Fortnightly Challenge Aug. 8-21 -Topic - Your Favorite Vacation Photos

[JDDavis]

Awesome!

A couple of mine... Two very different vacations... (NY and Maui)

The NY one is a bit too busy for me but the Maui shot is really beautiful. So I'm guessing the volleyball shot from the weekly contest was from Maui as well. Are sunsets there that stunning? (dumb question) Are you using any kind of filter in these shots? Very nice.

 

[JDDavis]

From Marquette, Michigan:



Super-Macro setting

I very much like what's going on with the flower and the sunset light off the water. I'm not totally sure I like the framing...my eye keeps getting drawn away from the flower.

 

[JDDavis]

Panorama from my last weekend vacation to Seneca Rocks, WV.

 

[macbookairman]

I don't really do much photography at all. I took a ton of pictures on my recent trip to Alaska. Here's two shots from my trip.

Eagle shot is taken in Ketchikan, Alaska and the other is taken in Tracy's Arm Fjord.

I use a Canon SX10 IS. Not a DSLR, but I love it.

 

[NeverhadaPC]

I very much like what's going on with the flower and the sunset light off the water. I'm not totally sure I like the framing...my eye keeps getting drawn away from the flower.

Thank you for the compliment. Maybe if I could have placed the flower higher up in the image, it would have helped. I had my camera (Canon PowerShot S5 IS - not DSLR) sitting on it's lens hood on the edge of a slate cliff... I had very little wiggle room

 

[mtbdudex]

Driving home from Hillman Michigan vacation just today, saw these along M-33 about 1 hour into the 4 hour ride home.
(for those that know MI-33, my kids call that the "roller coaster road")

Yes, the kids were in the car saying "daddy, hurry up were getting bored while you are being picture man" as I quickly got a few shots from roadside, then stepped closer into the field itself.

<click>
#1 .......................................................................................................#2

#3 My favorite, 15-85 lens shot @ 85mm (exif data in all pictures)
My original intent with close up was trying to decide which sunflower/bee combo to capture at close and frame it with my lens widest aperture hoping for decent DOF.
Moments before this same sunflower had a big yellow "fuzzy" bee on it, trying to get him he moved off and this smaller honey bee flew onto the sunflower, so became my subject:
(edit note 8/14: replaced with non-crop original framing shot)

 

[deep diver]

I took this a couple of years ago in Maui. The bride was our "surrogate daughter" who, sadly, has since separated herself from the family. It is still a good picture of her and my youngest.

 

[Designer Dale]

Panorama from my last weekend vacation to Seneca Rocks, WV.

Wonderful framing and exposure. This would look great as a poster on my wall.

I don't really do much photography at all. I took a ton of pictures on my recent trip to Alaska. Here's two shots from my trip.

Eagle shot is taken in Ketchikan, Alaska and the other is taken in Tracy's Arm Fjord.

I use a Canon SX10 IS. Not a DSLR, but I love it.

The Fjord shot has a lot of potential. It needs a little more contrast and saturation to pull out the greens on the hillsides. Wildlife photos are very difficult to pull off. I just got back from the zoo, so I know. Both are great memories of a grand land. I want to go there someday.

Driving home from Hillman Michigan vacation just today, saw these along M-33 about 1 hour into the 4 hour ride home.
(for those that know MI-33, my kids call that the "roller coaster road")

Yes, the kids were in the car saying "daddy, hurry up were getting bored while you are being picture man" as I quickly got a few shots from roadside, then stepped closer into the field itself.

My favorite, slight crop of 15-85 lens shot @ 85mm (exif data in all pictures):

Great colors. Yellow can be so bold.

I took this a couple of years ago in Maui. The bride was our "surrogate daughter" who, sadly, has since separated herself from the family. It is still a good picture of her and my youngest.

Maui. No comment.

Dale

 

[VirtualRain]

Newbie question: How did you get the sun to not over-expose your image and flare? (see my image below for example of over-exposed suns)

I used exposure compensation... 2/3rds of a stop darker on that Maui shot. I also think I got lucky with the amount of haze in the sky on that shot... enough to dim the sun to the point where it wasn't too blinding. Try using Exp. compensation on sunsets... it will turn your foreground objects into silhouettes but really liven up the contrast and color in the sky.

The NY one is a bit too busy for me but the Maui shot is really beautiful. So I'm guessing the volleyball shot from the weekly contest was from Maui as well. Are sunsets there that stunning? (dumb question) Are you using any kind of filter in these shots? Very nice.

With respect to Times Square being busy... Yeah... I think both photos accurately capture the nature of a vacation in NY and Maui respectively... busy vs. tranquil.

The volleyball shot you're referring to was actually shot here in Vancouver during a nice sunset one evening. I don't use any filters. As mentioned above, I'll often use exposure compensation on sunsets to lower the exposure and bring out the color but that's it.

 

[LumbermanSVO]

Ford Worden State Park, Port Townsend, WA

 

[JDDavis]

With respect to Times Square being busy... Yeah... I think both photos accurately capture the nature of a vacation in NY and Maui respectively... busy vs. tranquil.

The volleyball shot you're referring to was actually shot here in Vancouver during a nice sunset one evening. I don't use any filters. As mentioned above, I'll often use exposure compensation on sunsets to lower the exposure and bring out the color but that's it.

Cool. Thanks. Good tip on the exposure compensation. Both sunset pics are beautiful and surprisingly similar though at very different lattitudes. I was riding in to D.C. the other morning and it was quite hazy and the sunrise had an orange glow like that. Ironic, I guess, that poor air quality produces interesting sunset/sunrises.

 

[MattsxB]

Taken with Nikon D5000 no editing done to either of these other than adding name in bottom corner via Illustrator and Photoshop.

http://www.flickr.com/mattsxb

 

[LumbermanSVO]

My last post just barely eeked in before midnight, so here is another from Fort Worden.

 

[Maxxamillian]

My last post just barely eeked in before midnight, so here is another from Fort Worden.

The rules that apply for POTD do not exist for the fortnightly challenges. Feel free to post multiple pics whenever.

 

[LumbermanSVO]

The rules that apply for POTD do not exist for the fortnightly challenges. Feel free to post multiple pics whenever.

Well, in that case here are two more from last weekend at the fort.

This next one is a little blurry due to it being a handheld 3.2s exposure. The "ghost" is my ex walking with my 3yo daughter. My daughter spent a solid 3 hours running around these two gun batteries. After getting home I found out there are several more batteries at the park. I will return next spring with a dSLR and some form of off-camera lighting.

 

[mtbdudex]

Re-visited the sunflower post from above.
-re-posted #3 in original thread with original wider image w/o any crop, on second thought I like that better.

For these tighter #2 shot crops I adjusted the angle by 3.2 degrees counterclockwise, to show just slightly less droop of the sunflower as the crop got tighter.
#2 with tighter horizontal crop

#2 with tighter vertical crop

For the #2 series I like the vertical crop best.
This also shows where more DOF would have helped greatly, those in focus green leaves distract from the shot.
(Via a $$$$ fixed 2.8 zoom lens or possible by using my 55-250 zoom and using the zoom DOF effect @ 250mm when close up. Or, my 50mm f1.4 prime, hard to plan when walking in a roadside field what gear ya need)

 

[CK Williams]

Grand Canyon


Alaska Inner Passage


Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas

 

[Maxxamillian]

Alaska Inner Passage

^^THIS. A thousand times this...

 

[rekud]

over July 4th

I know sunsets are common, but this one I like with the house being on the bottom left.

 

[CK Williams]

^^THIS. A thousand times this...

Thanks! It's definitely a view I would like to look at every day

 

[steviem]

Here's one of my favourite vacation photos.

 

[oblomow]

A sentimental entry. Our two children in safety vests entering the inners of a hydroelectric power plant.

 

[btdpi007]

Vacation

I browse this forum pretty frequently but have never posted anything. I'm reviewing these posts and see a lot of talent. Great job, guys & gals. I decided my time to contribute. This was taken, during my last vacation. I call it "Freedom"

 

[JDDavis]

Back from a "mini" vacation. Mini in it was just a day of rock climbing in W. Virginia. It was overcast and raining a bit so I didn't get to take many pics at all. Real quick here are two from Seneca Rocks.

 

[JDDavis]

A sentimental entry. Our two children in safety vests entering the inners of a hydroelectric power plant.

Looks like an awesome place for kids to visit. Love the safety vests. Your ISO was really high (3200) so it must have been pretty dim in there.

Grand Canyon


Alaska Inner Passage


Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas

The Grand Canyon and the Alaska shot are beautiful. The color and the smoothness of the Alaska shot are outstanding. The Venetian shot doesn't float my boat (pun intended) but probably because you see it a lot. I'm jealous of your vacations, big time