View allAll Photos Tagged Alight
During the holiday season, the towers of the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco are decorated with strings of lights that run along their edges. Here's a shot of the top of Embarcadero One, the tower nearest to the bay.
This was a test of a new camera lens of mine, and hasn't been post-processed in any way except for some levels adjustments. "How did you blur the top and bottom of the building"? Let me explain...
Basically, this shot is an extreme "tilt-shift" exposure on medium format 120 black-and-white film, using an 153mm Aero Ektar lens, a derivative of a lens design originally intended to be shot at maximum aperture, f/2.5, on 4.5-inch square film, for night-time military aerial recon using flash bombs.
Using this lens on the large types of film allows you to make pictures with mind-blowingly thin depth of field. David Burnett, a well-known photojournalist, uses an old Speed Graphic 4x5 camera and Aero Ektar lens to harness this wafer-thin DOF to very impressive effect! A favorite of mine is the Hurricane Katrina series of his that ran in National Geographic.
On 6x9-cm film with the lens wide open, it's approximately equivalent to a 68mm lens at f/1.1 on full-frame digital. On the 4x5-inch film, it's equivalent to a 38mm lens at f/0.65! Which essentially means that you can make backgrounds that are more than twice as blurry as anything you could do at a similar focal length with a 35mm camera. Gnarly!
Given the large image circle of the lens (the size of the image it projects), if you shoot with a view camera, you can tilt it to change the plane of focus, quite extremely on the intermediately-sized film formats. In this shot, I tilted the lens about 20 degrees backward, resulting in a plane of focus that ran roughly through the middle of the building, progressively blurring the lights on either side. Google "Scheimpflug" for more details.
As with all old military hardware, there's quirks. There's no mechanical exposure control in the rig at all, requiring the wave of a "black hat" as a shutter and timing shots by counting (unless you're using something like a Speed Graphic with built-in focal plane shutter). It's just about as manual as you can imagine, next to having to actually sketch the photo by hand. And, owing to a coupla Thorium-enhanced lens elements, the Aero Ektar is mildly radioactive, casting off a steady stream of gamma rays! Cover the family jewels, breeders!
San Francisco, California.
For more about this photo, see the Functionally Structural series in my online gallery. Thanks for your interest!
This is one of the fruits of an art project to illuminate the bridges along the Thames in central London. By Mark Higham. You can find more of my photos on instagram at @mhigham.photos
Softened with added textures and made mysterious by light, these beautiful dogwood flowers always herald the coming of spring and for many, Easter.
Vivacious and Soft Chaos textures from 2 Lil Owls.
If you'd like a print, greeting card or phone cover, go to 1-rebecca-cook.artistwebsites.com
I know I keep posting these types of photos, but I can't get enough of this fog to be honest. That, plus the grain from the high ISO and the film lens I'm using is really appealing to me.
Glenrock Lagoon on fire this morning. Went for a walk with a mate, Daniel to Glenrock this morning. Colour was evident early, almost an hour before sunrise. Shortly after settling on this composition, Daniel discovered his battery was flat...including the spare.. which left him in complete despair!! Photo dedicated to Daniel and his camera!
Nikon D800
Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED Lens
F11 | 2.5s | ISO 100 | 44mm
Lee Filters | .9 GND hard
12 Images Stitched
14mm photo of a burning red sunset smoldering over the winter salt marsh with sky reflections in the water.
The surreal spectacle of the Aurora - here on a very cold winters night on one of the vast lava plains on the south coast of Iceland - about 30 minutes west of Jökulsárlón.
Looks best on black.
Comments as always appreciated, but please no flashy award codes.
© 2018 Garry Velletri. All rights reserved. This image may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my permission.
This was one of those 'look behind you' moments. I was photographing a waterfall in the North Cascades and turned around to see some beautiful morning light in the forest scene behind me. A lot of photographers think trees are a boring subject but I happen to love their quiet beauty.
2016 © Michelle Jensen
Mt Cook - South Island - New Zealand
Canon 5D MKII - Canon EF L Lens 17-40mm
4 portrait frame Vertical pano.
Despite the rains of the 59th Koenji Awaodori, the performances were radiant.
雨の日にも、第５９回高円寺阿波踊りの演出は眩かった！
Stay Alight"
Today is World Mental Health Day and this image is one that to me speaks to my own approach to my mental health. Some days it can be difficult to feel that light that burns brightly inside, I wrestle with a persistent negative voice in my mind that tries to convince me that I'm a burden to others, that my voice isn't important and that the world would be better with less of me in it. I fight that each day because I know it's not true, it's a balance each day of reaching for the light and allowing myself to trust that it's there.
To me this image expresses this, that I'm a balance of these two, that they meet in the middle to make me who I am and that some days it might be more of a climb to get to that light but I always get there and I always will.
Take time today to take care of your mental health, go for a walk outdoors or listen to your favourite music. Drink some water and reach out to a friend. Get some sleep, enjoy a treat. Take care of yourself today.
Last year, I chose Scotland as the destination for my yearly photography pilgrimage almost entirely because of The Isle of Skye. I'm pretty sure it was one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, who put the initial itch in my soul. His tales of buying a cottage there and writing books in the middle of a wild, often-uncomfortable, curse-ridden, magical place just set my imagination alight with longing. This place, The Quiraing, seems to be woven of stories and possibilities. Walking the long trail along the face of the hills leads me into the pages of a dozen of my favorite novels, and it's incredibly difficult to actually hike and move fast because I don't want to miss a moment of light changing or mist dancing. Just a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to return to this spot, and stood enchanted as the rain clouds blew across the isle, sun exploding out, moss aglow, wind in my hair.
Upper Canada Village Alight the Night Christmas light show. I love to go to Upper Canada Village. It was my first visit during the Christmas light shoe. It was just amazing. A great night to go.
Strawberry moon over Little Bay de Noc, Upper Peninsula, Michigan - June 11 2025
-notes-
Wildfire smoke, haze, still waters, warm air.
© All Rights Reserved. This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying and recording without my written consent.
West Midlands Railway 170507 and 153365 have arrived at Landywood station with the 13.47 service for Rugeley Trent Valley. The senior conductor observes the alighting and boarding passengers as the sun breaks through the cloud to bring out the colours of 153365.
The European nightjar, Eurasian nightjar or just nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) is a crepuscular and nocturnal bird in the nightjar family that breeds across most of Europe and temperate Asia. The Latin generic name refers to the old myth that the nocturnal nightjar suckled goats, causing them to cease to give milk. The six subspecies differ clinally, the birds becoming smaller and paler towards the east of the range. All populations are migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. Their densely patterned grey and brown plumage makes individuals difficult to see in the daytime when they rest on the ground or perch motionless along a branch, although the male shows white patches in the wings and tail as he flies at night.
The preferred habitat is dry, open country with some trees and small bushes, such as heaths, forest clearings or newly planted woodland. The male European nightjar occupies a territory in spring and advertises his presence with a distinctive sustained churring trill from a perch. He patrols his territory with wings held in a V and tail fanned, chasing intruders while wing-clapping and calling. Wing clapping also occurs when the male chases the female in a spiralling display flight. The European nightjar does not build a nest, and its two grey and brown blotched eggs are laid directly on the ground; they hatch after about 17–21 days and the downy chicks fledge in another 16–17 days.
The European nightjar feeds on a wide variety of flying insects, which it seizes in flight, often fly-catching from a perch. It hunts by sight, silhouetting its prey against the night sky. Its eyes are relatively large, each with a reflective layer, which improves night vision. It appears not to rely on its hearing to find insects and does not echolocate. Drinking and bathing take place during flight. Although it suffers a degree of predation and parasitism, the main threats to the species are habitat loss, disturbance and a reduction of its insect prey through pesticide use. Despite population decreases, its large numbers and huge breeding range mean that it is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being of Least Concern.
During the day it rests on the ground, often in a partly shaded location, or perches motionless lengthwise along an open branch or a similar low perch. The cryptic plumage makes it difficult to see in the daytime, and birds on the ground, if they are not already in shade, will turn occasionally to face the sun thereby minimising their shadow. If it feels threatened, the nightjar flattens itself to the ground with eyes almost closed, flying only when the intruder is 2–5 m (7–16 ft) away. It may call or wing clap as it goes, and land as far as 40 m (130 ft) from where it was flushed. In the wintering area it often roosts on the ground but also uses tree branches up to 20 m (66 ft) high. Roost sites at both the breeding and wintering grounds are used regularly if they are undisturbed, sometimes for weeks at a time.
Like other nightjars, it will sit on roads or paths during the night and hover to investigate large intruders such as deer or humans. It may be mobbed by birds while there is still light, and by bats, other nightjar species or Eurasian woodcocks during the night. Owls and other predators such as red foxes will be mobbed by both male and female European nightjars. Like other aerial birds, such as swifts and swallows, nightjars make a quick plunge into water to wash. They have a unique serrated comb-like structure on the middle claw that is used to |preen and perhaps remove parasites.
In cold or inclement weather, several nightjar species can slow their metabolism and go into torpor,] notably the common poorwill, which will maintain that state for weeks. The European nightjar has been observed in captivity to be able to maintain a state of torpor for at least eight days without harm, but the relevance of this to wild birds is unknown.
Poets sometimes use the nightjar as an indicator of warm summer nights, as in George Meredith's "Love in the Valley" Lone on the fir-branch, his rattle-notes unvaried/Brooding o'er the gloom, spins the brown eve-jar, Dylan Thomas's "Fern Hill" and all the night long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars/flying with the ricks, or Wordsworth's "Calm is the fragrant air", The busy dor-hawk chases the white moth/With burring note. Nightjars only sing when perched, and Thomas Hardy referenced the eerie silence of a hunting bird in "Afterwards": If it be in the dusk when, like an eyelid's soundless blink/The dewfall-hawk comes crossing the shades to alight/Upon the wind-warped upland thorn.
Caprimulgus and the old name "goatsucker" both refer to the myth, old even in the time of Aristotle, that nightjars suckled from nanny goats, which subsequently ceased to give milk or went blind. This ancient belief is reflected in nightjar names in other European languages, such as German Ziegenmelker, Polish "kozodój" and Italian succiacapre, which also mean goatsucker, but despite its antiquity, it has no equivalents in Arab, Chinese or Hindu traditions. It is likely that the birds were attracted by insects around domestic animals, and, as strange nocturnal creatures, were then blamed for any misfortune that befell the beast. Another old name, "puckeridge", was used to refer to both the bird and a disease of farm animals, the latter actually caused by botfly larvae under the skin. "Lich fowl" (corpse bird) is an old name which reflects the superstitions that surrounded this strange nocturnal bird. Like "gabble ratchet" (corpse hound), it may refer to the belief that the souls of unbaptised children were doomed to wander in nightjar form until Judgement Day.