View allAll Photos Tagged Featureless
It is not pining, it has passed on! It is no more! Its expired and gone to meet its maker.
And it is not a parrot. youtu.be/vZw35VUBdzo
Another shot from the trip to Glen Strathfarrar earlier this month when we focussed on individual, isolated trees. Some of the trees were dead, some were fallen and some were alive but still interesting.
This is the first shot I took in this area and soon after the lighting wasn't great and the sky became featureless.
Explore 13/05/2022 No. 107
A featureless sky. Usually the death knell of any good landscape photography shoot, but fortunately there is enough colour beneath the horizon to make up.
Quite a contrasty shot due to shooting directly towards the light.
The lighted red chochin lantern and the hung out external noren curtain signal that they are opened for business.
I love taking night shots not because it's easy but because it's hard to do it well, in particular handheld night shots.
The interplay of light and shadows, love the slivers of light that seeps through the thin gaps between the wooden lattices and blinds.
The restaurant’s name “竹茂” can be seen clearly on the red chochin lantern, the green noren (暖簾) and the floor lamp in similar traditional fashion as most of the eateries in the area.
Burnt highlights, blocky featureless shadows, loss of contrast, flare and color noise are the typical problems that plague poorly executed night shots. All these can then be further exacerbated by clumsy post-processing with too much push of shadows and highlight recovery rendering the image lifeless. Pre-shot discipline and proper post-processing can mitigate all these, even with cheap, basic ILC cameras.
Boat anchor kilo class f1.2 lenses are also not necessary especially when the image is at an oblique angle which will require a slightly deeper depth of field.
Meanwhile, smartphone multi-shot modes keep getting better for static night scenes. Before long people will look back at the silliness of boat anchor sized f1.2 lenses!
Shot taken handheld with FE 55mm f1.8 ZA (281g), a lens that has been much maligned unfairly by forum gear nuts pretending to understand photography.
The image posted before this was shot on tripod;
Nomads has to move ,so the catle has new and fresh gras. Taking everything they own and put it on the backs of yaks and horses.
For the Tibetan nomads, life is indeed a struggle in the harsh environment of the high plateau: A place where the ground and winds are in perpetual motion. It is a place where temperatures range from a low of -40 degrees Fahrenheit to around 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. The yak is the key to survival on the Tibetan plateau. A visit to a nomad's tent illustrates this point. The tent itself is made from yak hair. Upon entering, the center of the tent is warmed by the fire of yak dung. The tent is illuminated by yak butter candles, and their blankets are made from yak hair. The principle diet includes tsampa and yak butter, dried yak cheese and sometimes yak meat. A poor family may have 20 yaks or fewer; wealthy families up to 500.
Settling nomads
Government policy aims to settle more and more nomads. It says that this is aimed at improving the economic viability of animal husbandry and lessening the effects of natural disasters on the livelihood of Tibetan herdsmen.
This allows the government to manage the nomadic population as it gives them fixed addresses.
Culture shock
For most nomads, the transition to a more urban lifestyle is difficult.
They are often settled in featureless blocks of housing by the side of roads or in newly created urban areas, and face the problem of creating an entirely new and sustainable livelihood.
Approximately 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population is nomadic or semi-nomadic.
A shot similar to one uploaded a couple of years back this time catches class 37 no. 37040 clattering its way west through Mirfield with a rake of (I think) coal-laden 16t mineral wagons.
Taken on 12th April 1977 the station then had its overall roof which still seemed to echo to the ghostly gasps of the steam age. But while the snapper may have been happy it wasn't the most welcoming of environments for the passenger and eventually the Victorian structure was razed to the ground and now little sign remains of this once substantial construct.
Sad to say, after making a return visit almost 38 years later, the passengers' lot doesn't seem to have improved any - spartan bus shelters, open to the elements, now adorn the windswept featureless platforms.
Ilford FP4 rated at 125asa, developed in Acutol.
A three-month-old mōlī stretches and exercises its downy wings. Probably cooling in the breeze under the tropical sun, and perhaps feeling a bit of lift, it seems determined to someday fly. This mōlī, or Laysan albatross, nestling will grow much larger over the next couple months, swap its fuzzy down for resilient flight plumage, and be abandon by its parents. It will unfold its six foot wingspan and learn to fly by its own primal, genetically programed urge. It will traverse thousands of miles of pelagic ocean, yet rarely rise above 75 feet into the air; its world a flat and visually featureless olfactory landscape far from shore. Its acute tubenose sense of smell will guide it to ocean upwelling sites where it will surface forage for squid and fish eggs. In 3 to 5 years, it will find its way back to the tiny terrestrial colony of its birth and began prospecting for a future mate through an elaborate courtship ritual of visual displays, sounds, and scent. Beginning at 5 to 8 years of age, it will co-nurture its own nestling for several months with its monogamous mate, then return to nomadic, solitary soaring over the sea. If successful, it will return to find its mate and produce an egg most nesting seasons for more than 60 years.
Many of my wildlife shots, particularly birds, although generally acceptable, are spoiled by an unattractive background. This often happens when they are shot against a blank or featureless sky. I have found that the Luminar 4 editing program is not just a boon for landscape photographers, but is also a fun way to give the birds a second chance. Sky replacement in these shots is not an attempt to deceive - just a bit of fun to let the subjects have their moment in the sun (or cloud, or storm, or sunset!).
The iridescent, glossy Cape Starling occurs in thornveld and mixed woodland and, increasingly, in suburbia and safari camps. These were photographed in the Okaukuejo Camp, on the edge of the Etosha Pan.
Sunset at Bow Fiddle Rock, Portknockie, Moray Coast, Scotland - The Bow Fiddle Rock is so called because it resembles the very tip of a bow. It was formed by erosion of a rock called Cullen Quartzite.
© All rights reserved Steve Pellatt. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.
Back to my trip to Scotland. On the day in question the area I was staying in had a lousy forecast so I decided to chase the weather. I travelled about 1.5hrs to Carrbridge to shoot the old pack horse bridge (still to come). I then spent a while dithering about whether to drive another 1.5hrs to shoot Bow Fiddle Rock which caught my imagination when I first saw a photo. I decided to go as there was no guarantee I'd be up that way again and if some storm came and it collapsed I'd kick myself.
I got there about 2.5hrs before sunset and it was one of those typical moody grey (fairly featureless) skies Scotland often produces. Unfortunately the tide was further out than ideal so shots from the beach were not as good as I'd have liked. decided then to walk back up to the 'overlook' and I set up near another Tog. Behind me there was just a little occasional gap in the clouds on the horizon so wondered if some light might fall on the rock just before sunset.
I was shooting long exposures and had to zoom in as the tide had left a messy foreground. As I was shooting and chatting to the other Tog I noticed some light starting to fall on the rock. I had time to get 3 x 30s exposures with some light evident of which this shot shows it best.
I also decided to try a more painterly edit than is my normal style for this sort of shot as I wanted to try something a little different and get viewers opinions. I thought the painterly effect matched the long exposure??
I know there are many better shots of Bow Fiddle Rock on here but it's a case of the back story to the shot making it mean something to me and feel lucky to have had those 2nins of light as the sun set.
The 3hr drive back to my B&D involved some of the heaviest rain I've driven in and when I had some aquaplaning as I was going past a lorry up a hill it wasn't fun! Anyway, suffice it to say I made it back OK and am really please I took the chance to see Bow Fiddle.
Thanks for viewing & reading.
Another sky replacement, using Luminar 4. Shot of the Pinnacles on Cape Woolamai nearing sunset. The original sky was featureless.
Huron and Erie Basins, Salford Quays
I went down to the Quays this morning with the intention of shooting some long exposures of architectural details, but woke up to a dull grey featureless sky. Besides, my head wasn't in the best place so I didn't even bother to take the tripod. After our compulsory Costa coffee and toast, Mrs R went around the shops and I wandered in the direction of the Detroit Bridge... this is what I came back with.
The light wasn't ideal for landscape photography - far from it. So when we hiked into Bear Beach and the imaginatively named "Rock on a Pillar", I was disappointed. Flat white sky. Very difficult.
Shots in the opposite direction, where dark green forest encroached on the beach, were fine, but views toward Juan de Fuca Strait meant dealing with a featureless sky and distant haze. I chose this POV and crop to minimize the amount of white in the frame. I didn't want to come home with nothing but shots of beach rocks and logs. And considering this was January, we didn't complain, because it wasn't raining. This part of the west coast gets a lot of winter rain.
Photographed at Bear Beach, in Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, Vancouver Island, BC (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2015 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Nomads has to move ,so the catle has new and fresh gras. Taking everything they own and put it on the backs of yaks and horses.
For the Tibetan nomads, life is indeed a struggle in the harsh environment of the high plateau: A place where the ground and winds are in perpetual motion. It is a place where temperatures range from a low of -40 degrees Fahrenheit to around 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. The yak is the key to survival on the Tibetan plateau. A visit to a nomad's tent illustrates this point. The tent itself is made from yak hair. Upon entering, the center of the tent is warmed by the fire of yak dung. The tent is illuminated by yak butter candles, and their blankets are made from yak hair. The principle diet includes tsampa and yak butter, dried yak cheese and sometimes yak meat. A poor family may have 20 yaks or fewer; wealthy families up to 500.
Settling nomads
Government policy aims to settle more and more nomads. It says that this is aimed at improving the economic viability of animal husbandry and lessening the effects of natural disasters on the livelihood of Tibetan herdsmen.
This allows the government to manage the nomadic population as it gives them fixed addresses.
Culture shock
For most nomads, the transition to a more urban lifestyle is difficult.
They are often settled in featureless blocks of housing by the side of roads or in newly created urban areas, and face the problem of creating an entirely new and sustainable livelihood.
Approximately 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population is nomadic or semi-nomadic.
“I’m inhabited by a cry ’, she would say.
She –Sylvia Plath– was an extraordinary poet, who effortlessly amalgamated poetry and death. Controversial, ‘demonically intelligent’, repulsive even… her poems are not for those who haven’t ever ‘peeled off the napkin’ from their own ‘featureless, fine Jew linen’ face. But those who have, will know what she meant when she said, ‘I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real’. Reality, however, was not hers always. She likely suffered from bipolar disorder (“It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents: joyous positive and despairing negative—whichever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it" ), underwent electroconvulsive therapy and wrote her most celebrated poems during a few weeks immediately preceding her turbulent death.
‘The dew that flies
Suicidal, at one with the drive
Into the red '
Red was her favorite sad color; sometimes, it becomes mine. On days, when the heart’s mutiny becomes a chilly winter, I read Plath. During such winters, the neurotic poet resonates like swirling twilight…
‘I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head) ’
Yeah, I know. I know. I made it all up in my head. And so, as Sylvia would say, ‘No longer do I listen for the scrape of a keel, on the blank stones of the landing.’
- Bryan Procter.
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When we made our first trip to Zion National Park, I was just branching out into landscape photography. I filled my days with HDR images and classic vista points. The first sign of trouble came as we neared the park; it was raining in the desert that’s a pretty rare scenario but in a place like Zion, which essentially is a canyon with a significant river. The dangers of flash floods are genuine. We managed to get the narrows hike out of the way on our first day. But it went from being a photo-focused to a hike against rising water level very quickly. On the second day, I was hoping to get the classic watchman shot from the bridge, but unfortunately, the rain didn’t let up. There was no way I was going to get the classic shot with the suddenly very muddy Virgin River.
So, we decided to make light of a bad situation and went on the Pa’rus Trail, which follows the virgin river. I saw this large bush just before the trailed crossed over the river to the other side and realized this was my last chance to get a shot somewhat resembling the classic view. I tried to limit the sky in the image, as it was still pretty overcast. I also hoped that the rather featureless sky would play nicely with the branches of the dead tree on the right. Hope here was to use the river to lead the viewer’s eye to the brightest and sharpest element of the image, the watchman tower of Zion, which also was the intended subject of this shot.
This shot taught me an essential lesson in landscape photography. It is about creating your impression of a famous location. It is normal to be intimidated by famous spots like the watchman or the artist point in Yosemite. But if you get past that feeling and take your time, interesting compositions are still possible even at the most popular spots.
Seascaping in South Australia on the Fleurieu Peninsula. This was taken soon after sunset during a lull in the storm, and the vivid hues of orange and red faded quickly into featureless blue.
A broader shot from yesterday's little trip, showing Sixteen Foot Drain and the wider flat fenlands that it helps preserve.
Whilst I prefer the tighter shot I posted yesterday as a composition, something I want to do as a vague photography project is work out how to capture the flat fens that surround us here in Cambridgeshire - I feel I don't appreciate them for what they are, instead just seeing them as featureless flat areas between the intresting bits further away (i.e., the sea on one side and more hilly parts to the other). Here the bike and tree are no longer the focus, but rather there to give some context to the broader landscape. I'm not sure 24mm is wide enough to do this justice, but it's currently as wide as I have.
Bonus easter egg - if you pixel peep you can see the beer bottle that some scallywag has stashed in the tree trunk.
More birds coming; it has been a good spring season for birds. But for now, and while I catch up on processing, a morning sky with an amazing combination of altocumulus clouds and crepuscular rays.
Rule of thirds? Forget it! It works a lot of the time, because it's about universally accepted principles of visual design and spatial organization. But if I'd been thinking "thirds", I would have missed this composition. With a reasonably blank mind - easier to achieve the older I get - I was able to respond to my subject, rather than try to impose or overlay something on the subject. This is an important distinction.
If I had been following a formula, placing the horizon line one third of the way up from the bottom, I would have chopped important cloud detail from the top. Because of the extreme contrast that results from shooting directly into the sun (even a sun mostly masked by the clouds), I knew the land mass in the foreground would be nearly solid black. Did I want to fill up one third of my image with solid black? I see this fairly often in landscape images; it rarely works out. The glory lay in the light, not the featureless foreground, so I knew in an instant that I would fill most of the frame with sky. You can't go wrong when the light itself is your subject!
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Working the splash zone tidepools, this wandering tattler probes the rocks for a meal. ‘Ūlili, the Hawaiian name, resembles the tattler’s alarm call. On tropical islands it prefers probing crevices and crannies on intertidal shorelines and exposed reefs for invertebrates, sometimes while dodging breaking waves like this one. With an expansive migratory range, the wandering tattler lives up to its common name. ‘Ūlili were considered messengers and scouts of the gods. A magnificent navigator, the tattler annually migrates between Alaska and Canada to tropical Pacific islands on a high endurance non-stop flight of 72 to 96 hours. Using the stars and the earth’s magnetic field, perhaps visually with magnetoreception molecules of cryptochrome in its retina, ‘ūlili find a route over thousands of miles of featureless open ocean.
With the old Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f2.8 G wide opened at f2.8 as it was a heavily overcast day.
This black and white rendition, I tried to emphasize the white more to stand out against the black while avoiding heavy featureless dark shadows.
This old DSLR lens is certainly more than sharp enough even when shot wide opened contrary to camera forum gear-nuts who will tell us that the MTF for this lens is weak or the corners are dismal yada-yada, all theoretical on paper measurements against a flat wall at mid distance at most. In field use, subjects are in 3-D, not 2-D like a flat wall unless one only shoots test charts all day just to critique on lens sharpness in the extreme corners of the frame on gear forums. Of course all these gear-nut critiques is just to ultimately tell us that the new just launched lens is soooo much better and we’ll not be able to take nice photos unless we get the latest and greatest lens.
My only criticism against this lens is that it’s a brick, a non-issue however for those with a lot of Neanderthal genes and hence an overabundance of muscles.
I shot this memorial in Feb of 2017 www.flickr.com/photos/tommillard/44153339555/in/dateposte...
and due to the weather (rainy and featureless sky), I was disappointed with the results. Had another opportunity on a recent visit back to South Texas, I am much more satisfied with these results.
Prato della Valle
is a 90,000 square meter elliptical square in Padova, Italy (Veneto region, northern Italy). It is the largest square in Italy, and one of the largest in Europe. Today, the square is a large space with a green island at the center, l'Isola Memmia, surrounded by a small canal bordered by two rings of statues.
Prior to 1635, the area which would come to be known as the "Prato della valle" was largely a featureless expanse of partially swampy terrain just south of the old city walls of Padova. In 1636 a group of Venetian and Veneto notables financed the construction there of a temporary but lavishly appointed theater as a venue for mock battles on horseback. The musical entertainment which served as prologue to the jousting is considered to be the immediate predecessor of the first public opera performances in Venice which began the following year.
In 1767 the square, which belonged to the monks of Santa Giustina became the public property of the city of Padua. In 1775 Andrea Memmo, whose statue is in the square, decided to reclaim and restructure the entire area. The entire project, which was never fully completed, is represented in a famous copper engraving by Francesco Piranesi from 1785. It seems that Memmo had commissioned this and other representations and kept them on exhibition at the Palazzo Venezia, the headquarters of the Embassy of the Republic in Rome. He did this in order to entice other important figures into financing the construction of statues to decorate the square. The project was approved by Domenico Cerato, professor of architecture at Vicenza and Padova.
The preliminary excavations done to install the plumbing system and reclaim the area were directed by Simone Stratico. These excavations brought to light the remains of an ancient Roman theater. These findings conferred a sense of historical dignity to the initiative, and transformed it into a project of reclamation for its natural public use. Andrea Memmo resided at Palazzo Angeli, constructed in the 15th century and located in Prato della Valle at an angle with the avenue Umberto I. Today, the monumental palazzo, the property of the city of Padova, hosts the Museum of Precinema, Minici Zotti Collection.
Of particular interest are the benedictine Abbey of Santa Giustina, the neoclassical style Loggia Amulea, and the many interesting palazzi constructed between the 14th and the 18th centuries that surround the square.
For more informations:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prato_della_Valle
For the Place:
wikimapia.org/#lang=it&lat=45.398491&lon=11.87667...
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“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera…
they are made with the eye, heart and head.”
[Henry Cartier Bresson]
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iPhone with Camera+ App. PH G+ Insta VERO
Added the sky for drama as the original was a bit featureless and not sure when I'll be back to get a better one.
1.5 secs ISO 1
Fast and light, the Photon Chaser is built to get in, perforate some hulls, and get away fast. With minimal armor, it can't take much return fire, but it is fast enough for that to not matter much. While not as heavily armed as some beefier fighters, its dual 5-barreled cannons can still do some damage.
Built for Nnovvember 2020, this is my first ever Vic Viper. This actually started in late October with one of the wings as a vertical fin on another ship I was working. After messing with that for a while and getting nowhere, I realized that what I really had was a Vic Viper wing, and since Novvember was coming up, I ran with it. That other ship may still make an appearance at some point, but now that I've used the wings for this I'm going to do something different with that build.
For most of my MOCs I've built dark, featureless display stands that are supposed to melt into the background and not distract from the rest of the build when it's photographed or displayed against a black backdrop. For this one, though, a black background wouldn't have worked due to all the black around the edges of the ship. Since the stand was going to be a prominent feature when this thing is displayed, I took a couple of additional days of building to make it pretty. I was going for a vaguely Alien look.
Also on Instagram.
Verona, Italy
You will need to read my write-up to understand why this is my first posting from our trip to Verona, Lake Garda and Venice.
The day started with a 3:15am alarm clock to allow for last minute checks (did you pack this, where's my thingy, did you turn the water off, are the windows locked, you know the usual last minute panics!), before the taxi arrived at 4:15am to take us to the airport. The journey went quickly and even the check-in, drop-off and passport control went like clockwork (an unexpected bonus and allowed for in Mrs R's excellent planning). Even the flight with Monarch went exceptionally well and we landed bang on time at 10:10am local time at Verona airport. Mrs R had costed all options for getting to our hotel and considering everything was going splendidly we threw caution to the wind and jumped in a local taxi.
Here the fun begins...
If it's a stereotype about Italian driving and Italian taxi drivers in particularly, then our driver was going to live up to this mantel. Queue jumping, lane changing, overtaking, undertaking, tail gating, and late braking were all part of his repertoire. Oh I forgot speed... the roads we travelled on were 70-90km/h but I clocked him at 130-140km/h as often as he could and more alarming... every warning light on his dashboard glowed permanently: engine management light, brakes, oil level indicator, the list goes on! I'm not saying we got to the hotel in record time but I think we arrived on the Friday having left Manchester on the Saturday. I wasn't sure whether to pay him in Euros or Liras as I couldn't determine how far back in time we had travelled - do De Loren's come in white?
Now at the hotel, my plans took over from Mrs Rs. Bags through the door, a quick change and hit those streets and sights of Verona. I had checked my TPE on my phone and knew the first major shot would be Ponte Pietra as the sun was in a good position for a classic sunset shot over the bridge, besides I knew Mark Waidson would be following in my footsteps to Verona and Venice and he's the master of dramatic skies so the pressure was on!!!
I was surprised at how busy Verona was, not with overseas tourists but Italians having their own "staycations". After an hour or two of wandering the streets and main tourist areas we decided to have a break for lunch and a glass or two of wine, as one must when holidaying in Italy! After lunch I suggested we head to the Ponte Pietra for a recky of the bridge for the first night's shot. The obvious route was up through the main tourist areas - Casa di Giuletta, Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori before reaching the bridge at its south side... my heart sank! I expected to see tourists crossing it and taking photos from it but the sight of 20 gazebos standing tall high above the stone sides from one side to the other kind of rained on my parade or as I would have put it "pissed on m' chips". Mrs R, ever the optimist suggested I stick to my game plan and revisit in the evening in the hope of said gazebos not being there.
Well, they were there - all bloody 20 of them!
I setup my camera and tripod and waited as sunset time approached... 7:18pm - still they stood.
Then hope played her hand and one by one, they started to come down - 19, 15, 12, 10. 7:42pm - 8 left standing, but still they clung on to spoil the day. Sunset time was approaching fast at 7:47pm and 3 remained, most frustrating of all - right in the centre of the shot, at the apex of the bridge!
My heart sank for a second time that day as the sun set behind the buildings with nothing more to show than a few whispers of clouds showing any hint of colour. 7:58pm - the last gazebo laughed in my face and then bang on cue at 8:00pm disappeared behind the stone walls of the bridge still chuckling to itself having thwarted another photographer's efforts. I was about to pack up when Mrs R noticed the change in the previously featureless clouds behind the distant churches of San Giorgio in Braida and Chiese di San Giorgio in Braida.
Timed at 8:04pm... almost 17 hours after leaving home and my first planned shot of the holiday. The moral of the story is...
Nature and the world don't run to your timetable and you have to make the best of what's in front of you. So this is it, probably the only time I will visit Verona and the Ponte Pietra.
Newton Wood, Guisborough
As we arrived several photographers were packing up and heading home - the light was flat and the clouds an unbroken featureless mass.
Waiting around for a few hours gave the light we were after and warmed me both inwardly and out.
A beautiful night to be alive.
A brief window of colour opens up in an otherwise dark and moody sky above the Ayres on the northern coast of the island. The marram grass and a row of old concrete fence posts making for a nice foreground in this vast otherwise featureless landscape ️️
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Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft’s closest approach to Pluto on July 14. The color image has been combined with lower-resolution color information from the Ralph instrument that was acquired earlier on July 13.
This view is dominated by the large, bright feature informally named the “heart,” which measures approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) across. The heart borders darker equatorial terrains, and the mottled terrain to its east (right) are complex. However, even at this resolution, much of the heart’s interior appears remarkably featureless—possibly a sign of ongoing geologic processes.
CREDIT: NASA/APL/SwRI
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Nomads has to move ,so the catle has new and fresh gras. Taking everything they own and put it on the backs of yaks and horses.
For the Tibetan nomads, life is indeed a struggle in the harsh environment of the high plateau: A place where the ground and winds are in perpetual motion. It is a place where temperatures range from a low of -40 degrees Fahrenheit to around 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. The yak is the key to survival on the Tibetan plateau. A visit to a nomad's tent illustrates this point. The tent itself is made from yak hair. Upon entering, the center of the tent is warmed by the fire of yak dung. The tent is illuminated by yak butter candles, and their blankets are made from yak hair. The principle diet includes tsampa and yak butter, dried yak cheese and sometimes yak meat. A poor family may have 20 yaks or fewer; wealthy families up to 500.
Settling nomads
Government policy aims to settle more and more nomads. It says that this is aimed at improving the economic viability of animal husbandry and lessening the effects of natural disasters on the livelihood of Tibetan herdsmen.
This allows the government to manage the nomadic population as it gives them fixed addresses.
Culture shock
For most nomads, the transition to a more urban lifestyle is difficult.
They are often settled in featureless blocks of housing by the side of roads or in newly created urban areas, and face the problem of creating an entirely new and sustainable livelihood.
Approximately 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population is nomadic or semi-nomadic.
Talacre Beach, Flintshire
It was a spur of the moment decision to take the coast road home from our visit to Llandudno for a recky to the lighthouse at Talacre. I wasn’t expecting anything photogenic considering the weather at Llandudno but was shocked at the number of people at the beach. Clearly a stunning landscape shot was out of the question with a featureless sky and people in every direction you looked. But since we’d made the effort to go then fire off a few shots for reference.
Back home, as anticipated, my shots weren’t floating my boat but I thought it an opportunity to process them using the Nik software collection. These have been processed using Silver Efex Pro and have turned out better than the native raw file...
These are really hard to photograph well as their faces often lack contrast leaving them looking featureless and causing the auto focus problems. These were captured in low early morning sun. Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, India
Sea-sculptured outcrop of Cambria-slab graywacke sandstone, which is typically massive and largely featureless. Not here! Bedding planes are outlined by various shades of FeOX (and MnOX?) staining (+ heavy mineral accumulations?), and there are some cross-cutting (and later) iron-stained fractures as well. Scale may be judged by the green jadeite pebble at lower left that's maybe 3/4 in. across. You can see other green pebbles in this coarse sand, and there are always "pebble pups" sifting out their favorites from the never-ending and ceaselessly-replenished supply of attractive rounded pebbles. When you live here, you can fill your lifetime needs for pretty pebbles in a month or two -- but I still stick unusually pretty ones in my shirt pocket every week or two. Lots of room in the yard for rejects!
G-BMRH : Boeing 757-236 : British Airways
Not the best of photos - the featureless hazy sky was to blame! - but it's the only photo I got of the Australian tail art "Nalanji Dreaming".
Back from its annual breeding migration, this ruddy turnstone finds something of interest. Its nesting range on the tundra of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia requires a return trip to tropical Hawaii of approximately 3,000 miles of open ocean in an exhaustive, marathon effort of 3 to 4 days and nights of nonstop flight. Turnstones use the stars and the earth’s magnetic field to find their way over the featureless ocean to the same small patch of territory every year. They may use the earth’s magnetic field visually with the magnetoreception molecules of cryptochrome in their retina. The Hawaiian name, ‘akekeke, resembles the sound of their call. The physiological changes in migratory shorebirds, like this ‘akekeke, are astonishing. The necessity of increasing fat load for the sustained energy demands of long-distance migration has been compared to, in terms of percentage body fat, larding up to morbid obesity in humans. The surge in heart and lung capacity and increase in pectoral flight muscle are driven by hormonal changes (without the drudgery of exercise!).
Negotiating the ridge between the two summits of Arkle in the mist. Coming off the featureless, flat first top onto the ridge was one of the very few occasions where it was really important that I successfully follow a compass bearing. Thankfully I was spot on, otherwise we'd have been descending ever-steepening slopes in almost any direction.
The ridge itself is extraordinary. This section is flat-topped but riven by huge, deep cracks with ferns growing in the bottom, another part is very narrow indeed. One of the more interesting days I've had on the hills when there wasn't any kind of view.
Taken with my first digital camera, a 3MP Canon PowerShot A70.
Decked out in breeding plumage just days prior to departure, this ruddy turnstone runs up and down the beach, often flipping stones, to see what bounty a wave might wash in or uncover in the intertidal zone. Fattening up is requisite for an annual migration from their tropical Hawaiian winter range to nesting grounds on the tundra of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia. The trip spans over approximately 3,000 miles of open ocean requiring an exhaustive, marathon effort of 3 to 4 days and nights of nonstop flight. Turnstones use the stars and the earth’s magnetic field to find their way over the featureless ocean to the same small patch of territory every year. They may use the earth’s magnetic field visually with the magnetoreception molecules of cryptochrome in their retinae. The Hawaiian name, ‘akekeke, resembles the sound of their call. The physiological changes in migrating shorebirds, like this ‘akekeke, are astonishing. The necessity of increasing fat load for the sustained energy demands of long-distance migration has been compared to, in terms of percentage body fat, larding up to morbid obesity in humans. The surge in heart and lung capacity and increase in pectoral flight muscle are driven by hormonal changes (without the drudgery of exercise!).
After a week on completely clear and featureless sky the beloved clouds rolled back in yesterday. It happened to align with low tide at sunset so I went off to photographer the popular Hvaleyri beach with its iconic green rocks. It seems that the vegetation on these rocks returns with the warming weather.
Is it just me or does the new flickr liquid design have horrible sharpness issues with images? On my screen that has 2560x1440 pixels resolution it seems that they are stretching a 640 pixel version of the image to 800 pixels to fit it on screen. Has anybody else experienced something similar?
Just a simple landscape scene from Whistlestop tonight ... the water was smooth as glass; though the sunset didn't quite develop the way I'd hoped (all the clouds kinda disappeared leaving a mostly featureless sky).
Nomads has to move ,so the catle has new and fresh gras. Taking everything they own and put it on the backs of yaks and horses.
For the Tibetan nomads, life is indeed a struggle in the harsh environment of the high plateau: A place where the ground and winds are in perpetual motion. It is a place where temperatures range from a low of -40 degrees Fahrenheit to around 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. The yak is the key to survival on the Tibetan plateau. A visit to a nomad's tent illustrates this point. The tent itself is made from yak hair. Upon entering, the center of the tent is warmed by the fire of yak dung. The tent is illuminated by yak butter candles, and their blankets are made from yak hair. The principle diet includes tsampa and yak butter, dried yak cheese and sometimes yak meat. A poor family may have 20 yaks or fewer; wealthy families up to 500.
Settling nomads
Government policy aims to settle more and more nomads. It says that this is aimed at improving the economic viability of animal husbandry and lessening the effects of natural disasters on the livelihood of Tibetan herdsmen.
This allows the government to manage the nomadic population as it gives them fixed addresses.
Culture shock
For most nomads, the transition to a more urban lifestyle is difficult.
They are often settled in featureless blocks of housing by the side of roads or in newly created urban areas, and face the problem of creating an entirely new and sustainable livelihood.
Approximately 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population is nomadic or semi-nomadic.
I was able to fulfill a bucket list item during an 8 day roadtrip through the American West. It had been raining recently, and the water turned the flats into a nearly featureless plain.
There simply isn't another place on Earth quite like this, and I look forward to returning to explore this wonder further.
It was a foggy sunrise at the weekend. Southwest photographers hit high ground in their droves and I was one of them. I took my chances with Hameldown in Dartmoor, a location which has frustrated me in the past because it tends to get in other shots and offers little in itself as it's long and a little featureless.
My cunning plan, therefore, was to get on top of Hameldown and shoot into the surrounding valleys. That way my shots wouldn't be affected by the down itself.
When I arrived I was seduced by a red sky over Honeybag tor and headed towards it to get a good composition. That never materialised and I trudged back to the top of the down only to be seduced again by Widecombe in the Moor in the valley below. Could it provide me with a misty shot from "the other side"? (most shots are taken with the light on the east side of the valley)
So I waited for the sun to crest the hilltops on the east side of the valley. The mist in the valley never really developed to an exciting extent but it did offer me this subtle take, against the light, looking south up the valley.
This is a multi shot pano taken at 200mm. Thanks for looking.
Larger: farm3.static.flickr.com/2119/2110622005_4131df73d4_o.jpg
(I work in Hammersmith).
I took a late lunch when I noticed that the clouds where beginning to break up (it's been overcast all day).
The cloud break-up lasted for all of 20 minutes and I was lucky to get a few shots before the skies turned featureless.
By the way, I've just realised that my camera is still on British Summer Time (BST) - probably because I haven't taken many shots lately - so this was taken at 1456 hours instead of the 1556 hours as recorded on the EXIF. Yesterday's sunset was scheduled for 1552 hours (GMT) but the light was getting warmer when I took this.
Negotiating the ridge between the two summits of Arkle in the mist. Coming off the featureless, flat first top onto the ridge was one of the very few occasions where it was really important that I successfully follow a compass bearing. Thankfully I was spot on, otherwise we'd have been descending ever-steepening slopes in almost any direction.
The ridge itself is extraordinary. Parts are very narrow, as here, while another section is flat-topped but riven by huge, deep cracks with ferns growing in the bottom. One of the more interesting days I've had on the hills when there wasn't any kind of view.
Taken with my first digital camera, a 3MP Canon PowerShot A70.
2015 Autumn in Olympic Tour with Alex Mody
Private Online Post-Processing Instruction Via Skype
Incredible otherworldly sandstone formations in a very remote area of northern Arizona, at morning twilight.
I've been wanting to get out here for years, having been inspired by others' images of this seemingly alien landscape. There are many locations in the American southwest where taffy- or candy-like formations can be found, but I still haven't seen anything that compares to the combination of sharp folds and color contrasts of this particular geologic marvel, so adeptly showcasing the forces of time.
Although it was a great time coming out here with my friends Joe and Scotty, crushing the notoriously rough 4x4 roads with ease in our monster of a vehicle, we arrived with only an hour to scout before sunset, and only stayed one night. Therefore, without much time to find something 100% unique, I chose to shoot the formations that interested me most, despite knowing they'd been photographed before. Additionally, with nary a cloud in the sky, I wanted to focus on areas that had an abundance of visual interest in the land portion, which would be complemented well by featureless or starry blue skies. Hopefully my interpretation is able to stand on its own. I know I'll be back here again, as the photographic possibilities are endless.
Over this winter, I've been reading Lord of the Rings. Very few things make me want to walk in the open and rolling hills than the third and fourth chapters of Fellowship.
Particularly "Fog on the Barrow Downs," the chapter after they left Bombadil's House.
"...and they looked out from the hill-top over lands under the morning. It was now as clear and far-seen as it had been veiled and misty when they stood upon the knoll in the Forest, which could now be seen rising pale and green out of the dark trees in the West. In that direction the land rose in wooded ridges, green, yellow, russet under the sun, beyond which lay hidden the valley of the Brandywine.
"To the South, over the line of the Withywindle, there was a distant glint like pale glass where the Brandywine River made a great loop in the lowlands and flowed away out of the knowledge of the hobbits. Northward beyond the dwindling downs the land ran away in flats and swellings of grey and green and pale earth-colours, until it faded into a featureless and shadowy distance.
"Eastward the Barrow-downs rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into a guess: it was no more than a guess of blue and a remote white glimmer blending with the hem of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of memory and old tales, of the high and distant mountains."
The land between the Old Forest and the Weather Hills look most like where I tend to hike. They are sparse with trees, and rocky cliffs and hills are scattered throughout. Geologically, they're very different, but on the surface, I get the same feel.
Soon it will be spring, and I can channel my inner Sam Gamgee and traipse and tramp the lands I love.
"There was no tree nor any visible water: it was a country of grass and short springy turf, silent except for the whisper of the air over the edges of the land, and high lonely cries of strange birds."
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.
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'He Turned His Glance Eastwards'
Camera: Mamiya RB67
Lens: Mamiya-Sekor 3.8/90mm
Film: Agfa Copex 50
Process: FA-1027; 1+19; 9min
Washington
March 2023
The fields have been harvested and spring planting is still months away. All is quiet on this farm in Grundy County on a January day featuring Illinois' trademark featureless winter overcast.
Blog entry about this photo:
It may not have been a total lunar eclipse as witnessed by people back East, but nevertheless it looked awesome in southwestern Saskatchewan. Although I photographed it from the top of North Butte with a longer lens, I liked this simple view through a 50mm, made while hiking back to the car in nearly total darkness. I was stunned by the amount of detail on 70 Mile Butte my camera's sensor was able to record - it was just a featureless, dark mass to the naked eye.
70 Mile Butte is the highest point in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Brown-rumped Seedeater is an understated little bird but there are fewer than forty photos of it on Flickr so I thought it was worth posting. It is endemic to the Horn of Africa, being only found in the mountains of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. I learnt from my Flickr search that in Germany it is known by the better name of Rüppell's Canary. I know it is quite featureless but why its rump should be singled out for it's name is a little puzzling. It's scientific name Crithagra tristriata translates as three-striped barley-hunter, though I'm not sure where the third stripe is after two white eyebrows. I photographed this bird (the sexes are alike) in the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia.