Nod's attempt at a 52 for '22. 52/52 - Showcase.

[Bebop]

Ha! Ice was my idea for this week too... but a cube. Great minds and all that...

I like the one on the third best too and the shadow adds depth. I think the exposure could come up a tad on my screen, but I do keep my screen brightness low, so that could be it.

 

[-Oy-]

It's defo solid Ehtel Nod!

 

[Peter123]

Ice was mine too, but as ever I was slow.
I like the lighting and near perfect sphere.

 

[woof woof]

It looks like a teeny tiny little Saturn but with smaller rings

 

[Nod]

Ha! Ice was my idea for this week too... but a cube. Great minds and all that...

I like the one on the third best too and the shadow adds depth. I think the exposure could come up a tad on my screen, but I do keep my screen brightness low, so that could be it.

Ice was mine too, but as ever I was slow.
I like the lighting and near perfect sphere.

Great minds or fools?
I tried it a bit brighter but the white bits started to blow so I dropped it back down. Could lift it a bit with some PP but I'm trying to avoid anything more than what I can do in camera.

It looks like a teeny tiny little Saturn but with smaller rings

In an ideal world, where I wasn't so pushed for time, I'd have used boiled water for the chunk to get it clearer. The rings are pretty much unavoidable since the mould is split (for obvious reasons!!!) You can just see the "flash" where the water has expanded through the filling hole at the top of the mould at the front of the chunk in the chosen shot.

 

[Darkslinger]

Nice one Nod. I agree with you chose version.

 

[FlyPhot]

Just 2 this week - been a bit busy getting sorted for tomorrow's holiday.

Solid just screamed "Lateral thinking" to me (as have a few of the other themes!) so a polygonal chunk of ice was dug out of the freezer and placed on the trusty A4 sheet of yellow paper on the West facing windowsill. Couldn't decide on it filling the frame or sitting on a third but decided on the thirdy one as my final choice even though the in camera resizing has shifted it a fraction. Paper has stayed dry!

View attachment 357047View attachment 357048

Nice image with plenty of detail, it seems great minds think alike

 

[Simonbrown16]

You picked the right one there I think, good take for the theme!

 

[HelenC]

A good idea for the theme. You must have been quick off the mark to keep the paper so dry!

 

[Nod]

Very cold ice and a certain amount of speed!

 

[Nod]

Since one of our local Buzzards is Perched on his/her Post, I reckon these aren't really a shoehorn!
Slight shame that neither Buzzard or Crow starts with a P in Greek - I could have used one from the set that includes the last shot (posted purely for interest - Protagonists would be too much of a shoehorn when I have the others!)



Shot towards the Sun and using the X-T2 rather than the Baby X-30 - 840mm (35mm EFL) shows the scene rather better than the 100mm or so the baby X can manage! The in flight one was also ballsed up a bit by me not noticing that the camera was set up to colour pop for some reason!

 

[Darkslinger]

A good set Nod, I think that I'm partial to shot #2 with him (her?) in perched in profile.

 

[Nod]

As a bird shot, I'd agree but the "P" bit is shown better in the top one.

Typically, having posted these shots, there have been a fair few other shots that have presented themselves that could fit the brief! Never mind.

 

[AlanDorset]

Perched works for me. Well caught.

 

[seaodyssey]

It could be a peregrine falcon as far as I'm concerned. The lighting and focus is making the background look a bit flat.

Pete

 

[HelenC]

Nicely captured. I agree with @seaodyssey the processing could do with a bit of a lift.

 

[Peter123]

Perch or pole, you've got it.

 

[Nod]

It could be a peregrine falcon as far as I'm concerned. The lighting and focus is making the background look a bit flat.

Pete

Nicely captured. I agree with @seaodyssey the processing could do with a bit of a lift.

Shooting into the light and avoiding PP other than cropping and resizing hasn't done me many favours! It's at full stretch and a fairly heavy crop.
No Peregrines that I've seen here, although there is a flock of Elenora's falcons that comes over at dusk every evening.

 

[Nod]

A selection from me again and I'll probably choose a wrong one for some people's tastes!!!

First up is a Griffon Vulture (known locally [Crete] as Gypas), one of the reasons I brought the long lens and teleconverter along for the trip.
Racked right out and another hefty crop, otherwise (as always) SOOC - Fuji X-T2 with a 100-400 + 1.4x telecon.

Next up is one of the views from the balcony - fresh apricots at perfect ripeness, free for the taking, as long as you take some up to the bar for other guests who can't make the trip.

Again, at full stretch but no cropping.

Another couple from the balcony, one of one of the parent Buzzards and the other of the juvenile wondering what to do with the flappy bits! He/she managed to work it out while we were having breakfast so missed the shot with the camera but have it with the Mk 1 eyeballs! Can't help wondering if the bird we saw fledge (and I DID manage to shoot!) a few years ago is one of the parents.


Once again, full stretch and a crop.

Finally, another Buzzard shot. One of the adults atop a tree close to the nest, silhouetted against the sunset.
Had to move off the balcony and go down a floor to get a shot without the buildings so the silhouette was clean. Another fairly hefty crop, this time from the X-T1 with an 18-135 at 83mm.

Finally, the whole frame from which the above image was cropped - I prefer the colours in this one but the composition of the crop...

Can hardly see the bird in this one!

 

[wornish]

The Apricots look very tempting!

All the bird shots seem a bit soft to my eyes on here, which is a shame as they are super subjects.

 

[Nod]

They are a bit soft. Not being much of a bird photographer, I can't justify the £000s that a fast long prime would cost me so have to stick with a teleconverter behind a long zoom on the odd occasions I do venture into the genre! I'll have a go at some PP on them when we get back next week but that'll be too late (for me - I'm trying to keep to schedule!) for the challenge.

 

[Darkslinger]

I like the apricots Nod, just not as much as eating them...

 

[HelenC]

Actually, I rather like your chosen shot on this one

 

[Nod]

I like the apricots Nod, just not as much as eating them...

Me too! I was eating about 8 every day while we were there. The first couple of days, they were a touch on the tart side (about the same as Sainsbury's "Ripe and Ready...) but after that, they just got better and better. Sadly, we were a bit tight for weight, otherwise we'd have brought a load back! The plums on the tree beside the apricot trees look as though they'll be plentiful too, just in time for our return in late August.

Actually, I rather like your chosen shot on this one

It was a tough choice between the apricots and the cropped Buzzard. Had I still needed to fill the mono tech, I'd have gone for the bird but the apricots taste better, I'm sure!!!

 

[woof woof]

I like the last two scenic shots and especially the last one. Well done

 

[Nod]

I like the last two scenic shots and especially the last one. Well done

They're actually the same shot, the first is just a hefty crop from the second. Took loads of effort to go out on the balcony at just the right time! I do have a couple of similar shots with the bird right in front of the Sun a few seconds later but they need a bit of work.

Apparently, there have been Buzzards nesting in the same tree for 30+ years despite the developments in the area (which include a house that was built about 15 years ago within about 10m of the tree.)

We always have the same room (unless someone beats us to it!), in part because of the nest but also because facing West and North (dual aspect balcony), we get morning and evening sun without too much of the heat of the daytime glare.

 

[Nod]

After making the mistake of looking at other people's ideas, I was running out of my own until I took apart a pair of kitchen scissors and realised that a whole scissor is half of a pair of scissors... I contemplated a half ounce and half pound weight but felt that the half pair of scissors was a better idea anyway! Makes the choice a lot easier for me this week too!!!



Back to the micro "studio" but I've found a sheet of A3 card that's a similar colour to the A4 piece I've used before. X-30, SOOC after in-camera crop and resize.

 

[woof woof]

I can see you didn't half try hard!

haha, see what I did there?

Sorry...

That's nice and inventive Nod, well done

 

[Nod]

Ta, Alan. I'm trying to stick to as simple as possible as far as the shots themselves go and as lateral as I can go (easily!) as far as the ideas go.

 

[Kell]

I had a similar thought about things which come in pairs but are a single item. Scissors, glasses, shears, jeans, pants etc. rather than things which come in pairs but are two items (shoes, socks)

Didn't think of taking them apart though. My plan (such as it was) would have been to crop out one half of the item.

The only thing I'd say is that the lighting is a little flat.

I've had a little play in LR (I hope you don't mind, it does say yes to edit images) to see if there's anything more to be gained by adding a little contrast and trying to bring the metal out a bit. (this isn't great as I only downloaded the screen shot).

 

[Darkslinger]

Good one Nod, very creative.

 

[SimonH]

That's commitment - taking a pair of scissors apart! Did you put them back together afterwards?
Cool shot, nicely done and different!

 

[woof woof]

That's commitment - taking a pair of scissors apart! Did you put them back together afterwards?
Cool shot, nicely done and different!

I hope he didn't run with them.

 

[Nod]

I had a similar thought about things which come in pairs but are a single item. Scissors, glasses, shears, jeans, pants etc. rather than things which come in pairs but are two items (shoes, socks)

Didn't think of taking them apart though. My plan (such as it was) would have been to crop out one half of the item.

The only thing I'd say is that the lighting is a little flat.

I've had a little play in LR (I hope you don't mind, it does say yes to edit images) to see if there's anything more to be gained by adding a little contrast and trying to bring the metal out a bit. (this isn't great as I only downloaded the screen shot).

View attachment 359662

As with all the shots, PP has been kept to just cropping and resizing in the camera(s). The light is from a distant source and not very controllable other than with reflectors (which complicate matters!) or repositioning. I did move the set-up around a bit to see where was best and the original shot was it (IMO).

That's commitment - taking a pair of scissors apart! Did you put them back together afterwards?
Cool shot, nicely done and different!

Have a look at the hole - it's a keyway so the scissors can be taken apart for proper cleaning. IIRC they came as a gift from an Amway rep many years ago and are great scissors.

I hope he didn't run with them.

Run? If anyone sees me running, follow me because it'll be pretty important to get away from whatever I'm running away from...

 

[Bebop]

Great idea and I'm glad to hear they didn't break. We never do say scissor do we?

I didn't realise you could take scissors apart to clean them.

It does look a little on the dark side to me but could be my monitor.

 

[Nod]

I suppose that strictly speaking, they're kitchen shears rather than scissors but they get used (mainly) as heavy duty scissors.

Might be about 1/3 stop underexposed - the exposure compensation dial sometimes gets a gentle tweak by accident as well as the metering being set to Average rather than Centre Weighted.

 

[Nod]

A trip up onto Dartmoor sent us over the bridge at Postbridge so we stopped for a couple of minutes so I could grab a couple of shots of the old clapper bridge and the newer road bridge there. Not easy to get it without grockles...



Then, earlier today, we went to a local car show where there were some General Post Office vehicles. A GPO phones van and a couple of Postie's Bantams.



A D1


And a D7 (I think!)




As well as the vehicles, at the saw bench (steam powered, naturally!) there was a stack of yesterday's production of fence posts.



Now to decide...

 

[Nod]

Decided on a better crop of one of the Bantams.

 

[SimonH]

Cracking shots Nod. Loving the GPO motorbike!

 

[Nod]

Tempted to see if the chap who restores them would be willing to make me one with metallic paint and NOD instead of GPO on the leg shields!