ShunCheung Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) Basic Guidelines: In the strictest sense, nature photography should not include "hand of man elements". Please refrain from images with buildings or human made structures like roads, fences, walls. Pets are not permitted. Captive subjects in zoos, arboretums, or aquariums are permitted, but must be declared, and must focus on the subject, not the captivity. Images with obvious human made elements will likely be deleted from the thread, with an explanation to the photographer. Guidelines are based on PSA rules governing Nature photography which also cover the Nature Forum. Keep your image at/under 1000 pixels on the long axis for in-line viewing. Note that this includes photos hosted off-site at Flicker, Photobucket, your own site, etc. Each member please post no more than just one image to this weekly thread per week. I know it is already 2019 in some parts of the world, but this is the final installment of Monday in Nature for 2018. Wish everybody a happy new year, and hopefully we'll see more participation on the Nature Forum in 2019. Bald eagle returning home, captured yesterday, December 30. Edited January 1, 2019 by ShunCheung 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Vongries Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Immature Bald Eagle D 7200 AF Nikkor 75-300 4.5-5.6 Macro - Yesterday 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dieter Schaefer Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Ruddy Ducks, one female, two males 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill J Boyd Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Eagle and nest....Llano, Texas 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Parsons Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 I hope you've a liking for my lichen 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Is it something I said? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bing_huey1 Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Doo Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 "Gold sand" on Moonstone Beach at dusk for a Happy and Prosperous New Year! Olympus EM1 Mark II camera with Panasonic-Leica 100-400mm lens @ 100mm (equivalent to 200mm in 35mm). 1/6400s f/4 ISO 1600. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnelson Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Well, it's been a rather ducky year. Let's not make it too daffy ;) Cinnamon Teal going daffy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted January 1, 2019 Author Share Posted January 1, 2019 Eagle and nest....Llano, Texas[ATTACH=full]1277416[/ATTACH] Bill Boyd, that is a huge nest. I read that bald eagle nests weight about a ton, literally. They can be as heavy as 2 to 3 tons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill J Boyd Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Bill Boyd, that is a huge nest. I read that bald eagle nests weight about a ton, literally. They can be as heavy as 2 to 3 tons. Shun you are correct about weight of Eagle nest. This photo was taken in 2015 when the longest lens I had at that time was a 300mm. A pair of eagles had nested for several years about 100 yds from highway on private ranch land. So many photographers were stopping that TXDOT (highway dept) built a paved parking lot alongside road. Unfortunately in 2016, a windstorm blew the tree over destroying the nest. Eagles are still in area but no longer visible from the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted January 1, 2019 Author Share Posted January 1, 2019 Bill, sorry to hear about your eagle story. In my case a pair of bald eagles have been nesting on a redwood tree next to Curtner Elementary School in Milpitas, California, in the Silicon Valley. Without traffic, that school is about 15 minutes from my house. Hence I have been photographing there on and off in the last two years. This past spring/summer they raised two eaglets, and last year (2017) just one. Since that is a suburban area, some people have taken drones to the nest. Fortunately they have not yet scared the eagles away, and the drone activity has stopped. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_szeto Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 A nuthatch. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supriyo Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuntaColorada Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Hoppy New Year! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Sorensen Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 [ATTACH=full]1277496[/ATTACH] Supriyo, Awesome!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supriyo Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Supriyo, Awesome!!! Rod, thank you for the encouragement! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Sorensen Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Rod, thank you for the encouragement! Supriyo, It happens that I am in an Ansel Adams reading frenzy the last few weeks, and have reviewed his photographic methods, development techniques, etc. I have marveled at his B&W photos and how they speak to the viewer. That reminded me that he was really excellent but also not exactly a magician, just a real master at the "Photoshop" technology that existed at that time. Although your photo isn't a landscape like most of his, it certainly has shared features. A really superb giraffe portrait. In my opinion, the only improvement might be another 1/2-1 stop of exposure to just give it a bit more detail on the right side of the head. Unless that ruins the whole effect of course. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Peri Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 ...In my opinion, the only improvement might be another 1/2-1 stop of exposure to just give it a bit more detail on the right side of the head.... Rod I think you mean the LEFT side of the head. I think that would blow out the bright areas on the right side. I vote to leave the photo alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Sorensen Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 I think you mean the LEFT side of the head. I think that would blow out the bright areas on the right side. I vote to leave the photo alone. Like I said, UNLESS it ruins the effect. And I meant the right (dark) side. It's not that I don't like it as it is, like I said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Doo Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Rod, thank you for the encouragement! Hope Supriyo does not mind, Here's the after-effect of a quick Photoshop Shadow-Highlight pass of this very nice head shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Peri Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 I'm talking about the LEFT side of the photo, not the true-to-life left side of the giraffe. Sorry for the confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supriyo Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Supriyo, It happens that I am in an Ansel Adams reading frenzy the last few weeks, and have reviewed his photographic methods, development techniques, etc. I have marveled at his B&W photos and how they speak to the viewer. That reminded me that he was really excellent but also not exactly a magician, just a real master at the "Photoshop" technology that existed at that time. Although your photo isn't a landscape like most of his, it certainly has shared features. A really superb giraffe portrait. In my opinion, the only improvement might be another 1/2-1 stop of exposure to just give it a bit more detail on the right side of the head. Unless that ruins the whole effect of course. Rod Rod, I think you were referring to the dark (black) area in the background on the right side of the photo. Is that correct? The extended blackness in that area bothered me as well, so I cropped it a bit from the original frame. My goal was to subdue the background to make the head stand out, which led to the right side becoming too dark may be. Actually there is enough details in the RAW file to retrieve information there. Using masks, it is also possible to independently lift up that area without affecting tonality in the rest of the image. There is a lot to play with in the photo I think. Will work on it in the weekend. Thank you very much for your observation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supriyo Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Hope Supriyo does not mind, Here's the after-effect of a quick Photoshop Shadow-Highlight pass of this very nice head shot. [ATTACH=full]1277912[/ATTACH] Thank you, Mary. Your edit shows that there is detail available on the right side background which can be retrieved. This is of course even more effective in the RAW file. One thing is, improving shadow details also makes the background vegetation more prominent which starts competing for attention to some extent. At what point, this becomes distracting is a good question. That is something I had to consider a lot when editing the photo, because in the original image, the vegetation was quite bright. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Dale Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Eastern Phoebe taken in my yard in April 2008 taken with a D3 and a 200-400mm lens. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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