What Have You Been Shooting Lately?

[Steve Mitchell]

It's been a while since we've asked the Dphoto question of...."What have you been shooting lately.?....So let's see some pix in this thread of your latest endeavors.

[lecter]

With Rune in Thailand
http://www.fredmiranda.com/hosting/data//501/7236HL2C9752-med.jpg

[mzdial]

Great shot Rob.. There is a story within this photo that you can sit and wonder about..

-- Matt

[gparr]

Extremely well done Rob.

[gparr]

Had a business trip to Portland, OR and was able to scare up some shooting time. I highly recommend visiting the Japanese gardens in Portland and traveling the scenic highway east of the city to see the forests and water falls. Here's my favorite shot from the Japanese gardens.
Gary

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/153treelinepath.jpg

[jliechty]

I caught the tail end of the fall colors in Michigan a few weeks ago when going to visit my grandmother who was in bad health. Since then, I've not had any shooting time, between school, applying to and visiting colleges, and making another trip "up north" for my grandmother's funeral. :(

BTW, well done shots, Lecter and Gary.

[terpcurt]

Here is what I have shot lately.....

http://terpstra.us/images/curtljt/car/175_7527.jpg


http://terpstra.us/images/curtljt/car/175_7533.jpg

http://terpstra.us/images/curtljt/car/175_7537.jpg


Yes............ that is my car after getting 2 deer, in two different locations 1.5 hours apart. ;)

[Anders Östberg]

Ouch.

[terpcurt]

Car has already been fixed...... I really should take those pictures too

After we got the second one, \my wife and I just started laughing.......... 2 different counties..... 2 deer.... one road.... had one more county to go before we got home

[cox]

Hero surf on the Central CA coast this weekend:

[131313]

Shot butterflies the other day, not quite as nice as ...(?) can't remember who else has butterfly shots posted here, real nice though. ...gotta see those Japanese gardens...one of my first roadtrips I'm sure.

[Anders Östberg]

I was out walking today hoping to catch some birds, and while I sat waiting I took
a snap of the first frost this year. It's pretty but *cold* this weekend...

http://www.andersostberg.com/fotogalleri/albums/userpics/WaterSnowAndIce/Winter_7594.jpg

[gparr]

Wow, Anders!! That's some wicked frost. Nice capture. The background really adds to the icy cold feel of this shot.
Gary

[Anders Östberg]

I took this at a distance with the 100-400 while trying to stand still for the birds, I wish I had taken some closeups with a more suitable lens and with more DOF. Still, just thought I'd show a scene from today. :)

[gparr]

I've not tried any aquarium photography, though I've had as many as six aquariums in my home. I have only two set up now. Today, my Rhino plecostomus was sitting on top of a rock in my freshwater aquarium. Usually during the day it's in a cave. He didn't show any interest in moving so I set up the camera/tripod and shot a few frames. The fish is an algae eater that I've had for about 11 years. It's Rhino common name comes from the protrusions in its forehead that, depending on your perspective, look like horns or the ears of a rhinoceros. Both shots are with available light and my Sigma macro lens. The first is through about 6 in. of water. The second has a little distortion because it was shot through about 3 ft. of water. Next I'll have to try moving fish.

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/153pleco1.jpg

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/153pleco2.jpg

[Anders Östberg]

11 years... that's great! I used to have a whole bunch of aquariums (10+ counting breeding tanks and smaller tanks for growing shrimp for food). I had mostly Malawi and Tanganyika (sp?) species, but most of them were nowhere near as long lived as your fish. How big is this algae eater?

[jliechty]

Ooh, fish pictures, very good. :)

I had to give up aquariums a few years ago before a move, when it became clear that I wasn't making enough money to support fish, computers, and camera hobbies all at the same time. :(

The Malawi and related cichlids are some of my favorite kinds of fish; they have very interesting personalities.

[Anders Östberg]

...
The Malawi and related cichlids are some of my favorite kinds of fish; they have very interesting personalities.Hard work though, they tore up my aquariums continuosly by digging nests and moving stuff around. :)

[cox]

Fantastic frost Anders, and it makes me remember why I love California! ;) Late November, and autumn's just turning leaves here. Went out this morning and looked in on the neighbors...

[Anders Östberg]

The water looks cold.

:p

I like really good cold, white winters but unfortunately it's usually brown sludge here which isn't very useful. I worked a few months in San Diego in the late eighties and I could like living there. :)

[gparr]

Hard work though, they tore up my aquariums continuosly by digging nests and moving stuff around. :)
Yes, kept African cichlids for many years and you do have to make sure the rocks aren't going to fall. Beautiful fish but they can be aggressive when they decide it's time to make babies.

[jliechty]

Yes, kept African cichlids for many years and you do have to make sure the rocks aren't going to fall. Beautiful fish but they can be aggressive when they decide it's time to make babies.
Yeah, and rearranging the rocks (the only decorations that are safe in an African cichlids tank) when you need to add another specimen is quite a hassle - but if you don't, the newcomer will probably die from the stress of not being able to make a territory because all the room is "taken." :o

Back to the topic, I shot a wedding yesterday non-professionally, but as the "official" photographer (for cost of film plus processing). They're friends of the family, couldn't afford a professional (supposedly), and my parents committed me. Oh well, it was a good learning experience. :)

[MatsP]

I've not tried any aquarium photography, though I've had as many as six aquariums in my home. I have only two set up now. Today, my Rhino plecostomus was sitting on top of a rock in my freshwater aquarium. Usually during the day it's in a cave. He didn't show any interest in moving so I set up the camera/tripod and shot a few frames. The fish is an algae eater that I've had for about 11 years. It's Rhino common name comes from the protrusions in its forehead that, depending on your perspective, look like horns or the ears of a rhinoceros. Both shots are with available light and my Sigma macro lens. The first is through about 6 in. of water. The second has a little distortion because it was shot through about 3 ft. of water. Next I'll have to try moving fish.

Funny that. I've just got back to having an aquarium (actually, my fiancee started it all by getting two godlfish and one of those piddly little plastic tanks). I've currently got a 96l (about 25 us gal) tank with the goldfish, a few zebra and pearl danios, one male guppy (had two females to keep him company, but they must have been sick, because they died a few days later) and a pair of bristlenose pleco's. There's a picture of "Gus", which is really supposed to be called something more female, but it's hard after several months of thinking of the fish as Gus to rename it. She's recently got company by Warren, who's got the male-typical bristles. I've yet to take some photo's of Warren. There are some of Gus in my gallery. I've got a couple of Freia (the goldfish) too that I should post just because they have fabulous colours...

Gary, if you get a nice shot of the entire Rhino, you it would probably go nicely onto the PlanetCatfish Cat-eLog where they have pictures of all sorts of different varieties of pleco's and other forms of catfish.

Here's a link to it: http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loricari/pterygop/80_f.php

--
Mats

[Puncher]

I've recently started a small aquarium (55l). Currently there's 5 Xiphorus helleri (sword tail), 3 female, 2 male, as well as 3 Betta splendens (Siamese fighting fish), 1 male, 2 female. I took a few snapshots, but nothing worthwile so far.

[wooncherk]

This is tha pic

[Steve Mitchell]

Thanks for posting...let's keep them coming.

[gparr]

Had one of those wet, sloppy snow storms the other day. This is one of my favorite shots from my morning-after shoot. It's a piece of playground equipment.

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/153spiral.jpg

[Anders Östberg]

Nice abstract, I like it!

[Puncher]

Well a bit sad I bought a male Betta splendens (Siamese fighting fish) for my two female Bettas. By Thursday (yesterday) evening he was killed/died and his fins half-eaten by the two females...

Check out the pictures I uploaded. The fins originally were about 3 times as long.

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/174Betta_splendens_dead_male_2-med.jpg

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/174Betta_splendens_dead_male_3-med.jpg

[Anders Östberg]

Hmm... that's what you get when courting two females at the same time. :p

Sorry, couldn't help myself. It's sad when they die, but I found it happened quite a lot when I had aquariums. Maybe some species are also a bit less sturdy, I don't know anything about fighting fish and how easy they are to keep.

[jliechty]

Hmm... that's what you get when courting two females at the same time. :p

Sorry, couldn't help myself. It's sad when they die, but I found it happened quite a lot when I had aquariums. Maybe some species are also a bit less sturdy, I don't know anything about fighting fish and how easy they are to keep.
I was well aware of the necessity of only one male betta splendens per aquarium, but wasn't aware that the females would be so aggressive. I do recall reading that one must have a very large aquarium with lots of hiding places to breed them, though. Anyway, I'm sorry to hear of his passing. I never got attached to fish like I do to my dog, but they are living animals, and they do cost money (sometimes a lot, like some of the African cichlids I used to keep!).

[Puncher]

Well, was gone for the weekend. When I came back a few minutes ago my two fighting fish females were also dead. My other fish are ok. My guess is that the male was sick, quickly died, and infected the females...

I guess I'll take some other fish.

[gparr]

Hey look!! A flock of the rare, endangered, and protected Canada goose. What a rare and exciting sighting for me!! I would have included a shot of the goose-dropping-covered ground, but I couldn't find a clean place to stand to take the picture. Damned yard pigs.

[gparr]

My first panorama! Was down at the river working on a couple of sunset shots and decided to see if I could create a panorama shot. This is a combination of three shots. The exposure in the middle shot needs to be closer to those of the two outside shots, but not too bad for a first effort. Stitching was done in Photoshop CS. It was easy to stitch them together. Will have to try this again.
Gary

[hnordberg]

Yeah, panoramas are fun. I did a 17 pic one this weekend. The .PSD file is 360 MB :)
I measure a neutral (in terms of highlights/shadows) part of the scene and then switch to manual meetering using those params. Works well. It is also best not to change focus while taking the pictures, but with some erasing of certain areas of each layer, varying focus should work too.

[Anders Östberg]

Manual exposure, and possibly also manual white balance to avoid differences between frames. FWIW - I've not done a panorama yet.

[gparr]

I think hnordberg identified the thing I need to do differently the next time. I used a tripod and shot manual, which is what I normally do. But I wasn't thinking about the whole scene when I took the first shot. I metered the left side, but when I got to the center section, where the setting sun was, I obviously had a much different set of lighting conditions, so I tried to compensate to something close to that of the left shot setting. The right shot was similar to the left shot. Next time I'll use hnordberg's suggestion and meter a neutral part of the overall scene and shoot without changing settings. I'll also not shoot a sunset, with its inherent lighting extremes, until I get a grasp of the technique. I also learned the importance of leveling the tripod. Will have to carry a level with me next time. It was an interesting exercise.
Gary

[terpcurt]

OK.... first snowfall of the season,

One is our lilac bushes, and the other is our front yard..... and yep,... the snow was falling when I took these.....( thems the little white spots) :D

[hnordberg]

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/782/874CRW_4832_sRGB.JPG

This was a fun image to shoot. I set the camera to shutter priority at 1/4 s and used the flash (380EX). I had to use manual focus since auto focus wasn't fast enough for this situation. Maybe if I had a better camera... :) Yeah, I probably need to get that used 1Ds I have been dreaming of. :p

- Henrik

[gparr]

Went to a showing of waterfowl/bird carvings as part of a winter festival in my home town. The showing was held in an old building with walls covered in large-hole pegboard, so the backgrounds and tabletops were not attractive. But the carvings were. Turns out we have some rather skilled/famous carvers in our area. The bird below was carved by Bob Guge, a world-champion carver. A couple of others in my gallery.
Gary

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/153yellowbird.jpg

[Anders Östberg]

Very nice carving, he has managed to get quite good feather structure.

I'm currently in ice hockey mode, here are some of the better ones from this week:

http://www.andersostberg.com/fotogalleri/albums/userpics/HaningeHockey_2004-12-05/HH_JH5Q9610.jpg

http://www.andersostberg.com/fotogalleri/albums/userpics/HaningeHockey_2004-12-05/HH_JH5Q9693.jpg

http://www.andersostberg.com/fotogalleri/albums/userpics/HaningeHockey_2004-12-05/HH_JH5Q9715.jpg

http://www.andersostberg.com/fotogalleri/albums/userpics/HaningeHockey_2004-12-08/CRW_7769_HH.jpg

http://www.andersostberg.com/fotogalleri/albums/userpics/HaningeHockey_2004-12-08/JH5Q9836_HH.jpg

http://www.andersostberg.com/fotogalleri/albums/userpics/HaningeHockey_2004-12-08/JH5Q9866_HH.jpg

[MatsP]

Looks like you've acquired the skills for ice-hockey...

Your first set of shots a couple of months ago weren't bad, but these ones are excellent. I guess you're anticipating more what's going to happen so that you've got the camera aimed at the right place.

I like the shot of the player coming straight at you... All the others are very good too, of course...

--
Mats

[Anders Östberg]

Thanks Mats! I think it's a combination of getting better at anticipation and split vision and also choosing the right lenses more often. The first outings I missed lots of shots because I was experimenting with lenses and settings. Very frustrating when they score while you're switching lenses :) I've only shot maybe ten games counting floorball and hockey, so maybe after ten more I'll begin improving the keeper ratio. I still need to work on exposure and post processing, it's too much work in the computer to save the pictures now.

[FredG]

Definitely conquering that learning curve. Well done! One of my co-workers plays in a hockey league. I keep threatening to shoot his games. Your results are encouraging me to do that.

[cox]

Way to go Anders. I like the flying puck shots!

I've been out wandering again and ran across a sad sight. I had heard that we had Sperm Whales off the coast here, but I have never seen one despite many, many boat trips looking for whales of all kinds. Then I am at Point Reyes National Seashore, and there is a stillborn calf washed up on the beach. Sad, that he didn't make it, but interesting, as it's probably not something I'll ever see again.
:confused:

[Stan Schutze]

http://image.pbase.com/u8/schutze/upload/37328764.200412090896w.jpg

I'm new here and trying to learn how to post a photo. Not sure if this will display a photo or a link. Bear with me.

[Stan Schutze]

http://image.pbase.com/u8/schutze/upload/37328764.200412090896w.jpg
okokok

[Stan Schutze]

http://jja.image.pbase.com/u5/schutze/upload/37119978.2004101612092w.jpg (http://www.pbase.com/schutze/raina)
It never hurts to look at a pretty girl, so here's another one

[gparr]

Stan,
Welcome to dphoto. Not seeing any images and your link says I don't have permission to view.
Gary