2017 Project 52 - 3rd QTR - Sandy(Skitterbug)

[Urbanflyer]

So this one is a bit dramatic but it is pretty much true to the original pic I took. We had storms off and on a few days ago. It looks like it might be a little off horizontally but the tree line does flow in this manner. I didn't crop anything because I wanted to include the whole cloud that I saw at that time. I did use tools to remove an electric pole and lines that were at the tree line and I think I am improving in that technique! (one of my goals for this quarter! P&P improvement) I have this pic currently as my desktop pic and I really enjoy looking at it. C&C always welcome!

Threatening Clouds

Wonderful colors! One thing to think about when looking at clouds is that the bottom of the cloud is usually generally horizontal--(a function of the physics of cloud formation). Here it is hard to tell if you have a single cloud or multiple clouds but I agree the horizontal seems a little off. Still amazing colors!

[skitterbug]

Wonderful colors! One thing to think about when looking at clouds is that the bottom of the cloud is usually generally horizontal--(a function of the physics of cloud formation). Here it is hard to tell if you have a single cloud or multiple clouds but I agree the horizontal seems a little off. Still amazing colors!

In the "Threatening Clouds" pic, the fierce colors under the cloud combined with the sun above trying to regain control, it was amazing to see. I agree about cloud levels in that pic and I really wish I could get a chance to do that one over. But nothing seems to repeat in nature.

In this current post, I managed to catch the cloud better as far as levels go but already the intensity is less. It is still interesting so I'll keep it! There was a lot more PP work to rid it of power lines and even a TV disk! But it is all practice!
Thanks for commenting Judith! I value your opinions! This is a great group of photo experts and I appreciate everyone's interest!

Threatening clouds continued - not so intense!

[Geoff F]

That little strip of hedge at the bottom nicely places the scene into a context. Possibly looks fractionally 'cut off' at the top? Alternatively crop a fraction tighter at the top so the edge becomes just clear of the left side cloud tops and there is a larger area at the frame edge for the middle section clouds ?

Good dramatic effect.

[skitterbug]

That little strip of hedge at the bottom nicely places the scene into a context. Possibly looks fractionally 'cut off' at the top? Alternatively crop a fraction tighter at the top so the edge becomes just clear of the left side cloud tops and there is a larger area at the frame edge for the middle section clouds ?

Good dramatic effect.

I agree about the 'cut off' Geoff and I'd like to have the top of the cloud included. If it wasn't one thing then it was another and I couldn't seem to get it all right at the same time. Know what I mean?

The hedge are full grown trees in the distance. At least in this picture the trees and the clouds are horizontal.

To understand your idea, I scrolled my browser to put the crop line where you suggested and yes, it does give a different look to the scene. I will have to give it a try in "real time" and see how it turns out!

Thank you!

[skitterbug]

Hi Geoff ~ So based on your suggestion, I have the following results. Hope this is what you meant?
C&C welcome always!

Threatening clouds continued - not so intense! Now cropped a tiny bit!

[Wavelength]

Wow; that is the Golden Hour of Nature; so beautiful; i liked the first one a bit more

[skitterbug]

Wow; that is the Golden Hour of Nature; so beautiful; i liked the first one a bit more

Hi Nandakumar ~ It was an unusual evening for us! For a change, I had my camera with me because I was trying to capture my favorite bullfrog. He's been elusive lately. So I was able to snap some of these cloud scenes. It was beautiful to see! Thank you for commenting!

[joebranko]

love the colours of the first take, not withstanding the clouds being off level. This is still my preferred take. Beautifully done!

[skitterbug]

love the colours of the first take, not withstanding the clouds being off level. This is still my preferred take. Beautifully done!

Hi Joe ~ Thank you indeed! I appreciate the affirmation! That one is still the pic that I have for my "desktop"! <grin> I like looking at it!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Sandy, first one for me too

[skitterbug]

Hi Sandy, first one for me too

Hi Binnur ~ Thank you! I have a feeling it is going to be quite some time before I see anything like it again in our area! Today is dreary with rain! <sigh>

[skitterbug]

It is late in the 28th week so I figured I ought to post. We've had rain, plenty of rain making camera work difficult for me. So I thought I'd try some remote shots today by having the camera tethered to my computer. Used a tripod and focused out an open window toward the hummingbird feeder. It was an interesting exercise since I really don't know much about using this technique. I can say now I am more familiar than I was! <LOL> However, a hummingbird may not be the best subject because they are in constant motion. The feeder I used doesn't have a place for them to sit so that wasn't helpful either. I may have to shuffle the feeders around if I try this again. The other problem I had was keeping the hummer in focus, stopping wing motion, etc. Definitely a challenge that I haven't met completely - yet! Tried many settings today and I had different results, of course!

This first one I'm posting is in color and I tried a bit of PP on it as well.
#1 - 3200 ISO - f/5.6 - 1/3200



Now the second pic is just me "playing". I'm not sure anyone will like it but I did.
Yays or Nays - which will it be?

#2

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts on the bird, did you prefocus on the feeder or through the computer?

[joebranko]

Good job! I couldn't see any wing blur on my tablet. I prefer the colour option, as the feeder is so colourful.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[skitterbug]

Nice efforts on the bird.

Hi John ~ Thank you!

did you prefocus on the feeder or through the computer?

I set up my camera, which of course is stationary, and used auto focus - aiming toward the spot where I thought the hummer would be most active. I didn't see any way to change what the camera was focusing on using the computer program that I have. (canon EOS utility). I could change the ISO and the f # and some other settings like that but nothing to do with changing the camera's focus ability.

[skitterbug]

Hi Joe ~ Thank you for checking out the hummer!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Sandy I prefer the color version. The feeder is so colorful and nice that it competes with the bird.

[skitterbug]

Hi Binnur ~ thank you for your observations! I have to confess that I didn't even take the feeder into consideration when I was trying to capture the hummer. I'd rotated it to change where the wire hanger was located so to not be in the way of the bird. Both you and Joe made mention about the feeder being colorful! I totally missed the importance of it to the picture!

Thank you for bringing this to my attention!

[Urbanflyer]

When I used to backpack in the mountains I had a red backpack. It was not unusual to be buzzed by hummingbirds asking "are you a flower?" Hence the red feeder just seems a part of the story to me. One might consider increasing the saturation in the green and desaturating the red a bit ..but eliminating the feeder color altogether seems to lose part of the story. Of course we each make up our own stories and others do not seem to share mine in this instance. Nicely done!

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Nice shots Sandy. I'd try setting the focus manually. It looks as if the front edges of the feeder are what the camera picked to focus on, at least on my computer. It looks to me like your depth of field went from the front edges to the middle of the feeder in the first shot and the bird is on the back side half of the feeder so is just out of it.
Hummers are tough little guys to catch. At least yours are out in the open, more or less. The ones I try to catch are all in the leaves/flowers so are hard to pick out.