The Big Photography Thread

[Mike Martin]

Two from my vacation this week:

 

Holden Beach Sunset by Mike Martin, on Flickr

 

Holden Beach Sunrise by Mike Martin, on Flickr

 

[xKnuckles]

Just beautiful Mike! (I especially love the second one). :-)

[xKnuckles]

Here is the link (hopefully). I am quite pleased with the watermark: there was a large choice of styles & colours so it ended up being reasonably subtle.

Hebridean Grasses

 

 

I love that beautiful picture (very peaceful), and the signature - C for Classy . Its like a special dream I had on the astral plane years ago

Brett

Thank you so much Brett! :-) You should see a lot of very smooth stars on the astral plane....

 

I like your idea of C for classy - I shall have to attempt to live up to that in future......

In the photo in question, however, I think it actually was C for iCky. That entire beautiful scene was, in fact, one huge bog. It was seemingly dry but actually so wet that water poured out of it every time I stepped on it - even at the top of hills; quiet, apart from the almighty sucking & squelching sound accompanying every step; and beautiful - all except for my old walking boots which within a few hours had parted company with their soles in a most unfortunate manner, leaving my socks no alternative but to quadruple their weight and replace their nice fabric softener smell with..... essence of bog........

[xKnuckles]

H

I once went to a birthday party given by a musician where he and his band would perform. I asked if it was okay if I took some photos, and he said yes. I posted the photos on my page, with watermarks on them. A while later (I don't recall if it was days or a couple of weeks), I see he was using the photos I took on his MySpace page (that site was all the rage those days) with the watermark cropped off! I asked him about it and he mentioned something about removing "that ugly watermark."

 

So for one, he was using my images without asking. As a musician and also an artist/painter, one would think he'd have a clue about that. Two, he didn't credit me and he removed the watermark. I wouldn't have minded him using the images if he asked and provided credit or left the watermark on, but he did none of those things until I asked. And he also insulted my logo/watermark.

Yes......it is such a little thing to acknowledge someone else's work and it often means such a lot. Very surprised an artist behaved that way - extremely annoying for you. That story could deter me from using watermarks, Joe, but I think I am going to try walking down the "Ken" road and assume that they may do some good. Hopefully that guy is in the minority. I guess at the very least, a person who deletes a watermark must at some level know that he really shouldn't have .....

[xKnuckles]

Slightly OT for this OT post, but....does something exciting happen when you have posted 500 times on this forum?

[xKnuckles]

Possibly?

[KenElevenShadows]

Well....I don't think we're supposed to say.....

[KenElevenShadows]

I once went to a birthday party given by a musician where he and his band would perform. I asked if it was okay if I took some photos, and he said yes. I posted the photos on my page, with watermarks on them. A while later (I don't recall if it was days or a couple of weeks), I see he was using the photos I took on his MySpace page (that site was all the rage those days) with the watermark cropped off! I asked him about it and he mentioned something about removing "that ugly watermark."

 

So for one, he was using my images without asking. As a musician and also an artist/painter, one would think he'd have a clue about that. Two, he didn't credit me and he removed the watermark. I wouldn't have minded him using the images if he asked and provided credit or left the watermark on, but he did none of those things until I asked. And he also insulted my logo/watermark.

 

hen that happens, I ask that they either use it without any alterations or take it down. Just about every time, they take it down. Too bad.

[Joe Muscara]

He actually did provide me credit in the text after I asked him. I may have asked for credit and not "or take it down" but I don't remember. At least he did that.

 

And Anne,, hmmm. maybe.

[KenElevenShadows]

Cool.

[xKnuckles]

Well....I don't think we're supposed to say.....

Hmmmmmmm.... Not quite as forthcoming as normal, Ken ......

[xKnuckles]

He actually did provide me credit in the text after I asked him. I may have asked for credit and not "or take it down" but I don't remember. At least he did that.

 

And Anne,, hmmm. maybe.

Look like you are leaving me no alternative........ :idk

[xKnuckles]

.....but to do this and see what happens.........

 

WOW!! I feel like £1,000,000

[Brettymike]

xKnuckles - some gifts for you > http://dbprng00ikc2j.cloudfront.net/work/image/35120/slide/Flowers_p.00.jpg http://cdn.sbcgold.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/500-schilling-austria-philharmonic.jpg

(buggar , the first gift didn't show ) > http://megcox.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/5932928987_6629bdbf3e.jpg

Best Wishes,

Brett

[xKnuckles]

LOL! Brett THANK YOU so much!!!!

 

http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/qq239/neolantis/productPhoto1.jpg

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What an absolutely lovely surprise - you have put such a big smile on my face. The flowers are particularly beautiful. Didn't realise anyone still used shillings....but I can certainly make good use of them... And 500 candles will serve me well as there are lots of power cuts when we have thunderstorms...... Thanks again!

[KenElevenShadows]

Well, happy 500!!!!

 

 

From my camping trip this summer.

[ElmerJFudd]

Ooo, that's a nice handling of the end of day and stars. What camera/lens?

[Brettymike]

LOL! Brett THANK YOU so much!!!!

 

http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/qq239/neolantis/productPhoto1.jpg

[/url][/img]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What an absolutely lovely surprise - you have put such a big smile on my face. The flowers are particularly beautiful. Didn't realise anyone still used shillings....but I can certainly make good use of them... And 500 candles will serve me well as there are lots of power cuts when we have thunderstorms...... Thanks again!

 

 

You are So Welcome!! , that big smiley face has me grinning from ear to ear too . Maybe you could melt that pure gold shilling into something else .

Brett

[xKnuckles]

Well, happy 500!!!!

 

 

From my camping trip this summer.

 

Stunning photo Ken. (And thanks! )

[KenElevenShadows]

Ooo, that's a nice handling of the end of day and stars. What camera/lens?

 

Thanks. Nikon D610 and the bulbous and rather heavy Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens.

[RichieP_MechE]

What do you guys think about watermarks? I see that there are a couple of apps available which allow you to do them. Are they a good idea?

Personally, I don't like them. They can be distracting sometimes.

Also, when they get cropped out by the person that stole them, the composition is ruined, and I feel that's a worse sin than the theft itself and an even bigger insult to the artist! (I'm joking, sort of)

 

Of course, I understand the realities and certainly don't fault anyone for using them.

[KenElevenShadows]

I hate them too. But I've not really been given a choice in the matter. I refuse to put watermarks in the middle of the image like some do, however. If it comes to that, I'll start throwing them in a video instead.

[KenElevenShadows]

 

This is a 248 second long exposure of Emerald Bay, near Lake Tahoe, taken at night. This was taken during the "blue hour", as photographers love to call it, before nightfall has really come and everything is completely dark, but well after the sun has set. If you look closely, you can see a few star trails from the long exposure, showing the movement of the stars due to the rotation of the earth.

[Mike Martin]

Just beautiful Mike! (I especially love the second one). :-)

 

Thanks xKunckles. That one got picked up by Flickr Explore. Almost 15k views and 550 likes.

[xKnuckles]

Just beautiful Mike! (I especially love the second one). :-)

 

Thanks xKunckles. That one got picked up by Flickr Explore. Almost 15k views and 550 likes.

Congratulations Mike! Most well deserved (and I am delighted to hear that the run of good things in this group continues.... ). Whenever I have heard that anyone has been featured in Flickr explore I have had a quick look on that page, but have never yet managed to find the relevant photo. Is there any way of searching that page, or do you just have to be lucky and be there at exactly the right time?

[xKnuckles]

 

This is a 248 second long exposure of Emerald Bay, near Lake Tahoe, taken at night. This was taken during the "blue hour", as photographers love to call it, before nightfall has really come and everything is completely dark, but well after the sun has set. If you look closely, you can see a few star trails from the long exposure, showing the movement of the stars due to the rotation of the earth.

Really beautiful, Ken.

[Mike Martin]

Just beautiful Mike! (I especially love the second one). :-)

 

Thanks xKunckles. That one got picked up by Flickr Explore. Almost 15k views and 550 likes.

Congratulations Mike! Most well deserved (and I am delighted to hear that the run of good things in this group continues.... ). Whenever I have heard that anyone has been featured in Flickr explore I have had a quick look on that page, but have never yet managed to find the relevant photo. Is there any way of searching that page, or do you just have to be lucky and be there at exactly the right time?

 

From what I understand Flickr chooses 500 photos each day for Explore. I didn't get an email or notification from Flickr that says my image has been chosen or how to find it. In the two times it has happened to me I've woken up to emails containing comments on my photos - a much higher number of comments than I'd normally get. Some of which say "congratulations". That is the only way I have found out.

 

I have found that this site lets you find the placement on the Explore page:

http://bighugelabs.com/scout.php

 

[KenElevenShadows]

Really beautiful, Ken.

 

Thanks!

 

So a lot of times, I'll try new approaches with images, or try and get around something I don't like. And afterwards, I won't quite know what to make of it. Here are two such photos where I am not sure about the result quite yet.

 

I rarely super-saturate star trails. Actually, I rarely saturate star trails at all. But it felt bland for some reason here, or I had a bug up my ass or who knows what, so I super-saturated 'em here. Not sure what to make of this.

 

The wind was blowing, so you can see some of the branches and leaves are moving around quite a bit during this 2 hour, 6 minute total exposure.

 

This is something where the big ol' giant clouds in the sky were lit up by the city of Tucson in the back. I don't mind if it's patches of clouds here and there, but the night sky was thick with them here. I light painted the walkway leading up to the mission with blue light paint with the full intention of keeping this image in color. But I didn't like how the sky looked even after trying to address it, so I just went black and white....but the blue light paint in the walkway looked bizarre, so I snuck a bit of that back into the image.

 

Whaddaya think of these?

[Brettymike]

All Awesome Ken! , I don't think you could make a dud photo if you tried

Brett

[KenElevenShadows]

Why, thank you very much!!