Picture-A-Week 2021 - Week 25

[pierces]

Pictures taken between Monday, June 14 and Sunday, June 20.

 

The Summer Solstice is next week. More daylight hours for photography!

 

Rules: See above

That's it. This isn't a contest.

All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising).

Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize.

The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays.

Post one. Post many. Up to you.

Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

[boeckli]

Some interesting growth on the trunk of a bottle brush tree

 

 

Winter is bringing out a variety of showy poinsettia flowers

 

 

 

[dileep]

[Docker123]

 

Lunchtime Saturday, Royal Australian Air Force patrolling the borders of Port Phillip Bay.

 

 

[ski ww]

Taken this morning the summer solstice, sun rise was at 0534

 

[pierces]

Guns and alcohol are a notoriously bad mix, but I think I found a small loophole. Really small. I have considered getting an AR-10 or AR-15 customized for target shooting for a while now but since I live in a state with extremely restrictive laws that somehow make us safer by ensuring only criminals are able to possess one, I have settled on camera equipment for my sport shooting. Imagine my surprise when my Wonderful Wife bought me an AR-15 for Fathers Day! Before you call the governor to turn me in, I’ll add that it is a spectacularly detailed 1/3 scale metal reproduction with a detachable magazine, adjustable stock and even a functional top rail for mounting accessory sights and scopes. Or maybe this is a real gun next to a two-gallon Old Fashioned. Hmmm...

 

Guns and Whiskey

 

 

 

 

Dave

[Oviedo32765]

I went to Orlando Speed World Saturday to photograph the somewhat new motorsport of drifting. Drifting was popularized in Japan in the 1970s, and didn't become popular outside Japan until the mid 1990s.  It is a driving technique where the driver intentionally oversteers, with loss of traction, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner. 

 

The track was not very large so speeds were relatively low compared to race cars. Drifting is judged according to the speed, angle, showmanship, and line taken through a corner or set of corners. The photogragphic challenge for me was to convey a sense of speed by using a slow shutter speed and panning with the camera for focus. 

 

I used various shutter speeds - 1/30, 1/60, 1/80, 1/125, 1/200. When I could keep focus I preferred the slower shutter speeds because I could blur the background and tire spinning. But at the slower shutter speed the keeper rate was very low. 

 

Return trips to the drifting track are in order to practice my panning technique.

 

1/30

1/30

1/60

1/60

1/80

1/80

1/125

1/125

1/200

1/200

 

 

[zackiedawg]

The weekend birding and wildlife shoot this Saturday - dodging between the rainstorms.  This weekend marked the return of the least terns, who were furiously dive-bombing fish out on the main lake, which made for some fun shooting...plus some of the other critters around that day:

 

Least tern getting ready to dive:

 

When they do make their dive, they tend to come up with a fish more than half the time:

 

But yes, sometimes they miss:

 

I love how, for such a tiny bird (they're about the size of a robin), they make quite the splash when they strike the water - and they'll go almost completely underwater:

 

Yellow-crowned night heron sitting quietly in the shade:

 

A young raccoon strolling through the pine forest and noticing me:

 

Fresh out of the egg within the past 2-3 days, this glossy ibis chick wants what all chicks want when they hatch - FOOD:

 

The problem with many invasive species is that the local wildlife doesn't include it on the food chain, and the population explodes.  Armored catfish took hold in Florida and are a scourge - but it seems some of the local wildlife has decided that they're edible and added them to their menu, like this anhinga: