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Ringing Roger, Peak District, UK
© 2023 Paul Newcombe. Don't use without permission
Possibly my favourite composition at Ringing Roger with the foreground rock creating an 'x'. I've stood here many times perfecting the composition. It felt quite precarious yesterday with the frozen rocks.
These are the best conditions I've had. Often, patchy doesn't work, creating too much contrast. But the hard frost decreased the contrast on the rocks.
I couldn't fit the foreground rock into one frame for the previous upload as I only had 24mm equivalent lens. This is good though as going wider reduces the impact of Loose Hill and the Great Ridge.
Camera used: Pinhole homemade camera 6X6
Estenopeica, hecha en casa.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Mi galeria en Color www.flickr.com/photos/samycolor
Mi Galeria en B&N www.flickr.com/photos/samycollazo
Arista Edu 100
Exposure: 15 sec.
Pinhole-1 ( 6X6)
Pinhole .3mm
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...
If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.
It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.
But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).
Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.
One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).
But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.
When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).
I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.
It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.
I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on in the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.
My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.
However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).
Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).
Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).
A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.
It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.
Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.
When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.
From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊
Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!
It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.
I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!
P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊
My submission for Macro Mondays challenge, "Single use". Our household may use a match to light birthday cake candles and scented candles.
We use our big toes to give us balance when we walk. Apes use their counter-opposing big toes to grab branches when in trees. Scientists believe that our big toe was the last to evolve. Here is a BBC article you might find interesting www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45183651 Franklin Park Zoo, Boston, MA
Camera used: Pinhole homemade camera 6X6
Camara Estenopeica, hecha en casa.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Mi galeria en Color www.flickr.com/photos/samycolor
Mi Galeria en B&N www.flickr.com/photos/samycollazo
Arista Edu 100
Exposure: 15 sec.
Pinhole-21 (6X6)
Pinhole .25mm
F.L. 27mm
F:92
Nik Silver Efex Pro 2
LIghtroom 3
Henry's Rough Day he may have used up one of his 9 lives by lunch time, chasing his tail, the other cats, pieces of paper etc, he was chastised so many times I think he gave up and napped (a bit restless) cat chaos in North Carolina.
Llamas are used at Machu Picchu as a natural way to keep the grass low. If you get near the edge of a ledge, be sure to know where the llamas are because they can move quickly. Three of them unexpectedly brushed by me on a ledge; luckily they pinned me to the wall as they went by on the outside edge.
Betagan - a medicine used to control glaucoma. This has no preservative so after use, the plastic container has to be discarded. I suppose that we humans have to accept that there will be some some single use items we can't do without. I recycle these so I hope they go to be melted down and made into other things.
I have used this location for two other photographs....so I do find something about it very interesting and attractive.
I haven't used my drone very often this year, mainly because my other camera was more inviting, but maybe coming winter I will use my drone more often.
One of the nice things of a drone is that you can picture structures from height that you otherwise wouldn't see.
That is easy seeable with this picture of the "Ijsseleye".
The IJsseleye is an artificial island in the Ketellake (Ketelmeer, province of Flevoland, the Netherlands) used as a depository to store polluted silt. Most of the polluted silt was deposited in the Ketelmeer by the IJssel river between 1950 and 1990. Removal of silt soil from the Ketelmeer lake also aims to deepen the channel leading to the mouth of the IJssel to at least a depth of 3.5 m (11.5 ft), thus aiming to improve access to the river for navigation.
I used colorful wrapping paper for folding this fiery dragon, but couldn't decide which side to show. So now you see both sides ;-))
I merged two photo's.
Paper: one piece of wrapping paper, with rainbow colors, 30x30cm.
Final size: length 12cm, height 10cm
Model: origami Fiery Dragon
Design: Kade Chan
Diagrams in the book 'Origami Worldwide' by John Montroll and Brian K. Webb
Don’t use my pictures on websites, blogs or others, without my prior authorization!
Não utilizar minhas imagens em web sites, blogs e/ou outros, sem minha prévia autorização !
©2012 MarthaMGR All rights reserved ©
Apps used: IColorama, Distressed FX
There is an event every year in San Diego called December Nights which signals the start of the holiday season for us. Balboa Park is lit up with holiday lights and there is lots of food, drinks and music. There is also a carnival which is the subject of this image.
Photos and contest are protected by copyright, Gio F. Copyright © 2015 - All rights reserved For any use need my written permission
C'è un inquinamento luminoso ma mi è piaciuto il montaggio delle foto che feci al mare una notte che ricercavo le scie delle stelle.
Posto la foto che è il risultato del lavoro.
Mi piacciono le stelle in generale, non le voglio associare ad altro.
Il cielo è sempre stato un'attrattiva infinita., prima che esistesse la fotografia per me.
A proposito di fotografia, voglio tranquillizzare fata cam.
La tua foto mi piace tantissimo, io non sapevo come dirtelo, ti stavo scrivendo ieri, poi non ho spedito la mail, il perchè è che ero stato troppo specifico, non ne avevo la ragione... non c'entra la tua foto. "E' TUA" , delle tue foto sei tu a decidere il come. Tu sei brava davvero.
La tua foto è un bn di grande capacità, oltretutto, un racconto e un'emozione di ora e del passato che è stata di ognuno.
Il partire...
E' un'altra cosa...
Il rispetto si conquista a fatica, parole gentili non costano...
I giudizi ...I consigli...
Io sono un folletto del non consiglio, per cui ti abbraccio.
Aspetto le foto...
Di tutti!
Le foto le guardo, anche quelle senza cielo...A volte si vogliono esaltare stelle non materiali ed il cielo se ne va via...Foto senza stelle le guardo anche, con la pace verso il re del cielo : Il Creatore.
Gio
I know that there's a reason why I need to be alone
I need to find a silent place that I can call my own
Is it mine, Lord is it mine?
When everything's dark and nothing seems right,
there's nothing to win and there's no need to fight
I never cease to wonder at the cruelty of this land
But it seems a time of sadness is a time to understand
Is it mine, Lord is it mine?
When everything's dark and nothing seems right,
You don't have to win and there's no need to fight
If only I could find a way
To feel your sweetness through the day
The love that shines around me could be mine.
So give us an answer, won't you,
We know what we have to do,
There must be a thousand voices trying to get through.
This area in the wetlands used to be a nice green grassy area with manicured bushes with a functional tennis court . It is now a fire hazard with a completely unusable tennis court filled with trash.
Taken using the Sony Alpha 7ii, and processed using MacPhun Intensify and Lightroom 4. .Check out my web site : www.ortbaldauf.com and my www.500px.com/ortbaldauf site.. www.facebook.com/ortbaldauf © Photo is the property of Ort Baldauf. Do not use this photo on or off the web without my written permission. Thank you
My beautiful roses, that--over time, despite the best of care and food and medicine and antifungals--succumbed to various diseases mostly brought on by the vicious heat and humidity they had to endure.
Sweet memories of their beauty in their prime.
😋
Using the Tamron SP AF 60mm f/2 Di II MACRO 1:1 LD (IF) (model G005N II) lens.
Critique is welcomed.
Thank you all very much for your visits, favs and comments.
AI Midjourney render using airbrushed acrylic paint, colored pencils and black ink. Post work done with ArtStudio and Lightroom, on an IPad
Image Copyright © Λlpha Λrt 2023 All Rights Reserved
Camera used: Pinhole homemade camera 4X4
Camara Estenopeica, hecha en casa.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Mi galeria en Color www.flickr.com/photos/samycolor
Mi Galeria en B&N www.flickr.com/photos/samycollazo
Fomapan Classic 100
Pinhole-28 (4X4)
Exp.12 sec.
Pinhole .3mm
F.L. 25mm
F:83
Nik Silver Efex Pro 2
LIghtroom 3