Day 28: July 2010 Photo-a-Day Thread

[Colin Southern]

4 days to go!

[mastamak]

This is the Mossman River, about 50km north of my home. It is normally crystal clear but we had some rain last night which made it slightly turbid. A few minutes after I took this photo a tiny green tree snake climbed up the tree in the foreground looking for a frog or some other prey.

Grant

[rick55]

Excellent shot, Grant: the trees leaning way over the river make it very dynamic, give the feeling that the river is going to undercut the bank in the next fifteen minutes. I think the white water works much better for this than crystal clear would have.

Cheers,
Rick

[rick55]

Canon 500D, EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, built-in flash for fill, full EXIF, PAD slideshow.

A Downy Yellowjacket, out in the back yard. I hoped to get some more birds at the feeder, but our Golden Retriever suddenly got interested in it, perhaps because there are more birds there, and started jumping at it, so I spent the morning setting it up a bit higher. I should have gotten shots of her jumping, but she was getting too close: she might have actually pulled it down.

Anyway, the birds apparently didn't like me messing with their restaurant, and responded by boycotting it for the rest of the day, so I'm forced back to the old standby: insects!

Cheers,
Rick

[Klickit]

Grant - I like the way you have given us two distinct elements - the tree and the view right up the river.

Rick - I didn't realise that these came as furries. Our wasps are bald as far as I know.

[Klickit]

Behind the Scenes.



It looks as if Spring really might be coming soon. I shot this focussing on the back of the top flower, just for a change of viewpoint. An early shot with the Lensbaby. I still have a way to go, as focus must be done by eye. This was the best focus in about 12 that I took, but still could be sharper. In retrospect, it probably would have worked better as a square crop, too.

[GrimTheRipper]

I'm new to this website. I just received my new Pentax K-X today and made several pix as well. Hope you don't mind some photoshop work.

Cancer looks?


Butterfly


Dead barbwires


Creepy barbwires

[Peter Ryan]

Hi Grant,

I’m a big fan of FNQ. Trinity Beach is one of my favourite spots and you have a great bird sanctuary on the turn off to Port Douglas.

I did a truck camping safari from the tip of Cape York Peninsula back to Cairns following the old telegraph line down the cape – great trip and some great shots. I will post a couple in the general area for you. We also continued our trip west through Atherton tableland on to Lawn Hill Gorge and down to Alice.

Keep the shots coming from up your way it is great country.

[mastamak]

Thanks for the comments Rick and Peter. I don't get a lot of opportunity just to spend time concentrating on taking photos but fortunately my job allows me to travel around FNQ quite a lot so I can generally get some pictures in the less well travelled places. I try to concentrate on composition and hope to learn better technique from this forum. Glad to see you enjoyed your time up here, Peter. Yes, I agree with you about Trinity Beach. A mate and I spent a couple of lazy weeks camped right on the beach there in 1969. Can't do that these days, I'm afraid. I have also been to the bird sanctuary at Port. Several times in fact. The attraction is that all all birds are native to this region. I got some good pictures of the nesting Jabirus with baby, but I suspect it is not considered good form to post bird photos not taken in the wild. What do you think?
Grant

[mastamak]

I love the "Dead Barbed Wire", Alan. The foreground is really crisp and the overall photo has an evocative rural feel.
Grant

[rick55]

Interesting, Kit - it's definitely a different view, kind of an inversion, focusing on the stem and back. I think it works because the flower is so bright, the burst of color doesn't need sharpness to be pleasing.

Cheers,
Rick

[carregwen]

PAD gallery

Great location, great walk, and they sell beer at the mountain hut when you have finished. It's about 30 mins from my house.

http://www.greatcastlesofwales.co.uk/carreg.htm



This is the view from the castle

[Wirefox]

Rob, Wales really takes some beating for these locations of historic atmosphere and you have certainly captured the mood in that first shot. My ribbing of the Welsh aside, it is a beautiful part of the world and its castles in their idyllic setting now belie the bitter struggle to retain their independence and right to rule their own. Still you held out longer than we did when it came to keeping those pesky Normans out of our corner shops. So the difference between the English and the Welsh...the welsh fought harder. The real invasion from England took place in the 1970's and its principle weapon was the cheque book and it's knight errant...the Estate Agent

[Dave Humphries]

Sorry guys and gals, predictably more Macro tonight ...



Nikon D5000 + Nikkor 105mm VR2 Macro: 1/60s f/32 at iso1600, with on camera flash at +1 FEC and +1 EC

See it bigger at PBase; 1,426px × 1,050px

It seems these were love bugs



Nikon D5000 + Nikkor 105mm VR2 Macro: 1/60s f/32 at iso1600, with on camera flash at +1 FEC and +1 EC

See it bigger at PBase; 1,276px × 1,050px

Both shots not much crop off full frame height-wise.

I believe they are Common Green Shieldbugs (Palomena prasina), but inexplicably in their winter colour - it is summer here now.

As you'll see, I left the ISO at 1600 and shot at f32 (for the first time) for better DoF tonight.

Thanks for looking,

[rick55]

I like the third one best, Alan. Nice composition. The butterfly is well captured, but I don't generally like the vignette effect: that's purely my taste, of course, and I'm sure others will like it very well.

Cheers,
Rick

[Peter Ryan]

PAD gallery

This is the view from the castle

Nice shots Rob.

This is the composition element that interests me at the moment, to see if it works well consistently. The hill on the left creates a nice triangle with the frame and its diagonal influence and the horizon line.

[PopsPhotos]

Well, I had a chance to shot a beautiful '66 Corvette today. Unfortunately it was in a shop with an open door, and the light and reflections just ruined every shot.

So, I am celebrating the return of our Swallows.




Pops

[rick55]

The shot of the castle is brilliant, Rob, absolutely brilliant. I love the low clouds that make the castle seem to touch the sky. And the way you've shown the huge rampart, which leads to the castle, dominating the entire countryside really shows how making the castle was a matter of working with the terrain as much as building in stone. An exceptional shot: you've got something really special here.

Cheers,
Rick

[rick55]

No yawn there, Dave, great shots! Especially the first: looks like something prehistoric coming over the hill.

Cheers,
Rick

[GrimTheRipper]

Rick- Thanks and I do like the 3rd one best as well. Lemme get rid of vignette effect and disorder effect on 4th pix as well.