The Photographers thread: Show us your stuff!!

[Christopher]

In the photos of the bears the fish look almost photoshopped, especially in that top picture!

And 30 yards or so just seems so close!

[KC]

Thanks, Matt! Did you make your way through that labyrinth in the first picture from the Shrine of St. Thérèse?

I clicked the link you provided and was awestruck at the first image on the site ... a spectacular view of the shrine under the northern lights. Also, I found out that the second of your pictures shows the columbarium there ... certainly a beautiful place for one's ashes to repose, awaiting the Resurrection.

[KC]

In the photos of the bears the fish look almost photoshopped, especially in that top picture!

I was thinking the bears looked natural, but the fish looked photoshopped!

[Matt]

Yeah, the fish does look photoshopped -- I actually agree with you. But, it's real. You can see the wake where he left the water.

[Matt]

Thanks, Matt! Did you make your way through that labyrinth in the first picture from the Shrine of St. Thérèse?

That would have been a possibility, except that I was soaked to the bone and tired after having spent the day sight-seeing. I did enjoy it though. It was very beautiful and serene, and I was the only one there because it was pouring at the time, so I liked that I had the whole place to myself, but it was a short visit because of the rain.

I clicked the link you provided and was awestruck at the first image on the site ... a spectacular view of the shrine under the northern lights. Also, I found out that the second of your pictures shows the columbarium there ... certainly a beautiful place for one's ashes to repose, awaiting the Resurrection.

Oh, I know. I wished we could have seen the Northern Lights, but they're a winter event, mainly occuring September - April.

[KC]

I think it's more of a matter of needing dark skies to see them ... The sky is too light in the far north in the summer months. But auroras can occur year-round.

https://www.theaurorazone.com/about-the-aurora/the-science-of-the-northern-lights/the-best-time-to-see-the-northern-lights

I've had thoughts of taking a journey to northern Scandinavia in the winter just to try to see them, but then ... you can never be sure if they're going to show up, and then the sky has to be clear, as well.

[Matt]

I just looked over that website, and it's frustrating that they won't give an answer to the question:  How likely am I to see the Northern Lights?  I get that it varies, but there's a statistical answer that they should be able to provide.  They have these tours, and if you pay thousands of dollars to go on one, and go sit in negative degree weather from 9pm to 1am, they should be able to say "65% of our trips have resulted in at least one viewing of the Northern Lights".  Or whatever number.  There has to be a better answer than "We can't say".  And if it was closer to 80%, then I'd think it would be worth trying it.

[Jed Cooper]

“Within Without You” 10/18/17

Views inside & outside a tree in Malden.  I liked the view standing at the base of this tree so I decided to capture some images.  That’s the first five.  You’d think the last six could be different trees but they are one and the same, just different angles.   In one of the images, it appears the sun is splitting the tree in half from the top.
























Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Matt]

“Within Without You” 10/18/17

Channeling some George Harrison Sgt. Pepper's?

Here's a tree pic of my own -- see if anyone can guess the type of baby bird in this image:



And my best Puffin photo:



This is Mendenhall Glacier, which is one of the glaciers that's easiest to get to if you're visitng Juneau. There's a visitor's center with parking, and a variety of trails. I missed seeing a bear here, and this was before I saw all the grizzly bears above, so I was disappointed because it seemed I just kept missing them, both here and at Eagle Beach, another great place to spot Eagles, Bears, and spawning salmon.



Here's one more shot of that father grizzly. He almost looks stuffed because he's so perfectly large and foreboding:



These last two are from the flight out of Alaska. I wanted to spend time in Seattle, so chose a flight that would give me a 7 hour layover -- just enough to photograph their iconic skyline.  But, it meant stopping twice between Juneau in Seattle.  First, in Sitka, and then in  Ketchikan. 

Sitka:




Ketchikan:



And that's it for Alaska. Next:  Seattle.

[KC]

Magnificent, Matt! I love that one of the grizzly, he looks like the essence of bear-ness.

Is that a baby eagle in the top pic?

[Matt]

Is that a baby eagle in the top pic?

Why yes, it is! 

[KC]

Happy Halloween!

[KC]

More Happy Halloween:

[Matt]

Zoo pics from the Cincinatti Zoo:



The world-famous Fiona with her mother (her father died this week)







I've never seen this animal in person or online before this trip. Anyone know what it is?

[KC]

Zoo pics from the Cincinatti Zoo:
The world-famous Fiona with her mother (her father died this week)

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

I've never seen this animal in person or online before this trip. Anyone know what it is?

Lycaon pictus, or African wild dog, African hunting dog, African painted dog, painted hunting dog or painted wolf. It is a canid native to Sub-Saharan Africa.

(I didn't know, but Google Image Search did.)

[Matt]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

Lycaon pictus, or African wild dog, African hunting dog, African painted dog, painted hunting dog or painted wolf. It is a canid native to Sub-Saharan Africa.

(I didn't know, but Google Image Search did.)

Yes to all of the above.  Now let's see if you can guess this one (without help from Google):



If you can't name the animal, then what two animals are his closest relatives? One is more obvious than the other!

And here's a few more pics:













With zoo pics, I like to zoom in very close or else it looks too much like a zoo pic. I try to avoid showing glass enclosures or fences in or around the area, or feeding dispensers. The one thing that's hardest to get around are the tags they use on some of the animals -- I notice them on all the birds, but not on the other animals.  So shooting Ostriches, Flamingos and Penguins were definitely close-up photos.  I got lucky on this picture, because although there are huge tags around the entire wing of the penguins, they were turned toward me in a way that they weren't shown:

[KC]

Yes to all of the above.  Now let's see if you can guess this one (without help from Google):



If you can't name the animal, then what two animals are his closest relatives? One is more obvious than the other!

It's that Irish animal ... an O'Kapi!

And they looks like they're half zebra, and half (short and unspotted) giraffe, so I guess that's the answer. I did take a quick peek at Google, but only to see if "okapi" was spelled right. 

[Christopher]

I haven't been to the Cincinnati zoo since I was a kid. Those are cool shots, Matt.

[Matt]

It's that Irish animal ... an O'Kapi!

And they looks like they're half zebra, and half (short and unspotted) giraffe, so I guess that's the answer. I did take a quick peek at Google, but only to see if "okapi" was spelled right. 

You get the gold star for that -- Okapi it is! And Giraffe and Zebra is also correct!

If you're still having fun, how about this one? There's no scale included to see the size, but they are about 2.5 to 3 feet long.



(^ Not a very artistic picture, so here's a few more):

I haven't been to the Cincinnati zoo since I was a kid.

Are you close, Christopher? I know you're in Ohio, but not sure what city. In any case, it's a great zoo -- and as adults, I think we can appreciate the zoo more than kids, if we allow our inner child to enjoy it.  I don't think kids would get how rare it is to see these animals in person when they're as young as they are. To them, the goat in the zoo's petting zoo is as novel as seeing the snow leopard. But as we get older, we appreciate that some of these animals are near extinction, and that we miss out on how gorgeous our planet is if we don't see them. There's this quote from Rocky, Christopher you may know it -- so I won't quote it yet -- where Rocky is going to take Adrian on their first date, and the local mob boss's bodyguard tells Rocky where to take her and why.  It's a funny quote, and it runs through my mind at least once when I go to the zoo. It's a laughable quote because it's ridiculous, but I think a lot of adults miss out on seeing these things because they're thought to be more for kids. The Cincy zoo has beer and wine sales. So, grab a camera, and go. It's a great day!

[Matt]

I'm actually pretty disappointed in that last photo. I thought I got the best shot of Red Pandas ever. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera set with a fast shutter speed for capturing action, and the lens was too slow to capture the playing. It came out with motion blur, and I couldn't tell when looking at it on the little camera screen. I thought I had captured an action shot perfectly, and was really happy with myself.     To me, photography is like hunting, only you appreciate the animals, you don't hurt them. So getting that "prized shot" is as rewarding as I suppose it would be for Wilson to shoot the elephant.