* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #846 / Revived #066 on 2024 07 03 *

I would say that it almost reflects the painter himself. Very thought provoking image.

Mr. Percy In His Best Form - From the archives. My grandson asked me recently about Mr. Percy, the gentleman in the photo, who was a fixture around our area. Mr. Percy was retired from his job as zookeeper, had a shelter for unwanted exotic animals and took them to visit local schools to introduce kids to these animals and warn about getting pets you can't care for. Unfortunately Mr. Percy was murdered in a robbery attempt as he came home from an event about 5 years ago. I had never told my grandson who was too young to understand at the time. Now 12, he was still shocked that anyone would murder such a kind man. We pulled up my old photos from this small town political rally for us to talk about. This was one of them, a candid of Mr. Percy taking a phone shot of one of the candidates wearing his snake.

Thinker

Matte Black SL550

I just like the lines and shapes.

This is a very limited edition Mercedes Benz SL550 the company made to commemorate their iconic Gull Wing roadster which won the Italian 1000 Mile Race (Mille Miglia) in 1955. They made only 417 (the race number of the winning car) and shipped just 100 to the U.S.

The Gull Wing car was essentially factory stock right off the production line, competing against dedicated race cars. But it was 200 pounds over the race weight. Among things they shed to lighten the car, they sanded off all the paint, leaving a matte silver (aluminium) finish. They liked the look.

The car is sitting in a dark doorway here - it's very special matte black paint, made only for this model, simply glowing.

This is not a flashy car. It doesn't draw attention to itself. You wouldn't notice it on the street, parked 50 feet away. You don't notice it . . . until you do . . .

Then it's, Oh. My. Dear. God!

And you just can't take your eyes off it.

It is regal like only Mercedes can design. And it is a beast. It is all business in the most luxurious of ways. It exudes supreme confidence. The models shipped to the U.S. have speed limiters that activate at 155 mph. The rest of the world doesn't have that limitation and, tuned to north of 650hp those cars get to their top speeds over 200 mph in frighteningly short times.

There was no way I could image the whole car. I didn't have the equipment or space. I would have needed a studio as big as a car dealership showroom. And soft boxes to match. I took pictures like this of its lines and shapes with which the designers must have had so much pleasure creating. Everywhere, on every part of its glorious body, there isn't a detail that isn't beautiful to look at and capture.

Rich

Alone on the bench

I like how this image leads from the darkness to the light.

Very good image asking to be printed large and hung on the wall. I like how well foreground and background are defined. One can concentrate on the different parts of the image and see it well.

Morning visitor

Thank you Roel, Chris and Sagittarius. I'm glad you like it.

Like the "Water Colours" image I posted last week, this type of image is not everyone's cup of tea.

It was a dull overcast day with very flat lighting when I took the photo. The documentary version didn't really do a lot for me so I experimented with different lighting until I got something I liked without it necessarily having to be totally realistic.

As someone else mentioned, a very busy scene but the huge tree adds to the interest.

Imo it would have been even better if you could have included the ground as well as the top of the tree. For me, the missing ground throws the scene slightly out of balance.

Thank you for sharing 😊

I love the perspective aspect of your photo very much. Placing the "vanishing point" along the center vertical works very well.

However, maybe it's the way my brain is wired, the floor at the bottom without any side walls just doesn't quite sit right with me. It throws the "perspective effect" out of balance imo and so lessens its impact.

Fwiw, and again maybe it's the way my brain is wired, this crop has a more powerful "perspective effect" for me and so the scene has a stronger impact imo.

Anyway, just some food for thought and thank you for sharing a wonderful photo 😊

Do you recall where you focussed?

The reason I ask is because only the top of the head is reasonably sharp. The rest of the bird is way too soft for my liking.

That's an amazing thought provoking photo with a great pose. The sharpness is amazing. He/she certainly makes me wonder what might be going through his/her mind at the time.

I am being a bit picky here, but one of my pet "must-haves" with wildlife subjects including the face is that the eyes should be at least partly visible.

I brought out a little more detail in the eyes in this version and so it adds a little more "punch" to the overall scene and its subject imo.

Thank you for sharing an amazing photo 😊

The reflection in the lens spoils it for me. It's a distracting eye-magnet. I would remove it, not hard to do.

Given that DOF is determined not just by the 35mm eq focal length but also by the aperture and subject distance how did you determine the DOF is as expected?

The top of the bird's head is in the same vertical plane as the front of the body and so the front of the body and the top of the head should both be sharp or both be blurred.

This shot was taken at 883mm eq focal length and the DOF including the whole bird is much sharper overall on my screen.

Also, given that the rough guide for recommended shutter speed is 1/(35mm eq focal length) the recommended shutter speed for 800mm eq. is 1/800s or faster unless using a tripod or one has very steady arms/hands, not the 1/160s used.

Dan,
I am glad you like this picture. In general I agree with you about eyes. But on this particular photo I decided against brightening. You can still see his eyes on the large picture, but the way it is makes it more intense IMO.