Photo Of The Day - January 2018

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Welcome to Photo of the Day. The POTD thread was started by iGary in May, 2006 and converted to a monthly thread in November 2007 by Arn. POTD is one of the most popular picture groups on MacRumors, often exceeding 500 posts and 20,000 views per month.

Photo of the Day is intended to be a showcase for your best pictures. There is no limit to your gear, just your imagination. P&S and film cameras are welcome along with DSLRs. There are no themes like the Weekly Contest, and no winners (or losers) either.

Policies

*One Photo per Day - Don't post more than one photo each day.

*Multi-Quote - To comment on several photos, click the "+ (Multi-Quote) button. This puts all your comments in one post. Multi-Quoting is required on all of the MacRumors forums.

*SFW (Safe for Work) only - This is a site - wide rule. If you wouldn't show it in a public place, then it's NSFW (not safe for work). Think before you post.

*Describe your photo - Tell what it is and where you took it. If you know the EXIF data of a photo, include it. The following EXIF fields are recommended: Camera, ISO, Focal Length, Shutter/Aperture and Lens.


Note: Anyone may start the Photo of the Day thread on the first of the month GMT. Please copy a quote of this post to maintain all the formatting.

** To see all of our past POTD threads (up to July 2013) please see the sticky thread here**
** To see all of the POTD threads from August 2013 onwards see the thread here**

--------------------
Happy New Year and welcome to 2018!

A flower from our yard from me today, taken in bright sunlight.

Canon 6D, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro, Partial Metering, Aperture Priority
ISO 100, 90mm, f/2.8, 1/4000

 

[bunnspecial]

Alright, I'll start the year off with a photo taken in May of 2017, although I'm only just getting around to doing something with it.

This is part of my many year long project on the Churches of the Bluegrass. This is Mt. Vernon Baptist Church. The congregation dates to 1822, and the current building to 1903. It is located in Woodford County, KY along Old Frankfort Pike.

This is a frame of Velvia 50 scanned as-is(with some judicious application of Digital ICE) on a Nikon Coolscan V. It was shot in a Nikon F4, and to the best of my recollection with an 18mm f/3.5 AI-s lens. This particular day had "Velvia" written all over it.

 

[Janichsan]

New Year's Day, time for my annual mildly depressing picture of party remnants. The extremely gloomy weather we have here at the moment helps to set the mood.

 

[Hughmac]

Taken about 10 days ago - the last time we had some decent sun...



Willow in Winter (Explored) by Hugh Russell, on Flickr

Cheers

Hugh

 

[stillcrazyman]

Patterns

 

[Apple fanboy]

Welcome to Photo of the Day. The POTD thread was started by iGary in May, 2006 and converted to a monthly thread in November 2007 by Arn. POTD is one of the most popular picture groups on MacRumors, often exceeding 500 posts and 20,000 views per month.

Photo of the Day is intended to be a showcase for your best pictures. There is no limit to your gear, just your imagination. P&S and film cameras are welcome along with DSLRs. There are no themes like the Weekly Contest, and no winners (or losers) either.

Policies

*One Photo per Day - Don't post more than one photo each day.

*Multi-Quote - To comment on several photos, click the "+ (Multi-Quote) button. This puts all your comments in one post. Multi-Quoting is required on all of the MacRumors forums.

*SFW (Safe for Work) only - This is a site - wide rule. If you wouldn't show it in a public place, then it's NSFW (not safe for work). Think before you post.

*Describe your photo - Tell what it is and where you took it. If you know the EXIF data of a photo, include it. The following EXIF fields are recommended: Camera, ISO, Focal Length, Shutter/Aperture and Lens.


Note: Anyone may start the Photo of the Day thread on the first of the month GMT. Please copy a quote of this post to maintain all the formatting.

** To see all of our past POTD threads (up to July 2013) please see the sticky thread here**
** To see all of the POTD threads from August 2013 onwards see the thread here**

--------------------
Happy New Year and welcome to 2018!

A flower from our yard from me today, taken in bright sunlight.

Canon 6D, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro, Partial Metering, Aperture Priority
ISO 100, 90mm, f/2.8, 1/4000

Nicely done.
[doublepost=1514813464][/doublepost]

Alright, I'll start the year off with a photo taken in May of 2017, although I'm only just getting around to doing something with it.

This is part of my many year long project on the Churches of the Bluegrass. This is Mt. Vernon Baptist Church. The congregation dates to 1822, and the current building to 1903. It is located in Woodford County, KY along Old Frankfort Pike.

This is a frame of Velvia 50 scanned as-is(with some judicious application of Digital ICE) on a Nikon Coolscan V. It was shot in a Nikon F4, and to the best of my recollection with an 18mm f/3.5 AI-s lens. This particular day had "Velvia" written all over it.

View attachment 744655

Old school! I think it needs a small tilt to the right though.
[doublepost=1514813536][/doublepost]

New Year's Day, time for my annual mildly depressing picture of party remnants. The extremely gloomy weather we have here at the moment helps to set the mood.

No pavement pizza?
[doublepost=1514813658][/doublepost]

Taken about 10 days ago - the last time we had some decent sun...



Willow in Winter (Explored) by Hugh Russell, on Flickr

Cheers

Hugh

Nice. We have beautiful sunshine here at the moment, although it rained all morning.

 

[Doylem]

You'll be wanting to know how Moondancer is faring...

All the best for 2018...

 

[Hughmac]

Nicely done.
[doublepost=1514813464][/doublepost]
Old school! I think it needs a small tilt to the right though.
[doublepost=1514813536][/doublepost]
No pavement pizza?
[doublepost=1514813658][/doublepost]
Nice. We have beautiful sunshine here at the moment, although it rained all morning.

Thanks. Get out there now if it's sunny !!
[doublepost=1514814149][/doublepost]

You'll be wanting to know how Moondancer is faring...

All the best for 2018...

Happy New Year

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Apple fanboy]

Thanks. Get out there now if it's sunny !!
[doublepost=1514814149][/doublepost]
Happy New Year

Cheers

Hugh

Cold and sunny!

 

[Janichsan]

No pavement pizza?

(EDIT: It took a while before it clicked what you meant…) Some, but not a nice motif.

 

[Apple fanboy]

You'll be wanting to know how Moondancer is faring...

All the best for 2018...

Been worrying about it for days! Happy motoring in 2018. Hope all your destinations have that good light you always seem to find!

 

[anotherscotsman]

Happy New Year everyone. Start the year with a few shots taken between the rain and sleet during an afternoon out in Manchester. We know how to do gloom in these parts. I managed to avoid the pavement pizzas and associated seasonal detritus....Castlefields area is pretty central to Manchester's history, being the site of the original Roman fort (the castle part of the name) as well as being the focus of the canals and warehousing associated with Cottonopolis. Comments always appreciated.


Castlefields basin by another scotsman, on Flickr

 

[Apple fanboy]

Happy New Year everyone. Start the year with a few shots taken between the rain and sleet during an afternoon out in Manchester. We know how to do gloom in these parts. I managed to avoid the pavement pizzas and associated seasonal detritus....Castlefields area is pretty central to Manchester's history, being the site of the original Roman fort (the castle part of the name) as well as being the focus of the canals and warehousing associated with Cottonopolis. Comments always appreciated.


Castlefields basin by another scotsman, on Flickr

Nice leading lines drawing you in to the tower.

 

[inkmich]

Some sun on this early winter day

Tropical Scene by Lance Randall, on Flickr

 

[Keleko]

First of several different takes on this beached sailboat.

From what I have gathered, the owner was out in the Gulf when hurricane Nate was active there. He had some sort of problem with the boat which prompted him to call for a rescue from the US Coast Guard. He thought he'd never see his sailboat again. About 6 weeks later he got a call that his sailboat had washed up at Miramar Beach near Destin, FL. He has been able to recover his belongings, but he doesn't have the money to get it off the beach (something around $11k from what I was told). It has been sitting there for about the past month since it was grounded there.

The name of the boat is the Phantom of the Aqua.

 

[bunnspecial]

Old school! I think it needs a small tilt to the right though.

It looks like I need to calibrate the monitor on my scanning computer, too. Looking at it on my laptop, it looks a bit cool to my eyes, while it looked like the transparency when I scanned it. I'll clean up the tilt then, although that's also a bit of the danger of cropping too closely in camera.

BTW, I still shoot a lot of transparency film-or specifically Velvia-in sizes from 35mm to 4x5. It's hard to beat the color, especially on nice day.

If I'd had it when I'd taken the photo, I'd have used my 14-24 2.8. It's mostly compatible with the F4 as long as I stick to P and S modes, although I tend to pair it with my F5 or F100 more often. It's also optically much better than the old 18mm, although the 18mm is certainly a lot easier to carry. It's also a lot easier to filter as long as I stick to Nikon brand filters-I keep the equivalent of an 81A on my lenses most of the time when shooting Velvia, and use a Y2 or strong with B&W.

 

[Apple fanboy]

It looks like I need to calibrate the monitor on my scanning computer, too. Looking at it on my laptop, it looks a bit cool to my eyes, while it looked like the transparency when I scanned it. I'll clean up the tilt then, although that's also a bit of the danger of cropping too closely in camera.

BTW, I still shoot a lot of transparency film-or specifically Velvia-in sizes from 35mm to 4x5. It's hard to beat the color, especially on nice day.

If I'd had it when I'd taken the photo, I'd have used my 14-24 2.8. It's mostly compatible with the F4 as long as I stick to P and S modes, although I tend to pair it with my F5 or F100 more often. It's also optically much better than the old 18mm, although the 18mm is certainly a lot easier to carry. It's also a lot easier to filter as long as I stick to Nikon brand filters-I keep the equivalent of an 81A on my lenses most of the time when shooting Velvia, and use a Y2 or strong with B&W.

The Nikon 14-24mm 2.8? I have that lens. It's beautiful but not light by any stretch of the imagination!
Re the calibration it's probably time I did mine too.

 

[bunnspecial]

he Nikon 14-24mm 2.8? I have that lens. It's beautiful but not light by any stretch of the imagination!

Probably my favorite lens I own.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Probably my favorite lens I own.

I like it a lot too. But I love my 105mm macro as well. Plus my 200-500mm gets me closer to the action than my 70-200mm. It's no 500mm f4, but I'm not made of money!

 

[bunnspecial]

But I love my 105mm macro as well.

Which version do you have?

I have the older 105 2.8D and love it, although I have the newer AF-S/VR version on lay-a-way. Even though I'm excited about the new version, I don't see myself getting rid of the D since it's a lot more compatible with bellows and extension tube. Plus, it works on everything from my F to my D800.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Which version do you have?

I have the older 105 2.8D and love it, although I have the newer AF-S/VR version on lay-a-way. Even though I'm excited about the new version, I don't see myself getting rid of the D since it's a lot more compatible with bellows and extension tube. Plus, it works on everything from my F to my D800.

The newer AF-S/VR. It works fine with my extension tubes. Although generally I use manual focus when I'm that close.

 

[bunnspecial]

The newer AF-S/VR. It works fine with my extension tubes. Although generally I use manual focus when I'm that close.

Here's the issue I see with the lens with extension tubes:

1. You need "smart" tubes to pass the electrical contacts through to the camera

2. I've not hunted for them, but I'd hate to think what "smart" F mount bellows cost. Mine are Novaflex, and I can stick anything on them as long as it has an aperture ring(including non-Nikon lenses and enlarger lenses).

3. I can't speak to the 105 VR specifically, but optical quality with floating element lenses often degrades when you start getting into extreme magnification. Even classic lenses like the AI-s 55mm 2.8 are often considered inferior to the older AI/non-AI 55mm 3.5 at extreme close-up.

Still, the 105mm VR looks to be in a lot of ways better going down to 1:1, which is why I'm buying one

 

[Apple fanboy]

Here's the issue I see with the lens with extension tubes:

1. You need "smart" tubes to pass the electrical contacts through to the camera

2. I've not hunted for them, but I'd hate to think what "smart" F mount bellows cost. Mine are Novaflex, and I can stick anything on them as long as it has an aperture ring(including non-Nikon lenses and enlarger lenses).

3. I can't speak to the 105 VR specifically, but optical quality with floating element lenses often degrades when you start getting into extreme magnification. Even classic lenses like the AI-s 55mm 2.8 are often considered inferior to the older AI/non-AI 55mm 3.5 at extreme close-up.

Still, the 105mm VR looks to be in a lot of ways better going down to 1:1, which is why I'm buying one

It's not that expensive either as 2.8 lenses go. I got mine when I bought my D750. Traded in an old D300 and various bits and bobs plus a show price at tps.

 

[bunnspecial]

It's not that expensive either as 2.8 lenses go. I got mine when I bought my D750. Traded in an old D300 and various bits and bobs plus a show price at tps.

Fortunately, f/2.8 prime lenses in "normal" focal lengths tend to be fairly affordable. They don't start getting super expensive until you get out of the 24mm-200mm range.

I have a 135mm f/2.8 AI and it's a real gem of a lens and I think I paid $150 for it(used, obviously). I also have a 135mm f/2 AI-s, and desperately want the 135mm f/2 DC. The latter is a bit too rich for me now, and the f/2 adds enough size and weight over the 2.8 that I pick the 2.8 most of the time.

In the 2.8 or faster prime category, I have an AI 24mm 2.8, AI-s 35mm 1.4, 45mm 2.8 GN(AI converted), 45mm 2.8 AI-P, more 50mm than I care to count in 1.4 and 1.8, pre-AI, AI, AI-s, and AF, an AI-converted 55mm 1.2, non-AI 5.8cm 1.4, 85mm 1.4, AI-converted 105 2.5, 105mm 2.8D Micro, and the 135s I mentioned.

Every Nikon shooter should have a 105 2.5 in their collection, whether AI or AI-s. This was a reference lens for a long time and is absolutely superb. They are also plentiful enough that prices tend to be low on them. I don't think the optical formula changed from the pre-AI days to the AI-s, although all else being equal the AI-s versions of a given lens tend to have better coatings.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Fortunately, f/2.8 prime lenses in "normal" focal lengths tend to be fairly affordable. They don't start getting super expensive until you get out of the 24mm-200mm range.

I have a 135mm f/2.8 AI and it's a real gem of a lens and I think I paid $150 for it(used, obviously). I also have a 135mm f/2 AI-s, and desperately want the 135mm f/2 DC. The latter is a bit too rich for me now, and the f/2 adds enough size and weight over the 2.8 that I pick the 2.8 most of the time.

In the 2.8 or faster prime category, I have an AI 24mm 2.8, AI-s 35mm 1.4, 45mm 2.8 GN(AI converted), 45mm 2.8 AI-P, more 50mm than I care to count in 1.4 and 1.8, pre-AI, AI, AI-s, and AF, an AI-converted 55mm 1.2, non-AI 5.8cm 1.4, 85mm 1.4, AI-converted 105 2.5, 105mm 2.8D Micro, and the 135s I mentioned.

Every Nikon shooter should have a 105 2.5 in their collection, whether AI or AI-s. This was a reference lens for a long time and is absolutely superb. They are also plentiful enough that prices tend to be low on them. I don't think the optical formula changed from the pre-AI days to the AI-s, although all else being equal the AI-s versions of a given lens tend to have better coatings.

I think the VR makes a difference to. I often use it on a tripod, but that's not always an option with wildlife.

With the exception of my 200-500 and my 105mm all my glass was second hand. I had a good supply through work some years ago.

I'm actually going to get some of them serviced this year. Especially the 24-70mm. It's used the most so I think it would benefit from a bit of love. Will probably cost me what I paid for it, but that's okay.

Actually I picked up a 50mm 1.8 new, but they are so cheap. I considered the 1.4, but lots of reviews said the 1.8 was sharper.