Nikon Wednesday 2016: #18

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<p><strong><em>Important:</em></strong> please keep your image under 700 pixels on the longest side for in-line viewing, and <em><strong>please keep the FILE SIZE UNDER 300kb</strong></em>. Note that <strong>this includes photos hosted off-site</strong> (at Flickr, Photobucket, your own site, etc).<br /><br />Are you <strong>new to this thread?</strong> The general guidelines for these Wednesday threads are <strong><a href="/nikon-camera-forum/00W7km" rel="nofollow">right here</a></strong>:<a href="/nikon-camera-forum/00W7km" rel="nofollow">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00W7km</a>. This forum's moderators are allowing up to three images per week, so share some work!</p>

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<p>Hello Nikon Loyalists and a good Wednesday to everyone. This weekend provided a chance for me to photograph some passionate Revolutionary War reenactors portraying both Loyalists and Rebels. Quite an affair, as there were over 700 people in full regalia, and the afternoon topped off with a substantial mock battle - all held literally in George Washington's back yard at Mount Vernon, in Virginia. Here are a few shots from the day. Done any time traveling lately? Share some photos!</p><div></div>

<p>Very serious, these folks!</p><div></div>

<p>Going to have to talk to one of the organizers next time to see about doing some drone aerials of one of their battles - lots of eye candy there!</p><div></div>

<p>There's still a few of these to shoot, where I live.</p><div></div>

<p>Last weekend I chose to travel (with my wife) to historical town of Herculane . Legend has it that the weary Hercules stopped in the valley to bathe and rest. Unearthed stone carvings show that visiting Roman aristocrats turned the town into a Roman leisure center. From year 1800 this town was the jewel of Europe of thermal bath resorts. Unfortunately, now, most of the buildings are in the advanced degradation status...</p><div></div>

<p>Great shots Matt!<br>

Here are mine for the week. No travel but a flower that cropped up in my yard. Nikon Df w/ Voigtlander 125mm SL</p><div></div>

<p>#2</p><div></div>

<p>#3</p><div></div>

<p>A happy dog, down at the creek this morning.</p><div></div>

<p>No time traveling, but space this week, in Houston. At a pagoda in Hermann park, an opportunistic weed.</p><div></div>

<p>Contrasting with the lush vegetation, the park pavilion is stark and severe.</p><div></div>

<p>But the human element keeps the austerity at bay</p><div></div>

<p>Matt, your last picture is HDR ?<br>

Testing my new toy at 500 mm :</p><div></div>

<p>Time travel courtesy of a middle school play</p><div></div>

<p>Paul: No, I pretty much never use HDR, but when I do it's under very controlled conditions (for things like architecture, trying to balance interior/exterior lighting, that sort of thing). <br /><br />That third shot was simply made in RAW mode, on a cloudy day. That capture mode gives you huge latitude in post, so that you can goose the tone curves to add some drama. Obviously on that one (and the first in the series) I was being highly theatrical and used a more stylized hand in rendering the JPGs than I might have otherwise. But since the event was essentially theater, it felt like the right thing to do.<br /><br />In case anyone is feeling REALLY bored, I used the D600's native video recording ability to roll some (very wobbly!) video of the same scene. Of course I was hand-holding the camera with a 200mm lens (was just walking about, no tripod, and left the Very Serious Video Gear in the truck), so fair warning ... but here's 60 seconds of the event where I shot those stills. The video is more like a snapshot, really, without any production quality, and just slapped together edit-wise. But what the heck:<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://youtu.be/IHDnOPOA7yM">https://youtu.be/IHDnOPOA7yM</a></strong><br /><br /><br /></p>

<p>Here is a bit of lost military history, a British BREN Mark II, as mounted and displayed at the Bottle Tree Farm along US Route 66 in California's Mojave Desert.</p><div></div>

<p>And a Japanese Arisaka rifle, also from WWII.</p><div></div>

<p>On 1 May 2016 : just a kitten</p><div></div>

<p>Hi,<br /> my two photos this week were made with a Nikon D300s and the 200-400mm f/4 VR lens, tripod mounted. <br>

First photo at ISO 800 and f/8, second one at ISO 200, wide open (f/4).</p><div></div>

<p>The second one:</p><div></div>

<p>Big band at a local jazz festival</p><div></div>

<p>Petting the big cats in Chang Mai, Thailand.</p><div></div>

<p>Drinkward Hall, Harvey Mudd College<br>

Nikon D750</p><div></div>

<p>The weather finally got nice. I took my camera to the woods I mountain bike in every day with the dog. Here's the stream.</p><div></div>

<p>In the same stream, I photographed the ripples in the water reflecting the trees. The image is upside down.</p><div></div>