Your Canon Photos No. 29: 19th to 25th November 2023

This weekly thread is principally intended for you to showcase your photos made with Canon cameras of all sorts: SLR, DSLR, Mirrorless, M-series, APS-C, film, etc. But any brand of camera will be accepted, including photos taken with your phone. We do enjoy reading an accompanying text explaining your photo and any special techniques you may have used. Comments and helpful criticisms on others' photos are also welcome: we can all learn something from each other. We look forward to seeing your contributions, and new participants to this series of threads are always welcome!

A new thread for the following week will be posted next Saturday around 10 pm UK time.

Digirame and I will be active here and are sharing the hosting, but we are used to all joining in and commenting on others' photos.

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Last week, Digirame got the ball rolling with a series from El Tigre Festival of young people having fun showing their exotic costumes.

Steve Thomas was inundated by starlings, and is making progress with his ND filter experiments. His picture in the "golden hour" is quite evocative.

Photobygms hiked in the Terhorsterzand area with some excellent autumnal views, appreciated by many.

Fotoworld showed us a leopard, a cheetah and a lion from Kruger National Park. These animals have wonderful eyes!

My contribution, of the Imperial Palace in Vienna was less exotic. It has become markedly colder in the last couple of days, although living in a city often means that we dont notice the leaves changing colour and dropping as much as those in the countryside. I balanced that with a photo of an enormous stretched Hummer -- exotic enough for anyone!

OpenCube's contributions are certainy "different" and make a good contrast to what the rest of us are doing.

Dunlin was in Exeter at night and turned in an interesting shot of a deserted corner. I hope he will find interesting Christmas decorations locally to impress us with.

Simplejoy has a knack of making even the simplest of things look different. His photo with the Albertina in the background was so well disguised that I didnt recognise it. (Perhaps he will recognise the building behind my Hummer photo!)

The Black Kodak: 001

deleted

OpenCube,

It looks like a smaller man on the upper left side of the picture, with a larger face in the center. How did you create that?

For those are interested, I completely rewrote my computer program to pull out the EXIF data I wanted from three different cameras. The reason I had to rewrite it, was because when I updated my IrfanView software that produced the complete EXIF data, that had all changed. The Canon 800D and Canon T7i data was the same or nearly the same, from what I sampled. But the Canon M50 MKII EXIF data was so much different so many times, with extra spaces and total overall length etc. So I had to think of another way to write the code. What I noticed was that the data I was interested in extracting and had unique identifiers on the left side. That was all I needed. With a For Loop from top to bottom of all the EXIF data, I pulled it out for each picture and then started all over again once I saw another Filename. I added spaces and Photo No. with a number defined by a counter. It was written much more simply than what I had previously. I did all of this with VBA in MS Word, which is something I normally do not do. But it was fun doing something different. So the result is what I show below:

Edit: What I noticed with this is that I did not pull out the focal length that was used (but Dprevived shows it). I'll do that now...ah...always something with code. 😀 That should be easy; I just inadvertently missed it.

Another edit: OK, I did patch the code quite fast and it ran perfectly. Since I had time, I decided to add in the focal length the modified code produced.

Subject: Portland, Oregon

Last month I decided to visit Portland, Oregon and take pictures. What I will show is where I walked along the waterfront of the Willamette River on the west side. I also took some interesting street photography also near downtown (which I'm not showing here now). I found dark building shadows made pictures challenging, forcing me at times to use high ISO levels.

Photo No. 1 - This is the Burnside Bridge.

Filename - Resized1DPR1
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/250 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 17 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 2 - Now we see the Hawthorne Bridge.

Filename - Resized1DPR2
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/250 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 28 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 3 - Here are some nearby buildings showing the autumn colors.

Filename - Resized1DPR3
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 24 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 4 - Again.... The grassy area is a nice place to play next to the river.

Filename - Resized1DPR4
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 250
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 16 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 5 - Now, I'm walking closer to the Hawthorne Bridge.

Filename - Resized1DPR5
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 17 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 6 - We see more buildings and a fountain that is not operating at the moment. There are very few people to be found. But in the summer, it's packed with people playing in the water fountain on a hot day.

Filename - Resized1DPR6
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 200
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 15 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 7 - We are still walking towards the Hawthorne Bridge. We see the Portland Spirit on the right side and the Burnside Bridge again in the distance.

Filename - Resized1DPR7
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 22 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 8 - I'm able to walk on the Hawthorne Bridge, traveling in an eastward direction. Again, there were very few pedestrians.

Filename - Resized1DPR8
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 400
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 29 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 9 - I turned around on the Hawthorne Bridge and walked west.

Filename - Resized1DPR9
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 640
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 17 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 10 - I exited off the bridge and continued walking south. We now see the marina.

Filename - Resized1DPR10
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 16 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 11 - Well, I had to walk down this ramp and see all of these boats.

Filename - Resized1DPR11
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 16 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 12 - Where these boats were docked we see more buildings in the background.

Filename - Resized1DPR12
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 500
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 30 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 13 - OK, it was time for me to leave, walking north with the Hawthorne Bridge in the background.

Filename - Resized1DPR13
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 160
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 24 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 14 - Continuing along a sidewalk south of the marina I saw these people riding bicycles.

Filename - Resized1DPR14
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/250 seconds
FNumber - 8
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
ExposureBiasValue - -0.33
FocalLength - 45 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 15 - And one more.... Finding people for some street photography was difficult as there were very few of them on this nice sunny day.

Filename - Resized1DPR15
Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/250 seconds
FNumber - 8
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
ExposureBiasValue - -0.33
FocalLength - 42 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Great you've got your code back up and running.
I enjoyed this series. I think #3 #4 have really nice colours, and #8 is definitely my favourite. Really interesting shot.

"It's simple. We kill both Biggie and Pac."

Dunlin,

Thanks. I liked no. 8 also for the shadows I was able to capture.

OpenCube,

I'm not sure why you mentioned Biggie and Pac who were killed in their 20's. The photo looks a little distressing to me.

The image is built on distress. The subject matter is Kodak Black. Gangster rapper extraordinaire. What started me down the path of editing this photo was how "Jokery" it felt. The twisting smile stretching out like a Glasgow smile. The calmer looking right side contrasts with the truly twisted intentions of what the grinning edge of the left portrays, just like a grinning image of the Joker in comic books and films would suggest. I pushed the color scheme in that direction. The "hand" in the lower left corner feels like it's closing, almost as if around a pistol, into a fist, or around some other tool of violence. Could this be me projecting my notions about the violence of the gang culture Kodak proudly represents in his music? Perhaps. Still, it's fitting with the theme of the Joker who commits acts of violence on whims.

This image, with its themes in place in my head, took me back to a scene in The Dark Knight where Joker is holding court and says, "It's simple, we kill the Batman.” Kodak is not a comic book villain with an archrival (although he may have one for gang reasons, I don't know, it's still not as unserious as Bat-Mite), he is however prone to mention using tools of violence to achieve his goals in his street life. Violence in gangster rap culture still remains a twisted mirror held up to reflect many things. Two of the most infamous moments of violence in the history of rap music are tied to one another - the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. You don't even need to have heard their music to know they were gunned down. As such, I mixed in their memories to the phrase and tied it all back into the moment it reminded me of.

The time frames don't match up for the three real people, but phrases such as "sliding on your opps", which means to literally murder other people, still remain popular in the music and culture in spite of all the horrible results it has led to. If you wanna know what sadness feels like as a music fan, imagine finding a new artist for you. You're loving all this new music you're discovering. Banger after banger. And then, about two hours later, you find out he was murdered outside of an Atlanta nightclub two years before you just discovered him. And then that experience leads to the exact same scenario with another artist who might have been connected to the first one getting killed. These people did not learn from the past, and it's distressing to see it still happening as a music fan and human being.

Now If we set all three people into a fantasy world where they take on even larger personas than the ones they did portray, under the same terms, conditions, and time frames, that still sadly exist in the reality between then and now between all three, perhaps this would have been a moment from how it all played out in this comic world.

Sorry for rambling.

OpenCube,

Thanks for the explanation. You have given us a lot of information. That helps us understand the thought process you had when creating and editing the photo.

Very interesting thought process and a well done image to capture it!

And completely coincidently, I made an image with a reference yesterday:

Red Battle-wrap by simple.joy, on Flickr

Turned out darker than I intended...

On the drink of extinction by simple.joy, on Flickr

Okay, this one as well... 😏

Simplejoy,

Could you help us understand the first photo? It's pretty interesting, where it quickly grabs our attention. Is there any special meaning for it? What are the red bubbles or round shapes? What did you prepare for it, to create such a photo? Was it just something you saw or did you set it up?

I found the second picture to be excellent. I like your choice for the background too.

I'm afraid I'm not clear on which photo you are talking about, so let me try this.

This image is a pure happen stance of created circumstances. I set up the reflection gimmick to manipulate the projection of a television, and then click, click, click. This was simply "eye catching" among the 1200+ photos. So I tweaked it around in ACR to get different colors than what was due to the 550nm filter. The Joker photo, again, starts with a happen of circumstances while shooting and this capture caught the eye and earned further exploration in post. There are literally 1000+ photos that "don't work for me, brother", just to find a few that pique my interest. Don't me wrong, I'm looking while shooting, trying to balance composition as best I can with what I'm working with, trying to catch something I think is interesting, but it's a crap shoot of what I get.

The cat using her little Grey Elphalent as a pillow, because every cat needs a little Grey Elphalent.

Steve Thomas

Thank you! The first image was created for a weekly Flickr group with the theme "bubble wrap". So I experimented around with bubble wrap and first created this:

These two shell pass by simple.joy, on Flickr

This one wasn't allowed for the group because (I quote): "....but the bubble wrap is not really to be seen here." So I decided to give it another try and go for something different, which showed the bubble wrap in focus. I tried to light both, the bubble wrap and pin at the same time first, but when I saw it as a silhouette while changing the lighting, decided to go for that.

So preparation? One light, one (rolled) piece of bubble wrap and one pin. The red thing in the background is just some red np-f battery pack I had at hand.

Steve,

Ah, how cute...what a pretty cat. 😀

Simplejoy,

Thanks for the explanation. It's amazing how you create images from simple things.