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The World is but a Canvas for our Imagination
- Henry David Thoreau
The weather around here lately has not been conducive to photographing wildlife or landscapes, so I’m focusing on developing my imagination and hoping to improve my artistic skills… which currently are nearly as innovative as a bag of rocks : )
(Nikon Z6, 24-200 @ 103 mm, 1.3 sec @ f/25, ISO 400)
(edited to taste)
Listening to Carole King today… another old Rocker that’s made beautiful music for a number of years.
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958. King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years.
Her record sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She has been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a performer and songwriter.
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The Hooded Merganser:
Spotted this Female Hooded Merganser Strutting Her Stuff after finishing a breakfast of Frog Legs alfresco. The legs were still attached to the frog, so it took her awhile to dine, but she seems to have had a Happy Ending : )
Hooded Mergansers are fairly common on small ponds and rivers, where they dive for fish, crayfish, and other food, seizing it in their thin, serrated bills. They find their prey underwater by sight. They can actually change the refractive properties of their eyes to improve their underwater vision. In addition, they have an extra eyelid, called a “nictitating membrane,” which is transparent and helps protect the eye during swimming, like a pair of goggles.
Hooded Merganser ducklings leave their nest cavity within 24 hours of hatching. First, their mother checks the area around the nest and calls to the nestlings from ground level. From inside the nest, the little fluffballs scramble up to the entrance hole and then flutter to the ground, which may be 50 feet or more below them. In some cases, they have to walk half a mile or more with their mother to the nearest body of water.
The oldest recorded Hooded Merganser was a male and at least 14 years, 6 months old when he was shot in Mississippi in 2009. He had been banded in Minnesota in 1995.
(Sony, 200-600 @ 600 mm, 1/400 @ f/6.3, ISO 5000, edited to taste)
trying to improve, looking at different examples of light and wondering how we might take a turn and do something a little different. So working with light is really a lifelong educational process :-)
Joe McNally
HGGT! Truth Matters! Lies have consequences!
cornus, mexican dogwood, j c raulston arboretum, ncsu, raleigh, north carolina
Weather conditions improved in the late afternoon. This is a northwestward view from a hill that used to be the site for Chichijima's weather station.
The island in the left is Nishijima (西島, western island), while those in the right are Hyoutanjima (瓢箪島 gourd island), Anijima (兄島 older brother island), and Hitomarujima (人丸島).
According the climate data provided by Japan Meteorological Agency, average temperature of the coldest month in Chichijima is 18.5 degree Celsius, which means Chichijima has a tropical climate.
Annual precipitation of Chichijima is 1,296 mm, and the precipitation of the driest month is 51.6 mm, which means Chichijima has the tropical monsoon climate (Am) as compared to the humid subtropical climate (Cfa) in the Izu islands and the main island part of Tokyo.
Chichijima's climate is relatively dry judging from the Japanese standard; annual precipitation of downtown Tokyo is 1,530 mm.
Falls of Shin is a waterfall on the River Shin, in northern Scotland, near the villages of Bonar Bridge and Lairg.
Falls of Shin had a popular visitor centre, managed as part of Balnagown Estates, a company owned by former Harrods boss Mohamed Al-Fayed. This included a restaurant, a branch of Harrods, and a waxwork model of Al-Fayed. The visitor centre was destroyed by a fire in May 2013. Balnagown Estates have since been working with the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust to develop a new visitor attraction. In May 2017, the new visitor centre opened following the successful construction carried out by William Gray Construction. The opening event was dubbed "Celebra-Shin". The café is currently operated by Mac & Wild- a company created by Andy Waugh and Calum MacKinnon with 2 restaurants in London and Falls of Shin being their third.
The Falls of Shin were dynamited to improve the salmon access.
Aside from the Salmon Viewing Platform, the site also comprises a Mini Golf Course, Woodland Walks and a large Children's Playpark.
Improved Image Uploaded 26/08/2023
⭐️Thank you in Advance for your kind ‘Faves’ Visits and Comments they are so very much appreciated. 👍
I cannot always ‘Thank’ everyone individually, for their Visits and ‘Faves’ however, I will always try to respond and thank all those that leave a ‘Comment’. If I do not reply to your 'Comment', it is not because I am ignoring you, it's because I have not seen the 'Comment'.
Your 'Comments' do not always appear in 'Notifications' or Flickr mail, so, I am sorry for any delay in responding. Often your 'Comment' is only spotted 'On the Page' on the day, that I see it. (seen ONLY when replying to someone HAS 'Commented' on the image, and I see a notification)
My newest assignment was to go to Naturally Naughty Studios and create three boudoir photographs. All of them are to be different backgrounds or stages and different hair, clothing, makeup, etc.
I submit to you Part Three of the assignment.
Check out Part One here.
You can catch Part Two of the assignment here.
Thanks again to my Flickr Sensei for taking the time to give me tips and lessons to improve my Second Life photography skills.
Just playing with crops which sometimes improve things...just trying a bit of Bruce Percy-ish ideas......'cos the weather's rubbish. Assynt.
Improved version of earlier (way down in time) upload
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Free private and non-commercial use of images on my website www.flowingandglowing.com.
Conditions apply.
Commercial licenses for high resolution images are available
🌟Improved image uploaded 13/09/2024 👌
⭐️Thank you in Advance for your kind ‘Faves’ and visits they are so very much appreciated. 👍
I cannot always ‘Thank’ everyone individually, for their visits and ‘Faves’ however, I will always try to respond and thank all those that leave a ‘Comment’. If I do not reply to your 'Comment', it is not because I am ignoring you, it's because I have not seen the 'Comment'.
Your 'Comments' do not always appear in 'Notifications' or Flickr mail, so, I am sorry for any delay in responding. Often your 'Comment' is only spotted 'On the Page' on the day, that I see it. (seen ONLY when replying to someone HAS 'Commented' on the image, and I see a notification)
following a suggestion in a comment for a photo I posted over a year ago, I am re-posting this, in sharpened and intensified colour, and in larger size...improved, I think ! Thanks for the prod, Allan McKenzie!
A very new moon and a clearer atmosphere than any of my recent visits to the area. Papalote Rancho Viejo campsite in Big Bend Ranch State Park, Presidio County, Texas.
Featuring:
Cynful @ Collabor88
Psycho:Byts @ Mainframe
Axix @ Kinky Event
Pecheresse @ 2much Event
Full Details @ rainbowpixiefarts.blogspot.com/2021/08/new-improved-1156....
NS local C46 out of Norfolk Southern's Pitcairn Yard and intermodal terminal sits amongst the shining gold ginkgo (pronounced ging-kho) trees that line both sides of the 4 track trench. They are stopped waiting on a signal at CP-PENN to proceed into Island Avenue yard to make their set outs and pick ups to take back to Pitcairn with them. On the east end of the train was 1 of the 2 pairs of NS GP33ECO's that are assigned to the Pittsburgh area to improve air quality and reduce emissions.
These trees are just a small part of Pittsburgh's beautiful Allegheny Commons Park West that is located just a block or 2 away from both the Pittsburgh Pirate's PNC Park and the Pittsburgh Steelers Heinz Field. Traditonally these leaves are always some of the last, if not the very last in the city to change before the winter arrives.
Oddly enough this year, they are not despite reaching their prime peak about 2 weeks later than usual. Some parts of the city still actually have green leaves on the trees as of November 23rd...and it's 1 day until Thanksgiving! Absolutely insanity. I've never seen anything like this before.
Improved my editing process, and I think I can get cleaner IR results from that little 1/2.3-inch sensor. Still some other maintenance to do on the camera, but this came out well enough that I'm going to share it.
This is a Panasonic Lumix ZS6 with the hot mirror removed and a 720nm filter. I then swapped red and blue channels in post to get yellow trees and blue sky instead of the reverse, and did some additional color adjustments.
I really like IR skies. IR reveals quite a bit of detail and drama.
These images are also my fall fix before the leaves have even started to change.
More infrared and full spectrum images
— Theodore Tollefson @thetollart
After their overnight run from Medley, FL, FEC train 336 switches onto the Cemex City Point lead at CP City Point in Cocoa, FL.
CP City Point was rebuilt from its original configuration a few months prior to this photo. Originally, it was just the single main and the City Point lead with some standard vaders. Now, as you can see, there's a whole new main being built and two tracks that turn west off of the main to head toward Orlando for Brightline.
Borders separate / two areas that are connected. // In one area we / figure as subjects. // In the other / the frame is grabbed / by abstraction.
Assemblage - collage, wood, cloth, paper, paint.
(size 44x32x3 cm), www.meurtant.exto.org)
This part of Ghent has recently been improved. I went with a friend for some golden hour and blue hour shots.
I combined a long exposure shot with a normal shot, to obtain sharp boats.
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This image was created with:
Haida 150mm filterholder
Haida CPOL / Haida 10 stops ND / Haida 3 stops Soft Grad
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Find HAIDA BELGIUM on FACEBOOK
Are you using Haida filters ?
Post your instagram shots on #HAIDABELGIUM
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For improved visibility on level crossings, NS are fitting the class SNG EMUs with a yellow front. For now, the blue and yellow fronts can be seen together - in this case literally, as the leading unit has the blue front (mostly obscured by the overhead line portal and, of course, the other EMU) and the trailing one is yellow. The pair are on their way on a local service from Amsterdam Centraal to Amersfoort Vathorst. Soest, 05-09-2021.
After some nights spent to learn and practice new imaging techniques, I propose a version of my first attempt to Andromeda Galaxy, less harsh, more realistic and detailed and (I hope) nicer to see.
- OTA: William Optics Zenithstar 61 APO doublet + WO Flat61 field flattener
- Mount: SkyWatcher Star Adventurer GTI
- Camera: Nikon D800 unmodified
Stack of 34x120s. shots @3.200ISO + 10 dark + 10 flats, using Starry Sky Stacker (SSS) for Mac.;
Processing through Adobe Photoshop
Any comment and/or advice for improving is welcome
On the edge of Kingsmere Lake, Mackenzie King spent almost 50 years (1903 – 1950) improving and expanding his estate, which he bequeathed to all Canadians. From the moment we enter this picturesque estate through wooded paths, we can enjoy the beauty of the Mooreside Main House and gardens where he hosted several important statesmen such as Winston Churchill among others. The spirits lead us to King’s historical ruins:
The Abbey Ruins
The stones from the Abbey Ruins were pieced together from remnants of other buildings, including
- the Canadian Parliament Building destroyed from fire in 1916,
- the crest of a former speaker of the House of Commons at Westminster, England,
- the stones from the printing office owned by King’s maternal grandfather, and
- the temple-like front piece (“Greek temple on a hill” he says) – came from a bay window removed from a Sandy Hill house about to be demolished. His imagination turned the bay window into the Acropolis.
Mackenzie King Estate, Gatineau Park, Québec, Canada
Au bord du lac Kingsmere, Mackenzie-King passa près de 50 ans (de 1903 à 1950) à améliorer et à agrandir son domaine qu'il légua à tous les Canadiens. Dès que nous entrons dans ce domaine pittoresque par des chemins boisés, nous pouvons apprécier la beauté de la maison principale et des jardins de Mooreside où il a hébergé plusieurs hommes d'État importants, tel que Winston Churchill. Les esprits nous mènent aux ruines historiques de King:
Les ruines de l'abbaye
Les pierres des ruines de l’abbaye ont été reconstituées à partir de vestiges d’autres bâtiments, notamment
- le Parlement canadien détruit par un incendie en 1916,
- l'emblème d'un ancien président de la Chambre des communes à Westminster, en Angleterre,
- les pierres de l’imprimerie appartenant au grand-père maternel de King et
- le morceau de façade en forme de temple « temple grec sur une colline », dit-il) - venait d'une baie vitrée retirée d'une maison de Sandy Hill sur le point d'être démolie. Son imagination transforma la baie vitrée en Acropole.
Domaine Mackenzie-King, Parc de la Gatineau, Québec, Canada
Improved image uploaded 16/09/2023
⭐️Thank you in Advance for your kind ‘Faves’ Visits and Comments they are so very much appreciated. 👍
I cannot always ‘Thank’ everyone individually, for their Visits and ‘Faves’ however, I will always try to respond and thank all those that leave a ‘Comment’. If I do not reply to your 'Comment', it is not because I am ignoring you, it's because I have not seen the 'Comment'.
Your 'Comments' do not always appear in 'Notifications' or Flickr mail, so, I am sorry for any delay in responding. Often your 'Comment' is only spotted 'On the Page' on the day, that I see it. (seen ONLY when replying to someone HAS 'Commented' on the image, and I see a notification)
Running on track 2 due to track 1 being out of service for maintenance, a passenger test extra, with freshly rebuilt CTrail GE P40BH 6711 and five cars, makes its way south on a dismal afternoon in Wallingford. 6711 is former New Jersey Transit 4803 and Amtrak 820, which was built in July of 1993. The 12 Connecticut Department of Transportation P40s are being overhauled and repainted at Amtrak's Beech Grove Shops in Indiana.
Sweetly scented Lemon flowers blooming at Enid Haupt Conservatory of NYBG.
Improved Meyer Lemon
Citrus x meyeri
'Improved Meyer'
RUTACEAE
Image published in the September 2025 edition of Sky and Telescope magazine.
Image:
This image is comprised of Ha and OIII band data, and for the first time I have a target where the OIII signal is far stronger than the Ha signal. In my rendering of this image that I posted a week ago, I could barely, if at all, see any evidence of the Ha in the image.
I altered my PixInsight workflow three ways to improve the original image and obtain this result. Before mapping the Ha and OIII to the RGB channels, I applied LinearFit to increase the intensity of the Ha data to match the OIII. After mapping Ha and OIII to the RGB channels, I applied SPCC, this time with Ideal QE Curve selected, and using Photon Flux for the Whte Reference. And lastly, I selected OIII as luminance when I mixed the colors in NarrowbandNormalization.
As a result of the alternate processing, I can see Ha depicted as a goldish color in the outlying wispy areas, and within the target object.
Equipment:
ZWO ASI6200MM-P/EFW 2" x 7 (HO)
TeleVue NP101is (4" f/4.3)
Losmandy G11
Software:
Captured in NINA
Processed in PixInsight
Finished in Affinity Photo
Integration:
Ha 20 x 600s = 3:20
OIII 26 x 600s = 4:20
Total integration: 7:40
This part of Ghent has recently been improved. I went with a friend for some golden hour and blue hour shots.
I combined a long exposure shot with a normal shot, to obtain sharp boats.
----------
This image was created with:
Haida 150mm filterholder
Haida CPOL / Haida 15 stops ND / Haida 3 stops Soft Grad
----------
Find HAIDA BELGIUM on FACEBOOK
Are you using Haida filters ?
Post your instagram shots on #HAIDABELGIUM
----------
Find me on FACEBOOK
With improving finances as a result of the influx of money from the C&O in 1962, the B&O started receiving new GP30's. And they created a new 'Sunburst' logo for the locomotive nose to celebrate. The GP30's were the only power to be delivered new in the scheme but it was applied to some other units for a short time. The GP35's that came later in 1963 were in a simplified blue Capitol Dome scheme.
I can remember being an even younger railfan than when I took this in April 1965 on one of my first trips to the B&O being very disappointed when one of the old cab units showed up on a train instead of one of the shiny new GP30's that we were hoping to see. Fortunately I didn't let that disappointment stop me from shooting this westbound crossing the EL at JO Tower in Akron in April 1965. I suspect most of us went through learning to focus on the older stuff and less on the new shiny things. The tower was back by the signal bridge barely visible in this shot.
Hopefully Flickr gets this one posted correctly. My last posting didn't seem to go through to everyone quite right.
(This image will replace the last merlin image.)
Sure glad that he did not see me. I was hiding behind some short brushes with full camo gears on.
Location: Port Perry (sewage) Lagoon, Ontario.
My good friend Peter EW&F suggested that I improve my bug trap to save the Honey Bees.
I haven't caught any Honey Bees yet mostly flies and ants but I improved it anyway just incase, I can now open the lid and let them out.
See original trap below.
Have a great day!
The Devonshire Park Theatre is a Grade II listed building designed by Henry Currey.
It was built in 1884 and further improved by celebrated Theatre Architect Frank Matcham in 1903.
It is one of the best examples of small Victorian Theatre in the country with ornate interior featuring decorative plaster work with scrolls and caryatids by Schmidt of Holloway.
The theatre won the Martini/TMA Regional Theatre Award for ‘Most Welcoming Theatre’ in 1994
The other one was so messy, so I redone the whole thing, and I also didn't like his previous owner...
To view more of my images, taken at Fowey, in Cornwall, please click "here" !
From very deep in the Achieves!
Please, do not insert images, and or group invites; thank you!
Bodinnick (meaning fortified dwelling) is a riverside village in south-east Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. According to the Post Office the population of the 2011 Census was included in the civil parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey. It is a fishing village situated on the east bank of the River Fowey opposite the town of Fowey, also on the banks of the Fowey River. The ferry crossing is from Fowey to Bodinnick and the "Old Ferry Inn" is located on its bank glorified as "in the heart of Du Maurier country". This ferry terminal is said to have existed since the 13th century.
Fowey is a small town, civil parish and cargo port at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. At the time of the 2001 census, it had a population of 2,273.This had increased slightly at the 2011 census to 2,395 The Fowey electoral ward had a population of 4,690 in 2011. The Domesday Book survey at the end of the 11th century records manors at Penventinue and Trenant, and a priory was soon established nearby at Tywardreath. Circa 1300 the prior granted a charter to people living in Fowey itself. This medieval town ran from a north gate near Boddinick Passage to a south gate at what is now Lostwithiel Street; the town extended a little way up the hillside and was bounded on the other side by the river where merchants had their houses backing onto the waterfront. The natural harbour allowed trade to develop with Europe and local ship owners often hired their vessels to the king to support various wars, although the town also developed a reputation for piracy, as did many others at this time. A group of privateers known as the 'Fowey Gallants' were given licence to seize French vessels during the Hundred Years' War. In the 14th century the harbour was defended by 160 archers; after these were withdrawn, two blockhouses were built on either side of the harbour entrance. Despite these defences the town was attacked by French forces in 1457. Place House, by the church, was successfully defended against the French but subsequently strengthened. This building still exists, but much remodelled. A small castle was built on St Catherine’s Point, the western side of the harbour entrance, around 1540. The defences proved their worth when a Dutch attack was beaten off in 1667. The people of Fowey generally sided with the Royalists during the English Civil War, but in 1644 the Earl of Essex brought a Parliamentarian army to Lostwithiel and occupied the peninsula around Fowey. In August, a Royalist army surrounded Essex’s troops and King Charles I himself viewed Fowey from Hall Walk above Polruan, where he came close to being killed by a musket shot. On 31 August, the Parliamentarian cavalry forced their way through the Royalist lines and retreated towards Saltash, leaving the foot soldiers to be evacuated by sea from Fowey. Essex and some officers did indeed escape, but the majority of the force surrendered a few days later near Golant and were then marched to Poole, but most died before reaching there. The fortunes of the harbour became much reduced, with trade going to Plymouth and elsewhere instead. Fishing became more important, but local merchants were often appointed as privateers and did some smuggling on the side. Tin, copper and iron mines, along with quarries and china clay pits became important industries in the area which lead to improvements at rival harbours. West Polmear beach was dug out to become Charlestown harbour circa 1800, as was Pentewan in 1826 Joseph Austen shipped copper from Caffa Mill Pill above Fowey for a while before starting work on the new Par harbour in 1829. Fowey had to wait another forty years before it saw equivalent development, but its natural deep-water anchorage and a rail link soon gave it an advantage over the shallow artificial harbours nearer to the mines and china clay works. Meanwhile, a beacon tower was erected on the Gribben Head by Trinity House to improve navigation into Fowey and around Par bay. The Fowey Harbour Commissioners were established by an Act of Parliament in 1869, to develop and improve the harbour. On 1 June in that year, the 7 ft (2,134 mm) broad gauge Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway was opened to new jetties situated above Carne Point, and in 1873, the 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Cornwall Minerals Railway (CMR) opened a line from Newquay and Par to further jetties between Caffa Mill Pill and Carne Point. Both of these railways initially carried just goods, but on 20 June 1876, a passenger station was opened on the CMR on land reclaimed from Caffa Mill Pill. The Lostwithiel line closed at the end of 1879 but was reopened by the CMR as a standard gauge line in 1895, and the short gap between the two lines at Carne Point was eliminated. Passenger trains from Par were withdrawn after 1934 and from Lostwithiel in 1965. The Par line was subsequently converted to a dedicated roadway for lorries bringing china clay from Par after which all trains had to run via Lostwithiel.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia