The Weekly Collegial Show Your Photos Starting 10 February 2025 Any Brand

This is the weekly Collegial Show Your Photos Any Brand thread where we invite you to show your own pictures. It is collegial in that it is a pleasant and friendly place among photographers to share.

I will begin this thread each Monday (Pacific Standard Time) to give each of you all the chance to share your weekend photos with us, for those that follow a regular work week schedule and choose to do it that way. But the pictures can be taken at any time with any camera, including your cell phone. It's open to all skill levels from beginners to advanced. The images posted can be anything from casual snaps to extraordinary. I'll be sure to comment to each of your photos, if you choose to share. Replies from others are encouraged also.

The intent of this thread to mainly to just show photos in a relaxed way and to generate replies or comments about them. Generally I'm not planning to critique any image unless asked. But I or we may ask things about a photo that may develop into a discussion, always being friendly and helpful. It has been a request that I mention this and from what I've learned from past experience: Can you ask a member first if they would mind you editing their photos?

Remember it's all about the enjoyment of taking pictures regardless of what we have. We can learn from each. Please share any tips or techniques too. A narrative sometimes also helps. Thanks everyone for your participation.

Subject: Blue Sky and Clouds

I don't know if you would find this boring or not, but I liked what I saw with the blue sky and clouds. It's rare that I would see something like this. I don't know why I like this, but I do. It's different than a lot of other photos that I take. I took this (as a passenger) through the windshield (windscreen). I got to play around with my new Canon R8 and Canon RF 100-400mm lens too. 😀

I'll show some more later too. 😀

Photo No. 1

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 500
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 118 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

Photo No. 2

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 500
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 118 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

Photo No. 3

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 400
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 118 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

Photo No. 4

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 118 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

Photo No. 5

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 270 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

Photo No. 6

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 300 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

Photo No. 7

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 500
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 104 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

Photo No. 8

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - -0.33
FocalLength - 104 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

Not boring at all, blue skies are nice, that also means there is a sunny side 😎

Subject: Wood Ducks

The year 2025 has been tough for me, in that it's been hard to get close to these wood ducks. On top of that, I just have not seen them very much either. On January 17th (the day I took these pictures), that was the last time I saw them. But anyway, I got a few picture I hope you all like. As you can see, I did not have any sunshine either.

Photo No. 1

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 483 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 2 - I like that I got all of them in focus.

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 483 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 3

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 483 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 4

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 2000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 483 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 5

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 2000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 552 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 6

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 5000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 600 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 7

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 5000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 600 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photo No. 8 - This is where they all hide from me. 😕

Model - Canon EOS 800D
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 5000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 150 mm
Lens Model - TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011

Photobygms,

Thanks. 😀 Yes, we had a few nice sunny days this winter. But we may get snow in a few days, down to the valley floor. I hope I can take pictures of it. 😀

Are those ducks locals or are those the that settle down for the winter and will leave when summer is getting closer, migrate to their breeding grounds?

And just like @Digirame we did see the sun again. At the moment it looks like every weekend the weather is nice, or do we just have some luck? 😋
Went to the National Park Dwingelderveld and mixed a few available marked hikingtrails together for a nice hike:

Photobygms,

They fly in during the autumn and winter. Only once did I see them in the summer in August. It seems the migratory geese scare them away. I don't know for sure or why. But when I see hundreds of these geese in the ponds, then they are not found anywhere. The wood ducks are very skittish. That's why they are so difficult to photograph. So when I get a chance to be close to them, I stick around to get as many photos that I can. They seem less afraid of me when I stay there for a long time, which unfortunately is when the sun starts to set and it gets darker.

Photobygms,

That's wonderful you have had sunny weather. I do like seeing the blue sky. I enjoyed seeing the trees and hiking trails more when I downloaded the full size. That looks so nice. 😀 Is that bird a Common Yellowthroat, which is Geothlypis trichas. If not, it looks similar.

It's an Eurasian blue tit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_blue_tit 😋

Photobygms,

Oh yeah, I can see it better now looking at it with a side view. Thanks for letting us know.

Subject: Sunny Day

Today it was sunny but cold. We are supposed to get snow on Thursday. I did find some Wood Ducks, but it was too cold to stay very long. Even with mittens it was cold.

But I did get some nice pictures. Here's one of them.

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/500 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 800
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 100 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

Nice shot @Digirame we do have snow at the moment not sunny at all 😉

Photobygms,

Thanks. I hope you are able to take a few pictures of that snow. I may also be able to do that, but I have to be careful that the roads are not too icy. A lot of people where I live do not know how to drive in snow very well, so we have to be extra careful about that too. Those are usually from people that have moved from places like California (where they don't get snow at the lower elevations). We only get on average about six inches of snow each year (that is, in the Portland, Oregon area below 500 feet elevation).

Hi all. We did get some snow, but it should be melting today. I just wanted you to all know that my new router was not working this morning. But we were able to reset the power...so now it's working on some of the computers. So if you don't hear from me in a while, it's probably because the router failed again. Photobygms, could you start the next weekly thread if I'm not responding on Monday (because of the failed router)?

Same here with the weather 😋 Snow but during the day it is melting and by night there is not much left.
If you have issues and the thread is not available on Monday I'll start a new one 👍

Photobygms,

Thanks. So far, the router is working again. I don't know why the power shut off from it. I noticed there was no lights coming from it, so we were lucky to have found a way to reset it.

Subject: Focus Bracketed and Stacked Crocus Flower Coming Through Snow

Yesterday I managed to find one crocus flower (that was open), that was poking itself through the recent snow we had. I first started taking pictures of this flower with three other cameras. I saw them on the computer and realized that some of the pedals were quite soft due to depth of field. These flowers that I saw are very small, with pedals that are less than an inch long.

So I realized that I needed to focus bracket and stack the image to get the flower to be completely in focus. So I went out again looking for that flower with the Canon R8. It was getting late in the afternoon and the light was fading fast. Ideally, it would have been better to take these with a tripod, but I took it hand-held. With it getting dark, the ISO level was quite high. I had to do it right away, because the snow was melting fast and this photo op would have been gone the following day.

I bracketed and stacked 10 images. I'm still learning about it, so I hope to see improvement with this feature in the future. But anyway, this is what I got. It was way better than what I got with the other cameras.

Model - Canon EOS R8
ExposureTime - 1/160 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 6400
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 300 mm
Lens Model - RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM