The Photography Thread

[derek]

Originally Posted by Burning Down

Some more recent photos:

The CN Tower.



Looking towards the sky in the Financial District. This one is by far my favourite photo I've ever taken. I'm quite proud of it!



Financial District office buildings, with the CN Tower in the distant background.



The Hard Rock Cafe at Yonge & Dundas. I don't think this one really turned out great with the sepia tone though.

What tripod did you use for the financial district shot?

[Zaqarbal]

Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe

First shot I took with my new DSLR:

Originally Posted by FETCHER.

I've heard excellent things about that camera, you lucky bastard .

DSLR? It's a type of camera, to be more precise. Like the traditional reflex cameras, but digital. And they're better than the compact ones, indeed. I've got a new DSLR too. Finally I bought a Canon EOS 1100D. And a 70-300mm zoom lens too:



So now I can take better pictures of architectural details or birds. For instance, magpies. They look very beautiful to me. I love to photograph them:




They say European Magpies are one of the most intelligent of all animals (in fact, they pass the mirror test). This one looks like a smart bird, indeed:




It's difficult to photograph them in flight. This is my best attempt so far:

[VEGANGELICA]

Originally Posted by Zaqarbal

I've got a new DSLR too. Finally I bought a Canon EOS 1100D. And a 70-300mm zoom lens too:

So now I can take better pictures of architectural details or birds. For instance, magpies. They look very beautiful to me. I love to photograph them:



They say European Magpies are one of the most intelligent of all animals (in fact, they pass the mirror test). This one looks like a smart bird, indeed:

It's difficult to photograph them in flight. This is my best attempt so far:

European Magpies *are* lovely and clever birds!

I like how you combine your artistic eye and artistic hand(s) to photograph them, Zaqarbal.



I especially like your use of the in-focus/out-of-focus metal fence as the backdrop for magpie #1, because both the fence and bird have contrasting black and white. I notice, too, that the smudges of blue in the gray road pick up the shimmery blue of some of the bird's darker feathers. I also like the moment you captured, because you can really see from the photo that this particular bird is looking somewhere and paying careful attention to something that interests her or him, just like you were paying attention to the bird.

I can imagine that photographing a flying subject would be difficult. I didn't realize until seeing your final photo that magpies' wings have such a striking black/white pattern, since my only memories of magpies are indistinct ones from Europe years ago.

While reading more about magpies today on Wikipedia, I learned about other signs of their intelligence besides passing the mirror test: "In captivity magpies have been observed counting up to get food, imitating human voices, and regularly using tools to clean their own cages. In the wild, they organise themselves into gangs, and use complex strategies when hunting other birds, and when confronted by predators. They cut up their food in correctly sized proportions, depending on the size of their young." I also learned that magpie pairs are monogamous, and "remain together for the duration of their lives." Neat birds.

Originally Posted by Burning Down

Looking towards the sky in the Financial District. This one is by far my favourite photo I've ever taken. I'm quite proud of it!

Burning Down, your photo is wonderful!

I love the purple-blue coloration of the buildings against the pale blue sky, and the way you arranged the shot so that the buildings fit close together like jagged puzzle pieces and appear to lean in toward each other as if in conversation. The composition is pleasing, too, with much of the upper diagonal devoted to the larger building, balanced by the other three to the right. Very nice.

[CanwllCorfe]

iPhone pics:

(Ode to Hiroshi Sugimoto)





Camera:

[Zaqarbal]

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

I like how you combine your artistic eye and artistic hand(s) to photograph them, Zaqarbal.



I especially like your use of the in-focus/out-of-focus metal fence as the backdrop for magpie #1, because both the fence and bird have contrasting black and white. I notice, too, that the smudges of blue in the gray road pick up the shimmery blue of some of the bird's darker feathers.

Thank you. Once again, one of your detailed photographic analysis.

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

I also like the moment you captured, because you can really see from the photo that this particular bird is looking somewhere and paying careful attention to something that interests her or him, just like you were paying attention to the bird.

One day, I noticed that every time I took a photo, magpies moved their heads and looked at the camera, as if they were curious about the shutter's noise. Next day I went to the same park. When I was sitting on a bench, getting the camera ready, I saw how, for some seconds, a magpie stood still and looked at me. Perhaps he/she remembered the camera. Or maybe "that human with that black thing in his hands making that strange noise".

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

Neat birds.

Yep. In fact, two months ago I took the following picture, where we can see their aristocratic bearing:

<---->

------------------------------------

Apart from that, yesterday I photographed a (male) blackbird:

There are several blackbirds where I live, and sometimes I hear them singing (like this) early in the morning.

Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe

iPhone pics:

(Ode to Hiroshi Sugimoto)

(...)

Excellent! I think Sugimoto would like them.

[appleghost]

Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe

This was really nice! Great photo. What is it of? Looks to me like some sort of leaf or something...

[CanwllCorfe]

Originally Posted by Zaqarbal

Excellent! I think Sugimoto would like them.

Thanks! I couldn't believe when I saw the scene how it much it looked like something he'd take a picture of.



I just so happened to be working by the lake that day, and it just happened to be foggy.

Originally Posted by appleghost

This was really nice! Great photo. What is it of? Looks to me like some sort of leaf or something...

Thanks! Yup, it's a palm leaf.

[FETCHER.]

Wouldn't the magpie have been staring at you because of the camera flash?

[VEGANGELICA]

Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe

iPhone pics:

(Ode to Hiroshi Sugimoto)

Corfe, your sea-blends-with-foggy-sky photo *does* look like Sugimoto's "Sea of Japan." Both are very nice. My favorite photo of yours, though, is the beach scene above.

The sand and the piles of twigs that have washed ashore, being in focus, remind me of how so many physical, sensory details are close to you when at the beach, inviting inspection, while the amazing expanse of water stretches to unseen distances. Your photo captures that contrast well.

Originally Posted by Zaqarbal

Thank you. Once again, one of your detailed photographic analysis.

One day, I noticed that every time I took a photo, magpies moved their heads and looked at the camera, as if they were curious about the shutter's noise. Next day I went to the same park. When I was sitting on a bench, getting the camera ready, I saw how, for some seconds, a magpie stood still and looked at me. Perhaps he/she remembered the camera. Or maybe "that human with that black thing in his hands making that strange noise".

Yep. In fact, two months ago I took the following picture, where we can see their aristocratic bearing:

<---->

When you're a magpie, you always step out in style! I like this magpie photo of yours best of all, Zaqarbal. The magpie definitely has a jaunty, self-assured presence.

Originally Posted by Zaqarbal

Apart from that, yesterday I photographed a (male) blackbird:

There are several blackbirds where I live, and sometimes I hear them singing (like this) early in the morning.

I didn't realize that blackbirds' eyelids create rings of gold that match their beaks!

Their birdsong is very relaxing, sometimes sounding like a question and at other times like an answer. A lovely sound to hear in the morning.

A couple days ago I was looking at a record I used to enjoy playing as a preschooler, when I read the lyrics for one of the songs...and they immediately made me think of you and your blackbirds:

The Ash Grove - lyrics for a Welsh folk song

"Down yonder green valleys where streamlets meander,
when twilight is fading I pensively rove,
or at the bright noontide in solitude wander
amid the dark shades of the lonely ash grove.
'Tis there where the blackbird is cheerfully singing,
each warbler enchants with his notes from the tree;
ah, then little think I of sorrow or sadness.
The ash grove entrancing spells beauty for me."

And below is the tune. I have felt as if I've always known it but never realized why until two days ago when I saw the song on one of my favorite records from childhood..."Walt Disney presents It's a Small World: 18 Favorite Folk Songs."

The Ash Grove - tune


The Ashgrove - YouTube


About bird song: I wanted to think of a distinctive bird song that I could give to you in return for the blackbirds. Finally I remembered that I hear great horned owls hooting in the evening sometimes. I love the sound of their distant hooo-hooo-hoo-hooooos:


Great horned owl hooting - YouTube

I don't have a picture of a great horned owl , but I *do* have a photo that I took several years ago looking southwest from my backyard toward the forested area where the owls live near a stream and mouse-filled meadow:

[FETCHER.]

First day playing in the snowwwww



This is Violet at 14weeks