The Weekly Collegial Show Your Photos Starting 6 May 2024 Any Brand

Photobygms,

The first two flower photos are spectacular, with the dark backgrounds. Seeing the third image, I like all of that green color with the pond and the reflections. Those trees in the fourth photo are majestic. The wild orchids are beautiful.

Alan,

I wasn't familiar with terms X-T5 and X100V1. I now see that they are Fujifilm cameras after a quick on-line search. Then I saw that listed in the EXIF data too. After using Olympus DSLR cameras many years ago, I've continued using Canon cameras and lenses ever since. So, I'm not knowledgeable about what you are using. But it sure reminds us of how much selection we have when choosing photo equipment for our use, with all the different brands and models available.

I loved seeing all of those details on the indoor pictures. I'm glad you took the time to do this inside. I've seen other historic buildings in the UK on the outside and always thought it would be nice to see what is inside as you have done. Even though I take a variety of different kinds of photos, I also have a strong like for flowers. So I was glad to see them also. I especially liked the rhododendron flowers by the pond. If I'm able to do so, I hope I can take a picture of a rhododendron wall of flowers in Portland, Oregon in about two weeks. It's spectacular but a person has to get there at the right time.

Alan,

Between using F2.0 and F8.0 I prefer the F8.0 setting. But that also is because by nature I try to get as much depth of field as possible. At times I'll sacrifice a little lens diffraction and use something like even F18. That's because I look at the final image and what I'm trying to achieve. But some people like shallow depth of field with flower pictures and that is OK too.

Alan,

I understand your frustration with Canon. In my case, I moved from a Canon 5D to the Sony RX100, which is an amazing camera for its size. After four years I decided to get back into full frame and bought a Canon RP, which was a revelation at the time. Looking back at my 5D photos recently I cannot understand why they all look so dreary in comparison. I upgraded to the R6 after a year and am very pleased with it -- apart from the need to keep changing lenses, and always having the wrong one with me (Murphy's Law of Photography). But Canon seem not to be bringing out anything exciting at present, as far as I can see. My Leica is a further step up, though there are still situations when the R6 is more suitable. (I was almost tempted by the Fuji GFX100, but it has the same problem with lens changing and thankfully is just too expensive for me to justify.)

As much as the upgrading of my hardware, I think my investment in PhotoLab and raw processing has also greatly improved the technical quality of my photos: their artistic quality is quite another matter, but I am trying!

David

So, the other day, I was walking through the hood. It was a pretty nice day, and things were going reasonably well,

when off to my right, I hear somebody say, "Hey man, you wanna fight?"

I kept going, minding my own business.

and he says, "Come on, I'll take you with one hand tied behind my back."
"Your mama wears Army boots."
"Pussy"

And at that, I spun around and ask, "What did you say?"
and he says, "You heard me."

And the fight was on.

At times, the action was so fast and furious, everything became a blur.

After we had exhausted ourselves, we dusted ourselves off, shook paws, and now we're best of buds.

The end.

Steve Thomas

Nice Steve, they all are one family?

Edit: Exif data was missing but is back again 😳

Alan,

I was reading a little about the Fujifilm X100VI. It does look like a great camera for street photography. It's small and 40mp gives the photographer room to crop more too. At the moment, my Canon M50 Mark II is best for me for street photos, followed by the Canon RP. The Canon M50 Mark II was frustrating to use at first, but over time I've learned how to use it better. The Canon RP for me is much easier to use, but the Canon M50 Mark II is so small it almost looks like a toy. So, it appears less intimidating than a larger camera. I wasn't planning to get the Canon RP but a refurbished Black Friday sale enticed me. I'm glad I did. Now, I'm excited about the R-series. But like a lot of us, I have plenty of gear for now. So, I'm holding off on buying anything for now. We will see how long that goes, before I'm tempted with the next sale. 😀

Steve,

Excellent! I like how you put these photos together in a series with a story. It was very entertaining.

Why did you use only ISO100? With a higher ISO level the shutter speed could have been increased. Also if you wanted, you could have stopped the lens down a little more for a little increase in depth of field. My guess is that you had the settings in the camera and then the cats decided to get active and you did not have time to change it. Did I guess right?

Dig,

Yeah. That's exactly what happened. I was taking a landscape kind of shot and saw this commotion going on in the corner of my eye.
I spun around and quickly set a burst speed on my camera. I was in Manual, and didn't think to change the settings. Someday, I'll learn to think before I act. 😀
But it was cute the way it unfolded.

That's a family that showed up last spring. We nurtured them through the winter, and they decided to stay. We had them neutered and spayed so there won't be any more. They're kind of fun to have around.

Steve Thomas

Subject: Tulips After the Rains Subside

Finally, the rains subsided enough to get some better photos at the tulip farm. I hope you like these too.

Photo No. 1 - We start by showing this lonely bench. At this moment the rains may have been reduced to a sprinkle or had stopped. But generally, if the background is more clear then you know the rain is very light or is no longer coming down.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 250
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 35 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 2 - A lot of people scattered with the rains to a nearby shelter or to their cars. But a few of them like this stayed. Since I had an umbrella I was able to walk around all of the time, whether it was raining or not.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 31 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 3 - OK, now we can see some of these beautiful tulips with better weather.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 250
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 60 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 4 - I wandered off to this viewing platform. There were no people around.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 40 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 5 - At this location you can see how little tulips were remaining. As I mentioned previously, this was the last day of the season. So we did the best we could with what we got.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 24 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 6 - From the top of the viewing platform, you all can see the tulips. Most of them were gone.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 32 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 7 - As I continued walking around a few more people came out, possibly from their cars.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/320 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 250
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 54 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 8 - Ah, this is so pretty. I was happy to see some of these tulips were still available for us.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 125
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 35 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 9 - More people kept on coming....

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 50 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 10 - Smiles returned....

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 250
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 50 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 11 - I liked this photo, but it was still a little soft in front due to the depth of field (I assume).

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 160
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 52 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 12 - We see some more beautiful flowers.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 28 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 13 - Again....

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 160
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 57 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 14 - Finally, here's one more. When I find them smiling like this while looking directly at me, I don't know if they are smiling because I'm taking their picture or because they are seeing a goofy photographer looking down at the LCD screen. Maybe both.... 😀 I cropped it a little for composition.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 250
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 46 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Subject: Fun Slide

At the tulip farm they had rides for the kids. Here is one of them called the Fun Slide.

Photo No. 1 - What I liked about taking pictures of this slide, was the contrast that I was getting with the sun and the clouds. Can you see the bright light in the background in the tulip fields?

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/320 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 160
ExposureBiasValue - -0.33
FocalLength - 65 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 2 - The bright light remained in the tulip fields while everything else looked so dark.

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/320 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 125
ExposureBiasValue - -0.33
FocalLength - 52 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Photo No. 3 - I really liked this photo. But I think a person had to see the first two images first. You might also notice that this slide is mounted on wheels, so it looks fairly easy to drive on and off for events like this. How do you like those clouds? Viewing it like this you are actually looking at the Cascade Mountains. But of course they can't be seen very well because of all of the clouds (except for a very small amount of mountains shown on the right side).

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/320 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 250
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 24 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

Lovely little thunderhead.
I spot metered off the cloud. That's why the SS is so high.
It really was bright.

And another shot in color (Standard Picture Style)

If you look closely at the color shot, you can see the two vultures valiantly trying to outrun the storm.

Steve Thomas

Steve,

Those thunderheads look massive. Did you get a lot of rain? I did see the two birds. Yikes! I hope they made it safely away from the thunderous activity. Did you get lightning too? In Oregon where I live on the west side we do not get many thunderstorms. Yes, sometimes...but it is not common like when I lived in Colorado.

Dig,

Yup. As they say down South, "It was a frog strangler."

Steve

Subject: In Camera HDR Photo

Yesterday I was out in the evening and I thought I would take another in-camera HDR photo. With the Canon M50 Mark II I don't have any control of the settings (as far as I know) like I do with the Canon RP. The sun had already set behind the mountains.

I like using the in-camera HDR photo feature in the evenings and at night. You all should try it sometime too (if your camera allows for it).

Photo No. 1 - Here's the HDR photo that was taken hand-held. It takes some concentration to not move the camera while waiting for all three pictures to be taken.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/60 seconds
FNumber - 5.60
ISOSpeedRatings - 6400
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 36 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 2 - We see a non-HDR photo of a portion of the mural on the building that is seen above.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/40 seconds
FNumber - 5
ISOSpeedRatings - 800
ExposureBiasValue - -0.33
FocalLength - 18 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Just a few from a hike earlier today. Not as sunny as we wanted but with about 15c a comfortable hike.
Visited Drents-Friese Wold National Park near Wateren