Photos Photo of the Day

I really like this one, very dynamic.

Cooool! Love the jump ramp shot.


stonedsurd, that looks like one face of the coolest dice ever.

 

Thanks steveo_mcg

One more from kung fu…


Tosca by jaikdean, on Flickr

 

I really like that last Kung-fu photo


Astro by J Ryan Waters, on Flickr

 

There is something about an overcast sky in late afternoon that, in my opinion, produces some of the absolute best natural light. There is something about the aesthetic that just appeals to me, and it's one of my favorite lighting conditions in which to shoot.

 

Agreed. Aircraft are always a pain to shoot because you can't pick light, so overcast = diffused = happy me.

For instance, last week in Goa, the sun followed a path roughly parallel to the runway, making clear side-lit shots almost impossible, save for a short window in the evening with the sun low and to the north(west), and even then you could only really shoot birds on the runway, as the hangars were by then casting long shadows over the dispersal areas. The best full day of shooting was the first, when these thick fluffy clouds rolled in and BAM - even lighting for everyone, drinks all round!

 

Might as well illustrate my point. Here are some of the Goa shots


Westland Sea King Mk.42C IN555 by angad84, on Flickr


Dornier 228 IN239 by angad84, on Flickr


Ilyushin Il-38SD IN305 by angad84, on Flickr


Westland Sea Kings by angad84, on Flickr


HAL HJT-16 Kiran IN077 by angad84, on Flickr


BAE Sea Harrier FRS.51 IN616 by angad84, on Flickr


BAE Sea Harrier FRS.51 IN623 by angad84, on Flickr


Mikoyan MiG-29K IN807 by angad84, on Flickr


Mikoyan MiG-29KUB IN673 by angad84, on Flickr


BAE Sea Harrier FRS.51 IN623 by angad84, on Flickr

All taken between 0900h and 1030h on 8 May. Piss-poor light.

 

Nice to see the Harrier here, it's my favourite aircraft.

 

Those photos are fantastic! How do you get the aircraft so sharp but so much feeling of speed with the background?

 

Mostly practice, but it is easier to do it at takeoff because they're moving much quicker compared to landing, which allows me to keep shutter speed relatively fast.

Three things I've learned about panning in the last couple of years:

1. shoot from far away with a long focal length instead of closer with short f-length

2. if you want pin-sharp images, you only have a short window when the subject is directly in front of you. this window shrinks as focal length and/or distance to subject decrease.

3. frame a little wide (better to crop than to accidentally chop bits of your subject off)

These shots were doozies for the most part as I had the shutter between 1/400s and 1/640s. By now I've gotten pretty good at getting near-perfect side profiles (see both SHars, and IN673) and the high shutter speed allowed me to get IN807 pretty sharp too, but there is some blur right at the front (from the cockpit forward) if you view it at 100%.

The real magic is when you're shooting turboprops and helicopters and want to get nice blur on the blades. 1/160s and below is where panning gets fun, and my success rate there is still iffy.

This, for example, was shot at 1/50s and the blur is so much smoother. Even though it's midway through its landing roll, with the speedbrakes up and all three wheels on the ground - probably doing 80-100km/h at this point, it looks like it's screaming down the runway.


(click for big)

 

We went to the Lego KidsFest today. How do you make a kid happy? Drop her in approximately 12 million Lego bricks.



I have this thing where I take a picture of my feet everywhere I go. Given the size of the Lego pile, I couldn't pass it up.

 

Ace. That would make a good moat if you're frequently invaded by people with no shoes. The only thing more effective would be a pit of upturned plugs.

 

Lying in a pile of Lego bricks? Ouchie.

 

One Lego brick hurts when you step on it. A pile of bricks is oddly comfortable; they tend to smush down and conform to your shape. They're kind of like seed hulls that way.

 

A few Photos taken at Jungle Island Miami Today. All constructive criticism welcome. Thank you.

 

Wish I had enough bricks to confirm this.

 

Mechh69, I think the flamingo's head shot works best. It shows detail you wouldn't ordinarily see with the naked eye, and the depth of field is good as it cuts out the background nicely. There's also a good contrast between the background and the head. Long focal lengths are ideal for wildlife as you can get in close to the details, and they also narrow the amount of background in the shot.

My second favourite's the parrot. The lighting's not ideal with the bird in shadow and the background being more brightly lit, but that's somewhat out of your control.

The others come across as a little boring, they didn't make me pause and look at the details. Perhaps try crouching and getting the shot from the same level as the subject, and cropping in more tightly to remove some of the distracting background.

The best thing to do is look at some animal shots on Flickr that you like and try to figure out what it is that makes them work, considering the things you have control over; angle, depth of field, framing, colours etc.

Wildlife photography is hard, so good job and I hope some of that was helpful!

 

NiHiLiST

Thank you for your comments and yes they were helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out. Next time I go out I will try your suggestions.

 

Texas spring...

First is a shot at Hamilton Pool, maybe 40 km west of Austin, Texas, USA, looking along the edge of a collapsed limestone hollow that is about 100 m across.


DSC00536mod by MechDoc, on Flickr


The wildflowers were only so-so this year, but we did have some. The Texas highway department seeds the roadsides to add color for springtime driving. Some of the patches spread into the surrounding fields, and of course, these are all natural wildflowers of Texas, so might have grown without any help from man.


DSC00485mod by MechDoc, on Flickr

About 70 km west of Austin is Enchanted Rock, a mound of granite some 130 m high and approaching a kilometer in diameter at the base. The little black dots on the granite dome are people. It's a good morning's workout to climb, unless one happens to be a runner, or something. I'm 68 and I was carrying more than 10 kg of camera gear. My own stupidity, perhaps...


DSC00467mod by MechDoc, on Flickr


Prickly pear cactus and Indian blanket are in bloom, now, the prickly pear just starting and the Indian blanket on its way out:


DSC00636mod by MechDoc, on Flickr


DSC00627mod by MechDoc, on Flickr

There's more on my Flickr site, needless to say.

(Oh, and I think the yellow flower shot has a lot of noise in the background. Maybe I ought to work to take it out. It was a windy day, and I'd boosted the ISO all the way to 8000 to allow a small f-stop and high shutter speed.)

Mike

 

Maybe not technically what it should be, but I prefer them with a few shadows. That's a really good shot.