The Big Photography Thread

[KenElevenShadows]

Actually, a "color replace" might be easier at this point anyway.

[Lindaru]

Looking forward to seeing what you get!

 

 

[xKnuckles]

Ken: I agree with Linda's Wow! What a story.... I was expecting you to tell me a tale of nearly breaking your leg at night on one of your long hikes or something. Did not expect such a James Bond type story! I am most impressed by the way you set about getting the pics through the airport. Must have been an extremely stressful and scary exprerince. Good for you!

 

Does the "ElevenShadows" refer to the people who were following you around?

[xKnuckles]

Thanks. I've flirted with writing a book a couple of times, one with this, and the other in....well, that one would require some explaining. But there's many people in India and elsewhere who believe Jesus came to India during his "Lost Years", and so I went on a photographic journey looking for evidence of this. i ended up doing it myself. An author and I had intended on traveling together to do this, and it didn't end up happening, but it sounded like fun, so I just went ahead and did it anyway, going solo.

 

[video:youtube]

 

The above are some of the rocks with very early inscriptions, all photos that I took in 2008 (no sound).

 

"Were these 1st-2nd Century inscriptions and crosses on these remote Himalayan boulders, written by Aramaic Christians? Some say that these were written by Nestorian Christians in the 5th-6th Century and that the writing is not Aramaic, while others submit that the writing is Aramaic, which would make it 1st or 2nd Century.

 

The only thing I know for sure is that the locals, who could read Hindi, Ladakhi and Tibetan, could not read these inscriptions, and that the inscriptions were made before the Ladakhi scripts. Interesting, in either case. I'll keep an open mind about this. If anyone knows about any real research that has been done here, please let me know. Thanks."

 

These are other photos of the 2008 India trip in general:

http://elevenshadows.com/travels/india2008/index.htm

 

Really lovely video of your pics. Have you ever thought about adding a soundtrack of some of your music to it?

[KenElevenShadows]

Looking forward to seeing what you get!

 

 

Thanks. Let's see how this works. So I tried color replacement, and there was too much to fix because it drew a harsh line at the horizon line. So instead, I hiked up the levels of just the white sky.

 

I also cropped it a bit. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

 

This is the old one. I figured I'd post it because we're on a different page now:

 

[Lindaru]

I love what you did with that! Gorgeous!

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

Ken: I agree with Linda's Wow! What a story.... I was expecting you to tell me a tale of nearly breaking your leg at night on one of your long hikes or something. Did not expect such a James Bond type story! I am most impressed by the way you set about getting the pics through the airport. Must have been an extremely stressful and scary exprerince. Good for you!

 

Does the "ElevenShadows" refer to the people who were following you around?

 

So when we were telling the very nervous taxi driver to drive to the Embassy and we all knew that there was someone following us, it felt like we were in some sort of thriller movie. But by the time I got to the Embassy, I was so nervous that when I was sitting, my leg was vibrating by itself!

 

After carbing up at The Strand, we kept walking through the fronts and then backs of all these restaurants, and that sort of activity actually helped, rather than sitting still. i thought, "If they are going to follow us, they need to get out of their damn car and follow us and earn their pay." But yeah, I was determined to get the film out. I knew they would confiscate it if they could, and what happened to our friend Paula bore that out.

 

And haha, no, "Eleven Shadows" is the name I used to use to record music. i haven't put anything out under that name in a very very very long time since I record with my friend as The Mercury Seven now. The name just sticks because I have had this account for a long time.

[KenElevenShadows]

I love what you did with that! Gorgeous!

 

 

Oh, cool, thanks for the suggestion. I just sort of lost my way with that. I also rarely do high-key sorts of photos, so it's very different.

[KenElevenShadows]

Thanks. I've flirted with writing a book a couple of times, one with this, and the other in....well, that one would require some explaining. But there's many people in India and elsewhere who believe Jesus came to India during his "Lost Years", and so I went on a photographic journey looking for evidence of this. i ended up doing it myself. An author and I had intended on traveling together to do this, and it didn't end up happening, but it sounded like fun, so I just went ahead and did it anyway, going solo.

 

[video:youtube]

 

The above are some of the rocks with very early inscriptions, all photos that I took in 2008 (no sound).

 

"Were these 1st-2nd Century inscriptions and crosses on these remote Himalayan boulders, written by Aramaic Christians? Some say that these were written by Nestorian Christians in the 5th-6th Century and that the writing is not Aramaic, while others submit that the writing is Aramaic, which would make it 1st or 2nd Century.

 

The only thing I know for sure is that the locals, who could read Hindi, Ladakhi and Tibetan, could not read these inscriptions, and that the inscriptions were made before the Ladakhi scripts. Interesting, in either case. I'll keep an open mind about this. If anyone knows about any real research that has been done here, please let me know. Thanks."

 

These are other photos of the 2008 India trip in general:

http://elevenshadows.com/travels/india2008/index.htm

 

Really lovely video of your pics. Have you ever thought about adding a soundtrack of some of your music to it?

 

I have. I just never get around to doing it.

[KenElevenShadows]

 

Aren't You Glad You Have Dials?

 

Inside an abandoned herring factory in Iceland. I illuminated the scene with various colored lights while the camera shutter was open during this long exposure photo. In other words, this is not a Photoshop post-processing creation, but done during the exposure.

 

At one point, this was the largest concrete structure in Iceland, and one of the largest in Europe.

 

Shot with the Nikon D610 and a 14-24mm f/2.8 ultra wide angle lens, getting right up on the dials.

[Lindaru]

Hauntingly beautiful!

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

I Am Puffin, Hear Me Roar (2016-06-14 23:34)

 

This is a puffin in the Látrabjarg Bird Cliffs in Iceland. And now, I will entertain you with some fun facts:

 

- Puffins only have their Technicolor bill part of the time, during mating season.

- They are nicknamed "sea parrots", or sometimes "clowns of the sea".

- Puffins are amazing swimmers, and can dive 60m underwater. So, like, that'd be almost 200 feet under the surface.

- The Látrabjarg Bird Cliffs are the westernmost part of Europe.

- Puffins can be found on menus of some restaurants around Reykjavik.

- I think this is the first time I ever seriously tried to photograph wild birds.

- I did not use any Photoshop Cartoon Function to make this fine bird look like Toucan Sam.

[xKnuckles]

I Am Puffin, Hear Me Roar (2016-06-14 23:34)

 

This is a puffin in the Látrabjarg Bird Cliffs in Iceland. And now, I will entertain you with some fun facts:

 

- Puffins only have their Technicolor bill part of the time, during mating season.

- They are nicknamed "sea parrots", or sometimes "clowns of the sea".

- Puffins are amazing swimmers, and can dive 60m underwater. So, like, that'd be almost 200 feet under the surface.

- The Látrabjarg Bird Cliffs are the westernmost part of Europe.

- Puffins can be found on menus of some restaurants around Reykjavik.

- I think this is the first time I ever seriously tried to photograph wild birds.

- I did not use any Photoshop Cartoon Function to make this fine bird look like Toucan Sam.

Bravo!!! Superb photo Ken! I just spent a significant part of my holiday in Scotland chasing after puffins. I took loads of photos of them, but they were pretty well all rubbish. The lens on my camera isn't up to the job. What lens did you use for this? Was it the same one you use to photograph galaxies?

 

I am hoping you will do lots more bird photography. I have become fascinated by it. So hard to get a good picture of a bird, but extremely exciting when you do.....

[KenElevenShadows]

Thanks!! I am sorry to hear about your puffin photos being all rubbish. What lens did you use?

 

This was my first time photographing wild birds of any sort. Birds are not the easiest to photograph, in my opinion, and one must have a great deal of patience and simply take lots of photos. They are small and make quick movements even when they are sitting.

 

I don't know if I have the ideal lens for this. A lot of people there looked like they were really set up for this. They had enormous 400mm or 600mm + lens with camouflage over it and another support in place to hold their long lens steady, and I had none of that, as I had a fairly ordinary handheld zoom Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, albeit a decent one, so I simply had to deal.

 

So except for one or two photos - the one below of the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona comes to mind - I don't generally use this lens for night photography, especially Milky Way shots. And here, I obviously used it for the zoom capabilities so I could flll the frame with the bird.

 

If I had used my 14-24mm f/2.8 ultra wide angle lens that I usually use for night photography, the bird would have been this tiny little white speck in the image.

 

 

 

 

[wjwilcox]

Here's a couple of photos from a trip to Springfield, Illinois last spring. Frank Lloyd Wright's Dana-Thomas House, 17 April 2016, and the dome of the Illinois State Capitol building, 18 April 2016.

 

Dana-Thomas house by Bill Wilcox, on Flickr

 

Dome by Bill Wilcox, on Flickr

[Lindaru]

Anne . . . I love your puffin! I was delighted to put him on my Facebook time line. Wonderful photo!

 

Ken . . . loved your photos as well! Really? Puffins are on the menu? Grrrrrr . . .

 

Bill . . . beautiful and a place I would love to go see one day. Been many years since I was in Illinois, but brings back the feeling.

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

Anne . . . I love your puffin! I was delighted to put him on my Facebook time line. Wonderful photo!

 

Ken . . . loved your photos as well! Really? Puffins are on the menu? Grrrrrr . . .

 

Bill . . . beautiful and a place I would love to go see one day. Been many years since I was in Illinois, but brings back the feeling.

 

 

LInda, actually, I took that puffin photo.

 

Puffins and whale are on the menu in some restaurants in Reykjavik, it's true. I did not sample either. But they have a lot of delicious food in Iceland that I did try.

[Mike Martin]

Love that puffin shot Ken. Incredible.

[Lindaru]

Sorry, Ken . . . should have clarified. Anne's puffin photo is on Facebook.

 

I love yours, too! I follow all of yours on Facebook as well and like them.

 

Perhaps it is a sign from the universe that both of you got puffins and I need to visit somewhere that has them since I have never seen one up close.

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

I think so. That was certainly my first time seeing puffins in person. And my first serious attempt at photographing birds in nature as well. Or any kinds of birds.

[KenElevenShadows]

 

Abandoned movie lot, Mojave Desert. Everything here was very consistently Roman or Greek looking, and the old set location was littered with columns, some standing, some fallen, as well as busts, statues, reliefs, and stands as well as plaster molds.

 

I illuminated the columns while the camera shutter was open with a hand-held Protomachines LED2 flashlight.

 

The white streaks in the sky are stars, as the long exposure of the photo shows the movement of the stars due to the earth's rotation over a long period of time.

[Lindaru]

Really? Your first time photographing birds? Your puffin photo, Ken, has the quality that you had been doing those kind all along! Congratulations!

 

I wonder if that old lot was used for one of the Star Trek Original Series episodes? That is what it made me think of.

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

It's a good question. I really have no idea about this movie lot. My friend Dave took me there. I am also unfortunately not supposed to divulge its whereabouts other than that it's in the Mojave Desert, so I can't ask people to help me Google. I've done a casual search for it and haven't come up with anything yet, though.

 

And yes, that's my first time photographing birds with any seriousness. I've done the usual, "Oh, look, a bird! I have a camera. Let's see what I can get!" But I've never tried to photograph them with any serious intent until now, so that was my first time. Thanks. I'm happy with how it came out. Challenging to photograph, that's for sure.

[KenElevenShadows]

 

Ice Ice Baby (2016-06-17 18:24)

A baby, one of the relatives of the people who run Hotel Djupavik. Djupavik, Westfjords, Iceland.

 

Nikon D610/Nikkor 28-300mm 1/500s f/2.8 ISO 100.

 

[xKnuckles]

Thanks!! I am sorry to hear about your puffin photos being all rubbish. What lens did you use?

 

This was my first time photographing wild birds of any sort. Birds are not the easiest to photograph, in my opinion, and one must have a great deal of patience and simply take lots of photos. They are small and make quick movements even when they are sitting.

 

I don't know if I have the ideal lens for this. A lot of people there looked like they were really set up for this. They had enormous 400mm or 600mm + lens with camouflage over it and another support in place to hold their long lens steady, and I had none of that, as I had a fairly ordinary handheld zoom Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, albeit a decent one, so I simply had to deal.

 

So except for one or two photos - the one below of the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona comes to mind - I don't generally use this lens for night photography, especially Milky Way shots. And here, I obviously used it for the zoom capabilities so I could flll the frame with the bird.

 

If I had used my 14-24mm f/2.8 ultra wide angle lens that I usually use for night photography, the bird would have been this tiny little white speck in the image.

 

Hi Ken. I used my 50-140 f2.8 lens. My puffins were slightly larger than a white speck - but only slightly. I will post some pics here in a minute.....

[xKnuckles]

Anne . . . I love your puffin! I was delighted to put him on my Facebook time line. Wonderful photo!

 

 

Thanks Linda. I will try and fish it out and in a minute.....

[xKnuckles]

Great pics Bill, especially the cool roof shot.

 

I love the movie lot and the ice baby, Ken.

 

[xKnuckles]

Ok....I have procured my poor puffin pic.

I thought I might as well throw in a few more birds whilst I was at it:

The second one is an Arctic Skua, nesting in Handa island off the north of Scotland, and the third one is a Brazilian redcap, photographed in Hawaii.

 

Puffin on Cliff by Anne Burton, on Flickr

 

Arctic Skua by Anne Burton, on Flickr

 

Brazilian Redcap, Kauai, Hawaii by Anne Burton, on Flickr

 

Putting on the brakes by Anne Burton, on Flickr

[Lindaru]

You guys are amazing! All of you!

 

 

[MurMan]

Ok....I have procured my poor puffin pic.

I thought I might as well throw in a few more birds whilst I was at it:

The second one is a Brazilian redcap, photographed in Hawaii; and the third is an Arctic Skua, nesting in Handa island off the north of Scotland.

 

Puffin on Cliff by Anne Burton, on Flickr

 

Arctic Skua by Anne Burton, on Flickr

 

Brazilian Redcap, Kauai, Hawaii by Anne Burton, on Flickr

 

Putting on the brakes by Anne Burton, on Flickr

 

Nice bird shots, Anne. That's one lonely looking little puffin ...

 

But the seagull landing is my favorite. You might even say that it's got a lot of flare, in the aeronautical sense ...