had grown, within the month since I last saw him, he's even learning to give displays to the public.....































A 'Striated Cara-Cara' from the Falklands Islands, these birds are clever enough to solve the old 'Find-The-Lady' trick, with a bit of food under 1-of-3 cups :grin:











I've given up trying to get pics of moving objects with this camera, the shutter-lag is awful - This was the best of the lot, Kara the American Bald-Eagle :nonono:











Why you shouldn't stand with your back to the wind :grin:.....


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## zuluclayman

nice images WereBo...looks like a fun day out...raptors certainly have a sense of majesty about them


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## Done_Fishin

Great Pictures werebo .. even if they aren't all perfect .. knowing what your camera can & can't do won't stop you from trying though !! :laugh: as I know from experience !!


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## WereBo

Thanks guys it was a superb day out, if you ignore the kids running about and shouting like wild things - One kid got hit on the head by Harold the Gryphon-Vulture, he jumped up out of his seat at precisely the wrong tome :lol:

Harold......












Harold resting afterwards.....











At long last I've finally seen a 'Little Owl', they're native to the UK and I've heard reports of 'em being seen locally, but they're just too little to easily see.... :grin:










Mrs WereBo holding 'Winston'......











The latest addition to the centre, 'Tia' a young Serval (approx 16 weeks old) - It seems a bit risky having a cat in a bird-centre, but she's in a bird-proof enclosure, I even managed to (mostly) focus through the wire-mesh :grin: - It's hard to believe she'll grow to be about the same height as a Labrador.

Tia is amazingly intelligent, she's been there approx 2 weeks and already learnt all the cutest poses..... :lol:




















Letting her handler know who's the boss....


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## Done_Fishin

be proud of some superb shots there werebo .. the rest are just souvenirs for the day .. Next time i am over in the UK I must see if I can persuade my brother to take us there ! Looks great!


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## WereBo

Thanks DF, I reckon it as my best day yet for photographing there :lol:

Looking down the Darent valley.....











The dark-blue fields on the left side of the above photo is a Lavender-farm, though I couldn't smell it from here.....











Whilst wandering around between displays, I was lucky enough to catch the meerkats lunch-time - Mmmmmm mealy-worms... Yummy....




















I also managed to get a decent photo of an Australian Kookaburra, one of the largest members of the Kingfisher family....











Some smaller inhabitants at the centre......


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## joeten

You did pretty well on those close up's, and some lovely colours between the flowers and critters.


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## WereBo

Thanks Joe, the Buddleia was the deepest purple I've ever seen, with the sunlight on it it's exactly like the photo, Mrs WereBo has been scouring the interweb-net for a miniature version of it, to grow on the balcony :grin:

At last the real stars of the day, the Huskies :lol: - The first event was a dog-vs-human race, needless to say the (real) dogs won.... :grin:




















The winner basking in his glory......




















It was near impossible to get a decent portrait, either the dogs never stayed still long enough, or I was being jostled - This was the best of a wasted exercise....











The 2nd event was the 'Man-vs-Beast Tug-o'-War', the centre holds regular 'Husky-Experiences' where folks are given a ride around the local area in this dog-sled, pulled by a husky-team - It looks great fun, but waaaay out of my budget - It was totally hilarious chaos and the dogs inevitably won, again :grin:











The guy hunched up standing on the sled is Johnny Ames, the centre-owner's son, he's trying to give a 'running commentary' on the PA system.... :lol:











The dog biting the rope is (Mad) Max, more of him in a minute.. :grin:










Finally, I tried to video some of the chaos, the noise was deafening (you might need to turn your speaker-volume down a bit :wink and these dogs gave a new definition of eagerness :lol:



I didn't manage to get any pics of the win, I was squatting down at dog-level and everyone else standing surged forward, All I got was a forest of legs and small children :sigh:


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## joeten

Lovely beasts, we have some folks walking them in our local park as well as Malamute's


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## WereBo

They certainly are handsome animals, they need a lot of exercise and brushing though - 'High maintenance' dogs :lol:


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## joeten

There are a few Akita's going around also, huge dogs.


----------



## WereBo

My friend has an Akita/mongrel cross, just like a great big teddy-bear :grin:


----------



## joeten

Most I have run into are pretty nice, though I 'am told they can be quite dominant as they get older.


----------



## WereBo

It's called getting 'crochety'....










:grin:


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## SABL

WereBo said:


> My friend has an Akita/mongrel cross, just like a great big teddy-bear :grin:


I've had a few cross-bred dogs with great temperments......Rott/shepherd and a Rott/hound. The vets I've talked to said the mean characteristics don't come through with most cross-breeds. 

I still have the Rotten/hound.......~16 years old. I got her when she was ~2 yrs old......in 2001. Wild eyed as could be and full of energy......always wanting to play with the other dogs and wouldn't leave 'em alone. She still thinks she's a pup but has lost sensation in her back legs......like one of her legs is asleep. If shes in a hurry she hops with her back legs.....sometimes falls over. Getting rather old in dog years.......she's my "greyhound" and has plenty of gray/grey.


----------



## zuluclayman

I went for a drive into town and around the harbour today...while driving along the harbour foreshore I spotted this bike...did a loop back to stop and get some pics. The owner was good enough to give me a pretty good rundown on the background to this machine: the American company that made it was ("was" because it no longer exists) called American Ironhorse. They made a limited production of 4-5 models...only around 100 bikes per year. This model is called the Texas Choppers...the paint jobs are chosen then that paint job won't appear on that same model again. Most of the components are CNC milled specifically for that model.
Lots & lots of chrome and some excellent detailing!


----------



## joeten

That's quite something to look at.


----------



## WereBo

A truly beautiful bike excellently captured, but no use for British roads, we've too many pot-holes for practical riding on anything like that :sigh:


----------



## WereBo

I had a nice trip to the 'Isle of Sheppey', down in the Thames Estuary yesterday, to fix a pal's computer - It only took 2 minutes to fix (mobo power-plug had come unplugged, after moving the PC to another room) so we 'explored' some of the island. This is at the far end of Sheppey, just outside a place called Leysdown.....

Lotsa groynes - Looking towards the North Sea.....





















Directly East, an offshore wind-farm.....











'*Red Sands Maunsell Fort*', built during WWII to defend the Kent coast against incoming nasties.....











Now looking south-east, mainland England in the background plus more groynes.... :grin:




















It's waaay too muddy to invade England today..... :lol:


----------



## WereBo

Some shots from the 'Combined-Ops' military display at Headcorn, in Kent. 'twas a beautiful warm day, with just enough cloud to stop getting sunburn :lol: - It's a mixed display of ground and air vehicles, mainly from the WWII era, though they have modern equipment there too.


A beautiful old Citroen, but I'm not sure about the paint job....




















I want one of these for driving in London, Mrs WereBo would have great fun as passenger, with that massive cannon on top.... :grin:




















One of these would do instead, until it rains..... :grin:


----------



## SABL

Another nice group of pics, Bo.......:thumb:

I was able to spot the British vehicle......unless the driver operates the gun while driving.......:laugh:.

I missed the previous round of photos......:uhoh:. I've seen pics of the defense structures.....weird looking contraptions. Talk about being a sitting duck.....:hide:. 

Nothing around here to take pics of.......same stuff just a different day.


----------



## WereBo

Thanks SABL, there's a mix of vehicles from almost everywhere on the planet :grin:




















An original 'Dodge Luxury Liner' in beautiful condition :smile:


----------



## WereBo

I had to choose whether to go to the show on the Saturday or Sunday; Sunday had the Red Arrows performing their entire 20-25 minute routine, or Saturday had the Avro Vulcan strutting it's stuff - This is the last year to see the Vulcan flying, bureaucracy and 'officialdom' has forced it to retire at the end of the 'display-year', so Saturday it was :sigh:

The beautiful 'Mighty Metal Moth' approaches......


----------



## Done_Fishin

lots of lovely shots there werebo ... but you'll have to go back again for a dew retakes just to delay their retirement :laugh:


----------



## WereBo

Hi DF :wave:

'tis a really sad ending for the Vulcan, from next year onwards it's restricted to taxiing up and down the runway, no taking-off or anything, despite lots of protests from loyal fans :sigh:

The highlight of my day out was to finally knock the #1 entry off my bucket-list :grin: - After a 50-year wait, I finally managed to fly, and in real class :lol: - My parents had offered to treat me to a flight around Biggin Hill, when we went to the early air-shows there (mid 60's) but, after looking at the 2.5 hour queue, I decided there were too many other things to see in the time lost queueing, so I declined (idiot me :nonono.

I didn't have quite enough pennies saved last year when I went to Headcorn, but this year I'd saved enough to fly in a dragon!..... Well, a 'Dragon Rapide' anyway, a 1930s 8-seater short-haul airliner....

Apologies for breaking the '5-7 pic max' rule... :wink:


My taxi awaits.....











My good manners in letting t'other folks get on first paid off, I was left with the seat by the door, which happened to have the only opening window in the passenger cabin. The windows were streaked with dust and made from perspex, so while t'other passengers were moaning about their lousy shots, I just stuck my camera out of the window, with the strap on of course..... :lol:











Too small for a stewardess with champagne :sigh:











A Tiger-Moth pootling around....











Kent, in all her beauty - No wonder it's called 'The Garden of England' :grin:











Orchard + sheep...





























I'd sooner be up here than down there.... :lol:











Lining up for landing, Headcorn airfield is in the distance....











Finally, dragon-skin..... Yep, cloth and 'dope'.....











I'm now hooked on flying, can't wait 'til next year's show - Who knows, I might even manage a helicopter flight or, if I win the lottery, a flight in a Spitfire.... :lol:


----------



## WereBo

After the show had finished I took a look at the 'Battle of Britain Museum Hangar', on the airfield. It's mostly bits of wreckage that's been collected from around Kent, during and after the war. It really slammed home just how fortunate some of the pilots were to get away with their lives, it takes some force to mash up an engine block like these :sigh:

A prototype V1 'Doodlebug' with pilot's cockpit, I doubt they got many volunteers for this job! :lol:




















What's left of a Rolls Royce 'Merlin' engine, from a Hawker Hurricane......











Pratt & Whitney radial-engine, I think this was from a Gloster-Gladiator biplane.....











German BMW engine, I think this was from a Dornier bomber.....











Another dead spitfire.....











Propeller showing some of the pitch-gearing......











Walling out of the museum, just as the resident planes were being settled down for the evening....


Harvard Trainer, with De Havilland Tiger-Moth behind it.....











The beautiful Spitfire....











That was the end of an eventful but beautiful day - Next event is the 'Royal Greenwich Tall Ships Festival', at the end of this month. Fingers, toes, eyes etc. are crossed for decent weather.... :grin:


----------



## zuluclayman

some nice shots there WereBo...lots of history there too!

went for a drive into town the other evening and grabbed a couple of shots...this one shows the view looking down to the Ocean Baths from King Edward Park...a lone paraglider was doing some laps above the hill


----------



## WereBo

Thanks Zulu it was definitely a memorable day, especially with experiencing my 1st time getting off the ground :grin:

This is me, courtesy of 'GrumpyGit' whom I met there :lol:











Meanwhile, I went to the (supposed) 'Greenwich Tall-Ships Festival' t'other week and it was a complete flop!  - Just 2 ships were moored at Greenwich and there were no stalls or anything else. I did manage to get onboard the 2 ships, both of which are absolutely beautiful.

The 'Dar Młodzieży' which translates from Polish to 'Promise Of Youth', perfect for a youngsters training ship :grin: - Moored alongside is the Portuguese ship 'Santa Maria Manuela'....











The huge green sheds in the background are built on the site of Henry VIII's Royal Naval Dockyard', where the 'Golden Hind', Mary Rose', Mayflower (of US colonists fame) and myriad other ships were built (soon to be a 'housing complex' for 3,800 homes :nonono.....





























The Dar Młodzieży has got to be one of the neatest and tidiest ships around :lol:...


----------



## WereBo

My new Nikon P610 arrived this morning







- I didn't really get frustrated having to wait 3(ish) hours to charge the battery, before I could play with it....







:grin:

Anyways, these are the very first pics taken with it, Snapped from my front-door, the 1st is widest-angle, 2nd is max zoom (60X optical).....











This is the little blob in the background, between the trees and the block in the above pic....




















Autumn's finally arriving...





























This little fella was in the garden below me....





























The 'Macro' is rather excellent too....











I've now got approx 6 months to get the hang of it all, before next-year's flying-display season starts.... :lol:


----------



## joeten

Nice shots Bo, Sadly a lot of shows could be permanently gone, I saw one place was closed already. I think you can keep a check here UK Airshow Calendar 2016 : UK Airshow Information and Photography – Flightline UK Naturally I cannot find the article now.


----------



## Done_Fishin

Nice !!!! bet you wish you had received it earlier for the Full moon eclipse event .. just have to wait like me for 2033 !! :laugh: We had cloud cover and no-one (to my knowledge) got to see the max eclipse here in Greece although there was a promising gap in the clouds until shortly before the eclipse maxed out (so I heard)! I set my alarm but slept through it all !


----------



## WereBo

Thanks Joe :thumb: - There's some fairly near me that are displaying next year, but with a lot tighter control of what planes are allowed to do what now :sad: - My biggest disappointment is that the Vulcan is being permanently retired in a week or 2's time - I only got to see it once in the 8(ish) years it had been flying


----------



## joeten

Watch as often as you wish https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=v...=xpcJVs2eIIutaZe7uZgD#q=vulcan+bomber&tbm=vid


----------



## joeten

Found the page I mentioned RAF Waddington Air Show scrapped for good - The Lincolnite


----------



## Basementgeek

So much for the 5 picture rule :<(

BG


----------



## WereBo

@ Joeten - It's sad that another air-show is lost, but apparently the station is having some major work on the runway and it's rumoured to be used at full operational status in the near future. Lots of fingers are being crossed that the display moves to RAF Scampton (home of the Red Arrows).

Luckily, some good pals on FB keep t'others and me up-to-date with what's happening where and when, there's a lot of 'plane-geeks' there :lol:


----------



## WereBo

Yesterday's play-time..... :grin:

I can't remember what this plant is called, but it's thermo-controlled (leaves open only in warmer weather than it was then :lol











Macro of a backlit Sage leaf (taken whilst standing/wobbling on tippy-toes :wink.....











3 guesses..... :grin:


----------



## Babbzzz

Nice pictures! Got your new Nikon Bo?


----------



## WereBo

Oh yessss, thanks Babbzzz - I'm still in shock at just how excellent the quality is, for both the 'feel' of the camera and the resultant photos :lol:


----------



## Wizmo

*It's amazing the difference when you graduate from an old "toy" to a fully professional grade instrument! Welcome to your future - congrats Bo!! *:whistling:


----------



## WereBo

Hehehehe, thanks Wizmo :thumb: - I went for a wander around my old 'work-site' yesterday at '*Stave Hill Ecology Park*', a 5.2 acre meadowland park in the middle of what was once the London docks.

Stave Hill......











From the top of the hill across the park to 'London Docklands', on t'other side of the Thames.











The view towards London, it was even warm enough weather to cause a heat-shimmer..... :lol:




















A shadow of my former self.... :grin: - The top of Stave Hill has a cast-bronze map of how the docks used to look, the thimble-looking lump is where Stave Hill is, in relation to the area....











A wooded bit.....











The swampy bit.....


----------



## WereBo

The park also has it's own wind-turbine, used to bring water up for the waterfall (TRUE on the fin=TRust for Urban Ecology).....


----------



## Wizmo

*I cry "FOUL" on Bo! The photos of the waterfoul are nice.* :grin:

*The windmill was the primary water pumping means on many farms and mining sites in the US throughout recent history. Good to see it's resurgence as an ECO-friendly method.



*


----------



## WereBo

I did have a lovely set of 35mm shots of the wind-turbine being erected (from when I wuz working there), but they were donated to the Trust, I haven't a clue now whether they still exist or not anywhere :ermm:





























This little fella was kind enough to sing for me, while posing :grin:




















Nettle in bloom. beautiful flowers but a painful itchy sting to 'em.....


----------



## Done_Fishin

You'll have to go grab that new camera & revisit all your recent and possibly old haunts to see what you have been missing so many years !! :laugh: its amazing what a great little zoom lens can do to help see distant objects !!


----------



## WereBo

I've been sort o' planning that DF, although this camera being slightly larger than the old one, is a bit harder to 'smuggle' into some 'no photography' areas :grin:


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## joeten

Bo, have you looked here at the free photo apps https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/apps?utm_source=chrome-app-launcher


----------



## WereBo

I don't use 'Chrome' and don't have a smart-phone (yet) :wink: - I'm now seriously considering getting a smart-phone, there's an app from Nikon that gives me a remote-control for my camera, great for slow-speed shooting without juddering the camera when pressing the shutter-release :lol:


----------



## joeten

Your with Virgin so you might get a deal from them, as there site does not show deals for existing customers, or at least I don't think it does Virgin Media - Contract Phone Deals Could be worth a call to them to ask.


----------



## WereBo

I'm seriously considering Virgin-Mobile, I'm with them already for my 'dumb-phone' service and, as I've been with them since '96~'97 for broadband, they gave me their 'Super-8' deal; all calls (mobiles+land-lines) + txts are 8p/minute. I'll see if they can improve on that with the new phone, when I get it :wink:

Meanwhile just out of curiosity, I wondered what a hi-res pic of a HD-TV frame would look like.... :grin:


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## joeten

Found this page Do existing customers get any deals on Virgin Mobile?


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## WereBo

It looks like the phone's on hold for the time being, I have to take the car in for repair tomorrow. I had to swerve sharply to miss some idiot pulling out from the kerb and not indicating, earlier this afternoon. Since then there's a nasty clunking from the nearside-front corner and the steering's pulling hard to the left..... AAARRGGH!!! :banghead:


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## WereBo

Between gettng my car repaired+serviced and still tweaking the PC and transferring stuff to my new NAS, I haven't had much time with the new Nikon - In a fit of desperation and withdrawal, I took time out to grab these this afternoon, from my balcony (back+front)....


Autumn's here....




















I saw this little chap (young Thrush I think) fly into a tree approx 50'~60' along the 'green' outside, I was extremely impressed with this camera when I saw the result of it's 'Auto' settings...











A Blackbird, a bit closer than the last one....











From my front-door, a Magpie on the garage-roofs across the road....











Bug-hunting (A.K.A. Dinner-time :grin.....


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## SABL

Another round of nice pics, Bo.........:thumb:

My maple trees should be turning bright red pretty soon......they're getting a start after sub-freezing temps a few nights ago. I haven't checked the battery in the old Sony P&S.......14 years old and the original battery. I used to carry it everywhere I went.....now it stays in the cubby of my desk until needed......which is rarely. I'll drag it out and take a few pics......


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## WereBo

Thanks SABL :smile: - Some of the trees here are turning colour, but most have just dropped their leaves green.... Most odd, what do they know that we don't?.... :grin:


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## SABL

My maple trees are making their move and turning color. The south sides of the trees change color first.......I have 'two-tone' trees right now. I just now noticed something rather peculiar, though. All six trees on the north side of my lot were planted at the same time and from the same batch. The trees gradually change in height from south to north.....no deviation. Each tree is successively higher??


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## WereBo

I suspect the trees get higher so they can peek over the top of the 1 in front, that gets more light...... :grin:

These from this afternoon, almost all the autumn colours in 1 shot :lol:











I really love the 'Dynamic-Zoom' on this Nikon


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## SABL

Took a few pics of the maple trees this morning with the morning sun at my back. Nothing impressive......

Treeline on the east side not showing much color.


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## WereBo

WOW! That size would make a beautiful wildlife garden for the g-kids, you could likely lose 'em for hours... :grin: - I bet those maples are beautiful close-up though, they're a vivid enough red, though they do look a bit lonely.... :lol:

It's being a very colourful Autumn over here, unfortunately I'm mostly seeing the trees while driving, mostly along strict no parking/stopping roads :sigh:


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## SABL

I forgot to mention......the small red bush to the far right is also a maple....after the deer ruined it from rubbing velvet from their antlers. I have another one just like it on the other side of my driveway. Every year I go out and remove all but the strongest 'sucker' to see if I can get a viable tree out of the mess.

I'd like to add some company for the trees out front........fruit trees. Cherries are pretty much out of the question.....the birds are well fed as it is. But......that would only create more work for the trimming crew. 

Wildlife garden for the g-kids??......:ermm:. They rarely go outside......:rofl:. The last time the 11yr old went exploring she came home with a reaction from pine needles.......she needs to stay out of pine trees.....:nono:. 

Not much more to take pics of right now......maybe when we get a heavy frost or some snow.


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## WereBo

Pretty much the same here, being a very run-down 'inner-city' environment, it's mostly either an eyesore or brand new blocks of high-volume flats that look like 'little boxes made of ticky-tacky'....




















They even come gift-wrapped..... :grin:











We don't even get much snow now and what we do get looks pretty for an hour or so, then it's either turning to slush or the kids have scraped it all up for snowball-fights.....

Still, it won't be long 'til Spring, then I can get out to decent countryside again :lol:


----------



## WereBo

I decicded to test my Nikon's night-shooting capabilities last night.... OK, my excuse to go see a (fairly local) fireworks display ... :grin:

The display was held at Blackheath (largest display in SE London) and was a massive affair, literally thousands of people all meandering around in the dark and trying not to shuffle into the crowd-barriers :lol: - I tried some test-shots by resting both elbows on a barrier and bracing the camera by the strap round my neck, but there was still too much blurring so I opted to use my monopod instead.

I'm reeeaaally impressed with this Nikon now, each shot was a 4-second exposure......


----------



## Ooudestomp

Fair play Werebo, they look fantastic :thumb: I'm trying to work out how to do these kinds of shoots with my HS20EXR, I can't work out how to change the shutter length though lol


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## zuluclayman

well done WereBo...the monopod stabilisation has worked a treat for you...#3, #5 and the last are my favourites...nice feathery bits and composition works well


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## WereBo

thanks guys, compared to previous attemptswith earlier cameras, I'm extremely pleased with these :grin:

@ Ooudestomp - Here ya go, page 29 (41/132) explains manual shutter-speeds :wink: - *HS20EXR Manual*. I did consider getting a HS20 when I was researching a replacement for my old Finepix S2500HD, but the Nikon's 60X zoom clinched it for me :wink:

I did cop-out with these shots, the camera has a 'Fireworks' setting so I used that and forgot about speeds and exposures, giving me a better chance to frame the shots and avoid getting jostled by t'other folks :lol:

@ Zulu - It's odd 'cos a lot of the time the monopod is more of a hindrance than help, I took it to a couple of fairly local air-displays last year and almost chucked it away - I'm glad I didn't now :grin:

I wish some of my static-shots had turned out as good though, I still used the monopod, but I suspect the subjects were too static for the exposure-time.... Quirkily pretty though :lol:

The first few are a nearby fairground, the last are distance-shots across the heath....






































Spot the London buses - The 'musical-notes' are street-lights.... No, not Handel's Fireworks Suite :lol:










The blue squirly thingy (bottom-left) is a little kid's spinning LED-toy... :wink:


----------



## zuluclayman

ha,ha...yep, longer exposure times sure can lead to some quirky images....always a bit of a lottery as to how many will be quirkily (?) beautiful and how many will just remain quirky :laugh: ...love the London bus/musical notes one


----------



## Canceled 01/11/16

tumblr update (is)
More night shots please!! I haven't figured out how to do it, silly, isn't it- on my old pentax I just attached a thingy, pressed and held and voila. I wonder if I still have the thingy and if it fits my sony... pip pip. (love and light, as always) :smile:


----------



## WereBo

Wow! You've got a set of very beautiful pics on your Tumblr inauditus ray:

I've only got 1 other night-shot with this camera, apart from the above fireworks above and that's the night after the 'Blood Moon' t'other week/month.... (Boy, did I curse the courier out for delivering it late, instead of the day before as promised







)










The only thing I can suggest is to go out and play on different nights, i.e. with moon, without moon and with cloudy moon (for spooky/sinister shots). 

Experiment with different f-stops, times and ISO-settings if using manual settings, the pic's 'Exif' data records the settings for later so you can see what works and what doesn't.

If taking pics of static or very slow-moving subjects, then a tripod is a must, even pics of vehicle-light trails can look very wobbly when hand-held (even when braced against something solid), though I haven't tried with a monopod.

Another tip when night-shooting with a tripod, is to use the camera's self-timer at 2 seconds - That will prevent any slight judders as you press the shutter-release. That's another thing I've got to play with sometime, I can now use my phone as a remote-control for the camera :lol:


----------



## Canceled 01/11/16

WereBro, you have no idea what it means to me that a professional photographer thinks my pics are good. :grin:
Your advice is good and I decided to do just that. Experiment. I am asking Father Christmas for an attach thingy to keep the shutter open and a tripod. I love your moon shot and here in Wales (in the sticks) there is a lot of sky and moon and over the estuary a sea of lights to capture. Also I remember from my childhood a picture of Roads in the dark, streaks of lights where the cars went, you know the type, so there are ideas swirling in my head already.
I will join a photography group so that someone can show me how to set up my sony, thats how I learn best - I am not the greatest at retaining theory in my silly air head... just see my latest Linux predicament, haha. 

So you made my evening! WereBro. :thumb:

My tumblr is for everyone to copy pictures and keep, I like sharing and as always wish you all Love and Light. (^__^) :smile:


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## WereBo

inauditus, you have no idea what it means to me that you think I'm a professional photographer, I'm just an old-time amateur.... :grin: - I've only ever made anything from 1 photo and that was at secondary-school, when I won a 10-shilling (50p now) 'Tuck-shop' voucher (I was about 11-12 years old at the time :lol

Another idea that might appeal to you, if you like fast jets, is to visit the '*Mach Loop*' in N Wales, it's where the RAF practice their low-level manouvering skills, from the tops of the hills you can see inside the cockpits as they zoom past - Fingers crossed, I'll be visiting there sometime next year, if Mrs WereBo takes another trip to the USA.

*Sample piccies*


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## Canceled 01/11/16

hm. noisy big toys? More of a big boys thing, isn't it? hehehe. Thanks for the tip though, it's bookmarked. Something to do. 

..well, one of you is a Pro, we discussed the bridge camera a while back, but- compliments all round for all of us, because we're worth it!! 

:flowers:

Love and Light, as always.... now waiting for Christmas presents. (^__^)


----------



## WereBo

Aahh well, if you're not into planes, it could be worth it for the stunning scenery there, plus the wildlife :wink:


----------



## WereBo

Just a thought but, if you're not too far from England and fancy a trip to 'foreign climes', there's a very beautiful raptor-centre at Newent, in Gloucestershire :smile: - *Link*


----------



## Ooudestomp

Newent isn't to far from me, been there a few times. Best place around here is the peregrine falcons up at Symonds Yat near Newent, I'll have to remember my camera next time I'm there :smile:

Oh and cheers for the online manual Werebo, I've been meaning to take some long exposure shots of water and some night time shots, no i know how to do it :flowers:


----------



## Canceled 01/11/16

Ooudestomp said:


> Newent isn't to far from me, been there a few times. Best place around here is the peregrine falcons up at Symonds Yat near Newent, I'll have to remember my camera next time I'm there :smile:
> 
> Oh and cheers for the online manual Werebo, I've been meaning to take some long exposure shots of water and some night time shots, no i know how to do it :flowers:



And can we see these shots please, please?? 
:wink:


----------



## WereBo

I spent a very wonderful afternoon at Symonds Yat, back in the mid-90's, whilst on a 2-week camping holiday at Brockweir. There was only 1 pair of falcons back then and they'd just moved in, so I never got to see 'em (plus I didn't own a camera back then).

Tintern Abbey, just across the River Wye, is also a very beautiful place to visit too. Despite the abbey's history, it's a very peaceful place to be - At least it was back then, now it's on the 'tourist-trail' I expect it's regularly packed with kids running rampant :grin:


----------



## Canceled 01/11/16

:whistling:Well, at the moment I am not going anywhere, as you know girls are made of sugar and it is mostly raining here (Wales, United kingdom) 

:tongue:


----------



## sandman55

Hi Guys here are some pics of our recent holiday through the Northern Territory through the north of Western Australia and then down the west coast. 

The first one is of Eyres Rock (Uluru) NT at sunset when the colour is best.


This one is of a Cormorant drying it's wings at Jabiru NT I converted it to Black and White I thought it looked better.


This one is of Aboriginal rock art at Jabiru NT


This is of a salt water Crock we saw on our Yellow water cruise Jabiru NT


I'm having trouble with photo bucket so I will post these and then reboot my computer and if it is OK I will post a couple more.


----------



## SABL

Private album Sandy?? I'm getting zilch for photos.......:sigh:


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## sandman55

no I think Photo bucket is down I have a couple of accounts and I keep getting timing out I have tried different browsers I might wait till tomorrow and see if it resolves its self.

EDIT: I just logged out of Tech Support and logged in and now I don't see my photos either but when I quote I can see the photo bucket links and I can't log into Photo bucket I think they are down. As I said I will wait till tomorrow and see if it resolves it's self otherwise I will use another host.


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## SABL

OK....we'll wait. Sig not showing either.......:sigh:


----------



## sandman55

I dont know what is going on and it's getting late here tomorrow I will post them direct to the forum


----------



## Canceled 01/11/16

wow (^__^) :smile:


----------



## SABL

There they are.........nice photos Sandy......:thumb:


----------



## WereBo

A lovely set of pics there Sandy, you caught the 'Uluru Glow' perfectly, in #1 - A definite wall-hanger' ray:

It's amazing how B&W can add so much impact to a photo, #2 looks almost 3D though a slight boost to the highlights will lift it nicely - (Available in Photobucket's editing tools) :wink:

That rockface has got beautiful textures to it, the artwork stands out beautifully :thumb:

I bet you're glad you were in the boat for #4.... :grin:


----------



## WereBo

Last night I decided to brave the elements (icy winds) and venture up to the top-floor (4th) of my block, for some night-shots. Immediately opposite me across the Thames is the 'London Docklands', the financial-heart of London, boring during the day but rather pretty at night.... :smile:

The first couple are of the Docklands, the last 2 are 'The Shard' (4.5 miles away) and the 'London-Eye' (3 miles away)











The largish orange blobs just above the block of flats are the riverside path lights and their reflections in the river, on t'other side of the river - The streaky white blob just below them is a passing 'Thames Cruiser' ferry boat......











The Shard.....











The London-Eye......










All shots are straight from the camera, no tweaks or twiddles :lol:


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## SABL

Nice photos, Bo....wish I was there.


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## zuluclayman

nice pics sandy and Bo...that would have been a good trip too sandy...one of these days...have only been through the NT on a bus to Darwin...would love to do a more leisurely tour with camera gear :thumb:
@ WereBo...cities often look better by night...you can't see the crowds and their dirt :laugh:


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## sandman55

Thanks Guys I was wondering what was going on.
Some nice night pics WereBo I bet you're really enjoying that new camera. I'm still in negotiations with my managing director and I think I will be getting a new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds Digital Camera and a Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm F4-5.6 II lens (EZ-M1415-2) they are both splash and dust resistant and there is a $200 cash back on the camera till Dec 24 I just have to get my hand in my pocket and miss the finger biting moths. I might wait till December to see if a better deal comes up.

You would enjoy the trip zulu and to have your van you would have a great time, we stopped in cabins but it would have been great to free camp in a caravan. The trouble is I want a van that is small on the outside and my wife wants it bigger on the inside and until they make a TARDIS van I don't think it will happen.

Here are a few more random ones of our trip the first is a camel train at sunset at Cable Beach Broome WA


This is of one of the Dolphins at Monkey Mia, note how it is slightly rolled on it's side with one eye out of the water looking at the ranger.


The next two are of a statue and plaque of the legendary "Red Dog" the pilbarra wanderer.



The next two are from further south on the west coast of the wild flowers. I couldn't believe the diversity of colour of the different wild flowers. Flowers are my wife's thing but I found myself being caught up taking pics of them.


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## sandman55

Hi guys looking at my pics more critically I realise I should have leveled the Camel train one and looking at the top corner of the dolphin one I couldn't believe how off level it is (I was looking at the dolphin and not the pic critically so I thought I would post a better pic of it and they were all like that and I remember now we were all bunched together on the shore trying to get a photo with our arms stretched out. Anyway here is another of some lucky people who got to feed the dolphin that I levelled and also I leveled the one of Cable beach camel train.


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## WereBo

@ SABL - Zulu got it one, it looks pretty at night, but in the day you can see the people and dirt around, not to mention the fly-tipping that regularly appears on the corner of my street - Quite a lot of my recent photography has been of the fly-tippers, then sent to my local council for their prosection evidence, it helps a bit but doesn't seem to stop them coming back though :sigh:

This was taken back in Spring, a day or so after the local council had cleared the corner....











@ Sandy - #1 with the slightly wonky horizon isn't too noticable 'cos the camel-train is at a corresponding angle t'other way, so they sort of cancel each other out - It still looks better with a level horizon though :wink:

Unfortunately, #2 would look a bit weird if you straightened the horizon, 'cos the ranger would then be leaning at a very strange angle :grin: - The other cure would be to crop the top off, level with the water at the right-hand side of the pic :wink:

Oddly, I was watching the movie about 'Red Dog' earlier this week :lol: - 'tis a beautiful film and very moving emotionally. Mrs WereBo was in tears and almost demolished a box of paper-hankies, and I was struggling to hold 'em back too, in places :grin:


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## zuluclayman

love the camel train pic sandy...yes, those finger biting moths in wallets etc can be dangerous...death to them all I say!
The heat and dust would be somewhat difficult in the confined space of my campervan through the centre... I'd be willing to give it a go tho' :smile:


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## sandman55

Thanks guys, yes WereBo I liked the Red Dog movie. Your right about that scene is better at night but you have other scenes that are good during the day and the beauty of photography is you can be selective. :grin:

zulu the heat and the dust would be a problem at the wrong time of the year. We would have been better to have been there just two weeks earlier as it was warming up at Kununurra. It's a lovely country and to free camp at some places would be great as long as your not crowded by too many grey nomads :grin: I like that camel train one as well, I have just made it my wall paper.


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## yustr

Regarding tilt...if it's a big tilt you did it on purpose. If it's just a little you forgot to make the adjustment.

Checking the horizon is one of the first steps I do when editing a photo.


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## sandman55

Yes I should have checked them especially before posting. I have 754 photos after trimming them down and I realise now I have another folder where I drastically trimmed them down and edited some but there are a lot in the larger folder that I still like but haven't edited so I had better keep an eye on them.
Back to the Northern Territory here are five of Kings Canyon the second one is of water reflection in a pool at the bottom. I really enjoyed this place, it was quite a walk around it and the camera doesn't do it justice.


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## WereBo

A truly beautiful place Sandy, Australia is totally unique for it's various rock formations and geology :thumb:

#2 is a real stunner, though it needs to be seen full-screen to fully appreciate the scene ray:

Have you ever been up to the '*Bungle-Bungles National Park*' (Pernululu) at all? It's supposed to be an extremely spectacular place for unusual rocks and stuff :wink:


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## sandman55

Thanks WereBo. We specifically took our tent to camp at the Bungles and go on a 4 wheel drive tour but as it was late in the season they were not running the tour on the weekend which was when we would be there (we had to book accommodation well ahead for most of the trip because of the Grey Nomads) and the weather was starting to warm up when we were at Kununurra so we decided against camping and took a flight over Lake Argyle and the Bungles we also had a cruise on Lake Argyle it is huge. I have been trying to find the statistics on the net this is all I can find Lake Argyle Statistics but I'm sure they said that if the dam were to fail the time it would take to empty would be measured in years. The dam only spans a small gap and it is an earth dam. It was a shame about the Bungles as the 4x4 tour would have been great. Here are some pics of our flight.


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## WereBo

I remember seeing a TV-program about them, ages ago (I think it was a documentary, soon after they'd been 'discovered' in 1983) and it looked a magical yet alien place - I can well understand why Australians like to go 'walkabout', with landscapes like that I would too :grin:

Waaaaay back in the late 60s, a very good pal of mine left home in Dublin, Ireland and jumped on the 1st ship leaving. He eventually landed in S Australia (somewhere :lol and hitch-hiked his way north. When he ran out of North to go to, he was 'addicted' to Australia so hitched his way clockwise around the entire coastline, until he got to the far western bit. He then turned right and hitched across the middle, left-to-right...

He spent approx 7-8 years in Australia, then he left to work his way back to the UK, including hitch-hiking most of India, south to north.


PS - For other members/readers who haven't a clue what I'm on about, here's a short video of the Bungle-Bungles.... :grin: (Best in full-screen HD)


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## sandman55

Hi WereBo that clip starts from the El Questro Resort it shows an idyllic caravanning holiday. We visited El Questro on a day trip 100km westish from Kununurra it was great it only cost us $12 each and we first had an arduous walk up a very stony creek bed where we stopped for a dip to cool off in a couple of rock pools and at the end of the walk we came to a magnificent rock pool which had water lightly dripping from the foliage hanging over the rock wall and to one side there was a spring that had luke warm water coming out. After our swim there we set off on the long walk back to the resort and we were able to shower and then cool off in their pool which was covered by the $12 entry fee then we bought lunch there. It was a good day. Here is a clip of the rock pool sorry about the quality from my phone.

https://vimeo.com/147312250


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## WereBo

It certainly looks an idyllic place, not even any wildlife trying to eat the local population... :grin:


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## sandman55

No we were pretty safe there but there were plenty of bighty Lizards at Jabiru.



100km south of Katherine in the NT we stopped at a lovely swimming spot Mataranka (you can google it) it is close to the roper river where there are crocks but you can swim safely at Bitter Springs the water comes out the ground at 30.5 million litres per day and at a temperature of 34 degrees celcius you enter the creek up stream and drift down stream then get out and walk up a path and do it again the water is lovely and clear.



42km north of Katherine NT is a lovely swimming hole and waterfall it is a bit of a trek to get to it Edith Falls her is a pic of the falls and and old fossil swimming there.




Here is one from our cruise up Katherine Gorge we didn't swim here as we only took the half day cruise but once before on a full day cruise we swam and that time we were looking for freshwater crocks which are harmless if you leave them alone and after our swim the tour guide said there are not many freshwater crocks, that can be a sign there is a salty around :SHOCKED: I think he was pulling our leg. After the floods they set traps and move any salties out of the area.


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## WereBo

It's certainly a beautiful and varied country, that 34C stram looks really nice, especially as we're coming up to mid-winter here.... :grin:

Looking at the area on Google-Earth, there's a helluva lot of termite-mounds around there - Termites are phenomenal engineers according to David Attenborough, they build the tallest 'skyscrapers' on this planet, in scale to their size :lol:


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## sandman55

Yes WereBo the termite mounds are interesting and they are different shapes and sizes in different parts of the country. What does sadden me is silly people will put clothes on them to make them look human but it just is a distraction from nature.


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## Wizmo

*@WereBo,

Just watched the Gary Martin "Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber" special. Not being from the Commonwealth, I was blissfully ignorant of the nature or even the existence of it! In my lifetime it has all been about the B52 and all that came before (and after). My all-time favorite 'bird' was the SR71 Blackbird.*

*I see now what a special love the Brits have/had for that groundbreaking aircraft!!* :wink: *What a loss for the aviation fans.* :frown:
*
Gary Martin certainly is a "live wire," flirting with crazy!! :grin:*


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## Wizmo

*OOPS, it was GUY Martin, not Gary (old friend who has been on my mind lately)! :facepalm: ...and he's still just a few CM short of "the edge!"

*


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## WereBo

@ Sandy - I suspect 'dressing' the mounds could also be dangerous for the termites too, the mounds are built so the winds provide an airflow through the 'nest', to keep a constant temperature for the inhabitants - Clothing would surely interrupt that airflow, putting the entire colony at risk.

@ Wizmo - The Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber was a brilliant program, a helluva lot of Brits were glued to the TV for that :grin: - During her various displays around the UK this year, there was a lot of grown men in tears as she flew over, it was so emotional to a lot of folks. So much so that the 'Vulcan to the Sky' Trust formed a new motto: '*Don't shed tears because it's gone, smile because it happened. Otherwise, try and smile through the tears*'. Some very keen fans even organised a petition for the government to step in to keep her flying, on the grounds that, as she's named 'The Spirit of Great Britain', she should stay airborne. The petition got enough support that the government had to debate it, though we're still waiting for the results.....

I saw my 1st Vulcan 50 years ago at 'Biggin Hill Flight Display' (The last WWII fighter defence airfield before London and 'Sector Control for SE England') and I managed to get to see it this year during it's final display season. Unfortunately, my old Fuji wasn't really up to the job of photographing it very well, but at least I've got the memories of seeing and hearing it 'live' :lol:

Guy Martin also did an similar excellent program about the WWII Spitfire fighter-plane, from an old crashed wreck found buried on a beach (in Normandy I think), through it's full restoration to it's 1st flight, with the pilot's descendants present to watch it fly. I just tried to find it it on Youtube but I think the TV-station has now blocked it :sigh:

Guy also did a 'bike-run' to India, to partake in the 'Rider Mania' rally in Goa, where all the entrants race aound on Royal Enfield 500CC bikes, which was hilarious viewing :grin:

These are my few decent pics of the Vulcan's display this year, she was certainly well-named as 'The Mighty Moth' or 'The Metal Moth', by the early pilots :lol:....






































If you look at the insides of the bomb-bay doors, you can just see faint black lines, these are the names of every single person who donated to the 'Vulcan to the Sky Trust' to keeep her flying, a beautiful tribute to them (Full size pic here *Link*, click on the magnifying-glass on the tool-bar).




















Final shot as she flew off into the distance....











I'm now waiting/hoping that either or both the US Navy 'Blue Angels' or the USAF 'Thunderbirds' perform another display over here. They certainly have a very dramatic display worked out :thumb:


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## sandman55

Yes you might be right WereBo it could be dangerous to their temperature. It might seem funny at the start but as time goes on the clothes weather and become rags. I see it as a form of graffiti... I must be getting old. Here are more Dressed-up Termite Mounds by Darwin Artist Ian Hance

Some nice shots of the Vulcan Bomber a beautiful plane.


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## WereBo

Thanks for the link to the CDU, I've emailed them regarding the 'dressing' - It doesn't even look particularly artistic, but that might just be me being 'old-fashioned' :lol;


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## sandman55

I just sent them a message too


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## zuluclayman

I haven't posted many pics lately...and similarly I hadn't been to many sessions of The Drawing Room during 2015 even though I love doing portraiture pics.
For 2016 I've resolved to get along to more sessions and do more portraiture shooting.
Here are a few shots from the year's second session...an old friend Debra was modelling...she has modelled for life drawing classes for over 30 years at TAFE, Uni and privately run life drawing classes....a classic redhead!
The theme for this night was Spanish Art Nouveau Gone Feral :smile: ...the slideshow behind Debra was mostly of Barcelona and in particular the work of Antoni Gaudi


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## zuluclayman

and to balance the portraiture with my other love...landscape photography - a panorama stitched from 5 photos of my favourite waterhole at the Upper Allyn River campsite...I stayed there for 3 days a couple of weeks back. 

The second image is of what happens when people don't think when driving through causeways....there are 4 causeways on the way the campsite...all crossing the Allyn River...the first 3 rarely have water going across them (they water flows under them unless heavy rain has fallen). The last one always has some water flowing across...it has flood depth markers and signs.

Last year we had a rain event with torrential rain and the owner of the silver car seen in the background in this photo tried to go across the causeway at night...the car with him and his small dog was carried off the causeway...he managed to free himself from the car but was separated from his dog and was washed a further 3km downstream incurring some lacerations and heavy bruising...he walked back 4-5km by road to a set of cabins, broke in, dressed his wounds and made a sign that he placed in the middle of the road asking for help....a couple saw the sign went to help and as it turned out they had found his dog alive and well-ish some further 2km or so away from where he was washed up.

The small car in the foreground looks as if it hit the water at speed and slid sideways off the causeway into the bank...no idea if anybody was injured in this one but there were a number of small child items (nappies etc) in the car. Enough prattle ...here are the pics:


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## WereBo

Excellent sets of pics Zulu, Debra certainly has stunning hair and lots of it :grin:

As the old(ish) saying goes: 'Where there's a road there's an idiot'.... :lol:

I decided to take a trip to Biggin Hill Airfield yesterday, just on the off-chance of seeing something interesting. After an hour or so and the most interesting thing to look at being my mug o' tea, I wandered out to the car-park for a ciggie, before heading home. I'd just finished my cig and was putting the camera back in it's carry-bag when I heard the familiar growl of a Rolls-Royce 'Merlin' engine, a few seconds later this Spitfire came home (it lives in the '*Heritage Hangar*' on the airfield, seeing it against the sunset truly made the trip memorable...


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## WereBo

Another 'Golden Hour' session, this time from my front door....

Straight forward shot....











Looking left.....











And to the right..... A pity about that useless camera, not even any good for plane-spotting :grin:


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## Wizmo

*You don't recognize a camera in the SETI network??* :grin:


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## WereBo

I suspect it's checking planes and helicopters for speeding.....


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## Done_Fishin

It gives the impression that it's looking at the skyline but in fact it's look down towards the left!! 

Most likely checking for dogs who pass by and kock their legs against the base :smile: ( I wrote *kock* because the correct spelling was picked up by the censors and turned into stars ... :banghead: )


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## SABL

Well........they could have the camera pointed towards someone's flat.......:whistling: I'm sure I could get them to re-position it if it were pointed in my direction......they would soon tire of viewing a 'full moon' on regular occasions.....:grin:

I was going to attempt a shot of something similar to Horsetail Falls and the firefalls effect. The sun's evening rays reflect off the house the next road over and makes it appear that the whole house is ablaze. It's pretty spectacular but only lasts a few minutes......at certain times of the year. I glanced out the back door a few weeks ago and spotted the phenomenon that I had forgotten about but haven't seen it since......:sad:


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## WereBo

@ DF - It's definitely sky-watching, the overhanging at the 'top' is designed to act as a sun-shield, plus you can just see the rain-wiper protruding from the motor-casing, underneath the front (plus the cables going in the back) :wink:

As far as I know, the camera's never worked since it was installed, sometime during the 1980s. At least that's what the police say, whenever anything happens that warrants their attention here, usually kids rioting or vandalising stuff :nonono:


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## Wizmo

Done_Fishin said:


> It gives the impression that it's looking at the skyline but in fact it's look down towards the left!!
> 
> Most likely checking for dogs who pass by and kock their legs against the base :smile: ( I wrote *kock* because the correct spelling was picked up by the censors and turned into stars ... :banghead: )


*You mean we are actually prohibited from discussing what time the **** crows in the morning?!?! What a disgusting development! :hide: :nono:




*


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## SABL

The word censor helps keep people from going off half-cocked.......I guess. There's quite a few words in the word censor filter.

*OK*.....back to where we were.

:woot:.......I finally got to see a Tower Bridge lift.......:thumb: I kept forgetting about the lift times but finally made a mental note of today's lift. The next lift will be tomorrow morning.......but I doubt I'll be up at 2AM my time (EST). 

Best I could do was a screen cap as the Volvo Ocean Racing Yacht passed under the bridge. What's with all the pyrotechnics?? At first all I could see was a ball of fire and smoke going upriver......:huh:


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## joeten

Here you go


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## SABL

I want to see it in real time......:laugh:

Another lift is scheduled tomorrow at 10:30AM EST.....the 2AM lift is not in my schedule.


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## SABL

Watched another lift at 10:30 AM EST this morning......missed the return trip 45 minutes later. There sure was lots of motorcycles out and about.....


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## WereBo

It's amazing, for all the years I've lived in London and I've never seen Tower-Bridge open/close for real :nonono: - There's a local bridge across the River Ravensbourne (Deptford Creek) that opens fairly regularly which I've seen in operation, but mostly while I'm sat in my car waiting. There's a 'road-ballast' company just t'other side of the bridge, you can just see their ship being loaded.










Oddly, this bridge only seems to open when I'm in a desperate hurry to be somewhere on t'other side of it :grin:


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## SABL

I guess Tower Bridge is too close to home to be of interest for you......:laugh: Much easier to watch from my desk with all the comforts of home.....I can even drink a beer without having to worry about charges of having an open container. There's things local that I don't bother with.......but, I sure wish I had made time to visit the National Museum of the USAF when I was working at Wright-Patterson in the 80's. I drove by the place twice every work day but never stopped. In too much of a hurry getting to work or getting back home.....it was a 90 minute ride each way.

I was off wandering about looking at YouTube videos on Tower Bridge......interesting....:thumb:

The vessel that passed under the bridge was a let-down.......small craft with a medium-tall mast. Next scheduled lift is May 18.....but that can change. I wasn't aware of yesterday's lift til I checked the time for today's.


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## WereBo

It's not that it's too close to be of interest, it's more that it's always packed with tourists who have a nasty habit of jostling me when I'm photographing, or standing right in front the camera as I press the button :lol:

I'm now starting to get a bit impatient, my 1st airshow of 2016 (*Abingdon Air & Country Show*) is 1st of March and I've just now recieved my ticket for the '*Headcorn Combined Ops*' display, in August (see my previous pics of aircraft and military vehicles :wink - The 'Biggin Hill Festival of Flight' is in June, but tickets dont't go on sale 'til April.


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## zuluclayman

I was asked by an acquaintance to photograph some examples of the beautifully crafted musical instruments (mostly lutes & lyres) he makes. I took a neutral grey backdrop and my continuous LED lights I use for both photography and video...here are some of the pics:


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## Wizmo

*Great shots, and beautiful craftsmanship! 

*


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## SABL

Nice work.....:thumb:

#2 looks like a combination of teak and maple.


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## WereBo

As above with the craftmanship and photos, the instrument that's laying down in #1 looks like Oak, from the medullary rays ;-)

Well, following my 2nd free visit on Monday evening, I'm now a fully paid-up member of the '*South London Photographic Society*' (Founded 1889), most of the members have a lifetime of photography under their belts both amateur and professional, so I should get some great tips and experience from them :smile:


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## SABL

FWIW......I let the dogs out last evening as the sun was setting and caught the houses the next road over (~1/2 mile away). As the sun 'moves' farther south it reflects off the windows in an eerie manner. I missed the house with the most windows but caught two decent ones.

Old 5MP camera 4X optical zoom.........without tripod. First pic without zoom of the house on the right. 2nd pic full zoom of the house to the left. If you're not used to the reflections you'd think the houses are on fire.

*You'll have to click on the thumbnails to see much of anything......as if there's anything to see......:laugh: Camera is 14 years old and so's the battery......getting to where it won't hold a charge for long......:sigh:


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## zuluclayman

@SABL...I often see widows reflecting light in the afternoon and wish I had my camera with me....they do appear to have a ghostly presence at times 

Meanwhile, we've had a largish swell running and with the tides being fairly high coming up to Easter king tides there has been a fair bit of water going where it doesn't normally. This picture taken at Newcastle Ocean Baths shows the amount of water moving across the baths...where the wave is is usually the path - the actual edge of the pool can be seen as a lighter line under the water...needless to say the baths were closed to the public...only silly photographers and a few sightseers braved the wind and sloping rain.


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## SABL

ZC.......I wish I _had_ a camera.....:laugh: Pretty much top of the line for a DSC when I bought it but the g-kids iPhones are much better. Mine is a Sony DSC-V1......the Carl Zeiss lens is pretty much a waste on a 5MP camera.

Looks like a bad day for a bath at Newcastle.......unless you want to be washed out to sea. I bet the place is beautiful on a warm sunny day.

Aren't you approaching the end of summer down there?? We're anxiously waiting for it up here......:laugh: We started out at 28 F (-2 C) where I'm at.......still a little chilly in the morning......


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## WereBo

@ sabl - Shooting during the 'Golden Hour' is always a tricky balance, especially during the last 20 minutes(ish), it's all too easy to get too dark pics, or too light if compensating for it. The 1st pic captures it nicely, with the darkening ground and distant house-lights. A handy tip for #2, resting your camera (or arms) on the horizontal fence-rail will drastically reduce the dlight movements that's caused the pic to be jittery. Looking closely, although blurry, you can just see the sun reflecting off the power-lines in the distance, nice one ;-)

@ Zulu - That's a really dramatic shot there especially in B&W, beautifully caught and exhibition-worthy ray:


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## SABL

I had the camera steadied by a porch post on the 2nd shot.....didn't do much good.....:sigh: I'm not much of a photographer.......:rofl:


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## zuluclayman

@ SABL...yep, we've just had the first few days and nights where there has been a bit of a chill in the air. Our February temps were breaking heat records left right and centre...not hugely hot (av 30-35C) but the hottest month overall, days and days over 30C...and it continued for first couple of weeks of March.
All in all I'm looking forward to some heat relief...then we can start to complain about how cold it is :laugh:

@ WereBo...thanks...I thought that drama would be amplified by the starkness of b&w too


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## SABL

ZC....You seem to have pretty moderate temps that are close to what I see in my area. We get a tad bit colder in the winter, though. Last winter wasn't bad at all.....for once. 

Newcastle:


> Over the course of a year, the temperature typically varies from 43°F to 84°F and is rarely below 38°F or above 93°F.


Columbus:


> Over the course of a year, the temperature typically varies from 20°F to 85°F and is rarely below 3°F or above 92°F.


I can see why AC may not be a big seller in London:


> Over the course of a year, the temperature typically varies from 37°F to 73°F and is rarely below 30°F or above 80°F.


https://weatherspark.com/averages/34096/Newcastle-New-South-Wales-Australia

I was going to try another photo but missed my chance. By the time I noticed the setting moon it was almost below the horizon......:sigh: Full moon phase will be tomorrow and that may provide a decent pic.....if I can get it. When I glanced out my window I saw a bright orange.....very orange....orb. I keep one slat open on my blinds to keep an eye on road traffic and wildlife......and to watch the g-kids getting on/off the school bus......:thumb: Window faces west and the setting summer sun is brutal.....my desk is right against the window. The blinds need to be replaced and the next ones will be as dark as I can find.....these white blinds let too much light in. But.....dark ones will absorb the sunlight and generate heat.....:nonono: I may rethink my color choice....drat.


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## WereBo

A moon shot might be a bit tricky, unless you have some way of clamping the camera, very long shutter-speeds make it near impossible to get a crisp shot when handheld.

I managed to get this one back in 2013, but I wrapped myself around a lamp-post with the camera resting against it. (The lamp-post was to brace myself for the photo, not to hold myself up as I'd just left the bar..... :grin


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## SABL

WereBo said:


> A moon shot might be a bit tricky, unless you have some way of clamping the camera, very long shutter-speeds make it near impossible to get a crisp shot when handheld.
> 
> I managed to get this one back in 2013, but I wrapped myself around a lamp-post with the camera resting against it. (The lamp-post was to brace myself for the photo, not to hold myself up as I'd just left the bar..... :grin:


A likely story.........:rofl:

No go on the photo this morning.......cloud cover and all I could see was a round blur. Maybe I should have taken the shot......would have been perfectly normal for my ability......:grin: I took two shots the day before but they are still on my camera......


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## WereBo

It's true, I was at the 'Planet Rockstock Festival' and Uriah Heep had just finished the night off, too much adrenalin for alcohol to work :lol:...... That, plus watching Mrs WereBo dancing on stage, behind the band :grin:


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## Wizmo

*Old hippies never die, they just keep dancing until their icons are dead & gone..... (Thought of that while looking in the mirror!) 

*


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## sandman55

Hi guys we've just got back from a trip to Tasmania, I'll post some pics when I get time and review them. On the way home we picked up a little friend for Charlotte an Australian Terrier called Roxy she is 11 weeks old and we are having fun house training her at the moment.


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## WereBo

Hi Sandy and welcome back, I hope it was a good holiday there :wink:

Poor ol' Charlotte is looking her age now :sad:, hopefully Roxy will help her pick up a bit and keep her amused


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## sandman55

Yes we have to make sure she doesn't get too much of Roxy as she can get a bit boisterous for the old girl. We took them both to the beach yesterday for a walk and they enjoyed it.


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## WereBo

I've not been out much recently, cloudy dull weather doesn't help to make good photos.... I did see these couple o' parakeets yesterday, 2 trees from my balcony, which gave me a chance to 'relearn' my camera a bit - It was 'intersting' having to focus through two trees to get 'em :grin:


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## SABL

Hi Sandy.....nice looking pup. Isn't it amazing how a younger dog can rejuvenate an older one?? My old hound has my son's gf's dog confused. He's ~8 and my hound is close to 17. Don't know why but the old hound chases and nips at him.....pretty much has him scared.....:laugh: He goes out of his way to avoid her and I block her if he wants to travel the hallway to get to 'his room'. She's lost quite a bit of function in her legs but can still get around somewhat......I have to help her up when she takes a tumble. 

Nice pics, Bo.......I wouldn't even attempt a shot like that with my camera. I've never seen any parakeets in the wild around here. I see an occasional American Goldfinch during the warmer months......beautiful birds they are. My favorite is the Barn Swallow and they are a joy to watch when I mow my lawn. Their aerobatics as they chase the insects I've stirred up with the mower are something else......they'll snatch a bug out of the air right in front of your face.


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## sandman55

Thanks SABL yes young Roxy is good for old Charlotte, though we keep them separate where food is an issue. I thought I had the back yard Roxy proofed but I see she can squeeze through the 75mm/3 inch mesh we have around the fruit trees that we let the chooks run under to keep the weeds down. I am at present putting a finer mesh 400mm/15.5 inches high on the 75mm mesh to keep her out.

We had a drama the other day I noticed Roxy was very interested in the chooks and one of them was running around with a large worm in its beak and the others were chasing it to have some. It was only when the chook dropped it to have a peck and a shake of it that I realised it was a baby brown snake about 6 or 7 inches long. The snake looked almost dead so I thought if it were to bite the chook it would have used up it's poison by now and I wasn't going to intervene, they would have shredded it and eaten it.

About a couple of hours later the chook was a bit sick so I separated it from the others and in the morning it was dead. Better the chook than one of the dogs. The next door neighbour had seen a couple of baby snakes so we had better be vigilant.

I have read on the net that a brown snake values its poison and regulates how much it uses but a baby doesn't have that ability and you can get a decent dose from a small snake.

Nice shots of the parakeets WereBo I didn't know you had them there I checked https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_parakeets and I see the first recorded sighting in the wild was in 1855

I still haven't got round to getting our Tasmania photos off the camera, when we got back we have been busy with Roxy and we have all caught a virus but I will get round to it, It's stopped raining so I'm out to Roxy proof the fence around the fruit trees so I can let the chooks out again.
Here's a grainy pic of the two dogs.


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## Done_Fishin

Nice photo's of Parakeets werebo .. we have a lot here in Athens, Greece but they have always defied my ability to get such a good close up photo. Your extra zoom range is no doubt helping (and hindering with the branch problem) there! 

Had to look up chooks using Google although I guessed it might be chickens and stuff! Seems strange that the same "language" in different parts of the world have word variations designed to confuse us !!


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## SABL

Holy cow, Sandy......that's scary....:SHOCKED: I've heard there are many poisonous critters down under. All we have are a few spiders around here....the poisonous snakes are north and south of my location and not very many at that. 

My son and I have considered raising chooks. The main problem is much like yours.......dogs. My daughter has a few but, again, small dogs have killed many of them. The two small dogs my son owns are mousers and walk the fenceline looking for prey. Rabbits are another target for them and they've killed quite a few.

Hi, Frank......:wave: How's things going in your part of the world??


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## sandman55

Yes DF I could have used Chickens but now your vocabulary has increased :grin: 
@ SABL it might seem we are over run with snakes but that is not normal. There is a park about 4 or 5 house blocks up the hill from us and there are snakes there. These baby snakes must have hatched out somewhere close by.


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## zuluclayman

@ WereBo...nice pics of the parrots

@ Sandy...Charlotte looks like she is only just tolerating Roxy in that pic :laugh:

hmm, baby browns near the house (dogs & chooks too) is not good...had them, blacks and once even a baby tiger snake near the farmhouse I rented in the mid 70's...place was a snake magnet ...much to my city-boy consternation!


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## WereBo

Thanks guys :smile: - Yep, this 63X zoom is superb, it's the equivalent of having a 1440mm lens on a 35mm camera, that would be about a yard or more long..... :grin:

Parakeets here aren't indigenous, it's suspected they're escapees from pet-cages and have bred here since. They don't seem to conflict with other birds for food so they're generally welcomed, apart from when they're screeching at each other.... :lol:

Meanwhile, fron chooks to chinooks :lol: - I spotted this army copter t'other day so rushed out my front door to snap it, I didn't even have time to check the camera settings, just point, shoot and hope......


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## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> Meanwhile, fron chooks to chinooks :lol: - I spotted this army copter t'other day so rushed out my front door to snap it, I didn't even have time to check the camera settings, just point, shoot and hope......


*A little more time and some shutter speed tweaking and you could have "stopped" the rotor blur. I always try to freeze the rotors when I shoot whirly birds! I have some great shots of a sea swim with chopper borne camera above. I'll post them if I can locate them. You can actually read the manufacturer's logos on the rotors when I get it just right. 

I've also shot some for a bimini start of a local international fishing tournament (standing on the skid of the bird) and got some great shots of the racing boats completely airborne jumping a swell! I figured if I could fire a .50 cal off a skid back in the day, I could fire my Canon that way too. The pilot thought I was crazy! "He don't know me so good....." :grin:

One shot where I just happened to have a 400mm lens on you can read the brand of the camera being used! One in a million shot that one was!! Can't seem to find them all in a cursory search. I only have about 1.5 million photos on my NAS. One of these days I'm going to get around to actually cataloging them all..... 

Yeah, right!
*


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## sandman55

zuluclayman said:


> @ WereBo...nice pics of the parrots
> 
> @ Sandy...Charlotte looks like she is only just tolerating Roxy in that pic :laugh:
> 
> hmm, baby browns near the house (dogs & chooks too) is not good...had them, blacks and once even a baby tiger snake near the farmhouse I rented in the mid 70's...place was a snake magnet ...much to my city-boy consternation!


Yes Roxy can get a bit boisterous but Charlotte is very good and in the morning when her energy level is highest she even tries to have a play with her. With the chooks I have built a self feeder for the layer pellets that is bird (sparrows) and rodent proof and the wheat we feed them in the afternoon has been sprouted and the chooks clean that up fast. My neighbour now has purchased a feeder so rodents are not any more of a problem than if we didn't have chooks. Unfortunately there is a park just up the road and there are snakes there and that is where they come from.

@WereBo those chinooks would have been fun to see and photograph, we don't normally see choppers of that size here.


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## WereBo

@ Wizmo - It's strange cos when folks in the UK post planes without prop-blur (Facebook groups etc.), t'other folks complain about 'em...... :nonono: - I must admit I prefer a slight blur, it adds a sense of movement to the pic personally :wink: - I just checked my camera and it was set to 'Bird-Spotting' mode, so that, along with 'Sports-mode', should be OK for this years air-displays I'll be visiting (fingers crossed :lol - If I have time available I'm hoping to have a play with the manual settings, it was impossible with my old Fuji cam, by the time I'd dug through the menus, the planes had gone :grin:

@ Sandy - I see quite a few Chinooks here, they're Army rather than RAF (green instead of grey :grin and I think they're practising their navigating skills as they seem to follow all the bends and loops in the Thames. Also, a few miles down-river is Woolwich, home of the Royal Artillery who use Chinooks to move their gear and troops around.


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## SABL

I see a few Chinooks around here......you can really hear them coming from a long way off. The most common sight is MedFlight....sometimes 3 times a day. Pretty bad that someone needs that kind of transport.......even worse is the bill they'll receive (or the next of kin). Healthcare is a top $$$ maker in this country and the MedFlight is usually ~$40K-50K and sometimes even more than that.


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## WereBo

Mrs WereBo calls 'em 'Clatterbugs', for the noise they make :grin:

For all their bulk and ungainliness, they're fantastically manouverable though, an experienced pilot can really sling 'em around the sky :wink: - It's worth watching this in full-screen......






Although expensive to run, I bet they're superb for medical transfers, you could fit a small hospital inside one :smile: - I think the orange hands are optional extras....... :grin:


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## WereBo

I had a truly amazing 5 minutes yesterday afternoon while taking some golden-hour shots from my balcony.....

The Sycamore breaking out in buds against a murky cloudy sky.....




















Then this little guy landed on the fence below me, I asked if he minded posing for some shots and got these.....





























Feeling rather taken aback at his response I thanked him for his time, so he promptly flew up to one of my 'balcony-buckets' approx 3' away and continued chirping and chirruping softly at me, with me chatting back to him for the next few minutes - He didn't even flinch when I was lifting my camera up.....














































Elation doesn't begin to describe how I felt afterwards, it was a truly awesome experience :grin:


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## Done_Fishin

Some nice shots there werebo .. shame he had you playing hide and seek in your flower pots .. must have been a tad shyer than he first gave you to believe!

I occasionally get a few of our feathered friends visiting the bushes just outside my kitchen window .. but never managed to photo any .. never in the right place at the right time with the right equipment in my hand!


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## sandman55

Nice shots WereBo and your little Blackbird model was looking good. That film clip of the 'Clatterbugs' was well worth a look in full screen, those guys really know what they are doing and at times vertical to the ground.


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## WereBo

Thanks guys :smile: - I usually get several Blue-tits and Great-tits on my bird-feeders, but they're at the narrowest end of the balcony. The only way I can get semi-decent shots is through the (double-glazed) windows, but they desperately need cleaning, which needs warmer weather than what's happening at present..... :grin:










As you can see, the feeders are hooked to the bird-box so the whole lot makes a very 'des-res' for the birds. I had to cover the outward side of the box with tin-foil to reflect the sunlight, the 1st year it was up and the youngsters died of heat  - The wooden flap hanging down off the rail was a bird-table for the ground-feeders (blackbirds, robins etc.) but the pigeons cleared everything before any other bird got a look-in :nonono:

The mesh is to stop the squirrels climbing onto the balcony, using the TV-arial cable through the narrow gap, they kept digging everything up, killing the plants and making a right ol' mess.


@ Sandy - The pilot of that display-Chinook is a young lass in her 20's..... :wink:


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## sandman55

You have your own piece of nature on your balcony it's a pity about them dying from the heat. Another thing you can try if the foil isn't sufficient is to get a piece of ag ply or sheet metal and attach it to the hot wall but space it away about 25mm so there is a bit of air flow between the two surfaces. That lass in the chinook is a very competent pilot.


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## WereBo

I've drilled a series of 1/2" holes at the top of both side-walls to increase the ventilation, to see if that keeps it cooler. I'm a bit wary of working too close to the edge of the pillar, the floor is too narrow for a step-ladder plus it's a fair drop down if my foot slips. I have to walk sideways along the gap when I clean the windows :lol:


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## sandman55

Yes you wouldn't want to slip there!!!


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## WereBo

A bright and sunny afternoon made it a pleasure to work on my balcony today, tidying up some of Winter's detritus etc. Even the local feathers-brigade were out an' about..... :lol:

My little pal was back again, though he didn't come down to visit.....




















Peek-a-boo.....


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## SABL

Very nice ,Bo......:thumb: Those buds are almost as big as the bird......:laugh: All I see are the more common larger birds for now. The turkey vultures never really left last fall......we had an extremely mild winter and they stuck around. Actually, I just went outside and there's not many birds at all....I'm sure once the raspberries start coming on they'll be around to get their fill.


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## sandman55

Some nice shots of the black bird WereBo and the other bird enjoying the blossoms. I have Roxy on my lap and I am typing with one hand :grin: Here is a shot of Roxy and Charlotte sharing Charlotte's kennel. I had to sneak around the front and zoom in. It is quite cute with Charlotte's big head and body compared to Roxy.


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## WereBo

Thanks SABL, I enjoy having the Great-Tits around, they catch a lot of the bug-pests before they discover my balcony :grin: - They're tricky to photograph'cos they're always on the move hopping around from branch to branch and never stopping, it's exhausting just watching them :lol:

Awwww, Charlotte and Roxy look really cute together there Sandy :thumb:


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## sandman55

Hi guys this was taken with my phone of my two pals having a snooze.

They are quite funny together, Roxy dances around under Charlottes legs and Charlotte is too old to dance around so she lowers her head and plays while standing there.


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## SABL

I see you don't spoil 'em much....:laugh: I haven't bought any dog toys for years......Daisy is way too old for things like that. Her favorite was merely a tennis ball that she would chase after......and not bring it back. 

She hops to get around......back legs don't want to cooperate anymore. She woke me up a few nights ago when someone left the kitchen door open. The kitchen has half doors to keep small kids/dogs out. She had fallen on the tile floor and couldn't get up.....so she barked for help at 3AM.


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## WereBo

That 2nd pic could be the dog's ying-yang position :grin:

I'm feeling well pleased now.... According to Nikon, filters can't be attached to my camera (neutral-density, circular-polarisers etc.), but there is a small groove that the lens-cap clips in to and several camera-forums reckon this is enough to use a screw-in filter....

Just out of hopeful curiosity I dug my ol' 35mm camera-kit out and removed the filters from the various lenses (49mm diameter lens+52mm diameter zoom lens) - Lo and behold the 52mm screws in tight with just enough sticking forward to rotate the polarising bit as needed, plus the lens-cover still fits :grin:

Hopefully I'll get the chance to play with it tomorrow, it's my 1st air-display of the season, so lots of shiny planes, cars and any other stuff that appears.

Meanwhile, I had a play with the 'Easy-Panorama' setting yesterday, it's even easier than my last camera...... :lol: - This is a 180° pano from my back balcony, unfortunately the camera reduces the photo-size, for some reason.


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## sandman55

@SABL the toys are for Roxy so that she doesn't chew things that she shouldn't. We have since found that a clean empty plastic two litre milk carton on the floor is fun she pushes it around with her mouth till she can get a grip on it with her teeth and then she shakes it about like she is murdering it. I got a nasty surprise a couple of days ago. We were outside and I was playing tug of war with Roxy with a small empty plastic pot plant pot only I got my index finger in the way and one of her needle like teeth punctured my finger at the side of the finger nail. Boy did it hurt. Sounds like your Daisy is getting long in the tooth like our Charlotte only Charlotte isn't as bad in the legs as Daisy.
@WereBo yes I see what you mean with the second one lol. Looks like you will have fun at the air - display.


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## SABL

Puppy teeth are very sharp.......ouch. Daisy kinda hops sideways......well, her back end goes sideways. She still does decent keeping her balance......most of the time. We guess she is 17 years old. She was adopted in '01 and the shelter said she was 2.....she was surrendered by the original owner. She was quite mischievous when we first got her......she loved the big yard and ran like crazy chasing the other dogs in play. Now we call her 'crazy legs'.

Nice pano, Bo........looks like a nice well kept area with plenty of greenery. Good shootin' at the air show today......best of luck on getting plenty of photos.


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## WereBo

It was mostly great fun at the airshow, it started warm enough to not want to lug coats etc. around, then I wished I had when the clouds came over mid-afternoon, dropping the temps drastically :lol: I also walked waaaay too far, looking at all the stalls, vintage cars and various craft-displays. By the time I drove home, my legs and feet were ready to either fall off or go on strike :grin:

I'm now in the process of whittling 790 photos down, they're either blurry, bits of planes missing or just too similar to other photos (result of continuous-shoooting mode :wink. I've reduced them down to 418 so far and am approx 3/4 way through them, including tweaking some.

I'll post a selection when I've finished 'em all, meanwhile I'll 'wet your whistle' with my 1st attempt at video-recording with the Nikon, the US Catalina taking off for it's display flight......


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## SABL

Been waiting for you to show up.......:laugh: Not a bad vid at all...:thumb:

Can't wait to see all the photos from the air show.


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## WereBo

Thanks SABL, I'm feeling rather chuffed at the quality of it :wink: - I was too stiff and tired yesterday to sit at the keyboard for long, I had to sort and edit the photos in 20-minute installments :lol:


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## sandman55

Nice one WereBo I had it on full screen and the quality was great you will be chuffed with that.


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## WereBo

Thanks guys, I'm really impressed with the video recording on this camera, it even picked up the PA-system without any background noises, unlike my ol' Fuji which only caught the camera's zoom-motor perfectly..... :nonono: :grin:

Anyways, back again from 'reality' poking it's nose in :lol: - Pics are now sorted, partially discarded, tweaked and uploaded. I'll post some of them here 'cos 282 is a bit too much :wink:

It started as a beautiful warm day with magnificent skies, The one mistake I made was that I was so impatient to get to the planes (and food-stalls as I hadn't had any breakfast), I forgot precisely where I'd parked my car..... :facepalm:











This guy was just impatient to get on the grass..... :grin:











Old and new......





















A close shot of the Catalina.....











Another reason I wanted to visit this display was that it's the only time I'd get to see this beauty, the only surviving WWII light bomber "Bristol Blenheim". Unfortunately, a lot of the ground-staff were just as enthusiastic to see the planes and wouldn't get out of the shots..... :angry:











Luckily, they didn't have wings :lol:











The 'Display Idiot'.... There's always one who suddenly pops up to get a shot, then immediately sits back down again..... :banghead:











The 'Piston-Provost', so called 'cos there was just a few built as pilot-trainers, the the RAF went to jets, so the rest of the Provosts were jet-powered.....



















More to come....... (But not all 282 :grin


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## sandman55

Some nice shots WereBo and it looks like you were having a good time. I know what you mean when you get a 'Display Idiot' and also your waiting for people to move out of the way only to have more move in when others have gone.
I must look through my pics of our recent trip to Tasmania and post some.


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## sandman55

OK here are some of our pics of our trip to Tasmania in March. I have taken a while to get round to posting these but better late than never :grin:

The first one is self explanatory it is how we and our car got there it was a pretty full day getting there from Melbourne. The pic is in Devenport Tasmania.



This is a scenic view of the Tamar valley as we drove down the valley from Devenport to Launceston I liked the look of the dead tree and I am getting used to my new camera.



As we drove down the Tamar Valley there was a board walk through some wetlands, we looked down and right next to it was a copperhead snake sleeping. My wife thought it was dead but it was still there when we walked back and it wasn't dead as it had moved. I think it was waiting for dinner to come by. the board walk went through some high reeds and there was a little bit of clear ground along side of the board walk. Here is some info on them.
Copperhead - Australian Museum



Further out on the board walk there was bird life, here are the fabled Black Swans we learned at school that before Australia was discovered that it was joked about there being black swans because all anyone had seen were white ones.



On the east coast on the Freycinet peninsula is the lovely Wine Glass Bay it was a cloudy day and quite a trek up and then down to get there.



I cant think exactly where this beach was but it was somewhere on the Freycinet peninsula. This surfer was on his own and had the break all to himself.



We stayed at a holiday park cabin in Coles Bay on the Freycinet peninsula and there were some lovely Bays there. This is one of them.



You can have a lovely time in this area WereBo with Google earth I'll post some more bays in this area tomorrow.


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## sandman55

OK I'm back again with a few more,the first one is a lovely little swimming cove near Coles Bay on the Freycinet peninsula.



The next lot are all of the Historic Port Arthur penal colony. It was also where in 1996 mentally deranged 28 year old Martin Bryant went on a killing spree and murdered 35 people and wounded 23 and as a result the Federal Government of the day introduced strict gun control laws.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)


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## WereBo

WOW!!! You certainly picked an idyllic place for a holiday Sandy, 'tis stunning, even on Google-Earth - I bet you must've racked up quite a few miles in total, especially if you drove to Melbourne first :lol:

Meanwhile, back in the UK :grin: - I can't remember the pilot's name or the specific make/model he was flying, but her sure did put on an excellent display in his gyrocopter.....











This is just showing off..... "Look mum, no hands.....'











I'm still getting used to just how fast this new Nikon responds to the shutter-button, it's faster than I am.... :grin:











The smoke is deliberate.... :lol:











It does look a bit cramped for space inside the cockpit though, just enough room for legs and feet.....










Gyrocopters are amazing little machines, all the engine-power goes to the rear propellor, it's just the airflow from moving forward that spins the top rotor to provide the lift.


As per usual, the local bikers Harley Club were out in force.... :thumb:


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## Wizmo

sandman55 said:


> The next lot are all of the Historic Port Arthur penal colony. It was also where in 1996 mentally deranged 28 year old Martin Bryant went on a killing spree and murdered 35 people and wounded 23 and as a result the Federal Government of the day introduced strict gun control laws.


Typical gov't over-reaction. The rights of the many suffer for the random insanity of one (or a few!) I subscribe to the Charlton Heston school of thought on guns; "....from my cold dead hands....."






:nonono:


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## sandman55

@ Wizmo we will have to agree to disagree on that. I could say more but I won't.

@ WereBo that gyrocopter is impressive and he must have been close to the ground when he passed with "no hands" :grin: That is interesting that the top rotor is not motor powered but powered by the airflow from moving forward. Those bikes look beautiful, you would have had a good day. I might post a few more tomorrow.


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## WereBo

I'd guess the g'copter was between 100~150 ft for his 'hands-free' pass, the last shot was even lower at approx 50 ft or lower.

One of the aerobatic pilots there was Lauren Richardson, a 29 year-old pilot who's justy appeared on out display circuit. This was her 3rd-4th display since getting her display licence, she's waaaaay beyond amazing in her customised 'Pitts Special'.....























































I just did a quick search and found someone had videoed her display, so here's my pics joined up, well worth watching full-screen...... :grin:


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## Wizmo

sandman55 said:


> @ Wizmo we will have to agree to disagree on that. I could say more but I won't.


*Ted Kennedy's car killed more people than any of my 37 guns! Ex military & law enforcement, so . . . 'nuff said!!* :grin:

*Moving on! 

Great shots Bo! I do so enjoy an aerobatics demo! Even more-so when performed by a "cute young filly!!" :whistling:
*


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## WereBo

Thanks Wizmo, I'm hoping she manages to keep displaying as her future career. Following a nasty crash last year (*Shoreham*), when a vintage Hawker Hunter crashed into a main road and killed 11 people, the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) decided to increase display safety by introducing a few new limits and drastically increasing all the various costs and charges by 100%~300%+, as well as adding extortionate new ones to cover the costs of monitoring the new conditions! :nonono: 

These increased costs have already knocked out approx 1/4 of the UK's air-displays this year and, according to lots of pilots, have done nothing practical to increase safety :sad:

Anyways, enough gloom and back to topic... :lol:

The BBMF's (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight) Supermarine spitfire and Hawker Hurricane doing their stuff. Sadly the Avro Lancaster bomber had hydraulic problems and couldn't make it to the display :sad:

The Spitfire here has clipped wing-tips, it made the plane more stable for low-flight ground-strafing etc.




















Not a good sight if you're on the recieving end..... :lol:










Hurricane's underside (alopogies for the clipped wing, I'm still catching up with this camera... :wink.....











Abingdon Airfield was an RAF base years ago, it's now owned by the Army, so they had to have their tuppence worth..... This pic is screaming for a caption :grin:






































Their salute and farewell to the audience....











Finaly, all profits from the airshow went to keeping these guys flying, they don't get a penny from our government and are entirely funded by public donations....











All 300+ photos (good and bad) can be seen here, as a slideshow - *Slideshow*


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## sandman55

Some nicely balanced shots there WereBo especially number three the way you have them diagonal in the picture.


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## Basementgeek

I guess we can for get the 5 picture rule you made.

BG


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## WereBo

The 5-pic rule has now been increased to 10 pics. DonalG introduced the rule several years ago when most folks were still on 'dial-up' connections. Most folks are now on faster connections, plus the photos are automatically reduced to a manageable size when uploading.


I had a play with the 'Macro' setting today, between downpours...... :grin:


Spot the 'micro-bugs'...











A baby hover-fly.....






























A slightly soggy primula, just after a downpour.....


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## SABL

Very nice pics, Bo......:thumb:

Good thing cameras have gone digital......can you imagine the cost of film for 300 pictures??

Air ambulance not covered by NHS?? Takes alot of donations to keep that chopper in the air. Over here in the US medical flights are big business......about $40,000 and up for a ride to the hospital. I don't think many insurance policies covers the cost.....if any do at all.


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## sandman55

Nice WereBo it looks like you have been having fun. The second to last flower is so rich in colour.


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## sandman55

OK here are some more of our trip to Tasmania and these are of our trip out from Hobart to Bruny Island.

The first is of the narrow strip of land joining the north of Bruny Island to the south it is barely wide enough for a road, it is viewed from a lookout.



The next four are of the rugged coast of the south of Bruny Island it was a cloudy day and there is some mist above some of the coast.









The next is a beautiful sheltered beach.



That's all for today I'll try to post some more tomorrow.


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## WereBo

@SABL - Although I'm glad that cameras have gone digital, I do miss the magic of seeing an image apppear on a sheet of white paper dipped in what looked like water, I don't miss the smell though :grin: - When I first got my Practika 35mm camera I visited the '*Hawk Conservancy*' in Hampshire, I got through 6 rolls of 36xcolour and 6 rolls of 36xB&W film. Fortunately I was able to develop and printed all the B&W, but the colour almost cost several limbs :grin:


@ Sandy - Beautiful, just beautiful! - It's a pity it's 1/2 a world away, I could happily fill umpteen memory-cards with pics there :lol:

I'm now getting impatient for this Saturday as I'm returning back to the *Hawk Conservancy* with my camera-club, who's organised a trip there, I was 1st on the list of participants for that - It's almost 20 years since I last visited there and it'll be my 1st raptor-shooting session with this camera. The camera's battery is now fully charged, along with the 2 spares and the mem-cards are all emptied and ready to fill :grin:

Meanwhile here's a young crow on a chimney, just across the road from me, taken during the 'Golden-Hour'.....











Cherry Blossom against a stormy sky (Same time as the crow above).....


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## Wizmo

*@ Bo -- Both of those images are definitely something to "crow" about! Can't wait to see some majestic raptor shots!!

*


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## zuluclayman

@ sandy...love Bruny Island...went to Tassie many years ago on a surfing/working holiday and spent many a day on Bruny (Cloudy Bay has some great waves)...love the ruggedness of some of the coastline over there too. I have friend that lives there now, an architect...his house looks out onto Cloudy Bay.

@ WereBo - nice work...really starting to get the hang of your new camera huh :thumb:


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## sandman55

@ WereBo yes half a world away is a long way to row but isn't it good we now have Google World. A couple of good pics there, you are getting the blossom and we are having the leaf fall.

@zulu yes Bruny is lovely, it is a pity we only had the day there it would be a great place to camp.


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## goanna

Sandmann55 did you do the boat cruise out of Strahan while in Tassie. It is out of this world especially if you get the first cruise of the day while the water is like glass. Perfect for photography with every thing reflected in the water.


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## WereBo

Well, it was a superb day at the Hawk Conservancy, the weather was about 10C higher than predicted and brilliant sunshine for most of it. At times it was too bright, the contrast was so high, it 'blew out' a lot of photos :lol:

I've just finished whittling 700+ photos down to 250+, then tweaked and cropped as necessary, all that's left is to upload them all, then I can post some.

Meanwhile, here's a coulpe of video-clips showing the the Red Kites in action, along with some views of the beautiful Hampshire countryside (and the backs of spectators heads).....

Best watched in full-screen HD :wink:


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## WereBo

Here they am.... :grin:

Some vultures....





























Egyptian Sacred Ibis.....




















The Merlin, it's the smallest of the falcon family and my favouritest of 'em too :lol:











Harris-Hawk trying to give a high-five.....











It wasn't all raptors there, they have some stunning trees too.....




























More later :wink:


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## SABL

Nice pics and video, Bo......:thumb: It's been a few years since I tried taking pics of a bird in flight......complete waste of storage space on my HDD......:uhoh:

We see many Turkey Vultures around here.....if I don't see one hovering the fields it's very unusual. I've even seen them in winter some years. 

http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/species-and-habitats/species-guide-index/birds/turkey-vulture

Cooper's Hawk is what I see most often....but not often enough. They keep the rodent population in check and I have a few too many rabbits and chipmunks.....:frown:

http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/species-and-habitats/species-guide-index/birds/coopers-hawk

The bright red tree is what my maple trees look like in Autumn.....very bright red.


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## WereBo

Thanks SABL, That Maple-tree was just by the entrance to the centre itself, just after the ticket-office/shop, it really smacks folks in the eyes when the full sun hits it :grin: There's quite a few hawks, vultures owls and eagles there, so many I can't remember them all I don't think they have a Cooper's Hawks or Turkey-Vultures.... Yet.... :lol:

One thing I'm really pleased with though is that the birds in the video (Red Kites) were nearly extinct in the UK, some years ago. It was mostly due to the original owner of the Hawk Conservancy (Reg Smith) that they've been restored back to the wild and happily breeding prolifically. Reg first sorted out the local environments so they'd produce enough food by getting rid of pesticides and modified farming-practices (leaving/planting hedgerows and leaving field-edges to grow wild), then released pairs of Kites there. 

The farmers are pleased 'cos the vermin/rodent count has dropped drastically and other locals are just happy to see beautifully-feathered birds flying around. Reg then did the same thing for Buzzards, they're also growing their population too :smile:


Sadly Reg passed away some years ago, but his son Ashley has taken over and developed the park even more - All the bird adore him, flocking and calling to him when he appears :lol:


A couple of Griffon-Vultures demonstrating......




















An American Bald-Eagle helping his trainee-handler secure the jesses (leather-straps around a leg, to secure the birds to their stoops)......











The same eagle being majestic, back in his cage. Unfortunately, I couldn't get closer to the mesh to completely 'focus-through' it, hence the fuzzly lines :sad:











A Tawny Eagle on his stoop.....




















Another Bald Eagle portrait......




















If you can't lose it, use it...... :grin: - A Brahminy-Kite through wire-mesh....


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## Babbzzz

Nice pics WereBo! I still haven't bought a decent camera! Is sharing mobile pictures ok? :grin:


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## Wizmo

*Hawks & Vultures & Owls, Oh My!!

All we have here is frigate birds, cranes & a few seasonal migratory pelicans. The frigates are quite graceful in flight but butt-ugly on a wire! I'll see if I can find my old photos of same.... :whistling:

*


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## WereBo

Hi Babbzzz, good to see you back :wink: - Yep, phone-cam pics are ok :thumb:

@ Wizmo - Raptors are my favouritest subject, closely followed by military planes (old and new) :wink:


Some more from the Hawk Conservancy, shots of the Red Kites feeding 'on the wing', catching the food mid-air then passing to their beaks to munch....











This was taken whilst having a mug o' tea between displays, approx 3:00PM.....











The centre also has a 'Secretary Bird' on 'static display' (not flown in public), it's name is thought to derive from the crest of long quill-like feathers, lending the bird the appearance of a secretary with quill pens tucked behind their ear, as was once common practice.





















The conservancy even has it's own wooded area, used to demonstrate how owls hunt and fly between the trees, as demonstrated by this barn owl.....











Spot the Brahminy Kite..... :lol:











Tawny Owl......












To show just how owls get through narrrow gaps, the handler gets some volunteers and stands them close together, then a Great Grey Owl flies between 'em.....










The Great Grey Owl in action.....












Here's a link to the slideshow of all the pics, all 217+ of 'em :grin: - *Slidshow*


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## SABL

Another nice set of photos, Bo.......:thumb:

I used to see 'Great Horned Owls' in this area years ago......now it's rare if I even hear one. Cardinals and Jays I see too much of......they love to ravage my berry bushes.....:sigh: The Barn Swallows are a joy to watch......they can snatch a bug out of the air right in front of your face. Quite an 'air show' as I mow the lawn with them darting all around me.


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## WereBo

Thanks SABL, I tried to photograph swallows in flight last year, but I ended up with a wricked neck.... They don't half shift about.... :lol:

The only birds I ever see where I am now are a family of Blue-Tits and Great-Tits, Starlings and lots of mangy-looking pigeons, with an occasional Blackbird coming to visit - I have to drive out of London to see/hear anything else :sigh:

I did manage to see some more raptors last Saturday, at the 'Nunhead Cemetery Open Day'..... I like the irony of a cemetery having an 'Open-Day'..... :grin:

Anyways, there were lots of various stalls promoting lots of topical stuff, mostly all environmental, along with a few 'Olde-Worlde' crafts, pole-lathe turner, wooden-sign carver, bodger etc. It made for a lovely Saturday afternoon out of 'the smoke'....


Pole-lather turner, it certainly keeps one fit :lol:




















Sign carver passing on his skills.....











The Bodger had disappeared off for a break, but some of his wares were still on show.....












A fairly local falconer had brought some of his birds along to show, but there wasn't any space to fly them.....

A Grey Scops Owl.....










A Peregrine Falcon showing his feathers off.....




















Of course, being a cemetery open-day, the Goths were out in force :lol:



















Yes, it's a Cadillac hearse :grin: - Also, Mrs WereBo's leery coat :lol:


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## zuluclayman

@ WereBo - nice pics ...here is a video I came across on Vimeo looking at the use of falcons to keep airport clear of birds:

https://vimeo.com/168188284


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## WereBo

Nice one Zulu, quite a few of our RAF bases use various raptors to keep 'lesser' birds away when the planes are active. I'd love to be there filming/photographing when they're flying :wink:

Yesterday was a good day for me.... Over a period of approx 30 minutes, I had my own personal air-display.... :grin: - I was taking some pics of a crow on the TV-arial across the road from me, when I heard some unfamiliar engines getting closer. A minute or 2 later a couple of USAF CV-22 'Ospreys' flew over - Luckily, planes look similar to birds as far as my camera's settings are concerned :lol:















































I don't know where they were going, but a few minutes later this Chinook came clattering back.....





























I'd just gone back indoors for a gulp of tea, when more engines sounded getting closer, so another rapid exit through my front-door again.....




















If this gets to be a regular ocurrence over SE London, it could save me a lot of money for next year's airshows.... :lol:


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## SABL

Another round of great pics, Bo......:thumb:

I've seen a few chinooks and hueys fly over but never a CV-22 or apache. 747's fly over but I have to be listening for them.....last time I noticed a B52 fly over was shortly after 9/11 and it was only bird in the air. Otherwise I get the standard fare of commercial aircraft lining up to land at the airport ~11 miles away. My son gets a much better view as his house is directly under the landing path and not far from the airport. 

I did get to see the Concorde back in the 80's......once. I made it a point to have lunch at the time it was scheduled to leave Port Columbus and went outside to keep an eye on the sky. Pretty impressive sight as it climbed upward towards its next stop.


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## Wizmo

*@WereBo

Interesting that the Ospreys were still in VTOL configuration as they passed over! How close is the base they originated from?? At that point, they were still effectively "whirly-birds!' Perhaps it was part of a training exercise to get pilots familiar with keeping them stable in VTOL mode....

*


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## WereBo

My bit of SE London is almost directly underneath the start of Heathrow's landing approach path, I can occasionally see the airliners circling in their holding-patterns to North and South, then peel off towards me, then turn to approach Heathrow. 'twas fun at first, but airliners get rather boring after a while :lol:

Chinooks are now quite regular, along with lots of civie-copters. Small private planes used to be common, but the Civilian Aircraft Authority introduced new restrictions some years ago, limiting all civilian craft over London to a minimum of 2 engines plus lots of other regs.

I still miss seeing Concorde as it flew over, OK it was noisy, polluting and inefficient, but it sure was beautiful to see :grin:

@ Wizmo - The Ospreys are based at RAF Mildenhall, appprox 80 miles North of me. I suspect they were practicing their navigation techniques as they were following the Thames west to east, including the bendy bits. 

The Chinooks often follow the same course too. I just wish the chinooks were a bit lower, then I could see their reg-numbers and confirm whether they're from RAF Odiham (approx 50 miles west of London), they're painted green so they're most likely to be Army Air Corps rather than RAF and Odiham caters for both.

The Royal Artillery are based a short way down-river at Woolwich, but our MoD sold off a lot of their land and I don't think they have the facilities for copters now. The destination is still a mysterious mystery.... :lol:


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## Babbzzz

The Lights at Trivandrum during Onam Festival (Usually September) Taken when I was in my car. 

@Bo - Wish I could take pics like you!

What do you think? How can I have improved it?

One more question, I think Image Shack is paid now (using a trial now), what do you guys use to host images?


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## SABL

What type of camera are you using?? My g-kids can take better pics with their iPhones than I can with my 5Mp Sony DSC. 

I know very little about photography other than to set my camera to 'auto' mode and hope for the best.....:laugh: The one thing I see is that you caught the street light pretty much full on......the camera was pointed right at it.

I haven't used a hosting site for ~10 years but if I had to choose a paid site it would be SmugMug. Last time I checked it was $40 a year with unlimited uploads in full resolution......and no advertising.


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## WereBo

Hmmmm most odd! Babbzzz's pic doesn't show in my regular browser, but switching to MS 'Edge' works fine.....

@ Babbzzz - It looks like you need to clean your windscreen :wink: - Otherwise it's a fine shot, you've caught the tree-lights well, but they're lost behind the street-light or sun's glare. I'm hoping to get up to London later this year', for the Diwali festival in Trafalgar Square, that should be rather spectacular :lol:

Approx 99% of all my photos have the camera set to 'Auto', it also has a lot of preset settings (fireworks, beach, sports etc.) that I use as appropriate :lol: It also has a 'bird-spotting' setting that works well, I'm trying to determine whther 'Bird-spotting' or 'Sports' works better for flying things (birds & planes), so far they seem very similar except for the bird mode having 10 continuous shots when the button's pressed, as opposed to the sports mode 1 shot.

It does have a 'Manual' mode, but it's fiddly to use and all too easy to lose the shot, while working through various menus and twiddling knobs.

@ Babbzzz - I use 'Photobucket' for my photo-hosting, it's very versatile (pics are displayed with links in various formats (direct-link, forum-link (inserts the '' codes) and other types too). The basic is free, then extra storage (with no adverts) is a quite cheap monthly/yearly payment. I also use the 'Nikon Image Space' cloud storage, that's free to Nikon users (20Gb, extra space requires payment) and Flickr (basic free) for posting to my camera-club's group pages :wink:

Meanwhile here's a few shots from Greenwich Park, a few days ago.....

Photographing the photographer..... Some guy was by the 'bottom-gates' to the park blowing huuuge bubbles....

[IMG]http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f251/WereBo/Nikon%20Coolpix/Greenwich%20Park%2026-5-16/DSCN2070.jpg


A kid's unexpected shower when she burst her bubble....











The 'water-feature' behind the Maritime Museum.......



















A wide-angle shot of London, from the 'Walkie-Talkie' building (now modified to not burn cars :grin: to The O2 Dome)











A very long-distance shot of Tower-Bridge and St Pauls Cathedral dome, plus a lot of cranes...... If this was a 35mm film-camera, it would need a lens approx 4'-6' long :grin:











One of the oldest trees in Greenwich Park......











A Thrush.....


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## Babbzzz

SABL said:


> What type of camera are you using?? My g-kids can take better pics with their iPhones than I can with my 5Mp Sony DSC.


It's my phone camera! :grin: 

I really really dont know how much MP it is. 

@Bo

Haha, yeah. I hate washing my car! 

And that wasn't the sun's glare, it's just a street lamp :smile:

Thanks for photobucket! 

Nice pics again Bo! Diwali is quite a long time away.


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## WereBo

I'm with you about cleaning my car too, although I'm lucky with having a valet cleaning centre just across the main road. Every time I either clean my car or have it cleaned, it's guaranteed to rain within 24 hours.... :nonono:

I know Diwali isn't until October some time, but I'm starting to remind myself now, so there's less chance of forgetting it later :grin:


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## joeten

No fair you get 24 hours.


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## WereBo

24 hours is the longest 'wait' so far, it's usually well within 12... :grin:


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## joeten

Usually I wash it and go inside, that's all it takes.


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## Jade Roberts

WereBo said:


> Mmmmm... Most strange... It's not one of those deadly life-forms that will try to kill anything within 2', that Australia is famous for is it? :grin:


wow, these are really impressive. Are you a professional photographer?


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## Jade Roberts

zuluclayman said:


> some pics from last night's session at The Drawing Room - very bizzare! The model is a performance artist that creates bizzare characters, creates the clothing, cobbles together the costume props from various sources and performs narratives and/or just has street appearances at festivals etc.
> He has been Robo Wallaby Cop & Pierrot-the sad clown and many others - last night he was Space Lamb, a character that was born to "go about the world's conflict areas and encourage people to ponder & contemplate the Lamb in the hope of solving these conflicts..." (there was more to the story but I forget it now) - the Lamb was a highly spiritual being with a crook that sported solar powered flashing lights and a backpack of uncertain contents and powers - he also stood very tall, thanks to stilts, and needed a ladder as a prop :smile:
> 
> cool idea. I have been to some pretty lame performance art events, but this performance artist seems interesting. Very nice costume.
> 
> I give you Space Lamb!
> 
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> 
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> 
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> 
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> 
> 
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> 
> This is Space Lamb's alter ego aka Alex having a breather


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## WereBo

Hi Jade Roberts and welcome to the Photography Forum :wave:

Nope, we're all just hobby-photgraphers here, as far as I know 

I was at the Biggin Hill 'Festival of Flight' last Saturday, it was an early start as I'd agreed to meet some FB chums at a nearby cafe for breakfast, before heading up the road to the aerodrome. 'twas a beautiful warm and sunny morning, then as the planes started flying, it got all cloudy and chucked the rain down for the afternoon :nonono:..... I managed to keep my camera fairly dry by tucking inside my coat when not shooting, but I ended up with 3 soaked lens-cleaning cloths from permanently wiping the raindrops off the lens :sigh:

I've finally finished sorting/tweaking 1,783 photos and whittled 'em down to 685 photos and a few video-clips. The pics are still uploading as I type, but here's a vid-clip I shot of the 'Red Arrows' and their 'Detonator' display......


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## Wizmo

*Awesome video of the Red Arrows formation Bo! Unfortunately the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds, as well as some private stunt pilots have recently crashed in US airshows. Also there was the Russian and Swiss incidents which resulted in crashed planes. What is going on with all these airshow crashes?? :uhoh:

Are there too many envelopes being pushed to out-hotdog the next bunch!? 

*


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## SABL

Nice vantage point, Bo.......good thing nothing went wrong.

What's with the red, white, and blue.....you took our colors!! Or....did we take yours??....:whistling:


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## WereBo

Sadly there's been quite a few air-crashes around the world this last 12 months :sigh: There was a major crash at *Shoreham Airport* last year, when a Hawker Hunter crashed onto a main road by the aerodrome, killing 11 people :sigh:

Our 'Civil Aviation Authority' went totally overboard and issued a book-load of new regulations, a few of which tightened safety, the rest were to increase all the costs (< x2) for air-displays and a raft of new charges to cover the administration of the new regs.... Ths was before the accident investigators had made their preliminary report! - The result was that this year, appprox 50% of our airshows had to cancel their displays, due to the increased costs :nonono:

Anyways, enough doom & gloom for now :grin:, I've finally finished uploading my photos, I was expecting a lot of gloomy pics with no sky but, looking at the pics after editing, I'm rather chuffed with some of the 'sky-scapes' :lol:

Browsing around the static-display discovering a past world of flying, back when it was 'seat-of-the-pants' stuff :wink: - This is a 'Rearwin Sportster' built in Kansas City in 1936, still flying too :smile:




















A 'Civilian Coupe' (made in Hull, N Yorkshire) in 1931, I don't know why but it always reminds me of an old-style pram (perambulator) that mothers pushed their kids around in, many years ago :grin:











A 1944 Piper Cub, as used by the US Army





















Some of the 'Heritage Hangar's planes on display, all airworthy. The onlyy thing better than a Spitfire is 3 Spitfires.... Oh OK then, 2.5 Spitfires... :grin:












I don't know what this is, other than an experimental plane, but I want one!




















Some of the display planes arriving, this is the 'OV10 Bronco Display Team'.....











The PBY Catalina.....











A P51 Mustang, recently restored back to it's original colours of the 'Tuskegee Airmen', this plane was originally flown by George Hardy, one of the Tuskegee pilots. The plane was shot down in action, then years later restored back to it's original colours. The pilot announced that after the end of this display season, he's taking the plane to the USA to visit the pilot who's still alive at 91. It should be a memorable reunion there :thumb:


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## SABL

Another nice set of pics, Bo.......:thumb:

The pilot may want to hurry if he's going to Sarasota, Fla.......Mr Hardy isn't getting any younger. I met a retired airman back in '11 as he was putting flowers on his wife's grave......he is 93 now (I think he's still alive).


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## WereBo

Sadly a lot of our vets are getting few and far between, they've been a large boost in popularity these past couple o' years, with various anniversaries such as the 'Battle of Britain' and several other events that were well publicised.

I popped into a cafe local to the aerodrome, before I went to the display, it's called the 'Spitfire Cafe' and full of WWII memorabilia. 2 days after I visited, they had a huge presentation of a new mobility-scooter to a local RAF-vet, I wish I'd have known as it would have been good to have another meal there :lol: - *Link*


One of the planes that I was reeeaaally lookig forward to seeing was the 'Sally B' B17 bomber. She was due to fly ladst year but the rain meant she couldn't even take off from her home base :sigh: - She did make it this year though.... :lol:





























Sally B's finale is a straight flypast and the crew put smoke out of 1 engine, as a tribute to those that didn't come back from their final mission - A lot of the older spectators put their cameras down (after getting that last shot :wink and just stood to attention as she passed.....










Another act that harks back to olden times is the 'Breitling Wing-Walkers', another first-time seeing for me....















































Yes the girl in the right-hand plane is climbing down into the cockpit .....


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## SABL

One of my son's in-laws was a navigator on a B-17 during WWII......I didn't get much chance to talk to him other than at one family gathering. He lived in Minnesota......and I've never been there. No talking to him now.....he passed away several years ago. Not many WWII vets around.....the last one in my family died ~16 years ago. My father served during WWII but was still in basic training when the war ended......he served but I can't truthfully say he was a WWII veteran. 

Wing walkers would be interesting......if I had better eyesight. Your photos of the wing walkers reminded me of an old film I like....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Down_to_Rio


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## WereBo

I was lucky that although my father was in the Army, he never went abroad to fight, he was 'Bat-man' for one of his senior officers and, having developed a knack for 'dirty-tricks' (he scared the bejesus out of several officers who were rude/contemptuous of the 'lower ranks' by booby-trapping their quartes :lol, the army kept him at home to teach t'other soldiers.

I did lose an uncle (rear-gunner in a 'Wellington' bomber) and an 'unknown' relative who was a Spitfire pilot, based somewhere in Kent. I've lost contact with my paternal relatives, so I can't find anything more about him. 

Another display team (The Turbulant Team) has 'revived' the old tradition of 'barnstorming', buzzing around and bursting helium-filled balloons and various aerobatics. They couldn't really build a barn on the runway, so they improvised with a couple of tall poles with some bunting between the tops :grin: - Unfortunately they started flying just as the rain started falling heavily (hence the blurry blobs on the pics), not really good for flying in an open-cockpit plane, but they did an excellent display despite the conditions.


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## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> I don't know what this is, other than an experimental plane, but I want one!


*According to the CAA registration, this is a Burt Rutan designed or inspired home build, from 1989.*

GINFO Search Results

:grin:


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## WereBo

Ooohh thanks for the link Wizmo :thumb: - I just googled RUTAN LONG-EZ and found one for sale at £22,000 a couple o' years ago - I'll have to keep dreaming though cos, once she'd picked herself up off the floor, Mrs WereBo put her foot down with a firm hand and said 'NO WAY!!!' :lol:


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## Wizmo

WereBo said:


> Ooohh thanks for the link Wizmo :thumb: - I just googled RUTAN LONG-EZ and found one for sale at £22,000 a couple o' years ago - I'll have to keep dreaming though cos, once she'd picked herself up off the floor, Mrs WereBo put her foot down with a firm hand and said 'NO WAY!!!' :lol:


*Did you forget to put out the "wet floor" signs again?! Why else was Mrs WereBo picking herself up off the floor?* :ermm:

*Are you actually a pilot, or just an avid fan of all things airborne??*


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## WereBo

She was overcome, or something, when I started wondering out loud what could be sold off to buy the plane, plus hangar-costs, getting my PPL (Private Pilots Licence), taking flying lessons, insurance etc.









:grin:


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## joeten

Try Crowd Funding, it seems to work for folks.


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## WereBo

Hehehehehe.... Now that's a thought :lol:


Another plane that gave an excellent display was the old Bristol Blenheim, performing dummy bomb-runs alongside the runway.....















































The heat-wave from this particular explosion dried my lens off nicely.... :grin:











Finally, the 'Reds' preformed another first-class display of precision flying. While chatting with a couple of the pilots at their publicity-stall earlier, they said they go into 'Display-Mode' the instant their cockpit hoods are closed and enter 'Public-Mode' as soon as the hoods are opened afterwards - Even their taxiing is absolute precision......


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## SABL

joeten said:


> Try Crowd Funding, it seems to work for folks.





WereBo said:


> Hehehehehe.... Now that's a thought :lol:


Maybe I could get to the UK that way?? Then I could take my own pics...:thumb:


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## WereBo

Hehehehehe :lol: - Could be worth a try :wink:


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## zuluclayman

I was asked by a friend to do a video shoot documenting their process of "inflating" steel sculptures.
He uses compressed air to inflate flat welded steel shapes letting them buckle and twist into fascinating shapes. Each inflation brings surprises...he has some small amount of control having an understanding of where the forms are likely to twist etc...sometimes it's from the original edge welding process where heat has dispersed unevenly, sometimes it's from the forms themselves where angles provide lines of weakness and/or strength. 
I took some stills as well as video and processed most of them in black and white as the forms seemed to be defined by light and reflections in the glossy stainless steel.

The first two images show the "before" and "after"...the others just details


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## WereBo

They work well in B&W Zulu, are the moire-patterns the stress-lines or just the way the light's catching the metalwork?


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## zuluclayman

the patterning comes from reflections WereBo...the stripy ones are a reflection of a large roller door...others are various features in the workshop


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## kendallt

Very cool. 
I've used the same process to build exhaust for 2 strokes and other things. 
Very dangerous using air unless it's tin-foil thin though, even then I wouldn't want to bee too close to it. For thicker metal I've used oil with a hydraulic pump, or grease guns for small stuff.


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## WereBo

Earlier this week I had a superb 'Eagle Heights VIP Day', a friend had been gifted tickets to it but had other commitments, so she gave them to Mrs WereBo and I.....

We were in a group of approx 6 people and had our own guide, who introduced us to each of the birds and gave a short talk about them, then VIP front-row seats for the flying-displays, then a free lunch and off to meet some huskies.... The centre now has 29 huskies, most of whom were abandoned for whatever reason :sad: 

Our guide was Daniel, a young lad who had his own bird Coco, a young Great Grey Owl....











Barn Owl.....










Barn Owl on a windy afternoon...... :grin:











A Gyrfalcon, looking suitably impressive....











Bateleur (Tail-less) Eagle....










The Kentish sky and display-area, 'twas still lovely and warm though :wink:










A young 'Asian Brown Wood-Owl, stiil with his fluffy bits :lol:.....











Showing off his mountaineering skills....











Trying to look fierce, very hard to manage when looking too cute :grin:


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## joeten

I can never resist a bird show.


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## zuluclayman

nice pics WereBo...close-ups are working nicely with DoF :thumb:


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## WereBo

Thanks guys :thumb:

@ Zulu - This Nikon has a preset 'Bird-Spotting' menu setting, it sets 'tracking-focus' to follow the subject and has either single or 10-shot burst - I don't know what f-stop it uses, it sets that automatically too :lol: 

One thing I really like about it is near zero shutter-lag when I press the release, unlike my ol' Fuji - I still need to practice my 'pan-with-subject' though :grin:

The wood-owl in flight, the guy with the shades is Johnny Ames the centre-founder's son, he now runs the centre and has a remarkable affinity with his animals there .....











This bird is a cross between a Peregrine and Saker falcon, making one of the fastest birds on the planet....











I was highly pleased when I heard some old engines approaching, I was then pleasantly surprised to see an old RAF 'Chipmunk' trainer and a De Haviland Dominie flying past..... Well it was a flying display, after all :lol:











Johnnie with the falcon.....











A 'Striated Caracara' during his shoe-inspection......











The Caracaras are remarkably intelligent birds, part of the display includes the old 3-tumbler' trick (or 3 mugs :grin, the staff haven't yet managed to fool the birds, who get it right 1st time, every time.....





























A couple of years ago, I met a young Bengal Owl called Owlfie at just a couple of months old, he's now full grown, mature and also a father..... 

Young Owlfie (Taken May 2015 with my old Fuji)....











Mature Owlfie...


----------



## SABL

Very nice, Bo.......:thumb: Really nice photos.

Is it much of a drive to the locations you've been shooting?? Closest thing around here is Columbus Zoo....probably 45 minute drive. It's been more than 20 years since I've been there......it was a concert so I really didn't see much of the zoo. The last time I really visited the zoo my kids were kids......wee little tykes.....:laugh:


----------



## WereBo

Thanks SABL :wink: - Eagle Heights is approx 30 minutes(ish, depending on traffic-lights being at green :grin, Biggin Hill airfield is 30~45 minutes drive depending on the amount of shoppers at Bromley.... Oh, plus green traffic-lights :lol:


Harold the Griffon-Vulture, showing off his cloak of feathers.....











White-Tailed Eagle....




















Sea-Eagle......




















A plucky lady who was on the 'Eagle-Experience Day' holding a young American Bald Eagle......











One of the down-sides of the centre is the wire-netting, I just couldn't get close enough to focus through the wire - Tia the serval......











The lady above brought her young son along, he got to hold a Little-Owl.... :lol:










The beautiful Kent countryside, looking along the Darent Valley......











Looking a cross the valley, the village of Eynsford is to the left......


----------



## WereBo

I cleaned my living-room windows today, along with taking the curtains down to launder, while the weather's still fit for drying stuff on the balcony.

Clean windows and no curtains mean I can now see this from my PC chair, not bad for double-glazing..... :lol:


----------



## SABL

That's gonna be one fat bird after eating all of that.....:lol:

Nice photos, Bo.....:thumb:

I haven't had my camera out for quite some time.....I used to carry it with me everywhere. Most times I would keep it in my van.

Not much to take a picture of......unless paving a road sounds interesting. They've kinda loused up traffic the past week.....but it will be nice when they are done.


----------



## WereBo

Thanks SABL, to be fair there's several Great-Tits that munch there, along with a couple of Blue-Tits. It was a lot busier earlier in the year, when the adults brought their youngsters along for a feast, they were politely queueing along the balcony-rail for their turn at the feeder :lol:

I was considering a walk to Greenwich with my camera this afternoon, but having driven through there this morning and seen the crowds of tourists meandering aimlessly, I changed my mind :lol: - I'm running out of local places to visit now, all our green-spaces are being built on for yet more homes :sigh:


----------



## WereBo

It was beautiful weather but rather a bit of a disappointing day at Headcorn Aerodrome on Saturday, for their 'Combined-Ops' display. Great for folks who like military vehicles especially Jeeps, but very few aircraft :sigh: 


The sky over Kent, with lots of lovely blue bits in it....











The 'PBY Catalina' and a B25 'Mitchell' were on static-display, along with a few other old planes, but only 2 fly-bys and 1 of them was accidental - The B25 had gone off to display elsewhere, returned and missed it's landing (big plane on a short runway), so it had to circle round and try again :nonono:

T'other fly-by was the BBMF (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight), 1 X Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster bomber flew past, circled around, flew past again then disappeared into the distance :sigh:

I suspect the air-authorities (CAA) had a lot to do with it, after last year's crash at Shoreham they introduced a raft of new and increased charges for pilots and air-show organisers, none of which actually contribute anything to safety, other than pricing air-shows out of existence.......


The Catalina, quirky but beautiful..... The public weren't even allowed to wander around the static displays, so it was distance-shots. Thank goodness for the excellent zoom on this Nikon :lol:










A load of rivets..... :lol:




















B25 Mitchell......





























My one opportunity for the B25 landing was lost when the bozo next to me, wearing a cowboy styled hat, decided to lean over the fence and into my shot!!! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! - He survived unscathed after apologising, when I started ranting and GRRRRing at him :lol:











I thought I'd picked a good spot on the flight-line to watch the show, until this 'Chipmunk' trainer landed and taxied to his parking slot, right in front of me and seriously blocking my view of everything.....











Chipmunk dashboard...











A beautiful old 'Tiger-Moth', this was one of the planes giving pleasure flights, but the cost was waaaaay out of my budget (£135/20 minutes flight (US$173)).....


----------



## WereBo

As it's been rather quiet here recently, here's a couple o' shots from my balcony, Sycamore during the 'Golden Hour'.....


----------



## sandman55

Hi WereBo there is still some greenery there, our weather is starting to turn though it has been cold and wet the last few days. We have had some glimpses of the sun


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## WereBo

Hi Sandy :wave: 

We've had a fair amount of sun, but it's tending to come in concentrated batches, warm and cloudy of clear and scorching (yesterday was 30C and peaked at 34C, hottest September day for 105 years :grin

As last night was a (mostly) clear sky, I set my tripod up on the balcony for some moon-shots - All ready to start, get 1 pic and hazy clouds suddenly appeared for pics of a blurry blob..... :nonono:


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## sandman55

Hi WereBo the one you got was good. Its nice to see the craters in the lower left.


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## WereBo

Thanks Sandy I was hoping to get the full moon later, but the clouds decided otherwise :nonono:

I did get a rather spectacular 'Golden-hour'/sunset t'other evening, more of a rose-gold colour than usual - It was worth the run up to the top floor (4th) for a better view....






































These flats are approx 1/2 mile down-river from me....


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## Done_Fishin

Nice photos Bo ... I note that they are still allowing monstrosity's to be built in London, once they allow one I suppose anything else has to (or can) fit in ...


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## WereBo

Thanks Frank - Yep they're still going up everywhere, the view from my front-door will soon be disappearing too, developers have been given the go-ahead for a new housing-estate to be build on the old 40+ acre docks at the end of my street - 1 block at 48 storeys and several 36-storey blocks! The only redeeming feature will be the building of *HMS Lenox* on the site, assuming I'm still alive by the time they actually finish all the committee-meetings and start building the thing :grin:


----------



## Wizmo

*Nah, old photographers never die, they just fade from the picture!

:grin:

*


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## WereBo

Is that why some old photos have ghosting on them? :lol:


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## SABL

I'd be keeping watch on the construction cranes.....I'm easily amused. 

HMS Lenox sounds interesting. We have had a full size replica of the Santa Maria but she was sailing nowhere. The river isn't big enough.....or deep enough to really navigate. She made her debut in 1992 for the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage. We had a big whoop-de-do called Ameriflora that year. I put alot of hours into that project (made good $$ too) for it to be torn down the next year. Santa Maria has been cut into ~10 pieces and now sits in storage.....:sigh:


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## WereBo

I hope the Santa Maria management don't follow the Cutty Sark's example when it was being restored, all the good and usable bits were put in storage, then the rotten hull 'accidentally' caught fire..... :wink:

The developers have sent the 1st crews in to start the work, massive concrete pipe-sections being laid, presumably the main sewers for the estate (There's a connection there, but I won't say it.... :grin - I guess it'll be approx 10 years before they can start laying the keel for the Lenox.

It's a bit disappointing the ship won't be built on it's original slipway though, the developers have now moved the project into the farthest corner of the estate, with the old slipway being destroyed by the foundations for the various block of flats :sigh:

Taken in March 2012 just after a huge archaeological dig was completed (They dug almost the entire 43 acre site), this is the original slipway that launched a lot of Henry VIII's navy.

The guy standing on the concrete beam is the dig-director Duncan Hawkins, he was giving tours of the site to local residents, during one of the 'Open-Days'.


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## sinclair_tm

Still alive, still taking photos. I have a new subject to photograph.


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## WereBo

An excellent set of pics there Sinclair, though I'm not sure what happened to #3 :wink: - My photography-club (South London Photographic Society) would love 'em, interesting poses with good catch-lights and focus on the eyes, plus background suitably out-of-focus etc; well taken :grin:


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## WereBo

Whilst waiting for the garage to mend my car last Friday, I decided to take a walk through the Greenwich Foot-Tunnel to the Isle-of-Dogs (so named 'cos Henry VIII kept his hunting-dogs there) and a little riverside park called 'Island Gardens'.

Cutty Sark (photo-bombed by a tourists cruise-boat :nonono and G'wich foot-tunnel, (you can see the lift-mechanism in the glass dome), the church-steeple is St Alfeges' and the strange tower with windows at the top is Greenwich Town-Hall.....










The old Royal Naval College.....











The old college with Queen Anne's house behind (now part of the Maritime Museum) with Greenwich Park and General Wolfe's statue at the top of the hill. The Royal Observatory is just to the right, lurking behind the right-hand dome....











The original Seamen's Hospital, built in 1616....











A Welsh yacht...... (The Welsh flag is a red dragon on a green/white background)











A boy spotted in the Thames, apparently not drowning...... (Oh all right then, a buoy... :lol











The old power-station with the coal-delivery pier in front......











A Scottish yacht..... :lol:











A Thames Pano, from the old power-station downriver to the O2-Dome.....











Thames surf.....


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## SABL

Nice pics......keep 'em coming.....:thumb: Shame I'll never got to see these sights in person.....:sigh:

Where's the Scottish yacht?? I see Welsh yacht x 2......:whistling:

There will be a Scottish paddle wheeler (Waverley) on TB cam at 7:30PM London time (2:30PM for me). Lift times are not accurate......so I found out.


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## joeten

The Waverley can be seen every summer going up and down the Clyde coast Welcome to Waverley - Waverley Excursions not so cheap nowadays but still folks like to do it.


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## SABL

Waverley is scheduled for bridge lifts through Oct 9.....looks like she may be headed back home at that time with the last listing showing going downriver. Yep....I just checked her itinerary. Last cruise on the Thames until she returns to Scotland for a cruise on Oct 15.


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## WereBo

Oops, wrong pic but a very similar boat :lol: - This is the Scottish boat :wink:











A close-up of the Thames.... :lol:











A tug and barge passing the old college, it's good to see the Thames being used as it was, years ago....











I can't seem to go anywhere without getting pics of a plane or two.... - An old DeHavilland DH89 'Dominie', predecessor to the 'Dragon Rapide'











The foot-tunnel from the inside....




















Then back to the Cutty Sark....




















A posing crow in Greenwich Park :lol:......











Looking up to Wolfe Statue from the maritime museum - Apparently he's famous for his part in the suppression of the Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland and defeating the French to claim Quebec in 1759....











A fox's leftovers :grin:.....


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## SABL

I see plenty of barges on the Thames......many are 3 barges lashed together being towed by a tug. Quite a few working vessels but many, many passenger boats hauling tourists into the late evening hours.

Looks like a good day to be out and about from what I see on the TB cam.


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## WereBo

TB look really odd with no traffic, but plenty of pedestrians :lol:


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## sinclair_tm

WereBo said:


> An excellent set of pics there Sinclair, though I'm not sure what happened to #3 :wink: - My photography-club (South London Photographic Society) would love 'em, interesting poses with good catch-lights and focus on the eyes, plus background suitably out-of-focus etc; well taken :grin:


I had read long ago to focus on the eyes when doing portraits, and being she does a perfect job at not moving (For the most part she does a good job at standing, but I need to get a doll stand so I can have her in more active poses.), I am able to take the time to focus on her eyes. Almost every shot is done with my old Canon FD glass, set at stop 2.8, hence the narrow field of view.

As for #3, that was on purpose, she is looking up at the sky, so her focus is what is in focus in the shot. You're welcome to share with your club.


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## WereBo

Many thanks for the offer, but 1 of the club's 'unwritten rules' is self-taken shots only :wink:

The last few from my North Thames excursion, back on the South-side at the back of the Maritime Museum is this water-feature, I've shown other pics of just bits of it, but this is the full length shot..... PS The woman with the baby's push-chair is nothing to do with me, I haven't a clue who she was but she stepped into view just as I was taking the shot :nonono:











Another shot of the ship-in-a-bottle (apparently Nelson's ship the HMS Victory) - While taking this shot I was struck with a sudden question: How many gallons of home-brewed wine/mead could it hold....... A tempting idea but a bit impractical though :lol:











Finally, this guy must really think a lot of his kids :lol: - PS The big white stone gate-post behind the bike is also t'other end of the above water-feature.


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## goanna

Very nice shot of the ship in the bottle Werebo haven't seen a bicycle built for three in many years.


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## WereBo

Thank you Goanna :wave: - Previous photos picked up a lot of glare from the sunlight, stepping a few yards to the side cured it nicely :wink: - One thing I did notice about the ship-in-bottle though, some of sail-material is either upside-down or sideways :lol:

There tends to be a lot of strange-looking cycles in London, rickshaws, 'recumbent' bikes (the pedals stick out in front of the bike and the rider is reclining back) etc. but, apart from a silly UK TV-comedy series years ago (The Goodies), this is the 1st time I've actually seen one in real-life :grin:


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## sandman55

Hi all, some lovely pics have been posted since I was last in. You have quite a few WereBo Starting with the Golden hour – proving there is still some beauty in the city. 

Henry the 8th’s Slipway is interesting there must be so much history below the surface there 

Lots of lovely shots of the Thames though the water is not crystal clear as it has a lot of traffic.

You had an interesting model for your set of pics Sinclair they were quite artistic.

That is some big bottle with the ship in it Werebo. It would be a work of art to just make a bottle that size.


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## WereBo

Hi Sandy, it's good to see you back again :wave:

The archaeology at the wharf-site is amazing, almost constant occupation there since post-neolithic times









Although the Thames looks murky, there's a lot of fish moving back, back in 2006 folks at Battersea (SW London) where whale-watching and seals have been seen at various points across London too.

Re: The giant bottle, The glass-blower who made it must have had a good set of lungs for it :grin:


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## sandman55

WereBo said:


> Hi Sandy, it's good to see you back again :wave:
> 
> The archaeology at the wharf-site is amazing, almost constant occupation there since post-neolithic times
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Although the Thames looks murky, there's a lot of fish moving back, back in 2006 folks at Battersea (SW London) where whale-watching and seals have been seen at various points across London too.
> 
> Re: The giant bottle, The glass-blower who made it must have had a good set of lungs for it :grin:


Yes it sounds like quite some history there. It's good that the fish are moving back in. We have all become more environmentally conscious today.

Here are a few pics the first one is of Little Roxy she is nearly 11 months old now, her face has changed from quite dark to blond as they do when they get older. The others are from our visit to Newcastle to see the kids the bird drying it's wings is a cormorant or a shag as they are known here The grey bird is a white faced heron. The Lizard is a bearded dragon and the snake which we viewed safely from a wooden platform is a red bellied black snake.

One funny thing when we got to Newcastle my three year old grand daughter said to me "Where is your hair" I have a number 2 hair cut so what hair I have is very short and then later when she was climbing on me while I was sitting down she looked at my bald patch and said "Grandpa you've got a hole in your head" :grin:


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## Wizmo

sandman55 said:


> One funny thing when we got to Newcastle my three year old grand daughter said to me "Where is your hair" I have a number 2 hair cut so what hair I have is very short and then later when she was climbing on me while I was sitting down she looked at my bald patch and said "Grandpa you've got a hole in your head" :grin:


*
Out of the mouths of babes!! *


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## sandman55

Wizmo said:


> *
> Out of the mouths of babes!! *


Yes I still get a laugh when I think about it.


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## WereBo

Kids are great around that age :lol: - Quite a few years ago when I was mashed off my cycle, I had a bright red scar from my hairline to eyebrow. Walking along the High Street and a little lass (approx 5~8 years old) with her mother noticed my scar, went very wide-eyed and, in a loud whisper, asked mom if I was Harry Potter's grand-dad.... I wanted to pick her up and hug her for that :grin:


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## martt

Some great photos here. I hope it won't go amiss if I add to them. Here is a photo of cattle wandering around on heath land.


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## sandman55

WereBo said:


> Kids are great around that age :lol: - Quite a few years ago when I was mashed off my cycle, I had a bright red scar from my hairline to eyebrow. Walking along the High Street and a little lass (approx 5~8 years old) with her mother noticed my scar, went very wide-eyed and, in a loud whisper, asked mom if I was Harry Potter's grand-dad.... I wanted to pick her up and hug her for that :grin:


Good one Bo little kids really believe. :grin:

@ martt I'm not an expert but that pic looks to me to be well balanced the way the road takes your eyes in there. It is interesting and is one that a person would study to see what's in there.


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## WereBo

Hi martt and welcome to the Photographers Corner :wave:

There's nowt (Sorry, my N Yorkshire slips out occasionally :lol wrong with that photo at all, definitely not amiss to post it here, or any others you've taken :wink:


----------



## Wizmo

sandman55 said:


> ....that pic looks to me to be well balanced the way the road takes your eyes in there. It is interesting and is one that a person would study to see what's in there.


*It leads me to speculate as to what lies beyond the cattle gate! :whistling:

*


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## sinclair_tm

sandman55 said:


> You had an interesting model for your set of pics Sinclair they were quite artistic.


There is a story behind her coming into my life, but the short of it is one needs to be careful how they word things. I've grown to enjoy having her around. Here are some more.


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## martt

Wizmo said:


> *It leads me to speculate as to what lies beyond the cattle gate! :whistling:*


I never got to find out. We wanted to carry on along the path with our cycle ride but we were a bit worried about getting too near to the herd. Cows are usually OK but can turn a bit protective if they have calves.


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## martt

WereBo said:


> Hi martt and welcome to the Photographers Corner :wave:
> 
> There's nowt (Sorry, my N Yorkshire slips out occasionally :lol wrong with that photo at all, definitely not amiss to post it here, or any others you've taken :wink:


Thank you WereBo. :smile:


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## WereBo

sinclair_tm said:


> There is a story behind her coming into my life, but the short of it is one needs to be careful how they word things. I've grown to enjoy having her around............


At least you'll never lose an argument with her :grin:


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## martt

We had a few good days in Portsmouth this summer and took a few photos while there. This is a view of HMS Warrior, Portsmouth Harbour.










HMS Victory









..and here's Nelson keeping and eye on the tourists:


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## WereBo

It's just under 60 years since I was Portsmouth, on a primary-school trip to the Isle of Wight for a week, it's changed a bit since then :grin:

A lovely set of photos there Martt, well framed and well sharp :thumb:

HMS Warrior is an impressive looking ship :thumb:

I hope they don't put the patterned sails on the Victory though, they look reeeaaally odd on this model.... :lol:










Is that figure of Nelson a ship's figurehead? - It looks like it should be....


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## martt

No, those patterned sails just wouldn't look right. :smile:

The figurehead isn't from HMS Victory, It's from HMS Trafalgar, built 50 years or so after the battle of Trafalgar. Maybe made as a tribute to Nelson.


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## WereBo

Aaahhh right, thanks martt :thumb:


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## sinclair_tm

WereBo said:


> At least you'll never lose an argument with her :grin:


One would think so...


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## sinclair_tm

I really need to work on post processing some. Otherwise I like this shot.


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## WereBo

As it was a lovely sunny day last Saturday, I toddled off to Kent for my 1st outing of the year, Eagle Heights and Eynsford Castle being my targets.

For those of you who wonder what meerkats toesies look like.....











Too much cuteness perhaps?











Golden Eagle....




















Kayla the Bald Eagle.....











Tia the Serval.... I had a great problem shooting through the wire mesh in front of their enclosure, so I had to get the cat's head through the gaps - It does make a rather nice frame, so the motto of the day is: If you can't lose it, use it.... :grin:











Martial Eagle....











Apparently this Barn Owl has a very rare genetic difference which gives it very dark feathers, it's still a beautiful bird though...




















Little Owl.....











Kayla in flight......










Tawny Eagle sun-bathing.... Apparently this bird escaped from his enclosure and settled on one of the high-perches. Whenever a keeper tried to recapture it, it flew off to another perch and sat there smirking.... :grin:


----------



## Angoid

Some time ago I took advice here about buying a new camera and went with the Canon PowerShot G5X. I said I'd be back to post some pictures and promptly never got round to it.

So here are a few pictures from a recent trip to the UAE (and Oman)...

Can't figure out how to inline them properly here, but the first two are in Muscat, Oman (Mutrah Souk and the Incense Burner at a local recreation ground), and the other two are of the desert in Ras Al Khaimah, where we took in a camel ride.

All photos were taken at full resolution of 5472 x 3648, but resized to 1600 x 1067 for uploading to here.


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## WereBo

Hi Angoid :wave:

Mmmmmmm.... Nice photos there :thumb: - Nicely framed and exposed though the first 2 pics might benefit from having their levels tweaked slightly, just to boost the highlights and shadows slightly, there's a tutorial here for 'Photoshop' but the principles work in any photo-editing software - *Tweaking Levels*


I took a walk to Greenwich for the Tall-Ships Regatta yesterday, it was a grey and overcast day with dismal light for photographing stuff, but that's the UK bank-holidays for you :grin:

In the foreground the 'Christian Radich', with the 'Santa Maria Manuela' behind and to the left......










Christian Radich against London's skyline......










The 'Aphrodite', an appropriate name for a beautiful little ship......










The next 4 shots were all taken from the same spot by the 'Water-Gate' river entrance to the old Royal Naval College, this Nikon's got some serious zoom-power!.......






































I didn't get far enough to see the name of this ship (too many people to push/jostle my way through), but the crew were busy on it.....







































Massed masts......


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## SABL

Nice photos, Bo.......:thumb:

I saw a little bit of blue sky trying to peek out.....not much, though.

Don't know if I'll get a new camera or not. Going on 15 years old and the battery seems to be playing up. Has a specific battery and not throw-away type.


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## WereBo

Thanks SABL, I suspect the sun was linked to my camera-height. When hanging on it's strap it was sunny, but the extra couple of feet to my eye moved the sun behind the clouds.... :grin:

It might be possible to get a replacement battery online, but at 15 years old it might be time for a new camera, you'll be surprised at what's available at a lower price than what the old one cost :lol:


I couldn't find the name of this ship, it was moored close to another ship and both next to a pier :nonono: - I do like the transition from old-style ship to new brick housing to modern glass/steel offices though.....




















Back to the famous 'Cutty Sark', one day I might just make it through Greenwich, without taking a photo of this ship.... :lol:






































Some of the local entertainers, theses two were singing old sea-shanties and folk-songs....











This swan was more interested in finding it's dinner though.....





























I'll most likely be visiting there again on Sunday for the finale 'Sail-Past' display. Most of the ships are moored further downriver at Woolwich, and sailing up/down taking tourists for trips. The entire river-front at Greenwich is packed with tourists today and tomorrow, so Sunday should be good for the ending, over the years I've gotten pretty good at subtle shin-kicks and foot-stomping :grin:


----------



## WereBo

Saturday's wander around Greenwich, no ships sailing past for whatever reason though. Still, all the stalls an musicians were busy....

I weren't sure if this was advertising an empty property, or if the letter 'I' had fallen off....... :grin:











I don't know what these folks were up to, according to nearby stall-holders etc. they never played or made a sound, they just stood/sat there motionless......











Mrs WereBo with mutant fishermen.....











Neptune mingling with the commoners.....










'Kindred Spirit', a local folk-group singing sea-shanties.....











I don't know what this guy was about, but he was having fun......











A woodcarver was demonstrating his skills, this is an item for sale.....





























A pole-lathe turner demonstrating his skills.......


----------



## SABL

Another great set of photos, Bo....:thumb:

At least you have some interesting places to see in the UK......we have very little in my area.

*EDIT*....I wish they'd get the TB webcam back up and running. They keep saying a new and better streaming feed......for ~a month.....:frown: Still not active......bummer.


----------



## sinclair_tm

Some more of my little girls.


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## SABL

Quite a collection......:thumb:


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## WereBo

Thank you SABL, it's a lovely place to visit, but I wish there were some others nearby too, I'm starting to get a bit bored of Greenwich now, I'm running out of things to photograph, except for my next lot below :grin:


A nice set of photos there Sinclair, well-behaved models too :wink:

My photography club organised an 'Evening Walkabout' last Monday evening, fortunately it stopped raining just as we'd met up and started off. Although it was bitterly cold, it was a nice change to photograph things when it was getting dark, it was an interesting challenge for a welcome change.


Greenwich from t'other side of the Thames, complete with murky sky, the old Royal Observatory can be seen lurking behind the right-hand dome....











The original Royal Naval Hospital (built in 1616) next to the old Greenwich Power-Station.......











Foot-tunnel under the Thames......











A naughty person who can't read 'No Cycling' signs.... :grin:











The 'Ships Figurehead Museum' underneath the Cutty Sark.....











The start of the evening's excellent sunset, with the old GPO-Tower (in the centre of London) for the backdrop











Lights on at the Greenwich Peninsula, just downriver from me......











Old Naval College lantern........











Panorama of up-river and downriver.....











Sunset developing......











The full show......


----------



## sinclair_tm

WereBo said:


> A nice set of photos there Sinclair, well-behaved models too :wink:


Not as well behaved as you think. Something as simple as standing can turn into quite the balancing act. At least I don't have to feed, pay, or wait for them to sign a model release. And they will always wear the outfits I provide.


----------



## WereBo

The last few shots from my evening walkabout, this was taken in the pub we stopped in for some 'refreshments', the lamp is actually behind me, reflected in the pub's window.....











Noticing it was nearly dark outside, I dived out for the last shot of down-river. The O2 'Dome', cranes on a building-site and the string of lights on the right is the 'Emirates Sky-Line' cable-cars crossing the Thames.....











The Cutty Sark at night......











Taken through the glass surrounding the Cutty Sark.......


----------



## Wizmo

*I didn't realize Cutty Sark was actually dry docked! :huh:

*


----------



## WereBo

Yes, she was dry-docked in 1954 and has been there ever since. Originally, the ship sat on her keel with supporting stays holding her upright, but over time this caused major damage to the hull, due to the ship's weight sqishing the hull.

She's now supported approx 9' off the ground by a 'collar' and support-stays, a tall person can reach up and leave their fingerprint on the bottom of the keel..... :grin:

I had an almost wonderful Sunday last week at the Abingdon Air & Country Show, 86 miles away in Oxfordshire. The only thing that marred the day, apart from the weather turning cold and very wet approx 5:00pm, was an aerobatic-plane crashed during it's display (Pilot OK after treatment for 'heavy bumps') :sad:

An 'Antonov AN2', the world's largest single-prop biplane....





















As well as lots of planes, there was also a 'Classic Car' area too, this is a 'Martin' sportster, before joining with 'Aston' cars to make 'Aston Martin' :smile:











A Gloster Meteor' jet......











DeHavilland Dragon Rapide, coming in to land......











There was also a RC-model display too, this is an English Electric Lightning, sadly the only Lightning flying in the UK nowadays :sigh:











Even the model's pilot has superb detail.....











A model 'Red Arrow' Hawk jet....




















Douglas C-479 'Dakota', part of the BBMF (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight(. this one's called 'Kwicherbichen' (cunnjing name :winkand seen here giving guided tours to visitors....











I think this is the most beautiful car ever built, a Morgan' sportster. I was going to swap it for my VW Polo after the show had finished, but the owner came and drove it away...


----------



## WereBo

I had a lovely day at the Biggin Hill 'Festival of Flight', combined with the 100th anniversary of Biggin Hill aerodrome. To celebrate the centenary, the company that runs several Spitfires, Hurricanes and other WWII planes (Biggin Hill 'Heritage Hangar') and the airport management organised to have a load of military veterans, plus some 'Chelsea Pensioners' visit the show......

Whilst trying to organise the vets for the press photo-shoot, these two guys insisted on kneeling, their reason was to show they can still kneel... :grin:

It was a real pleasure and honour to chat with them, my jaws were hurting from laughing so much, at both their antics and stories - A wonderful bunch of folks :lol:





























Enjoying a stroll among the 'souvenirs' - The black London Taxis behind were used to bring the vets along, the drivers gave their time for free :smile:











Arrival of 'The Reds'





























Arrival of a Spitfire......


----------



## joeten

Nice pics Bo, I guess you will give this one a miss http://www.tsia.scot/


----------



## SABL

Nice pics, Bo......:thumb:

You'll be a pensioner, yourself, before you know it......:laugh:

I won't be able to Make the Scottish airshow, either......:sigh:


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## WereBo

Thanks Joe :smile: - Sadly, it's a bit too far to Ayr for the show, I doubt my car would make it there intact, it's running on 3.75 cylinders at the moment (HT lead arcing to nearby metal, new leads didn't cure it so it looks like I have to replace the ignition-module :sigh


The Breitling Wing-Walkers' display - Thanks to 'Health & Safety' regs, they have a special harness that can swivel around and is fixed to the top-wing, unlike the original walkers of the 1920s USA 'Barnstormers' era...... :wink:















































Chinook display - It's amazing how they can chuck these things around the sky.....






































Chinook farewell......


----------



## WereBo

SABL said:


> Nice pics, Bo......:thumb:
> 
> You'll be a pensioner, yourself, before you know it......:laugh:
> 
> .....................


Thanks SABL - I'm not so sure now, every time I get close, they raise the age-limit on me (retirement is now 67, instead of 65) :grin:


----------



## SABL

They raised the age on me, too......but, I took a small monthly penalty and retired at 65.


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## joeten

Bo check the website as I thought the same 67 but after a check it's 66 for me.
https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-age just click through and put in the minimum they ask for on info takes about 2 mins to do.


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## WereBo

Hehehehe, thanks Joe, I'll show that link to my adviser at the jobcentre, according to the .gov site, I retire next year after all :grin:

I expect the jobcentre estimates 2 years extra to fill out all the forms and paperwork :lol:


I've seen 'Sally B' before under adverse weather, but this time the weather worked for me :wink: The B17 Flying Fortress Sally B......






































At the end of every display, the Sally B smokes 2 engines, in tribute and remembrance to all the crews that never made it back home.....




















NOT the way to get a sun-tan.....




















'G-Force Aerobatics' display......

The plane on the left has a pilot sat in it, the plane on the right is a scale R/C model, with the pilot's mate stood on the ground :rofl: - It's definitely a novel display.....


----------



## WereBo

I had a wonderful day yesterday photographing the 'Thames Barge Parade', that sailed from the Isle of Dogs (just cross the Thames from me) to Tower Bridge and back. It was due to start at 11:00am but I had a rather frantic phone-call from a friend onboard one of the boats saying they've just started off at 10:00am!!!

A very rapid drive got me to 'The Deptford Foreshore' just in time to see the last few barges sail by.......






































Once the last boat had passed, I shot back home to grab my free bus-pass and then head off to Tower Bridge, I got there about 15 minutes before the barges, so had time to explore a bit.....

I finally got another entry off my 'bucket-list' by seeing Tower-Bridge opening. I've lived here 36 years and this was the 1st time I've ever seen the bridge in action. I was lucky enough to see it in action twice, as it opened to let the barges through, then closed to let the traffic cross. The barges moored up for approx 30 minutes the sailed back down again, requiring another bridge-lifting.... :lol:






































This boat had suffered an engine-failure, so the crew organised a tow, all the way up-river and back again. That's determination to not disappoint the viewers :grin:


----------



## SABL

Very nice photos, Bo......:thumb: 

Those are views of Tower Bridge I've never seen.......fascinating. Tower Bridge is something I very much want to see.....especially a bridge lift in action. If things go according to plan I'll be there next summer......something I never thought possible.


----------



## WereBo

It'll be good to see you here SABL :thumb:

There was approx 30 minutes wait between the barges sailing up-river and returning back down, so I had time to get some details off Tower Bridge......
























































A short distance down-river from the bridge is 'HMS President', a Royal Navy' training centre.....











HMS Puncher, used to train the cadets about navigation and river conditions etc.











The Tower of London makes an excellent backdrop for the barges......




















I can think of several politicians I'd like to invite for a visit here....... :lol:


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## SABL

For me, there would be plenty to see in the Tower Bridge location alone....:laugh: HMS Belfast is just upriver from the bridge.....Tower of London well within walking distance. Looks like there is plenty to see within walking distance.....:thumb:

I've noticed most of the barges spend a few minutes upriver.......but, not too many. Most lifts are 30mins apart from time going upriver and back downriver. Sometimes they'll take mooring for overnight but not often. I wish the TB cam was working......I used to keep it tabbed up all day.


----------



## WereBo

HMS Belfast is approx 5 minutes fairly brisk walk, 10 if taking photos.... :grin:










The tall tower with the golden top (right hand side background) is 'The Monument' to the Great Fire of London, waaaaay back in 1666. It's now open to the public for views across London, but it's a lot of steps to get up there.....











If you fancy looking at London from on high, there's the '*Sky-Garden*' at the top of the 'Walkie-Talkie' building, A.K.A the 'car-burner' :lol: - You'll need to book online in advance, but it's free to visit and view. The tea/coffee/food/drink in the cafeteria and bar is extortionate though :wink:


----------



## Done_Fishin

Some great photography there werebo .. reminds me of my visit just a few months ago .. thought about you as I, family members and friends walked down from London bridge to Rotherhithe .. Still haven't found the time to finish off editing my shots though and have had a couple of months more photography to catch up on since ... Keep posting I enjoy every minute of it !


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## WereBo

Thanks DF, I intend to whenever I go anywhere decent :lol:

That's the only snag with digital photography nowadays, I find it all to easy to rattle off a thousand shots or more, without worrying about it. 

When I went to the 'Royal International Air Tattoo' in Oxfordshire last month, I came back with over 1800! - A lot were trashed as it was a dull dismal rainy day, the rest I don't consider fit for public consumption :grin:


----------



## Done_Fishin

I managed to do over 500 pics in one day .. and whilst I was cycling !! With the d3300 I purchased recently I am a little reluctant to have it dangling anywhere on my body as I am cycling, so I keep it in my backpack. but even so it is far too easy to take break (especially when I am cycling alone) and pop off so many shots of the same subject that I am left wondering which is/was the best of them all.


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## sinclair_tm

Perhaps it has more to do with starting on film, but I have never taken that many photos at once. Sure, I take more since going digital, but I still just don't point and shoot, I still try to frame and plan out shots so to get what I want with as little post processing as possible, since I'm so bad at PP.


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## WereBo

'Burst' mode is essential nowadays for fast-moving subjects, planes, birds etc. but sorting through a dozen almost identical pics after 1 'shot' is what takes my time :lol:

I too prefer to get the framing right before shooting, rather than crop and expand afterwards - The only post-processing I do is to occasionally twiddle the levels (as per DonaldG's tutorial, some years ago) if it's been a dull weather day, plus an occasional bit of cloning to remove unwanted heads, wings or whatever.


----------



## WereBo

Some shots of last night's 'Harvest Moon', slight tweaks to the 'Levels' to enhance contrast/mid-tones etc.......











This one is at max optical zoom (60x)+'Dynamic Fine Zoom' (approx 3x). It can zoom in further, but serious degradation becomes noticeable then.






























These are me playing with the camera's 'Temperature' settings.... Ohh OK... Colour-casts... :grin:


----------



## SABL

Very nice.....:thumb:

I quit trying to take pics of the moon with my old camera. I finally got it out yesterday to take a quick pic of an old shirt I still have with a radio station logo.....:laugh: They started an online 'museum' after 40 years on the air and I sent in a pic of my 30+ year old polo shirt. Had to dig it out of a bag destined for a charity but the truck skipped me last month.

I left the camera (DSC V1) on the charger for over a month but it was completely dead when I got it out. Must have acted like a 'refresh' and drained the battery......I plugged it back in and it took a full charge. So far it's holding the charge......fingers crossed.


----------



## WereBo

SE London is getting pretty rough nowadays, what with biker lizards moving in and bringing their families with them.....















































Oh well, they can't be any worse than most of my present neighbours...... He said, hopefully..... :grin:


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## SABL

Cute......are those your trinkets?? 

Haven't made up my mind on whether to buy a camera or just get a better phone. Most phones today take better pics than my old camera......and do pretty good movies. 

Trip to the UK is still a 'go'.......I better get started on getting my very first passport.


----------



## Wizmo

*I am the designated photographer for the local annual sea swim (charity fundraiser) event every year in mid-June. There are an average 1000+ participants, including many Olympians from around the world. That plus the preparations before and the awards ceremonies and prize drawing after. My average shoot is 1500-1800 images over the 7 hours for the day. :thumb:

Good thing I run a 128GB card nowadays as it takes more than half that capacity in total to store those images. Then I have the post-production work that takes at least 2 days, despite my best efforts at getting it close to right the first time! 

I used to do it as a volunteer, but the family that sponsors it insists on paying me a stipend now, though not anywhere near my ordinary hourly rate! :grin:

*


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## WereBo

@ SABL - Yep, they're pewter ornaments I started collecting some years ago. The biker-lizard is 3.5"x3.5" and the dragon is 3.25"x3.25".

I've also got a 'Rock-Lizard' at about the same size and a couple other dragons, all in similar genre....














@ Wizmo - I assume you're saving your pics as .RAW files? My camera only saves as .JPG, though I can get near .RAW quality at the highest settings (my standard format :wink. My last air-show (RIAT) bagged approx 1800 photos but the weather and light was so bad, most were junked 

We don't get many folks swimming in the Thames, despite it being a lot cleaner than it was years ago, but we do get a lot of shipping events, the most famous being the Greenwich Tall Ships Regatta.

I did get 'volunteered' for a working ships event a few weeks ago, by a local charity project "Deptford Working Histories" to photograph a load of 'Thames Barges' that planned a sail-by from the Greenwich O2 'Dome' (What James Bond slid down in 'The World Is Not Enough") to Tower-Bridge, then sailed back down again.

Unfortunately, only half the ships turned up for the event, but it was still really nice to see 'em in action - See post no. 1187


----------



## zhong

Photos taken inside Millennium Dome ( Now called O2 Arena)
Millennium Show Jan. 2000 .
First digital Olympus camera I had to take digital photos.


----------



## zhong

Photos taken inside Millennium Dome ( Now called O2 Arena)
Millennium Show Jan. 2000 .
First digital Olympus camera I had to take digital photos.


----------



## zhong

Photos taken inside Millennium Dome (Now called O2 Arena)
Millennium Show Jan. 2000 .
First digital Olympus camera I had to take digital photos.


----------



## WereBo

Hi zhong :wave:

What model of Olympus camera do you have? It takes good photos but they're a bit small to see clearly.

Also, zooming in a little bit will get rid of the backs-of-heads in front of you, alternatively, lift yourself up out of the seat slightly. Not too much though otherwise the folks behind you will mutter at you :wink:


I took these a couple o' days ago, from my back balcony. The 1st shot is my target subject.......











I was trying to get a close-up of the mossy bits, but I was surprised to see the camera even picked up a bit of spider's web in the square formed by the branches....


----------



## sinclair_tm

Nothing happening, so I guess I'll fill it with some new photos.


----------



## WereBo

Really nice pics Sinclair, though the first one is slightly fuzzy on the lower parts of the doll.

I really like the last one, the outside setting gives a much better light and makes the photo more interesting.


----------



## sinclair_tm

WereBo said:


> ...though the first one is slightly fuzzy on the lower parts of the doll.


That was on purpose. She's sitting and looking up while I'm high above her pointing the camera down at a large aperture opening. But due to the crop factor of my camera, and lack of a ladder, I wasn't directly above her, so the depth of field cuts through the image diagonally.


----------



## WereBo

Aahh, that explains it - I hope she wasn't in that pose for too long though, her knees must have been aching from being in that position......

:whistling:

:grin:


----------



## Wizmo

*Time to get a tall(er) ladder! 

*


----------



## Done_Fishin

I have been meaning to get in here for months and put up some photo's taken with my d3300 plus lenses

these photo's were taken last Sunday when I went cycling up my local mountain. I stopped at about 860meters / 2800 feet above sea level, just before the penultimate hairpin bend, in order to answer my mobile phone and grab a few photo's when this bandit came up from below, crossed the road in front of me and disappeared into foliage to proceed up the mountain. 
In spite of the fact that I had my camera ready in my bag in front of me, I cursed because I was on the phone and unable to grab my gear to take some shots.
I finished the call got back on my bike to continue going up when I caught sight of it on top of the supporting wall as I rounded the corner. Needless to say I got off my bike again, quietly put it on its stand, grabbed my camera which was ready with the 70-300mm zoom and started taking photo's. I walked slowly & quietly towards it, taking shots as I went plus tried not to make it too obvious I was heading it's way by slowly circling !

The first photo was cropped from the second whilst in the third I shifted focus to the background and shows the Greek Syntagma or Parliament building just behind the partridges fuzzy head.

Bandit on Mt. Ymittos @ ~860meters / ~2800feet


----------



## sandman55

Nice shots DF a beautiful bird and wow what a beautiful background


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## WereBo

As Sandy says, lovely shots DF, your new camera is showing it's worth when the cropped pic has almost as much detail as the original :thumb:

I quit my old photography-club at the end of last year, it was too small, cliquey and snobbish over cameras (I can't take 'proper' photos with a Bridge-camera, only DSLRs :nonono:

I've now joined another club (Beckenham Photographic Society), which is much larger (approx 60 members), judges on the photos rather than the camera used to take it, plus they have a lot more inter-club and national competitions :smile:

Following a nasty bout of COPD from our bout of freezing winter weather which left me with a persistent chest-infection, I took my first photos of 2018 yesterday. Mrs WereBo was faffing around in the kitchen and noticed a couple o' crows in the cherry-tree opposite my flat. I dived out the front-door (with camera :wink and grabbed these few shots.....


----------



## Wizmo

*Quoth the raven - "show me more!" :wink:

Nice shots of the birds and the blossoms. :grin:

*


----------



## sandman55

Yes lovely shots of the crows amongst the blossoms


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## Done_Fishin

Beautiful Shots werebo .. what a shame that the second one (bird) wouldn't move more into picture rather than photo-bombing the one in the front .. 
I hope that your health has sufficiently improved to allow you to get more out & about .. I have the honour (& misfortune) to be looking after my sons Pitbull whilst he is away from home working for the summer .. It may be a disadvantage because it has stopped me from getting out on my bike (she's less than a year old and needs constant walks / attention) but on our walks I go armed with my 70-300 mm zoom which seems to have a permanent position now allowing me to grab photo's of flowers etc without the need to worry about distance from the lens providing it is more than a meter or throwing shadows across the object in question. A real bonus as you will have noted with your cameras capability too !


----------



## WereBo

Thanks guys :smile: - They definitely were a lucky group of shots, as all the blossom had dropped by next day, it's a shame that blossom doesn't last long, it's a beautiful first sign of Spring.

@ DF - When I was using my Praktica BMX 35mm camera years ago, I ended up using my 50mm-200mm lens most of the time, only taking it off to attach a 'doubler' when necessary.

This Nikon P610 still amazes me with it's 25mm-1440mm (optical zoom) range from just 1 lens, I don't think I've ever used the 'Dynamic Fine Zoom', which adds up to 5X digital zoom, though anything past 3X gives a noticeable degradation in the photos.


----------



## Done_Fishin

Just put this up as my cover photo on Facebook 

One year ago today we lost our Mum, she used to love roses and gardening in general. Front garden used to be full of roses and the back had a few too !


----------



## WereBo

Mmmmm, I can almost feel the velvety texture of that rose, a beautiful shot DF :thumb:

My parents both loved roses too, their garden had dozens of 'em (Mostly white 'cos she was a Yorkshire lass :lol

I wish I had more space on my balcony for larger plants, I'd have nabbed some cuttings from their garden, when mum moved from her council home to a nursing home back in 2011. The roses were over 40 years old and had matured beautifully.


----------



## Wizmo

*... a rose by any other name ...

Stunning photo with great bokeh! 

*


----------



## WereBo

I had a wonderful evening with some photo-club chums last Wednesday, when we met at Crystal Palace Park for an evening photo-shoot. I hadn't been there since 1985, so it had changed a bit since then........





















Yep, they've gone and gotten themselves a Dinosaur-Park...... :grin:


----------



## bassfisher6522




----------



## WereBo

I was extremely lucky a few weeks ago, one of my favourite airfields (Headcorn, Kent) had a 'Battle of Britain' display put on by their resident company 'Aero-Legends'.

It was only a small affair, I doubt there were more than about 1500ish folks there, which was great 'cos there was plenty of room at the flight-line for photographing the planes.

Another great bonus was that it was just before this heatwave we've gotten lumbered with, 23C was nice and comfy :smile:


----------



## Wizmo

*Great shots 'Bo! 

I just passed two significant milestones:

1. 5000 posts!! :wink:

2. Just acquired a pair of Canon 5D Mk IV (my first full frame) cameras. One came from Australia at a great deal, and the other from an eBay vendor which included a HOST of additional accessories. Both came with a double battery grip, so I should be able to shoot for LOOONG periods without recharging. I also got 4 extra batteries in the deals! 

I plan to go out around the island and take some new nature and landscape photos, to try to sell some **Giclée prints at a local artists' market on Wednesdays. I hope to start generating some income from my photos to justify the cost of these new toys! :grin:

Wish me luck! :smile:

*


----------



## Done_Fishin

Good Luck Wizmo and enjoy your toys .. Ideal situation to have 2 toys of the same type but with different lenses ... I get so bored of swapping from my 18-55 to the 70-300 that I try to do everything using the single lens .. I have 4 lenses but these two are my favourites ! Apart from the weight a second body would be so helpful, the weight I could do without !!

Congratulations on passing the 5000 mark ..!!!


----------



## WereBo

Congrats on the new toys Wizmo and good luck with selling the results, I look forward to seeing some samples here :wink:

I know what you mean about lugging lenses around, my old 35mm rig (Praktica BMX), it had 3~4 lenses and umpteen misc. toys for it, from motor-drive to filters to multi-flash setup, and that's without the tripod! :grin:

Oh, I've still got the tripod and it's still as good as new.....

Another club walkabout this time around Greenwich, produced a mixed bag of photos due to dismal light, some I'm happy with and more that are OK, with a few 'Mehh' shots too..... 









My attempt at 'artistic' photography...... :grin:




This is a light-bulb in the pub I was standing outside of, when taking the above shot - Yes, I had to go in 'cos t'other club members went in whilst I was taking the above shot.......... :whistling:




Taken from inside the pub, dead window with live plant......




These next two are me showing off the zoom on this camera, both taken from the same spot - The lights through the 'gas-holder' girder-work is the 'Emirates 'Skyline' cable-car pylons, crossing the Thames 1.5 miles down-river.......






This is one of the (lucky) shots I was really happy with, 'Ghost Dancers'......











The Cutty Sark at twilight......





I'm now waiting (semi-patiently) for my next evening-shoot, at the 'Southwark Cathedral Candlelit Photography Evening', in a couple of weeks time. I've been past it lots of times, but never inside it..... opcorn:


----------



## WereBo

I had a change of style t'other week, when a photo-club member mentioned a photo-shoot at Southwark Cathedral, right next door to London Bridge Mk 2 (The original is in Havasu City, AZ) and the Borough-Market, that was hit by terrorists earlier this year.

The cathedral's policy is usually a strict '*NO!*' to photography, but one evening a year is given to clubs and professionals etc. As a bonus, the cathedral is candle-lit, more of which later........ :whistling:

I didn't bother taking my tripod, it's waaaay too heavy to hump around, especially on buses, so all the shots are hand-held.































I don't know who's interred here, I can't remember my Latin any more.











A ceiling boss











William Shakespeare...











A beautiful old door, but useless as the passage on t'other side doesn't have a corresponding big hole in it!











Mediaeval furniture-making at it's best.....




This is from behind that main altar.....


----------



## joeten

Stunning place to look at, photos ain't bad either Bo.


----------



## WereBo

Thanks Joe :smile:

It's a bit of a mashed-up building, it was originally a church built in 1086, then various repairs and rebuilds, there's a lot of different stonework etc. Some better done than elsewhere.....


This is over the door in the above shot, spot the cement joinery....... :grin:










Yes, the candle is slightly wonky.......




Directly above that altar.......




I wonder where that leads to......









I nicknamed this the 'Heretics Door'...... 'Repent and pass through this door, your soul will be saved......'




A stray cat that adopted the cathedral and staff - Doorkins Magnificat! Yep, that's what they named him.... :grin:


----------



## sinclair_tm

I have my own personal cheer squad.










Then last weekend I took one of the girls with me for a working holiday at the family cabin (I'm laying the tile.). While waiting for things to be prepped, I did some shooting.





































That was my favorite of the set. And now a stylized photo. I did it because the mid day sun was bright and gave harsh shadows when it wasn't hiding behind a cloud, which it was doing until I clicked the shutter button.


----------



## WereBo

Mmmmmm..... A nice set of photos there Sinclair :thumb:

Last Saturday was an 'Open Day' at the '*Crystal Palace Subway*', a Victorian foot-tunnel under the main road, build when the *Crystal Palace* was moved from Hyde Park to what was then called Penge Common, in SE London.

The subway is a small but beautiful example of Victorian brickwork, the black ringed holes in the ceiling is where the gas-lights were.

Unfortunately I was playing with the 'D-Light' (Dynamic Light) setting on my camera and forgot to turn it off, causing the pics to look over-saturated :sigh:






























Looking towards Crystal Palace Park, where the Crystal Palace was.....





















The entrance/exit from t'other side, away from the park.......











Some of the steps that led up to the palace, from the lower bit of the park.....


__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content











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Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
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The BBC TV transmission tower for SE London, along with mobile-phones and misc. microwave stuff......











The top of the tower.....











Some of the gubbins in the middle......








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## sinclair_tm

Here's some more.


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## sinclair_tm

No one is going to post, then I'll do it again.



















And some Christmas cheer from one of Santa's little helpers.


----------



## WereBo

Very nicely worked photos there Sinclair, well posed and composed :thumb:

My Nikon P610 died just before Xmas so I had to send it off for repairs, leaving me camera-less over the holidays. Luckily, Santa sent me a new Nikon D5600+18-55mm telephoto, 70-300mm + 40mm macro lenses, Speedlight flash-gun, filters, spare battery and a carry-sack to put it all in..... 

The downside is that it's been mostly very grey and dismal since I got it, but I did get a chance to play with it on New Year's Eve, when I took it up to the top floor (5th) of my block to get some celebratory shots.

Looking down-river towards Greenwich....




Looking up-river towards London, the fireworks are what I can see of the big celebrations on the London Eye and Embankment, The Shard is on the right of the block.....






Finally, straight across to The Docklands.....





The complete kit...... Oh, I got my repaired camera back yesterday, all working perfectly again but it won't fit in the bag.....


----------



## derek_jones_36

Just a couple shots..


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## kendallt

I was scrolling through earlier post here and noticed that there were a lot of posts that had placeholders with "image not available". Why is that? I'd always understood that TSF hosted the uploaded images.


----------



## sinclair_tm

Ones uploaded to TSF are hosted, but a lot of us do image linking instead, so either the link is now dead, or you have some internet filtering that is preventing them from loading. This is an old thread, and many image hosting site have made big changes (Like Flickr and Photobucket.).


----------



## joeten

Nice to see you Sinclair tm, been quiet without you and Werebo.


----------



## kendallt

sinclair_tm said:


> Ones uploaded to TSF are hosted, but a lot of us do image linking instead, so either the link is now dead, or you have some internet filtering that is preventing them from loading. This is an old thread, and many image hosting site have made big changes (Like Flickr and Photobucket.).


Ah, That explains it then. I use firefox with a few add ins that blockers etc, and I know that a few sites won't load in it, forcing me to use edge if I want to see them. Most often, they aren't worth it!


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## sinclair_tm

joeten said:


> Nice to see you Sinclair tm, been quiet without you and Werebo.


Been busy living my life. But here's a photo I took with my phone.









That is a real steam locomotive, coal fired. The track is 7.5 inches apart. That black pad on the car behind it is where you sit to operate it. It's maybe 10 inches square. It was built in 1991, and been in storage since 1994. I got it out of storage and joined a local club in January and get it running again. It was my grandfather's.


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## joeten

Nice, my son was into model railway when he was much younger spent a lot of nights as his taxi taking him to a little club and some time at shows where they built a whole set up to show folks their skills, they did some here https://www.sec.co.uk/about-the-sec in the more boring flat building.


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## kendallt

sinclair_tm said:


> Been busy living my life. But here's a photo I took with my phone.
> 
> View attachment 325710
> 
> 
> That is a real steam locomotive, coal fired. The track is 7.5 inches apart. That black pad on the car behind it is where you sit to operate it. It's maybe 10 inches square. It was built in 1991, and been in storage since 1994. I got it out of storage and joined a local club in January and get it running again. It was my grandfather's.


 
I love those scale locomotives, always wanted to build one, but things kept getting in the way. 
There used to be a mobile home park near me that the owner had a track, a foot wide or more, that looped all the way around the park and down the road to his house where he had a regular round house with 3 or 4 locomotives in it. You'd see him all the time in the summer, sometimes in the winter but not vary often.  
It was out of the way by 5 miles for anywhere I wanted to go, but I always took that way to check it out.


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## charlie1776

Top is whats left of the old hay shed from back when we had horses. Next is a fence I found behind a hotel I was staying in up in KY. Then there is the old mill pond dam. It was destroyed back in 2015 during the floods. And lastly, the solar eclipse from 2017. All were made with a Nikon D3200, but different lenses.


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## Taylorjulie

My family dogs. 😆


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## kendallt

I have a couple nice pics of my dogs, but my wife is also in them and I don't think she'd be too happy to be included in a 'family dogs: Buddy, Loopy, Baby, Clyde and Pam ' photo


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## SABL

Only have one dog left.....and not long for this world. Looks like a bowling ball with legs after a tumor went on a growth spurt.


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## Olive00

Wow,nice photos. I do enjoy the art of photography. I'm just an amateur photographer, who clicks photos on her cell phone. I don't own a professional camera. I do enjoy capturing certain special moments, like dew drops on a leaf, happy moments spent with friends and a plate of beautifully served dessert.


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## charlie1776




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## kendallt

Could anyone tell me why I just received an email saying this thread was updated?


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## SpywareDr

Looks like the now banned krazykong01 had posted advertising which was deleted by oscer1 about 6 hours ago?


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## kendallt

Oh! that would explain it, I was hoping to see some new photographs. I like this thread, and look forward to new pics all the time. so got a bit excited when I saw it was updated.


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## SpywareDr

Here are PhotoLady's, (Martha)'s (RIP): photolady1995


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## kendallt

Those are nice! bookmarked and plan to browse through the library.
Thank you!


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## SpywareDr

You're welcome.


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## CindyfromLA

Hey, I was just looking at your photos and I was wondering how you took the photo of the fifth image? It looks amazing! What camera and settings did you use?


MartyF81 said:


> Wow it was very hard for me to pick just 5!


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## SpywareDr

Unfortunately the wonderful lady that took those pictures, PhotoLady (Martha), has passed away. (RIP)

More details here: SAD NEWS ABOUT PHOTOLADY/MARTHA


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