Critique 2020 Octoberfest – acnomad (Andy) Hardcore – An Extremely Old 35mm – Day 31

Palouse · Oct 25, 2020

acnomad said:
No gators in Idaho? LOL.

None yet. Global warming may change that, some day!

acnomad · Oct 25, 2020

25. Cloudburst over the Canal

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I'm calling this a canal, but it is more of a water retention area behind the ridge that forms a lock at Port Mayaca on the east shore of Lake Okeechobee. There is a true navigable canal for barges that is separated from this body of water by a thin strip of land just out of frame to the right. And Lake Okeechobee is out of frame on the other side of the ridge at left.

Photographically, I had visualized this image with the water smoothed by long exposure to reduce its texture which distracts from the reflection of the cumulus cloud. But that version of this image made the cloud itself look too blurry and didn't really improve the appearance of the reflection. I briefly considered compositing the sky from this image with the foreground from the long exposure, but did not see any real benefit to going through that effort, so I settled for this single exposure with a very heavy-handed trip through post processing. Please feel free to comment on anything you would have done differently.

jbailey930 · Oct 25, 2020

Chilling image. I agree with your technique but my choice of lens would be at least 200mm!!!!

Palouse · Oct 25, 2020

That's a complex scene, great job capturing it all so well.

Phil K · Oct 25, 2020

I like this very much. Very dramatic.

NEF Said · Oct 25, 2020

acnomad said:
22. Two Thumbs Sideways
View attachment 1672605

Interesting selection of tone. Amusing reference to Siskel and Ebert.

NEF Said · Oct 25, 2020

acnomad said:
23. Moon, Saturn, Jupiter
View attachment 1672677
Not a moment to spare during daylight hours today, but I arrived home to this front yard view of the Southern sky. Half moon (whose brightness the old W-Nikkor could not handle), Saturn (above and right of the center tree), and a very bright Jupiter (just to the left of the tree entering the frame from the right edge of frame). In this view, you can easily see how the three objects fall on the ecliptic line. Way out of the frame to the left side was Mars which had risen above the Eastern horizon, bright and ghostly red in color.

Note that in addition to making a wreck of the half moon, the W-Nikkor exhibits very noticeable comatic aberration, particularly prominent in a bright object such as Jupiter.

Difficult shot and interesting to see how the lens performs. I’ve never really tried to push lenses to their limits (intentionally).

NEF Said · Oct 25, 2020

acnomad said:
24. Gator
View attachment 1672740
How to photograph an alligator with a 35mm:

Chin up. (i.e., don't lament the fact that it is Octoberfest and there is no long lens in your bag)

Be smart. (i.e., stay back the same way you would have with that telephoto lens)

Make lemonade. (i.e., include the background that would not have appeared in a tighter field of view)

Pray. (i.e., upload and crop massively, hoping for something usable)

Bonus: upon closer inspection, two sandhill cranes can be seen feeding within the tall grass in the background.

Wonderful shot and funny description. No waders, and up to waist deep in the water?

Minuteman3 · Oct 26, 2020

acnomad said:
25. Cloudburst over the Canal
View attachment 1672812
I'm calling this a canal, but it is more of a water retention area behind the ridge that forms a lock at Port Mayaca on the east shore of Lake Okeechobee. There is a true navigable canal for barges that is separated from this body of water by a thin strip of land just out of frame to the right. And Lake Okeechobee is out of frame on the other side of the ridge at left.

Photographically, I had visualized this image with the water smoothed by long exposure to reduce its texture which distracts from the reflection of the cumulus cloud. But that version of this image made the cloud itself look too blurry and didn't really improve the appearance of the reflection. I briefly considered compositing the sky from this image with the foreground from the long exposure, but did not see any real benefit to going through that effort, so I settled for this single exposure with a very heavy-handed trip through post processing. Please feel free to comment on anything you would have done differently.

Your shots continue to be really excellent. This one, in particular, is very well done, with the lines leading the eye directly to the thunderstorm in the distance.

Well done!!

Ken

acnomad · Oct 26, 2020

jbailey930 said:
Chilling image. I agree with your technique but my choice of lens would be at least 200mm!!!!

I was thinking that 85 or 105 would be about right for this scene, but I can definitely see how a 200 would have worked well also. I was pleasantly surprised to find a usable composition with the 35.

acnomad · Oct 26, 2020

Palouse said:
That's a complex scene, great job capturing it all so well.

Thanks, Nick. There certainly was more going on in the sky than I wanted for this image.

acnomad · Oct 26, 2020

Phil K said:
I like this very much. Very dramatic.

NEF Said said:
Interesting selection of tone. Amusing reference to Siskel and Ebert.

NEF Said said:
Difficult shot and interesting to see how the lens performs. I’ve never really tried to push lenses to their limits (intentionally).

NEF Said said:
Wonderful shot and funny description. No waders, and up to waist deep in the water?

Minuteman3 said:
Your shots continue to be really excellent. This one, in particular, is very well done, with the lines leading the eye directly to the thunderstorm in the distance.

Well done!!

Ken

Thanks, Phil, Paul, and Ken!

acnomad · Oct 26, 2020

26. "Every right implies a responsibility..." - John D. Rockefeller

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I had planned a different shot for today, which did not work out at all (see the bucket). But I did exchange my ballot for this sticker and card yesterday, so today's contribution is simply this snapshot.

acnomad · Oct 27, 2020

27. Lady Bravedoe

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It's not often that I would venture out for wildlife photographs using such a short focal length, but today I got quite lucky.

Phil K · Oct 27, 2020

Nice find and nicely captured.

NEF Said · Oct 27, 2020

acnomad said:
27. Lady Bravedoe
View attachment 1672964
It's not often that I would venture out for wildlife photographs using such a short focal length, but today I got quite lucky.

Good catch. See blends in pretty well with the background (especially in B&W

)

Terri French · Oct 27, 2020

acnomad said:
25. Cloudburst over the Canal
View attachment 1672812
I'm calling this a canal, but it is more of a water retention area behind the ridge that forms a lock at Port Mayaca on the east shore of Lake Okeechobee. There is a true navigable canal for barges that is separated from this body of water by a thin strip of land just out of frame to the right. And Lake Okeechobee is out of frame on the other side of the ridge at left.

Photographically, I had visualized this image with the water smoothed by long exposure to reduce its texture which distracts from the reflection of the cumulus cloud. But that version of this image made the cloud itself look too blurry and didn't really improve the appearance of the reflection. I briefly considered compositing the sky from this image with the foreground from the long exposure, but did not see any real benefit to going through that effort, so I settled for this single exposure with a very heavy-handed trip through post processing. Please feel free to comment on anything you would have done differently.

Very dramatic image. Your B&W conversion works so well.

acnomad said:
26. "Every right implies a responsibility..." - John D. Rockefeller
View attachment 1672925
I had planned a different shot for today, which did not work out at all (see the bucket). But I did exchange my ballot for this sticker and card yesterday, so today's contribution is simply this snapshot.

Good job. I voted a few days ago as well.

acnomad said:
27. Lady Bravedoe
View attachment 1672964
It's not often that I would venture out for wildlife photographs using such a short focal length, but today I got quite lucky.

I can't believe you were able to get that shot with a 35 mm lens!

jbailey930 · Oct 27, 2020

Congrats on voting! And very nice capture of the doe. You will have to share any recipe for the BW conversions. My Silverefx license lapsed some time ago so I use what comes with LR.

acnomad · Oct 28, 2020

28. Ferdinand's Masterpiece

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Another day completely consumed with traveling, so a quick tabletop photograph of a die cast model from one of my closest friends. He was certain that I would one day buy a drivable one of these, or perhaps a 911, but in the 35 years since he made this a gift to me, it remains the only Porsche I have ever owned.

Phil K · Oct 28, 2020

A very nice capture, and a very nice model.